EPISODE 478: When are you going to become a pro?

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.

Welcome to another episode of Modern Chiropractic Mastery. I got a question for you. When are you going to be a pro? And it's something I've been chewing on a little bit, and it's, um, you know, a lot of you are pros, right? So I'm not, uh, calling anybody out, right? But I do think, um, as a chiropractor, uh, you know, as a, as a professional, um, I like the, the term being a, a pro, right?

It's, uh, it's a simple concept, but most people default to, like, a pro is someone who gets paid, and an amateur does it for love, right? But a professional, um, does it for money, but this falls apart quickly. Uh, plenty of people get paid for mediocre work, and plenty of unpaid people operate at an extraordinary level, right?

So there's a little bit of a deeper [00:01:00] meaning to what it means to be a pro, and I'm gonna dive into some of that. But I, I just think about it as like if just not enough chiropractors are a pro. And if you were... If you all of a sudden became a CEO of Coca-Cola or you were a quarterback for an NFL team, you kinda have this mental picture of, like, what it takes to be a pro, what, what it takes to perform at the highest level.

And why do we tend to shortchange ourself just because we're a chiropractor, right? Why aren't we treating our business or our profession like you would if you, uh, were the CEO of a big company or, you know, professional athlete or, or, or an artist, right? Um, why don't we have that attention to, uh, detail within reason, right?

One of the good things about being a chiropractor is we have a little bit of better work-life integration, and that's awesome. And we can, I think, be a pro and have good work-life integration. [00:02:00] So let's, let's dive into some of my thoughts on, um, what being a pro means. One is a pro shows up regardless of how they feel, right?

Steven Pressfield, he has a good take in The, uh, War of Art, is that the difference is about resistance. Amateurs wait for inspiration. Pros sit down and do the work anyway, sick, tired, uninspired, or scared. The muse shows up after you start, not before, right? That line there, sick, tired, uninspired, and scared, uh, yeah, it's happens a lot of us all the time, and you still gotta show up, and you still gotta be a pro.

A pro has internalized standards. A pro doesn't need external accountability to care about quality. They hold themselves to a standard even when no one else is watching, even when they could just get away- With less. The judgment that matters [00:03:00] most is their own. A pro manages the emotional weight of their craft.

Amateurs are devastated by criticism and derailed by failure. Pros feel those things too, but they've built systems and mindsets that let them process and continue. The emotional regulation is part of the skill. That one hits home for sure. Number four, a pro takes full ownership. No blaming tools, circumstances, or bad luck.

A pro asks, "What could I have done differently?" They're re-relentlessly self-responsible, not in a self-punishing way, but in an empowering one. I think too many chiropractors blame the profession, right? Everybody blames the profession. Doesn't take any ownership of their lot and where they're at, just blame the profession.

We know there's problems, but I also know [00:04:00] a lot of pros, a lot of chiropractors doing very well in spite of those struggles and, and there's just undoubtedly struggles in our profession. A pro treats their craft like a business, not a hobby. This isn't just about money, it's about intentionality. Tracking progress, investing in improvement, being strategic about time and energy, treating commitments as non-negotiables.

You know, and there's a, a, a real paradox here, right? You, you become a pro by deciding you are one. It's not conferred by a credential, a paycheck, or enough years in it. It's an identity shift, a decision about how you're going to show up. But most people are waiting for some external signal to give them permission.

And so what are you waiting for, right? When are [00:05:00] you going to become- A pro. And I think the other thing, right, um, pros don't go it alone. There's a romanticized myth of the self-made expert, the lone genius who figured it all out through sheer grit and trial and error. But when you look at actual pros across every field, the pattern is almost universal.

They had coaches, mentors, and guides, often many of them. Michael Jordan had Phil Jackson. Serena Williams had her father, then, then Patrick Mouratoglou. I can't pronounce that name. Um, but even elite coaches have coaches. You know, I, I'm a coach of chiropractors. I have my own coaches. I would never go without coaches.

And I think coaching really helps accelerate the journey to becoming a pro. Some of the things about coaching that I think you need to consider is you can't see your own blind spots, right? That's a, that's a big one. [00:06:00] This is perhaps the most important reason. Um, amateurs operate inside their own perspective, which means they keep reinforcing the same patterns, good and bad, without realizing it.

A coach stands outside your performance and sees what you literally cannot. The gap between how you think you're showing up and how you're actually showing up is often enormous, right? A coach closes that gap faster than years of solo experience ever could.

A coach compresses time. Going pro on your own means learning everything the hard way, through mistakes, wasted effort, and slow feedback loops. A good coach has already made those mistakes, mapped the terrain, and can hand you a shortcut. They don't eliminate the work, but they make sure the work is pointed in the right directions.

Years of [00:07:00] wandering can become months of intentional progress. A coach holds the standard when you forget it. Remember, the pros internalize standard. In the beginning, you don't fully have it yet. You're still developing it. A, a coach holds that standard for you while you're building the internal muscle to hold it yourself.

They believe in what you're capable of before you can fully see it. The external belief is a scaffold, temporary but essential, right? So you wanna get to that internal, but it takes a temporary external, and that scaffolding is something I've written about in the past. I'm, I'm kinda, you know, working through this idea of being a pro on an article I'm writing That's kind of what I'm reading to you and, and going through it.

But one thing I've talked about before is, like, your business needs a scaffolding, right? It's you need an accountant, you need a coach, you need this and that, and a clinical training, and then as you grow that, uh, you can remove some of the [00:08:00] scaffolding. And I just always love that scaffolding analogy. A coach makes you accountable to your own commitments.

Amateurs make promises to themselves and break them privately with no real consequence. Working with a coach means your commitments become real. Someone else knows about them. That accountability isn't about fear of disappointing someone. It's about the structure that makes follow-through the path of least resistance.

Pros build systems, and coaching is one of the most powerful systems available. A coach challenges the stories you're telling yourself. I tell myself a lot of stories. That's why I have coach. A lot of what keeps people from going pro isn't skill, it's the narrative. "I'm not ready. I need one more credential.

Who am I to charge for this? People like me don't do things like that." A coach hears those stories and doesn't let them go unchallenged. Right? [00:09:00] And, you know, the people who most resist getting a coach, frankly, are often the ones who need it the most. And, and I've noticed that, right? I've, I've got a... We have a lot of clients, whether it's our regular coaching programs or it's our mastermind, who have amazing practices.

And on the surface you'd be like, "Well, why would they need a coach?" They need... They know they need a coach 'cause they're trying to get even better, right? They're trying to get even better. And the moment you stop trying to figure out everything out alone and start investing in the support that seriously helps inv- people inve- Sorry, let me redo that back, Becky.

The moment you stop trying to figure out everything alone and start investing in the support that serious people invest in, you know? And I think you really have to consider that, and it, and it's just no matter who you are. Again, I c- um I [00:10:00] recently had Dr. Rob Pasala as a guest on my podcast, and he's had a remarkable career, a very successful career.

He's still in our mastermind group. He's still looking for people to help him, and he's looking to help people as well. And I think you need to consider some of these ideas on taking it to the next level for yourself, because if you do this, you will gain the results that you know in your heart of hearts that you're desiring.

And so consider it. If you think MCM could be a good fit for you, we'd love to have a conversation with you. Go to our website, modernchiropracticmastery.com, and let's all be a pro. We'll all do better for it. Profession will be better for it. Our patients will be better for it, and it'll be more fun.