Most common business question I get asked
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[00:00:00] Probably the most common business question I get asked is, Huang, is it possible for me to fill in the blank? Hey, Huang, is it possible for me to open a therapy clinic? You know, it just seems like there's so many therapy clinics out there that I don't know if If I can do it, the answer is yes, the answer is yes.
It's totally possible for you to be able to do it. My name is Hoang. I'm an occupational therapist and certified hand therapist. And over 10 years ago, when I opened my therapy clinic, I had the same question. I kept thinking over and over, is this possible for me? Like. Am I good enough? You know, and are people going to pay for my services?
Am I going to get onto the insurance, you know, networks? Because that's what I kept hearing that I needed to do. Like, Oh, get on the insurance networks, go market to doctor's offices. And so the common [00:01:00] question that I had at that time was like, is anyone going to come to me? Are they going to be willing to come to me?
You know, and The answer is yes, you can totally if you want to. You know, um, an insurance based business, you can have it. The answer is yes, you, you're going to need a plan and then you're going to need to be able to execute on your plan. Right. And I talk a lot about like business models and stuff like that, because a full insurance based business model requires huge volumes because you're getting a lower reimbursement rates.
I'm not the only one telling you reimbursement rates are really low. And outside of reimbursement rates are really low. A lot of the. big insurance networks, they don't want their, their networks are closed in different parts. And so they don't want more providers. I live in a certain state and city where there are so many different providers that they don't want to work with you.
So when my patients ask me, [00:02:00] how come you don't take my insurance? I'm like, dude, the call your insurance. Cause they don't want to work with me. Um, they don't want. just anyone, everyone coming in. They only want like hospitals, you know, they only want big businesses. They're, they're not necessarily supporting small businesses, but there's a huge place for small businesses.
And I think that we are able to provide a huge amount of value for people who. The big business stuff just doesn't fit right for, right? So if, you know, if the common question is, is it possible for you to, yes, of course it's possible. And then the other question is like, oh, you know, since I'm an out of network, I run a cash based therapy clinic.
They're like, well, how do you get patients? Is it possible for you to get patients as an occupational therapist? The answer is yes. Yes. And it doesn't have to. I'm a hand therapist, but if you're in pediatrics, if you're in geriatrics, if you, you know, uh, work in women's health, if you do [00:03:00] like more home health or home care, of course, there's a niche in a place for you, but Again, you have to have a plan and you have to be able to execute on it.
And when it comes to cash based businesses, you have to have a really great marketing plan and then you have to be able to execute on it. And things that we didn't learn in OT school, is like really how to how to market, right? We didn't really know how to, um, you know, all the tactics when it comes to like, uh, running Facebook ads, running Google ads, you know, um, where do you want to be on social media?
Do you want to create YouTube channel? Do you want to do a podcast? You know, really at the end of the day, you have to think about where Where your potential patients are, right? And what do they do? Where do they sit? Where do they live? And then go out there and then educate them on what you do. Don't lead with occupational therapy.
I'm an occupational therapist. [00:04:00] Don't lead with that. Just talk a lot about what you do. Like, so if you look at me on my clinic side, one of the things that I do is I talk a lot about Like different types of hand injuries. And, uh, I educate people from a very particular perspective as a certified hand therapist, most people come to me as, as a certified hand therapist.
Most people come to me, uh, because they are. really hurt, right? There was an accident. They had surgery. Now they're looking to recover. The other side of it is people are coming to me because they are reading, you know, I'm going to, I'm going to give you an example. Trigger finger trigger fingers. It's just like a huge question I get constantly in my clinic.
And it's because the information is very generic out there on trigger finger. It's like, you have a trigger, you have a knot in your tendon, You need surgery. Dear Lord, have mercy. There's steps in between. My job is to find out those [00:05:00] important questions that people have. And then I create videos around it and I talk about like how you can avoid surgery.
What are the things that you need to do to avoid surgery? Well, if you've had surgery, then these are the things that are required. So one of the things that I do in order to, um, to attract people to my business, to attract potential patients to my business that aren't just looking for generic, um, therapists, right?
They're not looking for someone who doesn't tell them what's going on as I share my perspective. And so you've got to have a marketing plan and then you've got to be able to execute on it. So the question is the common question. is, is it possible for me? Can I open and have a wildly successful, you know, cash based OT business?
You absolutely can. I've seen people do it. Um, just think that there's ways about going about it and you just have to be willing to work on the skills [00:06:00] that you don't currently have. So if you're thinking about opening a business, it's because you currently have the clinical skills. Right. You have the clinical skills to back up the thing that you're saying that you want to be able to do, which is to help people, you know, whatever it is that you want to do.
You have the clinical skills. Now you have to go and you have to learn the business skills. What are the business skills entail? Business skills entail, entail, uh, learning how to do effective marketing. You have to learn how to sell your services because you don't want to be the best kept secret. You know, you don't want to be like, Oh my God, I've never heard from you.
I've never seen anyone like this before. You know, you don't want that. You don't want to be the like that nobody ever finds you because that's not business. That's just you having clinical skills in a cave somewhere, right? So if your, if your question is, Is it possible? It is possible. And you just have to, first you have to see it's possible [00:07:00] for you so that you can take the necessary steps.
It starts here in your brain. It starts with an idea. It starts with a plan and then you start to do some research and you're watching videos like this and you're probably watching a shitload of other videos and then just be okay. Like, you know, spending the money to get into a course, spending the time to learn more things and then, you know, really.
investing in yourself and then investing in your business in order to have this widely successful business. And one of my main goals from the get go is just to be in business long enough, right? Most businesses fail in five years, and then even more businesses go out of business in 10. And so one of my main things was like, I wanted longevity.
in my career as an occupational therapist and certified hand therapist. And so therefore I want longevity in my business is not just a place where I work, but it's a place where I get to develop other therapists and other staff [00:08:00] members. And, um, it's a place where, you know, I S I was able to start like a whole nother company where I educate more therapists and, you know, it is a mission of mine so that patients get better therapy, patients get better therapy.
When we have a lot of occupational therapists who have the clinical skills, right? So, um, and once you have your clinical skills, develop your business skills, um, so that you could have the kind of career you want, you could have the kind of business you want. And if You just needed permission. This is me giving you the permission slip to say, yes, it's possible for you to be able to open your own business, to be able to grow it the way you want, to be able to work in the way you want.
And I think you just have to be willing to work on it. You have to be willing to put in the sweat equity, meaning the time, right? You do all the work and then you get paid later. It is a very different [00:09:00] mentality and timeline structure. You know, when you go work for someone else, you do your hour, you get paid for an hour.
When you're a business owner, you do tons of hours and you're going to get paid in the long run. But I promise you, it's totally worth it. And you can make money. That's the second most common question. Well, do you, do you actually really make money? Uh, yeah, businesses can make money. There's times when you lose money.
But for the most part you can make money and you can work in the way you want, right? Um, so if you're just wondering is it possible? It's totally possible And um, if you need help there's links below Um, it's get on my email list and grab my guide that i've written to help you be wildly successful in your business All right until next time.
Thanks for watching
