Sustainability. Growth. Home-based business. These three words combined simultaneously sound terrifying and exhilarating in equal measure. If you are looking to start or have already started your own healthcare business, chances are that growing sustainably is precisely what you are focusing on in 2020. Let’s explore how to achieve that with minimum stress involved in the process.
Define your strategy and goals
Every guide on business growth you will ever read will open with the same piece of advice: have a strategy and stick to it. And while it may sound like the most boring part of running a business, it is actually often one of the most creative and interesting steps you will take. Your strategy should be detailed, realistic, and convey what you want to achieve with your healthcare business. Are you aimed at helping a certain target audience change an unhealthy habit? Are you focusing on preventing and managing certain illnesses and diseases? Who will you be working with and how? And ultimately, what do you want to achieve? Some businesses will want to have up to five clients and stop there. Others will want to have five hundred clients. By knowing what you want and how you want to get there, you will find it much easier to work on concrete actions and steps, as opposed to blindly going from one task to the next, not knowing how it adds to the bigger picture.
Have your funding in place
One of the biggest challenges of achieving sustainable growth is finding the funding to back it up. And while your home-based business doesn’t require as much in terms of resources as a Silicon Valley fintech startup, you still need to have money available to cover expenses, potential production costs, marketing campaigns, and so on. Look into different ways of acquiring the funding you need. Initially, you can look for funding from sources that work with small companies and startups. Make sure you don’t risk a lot of your future profits on the initial investment, though, as you don’t want to be stuck paying back a loan for years. Once you have established yourself and have gotten over that initial hurdle, expansion finance can help you reach the next milestone. Again, make sure all of the options have been considered and that you are armed with all the right data to make a decision.
Market solutions, as opposed to products and services
Whatever it is you’re selling, going about it the wrong way can hinder your growth. Remember that your customers are looking to solve a health-related issue. They are looking to feel better and be better, and live a life that is less painful, challenging, and difficult. What you need to show them is how your service or product fits into that future. What is it that you can do for them that will help them overcome their current difficulties? Don’t focus on yourself and what you do. Focus on them and how you fit into their life and health. Do your market research well, and see how similar products are being marketed as we speak. Instead of focusing on outrunning them, focus on standing out and differentiating yourself from them and their offer. Speak in the language of your target audience, and do it where and when they are most likely to hear you.
Don’t expect to do it alone
Home-based businesses are often a one (wo)man show – and expect to remain one in the long run. However, if you want to grow, that can’t ever be the case. As the only employee of your brand, you can only grow so much. There are so many things you can do in a workday, and no matter how much you improve and how much you learn along the way, you can’t stretch time infinitely, and your plate will fill up at some point or another. Start delegating tasks as soon as you need to. Whether this is hiring someone to reply to emails, answer the phone, set up meetings, or even do your grocery shopping for you, find help when and where you need it. If you want to work alone, you don’t have to hire for the core competencies of your business – but do hire someone to take some of the complementary tasks off your busy hands.
Remember to take care of yourself
People often say that they don’t expect doctors to get sick. When you’re working in healthcare in any capacity, people view you as a bit indestructible, and you often forget to take care of your own needs. Running a business is stressful, difficult, and will exact a heavy toll. Don’t let your own wellbeing get out of hand, and do all those things you know you need to do. Exercise, eat well, get enough sleep. Remember to take a breather, relax, and live your best life while running your own sustainable, growing, and expanding business. After all, if all you do is keep working, without an endgame in sight, how will you know when to stop?
Final words
By adhering to the advice provided above, you will have a much easier time achieving sustainable growth for your healthcare business in 2020. Just remember to think things through, and work on improving your performance each day, little by little.
