Money Talk: Conquering Your Private Practice Fears
As a mentor to therapists and an author of a guidebook to opening a private practice, the question I am asked the most is, “Where will the clients come from,” which in turn is really asking, “Where will the money come from?”
Even if your reasons for entering the therapy field is to help people, you aren’t going to be able to help people for very long if you can’t make a living.
I’m here to tell you that you can make a living -- and a good one! -- as a private practitioner. There will be enough money and enough clients. It’s mostly a matter of facing your fears and getting on with taking the actions that will bring in money and clients. As David Schwartz says in his classic book, The Magic of Thinking Big, “Action cures fear.” So here are a few actions I recommend to get you started:
Actively work on abandoning your scarcity mindset. Stephen Covey coined the term scarcity mentality in his now-famous book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People to describe people who see life like a finite pie -- if one person takes a big piece, there’s less for everyone else. When you think like this, and you see someone with a successful practice and many clients, you might think there are less clients for you. The antidote to scarcity thinking is embracing the mindset of abundance!
We are not in competition with other psychotherapists. Even if every therapist you know is full, there is always the need to collaborate - with other doctors, your client’s teacher and so on, and you could be on their list of referrals. Clients usually have a spouse or child or neighbor who could also use therapeutic support. Just as a reminder, in this last year of quarantine, demand for mental health providers has significantly gone up. Even with the expansion of telehealth, Dr. Vail Wright of the APA notes that, “we still have a pretty substantial problem within the health-care system in having enough providers for the people who need them.”
Discover and build your niche. As a therapist who regularly provides referrals, I have to work hard to find the right resources for kids, families and couples -- services are needed for those demographics. And even within a demographic, it’s good to focus on a speciality for your practice, (like people with autism, personality disorders or academic difficulties). Look for niches, either because they are underserved, or because you have an affinity and interest -- ideally both! Choosing a niche will make you stand out, and your passion for the area will shine through when you talk about it -- making your networking and marketing easier and more organic. Surprisingly, finding a specialty helps grow the rest of your practice too!
Come to terms with networking. Many therapists feel resistant to the idea of marketing or networking, thinking, “I chose this field to help people, not sell myself.” If this is you, then work to reframe the situation. Understand that the first part of helping people is helping them find you, by sharing who you are and what you do. The truth is, you don’t have to be amazing at this part of things -- I’ve read that when therapists do no marketing at all they build a full practice in five years. I went from zero clients to thirty in ten months simply by doing three things every Wednesday. Things like, one call, one outreach and then maybe a coffee or a thank you letter. (I’m still a fan of handwritten thank you letters.) When reaching out, consider professional organizations, your cohort and people who are the “gatekeepers” to your population of choice like pediatricians who treat children with ADHD and keep a list of good providers.
Set up your online presence. This feels so basic that it shouldn’t need to be said, but you need to have a website. These days, everyone looks online, whether it’s to find a vet, a hair stylist or any other service provider. However, like many professions, not every therapist has jumped on the website bandwagon just yet. And in my experience, even after receiving a personal referral, potential clients are more likely to choose someone with an online presence, especially if that provider also has some posted reviews. My clients tell me that even after getting my name from a trusted source, it was reading my website and (fortunately good) reviews that helped them feel certain we’d be a good match. Get a professional to do your website -- it doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg, but factor it into your opening costs -- as well as setting up a listing on Psychology Today’s online directory, or another similar platform.
Use insurance panels to build your practice. People who want to use their insurance will use the lists of therapists provided by the insurance company. What they find is that many of the therapists on those lists are full. Which means that if you are on the list, you will be getting some calls! If you do plan to bill insurance for clients, it’s good to figure out which insurance panels pay the best, and how many insurance clients you want to take, to allow you to have some guaranteed hours while leaving room for fee-for-service clients at a higher rate. You probably want to work a normal range of hours -- between fifteen and twenty-four client hours is typical for therapists. Similarly, many therapists reserve a certain number of hours for part time independent contracts with various counseling and healthcare agencies or schools.
Taking these five actions will really kickstart your business and assuage your fears about taking the leap into starting your own practice!
If you have questions about how to find your niche, create your networking pitch and more, I go into greater (step-by-step) detail in my book, GetReal, GetGOING: The Definitive Roadmap to Starting the Private Practice of Your Dreams.
