Lynn Grodzki - Building Your Ideal Private Practice: A Guide for Therapists and Other Healing Professionals

Building Your Ideal
Private Practice

Second Edition

A Guide for Therapists and
Other Healing Professionals

Lynn Grodzki

W. W. Norton & Company
New York London

A NORTON PROFESSIONAL BOOK

This e-book contains some places that ask the reader to fill in questions or comments. Please keep pen and paper handy as you read this e-book so that you can complete the exercises within.

For Evelyn Asrael and Marilyn Ellis

Contents

Develop the framework for your ideal private practice today

Change your feelings to become a happier business owner

Learn ten short phrases that make private practice easier

Create a private practice vision based on your skills and core values

Think and act like other successful entrepreneurs

Find specific checklists and strategic advice for those starting out or starting over

Take steps to keep your business legitimate, ethical and safe

Define your basic message to generate referrals just by saying hello

Position your practice for success with todays best marketing ideas

Boost your visibility with an optimized website and online marketing strategies

Connect with and satisfy clients who find you online and want fast results

Avoid common pitfalls for insurance and fee-based practices

Explore whether to work solo or expand into a larger group

Add services beyond the reach of insurance payments

Craft a plan to sell your practice and fund your retirement

Stay successful and motivated over time

F ifteen years ago, when I finished the first draft of Building Your Ideal Private Practice and mailed it to the publisher, I felt like I was sending a defenseless child out into the cold, cruel world. I took the rest of the day off to cry. I had poured my professional heart and soul into the manuscript, and it summarized everything I knew about private practice, the things I learned on my own through the ups and downs of building my own practice and things I learned by compulsively observing and researching the practices of others. Would it be helpful to anyone? I had taken years to create a program and teach it to brave therapists who sat in small groups in my office, willing to experiment. I traveled the country and taught workshops and classes, all the while making careful notes about what worked and what did not. Eventually I wrote the book, one that I hoped would translate business sense into the empathetic sensibility for the majority of therapists I met who told me unapologetically that they hated the business of therapy. I used an informal style, wanting the reader to feel like we were having a relaxed, meaningful conversation about private practice success.

I had no idea how it would be received, but I did know how rare it is when a book quickly finds an audience, so I was astonished and grateful when it became a best-seller in its genre and has continued to sell, year after year. Even more rewarding were the readers who reached out to me by email, letter, phone, and in person to tell me how the book helped them do just what the title had pledged. They said that reading the book felt like I understood their problems and that my advice could be trusted; they took my words to heart. When they felt anxious about downturns in their practices and not sure what to do, the book provided guidance. When they needed new ideas to keep their work fresh, the book delivered inspiration. When they were busy and overwhelmed with too many opportunities, the book offered grounding. A few wrote to say that they kept the book on their bedside table and considered it their Bible of practice building.

Last year my esteemed publisher, Deborah Malmud, began to gently nudge me about writing a revision. I first thought: Why mess with success? Its fine the way it is, I told her. Like an old, well-worn sweater, I had a lot of affection for the original book, despite seeing some growing moth-holes in the weave. Although I had tried in many ways to anticipate trends that would be important for the future of private practice, I could not have accurately imagined all the major changes that had affected the business of therapy. The role of the Internet in marketing a therapy practice, the widespread encroachment into the marketplace by insurance and managed care, the density in therapists entering the market, the rise in mergers in health care organizations, the advent of an integrated health care approachnone of these had occurred to me in 1999. I had to agree with Deborah that my old sweater was due for some major reknitting.

I knew the changes I wanted this revision to contain. First, I wanted it to be comprehensive and encyclopedic, the one book a new or experienced therapist could rely on. Beyond simply updating original chapters and eliminating a few that are not as relevant as they once were, I have added six new chapters to cover topics that were not in the original but are now critical to therapists. For example, because I now know that this is a book read and reread by therapists at every stage of their career, you will see a new chapter for those just starting out in private practice, as well as one for those at the end of their careers who want to retire and perhaps sell the business they have built. I bring readers up to date about the Internet with strategies for marketing, branding, and creating websites and directory listings that actually work. I show how to contend with increasing competition and assess the best business models for solo and group practices. With so much at stake, I also have a new chapter about risk reduction and one to help therapists avoid the common pitfalls that affect both insurance-based and fee-for-service practices. This revised version reflects what I hear about and think about each week, in my role as a business coach for therapists across the United States and around the globe.

Despite these updates, the core structure that made the book relevant and cherished over time remains the same. I understood when I wrote it, as I understand now, that our profession is based on our values. Most therapists in private practice are what I call reluctant entrepreneurs, professionals who did not set out to build a business but created a practice to better achieve autonomy, creativity, and integrity and above all to deliver quality services that help their clients. In this revision, as in the original book, values are always part of the conversation. By focusing not just on the what, as in here is what you need to do next, but also on the who, as in here is who you need to become to do this easily and well, I hold to my belief that by building a strong practice, you become a better clinician and a more complete person.

Combining our core professional values with a more comprehensive text, the revised book comprises an inclusive and informative business plan. My mission as a business coach has been consistent over time: I believe that our society desperately needs therapists, healers, and helping professionals to stay financially solvent and viable. I want to help my colleagues be as successful as possible in their chosen profession so that we can all build ideal lives as well as ideal private practices. Welcome to the revised Building Your Ideal Private Practice!

Building Your Ideal Private Practice

Second Edition

Y oure in private practice or ready to start one. You are committed to your profession and believe in its merits and the needs it meets. You have a graduate or advanced degree and have spent many hours and dollars in additional training so you can offer quality services. You love the work you do with your clients and the results you achieve. These days, loving your work and being a talented, trained professional isnt enough to ensure the success of your practice; you also need to be a smart, discerning businessperson. As a business coach who specializes in helping therapists and other healing professionals achieve success, I want to show you how to build an