The Key Factor to Your Success in Private Practice

Knowing where you are going in your practice and business is a prerequisite to private practice success!

When you have clarity about the direction you are taking, you will have surprising business growth and success.

The Problem

I would estimate that more than 90% of physical therapy practice owners who contact me for help do not have a vision, nor do they have a plan to succeed in private practice.

Most have a vague idea of what they want for their personal and business futures. By the time they contact me for help, they are frustrated, tired, and questioning how long they can sustain their pace and hard work.

Once they have completed the business assessment we offer, they recognize only too clearly that they are working mostly "in" the business, not enough "on" the business.

There is in fact no one leading their company's direction, strategy, people, goals and accountability process.

How can a business succeed and grow with no one leading?

A Real Example

When I first met Teresa she fit this profile. To her credit, she recognized this and started her work with us.

Teresa's Story:

a clinic owner,

who created a vision for her clinic

and formulated a plan to grow and succeed.

Teresa sent us a report of some of her clinic's accomplishments after only 6 months:

1. Changed our corporate identity, i.e., new logo, new look to print materials, etc. and changed look and tone of our website.

2. Made a major physical renovation to change the look and feel to more of a gym atmosphere, and we accomplished all of this while only adding an additional 130 sq feet of new space, so the rent payment didn't increase much.

3. Having new equipment and space led to new ideas for programming (which were implemented).

4. Developing new programs led to promoting them. And we had an incredible spring - invited to speak to school boards, sports clubs, teacher's convention, etc....

5. Now new patients are coming to clinic because they have heard of our programs and clinic.

6. 2 new therapists (awesome therapists) have joined our staff. They are super excited to join the clinic because of the our clinic philosophy.

7. A sports psychologist has joined our team, and we are interviewing to add an exercise therapist.

8. One of the exercise therapist applicants also works as a trainer in the Sports facility where we are located. So now we are discussing how to integrate our physio programs into the whole facility.

and the list goes on...

I guess my comment to all this is - WOW... look at the mess of work you got me into!!!

Just kidding... what I really want to say is Thank You... and look what that little exercise in vision and planning can do and has done for us.

Our 26 yr old practice has a new found "energy", we are treating the patients we love to work with, our staff is happy, and we're looking forward to hitting our next set of goals!

The Solution

Your goal as an owner is to design and shape a business that serves you and works independently from you - a business that is system-dependent and not owner-dependent.

Instead of shuffling papers or doing the bookkeeping, spend time trying to make your practice different, better, more profitable, and systems-oriented.

Remember, there is no job more valuable, intriguing and enriching than building your own business. Just think of the benefits it offers if you do it right - with a clear vision and plan! First, there are the personal perks. Autonomy is a big one: you get to set your own hours, choose the people you work with and control the services and projects you work on. Or this ought to be the case, if it isn't today. Then there is the unparalleled opportunity to generate personal wealth. And every day presents the possibility of a hair-raising and spine-tingling adventure.

Clarity: the key factor to your success

A vision reflects what your business is trying to achieve and what you care about most. It is simply a statement of the dream you have for your business.

Dream forward and describe what you want for your business in 5 years time, what you want your business to become.

Start by asking yourself these questions:

• Why am I in business and what do I want out of it?


• The most important thing to me is...


• The core values my business stands for are...

Work on this exercise diligently, and you'll soon begin to see how you make decisions that bring you closer to your dream. Don't forget to plan how you will get to this dream with strategies that are proven to be successful.