This is a great question – one of two things is going to occur
1. There is going to be a horrible train wreck, leaving the health professional limited, fearful and risk averse.
OR
2. There will be incredible liberation leaving the health professional secure, peaceful and inspired by their capacity to make change happen.
Health professionals by training and practice, and because if the incredible importance of the work we do with people are by nature risk averse and process oriented. We have many checks, balances and compliances to ensure we maintain standards of patient care.
Entrepreneurs are risk takers. In order to be successful in business there must be a level of risk taking and entrepreneurism.
Health professionals and entrepreneurs appear to be on two different ends of the spectrum. Being both an entrepreneur and a clinician at the same time is really difficult. The health professional who is a business owner has to bring these two conflicting paradigms together.
In mentoring entrepreneurial health professionals over the past 4 years I’ve been struck by those who seem to have an innate ability to grab hold of the entrepreneur within them and those who don’t. I’ve reflected on this somewhat in the past months as I step up my mentoring practice to serve the numbers of health professionals who really want to make a business success of their practices. I’ve noticed something quite unique to health professionals and why I think the transition from health professional to entrepreneur is more difficult for some than others.
You see, as health professionals we are always following a technique. We practice a modality. When we are dealing with a tricky client or pathology we rely on the process. We go back into the evidence; we review best practice in clinical care; we review literature and research; we seek clinical supervision; we practice our craft until it becomes almost innate. We know we have to be on the ball clinically because if we aren’t the effects of poor clinical decisions can be really disastrous for our clients. Just as we have the ability to do tremendous good we also have the capacity to do a lot of bad.
To manage the risk of being a health professional we maintain our credentials, we participate in clinical supervision; we have mandatory PD points or hours we need to achieve in a given timeframe. In short, we continue to prove ourselves worthy of our profession. We are often however, motivated by the stick rather than the carrot; motivated by NOT making a mistake. Our focus is, “I can’t let this client down”;” I can’t let my profession down”, “I can’t let myself down by making a mistake”. We don’t want a malpractice suit!
This fear of the stick is so ingrained in us – think about how betrayed we feel when we hear of someone who gets it wrong, we all judge thinking, “How did that happen?” “They mustn’t have been supervised well enough, or kept their credentials up to date; or maintained their professional standards”.
We work to manage risk; all health care (as opposed to wellness promotion) is about mitigating risk, mitigating loss. We are always helping our clients to manage the risks associated with making progress or moving forward.
As health professionals we tend to be cautious; risk averse; conservative. We often call this ethical or professional – which it is. No argument here.
However, risk averse, cautious and conservative are not the ingrained attitudes of successful entrepreneurs. We know successful entrepreneurs and business owners are all risk takers; often throwing caution to the wind and making decisions and taking opportunities really quickly. Successful entrepreneurs have the ability to change in a split second, and turn on a dime when new information is presented to them. Further, successful entrepreneurs make decisions with maybe 65% of needed information and just work the rest out along the way.
What happens when the health professional (the clinician) and the entrepreneur collide? This appears to be at the core of why some health professionals can become successful entrepreneurs and business owners and others get so stuck in the process of trying to build a business. How do we manage the internal conflict between:
- Risk averse and risk taker?
- Caution and courage to make change quickly and often?
- Being conservative and being radical?
This is where I see many health professionals give up and get it wrong – they apply their clinical decision making model to their business, to entrepreneurship. It simply can’t work for long. It will get them so far, but it’s terribly limited. They will be limited to selling time for money or training sessions for a fee. They will be stuck in transactional service delivery. I don’t want this for you, because you have more in you than that!
How do you learn to be an entrepreneur? To get good at this you need to practice. You need to hang out with people who think differently, who don’t make clinical decisions all day long. You need to place yourself in an environment where you can learn to take risks in your business; where problems can be solved as they arise, because problems will come. It’s just what you do to solve them is the different between success and failure. You need to learn to take risks and learn that risk taking is not bad. However, you need to know what you can risk and what you shouldn’t risk. This is where having the right supports around you is imperative.
Myself, and many of my clients are examples of how health professionals can become successful entrepreneurs and business owners. Now, I will admit not all of my clients have made it. There have been a couple who have become stuck in the need to be safe – and that’s OK. Being a business owner or in private practice isn’t for everyone. But there are a lot more of us who could be successful in business.
Can you identify with this struggle? Is this something you have experienced yourself? I’d love to know if you have noticed this conflict in yourself. And, if so, how have you resolved it? Please leave your responses in the comments below. This will be incredibly valuable for people who are new to private practice.
Here’s the thing though – what if I told you that getting to that next level in your private practice has nothing to do with ANOTHER MODALITY or getting ANOTHER QUALIFICATION or even getting a HIGHER QUALIFICATION?
Here’s to your success.
Jo
Thank you for this fabulous post . What happens: sadly the profession reduces risk by often turning against the entrepreneur and fails to recognise the greater risk in doing this. By squashing or preventing the entrepreneurs in its midst, the profession reduces the risk of shame or mistakes made by entrepreneurial acts, but there are much greater risks to the profession and to clients. Firstly obsolescence for the profession in both traditional and non traditional areas, as the community may not see the worth of OT contribution. More concerning is that our clients start being served by others who are less skilled, less competent and can even be less ethical. Lets cheer on and support entrepreneurial health professionals.
Hey Judy thanks so much for sharing you insights. I love reading you commitment to championing the cause of OT’s in private practice. I’m a big believer in private practice giving many of us the skills,lifestyle and self care opportunities that we long for. Our client’s need us to be in the best condition to serve them, or s you rightly identify someone else will come along and serve them, and maybe not so well
I love your thought-provoking question of whether healthcare professionals can be entrepreneurs. I very much long to be both, but it does require a lot of cognitive/emotional effort to bring them together at times.
Thanks for your comment Debora, I agree its a great question and one that I’ve been muddling around in my brain for a while. I’ve really been trying to work out why some client’s seem to get it, while other’s don’t, so I can empower more health professionals to be even more self sufficient in their practices. It does require effort, and it does require the time and attention to learn how to do both.
Dear Jo,
My friend shared your blog with me today, after we were discussing the avenues of the unknown when you start your own business! After almost 11 years, I have taken the plunge and gone out on my own. I am both excited and nervous, with more than a few anxious sleeps of late! I took a lot from your blog and I want to thank you for sharing it. I completely understand what you mean by clinicians taking a more process orientated, risk averse approach. I managed another business for 2 years and had to learn the 80/20 rule, which made me feel very uncomfortable as it hasn’t been my style as a clinician at all! I am learning that I have to be flexible, adaptive and proactive. And also, that there’s no set formula. Learn not to reinvent the wheel to save time, ask for support and also think outside the carefully crafted OT box! It’s also interesting when you get to a point in your career where you know what you do and then suddenly so much is new again. In my opinion, this is where a lot of people become unstuck.
I am glad i have come across your blog and I will definitely continue to follow! I agree that we should support our profession and those of us that want to make a go of creating a successful business, to help and support the community around us.
Thanks Jo,
Katrina
Hey Katrina, thanks so much for your honesty and commitment to YOURSELF! I am thrilled to read that you have started this journey. A big thank you to your friend who forwarded the blog to you too. Your story sounds somewhat similar to mine, in that I too had managed teams , and then found my passion for my work and love for being in business that I didn’t know existed. Have a great weekend, and I look forward to reading more of your journey – stay in touch Jo x
Wow talk about being inspired and encouraged. I am in the starting phase of becoming an entrepreneur. Starting my own company has being something I wanted to do for years. It wasn’t until recently my personal and professional life came to a point of “now”. I have done my research and I have an inner drive that won’t allow me to bypass opportunities.
I joined the OT Coach on LinkedIn in search of other OTs who were just like me. I am not afraid to start my own business, but I do take two steps back before making decisions. I am going through the nervous-excitment phase of putting everything together. I am learning a lot about myself and what my strength and weaknesses just by going through the process.
I am encouraged and thank you for this article. I believe that to make the transition from having a clinical mind set to entrepreneurship, I must surround with like minded people. I have gained so much information regardless of their business background.
I hope that I am as successful with my business as you and the ladies who left comments.
Hello Zemelda, I am so glad you have found this inspiring. I am so encouraged that you too are starting your own company – if you can write a treatment plan or provide case management services then you CAN run a business! Don’t be afraid to ask for help, you would be amazed at how many people are willing to help you along the way. Here’s to your success – Jo
Ps – I have some extra FREE training on my website that you are welcome to learn from – http://jo.myvirtualangel.com/
Wow…exactly what I have been wrestling with! I’m glad to know I am not alone!
hi Jo,
I would love to connect and speak with you. I work as a private practice coach/ mentor, my niche is coaching private practitioners of all disciplines, who provide services to children and families. I am a long time health- preneur and loved your article.
Curiously your name was recently mentioned by Gerda Mueller when I spoke with her for the first time two weeks ago.
Hope we can find a time to chat.
Hi Jo, thanks for this piece. It resonates strongly with me and as I’ was reading I as nodding. It was reassuring to see the experience put into words so clearly. That the roles require me to bring something different to them and that they aren’t mutually exclusive but nor are they easily compatible at the outset. I’m enjoying learning from you about how to manage that tension and go forward with making the business side more of a reality.
Hey Katrina,
Thank you again for another thoughtful comment. Yes, there is tension. And the two competing demands while arent mutually exclusive don’t necessarily fall nicely and neatly into each other. I’m going to be sharing a lot more about this in my book! Yay for the book ( that will not write itself)
Thank you, Jo, for this post. I can relate to it regarding where I am at professionally. I am internally at odds right now to incorporate as a group or clinic, from a sole proprietor. I see this entrepreneur part of me want to emerge but the risks appear great.