How do you start a healthcare business with no funding?
Let’s play a constrain-based game. You are a clinician and want to start a business that leverages your clinical degree/skills. It can be direct clinical care (like a practice), some sort of clinical innovation (like a device/invention) or an infrastructure play (like a software or professional services solution). Here’s the constraint: You can’t get any outside funding for this venture. No loans & no investors; you’re bootstrapping this thing. You are going to start a healthcare business with no funding.
Here’s what you want for this business:
- It can provide the same (ideally higher) income as you would earn as a staff clinician in a relatively short timeframe (you don’t want to spend 5 years in side gig mode)
- It can scale without your direct input (you eventually don’t want to be the one directly providing the service or solution)
What we cover in this Episode:
- Understanding some of the drivers that lead people to choose healthcare as a career
- Creating digital (or in-person) communities for healthcare providers
- Using content and knowledge translation to start a healthcare business that doesn’t require patient care
- How to craft a value proposition for your healthcare business
- Leveraging technology to start & scale a business that leverages your clinical skills
- Achieving Better Outcomes by taking control of your healthcare career through business ownership
We post videos of certain podcast episodes, including this episode, which can find on the YouTube Channel.
Connect with Me
- LinkedIn (Rafi Salazar)
- Hire me to Speak
- Book a Healthcare Positioning Workshop
- Learn About Working with Me
For More:
If you enjoyed this episode: Join Rafael E. Salazar II, MHS, OTR/L (Rafi), principal of Rehab U Practice Solutions and host of The Better Outcomes Show as he explores the possibilities of a new healthcare. Guests range from clinicians trying new techniques and treatments to executives and entrepreneurs exploring new service delivery methods, business models, and organizational structures. You can sign-up to receive new episodes delivered directly to your inbox by filling out the form below. Learn more about Rehab U Practice Solutions by reading The Manifesto for a New Healthcare, or listen to Episode 000. Or, grab a copy of the book: Better Outcomes: A Guide to Humanizing Healthcare.
Are You Ready to Humanize Healthcare?
If you run an innovative healthcare company and are looking to develop a strategy that leverages best practices, new technology, and marketing/messaging in a way that returns the focus of healthcare to people, please reach out. I’d love to talk with you about how Rehab U Practice Solutions can help help you craft an business development strategy that leverages positioning, market research, stakeholder alignment to drive business development strategy for specific healthcare stakeholders.
Rafael E. Salazar II, MHS, OTR/L (Rafi) is a healthcare consultant, speaker, and host of he Better Outcomes Show. He helps healthcare startups, SaaS platforms, and organizations craft clear positioning, humanize the patient experience, and go to market effectively. He’s the author of Better Outcomes: A Guide to Humanizing Healthcare and principal at Rehab U Practice Solutions. His work on Telehealth has been discussed in Forbes, and he’s advised on projects ranging from digital health product launches to multi-million-dollar healthcare transformation initiatives.
Today, Rafi helps innovative healthcare companies like technology startups, platforms, SaaS companies & innovative healthcare organizations develop effective positioning strategy and business development plans through his consulting work. He also leverages his experience as a professor and academic to speak and train on the topics around humanizing the healthcare experience & healthcare innovation. In addition, Rafi also owns and operates ProActive Rehabilitation & Wellness, a multidisciplinary outpatient clinic treating patients with musculoskeletal pain.
Sign up to get new episodes of The Better Outcomes Show delivered straight to your inbox!
Work With Me
Are you building something innovative in healthcare—like a digital health product, service, or platform that’s aiming to truly improve the patient experience?
I help healthcare startups, SaaS platforms, and forward-thinking provider organizations develop clear positioning strategies, identify high-value offers, and build go-to-market plans that actually resonate with both users and buyers.
Whether you're launching a new product, scaling an existing service, or navigating digital transformation, I bring 12+ years of experience across clinical operations, healthcare innovation, and strategic development.
How I help:
- Clarify your product/service positioning so customers “get it”
- Align your offer with real market needs
- Build a Digital Health Roadmap to scale your healthcare organization effectively
- Support business development with industry-informed strategy
I’ve consulted on projects from multi-million-dollar state initiatives to early-stage product launches. My work’s been featured in Forbes, and I also speak at healthcare events and conferences on topics like innovation, digital health, and humanizing care. I also speak and train at healthcare conferences, events, and organizations on topics related to technology-enabled care, healthcare innovation, healthcare positioning, and humanizing the healthcare experience.
Recent Comments