Hello, what a beautiful day it is here in Michigan today. I am so glad that I was able to soak up some sun rays (say that 10 times fast). Today we chat about how we can do something good for our office, our staff, or our doctors right now. I’m helping to host a webinar event on Wednesday at 4:30 with a friend of mine Austin Brown, he works with CG financial and he has invited a co-worker and two people that he works with a Foster Swift, so we’re going to get expert advice on what to do about the CARES ACT/ PPP and retirement advice. They’re basically going to be our google translate, plus I told them that it’s a requirement that they’re not boring!
Did that first bit throw you off a little? What can we do that’s good for our office, our staff or our doctors. I know, you must be thinking I’m going a little crazy, because you’re here for help to get out of where you work, but hear me out. When you’re applying to new positions and the hiring manager calls your previous/ current office you want to leave a good taste in their mouth. You want to leave on good terms, so now is the time to shine. I’m suggesting that IF you’re allowed, to go into work and do some gardening, plant some flowers, pull some weeds, pick up some trash around our office buildings. But this is what’s going to allow you to leave on good terms. If you’re able to, this is going to depend on the state that you live in, if you can or can not do this. Make sure that if you are able to go that you’re social distancing though.
If your office is still using charts or papers, go in and scan them, now is the perfect time to go chartless (as much as possible at least). Think about how much the charts get touched, even if they’re in the operatory or not, they’re still getting handled by that person in the office who just doesn’t give a shit about OSHA, or so it appears. We’ve all got that person, don’t we? Wouldn’t it be better if we could have them not touch so many things? I bet we all have that person in our mind right now, I know I do. Ick!
This leads me right into thinking about the 80’s, did you remember hearing what hit in the 80’s? AIDS was the epidemic that started back then. Most of you aren’t old enough to remember or know that before AIDS, dentists and lots of other doctors didn’t use gloves, like hardly ever. Even while typing this I have a disgusted look on my face, and I’ve known this for years! Last week I called up a friend of mine, he’s a retired dentist that worked through the 80’s, he said that they all hated wearing gloves and masks and would wear one pair of gloves all morning *puke*…… They’d just wash their gloved hands and keep on working. It’s just what they did back then. But I do think that the 20’s, will be the same way. We’ll look back in 20 years with a totally new look on PPE and think, I can’t believe we use to wear THOSE gloves or THOSE masks or not wear full-length gowns or not wear hair protection.
Right now is a turning point for what we’ll be doing in the future. I think that in many aspects of PPE will be different in the years to come. And how cool is it that we’re getting to work through this major event. I mean it’s not cool, but you get what I mean, right?!
Most of us here work for small businesses, I think that this is a time that we start looking at what big corporations are doing right, and how they’re able to get such good deals on their products and services. Let’s start thinking more like them in the way that we get our products. There are companies out there that are able to help with inventory, purchasing in bulk, or purchasing in smarter ways. I think that we’ll also be able to start re-negotiating what we’re paying for some of our services. There are tons of companies out there that don’t want to lose your business so they’re offering discounts and some are offering a few months for free. Why not pick up the phone and see what they can do for you personally and your business as well. Wouldn’t it be nice to walk away from a job saying that you were able to find them ways to save $X per month!
Could your office team up and start working with another practice/doctor? Either you both could be in the same field or specialty or you could team up with another specialist. I’m seeing it more and more that offices are getting a doctor on staff that is a specialist doing X and another that is a specialist doing Y. Depending on the field, they don’t have to be a specialist but they can be experts and you can keep more of that money in house for services. If you’re working with another doctor think about the amount of cost that you could cut down on. Your rent, your electricity, phone bill, internet, water bill etc. So many aspects are able to be reduced, is now the time that you talk to your doctor about combining offices? Who knows maybe you’ll like the new doctor and actually stay with the practice!
One of the last things that you can personally do is to help out other small businesses, share them with your friends. When you see someone on social media advertising that they’re a personal fitness coach, or they’re selling work out clothes or selling make-up, rather than just ignoring them, try to share that with someone who may be interested in the items/ products. Help out your friends and the side gig’s that they have going on. Here is also my plug for asking if you could be so kind and share this blog or the podcast with someone else who you think may be benefited from it. I’m doing my part by giving you my course at 90% off right now. In this course it will guide you through how to update your resume, cover letter, references and assist you in your interviewing process. If you’re not interested in making your own resume, that’s no problem, I have that service at 50% off during this pandemic as well. I’ll create a bad-ass resume for you, just shoot me over an email and I’ll get right on it!
Also, have you reached out to any of your coworkers since you’ve been off? Some of them might not be doing as well as you are, now is a great time to reach out. They may have a ton of stress on them and a simple hand out (figuratively obviously, nobody wants the Rona) could mean more to them then they’ll ever know.
Thank you for being here and just know that I do really appreciate you! Until next week, stay safe!
