Episode #744: The "If I Rest, I Lose Money" Problem

Summary

Abundant Practice Podcast — Episode #744 Summary

Title: The “If I Rest, I Lose Money” Problem
Host: Allison Puryear
Guest: Rebecca Smith
Date: March 28, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode addresses a common trap for private practice therapists: the fear that taking time off will result in immediate income loss and financial instability. Allison Puryear and guest Rebecca Smith— a Limitless Practice graduate and Abundance team member— unpack how therapists can design their practices for more freedom, financial stability, and less burnout. Through personal stories, actionable strategies, and math-driven advice, they guide listeners on how to break free from the "golden handcuffs" of overwork.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Listener’s Dilemma

[02:10]

• The question: “I basically created a job I can’t step away from without the money dropping fast. If I take time off, my income takes a hit... I want fewer hours, but I’m scared that cutting sessions means I’ll lose financial stability.”
• Fear and financial anxiety are at the heart of this concern.

2. Rebecca’s Story: From Overwork to Freedom

[03:52]

• Rebecca was once seeing 35 clients weekly, barely scraping by.
• She considered a side hustle but instead, shifted her practice: raised rates, left insurance panels.
• “I now make more money working 20 hours a week than I did working 35... it changed my practice, but it changed my life.” — Rebecca [04:42]
• Result: More time, more income, vastly decreased fear.

3. Building True Time Off into the Business Model

[04:57 & 05:31]

• Therapists rarely plan for real time off—most only count intentional vacations, not sick days or emergencies.
• Allison’s Rule: Assume at least six weeks off per year when planning your finances and caseload.
• Build a financial cushion throughout the year, essentially creating your own PTO fund.

4. Financial Stability: Math, Not Just Hope

[06:29–08:19]

• “I’m a big fan of paying yourself the same amount every time you pay yourself...” — Allison [06:29]
• Do the math: How many sessions, at what rate, for the lifestyle and cushion you want?
• Plan income to include “downtime” so unplanned breaks don’t wreck finances.
• Review pay structure regularly for sustainability.

5. Raising Rates vs. Side Hustles

[08:28-09:38]

• “I talk people out of side hustles maybe every other day... you’re creating a whole other business with a whole other learning curve.” — Allison [08:28]
• Therapists already have an “unfair advantage” and expertise—they should maximize this before diversifying.
• Side hustles often distract from the actual lucrative path: charging what your therapy is truly worth.
• “What you are providing as a therapist is wildly valuable to your clients.” — Rebecca [09:26]

6. Reducing Caseload Without Losing Income

[10:00-10:56]

• “Cutting sessions means you will lose money. But if it means you’ve lost financial stability, then the stability hasn’t been created before you cut the sessions.” — Rebecca [10:00]
• Key: Increase your rate as you decrease your caseload—based on your actual needs, not guesswork.
• Raise rates to what’s needed all at once (rather than small, repeated bumps).
• Use math to guide decisions, not just emotional comfort levels.

7. Tools & Resources

[11:20]

• Free worksheet: “Sessions per Month Formula”—helps calculate sessions and rates for desired monthly income.
• Recommendation: Limitless Practice cohort for therapists ready to redesign their practice with accountability and support.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Rebecca: “I now make more money working 20 hours a week than I did working 35... it changed my practice, but it changed my life.” [04:42]
• Allison: “Assume you’re going to take six weeks off per year... and make sure you’re paying into basically your PTO fund.” [05:30]
• Rebecca: “Cutting sessions means you will lose money. But if it means you’ve lost financial stability, then the stability hasn’t been created before you cut the sessions.” [10:00]
• Allison: “What you actually need is based on math, not feelings.” [10:50]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:10 — Introduction of the listener question and main problem
• 03:52 — Rebecca’s personal story of burnout and transformation
• 05:31 — Why planned and unplanned time off must be accounted for in your finances
• 06:29 — Paying yourself predictably and creating a financial cushion
• 08:28–09:38 — Why side hustles are usually not the answer and valuing your expertise
• 10:00 — The core solution: raise rates intentionally as you reduce caseload
• 11:20 — Mention of resources: worksheet and Limitless Practice

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Final Thoughts

Allison and Rebecca deliver empathetic yet practical advice for therapists struggling with the rest-vs-revenue trap. Their message is clear: With intention, math, and the courage to value your own work, you can craft a private practice that offers both abundance and a sustainable, enjoyable life.

Useful Resources:

• [Sessions per Month Formula Worksheet] (see show notes)
• Limitless Practice program (details in show notes)

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Transcript

[A]

Foreign.

[B]

Welcome to Ask Abundance. Y' all ask the questions about having a fun and thriving practice. We answer them. We have a worksheet for you today so you can bring this answer into your life. If you want support in your practice, we have you covered with on demand or one on one support. Links for the worksheet and support are in the show notes. Can't get enough? Ask Abundance. Check out our YouTube channel for the entire library therapists whose practices are full. Is this actually the practice you want? If you're secretly stuck, you're cramming in evening sessions, glued to insurance panels, unable to raise rates. Limitless practice is your way out. Over 12 weeks, you'll make the changes you've been thinking about making for months so that you can work fewer hours while making more money. You'll design a schedule that actually fits your life and you'll say yes to only the clients you love. Together, we'll release you from your golden handcuffs. We're capping the cohort at 10 people because I'm personally running every individual call, every group call, and every accountability check in. People on the waitlist will get first dibs on those spots and then the opportunity to sign up will go out to the rest of my audience. So join the waitlist now. I'm going to put the link in the show notes and I look forward to helping you get your practice exactly where you want it. Welcome back to Ask Abundance. Today I'm joined by Rebecca Smith. Rebecca is a limitless practice grad who came aboard Team Abundance. She's got a premium fee private pay practice in New Orleans and is great at helping Abundance therapists imagine what's possible for them. So I'm going to tell you about today's question. Here we go. I've built a pretty steady practice and I'm realizing I basically created a job I can't step away from without the money dropped, dropping fast. If I take time off, my income takes a hit and even a lighter week makes me feel anxious about the month. I want to work fewer hours because I'm tired and I miss having life. But I'm scared that cutting sessions means I'll lose financial stability. How do I reduce my caseload without accidentally blowing up my income or my momentum? Juicy so before we get into that answer, I would love to thank our sponsor therapy notes. I've talked about them for years, know their features by heart, but what truly 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, clinical outcome tracking, and their AI notes feature therapy fuel. Everyone 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, to focus on innovation, and prioritize their customer experience. With over a hundred thousand 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 TherapyNotes free for two months with the code [e-mail]. all right, Rebecca, this is a good, juicy one.

[A]

It is. I feel like I was there. I was like, oh, I feel you.

[B]

You were there. You were there.

[A]

I worked so hard there.

[B]

So what stands out to you that we should talk about first?

[A]

I think that the thing that stands out is there's, there's both the, the really practical, like, how much is this person charging? How many sessions a week? Is there any planned built in time off that is financially accounted for too? And then also just the. There's so much fear in this one. And I really, I really get that because holding all of that on your own shoulders is, is really scary. It's a lot of responsibility.

[B]

Yeah. Can you tell your story a little bit of, like, where you were before we met and where you are now? Yeah.

[A]

So I, when before we met, I was seeing 35 sessions a week, scraping by, not paying off my credit card, just like minimum 35 sessions a week. Just really, really, really trying to make it work. And I got on the phone with Allison because I had a plan and I was going side hustle, and I was gonna ask Allison about how I could do this fun side hustle to make enough money so that I could change my life. And she was like, out. You were like, girl, this, your cute little podcast is not gonna do it. What's gonna do it is changing your therapy practice where you're already successful. I needed to go off insurance, I needed to up my rates, and I've now make more money working 20 hours a week than I did working 35 hours a week with 15 hours a week for me. And it's crazy because being able to do that completely changed my. It changed my practice, but it changed my life.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I'm not as scared anymore. And I really want this person to not be scared.

[B]

Yeah. When I read this, I was like, oh, this does sound like Rebecca when we first met. And I think that when we don't assume that we're going to take time off. That's another piece that you mentioned that like we, we have to assume we're going to take time off. And usually when I'm working with therapists, I say six weeks minimum off per year. And most people kind of gawk at that because they're like, I'm taking like 2 off. But they're not necessarily taking 2 off when you add it all up. Right. They might be taking two intentional weeks off per year.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Hopefully more. But they also get the flu or their kids out sick and they have to cancel. Or I mean really, when you count in the cancellations outside your cancellation policy. Right. Like the 25 hour ahead of your 24 hour policy, like when you add it up, it ends up kind of adding weeks of unpaid work.

[A]

Absolutely. And you can try to safeguard yourself in so many ways.

[B]

You're like, I have to take today

[A]

off, so I'll see somebody on Saturday. I live in New Orleans. You just experienced a hurricane too. There are things outside of our control that make us stop our practices for longer than we want to all time. And so if you know you have to make $10,000 a month, $15,000, whatever it is, it's really helpful to have a practice that kind of gives you some cushion on that. So one of these months of the year you can still have that cash because you made it the month before and the month before and the month before.

[B]

Yes. I'm a big fan of paying yourself the same amount every time you pay yourself. I used to not do that and it was fine. But I think there's more instability in the therapy market than there has been in the, you know, two decades that I've been in private practice.

[A]

Yeah, it's wild out there.

[B]

It's wild. And financial insecurity, financial fear for me is the biggest anxiety producer anxiety trigger in my life. So I do everything I can to prevent that. And for, for a lot of therapists, let's say you do take a vacation like spring break, Right. You take spring break with your family. That's a week that you're away. You're not, you're. Especially if you're a premium fee, that's a lot of money you're not making. But if, when you set your financial goals for the year, you assumed six weeks off and this is within that, then you're solid. But you need to make sure that throughout the rest of the year you're paying into basically like your PTO fund so that during your spring break month, you're not like, oh, right, how are

[A]

you pay for groceries? Like, when you're charging a premium fee and you're still worried about paying for groceries, there's something that needs to shift and it can shift. It usually is just about being intentional.

[B]

So I think for this person, I don't know if they take insurance or if they're private pay. They didn't say, I don't think. Nope. But I would say you either need to raise your rate or get off insurance to. As one of the steps. The first step, though, I would say first get it to where you are paying yourself the same amount every pay period. Whatever that is for you, whether that's weekly, bi weekly or monthly, make sure that you have done the math and you're not just guessing at what that number is. Because that's going to create a mess if not.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And make it the assumption based on at least six weeks off per year so that you have some extra to float you.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And then after that is when I would. I would look at like, what would it be like to raise your rate or get off insurance and make some sort of changes so that you're not in this. Like, because you say, I'm scared that cutting sessions means I'll lose financial stability. Like Rebecca said, a side hustle isn't going to be the answer. I don't know if this is where this person was leading, but I talk people out of side hustles maybe every other day because it seems like, oh, well, the therapy market is more unstable than it's been. So let me create a coaching program or something like that that I'm like, you're creating a whole other business with a whole other learning curve with. Now you're trying to be found amongst. There are way more coaches than there are therapists in the world. So, like, you're making your life harder.

[A]

You have your unfair advantage here. You have a degree. You are a shrink. It is great. Yeah. And the idea that I think that the side hustle allure is like, it's nicer. It's nicer than upping your rates.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And that is a problem. It's not true. It's not at all true. What you are providing as a therapist is wildly valuable to your clients.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And that needs to be reflected in your. In what you get in your time and your energy and your finances. And I think she's. They said, I'm scared that cutting sessions means I'll lose financial stability. Cutting sessions means you will lose money. But if it means you've lost financial stability, then the stability hasn't been created before you cut the sessions.

[B]

Boom.

[A]

And that is. That's huge. And so how do you reduce your caseload without blowing up your income? Is raising your income as you reduce your caseload?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And then the momentum piece kind of follows because then you have more energy and you have more time, you have more white space, and you can, like, plan. And I will also say, if you decide to raise your rates, actually really figure out what that rate should be. Because every time you have to tell 25 people that you're raising your rate, it feels awful. And you're like, oh, I don't like it. It feels really uncomfortable. And if you raise it five bucks, you're going to have to do it in two more months. Right. And over and over again. So raise it to what you actually need, Feel comfortable there, and then evaluate in a year.

[B]

Yeah. And that's based on math, not feelings. What you actually need is based on math.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Amazing. Well, thank you for your time, Rebecca. Like, I love this. And for anybody else who is, like, listening and, like, feeling like they really relate to this person, Limitless practice might be a good fit for you. That's where we help full therapists make changes in their practice. Rebecca is a grad. That's what she was talking about earlier. Earlier. We will put the link to Limitless in our show notes if you are listening to the pod and in the caption if you're listening on social media. And we have a free worksheet for you today. It's the sessions per month formula. So this is going to help you figure out what you need to make each month, how many sessions you need to have, and what you need to make.

[A]

At what rate?

[B]

At what rate? Thank you. Thanks for the words. Awesome. All right, thanks so much.

[A]

You're welcome. Bye, Allison.

[B]

Bye. 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. Please get in touch with any of your questions for Ask Abundance. If you're listening, you probably need some

[A]

support building your practice.

[B]

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.