Business ideas in the field of medicine. Business Ideas for Doctors and Nurses Business Ideas with a Medical Degree

How to start your own medical business? Even 10-20 years ago, people were distrustful of private property. Today, having weighed the pros and cons, patients are increasingly turning to the services of "private traders". And since there is a "demand", then why not make a "supply". Let's take a step-by-step look at the entire process of opening a private practice from the birth of an idea to the admission of patients.

First step: Choice of direction of work

Choose in which area of ​​medicine you can work, taking into account your specialized education. Also calculate how much financial costs will require the opening of your office.

Second step: Registration of a doctor as an individual entrepreneur or creation of a legal entity

First you need to decide in which your business will exist. When registering an FLP, a doctor has the right to hire other doctors only if he has the highest qualification category and only in his specialty. To register a FLP, the registrar at the place of residence must submit:

• a completed registration card for the state registration of FLP;
• a copy of the identification code;

If all the documents are filled out correctly, within 2 days you will be registered as an individual entrepreneur, you will be issued an Extract from the Unified State Register.

To register a legal entity, you must submit:

• a completed registration card for state registration of a legal entity;
• a sample decision of the founders on the creation of a legal entity;
• two samples of the constituent document of a legal entity;
• a copy of the receipt of payment of the registration fee.

Registration of a legal entity takes 3 working days from the date of submission of documents.

Step three: Finding the right room

The requirements for the premises are determined by the State Building Regulations. When looking for a space, there are many factors to consider. In particular, hospitals, ambulance substations, bacteriological laboratories and pharmacy warehouses cannot be placed in residential and public buildings. However, it is allowed to place antenatal clinics, dental clinics, offices of general practitioners in residential and public buildings.

Step four: Recruitment

It is equally important to find qualified specialists. Persons who have a medical education and meet qualification requirements can engage in medical activities.

Step five: Purchase of equipment, medicines

It is impossible to carry out the practice of treatment without the material and technical base. The office, center or hospital must be equipped with medical devices according to the equipment tables.

Step six: Obtaining the conclusion of the sanitary and epidemiological service

The conclusion that the premises meet the sanitary standards for the implementation of medical practice is issued at the place of provision of services.

Step seven: Obtaining a license to practice medicine

The most troublesome stage, but the most important. You can only practice medicine if you have a license. To obtain a license to the Ministry of Health, the applicant must submit:

• an application for a license;
• a description of the documents that are attached to the application;
• information about the material and technical base of the business entity.
• information on the availability of regulatory legal acts, including on standardization issues
• personnel information;

Are you a professional nurse, a professional doctor or a medical practitioner? Have you ever looked at a job different from bedside work? In other words, have you ever thought about starting a side business that can supplement your income? If yes, then below are ten small business ideas for nurses, doctors, and healthcare professionals.
Combining your professional experience, your personality and motivation may be all you need to start your own healthcare business. There are endless opportunities you can join and the nice aspect of this is that it won't get in the way of your medical career. So without wasting any time, below are ten creative business ideas for nurses and doctors from which you will make a lot of profit:

Top 10 small business ideas for doctors and nurses.

1. Private nursing service.
You can set up your own private care center where you will take care of patients who are being treated for diseases and injuries. Instead of visiting the hospital too often, patients would rather pay you to study their recovery, treat their wounds, and so on.
One mistake you should avoid in this business is taking on the duties of a doctor, especially if you are a nurse or lack experience in the matter. You will maintain your integrity by sending patients to qualified physicians whenever the need arises.

2. Home nursing care.
This is very similar to the option above, but the difference is that you are caring for patients in their own homes rather than in a private facility. Most patients, although not in doctor's appointments, are not strong enough to leave their homes while recovering from illness or injury.
Such patients would prefer to pay their own expenses in order to receive their treatment at home. Because this business requires you to visit patients in their homes, you can charge patients much higher; for this and other reasons.

3. Blogging.
Blogging is big business these days. You, too, can create a blog that discusses certain health-related topics or other topics such as your hobbies or experience as a medical practitioner. While it takes a lot of time, effort, and sometimes money to build a profitable blog, the profits will keep coming in once you're able to build a large audience and embrace smart monetization options. If you are very good at writing, blogging is perfect for you.

4. Write and sell books or e-books.
While there are medical textbooks and other resources that explain various disorders and diseases, the information they contain is far more complex than the average person can comprehend.
As a nurse, physician, or medical practitioner, you can bridge the gap between medical texts and the populace by explaining medical terms such as diseases and disorders in simple, everyday language that everyone can understand.
People are becoming more health conscious and need books and other resources that are provided in plain language. So you can make a fortune by creating books or e-books that explain specific medical conditions in simple terms.

5. Sale of medical supplies.
As a medical practitioner who knows how to handle most hospital equipment and instruments, you can start selling these medical supplies. You can target hospitals by selling patient care items such as adult diapers, disinfectants, etc.
You can also target doctors and your fellow nurses by selling the tools they use such as stethoscopes, blood pressure monitors, etc. You will have the largest service market by selling medical instruments that can be used at home, such as digital blood pressure monitors, glucose meters, scales, etc.

6. Freelance writing.
Are you a very good writer? Then you can turn your skills into cash by managing health and medical writing projects for individuals and healthcare companies. You can also write blog posts for health and medical blogs. Another very profitable option is to write for newspapers, magazines and health publications. Some publications cost $1,000 per article.

7. Private consultations for patients.
If you have worked as a nurse/physician for many years, chances are that you have the experience needed to offer counseling services to patients with minimal health problems that are relevant to your specialty. Again, you have to be careful if you choose this idea. Don't overstep your boundaries by playing the part of a doctor unless you are a real doctor.

8. Career Advisor.
Another good business idea is to give career advice to nurses and other healthcare professionals who are just starting their careers. Share with them what you have learned over the years. Teach them what you wanted to learn yourself when you first started. They would be happy to pay you for these vital pieces of information.

9. Tutoring.
As a nurse or doctor, you can make more money by educating female students at any nursing school or certification program around you. Start by searching the web for nursing/physician training programs and apply for a mentor position. While this business option will not make you rich, it will provide you with enough money to pay some bills.

10. OTC drugs.
If the laws in your country do not condemn it, you can make extra income by running a shop/pharmacy patent and selling over-the-counter drugs.

Serious hotels, educational institutions, large office centers, high-risk gaming areas prefer (and most often are required by law) to have more or less “packed” medical rooms with a doctor who can provide first aid in its broadest sense. In places where such institutions are concentrated, it is quite rational for both these organizations and medical entrepreneurs to outsource a service that works for several closely located institutions at once.

In this case, it is possible to save both on medical personnel and on medicines and devices of medical rooms. So, each package of drugs can be split between several medical rooms. And devices of a non-urgent (not urgent) type can be in one copy in one of the rooms - and delivered, if necessary, to another room by a hotel or office courier, or even by the doctor himself.

In addition, with the cramped office capacity of the building, an outsourcing medical service without a medical room is possible - one is located, say, in one office building or university, and the doctor from it also serves the neighboring hotel.

Such a scheme is beneficial for institutions both by reducing direct costs for personnel and, most importantly, for medicines and equipment (this is exactly the kind of marketing that should be used by entrepreneurs of this type) - and the absence of these employees in the state and items on the balance sheet, despite the fact that the letter of the law regarding the availability of constant medical control in the institution is fully observed.

Ultrasound, sampling and home visits

The idea is by no means new, but so far it has been developed only in large private clinics focused on the premium segment of adults and children, and even then only in megacities (the average price in Kiev for an ultrasound at home is 600 hryvnias).

Private entrepreneurs with a medical license, who will offer prices 1.5-2 or 3 times less, and also use the simplest direct marketing - delivering advertisements to mailboxes of at least the nearest sleeping area, as well as posting ads - without profit, I think, they will never will remain.

In addition to these types of home studies, paid home massages for postpartum lactostasis can be in special demand, in which it is extremely inconvenient for a nursing mother to leave the house. Other simple postnatal care at home for women and newborns will also be in demand.

It should also be taken into account that the smaller the city, the less likely it is (even if we are talking about the regional center) to have numerous large expensive clinics with such services. Middle-class citizens, however, are there. This means that a startup from a small business can stake out a profitable business niche for itself for a long time - which over time can grow into a diversified uncompetitive medical enterprise.

It should be noted that the domestic small business in medicine noticeably neglects advertising and marketing research "in the field" (except, perhaps, non-traditional types of treatment and pharmaceutical trade). They usually act according to the method: "whoever wants to, he will find us." In fact, say, thousands of pregnant women would rather pay small three-figure sums for an ultrasound and clinical blood tests at home instead of visiting a clinic - however, no information about this possibility, even about expensive clinics, can be obtained anywhere (unless you specifically google this question) ). No one asks anyone about the possible demand and payment possibilities for such a service - and this is a clear business miscalculation of medical businessmen.

The simplest advertising in the case of the service of inexpensive private doctors at home should be no less active than that of the manufacturers-installers of metal-plastic windows and taxi services - at least for the psychological promotion of the service. Ordinary consumers must first acquire the following approach: paid home medical services are a common household medium-priced phenomenon, and not lordly habits.

Launch of innovative production

Medicine belongs to one of the most innovative branches of activity. Many doctors, and even medical students, have thousands of ideas for the simplest improvement in their practice. Some of them are quite affordable for opening mass production within a small business.

Offhand, here are five industrial and intellectual ideas for equipment and medical accessories that could be adequately and massively launched by entrepreneurial doctors with a minimum start-up capital.

• A terminal (a simple low-power computer in an iron box) with a program that prompts the patient to choose from a large list of symptoms - his own symptoms - and compile a report from them in the form of a printout. Of course, the choice is grouped according to the systems and topographic zones of the body. You can sell such hard-n-software to sanatoriums, paid, and even state clinics - so that patients sitting in line, without wasting time, print out reports and go to the doctor with them. Yes, and without a queue, it would be more pleasant for many to provide a ready-made text in the doctor's office. After installation, the company may open business opportunities for paid repair of terminals and updating their programs.
• Smart packaging for pills containing a microchip with the ability to set an alarm clock-reminder. Also, the microchip can be configured as a beeper, to which a keychain emitter is attached, attached to the keys or to a permanent visible place - if such a package is lost inside the apartment or bag, the keychain can “force” the microchip to give a sound and / or light signal, which will help to find the medicine . It seems that such packaging would be in great demand even at a price of about 100 hryvnias.
• Ear cleaner with mini camera - a tight wire that has a mini camera (like a webcam) on one end and a hole for attaching a removable cotton swab, and the other end can have a USB port (cheap option) or a whole mini-camera screen (much more expensive). Using the device, cleaning your own ears in front of a computer screen (in a cheap version) will allow you to clearly see the content you want to delete. Actually, such home video probes can also be used for careful self-examination of other open body cavities.
• Multi-colored and decorated bandages, gauze bandages, plasters (including with fashionable images, in different styles). The innovative ideal here is dressings made of transparent non-synthetic fibers. By the way, although patches with pictures for babies have been sold in our pharmacies for a long time, the offer is very small and very expensive, and the demand for them can be huge if they become cheaper;
• An ultrasonic mini-disinfector, the size of a mobile phone (there are already analogues in the West; ultrasonic emitters themselves belong to the simplest production objects).

Exhibitions-fairs of medical equipment

Perhaps the most profitable type of organization of exhibitions and sales are fairs related to medicine. It is still promising to hold them for inexpensive equipment, outside megacities (where they are rare or absent) and small mini-fairs, for example, in residential areas.

It is especially necessary to invest here not only in the rental of premises, but also in very active, simple direct advertising both in specialized institutions and for individuals, at least in the nearest areas to the venue.

Vending of pharmaceuticals, dietary supplements, medical equipment

The use on the streets and in the premises - especially in specialized institutions - for the resale of the specified type of product (not prohibited for sales outside pharmacies by the state) can become a fashion trend and bring serious profits. Of course, the price of the simplest drug in the machine will be at least twice the selling price of its pack.

In addition, it is possible to combine commodity vending with "water" - for example, a terminal for bottling water, into which the machine lowers a soluble "effervescent" medicine; machine for pouring medicinal teas, syrups into mini-vessels. Actually, even a simple "tablet" machine for complete customer focus should contain a small bottle of water in the assortment, along with a plastic glass or without it (tablets require drinking).

Pharmacy with a full range of showcases

A business idea that is impossible in any other business, except for the pharmaceutical trade, moreover, domestic (which is distinguished by over-the-counter dispensing of almost everything). The fact is that in all modern pharmacies, only the most expensive drugs are on display - and their cheaper counterparts with the same active ingredient and simply cheap drugs are hidden somewhere in storage containers and premises. Reasons for this:

• an attempt to sell, first of all, the most expensive (which, in fact, is a big marketing stupidity);
• the expectation that buyers do not understand the concept of "active substance" and would prefer to buy the advertised and not very expensive panadol and nurofen, rather than Ukrainian or Russian very penny versions of the same paracetamol and ibuprofen. In fact, all smart young people know exactly what the INN of a drug is and what the INN of prescribed drugs are, many have read Dr. in the cheapest way ambroxol, loratadine, amoxacillin";
• the notion that hiding some of the drugs would prevent “curiosity addiction” (which in the age of the Internet is socio-psychological stupidity);
• extreme, excessive frugality of pharmacy chains in acquiring premises and primitiveness in window display placement - which, on the one hand, is a consequence of the first three factors in which pharmacies consider themselves not to need to place all goods on display windows - and on the other hand, becoming the fourth marketing stupidity: display space in most pharmacies, even theoretically, it is not enough to accommodate the entire range. And if there is still enough space, they are filled with dietary supplements, cosmetics, optics, mineral water - any “left” product, or even they leave gaping halls of 10 meters of empty width between the walls. But no one fills the visible sales space with the cheapest kind of ibuprofen at 2 hryvnia (25 cents) per blister and novocaine at 4 hryvnias (50 cents) for a large can.

So, a smart client-oriented pharmacist-startuper will earn millions if he opens a pharmacy store (self-service or showcase counter) in which the cheapest types of each INN are on the shelves (showcases, counters) - and in general there are all the goods you have on sale .

Next to the cheapest originals, of course, there may be more expensive generics of the same INN. For the most important active substances, you can select a couple of dozen racks, each of which will display all the numerous commercial versions of the preparations of a particular substance that you have purchased. And specifically to educate customers at the counter, you will indicate in large terms the active substance of all these versions (and this will be a signal to visitors: here, unlike some pharmacies and doctors, they are not trying to cheat the buyer a little and sell the version of this substance that is more expensive).

And then the basis of the foundations of your profitability will be hypermass sales of the cheapest versions of drugs.

A huge number of people cannot resist buying a lot of medicinal substances and medical items for 1-10 hryvnias “just in case”, “until the price goes up”, “otherwise I won’t find such low prices next time” - in general, 50 hryvnias 100 at once - which no one will do with the current pharmacy display cases with a minimum price tag of 20 hryvnias and cheap drugs hidden in the depths of the pharmacy.

And soon the same pensioners will be drawn to your pharmacy from all over the city - because you will be known as a discounter, an unusually cheap, “anti-crisis” pharmacy, although you will only “light up” the goods available in the bins and each of your competitors.

Pharmacy with packaging according to daily norms

Most often, patients have to take several drugs daily for several days - and in half the cases, all or almost all of these substances are not liquid and soft, but solid, countable or crushable (tablets, capsules, dragees).

In this case, it is appropriate for an additional 8 hryvnia (dollar) or a little cheaper to offer the buyer to pack the daily norms of all medicines in separate mini-boxes or mini-bags, on which you beautifully put the dates indicated by the client in any way.

Boxes should be cheerful, attractive, "non-medical", of several types: strictly elite, feminine-glamorous, advanced youth, fabulously cartoonish - which is also important for secular people who are sick, sometimes not having the opportunity to leave this or that event for timely medication, and for children.

Inside the boxes / bags, quite already miniature (that way, a centimeter by a centimeter or a little more) sachets with a daily dose of certain tablets (share of tablets) in each are put. On these bags, of course, the name of the drug is written.

Naturally, this service is most convenient for implementation in an online pharmacy or in a regular pharmacy when pre-ordering by phone. But the most ordinary buyers should not be discounted either - many will agree to go to the pharmacy in ten minutes to pick up a medicinal product already packaged “by the day” in such nice packages.

Glamor inhaler

Another side idea for the event regulars, this time a production one. We create an elite, perfume-like opaque small body (empty) and on it - a beautiful, no less cosmetic spray nozzle. The latter should allow you to connect to it inside any inhalation drug - so that the pharmaceutical appearance of the latter is hidden inside a spectacular case.

Pharmacy or medical room - salt room

Halotherapy - a therapeutic stay in salt caves or artificial speleological chambers - belongs to very fashionable trends. You will significantly increase the attendance of your pharmaceutical establishments or your medical offices (for example, a dental one) and loyalty to your brand if you decorate the walls in the form of an imitation of a salt cave. Ideally - with more or less approximate maintenance of the appropriate microclimate - but you can limit yourself to purely external effects.

In the case of a pharmacy, it is appropriate to open a mini-cafe next to the salt trading floor, designed in a similar way. After all, it is obvious to any visitor that in order to achieve a positive effect, you need to breathe salt for a longer time, and advertising in your pharmacy of your neighboring salt cafe will tell you exactly how it is most convenient to sit longer in a salt environment. In turn, those who go directly to the cafe will be subtly and skillfully directed to the “related” pharmacy.

Laboratory on wheels with a stop in sleeping areas

the site has already offered many options for a business that is set up in a mini-van, stopping by for a week or two in the courtyards of sleeping areas or in villages and inviting - with advertising through loudspeakers and locally distributed printing - to urgently visit your mobile van establishment, “before you leave for another end of the city.

One of the options for such a car business is a laboratory for paid medical diagnostics, analyzes and / or an office for medical “analysis of analyzes” and general examinations. Paid laboratories and medical rooms on wheels can be not only general therapeutic (with the inevitable main bias in the KLA), but also narrow-profile: starting with the same dental and gynecological-prenatal ("women's consultation") auto-mini-clinics - and continuing with more rare in the domestic medical business with offices: otolaryngology, cardiology, endocrinology, and so on ad infinitum.

It seems that further clarifications and descriptions are unnecessary for real businessmen.

Pill dispenser toy

The business idea belongs to 18-year-old American student Amy Lowey - to use a transparent toy with a labyrinth inside, in which a ball usually flies, to give pills (capsules, granules) to children. Often children do not feel like eating scary, tasteless drugs - but with such entertainment, everything can change for the better for parents.

In fact, we are talking about selecting the most suitable product already on the market, changing its simple game “name” to “near-medical” - and selling it in pharmacies and supermarkets, as well as advertising it under this sauce.

Cast and bandage remover

If the previous invention was made by an 18-year-old girl, then the next one was made by an American girl half her age. Third-grader Alanna Meyers from Florida, having experimented with the substances available in her own bathroom, created a solvent liquid that quickly soaks bandages, bandages, plasters and allows them to be removed without causing pain.

Moreover, Alanna has already opened her own production laboratory and successfully promotes the Pain Free Bandage Remover brand (painless bandage remover). In the photo - a young inventor-manufacturer against the background of the presentation of her product.

It seems that any domestic entrepreneur can invent and work out the formula of such a solvent in one hour. And it will be relatively easy to promote the distribution of your useful “liquid” in pharmacies and hospitals.

By the way, the site once offered to produce brightly colored gauze bandages. So, they can be so funny colorful bandages covering the cast. Another young American woman, Jessica Smith from Colorado, came up with the idea of ​​releasing them.

Palm-mounted electronic thermometer

A child's temperature can be approximately estimated by touching the palm of his hand to his forehead - this is cute, and children get used to it. But many children do not want to keep the device under their arm or endure pressing something incomprehensible to their forehead.

From this came the Chinese inventor Dak Yang Kon - his thermometer has the shape of a horseshoe, clamped between the fingers of the palm. The far part of the shoe contains sensors and touches the baby's forehead together with the parent's palm. And the front part has a digital display.

In the next photo, the temperature is in Fahrenheit; don't be scared (98.5°F corresponds to 36.9°C).

Syringe with anesthetic

The development of the inventive guru Oliver Blackwell from Wales (UK) is a syringe with two reservoirs. In the first, a small 2-milliliter, located closer to the needle, a strong local anesthetic (pain reliever) is poured. The second tank is like all syringes. There are also two needles - one is microscopic, the thinnest, a little thicker than a hair, the second is ordinary. First, with a special pressure, a microscopic needle, which is practically not felt by the patient, delivers an anesthetic into the skin. After five to ten seconds, an ordinary needle with the active substance comes into action - and this injection is also almost imperceptible.

You can make money here both on a syringe - it is clear that it will be sold much more expensive than the price of its materials - and on an anesthetic that is exactly suitable for it.

Dental control button

An idea for three cents (production cost) - but it will be sold for three dollars like hot cakes. Button, batteries, loud bell - and that's it. The button is mounted on the dental chair at the patient’s arm (you can provide for a clothespin, clip, or even ribbons) - and if the person in the chair is especially hurt or bad, and it’s impossible to say anything with the instrument in his mouth, he calls to stop work .

Dentists throughout the country - and there are many thousands of them - and the offices of some other profiles, as well as many bedridden patients, will undoubtedly buy this “rescue button” from you.

Medabonment

Seattle, Washington-based startup Qliance made millions by offering a flat subscription fee to all of its customers instead of partnering with health insurance companies to pay outpatients.

More specifically, a subscription costs between $44 and $84 per month, depending on age. And for each client, he provides for any options available in the clinic - including the most rare and non-urgent ones, such as vaccinations, and the most repeated ones, such as the treatment of non-threatening chronic diseases and the management of uncomplicated pregnancies.

In general, for his 1000 dollars a year (which corresponds to 84 dollars a month), a person has the right to be in the clinic at least daily and treat organ after organ - if he sees the point in this and has such a need.

It should be noted that in addition to thousands of individuals, many dozens (it seems, already hundreds) of corporations that previously paid for voluntary policies became clients of the first subscription clinic - but having suffered with insurance companies, they preferred to allocate a thousand dollars per person per year by subscription, being already confident that this money, without any new fuss, will definitely work for the benefit of the employee.

It seems that in Ukraine and other countries of Eastern Europe this idea is even more relevant than in the United States.

It has been one of the hottest niches since the invention of e-commerce… since the beginning of historical records: health and medicine. People, regardless of their background, culture or economic status, want to be happy and healthy. And they are willing to buy products or treatments that will help them get there.

It is one of the most successful markets for doing business online. By the way, health and medicine is a $3.7 trillion global industry!

This means that different variations of doing business are possible here. And you, too, can find a profitable place for yourself.

Self-employed entrepreneurs like you can thrive working from home or anywhere you find yourself with a laptop. You need very little or nothing to start up capital to start, and maintaining such a business model is very cheap ... if you do everything right.

Everything around you is evidence that this is real. What is the most popular store in your mall? The one they sell vitamins and supplements to, right? Commercials introduce us to pills for all possible diseases 24/7. Health improvement books are being swept off bookstore shelves.

There are so many different markets…so many different sub-niches in the healthcare industry. People get older and start wanting treatment for arthritis. People with chronic diseases like diabetes want to feel better and get rid of these problems. Overweight people, faced with many health problems, want to lose those extra pounds.

Those who suffer from back pain want to be able to live a normal life. Not to mention that people want to prolong their lives by taking supplements, vitamins and other preparations containing anti-aging ingredients.

Particularly popular is alternative medicine, which rejects much of the prescription drugs and invasive treatments of mainstream medicinal medicine.

You may be puzzled. I am not an expert in medicine... how can I run a business related to it?

Define a promising niche - explore the market

When it comes to your business niche, it needs to target a profitable market and you need to know exactly what you will be selling. Ideally, you will be able to find a niche that interests you. Perhaps something you are suffering from. Or a problem someone in your family is having. Then you will be an expert in this field!

But remember that the most important thing for you is the demand in the market. So study the trends in the industry, look at the rankings of the best-selling products on sites like Amazon, and pay attention to what is sold late at night in late-night TV stores and drugstore shelves. What do they show and talk about on daytime talk shows? What are people saying on Facebook? This should help you come up with a long list of trending products that you can organize your business around right now.

Let me sketch out a few examples. These are the most promising niches in the medical industry today:

• Gastrointestinal Health / Digestion
• Weight loss
• Fight against aging
• Diabetes
• Arthritis
• Back and neck pain
• hair loss
• Skin care
• Heartburn
• Fatigue
• Reproductive health

How to search for products to sell

The best part about running your online healthcare business, or any type of e-commerce in general, is that you don't have to manufacture your own products.

In fact, you don't want to, especially as a newcomer to the industry and because of the time, money, expense, and risk involved. Instead, you are going to use the work and experience of others. And don't worry, it's normal.

You have several options:

Dropshipping/Dropshipping

With the dropshipping business model, you can promote products through your website and marketing tools. You take orders from customers. You then contact your dropshipping partner or supplier, usually a manufacturer, wholesaler or retailers, and request a product at a lower price. They ship the product to the customer for a fee you set. And you can keep the difference.

The big advantage here is that you don't have to deal with storing a lot of inventory or customer shipping orders. Your partners are responsible for this.

affiliate marketing

As with dropshipping, the model allows you to outsource all the “hard” work to others. But there are some significant differences. In this business model, you advertise and promote products through your website, blog, Facebook pages, email newsletter, or any other online resource you have. But when it comes to selling... it has nothing to do with you.

Each click on the "Buy" link takes the customer to your partner's page to complete the purchase. Each link is unique and created just for you. This way, your affiliate can pay you a commission (usually 5-25 percent) for every completed sale. The member of the affiliate program takes care of the processing of the request, delivery and customer service. Perfect.

Another attractive side of affiliate marketing is the possibility of advertising. digital products which in turn implies a higher commission.

"White" label

I recommend the White Label model only if you have experience in your business. In this model, you work with manufacturers who already have their own product line (sometimes you can work with them to create a new collaborative product) and put your own label on it.

Scientific studies have already been carried out to make sure that this model is effective. You can study the results. And if nothing bothers you, you label the product with your company name and sell it as your own.

Promote your online medical business

Now is the time to tell everyone about your new online business. There are several options available to you. And most of them are inexpensive or even free ways to increase traffic to your website.

Content Marketing

Getting a high ranking in Google search results is now the key to online business success. Until a few years ago, you could completely “fill” your site with relevant keywords and get this “natural” traffic.

But now Google wants to see really useful content that contains meaningful information. This means that for effective content marketing, you need to post useful tips, notes, and additional information about your business niche on a website or blog on a regular basis.

The content should be closely related to your case and should be written by a human. However, video is also ranked very highly by Google. It doesn't matter how you present it, what matters is the content - you could offer health tips, supplement reviews, suggest medicines under certain conditions... there really are no limits on what you can post.

Facebook promotion

Social media is now widespread. Your customers are on Facebook and other social networks, so you should be there too. You should definitely have a Facebook page for your business. Communicate regularly about your products, post links to related news, links to your website (when publishing a new blog post, for example), videos, comments on trends, and even personal stories. Let people get to know you and your company better. This will help them get to know your company better, follow you, and build trust.

Make sure you respond to customer questions in a timely manner in the comments. And commenting on the pages of other companies and organizations should also be part of your promotion. Start a conversation!

PPC for promotion

If you want to increase traffic to a website that is related to healthcare and you have some money, you can try a paid advertising campaign. But I suggest doing this only if you're already solidly in your niche and running smoothly, so you can convert the majority of your traffic into real sales.

With the use of "pay per click" or PPC, yours will be visible through the search engine; Google gives the largest access to advertising materials. You prepare very short text ads that appear on the search results page, as well as on the websites of people who have signed an agreement with Google AdSense. The idea is that your advertisements appear in the right context based on the keywords. That is, when people search for health information related to your specific niche, your advertisements are displayed on such sites. You pay every time someone clicks on an ad.

When a user clicks on an ad, they are taken to a website, homepage, to get their email address or something similar. And keep a close eye on where each click is coming from, so you know which channel you're getting the best return on investment from.

Launching Your Online Medical Business – Next Steps

If you are passionate about health and medicine, this niche could be perfect for your business. You know the subject, you know the products as a consumer... and now you can use that experience to build a new fast-paced business.

Even if you do not have a personal interest in this area, this should not be a barrier. You can become familiar enough with everything to make the business prosper... and there is indeed a lot of money to fight for.

The medical business is one of the most responsible and complex types of business. We must always remember that health is the most valuable thing a person has! If you still decide to move in this business, do it very carefully, with deep knowledge of the matter and a margin of safety. Lenar Salakhutdinov told the BIBOSS portal how to open a medical clinic.

Where to start?

The hero of our article, who has 17 years of entrepreneurial experience, of which more than 10 years in the multidisciplinary clinic "MEDEL", founded in 2005, is sure that in any field, including medicine, successful entrepreneurs are united by one feature - "disease your business." You need to become a "fanatic" of your idea, and then you will be able to overcome the initial period of business development much easier, in which many give up. This "burning" with your idea will allow you, despite the psychological and physical difficulties, to create a sustainable business and attract high-level specialists. You need to be confident in the successful development, and then you can lead a high-level staff and build a system of quality service.

Many entrepreneurs, when thinking about how to start a business, often try to copy someone else's successful business model, but often copying leads to failure. Experts consider it ineffective to take someone else's business as a model, it is more efficient to create your own standards and bring them to a new level, without limitation.

Lenar Salakhutdinov

director of the multidisciplinary clinic "MEDEL"

Starting a medical business, it is more efficient to choose the main goal not to maximize profits, but to help the patient recover in the shortest possible time, with minimal time and money. The idea of ​​earning, which many entrepreneurs keep in mind, is short-sighted, patients quickly realize that they want to make money on them, and do not return. High ideas about serving people, proven in practice, give the business "immortality". I am convinced that any business in modern society should be built on the idea of ​​goodness and service to people.

An entrepreneur who decides to go into the medical business does not need to have a specialized education. Our hero knows many entrepreneurs who do not have a specialized education, but have a great interest in their activities and entrepreneurial acumen, which also leads to success.

Lenar Salakhutdinov

director of the multidisciplinary clinic "MEDEL"

I personally have been very interested in this area since childhood. All my family members were doctors. And although I myself have an economic education, a deep interest in medicine led me and my relatives to decide to organize a medical clinic.

How to find your niche?

You can study the statistics: what diseases most often affect residents of the city, region; Which doctors' services are in high demand? The medical services market is such that uniqueness is not the most important thing here. You can take the standard clinic model and try to improve it with better service, etc. Today the market is saturated, especially in large cities, the competition is much higher than even 10 years ago. Every year the market develops and is saturated with services of a higher level of technology and service.

You can move in the same direction of business with competitors, but provide services at a higher level.

In medicine, it is important to consider the psychology of the patient. As a rule, the patient comes to the doctor with great hope, he expects empathy and deep attention from the doctor. He hopes to find in the face of a doctor a person who will understand his problem and confidently offer a solution to it.

Who is the main target audience of the clinic?

This can be analyzed using elementary marketing. It is necessary to decide on the profile of the clinic - it can be a diagnostic clinic or a clinic for outpatient or inpatient admission. A diagnostic clinic implies the installation of “heavy equipment” (MRI, CT, X-ray) or / and the creation of a laboratory with a wide range of studies. The clinic allows you to consult a doctor and pass many tests. Inpatient clinics use treatments, including surgery, that require a 24-hour or day hospital stay.

It is necessary to proceed not only from the demand for services in the market, but also from whether the entrepreneur will be able to organize activities in this direction.

Because for any service, except for financial investments, highly professional doctors are needed. You need to be especially strict about the selection of doctors when it comes to surgical interventions, since in this case your responsibility increases to the maximum. For example, it is necessary to have an anesthesiologist-resuscitator on duty who will support the person’s condition at the right time. In Russia today, there are quite a few private round-the-clock hospitals, and, including due to the reduction in the number of beds in budgetary medical institutions, there is an increase in demand in this direction.

Of course, at the initial stage, entrepreneurs take those areas where there are fewer risks and responsibilities. The hero of our article first opened a consulting and diagnostic clinic, and over time, an operating room with a day hospital appeared in the clinic.

Investment size

There is a universal rule here - the larger the amount of investment, the more competitive the business can be. But it also increases the risk of returning capital. Therefore, the more funds you invest, the more accurate the calculation (business plan) should be. But it is not always possible to calculate everything mathematically, you need to have practice and deeply understand the market.

Lenar Salakhutdinov

director of the multidisciplinary clinic "MEDEL"

Of course, if an entrepreneur is a beginner, he has more risks, in this case it is more reasonable to start with minimal investments, but you need to understand that with minimal investments, competitiveness can be much lower. Every year it becomes more difficult to move around the market, the target audience becomes more capricious, spoiled by more favorable conditions. If we compare the exactingness of patients today and when we opened (in 2005), we will see a noticeable difference. The development of any market gives the consumer greater freedom of choice, but at the same time leads to greater complexity of doing business. Everything becomes important: how the administrator looked at you, what he said, how he accompanied you, what level the doctor and equipment were, how quickly he got the result after treatment, how much time and money was spent, etc.

Where will the investments go?

The first is rent or purchase of space. The second is the salary of medical specialists, middle and junior medical staff, and administrators. Third - equipment, tools, raw materials, inventory. Based on this, you will need from 5 million rubles in the most economical scenario. Every year, in conditions of tougher competition, when it becomes more and more difficult to surprise a patient, more and more investments are required.

Renting, of course, will require less costs than buying a room, but there are risks that the conditions may change and become uninteresting, unprofitable, and you don’t want to lose a warm place.

One of the most basic devices - ultrasound - costs from 1.5 million rubles, and an expert-level ultrasound device will cost 5-7 million rubles. It should also be taken into account that doctors of high-level ultrasound diagnostics are quite demanding on equipment, they want to work on a device of a higher level. For the purchase of equipment, you can use leasing and various credit programs.

The list of necessary basic equipment and inventory for obtaining a medical license is specified in the regulatory documents.

Lenar Salakhutdinov

director of the multidisciplinary clinic "MEDEL"

Where to look for funds? It is necessary to monitor the market for credit products of various banks and state support. For example, for several years, medicine was included in the list of support for the Tatarstan Leasing Grant program, but in 2016, the direction of medicine was excluded from all lists of business support in the Republic of Tatarstan. In a crisis, only manufacturing enterprises are supported, and medical institutions, even with high-tech services, do not find support from the state.

Step-by-step instruction

In your activities, you will need to conclude contracts with suppliers of medical raw materials and instruments. The more raw materials you purchase, the lower the cost you can expect. When a clinic develops trusting relationships with suppliers, they can provide raw materials without prepayment. At the first stage, 100% prepayment is required. Russian raw materials may be cheaper, but they are not always of the proper quality. Imported raw materials are of higher quality, but also more expensive. It all depends on what level of paying capacity of patients we focus on.

You will also have to deal with specialists and companies that carry out maintenance of equipment, certification of workplaces. It is also necessary to take care of the disposal of medical waste, as required by SanPiN. Sanitization of ventilation systems in the clinic is regularly required, etc.

How to recruit staff for the clinic? Ten years ago it was possible to start with two different specialists, now the spectrum should be wider.

Lenar Salakhutdinov

director of the multidisciplinary clinic "MEDEL"

There are many applicants. But there are few good specialists who will not be ashamed of in front of the patient. We are looking for doctors based on recommendations, based on the current image in the medical field, you can’t just take them “off the street”. The clinic "MEDEL" has developed a standard, certain requirements for applicants. So, in addition to professional skills, they must have such qualities as kindness, patience with people and ease of character. According to such criteria, the whole team is formed. Also important is the desire to learn and learn new things. When inviting mature luminaries with well-formed admission tactics, you may encounter difficulties - they have less flexibility and can dictate their conditions, although there are some advantages in working with such doctors, we give preference to talented young and middle-aged specialists.

How do we attract employees?Starting with working conditions and ending with social guarantees, the possibility of career growth, additional training.

If you are just opening a polyclinic facility focused on daily routine admission of patients, then it should be easily accessible. If your clinic is aimed at solving serious problems, performing operations, then the patient is ready to overcome any distance for this, even to come from another city.

The requirements for the premises of medical institutions are prescribed in SanPiN, which indicates what minimum areas should have offices for the provision of a particular service and what they should be equipped with. You will not be able to obtain a license without meeting these requirements, without having all the necessary inventory and equipment that is required for this line of business. For example, in medical institutions, it is necessary to ensure the availability of hot water, sinks in offices, sewerage, supply and exhaust ventilation, etc.

In the clinic, according to the requirements of SanPiN, special repairs are required. Walls, floors and ceilings should be easy to clean and disinfect. Therefore, the range of finishing materials is narrowing - it is impossible to paste over the walls with paper wallpaper. In some offices, the walls and floors must have ceramic tiles.

You also need to meet strict fire safety requirements. A medical institution is a place of congestion of people, it is necessary to comply with all necessary fire regulations with the presence of a fire alarm, an evacuation scheme, evacuation exits and fire extinguishing equipment.

Documentation

All medical services, with the exception of a number of near-medical services, are licensed. There is a list of services that are subject to mandatory licensing, which can be found in the regulatory documentation. Previously, a license to conduct medical activities was issued for five years, now it is issued indefinitely. But this still implies systematic checks by the bodies of Rospotrebnadzor, Roszdravnadzor, the Ministry of Health, which are obliged to control the level of medical services provided in accordance with the existing license.

A package of documents for obtaining a license must be submitted to the Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare. It will take about two months to obtain a license, but the process can take up to a year, and during this time even a ready-made clinic will not be able to work. This must be taken into account in business planning. To obtain a license, the clinic must have the appropriate premises, the necessary medical equipment and specialists with valid certificates. Moreover, a license must be obtained for each type of medical services. And if the clinic plans to issue sick leave, you need to obtain the appropriate license allowing this activity, and have a specialist with the appropriate certificate on staff.

Lenar Salakhutdinov

director of the multidisciplinary clinic "MEDEL"

It is better to open an LLC - patients have more confidence in legal entities and organizations. An individual entrepreneur is also licensed, but the question of personnel policy arises - an individual entrepreneur has more restrictions on the number of personnel and accounting. As a rule, most private medical institutions exist as LLCs and operate under a simplified taxation system. It is also important that for each location address, a medical institution must obtain a separate license and register as a separate legal entity.

Opening checklist

Lenar Salakhutdinov

director of the multidisciplinary clinic "MEDEL"

It so happened that the clinics "MEDEL" did not open by holding holidays. All attention and funds were directed to quality. There are pluses in the grand opening of the institution, but a real holiday should be with a lottery, memorable gifts, games, valuable information for guests. It is better to hold such events when you have already been working for some time. I have noticed that often start-up entrepreneurs have a pompous holiday, and then everything is curtailed or the work is carried out very modestly.