Abundance vs. Scarcity

by Mitch Hauschildt, MA, ATC, CSCS

Recently I saw this Instagram post about the cost of private pay vs insurance driven therapy and what is most effective and costly.  It caught my eye because I do believe that we are going to continue to see growth in the self pay therapy market with the ever changing healthcare market.  This is definitely a topic that is growing around the country.

When I looked at it, I initially thought about how the decreased cost could be because things are more effective outside of the insurance world.  Or, it might be that people who pay for their own care are  more willing to seek out and find good people for their medical care that leads us to the differences seen here. Or, it could be other factors as well.

This leads me to a discussion that I have with a lot of my students regarding creating a quality practice that is filled with the patients that they want and how the mentality of scarcity or abundance can help build that practice.

Human nature oftentimes leads us to be protective and scared about things that we may or may not able to control.  Things like our patient population, clientele or income are important to our practice and business, thus they are all areas that we want to be able to have complete control over.

We oftentimes hesitate to share information on training programs, marketing strategies, or facility usage with other professionals.  This is a mentality of scarcity.  It is a product of fear.  We are fearful that we won’t have enough patients to pay our bills.  We are fearful that if we share our knowledge that someone else will take it and make it theirs instead of ours.  We are fearful that we won’t be important anymore.

Unfortunately, a scarcity mentality only hurts you.

Here is the reality:

• There are more than enough patients and clients for all of us to be busy.  People have been and continue to need to move and feel better for many, many years.  This is especially true as baby boomers continue to age.
• There is enough money for all of us to pay our bills.  If you live in the richest country that man has ever known (the United States), there is enough money to take care of you if choose to work for it.
• You probably stole your knowledge from someone else…pass it on.  There are very, very few original thoughts in today’s world, so quite trying to claim that you know so much more than other people.
• You aren’t that special.  Seriously…even if you have a million social media followers and have worked with tons of professional athletes, there are likely lots of other people out there that can help people just as effectively as you can.  I know you are being told over and over how great you are, but honestly, you probably aren’t as good as you think that you are.  I’m not trying to be mean, just realistic.

So, if there are tons of patients, lots of knowledge, loads of cash and you’re not that great, what should you do?  The answer is simple…share what you have.  Teach other people.  Bring other professionals into your facility to watch you work.  Share your knowledge free of charge.  Take care of people.

One of the best things that ever happened to me as a young professional was when I was hired for my first job out of graduate school.  Dr. Bernard Griesemer hired me to work at his sports training center and on my first day, he said, “Don’t worry about the money.  Take care of our patients and clients.  When you do that, the money will come on its own.”  That truly is an abundance mentality.

I have never forgotten this and it has served me well.  Regardless of where you work or what you do, if you take care of people, you will never go hungry.  People always gravitate to the best people available. If you are good and people like you, like will be great.  Don’t worry about the rest of it.  Be really good at your trade and people will find you.

Love people.  Don’t be afraid.  Be better than everyone around you.  Share what you know.  Bring others into your circle.  Experience abundance.  You’ll love it.