to open my own practice or not, that is the question.

[dad7734]

I'm going to be graduating school on Oct. 1.
Originally I was going to work for somebody else to get started and then work on opening my own practice. The closer I get to graduation, the less I want to work for somebody else.
The reason I've gone to school is so I can be more independent and work for myself. I would really like to phase out the working-for-someone-else-first transition and just rent office space and open up a practice right out of school.
Is this a good idea?? Should I just buck up and work for somebody else to gain experience and clientele??
Just looking for some advice before I make a big decision.

 

[Due 8/22/09 w/ #2!]

Way too little information in this post to advise you on employment or self-employment.

You need to consider your own personality, and your finances before you can make the decision. What is your panic threshold? How little money can you make, and still pay your business expenses and personal expenses? How determined are you to market, and are you outgoing and personable, or introverted and socially shy? What kind of community do you live in, is it a "good" market for alternative health care, or is it conservative?

Can you afford to make NO profit for an extended period of time? Can you sell each and every client you get on the table so they will rebook? How are your massage skills? Are you confident in your abilities to not behave like an unsure "newbie?" Can you bluff enough to seem confident that you are a good choice for people to spend their money, and do you know when to stop bluffing so that you will not be harming your credibility and (possibly) the client's health?

Can you afford to get set up in your own place and have you done the number crunching necessary to determine costs of start-up? (They can be much higher than you would think, depending on how picky you are...)

I'm not much of a list maker myself, but in this instance it would be very helpful to start a list of all the pros and cons of self-employment, all potential expenses (both monthly and start up), how many sessions you must do to break even, how many to take home a paycheck (remember to factor in up to 40% for taxes.)

FWIW, I'm self-employed and my income is secondary. We have never needed a penny from my job to put food on the table, pay utilities and mortgage, or any other personal expenses. My husband's income is sufficient.

But it was still VERY stressful until I became profitable, because MY income means we have a savings, take a vacation, save for retirement, go out to dinner, get the dog (and me) a haircut, etc. If your income needs to provide some of the household funds, you may be better off working for someone for awhile.

 

[wizebloke]

It's not a question of you wanting to open the practice or not. that is secondary. primary question is "can I open a practice?" right now in Sf, the regulations are silly. you need 1000 ft distance from another practice and not only that, there are people who tried opening their shop that say the city wants atleast a 6 months to a year of wait before your practice can be open legally waiting for approval. And in order to get a license to open shop, you would need a location that is approved. it's basically the zoning that prevents many people from opening shop. by the time you wait for approval, your losing money from rent. no building owner is going to wait for half a year for your massage business approval.

Then there is another problem of being hired as a contractor. the EDD have been fining practices 15000 bucks for hiring contractor because they say those are employees. they say a contractor have to find their own clients so that means an establishment can't book appointments for you. this is nonsense as I believe contractors are contracted out to do the service for the establishment. they are not contractors with the client. many business are now afraid to hire contractors cuz of this fine. if this is the case, what's the point of being a contractor? it's the same as running your own business if you have to find each and every client yourself as well as doing the paperwork. The EDD is just bullying small business for money and small business don't have funds to fight back. The IRS even define independent contractor differently then the EDD. these are the info I got from those that are fine 15000 bucks just because they book appointments for contractors, as the EDD see that as an employee status rather then contractor. Laws are stupid in this field and the amta or some massage organization needs to work on getting it change. Forget the regulation standard. it's useless if one can't practice massage even if one fulfill the qualification standard for massage.

Also people who work as emplyee will never get their worth since most business run their shop like a sweatshop. Massage envy is on of them, i think. the sad part is people can't get their business up due to law in this field. I don't know the laws for other city but sf is one place that is hell to open business according to those that have tried.

 

[T. Ruth]

One thing that stands out in your post is thinking that working for someone else will gain you experience and clientele. While work experience is always valuable, and you would gain some reputation, I've found that it's generally a mistake to think that working for someone else will build your clientele. The clients of the establishment usually remain clients of the establishment. Depending on the work agreement, you may have agreed not to solicit establishment clients period upon leaving employment. In many cases even without a written prohibition, it would be bad form to do so (trying to take a spa's clients or a chiro's patients). And many people simply do not want to change the location where they have their massage.

Not saying it's impossible. But there can be ethical and logistical challenges to trying to claim the client list as your own when working for someone else.

 

[Chloepop]

If that's what you want to do that's a good idea.

Whether you think you can or you can't - you are right...

In other words it is really about what you think.

I think alot of the problems in starting out are actually being created by the profession (schools mainly) itself - saying things like "Don't quit your day job" or work for someone first.

I have just been reading "Think and Grow Rich" and he talks about having a burning desire to do something along with the Faith and persistence to do it. He gives an example about a ship of soldiers being dropped of on an island to fight and the ships being burned so there is no way off so they 'have to be successful' (The book was written in 1937)

That's sort of what I did when I started. I just couldn't take another day of working for someone and quit my job actually about 6 months before getting my license even and I started my practice the month after getting my license and never looked back.

Julie
http://www.thebodyworker.com

 

[TacoMan]

I went with the "sink or swim" method of business ownership, too, Julie. It has not been easy and I'm not getting rich, but I am making it, which was my only option. I HAVE to make it!