Starting A Physiotherapy Business - Build Your Future Today!

If you are feeling stuck or stagnant in your physiotherapy career and possibly looking at starting and running your very own physiotherapy practice, you've hit the jackpot today. 

Taking on the challenge of owning a clinic is not something to be taken lightly. It is a big responsibility, with real risks, real hurdles, and real people who you will be responsible for. With that all said, these risks also carry with them great rewards. Said another way, the better you are at managing risk, the more rewards you can reap.

When you start a new physiotherapy business, you're putting your financial well-being at stake and your family's well-being, too, if they depend on you. So, if you're ready to turn to start a business "someday" into "today," you need solid reasons and guidance to achieving the physiotherapy business ownership dream. 

With owning and running your very own physiotherapy business you should be able to;

• Be in charge of your destiny 
• Build an asset for your future
• Be able to spend more time with the family &
• The freedom to run a business the way you want

But sometimes, more often than not with some physiotherapy business owners in Australia, they would be lucky to be able to tick off one of the above dot points outlined. 

That's why we created our FREE downloadable book on The "7 Secrets To Starting A Physiotherapy Business" to help new and current physiotherapy business owners across Australia to show how you can become your own boss, make the money you have always wanted (and deserved), work the hours that suit your lifestyle and help people in your local community. 

Sound too good to be true?

Then listen up … In our newly released FREE downloadable book, we show you exactly how this is possible

Here’s a small taste of what's inside: 

1. The little-known secrets to starting your own lucrative physiotherapy practice
    (Even if you don’t have much industry experience)
   
   
2. The ‘must have’ personality traits needed to be a successful Physiotherapy business owner 
   (These personality traits are important to your success no matter the business or industry) 
   
   
3. The single best way to know how profitable your new Physiotherapy business will be 
   (This is the most important statistic to look at when starting any new business) 
   
   
4. The 3 most critical transferable skills needed to enter a new industry 
   (If you have all 3 of these transferable skills, you will dominate your first year in business) 
   
   
5. Why 1 out of 3 Aussie businesses fail in their first year 
   (and how to make sure yours is not one of them) 
   
   
6. and much much more … 

If you're a current physiotherapy business owner, self-starter, ambitious, and looking for a change… 

Our book might be the start to “an opportunity of a lifetime”.

There’s a reason why we won franchise network of the year in 2020

Grab a free copy here.

Check out some of the chapters below we have decided to feature below from our 7 Secrets To Starting A Physiotherapy Business Book

How can I grow my physiotherapy business?

In a nutshell you need to;

• Streamline business administration and compliance 
• Build marketing and patient attraction platforms 
• Have a strong therapist mindset and effectiveness 
• Reduce business owner reliance 
• Improve post-treatment relationship nurturing 
• Understand which levers to pull and when 
• Focus on mentoring and supporting your team.

For a more in-depth insight on tips and solutions to grow a physiotherapy business please visit https://www.physioinq.com.au/physiotherapy-business/physio-inq-business-solution

How can I improve my physiotherapy referrals?

In short, you should be trying to have regular catch-ups with your referrals, actively making a list of all current and potential referrers, process mapping your outreach quarterly, and preparing regular, updated, and seasonal marketing collateral for that referrer.

A strong and vibrant referral partnership is one of the best marketing strategies for any physiotherapy business owners since it allows you to capitalise on another business audience in a cross-promotional capacity.

Put it on the calendar

When it comes to getting things done, one of the best ways to make sure it actually happens is by putting it on the calendar. Make it part of your regular schedule to target one or two businesses every month and reach out to them about a potential partnership.

For example, for physiotherapy businesses looking for partnerships, you might go for gym partnerships in January in the heat of New Years’ resolution season and collaborate with GPs in February after the school holidays end and their offices reopen.

Make a list of potential partners

Chances are, when you reach out to potential partners, some will say yes and some will say no. That’s why you need to create a long list of businesses to pitch to.

Get creative and think about your clients or customers. What other services do they often require in addition to yours that someone else might be able to better provide? It could even be as simple as partnering with the coffee shop next door.

The idea is to think of a mutually beneficial partnership that can help with not only your small business marketing but with their marketing endeavors as well.

Create a process for reaching out

Once you’ve got a list of potential partnerships ready to go, you’ll want to create a process for reaching out to everyone. Write out a general pitch, leaving space to personalise the message once it’s ready. Just make sure all the most important information is there.

For example, in your pitch you might offer:

• One social media post per month
• Promotional brochures available in your lobby
• Their logo and business information on your website
• Their products available for purchase in your office
• Co-hosted or sponsored events every year

Depending on your respective products and services, each partnership will vary. So, it’s a good idea to tailor every pitch to reflect each potential partners’ offerings.

Prepare marketing collateral

Now that you’ve sent out your proposals and hopefully received some interest, it’s time to prepare your marketing collateral. Basically, you’ll need to figure out what you promised to your new business partner and how you can best deliver on those promises.
You might have to prepare a media kit to send to your new partner including your logo and relevant copy that they can use in cross-promotional materials, making sure that your brand is well represented.

Additional marketing collateral for your new partnership might include:

• Social media graphics and copy
• Blog posts
• Brochures
• T-shirts
• Coupons
• Gift baskets
• Event planning

Again, depending on what you agree to in the initial stages of the partnership, the marketing collateral will vary.

How much does it cost to start a physiotherapy practice?

From an initial investment of $50,000- $150,000 AU it is dependent on the exact site you choose and whether you are taking over new or existing physiotherapy practice. These investment costs are based on the following initial expenses needed when starting from scratch that you will need to factor in.

• Equipment
• Insurances
• Legal Fees
• Rent
• Staffing 
• Accounts
• Furniture 
• Marketing/Advertising 
• IT
• Utilities 

Does Instagram boost business for physiotherapy?

As a visual platform, Instagram is the place you need to be to visually demonstrate who you are as a physiotherapy business.

Instagram and the whole Social media juggernaut is massive and living in 2021 is evidence of that fact. It’s projected that social media will grow by 25% for the next five years so if you haven’t found an effective social media marketing strategy, now’s the time.

Instagram is the most visual platform available and it’s where you can communicate your brand identity and vibe. Many physiotherapy businesses even go as far as to streamline everything with colour palettes and themes. But, that’s up to you.

The point here is to be authentic and on Instagram, you’ll get a lot of engagement. Share your most beautiful imagery, host contests, post promotions on Instagram Stories, or quick minute-long videos of your most popular exercise that week. The opportunities are endless.

To be able to measure your ROI on Instagram make sure you are covering the below metrics;

• Average Engagement Rate
• Social Share of Voice
• Conversion Rate
• Likes
• Response Time
• Sentiment

How to value a physiotherapy business?

Is it by the income that it generates, ie the P&L? or is it via the balance sheet? This is a difficult question. So the real answer is, a bit of both. Let’s look at a business sheet analysis as a place to start.

Liquidity; how well can the entity pay its current obligations from its liquid assets? This then relates to a probability of business success or failure. Strengthening or weakening its value.

Mix of Assets Held; Current vs non-current. If a business purely relies on long term, non-current assets for the business, then short-term, there may be starvation of cash.

Financial Structure; How much reliance does the business have on external or internal finance? How does this impact the legal side of things?

So now you are happy with your balance sheet analysis, how do you value your business if things are strong on your balance sheet?

Valuation and Income Generation

It comes down to the ability of your business, as a going concern (ie the ability for it to be continually trading under any ownership) to generate an income. The more your business has demonstrated this, the stronger you may value your business.

If it is under management, it creates a strong argument for sustaining the trend. If it is solely owner operated, it increases the risk to continuity.

The market then looks to value the business as a combination of its Assets, in terms of cash, inventory and non current assets, plus a multiple, (based off market forces), on the income that it generates.

Summary

If you were to throw a number at it, Physio Clinics in Australia tend to be valued, as a rough guide at 2 1/2 times their net profit. The more robust the clinic is, ie under management, long history of profitability etc, then the higher this multiple can be. And the reverse is true, the more sporadic the results, the shorter the length of time it has been in operation, and the more reliant it is on the owner, the lower it's multiple.

Taking over an existing physiotherapy clinic?

What about a clinic that is pre-existing? It might be turning a profit, it might be making a loss, but what you do know is that it has a baseline of historical performance, from which you can rely upon to some extent. When taking over a pre-existing clinic from an owner operator, expect a 30% drop in initials once you take over, as the patients and referrers always tend to baulk at the thought of change, and it can take 12-24 months to recoup that drop in initial numbers. We have done it many times, and it is always the same story!

Taking over a clinic can be great if it is a dog with plenty of upside. There is cashflow, you might be happy to take a short term pay reduction to get almost immediate equity in the business by working a few more hours, tightening up on customer service and making sure that every touch point for the client is covered.

Where from here If I need more help and guidance on making that big decision of physiotherapy business ownership?

First and foremost we would encourage you download our FREE downloadable book on The 7 Secrets To Starting A Physiotherapy Business to get you up to speed on what lies ahead in physiotherapy business ownership in 2021 and the lessons we have learnt and continue to learn over the last 15 years.

Alternatively you can email our Physio Inq Development team on franchsing@physioinq.com.au  and one of our team members will answer any of your questions, both business, finance and life related. You will likely be given a questionnaire about where you are now, where you want to be and what skills and strengths you have to accomplish your goals.

It is important to talk to friends and family about your decision. Not to get approval, but to let them understand why you are doing what you are doing and how integrate your new life with the ones you love. You will be amazed at how much a supportive network drive your results.

Good luck, enjoy the process and stay true to yourself.