As I reflecting back on 10  years in private practice I did a few things right, mostly by chance.

With a business license, professional license, and big dreams, I opened a private practice ten years ago. Having never taken a business, marketing, or management course, I have learned “on the job” how to be a small business owner. Hopefully, you can learn from what I accidentally did right and intentionally apply them as you build your private practice.

From solo practitioner to thriving clinic owner. Celebrating the milestones of 10 years of private practice.

Today marks the 10 years since of the founding of my private practice Wasatch Family Therapy, LLC. I started out as a solo practitioner with big dreams of creating an exceptional therapy clinic that not only provides excellent clinical services, but also provides therapists the opportunity to create their “dream practice” in a nurturing work environment that supports personal growth and strong family relationships.

As I take a step back and reflect on this ten year journey, many tender emotions surface. I am grateful for willing clients who have allowed me to walk with them during life crises and transitions. I am touched by the generosity of the professional relationships that I’ve cultivated during this period of time. I am amazed at the personal and professional growth that I’ve experienced. I’ve learned invaluable lessons about leadership, boundaries, and business. I’ve developed skills in marketing, supervising, web design, social media, mentoring, public relations, human resources, interior decorating, negotiating contracts, consulting…

 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.

Continue reading… »

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.

It’s common for therapists in private practice to have anxiety around money issues like how much to charge per session, how to ask clients for payment, and when to raise your fees. Getting comfortable talking about fees with clients is crucial to private practice success.

After all, you own a business. In general, I think therapists charge too little for their services.

Several years ago, I resigned from managed care and I raised my psychotherapy fees at the same time. Fortunately, my practice didn’t suffer financially from those decisions. What surprised me most about raising my per session fee was that the perceived value of my services went up. “You don’t take insurance and charge a lot? You must be really good,” was a sentiment that I heard frequently from potential clients.

Interestingly, I’ve found that clients tend to invest more in the therapy process because they are investing more money out of their own pocket for treatment.

As a recent private practice consultation group that I was leading came to an end, we took a few minutes to celebrate the growth and successes of each group member. I asked what each group would take away from their consultation group.  One therapist turned to me and said, “Thank you for giving me the permission to succeed.”

I have never really thought about my private practice consulting services as giving colleagues “permission to succeed,” but it seemed to fit. I asked myself, “Where did I get the permission to succeed?”

Last week, I blogged about the benefits of joining a private practice group. Today, I’ll discuss the downside of being in business with other practitioners. I briefly worked in a group practice where all therapists owned equal parts of an LLC (Limited Liability Company).

At first it sounded like a good idea. After a while, I could see that it wouldn’t work long-term for me and for my practice.
The Drawbacks of Joining a Group Practice

1) Liability concerns

After several months in a group practice, I realized that the drawbacks far outweighed the benefits. One of the biggest drawbacks was sharing liability for other mental health provider’s actions and decisions, of which I ultimately had no control. Therapist Melissa J Templeton, MA, LPC, LMFT agrees, “It’s really important to be aware of the legal entanglements of being in practice with another mental health provider, as it exposes you to all kinds of liability. Being in the same building even without a formal partnership agreement could open you up to being sued by someone who was injured on the property or who accuses your co-leaser of a criminal or civil action.”

Whether you like it or not, when you’re in private practice you are a business person. A common complaint I hear from new private practitioners is “I had no idea how much time (and money) it takes to run a business!” I nod my head in agreement.

With no business background, I ventured into private practice nearly 10 years ago. Starting out as a solo practitioner, I have learned how to maximize my time. Over the years I learned the importance of automating as many business systems as possible in order to decreases stress, and free up mental and emotional energy for the things I’d rather be doing…like therapy.

Here are 6 suggestions for automating your business systems in private practice:
1) Automate social media posts
While actual human conversation is the point of social media, I do automate some of my posts, tweets and status updates. The two social media management platforms I use are Hootsuite and Socialoomph. I use both because they have different strengths. Hootsuite allows me to manage multiple social media accounts from it’s dashboard and respond to them in one place. SocialOomph is great for posting recurring tweets and updates because you can set the frequency of the recurrence and alter the text slightly.

I also use SocialOomph to set up auto-responders to thank new Twitter followers. SocialOomph also sends me daily digest email of keywords I’ve chosen to follow on Twitter so I can see who’s tweeting about relevant topics and I can find new and interesting people to follow.