Before I get to this question: "Do you need to fill your therapy practice BEFORE you add a second stream of income?" I'm going to share a little background on how I make decisions.
I don't always do things in the order I'm supposed to. For example, I decided to become a single parent in my late 20's, started that process, THEN met a partner I wanted to commit to.
Lots of folx warned me that raising a child on my own would be really tough and that I should wait and see if the right partner showed up first. They warned that single parenting should be a last resort, and that I should at least wait through my 30's to see if an ideal partner arrived. What they said sounded kind of logical, but I just knew it wasn't the right solution for me. I really wanted to start being a parent sooner than 10 years down the line. I sought out some single moms and asked them about their experiences. Like pretty much any category of parents, their experiences were mixed but leaning to pretty positive. I started in on my process to becoming a single parent.
Then... before I became a parent, I met the person who is now my wife. She happened to come on the scene in time for us to parent together. That was 17 years ago.
Following what I really wanted led me in MY right direction.
Yes, I was extremely lucky to meet my partner because she's awesome and makes my life better. But for me, single parenting in a community of friends and family would have been great too.
I sometimes get distracted when people don't mention their privilege, so I'll throw in here that I was in a privileged position to have the option of considering single parenthood by choice.
I don't think there's one right order to do things in. Not in our personal lives or our businesses. Which brings me back to this question.
Therapists and healers often ask me: Do I have to fill my practice before I can consider adding a second stream of income? (When I say "second stream of income", I mean a course, workshop, online community, or another program beyond the therapy room)
All the other practice building coaches I know answer "100% yes." or "Your practice must be at 70k before you should consider adding a second stream of income." Or "Your practice must be at least 75% full."
My answer is: Maybe. It depends on what you really want.
Folks I work with tend to cluster into 2 general groups:
Group One finds that filling their practices FIRST makes sense. The therapy practice brings them the steady income and teaches them a ton about business. They prefer to maintain a small but highly profitable therapy practice while they build their second stream.
I talked to a therapist recently who said "Once my therapy practice was almost full, I looked around and said: What else do I want to do? I realized I wanted to create an online membership community." And she did.
Then there's group 2. These folks really want to build their second stream BEFORE their practices are full. They are more excited about their work beyond the therapy room than they are about their private practices. They've got big energy around building a program beyond the therapy room, and they don't want to wait.
Here's what often happens for this second group of people: They put a small amount of time and energy into building their therapy practices, and they put MORE time and energy into growing their program beyond the therapy room. And their therapy practices fill up!
Why does this happen? Creating a program beyond the therapy room gives them energy and clarity. That energy and clarity comes across in everything they do, and colleagues and potential therapy clients feel it.
I would love to know which group you identify with more strongly.
Are you more comfortable filling your practice BEFORE building your second stream of income?
Or do you want to jump right into building your second stream before your practice is full?
Too-Long-Didn't-Read-Summary
You don't have to fill your therapy practice before you start creating your second stream of income. It's up to you.
If you want my help creating your signature program beyond the therapy room, I can help.