A Podiatrists Guide to Earning More, Working Less and Enjoying What You Do Each Day. Tyson E. Franklin

Transcription

1 A Podiatrists Guide to Earig More, Workig Less ad Ejoyig What You Do Each Day Tyso E. Frakli

2 MOVING OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE 1Years ago, if someoe had told me I d be livig i Cairs oe day I would have laughed. Why would I leave the Gold Coast? It was my home ad where I felt safe ad comfortable but here I am ow i tropical North Queeslad, ad lovig it. My first podiatry busiess was o the Gold Coast, ad it was t too successful. After four years I was makig a livig ad that was about it. I had o busiess skills ad my marketig cosisted of placig a ad i the ewspaper ad phoe directory, ad puttig up cheap sigage. The thought of oe day havig a podiatry busiess that made hudreds of thousads of dollars profit each year ever crossed my mid; back the I just wated to pay the bills. Fortuately, after four years I recalled some advice give to me by Ala Crawford, Head of the Podiatry School at QUT: he said if he was goig to set up a podiatry cliic he would move to a regioal area. To be more specific, he said he would move to Cairs because it eeded aother Podiatrist, so I took his advice, sold my podiatry busiess o the Gold Coast ad moved to Cairs i

3 Itʼs No Secret, Thereʼs Moey i Podiatry My podiatry busiess i Cairs was a fiacial success from day oe, eve though my busiess kowledge had ot chaged, which goes to show that ay idiot ca ope a podiatry busiess ad make good moey if they ope it i the right locatio I was livig proof. So there s the cotrast betwee stayig i my comfort zoe o the Gold Coast where I made little moey ad movig to Cairs, which was way outside my comfort zoe, but I made good moey right from the begiig. Now do t get me wrog, I m ot sayig that the Gold Coast was a terrible place to set up a podiatry busiess, because I kow of other podiatrists that set up busiess after me ad fiacially did quite well, but for me, at that particular poit i my career, it was ot a good place for me to be I was far too comfortable, ad I eeded to move away so I could grow as a busiess perso. Experiece tells you what to do; cofidece allows you to do it. Sta Smith I kow may Podiatrists who make just eough moey to keep them i the professio, but ot quite eough to really ejoy life, take their family o regular holidays or do the other thigs they really wat to do. As BCF would say, That s ot livig. Experiece is tellig them to make chages, but their lack of cofidece wo t allow them to. Istead they will do othig ad over the ext few decades, yes decades, they will make a few dollars just eough to get by ad evetually retire. Ofte these Podiatrists become bitter ad twisted towards their colleagues who have doe well fiacially, ad will ofte say they must be breakig the rules. So what are your plas? Are you plaig to stay where you grew up ad where you live ow, possibly i your comfort zoe, or are you prepared to move ad live somewhere else? Are you goig 8

4 Itʼs No Secret, Thereʼs Moey i Podiatry to ope your podiatry busiess i a area that you re familiar with, or will you live o the edge ad move outside your comfort zoe? If you ve bee i busiess for a few years already ad it s ot performig as well as you d like, the maybe you should be askig yourself the same questios? Because it s oly whe you move out of your comfort zoe that amazig thigs happe. Movig out of your comfort zoe though does t ecessarily mea you have to relocate to aother city as I did, it may simply mea you eed to relocate your existig busiess to a better locatio. Where amazig thigs happe Your comfort zoe Cofidece is cotagious; so is lack of cofidece. Vice Lombardi 9

5 Itʼs No Secret, Thereʼs Moey i Podiatry CHOOSING THE RIGHT LOCATION As a geeral rule, the better the locatio, the higher the ret, therefore it s ulikely your first busiess will be o a mai road, so the ext best thig is to fid a road that is very familiar to everyoe. If you re ew to the area, simply ask people to ame three coectig roads that are popular. If you re told the same coectig road multiple times the that should be the first area you ivestigate, however your budget is still goig to determie your exact locatio. Short-term thikig Never thik that your first locatio is goig to be your last locatio ad that you caot move. Your podiatry busiess ca be relocated every few years if extra space is required, which is why I suggest takig a short-term lease iitially oly two or three years ad also lookig for a premises that requires very little fit out, because whe you leave you caot take the fit out with you. The term of your lease will also be affected by ay fiacig arragemets you have i place. If you take out a five-year loa with a fiace compay they will wat the term of the lease to be at least five years, to match your repaymets. However, if you have o fiace you ca do whatever you wat. These have bee some of my moves over the years: My first podiatry busiess i Cairs was approximately 60 m 2 ad I spet othig o the fit out because it was already i place. Perfect! My curret locatio, which was my fifth move over a 21-year period, is o the busiest road i Cairs, is 210 m 2, ad I spet a lot o the fit out, however my wife ad I ow the buildig so the fit out is ours to keep, so oce agai, perfect! 10

6 Itʼs No Secret, Thereʼs Moey i Podiatry Whe I established Proarch Podiatry Mackay, I took out a two-year lease ad the locatio was approximately 50 m 2. The fit out was miimal because it was small, ad by keepig our overheads to a miimum we made a profit from the first moth, which was you guessed it perfect! It s rare, but I ve see Podiatrists go bakrupt because they had visios of gradeur ad their first locatio was far too large for their iitial eeds, which meat they had to over-borrow. That s ot perfect, that s stupid! SO WHAT MAKES A GOOD LOCATION? Be easy to fid There is othig more aoyig tha drivig up ad dow a street lookig for a busiess, especially if you re ruig late. Make sure your podiatry busiess is located ear a distiguishable ladmark or busiess that you ca leverage from. We re located ext to the busiess with the large red car o the roof, is far easier tha sayig, We re located at 3939 Elm Street. Have easy parkig The secod most aoyig thig after ot beig able to fid a busiess is fidig it ad the ot beig able to fid a car park withi walkig distace. A patiet may drive aroud i circles lookig for a car park the first time, but they wo t cotiue to do this if there are other optios available to them meaig a Podiatrist with better parkig. Have good sigage Regardless of your locatio, there eeds to be a area where you ca place some good sigage, ad if it ca be illumiated at ight 11

7 Itʼs No Secret, Thereʼs Moey i Podiatry that s eve better. My busiess o the Gold Coast had very poor sigage opportuities, which probably cotributed to its poor performace. I additio to this, it was positioed partly i a garde bed, which meat every three moths I had to trim a few hedges, otherwise it could ot be see. Have a good teat mix The teat mix ca be a locatio wier or a locatio killer. If you re lookig at a premises i a small complex with mixed teacies, cosider who your eighbours are goig to be. Havig other health professioals or service busiesses ca be a positive, however beig located betwee a tattoo parlour ad a drug rehab cetre may ot be. You caot guaratee who your eighbours will be i the future, but the curret teat mix is a good idicatio. Stay at eye level Your locatio should also take ito accout the age ad agility of your future patiets. Will your busiess be located o the groud floor or will it be o the first floor? Beig o the groud floor makes for easier access ad is much easier to fid ad see from the street. If you re cosiderig the first floor of a buildig, is there a elevator, or oly steps? I remember a fried who had a cliic for approximately 10 years, ad over this time he had developed a cosiderable umber of elderly patiets. This was ever his itetio, so without thikig it through completely, he relocated his cliic to the first floor of the same buildig, meaig patiets had to walk up 25 steps to reach his frot etrace. His goal was to reduce the umber of older patiets beig able to reach his cliic, which he achieved, however his overall patiet umbers also dropped sigificatly. He failed to cosider the followig whe relocatig upstairs: 12

8 Itʼs No Secret, Thereʼs Moey i Podiatry He lost his eye-catchig street-level visibility, meaig people walkig past did t kow he was there. He lost his sigage positioig because it wet to the ew teats who moved ito his old positio. People with paiful feet do t wat to walk up 25 steps. But the biggest killer, which he ever cosidered, was a smart Podiatrist oticed the relocatio upstairs, so they opeed across the road, at street level, directly opposite his old locatio. They did very well. This ew Podiatrist was i a far better positio ad they picked up all the walkig-by foot traffic, ad i additio to this they immediately attracted all of his elderly patiets that could ot walk up 25 steps. It took more tha two years for him to recover, ad evetually he moved his busiess back to street level. DONʼT BE AFRAID TO TAKE ON THE BIG CLINICS Most Podiatrists would avoid opeig their busiess i a tow or suburb where a large podiatry busiess already exists, especially if it employs multiple Podiatrists, however I thik it s somethig worth cosiderig. If oe podiatry busiess ca employ multiple Podiatrists, does t this tell you there s a lot of podiatry work available i that particular area? Before takig o a large cliic though you eed to do your homework. You ca t just ope ext door ad attack them head o, istead you eed to study them: What are their stregths ad weakesses? What are they kow for? What is their curret marketig strategy? 13

9 Itʼs No Secret, Thereʼs Moey i Podiatry Where do they advertise? What services do they offer? Oce you ve gathered this iformatio, oly the should you cosider opeig i oppositio. Whe I helped Hayley Paterso ope her podiatry busiess i Towsville this is what she faced: There were four well-established Podiatry busiesses. Two had bee established for well over 20 years. Two owers had previously worked as tutors at the Podiatry School. All four busiesses had reputable owers. Oe ower was o the Queeslad Podiatry Board. Aother ower was the Presidet of the Queeslad Podiatry Associatio. Aother was o the Podiatry Coucil. Oe was a Fellow of the Australasia Academy of Podiatric Sports Medicie. Two cliics employed multiple Podiatrists. All had very professioal-lookig busiesses. Both Towsville atioal sportig teams (rugby league ad basketball) were already liked with oe cliic. The Army Base was closely liked to aother cliic. Based o the above iformatio you would have to be brave to ope aother podiatry busiess i Towsville, but that is exactly 14

10 Itʼs No Secret, Thereʼs Moey i Podiatry what Hayley did, ad with some assistace she has goe o to create a very profitable busiess. Was Hayley a aturally gifted busiessperso? I would have to say o, because whe Hayley worked with me i Cairs she was a ew graduate ad had o busiess kowledge, however she was willig to lear. She was also prepared to put i the work required to have a successful podiatry busiess ad she was very coservative how she spet her moey, ad ow she deserves all the accolades that come her way. So ever be afraid to take o the big cliics; i fact, use it as motivatio. It s No Secret, There s Moey I Podiatry, however you eed to veture outside of your comfort zoe. DO YOU REALLY NEED SATELLITE CLINICS? May Podiatrists startig out i busiess wat to look ad feel much larger tha they really are, ad to accomplish this they wat to work from three or four locatios o differet days of the week. Is startig your busiess this way a good idea or bad idea? Well, this depeds o your log-term goals ad the type of podiatry busiess you wat to have oe day, however before you cosider opeig a satellite practice I thik you eed to uderstad what a satellite practice is ad what it is ot. By defiitio, a satellite is a outpost or a object that orbits aroud or is depedet upo a much larger statioary object. This is where some Podiatrists get the whole cocept of satellite cliics wrog: they ever actually have oe larger, statioary podiatry busiess with satellite cliics orbitig. Istead, they have multiple cliics that they work at o differet days of the week, therefore by defiitio they are ot satellite practices at all; what they have are multiple part-time podiatry cliics separated by distace. 15

11 Itʼs No Secret, Thereʼs Moey i Podiatry Satellite practices ca be a good busiess move, especially if a area is ot beig serviced by aother podiatry busiess ad you re positive there is huge potetial. However, before committig yourself to a satellite practice you should cosider: the amout of time ad effort required to set it up correctly the costs ivolved i settig up a professioal satellite locatio the amout of time you ll be away from your mai practice, where you are already payig ret this is especially importat if you are a sole practitioer travel time, both there ad back. If your mai reaso for settig up a satellite practice is that the mai practice is ot busy eough, I would suggest you re doig it for the wrog reaso ad you eed to put more time ad effort ito buildig your mai practice. Calculatig your cost-to-beefit ratio should help you decide if a satellite practice is a great busiess decisio or ot. I have had may satellite podiatry cliics over the years, some very profitable ad others ot so good, ad at the time of writig this particular book I have oe. Istead I have oe very profitable, large, statioary podiatry cliic ad shoe store which is very successful ad makes great profits, ad more importatly gives me a lot of time with my family. This does ot mea I will ot cosider opeig aother satellite cliic i the future, however kowig what I kow ow I would do it differetly. If you re seriously thikig about opeig a satellite cliic, i additio to the above cosideratios, also give some thought to: The locatio: will you have your ow premises or will it be located withi aother busiess, such as a doctors or physiotherapy cliic? 16

12 Itʼs No Secret, Thereʼs Moey i Podiatry If it s located withi aother busiess, do you have exclusive use of the room so supplies ad equipmet ca be left o site, or are you required to pack ad upack every time you visit? What type of examiatio bech will you be workig from? This is especially importat for your ow posture ad the safety of your patiets. Is there adequate lightig? Who is lookig after ad servicig the mai busiess while the satellite cliic is beig serviced? Have you got other staff? How much is it goig to cost you to establish a professioal satellite cliic? There are really oly three reasos for establishig a satellite practice: Reaso 1: Reaso 2: Reaso 3: You wat to reach patiets who would otherwise ot use your services because of distace. To create additioal work for a ew Podiatrist commecig employmet. To make more moey. If there is sufficiet evidece that you eed to ope a satellite practice the you should do it but do it professioally or ot at all. 17

13 Itʼs No Secret, Thereʼs Moey i Podiatry After readig this chapter, what ideas are goig through your head? Write them dow right ow. 18