Can You Start Your Hand Therapy Clinic Before Becoming a CHT
===
[00:00:00] Hey there. Welcome to my OT business corner. Part of Hand Therapy Secrets. My name is Hoang Tran. I am an OT CHT and I wanted to bring this corner of Hand Therapy Secrets to really focusing down on talking about business and what you can do to One, get started in your business as an occupational therapist and two, how to grow your business as an occupational therapist.
[00:00:32] So I got this really great question. I can't honestly, I try to include the name of the person if they ask me the question, but I can't remember who asked me this question. But they asked me what I thought about as starting a hand therapy clinic before becoming a certified hand therapist. And my wholehearted answer is, yes, of course you can start your own therapy clinic before becoming a certified hand therapist.
[00:00:59] [00:01:00] I actually see tons of therapy clinics that. market themselves as hand therapists. They just can't technically say they're certified hand therapist. And if someone comes in and ask you, hey, are you certified hand therapist? And technically you're not. So you have to say, no, I'm not. But I do X, Y and Z.
[00:01:21] And that can be all great and dandy. But when you can lead with that, you're certified hand therapist is just a stronger marketing game, right? And as. One of my programs of hand therapy secrets is really about helping you become a certified hand therapist. It is one of the reasons to become a certified hand therapist is to become more marketable.
[00:01:48] And marketable means just that you can decide you want to work for someone else. Or you can decide you want to work for yourself and you know what I think is really amazing about being an occupational therapist is [00:02:00] that we have the opportunity to have a really long career. So I started when did I start?
[00:02:08] I started in my mid twenties, right? As an occupational therapist, I am now 47. So I've been a therapist for over 20 years. And the way I see it is. I am just getting started right now. I feel like I'm just getting started with how great I'm becoming. And I'm not saying that to like to my own horn, but let's be honest, if you're not tooting your own horn, like who the hell is tooting your horn for you?
[00:02:39] I am so much more confident and I know my level of skill because I have been. Working on it for the last over 20 years. If you caught me at the very beginning of my career and the first three years and know what the hell I was doing my five years, I was much better.[00:03:00] But even if you met me 10 years ago, like I was good, I thought it was great then.
[00:03:06] But man, looking back at like me 10 years ago, I am more skilled now, but it's only because I made the commitment to continue to become more skilled. I don't think like your skills just improve passively. So it is really about. Honing your skills, improving your skills, expanding your skills. I think that ultimately at the end of the day, you want to open a hand therapy clinic,
[00:03:40] but this question is coming because you feel some kind of way about becoming a certified hand therapist. And I would ask you, I would challenge you why aren't you a certified hand therapist yet? I have met other business owners who had or have a thriving therapy business and it's [00:04:00] totally possible.
[00:04:01] But I think that when you do want to become a certified hand therapist, you just have to work towards those goals of becoming a certified hand therapist. You can do it in conjunction. You can start your therapy business first, build to grow it. And also study to become a certified hand therapist.
[00:04:19] Now it is a lot of work, like it's a lot of time commitment. But you just have to be dedicated to it. I think to a certain extent, you can make your life easier if you weren't just starting out. If you're starting out in the first, one to two years of your therapy clinic, you got to put your time and attention to grow that.
[00:04:37] Cause if you are starting a business, it's because you have the skills to help a very particular. person, right? Who's coming into your clinic. You can help that particular person. Then you grow and you build your caseload. And then once that gets a little bit more setting, carve the time out to study.
[00:04:58] Believe it or not, as you [00:05:00] carve the time out to study, to become a certified hand therapist, that alone improves and enhances your skills critical thinking skills problem solving skills. And then, and really the. The active making decisions is a skill as well. It just doesn't come automatically. It requires work to develop that skill.
[00:05:19] Making decisions that will ultimately help your patients because when you can truly help your patients that come in through the door of your clinic they'll one stay, right? They'll stay longer. First of all, they'll stay and then they'll stay longer and then they will refer their friends, and talk about you in the community so that you can get more and more patients or clients like that.
[00:05:45] So I wholeheartedly believe that you can open and become your own therapy clinic without becoming a certified hand therapist. I would just say, create a plan in there that includes [00:06:00] becoming a certified hand therapist. Just because it is such a great marketing tool. It is really such a great marketing tool when you can say that you have it, whether you decide to work or become more of a in network insurance based clinic, or you because stay more on the cash side, either way, it can really help you.
[00:06:26] I've worked with therapists who have their own business already, and then they are willing to invest into a program like the exam prep just to help them speed their studying process along so that they can take the exam and pass, right? And I'll tell you one of the reasons why they do that to become a certified hand therapist.
[00:06:49] even if their intention is not fully to practice as your typical certified hand therapist would is because [00:07:00] someone in that clinic has the designation and you can argue that you provide certain specialty skills and you can request. Very particular types of patients. You can request more visits, you can request higher reimbursement rates.
[00:07:19] There's a lot that goes, in the, on the, behind the scenes, just from having your CHT license. Now, the other thing of you as a business owner, having it, even cause I know a clinic that, that person isn't necessarily going to be using it. He isn't going to be the one doing all the.
[00:07:45] All the treatments himself, as a certified hand therapist, could he absolutely does he have the skills? Sure. He has it in certain areas, but maybe not so much experience in other areas. But let me tell you, when you are [00:08:00] CHT and you are growing your business to be able to hire others, it is one a very attractive thing to bring in a therapist that.
[00:08:13] Where you're already a CHT and you want to help them become a CHT. I not only speak of this from experience as a certified hand therapist myself, looking to attract other occupational therapists that want to become certified hand therapists in my clinic. But I know from experience as well, because I know other business owners that are doing it, or, plan on doing or have done it in the past.
[00:08:40] So you yourself don't have to have it to start, but eventually plan on getting it. Because I think that ultimately it will help you grow your business. What
[00:08:54] was I going to say? I think also that hiring a certified hand [00:09:00] therapist is challenging. Like hiring someone who is already a certified hand therapist is quite challenging. And it's also quite challenging if they're really set in your ways. See, she's listen, if you're super set in your ways and trying to get a job, this is not help.
[00:09:21] It's not helping broader, broaden your horizons a little bit, or consider broadening your horizons a little bit, I was talking to a business owner and she's having a really hard time finding occupational therapists that are willing to work with the elbow and shoulder. I'm like, what is that?
[00:09:37] If you're a small therapy business, you are. There's only so many people with hand and wrist injuries that will fill the schedule for you, unless you're getting them directly from the hand surgeons and that's really tough. The thing is that it's tough because when they go slow or they decide to do something different, you have nothing.
[00:09:58] So build your business in a [00:10:00] way that. Always will keep you busy, right? Always will keep you busy. If you're a hand therapist and you don't have your CHT yet, it's okay. You can still build it. But then, think about having your CHT. And then if you're looking to hire a CHT who already has it, you do want someone who's willing to do whatever it is you're looking to do.
[00:10:22] When I started my business, I knew I've always, I have always worked as an occupational therapist who does more than just hands, right? And I think it's a fight, even in the hand therapy world Oh, we don't want to just have they want to change the name. Of being a certified hand therapist because we do more than hands.
[00:10:39] Yeah. But if you do more than hands, like we also have to have people in our community say that we are, they also do more than hands, but some people niche down even inside of a niche, but the more you. The more you niche down like that, the harder it can be to to really grow in terms of volume. So [00:11:00] those are just a couple of different things to think about.
[00:11:02] I, I totally 100 percent feel that you can become. Start your thing, your therapy clinic, grow your hand therapy clinic without the CHT, just have a solid marketing plan and, talk to the people you want to attract into your clinic. And then you also want to talk to. If you're marketing towards like hand surgeons and stuff like that, you want to talk to them in a way that helps them to believe that you know what you're doing, even though you're not a certified hand therapist, because most of them are looking for a CHT, but that doesn't rule you out. That really doesn't rule you out. So yeah, that's what else can I say about it? , it's possible for you. Just create a plan that is gonna allow you to be really marketable about, certain things that, that you can help people in your community with hand and arm injuries, right?
[00:11:54] And then, make the commitment to study to become a CHT so that you can [00:12:00] become more marketable, your clinic can become more marketable. I've seen it happen. So I, that's where I'm speaking from. I've seen it happen for people who've done it. So don't let that be your excuse for not starting your own business.
[00:12:18] Just commit and get it done. So I hope this video helps you. If you're starting to think about can I do it? Can I not be like ask different questions. Don't ask yourself yes, no questions. Ask yourself different questions so that you, your brain starts thinking about how if I were to start my hand therapy clinic without becoming a CHT, how would I do it?
[00:12:43] Ask yourself that question and then start to build up the answer and just know that it's okay if you're looking for help, it's okay to get a mentor or coach, join a program to help you speed along that process, but also hold you accountable and Show you [00:13:00] what is possible, because sometimes when you can't see it yet, it can slow you down in your process.
[00:13:07] So if you join a program, a course, a program, a group of people, whatever it is, when you see it possible for someone else, it can help you see that it's possible for you. Just don't use those as an excuse to stop you. Start your business, grow your business. It's totally possible.
[00:13:24] My name is Hoang Tran. I'm an Occupational Therapist and Certified Hand Therapist. And if you like this video and it helps you to see that it's possible for you, click the like button and subscribe for more videos like this. And if you have a comment or you have a question, definitely Consider leaving it below for me, and this is how I'm going to create more and more videos like this help you.
[00:13:47] All right. Thanks so much.
