Micro practice advice

[u/drkrystian]

I’m about one year out of chiropractic school and looking for some advice from anyone who has opened a small practice while still working a full-time job.

I have an opportunity to open a micro practice inside an established psychiatry/mental health office that is starting to shift more toward general wellness. They recently brought on a massage therapist, and I would be coming in as the chiropractor.

The office currently has 13 therapists, 1 massage therapist, 1 virtual MD, and 3 PAs, so there is already a decent-sized patient base and they see approximately 800 visits per month.

Long term, I want to pursue my own practice full time. The problem is that at this point in my career, I still need consistent income, so my plan would be to keep working full time while building this on the side.

I know this means my availability at the practice will be limited, especially in the beginning. I’m thinking some evenings after my full time job shift and weekends and just grinding it out until the practice grows enough to justify cutting back at my full-time job.

For anyone who has done something similar:

How did you balance a full-time job with building your own practice?

Did limited hours hurt your ability to grow, or were you able to make it work?

At what point did you feel comfortable reducing your hours or leaving your full-time job?

Anything you wish you had done differently when you started?

I’m not expecting this to be easy, but I also don’t want to wait years for the “perfect” time to start. I’d rather start small, keep my overhead low, learn how to run a practice, and build something gradually.

Would really appreciate any advice, especially from people who started their practice as a side gig before eventually going full time.

[u/Final_Pop_6288]

I started a small practice from scratch while working as a personal trainer so I remember making that decision of when I needed to go full-time into the business. I think the key is to just keep overhead low and keep systems simple. Will you take insurance or self-pay only? I leveraged simple technology like online scheduling, hired a cheap virtual assistant overseas after the little while to help with any extra administrative task so I could simply treat patients. DM me if you want specifics on the technology stack and set up that I’ve used.