5 Fundamental Skills for Running a Successful Clinic

Interested in starting up your own clinic, but aren’t too sure what skills or talents are required to run a successful private practice? Not to worry, this week we provide an outline of 5 fundamental skills required for running a well operated and success-geared clinic!

First things first, if you’re contemplating owning your own clinic you must understand that you are signing up to run your own business. Regardless of your specialist clinical field, there are key skills required to running business that they won't teach you in your allied health masters degree. We show you how you can use what you already know to consistently build on your new business venture skills.

1. Be a planner

It is imperative that before starting any kind of business - a clinic in particular - to put a significant amount of thought and consideration into how you want to operate your company. 

No plan is ever perfect and as a business owner you may often find the need to adapt accordingly if your plan doesn’t serve its purpose. The important thing however, is that you make one! 

A vast amount of time and resources are typically needed in the planning process. The most important thing to remember is to make your business plan relevant and reflective of you, your aspirations, and the business framework you intend to have for your clinic.

2. Know your market

After doing the research and beginning to execute your plan, comes probably one of the key determinants of seeing your plan come to fruition - how you market it! 

This involves building your image and making your mark in the clinical industry.  Knowing where your niche lies, and informing the public and potential clients of your services of what you have to offer them, sets you aside from the rest. 

How you market your business, from the name you give your clinic to the methods of advertisement you utilise, will largely impact the way your clinic is received by potential clients and associates alike and sets the tone for the type business you run.

3. Be organised

The most important skill any business owner let alone a clinician could have, is organisation! 

As a business owner you have to be able to get stuff done efficiently, effectively, and on time, as well as  be able to assist others to do so. 

Organisational skills will benefit not only your personal schedules and lifestyle but the progression of your business in the long run, and become vital when keeping up with billing, record keeping and other administrative tasks.

4.  Understand the  Self-employment Fine Print

One thing new business owners often fail to consider (aside from the cost of directly running a practice) is the fine print additional costs they must adhere to, especially self-employment taxes. 

Many self-employed clinicians are caught by surprise upon learning of the self-employment taxes they’re required to pay when establishing a private practice, which don’t automatically get withdrawn as is usually experienced.

For this reason, any discerning new business owner must read up on all the fine print associated with self-employment.

Also understand that while you make your own hours and tasks, you have to wear many hats and answer to many responsibilities, often simultaneously! You will be busy and will have to come to expect the weight of responsibility and quick decision making should become second nature.

5.   Be passionate

Devoting your time and your money to running a successful clinic cannot happen without having a passion for your business.

Your business is ‘your baby’ and it’s imperative that, regardless of what happens and how successful you may be, you must have continual belief in what you are doing and maintain that drive to strive for the best. If you don’t believe in the services your clinic has to offer, no one else will.

5 considerations to make before starting a solo practice

Running your own solo business or practice has numerous benefits; you make your own times and goals, and are responsible for all outcomes. Although, before starting your own business there are a number of key considerations you must make. It is essential that you know the market you are entering and have some level of experience within it. You must have the financial security to get your business up and running and make sure you’re not breaching any laws. Last but not least, make certain that you are mentally prepared for the challenges that you will face. Here are 5 handy considerations to make before venturing into the relatively unknown.

Decide if you’re ready

It is essential to make sure you’re ready to start your own business. You’ll need to weigh up the costs and benefits, pros and cons. A major benefit involves being your own boss, being able to set your own tasks, goals and responsibilities. So ask yourself, “am I ready for this?” Because you’ll need to be able to self-regulate, and balance your time well to get everything done on your own. Costs other than the obvious finances, which will be covered later, are largely time based. If you currently have multiple obligations, it may not be the best time to start up your business, as it can be a time consuming process.

Do your market research

One of the most important things to do before starting a solo practice is market research. Having a good understanding of the market, the current leaders in the market and even past and potential changes, is a great way to find gaps you might be able to fill. Also searching for similar practitioners in your desired work area early on will be very important, use Google and White Pages as not all will have websites. In differentiating yourself, an example may be that if the market is all very business and authoritarian, it could pay to take a lighter spin and be the more accessible, friendly provider of your service or product. If you find that someone else had the exact same idea, you may be able to find flaws or gaps in their business, so you can come up with a more unique idea. Setting up a point of difference in the market for your business is essential.

Look at your experience

If you currently work in the industry that you plan on starting a business in that’s great! You can draw on your experience as a foundation to decide what can make your business better. Even if you haven’t been a manager you can observe your current or past managers and see what works for them, what fails miserably and how to deal with those issues. If you don’t have any relevant experiences as a worker, taking a consumer’s perspective is a good idea- what would you like in the industry? How would you like it done? What could there be more of? What could there be less of? These are great questions to help you start a business plan with only experience as a consumer.

Understand the financials

A business is a large investment; it is possible to start with no money though this is risky and not recommended. Producing your service ‘on demand’ is your best way to save money, make your practice available only when interest and appointments are in blossom and take advantage of sessional rental setups to avoid ‘overstocking’ your expenses. By doing this you can start the bulk of your business over the phone or on the internet where possible.

Know your legal limitations

All health professions will have some unique limitations so it is of paramount importance to understand your own. In general, if you plan on retaining a current job to supplement your initial practice efforts, or you are using a business idea that is  idea is very close to someone else’s, getting some legal advice on whether you’re breaching any conflict of interest or copyright laws is necessary. If you’re not sure, always seek legal advice, you don’t want to get in a lawsuit that could damage the name of your business (and bring in painful, unwanted costs) before even starting.

Need assistance getting the first ‘push’ for your business?

Starting a business is not all about costs and risks, one of the most cost effective and also cornerstone parts of running a practice will be your own branded website, which ensures new informed interest comes in. Psych Press and Career Exchange have assisted with the implementation of online platforms and websites for many years, and have experience in the planning, strategising, marketing, designing and most importantly – execution of effective websites. For a confidential discussion about your needs, call 03 9670 0590 or email info@careerexchange.com.au and we can discuss what we’re able to achieve for you!