When I went to graduate school, I was very well prepared to become a therapist, in an agency, carrying out someone else’s business plan. When I worked at an agency, I began to develop business plans but I learned it the way most people learn things at agency, through the fire and flames. I was handed over a binder with a ton of requirements and I was meant to develop a business plan for my program. Luckily, I learned how to develop business plans while volunteering for Delta Phi Epsilon sorority. So, I took the knowledge I learned through my volunteer experience, the binder I was handed and my brains and developed what I consider to be a pretty excellent business plan.
Fast forward a couple of years and I decided to jump into full time practice. One of the first things I did was develop a business plan. Why? I knew without a business plan, I would make a lot of decisions that wouldn’t be in line with my vision and mission. Before I had a solid plan in place, I made a lot of mistakes. I ended up paying a lot of money for a variety of marketing tactics that did not work, I charged too little for my fees and I didn’t hire help for things like a website, accounting, social media and billing.
Once I developed a business plan, I learned how to make better decisions around my business. When someone approached me about coaching with them, I consulted my business plan to find out if I actually needed the help to achieve my goals. I have been able to use my business plan to keep me on track. Was I working on getting more Instagram followers or growing my email list? By looking at the business plan and seeing that I was on my way to getting the number of Instagram followers, I knew our marketing efforts on Instagram were working. And finally, when I look at how I exceeded my income goals for last year because of my business plan, I knew I was ready to expand my business and venture onto other projects, such as consulting with private practice owners and people who want to start a private practice.
The three reasons you need a business plan for private practice:
- It helps guide your decision making
- Think about treatment plans we develop with clients. By having a treatment plan we are able to help them make healthier decisions in their lives.
- It helps keep you on track
- If you don’t have a plan, how do you know if you should keep pushing or if you can celebrate your successes? By having milestones to achieve, it can help keep you motivated to complete your goals.
- It helps provide a measuring stick for the health of your business
- There are so many definitions out there of what a healthy private practice looks like. The only definition that matters is the one you developed. A business plan can help guide you to take a pulse of your practice and decide if it is healthy or if you need to ramp up your efforts or perhaps change your goals.
For those of you who are interested in developing a business plan and are local to South Florida, I will be offering a workshop on developing a business plan specifically for private practitioners. The workshop will be held on Monday, May 1st, 9am-12pm at my office in Davie. Space is limited so be sure to register early. Early bird specials are being offered.
To learn more about the workshop or to register, please check out this link:
https://www.amandapattersonlmhc.com/events/
Amanda Patterson, LMHC, CAP , Mental Health Counselor of the Year by the Florida Mental Health Counseling Association, decided to become a therapist while attending Nova Southeastern University. She saw the need to help people achieve the life they wanted to live, while creating a life of her own. She completed her master’s in Mental Health Counseling and started a career in the juvenile justice arena. Amanda has been a therapist for ten years and has a private practice in Wellington, Florida, specializing in depression, anxiety, relationship issues, and substance abuse in teenagers and young adults. Amanda is a believer in holistic treatment and she practices veganism, meditation and yoga in her life. Find out more about her practice here.
To schedule an appointment, call or text Amanda at 561-223-1066 or email her at amanda@amandapattersonlmhc.com.
