I get loads of questions about what day of the week is the best in clinic. Other questions that go along with it are:
“Where should I put all of my money?”
“Where should I put all of my time?”
Where should I put all of my effort in clinic?”
“Should I rent out another space? Should I go to multiple clinics?”
I want to address this question today because when I have answered this question before, I gave a one-word answer, and I realise that it’s just not doing the question the service that it needs. So we’re gonna dive deep today into the answers of what day of the week is best to go into clinic.
We’re gonna come up with the one answer, but I want to explore it with you first.
When I first started out in practice, it was a really interesting time. I had to decide how many days a week I would be in practice. I wondered which day would have the most people because that was the particular day I wanted to work.
If you’re anything like me, you just want to know the answer. Unfortunately, it doesn’t come that quickly or easily.
The next thing that I did when I was sitting in my practically abandoned building, in my little office, was to imagine myself in my clients’ shoes. When I put myself in the people of New Castle’s shoes, I thought I would want to come in on a Saturday. So I opened on a Saturday and it was great! I got to tell everybody I was open on a Saturday and I even got the occasional booking on a Saturday. But the majority of the time I sat there mulling over how much I was missing out on my kids’ soccer games.
It’s not just a matter of picking the day that’s going to be the busiest because it’s not just the energy of you choosing the busiest day, it is also the energy that you’re putting in.
Have you ever had one of those days where you just go, “I don’t really want to be at clinic today,” and all of a sudden you manifest every cancellation you needed to actually have that day off?
You can totally manifest having a day off. If you are not 100% all-in on that particular day, then you have just as much capacity and energy in that decision of whether or not that day will work. So that’s exactly what I was doing when I was practising on a Saturday in that first year.
Then it started happening on other days, as well! Whenever I didn’t want to actually be there, I would energetically shift whether or not somebody was going to come in. I’m certain it happens to others, too.
How to choose your days to work in clinic
There are three different parts of what you need to consider when you think about the day that you want to work in clinic.
Number one – Does it work for you?
I could have said ‘does it work for your ideal client,’ but the number one point is ‘does it work for you?’ Because as much as it would be great to have a full day on the books, if it’s not working for you energetically, you’re going to repel those people. If it doesn’t work for you, then there is some type of energy that shifts the way you show up on that day.
Does it work for you in that are you missing family things? Are you considering working at another clinic on another day? If you’re not all-in on that decision, then it’s very likely the clients won’t show up anyway. So it doesn’t really matter which day you choose. If you’re not personally all-in on it, then it’s not going to have the longevity you want.
If you ask what day is the busiest – I’d say Thursday because it worked for me. I just answered this same question to somebody this morning because I only had a moment to answer with one-word and I said, “Thursday.” But there are so many more factors other than the day of the week that play a role in why Thursday worked for me.
I had it already in my mind that Australians, in particular, love a light night shopping on a Thursday. I grew up with late-night shopping on a Thursday. So I would always be really prepared for a big Thursday, energetically, in my mind and everything else. I would set myself up for a big Thursday and when I did that and I was all-in on that Thursday, I would get walk-ins.
But that’s because it was me.
I’ve had other practitioners who say that Monday is cranking, or Wednesday is the most amazing day, or Fridays because the people in their local area are X, Y, or Z.
Number two – What works for your ideal client?
The second part is about your ideal target market. What about the people in your area?
If you’re in a small country town, it’s an entirely different experience. Saturdays and Sundays are family days. They are hanging out days, going to the cricket, going to this or that. There is a very different community vibe that happens on the weekend that might keep them from thinking, “Okay I’ve got to go and see my health practitioner.”
If you’re in a big city, on the other hand, you could say that Saturday is your big day. All the people who work 9 to 5 all week would prefer to see you on a Saturday. So it really depends on your particular target market, the particular environment you live in, and the particular area your clinic is in.
There are so many more facets to that second part of it, such as knowing who you would love to see It’s easy for us to make assumptions about what our ideal client would actually be like and what they would prefer. It’s an entirely other experience to ask them, to send out a survey and ask them what days work and see how people respond to different days.
If you can only pick one particular day, then you need to really find out if that day works for your target market. We make assumptions about how much people are willing to pay, how much they value their health, how much they are willing to pay for a program, or how many supplements they can afford, but we don’t have any idea what they are actually up to.
I am reminded as well about people who are deciding whether or not they should spread themselves thinly across multiple different clinics and not necessarily go all-in on one clinic. Going deep into one clinic gives you an entirely different experience and them an entirely different experience. When you’re showing up so much in one space, more people are attracted to that.
When it comes to your ideal client, you need to know them – not assume you know them. You need to get into their shoes and figure out if a particular day would work. If you’re somebody who is treating mums, in particular, then you want to be making sure you can fit things into that type of schedule. Things that aren’t going to be in the usual family times. If you’re treating kids, then you want to be making sure you’ve got after school hours appointments available. If you’re treating business people, again, you want to be having at least one day of the week where you are available after five o’clock.
If you don’t have an ideal client, what works for your general area where your clinic is? If you are online, what works there? See what works for your particular client and find out through asking them – not through assuming you know.
Number three – Where your attention goes, energy flows
The interesting thing about this one is that every time someone asks in the Facebook group or asks me personally what day is the busiest in clinic, the answer is – wherever your attention goes, energy flows.
So if your attention is heading over to Thursday, all you’re going to see is the Thursdays that come up. If your attention is going to Saturday, all you’re going to see is the Saturdays that come up. It’s a lot like square peg, square hole. Or when you have a brand new car in mind and all of a sudden all you can see is that particular car.
If there’s already energy around the day you’re thinking of, it’s time to head towards that particular day.
Where your attention goes, energy flows also applies to the clinic. If you get a better return in one particular clinic, then focus on that clinic instead of spreading yourself across multiple. When you are all-in on something, when you give one hundred per cent, you get one hundred per cent back. When you give twenty per cent here and twenty per cent there and twenty per cent somewhere else, you only get 20% back.
If you’re not sure about a clinic because you don’t think people like you, or they don’t really have the exact right things set up for you, or you don’t like moving all your furniture around, you’re not a hundred per cent all-in.
If you are going all-in because you know this particular day and this particular clinic is going to work in alignment with your ideal client, and you are all-in on it, it changes completely. You can show up in a way that is confident, that is on it, that is looking for opportunities.
This all applies to your schedule, as well.
You may think you can work 9:00 to 5:00, Monday to Friday, or 9:00 to 5:00 Monday to Saturday, and that’ll be fine. Then you wonder why you’ve only got one or two clients in a week, versus working 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday and that’s it, and you see all the bookings fill up one on top of another.
Because you’re all-in – everyone knows you’re the Wednesday naturopath and everyone knows how to connect with you.
I really wanted to talk about this and I’m hoping that it has been valuable whether you are looking for a particular day of the week that is the busiest or the best, it’s a multifaceted question. Which particular clinic you should stick with is a much more complex question than a one-word answer of Thursday, or know the one in the city, in the country, or whatever it is.
In Summary
Number one – Take the time to really connect with whether it is in alignment with you. Can you feel different signs that are telling you this is the thing, this is the day, or the clinic?
Number two – is it in alignment with your ideal client? (Remember, I’ve done an ideal client video before and I’ve got an ideal client download available for you. If you get to know your ideal client, oh my goodness it’s just so much easier to choose a day. It’s so much easier to choose things because it’s in alignment with them, but you really need to know them and not just assume.
And Number three – Where your attention goes, energy flows.
See what results you could get from truly focusing in on what’s in alignment with you, your ideal client, and your focused attention and energy, so that you get the energy flowing through clients, flowing through cash, and flowing through consultations.
Now – take action!
What would happen if you took the action today? An inspired action from this article to focus on one particular day and see what happens, say, over the next month?
Hopefully, this has been beneficial. If it has, and if you know someone who missed this, make sure you send it to them!
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