I just looked to see how many Chiropractors there are in the United States. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that there are now 44,000 Chiropractors in the United States.

Chiropractic is a lonely job. You are all alone in your office; ostracized by the medical establishment, the media and many more. You are fluxommened by the fact that 95% of your patients “don't get” the idea and concept of chiropractic. Then you sit in your office waiting for the phone to ring. It is a lonely life and quite different from what you were told in chiropractic college. You are told in chiropractic college that all you need to do is find a place anywhere on earth and “put out your shingle” and the masses will beat a path to your door. I unfortunately believed this falsehood. The reality is quite different. Chiropractic is a business, just like McDonalds or Starbucks. The business training that chiropractic students receive is weak, at best.

So let me set the stage for the “Chiropractic Consultants” or parasites as I like to call them. You are all alone in your office, you are trying everything to get new patients and you only see small incremental growth, nothing like the chiropractors that told anecdotal stories to you in chiropractic college. You are barraged by direct mail pieces that promise you incredible growth and success. At first, you ignore the mailings, you think you can do the marketing yourself. Then later down the line, you begin to take a closer look and eventually you become interested.

For me, I finally became interested in one consultant because they claimed that “you do not pay, unless you grow.” I called the toll free number in Tennessee and was told that I needed to attend the next “boot camp” in Dallas. I agreed and set out for Dallas. When the seminar or meeting began, you are bombarded by folks telling their stories. They were down to their last dollar, they were going to lose everything including their cat, etc. The emotion is at a very high level and you are sucked into it. Then you hear from Dr. R and Dr. O who used and are now in their program and are now owning a chain of rental houses in Pocatello, Idaho. You then hear from the founder of the company, who says he knows or knew everyone famous in chiropractic. He spouts off in his southern drawl about how he has made thousands of chiropractors successfully through his system. All you have to do is follow his lead, listen to his recordings and you will be rich just like him! By that time, usually about 7 pm, you are on an emotional high, thinking that you will be the next chiropractic millionaire.

Then they set the trap. You are called upstairs to meet one on one with the company to sign a contract. The room is darkly lit and you are presented with a two page 11" x 17" contract. You are assured by the folks that it is all straightforward and you will not pay them a dime unless you go over your “base.” You are told you need to attend boot camps and send them statistics, it’s really easy. Then you are visited by the founder's son, who hands you a “million dollar pen” to sign the contract. He assures you that he has looked over your paperwork and you will do well with the program. You are assured again that the contract is a standard one and sign it so you can get started for your first million. I signed and it was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. You are then given a stack of recordings and sent back down to the ballroom. The way it works is if you don’t sign the contract, you have to leave the building. Most signed like me.

The next day, they put the hammer down. After the impromptu church service, one of the office folks meets with you. Yes, these folks claim to be Christians. Then someone from the home office in Chattanooga lays down the rules. If you are late with your statistics, reports, etc., you will owe a $500 penalty to their collection agency in Georgia. The hair began to stand up on my back. I was beginning to think that I might have made a mistake of gargantuan proportions. But you still have that glimmer of hope in your mind.

Once I was back home, I began diving into the recordings and the materials. One of the recordings was incredibly racist. The tone of the recording was about motivation and following through. However the story talked about how his son’s small Christian school beat a local public school “who had all black kids on their team.” Some of the other recordings were OK, the rest were just anecdotal stories that made little sense. The “program” that the consultant recommended was basically to take x-rays of the patient and scare the hell out of them. Then you tell the patients that they need to come back and see you for 47 visits on their “treatment plan.”

I honestly tried and tried the system for about a year. My business did not increase much above my “base.” My coach from Bakersfield told me I needed to come visit his practice and see how things are really done. Then he cancelled at the last minute, strange. I eventually realized morally that I could not practice according to their system and quit doing it. Amazingly, once I went back to my old way of doing things, my practice increased. I suppose you need to be congruent with your beliefs.

About six months later, they released the dogs on me. I was sent a certified letter inforning me that they were auditing my priacice for six months. What they requested was about 5,000 pages of information. I was supposed to copy everything and send it to them. I told them they were welcome to come to my office and look around, they never did. Then I revieved the nuclear response. I was sent a certified collection demand for $54,000 from Cherokee Collections, their family collection agency.

My simple advice to all Chiropractors, do your due diligence! For the money you pay these so-called consultants (the going rate is $700/month), you can use that money for your own marketing. I am sure that some do well with chiropractic consulting, but they are unfortunately in the minority.

This article is written in accordance with the Free Speech Clause of the US Constitution.