The Therapist Experience Podcast

TTE 174: Niching Down & Feeling Fulfilled with Natalie Mica

Prior to 2018, Natalie Mica had a private practice in a small, rural community in Texas.  During this time, she was a general clinician but started to realize that most of the clients she worked with were teen girls and women. When she opened an office in the Houston area in 2018, it seemed like the obvious choice to niche down and go after this demographic.  However, figuring out how to market to her new niche didn’t come without its challenges. Listen to the episode to find out more.

TTE 173: The Number One Thing People Need is Hope

Mary Mannhardt was on her way to the Olympics. Her struggles with mental illness changed that. This is Mary’s therapist experience.

TTE 172: Special Re-release – How to Sell Yourself & Become a Cash Pay Private Practice

In a special re-release of one of our most popular episodes ever, Eddie Reece joins us to take a dive deep into the nuts and bolts of transitioning away from insurance and becoming a fully cash-pay private practice. At the time this episode was recorded Eddie’s ideas were extremely controversial. Since then, the idea of transitioning to private pay has become much more mainstream, but the motivation remains the same: If you take money from an insurance company, the insurance company is paying you. And who pays you, is who you work for. You do not work for that client. You work for that insurance company and you are now working for somebody who underpays you, under-respects you, and does not really have any good feelings about what it is you’re doing because you’re costing them money. If you take insurance, you’re not a business owner. You’re a sub-contractor. Listen to the full episode for more tips and information.

TTE 171: From Hairstylist to Licensed Counselor with Tami Vienn Allen

One of the great marketing tips we’ve discussed on The Therapist Experience is to network with your hairdresser. The reason for this is that hairstylists often listen and give advice while they are working “behind the chair” and may be able to provide referrals. On today’s episode, this advice comes full circle as we follow Tami Vienn Allen’s entrepreneurial journey from hairstylist to private practice owner.

TTE 170: The Importance of Finding the Right Resources

After a few years of working for agencies, Rachel Gracia decided to open a private practice when she moved back to the Fort Worth, Texas area. When growing her private practice beyond the first couple of clients proved challenging, she sought out advice. Rachel went on to work with a business coach that taught her how to market, network, and present herself as a therapist. Furthermore, the guidance she received helped her evolve from a general clinician to a specialist by finding her niche.

TTE 169: Pivoting to Prevent Burnout

When Keisha Langolf and Meghan Farr first met working for a group practice, they could not have guessed they would soon have a practice of their very own together. After opening SHE Counseling & Coaching in 2016, Keisha and Meghan quickly found success. However, when the day-to-day management of the business coupled with the requirements of a client base primarily using insurance became overwhelming, they knew it was time for a change. Listen to the episode to find out how Meghan and Keisha have pivoted over time to create the practice of their dreams.

TTE 168: Why Hiring Clinicians as W2 Employees Is More Profitable Than 1099

Whitney Owens has accomplished a lot in the past 2 years, growing her business from a solo practice all the way up to a group practice of 5 clinicians. While she’s received helpful advice from mentors like Joe Sanok of Practice of the Practice, one of the most valuable things she has learned came as a surprise from her own experience. Many group practice owners opt to hire clinicians as 1099 employees, assuming that it is cheaper and offers greater flexibility. Whitney has discovered that not only is this not true, but there are also many overlooked and important benefits that go along with hiring clinicians as full time W2 employees.

TTE 167: From Solo Private Practice to Building a Practice Management Solution with Damien Adler

Damien Adler has seen his career grow and change in ways he could have never expected. Originally starting in community mental health, Damien began to tire of the bureaucratic red tape and jumped into private practice with his wife. They quickly discovered the huge amount of work that goes into running a private practice and began looking for a solution to streamline the appointment setting, note-taking, and billing. Upon finding out no good options existed, Damien enlisted the help of his brother to build their own practice management solution. To this day, Damien and his brother remain co-founders of Power Diary, a practice management solution based in Australia.

TTE 166: The Power of Networking with Cathryn Leff

Cathryn Leff is an experienced clinician who had for years operated a small part-time private practice while working for a non-profit full time. While the work was fulfilling, she began to tire of her 3-hour commute each day. Finding inspiration to jump into Private Practice full-time, she opened a home office and quickly began attracting clients by visiting Family Attorney offices and networking in-person.  With a successful business that continues to grow and hours saved by not commuting each day, Cathryn has even been able to take on the responsibility of President-Elect for the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT)!

TTE 165: The Importance of Making an Income Goal – From $40/Hour to $200/Hour with Rhonda Stalb

Money can feel like a taboo topic when it comes to running your private practice – but it doesn’t have to be.

While your mission is to help people overcome their problems and find solutions, at the end of the day your therapy practice is a business, and businesses need to be profitable if they are going survive and eventually thrive.

In today’s episode, we speak with Rhonda Stalb, who found tremendous success by setting a goal for the income she wanted to generate and then assembling the pieces needed to achieve this goal.