5 things you must do if you are returning from a break in private practice (or you need more clients)

The Business of Psychology

5 things you must do if you are returning from a break in private practice (or you need more clients)

Hello and welcome to the new series of the Business of Psychology podcast and September! The start of the academic year always feels like a new beginning in my mind; I've never gotten out of that cycle and now I've got children at school, it's just reinforcing that idea that September is a month for growth and development and change. So it's actually one of my favourite months of the year and I'm very happy to be coming back with the podcast, and with my private practice this September.

For anyone who's new to the show, I have just come back from my third maternity leave. My youngest daughter is now nine months old and the time feels right to do a couple of things; firstly, to throw myself back into creating this podcast and the social media content that goes with that, but also to restart my clinical work. I did what most people do I think, and finished my clinical work about a month before I went off on maternity, and it now feels like the right time to step back in and start seeing some therapy clients again.

But as many of you will know if you're experienced in private practice and you've had to take breaks in your practice, for whatever reason, it isn't as simple as just showing back up and having clients knocking your door down. I am very lucky that I do still have a few people who are waiting to have sessions with me, which is a privileged position, but things are not as busy as they could be. We moved during my break, which means that a lot of my local connections have died off and I've had to start reestablishing some new ones. Also, I have not had the time or the energy to do any marketing at all for the private practice over my maternity leave. Any energy I've had, I've used into keeping Psychology Business School and the coaching side of my work going, mainly because I just didn't have the right frame of mind to be talking about my specialism over that maternity period, and that's because my specialism is perinatal, so it felt a little bit too close to the bone and a bit too raw to be really putting myself out there and talking about that side of my business, so I haven't been. But a few years ago, having a break and coming back like this would have filled me with fear, and justifiably it would have filled me with fear because I wasn't confident that I could get that marketing machine back up and running quickly enough to make me the income that I need to make. Now, a couple of things have changed for me. Firstly, I have a lot of income coming in from Psychology Business School, my membership, my online courses, and the coaching work that I do. So actually, the clinical side of my work isn't required for my own income anymore. I do my clinical work because I love it and also because I'm generating profit to put into pro bono offers and low cost offers for people in my clinical group. So it does feel different to how it did when I returned from my maternity leave a few years ago. However, I think another big difference for me is that I know what works now. I've actually had to set up my practice in different parts of the country after a break four times now. So over the past five years, and four moves, I have learned what works in getting clients into my private practice, and I now feel pretty confident that if I do these five things that I'm going to share with you in this episode, that will bring enough clients into my practice for me to be comfortable and to give some work to my associates too.

So I thought I would share my to-do list because there's only five things on it, but they are the five most important things you need to do if either you're lacking clients in your private practice, or you're setting up again after a bit of a break. I hope that it might help people who are in a similar situation, but also it might help you to do a little bit of an audit and check that you are still prioritising these things because they are the foundation of your marketing machine and they should remain the foundation. However busy you get, however much you're enjoying content creation or any of that other amazing stuff that we do, these five things are the bedrock of your business strategy.

The five most important things to do if you're lacking clients in your private practice, or you're setting up again after a break

1. Local Networking The first thing that I've already started doing in my new area is local networking. I made myself some business cards on Canva, and I got out there in person and started talking to people who might have contact with my ideal client. For me this meant talking to a lot of allied professionals: people that have contact with pregnant people, at whatever stage in their journey. I've been chatting to fertility doctors, I've been chatting to GPs, I've been chatting to midwives, I've been chatting to health visitors. I've been talking to shop owners, people who own other small businesses that serve pregnant people. I've been talking to hypnobirthing instructors, yoga teachers, baby massage instructors, really anyone who has contact with my ideal client at different points in their journey. And I've been talking to them, not just about how they could help me. I'm not just going in and saying "Hey, I'm a clinical psychologist, I specialise in, you know, pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period, refer to me" I do say a bit of that, and I hand out my business cards, but I usually lead with “How can I help you get referrals? How can I help you get clients?” And that's for two reasons; firstly, because it's nicer to build up a reciprocal relationship like that, and it works better, but also, if you've been in private practice for a while, you've probably found the same thing as me that because you develop a trusting relationship with your clients, they ask you for recommendations. They ask you, who should I go to for nutrition? Who should I go to for baby massage? Who should I go to for cranial osteopathy? They asked me for all of these things and I don't always know. Because I move so often I don't always naturally have a friend who does X, Y, or Z or have somebody that I know shares my values or is properly accredited who does X, Y, or Z. So I have to make an effort to get out into my community and find those people to refer to. At a minimum, you want a psychiatrist you can refer to, you want somebody for nutrition I would suggest, and somebody who does movement, well you do if you share similar values to me about the mind-body connection. So have a think about that; for you, who is it that you need to refer to? Who is it that your clients are likely to ask you for a recommendation for? And put some effort into building up those relationships first, because if they're reciprocal in that way, those are the ones that are going to work the best for you. So that's the first thing that I've been paying a lot of attention to that kind of networking with allied professionals. The second thing, still related to that local networking point, is building up my network of local psychologists. I was lucky because I still have some friends in this area. I've actually lived here before, so I was able to reach out to a couple of people I knew who lived locally, and get myself some introductions to other local psychologists in the area. Now, again, that's useful for two reasons. Firstly, because I'm confident that we will refer to each other, we all have slightly different specialisms, and even if we all had the exact same specialism, we've all got limited capacity. So I think there's a chance that we will refer to each other, and that's great. But the other reason I always want a strong network of other local psychologists is that safety net; it's that time that something comes your way that you weren't really expecting and you don't quite know what to do with it. Having other psychologists that you can call upon for a bit of peer supervision, to say have I thought of everything here? Are there any other local services that I haven't thought of to try is really useful. And many of those psychologists will have worked in the NHS services in this area, and I've been out of that loop for a while now so that is extremely valuable information for me. Because often, that's where I want to refer my clients to, I often want to refer them into the NHS, and so knowing how those pathways work specifically here is really valuable. So whatever your specialty, whether you're a psychologist, a psychotherapist or a counsellor, having other people that share your profession, who you know, you start to develop a close relationship with is really valuable. So that would be the second thing on my list.
2. Updating Directory Sites The second thing that I will be focusing on after networking is getting my directory sites up to date. Updating them with my new address, refreshed copy, making sure that the message I'm trying to communicate to my ideal clients is coming through loud and clear, and that there's nothing confusing, no broken links, no phone number that doesn't work any more, that the website link I'm sharing is the one I want to share, just checking that all of that ticks all of the boxes, because directory sites are still a really powerful way of getting referrals into your practice.
3. Updating Your Website The third thing that I am concentrating on at the moment is making sure that my website is up to date with all of that same information. Making sure there is no link to the wrong address anywhere, no link to anything that doesn't work anymore, and that I've got the right process for contacting me on my contact page, that that's still what I want to happen and how I want it to happen. Also updating and refreshing the copy, giving Google a bit of a helping hand there; Google will pay more attention to our website if it's been updated recently. Checking that all my terms and conditions have got the right address on, that all my terms and conditions are still valid for how I'm operating at the moment. And also making sure that my Google My Business profile is up to date with the correct address, and that there's no broken links on that either, because that is a really powerful tool and if your website and your Google My Business don't align, Google does not really like that. So make sure that you've got Google My Business set up, because that really helps people to find you, and making sure that it's up to date and matching your website should be done at the same time as your website refresh.
4. Meeting With Your VA to Update Processes The fourth thing that I am doing at the moment is organising a meeting with my VA, the lovely Anna, who featured on this podcast a few months ago, to discuss and refresh any processes that aren't as efficient as they could be, or don't fit with the way that I'm currently working. I'm coming back with different clinic slots, I'm working at different hours, I'm doing things a bit differently. I'm doing a hybrid between in person and online work, whereas we've been online only for years now. So there's a few things that Anna and I need to discuss to make sure that all of that goes really smoothly. So I'm booking in that meeting to make sure it happens. If you haven't outsourced any of your processes yet, have that meeting with yourself. Get out your systems and processes, take a good look at them and check that they're fit for the way that you're working now and update anything that doesn't work. Because as soon as you do get those clients coming in through the door, you don't want that to be the time that you notice the cracks and the inefficiencies because that's just stressful. And chances are if you're coming back after a break, you're coming back with a bit less time than you had before.
5. Long Term Planning - Cash Flow Forecasting The fifth thing I'm doing is a bit of long term planning, including cash flow forecasting. No, it's not the most fun thing you can do for most people. Actually for me, I really love cash flow forecasting! I find it really fun to try and imagine what I could do in my business and have a look at what impact that might make, but I know a lot of people don't really like it. So if you don't like it, and you think you're going to procrastinate, this could be something that you do alongside a pricing expert like Sally Farrant, who was featured on this podcast before, or with your own accountant. Sit down and figure out what you're going to do in your business, how you're going to make money, and what that is likely to look like over the next year. Review your vision, review your values, review your fees, make sure that all of those ducks are in a row and make sense. We've got podcast episodes to support you with all of that, which I'll link to in the show notes, but make sure all of that makes sense before you let that first client back through the door. Because if it's not, you're less likely to have time to update things, change things, change all of your fees and that kind of structure, when you've got clients already on your books. Now is a really great time to make sure that all of that is in alignment, and it will make sense.

Thinking About Returning to Face to Face Work

Now I said I was only going to share five things, and I have already shared the five most important things that you need to focus on if you're returning from a break in your practice. But just to let you in on another thing that I'm doing at the moment, because I think some of you could be thinking about similar issues; I'm actually viewing therapy rooms, which feels really exciting to me! A lot of people ask me, should I be thinking about returning to face to face work or should I stay online? Is it still possible to stay online? And actually, I think we don't really know yet. We're not really through this pandemic, we're still seeing a lot of people unwell with COVID a lot of the time, and we're still seeing quite a lot of disruption to people's lives because of that, because either they're ill with COVID, or other illnesses seem to be plaguing people more than they used to. So for that reason I think online therapy is still going to be very, very important. I think there are a lot of people who have found therapy accessible who wouldn't have done so before, for various reasons; health, but also employment, lifestyle, childcare, all of those things. So I certainly don't think that we're likely to return to a world where it's acceptable not to have an online offer. I think most people now are going to expect that's an option, because they've been used to it being an option or the default for the last few years. So I certainly wouldn't say that I am likely to return to face to face only, but my business always was a hybrid between the two, so maybe that's just me, and maybe that's predictable, we'll see how things shake down. I think it might become more challenging to sustain an online only practice, because people will start to imagine that they could see you face to face again, as the world opens up and becomes a bit more face to face, frankly. So I think you might start to lose some business if you do stay online only. However, I think that if you're willing to put in the work, and follow the practices that we've talked about in this podcast for defining a clear specialism, making sure that your website is really optimised for your ideal client and speaks to a very specific group of people, I think if you're willing to do that, then you will still be able to have an online only practice. I think it's going to be more difficult than if you're able to have more of a kind of local in person practice, that you market it through local networking channels, but I think you'll still be able to do it. So if that's what you want, listen back to the specialism episodes of this podcast, have a think about who you're speaking to, and make sure that your messaging is absolutely on point for those people, and have a think about how you can reach a wider pool of those people because you need to speak to a national audience, but I'm pretty sure that it can be done. But for me, I have a bit of a pull towards seeing some of my clients in person again, and I think that's because one thing that I specialise in my clinical work is severe sickness in pregnancy. I don't like to call it morning sickness, because I've been through it and that is an enraging term for something which plagues your every waking moment for nine months of your life, so I won't call it that, but that's what it's commonly known as. And for those people, I know from lived experience, looking at a screen is pretty horrible. I also know that for another section of my client group, coming and seeing me in person and having me hold their baby, while we talk about something is really, really helpful. And I know not everybody would do that in their practice, I completely understand that, and it's not suitable for every piece of work that I'm doing, but there are the occasional clients where they just need that service from me, they can't have their baby in their arms and talk about what they need to talk about, and there is no one else to look after their baby for them. So for those people, I've always provided that, where they can bring the baby in, in their buggy, and if they're unsettled, I can hold them while we're talking. Obviously I talk about that a lot with my supervisor about when it is suitable and when it's not suitable, but for the few people that it is the right thing for I want to be able to offer it again and I've really missed being able to offer that. So for those reasons, I am looking at therapy rooms at the moment and trying to make a decision about when the time is to return to a hybrid for me. It's not going to be on the first of September, but it might be at some point in the next few months. So that feels exciting, and it's something that I'm researching, so I thought I'd let you in on that.

What Not to Prioritise

Now I want to talk to you about the things that I am not prioritising in the marketing for my private practice, because these are things which I see people get whisked away by, carried away with which are often kind of fun to work on when it comes to marketing, but they're not the most important thing when you're actually looking to get clients through the door.

1. A Brand Refresh So the first one is a brand refresh. Oh my word, I want to do a brand refresh for my private practice! I've got so many ideas of things that would be better and cooler, and there's so many things that I want to do, and my brain (you've probably picked up on by now if you've listened to this podcast for a while) is one of those places that kind of never stops thinking of new stuff. But I'm not allowing myself to go down that track just now. I'm going to focus on getting those clients through the door first, and then once...