About a 4-minute read.
What is behind the clinic that brings in €25,000 a month
The average revenue of a “typical” aesthetic medicine clinic is between €25,000 and €30,000 a month. That figure is only useful for comparison when you know what kind of clinic is behind it.
In our clinic management modules at the University we explain this concept precisely. A typical clinic has about 120 to 150 square meters and around 4 to 5 treatment rooms. The square meters set the rent and the fit-out; the treatment rooms set how many treatments can run at the same time.
At opening, the clinic has made an initial investment that is amortized over the years and is concentrated in three items: the fit-out of the premises, the equipment and the furniture. Before you compare your revenue with that €25,000, set your square meters, your treatment rooms and those three items next to it.
Working capital: the year it takes revenue to cover costs
Once the clinic is open and running, revenue needs time to grow into its level of costs. During that period, the clinic is carried by what is called working capital. It is the cash that pays salaries, rent and product.
You have to get the location, the menu of services and treatments, the products you use, the pricing policy and the selection and training of staff right. With those five decisions well made, revenue takes about a full year to cover costs. That year has to be financed before you open.
Unless your financial position is very strong, we recommend bringing in professional profiles gradually. An opening has two possible starting points: a physician who opens their own clinic, or an entrepreneur without a healthcare qualification, who must hire a medical director to guarantee the clinical practice of the center.
We recommend locating the new clinic at street level, a proven retail model that makes it easy for patients to pass by and walk in. Once launched, the staff that covers all opening hours and all services is three people or more, and revenue then grows with the treatment portfolio. Twelve months of those three salaries, plus rent and product, make up the working capital.
Devices from €60,000 to €150,000: demand decides which one pays off
The profitability of the income statement does not depend on having bought a €60,000, €100,000 or €150,000 device. It depends on how many sessions of that treatment fit into the schedule each month, because behind every vocation there are limited financial resources.
Across Spain there are hundreds of clinics with hundreds of devices sitting unused in storage, whose high investment has not paid off, for a variety of reasons. The main one is a lack of demand for the treatment the device performs, demand that was not checked before the purchase.
The check is made before you sign the order: how many patients ask for that treatment today, and how many sessions fit into the free hours of your treatment rooms. That calculation, not the manufacturer's catalog, tells you whether the device pays for itself.
From the third year on: €25,000 to €30,000 a month
Around the third year, the clinic brings in about €25,000 to €30,000 a month on average. Patient spending varies through the year, so seasonality is planned for in a commercial plan that keeps revenue stable.
In other cases, revenue at that stage goes beyond that average and reaches €50,000 to €80,000 a month, depending on several variables. What separates them are the same five decisions of the first year: location, treatment menu, products, pricing and team.
Always on the basis of safe practice and professional ethics, aesthetic medicine remains profitable in Spain, which is why large chains and investment groups keep a steady interest in the network model. For a small entrepreneur, our professional recommendation is caution with investment, especially in the fit-out of the premises and in equipment, at least during the first months.
The order follows naturally: first the working capital, then the portfolio that fills the treatment rooms and, when the numbers justify it, the device.
Your clinic's figures, projected before opening and measured after
The figures of a typical clinic give you a reference. The figures of your clinic depend on your city, your treatment portfolio and how fast you attract patients.
In our Opening service we build the business plan with your assumptions before you open. Once the clinic is running, our Growth service analyzes its actual figures and corrects what limits its profitability.
We have worked only with clinics and beauty centers since 1999, with more than 1,050 projects across Spain.