Expectations vs. Realities of Opening A Ketamine Infusion Clinic

Having the wrong expectations about starting a ketamine clinic can lead to discouragement. This is why it’s important to be aware of the realities.

You’re probably interested in starting your own ketamine clinic and are super excited to get started. As ketamine clinic owners, we’ve spoken and met with many physicians who want to start a ketamine clinic but have misleading expectations. These unrealistic expectations make them start on the wrong foot, discouraging them in the end. In this blog post, we talk about these expectations and what the realities are of running a ketamine clinic. 

Expectation: Operating a ketamine infusion clinic is easier or better than your current clinical job.

Reality: Having a clinic can be rewarding, but “easier” and “better” are relative terms 

Inasmuch as we say in our content that we are much happier now as ketamine clinic owners than as doctors working in a hospital, it’s not always perfect.  Our current lives are “easier” in some sense, but also “harder” in others. One thing that we love is that we get to call the shots in our business. We choose how we take care of our patients and don’t have to wait for orders from higher-ups. But the challenge of calling all the shots is that all the shots depend on you! This means that you have to work extra hard to keep your clinic running.

So if you think that you’ll be working less hours when you start your own ketamine clinic, think again. But if you crave control and aren’t a fan of being told what to do, then it’ll be absolutely worth it. With all that being said, our definition of “easier” and “better” can be different from yours. 

For more reasons as to why you SHOULD start your own ketamine clinic, head over to our blog.

Expectation: You’ll be busy from the start since we’re in the psychedelic renaissance!

Reality: Any new business takes time to get busy, even ketamine infusion clinics which are in demand!

If you have had experience working in a large hospital system, you usually don’t have to worry about how to get patients. The hospital does that for you. In fact, you may even have too many patients and are experiencing burnout from it! That could be why you want to start a ketamine clinic: to control the number of patients you see.

You may be thinking that when you start a ketamine clinic, people will immediately be lining up for your services. But unfortunately, like all new businesses, that won’t be the case. When you start, people won’t know you. This is why you’ll learn not just how to become a ketamine doctor, but a marketer as well! There is no doubt that you have to market your clinic in order to gain some traction before you start to see a demand in your services. Learning how to market as a doctor isn’t part of our usual MO, but you’ll learn so much about yourself and how to run a business when you become a full-fledged entrepreneur. 

Unfortunately, not everyone is ready to start a ketamine clinic yet. In our blog, we talk about why you SHOULDN’T start a ketamine clinic. 

Expectation: Owning a ketamine clinic is a money maker!

Reality: Yes, you can make money but you can make more in other ways.

If you’re tempted to leave your current hospital job to start a ketamine clinic because you want to earn big bucks, then we hate to rain on your parade, but you’re better off in your current job. You can actually make money faster by working more shifts or seeing more patients in your hospital job. Running a ketamine clinic is expensive. You need to pay rent, pay your staff, buy supplies, pay your taxes, etc. The reality is that you’ll need to spend money first on your clinic before you can expect to make any money from it. And it could take months, maybe even years, before you start earning an income from your clinic. If you want to make money immediately, then we suggest you try other means such as dropshipping or investing into real estate…

We’re not saying that you’ll never make money from your clinic, but it will take longer than you think, patience, and resources. And once you get past all those challenges and keep moving forward, then you will eventually be financially rewarded. But while waiting for your business to shower money on you, you need to have another reason to start a ketamine clinic other than making money. 

Trust in the Process

The bottomline of everything we just said is that starting a ketamine clinic is tough. It’s not a walk in the park. As ketamine clinic owners for over 3 years, we’re still working hard up to this very day. But we don’t mind it! Why? Because we love it. Despite working long hours, we love our business and the fact that we’re helping people. So if you have a strong “why” to start a ketamine clinic, we invite you to trust in the process. Yes, all the realities we have just mentioned may seem intimidating, but your “why” will keep you going. As ketamine clinic owners ourselves, we can say that we’ve never been happier!

If you’re ready to get started on your ketamine clinic, Join our email list and be notified about the next free webinar and open registration for Ketamine StartUp 101.

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If you have plans of starting a ketamine clinic, there are a few realities that you need to be aware of. In this blog post, we talk about the expectations versus realities of opening a ketamine clinic.