Are you in the process of naming your private practice? Q&A was part of Next Level Practice, the most supportive community for therapists starting a private practice. In this video, Joe answers the question based on whether or not you should give your private practice a generic name.

Question: Should I Give My Private Practice a Generic Name?

Lisa: How important is it to have a generic name as I’m starting?

Private Practice Name Answer

Joe: I would say, you want to have a good name, you want to have a quality name. I don’t know if you’d seek to have a generic name, but if you can’t come up with a good name that you feel really confident with, I think it’s more important to get going and get started. Get a name out there and start moving. I’ve seen people get stuck for months, that don’t have a name.

I highly suggest not naming your practice after your own name. When you have it be your name, as you grow, everyone wants to see you, because your name is in the name. Also, it’s a lot harder to to sell it if you ever want to sell the practice. So, I’d definitely move away from that.

If you plan to stick with it, I think it’s important to try to have something that really kind of shortcuts who you are as a clinician. Your name is meant to be kind of a shortcut to your services. So, when you think about a name like ‘Apple’, they’ve built their branding around Apple, which has nothing to do with the computer. But, when you think about ‘Restorative Counseling’, or something like that, it really shows what they value. So the name has the potential to kind of speed up people’s view of who you are as a practice, without having to work through it all.

Then, there’s also a perspective of just having something that’s unique and memorable. So, for example, I know someone whose practice is named ‘Little Red Telescope Counseling’. He used to have this little red telescope and would look up at the stars and talks about how he still has that sense of wonder and curiosity. Or, there’s another guy I know who has ‘Blue Boat Counseling’. He had a blue boat as a kid and there’s a similar kind of connection. So those are names that people just remember. And, the branding and logo for it is really easy to create.

Joseph R. Sanok, MA, LLP, LPC, NCC

Joe Sanok is an ambitious results expert. He is a private practice business consultant and counselor that helps small businesses and counselors in private practice to increase revenue and have more fun! He helps owners with website design, vision, growth, and using their time to create income through being a private practice consultant. Joe was frustrated with his lack of business and marketing skills when he left graduate school. He loved helping people through counseling, but felt that often people couldn’t find him. Over the past few years he has grown his skills, income, and ability to lead others, while still maintaining an active private practice in Traverse City, MI. To link to Joe’s Google+ .