How much does a counselor make? December 2013 Monthly Income Report

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How much does a counselor make?

How much does a counselor make?

www.PracticeofthePractice.com/december-2013-cash

December | Projects and Presents

In December I started to try to pace myself. In past months, I have talked about how I have a tendency to go, go, go and want to keep working. This is partially because I love doing counseling and also because it feels like I’ve worked so hard to get to this point, I don’t want to say, “no” to folks.

How I’m Evaluating My Time

I’m still learning how best to pace myself and farm out tasks I don’t enjoy as much. A few things I’ve been thinking about are:

1. Where is money coming in and how does this determine where I spend my energy?

2. What do I really enjoy and what do I find lame?

3. Can someone else do something at a lower hourly rate than me and give me equal results?

Outsourcing?

In December I signed up for an account with Odesk, which is a website that has contractors that help with marketing, SEO, design, and websites. I am evaluating if there are things I could do more effectively in 2014 to help Practice of the Practice grow at an even greater rate. I am not sure what that might look like.

Here come the videos

Also in December, I ordered a new camera. Over the coming year I hope to start to create more videos, content, and photos that will help me continue to grow the counseling audience. Currently I’m focusing on counselors, but soon I hope to start launching things that have broader appeal. I have a few things that are going to come out soon. But before I start that, I want to have the right equipment to do it right!

Here’s what I bought (the pictures are affiliate links, if you’re buying something on Amazon, feel free to use the links, thanks!):

Canon Rebel t3i

I bought this camera because I have a videographer friend who I trust immensely, see my post about our friendship “A Successful Guide to Friends with Benefits.” He recommended the lens upgrade. I have been playing with it and we’ll see what I produce.

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens for Canon DSLR Cameras

A close friend of mine sold me her old lens. She was upgrading to an even fancier camera. I consulted my videographer friend and he said this lens would be a great zoom lens and also be really great for video. She gave me a deal. I’ve been doing tons of zooming and playing, I’m still pretty terrible.

Audio-Technica ATR-3350 Lavalier Omnidirectional Condenser Microphone

I asked for this microphone for Christmas. My parents got it for me. I liked this one because it was inexpensive and has great reviews. For a while I am going to plug it directly into the camera. This gives me less control over the settings, but I don’t have to mess with merging audio and video on my older Mac. For now, the lack of quality is worth getting out some better video.

Counseling Companion

I just finished my first e-book/journal called “Counseling Companion.” It’s meant to help clients stay on track outside of counseling, give counselors the ability to give homework, and all a bit more structure outside of the sessions. I’m planning to make at least 3 and launch them around the same time. As a way to build some buzz, I’m thinking I might select 20 counselors that are willing to try them out with their clients and then on a specific day give the books away to those counselors for free. If you like this idea, send me an email. Here’s the cover, the book just went live but it’s been a “soft release” so shhhhhhh:

Past Income Reports

2013 Annual Counseling Income: $54,513.97 (January-December 2013)

November 2013 Monthly Income Report total: $5,148.16

October 2013 Monthly Income Report total: $4,689.99

September 2013 Monthly Income Report total: $3,137.30

August 2013 Monthly Income Report total: $3835.74

July 2013 Monthly Income Report total: $5691.65

June 2013 Monthly Income Report total: $4,471.29

May 2013 Monthly Income Report total: $6,022.91

April 2013 Monthly Income Report total: $2,116.96

March 2013 Monthly Income Report total: $2,476.92

February 2013 Monthly Income Report total: $2,685.12

January 2013 Monthly Income Report total: $2,707.09

December 2012 Monthly Income Report total: $2,287.97

November 2012 Monthly Income Report total: $1,219.18

October 2012 Monthly Income Report total: $3,213.87

September 2012 Monthly Income Report total: $1,361.60

December 2013 Earning Report

What I’m going to be reporting and what I’m not going to be reporting

Full-time Job: Since some of you are new and some of you have been around Practice of the Practice for a while, I’m going to give a quick summary of where I make income. My full-time job is at a community college as a counselor. I love the job and it gives me great opportunities. Also, since my wife stays home with our daughter it is an income we can count on, health insurance, a pension, and a really great environment! I’m not going to disclose my full-time wages there, since it is not something that is part of my private practice.

Private Practice: I do 3-4 sessions a week in my private practice. I don’t take insurance, so it is private-pay. As a result, I don’t have many expenses in time or actual money. Included in my consulting (not my private practice money) is time I spend doing supervision for LLPCs (Limited Licensed Professional Counselors), a 100 hour requirement in Michigan.

Passive Income: The term “passive” makes it sound like I don’t have to do work. What I mean is money that I make that is not in direct exchange for my time. I will outline what these are under each item.


How I made money in December 2013

Disclosure: many of the links below are affiliate links that will earn me a commission if you purchase through them. If you do, I really appreciate it and if you have any questions about any of the products or services please contact me! Also, if you don’t have a good experience with them, I want to know that too.

Counseling, consulting, and useful products

Private Practice (19 sessions, November was 15 sessions) $2,676

Other counselors: I have two counselors that work for my practice as 1099 contractors and I get a portion of what is brought in: $805

Building Websites: $0

Paperwork Packet: $0

Consulting and LLPC Supervision: $770

The Motherload: $290.03

E-books: $55.60

Practice of the Practice | A Start-up Guide to Launching a Counseling Private Practice
The Ten-minute Toddler Turnaround | Improving Sleep: Changing your toddler’s sleep health in ten-minutes.

Mental Wellness Parenting | A remarkably simple approach to making parenting easier

Paperback Copy of my book Mental Wellness Parenting: A remarkably simple approach to making parenting easier $0

Member’s Newsletter: This newsletter helps folks with struggling or new private practices to learn how to go from no practice to a thriving one in one year. 200% money-back guarantee! This number does not include folks that signed up via The Motherload: $141.73

Affiliate Marketing:

BlueHost Referrals: If you are setting up a website, this is the best hosting because of their customer service and the ability to have unlimited websites hosted! $0

Amazon Affiliate Referrals: If you are buying something on Amazon, it’d be great if you clicked the link. I get a small commission without you having to pay anything more! $21.37

NameCheap Referrals: $42.10

Google Ads: I’m getting closer to July 2013 peak, before I updated my site and screwed everything up, here’s what that income report looked like in July 2013. $10.67

LegalZoom: $14.85

December 2013 total: $4,774.58

Will you like this on Facebook, Google+ or Pin it?

 

Some of the numbers from Google Ads, Amazon, NameCheap, and my e-books will not be paid until they reach a certain amount or 60-90 days after the sale. I report what has been sold in the month it was sold. Also, I do not take expenses off of this report.

counselor headshot

Joseph R. Sanok, MA, LLP, LPC, NCC is amazed how much fun it is to help other people in business and counseling! He helps angry kids, frustrated parents, and distant couples at his private practice in Traverse City, MI at Mental Wellness Counseling. Also, he is the author of Mental Wellness Parenting | A remarkably simple approach to making parenting easier. To link to Joe’s Google+ .

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Counseling Private Practice tipsThanks for the photo guillebot!