Equipping your practice as cheaply as possible

Where are you working from?

If you are sharing a practice or hiring a time slot at an existing practice or clinic, most of the equipment you require should be available through the room hire. This will keep your initial equipment costs low as the only extras will be your phone, business stationery and general office supplies. However, if you’re working from your own home, rented rooms, or even in a mobile capacity, whilst your initial equipment set up costs will be greater with a bit of careful planning these can be kept to a minimum.

Equipment – five golden rules

Whichever way you decide to work, any equipment which you purchase should be evaluated for:

• efficiency
• ease of transportation
• multi-purpose use
• durability
• its importance to your work.

How efficiently can your equipment be used?

Even if you usually work from home, there will still be occasions when you need to work at other locations, for example, attending meetings or for training purposes. Therefore it is always a good idea to ensure that whatever equipment you buy can be used flexibly. This might mean that if you keep all your client records or training notes on computer that you invest in a laptop computer rather than a stand alone version, so that no matter where you are working you can always have your notes with you. Similarly, to keep costs down and to ensure you can work flexibly you might decide it’s more efficient to use your mobile phone as the main number for your business, or to buy a folding massage couch so that you can restore a room in your house back to its original purpose at the end of the working day.

Keep flexibility in mind if you are sharing a room with a colleague, or hiring your room out during the time you are not using it. For what suits you may not suit others. Therefore make sure that all your equipment is as adjustable as possible. This may mean that you spend more initially on some equipment such as a massage couch, in order to get one which you can adjust to different heights. However, you may be able to save on other equipment by being able to double up on the uses you can put it to, for example, using a small table which has extendable legs as a coffee table when you are working with your clients, and then extending it to become a desk for writing up notes.

Make sure your equipment is as versatile as possible both for ease of use and for quick transformations of rooms. A room divider on castors can be easily pushed against a wall to open out the room and increase the working space, folding chairs for extra visitors can be brought out when needed. This can be of particular importance if you practise more than one therapy, or share rooms, and frequently have to rearrange the room to suit your needs.

Make your equipment work for you as much as possible. If you teach yoga or relaxation you could consider buying chairs where the chair pads are in one piece and removable and therefore can become floor mats for your students to lie down on. If you are sharing your room with another therapist you will both need space to keep your documents or products safe and secure, and therefore you might choose to buy two small lockable filing cabinets which could stack one on top of the other, rather than one large one.

How flexibly can your equipment be used?

Don’t forget that if you use equipment which can fold away when not in use, you can use the walls of your room for extra storage. This can save you considerable space and could allow you to work from a smaller and possibly cheaper room. Using the walls means you could have shelves for books instead of a bookcase, a folding table instead of a desk; hooks on the wall for coats and for storing folding chairs, wall lights instead of floor standing uplighters.

You are only really limited by your imagination, so be creative and really think about how you could use every piece of your equipment in the most efficient and flexible way, and then check out the various suppliers to see what is on offer (for more details of suppliers see Chapter 12).

How easily can your equipment be transported?

Whether you are operating from your own home or offering a truly mobile service visiting clients in their own homes, there will always be times when you need to move equipment around. Therefore you need to consider how easy it is to carry any large items of equipment that you require for your business. For example, it’s no good buying a sturdy massage couch if it’s too heavy or cumbersome for you to lift in and out of your car, carry on public transport or tote up several flights of stairs. The same principles need to be applied to equipment seemingly made for people on the move. I’m sure I’m not the only person who positively wilts at the thought of having to carry my laptop plus a case load of files around with me all day. The solution to this can be to get a trolley suitcase, the sort air steward/esses take on their flights, and let the wheels take the strain instead of your back.

If you are constantly on the move you may find it worthwhile to invest in suitable adaptors so that you can use your mobile phone hands-free whilst driving. Some suppliers produce equipment specially for people working whilst on the move. Check out what accessories or equipment may be available for making working from your car more comfortable.

How easily can your equipment be stored?

Whatever you need to transport around with you, you will also need to store somewhere, whether this is at home, in your practice rooms or in the boot of your car. Where are you going to keep your equipment and does it all fit in? If you are frequently on the move with your therapy equipment make sure you have adequate space to store all the necessary items in the boot of your car. Although you can keep some of your equipment on the back seat this is not ideal. Your insurance company is unlikely to pay for equipment which was stolen from your car when it was in full public view. If storage in your own home is a problem you might want to consider storing some of your larger and more robust pieces of equipment in your garden shed, or even in your garage – but do make sure that wherever you store your equipment that the storage area is weatherproof and lockable.

Can your equipment multi-task?

As well as considering how mobile and adjustable your equipment is, also consider whether you can combine several pieces of equipment in one. Why buy three pieces of equipment if one can fulfil all three purposes? A good example of this is multi-purpose computer equipment, such as the printer/scanner/fax/copier machines currently on the market. Not only do you save on the equipment cost, but you also save on the space you require for this equipment in your work area – which is a definite bonus. Similarly, instead of buying individual items of telephone equipment, investigate the cost of getting your phone, fax and answer machine all as one package.

If you already have some items of equipment or are going to be using some of your existing household equipment, check out how this can best work for you. For example, instead of buying an answerphone you may find you can use your phone service provider’s additional services such as free answerphone services (both BT and NTL have a free answerphone service). These services can usually be enhanced for a small fee (generally about £1 a month) to include the remote retrieval of your messages when you are away from home and the upgraded service will also allow you to record your own personalised message. Some phone service providers, such as BT, allow you to have a second phone number and handset operating on the same line but which rings in a distinctive way in order to distinguish certain calls from your usual landline number. You may find this particularly helpful if you are running your practice from home, as the charge for this service is cheaper than installing and renting a second line.

If you are thinking about purchasing a fax machine but already have a computer and modem connection, check whether you can send faxes via your modem. Unless you are faxing documents which are not produced on your computer on a regular basis, you may find that the facilities on your computer are adequate for your initial needs.

How durable and safe is your equipment?

Whatever equipment you buy for your practice needs to be durable and therefore of good quality. It is a false economy to invest in cheap and possibly substandard equipment. If you are not sure of the best standards for your particular therapy, ask around amongst your colleagues and tutors. Don’t forget that your equipment does not have to be new, so do check out any secondhand suppliers as you may be able to get better equipment for a lower price if you are prepared to work with equipment which is not new.

If you are purchasing secondhand electrical equipment, such as computer equipment, check to see if any guarantees are offered – this is more likely to be the case if you are buying equipment from a secondhand dealer rather than an individual. Also, check which applications are already installed, as this could save you further expense and time – and make sure that the hard disk has been wiped of any previous information.

The internet auction site, eBay, is a good place for checking out secondhand items such as massage couches and basic office equipment. If you order anything through this site the only additional costs will be for delivery or postage and packaging – but do check these out before you buy in order to ensure that you are not paying more for delivery than you’ve paid for the item.

As all of your equipment is going to have to stand up to some heavy use. You may want to ensure that any chairs you buy have been tested for durability and also for the weights that they can support – this can be of special interest if as part of your therapy you will be working with people to help them lose weight.

Do you really need that item?

It’s worth spending some time at the outset to look long and hard at what you actually need as opposed to indulging in some business ‘retail therapy’. Carefully consider what you already have and how you could creatively use any new pieces of equipment in order that you can double up on the purposes you can put these to. If you have some items in mind which are desirable rather than essential, keep these on your business ‘wish’ list to indulge in once your business has taken off and you can afford these items.

Setting a theme

Unless you are working from rooms in an existing practice or clinic, where the colour schemes and equipment are already decided, you will have the opportunity to choose your own theme. Setting a theme in your practice can be another form of branding and a way in which your particular therapy or products are known. If you choose a co-ordinating or complementary colour scheme for your room and the equipment and furniture used in the room, you are sending out subliminal messages of comfort, uniformity and integrity, which you can use to enhance your professional image. This doesn’t mean that all your equipment needs to be brand new or bought from the same range, but it does mean that you give some careful thought to how it is presented and therefore how your clients will respond to it. You can further increase the personal ‘branding’ effect by following through on your chosen colour scheme so that it even includes the towels you use, or your mugs and pens – and if you have these latter items overprinted with your practice details, these visual cues can help to reinforce your professional status and raise your business profile. Research has shown that a business identity is important.

Business equipment and furniture suppliers

Whilst you may already have various companies in mind for supplying your furniture and equipment, you may find it useful to check out some of the business suppliers as well. You will find these listed in your local directories. Check out the different equipment and furniture catalogues they produce both for the prices and for the variety of goods they have on offer. For example, you will generally find that a business supplier will carry a larger range of telephones, fax machines or computer printers, and you may find this helpful if you are looking for flexible use at minimum cost (for further details of business equipment and furniture suppliers see Chapter 12).