As a pharmacist, have you ever had a dream to own your own business but never done anything about it. If yes, let me present you some important factors to consider if you are to start a pharmacy in the future.
Basics Of Building A Pharmacy Business
1. First things first, you should know what fundamental principles of pharmacy finance are and what Gross Profit is about.
For most pharmacy businesses, a fair average for sustainable gross profit is currently about 30% – 40%. Net Profit is what is left after the cost of all overheads has been deducted, however it does not include repayment of any loans. Also theoretically, pharmacist is generally paid a salary before net profit is determined. Owners can do whatever they choose with the net profit after loan repayments have been made. This can include leaving cash in the business “for a rainy day”, investing it to develop the business or paying themselves additional income.
2. It’s a good start to give your business a name, apply for grants, permits, or even loans. In order to avoid fines/ penalties, you have to ensure that proper paperwork is complete and all requirements are submitted. For grants, you may even qualify based in the location of your business and number of population in the area.
3. You can choose to buy existing pharmacy or build a new one. Each option has advantages and challenges with you will need to out weigh. Buying existing pharmacy, you will already have established business and a consumer base but have to re-hire existing staffs which could be costly process due to high investments and your ROI may take longer.
Being able to build your own maybe cheaper as in lesser financing credit owed, but starting from scratch would also mean there would be a requirement to market your business.
4. Seek out other independent pharmacists. Take out time to have a discussion with other pharmacy businesses, this way you can gather relevant inputs regarding advice offered about starting up new business and assess how other pharmacists have over come challenges. You can obtain national pharmacy inputs from rpharms.com
5. Professional Liability insurance. To prevent any financial loss to yourself and depending on the type of insurance, you can add theft fire for your business. You can obtain advice from a good insurance agent or accountant or lawyer.
6. Find an accountant. A good accountant is pretty crucial for a start-up business success. Finances will be quite challenging so you will need experts to balance those finance books and counsel you on business decisions. This is why its important to obtain a trustworthy accountant.
7. Sometimes private investors is what makes your start. To cover operating and opening costs, you may want to find private investors who would like your business plan and agree to invest and build a good relationship with you. Make sure you are clear on the contract you sign up to and bring in that trustworthy accountant!
8. Plan your policies. It’s a idea to come up with your company policies and procedures so to establish rules of conduct within an organization, outlining responsibilities of both employees and employers. Having this ensures procedures are in place to protect rights of the workers as well as the business interests of employers.
9. Organize your products especially medicines. You may arrange them according to products or equipment’s (apparatus hired for certain period of time, this way you do not need to raise capital to purchase expensive machinery), usually pharmacies arrange drugs by make. Its good to develop a system to stock, shelve and retrieve the medicines. This will make your services faster and your products fresh!
10. Hire trained staff and make sure that you always emphasize good customer service. You will require all types of staff depending on the size of your business. Its good to assess what type of staff is required, some may need trained pharmacy technicians, hire cashiers, hire stock workers or mangers. It is advisable to use advanced software in making transactions especially in managing the finances and monitoring the growth of your business.
