When people start a business or a nurse practitioner decides to open a practice, they automatically think they need to have employees. Anything could be further from the truth, especially for a small niche side practice. People are brainwashed to believe they must have employees to create a successful business. The government wants you to have employees because you must pay employer federal income taxes on each employee you have. This is how they make most of their tax revenue. The reality though, is that you can save yourself a massive amount of money by not having employees directly.

The key point here is having a small cash only niche side business. This is a foundational principle of The Elite Nurse Practitioner Model. One of the reasons is because it allows you to have a business with no to little employees. The goal here is to maximize profits to help you build a financially free life.

If you have a small cash niche practice, you can get away with working it yourself. You do not need to have a receptionist, an LPN/MA, a medical biller, etc. You should be able to operate it by yourself or with just one employee. My Men’s Health and Testosterone Clinic has one employee. My medical cannabis clinic has no employees other than myself. My CBD store is ran by mother, so I don’t pay her directly. My new stem cell injection side project has no employees other than myself. This blog is a one man show. My property management business has no employees. Do you know what all this means?

4 things:

1. My tax obligations are much lower.
2. My profit margins are higher because I am not paying salaries and employer taxes.
3. There is less drama in my life (employees bring drama).
4. I reduce my liability by not having employees.

Tax obligations: Each employer is required to pay their share of federal taxes. I pay almost $500 a month to have my one employee at my men’s health clinic. That is a lot of money over a year. But this is reality, therefore it is something you must accept and account for. The less employees you have, the less employer federal taxes you will be paying.

Higher profit margins: Again, if you have no employees, you don’t have to pay that tax which results in more profit. Having employees is expensive. You must pay their wages, workman’s compensation insurance, state fees, and the lost productivity if they do not show up. If you do not have employees, you can skip all that nonsense and pocket the money directly.

Drama: Every single person that works in healthcare knows about drama. Is this something you want to have in your business? The less drama in your life, the happier you will be. If you do decide to hire one employee, ensure they are laid back. This is VITALLY important. I know I dodged some bullets when I was hiring my medical assistant at my men’s health clinic. Thank god I made the right decision.

Decreased liability: You are technically responsible for every action that is performed by your employee. If they make any type of mistake or are responsible for an adverse event, you are liable, not them. I like the idea of being completely in control of my business. If you decide to hire someone to help, make sure they are competent and have your best interests at heart.

These are the top 4 benefits of not having an employee. The piece of mind it brings to know that you are not responsible for someone else is priceless. When you are brainstorming side practice ideas, strive to create a practice that can be done only by you.

My medical cannabis clinic is a one man show. I answer the phones, schedule appointments, collect payments, etc. It is a cash machine. The only time I need help is one day a week when seeing patients. This can be done with family, friends or you can utilize a temp agency.

I have been toying around with stem cell injections over the past year. I have finally decided to start a small side business where I inject people either at my men’s health clinic after hours or in their homes. I do this strictly on my own, I don’t need help.

When you are brainstorming a practice idea, think about mobile, telemedicine, or small brick and mortar practices. These typically will not require employees.

Having no to little (1, maybe 2 at the most) employees will reduce the amount of stress in your business life significantly as long as you are sticking to small side businesses. That really is the key: small side businesses.

If your goal is to open a large practice or business, then you will have to use employees. In that case, try to use employment agencies or refer out to virtual assistants you can hire online through websites like upwork.com. I use virtual assistants all the time when working on projects such as website development or audio editing. I also use a cheap answering service for my telemedicine practice. These people help run my business, but are not direct employees, therefore I do not have to worry about employee/employer problems.

Try your best to avoid having employees, especially for your first business. It is not necessary if you keep things simple, small, and cheap. Get the notion of “needing” employees out of your mind because you don’t!