If you are studying medicine, you should know there isn’t just one path to choose from. The careers that are available for medical professionals are countless. Today in this blog, Osmosis Medical Education Fellow Aylin Canik shares her few tips for those who have an entrepreneurial spirit and are interested in entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneur. A word we hear a lot these days. Whether on your social media account under your own name or the local store, entrepreneurship is always within sight. In the following sections, we will get into detail about entrepreneurship and how to launch out into it.
Who is an entrepreneur?
So, what is entrepreneurship and who is an entrepreneur?
An entrepreneur is an individual who creates a new business, bearing most of the risks and enjoying most of the rewards. The entrepreneur is, so to say, “the business owner” who creates the value and provides employment. Bearing most of the risks means that, if the ship sinks, so does the entrepreneur. But if the business succeeds, the entrepreneur will be both spiritually and financially the most awarded person.
You might be wondering: So, who can exactly call themselves an entrepreneur? The answer is simple. Any kind of business and any kind of business owner is included. It could be the tiniest business. If you’re selling stickers via your online store, you are an entrepreneur. If you deliver lemonade to your neighborhood, you are an entrepreneur. And if you are the owner of a billion-dollar company—you guessed it right—you are an entrepreneur.
Fields to discover
If you are a medical student like me, you might be wondering what to do in the future. You could take the classic path of being a medical doctor, then onto specialty training. You could be a clinician or a researcher. But many of us forget that the options in medical school are countless. One of the paths you could choose is being an entrepreneur.
The healthcare sector is an amazing place for aspiring entrepreneurs to open up shop. Exploring healthcare business ideas is smart for lots of reasons.
And how is that? Any business idea would do. You could be an inventor and start a business for that innovation. As many of us know, medicine is a field where there can be numerous inventions. For example, Neuralink, a company founded by Elon Musk and eight neurologists, is trying to develop ultra-high bandwidth brain-machine interfaces to connect humans and computers. As crazy as that may sound, I am only giving it to you as an example. So, any innovation might be a business. If you have a brand new idea, you could try to create value with your idea. More fields and ideas are in the next sections—I recommend you to keep reading to find out!
My few tips to get you started:
I, myself, am trying to build a company from scratch—and the struggle is real. Before you start, you really should know that choosing an entrepreneurial way is not easy. There will be hardships and roadblocks, but what keeps you going will be your will to succeed. You can feel your eagerness while you progress towards your goals. The hours that you work won’t be important to you anymore because you will continue to work as hard as you can just because it gives you spiritual pleasure. So, no matter how hard it gets, you will keep going because you feel happy while doing it. Isn’t this the secret to being successful in any particular occupation? So yeah, there you have it: If you want to succeed as an entrepreneur, you should enjoy it through the ups and downs.
If you are sure that it is the right business for you, here’s a work plan to get you started:
1. Plan your business
This is the most important step. You need a business plan to lay out any objectives you have as well as how to go about achieving those objectives. You should determine the problem to which you’ve found the solution to. This is your business idea. Then, you could go on to the Financial Plan and also the timeline of your business. What are your goals and by when are you supposed to achieve them? A business plan is important for getting investors on board, as well as measuring how successful your business is.
2. Find your target group/ audience
Who do you think will be so interested in your idea that they would pay for it? This is your target group. Determine the age, gender, income, interests, and culture of your target group.
3. Network!
While networking is important in many fields, it is the MOST important thing for entrepreneurs. You could meet other people who you might hire or even meet potential investors. Leaving a good impression on them will make investment more appealing.
4. Sell your idea
Convince your audience that you are the best option possible. You know what they say: Word spreads. The more you convince people, the more it will travel as an idea between people.
5. Market
If nobody knows your business exists, nobody will visit it, naturally. So, how do you let people know? In my opinion, nowadays the best way to market your product is digital marketing. We all have phones and I’m sure you think that you’re being listened to. The advertisements which are shown on Youtube, Instagram, and other social media platforms are all relevant to your interests, right? And you may have gotten curious and clicked on it once in a while. So, the actual percentage that clicked on the ad and bought your product means how successful your ad—and therefore business— is.
6. Work hard! And love it!
You got it!
Options to choose from
So, you have an idea and you are ready to step into the business world. Great! For anyone who thinks trying out the entrepreneurial way is the way to go, here you go: some fields you might be interested in:
- Medical Education
- Invent a Medical Product
- Coordinate Health Fairs
- Medical Transcription Services
- Medical Records Management
- Publish a Medical Newsletter
- Physical/Occupational Therapy Center (Requires certification)
- Develop a Healthcare App
- Develop a Mobile App for Physicians
- Diabetic Care Center
- Home Healthcare Service
- Medical Foot Care (This is needed, especially for patients with diabetes or seniors and overweight patients who can’t reach their feet)
- Drug Treatment/Rehabilitation Center
- Childbirth Services
- Medical Billing Service
- Nutritionist/Dietitian
- Alternative Healthcare (Becoming more mainstream and popular!)
- Health Information Website, Blog, etc.
- Stylish Uniforms for Medical Professionals (This is getting popular! There are many people bored of wearing scrubs, so they’re all looking for something different. This business idea would be great for you if you’re also interested in fashion)
- Start a Medical Equipment Business
- Take a look at the Pharmaceutical Industry
There are countless fields to choose from as you can see. No matter which path you choose, I wish you luck!
About Aylin Canik
Aylin Canik is a fourth-year medical student at Istanbul University Faculty of Medicine in Turkey and an OMEF. She was born in Hannover, Germany, and is planning to make medical education better for everybody. During her free time, she enjoys drawing medical illustrations and playing the piano. She also wants to travel the world, starting with Lapland and seeing the Northern Lights!
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