3 Simple Steps To Build A Therapist Business Plan

There are two types of therapists in the world — those with a business plan and those without. And, if you happen to fall into the latter, I'm excited that you're reading this article.

One of the most important factors that will translate into whether or not your private practice is successful is whether or not you have a business plan.

I'm going to walk you through three simple steps to creating a business plan that you can actually take action on and help you move towards your goals.

What happens when we don't have a business plan? Well, first of all, you're going to struggle to know what to say yes and no to.

Whether that be which clients to say yes and no to seeing, or whether to say yes and no to that office space, or yes and no to that schedule, or that training, or that education.

Without a business plan, you are going to struggle with making decisions constantly and you are going to start to feel out of control of your caseload. It's going to feel like you're subjected to the referrals and the whims of chance when it comes to building your caseload. And finally, you're going to end up distracted by finances and logistics instead of focusing on your clients, your craft, and tending to your own inner life.

A great business plan should have crystal clear goals that align you with your priorities and values. So we're gonna walk through how to create that because once you do, the difference is gonna be this:
- You'll be able to make decisions confidently.
- You'll feel more in control of your caseload.
- You’ll be more focused on making the impact that you've always wanted to make by being a therapist.

Step 1

Defining A One Year Vision

Step one is defining a one-year vision. This is a simple step that you could even do today to begin to build your business plan. So, turn on some piano music, get the Spotify going and ask yourself some of these questions:

• When and where do you want to work?
  Start typing it out. For instance, “on Mondays, I want do this and that because I want to be able to go to the gym. On Tuesdays, I want to…” etc. by doing this you'll start to craft a schedule that you can actually begin to fit clients into, instead of you constantly orienting your schedule around theirs.

• Who are you working with?
  Now, think about one year from now, who are you working with? You can really let yourself dream here. What type of client? Is it couples? Is it individuals?

• What do you have time for?
  What do you finally have time for? What are the sorts of things that you currently find that you don't have the finances or time margin to do?

It’s crucial to answer these questions because if you don't know the structure of or the kind of business that you want to run, I can guarantee you that chance and other clients' needs will overrun those things. And, you might very well end up on the dark path to therapist burnout (booooo).

Step 2

Identify The Gap
So, you just spent some time figuring out where you wanted to go. You were maybe a little bit dreamy, maybe a little bit aspirational. But, now we want to identify the gap.

• When and where are you working now?
  How many hours are you working right now? Look at your schedule. See how late some appointments were in the last couple of weeks or how early they were. Did they fit into you’re one-year vision or are they falling outside of those boundaries?

• Who are you working with now?
  Who are you working with now that you may not want to be? Write down who and break them up into categories.

• Why do you not have time for what's important?
  What are you missing out on, and what could change to get you there?

So what is the gap? What’s causing it? Because at the end of the day, as a business owner myself, I will encourage you. You are the owner of your private practice, this business owner, and you have permission to act like that business owner.

Step 3

Create A Financial Blueprint

I love this topic because when I talk to therapists, we all develop an hourly rate. And oftentimes that's kind of from looking at other therapists and it's a little arbitrary. I wanna walk you through the process of creating a financial blueprint that allows you to create the financial stability that you need while still being able to provide access to clients who may not be able to pay your full rate.

Here’s a simple formula that many therapists use:

The equation: Client Hours Available / Desired Weekly Salary = Hourly Rate
For example: 20hrs / $2500 = $125 an hour

1. How many weekly client hours do you have available?
   So, maybe that's 15 or 20, 25 30. But how many do you have in a week?

2. What is your desired weekly salary?

   If you wanna make $8,000 a month that would be $2,000 in a week.

3. Divide this number to determine your hourly rate

So, in the example, this therapist wants to work 20 client hours a week making $2,500 a week. They end up with an hourly rate of $125 an hour, but of course insurance, but that’s where all the other factors come in; discounts, no shows, cancellations so this rate often ends up getting a little bit convoluted.

So, here’s a stronger financial blueprint process:

If you have 20 client hours that you want to be working, what you need to understand is that you almost offer a product on a shelf and that you have different products, that you are able to offer people. So, you have a $175 an hour product and a $100 an hour product and a $50 an hour product.

Now all of them are the same, a one-hour session with you. But, you want to think about yourself as if you were a grocery store with inventory and that when those products are currently already sold, you don't have any more available. So, in this example, this therapist might say, you know, I can work with 10 clients at $175 an hour and I can work with 5 clients at a $100 an hour. And you know, I really do want to make therapy accessible to certain populations or people so I have 5 boxes on the shelf to offer to people at $50 an hour. And, in this scenario, you would still publicly (in your marketing) say that your rate is $175 an hour and you would work with clients to make sure that they know, the clients who could afford that rate are able to, but when you add this all up together, this actually works out to be that $125 an hour, that you need to be able to hit your financial goals.

So, hopefully, that has been helpful walking through those three simple steps. It should only take you maybe an hour to do this. We do go into this in much more detail in the Ideal Caseload Method which you can check out here.

Here’s what I can confidently say, if you walk through these steps, you will have created a clearer business plan than most therapists. And, you'll begin building a business that is also building the lifestyle and the work-life balance you need to really excel in your craft and serve your clients.