JCPSLP Vol 20 No 2 July 2018

Entrepreneurship in speech-language pathology

Top 10 Tools to help speech-language pathologists plan and run a private practice David Kinnane

child safety, file notes, infection control, and complaints. Efficient businesses also have templates and standard processes for repeated processes/events, like intake scripts, forms and questionnaires, management and session plans, homework summaries and late cancellations. Members of Speech Pathology Australia can access the recently revised Private Speech Pathology Practice: Policy and Procedure Manual (Speech Pathology Australia, 2017). Clinic forms and templates for private practice can be purchased from commercial publishers, including Speechies in Business. 4 Tools for business management systems For notetaking , blog writing , and archiving of internet articles , consider Pocket (https://getpocket.com/), Evernote (https://evernote.com/) and OneNote (www.onenote.com). For organising , project management , and task lists , Asana (https://asana.com/), and Trello (https://trello.com/) are both good options. The market is swamped with practice management systems , including HealthKit, Cliniko, Power Diary, COREPLUS and Timely. To find the package that works best for your practice, Train It Medical (http://trainitmedical. com.au) has produced a helpful free guide comparing product features of more than 25 systems. For accounting software , Xero (https://www.xero.com/ au/) and MYOB (https://www.myob.com/au) are market leaders. For a different take, have a look at Freshbooks (https://www.freshbooks.com/). For document storage of non-client data, go-to choices are Dropbox (https://www.dropbox.com) and Google Drive (https://www.google.com.au/drive/). For team communication , email works well in most instances. If additional features are required then Slack (https://slack.com/) provides a more collaborative approach to team communication. For sharing essential templates, training videos and other resources across your team, create a simple intranet with Google Sites (https://sites.google.com/). 5 Tools for time management To claw back time and to save energy, we’re fans of the Pomodoro Technique . This technique involves dividing any free time between sessions into 25-minute blocks of focused productivity, with short breaks between to recharge. There are several apps to help users apply the technique, such as the “Charming Forest” app via iTunes. But the only real requirement is a timer. (At www. speechiesinbusiness.com, we have published a simple free guide to using the technique.) 6 Tools for website/design For inexpensive domain names , websites and webhosting , use GoDaddy (https://au.godaddy.com/) and Wordpress

S peech pathologists in business face several challenges, including limited legal and business training, time, energy, and money. Too many feel isolated and risk burnout. It doesn’t have to be this way! Free and low-cost business tools exist to help speech pathologists with planning and managing businesses, professional development and upskilling, avoiding reinvention of tools and resources, and taking care of ourselves (and each other). The following business tools and links are organised according to business activity. 1 Tools for business planning For free information about business names and structures, business filings, and business plan guides and templates, check out www.business.gov.au Members of Speech Pathology Australia (SPA) can access its updated Guide to Setting Up A Private Practice . A free eBook for speech pathologists considering going into private practice, as well as a one-page “lean” business plan, both free, are David Kinnane is a speech pathologist, private practice owner of Banter Speech & Language, and a lawyer based in Sydney. He also runs a publishing company for speech pathologists in private practice called Speechies in Business. David speaks regularly about business, legal and compliance issues faced by speech pathologists, including on his free YouTube video series, Law for Australian Speech Pathologists: 29 Useful Things to Know . In this Top 10, David outlines free and low-cost tools to help speech pathologists plan and run their private practices, stand out from the crowd, and find work–life balance. Open Culture curates a list of 150 free business courses from leading business schools, including Stanford and Oxford University, see: http://www.openculture.com/business_ free_courses TED Talks feature free, short talks including several by leading business thinkers and authors, such as Dan Pink and Michael Porter, see: https://www.ted.com/ For inspiration while commuting or exercising, listen to podcast interviews with successful entrepreneurs. Some current picks include “How I Built This” hosted by Guy Raz of National Public Radio, “Unemployable” by Brian Clark, “Entrepreneur on Fire” by John Lee Dumas, and “The Tim Ferriss Show”. 3 Tools for clinic templates and procedure manuals The law requires speech pathologists to have policies and procedures on a host of matters like privacy, health records, published at www.speechiesinbusiness.com. 2 Tools for business education

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JCPSLP Volume 20, Number 2 2018

www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au