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Foreign welcome to Ask Allison. Y' all ask the questions about having a fun and thriving practice and I answer them. We have a worksheet for you today so you can bring this answer into your life. You can Access that@AbundancePracticeBuilding.com links where you'll also be able to ask any questions you have for Ask Allison. If you want more support, we've got some free trainings in there too. If you can't get enough Ask Allison, check out our YouTube channel for our entire Ask Allison library. Welcome back to Ask Allison. Here's today's question. Can it be too early to think about private practice? I'm working towards licensure, should be done next year, and I'm doing therapy as a clinical intern. But I know my goal is to be in private practice. When's the right time to start figuring this stuff out? I love a planner. Before I answer this question, I would like to thank Therapy Notes. They are our sponsor for Ask Alice. I've talked about them for years. I know their features by heart, but what really sets them apart is that they genuinely care about your experience. It's not just about troubleshooting. They actively implement user suggested features like Therapy search, secure messaging, Therapy fuel. Everybody at TherapyNotes really believes in the product and they want you to love it too. Plus, they're independently owned, which means no venture capital, no pressure to prioritize investors over customers. This independence allows them to keep their prices fair and focus on innovation and prioritize customer experience. With over 100,000 therapists already on board, they've proven you don't have to compromise success for quality. If you're ready to see for yourself, try TherapyNotes for two months free with code abundanttherapynotes.com okay, so I love a forward thinker. You're already showing the kind of clarity and motivation that's going to serve you so well when it's time to actually launch your practice. So let me be really clear. It is absolutely not too early to be thinking about this. In fact, back I would say it's probably the perfect time. You are still in the process of getting licensed. You're in this unique space where you're learning a ton clinically, but you're also not yet bogged down in the logistics of running a business. And that makes it a really ideal moment to start laying the groundwork. So let's start with what you don't need to do yet. You do not need to register a PLLC or PC. You don't need to get an NPI or set up a business bank account. You don't need liability insurance. Aside from what you might need for your work. All that back end business setup stuff, yes, you're going to need it eventually. And yes, we have a checklist for that inside the Abundance party, but right now you get to skip that part. But what you can do now is something that will make your eventual launch so much easier. You can start building your brand before you cringe. Let's talk about what that actually means. First, I want you to do your best to get clear on your niche. It does not have to be perfect, it doesn't have to be permanent. But it helps tremendously to have some clarity on who your ideal client might be, what issues might light you up, what kind of people are you naturally drawn to help? Who do you find yourself thinking about between sessions? And I'll tell you something I tell the newly licensed folks I work with, if your license allows it, you're allowed to go straight into private practice. If that's your goal. I don't believe in the whole pay your dues at a soul sucking agency narrative. If it's not aligned. That narrative is rooted in scarcity and outdated professional gatekeeping. Now if you want to go the agency route, you feel like that's going to be valuable experience and information for you. Do it, do it, do it. But if you know you want to be in private practice and your license allows it, I say go on in it. And that said, a lot of early career therapists and later therapists do struggle with imposter syndrome. They worry that they're not good enough yet to go into practice. Or worse, someone says something rude about their age or their experience. So to help with that, today's worksheet is going to be all about why newer clinicians are actually great and fantastic as private practice therapists. You can DM me the word sheets and I'll send it to you. All right, Step two Create content. So I want you to pick a medium, social media, which we'll go into more in a minute. Blog or video, whatever feels right for you. Build a really simple website. Again, you don't need a contact form yet. You don't need anything for people to get in touch with you and start creating content that speaks to your ideal client's experience. Consistency is way more important than perfection here. So what do they need to hear? What are they googling at 2am? Start answering those questions in your content and you'll not only gain confidence, you'll start to develop your voice. Step three is to network intentionally. Start connecting with therapists and professionals in the community where you want to open your practice. Even if you're not open for business yet. You can introduce yourself, you can talk about your interests and be of service in those spaces. Volunteer on boards related to your niche. I was on several boards throughout my career and that really helped me get to know the clinical community, the people who work with my clients. But in different ways, it was a really good way to also just be of service to the population that I care about. So join local groups. You don't have to serve on a board if that feels like too much with what you've got going on right now and attend events so you'll build relationships now that can turn into referrals later. These relationships are not transactional. These are like real relationships. Not I scratch your back, you scratch mine. These are like friendships and heads up. As you're networking, you're probably going to get offered jobs. This is really flattering, but if your end goal is private practice, keep your eye on the ball. Remember that and weigh opportunities accordingly. All right, Step four is to hone your clinical skills. If your internship or job pays for CEUs, take advantage of that. I strongly recommend not boring CES for your continuing ed. Choose trainings that are not just interesting, but also aligned with your future private practice. Who you want to serve. Think about what your future clients will need from you and become an expert in those areas. Step 5 if you want to use social media, this is a great time to start. I always say you do not have to have social media to build a thriving practice. Most people on social media aren't getting clients from it, but if you are going to use it, now is a good time to build a presence. See what works. If you're writing blogs or videos, you can post those on there. But really I want you to stay focused on what works on social media. To get clients in the door. You're going to build your audience with reels. You're going to create some carousels that are informational. Infotainment can be really great. That's where you're entertaining while sharing information. Look at the people that you follow who are in the mental health space and see what it is that you like. Look at their stats as you look at the posts, like see what got a lot of comments. Start to be really curious about what works. Stay active in your stories and your posts and let people get to know you not as a friend, but as this, like grounded, passionate professional with a unique voice. If you're like, ah, I don't have a unique voice. I don't know enough to have a unique voice. That's not true. You are your own human being. You have your own perspectives that are informed by other things. Are you the only one in the world with that perspective? Probably not. Is it a common perspective amongst therapists? Maybe so. But you're going to explain it and you're going to embody it in a different way than another therapist will. You can use this time to experiment. What content feels natural, what platforms feels like the best fit. And the platforms meaning like Instagram or Facebook or, you know, whatever else TikTok see what feels like the most natural fit for you and where are you getting your best ideal clients? You're not trying to fill a practice yet, so there's a lot less pressure, but I would still be consistent. So you can kind of gather data. And finally, this one's important with any of it. Don't let perfectionism get in the way of starting. You do not need to have it all figured out before you begin. Start small, start messy if you have to. Every bit you build now is going to make your future private practice that much smoother to launch. So again, to answer your question directly, no, it is not too early. If anything, you're right on time. The fact that you're asking now tells me that you're going to be way more prepared than most people are when they start. And if you're looking for step by step guidance on how to build your practice, including how to found your niche, how to build like sustainable marketing plans that don't eat up your life, and how to make the jump when you're ready. We've got all of that in the abundance party. It's 69amonth and we built it specifically with people like you in mind. Folks who are starting from scratch or people who are plateaued. They want a practice that feels aligned and ethical and sustainable. As I mentioned earlier, you can DM me the word sheets and I'll send you today's worksheet, which is why new clinicians make amazing private practice therapists. We've got links for both of these in the show notes if you're listening on the podcast. All right, you got this. I can't wait to see what you build. 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. I hope that helped. If you have questions for Ask Allison or you want to get your hands on the worksheet for this episode, go to abundancepracticebuilding.com Links if you're listening, you probably need some 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.