Allied health business owners invest a lot of time and money into their craft and their technical skillset, but tend not to invest the same energy into the business and team management side of things.
As a result, many private practice owners end up comparing their business to other successes in their life and wonder why it’s not up to the same standard.
It’s that gap between our clinical prowess and our business and leadership management prowess that can actually be very stressful. For some reason, we think we should just be able to do it.
In fact, running a business requires a lot of new, different skills and education, which can be learned. If I learned it, anybody can learn it.
In order to move forward to being a better allied health business owner, it’s important to stop comparing and think about what needs to be done to run your business differently and even more effectively.
We are all in this together and together, we will succeed.
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Overwhelming business advice
I am fortunate to be able to have amazing conversations with allied health business owners, day in, day out, week after week. As much as I love what I do, there are a few things I struggle with. Being an allied health business owner can be very lonely at times, especially when you don’t meet your personal expectations.
Many allied health business owners tell me the same thing. I also hear that when allied health business owners do go looking for good, solid business information and advice, the information they land on is pretty generalist in nature. So while states and countries and all sorts of organisations can provide good general information, it’s up to you to make sense of it and apply it specifically to allied health. Or to education, to disability, to rehab or insurance, or whatever sector you serve.
The business of delivering allied health outcomes to our customers is very specific and nuanced, especially with the all the rules and regulations we have to comply with like APRA, Medicare, NDIS, and any of the insurance schemes and so on and so forth.
We don’t know what we don’t know
Allied health business owners also tell me they receive business advice that is variable, not always contemporary, and not always in line with the working environment we find ourselves in. It also tends to be out of date when it comes to compliance.
Once again, allied health business owners find themselves feeling overwhelmed. So that loneliness, the isolation and the overwhelming feeling builds up and can actually cause a bit of paralysis, if you like. A lot of owners are happy with the status quo and sit there in a state of not knowing.
It boils down to us, our thinking, our interpretations and our understanding of how this business ship to supposed to sail.
I know how that feels; I remember being that business owner. It was hard to find who and what I needed to really shift my business thinking my business development activities in order to work towards the type of business I wanted to run.
A needs-based resource
It seems to be an ongoing issue because I’m hearing it day in, day out, on the back of coaching calls and power calls.
So I’ve worked with my amazing virtual team the past few months to develop a resource that will help so many business owners, regardless of age, stage or position in the business lifecycle.
Our resource has contemporary allied health business information in it and a collection of my favourite business books and podcasts. It’s also a collection of all the conference recordings we’ve ever done, so there’s hours and hours of recordings for you to digest.
It’s been developed by people who know the allied health space, inside out, back to front. It is also sensitive to the bigger allied health landscape.
As part of this commitment, there will be an ongoing live and interactive monthly web event that everybody can tune into. You’ll be able to ask me things and hear my thoughts on a range of ongoing, niche allied health business topics. The program is called the Business Advantage Membership.
Allied health program feedback
To help make the program even better for you, I want to hear from you. I want to know what else you want, what will make it easier and more enjoyable and more successful for you to run your allied health businesses out there.
We pride ourselves in being responsive, in being courageous, in being agile in the way that my own business is developing. And I would probably add a little bit crazy. We really like to try things other people haven’t done.
For us, it’s all about you and what you need and nothing delights us more than knowing you, the business owner, is happy and your team is happy. We totally believe when you and your team are happy, your customers are going to be happy too.
My business tips
There are a few things I swear by to ensure allied health business success. The first is, I believe you need to be locking away a minimum of four hours per week of focused business development time.
Tip number two is you need a business plan. You need a strategy. You need to get your business plan out of your head and onto paper or pixel.
My third pro tip, which shouldn’t surprise you at all, is to get support. Get the help you need and get the business support in place much sooner than you think you will need it. The moment you have the idea is pretty much the moment you need to be engaging someone from somewhere to give you some business love.
You also need someone else to provide a sounding board, to provide industry insights, to provide accountability and patience and guidance along the way.
Feel free to email me, or give me a call to discuss your business aspirations and we can have a bit of a think about how we can turn some of those challenges into opportunities and get you faster down the track than perhaps you thought possible.
Be sure to check out the Practice Made Perfect Facebook group too, which is growing every week. It’s a very positive, supportive community.
And of course, you can find out more about my Business Advantage Membership here.
