There’s a lot to consider when thinking about starting your first private practice.
After all, you don’t exactly learn how to run a successful business in medical school.
Some practitioners make the mistake of underestimating the start up cost of running a primary care clinic and run out of funding.
Others aren’t proactive enough when it comes to attracting new patient referrals and ultimately struggle to maintain a patient base.
At the Symbiosis medical coworking space in Washington DC, we’re dedicated to helping you avoid these common pitfalls when starting your own private practice.
In this article, we’ll go over some of the most common mistakes made by practitioners starting their own private practice and how you can avoid them.
What Do Healthcare Providers Wish They Knew Before Starting Their Private Practice?
When well thought out, building your own private practice can be immensely rewarding.
Owning your own private practice means being your own boss and having control over your own time and schedule, as well as the flexibility to run your business the way you want to.
Let’s look at some of the most common struggles faced by healthcare practitioners.
The Importance Of Patience
As the old saying goes: good things come to those who wait.
The same can be said of building your own private practice.
Building your own private practice takes time.
It takes an average of two years for most practitioners to get fully established in their private practice.
You might find that gaining your first few patients to be a particular challenge.
But once you get the ball rolling with around ten to fifteen regular clients, things tend to become a bit easier.
Nonetheless, building a patient base is something that requires constant work to thrive.
However, that’s if you do things the traditional way.
Here at Symbiosis, our Practice Accelerator plan is geared toward helping you start and grow your practice much more quickly than the traditional route.
We’ll work to get you to profitability as quickly and sustainable as possible.
Contact us today to find out how.
The Importance Of A Strong Website
Building a website is an excellent way to increase your practice’s online presence.
In our modern era, most potential clients will turn to Google as their first step in searching for a medical practitioner.
Setting up an attractive website can help you connect with such potential clients.
Consider your professional website as your “public face”, so to speak.
It’s your first opportunity to make a good impression.
But it can also be a great source of new patients for your practice.
Having a good looking website that’s been search engine optimized can help make sure potential patients find you first.
Here at Symbiosis, we have a dedicated team of healthcare private practice digital marketers who can help.
RELATED: What Should Be On Your Private Practice Website?
The Importance Of Healthcare Blogging
Speaking of websites, adding a section for blogs is an excellent method to help establish yourself as an expert to potential clients.
Reading your blogs can also help potential patients feel more connected to you on a personal level.
Additionally, regular blogging can help improve your rankings on Google.
Google loves to see websites that are regularly updated, and that have more pages.
Posting blog articles is a great way to scratch both itches.
You might also consider vlogging, or video blogging, on YouTube or social media channels.
But don’t worry if you don’t like writing – Symbiosis can help there, too.
Our digital marketing team also includes experienced healthcare bloggers who will work to create a steady stream of fresh content for you.
We’re used to writing for healthcare related topics, and can work with you to keep your blog fresh and engaging.
The Importance Of New Referral Sources
As we hinted at earlier, building your patient base is an ongoing process.
Gaining your first few patients is important, of course, but it shouldn’t be the only aspect of building your private practice that you focus on.
For instance, once work is finished with current patients, new ones will have to be found to take their place.
That’s why having a solid referral base can really come in handy.
Patient building should always be a primary focus, even when you’re fully booked.
That’s where Symbiosis comes in.
Not only can our digital marketing team help you attract new patients online, you’ll also get access to a network of allied healthcare providers who can refer new patients to you as well.
In fact, some of our private practitioners end up adding more clinicians to their practices because the demand grows so much.
If you’re nervous about getting enough new patients in your private practice, we’re here to help.
Contact Symbiosis today to find out how.
The Importance Of Systemizing Your Practice
Starting your own private practice will certainly take a fair share of your time.
However, it’s important to manage your time wisely.
For instance, it would be unwise to spend more time on creating patient folders than actually seeing your patients.
That’s why systemizing your practice comes in handy.
By creating simple systems to help with organizing your business, you can spend more time with your patients as well as keep a better work life balance.
One method of systemizing your private practice is to delegate certain staff to certain roles or investing in a computer program that keeps track of your client files.
If you start your private practice with us here at Symbiosis, we provide the healthcare support staff you need to manage your patient files, book appointments, and more.
We can also help by offering systemization strategies to keep your practice organized.
The Importance Of Setting Boundaries With Your Time
Occupational burnout is a common experience in the world of healthcare.
This is especially true in the world of corporate healthcare, where healthcare providers have difficulty maintaining work life balance.
It’s an unfortunate result of putting yourself through prolonged periods of high stress.
Setting boundaries with your time is one of the most effective ways to reduce your chances of experiencing burnout.
For instance, creating policies and expectations with your clients surrounding contact hours, punctuality, and last minute cancellations can help protect your time.
This in turn allows you to spend more time on self care activities.
Of course, that’s easier to do in a private practice than in corporate healthcare.
In the latter, you may feel worried that you could lose your job if you’re not on call 24/7.
But when you run your own private practice, nobody can fire you except you.
This gives you much better job security, and the peace of mind that comes with it.
The Importance Of Accepting Help From Others
Building your own private practice is hard work, but you don’t have to do it alone.
Attempting to do everything yourself isn’t only unrealistic, but also will increase your chances of experiencing burnout.
The first few years of your private practice will likely introduce numerous challenges you’ll have to learn to navigate.
Speaking with other experts and considering their advice can help you overcome these challenges and come out on top.
That’s where we come in.
Contact Symbiosis To Start Your Own Private Practice Today
Starting your own private practice can be hard work, but it doesn’t have to be.
Here at Symbiosis, we work to take the headaches out of starting your private practice.
That way, you can focus on what you’re good at – practicing medicine.
Contact Symbiosis, and take your first step toward starting your own private practice today.
