You are freshly graduated from chiropractic school, your diploma is framed, and your head is swimming with the things you’ve learned.

Rattle off the anatomy of the spine? You can do that in your sleep. Manipulation techniques? You’ve got them down cold. Distinguish primary pain from secondary? Easy-peasy.

With a solid clinical education under your belt, you are more than ready to open up your own practice, right? Not so fast.

Yes, you may have top-notch skills and an enviable bedside manner, but unless you employ some basic business know-how, your practice will likely fail within the first six months. That’s because building a new practice depends on skills you weren’t taught in school.

“The schools do their jobs — preparing students to be clinicians,” explains Stuart Bernsen, DC. “But it’s a big investment to open up a practice, and the majority of new practitioners don’t succeed.”

That may be a scary statistic, but take heart. Knowing this fact is the first step to overcoming huge challenges.

“When done right you can have a very successful practice,” says Pamela Johnson. “Being a chiropractor is a privilege and one of the best professions out there. The rewards are endless.”

In other words, starting a new practice is well worth the hard work. But first, it’s a good idea to have a solid understanding of business principles.

Get some business sense

“Chiropractors think they’re chiropractors,” says Daron Stegall, DC. “They’re not chiropractors; they’re small business owners.”

Understand this and you’re more than halfway there. The fact is, much of what you’ll be doing every day — especially during your first year — will have more to do with running your business than treating patients. And, unfortunately, you probably weren’t well prepared for that.

“You can be the best doctor in the world, but if you have no business sense, you won’t make it,” says Jeremy Brubaker, DC, who graduated from chiropractic school in 2004 and opened his clinic the following year.

“There was so much to do that I didn’t learn at school,” he remembers. But you don’t need an MBA to launch a successful practice. Rather, careful planning is step one.

“You really need to take an introspective look at yourself and your real desires with your real skill sets,” Stegall says. “Slow down, take a look at your long-term goals and make your first decision line up with where you want to be.”

Think about the kinds of patients you want to serve and where you want to live. Do you want a small practice, or would you like to branch out into other regions with satellite offices? What kinds of hours would you like to work?

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