Cool Marine Video, and HEROs Class 2

    Today in homeopathy, one of the remedies we learned about was sepia officinalis (sep), aka cuttlefish ink. I won't go on about the details of this remedy, but Dr. Byden-Tailor showed us a really cool video of a cuttlefish before we started learning about the remedy, I really recommend watching it here just for the wow factor (I know its over 4 minutes, watch if you're interested, but if you're time is limited the first 20 seconds are all you need for the really cool part).

   I also had my second HEROs class today, which was the second part of Starting Smart/Leadership. Today was once again a little bit scary and overwhelming, but at the same time made me feel good about my choice to take this course early. My future in the business world is a bit of a scary thought, but it is an important reality and I know that if I procrastinate and wait too long, I'm only going to deny my own success, and with that, deny my ability to help people improve their health.

   So the focus of this class was really on where you can go as an ND. It seems that employment is not a big area for NDs --> it's possible to work for a supplement company, to teach or work for a government agency or other NPO (non-profit organization), but these opportunities are limited. There are also some residencies available, but these are limited, and also not long term. So the main opportunities really involve working for yourself. But, there are some possibilities that don't have to be you opening an office for yourself. We talked about partnerships, sole proprietorship, being an associate, and the management model (or zero partnership entity). What I learned is that partnerships are definitely a bad thing unless it is with a significant other (they seem nice, "us against the world," but once the talk becomes about money, there are problems, especially if one of the partners has a divorce with their spouse), and that sole proprietorship is the way to go if you have the resources to do it successfully (with the ultimate goal of hiring associates and building a successful "Clinic," rather than "Practice").

    However, if resources are tough then being an associate or the management model can be an effective way to start. We talked a lot about the details of contracts and the economics of things, and it's sad to hear that the situation around contracts within the naturopathic professional community is very bad. It really is just that a lot of naturopathic doctors do not know enough about business, and so a lot of bad contracts are written that lead to poor, win-lose situations. My hope is that with the knowledge from this course and Andre's help (fortunately with taking HEROs, my first contract review from him in the future is free), I can avoid these situations and get myself into a win-win situation first thing.

    That's all for now, off to bed and then tomorrow is Halloween (well October 30, but we have common time so there will be some fun events). I'm going for the costume contest as a pretty silly costume, but it should be fun!

This isn't me, but it is the costume I plan on wearing tomorrow. Go big or go home!