Having a Practice at Home

Question

What are your thoughts on woking from home in your practice?

Answer

This question is asked a lot and there is no real clear answer because it depends on each individual therapist. Some therapists prefer the safety of a clinic and like that it provides a steady stream of client leads and often other therapists within the clinic refer their clients. There is nothing to stop therapists working from home creating a similar network of therapists who work from home so you can mutually refer others; it just takes a little more effort to maintain the links.

Some also see the clinic option as more professional. Again how you view this is up to you but often in clinics your reputation is only as good as the weakest link in the clinic set up. That could be its procedures; it could be other therapists, position of the clinic etc. You have less control in a clinic unless you own it.

I think working from home takes a little more effort and focus. It is all too easy to be dragged off purpose when you are working from home. The neighbours pop in, the washing needs to done and over the course of a day many things can get in the way. If you are easily distracted it may be best to be in a clinic. However, as a Gemini I’m VERY easily distracted and am the classic flitter between projects but I have been able to train myself to be consistently in my office for long period of time working on the things I’m meant to be doing (well most days anyway!)

The benefits of working from home are many including flexibility to see people at times outside set hours. You can do your odd jobs if there is a gap in your diary or you can easily pop into your home office and work on projects in downtime. You have the ability to create an environment that you love and have control over.

The main advantage I see is from a profitability point of view. You need to see less people working at home to make the same profit you would have made paying rent at a clinic. You probably have to do more work initially to secure those clients though.

I believe as times goes on working from home will be a more popular option particularly with women with school age children. It means less travel and less stress in the day. I believe if you have a quiet place at home that is able to be shut off from the main house and you are the sort of person who can get out and do what it takes to fill a practice (which means a lot of worn down shoe leather and shaking a lot of strangers hands) then you will be successful at home. A clinic is not a guarantee of a steady client base and initially you will still need to do the hard yards to get your practice full.

To determine whether working at home is for you is really just a matter of heading up a page with plus and minus columns and going to work on all the wins and challenges both options would bring up for you.