Episode #719: Decreasing From 70 Hours/Week

Summary

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Episode Overview

Title: Decreasing From 70 Hours/Week
Podcast: Abundant Practice Podcast
Host: Allison Puryear
Episode: #719
Date: December 31, 2025

Theme:
This episode dives into the journey of transitioning from an overwhelming 70-hour workweek to a sustainable, fulfilling private practice. Allison provides personalized guidance to a therapist intern about rate setting, client load, marketing, income goals, and setting a healthy foundation before branching into new offerings like courses or pro bono work. The episode is filled with mindset shifts, actionable advice, and real talk about the realities and possibilities of private practice.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Background: The Therapist Intern’s Situation

• Current status: Just about to graduate in December; working full-time as a high school teacher while building a paid therapy caseload (currently EMDR trained).
• Goal: Replace all income from the teaching job by building a private practice with better hours, more self-pay, and a higher rate ($175/session).
• Long-term plan: See 20-30 clients at a full rate for “bill money/legacy income,” maintain a smaller number of lower-fee/grandfathered clients for “Amazon money,” and eventually create a course (03:00–04:10).

Reducing Client Load & Avoiding Burnout

• Ideal caseload debate:
  • Intern considers 40–45 clients per week, given recent workload.
  • Allison & Consultant recommend 26 weekly clients as the burnout threshold.
  • Note: Intensity, personal life, and clinical work heaviness must be considered rather than just numbers. (04:40–05:58)
• Notable Quote:
  "[T]he cutoff for where burnout really starts getting its claws into you is 26 clients a week total." (04:40 – Practice Consultant)

Setting Rates & Attracting the Right Clients

• Overcoming Limiting Beliefs:
  • The intern assumes high rates ($175+) mean clients will come less frequently (monthly vs. weekly).
  • Allison’s stance: Set the expectation for weekly meetings until clinically appropriate to reduce frequency. (06:00–07:50)
  • The more narrowly you market to the “right” client, the easier it is to maintain a higher rate and lower client load.
• Marketing Funnel:
  • Shift from low-fee/Medicaid EMDR to premium self-pay clients.
  • Focus on attracting clients who value specialized work ("I've done a lot of talking about my trauma and I'm still hurting") (09:25–10:36).
  • Facebook and Google ads experience, with advice to diversify marketing strategies and not put all eggs in the ads basket. (11:15–11:54)
• Crafting Your Web Presence:
  • Your website or landing page should tell the client’s story, not focus on modalities or your credentials.
  • Relief and resonance are key emotions to evoke.
• Notable Quote:
  "You want to talk about them, not you. You want to talk about them. Not EMDR. Make sure you're really nailing their daily lived experience." (09:53 – Practice Consultant)

Timeline Expectations

• Client Acquisition:
  "Maybe as short as four months, maybe as long as 12." (11:17–11:24 – Practice Consultant)
  • Variables: Niche, location, strategy, time of year, and consistency of effort.
  • Important: Avoid basing financial runway on the shortest estimate; be prepared for the long haul.

Scaling & Diversifying Income: When to Build a Course

• Courses are NOT recommended early on.
  "I usually don't recommend thinking about courses for most therapists. And if they do, I'm talking like years into practice where everything is streamlined and easy." (13:32–13:41 – Practice Consultant)
• Build a course only after your practice is full, stable, and high-fee ("...charging 250 or 300 per session, seeing a handful of clients... and have... extra energy and time and money.")
• Marketing a course is a second business—don't underestimate the effort.

Setting, Raising and Justifying Fees

• Dynamic Pricing Mindset:
  • $175/session is a strong, premium rate, but therapists can raise rates as their reputation builds.
  • Yearly increases are advised, with advance client notice (ideally scheduled for January). Raise by $25–$50 is common and typically doesn't result in losing many clients at this level.
  • Use tools like Tiffany McLean’s “Fun with Fees” calculator to set intentional rates based on lifestyle goals (15:05–15:43).
• Handling Criticism and Guilt:
  • Be clear about your needs and financial goals to resist guilt from peers about not being "accessible enough."
  • Notable Quote:
    "There are therapists you might be in school with... who are like, shouting about accessibility... but if you’re really clear, like, 'I'd like to pay my rent every single month and go out to eat when I want'... then when those people come at you... it's easier to not let it get in." (16:33–16:44 – Practice Consultant)

Pro Bono and Sliding Scale Ethics (21:47–23:13)

• Guiding Principle:
  • Establish financial stability first before offering pro bono or sliding-scale spots.
  • “You have to have all your bills paid, your retirement paid, you’re paying down your student loans... and then you can have as many pro bono spots as your heart desires...” (22:45–23:06 – Practice Consultant)
• One or two low-fee or pro bono spots are the norm, after the practice is on strong footing.

Membership Program (Abundance Party) Utilization

• Recommendation:
  • With limited time, pick targeted resources, e.g. "Build the Right Practice" course first, followed by "Know Your Niche," then the "Marketing Fundamentals." One hour per week is enough to stay on track (23:39–24:24).

Consultant's Outlook for the Intern (20:15–21:20)

• Positive Prediction:
  • The intern's efficiency and action orientation are highlighted.
  • Likely to be full in six months and possibly raising rates, with a shift to premium-fee-only clients as earlier, lower-fee clients graduate.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Burnout:
  "The cutoff for where burnout really starts getting its claws into you is 26 clients a week total." (04:40 – Practice Consultant)

• Marketing Your Value:
  "It's a me value." (08:53 – Therapist Intern)
  "You want to talk about them, not you... Make sure you're really nailing their daily lived experience." (09:53 – Practice Consultant)

• On Pricing:
  "When you set the fee and market well enough." (14:40 – Practice Consultant in response to 'when will people pay that much?')

• On Rate Increases:
  "Put it in your paperwork so that it's something your clients know is going to come..." (17:45 – Practice Consultant)

• On Offering Pro Bono:
  "You have to kind of earn your way into offering pro bono or sliding scale... you need to make sure all those things are handled first. And then you can have as many pro bono spots as your heart desires, as long as it doesn't start burning you out or you don't start getting resentful." (22:03–23:13 – Practice Consultant)

• Empowering Outlook:
  "You are efficient as hell. And you are somebody who gets shit done... I wouldn't be surprised if you were full in six months and you were maybe starting to be like, okay, this is a lot of clients..." (20:23 – Practice Consultant)

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Key Timestamps

• Dream Caseload & Rate Goals: 02:15–04:10
• Work-Life Balance & Burnout Thresholds: 04:40–06:00
• Session Frequency & Value Mindset: 06:35–07:50
• Marketing Funnels & Niching: 08:29–11:54
• Acquisition Timeline: 11:03–11:24
• Courses: Not Yet!: 13:32–14:26
• Mindset on Raising Rates: 14:31–17:45
• Annual Rate Increases: 17:45–18:07
• Pro Bono Considerations: 21:47–23:13
• Consultant’s Six-Month Prognosis: 20:15–21:20
• How to Use Membership Resources: 23:39–24:24

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Summary

This episode provides a practical, motivational, and honest roadmap for therapists looking to break free from grueling agency or double-job schedules and build a thriving, sustainable private practice. By focusing on clear messaging, smart rate-setting, targeted marketing, and protecting one's energy and time, Allison and her guest highlight both the possibilities and the rigor required for such a career shift. Listeners leave with clarity on what steps to take next, when to expand, how to justify fees, and how to grow a practice in accordance with their life goals.

Transcript

[Therapist Intern]

Foreign.

[Alison]

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 practice building.com Links all right, onto the show. So I've talked about therapy notes 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 therapy notes that doesn't typically make it into an ad script.

[Practice Consultant]

First is that they actually care if you like their platform.

[Alison]

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.

[Practice Consultant]

A super smooth, super bill process.

[Alison]

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.

[Practice Consultant]

Why should you care about that? Because as soon as venture capital becomes.

[Alison]

Involved, the focus shifts from making customers happy to making investors happy.

[Practice Consultant]

Prices go way up.

[Alison]

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. Hello.

[Therapist Intern]

Hi.

[Practice Consultant]

Yeah, how you doing?

[Therapist Intern]

I'm well, thank you. How are you?

[Practice Consultant]

I'm doing all right, yeah. What would be helpful today?

[Therapist Intern]

Well, first I just want to thank you for creating this time. I'm grateful to connect with you.

[Practice Consultant]

Absolutely.

[Therapist Intern]

Yeah.

[Practice Consultant]

I want to do everything we can to make sure it's super helpful.

[Therapist Intern]

Thank you. So at this point I am graduating in December. I have already established like a paid position where I am building my own caseload. I'm EMDR trained and so obviously that's an asset and it allows me to leverage like even being, you know, pre licensed, higher rates and so kind of like right now today I have a full caseload and my vision for the next three and six months is to add in more self, self pay with my like preferred rate. So as an intern, my supervisor's kind of practice building process was like $60 sessions. So I was basically working not for free, let's you know, be transparent because many interns are working for free, but I was working for very little. Right. And so I'm moving into this space of naming like no, My rate is 1:75. That's my intention and my vision is that if I can have like 20 to 30 clients paying that full rate, that those clients all on their own make for me the, the income that I want each month and then everything else I have on my case. So like the folks who are still grandfathered in at that earlier rate or my Medicaid folks, I will still see them. But that's like, that's like my Amazon money. And then like the new self pay, that's like my bill money, my you know, legacy income. So that's a growth goal and then like 6 month goal of starting a course. So those are my two kind of like right now I'm planning for three and six months from now where that won't be a goal. That'll be like my, you know, reality.

[Practice Consultant]

Okay, so how many clients are you wanting to see total per week?

[Therapist Intern]

I don't know that I have an answer to that. And I say that because for the past six months I've been working literally 70 hours a week between full time job, which I'm leaving this month, and my caseload. So right Now I'm working 70 hours. I'd like to reduce that. And when I leave my full time job, I do realistically have like let's say 30 extra hours a week where I'd be willing to see maybe 15 more clients. So maybe I'm looking for 45 clients total.

[Practice Consultant]

Okay.

[Therapist Intern]

You know, like at that, at that 175 rate, I would expect we're seeing each other once maybe twice a month.

[Practice Consultant]

Oh, okay. So your full time job now, is it clinical?

[Therapist Intern]

No, high school teacher.

[Practice Consultant]

Got it.

[Therapist Intern]

Okay.

[Practice Consultant]

Which has a whole other set of different hardness. Yeah. So what they what's recommended in private practice? The cutoff for where burnout really starts getting its claws into you is 26 clients a week total.

[Therapist Intern]

And my thinking is like I don't want to, I don't want to be like, oh, but I can do it. But my thinking is my, my priority is around having two or three days off. So like right now I have Saturday completely off. I want to extend that to Friday and then maybe like A half day virtual on Thursdays. So I feel that maybe Sunday, Sunday. Right now I see like 10 folks. So maybe like 40 a week is my number. Maybe that's my number based on what I've been able to do and prioritizing, like those days off.

[Practice Consultant]

Right. And when I think about the data, it's across therapists. Like, I don't know what other responsibilities you have. I don't know what else your life looks like. I think for somebody who's. I don't know. Do you have kids?

[Therapist Intern]

No. Like, I'm free in that way, so I don't have others that I care for.

[Practice Consultant]

So if you're not caretaking a bunch of people, whether it's parents or kids, I think that there definitely can be some more leeway. And when you've been running as hard and as far and as long as you have been running, it's going to feel probably like bliss to work 40 hours a week.

[Therapist Intern]

That's the thinking.

[Practice Consultant]

And 40 hours a week of clinical work is heavy. So I just want to put it out there for you to pay attention, notice how your body responds over time to that many clients. And you were saying you expect them to come like once or twice a month at 1:75.

[Therapist Intern]

That's my assumption, and maybe that's wrong, but that feels like a safe assumption to each week have that 15 client caseload where they're paying that rate. So that in the month, I've seen at least 30, 40 clients at that rate.

[Practice Consultant]

So it depends on how you set things up. If you. If that's what you want, you can do that. I see my clients weekly until a few months down the line. So you can say in their initial phone call, or if there's a staff person who does the initial phone call. Like, you can say, I work with clients weekly until we both decide that clinically it makes more sense to go bi weekly. And some clinicians only work weekly. Like the end forever. Like when you don't need weekly anymore, you're done. So it really just depends on how you want to structure your practice. But the more clients you have, the more heaviness there is.

[Therapist Intern]

Okay, that was maybe a limiting belief of, like, people will only pay this rate once a month. But I feel like hearing you say, if I state the expectation that this is how we work together until there's a community of people who will. Who will pay that rate weekly.

[Practice Consultant]

Yes, yes. And it all comes down to marketing, right?

[Therapist Intern]

Yeah.

[Practice Consultant]

It's helping them find you. That's your job. And also Just thinking about it from not just the ease of practice and the heaviness of practice, but clinically. So much more work is going to get done for folks and within folks. If they're meeting with you weekly versus monthly.

[Therapist Intern]

Yeah, that's already a mindset shift. I am working with someone who's building out like a funnel for marketing. And I've, like, had success with him before. That's kind of where I went from this jump from like, I have 10 clients to like, okay, I have a full caseload. So I think I just hoped, like, I've been trying to access this call essentially to like, say out loud this is my intention and not someone else. Tell me, like someone with your experience. Tell me it's possible and tell me what do I need to do to find. I suppose if I was seeing 20. 20 weekly? Yeah, 20 clients weekly at the 175 rate. If they'd see me weekly, I only need 20.

[Practice Consultant]

Yeah. And that's easier to get 20 people than 40 people or more. What marketing strategies has he used that's.

[Therapist Intern]

Worked for you in the past? He did Facebook ads, and I would say that was sort of like throwing spaghetti at the wall a little bit because we got a lot of like. And I was. In the past, the. The niche was different. I was marketing for Medicaid EMDR, which is like red hot or like $60 EMDR sessions. So now the. The niche is. Is more refined, $175. And he said essentially, we want to like, help folks understand that they want to pay to work with me, not like they're looking at the rate or the services. It's a me value. So in the past Facebook marketing worked. Now he's going to use Google Ads, and so he's like building that funnel right now.

[Practice Consultant]

Okay, and what's your niche?

[Therapist Intern]

Trauma.

[Practice Consultant]

Okay. So it's people who've already identified that they have trauma or they think it's anxiety, but it's really trauma.

[Therapist Intern]

I would say the like, like, my ideal client has done some work already, so they've got the resources, they've. They've got coping skills. And the story that I tend to resonate well with is like, I've done a lot of talking about my trauma and I'm still hurting. So, like, I've got coping skills and I'm still hurting. And so that client, I do very well with them.

[Practice Consultant]

Love that. And that's great specificity for Facebook ads, potentially. So, like, share that with your Facebook ad person. I find that the therapists who are like, who also like their clients who've had therapy before, but they just, like, haven't gotten up underneath. Whatever. The thing is, when you say that clients lend you more credibility immediately, right. Of like, oh, okay, you're going to do the things that my other therapists haven't done. It's relieving to them. And that's the number one thing we want our clients to feel when they find us, is relief. And the best way we can do that, like, if you're running that Google Ad, that means you're going to have a webpage that they go to. You want to talk about them, not you. You want to talk about them. Not emdr. Make sure you're really nailing their daily lived experience.

[Therapist Intern]

How long will it take for me to find these 20 clients with a strong marketing funnel?

[Practice Consultant]

It just varies drastically. I wish I could give you a number. It varies by niche, it varies by location, it varies by marketing strategies you're using by what year you're doing it. Like, if you had done this three years ago, it'd be like that. But these days it takes longer. So I don't want to speculate because I don't want you to be like, I have just enough saved for that exact date.

[Therapist Intern]

And no, I also don't want you to worry that I'm like, I have this much money. When will it be ready? Like, I'm prepared for it to take as long as it takes. What would you say is like a realistic. Maybe. Maybe as short as. Possibly as long as I would say.

[Practice Consultant]

Okay, 20, 25 is different. I would say maybe as short as four months, maybe as long as 12.

[Therapist Intern]

Okay.

[Practice Consultant]

If you're consistent and, like, you know, you and the ad guy are really looking at the data, tweaking things. Ads don't work for everybody. So it might also be that it doesn't work for the people who are willing to pay 175. Like, those people might not be looking for their therapist on Facebook or looking for their therapist on Google. So making sure you're using those other strategies once you have time, like networking and those kinds of things, in order to not have all your eggs in the ads basket.

[Therapist Intern]

Ad guy also shared that he wants to build an evergreen system where, like, I have a YouTube and I have, like, a more built online presence. How essential would you say that is right now at this point? Not okay.

[Practice Consultant]

Right now you're working 70 hours a week. There's very little that's essential.

[Therapist Intern]

Okay.

[Practice Consultant]

I love that you're farming stuff out, because I can't imagine you trying to do all the work that you need to do to get a practice off the ground in addition to all the work you're currently doing.

[Therapist Intern]

And the reality is, if I did nothing at all right now and just sat with the caseload that I have, that's a sustainable income. And I've gotten very spoiled because I've been working both jobs. And so I've got now this vision of like, but if I had X number of self pay clients, I could work far less and have the income I've been having working more. So now I've had a taste of like that financial freedom.

[Practice Consultant]

And yes, good for you.

[Therapist Intern]

I'm hearing you say that I should make sure that the landing page focuses on the client's story, not the modalities and not me. It's all about their story. So they feel a sense of relief when they read their story and recognize I'm someone who understands. Might take as little as four months to get the clients I want as long as 12 months. And I heard you say that people will pay this rate weekly. That's my ideal client. Someone who's willing to do the work and has the resources to pay it weekly so we can move forward faster so that I don't have to have such a huge caseload.

[Practice Consultant]

Yeah, yeah.

[Therapist Intern]

At what point should I be thinking about the course?

[Practice Consultant]

I usually don't recommend thinking about courses for most therapists. And if they do, I'm talking like years into practice where everything is streamlined and easy.

[Therapist Intern]

Okay.

[Practice Consultant]

I'd rather you be in a position where you're charging 250 or 300 per session, you're seeing a handful of clients and you're like, you know what? I got a little extra energy and time and money. What do I want to do with it? Maybe build a course. Because courses, the marketing of courses is so much more robust than anybody is going to tell you who is selling you the opportunity to start a course.

[Therapist Intern]

Okay, cool.

[Practice Consultant]

Everybody makes it sound like, make money in your sleep, but it is like, yeah, make money in your sleep because you marketed four hours a day for five to seven days a week for years.

[Therapist Intern]

Got it.

[Practice Consultant]

So I would rather you have everything you want in one business until or unless you get this itch where you're like, I'm just so on fire about creating this thing. I can't not.

[Therapist Intern]

Okay, you just said something that kind of broke my brain.

[Alison]

Okay.

[Therapist Intern]

I was thinking that my rate is 175 and you just said something like 200 or 250 and I'm wondering, when will people pay that much to work with me?

[Practice Consultant]

When you set the fee and market well enough.

[Therapist Intern]

And so. Okay, your face.

[Practice Consultant]

I wish I could frame that. I'm just.

[Therapist Intern]

Because, I mean, I know that I know there's value in working with me. Like, I have a master's in public health, and so I come into counseling with this, like, history of other experience that underscores the work I do. So, like, right now, as I'm preparing to launch this funnel is 175 too low?

[Practice Consultant]

I wouldn't say it's a low fee. It's still considered a premium fee. And I think getting your feet wet with a higher fee will probably help ultimately. Are you familiar with Tiffany McLean over at Lean and McBank? She's a great person to follow. She's got a Fun With Fees calculator on her homepage. And it helps you figure out what fee you need to set. So I would recommend that. And because it really is ultimately about what do you need to live the life that you want and need to live? The one that allows for vacations, the one that allows for you to put away to retirement, pay off student loans, all of it. And for most of us, it's not what insurance is going to pay us.

[Therapist Intern]

Right.

[Practice Consultant]

So I would check her out. She's also got a great podcast called the Money Sessions, and she's got a great program called Lean and Make bank that kind of walks people through the process. I feel like I'm a salesperson for Tiffany, but we share a lot of clients. She's amazing.

[Therapist Intern]

Yeah.

[Practice Consultant]

It's a good mindset thing to think through, like, what do I need to be living the life that I want to live? And then it makes it really a lot easier to stand by your fee because it's not this arbitrary number. Especially when the people, you know, there are therapists you might be in school with, some of them who are like, shouting about accessibility. And anybody who isn't taking Medicaid and Medicare and only sliding scale, all those people are just greedy and in it for the wrong reasons.

[Alison]

Right.

[Practice Consultant]

But if you're really clear, like, I'd like to pay my rent every single month and I'd like to be able to go out to eat when I want to go out to eat. And that's not harmful to our culture, society.

[Therapist Intern]

Yeah.

[Practice Consultant]

Then when those people come at you, which they will at some point when you have a higher fee, it's easier to kind of not let it, not let it get in.

[Therapist Intern]

Okay. And so with that understanding of wondering I have, I guess I. I can't ask this question. Well, so I'll just put the words out. Should there be two rates? Like, if I'm looking for emdr, this is the rate. And if I'm looking for. No.

[Practice Consultant]

No. One of my favorite marketing mantras is a confused mind says no. If you have two rates and they don't know which one it is, they're going to go to another therapist.

[Therapist Intern]

Okay.

[Practice Consultant]

To make it super clear and easy. Okay.

[Therapist Intern]

And then I guess follow up question. 175 is still a premium rate. I could and should be thinking of charging more as I think about the quality of life I want and the like amount of income I need to sustain that. So do I start at 175 and then in six months reevaluate?

[Alison]

Yeah.

[Practice Consultant]

I usually recommend a yearly increase. Put it in your paperwork so that it's something your clients know is going to come.

[Therapist Intern]

Great.

[Practice Consultant]

Give them like two months to six weeks. Notice that it's going up. It's nice to have it in January just because it's a nice fresh start to the year.

[Therapist Intern]

So do you lose clients when that increase comes?

[Practice Consultant]

It depends on the increase. I've had some people increase a hundred dollars a session because they were just like, so much lower than they needed to be, and they lost some folks that way. But usually a 25 to 50 increase doesn't lose a bunch of people, especially if you're already at a premium fee. Because somebody who can afford 175 can also probably afford 225.

[Therapist Intern]

Okay.

[Practice Consultant]

And because it's your practice, if somebody can't and you love working with them and they're like, I can't do that, then you can be like, all right, what about 200? Would you be able to do that? No. Okay, we can keep it at 175 for the next six months and we'll reevaluate. You know, it's your practice, your rules, so there can be some flexibility or it can be rigid, if that's what you need.

[Therapist Intern]

Okay. So My rate is 175. My landing page will sell the story that the client is experiencing. They'll feel resonance with no confusion. I can and will find the number of clients I need who will pay that rate weekly. And in my consult call, I'm making it clear that I'd like to work together weekly until clinically. It makes sense to reduce the frequency, which is like when I'm thinking separate from dollar amount, like, that's my approach. Just makes sense. Until it doesn't.

[Practice Consultant]

Yeah.

[Therapist Intern]

I want someone who can afford that rate weekly, comfortably.

[Practice Consultant]

Mm.

[Therapist Intern]

Okay. And then over the next four months, those clients are going to come in. By the next year, it's reasonable to. To be in a different point where I'm now increasing my rate by 25 to 50.

[Practice Consultant]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Therapist Intern]

And then eventually I'll do a course when I have so much free time and the systems are just running, but not at any point before that because it's going to burn me out.

[Practice Consultant]

Yeah. And I would really, really love for you to, like, get into this point where you're like, oh, I have so.

[Alison]

Much of a life.

[Practice Consultant]

This is so great, because I'm imagining 70 hours a week. There's just not a lot of time for life.

[Therapist Intern]

Not much.

[Practice Consultant]

So I'd love for you to relearn what you like for fun and what relationships you want to spend more time with.

[Therapist Intern]

Yeah.

[Alison]

Okay.

[Therapist Intern]

Given all what you know about me and just this initial impression, what will my practice be like in six months? Ooh.

[Practice Consultant]

Well, what I've gotten so far, like, you are efficient as hell. You are so efficient. And you are somebody who gets shit done. I can tell already. So the efficiency and the getting shit done is going to help you move a lot faster than the people who perseverate and wonder if this is the right move. And let me think about it for another two months. So I can't predict what your practice would look like in six months, but I wouldn't be surprised if you were full in six months and you were maybe starting to be like, okay, this is a lot of clients. And as your lower fee, people are graduating out of therapy or moving away or whatever, starting to not take on clients in their spot, and instead getting to that place where, you know, six months later, you've got all premium fee at your highest, your new hire rate, and you're not having to work so many hours.

[Therapist Intern]

Mm, mm, mm. What are your thoughts or what is your. I almost feel like I'm answering the question. This feels like an example of sort of what pro bono might look like in your space. Like, obviously, I'm a paid member and this premium call that I'm getting my membership, and it was like a lottery. So that's my observation. But then my wondering is, what does pro bono look like when you're a premium rate provider?

[Practice Consultant]

Yes, great question. So it totally depends if you dive into Tiffany's world. Tiffany and I differ in our opinions on this. There's no right or wrong way. But I think we would both agree you have to kind of earn your way into offering pro bono or sliding scale.

[Therapist Intern]

Okay.

[Practice Consultant]

A lot of therapists want to come in with a bunch of sliding scale and pro bono, and then they can't pay their bills because their caseload's full of people who are doing the best they can financially.

[Therapist Intern]

Yeah.

[Practice Consultant]

But it's not going to pay that therapist bill. So for me, I keep at least one or two spots available that are super low fee because I charge 300 and I'm about to go to 400, but I keep a $50 spot or two available at any given time.

[Therapist Intern]

Okay.

[Practice Consultant]

And in my. I have a group practice, another person working with me where we had a hurricane in our town and a lot of people were in bad shape. So, like, she's also got a pro bono spot that she keeps in addition to some sliding scale folks.

[Alison]

So.

[Practice Consultant]

But you have to have all your bills paid, your retirement paid, you're like paying down your student loans faster. Like, whatever your financial goals are, you need to make sure all those things are handled first. And then you can have as many pro bono spots as your heart desires, as long as it doesn't start burning you out or you don't start getting resentful.

[Therapist Intern]

And so it sounds like it's similar to the course where that's a beautiful idea for the future once the engine is running so smoothly that now I can do whatever the hell I want.

[Practice Consultant]

Absolutely. Yeah.

[Therapist Intern]

Okay. Ooh, this is so helpful. And so I guess a wondering at this point, I'm in the abundance practice and I haven't been using the resources and I think it's just because I haven't had time to dig into them. Like this resource, like the access to this call was worth all what I've paid for. How should I move forward to make better use of that membership? So I'm not just like, oh, I paid again.

[Practice Consultant]

Yeah, I would with your schedule, maybe do the build the right practice course is always the course I recommend first. Just it's about an hour, maybe a little tiny bit more. Do that this week. Like just add one hour a week at most of work on your practice. And then the next week maybe do know your niche so you can get some more specificity because that's going to really help with that landing page. And then there's the marketing fundamentals course that you can tackle after that. And that one's pretty robust because it's got all these different marketing strategies. Inside of that is an easy, effective website copy. And you can use the homepage template for your landing page if it's going to make writing that easier.

[Therapist Intern]

Okay, cool. And then when do I either pay for or try to access another call with you?

[Practice Consultant]

So every six months you guys have the opportunity to get a free one. We also have a package just for people in the party. That's three calls with me that are an hour long for or 50 minutes long for $1200. So that's available through there.

[Therapist Intern]

And so based on like my current plan and the next steps I am taking, when do you think would be most meaningful to either pay for or attempt to access a call?

[Practice Consultant]

I get through graduation and get some. Get some time. So in January will you be done with your high school job?

[Therapist Intern]

Oh, I'm putting in my two weeks in two weeks. And so December I'll be done.

[Practice Consultant]

Okay, great. So I wait until you've not just had some downtime compared to what you've been doing, but also been able to dive into some of the resources and maybe start to build out things. If at that point you want me to look at your landing page, I'm happy to give you feedback on that during a one on one call. So I get some things done first. And with the one on ones, when you buy the package of three, you have three months to use them. So you could spread them out or clump them. Whatever works for you.

[Therapist Intern]

Okay? Yeah. Excellent. I thank you so much. You are awesome. I'm really.

[Practice Consultant]

You're awesome too. I'm so excited about. You're just. You're just like a rocket ship. I love it. You're going to get what you want and I am so excited about that for you. So awesome.

[Therapist Intern]

Thank you so much. Have an amazing day.

[Practice Consultant]

You too. Take care.

[Therapist Intern]

Bye. Bye.

[Alison]

If you're ready for a much easier practice, therapy notes 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, not notes.

[Practice Consultant]

I'd love for you to follow rate.

[Alison]

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.