As the economic tide changes, more and more people are aspiring to be their own boss. It’s time to realize your true calling! In our six-part series diving into Luna’s FIERCE foundation, we explain how developing independence can create your optimal work-life balance. We’ve talked about the benefits of increasing your work schedule flexibility, so let’s explore how being independent can make you FIERCE.

According to the OECD (2015), when asked about their ‘Preference for Risk,’ 69% of men and 58% of women were interested in working independently. Susan Reid at Forbes says she, “I found these figures astonishing: well over 50% want to be their own boss, approximately 4% of the population are currently self-identified entrepreneurs with paid personnel.”

A new NPR/Marist poll found that 1 in 5 jobs in the United States was a contract job, a position not held by a full-time employee. Within the next 10 years, contractors and freelancers are projected to constitute half of the American workforce.

Becoming autonomous has been shown to improve the overall quality of life.

This trend of people taking their working lives into their own hands is happening for good reason. Becoming your own boss satisfies your basic psychological need for autonomy.

So why are there not more entrepreneurs? It seems many people would like to be independent, but few have the time and resources to get their businesses started. According to Bloomberg, 8 out of 10 entrepreneurs who start businesses, fail within the first 18 months.

At Luna, therapists get the benefits of entrepreneurship with none of the risks.

“We strive to create a working environment that benefits the therapists,” Khanh Pham, Head of Therapist Network Development, explained. “After much research, we uncovered that many therapists were interested in entrepreneurship. We’ve tried our best to incorporate the benefits of entrepreneurship while mitigating much of the risk.” With these facts in mind, Luna has created a workplace where independent-minded physical therapists can thrive.

Luna takes care of all overhead expenses for the therapists, which is often a deterrent in launching a business. Whether loaned or borrowed, the money needed to start a business can incur a significant amount of burden.

In addition to becoming a sole practitioner, a large amount of time is required for administrative work such as marketing, operations, finance, and technology. For many companies, these positions have multiple people working on these teams.

At Luna, we aim to streamline the entrepreneurial process, leaving you to focus on what really matters - patient care.

While curtailing the financial risk and added working hours required to open your own practice, Luna also ensures their therapists have full autonomy within how you choose to treat your patients. Theresa, a physical therapist at Luna, details the challenges of trying to make everyone happy at her last job. “I love my profession, but sometimes physical therapists have different ways of going about treating their patients. Before Luna, I felt like someone with more experience and authority was always looking over my back. It slowly started grinding away at my self-esteem. At Luna, I can use the evidence-based treatment that works best for me. It’s liberating.”

Pham explained that Luna has developed a model that provides autonomy, while decreasing the downsides of private practice. With Luna, we feel we’ve executed the right balance of making an ideal, clinician-centric working environment.

At Luna, you will find a team passionate about making your dreams become a reality. Invest in yourself and take the leap into a new life with us. It is our pleasure to have you onboard and we are excited to watch you flourish.