Why 70% of Chiropractors Are in the Wrong Role
70% of chiropractors are running the wrong role in their own business. Dr. Eric DiMartino, multi-clinic owner and Remarkable Practice coach, breaks down the Rubik's Cube of turning a job into a business, the 80% delegation rule, and the 5 crucial communications every CEO needs.
Episode Details
Most chiropractors think scaling a practice means working harder. Dr. Eric DiMartino has a different answer. Cognitive testing shows that 70-80% of chiropractors are hardwired as caregivers, not business owners, which means the majority of the profession is trying to run a business with the wrong operating system installed. Trying to be a CEO when you're wired to be a clinician is not a character flaw. It's a role mismatch.
Eric is a self-described weirdo who loves the business side more than patient care, owns multiple clinics, and coaches at The Remarkable Practice alongside Stephen Franson. He spent the first decade of his career in what he calls "the Dr. Eric show," grinding 80-hour weeks, missing his kids' events, and convinced that nobody could do the work as well as he could. The shift out of that mode is the arc of this conversation.
In this episode, Eric walks through the Rubik's Cube framework (6 sides to solve to turn a job into a business: vision, leadership, systems, people, training, energy), the three tests that tell you whether you own a business or just a job (scalability, durability, transferability), and the 80% rule of delegation he wishes he'd learned earlier: if somebody can do it 80% as well as you, delegate it, because 80% done by somebody else is 100% awesome for you.
The conversation gets tactical on hiring, training, and team building. Eric defines an A-player as Talent + Skill + Heart, with heart being the hardest to teach and the most important to hire for. He introduces the E=MC² formula for being the Chief Energy Officer (energy equals money times the five crucial communications squared), and breaks down why training is a culture, not an event. His team trains one hour every week, even the employees who have been with him for 21 years.
If you're a chiropractor who feels like the bottleneck in your own practice, who's considering an associate but not sure when to pull the trigger, or who's realized that 80% of chiropractic practices don't sell (they close) and you don't want to be one of them, this episode is a tactical blueprint for building the business instead of being the business.
Key Takeaways
- 70% of Chiropractors Are in the Wrong Role: Cognitive testing shows 70-80% of chiropractors are wired as caregivers, not business owners. Trying to run a business when you're wired for patient care is a recipe for a small practice and a burned-out owner. The fix is either becoming the business owner you're not, or hiring a COO who is.
- The 80% Rule of Delegation: If somebody can do it 80% as well as you, delegate it. Eric's rule: 80% done by someone else is 100% awesome for you, because it buys your time back for higher-leverage work. Holding onto work because you can do it slightly better is the most expensive mistake entrepreneurs make.
- The Rubik's Cube Framework: Six sides to solve to turn a job into a business. Vision, Leadership, Systems, People, Training, Energy. Solve one side and another falls apart. The goal isn't a finished cube. The goal is to know how to keep all six sides in motion.
- Job vs Business (3 Tests): A true business is scalable (grows without you), durable (performs in your absence), and transferable (valuable if you walked away). Eric's rule: the more valuable YOU are to your business, the less valuable your BUSINESS is. 80% of chiropractic practices don't sell. They close, because they were dependent on the owner.
- The Buyback Rate: Calculate your hourly value (total revenue + benefits ÷ 2,000 working hours). You can afford to hire anyone at 1/4 of that rate. If your hourly value is $100, you can hire a CA at $25. If you're doing $20/hour tasks and your time is worth $100, you're paying yourself $20 to do them.
- E = MC² (The Chief Energy Officer Formula): Energy equals Money times the five Crucial Communications squared. The 5 C's: Vision Casting, Expectations & Agreements, Training & Equipping, Celebration & Recognition, Guardrails & Discipline. Recognition, by the way, triggers more dopamine than sex or drugs. And it's free.
- A-Players Love Training, B and C Players Complain: Eric trains his team one hour every week, including employees who have been with him for 21 years. An A-player is Talent + Skill + Heart, and heart is the one you can't teach. Training is a culture, not an event. If you're not role-playing, you're having a meeting, not a training.
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