Provisional figures released in October by UCAS for the 2006 year intake show that 868 people enrolled in degree or degree equivalent courses in complementary medicine this year. If you add in to this figure the number of people choosing non-degree courses and entering the profession, then the number is likely to be in excess of 2,000 people this year alone. The UCAS data shows that this is up around 37% on last year and is rising at a faster rate each year.

But what does the future hold for the estimated 20,000 complementary and alternative healthcare professionals in the UK?

Well there are more and more people finding themselves disillusioned with traditional medicine or simply wanting to benefit from a more holistic approach to health. This of course is good news for practitioners looking to grow their business. But, operating a successful practice requires more than simply learning how to practise your new found skill, it means learning about how to run a business, how to sell and market yourself and how to manage and invest the money you make.

The need for these additional skills becomes even more apparent when you consider the data from the Department of Trade and Industry regarding small business survival rates. These show that of businesses starting up in the period 1994-2003 (the latest dates available) around 10% of small businesses will not survive past their first birthday, while this figure rises to around 15% whose failure will occur before they are three years old. These figures are based on VAT registered businesses.

The fact is the picture for survival rates among non-VAT registered businesses are likely to be worse. Some estimates suggest that the failure rate in smaller non-vat registered businesses is much higher, perhaps even double, meaning that the first year failure rate may be closer to 20% and the three year rate to nearer to 30%.

These figures are not necessarily a true reflection of the failure rates among complementary healthcare professionals. Anecdotally, the failure rate among this group appears even higher than the norm. Whether this is through the high percentage of practitioners only working part time, while continuing their normal full time work or whether it is because they were unable to create a viable business for themselves is still unknown. It is certainly true that the rewards are there for those who want to succeed.

One of the key differences between those that fail and those that succeed appears to be breadth of knowledge. Far too many small business owners, and this is especially noticeable in the complementary and alternative healthcare markets, fail to expand their knowledge base beyond the technical skills of their trade.

In many cases even the regulatory bodies help to drive potential failure. In a world driven by marketing and focused on results, they can put straight jackets on their members such that it can be very difficult to promote oneself. In the world we live in marketing is king and the ability to stand out from the crowd is vital and this means being promoted wherever the potential customers might be. Of course this does not mean that the material and method of promotion should be less than ethical or professional. But to hide from the commercial realities does not help their members either.

While marketing is a key skill that needs to be learnt by practitioners, there are others such as communication, business planning and objective setting that can also make all the difference between success and failure. While these additional skills are vital, it appears that they are not particularly well covered by the mainstream teaching in complementary and alternative healthcare. The needs of this group are very different from that of typical self-employed people, and few people have really taken the time to understand this and develop programs accordingly.

Of course the challenge can be cost, as with everything else it costs money to learn, develop and maintain skills in these areas, and certainly at the time of starting out it is unlikely that businesses can afford to use the services of professionals, whose cost while reasonable to them, may still be more than a circa £20,000 or less revenue business can afford.

In an attempt to try reduce the risk of failure, for complementary and alternative health practitioners; one company at least is setting out to provide some help. Practitioners Profit is aiming to provide a wide range of business services tailored specifically for the community and at a price that makes it affordable to the majority of people who would like help.

Initially they are offering a series of one day training workshops, where participants get to think about their profession as a business and to think about both their goals and their plans to achieve them. The course provides lots of practical advice and tips that attendees can take away and use immediately. Comments from recent course attendees seem to back up these claims.

Kath Henderson an Acupuncturist from Warwickshire stated “Only practitioners who have to turn patients away or have them queuing around the block can afford not to attend this seminar", while Helena Petre, an Aromatherapist from Gloucestershire added “ Straightaway I was able to increase a product sale by 50% and collect a testimonial. And this is only 2 hours later!"

According to Geoff Merrigan, joint managing director of Practitioners Profit, such comments are typical of the clients that they have worked with over the years. Merrigan said “We have strong backgrounds in marketing and business development, but more importantly we have a passion for seeing people develop for themselves, all too often in training sessions some so called expert will lecture to you, rather than work with you to help you solve your problems.” What Geoff does not mention is that in addition to their years of experience he and his colleague have also invested tens of thousands of pounds and hundreds of hours studying the latest techniques in learning and mindset, which is perhaps why in addition to being very different, their approach is very popular with attendees.

After initial trials of their low cost approach to training proved successful they are now expanding the program and have already agreed to run the course at the College of Traditional Acupuncture in Warwick and are currently in discussions with other training establishments to offer the program at their locations. In some cases such establishments are talking to them about adding the program to their core syllabus and helping to ensure that their students increase their chances of being among the survivors.