Top 10 Websites for Building Your Private Practice

Top 10 Websites

Like any worthwhile endeavor, building a successful private practice takes a lot of work, time, and know-how. So why not consult the experts? Here's a list of 10 of the best websites (listed in no particular order) to help you do just that:

1) Zur Institute

Drawing from his 20+ years of experience, Dr. Ofer Zur gives insight on virtually all aspects of the field of psychotherapy and the mental health profession, including practice building and continuing education. He offers practical resources on such topics as using a newsletter for marketing and how to deal with collections agencies. Many of Dr. Zur's publications and packages have a set price, but he does give some free articles and videos.

2) Private Practice From the Inside Out

Tamara G. Suttle, M.Ed., LPC has run a private clinical practice since 1991 and wants to share her secrets to success. She includes tips on blogging, how to build your website, and marketing your practice. Her site is very interactive, as you can submit your own questions and also have the potential to contribute a guest post.

3) Practice of the Practice

Joe Sanock, MA, LLP, LPC, NCC, is committed to making counselors awesome by sharing the business and social media info that he's acquired in his years of private practice. He covers a wide variety of topics, such as how to use Wordpress and Bluehost to build your own site, finding your niche as a therapist, and how to use Google Keyword Planner to rank higher in search engines. Joe also runs a very successful podcast where he discusses even more tricks of the trade. He even discloses his monthly income report and shows exactly how he has managed to increase his earnings through his side professional activities.

4) Zynny Me

Miranda Palmer, LMFT and Kelly Higdon, LMFT are no-nonsense experts in all things private practice! Become part of their Business Bootcamp, where a community of clinicians offer their experience and support to help each other (re)examine beliefs concerning money and private ownership, create a business vision, and build a sturdy foundation to grow into a thriving psychotherapy practice!

5) Get Down to Business Consulting

Cathy Hanville, LCSW knows that being a great psychotherapist is not enough, and she offers consulting to help you take your business to the next level. By reviewing your social media campaign, helping you streamline your billing procedures to make them more efficient, and helping you get started with blogging, Cathy can guide you on how to market and manage your practice to expand your outreach and create a robust practice.

6) The Counselor Entrepreneur

When Camille McDaniel, LPC, CPCS first started out in private practice, she worked long hours without a clear vision of her own. Once she educated herself on marketing, business skills, and how to develop multiple income streams, she was able to have more creative control of her practice and find more fulfillment in her work. Her goal with "The Counselor Entrepreneur" is to help other counselors tap into their own creativity and use it to help others.

7) Be a Wealthy Therapist

Building upon the principles she gives in her book, Casey Truffo spills the beans on all things related to becoming financially well-off as a therapist. She tells how to attract full-fee clients, how to change a negative or inaccurate mindset that hurts your practice, and how to increase your income when you're already capped out with clients.

8) Perfected Practice

Samara Stone, LCSW and founder of The Stone Foundation built her own practice from the ground up. Wanting to help others replicate the success that she herself has had, Samara shares valuable information and tips about the importance of networking with other professionals in the field, how to work hard in building your practice without burning out, and best practices for selecting administrative staff.

9) Heart of Business

Founder Mark Silva understands the dilemma of wanting to make a difference in people's lives but also realistically needing to earn a living. Though not specific to the mental health profession, Heart of Business seeks to help entrepreneurs run their businesses in such a way that they can serve their clients while still meeting their own needs. You can receive small-group coaching for personalized attention and support, or you can subscribe to a free newsletter to get tips and strategies delivered to your inbox.

10) Private Practice Toolbox

This list would be incomplete without the very website you are reading right now! I love the opportunity to share with my tribe the lessons that I have learned since founding my own practice in 2002, but I think the real strength of Private Practice Toolbox is that it's all about you! We crowd-source through social media to generate inquiries, ideas, and input about all things related to private practice. We also highlight and celebrate those who've found success, who then share their secrets with the rest of us.

What blogs/ sites have helped YOU

learn and grow your practice?

(Click herefor a list of top 10 book resources!)

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4 Ways To Use Pinterest To Build Your Practice

Pinterest is a social media platform that therapists might overlook when building their online presence. It may seem more tailored toward foodies, pop culture junkies, or book lovers than for people wanting or providng professional counseling. However, Pinterest can be a valuable way to serve your online community and also get the word out about yourself and the clinical services you offer. Joe Sanock, an LPC who also works as a private practice consultant, explains that “People who go on Pinterest are dreaming about having a new life. It could be a new hair style, a new dress, or a renovation. They are in a mindset of change. As counselors, we fit perfectly into that mindset.” He says that Pinterest is his leading referral for both his private practice and consulting business. Bottom line: Pinterest can work as a great marketing tool for you (read more about Joe's experience here).

Here is some more information and tips for using Pinterest to benefit your practice:

1) Regularly Pin and Re-pin Inspiring and Informative Material 

Make a point to pin and re-pin inspiring quotes and ideas that are relevant to your work as a therapist. Quotes about change and personal development often work best. Try to use quotes that are universal enough to not seem super technical or boring, but specific enough to establish that your niche deals with emotional and relational well-being. Use original material as well as curating existing content.

It’s a good idea to strategically include your name and website links on your graphics or memes (see left for an image I pinned as an example). This can be helpful when you get share and re-pins. It’s more than okay to tap into the promotional side of using Pinterest.

There is of course no cut-and-dry rule about how regularly you should post. But as is the case with any social media platform you utilize, you must commit to make content creation and curation an ongoing thing if you want it to make a difference in your marketing; pinning a new picture or idea once every month is not going to do much for establishing and maintaining your online presence.

2) Optimize Your Bio and Profile

The bio at the top of your Pinterest page is your "hello" to new followers. First impressions are important, and you want to introduce yourself professionally and accurately to your viewers. It should have your picture, a clear description of your speciality, and links to your main website. Optimizing your biography is also good for SEO (making your stuff for findable on the web). See screenshot below for my example:

3) Be Deliberate in Selecting Categories and Board Titles

Similar to your biography, be strategic about your titles, categories and boards; they're more important than you might think. Not only do they give a clear indication of the nature of your material, but they're also good for the search engines because your titles are your keywords. Not every one of your boards must be directly related to the field; it's good to diversify and show your followers that you're a multi-dimensional person. For example, you might have a board of humorous memes.

4) Follow Others in Your Niche

And finally, we come to the social part of the social media of Pinterest. Follow other relevant users. Look at the categories and boards of those who re-pin your stuff and see if they are similar to yours. Engage in Pinterest not just for yourself, but use it as a way to learn more and continue to be inspired. Check out other people's pins as well. And yes, follow to be followed (among other reasons).

So there's some tips to get you started or help you more with using Pinterest. It can be a useful tool to engage with the online community, invite more visitors to your website, as well as build your own professional online presence.

What's your experience using Pinterest for your practice?

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8 Steps to Launching or Relaunching a Psychotherapy Practice

In this guest post, Miranda Palmer LMFT and Kelly Higdon share eight ways to thrive in the current private practice climate. The process of building a successful private practice has changed considerably over the last twenty years. Most therapists we speak with who have been in practice for a few decades started by getting their credentials from an insurance companies. Reimbursement rates were relatively high for the cost of living from the 80s into the early 90s. Things flowed. Maybe they had a listing in the phone book, but back then there was no need for websites, Facebook pages, or Twitter accounts!

Fast forward to now: the financial picture for therapists in private practice has drastically changed, as we are in a time of low or stagnate reimbursement rates combined with an increase in cost of doing business and living.

The old model is simply that, old. It doesn’t work for today, and thus we find experienced therapists with a full practice that isn’t profitable enough to prepare for retirement, and new therapists often feel lost when they ask their mentors for direction and get answers that don’t resonate with the current economy.

We want to simplify the steps required for launching and successfully running a private practice in 2014. Whether you are starting out fresh, have moved to a new city, or need to make some significant changes in your business foundation, these steps will help you get things on track!

1) Develop a clear vision of your life

We tell our clients to do this regularly. We help them reassess and ask them to be accountable for the choices they make that lead them toward or away from that vision becoming a reality. This is your road map. When you begin with a plan for your life, your business can be formed to support that plan. So before you come up with an awesome group therapy curriculum or some other great idea, write down a super clear vision for your work AND home life.

2) Take that vision and break it down into pieces

Having a simple vision, with no basis in reality, can be difficult. How much money do you need to make that vision come to life? What would it take for you to go home at that time each day? Are you preparing for quarterly taxes? Are you realistic about how many clients you can see regularly while avoiding burnout? Are you leaving time for networking and marketing your practice? Leaving time for going to trainings? For being sick? Are you leaving enough time to return client phone calls and be available for crisis situations?

This is where people can get stuck in magical math. If I see 20 clients at $100/hr, that is $2,000 per week for 50 weeks – that’s six figures! YET there are expenses, taxes, real life stuff that happens. Be honest with your capabilities and your needs. Also, be open to the idea of reaching your goals in different ways. You might discover that face-to-face sessions is only a part of the plan. Now go crunch numbers, write down the schedule, and look at the specific pieces that are needed to fully form your vision.

3) Develop a business plan based on your vision and those realistic pieces

Every therapist in private practice needs a written business plan. He/she must know exactly how the fee was developed, how many sliding or pro bono slots there are, how much money is put toward retirement, etc. There is also a bit of research to be done here. Surprised? Sure, people need mental health services, but who and where are they, and what are the holes in the market in your area? Have a clear idea of who you want serve and how you plan to serve them. Write it down; be accountable to yourself.

4) Develop a sustainable plan to let your community know who you are

Notice I didn’t say develop a sustainable plan to let people know your business exists. People decide to work with therapists they know, like, and trust. Being authentic in how you present your private practice to the public doesn’t have to mean complete self-disclosure. Maintain professional boundaries, but don’t be afraid to let your personality shine!

The beauty of our current world is that people can advocate for themselves by choosing a provider who they believe is prepared to help them heal. If a potential client doesn’t get a chance to hear your “voice” and how you practice, how can he/she determine if you are a good fit? How hard is it for you to choose a therapist for yourself? Can you imagine how much more difficult it would be without an advanced degree and a deep knowledge of psychological theory?  Make sure to clearly communicate what unique things you can offer as a therapist.

Be aware of your insecurities and how you demonstrate those to the world. Now is the time to believe in yourself and honestly take stock in what you bring to the table. It is not prideful to share your craft with others. It is necessary in order to build relationships and instill hope in members of your community.

5) Develop and maintain clear business boundaries

Your business is your service to your clients. You may think that the things you are doing on a daily basis are serving your clients, but you need to be honest with yourself. If your business is struggling, it will impact your clinical work. What would happen if your clients talked to one another? Do more assertive clients pay a different fee than passive clients? Do clients with poor money management skills pay less than a client who has better budgeting skills?

Stick to your plan. Go back, and if you start to waver, remember #1 – why you are doing this in the first place? What is the life you are seeking to create? Who are the clients you are seeking to transform? When you break those boundaries, you are holding yourself back from the dreams you have for yourself and from helping your community in a profound way.

6) Streamline your business processes

The best way to do great clinical work is to free yourself up to do great clinical work. Whether this means transitioning to a paperless office to reduce late cancellations or no shows and decrease unpaid balances, or outsourcing your insurance billing so you never have to sit on hold with insurance companies again, find a way to make the business process work efficiently. If you feel like you can’t afford to streamline your process, you need to look at return on investment and/or whether you have set a fee that fully integrates business and overhead costs.

7) Streamline your marketing process

It takes more energy to start from a stopped position. The start of launching or re-launching your practice takes a LOT of energy, gusto, and enthusiasm. Know that it won’t always be as hard as it is in the beginning. Watch what works for growing your practice most effortlessly, and make a way to continue the bare minimum even when you are full with clients to keep things flowing. Maybe that is blogging once a month, speaking a few times a year, or monthly lunch dates with new contacts in your area. If you don’t have time to do some minimal tasks to keep things moving, you need to reassess if you are being honest with yourself about the time it takes to run a business.

Your marketing must align with who you are and your core values. If you don’t want to write a blog, don’t. If you don’t want to speak, don’t. BUT, do something and analyze if it works. If it isn’t working, then tweak it until it works, or let it go and move on to other options. Just because your neighbor gets referrals from Psychology Today doesn’t mean that is what YOU should do. You must only do what is best for your business, not necessarily what is best for others.

8) Celebrate your accomplishments!

Be good to yourself; kind to yourself. There is a lot to learn when starting a private practice. Know that everyone has a learning curve, and seek out a supportive community. However, no matter how awesome your community is, you will be struggling to stay energized and enjoy private practice if you are being unkind to you. Start from the inside out! And don’t be afraid to celebrate all the great accomplishments you’ve made in your private practice.

Miranda Palmer is a Licensed Marriage Family Therapists who is passionate about teaching and empowering other clinical counselors to successfully run a private practice. Visit her site www.zynnyme.com to learn more. 

Kelly Higdon wants to make a difference by sharing her expertise to help clients and business owners reach their full potential. Check out her Business School Bootcamp to learn more.   

Get practice tips and blog updates in your inbox. Sign up for the Private Practice Toolbox Newsletter here.

Join my Private Practice Toolbox Facebook group and connect with nearly 2000 therapists around the globe in 2 simple steps: 1) Click request to join the group & 2) Fill out this brief questionnaire before you'll be added to the group.

Need help blogging? Join my ongoing therapist blog challenge!

Social Media Bootcamp For Therapists Webinar Feb 27

Social Media Bootcamp: Attract Self-Pay Clients to Your Private Practice

Date: Thursday Feb. 27  5:00 pm MST (4:00 pm PST, 6:00pm CST, 7:00pm EST)

Presenter: Julie de Azevedo Hanks, LCSW

Attract more self-pay clients to your private practice by effectively and ethically using social media.

Over the past 12 years I've built a private practice with 3 locations and 20 providers with a fee-for-service private pay model (free of managed care) by attracting ideal clients through building a strong online presence and building an engaged social media following.

In this 90 minute webinar you will learn:

• The building blocks of a strong online presence that will attract your ideal clients to your practice.
• The most important thing you can do to attract ideal clients online to your practice.
• Which social networking sites will reach your ideal clients.
• Learn effective strategies to grow and engage your social media following.

Register for Social Media Marketing Bootcamp Webinar!

Therapist Blog Challenge #3: Current Research On Love

Summarizing current research makes great blog article topics and helps you stay informed about relevant studies in your field of practice.

Since we celebrate Valentine's Day this month I want you to pick a current research study related to love and relationships for your Therapist Blog Challenge #3 topic. Summarize the study, then add your take on it. You may want to discuss why you picked this study, how your readers can apply the study's findings, what surprised you about the study, and what you learned. I can't wait to see what you come up with. Get blogging!

Feel free to find your own love-related studies or choose from these news stories on recent research from PsychCentral News:

Quick writing experiences seems to work magic for couples commitment

Men and women may not be so different after all

Marriage may lower risk of heart attack

Gen Xer's connect as much online as in person

Traditional distribution of chores = more sex

'First time' may influence sexual satisfaction for life

Kindness may be key to happiness for kids

Additional reminders:

• Write and post your blog article in the next 2 weeks. If you miss the deadline or you read this article months later, that's OK too.
• Post a link for this blog challenge in the comment section of this blog post.
• Read, comment, and share other therapist's articles.
• Tweet your post using hashtag #therapistblog and tag @julie_hanks so I can retweet it.
• Pin it on the challenge Pinterest Board. I've invited everyone who posted a comment on the initial blog challenge post as collaborators so you can pin onto the group board.
• Spread the word and invite mental health colleagues to join the challenge. Articles can be added anytime throughout the year.
• Write no more than 600 words, make it easy to read, use a conversational tone, and gear your articles toward your ideal client (not other professionals).
• The goal of a professional blog is to provide value your website visitors, help them get to know your professional perspective, increase traffic to your private practice website, and build your practice.