5 Lessons I Learned in 2024
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[00:00:00] You started your occupational therapy business to make money and Probably do things the way you want it to do it, right? If that sounds like you keep watching because i'm going to share with you What i'm doing to grow my business and maybe this can help you grow your occupational therapy business as well My name is huang.
I'm an occupational therapist and certified hand therapist and you don't have to be a chg you can be any ot business and You know learn about business so you can grow your business and that's it That's what I'm here to share. There are five things as I look back into 2024, um, these are some of the five lessons I learned in 2004 and how I'm going to take it into 2025.
So if you started your business and you're like, I need to make money as a, as a OT clinic, Transcribed This is for you. I'm going to share with you five and then I'm going to expand into the number one patience, number two people, number three is pain is a sign of growth. I'm going to explain a little bit more about that because it never sounds fun.[00:01:00]
Um, number four is comfort is a killer. I'm going to tell you why. And number five is consistency. So 10 over 10 years ago, I started my therapy clinic and I have a brick and mortar space. And then over five years ago, I started teaching online through hand therapy secrets. And I'm just here to share with you some of my business, um, lessons so it can help you to build your occupational therapy business.
I don't know about you, but They kind of teach you, uh, you know, they, they have a very kind of like poor mindset around it. Like, Oh, like we never make money, but it's totally possible for you to make money. I'm making money and I want to make more money. And I think that if you're looking to grow your business, you want to make more money so you can, You know, hire people grow.
Um, you know, be able to do great things with the money that you you earn. It's not like, um, necessary. You're going to do bad things with it. But but money does help us to continue to grow. And the other thing that I think money does is helps us [00:02:00] helps you to see what's possible for you. Right. But in order to make money, we have to learn these lessons.
And I'm definitely learning every year. I look back at what I've done and I analyze. I was like, what am I doing? That's really good. Um, what's been happening? And so number one is patience. And I think that we all lack it. I teach, um, therapists to study and, you know, develop their skills. And not one person is like, let me be patient.
Let me be patient. Everyone wants to, you know, absorb everything right away. And it's not different when you start your own business, you start your own business and you're like, I want this shit to happen right now. I'm, I'm doing it. So to me, if I, if I don't have patience, I also think that most people don't have patience because I'm not so unique that I'm the only one that's impatient.
But one thing that I've learned is that if you're patient, um, you'll be able to make money and you'll be able to grow your business. And [00:03:00] this year was like a big lesson in patience. Number two is people. Um, I can't grow my business without the people that are in it. And, um, Um, I want to continue to hire people and to elevate them, to help them grow because when they grow, it's also the thing that helps me grow and helps my business grow.
So um, yeah, people are really important and you don't have to necessarily always have people in your business to help you. Um, one of the students inside my, my business program, you know, I was talking to her about using. using virtual assistant companies. So, you know, when you're not quite ready to have like a full time person in your business, one way is to delegate to a VA company to do certain things for you.
Another thing is, um, you know, I don't, I don't martyr myself to be like, Oh, I'm the only person who can do stuff. And so you can hire people. From a professional side, but you can also hire people from a [00:04:00] personal side to do certain things for you so that you can have more time to build your business. Um, so people are, it's really important.
Um, no, I don't think that we put enough emphasis on that, but it's definitely a module inside my business program. It's so important to get that right. Um, pain is a sign of growth. So in 2024, um, so I'm going to put three and four together. Um, Pain is a sign of growth and also comfort is a killer of dreams.
So for a while there, um, I was really comfortable in having my current staff and then this year there was a wrench thrown into it. Um, When I had staffing changes and things like that, but it really, it really reminded me that I got too comfortable in in the, you know, the people that are around you. Yes, you need people.
Um, but you also need systems and processes in place so that when the people turn over, [00:05:00] which can be expected, which is expected, um, that there's a system and process in place so that you can bring on new people and give other people opportunities. Um, and I definitely felt like comfort was, um, a killer for me there because I got a little bit too comfortable.
Thank goodness. I have systems and processes in place so I could, you know, um, transition someone out and then bring someone new in. So I was very happy that I had that set in place, but it did make me realize that the things that I was doing to get me to where I am right now are not the things I need to do to get me to the next phase.
And that's number three, which is, is pain is a sign of growth. So every single time I have big shifts or big, pain points, like it can feel really painful when someone quits or, or now you have to do something different. Um, but now over 10 years later, every time I have [00:06:00] big pain points in my business life, I think about what are some new opportunities that are there for me.
So if you're starting, if you're starting your business and you're in pain, imagine, imagine that pain being that rocket fuel to like, you know, to help you grow, right? If you've been in business for a little while, um, you might be going through some transition, some pain right now, but instead of seeing that pain or that transition as being bad, how can you use that pain to help project, like to help push your trajectory forward?
So I think of pain as like, that's a sign of growth. So when I'm going through a lot of it, I'm like, I'm about to grow. I'm about to grow even bigger, um, than where I am currently right now. It's the, the pain of the expansion, if you, if that makes sense. Um, so I encourage you, keep going, keep going, and um, what do you need to, to be [00:07:00] surrounded by?
By who do you need to be surrounded by? What do you need to be surrounded with so that you can? Change your mindset around like that pain point like like it feels so hard right now. It feels so difficult right now It feels like you can't get through it Um, but you can and that that is a sign that you're about to do something really big and that you're going to do something That is substantial because comfort Is the killer of all dreams because you are so comfortable for so long.
Now I know it took me, I've been in business for over 10 years, but I was so comfortable for so long. Um, and that was one of the things that really stopped me from starting a business. If you have that idea in your brain to start a business, you might, and you're like, Oh, I'm going to, I'm not going to do it.
I'm not going to do it. You might be too comfortable. What do you need to do to make yourself more uncomfortable and be in [00:08:00] that like kind of pain point so you can like have some significant growth, right? That's three and that's four. And then number five, really for me this year in 2024 has been consistency.
You know, it's something that, um, has been a thread through my programs, through my clinic. It's that consistency. You can't get rid of bad habits with just getting rid of bad habits. You get bad, you get rid of bad habits by introducing new habits. So instead of saying a bad or good habit, you just say, Say it's a new habit, you know, let's get rid of the old habit and bring on a new habit Um, and I think one of the things i've been doing really well this year is it's been about consistency.
It's been about showing up Every day every week a certain way with my staff a certain way online Um a certain way to you know, create content like this for you Um, to be in my inbox and my emails answering questions to be on social media, uh, answering questions because I think that [00:09:00] nowadays there's a lot of, there's a lot of information out there.
And if I can, if I can answer any question for you to help you have a certain amount of clarity or certainty in order to make a decision, then, um, I've done my job like, right. I've done the thing that I've set out to do because I want to help people, you know, get You know, make more active decisions about what's going to help their career growth.
Right. Whether it be from a business standpoint or from a clinical standpoint, you know, like I see that, like, I, I enjoy it. It's fun to me. Um, so, but the consistency is the thing that's required in order to be able to start business, uh, and grow your business. If, um, if you're looking for any kind of help and you're trying to change who you're hanging out with, you're trying to change, change.
You know, what you're listening to, things like that to help you change your mindset about what is possible for you. Um, then this is the place to be. [00:10:00] I put out. Every week of a business, um, podcast and YouTube video, uh, from, from a business standpoint, because this is something that I'm going through myself and hoping to share that with you.
And then, um, I also have a clinical side, a clinical aspect to it, because I think that if you're going to grow your clinical skills, grow your clinical skills, right? And then once you've grown your clinical skills, there's a small portion of occupational therapists who have desires to start a business, grow a business.
And it can look like so many different ways because We have a lot of choices in our career. We have so many more choices than we think are possible. Um, and I think hopefully I'm just showing you what is possible. Um, but if you like videos like this and you want to learn more about business, then click the link below.
Um, I do a, a. I do an email once a week on Wednesdays that just share my perspective on [00:11:00] business. So I dive into it a little bit deeper, um, in my emails when it comes to, when it comes to business. So the link is going to be below for you if you want to join my email list. All right. Thanks.
