Episode #728: Why Can't I Get Clients

Abundant Practice Podcast

Host: Allison Puryear
Date: January 31, 2026

Episode Overview

In this episode, Allison Puryear answers a vulnerable listener question: why is my private practice not getting clients? She addresses the common frustrations and self-doubt that therapists feel when starting a private practice. Allison breaks down the core reasons practices stay empty, provides actionable steps for building a full caseload, and reassures therapists that a thriving practice is within reach—with systems, strategies, and consistency.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Vulnerability of Building a New Practice (02:15–03:45)

Empathy for Struggling Therapists:
Allison recognizes how isolating and personal it feels when all the work to start a practice results in "crickets."

"This is one of the most vulnerable places a therapist can be in their private practice… and the universe is responding with a whole lot of crickets. It is scary. It's lonely. It feels personal." (03:15, Allison Puryear)
Commonality of the Struggle:
She reassures listeners that nearly every therapist faces this at the start and that it's not a personal failure.

2. The Three Core Ingredients for Getting Clients (04:00–04:38)

Essentials Reviewed:
Allison presents a three-question framework for diagnosing why clients aren’t coming:
1. Are you truly niched?
2. Are you using up to (and no more than) five marketing strategies?
3. Are you using best practices for those strategies, consistently and long enough?
"When these three things line up, therapists get full. Even when one is missing, the phone can stay quiet." (04:31)

3. Deep Dive: Niching Your Practice (04:40–06:00)

What's NOT a Niche:
Saying you see "teens, adults, couples, anxiety, trauma, grief, ADHD, postpartum anxiety" is a buffet, not a niche.
The Power of a Niche:
A niche helps your ideal client recognize themselves instantly and makes marketing more effective.

"A niche isn't about excluding people. It's about letting your ideal client recognize themselves instantly." (05:16)
Consequences of Vagueness:
Without a niche, your marketing becomes "vague, generic, and forgettable."

4. The Five-Marketing-Strategy Principle (06:01–08:00)

No Single-Line Marketing:
Having just a Psychology Today listing and telling people about your practice is insufficient.
Build a Marketing 'Web':
Therapists should maintain approximately five active strategies—which could include:
- A clear, niched website
- Networking (which doesn't always mean events; it can be a coffee with a potential referral source)
- Niche-specific directories (not just Psychology Today)
- Social media (if you enjoy it)
- Blogging and SEO
- Community workshops and talks
- Active participation in relevant groups
"Marketing works best. Think of it like a web. It's not like a fishing pole dangling in the ocean. It's like a net." (07:51)

5. Consistency and Mastery of Best Practices (08:01–10:00)

Quality Over Quantity:
Therapists often think they're doing "all the things" but may be doing them incorrectly or inconsistently.
Best Practices Example (Psychology Today):
- Your first sentence must clearly target your niche.
- Use warm, human language, not clinical jargon.
- Approachable headshot, transparent fee, and client-facing copy.
Consistency Is Key:
Sporadic marketing bursts don't work; consistent weekly or daily efforts, even if results are delayed, are required.

"Most therapists will say, 'I've been marketing for months.' But what they mean is: I did two weeks of trying, and then silence… and then a burst of effort again a few weeks later, and then silence again." (09:30)
The Garden Analogy:

"You don't water the tomatoes once and walk away and then get pissed off that there aren't tomatoes there. You’ve got to grow with this consistent watering and sunlight and time." (10:05)

6. Gentle Encouragement and Big-Picture Perspective (10:01–11:30)

It's Not Personal, It's Structural:
Lack of clients "is not a personality problem, it's not a skill problem… it's just a system you haven't flexed before."
Building a Sustainable System:
With the right systems and consistency, "your practice fills. That’s how it works."
About Abundance Party:
Allison’s membership program offers step-by-step guidance for all these stages, so therapists don’t have to figure it out alone.

"It's not luck, it’s not charisma, it’s not even working harder necessarily. It's just systems, clarity, consistency." (11:17)

7. Notable Quotes & Affirmations

"You're not broken, you're not failing, you're not invisible, you're not the exception. You're just missing a system." (10:37)
"Once you have a clear niche, five marketing strategies, best practices for each, time, and consistency—your phone will ring and your caseload will grow." (11:05)
"You're not behind. You're just at the beginning. And the beginning feels harder. It's just hard. And you’ll get there. Keep going." (11:20)

Timestamps for Important Segments

02:15 – The loneliness and fear of an empty practice
04:00 – The three core questions for practice-building
04:40 – Why having a niche is essential
06:01 – Why you need five active marketing strategies
08:01 – The importance of consistent, best practice marketing
10:05 – Marketing as gardening: the need for steady, repetitive action
10:37–11:30 – Encouragement and action steps for discouraged therapists

Memorable Moments

Empathetic Affirmation:
“Oh, okay. I want to first… I just want to squeeze you. This is one of the most vulnerable places a therapist can be…” (02:10)
Niche Clarity Litmus Test:
"Anyone who needs support is not a niche." (05:01)
Marketing Analogy:
"It's not like a fishing pole line dangling in the ocean. It's like a net…" (07:51)

Actionable Takeaways

Identify and clearly define your niche so your ideal client knows your practice is for them.
Use (and stick with) approximately five different, complementary marketing strategies at all times.
Follow best practices for each channel, and focus on consistency—weeks or months, not days.
Don’t misinterpret delayed results as failure—marketing is a long game.
Seek structured support (such as the Abundance Party) if you want step-by-step guidance.

Further Resources

Free worksheet ("Troubleshooting Your Practice"): Comment “sheets” or visit the show notes.
Abundance Party membership: DM Allison “party” for a link or see the show notes.
Free private practice checklist and tools: abundancepracticebuilding.com

For aspiring private practice therapists feeling stuck, Allison Puryear offers equal doses of empathy, practical wisdom, and reassurance, asserting: “It’s not magic. It’s math and messaging and systems.” This episode is a must-listen for anyone struggling to get their phone to ring.

Transcript

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Foreign.

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Welcome to Ask Allison.

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Y' all ask the questions about having.

B (0:11)

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.

A (0:30)

Check out our YouTube channel for our.

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Entire Ask Allison library.

A (0:36)

Welcome back to Ask Allison. Here's today's question. I'm not getting clients and I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I don't know what I'm doing, period. To be honest with you. I have a psychology today, and I've told people about my practice. The phone isn't ringing, and I'm starting to feel like it never will. Oh, okay. I want to first thank TherapyNotes for sponsoring Ask Allison, and then I'm gonna dive right into this. Therapy Notes. I've been talking 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, clinical outcome tracking, and their AI notes feature therapy fuel. Everybody at TherapyNotes believes in the product and wants you to love it, too. Plus, they're independently owned, which means no venture capital and no pressure to prioritize investors over customers. This independence allows them to keep their prices fair, focus on innovation, and prioritize customer experience. With over 100,000 therapists already on board, they've proven that you don't have to compromise success for quality. If you're ready to see for yourself, try Therapy notes. Free for two months with the code abundant@therapynotes.com oh, so this makes me sad. Even just like, reading it aloud. I just want to squeeze you. This is one of the most vulnerable places a therapist can be in their private practice. That early stage when you have poured your heart, your money, your time into building a practice, and the universe is responding with a whole lot of crickets. It is scary. It's lonely. It feels personal. It feels like you're doing something wrong. It feels like maybe your practice is the one practice that the universe has decided to skip. But here's the truth. You're not doing anything wrong. Most likely, you're just missing things that no one taught you. So there are three core questions we need to look at. First, are you Niched, like a real niche, which we'll talk about. Second, are you using up to and no more than five marketing strategies? Number three, are you using best practices for those strategies consistently and for long enough? So when these three things line up, therapists get full. Even when one is missing, the phone can stay quiet. So let's get, let's walk through them. First, a niche. Anyone who needs support is not a niche. Teens, adults, couples, anxiety, trauma, grief, also ADHD and maybe postpartum anxiety, also not a niche. This is a buffet. A niche isn't about excluding people. It's about letting your ideal client wreck recognize themselves instantly. When you niche well, your Psychology Today suddenly starts converting. Your website, which you're going to need becomes clear. Your referrals grow, your clients feel like you get them without a niche. Your marketing becomes really vague and generic and forgettable and so people just scroll right past you. This alone could be the entire reason you're not getting clients. Number two, are you using up to five marketing strategies? If your whole marketing plan is Psychology Today and telling people about my practice, it's not a marketing plan. Therapists need around five strategies running at any given time. So here are some examples. You need a website. You're telling people about your practice. So that's networking. You've got Psychology Today. So right there, if you build a website and you're consistently networking and you've got a very well niched Psychology Today, then you've got three of the five. So moving on, then you're going to choose. Maybe social media, maybe not. If you hate it, maybe a blog and search engine optimization, maybe community talks or workshops, listings on niche directories. Not just Psychology Today. Being active in professional groups that are likely to refer to you. Medical or school referrals, depending on your niche. Podcast interviews can be really hit or miss, but they can get you really comfortable meeting more people. That could potentially be referral sources. You don't need all of these things, but you need more than one. Marketing works best. Think of it like a web. So it's not like a fishing pole line dangling in the ocean. It's like a net to catch. Third, are you using best practices consistently and for long enough? This is where once the other things are handled, this is where therapists get tripped up. They say I'm doing all the things, but if I look closer, they're doing all the things either incorrectly or inconsistently. So we'll take Psychology Today as an example. Best practices mean your first sentence speaks directly to your niche. Like people know if you're for them or not within that very first sentence. Because when they're scrolling through Psych today, that's all they can see until they click on you. Your tone is warm and human. Your headshot looks approachable. You're not burying your fee. You're. You use client facing language. You're not using clinical terms. You're not talking about the places you've worked in the past unless your ideal client actually cares. Your copy clearly states who you help and how. Most therapists do maybe one of these things. I mean, if you've ever looked for a therapist for yourself or a friend or family member on Psych today, it is mind numbing. They might have a great headshot, they might sound warm and human, but you have no idea who they serve. And they just talk about like the resiliency of the human spirit or some nonsense. The same goes for websites. Your website needs to be very clearly niched. If you're networking, you need to be networking every week. And I wouldn't say if you're networking, everybody who needs clients needs to be networking every week. That doesn't mean a networking event. That could be coffee with someone you used to work with who could be a referral source. If you're doing Instagram this sometimes people be like, I'm doing everything right. But I look at they've chosen Instagram as a marketing tool and they're posting really inconsistently. They're not doing stories. They've got a bunch of still posts instead of reels. Maybe one carousel that they did six weeks ago and it's just super inconsistent. That's not a marketing strategy. You're not doing it right. So if you need clients, you need to be blogging at least once a week and adding SEO to it. So you can do a strategy. But if you're not doing it strategically and consistently and correctly, it's not going to bring you clients. Which brings us to maybe the hardest question of like, how long have you actually been doing this? Most therapists will say I've been marketing for months. But what they mean is I did two weeks of trying and then silence and then one post and then I panicked and then I had a burst of effort again a few weeks later and then silence again. Marketing requires consistent and correct effort for weeks, sometimes months, before you see traction. Hopefully not months. But you need to maintain consistent daily or weekly marketing in order to get clients in the door. It is not instant gratification. This is steady, effective, repeatable visibility. So like, think of marketing like watering a garden. You don't water the tomatoes once and walk away and then get pissed off that there aren't tomatoes there. You know that it's going to take time. You've got to grow with this consistent watering and sunlight and time. It's the same with your practice. So it's really easy to get discouraged because there is taking all this time where you are doing all this work and you are not seeing the results. So people fall out of the habits or they're like, this isn't working so I'm going to stop. But you just haven't given it time to work yet. Usually if you're not being consistent, it's not going to happen. So you're not broken, you're not failing, you're not invisible, you're not the exception. You're just missing like a system. It's not a personality problem, it's not a skill problem. In terms of your clinical skills, it might just be a. This is a muscle you haven't flexed before. So if you build a system and you maintain it, your practice fills. That's how it works. The Abundance party is literally built for this exact moment. So if you're listening to this and you're like, okay, great, but how do I get a niche? How do I pick marketing strategies and then do those strategies? What is best practices? How do I make sure I'm not missing the things I don't know, I don't know. That's literally what the Abundance Party teaches you. It's my step by step membership. It walks you through niching clearly. Choosing the right marketing strategies for your niche. Using best practices for every strategy. Writing copy that your clients actually respond to, copy or like the words on your website. Building a consistent marketing rhythm, staying accountable, troubleshooting when things aren't working. So it's about getting full and staying full without hustling or burning out. It's just consistent action. It's not luck, it's not charisma, it's not even working harder necessarily. It's just systems, clarity, consistency. So if you need that structure, the ones that us therapists were never taught, the Abundance party gives it to you in order, no guessing. You don't have to figure it all out alone. So you can DM me the word party and I will send you the link to that. Or you can hit that link in your in your show notes. Your free worksheet for this week is troubleshooting your practice. You can comment the word sheets and I'll send you that link. Or it's also in the Show Notes. So I want you to know that this is fixable. You can do this. Your lack of clients is not a reflection of your skill or your heart or your ability to help people. It's just a reflection of the visibility system you haven't built yet. So once you have a clear niche, five marketing strategies, best practices for each time and consistency. Your phone will ring and your caseload will grow and your practice will fill. It's not magic. Like I said, it's math and messaging and systems. You're not behind. You're just at the beginning. And the beginning feels harder. It's just hard. And you'll get there. Keep going. All right, I'll talk to you later. 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. I hope that helped.

Abundant Practice Podcast