Episode #758: Your Practice Is "Successful"… So Why Does It Feel So Flat?

Summary

Episode Overview

Podcast: Abundant Practice Podcast
Host: Allison Puryear
Guest: Rebecca Smith (Limitless Practice grad, private pay therapist from New Orleans)
Episode: #758: Your Practice Is "Successful"… So Why Does It Feel So Flat?
Date: May 16, 2026

This episode explores the experience of therapists who have built a "successful" private practice only to find themselves feeling unfulfilled, stagnant, or burned out. Allison and Rebecca answer a listener’s question about what to do when a thriving practice no longer feels exciting or meaningful. They dig into reasons this happens, how to seek inspiration and change, and ways therapists can revive not just their careers but also their lives.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Listener's Question: Hitting a Plateau in Private Practice

[00:48-01:21]

• Issue Raised: Listener feels their practice looks great on paper—full, profitable, with good clients—but feels flat and unenthused. They’re not looking for a new career but want to radically shift their practice and don’t know where to start.

2. The "You Can't Be What You Can't See" Phenomenon

[02:17-03:30]

• Rebecca’s Initial Reaction:
  • Many therapists model their practice after what they initially imagined, but when seeking renewal, they need new sources of inspiration.
  • Peer exposure (like in the Limitless Practice program) reveals a spectrum of possible models, from scheduling to niches—”grocery shopping” for new practice features.
  • Quote (Rebecca, 02:17):

    “You can’t be what you can’t see. Trying to build something else without any other outside influences is really just generating that from within. […] It needed to come from somewhere other than me.”

3. Comparing Practice Burnout to Relationship Dynamics

[03:30-04:50]

• Allison draws a parallel between career excitement and relationships:
  • Predicts that the initial high-energy phase naturally dissipates over time.
  • Suggests that continued excitement would be “exhausting” and perhaps unnatural.
  • New excitement in practice can be injected by significant changes: going off insurance panels, raising rates, targeting a new niche, or learning new modalities.
• Acknowledging Contentment with Ease:
  • Sometimes, it's okay for work to become “the job that’s easy”—a space where expertise and flow mean reduced stress.
  • Quote (Allison, 04:51):

    “I’m gonna say it out loud. It’s okay for it to just be the job that’s easy.”

4. Practical Reframes: Let Therapy Fund Your Life

[05:03-06:01]

• Rebecca:
  • If therapy work is easy, ensure it’s also efficient with time and money so there’s margin for hobbies and nonwork pursuits.
  • Quote (Rebecca, 05:11):

    “Make sure it’s the job that works both financially and time wise. [...] Shift your practice to take up less space, [...] then, like, pour into a hobby or travel or whatever it is and let therapy be the easy thing.”

• Allison:
  • Recognizes reaching that “cool point” where one doesn’t have to try so hard in their practice.

5. Burnout is Often About Life, Not Work

[06:01-07:22]

• Allison’s “Soapbox”:
  • Burnout is commonly blamed on one’s job, but is frequently rooted in an absence of restoration and fun in life.
  • Encourages therapists to proactively seek fun and restoration in adulthood, comparing it to how kids freely try new activities.
  • Quote (Allison, 06:01):

    “The majority of the time, it’s actually their life is not fun. They don’t have any real restoration. And the burnout’s gonna happen in any career if you don’t have restoration. So I would strongly encourage anyone and everyone to, like, figure out what’s fun for you.”

6. The Vulnerability of Prioritizing Yourself

[07:22-07:56]

• Rebecca:
  • Highlights the difficulty adults feel spending on themselves (time, money, energy).
  • Burnout prevention is about alignment between personal and professional lives, not just time management.
  • Quote (Rebecca, 07:28):

    “It’s scary to spend that money on yourself versus your kids. [...] Burnout is less about time and more about alignment.”

7. Realistic Tweaks and Boundaries

[07:56-08:32]

• Bolder scheduling and creating space:
  • Challenge the default of prioritizing clients over personal needs.
  • Explore child/reliance-sharing with partners or neighbors to create time for personal pursuits.
  • Building in-person community is emphasized as an antidote to burnout.

8. Spice Girls, Laughter, and Therapy

[08:41-09:33]

• Lighthearted moment:
  • Host and guest joke about which Spice Girl would make the best therapist (“Scary Spice” for realness and boundary holding).
• Encouragement:
  • “Imagine how you can make your life what you want it to look like. And question, is changing the job the only thing that would be tweaked?” (Allison, 09:08)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You can’t be what you can’t see.” — Rebecca Smith ([02:17])
• “It’s okay for it to just be the job that’s easy.” — Allison Puryear ([04:51])
• “Make sure it’s the job that works both financially and time wise.” — Rebecca Smith ([05:11])
• “The burnout’s gonna happen in any career [...] if you don’t have restoration.” — Allison Puryear ([06:01])
• “Burnout is less about time and more about alignment.” — Rebecca Smith ([07:28])
• “Imagine how you can make your life what you want it to look like. And question, is changing the job the only thing that would be tweaked?” — Allison Puryear ([09:08])
• “Really serious question for you. Which Spice Girl would you want to be your therapist?” — Allison Puryear ([09:10])
• “Scary Spice will keep it real. She’s gonna make me hold my boundaries.” — Allison Puryear ([09:33])

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:48 — Listener letter: “Solid practice, but feeling flat”
• 02:17 — "You can’t be what you can’t see"—importance of outside inspiration
• 03:30 — Relationship analogy: natural evolution of excitement
• 04:51 — Permission for therapy to be “the job that’s easy”
• 06:01 — The real source of burnout (often life, not work)
• 07:28 — “Burnout is less about time and more about alignment”
• 08:32 — Making community and boundaries a priority
• 09:10 — Light moment: The Spice Girls as therapists

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Call to Action & Next Steps

• Business Burnout Check-In Worksheet:
  An actionable worksheet to distinguish if burnout is business-related and where to make first tweaks.
• Step-by-Step Change:
  No need to overhaul everything at once; start with small, manageable changes.
• Limitless Practice Program:
  Community support and practical frameworks for those ready to make big, exciting changes in their practice.

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Summary Takeaways

• Private practice doesn't always stay exciting—this is normal and can be addressed.
• Seek inspiration outside your own head: connect with peers, join communities, and learn from how others structure their practices.
• Recognize and accept when work becomes “the job that’s easy,” and let it enable a more vibrant, fulfilling life outside work.
• Real burnout often signals a lack of fun and restoration in life, not just at work—align your professional and personal lives.
• Build community, prioritize yourself, and don’t be afraid to make tweaks—big or small—for renewed satisfaction.

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Transcript

[A]

Foreign. 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. Welcome back to Ask Abundance. Today I'm joined by Rebecca Smith. Rebecca is a limitless practice grad who came aboard Team Abundance. She has a premium fee private pay practice in New Orleans and is great at helping Abundance therapists imagine what's possible for them. She's going to tell us today's question.

[B]

Yes, I am. Thanks, Allison. Okay. Today's question is. I have had a solid private practice for going on five years now, and from the outset, everything probably looks great. I'm full, I'm profitable, I have good clients. But internally I've started to feel like I'm just going through the motions and the excitement I had when I first launched has been gone for a while. I don't think I want a totally different career. I just think I want a totally different practice. But I don't even know what that looks like or where to begin reimagining it.

[A]

A good one. Okay, before we get into our response to this, I want 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, Secure messaging, 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, no pressure to prioritize investors over customers. And that independence allows them to keep their prices fair, to focus on innovation, and to prioritize their 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 free for two months with the code [e-mail] all right, what was your first reaction to this?

[B]

My first reaction to this was it was an interesting reaction. I thought, you can't be what you can't see.

[A]

That's.

[B]

That's what I thought because I felt like, I think a lot of us in solo private practice originally had this idea of what it would look like. And it seems like this therapist did and ulta. And it was great. And then trying to build something else without any other outside influences is really just generating that from within. They already did it once. How are you going to do it again? And so the idea that get inspiration from elsewhere really resonated with that. The reason it did was because I did limitless practice. And I had all these other people who had the same business as me. They were all solo private practitioners, but every single one of them had a completely different practice. And I was like, I could do it like Sasha. I could do it like Laura. I could do it like Leslie, and. And being able to kind of like, it was like grocery shopping. I'm like, I like your cancellation policy over here, and I like your over here and. And fee and fig. I like how you describ your niche and it needed to come from somewhere other than me.

[A]

Absolutely. Yeah. That's a good point. I think, like, one of the things that I often think about when people are like, I don't know, I'm not so excited about it anymore, is I think about relationships and how, you know, after a few years of being married or together, like, it's not the same level of excitement. Like, it would be a little nuts if, like, 15 years into the marriage, you were still thinking about him constantly and. Yeah, pining. A little.

[B]

Exhausting. Yeah.

[A]

It's not what we're built for. And so sometimes I think about, like, early career, there's that same kind of rush when you really like your career. And I don't know that it's feasible that that same level of excitement stays over time without significant changes. Right. So it could be like, you need a new challenge, and that might be doing, like, what you've done or the folks in limitless practice have done where they make a big change in their practice, and that injects some excitement. Right. Whether it's getting off insurance panels or raising rates or changing your niche, these kinds of things. For some people, it might be learning a new modality. For some people, it might be like, I had a conversation with one of my good friends who was like, I'm not super excited about therapy, but it's easy for me at this point. Like, I like connecting with people. I like my clients, and it's like an easy thing I do for work that doesn't stress me out.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And that's okay, too. And I think, like, maybe we're not supposed to say that out loud, but I'm gonna say it out loud. It's okay for it to just be the job that's easy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because you've done it for long enough that it. You're just in flow with it and you know how to respond and support well.

[B]

And if it's the job that's easy, I would also say make sure it's the job that works both financially and time wise. So, like, let's easy spending too much time so you don't have extra hours of your week or your day to do something else that is fulfilling, like learning the harmonica or whatever. Like, pour a lot of money into the harmonica, Alice. But, like, if you want to do something, shift your practice to take up less space, you can probably do while still earning what you need. Can then, like, pour into a hobby or travel or whatever it is and let therapy be the easy thing.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Which is so cool. That's such a cool point to reach where you don't have to try so hard.

[A]

Yes. Yes. And I mean, it comes with expertise. Other people get there in their careers, and we can too. Yeah. And so this actually leads me to a soapbox that I get on fairly often. When people talk about burnout is like, we're so quick to pin burnout on our careers in this country. But when I'm working with people who are burned out, either my students who are burned out, or my therapy clients who are burned out, I would say the majority of time, it's actually their life is not fun. They don't have any real restoration. And the burnout's gonna happen in any career, in any task, if you don't have restoration. And so I would strongly encourage anyone and everyone to, like, figure out what's fun for you. That's hard as an adult, and it takes some vulnerability. And I think about our kids, right. And we can sign them up for all these activities to see what they like, let them preview something, and they're like. They just like, go in and do it. Right. But if I'm like, all right, folks like you, therapist who's feeling burned out, I want you to take an improv class and a guitar class, and I want you to make some pottery, and I want you to. I like, I don't know, a sport. I don't know sports.

[B]

Do something with a ball, something with your body. I don't know.

[A]

Yeah. Like, that's scary.

[B]

Yeah. I think that that's. It is. It is scary. And it's scary. It's like, as parents, it's scary to spend that money on yourself versus your kids. Like, spend that time on your versus something. Spend that time on yourself versus your job. And I think that you told me something one time also, that burnout is less about time and more about alignment. And making sure that that alignment works in your job is great, but it also needs to work at home too.

[A]

Right.

[B]

What do you want your weekend to look like? What do you want Thursday evening to look like, morning to look like? You could push those therapy clients a little bit later than nine and, like, go for a run. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. And I think for those of us that are parents, we can so easily make excuses of why we can't do something, but for many of us, there is a partner that would be willing if we just said, are you cool with me being gone Wednesday nights? Yeah. Or a neighbor who has kids the same age. And if. If you don't have these people in your life, then step one is build some damn community, because we desperately need it.

[B]

Yeah, desperately. And even just in person community. Yes.

[A]

Even just building that in person community might solve the burnout, honestly.

[B]

It's true. Yeah. I think that that's a really cool idea to imagine if I want to spice up my life. Like, I'm like thinking of Spice Girls. If you want to spice up your life, clearly they were talking about your therapy practice, but maybe. Maybe move beyond that. Imagine. Imagine how you can make your life what you want it to look like. And question, is changing the job the only thing that would be tweaked?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Really serious question for you. Which Spice Girl would you want to be your therapist? I would want.

[B]

Oh, my gosh. I thought you were gonna ask who I would be.

[A]

But no, I want scary spice 40 spice.

[B]

She's gonna like, pump me up. She's gonna. She's gonna be like, you got this, girl. I'm like, thank you. Yeah, you want, you want. Scary Spice will keep it real. She's like, yeah, you want. You want a little bit of that feel?

[A]

She's gonna be directed. She's gonna make me hold my boundaries. Yeah. Amazing. Today's free worksheet is the business burnout check in. And this is a good way for you to kind of run through and see. Is it business? If it is business, what do I need to maybe shift? What's the first thing to shift? You don't need to shift everything at once. You can kind of do the low hanging fruit, the least scary thing first. And if you're ready to make some big changes that scare the hell out of you, limitless practice is literally what that's for. So we'll put the link for that in the show notes and in the caption and that way you can check that out and either get on the waitlist or join us depending on when we air this. So yay.

[B]

There you go.

[A]

Thanks so much Rebecca. I will talk to you soon.

[B]

Awesome.

[A]

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 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.