April 2001

Entrepreneurial Spirit

By Nancy J. Beckley, MS, MBA

Getting Your Business Back on Track

Achieve short- and long-term goals by following five easy steps that address a variety of strategies from evaluating your stockholders to capturing your dreams.

We are all easing into a comfort zone with the reimbursement environment, which does not mean that we like it, but after years of managed care growth, changes in workers’ compensation and Medicaid, and the struggles with Medicare, we have become accustomed. The accelerated economic growth of the past several years appears to have stalled at best, and declined at worst. This happens at a time when the Baby Boom generation is poised to join the Medicare set and health care consumption will begin to pick up. Is your business on the fast track to identifying opportunities in the new economy?

Step-by-Step

Last month we looked at the value of taking time for goal setting and how to find the time to do that. I heard from many readers that the most difficult part of taking the time to reflect and dream is that it caused a large dose of reality: their businesses were not where they wanted, nor where they intended them to go. One responder said that over the past several years, his income as an owner had gradually declined in real dollars and he was working longer hours to boot.

If your business has gradually settled into a place that is comfortable only because of inertia, it is time to get your business back on track.

• Tap into your creative mode. Businesses thrive on creative ideas. Keep your dreams close at hand, write down your goals, and set time aside to accomplish them. The best way to stimulate creativity is to take some time each day to do nothing else but dream and scheme. Remember—if you dream it, you can do it!
• Evaluate your stakeholders. There are many stakeholders in your rehabilitation business—some perhaps that you have not even identified. Who has a stake in whether your business will succeed, fail, or simply languish in the status quo? Evaluate your business partners who are part of the revenue stream: referring physicians, potential referring physicians, health plans, patients, local businesses, reinsurance companies, and others that control the portals of entry for patients into your program. Next take a look at the stakeholders from the expense end of the business: your employees, bankers, and landlords. Are your stakeholders in an alignment pattern that supports your dreams? Use the following box to identify your stakeholders:




Current Stakeholders

1. 2. 3.

Future Stakeholders

1. 2. 3.



• Share your vision. Just as you may have settled into the status quo as a clinic owner or manager, know that your key stakeholders, particularly your employees, have also settled into that status quo. It is best to share your vision with key stakeholders, particularly employees. This may have a synergistic effect of adding to your vision, and creating energy and enthusiasm along the way. Don’t forget that to get new and different business in the door, you first have to open some doors.
• Capture your dreams and turn them into goals. Put on your clinical thinking cap and set goals just like you do for your patients: short-term and long-term. Be specific.




Long-Term Goals
1. 2. 3.
Time Frame
1. 2. 3.
Short-Term Goals
1. 2. 3.
Time Frame
1. 2. 3.



Break down the long-term goals into manageable short-term goals and establish time frames. Now you can easily break them down into a work plan with daily activities that move you toward your dreams (goals).
• Implement your action plan. Often the pressure of the moment, the crisis of the day, and “business as usual” activities get in the way of goal-oriented activities. Remember your stakeholders, particularly your employees who are working with you on a daily basis. Share frequent updates, do not forget to be a visionary, and enlist help in achieving dreams and goals through commitment and action.




Personal Dreams

1. 2. 3.

Business Dreams

1. 2. 3.

A Challenge

My challenge to you: when you have finished this article fill out the dream challenge:
Commit to where you would like yourself and your business to be next year at this time. We will check back.

Nancy J. Beckley, MS, MBA, is a rehabilitation consultant and professional coach. She can be reached at (888) 888-0275 or via email: bcgbeckley@aol.com.

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