My best business investments
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[00:00:00] I share with you my, my five best business investments. My name is Wong. If you are starting your business or wanting to grow your business, I'll share with you my, my best investments so that you can start and grow your business as well. My name is Wong. I'm an occupational therapist and certified hand therapist.
And over 10 years ago, I started my clinic and then five years ago I started my online program. So here I'm going to share with you my five first, and then I'll go into details a little bit about them. So myself. Me personally, the best thing I could have done in my business, right? Because I am the business myself.
I've invested in my staff, creating a space, um, learning, and then of course equipment. So those are some of the five best investments that I've made. First myself, I decided after two years being in business, I was going to spend the money that I had earned to develop my. My business [00:01:00] skills. I had spent over 10 years developing my clinical skills so it can feel really comfortable and I can feel really confident about my skills and being able to get results for my patients so that could go out on my own.
So I spent all that time developing my clinical skills. Now I started a business and I was like, Holy shit, I didn't really know what I was doing. I just started a business because. I wanted to, and I was done working for someone else and it had been a dream of mine, but I just didn't know what I was doing.
And so two years into running a business, I made money, but I was miserable. And I was like, if I'm this miserable, I don't want to be in business. Right. And so at that moment in time, I, I started to invest in myself and into my own learning. Um, and then, um, There was a moment in time when I really needed to start hiring in order to relieve myself of all the work I was doing.
Like, I don't have to do everything. There are so many [00:02:00] other people who want to do the things that I can't always do. I love being a therapist. Like I know a lot of people will start their businesses and they, you know, don't want to be a therapist anymore. And they just want to be a business owner. And they're like, I just want to hire their therapist and do other work.
I actually love being a therapist. Um, And. It took me a while to identify with being a business owner, being this like an entrepreneur or whatever. Um, it was never such a big deal. I always thought, um, of myself as really being a therapist. And my goal of starting my clinic was really so I can, um, support more therapists through my clinic business.
And so that was my second bet, you know, second best business investment, which was, uh, in my staff. Now I didn't. I, that wasn't my best investment when I first got started. I actually, if you've seen or heard some of [00:03:00] my other videos when I started hiring, that's when I lost all my money that I had gained.
Right? So I made the money. I was like, yes, I'm gonna hire this therapist. And then I lost all the money because my, I didn't know what I was doing. One, I didn't know what I was doing too. I had, I pretty much, I don't want to say I hired the wrong person, but I sort of did. Right. Um, and my time and attention weren't where they needed to be.
And so my volume of patients dropped, but here is that investment. I don't see that as a loss in money. I saw that as, as an investment into the future. So the first hire wasn't so great. Then the second one got better. Right. Third got better in the fourth, you know, so as I, you know, even though you would say like, yeah, I lost money in that first staff person, it was a huge investment of learning and it was [00:04:00] there that I started to learn who I wanted to work with, what I was looking for and that gave me the confidence to start hand therapy secrets to be honest, because I hired, I had no training system and I started to train.
My that therapist that was working with me full time because I didn't want to just keep repeating myself, but I didn't want to be the angry business owner that was repeating herself all the time. I didn't want to be that kind of boss and I didn't want to be that kind of, of a certified hand therapist that was, you know, that's known to be like such a bitch and like, rawr.
Um, and it can happen when you have a lot of stress, right? Like you're not your best person when you have a lot of stress. And. It's stressful when you are, you're paying someone and then you're training them and then you're having to constantly train them and then you are still seeing the patient that you hired them to see, um, it's extremely stressful, [00:05:00] but from that stress or from that first hire was when I was like, you know what, I've got to do something that is More helpful to me and because I had invested in myself and learning what I needed to do That's when I was like, okay, I'm gonna start turning this camera on and I'm gonna start recording a lot of videos I'm gonna start developing the training didn't start hand therapy secrets yet Just had gotten it started.
Um, but even though sometimes I describe it as a loss, it was actually not a loss. It was an investment in my staff because from that one staff person was how I started to hire and train every single person that has come into my business over the last 10 years between both businesses. Um, and that was a really big investment.
Um, And it was so worth it because now I have great people. I have built a culture, uh, [00:06:00] within this company that I really love. And I, I'm, you know, attracting people who want to work the way that I, I have set up and that's through accountability. I have staff that is accountable for doing the things that they need to do.
Um, I have a positive culture. Like I don't really tolerate a lot of criticism. You know sit around and and bullshit like not bullshitting but like shit talking, you know I just don't want unhappy people around me, right if you tolerate a lot of unhappy people um, then you'll become unhappy and if you have to look around like If if everyone else is unhappy in your business, maybe you're the fucking unhappy person, right?
Um, so I I don't want that in my life and I knew that You know, from the beginning. And so that was, that was honestly such a big investment. It was just hiring and then learning from my mistakes. Cause you can only, you can only learn, um, when you make the mistakes, you never [00:07:00] learn when you, when everything goes right.
So, you know, be okay with things going wrong and don't worry about, um. I can say that in hindsight, don't worry about the money part because you'll be able to make it back. And even though I was worried about the money back then when I first hired someone and I started to lose, I was confident I was going to be able to make that money back.
And I did. Number three is creating the space. And by creating the space, I mean like having a nice environment for my patients to come into. I've been to different clinics and, um, you know, if you've ever been to, um, a general practitioner's office or your typical run of the mill type of, um, medical office, um, You know, they look dingy.
They look dirty. They're full of old equipment. You know, it's just like full of crap. Um, I saw that and I was like, I don't want that. Like, I [00:08:00] want to create a very high end, um, type of environment where things looked good. And when my patients came in, they feel good. Um, when you are trying to, um, When you are trying to not trying, when you are charging premium for your services, you have to create a premium type of environment.
Um, you can look that almost anywhere you can go to, and there's nothing wrong with going to a regular, you know, um, local bar restaurant, but your run of the mill place, just come in, getting stuff, going out, eating fast, you know, they, they don't have. That kind of space where you go to a nice restaurant.
I'm going to use the example of a Chinese restaurant right now. You can go to a Chinese restaurant. I have my favorite [00:09:00] one. I go and pick it up because I don't really necessarily enjoy eating there. It's, it's, Not really nice. The place looks old, but the food is fantastic. Right? I'll still eat there. I'll still take the food to go.
Right. But I'm also expecting to pay cheap prices. Right. And then I went to, um, this restaurant was back then it was called Mr. Chow. I think it was inside of a very nice, um, hotel on South beach. And let me tell you, when you walked in, you knew that you were at a five star Chinese restaurant. It was not your normal.
You know, run of the mill Chinese restaurant. It had nice table. It had nice decor. It had, um, service that was top notch. And when they brought the food, is it Chinese food? It is. Is it just food? Like, both foods will fill you up. Well, one has an environment to it. Let me tell you that coconut cake was amazing.
I still think about that super coconut [00:10:00] cake. Um, that's besides the point, right? But people, it was packed. People went and people paid for their, their prices for Chinese food. And it's because it's not just about the food. I mean, the food was really amazing, high quality ingredients, you know, things like that, but the environment was quality.
So, um, my best investment. My third best investment is in my space, making sure it's not broken down, making sure, um, you know, on my floors, when I moved into my current space, now my flooring was shit. I had to put flooring in, right? The whole space was a mess. I had to fix it. I had to spend the money to fix it.
And let me tell you, I bought cheap shit because I just didn't know any better. Somebody was like, yeah, you can just buy that and put it. And I bought like the cheapest laminate floors, right? Because we wouldn't have, we could build up the space pretty fast, built up the space. Um, and within a [00:11:00] year, my flooring started to like deteriorate.
It was like shitty. It was bubbling up and it just looked really bad. Um, and it took me another, I think it took me three years before I redid my floors and it wasn't because I was being a cheap ass about it. I just, I had a three year lease and I wasn't sure if I was going to stay in the space. Um, cause it was expensive.
I went from paying, I went from paying like 800 a month to paying over 2, 000 a month for my space. Right. And, but that was, an investment. I was in a rundown building that was, um, even more rundown. By the time I left, AC was breaking and they weren't fixing it. So they put like a AC, a portable AC unit in my office.
Um, [00:12:00] the The building was considered a C class building versus an A class building. Just, it just like your buildings are, are class a certain way. My building now I'm in a shopping center. So, you know, nice shopping center. Uh, it's a big shopping center. Uh, the location is really key. So that was, that was me investing in my business by creating that space.
Um, making sure I was in a space where people, It was easy for people to find me, um, making sure my flooring was good. Uh, I repeat my, my walls every so many years. Um, when it gets dingy looking, um, when my chairs start falling apart, I replace them, you know, things like that. Like there is a lot of value in creating, um, a real premium space.
For your patients, but it's not just for your patients. It's for me. Like I want to come in and I [00:13:00] want to see my space looking nice. I want to see my shit not broken. I want to see my space clean and my staff is like, I'm like, my staff knows like clean your shit before you go home. So I don't want to come in and have crap everywhere.
I don't want patients to come in and see crap everywhere. You know, people are constantly looking. And they're constantly evaluating, um, your environment, like you could have top notch skills, but if you didn't create that kind of space for your patients, you may not be able to charge premium for it. Right?
You may not be able to charge premium for it. It makes a difference. And so that's number three for me. It's really important. Um, and as I've gone to see different spaces and different spaces, You know, clinics and office spaces and things like that. I noticed for me, that's really important. And when, when you go to, let me give you an example.
When you go to an [00:14:00] orthopedic doctor versus a plastic surgeon, you totally see it. Most orthopedic surgeons are in network, don't take cash, and their place is a freaking dump. You go to a plastic surgeon, you are hot, like a nice plastic surgeon, you should see their office. You should see their office when people go in and like my patients will go in and though because though a lot of plastic surgeons do hand therapy.
It's night and day. It's night and day. So consider what you want to invest in, in terms of your space, because I think it's important. Um, okay. And then number four is the learning part. So I have invested, so I invested myself, right? But, But for I invest in learning, so I get books, I get programs and I just make sure that they're available for my staff so that they continue learning.
Um, I [00:15:00] make sure that my therapists take classes. Uh, what resources do they need? So So that they can, um, develop their skills. Like, I don't skimp on that. You want a book, you want a class, you want to program, you want to go to a place. You know, we have a budget for that. And I think that's really important.
If I invest in myself, um, I want to invest in my staff's learning. Um, and here's the thing is like, if you're a boss that invests and gets those for your staff and your staff has no interest, are they? Are they right for your business? For me, I know it right away. If you, if you have no interest, I've hired therapists, I've hired other staff and I've provided the learning.
I asked them what they're interested in. And, um, you can see it, you can see it. when they're not interested in doing more, doing better. Um, and [00:16:00] it's important to me. So I make sure that from the get go, it's really important to me. Um, most of the time people tell me ahead of time that that's important for them to continue learning and developing their skills.
And what happens is I'll see it in their actions, not in their words. And that's really big for me. Um, so you have to decide if that's something that's important to you and then, you know, Make sure that that's an investment in your business because it's an investment in my business when my people are on board and they're wanting to learn and get better as well because at the end of the day, they can learn and and develop their skills and when they are ready to move on to the next thing, they're better for it.
They are better for it. Like every person that's come in and that has, um, been right for the clinic, they move on and they do bigger and better things for their career. Right. And I'm really, like, personally, I'm really proud of that. [00:17:00] Um, and then number five, it's equipment, equipment. I started out.
Purchasing, um, use stuff. When I started my clinic, I bought, use things to make sure one that I controlled the costs of my startup and, um, that I wasn't going into like extreme debt because I was buying all this expensive stuff, but as I continued to, you know, make money in my business, I've invested in better, uh, Equipment that helps us run the business better.
I'll give you an example. My computers. Um, when I first started, I started with a regular computer because it was, um, my husband, my husband told me based on what you need, this is all you need, right? So I would buy cheaper computers. And then I started to buy more computers as, as, as I had more staff. But, [00:18:00] um, when my computer or my actual computer was starting to break down.
I bought a new computer and I was so upset that that computer wasn't living up to its standards of like what it was. You know, 10, 20 years ago, and now I will never buy that brand of computer again. Um, and I splurged on, on, on a Mac. I'm not a big, I'm like, I'm not like this big Apple fan, where it's like, all my shit has to be Apple.
But let me tell you, it has made my life so much easier investing in, uh, a Mac, investing in, uh, uh, You know, my phone, two phones, you know, having the data, being able to airdrop shit. And especially with the amount of content I create, it has been really nice. And then, so when I, when I invest in, and I buy equipment for the clinic, you know, my mic, this is a, I forgot it's a Yeti, it's a blue Yeti.
I'm [00:19:00] not, I'm looking for the things that are going to work based on my need, not just currently, but, um, in the future so that I'm buying ahead of time, the things I need, not buying something cheap and then being like, Oh God, I got to replace it soon. Um, so I have definitely invested in equipment, good phones, good chairs, good computers, uh, good equipment to provide therapy.
Um, when I was. On my own at the beginning, and I wanted to look into instruments, this is soft tissue mobilization tools. I did some research, reached out to a couple of people that were using different tools to kind of ask them. And the brand that I ended up going with, which is Hawk Ribs, it was more expensive during the, at that time.
And I was like, you know what, I'd rather invest into a good set of tools that I'll never have to purchase again versus buying cheap crap and [00:20:00] Piecing it together, you know or having to buy another one in a year because someone dropped my shit and it broke or it chipped You're taking this tool and you're putting it up against someone's you know, skin.
And I just, I like the idea of like cutting someone up because I had a little chip in my tool just like mess with me mentally. And I was like, I'm not doing that. If I'm going to charge premium for my services, because at the end of the day, what's, what's going on in this brain, right? Uh, and the tools is just to help me.
But if I don't have the best tools to go with the best brain life. How's that going to work? So, um, so definitely, you know, consider that, consider investing into good pieces of equipment as you, as you move along. Like, again, I'm telling you, I didn't do all of that at the beginning. I just did what I could at the [00:21:00] beginning and then I would invest in small pieces.
you know, so that, um, so that I have like longevity in my business, you know, think about like longevity in your business versus like all just the little things that you need right now. Cause I plan even when I wasn't sure that my business was going to survive. I was like, this shit is going to work no matter what happens.
I'm going to make this shit work. Um, so little bit by little bit, I started to invest and those were the best, uh, business investments I've made. And I still continue as I was thinking about it. I still continue to do that as I earn you, as you earn you invest back into your business. And when you earn and you invest back into your business, consider yourself, consider the people you surround yourself with, consider the things that will help you to do your business better.
Oh, software is a huge investment too. And that was something I decided to do at the beginning. I didn't look at [00:22:00] like, just cheap things or, you know, things that I needed right now. I was like, if I got really big, when I get really big, um, will this software still work for me? And if it wasn't, yes, I'm like, okay, even if it's more expensive than something else, like where, what do I need to cut or not even cut?
How much more do I need to earn? So I can fricking afford that piece of software so that I can. I can make my life easier. I am all about like, what can I do to make my life easier? You know, how can I work a little bit easier? How can I work with less frustration? Like that's a big deal to me. Cause I don't, I don't want to be in business and be constantly frustrated and hate my life all the time.
Like I do not want that. That's not enjoyable for me. Um, so those are the things that I value. And I look at when it comes to like, What do I need to invest in my business? Right. So I hope this video helps you if you're starting, you know, [00:23:00] you're starting your business, you're, you know, two years into your business and looking to grow.
These are some of the things that really helped me to, you know, get moving in my business and get moving in my business fast. So I wasn't like, Wasting time, you know, um, so anyway, I hope it helped you leave me some questions if you have any About what you could be investing or you know any questions, um that you have from this video until next time Thanks so much for watching Um links are below.
There's anything you need. I've got tons of free resources for you as well. All right. Thanks. Bye
