Should You Start Your Own Practice or Clinic?
With student loan debts soaring and healthcare salaries staying at a relatively similar amount year after year, there has been a very popular question I have had many students ask me: Should You Start Your Own Practice or Clinic? I address this in my new book, PT Eductor’s Student Debt Eliminator: Multiple Revenue Streams for Healthcare Clinicians and Academicians. The answer (as is almost always the case in the field of physical therapy) is it depends. At the very least you should consider starting a practice or clinic (or even just a business) on the side as a side hustle or side gig for the tax implications alone. I am not a CPA by any means, but if you find a good small business CPA to do your taxes, they will almost certainly find you some tax breaks that you did not have access to as an employee.
What Kind of Practice or Business Should I Start?
When starting a business, it is likely best to start with what you know. As a Physical Therapist, the first business I started was a Mobile PT Practice. I saw patients during my free time evenings and weekends, cash pay, completely out of network. I set up my original umbrella company as a PLLC (will depend on your state, consult your lawyer on what kind of business to set up) because in the state of Texas, those with professional licenses are afforded a bit of extra protection under a PLLC. But even as a healthcare practitioner, you don’t necessarily have to start a clinic or practice. You could simply open an online business of sorts. You could start a blog, you could offer digital marketing services, or you could sell courses online to the general public or other practitioners. Either way, you have now started a side business. (I call it a side business or a side hustle or a side gig, but truth be told, you may be able to grow it large enough to become your full time job if that is something you so desire).
The Pros and Cons of Starting a Business
We already talked about some of the pros of starting a business of some sorts. The first is tax breaks. You can write off all of your purchases for the business including travel and lodging for courses and conferences which are always a great investment on yourself. Another pro is the fact that you can use your business as a test tube. You can try all of the marketing tactics and alternative revenue generators that you want on your own business to see what works and what doesn’t. You can then in turn sell your formulas and systems on what works to other businesses.
What I Learned Today
If you truly want to start getting ahead of the grind of a normal 9-5, you need to start your own clinic, practice, or business. The tax breaks alone will give you some breathing room. Plus you can test things out if if they don’t work you pivot. No blood no foul right? For more Revenue Ideas Generation, download PT Educator’s Revenue Idea Generator.