NP Business Tip: Planning for Success

Are you thinking about starting your own practice? Are you wondering if having your own office is right for you but are just not sure what to do next? Rather than wondering forever or just jumping right into business ownership, take the next step by creating a business plan.

While business plans are written for many reasons, a major purpose for a business plan is determining the feasibility of a business idea. A well crafted plan allows you to evaluate all the possibilities available to you before committing any of your valuable time or hard earned cash.

Once you have completed the soul searching, data gathering and financial evaluation that goes into useful business planning, ask yourself if it still makes sense. If your answer is "Yes" - great: move forward and open your own office.

However, if your answer is "No", go back to the drawing board. You can either make the necessary adjustments to your plan or start from square one.

Regardless the outcome, you are far better off spending the time on writing a plan and finding out that your idea is not workable in its current form rather than committing yourself (and your family) to something that is doomed to fail from the get go. NPBO action steps:

1. Ask yourself what it is that you want to do and why.

   Take time out for some soul searching: what is it that you really want to do and accomplish with this business. Have great clarity on your "why", your reason for wanting to start a business.

2. Determine who you want to work with.

   Who are the people you enjoy with working most? Since we tend to attract what we focus on, this is also important if you want to start a general primary care office.

3. Decide where and how.

   Where is your office going to be located? What is the physical space going to look like? What do you have to do to make this happen?

4. Analyze all your numbers.

   Determine what your potential business revenues might be and determine what the costs would be to generate it.

5. Evaluate your findings.

   Look at the data generated from your plan. After subtracting expenses from revenues is there enough left to make it worth your while?

© 2010, Johanna Hofmann, MBA, LAc. All Rights Reserved.




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