Here’s the scenario: A new naturopath starts her practice. She’s fresh out of school, heavy in debt and a little freaked out by how much her time is worth. I hope people aren’t turned off by the price, she thinks.
Anxious to make sure she’s ‘worth it’ to her clients, her first patient visits are a [...]
I came across a tidbit today that does a great job of describing the difference between running a business and running a holistic practice. It’s from Rich Dad’s Cashflow Quadrant, the second in the Rich Dad series of books:
“Those who are true “B’s” (Business Owners) can leave their businesses for a year or more, [...]
Reader E. writes:
“I was wondering how you handle when people start to ask for free advice. I am starting out my practice and want to come out of the gates honoring my abilities and not giving things away for free. I don’t mind a general question here and there, but when someone keeps asking very [...]
With all the work that it takes to run a practice, it’s easy to forget that business is not all about you – it’s about your clients. There are a thousand little things that make up the client experience, but making things easy – simple, fast, pleasant – tends to keep patients returning and [...]
Many CAM practitioners bemoan the lack of insurance/health plan coverage for holistic and alternative health care services. “If only it was covered by more health care plans, my practice would really take off,” is a common refrain.
While coverage is on the rise in many areas, I’d like to suggest there might be more drawbacks than [...]
In the end, you’?re only as good as the quality of the products and services you provide. Great marketing, financing and hard work will only take you so far unless what you offer is of sufficient quality.
What defines a quality experience in an alternative health practice? Many consumers will equate quality with value. That is, [...]
There is a natural progression to starting an alternative health practice. After opening your doors, the first order of business is, of course, to get as many new patients as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, a natural second step in this process is to forget all about these patients once they leave the office. The file [...]
Few alternative health care practitioners start out as business people. If you poll the ranks of the chiropractic, naturopathic, acupuncture and TCM colleges, to name a few, you’ll find a myriad of reasons for attending, but few of them would be, “I wanted to start my own business.”
You’ll find a genuine interest in [...]
As many of you know, I’m big on growing from practice to ‘business’. For many practitioners, though, the question of “why bother?” remains. Here are a few good reasons:
You Can Have a Life
Increasingly, surveys show people in all industries working longer hours. And although some manage to put the brakes on or [...]
Almost as long as there have been businesses, there’s been a phenomenon of customers migrating towards the busiest places. It’s even a mantra when traveling: “Eat at the busy spots. The food must be safe.” In fact, the success of franchising is based in part on the idea that people like to go where other [...]
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