Start-Up Funding: 4 Ways to Prepare Your Practice

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.

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Practice start-up funding is always a worry: “Do I have enough money to start? Can I quit my current job to concentrate full time on building my practice? Will I be able to cover my monthly expenses?”

When the time comes to launch your practice, you must have done your homework regarding your practice start-up funding needs. You need to be prepared so that if any opportunity to accelerate your launch presents itself, you’re ready. Here are four ways you can ensure that you will be:

1. Assess your personal finances

Take out your checkbook and credit card statements, and review all of your personal expenses. Find all the frails and eliminate them. It’s tough to do, but if you’re really committed to getting this practice off the ground, you need to reduce your personal expenses.

Taking control of your practice start-up funding doesn’t mean you have to quit enjoying life; you just have to prioritize for now. Skip the night show and catch a matinee instead. If you’re going out for dinner, clip a 2-for-1 coupon or go to the early bird. Hold off on that tropical vacation for at least a year.

2. Evaluate your practice expenses

Another element of practice start-up funding is your minimum practice expenses. Luckily, computer consulting is not a capital-intensive venture. You will have practice expenses to cover, though, so you must analyze what those are and figure them into your practice start-up funding needs.

These expenses could be as simple as the material you will need throughout your day-to-day practice or more considerable expenses such as rent, utilities, equipment, and equipment maintenance. Don’t overlook any expenses you will need to figure into your budget and practice start-up funding. They are all critical.

3. Do the math

Total up your personal and practice monthly expenses. To launch a successful practice, you need to have at least six months of cash in the bank or an alternative source of affordable capital. Many people won’t have six months of money to cover their practice start-up funding needs. If this is you, you’ll need to keep your current job until you have enough funding. Limit the position to 15-20 hours per week, so you leave enough time to concentrate on building your practice. Whether it’s moonlighting on the weekends to cover other physicians or occasional locums coverage, you need some reliable income during this time period.

This reliable income will give you the cushion you need to spend time building your practice. Securing adequate start-up practice funding is one of the most challenging aspects of launching a small practice. You don’t want to minimize this importance, though. Inadequate practice start-up funding is at the root of many practice failures.

4. The bottom line on practice start-up funding

Do what you need to do now to do what you want to do in the future. Having enough practice start-up funding means conserving your cash mercilessly. You have to know where your money is going and have enough to cover six months of expenses. If your practice start-up funding is a little short, moonlighting and locums coverage is often the most practical means of securing the finances you need.

Learn how to keep your practice thriving once you’ve obtained your practice start-up funding and successfully launched your practice.

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Attention, Physiatrists! Stop leaving money on the table. Sign up for the free video series: How To Build A Profitable Practice in 90 Days or Less: http://www.sixtytosuccess.com

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