How To Grow Your Therapy Practice From Scratch

Starting out in a holistic practice can be a pretty daunting prospect. We’ve been there, panicking at the thought of no money coming in, running through every possible scenario in our head, over and over again. But the good news is, it CAN be done – Yaaay!!

You absolutely can start a business from scratch and make it a success.

Having said that, it is hard work and not for anyone who wants an easy life. Starting from nothing is incredibly exciting because you can take this wherever you wish to go, its your vision and you can bring it to life, making a career out of a therapy you really LOVE.  Being self-employed is a bit of a rollercoaster sometimes but you get to do your dream job, which makes it all worthwhile. Well, we think so anyway.

Wait before you jump

We’ve been there and it’s not just as easy as ‘build it and they will come’ –‘Oh how we wish it was’ when you start your own therapy business from scratch, you need time and buckets of patience to do it properly. Because of this, our advice is not to jump straight from working for someone else into the unpredictable world of being responsible for your own income. Stay in the day job as long as you possibly can before waving goodbye completely, try part time and once things take off and you are in a place of feeling secure that this is going to WORK you can then say “Adios Amigos” to your current work colleagues.

Let it grow…slow

Depending on the therapy area you work in, referrals can come from all over the place, but for most of us just starting out, the best way to get new people on the books is online.

People looking for what you do, nine times out of ten these days they’ll Google it first. So, you want to be the first person on their list (or at the very least on page 1 of the search results). You need a good website that links up to your social media, and that’s chock full of useful information that will make anyone looking for your therapy think, “They know their stuff, I must call them NOW.”

Get yourself listed in directories; free local directories plus specialised directories or sites like ours Wellbeing Umbrella. Google what you do and see who comes up top of the search list. Are there any directory sites that crop up a lot? Join those.

Keep your social feeds up to date – nobody wants to see a Facebook feed full of ads and offers. Get a blog page added to your website and write about your passions. Post links to the blog content and trawl online news sites for health and therapy related news to share. Adding this sort of thing to your social media shows you are interested and know what you’re talking about. If you can get others talking too even better.

Using social media platforms such as Facebook is a great way to reach your audience, try running Free Competitions to build your page/group, asking them to: Like, Share, Comment or to Tag friends.  Then ask the people who receive the Free treatment to write a review on Facebook, this attracts their friends and spreads the word for YOU.

Get noticed

There are a few sneaky ways to get seen and noticed by your local community that don’t cost anything but do help to raise your profile. You might have to get your big girl (or boy) pants on and do something you haven’t done before but it’s worth it to get your name out there.

Local radio is a fantastic medium for anyone who fancies the idea of becoming an ‘expert’ in their area of therapy. Find your local radio stations and work out which shows or slots fit your niche. Follow the presenters on Twitter and get chatting or drop them an email and offer your services. Trust us, they are crying out for quality content so if they know you’re there they will call on you. When an interesting news story pops up, comment on it online, and make yourself known. Offer your services as an advice source for health slots. They will LOVE you.

If you can’t bear the thought of talking live on the radio, offer to write a free regular column for a local paper or magazine instead. Do it for free and expect to not be able to plug your therapy business TOO much. Most publishers are happy for you to mention your business somewhere and if they publish the article online you can also share it on social media.

Keep plugging away, work out how many clients you need to get to be ‘full’ and keep a track of numbers.

Eventually all the hard work will start to pay off and you’ll be able to leave the day job and do what you dreamed of…