Business Mentoring Boosts Chiropractic



According to Business Mentors New Zealand (BMNZ), the nation’s only not-for-profit mentoring organisation, demand for business mentoring is high and with many older companies seeking help for the first time chiropractors are starting to recognise the benefits of assessing the health of their businesses.

Hamish MacMillan began practising chiropractic in Tauranga in 2003 after seven years of study. After a two year associateship he opened Oceanside Family Chiropractic in Papamoa. In May 2010 he opened a second practice in Cherrywood, Otumoetai. He recently welcomed two more chiropractors to the team and a marketing assistant. He got his Business Mentor in early 2009.

`I needed general business advice to get the business growing. It had stayed on a level for quite a few years. I looked around and most of the chiropractic businesses seemed to be operating in a similar way. I thought it was time to start asking some different questions. I rang the Chamber of Commerce who put me in touch with my Business Mentor, Ian. He’s been working with us for two years now. He has helped me take a new look at how we work, the sort of hours we open and the location of the clinics. He helps me to focus on the business from a productivity perspective rather than a chiropractic point of view.
‘For example, I’d always understood that people didn’t want to see a chiropractor during the day so we opened mornings and evenings. Ian got me to think differently and when we opened more hours, more people came and we have been nice and busy. It’s enabled me to take on new chiropractors and other new staff and increase capacity.

`It’s now got to the stage where I don’t have to be working for the business to be open. We catch up every couple of months or if I have a new idea I want to discuss with him. He is always very free with his time and very sympathetic. He is very much my sounding board and motivator. He tends to ask the questions and let me find my own answers. Whatever your professional service is it’s only part of what you do. The business half needs to be right so you can continue to provide a quality service. Independent advice frees you up to do what you are good at.

`We have seen a huge jump in turnover since having a Business Mentor, in fact it has almost doubled, at a time when many businesses are going backwards. More than anything my mentor has given me the confidence that my ideas are good and worth taking a chance on. I will have opened three more practices by the end of 2016 and be providing chiropractic care for people of all ages and stages of health.’

BMNZ chief executive Ray Schofield explains: `We are seeing increases in demand for our services in many parts of the country well up on last year. Older businesses are now being affected, some who have been trading for 20 years or more who are being affected by cash flow and collection difficulties and the domino effect of economic disturbances which are running right through the SME sector. Small business just doesn’t have the resources to carry that sort of burden indefinitely. It can be a vicious circle as jobs drop off it gets harder for the remaining companies.'

Business Mentors provides access to 1,700 volunteer mentors (who provide their experience, skill and knowledge free of charge). The focus of the organisation is on developing capability, profitability, and employment generation. Since the organisation was established in 1991, Business Mentors has assisted over 60,000 small to medium businesses. It is funded largely by patrons from the private sector, with additional support from New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. It provides a mentoring service to any businesses that are trading with evidence of accounts.
There is no limit on the amount of mentoring sessions. The term of the relationship with a mentor depends on the objectives and goals both client and mentor jointly agrees upon. They can also contact their co-ordinator at any point for further assistance
For more information on Business Mentors New Zealand, visit www.businessmentors.org.nz

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