Being a medical doctor, who would not wish to have a place for private practice? But, wishing is not enough, we need to make it happen.
If you are a medical doctor and you really want to have your own private practice/clinic, then let me share with you some tips that may encourage you to start to make your dream come true in an easy way. These practical tips are based on my experience working for 25 years in several organizations, and more particularly in the past ten years, when I had my own experience starting and managing my own company, Angsamerah.
I hope these practical tips may help you in starting something you like and may be useful to assist you in achieving your dreams of having a successful private practice or clinic.
When you begin to establish your private practice, you are bound to have lots of questions in mind. Let me try to list some frequently asked questions which people often ask before they start establishing their private practice or clinic.
Is it possible for me to have a successful clinic? Is it difficult to build? Is it costly? How do I fund it?
In my current situation, I will definitely say ” Yes, you can”. If other people could make it, then why can’t I? I will even make it with a different appearance and it should be able to follow the current trends and needs.
If the question is about how difficult it will be, well, everything would have their own challenges. But having difficulties or challenges should not be a problem if you like them! To establish a your own clinic is like climbing a mountain. Some people do not want to climb mountains for several reasons. Some complain that it would be tiring, that they have no energy or strength to do it. But other people enjoy the struggles of climbing to the peak of a mountain and compete to reach the top of the highest mountain.
I used to think that funds would be the greatest challenge. But from my own experiences, I have learned that not having enough funds should not be a major obstacle that will discourage you in building a successful clinic. Keep your spirits high, and believe me, financial matters can be covered. However, worrying about costs and expenses is a natural and important matter, because it will act as an alarm to remind us to be cautious, especially when we start building our private practice with no previous experience.
Everything is relative when it comes to thinking whether establishing a private practice or clinic is difficult or easy, whether you are capable or not, or whether you can afford it or not. It all depends on how strong your intention is and how knowledgable you are. The most important initial step is that you have already dreamed about it and desired it to happen. There are many stories of succesful people in the world who began their success story by showing a great desire on what they want. This would be a major push factor to step forward and make a dream come true, whatever the obstacles are.
Can I achieve it?
Yes, you can. First of all. You have to define what achievements you want to have. Then, you put your efforts to start it and never give up.
Where do I start?
Start with something you think is easy to do, something enjoyable, that you can finish by today!
A simple example is by starting an inner dialogue. These are the questions you need to ponder on:
- Why is this thing meaningful to me?
- What form of practice do you want and how do you want it?
Continue making a list and try to answer it in your notebook.
One alternative is to spare some enjoyable, free time to read materials that will expand your knowledge on setting up a clinic or business enterprise. This could include hanging out with friends. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean hanging out for the sake of having fun with friends, but rather to find time to share your dreams with someone. Discussing your dream with a friend will widen your horizons as well as help to visualize your dreams in a sharper way. Who knows your friend is also interested in your dream. The difference between you and other people is that many others are interested in doing something but keep silent about it. You are courageous enough to share your dream, and that means you are on the lead and you have opened more opportunities for your dream to come true.
Should I work alone or work with partners?
Working alone or working with partners have their own advantages. Working alone means you have more autonomy and control towards your own business. Working with partners (and having a team) allows you to have a more dynamic business with a larger capacity.
If you want to involve people you know to become partners, you must have knowledge about your own self, your strengths and weaknesses and what your desires are. If you know yourself well enough, then it would be easier for you to discuss matters with your partner. You will be able to look at ideas from your partners and respond positively to any difference or challenge that appears. Besides that when working with partners, it is also important for you to think about what benefits you can give your partners through this joint venture.
I have some ideas, but am I able to lead?
Of course you can. If you have the will, faith and learn including sharpen your leadership skills. Why? Because basically everyone has leadership qualities. Becoming a competent leader is a skill that can be learned. There are many websites and books which discuss about leadership. There are also courses about leadership. Your leadership will develop indirectly as you respond to challenges and when you struggle to achieve your dreams and believe that there is always good hope in your daily life, within yourself, your family and your career.
If I ask other people to join, will other people steal my ideas?
No need to worry about that because to be honest, even our own ideas are never purely original. We have always been inspired by other people. So if you think someone has stolen your ideas, let it be. I can say this, because base on my own experience, ideas will never remain eternal. Having good ideas will not guarantee success, because ideas are dynamic. They grow with knowledge. They will be influenced by the way we make those ideas work in reality, on how you initiate them and how to maintain them.
If other people copy our ideas, but have no rational way of thinking on how to make those ideas work, then the ideas will just become infertile roots that do not last long. So if someone copies your ideas, let it be. You are the one that must move on and maintain the ideas, let it grow, and this in turn will provide you with more new ideas in the long run.
What if I fail?
Rise again. Failure is not the end of the world. Failure is a simple message that tells us to look for new opportunities to start again in a more, intelligent way. In whatever way you want to define your failure, for me that is a sign of success. Because you have tried and you could learn from that. From each failure, one can always gain some valuable learning. The most important thing is that do you really want to learn from the mistakes you made and rise again to make something new and better?
Failure and rejection are daily matters we face in our lives and successful people respond it by not easily give up.
Move forward, make your dreams come true, and do it now!
Your success is ours too.