I just got back from the OTs in Pelvic Health summit (which was awesome!!), and have been thinking a lot about the challenges of starting a new business. Starting a business is hard. And, I was wondering what more we can collectively be doing to support new practice owners?
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@carlin I think about this ALL THE TIME because to be a thriving profession, we need thriving private practices.
Here’s the low-hanging fruit I see:
1.) Use the OT services in your area, and give them a Google review.
This holds my feet to the fire, because I’ve been meaning for serveral years now to make a pelvic health OT appointment, and need to make it happen!
2.) If you have a website, give new practices a backlink!
Let’s be real, most people use the service they find at the top of Google. And building backlinks is key to ranking well on Google.
I’d REALLY like to see AOTA and NBCOT actually linking to OT services. I think this would make a huge impact for small practices, because a link from a high-authority site could make a huge impact on a site’s Google ranking. If anyone from AOTA is interested to learn more about what I mean by this, I would love to hop on the phone with you. (@alyson3, @arameh, @cristina4, @vikram)
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@SarahLyon - these are incredible suggestions, and you have challenged me to follow through on your #1 suggestions before the end of the week!
AOTA has started some cool ways to walk along with private practices, such as the monthly live Q&A webinar sessions with Kara Welke from Next Level OT and Doug Vestal from Freedom of Practice (and husband of the amazing Lindsey Vestal). We should see those starting back up in September/October and they will be at the specialty conferences.
I don’t think I know what backlinks are, but I would love to hear more!
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@alyson3 I can’t wait to tell you about backlinks!
I’ve been doing some testing with linking to private practices from my own site…and it seems to making a real difference in the number of clients on their caseload.
You guys are amazing, @alyson3 and @SarahLyon. Thank you for these ideas!
I participated in a couple of the AOTA webinars on entrepreneurship back in Nov/Dec, I think, and they were super valuable.
I’d love to know more specifically what kind of support you’re looking for @carlin. 
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Yayy!! Such a great conversation already! @SarahLyon I love the idea of supporting local OT practices through Google reviews! And yes, please tell us all a bit more about backlinks! @alyson3 Thank you for always being committed to taking action! I look forward to seeing what’s in store for AOTA. @sarah73 Thanks for your response! I don’t have any specific supports in mind needed for my business (although @SarahLyon has got me thinking…), but I feel like I keep encountering OT professionals who don’t jump into entrepreneurship because they feel like it will be too hard to make it work…or who have started a business but are feeling stuck somehow related to its growth. I just really want for OTs to feel empowered to explore unique business ideas because our perspective and services are so needed!
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@carlin and @alyson3, I wanted to show you a screen shot form the SEO tracker I use called Ahrefs!
You’ll see I’m using Carlin’s practice as an example! Carlin has been working to get more backlinks to her website, and she is moving up in Google searches because of it! She is now #2 when people search for pelvic floor therapy in her area.
You can see that her domain rating (which indicates the strength of her backlink profile, is tied with East Sacramento Physical Therapy.) My guess is that if she got a link to her site from a very authoritative site like the AOTA, she would move up to number one, and get more clients contacting her.)
This is the DREAM over every practice owner! Once, you rank number one, you basically can passively get clients seeking your services!
Ok one more screen shot! Here’s the website domains that currently link to @carlin at Supported Mama!
The few of the top sites that link to her are probably because of a podcast she has been on! And, you can see OT Potential links to her, but our “domain rating” is only 47.
AOTA has a super high domain rating of 80, so if they linked to her that would give her whole website a boost!
I know that this is different way of thinking about things for most OTs, but if we could collectively understand how search engines see our practices and put them in front of our clients, it would be so powerful!
Feeling fired up about this topic, and just wanted to add:
We get ahead as a profession, by lifting eachother up.
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@SarahLyon - Thank you for sharing all of that about SEO, backlinks, and domain rating. Wow. I am only juuust starting to understand all this but the screenshots and explanations help so much!
@carlin - Thanks for the feedback! I totally hear you. This is random, but in the last few years since having baby #4, I’ve taken a break from working as an OT outside the home and have done lots of supporting family, homeschooling kids, and starting to brainstorm ways to utilize my OT skills in nature-based or community settings. Along the way, I’ve gotten into growing flowers, and what a fun hobby, turned small side-business that’s become. To help me learn and grow that, I’ve read Business Boutique by Christy Wright, which is such a great primer for someone starting to conceptualize starting their own business. It’s approachable and comprehensive. I’ve also learned a ton from podcasts! In particular a couple that devote themselves to the business elements of flower growing/farming. I think there’s a great analogy here: most flower farmers are great at growing flowers and love doing that. They’re not trained in the entrepreneurial/business skills that are needed to launch and successfully run our own business. They need to learn them. Same for OTs.
We need a business/entrepreneurship podcast for occupational therapists!
Therapy in the Great Outdoors by Laura Park Figueroa, PhD, OTR/L is great, and though geared toward pediatric nature-based therapy, she definitely has some content that applies to any business owner. It’s a mix of practice and business advice though… I also found one hosted by a PT called “Physical Therapy Private Practice - Secrets of the Top 10%”. And there are a few other podcasts I found geared toward starting your own business.
Two things: 1. On the one hand, some skills are totally applicable to all new business owners, regardless of the niche/profession. 2. On the other hand, there are some really specific considerations for therapists - maybe even OTs uniquely - in entrepreneurship, and it would be amazing if we have our own podcast. (And the reason I love podcasts is because they’re free, super convenient, easy to sort by the topic you’re interested in… I could go on and on.) 
Would love to hear your thoughts!
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I literally just started dreaming of @carlin someday hosting a small business/tech podcast or OTs! @alyson3 you would be incredible at this as well!
One of my dreams for OT Potential is to have serveral podcast series where we get to deep dive in to topics like small business ownership!
Also, @sarah73, I run our community garden in town! So many OTs are gardeners!!!
This IS AMAZING! @SarahLyon - THANK YOU for being the catalyst of collaboration and dialogue! We are a better profession because of you.
This conversation is so exciting and energizing - even through the most miserable COVID I have just finally tested negative for over the past week! I have a million ideas running through my head!
@carlin thank you for your brilliance and boldness creating an incredible role model for OT entrepreneurship at it’s best! And . . . I am just going to say @SarahLyon and @carlin - I am fully in for a podcast series with the 2 of you!!
@sarah73 - thank you for all your insight and courageous sharing of your experiences! I would love to connect for a virtual coffee conversation - can you send me an email (adstover@pitt.edu) so we can connect?
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Nooo! @alyson3, I’m so sorry you had COVID. How miserable!
I also have a million ideas running through my head! Excited to connect with you soon on them!
I’m afraid sometimes we end up losing as a profession and as entrepreneurs, because we don’t even realize what game we are playing. How we present ourselves in an online world is paramount.
@SarahLyon - HOW cool that you run your town’s community garden! I totally believe it that a lot of OTs are gardeners. So many similar themes of creativity, nurturing, loving the anticipation and excitement of watching and guiding growth…
@carlin - I found one more podcast recently that might be helpful too: Mind Your OT Business by Laura Park Figueroa. There are only 75 episodes and she doesn’t host it anymore, but there are some great topics… all about running an OT business. Actually, @SarahLyon - I saw that you did an episode with her! How cool!
And lastly, @SarahLyon - I love your idea of deep dives into various topics in OT Potential. I love the variety of topics you do now. I think it’s such a great way for OTs to keep their finger on the pulse of trends in our profession or to learn more about practice areas we’re not working in. But I think your membership would also love deep dives!
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I’ve been thinking about this a lot since you mentioned it, @sarah73 Do you think people would most appreciate deep dives into clinical topics or deep dives into OT businesses?
How about a poll?
I vote for OT businesses. I’ve loved hearing how OTs have launched and grown their businesses. I’d say there’s a lot available to us in terms of continuing ed for deep dives clinically, but not OT business.
Like Carlin said, entrepreneurship seems like a topic that many OTs are interested in but don’t know how to even wrap their heads around. I learn so much from hearing stories - the nitty gritty of what they did to plan and market, the systems they use, the lessons they’ve learned…Those have been some of the most valuable resources to me - they not only inspire me, but give me the insight into how to actually DO something. 
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