Four Steps You Must Take When You Start A Private Practice.
Opening a private practice can be overwhelming. Here are four steps you can take right now to help you succeed when you start a private practice.
Understand who you are.
This is about knowing “thine own self” but also knowing who you are professionally.
Knowing thine own self is about understanding who you are and what you want to be about. Go on any social media therapist board and ask the question, “Should I offer a sliding scale?” or “Should I accept insurance?” and watch it fly. You will get opposing views with lots of intense opinions about it all, including some harsh judgement when people do not agree with you. The correct answer my friend is to thine own self be true. But you need to understand who that true self is. This is your practice and you get to run it the way that is right for you. Understand your goals and values and don’t be afraid to do you.
Knowing who you are professionally is a must. This helps you determine which clients you will see and which ones you refer on – either because you don’t like working with that population or you don’t have the expertise. Ethical practice means we don’t take on clients we are not qualified to see. Having clarity about who you are (and are not) professionally helps you stay in your lane.
Additionally, creating a niche will help fill your practice. Think about it, let’s say you decide to find a chiropractor to help you with your migraine headaches. You open your laptop and start searching, finding several chiropractors online. All of them look great but there is one who specializes in migraines. Who are you going to go to? Who are other chiropractors who don’t treat migraines going to refer to? That is how having a professional identity and a niche works. It helps clients and other professionals find you. But don’t freak out about boxing yourself in. You can and will see a lot of other types of clients. Establishing a niche does not have to limit you, but it will help you market yourself.
I’ve devoted an entire chapter to developing your professional identity in my Master Course, Everything You Need to Know About Private Practice, But Didn’t Know To Ask and offer a Mini Course on the topic, Establishing Your Professional Identity. Both include a worksheet to help you create a niche that will bring in your ideal clients.
Build a network and use it.
There is a lot written about how to market yourself to grow your practice. You need to know this as you start a private practice. I will tell you this, in my experience the number one way to get referrals is to get to know the people who are going to refer clients to you. The good news is you only need a few good referral sources to grow your practice.
This is not easy initially. For each solid referral source, you will probably have to talk to at least ten people. But again, you only need a few. This is where developing your professional identity becomes key. Once you identify your ideal clients, work to connect with other professionals who will be intersecting with those clients.
Let’s say you love working with families who are going through a divorce. You may even have advanced training for that population. Make a list: who are the people who will be referring divorcing families to a therapist? Make sure you can explain to them how you can specifically help these clients, but also how you can work collaboratively with the referral source.
Let’s make the list. Here’s some ideas of other professionals who will intersect with those families:
Family Law attorneys
Pediatricians
Therapists
School Counselors
See how this works? Make a list and then start reaching out to people. Some folks are not going to be interested. Don’t take it personally. Just move on and connect with others. Just do it directly. Do not simply mail a letter, flyer, or your card. It’s a waste of time and 99% of people just throw those away. You want to make a personal connection – on the phone at a minimum. See if you can get a breakfast or lunch or go by a practice to meet with their group.
Look for networking events in your community.
When you get a new client, think about the relevant people you can work collaboratively with on the case (their doctor, psychiatrist, school counselor, other therapist, or other). The more you connect with them, the more your name will be in the front of their brain when they need to refer a client for therapy.
Join a peer consultation group. The other therapists in that group will refer to you.
What if you could successfully set up your practice without the mistakes most therapists make?
What if you could do it without feeling stressed out and overwhelmed?
My Private Practice Builder Master Course and Mini Courses are here to make that happen. Check them out now!
Organize!
When you are ready to make the leap into opening a private practice one of the first things you are going to find out is how much there is to do. Oh man. Nobody told us how much there is to do. It feels endless and most people feel completely overwhelmed by all the details.
Organization is crucial. Whenever you get overwhelmed the first step is to break things down into smaller pieces. Make a list of the things you need to do (get a business license, get malpractice insurance, etc.) Next, map it out on a calendar making each action something you can easily achieve. Check it off when you are done. You will start to see yourself moving forward!
Check out my awesome Private Practice Checklist!
Breathe past your fears.
For so many of us, starting our own private practice is a long-held dream. It’s amazing. It’s also incredibly scary. Sometimes downright terrifying. Jumping off the cliff of a safe, stable agency job with benefits into the great unknown can feel crazy.
Look, unless you are a sociopath (you know, no working amygdala!), this is going to feel scary. Don’t let that stop you. You CAN do this, but you need to breathe into and past those fears. You need the right kind of support to counter the fear and the negative voices.
Get support and encouragement from people who believe in you. Find other therapists who have already successfully made the leap and look to them for encouragement and advice. Don’t listen to the haters, there are plenty of us seasoned therapists out here who want you to do amazing.
Know that this is going to take some time. It’s very unlikely that you are going to open your practice and immediately be full, or even busy. A few do, but most take longer. Expect it to take a good six months to really start rolling. It takes time for word of mouth to build. Don’t get discouraged when the clients are not rolling in after a month. Use the time to build your network and get the word out.
Hope for the amazing, prepare for the worst. The best way to manage anxiety is breathing into our worst fear. So, do it, plan for you worst case scenario. How will you manage things if your practice doesn’t take off? What’s your contingency plan? Figure it out, breathe into it. It has to be OK to fail in order to risk trying.
To find out more crucial information about the steps you need to take when starting your private practice check out The Master Course, Everything You Need To Know About Private Practice But Didn’t Know To Ask. To get the same information in more affordable, bite size pieces, don’t miss the Mini Courses!
I love helping therapists build successful private practices! For more great information like this to help you build yours, make sure to check out the Master Course and the Mini Courses. I’m here to support you and I want to help you reach your dream!
If you need some individual help with all of this, I’m here for you! I offer mentoring services for those who want some personal attention to help them build their successful private practice. Don’t hesitate to reach out to me. You can find out more on the Mentoring Groups page.
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Hey You. Are you struggling when it comes to talking with clients about money? I feel you. It’s one of the hardest parts of being out there on our own in private practice. I’ve got your back! I’m hitting you up with a free copy of one of the worksheets from my Master Course! Check it out, it will help you give yourself permission to make money and charge what your worth. Find out right now how to Talk Fees And Get Paid Without Having A Panic Attack. You don’t want to miss this one. Just sign up right below!
