How to Write a Business Plan For a Wellness Clinic

Wellness clinics can serve patients of all ages

Treating the whole person's health in a clinical setting can attract patients who are willing to pay for the care that will give them an enjoyable quality of life. Writing a business plan remains a necessary step to understanding why the business model will prove successful and planning to overcome challenges so the operation expands. Writing an exit plan will help either the single owner-operator or business partners avoid later disagreements and help ensure a profitable venture.

Instructions

1. 

   Wellness clinics can use best practices of eastern and western medicines

   Identify the disciplines offered in the wellness clinic; then list strategic partnerships for referring patients for medical care or treatments not covered by the wellness clinic. Write a mission statement that concisely states the wellness clinic's purpose and method of delivery, as an example, "Delivering cross-discipline treatments using the strengths of eastern and western medicine to treat the whole person in one convenient location."

2. Select the corporate entity to operate whether a single or multiple partner LLC, C Corporation, or S Corporation. Describe how the clinic will function and how the available room space will serve patients: a centrally located administrative station, assigning patients to individual rooms for chiropractic care, acupuncture, nutrition counseling, or other specified needs. State if the clinic seeks to provide innovative services, how it will strive to meet best practices for the industry, and if practitioners will be certified through associations like the National Wellness Institute which can show "a breadth of professional leadership experiences in the wellness field."

3. List the investment needed for: salaries; equipment; marketing tools, including web development and brochures; licenses; and all applicable business permits and insurance coverage. Estimate who the wellness clinic will attract as primary patients like "young, professional families with school-age children who are actively involved in sports". Describe how the clinic's marketing approach to attracting patients and the reasons why patients will choose the clinic over neighboring clinics or individual health practitioners.

4. Create a budget listing all start up expenses, project the initial revenue, and determine a break even point, then expected target year to reach profitability. Calculate the break even point using the formula by Ian Benoliel writing on Entreprenuer.com, "breakeven equals fixed costs, divided by gross margin percentage where fixed costs are fixed monthly expenses that do not vary with sales." Write in to the plan how initial administrative assistants will be screened during the interview process. Describe outside challenges from regulations or the economy that the clinic may encounter during its first two or three years of operation. Write how the clinic will meet the challenges and how the patient base will expand.

5. Consider how secondary revenue sources like the sale of products or paid seminars may be integrated in to the overall business model and how much revenue the areas will generate. Calculate the cost of marketing for products and seminars.

6. Write a thorough exit plan, as applicable, and provide contingencies if a corporation offers to buy out the clinic or if one business partner decides to make an offer and buy out the other partners. Write the Executive Summary last following the advice of the Small Business Administration to "tell your reader why you think your business idea will be successful."

References

• "National Wellness Institute: Certified Wellness Practitioner"
• "Entrepreneur.com: Money: Money Management: How to Calculate Your Break Even Point"
• "Sba.gov: Small Business Planner: Plan Your Business: Write a Business Plan"

Resources

• American Journal of Health Promotion