Step 1: Protect your personal assets when starting your own SLP private practice
When you setup your own speech and language pathology private practice, your most important first step is to protect your personal assets and shield them from the business-related liabilities of your private practice. Specifically we recommend:
- Register your SLP private practice under a company
- Get essential insurance:
- professional indemnity cover or liability insurance, in case you are sued by a client for negligence or malpractice
- public liability or third-party cover, in case for example a client is injured while visiting your premises or if you accidentally break something when visiting a client
- car insurance that includes business usage if you are travelling to provide your services
- employer’s insurance if you hire people into your practice
- Setup a bank account for your private practice to isolate to separate personal and business assets and ensure that any debts or legal issues are solely tied to your private practice. Local credit unions tend to be cheaper, sometimes free, but might be less digital friendly than larger banks.
Step 2: Build a strong your admin support system for your SLP private practice
- Find an an accountant from friends or local doctors, dentists or therapists in private practice in your area. Interview them to determine which is the best fit based on your own objectives.
- Setup accounting software your accountant recommends or with popular platforms such as Quickbooks and Xero. Both include billing, invoicing and mileage trackers so you can submit claims for reimbursement.
- Setup payments with well renowned platforms that integrate into your accounting software such as Klarna, Square, Stripe. Getting setup with insurers takes time but can provide for good referrals.
- Buy your website domain on GoDaddy.com: This step will help you be independent from any website or email platform if you decided to change provider at a later date.
- Get HIPAA compliant email and Cloud storage. Don’t be fooled, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, iCloud, Google Drive and other free personal messaging services are NOT HIPAA Compliant. Sign up to an email and Cloud storage provider, configure it to be encrypted end to end, activate multi-factor authentication, sign their ‘Business Associate Agreement’ (BAA) and keep all records for at least six years. The following services, configured properly and where a BAA is signed, are HIPAA compliant: Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, ProtonMail, Tutanota, Hushmail, Sender.
Step 3: Build a plan and launch by marketing your SLP private practice
- Create a simple one pager business plan to layout your goals and objectives in creating your own private practice. Here is a detailed article on how you can create your own simple business plan for success.
- Price your services by looking at fellow practitioners in the area, years of experience and insurance reimbursement rates.
- Promote your SLP private practice with your top speech pathology marketing tips:
- Create a website
- Register for a local business profile in Google
- Create a Facebook business page
- Network with local dentists, doctors and schools that may refer you clients.
- Forget online advertisements and search-engine optimization unless you are selling digital products, it is costly and time consuming.
- Review your client’s objectives regularly and work towards their goals to ensure their success, help retain their business until objectives are met and create positive referrals.
