Starting a speech therapy private practice can be very challenging, but with the right mindset, tools and technology, life with your own business can so much easier. In this episode I will share some of the tools that we use in our clinic on a daily basis. These tools include: fax servers, phones, internet, routers, scheduling systems, what we use to do our billing, the type of computers and printers we use, and most importantly, how we take our payments from our patients.
In this episode:
00:01 – Finally, work is fun again
01:05 – More referrals and writing checks to the IRS
01:52 – Tools that we use on a daily basis in our clinic
02:17 – How to take control over your fax machine
03:10 – Communicating with patients and referral sources: Incoming and outgoing calls
04:40 – Phone backup plan
05:08 – Internet (DSL versus Cable),
06:14 – Routers for the office
06:55 – Scheduling patients and patient privacy
07:22 – Reminding families of their appointment to limit no-shows
07:55 – Billing (the frugal way)
08:12 – Computers that we use in our office
09:29 – Printing and scanning
10:15 – Credit card processing
12:00 – Action Steps for growth and success
Notes + Whiteboard
Transcription of Episode Four:
Well, hello everyone! You’re listening to this speech therapy private practice start up podcast, this is episode number 4. My name is Kyle Meades and I’m a speech and language pathologist and this is my podcast to help you start your very own speech therapy private practice. Well, if you’ve been listening to our podcast, you know be by now: I’m very frugal, hard working and honest. We’ve been very busy the last couple of weeks. We’ve had over sixty new referrals the previous month and been writing checks to the IRS which is really important because it’s good to pay your way and good to pay your share to the government- (not too much) but it’s good to pay your share. We’re just so blessed to have a nice clinic here in Tucson, Arizona to help others and to help people with their speech and occupational therapy needs. And most importantly I’m very blessed to have a wonderful team that works with me on a daily basis. It’s fun going to work. We have a good time with each other, we joke around, we smile, we laugh. A couple of the people that work in the clinic bring their dogs to the clinic and it’s just so cool to have animals running around and people are having fun. We’re all working but we can do it in a nice, fun, positive way.
Well, in this episode I wanna give you some things to think about as far as tools that you need to have in your clinic for a successful private practice. Now, when I say tools, I’m referring to things like your fax servers, your phones, your internet, your routers, your scheduling systems, what you use to do your billing, what kind of computers you use, what kind of printers you use, and how you take your payments from your patient. I’m going share all of that information with you in this podcast today.
Let’s get started. Number 1, our fax machines, now when we talk about faxes, if you’re still using an ink and toner – paper system, that’s going to be expensive. Because once you grow to a certain level, you just simply can’t afford to go to Costco and get that much white paper. I’m be very honest when I say this, so what I suggest is use a system like metro fax. We use metro fax in our clinic and it’s a really great system because when someone refers a child or when someone sends a fax, you going to get an email instead of a paper fax.
