Why Cheap OT Service Prices Harm Your Business
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[00:00:00] As a solopreneur, when you're starting on your own, you'll see your profit margins really high and they'll make you feel really excited because you think that you're taking in all this money. But actually what you really want to think about outside of your profit margins when you're alone is thinking about profit margins when you start to hire people.
And that's going to be really important because we're going to talk about prices because prices My name is Wong. I'm an occupational therapist and certified hand therapist. And I have my own therapy clinic. That's where I'm at right now. And I also have hands on, um, And I also have Hand Therapy Secrets, which is my online platform to help develop therapists clinical and business skills.
So let's talk about prices and profit because this is a huge topic that I want you to constantly be reminded of because this is something that I have to constantly remind myself of, okay? And [00:01:00] it's that, you know, prices are going up everywhere. Prices are going up everywhere. Why aren't your freaking prices going up?
I don't want to hear about you fucking bitching about like how poor you are, how OTs make no fucking money. You can make money, your prices just have to go up. Right, your prices just have to go up. It affects your profitability And oh it affects so many things. So let's get started with something really simple Um, and it is why are your prices not going up?
My husband just told me they went to cheesecake factory when I was out of town and he was like could not believe How high the prices are? Right could not believe how high the prices are. These prices are so high Right and we're all going out to eat and we're all buying these clothes and we're all buying these shoes and shit like that Uh, we're going on all these expensive ass vacations, even though prices are up.
The price is up for everyone Why are your prices as an occupational therapist for your therapy clinic not going up? And this is an embarrassing [00:02:00] part, right? I was at a therapy, um business conference and This one PT was talking about how he could not get occupational therapy services for his kids and The prices were so freaking low.
They had this ginormous waiting list could not take new patients, right? When you cannot take new patients Uh, because you are slammed and you have no profits in there, that means your prices are way too low. I have, I have suffered this, I have suffered this, and this is why I'm sharing. Because when I first started, I listened to another therapist and she meant well, I love her to pieces, right?
She really helped me out when I first got started, but this is why you can't always listen to people, especially when they're, Telling you to, you know, keep your prices low. Oh, well, nobody's going to buy that. That should be a fucking trigger, right? I get triggered when I talk about prices. That should be a fucking trigger for you.
When someone says, you know, well, my prices are [00:03:00] this and nobody else is going to pay, who's going to pay for you. They're telling you that nobody will pay for you because they cannot get the courage to increase their prices, right? But here's why your prices need to go up and it's not just about the profit of you bringing taking it home for yourself Right.
I mean though we want profits Because we too we're a person we need to live. We still have to pay our bills But the profits have to, um, the profits have to be there. And I'm, I remind myself of this all the time because I can't afford to hire, right? I can't afford to hire if I don't have enough profit.
And if you are just starting out, you might not be thinking. Oh my God. How am I going to hire? But let me tell you, if you start to get busy, you'll start to think about hiring. You might want to hire an admin. You might hire a VA company. You might hire a website company. You might hire some people. They don't [00:04:00] have to be full time in your business.
Um, let me know if you want me to talk about that a little bit more because I just wrapped up in my business corner program, that module, we're talking about hiring staff. Um, if you have some questions about it, let me know and I can make, um, another video on it, but. Without the profits it's really hard to hire and people want more money, right?
So I'm I'm in the midst I am in the thick of it right hiring for my clinic people and from the admin position to the Therapist position to the marketing people like they all want a shit ton of money. I don't blame them at all I fucking want money too, right? Here's the thing is that business is business is business.
You have to have revenue coming in and it has to be, uh, higher than your expenses. And that's the, what's left over is your profits. So you got to build in, you got to think about your prices. Prices are first when it comes to being able to build in some profit. Um, if you're going for volume, right, if [00:05:00] you're going for high, high volume, Low, low profits because you have a different strategy.
Um, that's one thing and that's okay, but I'm talking to someone who's just starting out a year or two years into it and your prices are painfully low. Um, and it's enough for you. I want to encourage you to think about the future. Think about the future. Think about when you need to hire someone, people are not 10 an hour anymore.
People want more money. Therapists. Let me tell you, these bitches want a shit ton of money. I don't blame them. I don't blame them one bit because I was there. I was there. I'm still there, uh, to a certain extent, right? They want a lot of money and you have to be able to afford it. Now in the clinic, you know, we, as small business owner, we have to think about what we offer.
That's different from other people. I personally, I can never compete against a hospital system, right? I can't compete with their big, uh, you know, [00:06:00] insurance package, which is kind of shit. Anyway. Um, they're, you know, you have to be there for a while to get there, you know, vacations and stuff like that. Um, there are 401k there like, you know, big companies might have, um, different.
They're going to have different compensation packages and salaries because they're freaking desperate right now. But you'll be able to attract and bring therapists in who are looking for something different. I do not have what these other companies have. I have something else. People usually come and work for me because They value the training that I can provide.
They value, um, yeah, mostly the training and the mentorship. Um, and it's all kind of like built in. They value the low volume that my clinic has as compared to other places. They value the flexibility that I can afford, um, things like that. So I offer different things in other companies, but I am able [00:07:00] to.
bring them in and pay them what they want because I have to have a profit in my business. Um, and my prices do have to go up because everything has gone up and I have to always manage the amount of revenue that comes in against my expenses so that my company has a certain profit margin. Um, it's a bigger conversation, but at the end of the day, really, you know, The, the overarching aspects of profits really just comes down to prices and you've got to be willing to push against the uncomfortableness, um, of what you're used to in terms of charging lower prices and push yourself to learn the skills of selling at higher premium prices.
And you have to learn the skill of marketing so that you can. Attract people who are willing to pay at premium prices. There is [00:08:00] a concept that, um, I want you to remember. And it's, there's um, there's prices for every customer and there's a customer for every price. Um, therapists, occupational therapists, we have got to retrain and reframe.
How we look at healthcare services and how we look at our skills, right? Our clinical skills, you're in business because you believe you have something to offer people, right? You have a level of confidence and a little level of like tenacity and risk taking and you've got to constantly push yourself to learn the business skills so that you can Show off your clinical skills, right?
There's a price point for everybody You do not you are never the best and the cheapest you are never the best and the cheapest [00:09:00] Keep that in mind. And if you have other questions about it I cover this quite a bit inside the OT business corner program. We go over prices We go over how to sell at premium prices and we go over a lot of the marketing that is required You to be able to attract those types of patients.
Um, because in order for you to stay in business, right? In order for you to stay in business, in order for you to see what is possible for you in terms of building a business, growing a business and being able to make money while you're not constantly working. Um, isn't that the goal? Aren't we trying to live the dream, right?
It's going to come down to your prices and learning how to sell at those premium prices. Let me know, leave me a comment below if you have follow up questions. All right, um, links to work with me are below and I'll see you in the next video.
