New Business Venture???

[confused guy1-1]

I have been an MT for all of 8 months now. Right now I work with a Chiropractor as an IC and do fairly well. Her pay scale is strange in my opnion, she will pay 50/50 with her clients and 80/20 with my clients (I have not clients yet!). But I find that she doesn't charge the full price of a massage. She says she charges $60 but I have yet to see that on a check when I am paid. I do treat alot of teachers, and their insurance will only pay $48, but she waives the $12 copay. Seniors will only pay $40, I'm fine with that. But anyone else she only charges $48 for. She is a great "boss" and I do enjoy working for her. I just don't like how she sways with her charges.

Well here's my actual question. I was approached by a different Chrio. and she is opening up her own office, and has asked me if I wanted to join her with my own massage business in her office. My goal is to have my own business, albeit this is really soon, but I'm looking at this as a gift. I am meeting with her this morning to ask a few questions about the arrangement, and to see if our personalities click. I know that I will be paying her rent, don't know how much yet. And that we would share the receptionist. But I'm not sure what other type of questions I need to ask to be sure that I'm not getting in over my head.

Also I do know that she is going to refer her clients to me, so I will have some clients to work on. And anything that needs to be billed through the insurance, I will bill her and she will take care of it (does this sound right?)And I will also do my own marketing. If I do decide to do this but not as a business right now, she will take me on with a % and then later on down the road I can make this my own business. *She descourages me to do this b/c she feels that I won't make enough money working for her. But she will do this is I really want to. Oh, btw, this office is just around the corner from my house! I can actually walk to work!

Can anyone add some questions to my list? Here are some that I plan to ask so far:
1. How many Chiros?
2. Amount of rent? for how long?
3. What does the rent $ include? utilities? reception?
4. How many massage rooms am I going to have? (I can hire/fire who I want, my business) How much sq ft?
5. Is there room to expand?
6. Are my hours only to be the same as the Chiros?

Tina W.

 

[trai]

Don't forget to put in the rental agreement who is responsible for the insurance on the room you'll be renting. (fire, water damage, if someone falls down in the room, etc.) I'm going through the same type of start up deal with an ob/gyn practice, and that was one of the suggestions provided to me by my local S.C.O.R.E chapter. (free small business help!)They said it might be cheaper to be added to their exsisting insurance policy rather than having my own on the room itself. They also suggested that in regards to insurance billing, to have the client pay the full fee up front, then you can just fill out the paperwork for them and mail it off, the client gets reimbursed from the insurance company directly. That way, you're not left waiting for payment. (There are forms the client can sign agreeing to this). If you don't want her receptionist to schedule your clients, you might want to have a separate phone line installed. Will she have a washer/dryer onsite? (The ob/gyn doesn't. Bummer). Will you have enough cabinetry in your room to store (and lock up) all your supplies? What about a locking file cabinet for your personal clients health forms outside the room? Will you have any desk space to do your paperwork? What about chair massage? If that is an option for you, where is the chair going to go? Sorry I got a little carried away!! Good luck with whatever your endeavor will be...