Two ways to grow your NDIS business and positively impact more participants
[Image Description: A woman with her dark hair behind her ears wearing a grey, striped shirt, smiles at a man in a blue shirt who is playing a guitar in a unique way.]
The NDIS is in the early stages of massive change. What won’t change once recommendations and guidelines have been implemented is that people living with disabilities will still require support services.
Here are two ways you can approach growing your service-based business in the NDIS space.
It’s been broadly stated that the NDIS and disability services are a ‘boom’ industry, with new businesses offering NDIS participants products and services popping up all over the country. While there is immense need for these services, these sorts of market conditions can be exploited by some businesses looking to capitalise on guaranteed government funds, rather than for the support and optimal inclusion for people living with disability.
Grow your business by offering multiple services
One of the ways that new businesses, with limited on-the-ground disability services experience, are entering the market is by purchasing pre-made NDIS businesses, complete with company set up, trading name, compliance paperwork completed and multiple registration groups allocated.
While there are many troubling things about this scenario, for the purposes of this topic, we’ll briefly touch on the idea of registration under multiple (oftentimes, unnecessary) service category groups. At face value, this could seem like a great business model, as you’re set up ready to provide any service to any new participant that comes along. This may be true, but there are few key points that aren’t being addressed:
Currently, registering your NDIS business for a Class of Support means that you’re able to deliver those services to Participants who have their plan managed by the NDIA (otherwise known as Agency Managed).
Self and Plan Managed Participants may receive supports from unregistered and registered providers, alike.
Prioritising being registered for a specific class of support prior to engaging clients (without any actual experience in that area of service delivery) could be placing focus in the wrong area. The more experience you have in service provision, the better.
Having said that, you may find that to offer a seamless support service for your participant-clients that offering multiple services, for example, personal care, community participation and transport, is what’s required. If this has been your experience, rather than advertising the specific service groups you’re registered for, speak more of the benefits a participant will experience by engaging your (multiple) services, and grow your NDIS business.
Grow your business by offering niche and specialised services
If you’ve been working in the disability sector for a while, or even after you’ve brought on your first few clients, you will begin to understand what sort of work you enjoy, what you’re good at and where you see the most positive outcomes for your clients. This is the perfect opportunity to look at where you could expand your NDIS business, based on any or all of these things.
Maybe you’ve found that a number of your clients share similar functional limitations and have adapted your AT toolkit and approach to really help them overcome these. Maybe you’ve got specialist skills, such as:
you know Auslan,
you’re a great cook,
you enjoy training at the gym, or
you have lived experience with people who have a certain condition, and so on.
Each of these skills can be leveraged in a way that you’re able to provide valuable, independence-building and niche services to people who have similar situations or circumstances.
By identifying what your clients have in common and what the services are that you make the most impact with, you’re effectively able to build your business based on your and your client’s strengths. Some examples may be:
you’re a support worker who is a dog person so you really enjoy working with participants who have pets and integrating pet care (and love) into the daily activities you and your client take part in,
you’re a great home cook with a rich cultural heritage and really enjoy passing on your cooking skills to clients who’d like to improve their self-care and home making skills, or
you’re a passionate football player and coach who loves to see their clients achieve their active movement goals and see the positive improvements in their physical and mental health, however big or small their goals are.
Of course, when we work with people successfully we may want to help them out as much as possible by venturing into other areas of support. Sometimes, this may work for both of you, other times it may require some strong business boundaries on what you’re able (and willing) to provide. Being aware of what those boundaries are and stating them up front to your clients will ensure everyone is on the same page and no one is left in the lurch without support or reaching beyond their skillset.
Understand your clients to deliver the best supports for their individual goals and grow from there
At the end of the day, it’s up to you as a service provider to understand your client’s needs and regularly check in with them to make sure they are being met. Things like intake questionnaires for your clients and their friends and family, regular scheduled ‘check ins’ to make sure everything is as they want and expected as well as more formal channels for feedback and complaints for those times that they’re necessary, are all ways to make sure everyone is happy.
Once you figure out this balance and consistently have happy clients, it’s time to grow your NDIS business!
