Table of Contents

Introduction

Decide on your niche

Decide on your business structure

Location, Location, Location

Create an online presence

Get your legal documents and contracts

Get Invoices, business cards, brochures etc.

Get your supplies, software, computer etc.

Get Proper Insurance.

Begin recruiting.

Begin Client development

Begin placing recruits.

So What Do I Do Know Roy?

Introduction

Okay, why was this manual published?

Fair enough question, Here’s the answer.

In 1995, I. the author of this manual started a medical export company and was able to make a nice six figure income. I was able to make this income with little or no investment at all. In 1998 I saw the increase of companies offering to show people what I have been doing for free,for $5,000. I learned early in life that when something is “hot” and there is a huge crowd of hungry fish, the nets will begin to be thrown out to capture as many fish as possible.

The medical staffing industry is no different. I have begun to see an increase of companies charging individuals between $25,000 to $200,000 to start a medical staffing agency. This manual will show you how you can start your own medical staffing agency for under $2000.

The success of a medical staffing company is not dependent on a fancy corporate name with expensive software. The success of a staffing company is learning how to get contracts and secure recruits.

After working several years as a marketing director for the medical staffing industry, I decided to become a consultant for entrepreneurs like you.

I needed credibility as a consultant, I decided to start my own medical staffing agency for under $2000, secure contracts and be able to hire recruits. After doing this I figured I can then begin to show others how I did it, and I did!

Several years later and many clients later I decided to offer this free ebook to educate a larger segment of the USA as possible.

Most manuals written and sold for hundreds of dollars only offer general information and never actually tell you what to do. This FREE manual not only will tell you exactly what to do, but its absolutely FREE.

Good luck and enjoy the FREE Manual……………..

Decide on your niche

This chapter will help you decide on selecting your niche within the medical staffing industry. Learning the differentniches within medical staffing will allow you to be better informed in selecting your area to focus on initially. Many larger medical staffing agencies eventually begin to diversify entering various niches within the medical staffing industry. Diversification is beyond the scope of this manual, yet it is something that should always be in the forefront of your expansion goals for your staffing agency.

You must take into considerations several factors before deciding what niche to enter.

If you are a nurse entrepreneur, then selecting to staff nursing may be your best choice to make initially.

If you are an existing staffing agency that has been specializing in Radiology, your next choice to enter may be Respiratory.

If you are a staffing company that has been specializing in Accounting, your next step may be executive staffing within the medical staffing industry. The choice will depend on your experience and ability to gain insight and formulate a viable plan that can allow you ease of entry into a new area.

Let’s first take a look at the types of medical staffing services you can supply.

  1. Short term or long term medical temporary help
  2. Per Diem staffing
  3. Local contracts
  4. Travelers
  5. Physician staffing
  6. Direct Hire
  7. Permanent placement
  8. Executive search

The above is an example of the many types of placements you can perform once your medical staffing agency is running.

The following is a list of the many choices you can select to start your medical staffing agency.

Medical Staffing Specialties

  • Nursing
  • Dental
  • Pharmacy
  • Radiology
  • Rehabilitation
  • Medical Office
  • Lab/Biotech
  • Rehabilitation Therapy
  • Rehabilitation Therapy
  • Physical Therapist
  • Occupational Therapists
  • Speech language pathologists
  • Medical Imaging Professionals
  • Radiographers-X-ray Technicians
  • Radiation Therapists
  • Mammography Technician
  • Nuclear Medicine Technician
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging Technician-MRI Tech
  • Computed Tomography Imaging- CT/Cat Scan Imaging
  • Ultrasonographers-Abdominal Ultrasound Imaging
  • Obstetrics/Gynecology Ultrasound
  • Echocardiology Technologists
  • Vascular Technlologists
  • Perioperative Professionals
  • Surgical Technician
  • Central Sterile Supply Technician
  • Medical Coders and Billers
  • Respiratory Therapists
  • Physicians

Let’s move forward and learn about business structures and what is right for your business.

Decide on your business structure

Two things we will be dealing with in this section. First we will discuss the various legal structures you need to consider in choosing how your business will function. Second, we will provide a quick overview of the importance of a business plan and the various aspects of having a business plan for your medical staffing agency.

Choosing a business structure

There are many differences between business structures in regards to what paperwork is required and the tax implications and personal liability.

Sole Proprietorship/Partnership

This may be all you need to quickly and inexpensively start a business, but they leave you personally vulnerable.

Corporation

Could provide you will less personal risk and liability, but cost more time and money than you would be willing to invest.

Different Business Structures

  • Sole-Proprietorships
  • Partnerships
  • Limited Liability (LLC’s)
  • C-Corporation
  • S-Corporation

Make sure you get legal advice as to the best business structure for your business. Although typically medical staffing firms form corporations.

Here is a link to get your corporation online.

The importance of a business plan (4)

After earning my MBA degree I was amazed how many businesses fail because they failed to create and follow a business plan. It is estimated that more than 60% of business fail and those failures often times could have been avoided. Formulating a viable business plan for your medical staffing agency is a must have, you should not attempt to do so without a plan. This is not my legal advice, I am not an attorney nor do I pretend to be, from my experience a business plan is the blueprint to success.

What should be included in your business plan?

  • Budget
  • Business Mix
  • Company Name
  • Website name and address
  • Licenses
  • Geographic location
  • Office space
  • Software
  • Testing and Training Software
  • Internal Staff
  • Field Staffing Hiring and Orientation

Location, Location, Location

Depending at what level you are starting or expanding will determine the location of your medical staffing agency. I have three different aspects that I often recommend with my consulting services and will include them here in this manual.

Click and Click: Allows an entrepreneur to start a medical staffing agency with the lowest possible start-up costs. Today’s technology allows you to have all the basics of an office without having to pay for it. This is a great option when just starting out;it is inexpensive and allows for a corporate perception.

Click and Brick (Basic) Provides all the benefits of a Click and Click with the added bonus of having access to certain key elements of an office environment, yet without the cost.

Click and Brick (Premium): Provides the same benefits of the above two, yet at this point you do have an office and you are not paying huge overhead fees. You have the option of using a virtual secretary. The cost of hiring a full time secretary/scheduler may not be justified until you begin making money.

Click and Click (Estimated Fixed Monthly Cost: $150)

  • You have a cell phone
  • You have a website
  • You have a digital toll free number
  • You have a digital fax number
  • You have a P.O. Box Number

Click and Brick (Basic) (Estimated Fixed Monthly Cost-$400)

  • You have a cell phone
  • You have a Virtual office
  • You have a virtual secretary
  • You have a website
  • You have a digital toll free number
  • You have a digital fax number
  • You have an actual mailing address
  • Access to meeting rooms for interviews

Click and Brick (Premium) (Estimated Fixed Monthly Costs-$1,200)

  • You have a cell phone
  • You have an actual office
  • You have a virtual secretary
  • You have a website
  • You have a digital toll free number
  • You have an actual fax line
  • You have an actual mailing address
  • Access to meeting rooms for interviews
  • You have an actual site people can visit

Create an online presence

You will need to get a domain name, website and an online marketing plan. You have two choices in creating an online presence. Choice One: Pay someone to do the website for you. Choice Two: Create the website yourself.

Choice One: (Pay someone to do the website for you)

  • This choice will cost you between $700 to $1500
  • It will save you time
  • Learning curve is low
  • You can spend more time preparing your business/marketing.

Choice Two: (Create the website yourself)

  • The cost is between $20 to $30 a month
  • It will take a few days to create
  • You don’t have to learn html because cut and paste software exists
  • More control of changes you need to make

Each of the above choices will depend on two factors. How much are you willing to spend and how much time do you have.

Here is a book I recommend to be useful in building your website and marketing it.

Links to books and website info

You can look at my website I created this website myself for less than the price of hosting my website: ($12 a month). I used Yahoo to create my website. Yahoo allows you to create your website or pay someone to do create it for you.

Part of creating your website means spending time marketing your website. Depending on your time and money situation will determine if you need to pay for this service or do it yourself.

Get your legal documents and contracts

Most states only require in-home skilled nursing services to apply for a professional license through the State Dept. of Health. What this means to you is if you are starting a staffing agency for respiratory therapist you do not need a professional license to start. We will discuss in the following manual what is needed and how to get what you need.

Some of the document you will need.

  • Employment contracts (depending on your niche)
  • Mandated Topics: (These Are Documents All Your Employees Will Need To Sign and Acknowledge Receipt)
  • HIPPA Regulations
  • Fire Safety
  • Hepatitis C Form
  • Sexual Harassment
  • Age Specific Care
  • Pain Management
  • Patient Abuse
  • Patient Rights
  • Advance Directives
  • Drug Abuse Policies
  • Etc,Etc,Etc
  • Contracts for facilities
  • Background investigation forms and access to website to perform the background checks
  • Different forms to include
  • W-4
  • W-9
  • I-9
  • Create your employee manual to include
  • Drug testing policy
  • Reference request forms
  • Emergency contact information
  • No Show-No Call Policy
  • Mission, Vision, Goals
  • Etc, Etc,Etc
  • Make sure you have accurate pay rates
  • Proper Testing Forms For Employees
  • Website access to verifying licensing.

Get Invoices, business cards, brochures etc.

After you get your business license/corporation, your cell phone, virtual office, mailing address, toll free number and fax number you then are ready to get your business cards and invoices. You may decide to wait on brochures and more expensive marketing pr material until income begins rolling in.

You will need to make sure the following is covered.

  • The invoices are in tripliquet form
  • The invoices must includethe following.
  • Your Company Name and address
  • Place for employee name and date
  • Place to write in facilities name and location
  • Invoice numbering system
  • Explanation who get what invoice at bottom
  • Different aspect of shifts covered.
  • Hours worked
  • Overtime section
  • Place for supervisor to sign and confirm (Very important because some facilities will refuse to pay on invoices without a signature of facility supervisor)
  • Etc, Etc, Etc
  • Make two types of business cards
  • One with your name and title
  • One with no name. (Very important to have in this industry)

Get your supplies, software, computer etc.

Managing staff and facilities can be daunting when your medical staffing firm begins to grow. It is very likely that you can start covering one facility and quickly evolve to twenty. When this happens you will need medical software.

It is also very likely that you can start with one employee and quickly amass an employee list of thirty.

Software spending can get out of control, especially when it comes to online web-tracking software. Unless you are planning to begin hiring recruiters, manage internal staff, create satellite offices or hire an HR person etc, you may be able to initially get buy using a simple excel program. It will not be difficult initially to track your activities if you are the marketer, recruiter and interviewer.

Some basic supplies you will need to have:

  • Letterheads for mailing/faxing
  • Mailing envelopes
  • Pens
  • Database system (you can use the database inherit in your computer)
  • Simple marketing tracking system (you can create this yourself:excell)

Unless you are planning to open an actual office initially, you can get buy using your home PC. If you do need to purchase a computer, I recommend purchasing a lap top allowing you to carry the office with you. Once the money begins to roll in you can spend more on capital equipment.

Get Proper Insurance.

The medical staffing industry requires you to have the proper insurance in order to be able to provide staffing. You will need to carry insurance that includes (but not limited to):

  • General Liability
  • Workers Compensation
  • Professional Liability
  • Malpractice Insurance (for nurses and physicians)

Keep in mind that the insurance industry charges medical staffing firms based on how many employees you hire. Make sure to use an insurance company that will charge your staffing company based on growth and not segmented growth.

Insurance can become expensive especially dealing with workers compensation. Some medical staffing firms decide to hire only independent contractors to limit their insurance cost. But, this does not prevent your independent contractors to provide there own insurance.

The above example can help eliminate much of the cost associated and liability with hiring employees initially.

One of my clients found himself overwhelmed with the costing associated with insurance. He did not anticipate the cost after marketing/advertising intensely that his company offers full benefits and insurance.

Typical General Insurance Liability has a bond attached to it for 1 Million dollars; the cost will vary form insurance company. This is something you will need to provide to hospitals.

It is possible to have your independent contractors (not employee) to pay for their own workers compensation. Since I am not an attorney I cannot provide you legal advice as to how you need to proceed. For legal advice you need to consult an attorney. (This is my legal disclaimer).

Begin recruiting.

As with any staffing company, one of the key staff components involvesrecruiting. Your entire existence running a medical staffing firm is grounded on recruiting. Recruiting is your lifeblood.

Does it matter if you have no medical recruiting experience? No, I have found that most medical professionals are aware of what a medical staffing company can provide. Medical staffing companies are often referred to (Working for a registry). What I always tell my clients is: “Find the Clients and the Candidates will come”

Don’t spend too much money on offline/online advertising. Many of the recruits you will find will come through Word Of Mouth (WOM): I talk a lot about this in my book Recruiting Dynamics. The medical industry is built on an invisible network: the network communicates and passes on vital information to each other. This is the area that you will need to tap into in order to create a branding effect.

Advertising online/offline has its merits and should be used when your financial situation increases. The need to cast a larger net may require you to advertise, but if you are a small start-up, working the region you are in via WOMadvertising may be all you need.

Here is a list of some of the recruiting marketing vehicles you can use.

  • Create a unique recruiting proposition
  • Internet recruiting
  • Online classifieds
  • Direct emails
  • Set up a newsletter
  • Online job sites
  • Ezine Advertising
  • Direct mailers
  • Telephone Recruiting
  • Job fairs
  • Word Of Mouth Recruiting (WOM)
  • Magazines
  • Newspapers
  • Industry Specific Journals

Recruiting Retention Techniques

  • Offer referral bonuses
  • Offer sign on bonuses
  • Offer flexible schedules
  • Premium pay rates
  • Guarantee pay
  • Travel opportunities
  • Vacation/Holiday Pay
  • Insurance benefits
  • 401K
  • Offer to pay for day care
  • Etc, Etc, Etc.

Once you decide to begin recruiting, you must be prepared to offer what your competition is not in order to attract the staffing force. Make sure what you offer is contingent on them working. The cost associated with your incentives can easily be taken from the invoices you receive after you get paid for work performed by your employees. This eliminates the need for upfront costing and allows you to leverage your money.