Writing A Blog For Your Therapy Practice, Part 2 (Finding Your Voice)

Find Your Tone Of Voice As A Therapist Blogger

What’s the right voice or tone to write your therapy blog in?

As you write your blog week after week, you’ll find your unique voice. There really isn’t one right tone for a therapy blog. Some bloggers use a casual and conversational voice, and some are more formal. Some bloggers write about their own personal struggles and feelings, while others stay away from that realm. Some bloggers refer to research, while others stick to anecdotes. The only rule is that you can’t please everyone, and the more you try to, the worse your blog will be. 

Think of some non-fiction writers you enjoy reading, especially in your field.

To figure out what voice you’d like to write with, think about what blogs and writers you like best. You aren’t going to copy their style, but you might notice an overall tone that appeals to you. Are you a big fan of Anne Lammot's essays? Brene Brown? Irvin Yalom? or maybe bell hooks? Notice what you most enjoy about your favorite writers. 

 Think about what kind of therapist you are, and go with that. 

 Your writing voice will be similar in some ways to your voice as a therapist. If you never use self-disclosure in the therapy room, you probably shouldn’t use it in your blogging either. If you tend to use humor in sessions, let that come out in your writing. If you have a calming presence with clients, you can write with a more soothing style. 

Always write TO someone. 

When you write to a particular person, your writing will be more engaging and less vague. As you write each blog article, imagine you’re writing an email or letter to a particular person. Pretend they have asked you a question, and you're writing this article as a response. For example, when you’re writing about depression, imagine you’re writing directly to a person struggling with depression and looking for a therapist. You might even start your first draft by writing, “Dear…” and then you can edit that beginning out later. 

Don’t stop writing. 

The more you write, the more you will discover YOUR voice.

Ready to build an innovative and profitable therapy practice? Apply for a free 20-minute phone consultation with me. 

Writing A Blog For Your Therapy Practice, Part 1

What Should You Write About?

So you want to write a blog for your therapy practice. Great idea.

If you’re on the fence about it, here’s my article about deciding whether blogging is right for you.

Blogging regularly can improve your SEO and help potential clients get to know you. It’s a great, authentic tool for building your practice.

The problem is, you’re having trouble getting started or staying with it. I feel you. Even if you’re totally inspired by your work, there are weeks when you feel like writing, and there are weeks when you don’t. You find yourself avoiding or dreading the task of writing. You’re not alone. Many therapists start blogging and then peter out, and others intend to blog, but never start.

 Over the next few weeks, I’ll talk about some of the issues and obstacles that come up for therapist bloggers, and some ways to get through them.

One issue that comes up for almost every therapist blogger at some point is the feeling that you’ve got nothing to write about. This is probably not true. You’ve likely got a lot to write about, but you’re not aware of what it is in some moments.  Almost every time I talk to a therapist I’m working with, I blurt out: “that’s an article you have to write.” I often offer up a title for this article I want them to write. You can learn to start doing that for yourself too.

You need to maintain a list of topic ideas. Keep this on your phone or in a place where you can add to it at any time.

Here are some questions to get those ideas flowing. In the answers, you’ll find some potential topics for your blog.

• What are the problems your clients came in wanting to talk about today?
•  How do you think about each issue your clients are working on? (For example, what are some of the ways you think about depression, break ups, or racism)?
• What trainings have you been engaged in recently? What are your thoughts about what you’re learning? What new tools will you use most with your clients?
• What clinical issues have you been talking to colleagues about recently?
• What are you reading right now?
• What drives you crazy that you see other therapists doing?
• What do you believe about how therapy works?
• In your particular practice, what kinds of outcomes are most important to your clients?
• When potential clients call you, what do they say they want to work on? What else do you believe they really need to work on?
• What’s happening with your own personal growth right now?
• Who are some of the most influential people, past or present, in your corner of the therapy world? What do you find most useful about their work?

 So now you’ve thought up some topic ideas. In the next blog, I’ll talk about how to find your tone, or voice, as a blogger.

 If you’re ready to build a bold and innovative therapy practice, apply for a free 20-minute phone consultation now.  

Want Get Off Those Insurance Panels?

Here's a question I hear all the time: 

I want to get off insurance panels. Can I do it? Will my therapy practice survive?

You’re considering getting off of insurance panels. You want to stop doing all that paperwork, you want more freedom to practice the way you believe works best for your clients, and you want to make more per session.

Yes, you can transition to a private-pay therapy practice. If you’re ready to take steps to get off of panels and revamp your practice, I’m happy and excited for you.

Many of the therapists I work with transition their businesses from insurance-based practices to private pay practices. After this transition, they have more satisfying and profitable businesses.

Here’s how you can do the transition well:

Before you do take any steps, stop listening to messages that say this can’t be done. Perhaps those messages are coming from your own head, or from the mouths of your frightened colleagues. When therapists tell you that you can’t have a successful private pay therapy practice, remember that these their fears, not facts. When you get ready to make any bold business move, some therapists will respond with their own anxiety and projections. You can have compassion for their feelings, but don’t take them on.

You’ll want a plan with 2 major components, exiting the panels and increasing your marketing.

Getting off the panels

It’s normal to feel afraid when you get ready to leap. I don't want you to lose sleep. 

You’re going to go step by step, leaving one panel at a time. Choose the one that brings the lowest reimbursement or the one that creates the most stress in your life. Read the contract so that you understand the process you’ll need to go through, and enter into the termination period.

Examine your expectations. I recently spoke with a therapist who is planning to exit her most headache-inducing panel, and she estimated that she’d be losing 7 or 8 clients a week. When I asked her follow up questions and we did the math, she realized she’d only need 3 or 4 private pay sessions per week to replace the income, even if every single person using that insurance decided to leave.

Start conversations with your clients who use that insurance, and prepare your mindset first. Work through your guilt, fear, or anything else you’re feeling so that you can be totally present for these conversations.

Expect some of those clients who use insurance to stick with you and become private pay clients. Your clients may experience feelings of abandonment, but they also may feel comforted that you’re modeling good self-care. Decide what fee you’d be willing to accept before you start the conversations so that you’re not figuring it out in the session.

If clients using that insurance enter your practice during the termination period, talk through the timeline and expectations with them before you start therapy.

If you can’t tolerate or afford the risk of a dip in your practice, plan to accept a few lower-fee clients, including some of the people who’s insurance you’ll no longer be accepting. Don’t do this as a knee-jerk reaction, but rather make sure it fits with your long-term business goals. Make sure you are maintaining at least your current average reimbursement rate when you lower your fee.

Once you’ve completed the process with one panel, exiting the next panel will be a lot less scary.

Marketing

You’ll use that extra time that would have gone to insurance paperwork to authentically market your practice, doing some thoughtful work on your online presence and strategic networking.

Now that you’re getting off of panels, you’ll want to reposition your private practice. You have an opportunity to redefine who you enjoy working with most and what kind of therapy you feel most fulfilled by providing. Get support from a business coach or colleagues who know first hand that a profitable private-pay therapy practice is possible.

When You Have An Unproductive Day

On most days, I get a lot done. I own two businesses and I’ve got two kids, so I have to be self-motivated and structure my time well. Still, I have unproductive days. On those days, I have my tasks in front of me, I’m clear about what I’m supposed to be doing, and I don’t get it all done. I had one of those days last week. Moved… Like... Molasses.  

If you have those days, you know how bad they feel.

When you’re running your own therapy business, here’s what a lack of productivity means: You will see your clients, be on time for your sessions, be fully present, and you’ll do good clinical work. You’ll return urgent phone calls and emails. You’ll show up for your family and friends too.

When you’re not feeling productive, you will find a way to follow through on what others expect of you.

The problem is, on unproductive days, you don’t move your business forward.

Some of the things that WON’T happen on unproductive days are: writing articles, reaching out to colleagues you’d like to know better, creating new or better content for your website, seeking out opportunities for speaking, assessing your business expenses, strategizing about your business plan, and…you get the idea.

When I have an unproductive day, it’s ok. I have a support system for my businesses, so I get back on track the next day. After I gather up some love from friends and family, I lean on my business support system, and get back on track again. If I didn’t have that business support system in place, it would be much harder to return to productivity.

A lot of what I do with therapists is strategy and positioning. I help them create unique business models based on their strengths, and the strategy to make those plans happen. The other part of what I do is to provide support and accountability so that one unproductive day doesn’t turn into ten. In my one-on-one work and in my small groups, therapists get the accountability and kindness they need to get back on track.

If you’re ready to build a unique therapy practice, apply for a free consultation now.

When You Talk About Your Work, Set Yourself Apart

A colleague asks a therapist  “who do you work with in your private practice?”

The therapist answers:

“I work with high functioning adults” or

“I work with people going through transitions.”

These answers describe clients in the most general and least compelling way, squandering an important opportunity.

I understand why a therapist would answer this way. It’s a quick way to describe the range of people you work with and it doesn’t exclude anyone who you might like to work with. But never say it again.

When you say that you work with high functioning adults or people going through transitions you set yourself apart from… almost no one.

When a colleague asks you who you work with, it’s an opportunity to communicate your unique understanding of a group of people. It’s time to show your enthusiasm for helping that group.

Look for new ways to talk about the people you work with so that your colleagues will remember you.

If you have a particular niche, you probably don’t have as much trouble setting yourself apart. But even if you have a general practice working with adults, you probably work better with some “high functioning adults” than others. Here are some examples of ways to describe particular groups of clients:

“highly sensitive”

“perfectionist”

“burned out”

“spiritual seekers”

“introverted”

“parents of young kids”

Look for similarities in the people you work best with, and name those. Your conversations with colleagues are likely to become more interesting rather than dropping off. Your colleagues will remember what you said about your work.

But what if you like working with LOTS of different kinds of people?

As the conversation continues, you can mention that too. You’re not going to be limited to just one kind of client. When your colleagues see that you have confidence and expertise with one group, they’ll imagine you working well with other people too.

Is it time to build your practice in a big way? Are you ready to think bigger? Apply for a free phone consultation now.

Banish Regrets In Your Business

Is there something you regret that did or didn’t do in your business?

Is there a mistake you think about and wince a little bit?

Did you pass up on an office space you thought was too expensive, only to discover that it would have been a good investment compared to every office you found later?

Did you choose to go to a training or conference last year and then you heard about a training you would have liked better?

Did you hold off on creating or updating your website and now you think of all the clients you would have had if you’d gotten started earlier?

Whatever your regret is, don’t let it fester. Shift your actions where you can and let it go.  

When you focus on business regrets, you train your mind to look at your business through a negative lens. You learn to think of yourself as a poor decision maker.

Examine that regret, or list of regrets, and see where you can still pivot in a better direction. The beauty of running your own small business is that you can make shifts very quickly. You don’t need to run your decisions past a committee or explain your decisions to a big team. You can quickly learn from your mistakes and do something better.

If you’ve made too few investments in your business and find yourself thinking it’s too late now, shift by making smart investments now.

If your regrets have come from jumping a bit too quickly out of panick, allow a moment of thought and talk big choices through with a trusted colleague or coach.

Here’s my own example:

When I became a business coach for therapists, I was shy about it at first. I was afraid of what therapists would think about my new calling. I feared that some of my colleagues would not approve of me talking about things like profit and marketing. I avoided talking about it when I met therapists.

It took me a while to own my mission. I regretted that time when I was hiding and could have been reaching out and letting therapists everywhere know that I’m here to help.

So I am practicing what I preach here. I have let go of that regret, and I’ve shifted. Now I take every opportunity to talk to groups of therapists and get my message out there.

What’s your business regret? How can you shift your choices now and let it go?

Is it time to change your business in a big way? Apply for a free phone consultation with me now. We’ll talk about the overall strategy of your business, and you’ll probably be surprised by what we come up with. 

We've Begun Our Challenge to Build A Stronger Referral Network

This referral challenge has been productive and fun so far! We're only on week 2, and you people are taking action. If you’re not in the challenge, it really isn’t too late to join. You can catch up on the prior days of assignments and stay with us through June. 

 Sign up right here. It’s free. 

 I created this as a very do-able challenge, with the assumption that your life is busy, and you can fit in a 5 to 20-minute challenge each weekday. 

There are almost 100 therapists in the challenge. 

 Here’s what I’m hearing from participants so far:  

A lot of you are getting more clarity. You’ve gotten more clear on your message through the first day’s exercises, and you’re also more clear on the purpose of your networking conversations. With that clarity, you’re going to be a lot more effective. 

Some of you have let me know you're surprised that the challenge isn’t what you expected. In a good way. Networking in this way is less artificial than you thought would be. 

Others of you are relieved that this challenge is not based on using social media. Social media can be used as a tool during this challenge, but you can certainly do the whole thing without it. 

Clear, surprised, and relieved. That’s exactly what I want you to feel. 

Here’s to getting your phone ringing with great referrals!

Whether you're in the challenge or not, if you're ready to build your practice in a big way, apply for a free consultation with me now. We'll talk about your next steps to building an incredible practice. 

Are You Afraid To Charge More Than Your Mentors?

Most of us earned a paycheck somewhere else before we started in private practice. Those work places used frameworks for deciding how much we got paid. In some places, we negotiated our wages. In others, our wages depended on what our union representatives had negotiated for us.

Some therapists expect that wage framework to show up in private practice, and they unconsciously try to recreate it. They look to therapists with a similar amount of experience to find out what their own fee should be. They look at what their mentors are charging and make sure to charge far less than that. They find out what interns are charging and make sure to charge more. These therapists are limiting their own incomes based on a structure that doesn’t exist.

What if your mentor chooses to keep her fees low because she’s independently wealthy, or because she paid off the mortgage on her home 15 years ago? On the other hand, what if your mentor has no idea what she could be charging? Do you really want to wait for her to raise her fees before you do?

I see therapists get distressed when they see other therapists not following that imaginary wage framework. If they hear of an intern charging more than an experienced therapist, they get confused or even mad. They express disbelief when a therapist with a similar level of experience charges twice their own fee. If you experience disbelief, confusion or anger when another therapists breaks the rules of this imaginary framework, its time for a mindset shift. 

In reality, you set your own fee.

You don’t have a boss to negotiate with any longer. You don’t have coworkers to compare wages with. Your fee is up to you, and the only people who need to approve of it are the people who choose to hire you.

Instead of deciding what you want to charge based on where you believe you fit in an imaginary framework, here are the factors I want you to base your fee on:

• The value you place on your expertise and your work
• Your living expenses
• The financial resources of the clients you work best with
• The value those same clients place on their healing
• The number of sessions you want to schedule each week
• The expense and time needed for your training, consultation and self-care
• The monthly expenses of running your business

I encourage you to find a fee that works for you; a number that:

• allows you to earn a good living
• respects your time limits
• makes room for a few low-fee clients
• sets you up not to burn out.

When you set your fee that way, something interesting happens. You don’t compare your fee to other therapists’ fees as often. When you do, you feel more curious than stressed. You also make mental room for other therapists to leave that imaginary wage structure behind. Who knows? Seeing you behave differently may even rub off on your mentors. 

If it's time to build your practice in a big way, apply for a free consultation with me. What we come up with might surprise you. 

Find YOUR best method for getting more referrals.

I often tell my clients that building a strong referral network is the fastest way to fill your practice. And now I’m leading a free 30-day challenge to help you do it. Sign up here so you can start with me on June 1st.

 How many colleagues regularly refer to you? Include anyone who refers to you even a few times a year. If your number is low, let’s say 2 or 3, you may feel discouraged. You’ve known dozens of therapists and other professionals over the years, and they all know you’re in private practice, but only a small handful refer to you.

I want to help you look at this in a totally different way.

 What if you could double or triple the number of colleagues who regularly refer to you? Imagine what that would do for your practice. Then imagine doubling or tripling that number again. You see where this is going.

Let’s start by examining the referral partnerships that are working. A referral partnership is a relationship with another professional in which you both refer clients to each other. Even if you only have one or two referral partnerships that are working, that’s the best place to start.

Consider what is making those relationships work. There are reasons those people are referring to you, likely including one or more of these:

•  You gave them the impression that you have a high level of care for your clients.
• They come into contact with your ideal clients a lot and you’ve given them the impression that you work well with that group.
• You’ve shown them that you have integrity.
• They have spoken with you 1:1 and like the way you think and communicate.
• They like you.
• You have let them know that you are likely to refer clients to them.
• They have seen you recently or heard from you recently enough that you are on their mind. 

Think about each person who has referred to you. Consider which of those factors I listed might be present. Look for patterns in the ways you have created or maintained those relationships. Those are great clues for what will work again.

Your goal is to reproduce those results by reaching out to more people in similar ways.

 If you just can’t figure out why your referral partners have sent you clients, think about what comes easily to you in your relationships with colleagues. As you reach out to more colleagues, lean on those strengths. For example, if small groups are the place where you shine, look for opportunities to interact in small groups. Long-term group trainings and consultation groups might be two of your best places to grow relationships.

Sign up for the 30-day challenge now. You’ll get small assignments and a structure for taking smart action throughout the month.

How to Use Your Strengths More In Your Business

When I talk to therapists about marketing and running their practices, they often tell me they know they should do certain things they don’t like doing. If this sounds like you, it probably means you’re not fully embracing your strengths. When you don’t embrace your strengths, it’s very hard work to market and run your business, and all that hard work does less than you want it to. You may have heard some of this before, on a surface level. I have said many times that if you’re an introvert, you can focus on one on one networking with a smaller number of colleagues to develop deep relationships rather than spending times at large events. If you love to write, you can build your online presence using articles. If you’ve got a big personality, you can do public speaking.

Let's take this thinking to a deeper level.

How can you play to your strengths in every activity you do? 

Here's an exercise to learn more about your strengths and find out you could be using them more. 

Start by listing the business activities that are easy for you and that bring you energy. Include anything from balancing your checkbook to clinical work with clients.

What strengths do you lean on in these activities? Here are some possible answers:

• Ability to listen deeply
• Humor
• Analytical skills
• Creativity
• Attention to detail
• Energy for scholarly research
• Ability to engage with large groups
• Energy for clinical training
• Interest in trying new things
• Consistency
• Dependability
• Ability to come up with insights
• Ability to connect quickly with new people
• Ability to stick to a routine or predictable process over time
• Charisma
• Long attention span
• Story telling

Now list the business activities that you enjoy the least, and that drain you the most. Again, include any activity you do (or think you should do) for your business.

Look at the second list and see which of those activities you could do differently. How could you do these activities while using your strengths?

For example, a therapist might feel drained by public speaking because she tries to be charismatic and connect quickly with her audience. Those aren’t her strengths, so she does a decent job, but then collapses at the end. The strengths she uses for one on one networking and in her clinical work are deep listening and consistency.  I would help her use those strengths in public speaking and let go of trying to be different that she is.  She might create a presentation for smaller groups that uses written exercises in which participants answer questions independently. She might direct them to examine a deeper question in pairs. She might lean on her consistency by giving this presentation several times to different small groups.

Look at those activities you like the least and see how you could do them differently, in a way that leans on your strengths. 

Some activities just can’t use your strengths. For example, if your strengths are creativity and an interest in trying new things, you probably can’t use those in your practice record keeping. Look for ways to minimize those tasks or delegate them as soon as you can. That will free you up to lean even more on your strengths. 

Is it time to build your practice in a whole new way? Apply for a consultation with me.