For many independent pharmacists, ownership is the ultimate goal.
When you open a pharmacy, you can branch out on your own, expand your reach and responsibilities, and decide how you want to serve your patients.
But for all the opportunities it affords, ownership has its fair share of challenges: securing your finances, building your team, or knowing what steps to take and in what order.
Pharmacy ownership isn’t for everyone — but it may be for you.
If you’re interested in ownership, you should keep some important considerations in mind.
Ask yourself these 7 questions to decide if you should open a pharmacy, then find out how to take the next steps:
1. Do you have the experience to open a pharmacy?
Most pharmacy owners have years — even decades — of experience in the industry.
This allows them to get familiar with pharmacy work, implement clinical programs, serve a wide variety of patients, and start daydreaming about how they might run their own pharmacy.
By the time they make it to ownership, they’re usually well-established. Before starting your own journey, then, you should first learn the ins and outs of pharmacy.
Usually, this means working under someone else who can teach you the tricks and trade of the business.
When you have the necessary experience, you can make a more informed decision about owning and opening your own pharmacy.
If you’re already experienced in the industry and feel that you have a strong understanding of how a pharmacy functions, ownership may be an option for you.
If you feel that you have gaps in knowledge or that you need more time to hone your craft, however, consider getting more experience and then coming back to the question of ownership later.
2. Do you have the finances to open a pharmacy?
On average, starting a pharmacy costs anywhere between $300,000 - 600,000.
This includes financing your physical space, meeting licensing requirements, purchasing tools and equipment, stocking up on inventory, paying initial staff salaries, and funding other fees that come up along the way.
If you’re considering opening your own pharmacy, know that ownership requires a large sum of money and that your starting investment may not pay off for several months or even years.
You have several options for financing your pharmacy — including self-funding, venture capital investments, and small business loans; but the process of getting these funds can be both confusing and time-consuming.
In this case, financial advisors can be an asset to you. Even still, you’ll need to study up on financing a pharmacy and manage the learning curve that comes with it.
Ask yourself if you’re willing to put in the work — and proceed accordingly.
3. Do you have the resources to open a pharmacy?
Aside from finances, you need other resources to get a pharmacy running. The most important resources, though, are time and connections.
As far as time goes, opening a pharmacy takes an average of 1-2 years.
In this time, owners actively work to complete registration and requirements, set up their store and stock necessary supplies, and build and train their team.
If you find that your schedule is too full to make such a large time commitment, pharmacy ownership may not be right for you.
However, if you’re willing to set aside the necessary time, ownership may be a viable option.
In addition to time, connections are key to ownership.
When starting a business of your own, surround yourself with other professionals who can offer you counsel — whether with legal, operational, or business matters.
People in your network can offer you advice, answer your questions, and suggest ways for you to improve your practice, which are especially important when you are first getting started.
4. Can you handle the business side of pharmacy?
While your priority should always be to care for patients, your pharmacy is a business. Without proper business management, it can’t succeed.
If you’re passionate about patients but uninterested in the business side of the profession (including financing, marketing, reporting, and back-end business administration), it may be smarter to stick to practicing pharmacy rather than owning a pharmacy.
However, if you want to serve patients and create a successful business from the ground up, ownership can give you that opportunity.
It can expand your skills, deepen your experience, and give you more control over how you care for patients.
As you transition from your role as a pharmacist to a pharmacy owner, call on your team of legal, financial, and business advisors to help you make the best decisions for running your business.
You don’t have to be a pro at business to be an owner of a business, but you do have to be committed to putting in the work to make it succeed.
5. Can you lead a pharmacy team?
When you take the title of pharmacy owner, you also take on the role of team leader.
Whether you’re behind the counter or in the back office, if you own the pharmacy, you are responsible for all that happens in it.
If you feel uncomfortable with the possibility of leading a team and taking on a new set of responsibilities, ownership may not be the best fit for you.
If, on the other hand, you have strong leadership skills and feel confident in your ability to take your team to the next level, becoming an owner may be a promising option for you.
6. Will you invest in clinical services?
The future of pharmacy is found in clinical services.
Whether it’s compounding or patient counseling programs, successful pharmacy owners meet the needs of their community by offering a variety of clinical services.
These owners also see higher profit margins and better financial projections, considering that clinical care is one of the best ways to increase revenue.
Clinical services are one of the most innovative ways that pharmacy is growing and changing for the better.
If you’re interested in innovation, passionate about seeking out new services, and willing to put in the work to implement them into your pharmacy, ownership is a good choice.
7. Do you have the right mindset to open a pharmacy?
While there are many expectations for potential owners and many indicators of their success, the most important factor is your mindset.
Pharmacy owners, especially independent pharmacy owners, should be a lot of things: adaptable, flexible, compassionate, and genuinely concerned for the patients they serve.
At their core, pharmacy owners want to create healthy communities and are willing to go the extra mile to do so.
At the same time, they are committed to being successful and willing to take the necessary steps to make their vision come to life.
A pharmacy owner’s mindset should be forward-thinking, business-minded, and patient-centered.
If you have these, you’re already set up for success.
Conclusion
After answering these questions, spend some time thinking about what’s next for you and your career in pharmacy.
If you mostly answered “no,” you may decide that pharmacy ownership isn’t a good fit for you.
However, ownership is only one role in a pharmacy — no more important than any other — and you can still serve patients by working in other valuable positions.
Another option to consider is co-ownership.
Having a partner along your side can help you by splitting up the responsibilities and filling in the gaps where your skillset may be lacking.
If you mostly answered “yes,” you may be ready to move to the next step in owning and opening your own pharmacy.
For a detailed, step-by-step guide on how to get started, visit our How to Open a Pharmacy page.
Find valuable information, access helpful resources, and get the answers you need to fully realize your independent pharmacy.
The road to ownership starts here.
