When you are at that point where you are seriously considering expanding your chiropractic practice, it can be stressful and uncertain . However, if you’re careful and do your homework ahead of time, being able to grow your business can also be very rewarding. Check out these tips for expanding your practice.

Tip #1. Do your homework

Before growing your practice, it’s important to really do your due diligence. You should do your homework to get a good grasp of the market. You will also need a business plan that will ensure sustainable and reproducible growth in the future. In creating your business plan, you will need to do some research and conduct a risk assessment to really help you decide if you are now ready to take your business to the next level.

Plus, you may also want to ask yourself these questions:

• Should I expand my practice now?
• Should I expand my physical practice space?
• Should I buy an existing practice as a way to get another location established?
• Should I expand my services and/or products?

Tip #2. Learn from others

One of the best ways to build your vision of expanding your chiropractic practice is simply to get advice from other chiropractic business owners. Ask questions! Gain new insights from their experiences and perspectives. Learn from their mistakes and take note of their successes.

You can also read books on business expansion and about areas that you feel you need extra help with. Work with a chiropractic business consultant! Chances are they are also chiropractors who have gone through the whole process and have valuable knowledge they would love to share. They can help you expand your practice by providing you with advice on how to grow your customer base and make more money from existing clients, as well as help plan out strategies for future growth.

Tip #3. Have SMART goals

As you plan for your expansion, it’s important to be realistic about what you can do. If you did your homework and learned from others, you should be able to create SMART goals which seem to be so cliche but they work!

As you probably already know, SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound goals. Set your goals for expanding your chiropractic practice following these principles and you’re on the right track. After all, you are getting into something that comes with risks and uncertainties so it’s better to be prepared.

Expanding your chiropractic practice is risky. It can be scary as you go out of your comfort zone, but it’s the only way to grow. The most important thing is to do your homework before you make any decisions. Be SMART about what kind of expansion will work for your practice and what kind won’t –  and then stick with that plan. Talk with other chiropractors and business owners who have gone through similar experiences.

Or better yet, let’s get on a 30-minute consultation so you can pick my brain.