There are 21.1 million companies in the U.S. that are fully operational despite the fact that they have no actual employees. Although it’s difficult for these kinds of one-man and one-woman firms to succeed in a competitive business world, it certainly is possible. While you might assume that having more employees increases your chances of success, that’s not actually true.
New urgent care companies, for example, have been known to fail at a rate much higher than other forms of businesses.
It’s been said that 50% of new companies fail within the very first year of business, and 95% of those companies that do make it out of the first year end up going under within five years, per the Small Business Administration.
According to Urgent Care Consultants, urgent care facilities actually fail much more often.
There are many contributing factors that result in urgent care centers failing including bad location, not spending enough money on successful marketing campaigns, not controlling or budgeting for proper staff needs, spending far too much money on less important aspects of the facility, not getting backing from strong financial backers, and opening at the wrong time. And while that might seem like an exhaustive list, those are just a handful of reasons that urgent care centers are struggling.
Of course, uncertainty in the healthcare market definitely isn’t helping.
There is a “busy season” for urgent care centers, too, and it’s usually when the organization earns most of its profits. The late summer, typically, is when the majority of urgent care center trips happen, yet far too many facilities open their doors during the First Quarter, leading to an unsuccessful opening year.
However, despite the high risks of opening this kind of business, the industry itself is still growing fast. Reuters reports that one urgent care operator — American Family Care — just signed an investment deal worth $1 billion.
“It’s private capital working with small business owners to make healthcare more accessible to local communities,” said William Koleszar, chief marketing officer at American Family Care.
This new facility will primarily be focused in areas that have a strong uptake of urgent care centers, ranging from Florida, to Illinois, to Texas.
