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The Therapist Experience Podcast

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.

EPISODES

TTE 18: From Generalist to Specialist: The Journey to a Unique Selling Proposition with Stephanie Adams

Business 101 for therapists. There’s no other way to describe this episode. After building and closing down one private practice, Stephanie Adams understood she needed to transition from being a generalist to a specialist. She defined her Unique Selling Proposition, understood her lifetime value, and began marketing to generate a positive return on investment for her private practice.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

– What is a Unique Selling Proposition and how to write one (I even help Stephanie revise hers on the fly!)
– What is your customer’s lifetime value and why that’s a crucial metric to know
– How Stephanie re-opened her practice and moved from a generalist to a specialist

TTE 17: Creating a Professional Avatar to Find Your Ideal Private Practice Client

Who is your ideal client? Where do they socialize? What kind of networking do they do? What do they look like? How old are they? Kids? Married? Divorced?

These are just some of the questions you need to ask yourself when growing your private practice.

In this episode of The Therapist Experience, Ron Gad and I discuss how to find and market to your ideal private practice client by creating a professional avatar.

TTE 14: How to Start Building a Referral Network by Cold-Calling Potential Referral Sources

Building a private psychotherapy practice isn’t an overnight endeavor. It’s about relationships. And you need to be able to show up everyday and build those relationships in order to build a thriving private practice.

Melissa Fritchle shares her therapist experience in this process. And she shares how she showed up everyday cold calling potential referral sources. In this episode, you’ll find a step-by-step guide on how to find, identify and reach out to potential referral sources via cold-calling.

TTE 13: From 0 to 12 Clients in 6 Months: How to Use Momentum & Build Upon Little Wins in Private Practice

When Jeffrey Sumber opened his private practice, he spent six months working his tail off to get to 12 consistent clients. But once he hit that magic number, the momentum began building into an unstoppable snowball.

And that’s what happens in business. You market yourself, you build relationships and networks, you build referral sources… And all that hard work compounds upon itself.

But you can’t just rest on your laurels: A referral source from a year ago has to be reminded about you. And that’s where the power of newsletters comes in. Jeffrey utilized newsletters to remind both his clients (past, present and potentially future) AND his referral sources that he existed.

This helped Jeffrey stay top of mind every month and allowed his hard work to build upon itself and grow exponentially.

TTE 12: One Ad, Hundreds of Phone Calls, and Navigating the In-Between

Margaret Thompson wrote one ad. Just one. And that advertisement for in-person seminars immediately led to hundreds of calls and formed the foundation of a thriving private practice.

For a little teaser:

Margaret uses in-person seminars the way many people use webinars these days: An ad gathers interest, people sign up, Margaret and her team provide immense value, and a percentage of those people attending the in-person seminar become clients.

TTE 11: Investing in a LinkedIn Presence to Grow Your Private Practice with Jennifer Bullock

When Jennifer Bullock transitioned to private practice, she had a 1 year goal of revenue and the number of clients seeing her. Thanks to her comprehensive and creative Internet presence, and only focusing on one or two social media avenues, she hit that goal in 3 months. Session 11 shows you how she did it!

For a little teaser:

Jennifer ‘stair-stepped’ her way up in social media. What do I mean by that? Well, instead of trying to do everything and anything in social media, she focused on ONE social media outlet until she nailed it. Then she stepped up to nail another one.

And for Jennifer, the first place she started was investing in a LinkedIn presence. Why? Well, with LinkedIn, she was able to reach both potential clients AND stay in touch with referral sources. Her referral sources, which include school guidance counselors, bartenders and hairdressers, are on LinkedIn and would see her blog posts and articles, helping Jennifer to stay top of mind.

There’s plenty more great advice, so be sure to tune in!

TTE 10: Getting The Phone to Start Ringing in Private Practice

Getting consistent referrals to your private practice is the cornerstone of success. But where do you begin?

Christopher Holtz spent 9 months building a network of referral sources and seeing clients, all while working a full-time job in a group practice.

In what little spare time he had, he’d pound the pavement, walking into the business of other professionals, and introduce himself to therapists, doctors and psychologists. He’d walk in there, many of them not knowing who he was, and introduce himself. To show that he was a stand-up guy and a pretty darn good therapist.

Now THAT is hard. And inspirational.

No time to start a practice while working a full-time job? Baloney. Christopher shows you how to do it.

TTE 9: I’m a Psychotherapist … No, You’re Not. You’re a Small Business Owner

If you are in private practice, you are not a psychotherapist. You are a small business owner.

Sure, you have clients to see. But that’s only half of your job. The other half of your job is running a business. And if the business owner doesn’t do their job, you won’t have clients to see.

And in this absolutely amazing interview with Eddie Reece, we dive into how to change your mindset to start thinking like a small business owner, set your prices, and grow your practice.

It’s nearly an hour long, which is double the length of our typical interviews, but you don’t want to miss a second of this one!