Case studies: Osteopath: Jennifer

Jennifer has an undergraduate Masters in Osteopathy from the London School of Osteopathy. She is self-employed and works for three different clinics in complementary health centres. She also works from home one day a week and three evenings a week...

After studying osteopathy at the London School of Osteopathy , I decided I would prefer to work for myself, rather than be an associate osteopath. I therefore contacted a number of complementary health centres to see if they had rooms to rent. I'd wanted to study for a degree for a long time, so I decided on osteopathy because I could study part time and, once qualified, it would allow me to work for myself and have flexible working hours.

A typical working day for me consists of treating about nine patients. I start work at 10.00am and usually finish around 6.00pm. If I treat patients in the evening I usually finish by 9.00pm. Because I work for myself, there is a lot of business administration to deal with. Marketing and advertising, accounts, etc all need to be addressed in order to keep the business running.

Although I have only recently qualified, things have picked up surprisingly well. Some clinics are busier than others, but I've started to get recommendations and that's how the business will grow, but it will take time. My long-term aim is to open my own complementary health clinic, but the market is saturated, especially in London, so it will be difficult to get if off the ground, but it should be worth it.

I enjoy working with people and supporting them to get better and improve their quality of life; I find it much more satisfying that working in an office. The best thing about working as an osteopath is that you are your own boss and you can set the hours you work.

The most challenging parts of the job are when patients don't seem to be getting better as quickly as I hoped. Working for yourself means no holiday pay or sick pay and if business is slow you don't take home much money, so it can be difficult to budget for things because you can't guarantee a set income each month.

Obviously, as the client base grows, income will be more stable. It can also be lonely, especially if you only work at home on your own, which is why it's nice to have a balance of home working and working in a health centre with other like-minded practitioners.

My advice to others interested in this area of work is to think carefully about commencing the course. It takes over your life and requires a lot of commitment, both in time and financially. It's difficult to start a new business and it will take a long time before you are financially stable. If you opt to work for someone else, they typically take 50% of what you earn, so it's not as lucrative as it may sound.