How to Create a Summer Schedule That Works for You! | Ep 130

Fearless Practice

As many therapists may have experienced with their practices, there’s usually a summer slump. Everybody is either away on vacation or taking time off work, and as such their schedules have changed, albeit temporarily, and this can make it challenging for therapists to maintain their usual steady stream of clients.

More than that, you also want a holiday! It’s important for everyone, including therapists, to enjoy the nice weather and to take time off, wherever applicable and useful.

In this podcast episode, I share with you some of the tips and approaches I use to make sure that I can also relax and take a breather, without

In this Episode:

• Some ideas to deal with a summer slump

• What I’m trying this year!

• Managing my time

• Slowing down

Some ideas to deal with a summer slump

While everyone is outside and enjoying the warmer weather after winter, businesses and practices can suffer a little financially.

Luckily, there are some things that you can do to help keep your business afloat and top of mind, such as:

• Increased marketing your business leading up to the summer

• Adding a niche with a summertime focus

• Saving money throughout the year to help you manage the slower summer months

• Adding an additional stream of income

• Hiring new therapists to your practice

What I’m trying this year

From the suggestions I’ve given above, there are a couple of things that I am trying this year for summer 2024.

What I’m doing;

1 - Reminding myself that this is a phase. I know that there are trends of busyness that come and go throughout the year, and to keep calm and make adjusted actions is the best way to go.

2 - Be proactive and productive. I use the client summer slump to work on my business in other ways, making tweaks and adjustments where it may be needed that I might not have the time to do during the rest of the year.

3 - You can network too. Networking is an ongoing investment that you are making in your business, and these ring true and could bring you some valuable clients before, during, and after the summer months.

Managing my time

So, the way that I manage my time over these summer months with my other work priorities is to simply slot them into my usual clinical working hours, where I would’ve been clients. This way I maintain my usual schedule, keep my own routine, and still work within the hours that I am used to.

Blocking out that time in my own schedule means that I keep working, and I don’t see an empty client slot as “free” time.

Slowing down

Another thing that I am doing this summer is slowing down, and taking time off as well! One of the most annoying things of the summer is having one client booked on a clinical day, and no one else.

When that happens, I book the rest of the hours off to focus on that one summer work priority, and also to relax! Where possible, I’ll bunch those client hours onto a day or two so that I work in batches, and can then manage my time so that I’ll have a solid block of working time, and then rest.

If you want to hear more about how I portion out my time so that I can enjoy both my clinical work and enjoying my personal life, listen to this episode for some tips and advice!

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Resources Mentioned and Useful Links:

Ep 129: Rhea Bridge: Niching in a New Practice to Reduce Burnout | EP 129

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