Love him or hate him there’s no doubting the impact and reach that Tim Ferriss has been able to have.
Tim's books are best sellers and his podcast is one of the most popular going around.
In fact, the New Yorker has even described Ferriss as this generations self-help guru.
With a loyal audience of millions, Tim is trusted by the rich and famous.
So who better to use as a model for building a thriving chiropractic practice (or any alternate health practice for that matter).
In this blog I’ve divided Tim’s podcasting and publishing successes into 5 key strategies and applied those to how Tim might build a chiropractic practice.
Read on and I’ll show you how you can model them to build your own empire.
1.Tim Would Narrowed His Focus.
If Tim were starting a chiropractic practice he’d start with a focus on serving a single audience.
One of the biggest mistakes we see chiropractors make is failing to decide who their audience is. Or, even worse trying to make everyone their audience.
It makes sense to try to reach as many people as possible. But, unless you have a billion dollar budget like Coca Cola or Nike this strategy doesn’t work.
The reason it does work? We’re now exposed to more marketing messages than ever.
We all want solutions that look they were designed specifically for us. If Tim were shouting out a message that looked like it was meant for everyone he would be ignored!
Don't Dilute Your Message
One of the keys to Ferriss’s success has been remaining on brand and not diluting his message. A quick look through Tims biography and you’ll see that he’s created content on varied topics:
- cooking the perfect steak (I’ve tried this and it was deeeelicious)
- speed reading
- the 15 minute orgasm (I’m tempted to put a hyperlink here but I know you’d all stop reading and click away immediately).
Don’t be mislead by Tims diversity though. Tim’s content is all carefully structured around the concept of “Life Hacking”.
If Tim were a chiropractor, he wouldn't try and be everything to everyone. I could see him positioning himself as the posture expert or maybe even the performance guy.
Tim would know exactly who his audience was. He'd know their pains and frustrations and he’d work very hard at creating VALUABLE content for them.
IMPORTANT: What’s valuable to a new mum with headaches is completely different to what’s valuable to an athlete who continues to injure herself! This is another reason Tim would narrow his focus.
With this strategy Ferriss would be able to break through the noise. He'd differentiate himself from the competition and stand out as an expert.
Thoughts to ponder. Who is the one group in my community that I could commit to adding value to their lives? (Important: choose an audience who you love to look after and you know you can help).
2.Tim Would Go First & Deliver Massive Amounts of Value.
Right now trust is at an all time low and experts are telling us that it’s only going to get worse.
One of the reasons behind this distrust...OVER promising and UNDER delivering!
Tim understands that there’s a direct relationship between how busy his practice would be and how many people in his community would know, like and trust him!
If Tim were a chiropractor he’d be building trust and getting known in his community by creating valuable videos, blogs and podcasts.
His community would be able to access 100’s of hours of his wisdom without ever having to make an appointment.
Tim understands that when we try and push people into making an appointment it makes us look desperate and breaks down trust. Ferriss wouldn't be advertising special deals and half price consultations. Instead, he would be sharing high quality content.
Here's a few examples:
- Making videos sharing his favourite posture tips.
- Creating checklists on how to set up your desk.
- Interviewing other health experts about topics that would help his audience.
Ferriss wouldn’t let perfection get in the way of him adding value to his community. One of his mantra’s would be the good content you create will always get better results than the perfect content you don’t!
A mobile device, a website and a social media account is all Ferris would need to be publishing and distributing content to his community.
Thoughts to ponder. What does my audience want and how can I help them move a step closer to that result before they even have to come and see me?
3.Tim Would Be Everywhere!
Tim’s success in practice would in part be because he understands the The Mere Exposure Effect.
The Mere Exposure Effect is the phenomenon where people tend to develop a preference for things because they are familiar with them.
Studies show the more often someone sees a person the more pleasing and likeable they are.
Every week Ferriss would be creating and sharing new content across multiple platforms. This keeps him front of mind with his audience.
Don’t be mistaken though. Ferris would not be creating new content for each platform. Tim repurposes and cross promotes his content to match the platform:
- he’d take a screen capture of his podcast release and post it on Instagram and Facebook,
- he'd upload a video version of the podcast to Youtube
- he'd tweet a podcast link to his twitter followers.
By having his content appear across several different platforms he increases the chances he’ll be seen. He also boosts his likability and decreases the time it takes to move someone along the trust cycle.
Part of being everywhere is knowing your audience. Tim would know what platforms his audience visits and what platforms to ignore.
Most practitioners fail dismally in this area. Their online presence rarely extends past a outdated website and inactive Facebook account.
IMPORTANT: You can bet that Tim wouldn't be doing all this social media work by himself. He would have his staff carefully trained and probably even be outsourcing to virtual assistants.
Thoughts to Ponder: Where do my audience spend time online and what types of content do they like to consume? If I can’t produce one short 2-5 minute video or a 500 word blog post each week then am I serious about becoming the “go to” doc in my community?
4.Tim Would Play The Long Game.
Of all Ferriss’s super powers, the one that would serve him best in building his chiropractic practice would be his persistence.
When asked what’s the secret to his success…Tim often credits "time" as his secret weapon. e.g Tim spent over a year organising his podcast interview with Jamie Foxx.
In building his thriving chiropractic practice you can bet that Tim would be prepared to show up day after day, week after week and year after year!
Stop looking for the quick fix. It doesn’t exist…or at least Tim hasn’t found it.
Every week I hear practitioners complaining about their patients unreasonable expectation of overnight results, yet this same practitioner will reach out to me looking for that quick fix result that will fill their practice with new patients.
If you want to build a practice that stands the test of time, then you must lay the foundations and play the long game as Tim would do.
Tim’s strategy of playing the long game might seem unpopular. Yet, playing the long game would be essential to his profitable, predictable and enjoyable practice!
IMPORTANT: Tim’s love and commitment to practice wouldn’t come at the expense of his health and love of travel. Tim would be keeping his energy and passion high. He'd take consistent breaks and have a daily practice of exercise, healthy eating and meditation.
Thoughts to ponder. Am I prepared to show up week after week, month after month and year and after year?
5.Tim would be Tim.
In our world of ever increasing "fakeness" we are in need of authenticity.
Tim’s success in practice would in part come from his authenticity and you’d better believe it…authenticity is magnetic.
Tim would understand that magnetic doesn’t mean liked by everyone though. Tim wouldn’t waste his time on internet trolls and instead he’d focus on serving his audience.
When someone is searching online they are looking for someone that they can relate to and trust.
Trying to be someone else (a lack of authenticity) erodes trust faster than almost anything else. Pretending to be someone else is exhausting and to be frank…NOT NECESSARY!
IMPORTANT: There’s an audience for everyone! Both Susan Boyle and Justin Bieber have sold millions of albums and have legions of loyal fans yet they couldn’t be more different.
Tim's content would not only be about helping his audience, it would also be about sharing himself warts and all. . His audience would feel like they know him and this is one of the keys underpinning their loyalty.
Trying to keep yourself hidden from your audience doesn't cut it!
Thoughts to ponder. Who am I really at my core? What part of myself am I hiding from my community?
Conclusion.
There's no doubt in my mind that Tim would build a thriving chiropractic practice (or any business).
The good news is that the skills and tactics that Tim would use are implementable by ANYONE…yes, even YOU!
Tims success strategies match very closely with The 6 Practice Multipliers the framework we use help practitioners build their own thriving practice).
If you’d like to listen to the podcast episode where we discuss The 6 Practice Multipliers then click here.
Where do your strengths and weaknesses lie regarding the strategies mentioned above?
Where is your first area of improvement? Let me know below.
I’d love to know your thoughts on this article…did i miss anything out? What else could we learn from Tim and apply to building a thriving chiropractic practice.
Let me know in the comments below.
Until next time. Thanks for all you do.
Keep saving lives.
Angus
Angus Pyke
Co Founder Adio Media, Head Of Marketing
Angus is a marketer, entrepreneur and chiropractor. Angus loves working with natural health and fitness practitioners so they can build enjoyable, sustainable and profitable practices.