It can seem like there are always things to think about when you want to expand your business. If you’re doing all of this on your own, it can be especially difficult. These are some of the common pitfalls people come across when expanding their business. And we’ve even included some solutions!
Overlooking Marketing
This can result in missed client opportunities, lack of differentiation and online presence, and a shortage of referrals for new clinicians. If you don’t have a marketing plan, especially one that involves an online presence, you will not see your business grow the way you want it to. Your growth can stagnate and you could end up losing clinicians if they don’t get enough referrals.
Solution: Invest time, effort, and resources into a comprehensive marketing plan. Research what goes into a marketing plan. Ask others in the field. This is somewhere where having an extensive network can be especially helpful. People can help answer questions and provide guidance for you.
Inadequate Risk Management
As your operation grows, so does the complexity of operations – whether financial, legal, operational, or reputational – can derail your expansion plans. Of course, it’s difficult to know exactly every risk you could come across, there are some common ones you need to think about and plan for. Think about things like local and federal regulations, what your ethics board says, and what’s important in your local community.
Solution: Be proactive in ensuring compliance, mitigating financial risks, safeguarding client care, and planning for potential crises. This is another area where knowing how to research will be helpful for you. Also tapping into your network. Ask what people have come across in their businesses and how they dealt with it.
Failing to Delegate
Without delegation, your practice is likely to face bottlenecks, burnout, and missed opportunity for growth. In solo practice, you may have been able to handle everything on your own. However, once you start adding a team, and the clients that they have, you start to exponentially increase the amount of work you now have to do.
Solution: Increase reliance on your team and identify the right task for the right people. You may have someone on your team who would make an excellent clinical director. Hire them to take care of those tasks so you can focus on something else. Hire someone to handle your admin work or billing so you no longer have to worry about those factors.
Lacking Clear Vision and Strategy
Without these guiding principles, your practice may lack direction, struggle to align resources effectively, and face challenges in managing growth sustainability.
Solution: Define the purpose and direction of your practice and a concrete plan for achieving goals. Consider what your values are and what inspired you to go down this path of owning a group practice. This can help you put together your vision and strategy for your business.
Hiring the Wrong People
This can affect everything from practice culture to financial health. There are going to be people who do not align with your vision or the way you want the business to feel. Some personalities may clash more heavily with others, causing friction and conflict.
Solution: Structured interviews, reference checks, and trial periods are all things that can help you determine who will be the right fit for your business. Consider what kind of person you want to be working with. Plan your interviews around these concepts.
Underestimating Financial Implications
If you do not accurately account for all the costs involved, you risk running into financial trouble that can stifle growth, damage your reputation, and even threaten the sustainability of your practice.
Solution: Take time to assess each cost and plan for contingencies. Really sit down and think of every single thing you could possibly need to put money towards. And after doing that, show your list to others who run similar businesses, if they’re willing to help you. They may see things you didn’t think about!
Overexpansion
Growing too quickly without a solid foundation can result in financial strain, operational overload, burnout, loss of quality, and dissatisfaction. While it can be tempting to ride the momentum and keep expanding, there are serious ramifications that can happen as a result of expanding too big, too fast.
Solution: Pace yourself and focus on scalability. Have a five year plan, or even a ten year plan. This can help you really hone in on how you want to expand and on how much your business can take now and how much it may be able to take in the future.
Consider Us
The consultants at Compassionate Consulting Company are licensed independent clinical social workers located in Massachusetts who have been running successful counseling practices for years. Here are testimonials from clients that have worked with us. We enjoy working with entrepreneurs that are starting their business, expanding and hiring team members, as well as those who are considering diversifying and adding different income streams. We are able to assist with everything described above and would love the opportunity to assist you in expanding successfully. Schedule a free consult so we can learn more about your business goals and share how we can help. We recommend doing these 6 things if you want to expand.