Start Your OT Business TODAY
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[00:00:00] Start your business today. If you're an occupational therapist and you've been thinking about it, start your business today. My name is Hoang. I'm an occupational therapist and certified hand therapist and I started my business over 10 years ago. Started my clinic and then I created my program site about five years ago.
And I'm telling you from experience. Start your business today. Uh, if you don't start it, you're going to live with a regret of not having done the thing that you said you wanted to do. Right. And. It's business is not for everyone, but it's for some people and if it's been on your mind I know it's something you want and you're just scared to you know Do it but scared to fail and scared to lose money because it happens in business.
That's okay Confront your fears and get started today. Um, I Started my business 10 years ago. Like I started my clinic 10 years ago, but I actually have been in business for over You know, [00:01:00] more, you know, more years than that. Um, my parents had their own business and so I've always had that kind of exposure.
And I would say if you don't have that exposure, but if you have that in your mind, um, be exposed to other people, hang around people, watch other people, you know, so that, um, it can give you the insight that maybe your experience doesn't have. When I first started my business, yeah, 10 years ago, but before that, I was I had patients that would ask me, um, to do therapy with them at home, right?
And, um, they wanted extra therapy. There's people out there who want extra therapy. I am currently with someone who needs, you know, my father in law needs additional therapy. And I've actually tried to look for people who are willing to do, you know, either they provide therapy in the home. They work somewhere but are willing to do extra.
It's just about putting the reps in. You know, when you first started becoming a [00:02:00] therapist, you had the foundational knowledge of like, oh, what is occupational therapy? Oh, how do I do an evaluation and document and all that good stuff? But for the most part, you know what you're doing. And then through repetition, through practice, you got better, right?
That's the same thing with business. So if someone asks you, hey, Do you provide therapy? Just say yes. Say yes. Set your price and get started with that one person. You just need that one person and then you'll get the second person and then the third person. So my first person came to me and was like, Hey, can you provide, I'm looking for extra therapy.
I want therapy in my home. Can you provide it? I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I said yes. I say, you know, yeah, how many times you want it? This is when I can do it. I'll come to your home I did the therapy and that's kind of set me off to being like, oh, yeah, maybe this business thing I can do it and then you know life happens and I made the decision I made the decision not to go forward with my [00:03:00] business back then.
I had two small kids So if you have kids you can totally do it It's a harder with kids, right? It's, you know, it's definitely harder when you have small, small Children. Um, but totally doable. There's tons of people to do it. You just have to manage your time. Um, I decided at that moment in time, like I was, my son was a year and a half and I got pregnant with my second one.
So I was like, you know what? I kind of don't want this business thing, but it kept nagging and nagging at me. And this is why I'm sharing with you because if if it's something that's in the back of your head, do it so you don't regret your life. There's nothing worse than living your life and regretting all the things that you did not do, right?
At least give yourself a chance to do it. Imagine if you don't do it. Give yourself that chance. You could have had all the success. You're not giving yourself a chance. Give yourself a chance because even if you fail, you can say, Hey, I tried that thing and I just, it wasn't for me. Or I tried that thing.[00:04:00]
That didn't work. I'm going to pivot. I'm going to do something else. So give yourself a chance so you don't hate your life and you don't hate your career as a therapist. Um, and then I started off really just with one patient here and there. And then when I decided to, um, open up my own business, I went all in.
I went all in. Um, and here's how, um, I would, you know, suggest you do it. Don't pay attention to the little things, like, oh, what's the color? What's the name? I mean, we all tend to To do that, right, we all tend to think about all those little things because at the end of the day, those are a little bit easier than getting patients, getting clients, right?
So switch that around, um, and think how am I going to get my first patient? How am I going to get those clients coming in? Who do I need to talk to? Um, nowadays there's so much information in terms of how to get patients. You can do social media, [00:05:00] right? Social media is one way you share your perspective and the thing with Posting on social media.
It's just about consistency It's just like can you do it every day if you could just do one thing every single day over a period of time You're gonna build it businesses don't happen overnight. They really don't and a lot of times when they do happen overnight They're not built on really strong foundations So don't look at those people look at what you're able to do Um, I went cold turkey on mine.
I just went from one thing to the next. Um, I didn't keep that side job because it, it made it, um, it just wasn't for me. Like I, I just didn't want to be in between things. Um, so I went cold turkey. I just, I started my business while I was still working, doing a lot of research, but I'll tell you what, I wasted a lot of time.
Um, Do the things I'm telling you not to do. Thinking about my color, thinking about the title, thinking about, you know, the shit doesn't [00:06:00] matter. I really needed to think about how to get patients. I did think about that, but I put that on the bottom of the list instead of moving it and putting it at the top of the list.
Um, think about your referral sources if you're, Working with doctors as a hand therapist as a certified hand therapist. I work with a lot of surgeons That was my number one thing. I would market to them but um I didn't start creating social media content um Until I was a couple years into it more consistently and I I would switch it around now.
I would start promoting more consistently now um because you can Work directly with people When you start posting on social media, when you start sharing your perspective, you get the practice while you have no one watching you. You get the practice while you have no patience. You can mess up all you want and nobody's going to say anything because nobody's watching your shit.
That is the key thing. So, you know, a little bit [00:07:00] easier, it's just you have to get over that fear, right? So instead of thinking about all your colors and stuff like that, really think about how are you going to get your patients. And then the second, um, biggest thing is, uh, coming up with your price. And I might do that on another video.
video, but really coming down to your price and, and sticking with your, your price and then getting more and more people to say no to you because the more people will say no to you, the sooner you're going to get a yes. I think a lot of times as therapists, um, we, You know, I think like anyone else, we get used to the fact that people come to us automatically because we've, we've been working somewhere, right?
Um, but if you start your own business, you want to get accustomed to people saying no to all the time because it builds up your resilience against the no, and it allows you to keep working towards getting the yes. Um, they, you know, I, I worked at a hospital. And I, I would [00:08:00] imagine most OTs work at, um, hospitals or outpatient clinics or any kind of setting where you're automatically getting the patients and you're not used to getting the nose.
Um, so we have a little, like a blind spot to it. So we think everyone needs to say yes to us. Um, but in actuality, it's not. The real world of business is a lot of people say no first and then there's yeses and from that yeses, you'll be like, Oh, that's what that's supposed to feel like. Let me work towards that.
Um, versus the way that we as therapists see. And experience it now, where it's like we automatically get patients. Um, so, so work on, you know, thinking about getting your, you know, where are you getting your patients and stuff like that from work on your prices. And then you, you want to put urgency to everything.
Like everything has to be done now. Everything has Everything has to be done today because when you're doing something you've never done before, it's really hard. And it's [00:09:00] so easy to procrastinate, to postpone, to do other things than the key thing that you need to do. Um, when I first started getting on social media and doing video, uh, I would use every excuse in the world not to get on.
And now people are like, oh my god, you know, you, you. It's so easy for you. It's just not easy for me, um, bitch. It was not easy for me when I started over 10 years ago. It became easier for me because I put the reps in. It's just like, it's just like the therapy, right? You want results. You want your patients to get results.
You want them to put the reps in. I want you to get results. You have to put the reps in. If you're not willing to put the reps in, Um, then, you know, you got to give up that goal of being in business and you have to ask yourself, do you want to give that goal up? Go back to your miserable job and then ask yourself, do you want [00:10:00] to give up that, that your business goals?
No, no, you wouldn't. Cause you're, you're miserable in your fricking job. You want more than what your job has to offer, right? So if you want more than what your job has to offer, you have to be willing to do the hard thing, which is to start your business and really to show up and, um, make sure that there's, There's urgency behind everything you're doing.
There has to be urgency. If you don't have that urgency, you need to get with people who can provide that sense of urgency. You need to hang around with the right people who are going to give that sense of urgency because it's too easy to put it off tomorrow, to put it off tomorrow, to put it off tomorrow.
So, um, I try to work with a certain amount of urgency all the time. It's, you know, it's never enough, it's never, you know. Now You have to balance that a little bit, but when you're getting started, getting started, you know, [00:11:00] you got to pound that pavement. You have to have some, some urgency to it. So, um, so if you are getting started, if you're getting, this is for someone who's getting started, right?
If you're getting started, get your, you know, get your patience, set your pricings and do everything with a certain sense of urgency. So you can like have everything you want and not regret your life. and your career. If you like more videos like this and you have questions about getting started, leave me a comment below.
