Podiatry Hive Member Profile – Pete Williams

pete-williams

  • Member Profile

    Name: Pete Williams

    Name of Clinic: Eclipse Foot Clinic Ltd

    Where do you operate: I have 4 principle clinics, primarily in private hospitals located in Southampton, Winchester and Basingstoke (x2), Hampshire, UK.

  • How long have you been in business?

    I left my NHS post in September 2011 and took a double footed plunge into full time private practice!! So almost 5 years.

  • What attracted you to Podiatry?

    Podiatry was my second degree, having studied Pharmacology previously. Possibly not the best reasons initially, I was totally determined to stay a student as long as possible (cheap beer, good sports teams etc.), so I found the cheapest option I could – Podiatry! It had some sports stuff too, and that sounded great so I signed up! It was also a little more interactive than working in a Lab all day – germs don’t talk back and you get funny looks if you’re talking to plate of agar. Suffice to say I’m genuinely pleased I made the decision to switch careers.

  • What are the 3 crucial elements to your success?

    1. I love what I do. So I put my time, effort and money into making sure I do the best I can for my patients and team members – training, equipment and systems (the latter is still a work in progress)
    2. Total commitment to my vision of semi-retirement by the age of 45 (I just turned 34 now!!)
    3. Organisation – Planning was a total non-starter before meeting the Podiatry Hive – now it’s just a part of life and has totally transformed my way of sorting out family, business and me time!

  • What‘s your philosophy on WHY you’re in business?

    Soooooo many reasons.

    For me, it’s mainly getting a total kick out of solving someones injury. You know; the one they originally took to the Chiropractor, the GP, the Physio, the Orthopaedic Consultant etc. etc. and eventually ended up at my door. I love solving problems, so when the patients walk out happy after a successful treatment it’s a good day.

  • What has been your biggest OOPS! moment?

    I totally LOVE digital media and marketing!!

    So I spent an obscene amount of money (for me) on buying Infusionsoft for email marketing to all my clients Ummmmmm bad move!! Didn’t have the time, money or systems in place to make use of it in the way I could have done!! Still reckon in a couple of years I’ll go back to it, but for now, Mail Chimp is perfectly suitable, costs a fraction of the price and integrates for free with Cliniko!

  • What has been your biggest A-HA! moment?

    So, being a single practitioner, running my own diary, seeing all my patients etc., I was trying to do all the admin as well as the clinical stuff. With no business development work at all!

    Since joining the Podiatry Hive, I have employed a Practice Manager, have all my calls handled externally and this has massively improved the professionalism of the business and freed me up to work 2 whole days per week on the business. Not sure how I was coping before!

  • Can you you share one or two marketing elements or methods you’ve used in your practice, that have been successful, and have provided growth?

    We had a completely re-designed website in April 2015. While it still needs a lot of work, we now get over 45% of our new patients via the website month on month.

    The number of new patients from this route is also increasing at a rate of approximately 15% month on month. This is mainly from organic searches in Google and Bing, plus we have a couple of 100 pay per click, keyword specific ads running for some specialist treatments. Currently, the website gets approximately 2000 hits per month.

    I have a database of approximately 200 GPs, Physios, Consultants etc. that have referred patients to me in the last 5 years.

    As well as writing to the GP of every new patient we see, I’ll also send out a 6 month letter to everyone on that list with new developments, technology and services that we are offering (this could be more frequent for those professionals that you see regularly). We get an upsurge in referrals every time we send these out.

  • If you had your time over again, what would you do differently?

    I’d start with one location and develop that before moving to others. The way my business is set up currently means it’s difficult to market truly effectively and having to move back towards that single clinic set-up is proving harder than I’d anticipated.

  • Other than being a fabulous Podiatrist, what do you do outside of Podiatry?

    I am a single parent, so love taking the boys out and exploring! We go hiking and biking every weekend – just about anywhere that looks interesting (and reduces their energy levels just a little!) I’m a super keen kayaker and when life allows, coach paddle sports and lead trips as a 4* Sea Kayak Leader. If you haven’t already, doing endos in the surf in an 18ft sea kayak has got to be one of the things to put on your bucket list!

  • You are a Podiatry Hive BlackBelt Mastermind Member, can you explain what you have learned from BlackBelt and your 3 biggest achievements / wins since joining BlackBelt:

    1. Number 1 without question has to be that I now have more time for my family. Raising children by yourself means that you really need to spend time with them and BBM has given that back to me. I only work in clinic 2.5 days a week so am home for half the week now. I have no more late pick-ups from the childminder, rushed dinners and then off to bed! That is absolutely priceless!
    1. Since joining BBM, I have more than doubled my monthly revenue and continue to have record weeks/months that 12 months ago I wouldn’t have thought possible! Pricing is all in the mind – if you think you are worth it, you’ll charge the right amount for it! Doesn’t matter where you work, just because others are charging less doesn’t mean you should. Stand out from the crowd and provide a better service and charge appropriately for it.
    1. I took on my first employee 9 months ago, which has certainly been a steep learning curve and brought both highs and lows. It also meant I’ve developed more skills in leadership, team management and engagement and while this is an area I still need to develop, I am really hopeful we can develop a culture that sticks to the underlying values of why we’re in business.