Creating a OT Business Plan for 2024
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[00:00:00] If you're starting a business or you're a few years into your business, let's create your OT business plan for 2024. One of the things that I heard a while ago, and it was actually from Oprah Winfrey. And she says, this is a pre like a phrasing of it, but she's you don't know how to get to where you're going because you don't know where you're going.
[00:00:21] And that hit me so powerful. Like every single time I hear that, I just listened to it over and over because it reminds me. If we're going to create a plan for what our business looks like and essentially what our life looks like, we have to know where we're going. I talked to a lot of people who are like, I'm not really sure.
[00:00:39] I'm not really sure what I'm doing. So first you, this is the practice of trying to get really sure to what you're doing and what you're looking to create in terms of your business. So how do you figure, how do you figure this out? So here's what I did in the first, first one to two years of my business.
[00:00:58] I was just starting out [00:01:00] and I was in survival mode. My mode was like, I just needed to make this shit work because I quit my job. And even though I was safe in terms of having an income from my husband, we're a two income household. So I was really scared from a crap. I left a, pretty much like a six figure job.
[00:01:26] And I went to start out like literally on my own. I didn't do what. I think a lot of people do, which is start themselves out and slowly wean out of their business. I've seen other therapists do that. I didn't do that. I, my ass went cold turkey, but what I did do throughout the years before going into business was I was developing my clinical skills and I think to a certain extent I was developing my bravery, right?
[00:01:54] And when I went out to business, I just knew I wanted to start a business on my [00:02:00] own and I wanted to make some kind of money. If that's you, here is what I did and maybe a little bit of adjustment. So here's what I did. I, so if you're planning for 2024, that's right. Write out your revenue goals, right?
[00:02:19] So write out what you want to make for the year. So write it out. And then number two was. What I did at that time was I added up all my expenses and I added that to my revenue goal. So it wasn't a revenue goal. It was like yeah, it was a revenue goal. Like I wanted to make a certain amount.
[00:02:41] So let's say let's say for example, I wanted to make a hundred thousand. Like I was happy if I just made 100, 000 in revenue and I knew my expenses were, let's say, 25 percent of that then. 75 percent of it was my take home. That was my salary. That was my profit. That was whatever.[00:03:00]
[00:03:00] And that's just what I did. I kept it really simple. I wrote out like my revenue goal. I added up my expenses and when it was just me, myself and I I had very few expenses. Like I started out in a really cheap location, small location. It was just me. So it wasn't like I needed a ton of space. I rented a small office that was like 300 square feet.
[00:03:26] But here's where I would do that just a little differently because I only calculated what I was spending at the time. If I were to do it now, I would. Add up expenses that I would foresee in the future a little bit, just plump it up a little bit. So it gave me a little bit, a wiggle room to spend more money instead of thinking, Oh my God, I have to keep everything so cheap, cause I think that. To a certain extent, if you keep everything so cheap, you don't really believe that you're growing, so when I signed up with the EMR, [00:04:00] I did WebPT, and at that time, it wasn't the cheapest EMR out there, it's still not the fucking cheapest out there but for what I was looking to do and what I wanted it for I thought that was the best EMR out there.
[00:04:15] And I also knew I wanted to, whatever I purchased, whatever I wanted to buy into, I wanted to get into. A platform that I could keep long term because sometimes when you start with cheap and then you want to upgrade later, it becomes more expensive, right? Not just in the cost of the program, but in the cost of your time and energy that it takes to actually switch over.
[00:04:41] So I was very mindful of that, like that I knew I was going to succeed no matter what, and that I wanted to pick an EMR that I could stick with. When I was looking at CRMs platforms that could help me collect contacts and stuff like that. I also was thinking long term, I [00:05:00] wanted to have something that wasn't necessary.
[00:05:01] is, I needed something that was considered the best. And so that is really my rationale, but I didn't add that into my expenses at that time. So if you can add up to your expenses, add up and plump it up a little bit to give you yourself some wiggle room. So you have a little bit more of an abundant mindset of saying that's what you can get to like that, that you could spend a little bit more versus like we try to make everything super cheap.
[00:05:29] So yeah, those were the two biggest things write down your revenue goal that you want to make and then write out your expenses, add them up, right? That's really your revenue. And then number three was from that total number, how many pages do you need to see?
[00:05:45] How many patients do you need to see based on your price? So when I was starting out I started out doing insurance. So I wouldn't necessarily recommend [00:06:00] now doing just insurance, but that's how I started my insurance prices and my cash prices were relatively the same. My cash prices are just a little bit more than what my my average patient.
[00:06:14] was gonna bring in. So you take that number and then you divide it by the total number that that you want to make for the year. And then you just divide it and say, okay that's the number of patients I need to see in the whole year to actually meet my goal. And then you divide it again.
[00:06:31] So just, it's about doing the math. So divide it again and then say, like, how many patients do you need in a month? And then, now you have a number and now you have a plan, I'm sorry, now you have a target, you don't have a plan, you got no plan, you got a target, so now you know where you're going, is pretty much what I'm trying to say, so now that you know where you're going in terms of a revenue goal[00:07:00] and how much you want to charge for your services for your therapy services.
[00:07:04] Then you have a number and a target to work towards. And then you can start to create your plan based off of that and say, if I only need. So let's say for example back then I only needed 25 patients a month 25 patients a month This is nothing right really is nothing. So what did I need to do to get those types of patients back?
[00:07:29] Then I was door to door marketing. I will because I was using my reputation I had built over the 10 years or so that had Been a therapist. And so I spent a lot of my time doing door to door marketing getting to know new doctors reinforcing relationships with old doctors. And then I spent quite a bit of my time learning how to market, like how to write, how to market, how to, get myself out there. And back then it was like [00:08:00] websites versus social media was a little social media. This is 10 years ago. So Facebook was like the biggest thing. So just getting, getting that portion going getting my website going to make sure that, people could find me.
[00:08:16] I started my business very insurance focused and I was trying to get in network contracts. I do a lot of workers comp and in the workers comp world, there's a lot of hand injuries, a lot of hand and arm injuries but it's also extremely competitive, right? And so I was working that angle.
[00:08:36] I'm not really sure if that's the angle I would take anymore, but I know That can get someone started. Nowadays I would really go more cash base. But I'm also saying that from experience of doing cash base now for the last eight years. And so how I got started and where I ended up is not the same.
[00:08:55] And that's okay. You just, you remember you're starting out and you're in survival [00:09:00] mode. And so you're doing the. The necessary things to get you going and to get you to the next level. All right. So I you really can't fuck up, pick a lane and drive in it. Like literally. Pick a lane and drive in it.
[00:09:16] The more indecisive you are, the slower you go. Have you ever seen someone try to change lanes? Try like they don't know where the hell they're going. What happens? They slow down because they're so indecisive. Pick a fucking lane and take it. Because you can go faster. So back then there was not. I did not know about cash.
[00:09:36] I knew cash was there, but I only knew like low cash. I didn't know about premium pricing. So I, and it was because of what I saw the clinic that I had worked in, they lowered their cash prices to whatever insurances were providing them. So they were willing to take the bottom of The barrel.
[00:09:58] Basically, [00:10:00] the hospital where I was treating patients, we never saw a ton of cash. And when we did see them, we would always kind of finagle the prices to reduce it by 50%. So that patients didn't have to pay. But yet we were doing the work in a hospital setting. Maybe that works. Because the whole hospital generates all the revenue.
[00:10:28] So you make your little salary, right? And you're, you're lucky when you get a 1 percent merit raise. No matter how great you are you get 1%. In a business mentality, in a business world you eat what you kill, basically. Whatever you fish, that's what you got. So if You want to dumb down your prices.
[00:10:48] Then that's what you get. So you've got to, you've got to figure out your pricing strategy. That's like a whole nother podcast but you got to figure it out, but pick your lane and just go in it, pick your lane, go in it. [00:11:00] And then you can make changes and tweaks as you go. Can I go? When you are pulled off on the side of the road because you don't know where you're going.
[00:11:10] So that's why I talk about creating that business plan and just picking a lane and just doing something to get you going. You, cause you're not going to know where you're going if you don't know where you're going. So pick a lane and just go and then we could tweak it to get you somewhere faster.
[00:11:27] So that's what I did in the first two years of my business. Knowing absolutely nothing and just fricking winging it. And I had no one telling me about this and you have so many, so much information nowadays that you're going to have to pick and choose. you, what you know and what you trust and who you listen to.
[00:11:48] So yeah, take it for what it is. If it sounds good for you, it sounds right for you. Take it and do it. Cause that's what I did in the first two years and I would just. My [00:12:00] expenses part and I would, like the math, just doing the math of how many patients you need based on your pricing strategy.
[00:12:07] And I had no pricing strategy then I picked a number and I ran with it. Just do that. And then we'll keep going from there. Okay. So if you're more like two years or more, you might be in a little bit more growth minded, right? So if you're a little bit more growth minded, you're a little bit more advanced.
[00:12:28] You're like, Hey mom, I made it, I'm surviving. Then here are a couple of things that you could do. That is around the same thing, but. But a little bit more, I say, upgraded. So now I spend time, weekly to write out my goals. So you got to write out your goals. So if you're further along, you've got to write out your goals, right?
[00:12:50] You've got to write out more detailed goals. So one of my biggest thing is I'm writing 10 goals and I write them every day. I write them or don't look at your old goals. 10 goals [00:13:00] every day. Write them out. Circle the one that's most important. Circle the one goal that if you did this one goal would change and make everything else obsolete, right?
[00:13:10] Pick a goal. But you've got to spend that time weekly. You've got to spend that time, I think, dreaming big. It is, I think it is hard to dream big when you've got people's voices telling you sometimes that you might not make it. And they don't necessarily mean to, right? They don't necessarily mean to my parents.
[00:13:33] My mom is entrepreneur. She started out her business. When everyone was telling her she was crazy, she should just get a job inside an office, right? A woman couldn't get like an office job. She barely spoke English. But she started selling silk flowers and when she was doing it, everyone told her she was crazy for doing that.
[00:13:55] And that, why was she working so hard? And, like as an immigrant, you could just [00:14:00] move to certain States and live off of welfare. Like, why were we working so hard? My parents didn't want to live off of welfare. Nothing's wrong with it, but it wasn't like the life they envisioned for themselves.
[00:14:11] And and my mom couldn't envision herself just making minimal wage, cleaning airplanes and bathrooms and whatever else she was doing. She envisioned something bigger for herself and she started to, she started a business selling flowers. And we we sold in the flea markets and that's how we started.
[00:14:31] But Even though she did that and even though people told her not to and she did it and she now Has a very, has a much better life than she ever envisioned. When I opened my business She could not help but tell me the same things that people told her Oh, are you sure this is what you want to do?
[00:14:58] Would your life just be [00:15:00] easier if one, either you worked for me, or just work at the hospital because you have a great job. There's so easy. You don't have to do anything. You get to go home and you'd be with your kids or whatever. And even though she had did the hard thing, what I want to do my thing.
[00:15:16] They could not help but be a little bit discouraging, not because they didn't believe in me, but they didn't want me to fail. So they did it out of love. So there's going to be people who one, limit you from their love of you. To for you not to get hurt, not to fail to, there's going to be people limiting you because they themselves are limited, right?
[00:15:44] Listen to that again, there's going to be people who are going to say things to you, it's going to be a little like under, like under the table kind of comment, they're going to be, cause I've had friends who are in business who, A little bit like it's [00:16:00] an underhanded statement.
[00:16:01] It doesn't sound that bad, but you can feel like it's a, like a little dig. And you have to remember that sometimes because they feel limited, they're going to say things that are limiting for you as well. So you have to spend time writing out your goals and dreaming big about what you want in your.
[00:16:28] business because you can create this plan all you want, but you won't ever create it if you cannot see where you want to go. And that is the ability to dream big daydream and say, this is what I want, right? Even if it changes, it does not matter. Like when I started my business in a 300 square foot space, my goal was to grow my business so I can have multiple locations [00:17:00] so I can employ OTs that wanted to do hand therapy.
[00:17:05] I don't do that now, but am I creating opportunities for OTs? Yes. Cause my, once I started to dream that and I started to do my dreams, change, and it's okay. You got to start somewhere and it's okay if it changes along the way, but you got to have one destination at a time. So spend the time to dream big and write out your goals, write 10 goals.
[00:17:29] And then number two is what does my business need to look like to feel my personal life? So now that question is to write out your personal goals, right? So write out your personal goals. How much time do I want, what do I want to be able to do with my kids? What do I want to be able to do with my husband?
[00:17:48] What do I want to be able to do with my family? What do I want to be able to do with my, my, my friends, right? So your business feels your personal life. And when I [00:18:00] first started, my kids were little and I was okay with with working a lot because they were in a stage where I didn't think they really.
[00:18:09] Needed a lot of my time, right? Cause I'm, I'm very fortunate. My husband, my husband does stuff. Those were his kids, he's not babysitting. He's watching his own damn kids. I family all those things. And I wanted, I wanted to build my business a certain way so that by the time they got to this age, I was.
[00:18:31] More ready to be be very accessible. Okay, for example, I don't find joy in dropping my kids off and picking them up from school. That's a personal thing. I don't need to be the one doing that. But do I need to go home by a certain time and make dinner? Absolutely. Do I need to be the one there to put them to bed?
[00:18:56] Absolutely. But they didn't need to be there for [00:19:00] everything. So my husband and I, we divided and conquered essentially. I'm not the person who's going to help them with homework, right? That's not necessarily me. That's not my strength. That's my husband's strength. He can go and do that.
[00:19:14] So you got to spend time writing your business goals and then you got to spend time writing your personal goals based off of what your business needs to look like. Number three, what was I willing to sacrifice? So write out what you're willing to sacrifice and what you're willing to upgrade. Now The sacrifice might be a certain amount of time.
[00:19:35] Your sacrifice might be like you have to work a certain number of weekends, especially if you're just a little bit more advanced. And you're in that like toddler stage, right? You're not baby stage or toddler stage, but what are you willing to sacrifice? So I, for example, I was willing to sacrifice money To buy speed.
[00:19:56] So I was willing to spend money buying courses, going into [00:20:00] programs, masterminds. I stepped up my spend because I I just didn't have time to waste. Like you, you can sit here and you could research a gazillion things all by yourself, or you can. Find someone you like, someone you trust, someone who speaks to you for the thing that you need, and then go and buy it.
[00:20:23] It could be a book, it could be a program, it could be a course, whatever, but I was willing to do just that. And I think I've spoken about it before. I felt like marketing was one of my weakest points. And so I decided to buy into a course, a three day course, which then led me into buying into a coaching and mastermind class program.
[00:20:46] And from that, I just, that was, you can either call it a sacrifice or you can call it an upgrade. They're one in the same. What are you upgrading your life? So that to me, that was an upgrade. I was, [00:21:00] at first I saw it as a sacrifice. At first I saw it as a sacrifice because it wasn't money that was going to feed my household.
[00:21:09] But what was great is money that was feeding me. And if I'm fed, then I can do the necessary things that then can feed my household, right? And so because I spent the money, I was able to earn the money back. And then my upgrades were spending more spending more money hiring people who can help me around the house, right?
[00:21:33] I don't need to do everything. So I started to, I think maybe most people have cleaning ladies already. I didn't have one. I was like, we cleaned this shit ourselves. Cause that's how I grew up. We cleaned our own shit, right? We cleaned our own floors and I wanted my floors to be done a certain way.
[00:21:52] All right, I wanted my bathroom to be cleaned a certain way and I only had a cleaning lady when I was pregnant and then You [00:22:00] know, we're like, okay, we're gonna do it ourselves Freaking two kids full time job and then I'm going into business on my own. I was doing everything I mean the first two years I was bringing laundry home Sorry for the first three years.
[00:22:14] I was bringing laundry home from my clinic and doing the laundry so at some point you got to upgrade, you got to think about these things as upgrades in your life. I got a cleaning lady twice a week. Now I have a cleaning weekly so that I don't have to yell at my husband. I don't have to yell at my kids.
[00:22:31] I am It's an upgrade for me. I am saving my energy to do the hard work of growing a business. Using things like Instacart. Oh my God. When I can't even tell you it's the cards, what relatively new the last several years and when it first came out, I was like, no, I'm going to, I'm still going to the store.
[00:22:51] I love funny enough. I love going to the grocery store. But I don't always love going. All the time like for my business, [00:23:00] so I would go to costco schlep up, you know the stuff put it in the car and then schlep the stuff into my office You know how much time I wasted right? Do you have any time I wasted?
[00:23:13] So Now there's things I'm willing to sacrifice. I'm willing to upgrade. Sometimes it doesn't need to be money. Sometimes it's about sometimes it's about convenience or time or maybe those things are money. I'm willing to, I'm willing to hire, but that's that's a whole nother story, but you have to, if you're in growth mode, really think about What are you willing to sacrifice?
[00:23:35] What are you willing to upgrade and list those things out? There should be, you should have a good, five to 10 things that you're willing to do. And then what I did number four is I listed out all my tasks. I listed out all my tasks what gave me joy, what annoyed me, right? So what fills my bucket so I can keep doing the things I don't want to do, I can maybe hand it off to someone else.
[00:23:59] I have [00:24:00] to analyze what am I spending my time on what am I willing to delegate, right? And so from all of those things, right? You write out your goals, but now you've got to write out you wrote out your business goals, you wrote out your personal goals, and then three and four, which is the sacrifices upgrades and then listing out your tasks.
[00:24:19] Those are going to help you manage your time. And then number five is out of. Those goals and those things that consider you want to pick two to three major things that you're going to work on two or three major things that you're going to work on because remember, this is growth mode. Now you're not surviving anymore.
[00:24:42] What are the one to two things you're going to be doing in the year that's going to support your goals. So if your goal is to now, Okay. Increase your increase your revenue by X percentage, what does that need to look like? What do you need to [00:25:00] work on? So if you're, let's say from I'll give you my example.
[00:25:08] If our goal this year, I'm working on one thing this year, I, most people say work on one thing. My issue has always been, I have so many things. So if you're in that toddler mode, like you might have one to two things, right? And then from the one or two major things that you can dive out, three or four minor things that you're going to work on to then support your major things. But I'm at the phase right now where I'm working on one major thing, right? I'm working on one major thing. My one major thing is for the clinic to grow 20 percent from a cash perspective. That's it. That's all I'm fucking working on.
[00:25:53] That's it. That's all I'm working on next year. 2024. That's my one goal. I picked it. Now I'm going to write [00:26:00] from that one goal. I can write out all the things that need to happen in order to make that one goal work. I haven't told my team yet, but that's what we're working on. So if you're planning out your business plan for 2024, if you're just starting out, go back to the beginning of this video podcast and it's what I did in my first one to two years, you're just starting out, just do that survive, get going, pick a lane, do the thing, and then when you're two to three years out, You can spend more time doing that stuff.
[00:26:38] Now, if you can, in your beginning part, do this more advanced growth mode, or you're spending more time thinking about what you want, thinking about what you're going to do, and then write it out. Big fan of writing things out. You see me with my notebook and my pen all the time because I'm a big believer in just writing now because you mind up in all your goals, your mind dumping what you [00:27:00] have to do.
[00:27:00] Sometimes you can look back at it, but sometimes you just keep going in and write it out. And sometimes you go back through and say, Oh I forgot about this or maybe you forgot it for a reason. And you have some new things cause you're constantly putting your ideas on paper and then you pick the thing that you're going to work on and then work.
[00:27:18] So that's my thing that I'm going to be working on. I hope this helps you with your plans for what you want to do in 2024. If you like more things like this, I forgot to totally introduce myself at the beginning. My name is Hoang Tran. I'm an occupational therapist, certified hand therapist, and I look forward to helping you develop your business skills in 2024.
[00:27:41] Until then, peace out. I'll talk to you later. Bye.
