Welcome to The Therapist Experience Podcast, where we interview successful therapists about what it's really like to grow a successful private practice.
We discuss everything from marketing, the entrepreneurial journey, the importance of niching down, what to charge per session, how to incorporate the right technology, and the roller coaster of being a small business owner.
Dr. Kat once had a comfortable, high five figure job. But during her employment, she realized all of the constraints of the modern medical system and she wasn’t able to provide her patients with the help and level of care they needed. It was then that she realized she needed to go into private practice.
Rachel Fintzy’s journey has been a convoluted one. She intimidated herself that she had to be so clear about her niche, that she put off actually having one for too long.
Listen to hear Rachel’s Therapist Experience.
BethAnn Schacht’s journey didn’t go the way she thought it would, or the pace she thought it would go.
But she persevered through the challenges, including having a mass exodus of 5 clinicians leaving at once, to grow a sustainable, thriving group practice.
A few months ago, Callan Olive’s private practice was not thriving. She knew she had to make a change or her business would fail and she’d be stuck working for another private practice with a commute she would dread.
So, what did she do? She learned that she could be her authentic self. That she doesn’t have to be what you think a therapist should be, but instead she could be true to who she was with her clients.
Learn more by listening to Callan Olive’s Therapist Experience.
Sheila Darling had been in private practice for 4 years. During that time, she was more of a generalist and found herself wasting a lot of money on marketing without any real ROI. One month before recording this podcast, Sheila began focusing on a niche.
All of a sudden, her private practice began to flourish. Listen to this week’s Therapist Experience Podcast to hear how a niche made Sheila a more effective therapist and business owner.
Kevin Petersen started a private practice in April 2014, seeing clients one day a week. That day got filled in a month.
He then opened up another afternoon and evening, and those got filled in a month.
In June 2014, 2 months after opening his private practice, Kevin walked into his boss’s office and quit.
Carol opened her private practice 4 weeks after she was licensed and it has been growing like gangbusters ever since.
Here is how Carol got her first 15 clients in only 10 days, and then how she sustained and continued growing without looking back.
While Chrissy Follis was still just an intern, she did a dating workshop for singles at her local church. That workshop had 50-70 people attend.
Now, she does dating workshops in a number of churches at least twice per year and it has been one of her most effective, long-term marketing strategies.
Laura Long’s first clients were only seeing her because she showed up on PsychToday, not because of Laura being Laura. They wanted therapy and she was charging next to nothing. So while she filled her practice, she started getting many no-shows, late cancellations, and clients that weren’t in a position to dedicate themselves to therapy.
What then made her successful? You’ll have to listen to this episode to find out!
Rachael Norman and I met each other at ACA 2017 and I knew right away we needed to get her on the show. Rachael is the CEO & Founder of Better, a company that allows your clients to get reimbursed more from the insurance companies. It’s something every therapist should be recommending to their clients, especially if you’re private pay.
What Better does is it allows patients to submit bills when they see a provider that does not take their health insurance, and Better does all the hard work of actually reviewing the claims for correctness, submitting to insurance companies, and getting the money back that they’re owed.
It’s a truly groundbreaking service/product and can really help you grow your business, particularly if you are more of a cash-based private practice.
This is a little different of an episode than what you’re used to. I hope you enjoy the change of pace!
