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Have you been considering starting your private practice? Do you know which type of lifestyle you want to create for yourself and your family? What type of private practice do you want?
In this podcast episode, Joe Sanok answers the question; should I start a private practice?
Podcast Sponsor: Heard
As a therapist, you’re probably too preoccupied with your caseload to want to think about bookkeeping or tax filing. Heard can help you out with that. Heard is a bookkeeping and tax platform built specifically for therapists in private practice that helps you track and improve your practice’s financial health. Regardless of whether you’re a seasoned clinician or are in the first year of your practice, Heard will help you to identify areas for growth and streamline best financial practices for your business.
When you sign up with Heard, you’ll work directly with financial specialists to track your income and expenses, file taxes online, and grow your business. You’ll also receive financial insights such as profit and loss statements and personalized monthly reports. You can say goodbye to poring over spreadsheets and guessing your tax deductions or quarterly payments; focus on your clients, and Heard will take care of the rest.
Plans begin at $149 per month and can easily be tailored to fit your business’ financial needs. Sign up now at www.joinheard.com.
In This Podcast
- What type of private practice do you want?
- What is the lifestyle that you want to live?
- Do you want to take insurance, cash, or be mixed?
- Open your doors!
What type of private practice do you want?
[Define] your lifestyle and your goals right at the beginning. There are lots of ways to make money, but if [you] start with what you are actually trying to do through this business, for yourself [and] for your family, to me that’s more important because it helps you define the value of your practice. (Joe Sanok)
By defining your “why” for starting your business, you can then build your practice upon a foundation made of value. That is an important key to launching a successful practice.
Once you have defined your “why”, then you can get into the type of practice that you want:
1 – A part-time side gig practice alongside your full-time job. You can charge cash or insurance.
One of the advantages of starting a practice when you have a full-time job is that you can take huge risks because your basic living expenses are already covered. (Joe Sanok)
2 – A part-time practice that you want to grow into a full-time job.
3 – Launching a full-time practice from the start.
What is the lifestyle that you want to live?
What are your goals here? Do you want to:
- Bring home a certain amount of money
- Be able to take a three-day weekend
- Pay off student debt
- Take time off to have vacations with your family
Figure out the kind of lifestyle that you want to live, and then structure your practice to live this routine.
There are going to be different things that you set up from an infrastructure standpoint at the beginning when you start a practice. [For example], if you know that you one day … [want] a group practice, you will want to have infrastructure that will scale. (Joe Sanok)
Once you have an idea of the kind of lifestyle you want your practice to help you create, consider practice location. Would working in an office or working online help you achieve your goals?
Do you want to take insurance, cash, or be mixed?
If you want to be mixed and take both insurance and cash, then consider working with only a handful of insurance companies to keep the admin to a minimum. Take insurance from the companies that most people in your area have.
If you want to take private cash pay, then most of your time will go into building a strong brand, finding your niche, and networking.
If you want to solely take insurance, then your focus will be placed on building a strong infrastructure. For example, have a biller right from the beginning that takes a percentage of collected money.
Open your doors!
Now that you have the basics in place, you can open the doors! You do not have to have everything perfect before you start.
Getting going sooner rather than later can help you build your practice quicker, helping you to scale, settle into your niche, and create a network.
Useful Links mentioned in this episode:
- When you sign up with Heard, you’ll work directly with financial specialists to track your income and expenses, file taxes online, and grow your business. Sign up now at www.joinheard.com.
- Connect here with one of Practice of the Practice’s consultants
- Visit therapynotes.com and use promo code JOE to receive benefits
Check out these additional resources:
- Wade Lightheart on the intersection of gut health and mental health | PoP 707
- Apply to work together
- Sign up for Next Level Practice — Cohort Open!
- Events – click on the event’s dropdown
- Sign up to join the free webinars and events here
- Podcast Launch School
- Practice of the Practice Podcast Network
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- Apply to work with us — a decision-making matrix for your next steps
Meet Joe Sanok
Joe Sanok helps counselors to create thriving practices that are the envy of other counselors. He has helped counselors to grow their businesses by 50-500% and is proud of all the private practice owners that are growing their income, influence, and impact on the world. Click here to explore consulting with Joe.
Thanks For Listening!
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