The first consideration, once you have said, “Yes, I’m definitely doing this” is WHERE? By this, I don’t just mean, “Shall I convert the spare bedroom or see if I can rent an office in the GP surgery?”. I also mean, location, location, location. There is no doubt that every other issue concerning your brilliance as a therapist, your amazing business skills and your willingness to work long and hard will fall into complete insignificance if you set up your practice in an area where you simply cannot get clients.
However professional and well furnished your therapy room, if your clients have to struggle with parking difficulties, climb several flights of stairs, find the area to be one they would not normally like to visit as there are dubious characters lurking on the street, grafitti around the place, etc.,the fact that the rent was “a bargain” will not mitigate against the difficulty of persuading clients to visit you in this type of area
Consider further what a reasonable area might be. It may be safe and convenient, and easy for parking but again, unless you site your premises in a high density area, your search for clients will be unrewarding. A sparse population will not yield the numbers you may require to keep your business afloat, so moving from a city centre to an idyllic countryside environment might be a bad move to make.
This post is part of the free E-Course “How to Develop Your Therapy Practice”. Each lesson only covers the bare essentials of what you need to learn and should not form your only source of information.
For the complete detailed guide which takes you through each step of setting up and building a successful Therapy Practice – click here.
If you missed the previous lessons, here are the links:
An Introduction to Private Practice
Legal Requirements
Is Private Practice for You?
Are You Ready for Private Practice?