Are you struggling to keep up during the chaos of healthcare reform? Are you seeing more patients but doubting if you’re making any difference in their lives before their allotment of visits ends? Do you find yourself working harder but enjoying your work less?
Does it seem like everybody is doing therapy in one form or another and you must fight harder to defend your professional value and get referrals in a crowded marketplace? You may feel like just another gear in a gigantic corporate therapy factory that churns out patients with an overemphasis on profits. Maybe you are seeking an alternative to business as usual. Perhaps you want to be an entrepreneur and own your own practice but have no idea how to get started.
Would you like to pursue your calling and build a business around serving people? You may long for professional and personal freedom to provide exceptional care but feel limited by corporate red tape. You didn’t enter healthcare to get rich but you would like to be paid fairly for the value that you provide your clients.
Maybe you’ve considered joining the cash therapy practice movement that is occurring all over the world as innovative therapists develop alternative ways to deliver therapy services to clients without insurance middlemen. You may have even read a few books on entrepreneurship or followed a couple of blogs about successful therapy practices. You want to give your practice idea a try don’t know where to start, or you have may have started your own practice but think you are doing something wrong but can’t put your finger on it.
If this is you, you are not alone. I’ve talked to therapists across the country who share these same feelings and dilemma. I’ve been in your shoes. I’ve been in the physical therapy profession for more than thirty-five years, owning my own practice and caring for patients from all walks of life. I’ve experienced life in the trenches, treating patients full time while managing a solo practice. I’ve seen firsthand how the care therapists provide can impact patients’ lives. I’ve experienced professional and financial freedom from owning my own business as I focused in developing my clinical expertise doing the work I love.
Now I utilize my knowledge and experience in the industry to help therapists create and own their own practices in the new healthcare economy. For the last several years I’ve learned from Internet business experts such as Michael Hyatt, Pat Flynn and Corbett Barr. I’ve combined the solid business principles from the past with the best new entrepreneurial practices to create a sustainable business model that works in today’s economy.
If you’ve considered owning your own practice for some time but didn’t know where to start, you don’t have to hold back any longer from pursuing the professional, personal and financial freedom that you desire. It’s easy to break free from corporate therapy once you know the path and have some guidance from trailblazers who have gone before you. For more than three decades I’ve worked with and learned from many successful business owners and identified the keys to a freedom practice that is both profitable and rewarding. I confess that I’m envious of you. I wish I had this type of information and connection with experts when I started my practice thirty-five years ago. It would have made the process a whole lot easier and far less frightening.
It’s my calling to help you discover and live out your calling.
Over the next several months I will be sharing a series of blog posts and podcasts to help you take your practice idea and turn it into a business. It will straight forward, no bull information to help you take the next step to own your private practice. It won’t be everything you need to know but only the essential steps to start a niche practice from scratch.
This series is ideal for therapists who are bootstrapping their own startup while working full time. I’ll help you overcome your fears and confusion to test out your idea before going all in. I’ll help you identify your ideal clients and the unique service you’ll offer them. I’ll outline the steps you should take to turn your practice idea into a successful business while doing the work you love.
Before we go further, I’d like to address one myth that is keeping many therapists from pursuing the practice of their dreams. There is a ridiculous misconception circulating in the healthcare industry that private practice is dead and therapists can’t make it on their own. This gloom and doom rhetoric asserts that private practices can’t be competitive in the new healthcare economy.
This is absurd! The new healthcare economy is made for private practice.
Let me explain. Two massive changes that have dramatically affected the healthcare economy:
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Healthcare reform to reduce costs
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The Internet
For several decades, many countries have struggled to provide access to healthcare for their people at an affordable price. Corporate and government spending on healthcare has grown to unsustainable levels. Policymakers have made quick, drastic changes to stave off financial disaster by shifting some of the cost to consumers through higher deductibles and copays.
As a result, healthcare consumers have become more proactive and demand to know the value they are getting for their dollar. They are looking for quality providers who will give them their money’s worth. They are looking to buy services from consumer-centered, convenient clinics that provide a clear explanation of costs and benefits.
Where are they looking for these providers?
The Internet.
There are now three billion mobile devices worldwide, three billion laptop computers, and approximately two billion tablets all connected to the Internet. The Internet is where people search and shop for goods and services, including healthcare.
For years, therapists have been lobbying for the Holy Grail—direct access to consumers. Now, thanks to the Internet, therapists can re-think their dependency on traditional gatekeepers and can market directly to consumers. Potential clients now have unlimited access to you and recommendations from your satisfied clients.
Think about that for a moment.
There are millions of people on the Internet searching for a solution to their health problem. Many of them are in the community where you live and work. The Internet has given you the opportunity to connect directly to the people who need and would benefit from your services. You are confident in your knowledge and skills and you know you could make a difference in their health if you had the chance.
Now you have that chance.
Almost all successful therapy outcomes start with a relationship. The relationship starts with a conversation where information is exchanged and trust is built. As clients get to know, trust and like you, a partnership begins to develop that allows you to offer your services in exchange for money. Your online platform permits you to start that conversation with a prospective client sooner. Your previous clients can join in the conversation through testimonials and reviews. It is those relationships that will sell your services and attract and persuade an ever-expanding clientele to do business with you.
If this blog content is going to help you the most it will begin with a relationship too. My hope is that you will get to know, like and trust me just like your clients do with you. I’m here to do whatever I can to help you discover and live out your calling as a therapist. In order to make it easier to get to know each other, I’m offering you a free coaching call to discuss where you are at in your career and your struggles and dreams. No strings attached. Just a phone call to start a conversation. I promise.
Having conversations with therapists like you helps me to develop useful content and products that serves my followers. Our interaction helps me to serve therapists who have the same problems and dreams as you. I’ll share more about how we might connect in the future. But for now if you have any questions or would like to set up your free coaching call email me at heypaul@paulpotterpt.com and I’ll get right back to you.
