Planning your own practice

Daunting is the word often used to describe the leap into independent practice ownership, but life-changing might be more precise.

Owning a practice is life-changing not only because it allows you to define the quality of care you provide your patients and be in control of your clinic’s financial success, but also because it dramatically alters your day-to-day life as a medical practitioner.

This is why, when you choose Avant Finance to secure your practice finance, the first thing your relationship director will do is listen, as the Head of Victoria and Tasmania, Dianne Stewart explains.

“Some banks are very keen to just say, ‘how much do you want?’ and then lend medical practitioners that amount. The difference at Avant is that we invest a lot of time at the start of the relationship understanding not only our clients’ needs but also their motivators for becoming practice owners so that we can evaluate with them what is reasonable, what is financially possible, and what makes the most sense for each of our client’s individual circumstances.”

Part of this relationship building exercise is uncovering any blind spots that potential practice owners might have about the financial planning process or the day-to-day demands of practice ownership.

“As a medical practitioner who owns and operates their own practice, you wear three hats. First, you are a clinician. You work in a clinical setting and see patients. Most of the clinicians who want to open their own practice say, ‘I want to run my own practice.’ That’s the second hat, a managerial one. The third hat is the most forgotten. If you own your practice, you are also a business owner which is quite different and separate from being a practice manager. We want to ensure that the doctors we work with are ready for this major transition.”

The complications of business ownership are often overlooked in the practice planning process. This is another point of difference for Avant, whose relationship directors use their experience as medical lending specialists to provide finance expertise, and in turn, arrange the most appropriate and competitive loans for your practice’s needs.

Many medical clinicians want to run their own practice because they want to perform medicine in a certain way, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The multitude of other factors to consider during the practice planning phase includes location, staffing, insurance, rent, mortgages, and a myriad of other things that take up at least half the energy you’re going to expend when you set up a practice.

“At Avant, our relationship directors aren’t there to challenge someone’s desire to become a practice owner, but we are committed to helping our clients understand the complete landscape of needs and requirements to ensure they are provided with the most appropriate financial support to be successful.”

And while this may sound like an unusual process, it is what Avant’s referring clients speak most highly of.

“Our referred clients are telling us, ‘We want you to have these honest conversations with us. Are we thinking correctly? Is this the right move for us?’ Practitioners on the cusp of this massive life change want to hear from experienced people that they are on the right track, and Avant can offer that deep expertise.”