I’m Dr. Hassan, a Board-Certified Physiatrist and Independent Practice Owner. I help physiatrists start and grow their own profitable practices so they can achieve financial independence and live without limits.
—
A virtual assistant is an individual who provides business or personal services to other professionals. They’re considered virtual because they perform their services from a remote location. Communications with their clients take place through telephone, fax, text, and email.
As a practice owner, you can save time, money, and energy by hiring a virtual assistant. Best of all, you’ll have more time to do what you do best: running your practice. Still on the fence? Here are 10 benefits of hiring a virtual assistant:
1. You do not need to provide a physical workspace.
A virtual assistant works from their own home or office. This is incredibly convenient if you’re running a practice from your home, virtually, or if you have limited office space that you are leasing.
2. You do not need to provide costly equipment.
Virtual assistants use their own equipment to provide services to you. This can provide tremendous savings, especially if the virtual assistant has access to the equipment you don’t already own. Also, you don’t have the worries of dealing with the maintenance and upkeep of office equipment.
3. You save valuable time not performing tasks you don’t have time for or are not able to do.
As a practice owner, your time’s highest and best use is to work in your practice. Delegating important and necessary administrative tasks like web design and maintenance, bookkeeping, writing, shopping cart setup, and other tasks will allow you to spend time developing your practice and building relationships with your patients and/or referral sources.
4. You do not have to deal with payroll taxes or benefits.
Hiring a virtual assistant as an independent contractor frees you from spending time dealing with tax filings and compliance issues. You also have the added benefit of hiring them just for the task at hand and/or paying them hourly or by the project. This is much more cost-effective than having a full-time employee you have not fully utilized.
5. You can accelerate growth by finally having the time to focus on the most important issues of your practice.
The administrative tasks that come with running a practice are overwhelming–even for a one-person practice. The best way to grow your practice fast is to concentrate your energies on your practice and leave everything else to your assistant.
6. You have the freedom to work on growing and improving your practice, life skills, knowledge, and relationships.
You have a vision for your practice. Yet, you are constrained by time, limiting how quickly you can move toward achieving the goals that underline that vision. With the help of a virtual assistant, you’ll have more time to do the things that matter most to you, the things that will bring riches and enjoyment to your life (i.e., work-life balance).
7. You can make better decisions by having a partner to bounce ideas off of.
Having an assistant is a great benefit, especially if you are a solopreneur. Their strengths, background, and expertise can provide fresh eyes to view your practice problems and projects. There’s a lot of truth to the saying, “Two heads are better than one.”
8. You have peace of mind knowing that the details are being handled.
Most practice owners find themselves swimming in details. There are so many things to handle: paying the rent, returning calls, updating the EMR and patient census, sending out products, and even performing the provided service. There are dozens and dozens of details to remember and juggle, which leads to mental and physical exhaustion. By turning over these tasks to your assistant, you’ll get more done faster and with a lot less stress.
9. You are finally able to run your practice instead of it running you.
At some point during our practices’ progression, we start feeling like our practice is running us instead of the other way around. Feelings of overwhelm from the countless tasks we must complete can make it difficult to do anything at all. Partnering with a virtual assistant can help us avoid getting stuck. Instead, we can then stay focused on our goals and in control of our practice.
10. You have the flexibility to assume new, challenging opportunities.
With the administrative details handled by your virtual assistant, you’ll automatically be more open to taking on new projects that can benefit you and your practice. Your talents and creativity can shine when you aren’t bogged down in details, overworked, or distracted by things that aren’t directly related to serving your patients.
—
I’m Dr. Hassan, a Board-Certified Physiatrist and Independent Practice Owner. I help physiatrists start and grow their own profitable practices so they can achieve financial independence and live without limits. Follow me on social media @DrHassanRehab.
