Dear Dr. M-
I have enjoyed your E-mails and website for some months now, and since it
seems like you've heard it all  let me run a question of my own by you.

To make a long story short I have been in my own office for 5 years and in
that time I have not seen any huge growth beyond a certain point (under
80/wk and holding). It is also becoming quite a challenge to find parking
outside the office as well. Therefore I have decided to move my practice to
a much larger town about 5 miles from this location. I have also been
pursuing the idea of sharing space with another chiro to split overhead.
At this time I have run into a 'seasoned' practitioner who sees 200+
ov/wk. who is willing to have me come in with him. Keeping practices
separate, his "deal" is $2500. a month for everything
(including installing separate phone etc., excluding my own
marketing-promotional costs). The catch is he is also asking for 50% of
collections over $6000. So if I collected $8000. for the month he would
receive $3500. This would make my overhead about 47% across the board no
matter how much I collect. My current overhead is around $3600. per month.
The reason I feel like I'd want to do it is that he is willing to help me
build my practice through his advice/input, something that I feel would be
helpful, as in the time I've been on my own, I've not yet made it happen. I
could find space for less in other offices, but I feel the mentoring aspect
is something that could be quite valuable. If after a year my practice has
essentially not changed, I'm not out anything really, if I grow
substantially (lets say double the practice or more) I kinda feel it was
worth it. Your thoughts?

A:

You esentially will be an independent contractor using his facilities and equipment. If you 
share office hours and the same CA .. this may cause a problem as the CA is beholden to 
the office DC .. not you. If you will have a seperate phone line ..will you have your own 
CA .. own office hours and room, etc. If not .. you may be considered an associate 
working in another DC¼s office with a salary .. nothing wrong with this either.

If you were to invest in a year¼s worth of consulting with some of the consultants .. Singer 
.. Mertz .. Katz .. Fernandez .. etc. it will cost you about $7000 a year and then expenses 
to get there. After spending this one time fee (not $3600 a month over $8000 plus the rrent 
of $2500 which is quite high .. that¼s a months rent in a decent sized office) you¼ll have to 
do something to get the practice going (which you will be doing under the guidance of this 
other experinced DC anyway) so my advice is this. Probably the DC you write of will still 
offer you the same arrangment later .. so stay where you are or move on your own and 
give it another chance but this time make believe you have a consultant guiding you .. I 
hope you own my Smart Start Book ..if you do .. follow the ideas and your practice will 
move up because you are doing something .. this way you keep 100% of what you make .. 
not give away 50% after $6000 (is that collected money or what is on the books?)

But .. if you wish to work with this other doctor .. consider yourself an employee and try 
to negotiate the 50% to a less fee .. ask him how he came to this number (not that it¼s out of 
line) but you want to be indepdent and just have some guidance .. therfore the consultants I 
mentioned or my book if you do something with it.

If the practice grows .. its only becuase you did something to make it happen .. not because 
you are with some other DC .. give this some thought.