Speaker Dr. Bill Davis
Today, your first year as a chiropractor: five early moves that shape or stall your career. I'm Dr. Bill Davis with UCM Practice Growth Systems, and I'm very excited to be with you today. Very excited to present this information to you.
This is all the information I wish I would have known when I was first coming out of chiropractic school. And hopefully, this is going to be a huge win for you today as you spend this time with us learning these key truths about getting started in a chiropractic career.
So let's dive right in and get right into it. These are five early moves that are going to shape or stall your career. And this is why this conversation matters is because most chiropractors don't fail because of a lack of skill or clinical ability.
The biggest challenges usually come from early career decisions. Choices made in those first 12 to 18 months after graduation, such as where to work, who to learn from, they have a long-term impact. Your first year sets a momentum that can either accelerate your growth or create obstacles that slow your progress.
You're going to learn habits, you're going to have relationships, you're going to have environments that are going to shape you or they're going to deter you from where you want to go as a chiropractor.
The longer negative patterns continue, the harder they are to change later. And so that's why it's crucial to make good decisions at the front end of your career to set you up for success later. And so what is this webinar and what it isn't is it's not telling you which path to take.
There's no single correct career path for every chiropractor. Your goals, circumstances, strengths, values are unique. What works great for one person might be completely wrong for another. It's not promoting one right answer.
We're not going to push you towards starting your own practice or becoming an associate or any other specific option. Each route has merit for the right person in the right situation, but we are going to help you to choose intentionally.
Our goal is to equip you with frameworks. We're going to go through frameworks, questions, and insights that help you evaluate your options clearly. We want you to choose based on strategy and self-awareness, not on fear or pressure.
And so let's get going with this. So the first thing that I have to talk about, and this is crucial, crucial to help you to think about, is the difference between a generalist and a specialist. And this is something that you may not even have thought of at all while you've been in chiropractic school, is that there is a difference in chiropractic between a general chiropractor and a specialist within the chiropractic profession.
And I'm going to attempt to show you why being a specialist is the better early career choice for chiropractors. And it may seem like this is a more difficult route, but it actually is the easier route when you compare the two of them over the span of a career.
And so why does specialization matter early in your career? Specialization is not about limiting yourself. It's about accelerating your clarity, confidence, and growth. Specialization helps you to get a clear identity.
When patients understand what you do and who you help, that clarity builds trust. It will lead to stronger results because you're going to have a focus on a specific type of chiropractic approach that will allow you to get consistency and confidence quicker.
It's also much easier to market a specialist practice than it is a generalist practice. It's easier to say, this is the go-to doctor for this, than this is just another chiropractor. It's easier also to develop a deeper mastery when you focus in on a specialty.
When you're repetition within a niche, it'll sharpen your skill in decision making. It also will increase your perceived value in the minds of patients and will set you apart as a professional when you focus in on a specific specialty.
And the other thing to think about is specialization is how all healthcare actually works. You know, outside of chiropractic, specialization is not controversial as all. It's expected. Patients instinctively understand this.
And so they don't look for a general surgeon when they need to have a heart procedure. They don't look for a general physician when they need a neurologist. They don't assume that a broad approach is better.
They assume focused expertise produce better results. And chiropractic is no different, except that many students are taught to resist this reality instead of embracing it. But I'll tell you, students and doctors out there that are listening, not all specialties are created equal.
There's a lot of different specialties that you can get into within chiropractic. That will bring clarity, that will produce good outcomes. Some paths will lead to consistent patient improvements and predictable practice growth, while others are less clearly defined or lack long-term data.
So there's lots of different specialties. There's sports chiropractic. There's pediatric and family care. There's functional neurology. There's condition-specific focuses like focusing on fibromyalgia or migraines or post-concussion syndrome or scoliosis or focusing your practice on rehabilitation.
There's lots of different things you can do within chiropractic that would be considered specialties. And it's good to explore all these different things when you're in chiropractic school. Explore specialties early.
Help you understand not just what each path offers, but the types of outcomes and practice experiences they tend to produce. But I will say that there is a specialty that I would personally recommend, and it's a specialty that I personally chose after coming out of chiropractic school.
I was a general chiropractor. I went and practiced, you know, I went to Los Angeles College of Chiropractic, known today as Southern California University of Health Sciences, and I learned, you know, basic diversified techniques, went in and practiced in a general chiropractic practice for two years as an associate.
And what I ran into in that practice was I had a lot of great patients and I was able to help them and work with them and get some great results. But the length of time that my adjustments were lasting was my challenge with it.
Many of my patients who were getting great results, I would need to see on a weekly basis. And, you know, as someone who believes in the design of the body and that God has designed our bodies in an incredible way, I could not wrap my mind around the fact that he has designed us in such a way that we need to be adjusted every week for the rest of our lives, that we need a chiropractor always in our health plan every single week of our lives.
And so I started to think about, okay, is there something out there that lasts longer? Is there something that can get to the point where the adjustment is more long-lasting, that they can hold the adjustment, they can get longer-lasting results?
And that's when I started looking into all sorts of different specialties. And what I eventually found my way to is to upper cervical chiropractic care. And this became my focus. It became my transition from my associate position into my own practice in an upper cervical specific practice.
And it was an absolutely fantastic decision. It led to so many wonderful things in my life. And I want to encourage you, if you have never even explored upper cervical chiropractic as an option, please do.
I'm not telling you that you should be an upper cervical chiropractor. I'm not saying that everyone should be an upper cervical chiropractor, but I believe that every chiropractic student and new doctor should at least explore it.
And if you're a doctor out there that's listening to this and you've been in practice for a while, also explore it. Upper cervical chiropractic is something that is a very profound and powerful specialty within the chiropractic profession that I believe every chiropractor should at least take a look at.
Because when you look for consistency of results, clarity of care, and long-term stability, one specialty stands out, and that's upper cervical care. Focused on the atlas, the brainstem, and how the head sits on the spine where small misalignments can create big changes throughout the body.
Here's some things that you have to think about when it comes to upper cervical care that are great positives of this specific specialty. Number one is it's easy for patients to understand. When you explain upper cervical chiropractic and you help them to see that if their head is not balanced over their spine, the whole rest of the body begins to compensate for that.
And you can show them that visually. You can show them that with their own imaging and these types of things. It makes sense to them. They can see how that, how the position of the head can impact the rest of the body.
And because it also upper cervical approaches, they require precise analysis. There's gentle adjustments. There's very clear measurements. And there's no twisting, popping, or cracking involved. And so a patient who is concerned about those things, is curt and concerned about twisting, popping, cracking, all the things that they may have already been concerned about when it comes to chiropractic,
all of that is eliminated with upper cervical care. That it's a precise analysis, it's gentle adjustments, and it's very, very clear. The other piece of it is the main reason why I got involved with upper cervical chiropractic is the holding is healing philosophy.
This is huge for patients because one of the concerns that patients have with chiropractic is, well, once you go to a chiropractor, you always have to go, right? There's that understanding. And it's, you know, it's, it's, I mean, of course, that in and of itself is a ridiculous statement because, you know, once you go to a dentist, you always have to go as well.
It's, there is, there is a maintenance that has to happen with anything in life if you want to continue to get the results from it. But the holding is healing philosophy helps patients to better understand what we are attempting to achieve when it comes to chiropractic care and specifically upper cervical chiropractic care, which is to align the body, to get the body into its proper alignment, to restore it to a normal alignment so that it can be as healthy as possible.
And so it's not about being adjusted. It's about being in alignment. And when you explain that to patients, when you help them to see, hey, so you're, you know, off to one side, you're twisted and turned, you got more weight on one side of your body than the other.
You got your heads tilted to the side, your shoulders are uneven, your hips are uneven. You show them these types of things and you say, our goal is to get you back into normal alignment where your head is centered over your spine, your shoulders are level, your hips are level, you've got the same amount of weight on both feet.
And then our goal is to keep you that way as long as possible, because when you're in alignment, you are healing. Your body is functioning as high a level as possible. And they get that. They're like, oh, yeah, that makes sense.
And so it's not about being adjusted. It's about being in alignment. And so then you and the patient become part of the same partnership of saying, yes, I want my body to be in alignment because I'm going to be healthier when I'm in alignment.
Yeah, exactly. So when they come in the practice and you check them and you check to see if they're holding the adjustment, then you can celebrate it when they are, both of you, both the patient and you.
And so it's a very, very powerful understanding that is very unique to upper cervical chiropractic care, this holding is healing is philosophy. And it makes it for a very powerful focus of a practice.
Also, the biggest, you know, another thing with upper cervical chiropractic is it frequently addresses root causes. Because of the compensation that cascade that happens when there is an upper cervical misalignment, it creates a bunch of other misalignments throughout the rest of the spine.
And if you address the upper cervical misalignment, the atlas is the most movable bone in the body. It's the most vulnerable to injury. And when it twists and turns out of its normal alignment, it's going to create the head tilt and the changes throughout the rest of the body.
And so when you restore the atlas to its normal alignment, bring the head back over the center of the spine where it's supposed to be, it changes the rest of the spine, it changes the body, and it eliminates the compensations.
And so that's very powerful, again, for getting long-term results is if you can address the root cause. And this really, the other big thing with upper cervical care is you get just incredible life-changing outcomes.
You get people who have been everywhere and tried everything, and they end up in your practice, and you get to help them, and you get to see decades and decades of pain and frustration and lost sleep and fatigue and marital problems and all these things that go along with a chronic health problem go away.
And it's absolutely life-changing. It's powerful for you as the doctor, powerful for your staff, and it's powerful for patients. And so those life-changing outcomes is a huge part of upper cervical chiropractic.
And then there's a very clear path for new doctors because these upper cervical chiropractic has very precise and repeatable systems that you can learn and you can feel confident in, and they have great mentorship opportunities.
It's a very mentor-focused world, the upper cervical chiropractic world. No matter what technique focus you go in within upper cervical, every single one of the people who are involved in it are very mentor focused.
They've been mentored and they want to mentor others. There's a very much a pay forward, pay it forward mentality within upper circle chiropractic. So these are all the reasons why upper circle chiropractic is something that you want to look into if you're a student or if you're a recent graduate, because correcting the atlas allows the body to unwind and return to balance.
Patients see it, they feel it, they finally understand why upper cervical chiropractic works so well. And so here's some other statistics. These are things that you may not have ever heard while you've been going through chiropractic school, because this is new information that we have facilitated, put this all together over the past decade plus.
And now we're finally releasing this as we've been gathering this information. And so if you look at upper cervical care, you know, it offers these precise repeatable systems that you can learn and feel confident in.
The data shows this specialty consistently outperforms general chiropractic across every key metric. Number one is cash practices. Cash practice is the key for all type of chiropractors. You don't want to be dependent on insurance companies.
Insurance companies will limit your ability to be an effective chiropractor. They will make it so it's more difficult to take care of patients in the way that you need to take care of them. It will also delay your payment.
It will make it so you have to have more staff and increase your overhead. Insurance-dependent practices are, you know, they're not good compared to a cash practice. And so upper cervical care is a very cash practice focused type of practice because they're specialists, because they're unique within the chiropractic profession.
Patients expect to pay cash. They expect for it to be out of network. They don't expect it to just be part of their HMO. And so a majority in upper cervical, a large majority, 95% are cash-based practices as opposed to general chiropractic where that number is 44%.
So it's a huge difference, 50% more in upper cervical versus general chiropractic. Also, if you look at the fail rate or the quit rate of chiropractors within their first 10 years of practice, research has shown that up to 25% of general chiropractors quit or fail in practice within their first 10 years.
And in upper cervical, that rate is only about 5%. And so again, a significant improvement. Another reason is the monthly income. Most upper cervical practices thrive far above typical new graduate income.
The average is between $25,000 and $60,000 per month is what upper cervical practices are making consistently. And there's a very strong growth path for upper cervical practices. You have a heavy representation of multi-doctor practices, multi-location practices within upper cervical.
And so again, you have much more ability to grow over time. Structure creates stability. Upper cervical practices succeed because of clear systems, strong retention, and less insurance dependence. For new graduates seeking a specialty with proven clinical outcomes, predictable growth, and long-term career stability, upper cervical chiropractic stands out as the most promising path in the profession.
Now, within upper cervical, there's a lot of different options when it comes to your technique. There's NUCA and orthospinology and Blair and Knee chest and toggle recoil and Atlas orthogonal and QSM3, advanced orthogonal, EPIC.
These are all just different upper cervical technique options. You can look into each of them. You can explore them. You can find out what's different about this one and that one and whatever. They all have pros and cons and all those types of things.
Some are hand adjustments. Some are instrument adjustments. There's lots of different variety within Upper Cervical that you can learn about and you can understand, but they all have the basic same goal, and that's restoring atlas and access alignment to reduce neurological irritation and improve whole body function.
And so whichever direction you go, whatever technique you go in, you're going to get a similar type of outcome. What we found is these, all these upper cervical practices have a similar type of outcome compared to general chiropractic.
So will you specialize? I hope the answer to that is yes, right? Assess your strengths, assess your market fit, choose your specialization, commit and execute, build expertise and showcase your work.
Will you specialize in upper cervical? I hope your answer to that is also yes. Figure out your upper cervical focus, which technique you're going to focus in on. Get dialed in when it comes to your outcome tracking, your patient assessment, your specialized training.
But I would recommend if you're considering it, at least look into upper cervical. All right. Next, let's talk about your first big decision before you graduate, and that is your preceptorship. It's often viewed as just another requirement to check off, but it is not just that.
A preceptorship is an experience that is strategic, not administrative. It's your first extended exposure to how chiropractic practices actually operate behind the scenes. You're going to observe technique and systems and communication and team dynamics and leadership, all these things that are very, very important to understand when it comes to being successful as a chiropractor.
This is your chance to see what works, what doesn't, what kind of environment brings out your best work. And ideally, you want a preceptor with a specialist, right? If you are, again, we would encourage you to be a specialist yourself.
And so find a specialist that you can learn from beginning with your preceptorship. So what to watch for during a preceptorship? Number one is you want to understand their practice culture. How does their team interact?
Is there mutual respect and collaboration? Or is there tension and dysfunction, right? Do people seem energized and excited about what they're doing? Are they drained? The culture isn't about perks. It's about how people treat each other when challenges arise, right?
Leadership style. How does the lead chiropractor, the clinical director, how do they make decisions? Do they mentor people? Do they develop their team? Or they, you know, or is it just, you know, are they just about delegating and demanding?
Right. Are they present and engaged or are they constantly absent? Right. Leadership style determines whether you'll grow in your preceptorship or whether it'll just be another class. Systems and structure is another thing you want to look for when you're evaluating preceptorships.
Does the practice have clear processes, right? When it comes to patient flow, documentation, scheduling, communication, or does everything feel chaotic and improvised? Strong systems create consistency and reduce stress for everyone involved.
That includes doctors, interns, staff, patients, and so forth. And then how are associates treated, right? If there are associate doctors within the practice, watch closely. Are they given autonomy and opportunities to grow?
Do they enjoy working there? Are they excited about it? Do they like it? Do they have clear responsibilities and fair compensation? Are they valued team members? Or are they just simply treated as expendable labor?
So these are things to look at when you're evaluating preceptor positions because your preceptor matters, right? You want to clarify fit. You want to discover what type of practice environment aligns with your personality, your work style, and values.
Some doctors are going to thrive in a high-volume, fast-paced clinic. Others prefer a smaller relationship-focused practice. There's no universal ideal. You got to find what's ideal for you, right? A preceptorship also can reveal red and green flags.
You get in the right position. You can really start to identify what is important for you, right? You're going to learn to recognize warning signs, right? Is there a lot of vague expectations, poor communication, unrealistic promises, or exploitive arrangements, right?
Equally important, though, is to identify green flags. Is there clear leadership? Is there supportive culture? Is there transparent systems? Is there genuine mentorship? And this will inform your first job decision, whether you end up working for the doctor who you are doing your preceptorship with, or if you go on to a different practice after your preceptorship.
Either way, you're going to be, if you choose a preceptorship wisely, you're going to be armed with the experience that you'll need to evaluate future opportunities with sharper discernment. You'll know which questions to ask, what terms to clarify, what non-negotiables to establish.
Your preceptorship becomes a reference point for every decision that follows. Or, as I said, your preceptorship can lead to an associateship. So after your preceptorship, what's next? You want to reflect, you want to plan, and then you want to advance, right?
What did you learn during your preceptorship? What do I want to do from here? What's my plan? Do I want to stay here? Do I want to go someplace else? What are my options? And then you want to take your next step.
So after your graduation, there are three main routes, right? Three main routes. You can start your own practice immediately. You can be a short-term associate or you can be a long-term associate, right?
Each route has distinct advantages and challenges. None are inherently superior. The right choice depends on your goals, resources, temperament, and circumstances. We're going to examine each path more closely to really dial in and figure out what would be best for you and your situation.
So route number one is start your own practice, right? This is a high autonomy, high pressure environment, right? If you come directly out of school and you open your own practice, you're going to control every decision.
You're going to decide what is your clinical approach, what are your hours, what is your pricing, your culture, right? You're establishing everything, but you're also responsible for every problem from payroll to plumbing, right?
The freedom is exhilarating. The pressure is relentless, right? So you have to understand these things going into it. But you will have a rapid learning curve. If you start your own practice right out the gate, you're going to learn faster than any other route because you must in order to survive.
You're going to learn about marketing and hiring and finances and operations and compliance and every challenge becomes an immediate education. Growth happens quickly, but so do mistakes. Business skill is required in this situation.
Clinical excellence alone won't sustain a practice. You need entrepreneurial instincts, financial literacy, marketing savvy, and leadership capability. If you lack these skills, you'll need to develop them urgently or find support, right?
So this is a key thing to evaluate. If you're thinking, man, I'm going to start my own practice right after graduation. Is this you? Are you that kind of a person? Are you, you already know? Maybe you've ran businesses in the past.
Maybe you already understand at a high level how to effectively run a practice. If that's the situation, then you may be able to start right off the gate and make an impact in your community and be able to do it your way.
But it's a very unique person. In my experience, it's probably about one out of 10 graduates that can go this route and expect success. It may be lower than that. It may be one out of 100, right? It just depends on the situation.
So I would evaluate this very clearly, make sure that this is right for you, and make sure that there isn't another approach that you would take instead. So route number two is a short-term associate.
This is a 12 to 36 month launch phase. This is a training ground. You want this to be a strategic stepping stone, right? Not a destination. You're intentionally using this time to prepare for ownership.
This timeline matters, right? You want to have it long enough to gain traction, short enough to maintain momentum. This is all about skill and confidence building. When you're a short-term associate, you want to develop clinical competency.
You want to develop patient communication skills, business acumen in a lower risk environment, right? You learn from someone else's mistakes. You learn from the positives and the negatives. You have positive, negative examples you can learn from.
You observe what works and you build your real-world practice knowledge gradually. In order for a short-term associate position to work well, you need to have mentorship and an exit plan going into it.
It only works if you have a genuine mentorship from your clinic director and a clear plan for what comes next. Without mentorship, you're just collecting a paycheck. Without an exit plan, you're risk getting comfortable and losing momentum.
So short-term associate, a question to ask, is this going to be a launch pad or is this just going to be a stall for you? Right. If you ask yourself, am I actively preparing to open my own practice with this training?
Or does the doctor, and does the doctor you know work that you're working for, do they know that? But in your in this position, you need to be saving money towards your own practice, right? You need to be getting equipped with the things that you need to know, and you need to be clarifying your next step.
That should be how this works. That 12 to 36 month range, it's all about doing those three things. You're saving a bunch of money, you're getting equipped, and you're clarifying your next steps. And hopefully you're doing that with the doctor you're working with.
So they have a very clear understanding of when, you know, what they're getting from you and what you're getting from them and how you guys are working together in this process. So what the third route is the long-term associate route.
And I'll tell you, this route is often misunderstood or undervalued. The assumption is that ownership is always the goal and anything else represents settling or somehow failure, but that's simply just not true.
Being a long-term associate can be a stable, fulfilling, and financially rewarding path when done right. You focus on patient care without the operational burdens of ownership. You have predictable income, defined hours, someone else handling marketing, payroll, and facilities.
But this path requires structure and clarity, right? You need fair compensation, opportunities for professional growth, clearly defined responsibilities, and a practice culture that values your contributions.
That's what you want to look for. Without these elements, long-term associate roles can become frustrating or limiting. Growth must be intentional. You don't let your skills or career plateau just because you're not an owner, right?
You want to continue to pursue education, develop specialization, take on leadership roles, and so forth. And so whether you choose the short-term associate or long-term associate path, sometimes you don't know that coming right out of school, right?
Sometimes you might say, okay, I'm just going to say I'm going to start as an associate. And I don't know if I'm going to be a short-term associate or a long-term associate. But I will tell you this.
What I've seen over the years is that many doctors who open their own practices, even coming right out of school or even after a short-term associate position and struggle in practice for years or decades, they would have been more successful in a long-term associate role because many of them are fantastic doctors.
They do incredible work. They take great care of patients, but their business skills are not there when it comes to growing a practice and building it. They don't have that right mindset, the right focus, the right vision, whatever it may be.
And so consider this, students, doctors, consider this path as a viable path. There are doctors out there who have amazing systems where an associate, a long-term associate can thrive. And even if you're in practice now and you're listening to this for some reason and it's been a struggle, you've been struggling for 10 years, 15 years, whatever it is, it could be that you need to be a long-term associate and not a practice owner.
It's okay. You can be extremely successful as a long-term associate. And so, as I said, a majority of all students, in our opinion, should start as an associate, right? It's somewhere in that 90%, 95%, 99% range.
It is the ideal situation for almost every student is to start as an associate. Whether you are a short-term or long-term associate, that will depend. You can always communicate that to your clinic director on the front end and say, hey, you know what?
I don't know if I want to be an associate in a short term or long term. Can we reassess each year or whatever it may be, right? That is certainly a possibility. But the truth about all three roles is none are automatically safe.
None are automatically wrong. And intentionality is everything, right? There's no guarantee of success. There's no universally bad choice here. Most important factor is which route is best for you in your situation.
It's the why and how you choose it, right? When you make intentional decisions made with clarity and self-awareness, they lead to better outcomes regardless of the specific path. So let's clarify these five early moves that shape or stall your career.
These five principles apply regardless of which path you choose. They're the non-negotiables, the decisions that separate thriving careers from stalled ones. Okay, so you want to master these early moves.
You want to create the momentum that compounds over time. And so number one is environment over convenience. You don't want to prioritize proximity, ease, or familiarity over the quality of the practice environment.
Number two is the mentorship over pay. A lower salary with exceptional mentorship will accelerate your career faster than higher pay with no guidance. And number three is clarity before commitment. Never accept vague promises or unclear expectations.
Number four is exit before entry. Create clarity in whatever situation you're going into. So there's clear expectations for you and the clinic director. And number five is ownership of your growth. No matter which path you choose, you want to be the one that owns your continuing education, your skill development, your professional advancement.
And so we're going to look at each five of these in more detail. So early move number one and two is choose environment over convenience, right? The practice environment, its culture, leadership. It's culture, you know, leadership systems, values will shape your confidence, your skills, your satisfaction far more than location or schedule.
You don't want to settle for a mediocre environment just because it's nearby or, you know, where you practice, you know, where you grew up or easy, right? Ideally, you want to get mentorship from a specialist who can teach you how to be a specialist too, right?
So that might mean you need to live somewhere else for two to three years, or that might mean that you, you know, you need to go someplace you've never gone before. Maybe you grew up in a warm environment.
You need to go to a cold environment, right? There's lots of things that you have to think through and try to find a great environment that's going to challenge you, that's going to support you, and that's going to help you become better.
Poor environments are going to drain you, limit you, and make you question your career choice. So choose wisely. And number two, the early move is to prioritize mentorship over pay. A mentor who invests in your development, shares their knowledge, and genuinely wants to see you succeed is worth more than a higher salary.
Early in your career, the right mentor accelerates your growth exponentially. Mentorship isn't just about clinical technique. It's about business acumen, patient communication, leadership skills, and professional judgment.
These lessons compound over decades. Early in your career, invest in learning, not just earning. And that is a crucial, crucial move. Early move number three and four. Number three is clarify expectations before committing.
This is huge. Vague promises, informal agreements, create conflict later. Get everything in writing. Your role, your compensation structure, your schedule, your responsibilities, your evaluation criteria, opportunities for advancement, all of these things.
Ask the hard questions up front, right? If an employer is offended by you asking for clarity, that's a massive red flag. They should want it to be super clear how you succeed in this role, right? Great employers want clear agreements as much as you do.
Key areas to clarify. Number one, your role. What are your responsibilities? What are your key results areas? What are your key performance indicators? What is this role? What does success look like in this role that you're taking on, whether it's a preceptor or it's an associate position?
What decisions can you make independently? What level of autonomy do you have? What is your growth timeline? How and when will your role evolve? Do they have a senior associate transition? Where some practices where you'll come in as a junior associate, say for a year, and then you transition to a senior associate.
These are training center type of practice locations. So understanding those kinds of things, understanding how your role will change over time is important. And also understanding your compensation at a very detailed level, right?
What is your base salary? What are your bonuses? What are your benefits? How is performance measured and rewarded? These are clear, really, really important things to understand. And then the move number four is to know your exit before you enter.
Before accepting any position, understand exactly how you can leave, right? What's the notice period? Are there non-compete causes? What happens if circumstances change? How long do they expect you to work there?
How long are you expecting to work there? This isn't pessimistic. It's strategic. You're not planning to fail. You're protecting your ability to make future choices freely, right? So understanding, okay, I'm starting today and my plan is for me to exit at this point.
And again, as I said, you don't have to have this written in stone. You can talk with him about this. You can express, hey, look, this is what I'm expecting. I'm expecting to work here for this amount of time and then start my own practice.
But that might change as I'm working here. I may decide that this is a good place for me to be long term. But either way, just having that clear in the front end is key. And then early move number five, and this might be the most important.
Students and doctors, you've got to own your growth regardless of the route you take. This is a truth that some chiropractors learn too late. No job will manage your career for you. Not your employer, not your mentor, not your professional association, not your technique association, whatever it is.
Your career development is ultimately your responsibility and yours alone. Even in the best practice environments with exceptional mentorship, you've got to drive your own growth. You've got to seek out continuing education opportunities, develop specialized skills.
You need to read wildly, right? And widely, right? Leaders are learners. They're readers. They continue to seek new information. You want to attend conferences. You want to build professional relationships.
You want to take on leadership responsibilities. Don't wait for someone to offer you development opportunities. Create them. Don't wait for permission to grow. Take initiative. Associate doctors who own their growth often surpass practice owners who coast on past achievements.
Ownership of your development isn't about your title. It's about your mindset and your commitment. Chiropractors who thrive long-term are those who remain curious, adaptable, and committed to continuous improvement regardless of their employment situation, whether you're working in your own practice or you're working for a practice where you're an associate.
Either way, your growth is your responsibility. All right, Doc and students, I want to give you a couple of resources to help you as you move forward in your career. One is we've created this chiropractic career starter kit.
It's called From Student to Doctor, the Chiropractic Career Starter Kit. It's a comprehensive guide to help new chiropractors navigate their first career decisions, get more into detail on some of these things we discussed today, how to choose the right practice, skills top associates develop, preparing for growth at your graduation.
And it's a completely free resource. You can download it over on our website. You go to ucmgrow.com forward slash students. ucmgrow.com forward slash students and you can download from student to doctor the chiropractic career starter kit
we have other things also on that page to help you it's a this is our our all of our resources for students all on that one page
if you know that you want to be an associate and you want to go into upper cervical specific specifically we would encourage you to join the associate talent network again there's no cost it's a free thing you you can connect there with a community of chiropractors who are actively hiring preceptors and associates these are doctors who want to mentor others in an upper circle specialty
again you just go to the same website link ucmgrow.com forward slash students and you can join the associate talent network there and when you join the associate talent network we're going to do a a free 20-minute career planning call with you this is a complimentary one-on-one conversation to discuss your specific situation your questions your goals we'll explore these different routes with you is it best for you to start a practice is it best for you to do you know associate position our focus is to help you think through your options strategically and make decisions that align with your unique circumstances
again same place ucmgrow.com forward slash students even if you don't um join our associate talent network you can also just schedule a career planning call on that same page either way you can do that
and so the other cool thing though is if you join the associate talent network every member of that associate talent network receives access to exclusive resources job opportunities curated for early career chiropractors and invitations to professional development webinars like this one throughout the year
and so highly encourage you to go to the website ucmgrow.com forward slash students get engage with the material there download some free resources get into the associate talent network schedule that career planning call and go forward as a chiropractor
we are excited for you students we're excited for you doctors that are just getting started in this awesome profession we love love this profession of course we love upper cervical chiropractic but we love all chiropractic and we want to see chiropractors thrive in this profession
and as we always say around here go team upper cervical
