Starting your own occupational therapy, OT practice is a big step in your career. The OT profession, or any profession for that matter needs those with expertise to elevate the industry by being entrepreneurs and authorities.
This is especially essential in the healthcare space, since therapy and medical care is perpetually changing. Occupational therapists who strike out on their own need to stay up-to-date on best OT practices in order to grow a private practice into a success.
All great things aside, starting an OT practice, or any new business in any industry can be challenging. There are a lot of intricate aspects that business owners need to understand and employ for growth and success.
To help you put your best foot forward in starting your new business, we compiled a list of tips to draw from at those important early stages. Let’s dive in!
Table of Contents
1. Find Your Occupational Therapy Niche
If you don’t already have an OT niche, like if you are coming from a hospital setting where anything goes, you may need to do a bit of business soul searching. Why? Occupational therapists with private practices need to meet the ever-changing demand of their potential patients.
Some niche finding questions to ask are:
- What is the market for the OT niche?
- What type of OT do you like to practice the most?
- Who are you ideal patients?
- Do you have the niche experience needed?
- What OTs are already having success in this niche?
If you need niche help, visit The American Occupational Therapist Association (AOTA) website to get some great niche ideas.
2. Creating Online Visibility For Your Practice
Once you have an occupational therapy niche you want to pursue for your private practice, it’s time to create a space for you to attract online consumers. This can be very expensive if you outsource, but the good news is that you don’t have to. With a bit of research and knowledge, you can launch an OT business website easily.
First start with your theme. You can find a great medical-minded theme using Themeforest for under $100. These themes are already geared toward medical and healthcare services, like an OT business.
Next you’ll need to find a place to host your website and host your blog if you choose to start one. There are several hosting options available based on the type of server, traffic, SSL certificate and more. Starting out you can keep it simple, but a hosting service is a must.
Before launch, make sure you develop content that resonates with your future target audience. This means creating a value proposition and mission statement that you will showcase on your OT private practice website.
3. Marketing Your New OT Practice
Marketing is very important for growing your OT private practice into a successful one. Since you are most likely going to serve a specific region and/or community, you need to leverage local marketing strategies to build your client-base.
Google My Business is the perfect place to start. Google makes it very easy for people looking for specific businesses or services to find them locally. Register your occupational therapist website with Google My Business by adding your business name, phone number, address, hours of operation, and images.
To really maximize your OT local marketing, include your local community in your business name. So instead of naming your business, “OT Specialists” you could leverage local search on Google by using, “OT Specialists of Austin” for example.
Other local marketing tactics include, free OT sessions at senior community centers, OT fitness classes, taking out local ads in newspapers and other local media outlets, and more. These marketing tactics do depend on your niche and target clients.
4. Be Easily Accessible
There may already be a few occupational therapist practices in your area. This makes separating yourself from the pack a bit more challenging. One way you can ensure you are unique is to be easily accessible to clients, as well as future clients.
The personal touch is what consumers want and being able to provide that type of OT service will move mountains. Not only will your clients love you, they will also talk about you with their friends, family, coworkers, and even promote your practice on social media.
In Conclusion . . .
There are a number of ways to launch your private practice, whether it is providing OT for children, or focusing on other niches, like sports or geriatrics. The possibilities are endless, but starting any business takes work. Going for it and having a well-thought out strategy will make a big difference in how fast your practice grows.
About Carson Derrow
