Episode #630: Getting Ready For Next Steps

Summary

Abundant Practice Podcast: Episode #630 - Getting Ready For Next Steps

Release Date: March 19, 2025

In Episode #630 of the Abundant Practice Podcast, host Alison Puryear engages in a heartfelt and insightful conversation with Yolanda, a dedicated therapist navigating the complexities of building and sustaining a private practice. This episode delves deep into the challenges Yolanda faces, her aspirations for expanding her impact, and the strategic steps she considers to achieve her goals. Below is a comprehensive summary capturing the essence of their discussion.

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1. Introduction to Yolanda’s Journey

Alison opens the episode by welcoming Yolanda, who shares her initial struggles in establishing her private practice. Yolanda candidly discusses the urgency she felt to start her practice amidst personal hardships, including the passing of her husband and balancing a demanding residency in counseling.

Yolanda [03:15]: “When I started, I was kind of in a rush. It was more so a survival mode.”

2. Navigating Client Load and Financial Stability

Yolanda elaborates on her current client base, highlighting a deliberate strategy to manage her workload during slower seasons. She shares that she maintains enough clients to cover essential expenses, such as her mortgage, and has begun securing her financial future by setting aside money for retirement through a 401k.

Yolanda [05:01]: “I have enough now with that I've been able to do things like set aside some money for my own retirement.”

However, Yolanda expresses concerns about relying solely on insurance payments, particularly with ongoing issues with Tricare not compensating her for January.

Yolanda [06:10]: “Tricare is having some problems right now and they haven't paid me for the month of January.”

3. Balancing Insurance and Private Pay Clients

The conversation shifts to the balance between insurance-dependent clients and those who pay out-of-pocket. Yolanda explains her selective approach to insurance, choosing only Tricare and United Healthcare to remain accessible to military families.

Yolanda [06:12]: “I'm taking two insurances just to be accessible... I take United Healthcare.”

She acknowledges the dichotomy of managing insurance clients versus cultivating private pay clients, especially after relocating from the D.C. area to Southern Virginia, where private pay demand is lower.

Yolanda [08:07]: “I moved to a more affordable area, but the price is more. So now I have to drum up more clients here.”

4. Aspirations for Community Impact and Retreats

Yolanda shares her ambitious vision of expanding her practice to include retreats for women in ministry, integrating her faith with clinical practice. She dreams of establishing a retreat center that serves not only her clients but also other organizations, thereby creating a sustainable and multifaceted income stream.

Yolanda [11:04]: “I would really love to offer retreats for women who are in ministry... to help them deal with their own challenges of managing their mental health.”

The idea extends to fostering community support by providing services to areas lacking essential resources, emphasizing sustainability without dependence on federal funds.

Yolanda [13:20]: “How can we do this so that the service doesn't stop?”

5. Strategic Advice and Next Steps

Alison provides Yolanda with practical advice on turning her vision into reality. She suggests starting with retreats at existing centers to gain experience and save funds for a future retreat center. Alison also emphasizes the importance of refining Yolanda’s niche and leveraging marketing strategies to attract more private pay clients.

Alison [15:12]: “What could be cool is what if you did retreats at somebody else's center for a while and every dime you made in profit you socked away to eventually buy your own space.”

Additionally, Alison encourages Yolanda to complete her niche exercise and engage with the Marketing Fundamentals course to identify actionable strategies tailored to her unique practice needs.

Alison [21:22]: “Private pay usually comes from niches... finish that exercise.”

6. Building Trust and Expanding Reach

Yolanda discusses her reliance on word-of-mouth referrals, especially from her primary care doctor, and her limited use of social media for client acquisition. She expresses a desire to explore additional avenues to increase her private pay client base, such as enhancing her online presence and networking within her new community.

Yolanda [19:19]: “I did a lot of word of mouth... especially my primary care doctor continues to send people my way.”

7. Overcoming Readiness Doubts

A pivotal moment in the episode is when Yolanda questions her readiness to take the next steps in her practice, battling self-doubt despite positive feedback and sufficient training.

Yolanda [09:37]: “Have I been out here enough?... I was like, you're doing the things. So I'm like, okay, but what's wrong?”

Alison reassures Yolanda, encouraging her to trust the process and focus on enhancing her financial stability through private pay clients as a foundation for her larger goals.

Alison [18:10]: “The easiest way to get yourself into a financial position that allows you to do these bigger things is to really hone in on those private pay clients and get more of those.”

8. Conclusion and Encouragement

As the conversation wraps up, Yolanda commits to revisiting her niche worksheet and the marketing strategies discussed. Alison reinforces the importance of taking actionable steps and staying connected with support communities, such as the Abundance Party Facebook group.

Alison [22:34]: “Take care. And keep us updated in that Facebook group.”

Yolanda expresses gratitude for the support and encouragement, promising to stay engaged and continue working towards her vision.

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Notable Quotes

• Yolanda [03:15]: “I was kind of in a rush. It was more so a survival mode.”
• Yolanda [06:10]: “Tricare is having some problems right now and they haven't paid me for the month of January.”
• Yolanda [11:04]: “I would really love to offer retreats for women who are in ministry... to help them deal with their own challenges of managing their mental health.”
• Alison [15:12]: “What could be cool is what if you did retreats at somebody else's center for a while and every dime you made in profit you socked away to eventually buy your own space.”
• Yolanda [09:37]: “Have I been out here enough?... I was like, you're doing the things. So I'm like, okay, but what's wrong?”
• Alison [18:10]: “The easiest way to get yourself into a financial position that allows you to do these bigger things is to really hone in on those private pay clients and get more of those.”

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Key Takeaways

1. Balancing Act: Yolanda illustrates the delicate balance between maintaining financial stability through insurance and expanding her practice with private pay clients.
2. Vision and Capacity: Her aspiration to create a retreat center highlights the importance of aligning one's capacity with long-term goals.
3. Strategic Planning: Alison emphasizes the significance of niche specialization and strategic marketing in growing a sustainable private practice.
4. Overcoming Doubts: The episode underscores the common struggle of self-doubt among therapists and the value of support and actionable steps in overcoming it.
5. Community and Referrals: Leveraging existing relationships and community networks remains a powerful tool for practice growth.

This episode serves as a beacon for therapists striving to transition from agency roles to fulfilling private practices, offering both empathy and actionable strategies to navigate the journey with abundance and purpose.

Transcript

[Alison]

Foreign hi, welcome to the Abundant Practice Podcast. I'm Alison from Abundance Practice Building. I have a nearly diagnosable obsession with helping therapists build sustainable, joy filled private practices, just like I've done for tens of thousands of therapists across the world. I'm excited to help you too. If you want to fill your practice with ideal clients, we have loads of free resources and paid support. Go to abundance practicebuilding.com Links all right, onto the show. Some of y'all aren't sending HIPAA compliant email and it's a problem. Even if you're paying for a business Google Workspace account and have a signed BAA, your emails still aren't 100% compliant. That's where Palbox comes in. You can connect Palbox to your Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 email one time and you're completely covered. No one has to sign into portals. It sends and it shows up like any other email behind the scenes. Powbox software checks the security settings of the recipient and ensures that the email is sent properly so you're not violating HIPAA in the ways you may accidentally be. Now, I know HIPAA isn't sexy, but we don't avoid compliance in an Abundant practice. We check the boxes we need to check and this is the easiest way to do that with email. Check out my [e-mail] that's P A U B O X Use Code abundant to get $250 off your first year of Palbox. That makes it less than $100 for your first year. Again, that's P A U B O X.com use code ABUNDANT so I've talked about TherapyNotes on here for years. I could talk about the features and the benefits in my sleep. But there are a couple things I want you to know about therapynotes that doesn't typically make it into an ad script. First is that they actually care if you like their platform. They don't only make themselves available on the phone to troubleshoot so you don't pull your hair out when you get stuck. They also take member suggestions and implement those that there's client demand for, like Therapy Search, an included listing service that helps clients find you internal and external secure messaging clinical outcome measures to keep an eye on how your clients are progressing. A super smooth super bill process, real time eligibility to check on your client's insurance. In my conversations with the employees there at all levels, they all really believe in their product and they want you to love it too. Second, they are proudly independently owned. Why should you care about that because as soon as venture capital becomes involved, the focus shifts from making customers happy to making investors happy. Prices go way up, innovation plateaus. Making more money with as little output as possible becomes the number one focus. With over 100,000 therapists using their platform, they've been able to stay incredibly successful. And they don't have to sacrifice your experience to stay there. You can try two months [e-mail] with the coupon code Abundant. Hey, Yolanda.

[Yolanda]

Hi, how are you? I have been trying to get on the one on ones, but life just keeps licensed.

[Alison]

Hey, you did it this time. It worked. Yeah. But what would be most helpful today?

[Yolanda]

I think one of the things that I'm really struggling with, and I know this goes back to I really need to finish the niche exercise, but just trying to figure out what's next for my company. When I started, I was kind of in a rush. It was more so a survival mode. My husband had passed, I was still a resident in counseling and I was a full time resident. So I wasn't really getting any money. Mainly, you know, dealing with losing his income. So it's like, okay, I got to figure this out. And so I got my full license probably, I don't know, probably like two months after his passing. And so I just started everything really, really quick. And I'm grateful that everything is good, aside from the fact that Tricare is having some problems right now and they haven't paid me for the month of January. But anyway, that's another thing. I'm kind of just trying to figure out where to go next and how do I, how do I determine what that is? Because I feel like I've just been literally surviving, trying to build the business and then making sure that I'm holding space for clients. I'm wondering if I'm ready for that because have I really unraveled and dealt with everything else? So really I don't, I don't know. I had a whole thing before this and this is not where it's going.

[Alison]

We'll just trust the process. We'll trust where it's going. Right. Do you have as many clients as you want to have right now?

[Yolanda]

Right now? I think. Well, yes, I do. I was going to say I think I have a little bit more than I want, but I did do that on purpose for the winter months because summertime sunshine comes out and most of my clients feel great and they cancel. So I was like, okay, well we still got to pay mortgage in the summertime, so yeah, I have enough now with that I've been able to do things like set aside some money for my own retirement. So I opened up a 401k that I give to and that's good. But it's kind of like, okay, I want to be able to do some other things like be more impactful like in the surrounding community for individuals who may not be able to pay out of pocket. And I'm just really not sure if I have the capacity to do that.

[Alison]

Yeah.

[Yolanda]

And it kind of, yeah, it sounds.

[Alison]

Like no, if you're already over full. I love your heart and I love that you want to do it. But if you're taking insurance, you're also already on a sliding scale. So offering pro bono or deeper sliding on top of what is a sliding scale practice doesn't make sense from a business perspective.

[Yolanda]

Right.

[Alison]

So that's the tough part.

[Yolanda]

Yeah. And I'm, I'm only taking two insurances just to be accessible only because my dad was military, grew up in the military. I know how broke military families can be, just the enlisted individuals and not the officers. So that's why I opted to take Tricare so that it would be accessible to them. And I take United Healthcare. The remainder of my clients are self pay, which is good. But yeah.

[Alison]

How do you feel about your self pay fee? Does it feel like it sustains you in the way it needs to?

[Yolanda]

Yes and no. No, meaning I always have to challenge myself with this because when I left another private practice, some of my clients were like, well I want to come too. And I was like, well, you know, but I don't take your insurance and I know you need to use your insurance. Right. And then I had some clients who stayed at that practice and then they came and found me and was like, look, my husband said however much it costs, we gonna pay for this. Right. And I'm like, wow, great, thank you. And then even now I still have some clients who will reach out and it's really hard for me to, I go to, well, maybe I should just take one more insurance. And then I'm like, no, that's not what we said we wanted in the initial, you know, start of this so we are accessible. If we don't take their insurance then you know, they can pay off pocket. And I tell them other ways that they can do that. I would love to have more self pay client. I think that that would help especially with the bind that I'm in now with Tricare. They're switching and I don't know what they're doing actually. But I know they owe me money and everybody.

[Alison]

Right, right. And I think there's real concern with federal government stuff and money right now.

[Yolanda]

Yes.

[Alison]

So.

[Yolanda]

Yes.

[Alison]

Yeah.

[Yolanda]

So it's kind of. And then I moved. I moved to a more affordable area, but the price is more. So I guess for the place I left, I left the D.C. area and moved to Southern Virginia, but I kept my price the same so far. I don't think I have any self pay clients here. They're all insurance. And so. Yeah, I have to. I have to drum that up.

[Alison]

Yeah. What's your self pay rate?

[Yolanda]

175.

[Alison]

Okay. Which is still kind of low for D.C. just.

[Yolanda]

Yeah, right.

[Alison]

It is.

[Yolanda]

Let's see, the intake is 200. The regular is 175. And I felt like that was reasonable, I mean, because I do know some people who are charging 2, 300 every section. But I also know the cost of living in D.C. and I feel like I can make a decent living with that rate.

[Alison]

Yeah. And it probably goes much farther in Southern Virginia than it did in dc.

[Yolanda]

Absolutely. Absolutely. I could actually afford a house here.

[Alison]

Great. Amazing.

[Yolanda]

So, yeah. So it's just trying to get my footing and figure out what's next and if I'm ready to do anything next.

[Alison]

Yeah. Talk to me about the readiness piece. Like, what shows up for you when you doubt being ready?

[Yolanda]

This is stupid because even when I think about it, I'm like, girl, really just being competent. Right. Have I been out here enough? I think I am still hearing the voice of the owner from the former practice saying, you know, these young people, they don't, you know, they don't put in the hard work and they want things easy. And I was like, no, I don't want this easy. But I also don't want to be on food stamps or whatever.

[Alison]

Yeah.

[Yolanda]

Or feeling like we're running out too soon. We're not getting the skills needed to go out soon. But I'm like, okay. But I have all of the training from field work, I have all the training from internship. I have all the training from the years of residency. I also have the certifications and things that I worked on and acquired during that time. So why am I not ready? Right. And then I get really good feedback from the people that I work with and seeing the change in their lives. So I'm like, okay. I was like, you're doing the things. So I'm like, okay, but what's wrong? Right? What's keeping you from really going out there and just kicking ass? Really? Just really, really Doing it. And I don't know.

[Alison]

Okay, what would kicking ass look like? How would your practice look different?

[Yolanda]

Well, one of the things I want to add is like a retreat type of deal. I'm also an ordained minister and so I would really love to be able to offer retreats for women who are in ministry. And I like merging my faith with the clinical side. Right. And so to be able to do that, meaning a full out retreat where, you know, they have a chef cooking for them, they have quiet and meditative contemplative time, but then also workshops and things, sessions that help them to deal with their own challenges of managing their own mental health. Yeah, I don't know. That's. That's like a really big dream of that. But then also having an actual retreat center where people can go and that makes me kind of quake in my boots because I'm like, I don't really know where to start, to even start trying to draft the vision of that. So. Yeah, a lot.

[Alison]

Yeah. And the retreat center, what is it that appeals to you most about having your own retreat center versus finding one that you really like that you can just use when you're doing the retreats?

[Yolanda]

Right. Because the thing that I like most about it is that I wouldn't just use it for my retreats, but it could also kind of like serve double duty for other organizations that might want to bring in executives and do executive retreats and things like that. So another form of income, but then also, also using that to be able to facilitate some things locally, like putting. Bringing kind of like food and things to communities that don't have like grocery stores with fresh produce and stuff like that. So kind of just having like this, this circle going where the income is coming from over there, but the services are being provided in another place that really needs them. So that's what it sounds like and looks like in my head. It's just this big circle keeps working well.

[Alison]

And I wonder if a non profit structure would make the most sense for that then.

[Yolanda]

And I was thinking about that until the government happened. I've kind of made a list of things to look into is how to build something like this without having to be dependent on federal funds. Because one of the things that a few of my clients are struggling with is they have children with special needs and some of their programs are being cut because of the, you know, the lack of funding. And I'm like, no one's really thinking this through. How can we do this so that the service doesn't stop?

[Alison]

Right, right.

[Yolanda]

And so it's the people who are left.

[Alison]

Right. Like, we're recording this on the day when it's kind of a shoulder get off the pot. If you're a federal employee, you tell them if you're staying, you're going.

[Yolanda]

Right.

[Alison]

And the people who are left, it's going to be like agency work where like somebody leaves and all of a sudden you have 10 more clients in your caseload.

[Yolanda]

Yeah. And I was like, I'm not trying to. Yeah. And so the people that are left are the people that need the services. So it's kind of like, how can I create something like that that can be sustainable without having to rely on federal funds, no matter who's in charge? But then I was like, well, that's going to take a lot. I could really see it happening if I did start a nonprofit.

[Alison]

Not all nonprofit funds come from the government. You get the tax write off with the 501C3, but you can get all sorts of grants and things like that. Now, I mean, you're talking about real estate, which is a bear. And I don't know how, you know, in the improvements and the maintenance and all those kinds of things. So I don't know how that works, having never had, never owned or I guess nobody owns a nonprofit, but never started a nonprofit.

[Yolanda]

Right.

[Alison]

But from a for profit standpoint, what could be cool is what if you did retreats at somebody else's center for a while and every dime you made in profit you socked away to eventually buy your own space. And this is funded, the real estate piece of it.

[Yolanda]

Yeah. And I've been thinking about that too, because talking to my dad, we have some land that was left to our family that no one has developed. And I'm like, are y'all kidding me? Seriously, Right? So I, I thought about that and speaking with a friend of mine, renting some other facility to do these until we were able to do that. And then when my father approached me with, you know, well, you know, unc so and so left us this. And I was like, and how many years have I been alive? Could have saved a lot of heartache. So. But then also trying to learn how do we do this? Because then you have to clear the land, you have to get it ready, you know, for habitation or whatever.

[Alison]

Yeah. And choosing the right builder will take care of, you know, they handle all that. You don't have to figure it all out on your own.

[Yolanda]

Right. And then finding a good builder who. Right. Will be a good trustworthy builder. So, yeah. It seems like a lot. I mean, it is a lot.

[Alison]

Yeah. And it's a future plan. Right. Like you're not in a position to start building right now. You're feeling good about putting money into retirement. So like, we've got to put more away beyond retirement, a significant amount more in order to be able to, to build that. So I think working towards the retreats first as a stepping stone because it could also happen that you run retreats and you're like, this sucks. I hate, I love the energy of being at a retreat, but I hate the energy of leading a retreat.

[Yolanda]

Of leading. Right, right.

[Alison]

So it might be that it's something you kind of decide you don't want to do potentially. So I definitely get some experience and your feet wet in that. And I love that you've got such a clear niche for your retreats too. I think that's going to make it much easier to fill.

[Yolanda]

No, absolutely, absolutely. So I'm excited about that now. It's just. Yeah. Finding the temporary location. But between Virginia and North Carolina there's a lot of beautiful places. So.

[Alison]

For sure, for sure. And I would say like closer to an airport's probably better.

[Yolanda]

Right.

[Alison]

So that it's easily accessible and people aren't paying 200 for an Uber, you know?

[Yolanda]

Yeah, that part. Or we'd have to organize some sort of shuttle service or something at no cost to them. But then it'll be a cost for us to consider.

[Alison]

Right.

[Yolanda]

Yeah, that's what I had for today.

[Alison]

Yeah. I mean, like ultimately the easiest way to get yourself into a financial position that allows you to do these bigger things is to really hone in on those private pay clients and get more of those.

[Yolanda]

Yeah.

[Alison]

And I don't know where you live. Is United a big insurer? Like, are they filling up your practice or do you still have lots of private pay client, like a majority private pay clients?

[Yolanda]

I think it's pretty evenly split between the insurance payers and the private pay. But most of my private pay are in the Maryland, D.C. northern Virginia area. Yes, course. Because they have jobs that can't afford.

[Alison]

It and keep networking there. Keep those referrals alive.

[Yolanda]

Yeah, yeah. I definitely all of my like Psychology Today and I don't even do a lot of advertising. I do a lot of kind of like word of mouth. I did like swag bags for my primary care doctor and friends who were in other professions and so I get a lot of referrals through them.

[Alison]

Awesome.

[Yolanda]

Especially my primary care doctor. But yeah, I told her. I was like, yeah, Even though I'm moving, still continue. And she continues to send people my way. And then my psychology today has all of those zip codes up there that to make sure I'm still advertising in that area.

[Alison]

Good. Yeah. Because like, let's go with easy. It's easier for you to get those private pay clients there. I love easy.

[Yolanda]

Right? Yeah. And then the only downside is I really want to start seeing some people in person. I love working from home, but sometimes it gets old and I was like, if I could just have one day a week where I'm going somewhere and meeting with someone, then that'd be good. So I've added the zip code for where I'm at, hoping to drum up some more here. But then again that's also an extra cost. So I've kind of been going back and forth. I have a converted garage of maybe using that, but I'm not sure how comfortable I am with people coming to my home just yet.

[Alison]

Yeah, yeah. It's worth a good think through. And it depends so much on your clients too. Like who they are, how stable they are, what they get fixated on and what they don't.

[Yolanda]

Right, right. And so we'll, we'll, we'll see with that.

[Alison]

Yeah.

[Yolanda]

Trying to keep the big picture there so that I can keep working towards it. I'm not a big social media user. I have a social media account for my business and I do advertise some things, but social media just not my thing. I don't really do rely a lot on it. But what are some other ways I could get more of the private pay besides the word of mouth, the listings? I have the Psychology Today therapy for black girls. I do get some people who call me when I was on other insurance panels and then I tell them, well, I'm no longer there but I try to convert them to pay. But what are some other things I could do to increase that?

[Alison]

Do you have a website?

[Yolanda]

I do.

[Alison]

Ultimately, private pay usually comes from niches.

[Yolanda]

Okay.

[Alison]

Which you were like, I know you're going to tell me to finish that niche. No, I told you I was like.

[Yolanda]

I need to finish that exercise.

[Alison]

Yeah. All told, the niche course should take you about an hour and a half and if you can just set aside an hour and a half to do it all in one go, then you'll be in good shape. Because most people are like, well, I'll just use my insurance. Unless they found you. Because you talk about the thing that they are struggling with and they feel like you're going to help them best. Yeah, so niche. And then, you know, we've got the marketing fundamental course. And what I would recommend you do is you go through each section. Like each different marketing strategy has an Is it for me? That's pretty quick. So that you can listen to the one, for instance, on social media and be like, yeah, not for me. Skipping this. I don't need to learn anything else about it because I don't want anybody wasting their time. So go through those and see. Okay, maybe that is for me. But like networking your website, you've got your online listing, so you have two more that you can fill in with two other strategies. So see which ones land best for you.

[Yolanda]

Okay, I'll revisit those today. And I actually have the niche worksheet with me on my iPad. I saved it down today.

[Alison]

Yay.

[Yolanda]

During. Now that we've gone to lunch at this conference, I can. I can work on that.

[Alison]

Awesome. Sounds good.

[Yolanda]

Well, thank you so much for taking your time to speak with me today.

[Alison]

Sure. Take care. And keep us updated in that Facebook group.

[Yolanda]

I will. Take care. Bye. Bye.

[Alison]

Bye. Make sure your email is actually HIPAA compliant with Powell Box. Use code Abundant to get Palbox for less than $100 your first year at paubox.com if you're ready for a much easier practice, TherapyNotes is the way to go. Go to therapynotes.com and use the promo code abundant for two months. Free. If you're listening, you probably need some support building your practice. If you're a super newbie, grab our free checklist using the link in the show notes. I'd love for you to follow rate and review, but I really want you to share this episode with a therapist friend. Let's help all our colleagues build what they want.