What Alternative Healthcare Careers built a successful online business that is profitable in just one year

Learn how the co-founders of Alternative Healthcare Careers built a company that is six figures, empowering professionals in healthcare to create their own paths to careers.

One of the most rewarding benefits is the opportunity to change the lives of people. When you start a business with a purpose it is possible to leverage your experience and passion to make a real difference to the lives of others.

It's precisely what physical therapy therapists do. Emma Shapiro and Dr. Mike Chua accomplish via their venture, Alternative Healthcare Careers .

By facilitating Alternative Healthcare Careers, Emma and Mike assist their fellow healthcare professionals to start alternative jobs, side hustles, or companies.

They also offer online training and mentoring for occupational speech therapists, therapists of the arts, as well as assistants seeking a new path.

All while working full-time as physical therapy.

We spoke recently with Emma regarding Alternative Healthcare Careers' incredible debut year. Emma shared the following:

Her and Mike's unique entrepreneurial journeys

How Alternative Healthcare Careers helps healthcare professionals explore new opportunities for careers

What methods she and Mike used to share their knowledge with other people?

However, firstly, how did Alternative Healthcare Careers get started?

How Emma and Mike became healthcare entrepreneurs

"Alternative Healthcare Careers" was developed from the desire to provide career and economic changes for physical therapists speech therapists, occupational therapy specialists, as well as other healthcare experts," Emma explains. "But this idea didn't necessarily have a place."

Mike is the creator DrMikeChua.com. Mike is the creator of DrMikeChua.com , where he assists patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease and other memory impairments to achieve. He has created a variety of books  as well as has given national talks on dementia care techniques, and teaches the continuing education class.

Mike also runs his own home health agency and is still working as a physical therapy.

At the beginning of her career in physical therapy, Emma found herself overwhelmed with student loan debt.

Then she realized that jobs such as contracts and travel therapy could help her manage stress and paid off loans. This inspired her to start debt-free Personal Training.

Emma started Debt Free PT with the purpose to "help health professionals recognize their worth and identify more lucrative positions that will assist in the reduction of student loans".

She's written articles on the field of travel health, designed classes for free on traveling therapy and the repayment of student loans and performs free mentorship for students and professionals. Emma works as physical therapist.

Both Emma as well as Mike have helped therapists and assistants to realize their full potential as well as their value. "It seemed natural in a shift towards a more emphasis on different career paths," Emma says. The shift in focus was an appropriate one.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Emma and Mike saw the other healthcare professionals suffering from burnout, job loss, and safety concerns.

They founded Alternative Healthcare Careers in May 2020 to help their peers explore alternative career paths and create businesses on their own.

"Together with our diverse skills can help us build a culture of empowerment around careers, salary negotiation, and the idea of entrepreneurship. Healthcare professionals are able to use a variety of skills. We hope that by showing the possibilities that therapists and other healthcare workers have, it can give them hope for better health and a more enjoyable existence."

What can they do to empower their audience? Through mentoring, digital downloads as well as a vast catalog of online courses.

In helping healthcare professionals flourish through online training courses

Alternative Healthcare Careers offers courses that cover everything starting from beginning a virtual wellness practice to running a side hustle .

For healthcare professionals looking for an opportunity to change careers The Utilization Reviewer Course is one of the most well-known.

"We provide a resume review, sample resumes and CVs, and interview questions. The program guides applicants step-by-step through the entire process of applying for employment," Emma describes. Participants also have access to a Facebook group that is private for a chance to network with more than thirty thousand people within their fields.

"Having something for free is a great way to help to gather emails, and also create sales through email," Emma explains.

"Honestly it was true that our company did not make a dime before I created an email autoresponder and started marketing our programs. A free business class and remote career resource been most impactful for helping people to send out emails."

"A vast majority of our leads came directly from our Facebook group. You have to be collecting their email addresses. It's priority number one," Emma says.

"But individuals won't simply offer their email addresses Therefore, you need to play around with an appealing freebie. After that, we post it in our Facebook group and we've seen at least 50% of sales come through this workflow."

Alternative Healthcare Careers hosts those enticing freebies -- and all of their online courses -- on their site. We'll look at the ways that they use technology to help to reach as many professionals in healthcare as feasible.

How empowers Emma as well as Mike to grow their business

Thus, when she and Mike began Alternative Healthcare Careers, Emma had a clear idea of what she didn'twant.

"I did not want the integrations of tools to affect my business a second time I knew that using a program that had everything I needed would aid me in avoiding that technology trap."

An extensive search for a single platform led Emma along with Mike to . "The the fact that it had all of the software we needed all in one was a factor in my decision-making," Emma recalls.

"When our first venture was began, I was not sure if I had belief that our venture would work. I was scared to spend any money. It took some of the fear away as it was just $39 per month to begin. It was a reasonable price that helped us take this leap."

"We make use of the email system to notify people about announcements, webinars and other occasions, as well as to advertise other courses," Emma details.

"We are extremely pleased with our performance because we ensure that we update our emails all about important announcements. This helps when we use our email system to communicate new courses and special discounts to students who are currently enrolled."

Live chat lets the team communicate with any person who visits their website. Emma and Mike have the ability to chat with logged-in customers and anonymous visitors alike. They're able to capture inquiries, feedback and needs even when they're not from chat.

Furthermore the plugin, unlike any third-party plug-in retains all Alternative Healthcare Careers' conversations and sales data together to avoid Emma's "tech trap" anxiety.

Most importantly, perhaps the fact that an all-in-one solution that allows Emma and Mike expand their company without having to sacrifice their jobs.

"I am pleased to share that while continuing to serve my patients as a physical therapy and therapist, I also served my fellow clinicians. I found them work and career opportunities," Emma shares.

The site gives Emma as well as Mike the tools they need to run a successful business while continuing to serve patients in physical therapy. They no longer need to spend hours coordinating multiple tools or fixing damaged WordPress sites.

Instead, they should focus on growing their business.

"I believe it is a complete business set up and growth instrument. For anyone who is an instructor, this is the only program you'll need to launch, run and develop your business."

Emma's suggestions for other entrepreneurs

The last year and a half has been an incredibly turbulent moment, specifically for professionals in the field of healthcare. Emma and Mike know firsthand that both managing healthcare facilities and a business can often be challenging.

They know just how rewarding these challenges are, and constantly assist others to discover their importance and worth.

For her fellow entrepreneurs and creators, Emma emphasizes the importance of accepting those challenges as opportunities.

"There are times when nobody will sign up for your service, however, instead of giving up, try working harder. Make a better webpage and redesign your offering, improve your sales pitch," she encourages.

"With the live-streamed ergonomics course, the first class I was unable to get only a couple of sign-ups which meant I had to cancel the course. But I took several weeks to come back harder, and it's now an extremely popular program that has received rave reviews."

"I consider the top tip is to accept being when you fail and make mistakes however, don't let it stop you or cause the you to abandon your goal. Don't be afraid of picking the right niche, designing the perfect website, creating an email that is perfect. Do it all and keep learning how to be stronger and more effective."

We're here for creators along that journey. Register for a free account to start selling digital products and building an online business today .