Artwork for podcast Beyond the Session with Aisha R. Shabazz
Setting Yourself Up for Success: The Foundational Fundamentals of a Thriving Private Practice
2nd May 2023 • Beyond the Session with Aisha R. Shabazz • Aisha R. Shabazz
00:00:00 00:16:12

Share Episode

Shownotes

In this episode, we're covering the fundamentals of running a business and what you need to know, do, & believe in order to have the thriving private practice that you've worked so hard to build.

We'll explore what it takes to run a solo private practice, the challenges that come with it, & how to simplify things over time.

---

Path to Private Practice Guides

Have a question you'd like Aisha to answer on the podcast? Click here to submit your question to "It Depends: Q&A with Content" & receive a free gift in the mail if your question is selected to air on the show.

Love the show? Let us know with your 5-star review & receive complimentary access to the "6-figure private practice roadmap"

Click here to learn more about Aisha & her consulting firm.

This podcast was brought to you by the The Thriving Therapist Shop

The audio for this podcast is edited by Aleksandra V.

The music featured in this podcast was created by MH the Verb and GR Stone.

Copyright 2024 Aisha R. Shabazz

Transcripts

Aisha:

You know the story of the three little pigs.

Aisha:

The one pig built their house out of straw, the other out of sticks, and the

Aisha:

last one built their house out of bricks.

Aisha:

Now, what does this little fairytale have to do with running a private practice?

Aisha:

Well, the reason why the little pig that built their house out of bricks

Aisha:

lasted beyond the huffs and pups of the big bad wolf is because their

Aisha:

house was built on a solid foundation.

Aisha:

Today on the podcast, we are going to be talking all about the fundamentals

Aisha:

of running a business and what you need to know, do and believe in order

Aisha:

to have the thriving private practice that you've worked so hard to build.

Aisha:

Last time on the podcast we talked all about how you know whether or

Aisha:

not you're getting closer to reaching your private practice goals and.

Aisha:

Many therapists that reach out to me really have some reluctance in building

Aisha:

a business because they think that there are too many moving pieces.

Aisha:

And I'm here to tell you that there are a lot of moving

Aisha:

pieces to running a business.

Aisha:

However, if we go back to the fundamentals of what it means to

Aisha:

run a business and have a thriving private practice, we can put the pieces

Aisha:

together so that they make sense.

Aisha:

So first things first.

Aisha:

What do you need to know in order to have a thriving private practice?

Aisha:

Well, the first thing that you need to know, which is probably

Aisha:

not what you want to hear.

Aisha:

But running a private practice, especially running a solo private

Aisha:

practice, is very challenging.

Aisha:

And the reason why I add that caveat of a solo private practice is

Aisha:

because you at the very beginning are doing a lot of things on your own.

Aisha:

You are the captain of the ship, so to speak, and so the opportunity to

Aisha:

lean on somebody, Else to pick up.

Aisha:

The heavy lifting of running your private practice on a day-to-day basis

Aisha:

is just not there, and that's the biggest difference between being an

Aisha:

entrepreneur and being an employee when you are an employee of your agency.

Aisha:

Nonprofit.

Aisha:

Hospital company, you had a team of people behind you, even if you didn't work with

Aisha:

that team on a daily basis you had an accounting department that made sure that

Aisha:

you got paid on time, you had a human resources department to make sure that you

Aisha:

were given your time off appropriately.

Aisha:

You were given.

Aisha:

An opportunity to probably be a part of a morale committee where they

Aisha:

planned special events to make sure that morale was high throughout the

Aisha:

department and throughout the year.

Aisha:

There are all these different departments that you probably had no idea existed

Aisha:

until you interfaced with them and yet, They helped everything run smoothly in

Aisha:

the organization that used to work for.

Aisha:

Now that you're running your private practice, it's just you and you have

Aisha:

to pick up all of the slack that you probably didn't realize existed.

Aisha:

Now, the good thing is, is that it doesn't have to be challenging forever.

Aisha:

There are ways that you can simplify running your private

Aisha:

practice over time, but.

Aisha:

Really, the only way that it gets more simple is if you're trying, so trial

Aisha:

and error is one of the biggest things of running your private practice.

Aisha:

If you're feeling a little reluctant to dive headfirst into new tech tools,

Aisha:

into your business, or implementing new strategies, or even just

Aisha:

putting into practice some policies, procedures, and expectations, I.

Aisha:

Not just for you, but also for the benefit of your therapy clients.

Aisha:

This could be an opportunity for you to explore, well, what do I know

Aisha:

about running a business and is there something else that I could learn

Aisha:

along the way to make things easier?

Aisha:

That's why the Thriving Therapist Shop exists, there are different

Aisha:

guidebooks available for you to learn a little bit more about what it takes

Aisha:

to run a thriving private practice.

Aisha:

If you haven't had an opportunity to check out some of the materials

Aisha:

available there, you can click the link and the show notes below.

Aisha:

The second thing that's important when you are running a thriving private

Aisha:

practice is making sure that you believe that running a business is a skill.

Aisha:

So just like riding a bicycle, running your private practice is a

Aisha:

skill, and what that means is that you have the potential to get better

Aisha:

at it the more that you practice.

Aisha:

I'll tell you a little story.

Aisha:

So when I was a little girl, I learned how to ride a bicycle when I was in

Aisha:

first grade, and one of my mother's.

Aisha:

Comrades in the military taught me how to ride a bicycle, and Paula was probably

Aisha:

one of the most kind and gentle souls that I had met at that point in my life.

Aisha:

And she was very patient with me.

Aisha:

And from what I recall, I picked up riding a bicycle pretty quickly.

Aisha:

Now, Paula explained to me the mechanics of riding a bicycle, everything that she

Aisha:

thought I needed to know to be successful.

Aisha:

And lo and behold, She was good at what she did because I learned

Aisha:

how to ride a bike very quickly.

Aisha:

Now, as I was navigating the neighborhood, as my mother outlined for me, she said, I

Aisha:

have to keep my bicycle on the sidewalk.

Aisha:

And I'm sure for those of you that have ever taught a child how to

Aisha:

ride a bicycle, you need to put in parameters around their bicycle riding.

Aisha:

I followed my mother's instructions and said, okay, I will keep

Aisha:

my bicycle on the sidewalk.

Aisha:

I was able to ride my bicycle up and down our block and was able

Aisha:

to turn around at the curve.

Aisha:

So I'm pedaling my bicycle away, and I believed at the time that my

Aisha:

bicycle turned with the sidewalk.

Aisha:

Yep.

Aisha:

I'll say that again.

Aisha:

I believed that my bicycle turned with the sidewalk, that I didn't even need to

Aisha:

turn my handlebars in order to navigate around the twisting turns of the concrete.

Aisha:

So one day I'm riding my bicycle as quickly as I could, moving my feet and.

Aisha:

My bicycle didn't turn.

Aisha:

And what happened?

Aisha:

Instead of my bicycle going to the right following the sidewalk, it actually

Aisha:

cored into a bush in front of me.

Aisha:

And sadly, I skinned both of my knees and I was sad and I cried because it hurt.

Aisha:

And I injured myself so badly that I didn't have the strength

Aisha:

to pedal myself back home.

Aisha:

I had to walk my bicycle back and then someone saw that I was, you know,

Aisha:

sad and crying and limping home and they escorted me home and you know,

Aisha:

there my mother was very sad trying to find out, well, what happened?

Aisha:

How did I have an accident?

Aisha:

At that point in time, I shared with my mom.

Aisha:

Uh, my bicycle didn't turn, and she looks at me confused and she's

Aisha:

like, she's inspecting the bicycle.

Aisha:

And she's like, well, did the wheels lock up?

Aisha:

You know, did you pedal backwards?

Aisha:

Did you the brakes?

Aisha:

Did you push the handle brakes?

Aisha:

And I said, no, mom.

Aisha:

My bicycle didn't turn when the road turned.

Aisha:

Every time I turned, my bicycle turns.

Aisha:

And she looked at me with her sweet smile and she said, sweetie, your

Aisha:

bicycle doesn't turn with the road.

Aisha:

Now, in that moment, I believed my mom.

Aisha:

You know why?

Aisha:

Because I had that accident that proved to me that my bicycle

Aisha:

did not turn with the road.

Aisha:

If someone would have heard me say that proclamation before I crashed, I

Aisha:

don't know if I would've believed them,

Aisha:

I'm telling you that story because there are some limiting beliefs

Aisha:

that you might have when it comes to running your business.

Aisha:

You might believe that you don't need to consistently market your

Aisha:

practice in order to get clients.

Aisha:

So many therapists share with me, I don't need to market my practice yet.

Aisha:

And I listen and I hear it, and I ask them stories about, well, why is it that you

Aisha:

don't need to market your practice yet?

Aisha:

And they share with me, well, I started my private practice with

Aisha:

clients from a previous employer, and I've been full ever since.

Aisha:

Okay.

Aisha:

That's information that they have shared, another reason why people think

Aisha:

that they don't need to market their practice yet is because most of them are

Aisha:

getting referrals from networking calls.

Aisha:

Okay?

Aisha:

Now, networking is a type of marketing.

Aisha:

It's considered word of mouth marketing, but I take in that

Aisha:

information and I hear them clearly.

Aisha:

Other people have said to me, well, I know someone else that doesn't have a website,

Aisha:

and they have clients . Okay, so when we're thinking of all of these examples,

Aisha:

that is information that they have, and I know, and there are many business owners

Aisha:

from across the world that know that it's only a matter of time before you

Aisha:

need to diversify your marketing efforts in order to keep the business flowing.

Aisha:

So the only time that some people believe me when I say you have to

Aisha:

market your practice consistently and diversify your marketing efforts

Aisha:

is when their caseload is drying up.

Aisha:

And then that's when they realize I don't have any clients.

Aisha:

That are about to come through the door.

Aisha:

What am I going to do?

Aisha:

I did what I used to do.

Aisha:

I went on networking calls, and that's not resulting in clients.

Aisha:

I don't have any other former clients because I worked with all of them and

Aisha:

they've graduated from therapy or I.

Aisha:

I guess I can start building a website now, but that's gonna take

Aisha:

me a long time to build that website.

Aisha:

So sometimes it takes us to have a belief and then have that belief challenge in

Aisha:

order for us to see things differently.

Aisha:

So I want to encourage you to know that you have to believe that running a

Aisha:

business is a skill, and there are many skills that you will learn along the way.

Aisha:

There's an exercise that I do with the coaching clients that I have,

Aisha:

and I want to give you an opportunity to explore that for yourself.

Aisha:

One question that I want you to ask for yourself is, what capacity

Aisha:

do you have to learn a new skill?

Aisha:

Do you have the time to learn the new skill?

Aisha:

Do you have the energy to learn the new skill?

Aisha:

Do you have the get up and go, like the effort that it takes to learn a new skill?

Aisha:

Do you think that you can muster that up?

Aisha:

Do you have the attention and focus to learn a new skill, and for some of us in

Aisha:

order to learn a new skill, We can do it on our own, we can do a DIY solution, and

Aisha:

for some of you, you might have to invest and spend some money to learn a new skill.

Aisha:

Some of you will learn the hard way, and some of you will learn through the

Aisha:

teachings that I share, not only on the podcast, but through my workshops and

Aisha:

group coaching programs, and through the materials in the Thriving Therapist Shop.

Aisha:

Regardless of how you learn these lessons, just know that.

Aisha:

There's no wrong way to learn.

Aisha:

There are opportunities for you to learn every step of the way, but if you do

Aisha:

have an opportunity to learn a lesson, write down what you've learned, and then

Aisha:

take those learnings with you into the next phase or season of your business.

Aisha:

The third component of reaching towards your thriving private practice is doing,

Aisha:

so you have to implement along the way.

Aisha:

It's not enough to collect information and say to yourself, okay, I

Aisha:

know exactly what I need to do.

Aisha:

You might know exactly what you need to do, but in order to know

Aisha:

if it's gonna work for you, you have to put it into practice.

Aisha:

Life is not a spectator sport.

Aisha:

You can't sit on the bench and wait for things to happen to you.

Aisha:

You have to go in there and try, There are many people out there that think

Aisha:

of this quote and they get inspired.

Aisha:

I wholeheartedly believe that you have to go in there and do something in

Aisha:

order to figure out if it works for you.

Aisha:

If you've noticed that you've been sitting on the sidelines and soaking up all the

Aisha:

information that you can, and yet you have not implemented it yet, My question

Aisha:

to you is what are you waiting for

Aisha:

now again, there's no right or wrong way to do it, but in order for you to

Aisha:

lean more into your private practice goals and keep the private practice

Aisha:

that you've worked so hard to build, it's important for you to remember

Aisha:

that a private practice is a business.

Aisha:

know that running a business is challenging.

Aisha:

You have to believe that you are building up skills over time, and you

Aisha:

have to do what it takes to put into practice the information, because

Aisha:

collecting information is not enough.

Aisha:

If you are someone who's listening to the podcast today and you're thinking

Aisha:

to yourself, well, I don't even know where to get the information.

Aisha:

You are in a great place to learn information.

Aisha:

If you're a graduate student who is so excited to walk across the stage with your

Aisha:

graduate degree, but you're not there yet and you wanna learn more about private

Aisha:

practice, you can grab the path to private practice guide for graduate students.

Aisha:

If you're a medical social worker like me.

Aisha:

And you're like, you know what?

Aisha:

I wanna think about running a private practice one day, but I

Aisha:

don't necessarily think I need to take the leap in order to learn.

Aisha:

I can actually watch and learn from somebody else.

Aisha:

You can grab the Path to private practice guide for Medical social workers, and

Aisha:

if you're currently a 10 99 contractor, if you're working for a group practice

Aisha:

or even a community mental health agency and you're thinking to yourself, Hmm.

Aisha:

I think I wanna go off on my own but I want to look before I leap.

Aisha:

You can grab the Path to Private Practice guide for 10 99 contractors

Aisha:

and after you explore this guide, you will have everything you need to know

Aisha:

in order to figure out if private practice is something that you wanna

Aisha:

do one day, or you'll have everything that you need to start your private

Aisha:

practice when the time is right for you.

Aisha:

I am someone who took years to really explore and figure out if

Aisha:

private practice was right for me.

Aisha:

And I'm so glad that I took the time that I needed because my timeline was very

Aisha:

different than other people's timelines.

Aisha:

I'm someone that learns from other people, from watching others, and sometimes

Aisha:

I make a few mistakes along the way.

Aisha:

But if it wasn't for the mentorship that I had from not only colleagues,

Aisha:

but also people that I met, Through professional organizations and along the

Aisha:

way through the different places that I've worked in the hospital systems,

Aisha:

I would not have had the courage to take the leap into private practice.

Aisha:

I put all the things in place so that I could be successful , and

Links

Chapters

Video

More from YouTube