EPISODE 463: Entrepreneurial Alignment and Optimal Leadership with Shannon Waller

Hey, chiropractors. We're ready for another Modern Chiropractic Mastery Show with Dr. Kevin Christie, where we discuss the latest in marketing strategies, contact marketing, direct response marketing, and business development with some of the leading experts in the industry. 

Speaker: [00:00:00] Hey chiropractors. Welcome to Modern Chiropractic Mastery with your host, Dr. Kevin Christie, where we discuss the latest in marketing, business and professional growth with some of the leading experts in the industry.

Hey doc. Welcome to another episode of Modern Chiropractic Mastery. This is your host. Dr. Kevin Christie, and today I'm excited to bring someone that I've got to learn from and know for a while, and that is Shannon Waller of Strategic Coach. As many of you know, I've been a member of Strategic Coach for quite a long time, and it really has become the, uh.

Uh, the operating system for me as an entrepreneur, and, and Shannon was kind enough to do a webinar for our mastermind group in 2025 on entrepreneurial alignment and optimal leadership. So we did a bunch of, we did a few webinars last year for our mastermind group around leadership, and Shannon was kind enough to do that, and so I wanted to bring her on the podcast to share.

Some of what [00:01:00] she taught us in the webinar and really dive into that. And it really gets you to think about what leadership is. 'cause I think there's a lot of misconceptions and she does a great job, uh, in this episode. Uh, before we do dive into that interview, I want to let you know that, uh, we've made mention before, but between MPI, motion Palpation Institute, FTCA, forward Thinking Chiropractic Alliance and MCM, uh, we are going to be starting a yearly.

Live event, a conference. The first one's gonna be January 30th, 31st of 2027. So you got a year and it's gonna be in Atlanta. We're making this easy to get to and we're making it, uh, you know, like direct flights. Mostly decent weather in January in Atlanta. I'm take a short tram to the conference center at the Marriott we're gonna be at, and it's, we're gonna thread the needle of it being a larger conference, but not a just potpourri of random speakers with no consistency and congruency.

[00:02:00] There. We're gonna have six great. Presentations actionable. There's gonna be some heads down work and it's gonna be around, um, you know, business growth. We're gonna have Mark King talking about leadership. We're gonna have Bobby Mabe talking about ethical sales. I'm gonna be talking about marketing. We've got Holly Tucker speaking on financials.

We've got Brett Winchester talking about the IT factor in clinic, and we will round it out with Ashley Jordan talking about community outreach and also the patient experience and we're gonna. You know, we're gonna bring good information and you're gonna walk away with a guided plan, and you're gonna also connect with other like-minded chiropractors looking to grow their business.

And so we're, we're actually launching the early bird right now, but this is a special early bird. It's for founder members. It's limited to 45 members, and there's a lot of perks in that, and I want you to check that out. You can go to Bitly b.ly/. Thrive 2027. And you can also just go [00:03:00] to our Facebook group, modern Chiropractic Mastery and you'll see it all there.

But by, you know, between now and March 1st is the deadline to sign up for this founder's member and the Early Bird special. And it's limited to 45 people and it will go, it will sell out. Uh, it includes also you get to pick, to have a cocktail reception with. Either M-P-I-M-C-M or FTCA and a bunch of other perks that you can check out on that, uh, website.

So I encourage you to sign up for that. Again, go to bitly bid.ly/thrive 2027. We're really excited about it. We're getting a lot of good excitement around it, and we hope you will become one of our founder members. So, without further ado, here is my interview with Shannon Waller.

All right. Excited to have Shannon Waller on our podcast today, and it's been, uh, exciting to get to, to know Shannon over some years. I've, uh, been with Strategic Coach since 2013. Uh, [00:04:00] you've been with Strategic Coach, uh, as a team member for quite a bit longer. You started in 1991 over those 34 years. Uh, what initially drew to the organization?

I'd love to hear that story and then how it's your role has evolved over the 34 years. Oh my goodness. I'll try and tell the quick story. Mm-hmm. So I was working for another organization, uh, it doesn't exist any longer actually. And our largest client was General Motors of Canada. And so I worked with them to be able to sell.

Dealer assessment programs and things like that. So I ran these $2,000 programs. Uh, I was really bad at the administration though, so I would take forever. And if you get to know how I'm put together, like my Colby profile, I have very little mental energy for those kind of administrative tasks. Much, much more fun talking to you.

I have lots of mental energy for that. Anyway, so I was doing that, but I was getting restless. So when I first, so we would actually, we had seminar rooms space in addition to the administrative offices.

So Dan and Babs would [00:05:00] rent seminar room space 'cause they only had tiny little. In on Queen cast. And so, um, so what would happen is they would rent our seminar room space and all of a sudden their clients were so different than the regular corporate training. They'd be like, do, do, do talking. They're like, oh, hi, I'm Bob.

Mm-hmm. I'm like, I thought they knew each other already. Turns out they're all entrepreneurs. Right. Very open, very gregarious, wanting to learn from one another. So I'm like, oh, that's different. So anyway, they approached a friend of mine to work with, work with them. Uh, he told me, I'm like, oh, I could do that.

Long story short, saw Dan present, salesperson called me. She asked me the magical two questions. She goes, did you enjoy the presentation? I said, yes, I loved it. And then she said, are you happy with what you're doing? And out of my mouth, pops, no, I'm bored. Five weeks later, I joined Strategic Coach working for her.

She asked me how much I needed to live on. I calculated that, but forgot taxes. And I live in Canada, so that was some very lean years. So I did sales for the first [00:06:00] three, almost four years. And then I started getting a little bit restless and went back to school and took a training and design program, and then came up with the idea for the team programs.

And, um, that is now my career, part of my career. Yeah. So now I do coaching, I do, I do sales from a presentation, a large scale level, but I don't do one-on-one sales anymore, and I build my own sales team. You know? Mm-hmm. Um, so, you know, I, I got paid last, I had my own little team, you know, it was, I got paid, the commissions, paid them, I took what was left over.

So I have that entrepreneurial experience as well. Um, but that I'm excellent, but not unique at, at sales. I could make it very healthy, six figure income, but not, I was frustrated, so that's why I went back to school. Yeah. Yeah. So my current coaching career is a result of a school project. Love it. And we are gonna tease out the difference between.

Excellent and unique, uh, for our audience that might have heard you say that and, and why that's important and how excellent can be a great thing, but it could also be a hindrance as well. Yeah. So we, we will dive into that for sure. [00:07:00] Uh, you were, you were kind enough to do a webinar for our mastermind group back in November.

Of 2025 and it was very well received. And we, you know, we had a, within our mastermind we do a set of a few webinars, usually around a topic. And in 2025 it was around leadership. And I really wanted to have you come and talk about that. And you, you dove into the entrepreneurial alignment, which, uh, was really helpful for us because I think.

You know, there's so much stuff out there on leadership, and I think a lot of, uh, everybody gets kind of, um, just confused of what a good leader is. I think we have this mental picture of this charismatic leader that is, you know, uh, just oozing with, uh, charisma. Right? And, and it, and that's great, right?

Sometimes they are not actually good leaders, they just have the charisma to overcome it. Uh, but there's a lot of different shapes of what a. What a leader is. And you did a, I thought a great job of taking a group of, I think there was probably 30 plus chiropractors on that webinar, and everybody [00:08:00] runs practices a little bit different and, and how to get in line with what your entrepreneurial style is.

So I really enjoyed that and I wanted to tease out some things, uh, from that for, for our audience. And so the, one of the things that I loved, and it's one of my favorite things that I've ever gotten from Strategic Coach, which is a lot, but as a doctor. You had framed a, a question and I'll just kinda read it and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

You framed a question for the group. Are you a chiropractor or an entrepreneur with a specialty in chiropractic care? What's the mindset shift there that is so transformative for professionals that are, are typically doctors. It is interesting 'cause Stan Sullivan, co-founder of Strategic Coach hit on this because we attract people and in our, you know, we're a coaching company, it's what we do.

We coach entrepreneurs on how to break through their current level of, of complexity, ceiling of complexity, and go to much greater heights. That's really what we're. There a reason, reason for being, [00:09:00] but we realized that we were, when, when we tried to market to, or work with people who, who were just in their professional mindset, which by the way, it's not a bad thing.

I'm really glad that they, I'm really glad that you're here. Mm-hmm. I see my chiropractor all the time, so I'm a, I'm a big fan, but then you're kind of stuck in that industry mindset. Mm-hmm. And so there's, when you, then you just really wanna get very, very good at your craft. It doesn't say much about running the business of chiropractic.

Right? And so when you can actually look at yourself as an entrepreneur with a specialty in, that's part of what we call a shift. You know, there's an entrepreneurial shift there, and then you're like, oh. And it, especially if you're one of those people that has lots of ideas, you're like, oh, we could approach things this way.

Maybe I could market that way. It's like, oh, if I did a collaboration over here, maybe we could, I could, we could feed together and take care of people even better, you know, if you're, if you're that type of person. You're an entrepreneur with a specialty in, and it allows you to think more thoughts just [00:10:00] ex basically experience much greater freedom in terms of your thinking, your actions, your behavior, the relationships, what you're pursuing.

It doesn't mean that you get. You know, it, it doesn't detract from you being a doctor. Mm-hmm. But it just doesn't mean that's not all you are. Uh, so that for me, it, it just creates a whole bunch more room for you to go play in a much bigger sandbox. Yeah. And I remember when I first heard that and Dan had said that, it just really resonated with me because I, I was kind of confused with what I was and, and almost, um.

Guilty about it. And I do think doctors may be in, in particular, uh, maybe struggle with it. It is like, you know, I should just be a doctor. I should just do that. And only, like you said, work on my craft. But there's this tug that's happening that they need to recognize that you can still be a great doctor.

Mm-hmm. But you gotta try to, uh, the way I put it, strategic Coach has helped me, um, really. Tease out the spirit of what my entrepreneurship [00:11:00] is and feel good about that versus maybe having any type of guilt. Oh, good. I, I actually had someone fill out an application form for coach one time. Mm-hmm. And we, we then asked, what do you wanna get outta the program?

And the answer was No guilt. No more guilt. No more guilt about taking time off, no more guilt about how they run their business. And I think it's really important. This is a little bit like birds and feathers. Mm-hmm. Not, you know, all business, all chiropractors are doctors by definition, but not all chiropractors are entrepreneurs.

Right. And so it's like, and guess what? The entrepreneurial doctors are the ones hiring. Doctor doctors. Does that make sense? Yeah. Like, because you, you want those people, if you wanna expand your practice, you want those people, 'cause they just wanna do what they wanna do. They're great, they're a specialist, hire them.

Mm-hmm. But that also frees you up to do the part of chiropractic that you, you still wanna do and all the other things. So it, it really is kind of binary. I, I do think people are [00:12:00] either just this or they're that expanded version and, and trying to make one into the other. It feels confining. It's like you're wearing a, a, a suit of clothes that's too tight.

Yeah. Yeah. And it is a struggle we have within our, that may be, I wouldn't say unique to our industry, but. You know, uh, a lot of chiropractors to earn a professional living that they really want, like, that's gonna get into the healthy, let's call it six figures. Mm-hmm. Takes a level of entrepreneurialship, uh, just being a, a treating chiropractor to be challenging.

And then we have this cycle of not enough entrepreneur chiropractors, um, fulfilling their. Vision of that and, and optimizing it to be able to hire good chiropractors. So we have a little bit of a glut of hiring in there. That's good jobs and you know, like it's this whole, whole thing. And so if we can get more of the entrepreneur chiropractors to be more entrepreneurial and successful, and then provide levels of jobs those entrepreneurs, or.

You know, the, the, the ones [00:13:00] that would just really wanna work on their craft, which there's nothing wrong with that, can also make a very good professional living as well. So that's a kind of grand vision I have for 'em. Well, and this is, but this is what you do, right? You provide that platform and the conversations and the outside expertise to help people see a bigger picture and to reach those higher levels and to break through that ceiling.

That's why you and I are simpatico is because we both want that for. People, you know? Yeah. People we really care about. We wanna help them grow. So, and there is always, we talk about this, one of our models is to go from rugged individualism to unique teamwork, right? Mm-hmm. And you're, you get to the peak, you know, you're rugged individual, you're successful, you can make this much money, whatever.

But then if you keep working longer and harder, you actually experience a lot of diminishing returns. And then there's this period of crisis, which looks really dramatic, but. But, and when you can start to hire other people, free yourself up, including other docs, you know, then you start to climb [00:14:00] that, you know what we call you communicability teamwork, where you're doing what you're best at.

Other people are doing that. But in the meantime, there's a hard part and what you were just talking about for me, related to that, because it can feel like, oh my gosh, the downside of one, you haven't really hit the upside of the other yet. Yeah. And there's no avoiding it. Just get through it as quickly as possible.

You know, that is, that is really the answer. Tough it out, it's worth it. And then on the other side you're like, woo, this is so much better. And then we get to do it again. So, yeah. I'm glad you mentioned that there is that chasm and, and I, I try to. Tell young chiropractors is that you have to have some delayed gratification and you gotta plug through that.

And then on the other side of it is, uh, where it gets fun. And, you know, you mentioned unique teamwork, and that was a big flip for me years ago with Strategic Coach was understanding with leadership. It, it really hones in on what Strategic Coach teaches is unique ability, but then also applied to unique teamwork.

So I want to go down that kind of path for a minute and I want to go back to one of the [00:15:00] early things you said that I, that I earmarked was the difference between unique ability and excellent activity. And then if you want, you can tease out the other two, uh, categories that people fall into as well. And this will set us a good context for the rest of the conversation.

Cool. Um, and I'll, I'll give you even a bigger context at the beginning. So to be a great leader, the model that I've just hit on in the last year or so is that you need to be self-aware. If you're clueless about yourself, really hard to be a decent, a good leader in my books, but then, and that hopefully will also help you become team aware, which is where other people's strengths, non-strengths, et cetera are.

But then you also have to be business aware. You can't be clueless about the metrics because everyone can just be in their happy place, but if you're not actually productive again, so it's that kind of trifecta. All of those things need to happen. So going back to self-aware, a very powerful. Probably the most powerful concept in Strategic Coach is uni ability.

Mm-hmm. Um, so if you think about, if you think about this [00:16:00] big circle and those, all of the activities you've ever done, okay? Mm-hmm. Um, and we're gonna work from the outside in. Okay? Now the center is the, is the sweet spot. So, mm-hmm. Bear everyone where, bear with me. So if you realize there are some things on the outside where you put in the time and effort and you do not get the result, that's what we call incompetent and truthfully.

Even though incompetent is a really bad word in most people's vocabularies, it's like, truth be told, you are not put on the planet to do those things. Fear, fear of frustration, stress, conflict. Yeah, and, and I'm a pretty handy person. Chainsaw is a summer hobby for me. But anything to do with mechanics? Not so much.

The one time I tried to change a tire on a trip with my husband, um, I put the, I, I didn't know what I was doing. Put the jack underneath the car, upside down. Which means I'm trying to push the earth away from the car. Yeah. And then Bri's pointed that. I'm like, okay. And I got back in the car. That was, that was the beginning and end [00:17:00] of my, my auto mechanic career.

Uh, which is fine. I'm totally cool with that. I'm fine to be incompetent at certain things. There's that, because I know there's. The opposite to that too. Then there's things and people get stuck here a lot. Mm-hmm. Uh, where they're competent, they're adequate, they're okay, but so are a lot of other people.

Mm-hmm. So there's a lot of competition and that means repetition, which is boredom, anxiety 'cause it's stressful. Uh, and yet people talk about, oh, competencies. I'm like, Ooh, I don't wanna get stuck there. Uh, so. Not, I don't wanna be incompetent in basic business things. You need reading, writing, arithmetic, and 21st century dance as retrieval of information.

Yes. Also good. Um, and then we start getting into the fun part, and this is a little bit going back to our conversation about, are you a chiropractor or an entrepreneur? Entrepreneur with specialty in, um, there's the excellent level and I find most professionals. Anyone with a designation behind their name mm-hmm.

Um, often get stuck here. We've actually called the excellent trap in one of our books, and that is where you have superior skill. You are [00:18:00] better at it than most people, which means you get great teamwork. People are like, oh, can you do this with me? And you're like, sure. Um, you get a great reputation. Often you're very well compensated for it, but at some level.

You're bored. And that is the challenge. And there's certain things that used to be interesting that aren't anymore. And so the excellent trap is the biggest danger. It's not incompetent or competent. Mm-hmm. Most of us are savvy enough to be able to figure or del figure that out or delegate it. But if we get stuck at this excellent trap party, 'cause that's your training.

I've invested this much money, this many years of school, this many practicum, like all the things, and you feel guilty going back to what we were talking about before. That you're not totally thrilled and happy with that. Yeah. But you're bored. So intellectually you're not stimulated anymore. It's not burnout, but it, it's not, it's brown out.

Just get warned. Yeah. Been there, done there, I got a few too many t-shirts. Mm-hmm. Now finally we're back in the center, center circle, and that is, this is where you have superior [00:19:00] skill and passion. You'd love it, your eyes light up, you lean in, you can see me. Right now, I'm literally leaning into the screen.

Um, and it gives you energy. At the end of the day, I, I find I'm physically tired 'cause I love coaching. Um, but in any, every other way, I am lit up. I'm like, I'm excited. I've got new ideas happening. I'm connected. I'm connecting all of the things I'm just like in my best place. Um, and, and this is the little trick, and this is why people don't often wanna acknowledge that it's actually their uni ability mm-hmm.

Is because, oh, I, you know, I, I coached a big workshop, 44 people, 10 x last week, and. At the end of every time I'm like, oh my gosh, I could have done this better. I could have done this better. So you can always see a room for never ending improvement, but people don't realize that the only reason why you know, you can get better is 'cause you care so deeply about it and you do have superior skill.

So the opportunity for, I would say chiropractors, um, for you listening is that look at where you are. [00:20:00] Excellent. And then see, okay, what, what's still fun and what's not. Mm-hmm. And tell the truth about that. And frankly, that is a very hard conversation to have with yourself. Mm-hmm. But when you can figure out what am I really passionate about?

And maybe, maybe it's a specific type of treatment, maybe it's a specific type of clientele or a specific issue you love solving, when you can lean into that. Your future gets bigger again. Yeah, it's huge. And you kind of mentioned a little bit is I've talked with some chiropractors about different things and it can be limiting what you do in the clinic.

Uh, you know, you might like to do the examination and one other thing and try to build your business around you doing those things and having other. Uh, docs or other team members do the other things. That's a really good way of wheeling down unique ability. Yeah. There's obviously ones that are purely entrepreneurial and they don't want to treat patients anymore and that's great too.

Uh, the other thing I've seen a lot of chiropractors do, and I think our audience, you know, listen to this for yourself, is, and it's been cool in our [00:21:00] mastermind group 'cause these are all, uh, more, you know, business savvy, good clinics, they own 'em and they're, they've grown pretty well. We have quite a few in there.

That are, um, teaching for other techniques, like whether it's a, you know, a technique protocol, but they travel and do that, or they speak at seminars on particular health information. They've found a niche that they become, like, like what I talked, uh, or which, which I learned from Strategic Coach a long time ago, was the book Industry Transformer.

They become an industry transformer in a particular niche, and so that really fills their bucket there. They still, you know, love coming back to their practice and treating patients, but they have that. Passion and and uniqueness in that. So I've seen it sliced many different ways for chiropractors. Well, and thank you for applying it so specifically because I think like, what's the nuance for you?

And it's very individual, it's very unique, right? Like sometimes you like the initial examination, I maybe you only wanna work with pregnant moms. Like what? I mean, there's [00:22:00] interesting, people have audiences, they have techniques, they have processes or systems they're passionate about. And when you can share that.

Again, it just to give you a, a little bit of a number thing this flash into my head was, is like a flash of inspiration. So I, I trust it. Or we were coaching this actually at one of our couples workshops and I had this insight that incompetent was like a, had a minus 10 x return. Mm-hmm. You put in a time and effort.

You do not, I get the result. Like me. Yeah. With a jack in the car. Right. And then competent is a one x. Not terrible, but you just, you don't, there's nothing extra there. It excellent is a two x. Mm-hmm. Right. When you have superior skill, you are faster and do it better than other people. But still, no. When you're, when you can hang out any unique ability, it's a 10 x return.

Yeah. It's a 10 x impact and that's, that's a multiplier and that's how you grow. So I don't know how to coach anyone to grow if they're committed to incompetent or competent. I'm like, I can't help you. I can help maximize you if you're, you know, wanna, if you're at excellent and you wanna go to unique.[00:23:00]

I'm your, I can, I'm your person. But if someone's committed or arguing for those other things, doesn't have have, have at it, good luck with that. Well, I wish them well, but I dunno how to do that. Yeah, yeah. I have strategies for that. Yeah. So that's cool for sure. It, the thing that was interesting during the webinar is you, you get a scorecard, which I love those scorecards and, um, you know.

Yep. Exactly. And a lot of people on this leadership, basically, um, self business and team, they scored our, our mastermind group scored pretty high on self-awareness, um, which was cool, but identified that like team or business, they struggled a little bit there, even though they're, they had some blind spots.

They're better than most, but they still realize within this, uh, leadership aspect, the team and the business. Aspect struggle there. So if you could just touch a little bit on the kind of unique ability, teamwork, and then how, once you've gotten clear on yourself and then you go to your, your, is it [00:24:00] team next or business, how, how would you go about team?

Team? Yeah. Perfect. It's, um, because team is where you interface between the individual and the co and the, and the company, right? Yeah. Um, and, and this is my sweet spot. You know, I am, I am passionate about how people work in business. Like teamwork is my jam. I am a sponge for all the strategies, all the profiles, all the things.

'cause I want to help people be even happier. In life in general, but especially at works, I actually think work is the best place to grow personally and professionally. I think when you've got an interface with the world, when you're tasked with creating value for people, it is incredibly educational. And sometimes things you thought worked didn't and vice versa.

So it just keeps you very alert and effective. So I'm very passionate about business as a place for personal and professional growth. So the model, and again, I've just, once I say it out loud, it's like, oh, it doesn't sound all that. Sexy. But it has transformed aware how I coach people in terms of how to think about their own growth, their team growth, their business [00:25:00] growth.

And I can categorize all the, the Cajillion tools that I have and Coach has. Mm-hmm. So it really helps. So just quickly on self, self-awareness, we, I love profiles. I'm certified in four. I set my friend my favorite 17 the other day. 'cause he wanted to know them. I'm like, here's my favorite. Oh my god, there's 17.

And then I did two more. They were also good. So I'm up to 19. I've done way more than that. I referenced those ones, but there you go. So, knowing yourself means you know your strengths, you know your non-strengths, you know your triggers. You know how to show up in best self. You have hopefully some emotional intelligence, intelligence to know how to self-regulate.

You just, you can talk about yourself effectively. You can identify your strengths and you know how to play to them. And you also know what you have no business doing. Again, incompetent. Mm-hmm. Um, and hopefully you've, and the team part though is, is like, okay. This is how I can be most effective in the world, but a lot of other stuff needs to get done.

Mm-hmm. Who do I need around me, right. That can help me do that. And the who's include [00:26:00] technology. I love how Dan talks about technology as automated teamwork. Love that, right? Yeah. It's like, that's true. I can get predictable enough, someone can program it. Um, AI's been a really great friend lately, and so the, the self-awareness turns into team awareness.

And again, I'm talking about people here. Yeah. So if I understand you, Kevin and I looked up your profiles before Alright. Before I started this conversation. Right. I know what's important to you and so I'm, I'm going, it'll help me work with you better. We can produce results better. I know what's important to you.

I know you wanna succeed and achieve. I know you wanna have things be perfect. Correct. And right. I know what your kolby is. Um, I just was referencing print, you know, so I know how to bring out the best in you. Mm-hmm. Well, one of my Clifton strengths is maximizer. That's pretty much the definition of maximizer, taking something great and helping become even like superb.

Right? That is the definitions and that's my number one. Um, so when I know that I can, I can be more effective in the world, but I can also help you be more effective in the world. Mm-hmm. And together our teamwork, we can [00:27:00] see it for a match. Can we support one another? I love, um, Clifton strengths is just a great access point, uh, to things.

It's very understandable. It's research to death. If anyone is like, needs things to be researched and accurate. I think they're at like 36 million profiles. Oh wow. Their validation sample was 2 million people. That's good enough for any testing. I mean, it's Gallup, right? And so go to clifton strengths.com, get your all 34 totally worth it because your top five are, those are like the cards you've been dealt.

And for me, so it identifies talents and then they say talent times investment. So investment of time, skill, your brain. Yeah. All the things equals a strength. A strength is where when it's applied, you accomplish near perfect performance. Hmm. That's sexy to me. Yeah. I want near perfect performance and I want that from the people around me.

I don't want people playing to their non-strengths. That makes no sense. So the top five are fantastic and this is, I have, so I do this for myself and [00:28:00] then immediately I have everyone with whom I am working. Do them as well. So that is how to get self-awareness for yourself and for others. Um, and then another profile that I think is the only teamwork profile I've found, and I'm kind of mad that I didn't come up with it, which is very arrogant of me.

See, but say, but you'll understand why so is working genius. So working genius is if, you know, if they're. One of the things Patrick Lencioni, one of my heroes, team Heroes has identified is that there are six different phases for teamwork. So one is wonder, asking the big questions. So the acronym is widget, by the way, took me way too long to figure that out.

Um, invention is number two. Coming up with ideas to solve the big question. So 30,000 feet, 25,000 feet elevation. Then you get to discernment 20,000 feet elevation. Which of these ideas make sense now or never? Okay, I have invention, discernment. Uh, then once the idea has been decided on let's galvanize people, shall we, that's [00:29:00] the g.

And then once you've galvanize people, sometimes they still need support. That's enablement. And then, so we're down at 10,000 feet at this point. And so think of any project where you went from idea, do, do, do, do, do down the process to when it came to fruition. 'cause you had someone with tenacity who made sure it, that plane landed on the ground, you crossed the finish line.

And in any of those. Those six things, two of them give you joy, your genius. Mm-hmm. Two of them at which you feel competent and two, that frustrate the, you know, what out of you. Yeah. Um, and wonder and tenacity are my two frustrations, right? Mm-hmm. Let me hang out in that upper middle and I'm a happy camper.

The very, very top, the very, very bottom frustrating for me. Um, but it's fun. 'cause then I know how to, how I know how to orchestrate people. I can put them together. I know one of the things I think I did when on the webinar was I. We call it a uniquability re relay. I look at teamwork as a relay race, and so there, I never ran track.

Most [00:30:00] people could tell that I'm not, not athletic in that way. Um, so there are two rules in a relay race, right? Runner in the right place in the race. Number two, don't drop the baton. Right. So this is when you have, when you know who to pass it to and you, and they grab it and they run like the wind. 'cause their uniquability, they don't drop the sucker or go, oh, I've got 18 other batons.

What do you want? Right? That's powerful. So that's the team portion. 'cause it's all great. You can have individuals, but how are we working together? And then finally with business, you really have to understand the why. What are you up to? What are the core values? What's our goal this year? You know, how are we going to apply this amazing teamwork to a defined result?

And so as an entrepreneur, it can't just be same, same old, same old. It's like, oh, where are we gonna improve the practice? By the way, your team knows how they think the practice should be improved. Mm-hmm. Ask them, you know, what are our goals? What are our financial goals? What are our profit goals? What are our learning goals?

Um, [00:31:00] who, how many more people do we wanna serve and care for? Yeah. Right. So that's your job as a leader. Whether you feel entrepreneurial or not, to actually just set some of those bigger targets. Maybe you're not the person to galvanize others what have you. But that is a huge part because then people can orient their talents, they can orient their efforts towards producing that bigger picture.

So that's the self team and, and that's my entrepreneurial leadership model. Mm-hmm. Um, and then, but the team part is really kind of what. What, where the magic all comes together. Yeah, I love that. And um, it's been really huge for us. Uh, we, I really liked the working genius. It was interesting 'cause it line mine lined up with, I felt like my unique ability as well.

So there was a lot of congruency there and you know, we built a team around it, which was. Great. I want to, um, touch on something that you mentioned. I really enjoyed the relay race, uh, analogy and, and kind of lesson you gave us. And definitely love the right person, right place. And then don't drop the baton, but there was a couple things that you talked about, [00:32:00] which I found very fascinating.

I suffer from one of them pretty, uh. Egregiously. Uh, but you talked about the delegation, death grip, and then you also Yeah, exactly. You got the, the great pictures. That's one thing I love about Strategic Coach too, is you guys have amazing, uh, artistry and branding. It's really cool. Uh, but you talked about delegation, uh, death grip and also drive by delegation.

Can you talk about those two extremes that really sabotaged the teamwork? Oh my gosh. Yeah. And, and, and you know, most people recognize the term micromanager, right? Yes. Always looking over people's shoulder. So one of the things that we coined, and by the way, this is from me, coaching entrepreneurial team members.

Mm-hmm. Right? This is just not come outta my head or just talking to entrepreneurs. This came out of working with your teams, so. This is all me just having, putting us actually putting fun names on a reality. Mm-hmm. So, and we all know this, there's something that we love to do, we're really good at. We've done it for a long time and maybe we don't love it anymore, but [00:33:00] we own it.

Yeah. So what happens is we go to pass it over to someone else because we think we should, because we need to be freed up. But we hand it over to them and then we don't let go. Mm-hmm. Right. This is the death grip and they're trying to take it from us. And by the way. You're in charge, you write the checks, you're in the power seat.

So they're gonna tug, but they're not gonna go, dude, give that to me. Like, they're just not gonna do that. They're nice. They're kind and they're like, oh, I guess he doesn't really wanna give it up after all. Yeah. Right. And I'm saying he, it could be easily be she and, and you. And they're like, and they're frustrated.

And you're frustrated 'cause mm-hmm. You won't let go. Right. And maybe you haven't set up the success criteria. Coach has tools like the impact filter for that, which is actually mm-hmm. Everybody, um, you can say what the success criteria are, but it's, it's hard. And, and this is us being a rugged individual that I talked about earlier.

Mm-hmm. Now, the other one that happens. It's kind of hysterical 'cause it's so different. It's the delegation drive by. Yeah. You take that baton baton [00:34:00] and you roughly toss it sometimes quickly at someone's head and you're gone. You're the one running. And they're like, what? And they, they try and catch a baton.

Maybe they do, maybe they don't. And they're like, what about? And you're gone. You're not there to answer questions. It's called obligation, not delegation, by the way. Uh, and you're not there to answer questions and they're left holding this thing that you're expecting them to do with no direction. Um, we are all guilty of that sometimes.

Um, so yeah, those are two of the extremes. Or you surround yourself with this beautifully kept, talented, capable team and you still do it all yourself, and they're like, come on. Like you're paying us, like let's go. And then finally, there's a good handoff. And I do actually use impact filters for this. It was like, oh, here's what I would like done, right?

Mm-hmm. So I'll give that to John, right? I'm like, John, I think you'll be great at this. Just to let you know what's in my head. Here's the purpose, importance, and ideal outcome of this task. Here's an example [00:35:00] of when I did it really, really well. Here's a worst case scenario of when I really screwed it up.

Mm-hmm. Learn from my mistakes, please. And here's the success criteria, which is a checklist. Checklists are awesome. Um, for, to how to ensure the best and prevent the worst. Mm-hmm. And then John feels well equipped. It's a good handoff. And then he's like, okay, can I check back with you? And you're like, absolutely.

Let's meet tomorrow at, well, let's me meet, meet in three days at 11 for 15 minutes. You can let me know how it's going. And then he is like, okay, I'm really good on steps 1, 2, 3, and four, five. Do you mean this or that? Mm-hmm. You're like, oh yeah, that was clear as mud. I mean, this. All of a sudden you've done a good handoff, but it was, unless you're conscious about it, it's messy.

Yeah. Yeah. And that's the one thing you did also talk with us and, and you mentioned, uh, the impact filter and that, I think that is a free resource. It is, yeah. Just strategic coach.com go to downloads and it'll be. Highly recommend it. It's been something that, uh, I've used a lot. I could [00:36:00] use it even more, but essentially, uh, you know, it, it does a great job.

Like whether you need to develop a community outreach plan for your team Yeah. Or you need to do some kind of new treatment protocol, whatever it may be. Yeah. As you actually sit down and you write out what this looks like and if you sit down with that person and do that and go through that and delegate it.

Strategically like that, uh, there's a high, high chance it's gonna get done and get reported to you. I've suffered from the drive-by delegation. Uh, so I, I, I know I gotta con continue to improve on that, but the impact filter can really help get clear on what that looks like. One trick actually, if, if, if you know that sitting down for you is.

It's gonna take you a while. Are you gonna procrastinate on that? Lemme put it that way. Yeah. There's another trick is you actually pass it to someone. You, maybe you write the ti, the title of it. You are like, you know what, can we meet, you know, two o'clock tomorrow, noon, whatever [00:37:00] time works well. Yeah, two o'clock tomorrow.

And can you interview me on this? 'cause it's really a series of questions and most of us are much better at talking than writing. It's what we do all day. I mean, everyone hates to doing case notes, let's be honest. Um, right. So it's, it's one, when you get interviewed, it's great and the person's job is to capture it, you know, and maybe the treat them as your collaborator.

They'll probably have some good ideas too, and help you, and help ask questions that you'll answer more precisely as a result of their. Being a sounding board for you and have them capture it. So that's an option. Um, great. If you have someone that you think well with. But one other thing I wanted to add, and one of our team members took Dan down the studio one day 'cause we like to interview him.

Mm-hmm. Got good stuff to say. And she said, Dan, why do you have people write things down? And I thought that was the most in end question I've ever heard. I'm like, and then he said something, I was like, oh. He goes, I have people write things down so they can get emotional distance from their thoughts. And I was like, mind [00:38:00] blowing.

I was like, darn, that was a good question. I apologize. And it's true because we have all these thoughts running up in our head and we're like, should I, shouldn't I, I don't know about this. And you're just like, worry and excitement and all the things. It's messy up there. Yeah. We're we're chaotic thinkers by like lots of neurons are firing when you get it down on paper.

And these are all thinking tools. Coach does not do forms. That's, that's for the DMV and, um, but this is, this, this is your thoughts on paper. So they're thinking tools and I love our tools because I always feel smarter at the end. Mm-hmm. And I am smarter at the end 'cause I know more what I want. Right. So it's a brilliant way for you to get some of that emotional distance, see your thoughts on paper, refine them, be able to pass them effectively to someone else, have that conversation.

Mm-hmm. It's amazing how much faster things happen when you take that. It could be five or 10 minutes to get it down. And then all of a sudden this idea, and sometimes you look at it and you're like, oh, this sounded really good in my head, doesn't make any sense at all. [00:39:00] Uh, and other times you're like, oh, this is even better than I saw it.

And then you take action. So, and that's why it's called a filter. Dan is someone with a cajillion ideas. Only about 10% of 'em get through to the team. Mm-hmm. But we know if we get one. Dan thought it through and he's filtered out the other 90% that we don't, that it would be a waste of time or that we're only for him.

So when, if you're someone who has a lot of ideas, please use the impact filter just to protect your team. Mm-hmm. From starting ideas that three weeks later you go, oh, I don't wanna do that anymore, and they've just wasted three weeks. Yeah. Right. So the filtering aspect is real. You waste three weeks and I think you also start to chip away at them taking other serious Yes.

Delegations or things serious because like, oh, it's just another one of Kevin's ideas. I know I had a team member, actually a good friend of mine, he said, oh, I have the hear it three times rule. You what? He said, yeah, I need to hear it three times from my entrepreneur. Mm-hmm. I'm like, that's horrible. Yeah.

Right. I'm like. If that were, if I were the [00:40:00] entrepreneur, I would be so disheartened. Mm-hmm. That first of all, there's some things I'd be really upset, didn't happen right away, and someone wouldn't actually push back at me and say, Hey, can we have a different process for your ideas? Oh my gosh, I was horrified.

But people have that rule. He is not the only one I've heard that from. So yeah, it's you, you erode the credibility with your team if you have too many ideas or they're not thought through or you change them too often. Um, so having a very simple 10 minute tool, like the impact filter is profound for teamwork and trust.

Yeah. Love it. Love it. So to kind of encapsulate that, you know, leadership is the combination of really that self-awareness and that's gonna be your unique ability, teamwork, or sorry, unique ability. And then you have your team and that's gonna be unique ability, teamwork, and all the delegation stuff we talked about.

And then it's, you know, the business having the core values and all that. And, and ultimately if you can really encapsulate this, that's where you probably get the self-managing company. Is that right? Yes. Exactly. When, when, and the cool thing is when [00:41:00] people are doing what they're really best at, so Uniqueability mm-hmm.

They become much more self-managing. Yeah. They, they don't need managing, they need direction. Mm-hmm. Which is where the business, you know, comes into. So that means there's way less. Handholding way less babies. Oh, we're, we're adults here, please. Right. And if you have someone who's not an, an adult mm-hmm.

Find someone who, anyways. Um, yeah. So first of all, way less management, way more leadership, providing direction. That's our definition. Um, and then it frees you up to do more of that and everyone gets to great at that highest level. And you need fewer people. Fewer people at the uniqueability level. Mm-hmm.

Um, if you have a lot of people who are merely competent. Uh, that to me is a bureaucracy. Um, then you do need a lot more people. Yeah, right. That's true. So this is a way to have a lean, successful growing organization. Now you, you need some backup. Let's be clear. You need people in training in case one leaves.

Uh, but it's, it's amazing how, how fast you can go and how quickly you can grow. 'cause it isn't bogged [00:42:00] outta bureaucracy. It's because people are really clear on how they can apply their best talents to the goals and go. It's, it's really, it's really energizing. So yeah, you had a self-managing company and then maybe even a self-multiplying company, which is one that grows itself.

Yes. Love that. And that's so always the goal. And you know, we, uh, a little anecdote on, on our practice, not MCM, the company, but our, our, my private practice here. I had, uh, my other doctor lead our team meeting the other day and start out with a positive focus. I treat patients twice a week now, so I'm not here a few days a week or I'm here, but I'm doing stuff like this and, or I'm traveling with work stuff.

But my positive focus was. You know, I was outta town, uh, for our mastermind and then I was, you know, there's a lot of days I'm not here. And I said, my positive focus is like, um, I feel like I don't have to be here some days and, and things are really good. And so it was nice to realize that we're, we're at that point where we're.

Really close on it. We're gonna really know, uh, soon in June. I'm, my family and I are [00:43:00] taking our first, uh, six week immersion trip. We're gonna be in the uk. Woo. Uh, yeah. So I'll still be doing MCM work, uh, not a ton, but definitely be doing some client work with all that. And creativity stuff around MCM, but I obviously won't be in my practice for six weeks.

And we're, we're hoping to be able to do that every summer. And that was actually something I got, I think it was in 2018, it was a strategic coach member. I was in Atlanta 'cause when, when you guys had a workshops in Atlanta with Kim Butler, who was my coach. And um, someone had done a six week trip and I was like, I need to do that.

So it's been on my. Kind of vision board for a while, and, uh, I wouldn't be able to do that without what Strategic Coach has done for me and helped me with that. And then, you know, ultimately building a self-managing practice is what I, I call our practice as a self-managing practice, hopefully, and we'll find out at the true test with being gone for six weeks.

It's, it, I, first of all, congratulations. That is fantastic. Thank you. And probably lots of [00:44:00] strategy circles. Okay. What could possibly come up that you would need help with? Um, and there's something about team as well, and I haven't mentioned this lately. Mm-hmm. So thank you for bringing it up to me. And that is that you never know how good your team is until you're gone.

Yeah. So one of the things we coach at at Strategic Coach is free days. So taking time away. In this case, you're taking time away for free days with your family, but also M MCM work, but not chiropractic work, right? Yeah. Not hands-on stuff. And so, but here's the corollary to that. Your team never knows how good they are until you leave.

Sure. And so that really is the sign of a self-managing company. And, and what sometimes happens is that people, when they leave their companies. The company does even better. Mm-hmm. When they're not there and then their ego gets a little dented 'cause they're like. Maybe you don't need me, but, but instead, and that is, that's a legit feeling.

I, I would, mm-hmm. I would be like, you're like, oh, but they do need you. They need your leadership. But also it means that you've created such an [00:45:00] effective system for success. Yeah. This is a pat on your back moment, but then you need that, that allows you. To ask, okay, what do you want me for? Mm-hmm. And then just do those things.

I've had clients take a six week sabbatical, they come back feeling un unnecessary, and the team's like, yeah, we still want you for this. The one thing, not the 18 million you thought you had to do. Like, we still need you for this. And you are like, oh, okay. And then you get to see if there's some other places that your wonderful brain wants to take you.

Yeah. Or some other places that need value creation that aren't being served yet. So it provides this new floor. And you're a new platform for your growth. Uh, but, but don't go back. Don't go back and start micromanaging and be, yeah. Don't do the, the death grip delegation. 'cause then you just frustrate everybody.

Um, so that's amazing. I love that. No, that's great. That's, that's a good way of, of putting it. Um, one of the things I've always enjoyed, I'll kind of wrap up with this, is that when a chiropractor, uh, inquires about Strategic Coach via Strategic Coach, [00:46:00] um, one of your team members usually will reach out to me.

I've been on a lot of calls with prospective clients as the mm-hmm. Chiropractor. I don't know if I'm the longest standing one or not, but I've been there for a while now, since 2013. Uh, I'll get on the phone with 'em and tell 'em about my story. And I was also, uh, very grateful. I was interviewed for the testimonial recently from Strategic Coach, and they just did a wonderful job with that, that testimonial.

And it, it really has, uh, it changed my life. And I know obviously Strategic Coach has a certain level of entrepreneur that can qualify for that. And so that's one of the things that. Obviously the ones that you guys connect me with to talk to, they've already reached that barrier. Yeah. Um, but I get a lot of chiropractors reach out to me directly about Strategic Coach, and obviously there's a, you gotta be at a certain level, otherwise you're not gonna be able to really get what you're, what, what you're, uh, intending to.

If you're just, you know, if you just started your practice last month and your revenue is $75,000 a year, like it is just not gonna make sense at that point. Yeah. But I always will [00:47:00] really try to. Ask some questions of that chiropractor or where their mindset is, and uh, and I think if it'll be a good fit for Strategic Coach, but for any chiropractors listening that are thinking about that, how can they find out what are some of the steps they can take to make sure that they're a right fit?

Uh, so great. Thank you for pointing that out. So, strategic Coach is for, uh, creative, successful, collaborative, ambitious entrepreneurs. That is who we are. So, and with a specialty in Yes. Yes. Fill in the blank. Um, and we have a lot of, we have a actually medical is, I would say, yeah. A big growth area for coach.

It's growing. Yeah. It's really fun. Which I love. Well, goodness. I'm, I just turned 60. I'm. Yeah, aging is a thing. I need help. And mind you, I've had, I think I've had a chiropractor since I was 12. Um, oh, that's great. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm, I'm a big fan, um, keeps me upright. Uh, so coach is, that's who we're for.

Mm-hmm. And the minimum qualifying income is, is actually 200,000 personal income. So we don't [00:48:00] actually do it by. Practice or company size. Yeah, without too many variables depending on the type of business, because we serve all entrepreneurs. So am I a fan of industry specific coaching absolutely helps you get better at what you're doing, but also what's gonna feed your entrepreneurial brain and who, and you could get a brilliant idea for someone who does.

Manufacturing in Columbia or someone who's got, you know, an IVF practice over in a different state, or someone who's in internet marketing or information marketing or who knows. Right. Or coaching company. Like you could get inspiration from the community that is mm-hmm. Far none our, our, I think our rooms of entrepreneurs.

I know you love yours. Not to, but I love our clients. I think we have the best. Um, so that's, that's a minimum qualification and, and, and in business for a minimum of three years. Mm-hmm. So we are not a startup company. Our tools and stuff are great for growing entrepreneurial companies. Mm-hmm. But we don't wanna be competing with your rent or your mortgage or your salaries that you have to pay your team.

Um, so that's the minimum. And then we also have another at 500. Mm-hmm. [00:49:00] So when people are starting to bump up against that ceiling of complexity. That we are the missing structure to help people grow and to minimize that crisis period that we, we referenced earlier. Mm-hmm. And to give you the, the mindsets we're really a mindset program.

I've decided, uh, is how to think about things. Dan has this great quote you said, the problem is never the problem. The problem is not knowing how to think about the problem. So we give you lots of different ways to think about expanding your freedom of time, your freedom of money, because that funds everything.

Uh, your freedom of relationship, working with people front end backstage, with whom you, mm-hmm, love and trust and wanna care for. And then finally, freedom of purpose. Why are you here? What's your uniquability? What impact do you wanna have on the world? So that's what we're about. So if someone is, wants to expand their freedoms, sees themselves as an entrepreneur, wants to appreciates the field that they're in, but also wants to be exposed at a, a kind of larger framework, I guess, or framework, larger audience then coaches a phenomenal place to be.

Um, our clients are like [00:50:00] you, right? So if you wanna hang out with a room full of really cool Kevins. Coaches to be, they're a lot cooler, but I do, I do love going to the room and, and having other industries and be able to, uh, uh, you know, get out of our box. Sometimes we do within our industry specific seminars and workshops, and I know one of my, uh, overarching motivations working with chiropractors is to.

Get them to be making at least $200,000 a year. And then I would love for them to graduate me and, and go to coach or do or do both or whatever. Right? So that's something that I always have because, you know, we work with a lot of different levels of chiropractors above that and below that. But love getting 'em to coach, uh, especially if they, um, if what you said resonates with them on, on, if they check those boxes of, you know, ambitious and entrepreneurial and those things, and just have a bigger vision than what.

We typically see in chiropractic profession, no, no offense to my profession, but there is a, a ceiling that's lower [00:51:00] than it should be, I think, and I want people to really kind of bust through that. Well, it certainly is lower. It's too low for some people, not everybody. And I'm kudos to all the ones who are just really good craft.

'cause I'm, I appreciate you too. And, but, but I don't want anyone to be frustrated and if, and there is, if there's another level for you, you provide this phenomenal pathway, Kevin. And it's interesting, I am, when people say, oh, sorry. When people say, oh, I'm, I, I'm in this other program, I'm like, great. Mm-hmm.

If someone shows up a coach and has never participated in any other growth platform mm-hmm. I'm like, Hmm, not sure how this is gonna work for you. 'cause, because they'll treat it like school. Yeah. And they'll only wanna listen to the coach and they won't contribute to the other people and they won't be contributed to.

Mm-hmm. So I actually, you know, by anybody else, so I actually deeply appreciate when someone has invested in themselves to learn and to grow, rather than just their schooling. So I love when people participate in masterminds and when they see, when they start to build that structure, and then they get to [00:52:00] a certain point and then we can kick in.

Awesome. But to my mind, people who've actually seen that, oh, I wanna keep learning and growing. That I'm like, okay, now you make sense to me. Um, I think you and I are very aligned in terms of that being pretty important. Perfect. Well, Shannon, I really appreciate your time today. This has been great, and, uh, look forward to running into one of the workshops again soon.

Yeah, I just thought of one more thing. I'm, I forgot to mention the website, strategic coach.com. There you go. Lots of fun downloads. And also if anyone wants some of the other team tools that we were talking about. Mm-hmm. Uh, then you can go to your team success.com. So that's where you can download things like the Communication Builder.

Um, positive focus is also on there, um, some do's and don'ts, which are kind of cool. So anyway, strategic coach.com to learn more about that and get the Impact filter, and then your team success.com for other other resources. Perfect. Thanks again for your time today, Kevin. Thank you so much. Always a pleasure.

Bye.

[00:53:00] I hope you enjoyed this week's episode, and if you wanna make the shift from busy broke and broken to time free and cash confident, or you just wanna continue with the exponential growth, check us out@modernchiropracticmarketing.com. Look at the MCM Mastery tab, watch the short video on there, and check out what we are doing now for evidence-informed chiropractors.

We are equal parts coaching and marketing done for you. Yes, you shoot some videos. We help you with campaign strategies and ideas and really become a thought leader in your community. You shoot those videos, you send 'em to us. We produce, edit, and brand them to you. Then we distribute 'em through all of your channels.

We also take them and we turn it into one good blog per month and every other month we have Darcy Sullivan producing a robust blog with a topic that you pick from her database to help with your SEO. So we essentially become your content marketing agency to make sure your practice is always having ethical, elegant content marketing to help grow your practice.

[00:54:00] On the coaching side, we also help you with everything from marketing ideas to business communications, finances. Anything, practice growth and really try to help prevent you from being stuck on Ad Island and we hold you accountable. We have a great group of doctors that are just doing amazing things, and we look forward to help you out to take that next step in your practice.

So again, check us out@modernchiropracticmarketing.com and learn more.