Is it harder to be in private practice now than it was in 2018? The question every psychologist or therapist stepping into private practice wants to ask

Today I'm answering a question which is at the forefront of newbies into private practice’ minds, and I think it's a really important question for all of us to reflect upon, especially those of us that have been in private practice for a while and might find ourselves in the position of giving advice to people who are new into private practice. And that question is, is it harder to be in private practice in 2023 than it was in 2018?

This is a really important question because I do see that a lot of the advice that's given does seem to be reflective of the time that many of us started our businesses, which makes sense because the way that we learnt to get our first clients and to market ourselves is based on that experience, and that's what we want to pass on. But often for people who are starting out now, either they don't trust that advice because they've noticed that the economy has changed, that the industry around mental health and wellbeing has changed, or they do trust the advice and they try and follow it and find that things don't quite work out in the way that they were hoping.

So I thought what would be useful today is to think about what has changed in the economy, what has changed in the wellbeing industry, and then to think about what that might mean for us in terms of practical marketing strategies.

Race in Therapy Workshop

We have a workshop coming up on 13th July. It is hosted by Kaemotherapy and is all about Race in Therapy, how we can support clients of colour and make sure our practices are part of the changes that need to happen in mental health in the UK. There are only ten spaces available so visit Race in Therapy Workshop to secure your place on the live training.

Full show notes and a transcript of this episode are available at The Business of Psychology

Links & References:

Grow Your Practice For Stability and Security in 2023 (Private Podcast)

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1258580/wellness-product-spending-uk/

Episode 123: Using social proof ethically and effectively for psychologists and therapists

Episode 87: Marketing an online course for psychologists part 4: Do you have the authority to launch an online course?

Episode 114: How to network as a mental health professional

Episode 119: How to know if any marketing activity is working for your private practice

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Is it harder to be in private practice in 2023 than it was in 2018?

The overall economy: Clients need more reassurance but still have money to pay for our services: Grow Your Practice For Stability and Security in 2023 (Private Podcast)

There is competition from big companies and insurance companies employing their own people.

It is harder to stand out on directory sites and on google as there are more private practitioners than before?

SEO is much easier than it used to be but the internet gets more crowded every year so it can be even tougher to get noticed by search engines.

Social media has become more crowded (and frankly annoying) than it was before for all small business owners.

The Expanding Marketplace

On the flip side people are more educated about the benefits of therapy and the overall wellbeing industry is much bigger than it was in 2018. The global health and wellness market is however consistently growing and this can be seen in the UK and other economies, so there is reason to believe we should all be able to flourish in an expanding marketplace (www.statista.com/statistics/1258580/wellness-product-spending-uk/)

Also, people remain reassured and impressed by qualifications. 

Technology

There are technological changes that can enhance our practices and make it easier for us to achieve things that would have seemed impossible in 2018.

Practical stuff

1. Differentiation from the other offers that are available to people from EAP programmes, apps, text therapy services etc is much more important than it was before. 
2. Authority is more important than before (qualifications, affiliations, public speaking, books, publications, sharing knowledge in long-form content).
3. Specialism is more important than before.
4. Collaboration is even more beneficial than it was before - sharing audiences with each other and colleagues from other disciplines enables us to offer services and products that are more unique and ultimately to reach more people.
5. Relationships in general are more important than before; the best referral streams have always been from people who know us so make sure the people your ideal clients trust know you. Think about the professionals they go to for different kinds of help and start building meaningful relationships with them. Listen to this episode I recorded on networking to get some practical tips: Episode 114: How to network as a mental health professional
6. Social media is less useful than it was in 2018. In 2018 I had quite a lot of success from social media in both my clinical work and in 2020 when I started working with other professionals and promoting this podcast. However, I always track metrics (Episode 119: How to know if any marketing activity is working for your private practice) and as I noticed that was less effective I now focus on long term content and just use social media to talk to people that find me through that. That is not to say their aren't psychologists and therapists doing really well on social media, and if it floats your boat then go for it, we can do so much good there raising the profile of mental health and putting out helpful psychoeducational content, but it isn't essential for your marketing anymore, those authority builders really are.

If you are one of those people starting out in private practice now and you're feeling a bit intimidated by it, or if you've been in private practice for a bit longer and you're just feeling like what you were doing isn't working so well anymore and you want to shake things up a bit, obviously I would be remiss if I didn't remind you that I do run Psychology Business School which has everything you need to get up and running in private practice, and also to support you as you grow your private practice. So if you are feeling like you'd love more support with growing a practice, please do come and check us out at Psychology Business School because I'm pretty sure we've got something to help you over there. 

Thank you so much for listening to today's episode, I really appreciate it. Please review and share this episode so that we can reach as many people as possible with the podcast. It really means a lot to me, and I read every single review that we get, so if you'd like to give me a little bit of a warm, fuzzy feeling, I'd very much appreciate it.