Business Plans

The realization that school will end someday is creating motivation to sculpt a business plan these days. I purchased a book written by a former successful (ethical) chiropractor called, The Business of Chiropractic. The book has turned out to be quite useful for such an endeavor, being that he practiced ethically and has great advice on how the business of chiropractic medicine works.

The time spent working on a business plan doesn't amount to much these days but planning things is always on my mind. It gives me great joy to think about the type of equipment I plan to purchase and how it is I will approach the community for their business.

From what I have read, targeting a specific customer is quite important when it comes to building a business. In any business you must have a clear definition of the customer you are targeting or you run the risk of not getting any business at all. You'd think defining your patient base would be easy, which it is. However, communicating what it is you are offering to them and why it is they need you is a very complicated thing to do. I am a customer to some companies and I am trying to learn why it is I devote my spending habits to these businesses. What do they offer that keeps me coming back beyond the product they provide? Is it the experience? Probably a bit of both.

There are teams that do this planning for you if you are financially set prior to launching such a business. Us poor folk, have to get creative and do the work ourselves. In my mind, it is really fun to design a dream clinic. I've thought about having a large office with a great view and a training area that is fully equipped with training equipment and a private shower/bathroom. I envision having a small studio size physical therapy area, large enough to accommodate a treadmill, recumbent bike, an elliptical machine and strength equipment. It will be spacious enough to allow a few assistants and personal trainers to work with patients/clients simultaneously. The difficult part will be separating the clinic area from the therapy area and designing it so people aren't running into each other.

It is a bit daunting to get all this planned out and also become a chiropractor. With boards approaching too it feels like I don't have time to do anything else but school and business planning. I know it will eventually come together and I will be sitting in my beautiful clinic busy as hell and financially secure. 18 months from now, this all will happen. Now to decide when to launch the fitness and massage side of things.

There are good incentives to launch the fitness and massage side of things first prior to opening the clinic. It allows a clientele to form prior to opening the medical side of things and gets the business familiar in the public's mind. If the expenses are covered when I walk in, I will essentially be much better off. That's a tough decision and a huge commitment while in school. We'll see.

All for now