What are 7 Costly Business Mistakes That RNs Should Avoid?
Registered Nurses in Alaska and Colorado have the freedom of practicing independently by starting healthcare facilities. This privilege helps nurses to fulfill their passion because independence enables them to focus on the delivery of various medical services that aren’t adequately met by public hospitals. Starting a medical practice isn’t hard, however running a successful one requires knowledge on how to avoid costly business mistakes.
Business Mistakes That Hinder The Growth Of A Medical Practice
-
Having A Stingy Approach Towards Spending Capital
While it makes sense to minimize expenses to maximize profits, some entrepreneurs are stingy when spending capital. They won’t mind purchasing cheap furnishing and medical equipment as well as paying rock-bottom hourly rates to employees. However, cheap is expensive because cheap things are usually of poor quality.
Stinginess stifles business growth because it makes an entrepreneur short-sighted on immediate gains and losses. The RN can’t expand their business by avoiding huge investments in lucrative opportunities that are long-term.
-
Inability To Manage Recurrent Expenses
Some of the common recurrent expenses include monthly rent payments, utilities, and other overheads. A business that struggles to meet its recurrent expenses on time also experiences drops in revenue because insufficient capital affects productivity. Imagine how hard it would be to run a medical practice successfully when the staff hasn’t received salaries for a couple of months.
The inability to manage recurrent expenses arises when a business owner mismanages revenue. It could also be the result of accumulating so much debt from banks and suppliers that it becomes overwhelming.
-
Overlooking The Importance Of Learning Daily Operations
The success of a private medical practice doesn’t solely rely on hiring the best doctors and nurses. It all depends on the entrepreneur’s skills to handle daily operations. This requires learning how to analyze financial statements, hire the right staff, and vet suppliers. Otherwise, the nurse can’t fix major problems such as the inability to manage recurrent expenses.
-
Having A Passive Approach Towards Marketing
Some business owners tend to slack on marketing after experiencing some level of success when it comes to sales. However, markets tend to change whenever new competitors step into the scene. Despite the fact that people spend at least two hours on social media daily, some medical practices are yet to register an online presence.
The medical practice can’t expand into new territories when the RN doesn’t understand marketing or hire a competent team to deliver results. A passive approach towards marketing also leads to dwindling sales because customers might get tempted to explore what competitors are offering.
-
Treating Employees Like Robots
High staff turnover is a situation where the rate of employees resigning for other employers is higher than the rate at which the business hires new ones. A medical practice that’s experiencing this issue should analyze the way it treats its staff. An employee would rather leave a high-paying job and settle for an employer that offers a lower salary but treats staff with dignity.
Creating a hostile environment for employees also has an impact on customer relations. The staff might transmit the same hostility to customers that have inquiries and this affects the brand’s reputation.
-
Overlooking Areas Of Weakness
Running a business makes an individual aware of the things they’re good at and areas where they require assistance. An RN might be a brilliant marketer however he or she is terrible when it comes to analyzing financial statements. That’s why the nurse requires an accountant to monitor expenses plus revenue.
On the flip side, some RNs feel too insecure to let someone else cover up their areas of weaknesses. An RN that’s trying to juggle accounting duties to save money can lose a lot especially when filing taxes incorrectly.
-
Overlooking The Importance Of Local Business Networks
Local business networks exist to help members spend less time finding solutions for their problems. A business network that has several members who own medical practices provides a good source of mentorship to startup owners. It would be a disservice to the business to ignore a membership invitation.
Running A Successful Medical Practice Requires Prudence
It’s advisable to have a mentor that will help you to identify areas of weakness so that you can avoid making or repeating any of these seven costly business mistakes.