Why are so many therapists bad at building a business? A key to building a successful private practice is developing discipline.

Guest post by Clinton Power, a Sydney-based Gestalt therapist and the owner of Clinton Power & Associates and founder of Australia Counselling Directory.

When I first dreamed of being a therapist, my vision was about helping people, making a difference and feeling good about contributing to the well-being of others.

After 10 years as a therapist, I’ve become acutely aware of the reality of running a business by myself. While I still enjoy the reward of doing all those good things I mentioned, I’m also realistic about what it takes to run a private practice. In fact, I’ve come to the conclusion that to be a successful therapist in private practice today, you need to be a solopreneur.

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Two heads are better than one…and two thousand heads are infinitely better. Come on, private practice shrinks, let’s do some social collaboration with Listly.

Earlier this week I introduced you to the concept of online social collaboration and suggested some possible ways it might be useful in private practice. I invite you to join in an easy social collaboration experiment by adding to my list of mobile apps I use most for managing my private practice.

New trends in PR encourage online collaboration. Embracing new platforms can help therapists build professional presence and grow their private practice.

I recently attended an amazing conference in Park City, Utah called “Evo ’12″ The Evolution of Women in Social Media Conference. What’s a shrink doing at a social media conference? In addition to being a therapist, I am a self-professed social media junkie and tech geek. So there.

A conference highlight was a workshop called “The Evolution of PR: A Culture of Collaboration, Connection and Community” taught by PR guru Sarah Evans and search technology innovator Jennifer Gosse. Both presenters work with a new social collaboration platform called Tracky (which you’ll be hearing more about in an upcoming posts as I get more familiar with it). There was so much good technology and PR information that I couldn’t take it all in or write it all down. I didn’t want to miss anything so, I turned to social collaboration.
What is social collaboration?
At this point you may be asking “what is social collaboration?” Social collaboration involves processes that allow people to interact, work together, problem solve and exchange information online.

Michigan therapist finds niche providing in-home psychotherapy services
Would you travel to a client’s home to provide therapy? After witnessing the high no-show rates while working at community mental health centers Michigan, therapist Tomanika Witherspoon, LMSW, CEO of Growing Counseling Services, decided to do just that.

She created an “outside of the box” specialty practice by focusing on providing in-home therapy.

In Witherspoon’s experience, individuals who discontinued traditional therapy cited transportation, time and family responsibilities as the biggest barriers for receiving treatment. By providing in-home therapy, Witherspoon saves her clients travel time, travel expenses and time spent in an office waiting room.

How my guest blog post landed a feature spot on Yahoo! front page and 5 things that you can learn from my experience.

Last week I received an email from Anne Krueger, the Editorial Director at Sharecare, letting me know that my Sharecare guest post Empathy: The Secret Sauce To A Happy Marriage was being featured on Yahoo front page in the #1 slot!

By the end of last week my article was featured again on Yahoo! front page as “Popular This Week.” As of today, the article has had 6.8K Facebook shares and 468 retweets on Twitter. Yes, I am basking in the glow of guest post heaven.

In past posts I’ve explored the the positives and negatives of joining a group private practice. Now, it’s time to focus on the pros and cons of running a solo private mental health practice. When I opened Wasatch Family Therapy nearly 10 years ago, it started out as a solo practice that slowly built over time into a group practice. While I like being “in charge” and autonomous, I’m also an extravert and I highly value my connections with others.

I reached out to other private practice therapists who practice alone to see why they chose to “fly solo.”

I’ve recently blogged about the pros and cons of group practice.  Watch next week for more on running a solo practice. Until then, I’m curious how many of you practice in a group practice setting versus a solo practice. Take this poll and please pass it along to colleagues.

Do you practice in a group or solo practice?
 
(c) Can Stock Photo

In this guest blog Ashley Eder, LPC offers part 2 of “Creating Your Perfect Work Week.” Ashley is a counselor and supervisor who believes we each have the potential to create a more satisfying life. Located in Boulder, CO, she works with clients and therapists through curiosity, self-awareness, and acceptance in order to create lasting change.

In Part I of Creating Your Perfect Work Week, I prompted you to evaluate how well your practice is performing as a non-monetary form of compensation. As a reminder, here are the questions for you to ask yourself to get an idea of how rewarding your private practice work week is for you now:

• Are you excited to go to work?
• Do you enjoy your clients?
• Can you maintain your personal relationships?
• Do you have time for self-care?
• Do you feel satisfied and complete at the end of the day?
• Are you resentment-free?
• Are you intellectually stimulated?
• Have you stopped doing the things you dread?

If you followed through with this exercise, you know that it really is possible to answer “yes” to all of those questions; you are ready to experiment with adding Satisfaction Builders into your week and you have a pretty good idea of where they may need to go.

Below are a handful of suggestions for ways you can re-design your practice to work better for you. Remember, the ideal practice is different for everyone! Use these ideas to get you started, then listen for your own voice to guide you in getting it just right.

Are you unsure about how much to charge for psychotherapy in private practice? I’ve blogged recently about signs it’s time to raise your fees and how to talk to your clients about raising your fees, but what about setting your fees in the first place?

One thing to consider in setting your psychotherapy rates is what other therapists with equal experience and training are charging. While average fees vary greatly depending on your location, your degree, level of experience, and many other factors, I thought it would be fun to poll who read this blog so you can see where you fall on the continuum to give you a general sense of what other therapists are charging.

This guest post is written by Ashley Eder, LPC. Ashley is a counselor and supervisor who believes we each have the potential to create a more satisfying life. Located in Boulder, CO, she works with clients and therapists through curiosity, self-awareness, and acceptance in order to create lasting change.

A successful private practice is not just defined by how many clients you see or how much income you generate. One critical stream of non-monetary compensation is the satisfaction your practice brings you.

That’s right–as a business owner in an inherently flexible field, part of your “payment” is the freedom to create a work week that works for you.