A quick Multiple-Choice question for those of you who are feeling overwhelmed at the idea of setting up your own private medicine niche. Please answer the following question. Q: For anyone intending to set up their own private niche medicine clinic, what would most difficult part of the project? Selecting a Niche Finding Premises Appointing Staff. Putting together a Website. Putting together a Clinical Program. Online advertising. Getting paying patients. All of the above. The correct answer is: None of the above. The most difficult part is : Going to school and studying very hard for years on end, getting into medical school, surviving year one and year two exams, surviving the clinical years and final exams, internship and fellowships. That is the incredibly hard part, all of which you have already done. The other “barriers” listed above are much easier and quicker to overcome. Any non medical entepreneur who came into competition with you would give their right arm to gain what you already have under your belt. The knowledge, the experience, the pedigree, the credibility, and the accumulated goodwill which comes with your professional qualification. To have all these hard yards already done, which cannot be bought off the shelf, which cannot be fast tracked, which cannot be transferred and which cannot be backdated. So, when someone asks you “Who are
“Yes, but…..” was a phrase I often came across when I was doing my General Practice training. It occurred in the context of counselling the large number of our patients who have intractable health and social problems caused by poor medical and / or lifestyle habits. We all have patients with poor eating habits, obesity, lack of exercise, gambling, alcohol excess or drug addiction. Invariably, as an inexperienced trainee doctor, when I tried to counsel these patients and advise them, things would proceed as follows: I would give them a long soliloquy on how they could improve their problem, giving them specific pieces of advice and a plan. During this one way communication the patient would sit arms crossed watching me somewhat disdainfully. When I finished, they would respond with a “Yes…. but…..”. In fact what they would say was “Yes, doctor, that is a great plan….But, Dr it won’t work because of this …………….”. Then they would continue to look at me in silence, with arms still crossed, with the implied message : “You tried once, but that was not good enough. Try again doctor and see if you can come up with a better idea. You are the doctor and you have to do this, its your job, not mine. I am just going to sit here waiting,
Q: What Niche should I Sub Specialise In? A : Only you can answer this. But let me give you some common pointers to selecting your Niche. Will I Enjoy The Medicine? The most important thing is that this is something you should enjoy and be suited to. Simply speaking, you’re going to have to master this niche. You’re going to have to study and learn all about it. And you’re going to have to live and breathe for the next 3 to 5 years at a minimum. So make sure you have an aptitude for it, and you are going enjoy practicing in this niche. Will I Enjoy Dealing with my Typical Patient? Next, think about the people you are going to be serving. Are you going to enjoy dealing with and treating the patients that this private medicine niche is going to bring to you? It is said that we all get the practice and patients we deserve, so make sure you will enjoy dealing with the sorts of problems and the sorts of people that your new niche will bring to you. Is It Commercially Viable? Firstly, are they going to be a significant number of paying patients within your local area? Secondly, how much of capital is required to get started? Can you afford it? For example a laser clinic
As an entrepreneurial doctor starting out, you face a few challenging choices. Firstly what is my ideal medical niche? Secondly how do I position myself in terms of products/ services,pricing and image . And finally where shall I practice, and is my current location acceptable for my new plans? Consider building your business to be rather like planting a fruit tree. It takes years from planting a tree, watering it, tending to it, nurturing it and protecting it until it starts producing edible fruit. When it does do so, it’ll continue to produce harvest after harvest of fruit for year after year. At this stage, your colleagues , friends and neighbours will be envious of you. But it will all be unnecessarily hard work if you dislike that particular type of farming. Nor will it be of much help if that type of fruit is not in demand locally . Or if you are selling high quality fruit in low quality packaging, or vice versa. And it won’t do you any good if you have to uproot and transplant that tree halfway through because the soil you chose is barren or the climate is unsuitable for that particular crop. Plan well, so you get it right first time. Fortunately, in medicine, you don’t have to get it absolutely correct straight
“Where will all this take me? This is a question I often get asked by budding medical entrepreneurs. My answer is – how long is a piece of string? In other words, where do you want this to take you? And how far do you want to go? When they appear uncertain at my response, I explain the following: When you start on your entrepreneurial journey, you can do so in any number of directions, and the first challenge is to pick a single direction, or niche. This is often the most challenging part of the whole equation, because it all seems so distant and daunting . Once you commit to a single niche, however, the distance you cover from there will be largely determined by your enthusiasm and application. But don’t underestimate yourself……because, once you get interested in something, pretty magical things can happen. I know, because it happened to me, just like this: You pick a niche that you are interested in and enthusiastic about. When you practice medicine in a field you enjoy, you start to get good at it. Really good at it. Patients aren’t used to doctors who are really good and enthusiastic about their craft. They start to talk. They won’t only talk. In this day and age, they will Facebook, they will tweet, and they will
Venenatis at aliquet id, malesuada id mauris. Quisque erat urna, iaculis sit amet ultricies a, sodales at velit. Nunc nec congue mi. Morbi elementum elit sed odio imperdiet, id bibendum massa rutrum.Venenatis at aliquet id, malesuada id mauris. Quisque erat urna, iaculis sit amet ultricies a, sodales at velit. Nunc nec congue mi. Morbi elementum elit sed odio imperdiet, id bibendum massa rutrum.Venenatis at aliquet id, malesuada id mauris. Quisque erat urna, iaculis sit amet ultricies a, sodales at velit. Nunc nec congue mi. Morbi elementum elit sed odio imperdiet, id bibendum massa rutrum.Venenatis at aliquet id, malesuada id mauris. Quisque erat urna, iaculis sit amet ultricies a, sodales at velit. Nunc nec congue mi. Morbi elementum elit sed odio imperdiet, id bibendum massa rutrum.Venenatis at aliquet id, malesuada id mauris. Quisque erat urna, iaculis sit amet ultricies a, sodales at velit. Nunc nec congue mi. Morbi elementum elit sed odio imperdiet, id bibendum massa rutrum.Venenatis at aliquet id, malesuada id mauris. Quisque erat urna, iaculis sit amet ultricies a, sodales at velit. Nunc nec congue mi. Morbi elementum elit sed odio imperdiet, id bibendum massa rutrum.
