[Practice Builder #1] Growing Your Practice Within Your Niche

Solo Step Practice Builders
Solo Step Practice Builders

 

Most business owners succeed by finding and well-defining their niche. A good first question when starting any business in any field is:

“What is my area of strength. What is the one thing I  can do all day long and it will never feel like work?”

Obviously sometimes it’s going to feel like work no matter what you choose. But you get the picture. Just as a jazz musician might not enjoy playing in a rock band or a BBQ pit master opening a sea food restaurant doesn’t make much sense, there are different niches within the physical therapy community that you may well be more suited for.

So how do we start this process? It’s actually very easy. Grab a blank sheet of paper or open your favorite word processing software. Start by writing down your strengths and experiences as well as what sort of physical therapy you enjoy doing. If that doesn’t come naturally to you use these questions as kick-starters:

 

  • During college, what was the type of physical therapy that most interested me?
  • Is there a life experience that forged my career path towards physical therapy?
  • What type of patients are the most appealing to you?
  • Is there a need that is going unfilled in my region?

During this process some ideas should float to the surface. You can start to weed out the areas practice that you just don’t care for that much and learn the areas of focus that you do. For example, maybe at one point in your life you had an aunt who fell and experienced brain trauma. Because of that experience maybe it would make sense to go into practice that helped individuals learn to walk again.

A huge benefit you will get from carving out your own niche will be earning the reputation as an expert in your field.

This leads to referrals which is the marketing keystone for any practice. When doctors and specialists in your region catch on to what you are doing you should have a nice new patient flow. This referral engine is something that can help your practice grow exponentially without a windfall of marketing dollars.

Do wonderful work, with the best equipment and people will take notice. And remember, you did it all just doing what you love to do!