THERE’S A POPULAR image of an iceberg that you may have seen. The top of the iceberg, the portion above water, is titled success. This portrays what everyone sees about something successful. Underneath the surface is the much larger portion of the iceberg and it is titled hard work, late nights, persistence, rejections, sacrifices, discipline, criticism, doubts, failure, risks. These are the actions, behaviors and decisions your success is actually built upon that few people realize or acknowledge.
Opening a start-up practice is something our organization specializes in. With the experience of opening what will be 70 new offices by year end, I feel qualified to speak on what it takes for a new practice to succeed. It doesn’t include magic, luck or “secrets.” What it takes is everything under the surface of the iceberg. For a young doctor, there are important reasons to embrace what lies beneath the surface.
Well-known teacher of achievement principles Jim Rohn says, “Success is not something you pursue but rather something you attract by the person you become.” The value of embracing everything that lies beneath the surface is that the process creates experience and experience produces personal growth … that, in turn attracts success.
Without the growth that results from sacrifice, enduring criticism and taking risks, you can’t understand how to produce a successful outcome. Without working Saturdays, late nights, being persistent and experiencing setbacks, you do not know the value of inconvenience nor the pride of accomplishment.
Owning an eyecare business is not for everyone. If you don’t have the passion and deep desire for ownership, to produce your own income, and have control over the patients’ experience, then it is best if you work to help someone else build their practice. To be successful at ownership, you have to have a passion for what you do. If you do not have passion, you’ll quit. Building anything of value and especially building a private practice is hard and requires work. There are constant challenges with staff, managing expenses and dealing with regulations. If you don’t have a love for what you do and understand in your core why you are doing it, you will not be successful.
However, if you do have this passion, know why you work so hard to overcome challenges, and you take full responsibility for the success of your practice, the reward of ownership and the pride of accomplishment is unlike anything experienced by those who work for someone else. That is why they only see the top of the iceberg and not what lies beneath the surface. They attribute your success to luck, to being in the right location at the right time, or something else that demonstrates they do not understand the work that went into the achievement.
I visit often with an optometrist who is interested in opening their own practice and they have become consumed with analyzing demographics, competition in an area, household incomes and other factors they consider critical to their success. While consideration of these items is important, they have failed to consider the most important factor — their own determination and commitment to personal growth.
When you are deciding to start your own practice, you are the captain of the ship. It is your responsibility to navigate your own future, to overcome, endure and grow from what lies beneath the surface.