I’ll admit it: Sometimes running a small business is a pain in the butt!  Of course you love what you do, and you enjoy helping people. But sometimes it’s just hard!

And lonely. Yep, lonely! Sometimes it feels like you against the world.

But hey – I’ve got your back. I’m here to agree with you that sometimes business ownership is a pain, but also to encourage you to push though!

You want to help your patients achieve a healthier and fuller life, you want your own business to succeed, and you enjoy having control over your own schedule! But there are also hard things about being your own boss… downright painful things, in fact! I’ve thought up six pain points you probably have as a small business owner.
What’s a pain point, you ask?

Well, simply put, it is a negative outcome you want to avoid.

For example:

Paperwork: Not your favorite thing, right? Charting about a patient visit, keeping up on certifications and licenses, applying for construction or building permits, staying on top of correspondence, and dealing with that pile of papers on your desk or in that “to-do” folder. It takes valuable time away from your patients, causes you added stress, and seems never ending!

Patients who are just plain annoying: I hope you don’t have any of these, but they are patients that just get under your skin. They come in all the time for no reason, they pay their bills late or not at all, they want more medication all the time, or they are just plain needy. Or maybe even creepy! When they come in, you’re glad there are other people around. To deal with them with a smile on your face takes super-human effort! They’re the ones you see on the calendar and inwardly cringe.

Sickness or injury: You work with people who need help for some reason, whether it is healing from a sickness, help with aches and pains, or a pregnancy and birth. Some things, like pregnancy, are not contagious thankfully! But other sicknesses are, and I’m sure you take all the precautions you can to not catch that cold or flu that’s going around! But sometimes you still get sick. And even if you’re not dealing with a sick person, you could still risk injury by lifting something wrong, not being careful about your own body position when treating or adjusting someone, and even the stress on muscles while helping a woman deliver a baby. And in any helping profession, there is emotional stress and the risk of burnout from dealing with hurting people and difficult situations.

Advertising/marketing: Maybe you enjoy putting yourself out there, but I’m guessing most of us don’t like to talk about ourselves, or feel like we’re pressuring other people into “buying what we’re selling”. And what is the best way to advertise? Do you take out an ad in the paper? Send postcards? Do something more electronic like an e-mail list? How about running a promotion, or doing some kind of referral program? There are a lot of options out there, but how do you know what the best ones are? The ones that won’t cost too much, take too much of your valuable time, and will bring more people to you?

And now for our final pain in the butt:

Financial Stress: Very few people enjoy the day they get to send in their taxes. Even fewer have all their financial documents in perfect order, knowing exactly who they owe and who owes them. Balancing a budget is hard and confusing, and it seems like you need a degree in accounting to understand all that financial jargon! You went into business to help people, not to balance sheets of numbers all the time. But here you are, figuring out your profits, staying late to find where that extra $100 went, or wondering if you can afford to hire another staff member because your finances are all jumbled up.

Although I specialize in relieving your financial pain and stress, I also have ideas about ways to relieve the other five pain points in your business.

Every week we’ll look at the flip side to these pain points. We’ll look at the positive outcomes that can be achieved in each area, and some concrete ideas to help you gain more joy and satisfaction in your work.

Less pain, more gain!

Can you think of any other pain points specific to your business? What are some things that – if you didn’t have to do them – would free up so much more time?

Want to get a head start on getting your business finances in line? This free PDF will help!