November 1, 2007 – 11:44 am
Reader M. asks:
“Any advice for a new practitioner debating between joining a practice or starting a practice of my own? I am faced with an opportunity to join a thriving practice. I’m weighing the convenience/earning potential (esp. in the beginning) against loss of practice identity and opportunities down the line.”
If you’re only considering growth, there are really just two benefits to joining a practice. The first is the referrals you might gain from other practitioners in the practice. The second is exposure - growth you might experience simply from being in a busy office - walk-in exposure, signage, traffic, goodwill, and other benefits of the location and the business.
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January 30, 2007 – 4:10 pm
The SBA has a bunch of podcasts available on their site. I haven’t had a chance to listen yet, but the titles sound enticing. Lots geared toward startups, including:
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November 22, 2006 – 11:34 am
There are a million conceivable things to do when you start your practice, but what’s really important in the big picture? What’s going to lead to increased referrals and practice growth? Here’s a few seemingly innocent but critical things to do from day one. And if you’re already well past day one, fear not - it’s never too late to start.
Track Your Referrals
Discovering where your referrals come from is the single best way to get more of them. You can use my “five P’s” or something of your own, but make sure you track them from day one. Before you know it, it’s going to be day one of year two and having referral source data is going to be incredibly helpful in figuring out how to spend your marketing dollars.
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About.com has an pretty compelling list of 10 reasons to buy a business instead of starting your own, and they all apply to holistic/CAM practices. Given the high failure rate for small business, it’s worth considering.
Buying a Business: The Safer Alternative: Read More »
First in a four part series on starting a holistic practice. You need to be a member to read the other three, but this one’s a freebie…
Starting A Practice At A Glance Part 1 - Writing A Business Plan - www.holisticpro.com
Although it might lean more toward silicone than supplements, StartupNation has a pile of resources for anyone starting or growing a business.
They’ve got articles, podcasts, tips and tools on everything from website analytics to life plans. Definitely worth a look…
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There’s surprisingly little help for CAM startups online (hence this site, I suppose…). However, the Canadian gov, and a few of the provinces, have specific info for starting your alternative health practice.
A fair bit of it’s Canadian-specific, but it’s worth a spin through. Some interesting industry stats, too:
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