5 Signs You’re Ready For Success As A Private Practice Therapist
February 25, 2022
Cindy McAtee
Is fear of the unknown, fear of failing, or even the fear of marketing yourself stopping you from
opening a private practice? Imposter syndrome is real! Private practice and being your own
boss sounds great BUT you don’t know the first thing about opening a business. You have
questions like, “how do I find clients,” or “I don't know what I’m doing and I’m not very organized,
so how will I run a business?”
You’re that therapist who loves learning ways to help your clients. You’re a natural at managing
client challenges. Colleagues respect you and ask you for clinical advice when they’re stuck.
While your creativity and commitment to helping clients is great, you’re still anxious about
succeeding in private practice.
You admire those brave therapists who’ve gone before you and opened a private practice. “If
they can be successful, why can’t I?” often crosses your mind, but you go back and forth on
whether it’s the right time to do it and if you’ll find enough clients. Your friends and family may
think you’re procrastinating on making a decision but they’re also not therapists.
There’s a million questions you have because you have family responsibilities, need to cover
health insurance, and save for retirement. You’ll need enough clients to pay the bills and take
time off.. Not to mention all the guilt about leaving co-workers and clients behind. No wonder
many therapists don’t get past the, “I wish I could open a private practice BUT.....!”
If you’re stuck in uncertainty but it’s also becoming more impossible for you to ignore the
overwhelming agency job demands, feeling unappreciated, and your health being impacted,
then consider your answers to these questions. A lot of yes’s mean that you’re wired to do this,
even if you’d need some help to get that private practice open and running!:
1. HAVE YOUR FRIENDS OR FAMILY EVER SAID YOU WERE STRONG WILLED, SELF
MOTIVATED, AND NOT QUICK TO GIVE UP?
When starting a new practice, you’re adding to your skillset. Rather than taking on learning a
new treatment technique, you’ll be learning the skills to successfully operate a business. If
you’ve learned clinical skills, then you’re smart enough to learn business skills! (if you want to
know that you’ve covered all of the steps to opening a business, click here).
2. DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF ADAPTABLE AND FLEXIBLE?
You know that being an agency therapist involves adjusting to new clients, new agency rules,
productivity standards, learning on the fly. Agency work is stressful but you’ve always found
ways to work through the pressure and frustration and clients still benefited by working with you.
Private practice ownership involves not only planning what you want for your business, but also
creativity and thinking outside of the box on ways to generate additional income in your therapy
practice beyond just seeing clients for counseling. Think of additional income streams as a way
to market who you are being paid for it! (Click here for our ideas about other income
opportunities)
3. DO YOU HAVE A UNIQUE AND CREATIVE APPROACH TO COUNSELING CLIENTS?
What treatment approaches have you been trained in? What results are your clients getting
because of how you’ve been trained to approach the symptoms that create problems in their
lives? What books have you read which have changed the way you view difficult client issues
like trauma, anxiety, depression, relationship issues? Do you describe ways to reframe the
challenges clients share, with them saying that they’ve never heard it described like that by
anyone before?
As you share the approach you use with therapy clients and the fantastic results they’ll get
working with you, you’ll successfully position yourself as someone who already knows how to
help them. You’re that therapist they’ll feel comfortable with from the get go because you’re
relatable and knowledgeable!
4. ARE YOU OK WITH MAKING DECISIONS AND OK WITH CHANGING DIRECTION AS
NEEDED?
We sure hope that if you can’t say yes to this, that you’ll consider how you approach therapy
with clients as they’re struggling with regret over mistakes! Visionaries know that they’ll first
need to identify an ideal outcome before taking the steps to take towards meeting that outcome.
Mistakes happen so you’ve been teaching clients rock solid resiliency! And you’ve got resiliency
as an agency therapist! If you’d like to save time with our “how to” guide and help in opening
and running a successful therapy practice, click here.
5. ARE YOU WILLING TO ESTABLISH YOURSELF AS A SPECIALIST WHILE BUILDING
YOUR PRACTICE?
Yes, we do understand the temptation to say yes to anyone who calls and to panel with
insurance. As an agency therapist, you’ve worn many hats and have adapted to working with a
number of clinical issues. But are you remotely tired of working like that? If so, it’s time to really
dial in and decide on the types of client issues you feel the most joy and sense of effectiveness
in your work. And remember, it isn’t that you can’t ever take on clients who don’t present with
those issues! (Click here for our list of specialty areas where there’s high client need)
Perception is a very powerful thing, and how you feel about your situation as an agency
therapist will determine your response!
Contact us if you’d like our help!