De-paneling from insurance can feel like pulling out the safety net. You may know exactly why you want to make the transition—higher fees, more control over your caseload, fewer insurance headaches—but knowing why you're leaving insurance isn't the same as knowing what needs to be in place to make the transition successfully.

In this episode, Anna breaks down the four things she sees in clinicians who make the move to a full-fee private practice with confidence. From getting specific about who you're serving to becoming grounded in your fee, making sure your website matches the experience you're asking clients to pay for, and developing the mindset to stay steady when your caseload dips, Anna walks through the foundation you need before making this leap.

Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:

1️⃣ Why knowing why you want to de-panel isn't enough—you also need to know who you're de-paneling in service of.

2️⃣ How getting grounded in your fee means more than choosing a number, and why you need to be able to state it without immediately reaching for a discount.

3️⃣ Why your website needs to match the experience you're asking someone to pay out of pocket for, especially when you don't yet have years of reputation and referrals behind you.

4️⃣ Why holding steady through an empty or dipping caseload is part of the job—and why moving to private pay means becoming an active CEO and marketer of your practice.

Resources & links mentioned

• Episode 67: Monica Kelly interview
• Audrey Schoen’s Balanced Private Practice Facebook group
• Done-for-you website services
• The Walker Strategy Co website

Connect + subscribe

Enjoying the podcast? Subscribe so you never miss an episode—and feel free to share it with a fellow therapist who's building their private practice. Explore more marketing support for therapists:

The Walker Strategy Co website: https://walkerstrategyco.com

About Marketing Therapy

Marketing Therapy is the podcast where therapists learn how to market their private practices without burnout, self-doubt, or sleazy tactics. Hosted by Anna Walker, a marketing coach, strategist, and founder of Walker Strategy Co—each episode brings you clear, grounded advice to help you attract the right-fit, full-fee clients and grow a practice you feel proud of.

Hey, hey, happy Tuesday to you.

2

I hope it's feeling like fall

wherever you are, 'cause it sure

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as heck is not in Nashville.

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We actually broke a record last week.

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We hit 100 degrees for the

first time in, like, 100 years.

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It has not felt even a

little bit like fall here.

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So hopefully you're getting more of that.

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Hopefully we're all

headed in that direction.

9

September is nearing

its end, which is wild.

10

We're gonna be getting into Q4, and I

have been talking to a number of you who

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are planning to de-panel from insurance.

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We've had a handful of our Confident

Copy Live students preparing to fully

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de-panel in the next month or so,

and I've talked to a couple of others

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who are planning to do so right

around the new year transition.

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And this is a really, really

important marketing juncture

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in your practice, right?

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I love seeing clinicians decide to make

this leap if it's the right one for them.

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Obviously, some clinicians choose to take

insurance, and I think that's fantastic.

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If you're someone who is deciding to

de-panel and to go to a completely

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private pay model, you're likely

thinking about what that is going

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to mean about your marketing.

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If you have decided to

de-panel, you're probably pretty

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comfortable with why, right?

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You know that you maybe

want to have a higher fee.

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You want to have more

take-home revenue, right?

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You want more say over your caseload.

27

You wanna stop worrying about

clawbacks, whatever that is.

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You know why you want to do this.

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What I see a lot of clinicians stumble

around is what they need to have in

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place in order to make that leap.

31

De-paneling is a leap of faith.

32

That's how I've heard many of you describe

it, and I've heard others say it felt

33

like they're pulling out the safety net.

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That's not to say that you can

just simply open up an insurance

35

practice and get full, but what

is asked of you as a full-fee,

36

premium-fee practice from a marketing

perspective is gonna be different

37

than from an insurance perspective.

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And this is a juncture at which we

support a lot of our done-for-you clients.

39

Many times folks will come to us saying,

"I've had an insurance-based practice,

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but I'm preparing to de-panel, and I know

my website needs to up-level with me."

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And so I often get to sit with a lot of

clinicians really at this point in their

42

practice, and it's an important one.

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Now, what I want to talk about today

is the foundation that needs to be

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in place for you to make this leap

confidently or at least as confidently

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as you can make a leap of faith, right?

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Because there is gonna be a little

bit of faith always involved.

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Now, like I said, you

probably know you're ready.

48

You probably feel fed up

with the insurance thing.

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Whatever it is, you know that you're

going to do this, but you maybe

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don't know what needs to be in

place to actually make it happen.

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Now, there are some logistical

things you're gonna wanna do.

52

That's not what this is about.

53

This is more on the marketing

and the mindset side.

54

What boxes do you need to check in

order to know with confidence that

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you're making the right move, right?

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So this conversation was, as I

mentioned, inspired by a lot of the

57

conversations I've had with those of

you who are making this transition and

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realizing that your website needs to

be up-leveled along with it, right?

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We know that when your website is set up

to establish you as the go-to expert in

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your niche and your area, that you can

command higher fees, that you can make

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that yes easier, that the standards that

someone who is going to hand over $250

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a session has for marketing are pretty

dang high, and that your website's job is

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to meet those standards, is to provide a

taste of the experience they can expect

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to have with you in the therapy room.

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These are all the things that we know.

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The other thing that inspired this

episode was a really cool conversation

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I saw in Audrey Shane's Balanced

Private Practice Facebook group, and

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I will link it here in the show notes.

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But Audrey asked a really fantastic

question, essentially, "Of those

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therapists in this group who are doing

really well and are successful, what

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do you attribute that success to?"

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And last I checked, I think

there were 60 or 70 comments, and

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holy cow, were they insightful.

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To hear from people who are charging

premium fees, who do have full

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caseloads and wait lists, what do

they think played into it, right?

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And so looking at that and that kind of

sparking some thoughts for me, and then

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also reflecting on the conversations I've

had with so many of you as you make this

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shift, has led me to really boil down

the foundation, kind of that de-paneling

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foundation that I see into four things.

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And we're gonna talk about

what those are today, okay?

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Now, I wanna be clear that this

is not like do not de-panel

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unless kind of like scary things.

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It's kind of more like, "Hey, what's

the common denominator for the

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people that are achieving success?

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What is in place?

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What is actually pulling weight?

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And what do you maybe not have to

worry about as much if you're gonna

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decide to move away from insurance?"

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When people have a hard time de-paneling,

most of that hard time, most of that pain

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or that struggle isn't necessarily about

the actual de-paneling, but it's that they

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de-paneled without a plan, essentially.

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So from my perspective, in the

conversations that I had, in the

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practices I have witnessed make this

transition and do so successfully, you

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should definitely check out episode 67

where I interviewed Monica Kelly, she's

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a fantastic example of this, and to see

what all of these incredibly talented

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clinicians had to say in that Facebook

group, here's what has to be true.

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One, you need to know who

you're serving specifically

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with this new private pay model.

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Two, you gotta be grounded in your fee.

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You need to know it and

feel confident in it.

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Three, your website needs to match

the experience you are now asking

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someone to pay out of pocket for.

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And four, you need to be able to

hold steady when your caseload

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isn't full yet or when it dips.

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Those are the four things.

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Let's get into them.

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One, you need to know who

you're serving specifically.

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Now, wanting more full-fee clients,

making this decision to de-panel is

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allowed to be a decision for yourself.

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You're allowed to make that

decision for your family.

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You're allowed to make that decision

for your financial goals, for your

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wellbeing to avoid burnout, whatever.

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You're allowed to make that

decision because of you.

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However, marketing is not going to

ultimately run on your motivation.

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It's going to run on your client's

motivation to book with you.

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Okay?

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So you can de-panel for your own reasons.

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You can't market for your own reasons.

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What do I mean by that?

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I mean that the people who are paying

$175, $200, $250 out of pocket aren't

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choosing you because you've been

doing this for 30 years or because

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you're five minutes from their house.

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They're choosing you for a reason,

and your niche is that reason.

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Your niche is the reason

people decide to work with you.

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So if you don't name it, if you don't

know it clearly, then you are not giving

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them a reason to choose you over anyone

else who's charging the same fee or less.

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Okay?

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So when you think about de-paneling,

you need to know who you're

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de-paneling in service of.

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Who is this newly private pay practice

meant for, and how do we show them

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that this is the place for them?

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Can you say who you're for?

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Can you talk about your niche

without fumbling over it?

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Could your ideal client read

your niche, experience your

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website, and see themselves in it?

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And if you've been listening to our

recent episodes around being magnetic,

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is your marketing, your niche magnetic

enough that the wrong fit is going to

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not recognize themselves and opt out?

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All of these things need to be clear.

140

If you are attempting to market yourself

as a full-fee provider and wanting to be

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all things to all people or not wanting to

repel anyone, you're gonna have a really

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hard time, especially in this market where

specificity is truly the name of the game.

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So you can de-panel because that's

what the right thing is for you.

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You cannot market that way.

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You need to be marketing to a specific

person and with a specific person in mind.

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Okay?

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So making sure you have that in place.

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Next up, you need to be

grounded in your fee.

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I was searching for a

new therapist for myself

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… I'm trying to think.

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I guess it would've been about four

years ago, and had a handful of consults

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with some clinicians here in Nashville,

and I will never forget on one of

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them, I asked her what her fee is.

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She didn't offer it up, which is fine.

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But I asked her what her fee is.

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She stated it, and then she

immediately followed up with the

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fact that she offered sliding scale.

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Now, I didn't need a sliding scale

spot, and I was planning to pay

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out of pocket, but it was really

interesting to me that she just

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immediately rushed to fill that space.

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Can you state your fee and then shut up?

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That's the best guidance I've seen out

there when it comes to stating your fee

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and, and working through it on a consult

call, is saying it and then being quiet.

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Can you do that?

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Feeling good about your fee sounds

like the ability to be quiet.

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If someone says, "That's not gonna

work for me," then your instinct might

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be to reach for that sliding scale,

and maybe you do have room for it.

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But only be able to offer it if it's a

real and intentional option you have.

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You've run the numbers, you're firm in

them, you know what is available to you

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as far as sliding scale spots goes, and

if the answer is, "Okay, then I would be

171

happy to refer you to another clinician,"

are you comfortable doing that?

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Have you run the math?

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Are you confident in the math?

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And are you willing to

state it and stand by it?

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Can you hold that number

and let some people say no?

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This is something that's gonna come

with practice, no doubt about it.

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Your first consult as a full-fee

clinician might not be as smooth as

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the one you do three years from now,

but that is something that you need

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to be moving in the direction of.

180

And I only say that because I've seen

the clinicians who have gone ahead

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and stepped into this role either

struggle because they really aren't

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grounded in why their fee is what it

is or are really, really solid in it.

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They've done the numbers.

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They know what they're worth.

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They're willing to say it.

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Which one are you?

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I want you to be that latter one in

order to, to make this transition.

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Okay, next up, your website needs to

match the experience that you are now

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asking someone to pay out of pocket for.

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Does your website right now match

the experience that you're asking

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someone to pay out of pocket for?

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Let me be clear.

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This has nothing to do with

how good you are clinically.

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'Cause you're not really changing, right,

when you go from insurance to private pay.

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You're the same clinician.

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You're gonna keep growing, but as of

right now, nothing changed clinically.

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But when you move from insurance to full

fee, something has to up-level in how

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people experience you before they pay.

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Not because your work got better,

but because we know that money

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decisions are emotional decisions.

201

Across the board, even when there

are C-level executives purchasing

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software for their Fortune five

hundred companies, guess what?

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Those decisions are

still driven by emotion.

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So a two hundred and fifty dollar decision

requires a different emotional experience

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than a thirty dollar copay decision.

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Again, this says nothing about you as a

clinician, but what does it say about the

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experience that you are offering people?

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That's what your website

has to do at this stage.

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Now, safe to say, plenty of full and

thriving practices run on subpar websites.

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Absolutely.

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So if you have the years and the

referral network and the reputation

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already built, maybe you don't need

a complete overhaul of your website.

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I absolutely know people who have

incredibly successful practices.

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I'd land on their website, and I

wouldn't necessarily guess that.

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I'm willing to be wrong here, certainly.

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But what I have seen is that the

clinicians that this hits hardest

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are the ones who are entering full

fee for the first time, right?

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They don't have that runway

of reputation behind them yet.

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They don't necessarily have all

of those years of networking.

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They don't necessarily

have that referral base.

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And so for them, the website needs to

do the work that that reputation maybe

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would have helped them do if they'd

been in the game a little bit longer.

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That's why at this point in this market,

I think that we need to make sure that

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your website is not running the risk

of being a liability to your practice.

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If you can afford to do that, then

why fix what ain't broken, right?

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You're always gonna hear me say that.

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An ugly website, ugly is extreme, but an

ugly website is not a problem by itself.

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But it can be a problem when

it is asked to do a job that it

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wasn't really built for, right?

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And that's where it can turn

from a non-issue into an active

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liability in the event that you

can't rely on your reputation or

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your referral base the same way.

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So again, does your website

match the experience you're

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now asking someone to pay for?

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If not, we need to do that so that

it can be an asset to you and not

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run the risk of being a liability.

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All right, last but not least, as you

prepare to make this shift, and this

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is gonna be something that you live

and grow into, but holy cow, does this

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matter, you need to be able to hold

steady when your caseload isn't full

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yet or when it dips, because it will.

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This is not an if

situation, this is a when.

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I don't know a single fully

booked clinician who has stayed

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steady, steadily booked month in

and month out, year over year.

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I've talked to a lot of you who have

experienced a dip this year . Maybe

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it's rebounded yet, maybe it hasn't.

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But being a private pay clinician in

this market means having a level of

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tenacity and a level of groundedness

that you didn't used to, to need.

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You can have the tactical

pieces in place here.

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You can have a solid fee.

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You can have a website that matches it,

but what about your nervous system, right?

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Can you stay grounded when your

caseload dips, when inquiries slow,

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when it feels quiet, when you haven't

gotten a consult in a couple of weeks?

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When you choose to de-panel, you're

not just a therapist anymore.

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You've become a new kind of CEO.

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You've also become the CMO, the

chief marketing officer, and it's

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a job most clinicians never sign up

for, or at least didn't intend to.

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But it is an active process.

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So deciding to de-panel, doing so

successfully means realizing that

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you are signing up to engage in a new

active process of relating to your

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business, marketing it, staying open

to optimizing it, and pivoting for as

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long as that practice remains open.

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This is not a build it and they

will come Field of Dream situation.

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It's out there marketing yourself,

trying things, staying open

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to changing what isn't working

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Now at some point or another,

you're probably gonna have

266

that moment of panic, right?

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You're gonna have that spiral

on the couch with your partner.

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You're gonna wanna burn it all

down and work at Costco, as I say.

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Ask me how I know.

270

Those things are gonna happen,

but are you entering into

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this with your eyes wide open?

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With an understanding of what may be

required of you now, and deciding ahead

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of time that you have the tenacity

and the self-trust and the confidence

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in your decision to stay steady?

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So again, those four things that need

to be true, you know who you're serving

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specifically, you're grounded in your fee,

your website matches the experience you're

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now asking someone to pay out of pocket

for, and you can hold steady when the

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caseload isn't full yet or when it dips.

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Are all four of those things true?

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Now, as I mentioned, this is often

a juncture at which we support a lot

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of clinicians with our done-for-you

website services because they recognize

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their website needs to do some more

heavy lifting than it used to, right?

283

They know that their website has to match

the fee and the caliber of clinician

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they've become and are becoming.

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They know it has to say, "What

you see here is what you're

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gonna experience with me."

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They know that it has to give

someone an actual reason to choose

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them and then prime them for

the fee before the consult call.

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They know these things about their

website, and it's our absolute and utter

290

joy to get to support them in that.

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Now, we offer done-for-you

copywriting if you're finding that

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the copy is your sticking point.

293

We offer done-for-you branding to

create a visual experience that you

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can bring, not just into your website,

but into all of your marketing.

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And then we offer website

design, where we build and design

296

and launch the thing for you.

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Now, you can choose from one of

those if all you need is copywriting.

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Pair it with one of our templates

that's included in the service.

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We can do all three.

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It's up to you.

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But what I see happen is that clinicians

will often make this decision to de-panel.

302

They're ready.

303

They're, they're burned out on

insurance work, whatever that is.

304

They know they need to do it, and

then their marketing doesn't catch

305

up, and so they experience this lag.

306

Maybe eventually it'll catch up, but

they aren't entering into that transition

307

as well-equipped as they could.

308

And when you invest in your website doing

its job, you get not just a website, but

309

you get the confidence that comes with it.

310

You get the self-assuredness of

sending that website to a referral

311

contact, to a potential client,

knowing it's gonna do its job, right?

312

And you start to establish yourself

and, and stand apart from the tens,

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hundreds of other clinicians around you.

314

Your website is going before you.

315

Your website, when set up right, can

prime your clients for your higher fees.

316

That's what happens when

this is built right, right?

317

It lets your fee make sense

before they even talk to you.

318

Is that gonna be right for everyone?

319

Of course not.

320

But if your aim is to make this

transition and make it well, then these

321

four things need to be in place, and

your website needs to do some heavy

322

hitting it didn't used to have to.

323

If you're sitting here and thinking about,

"Oh my gosh, the idea of writing this

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new niche is completely overwhelming,"

or, "I have no idea how to create a

325

premium-feeling website that matches the

experience I'm gonna offer," let us help.

326

Like I said, it may be it's one

service, maybe it's two, maybe it's

327

all three, but whatever is keeping you

stuck, let's get you unstuck and get

328

you moving forward toward this goal.

329

Depaneling is a bit of a leap of faith.

330

There's absolutely no doubt about

it, and it requires a healthy mindset

331

and a tenacity and a willingness to

do hard things paired with a couple

332

of really solid tactical things, a

good fee, confidence in your fee,

333

and a website that backs it up.

334

Build these things on purpose.

335

None of these things are

going to happen by accident.

336

You're not gonna accidentally

be confident in your niche.

337

You're not gonna accidentally

have a premium feeling website.

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You're not gonna accidentally

have the type of mindset that is

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going to weather the ups and downs

of full fee practice ownership.

340

Be intentional about these things.

341

Do these things on purpose, and in the

areas where you're stuck, ask for help.

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Don't stay stuck there.

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The rut will only get deeper.

344

I've seen it happen.

345

If one of our services could be

helpful for you, jump over to

346

walkerstrategyco.com/services.

347

Book a free call with me.

348

We can talk about whether

one, two, or three of these

349

services is a good fit for you.

350

If it's not, I'll always point

you in the direction of what

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I think might serve you best.

352

If you're deciding to make this transition

and you needed just a little bit of

353

guidance on where to be thinking, I hope

that this episode was useful for you.

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I'm cheering you on.

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You've always got me in your corner.

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I'll see you in our next episode.