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Summer School Lesson 2: Tools of private practice
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Summer School Lesson 2: Tools of private practice
Hello and welcome to the Business of Psychology Summer School edition.
Over the six weeks of the English school holidays, we are doing things a little bit differently around here. If you're looking to start up an independent practice in September, then this is the place to be as each week I'm dropping in with a quick lesson and tasks that can be completed in 30 minutes or less from your sun lounger.
By the end of the six weeks, you will feel ready to step into your practice in September, confident that you can find clients and have a safe and viable business foundation.
Each week, the lessons will go out on this podcast feed, but if you want the weekly tasks, workbooks, private community, and a live session with me at the end of the summer to hold you accountable and make sure nothing stands in your way, you will need to sign up here: PBS Summer School
I would love to see you in the community.
Full show notes of this episode are available at The Business of Psychology
Links & References:
Rosie on Instagram:
Week two: Tools of private practice
Welcome back summer schoolers! Welcome to week two. Today we're going to be talking about one of the things I get asked about most frequently by my students in Start and Grow and by my coachees, and that's all about the tools of private practice. Most importantly, what we need to spend money on and what we probably don't.
So here I'm going to be taking you through the tools that I think are really essential to running a professional private practice and also some tools which aren't essential but are pretty nice to have and can make your experience and your client's experience just that bit better. So every tool that I mention here is linked to within our lesson in your Kajabi portal.
So I hope you're going to find it a really useful reference guide if you're just setting up in private practice.
Essential tools
We'll start with the essential tools:
GDPR compliant cloud storage: The first thing that's really important to have is some kind of GDPR compliant cloud storage. And that means somewhere that you can keep your notes and everything relating to client information that complies with UK data protection laws. You need to consider getting something secure in place before you see anybody. This is a place where you can store all of your documents relating to your private practice and to your clients.
The one that I have tried and tested myself is Google Drive, and that comes as part of Google Workspace. It's very cheap, it's affordable, and it's very good in my experience. And if you use it correctly, it is GDPR compliant. You'll need to check their most up to date help documentation to make sure that you're using it in a GDPR compliant way - the reason I can't walk you through that step by step is that they do update their documentation regularly, and it's important that you see the most recent version of that, so do go and have a look for yourself. You can also use Microsoft System OneDrive and that's also very good. I don't use it personally, I have done for a bit of contract work, I have done with other organisations, and I found it to be really good. But again, you will need to check their documentation to make sure that you're using it in a GDPR compliant way.
Practice management software: The next thing to consider is practice management software. This is the stuff that allows you to keep track of all your appointments, invoice your clients, store your notes, your reports, and track any communication that you have with clients.
It makes the day to day running of your practice much smoother, and helps you come across as professional to clients and prospective clients, which ultimately allows you to make more money. It also takes all the worry out of things like freedom of information requests and any legal requests you might get for your notes, because everything's there under your client record, whenever you need it, at the click of a button. I really wouldn't be without mine. In fact, I believe in this so much that this is the only time I've ever got an affiliate link for a tool, and that's for WriteUpp, which is the practice management software that I use. I've never been an affiliate before, I've got no interest in affiliate marketing in general, but for WriteUpp I hopped on board quite early because it transformed my practice and I really wish that everybody got practice management software early on in their practice. So go and check out WriteUpp.
The other thing that you can do through practice management software like WriteUpp is get your clients to sign things like consent forms, terms and conditions, therapy contracts, all of that stuff within one piece of software. It also allows you to send them forms, which are then directly filled into their client portal. So you don't have to go backwards and forwards and worry about, you know, how are they sending that back to me? Do I need to send it with passwords and all of that stuff? WriteUpp manages all of that for you. So I really recommend having a look at them. There are other packages out there like Power Diary and Clinico, and you're welcome to have a look at those as well, I just haven't used them myself, so I can't vouch for them.
Now you might be thinking, do I need something like Google Drive if I'm using WriteUpp? And the answer is, if you are using a really simple, streamlined private practice, then no, you probably don't need both. You could use WriteUpp for everything. I've always found that it's useful to have something like Google Drive as well, so that I can store stuff that doesn't directly relate to clients, but does relate to my practice and the way that I run it, like my policies, things for me and my associates that I want to be able to share with other members of my team. But no, it's probably not essential if you are using something like WriteUpp, but probably worth having in the background as well for most of us.
Secure email: Another thing you need to get set up early doors is a secure email system.
Something like ProtonMail that encrypts our messages end to end is really useful if you're going to be having conversations with clients that contain any confidential information. This will also integrate with your practice management system so that messages you send through that are also secure, so I really recommend it. ProtonMail is brilliant, that's the only one I've ever used, but there are others out there too, so feel free to check those out and just get yourself sorted with something secure.
In addition to that, if it's your intention to have your own website at some stage, and I do recommend that when you're building out your business fully, then you'll need an email provider that can link with that website.
Often if you purchase a domain name for your website, you will automatically be invited to create something like a Gmail account that goes along with it, and that uses your website's domain as the bit that goes after the @. So for example, my business is Know Your Mind Consulting, so my email address is rosie@knowyourmindconsulting.com, but that's actually run through Gmail. So you might want to consider at this stage, if you want to purchase something like Gmail, which you can then link to that domain. It's not an essential, but it is something that is quite nice to have.
Accounting software: Something else that I think is essential from the beginning of running your business is some kind of accounting software. Now I use a package like Xero, and that can be used to send invoices, track payments, track your spending so that your tax return is a lot easier and you can do accurate financial forecasting.
Most people that I know who've been in business for a while wish that they'd had Xero earlier in their business because it allows you to save all of your receipts in one place, make sure that you're sending out invoice reminders, and just generally keeps you on top of the finances in your business so you never get that complete overwhelm and that feeling of ‘oh my god, I don't even know what I'm going to say going into this meeting with my accountant’.
Having said that, Xero is expensive, and so when I started out in my practice, I used the free software that came with my bank account, which was FreeAgent, and I got that through NatWest, and that was perfectly adequate. Just make sure that you've got something in place from the beginnIng. So take a look at FreeAgent, take a look at QuickBooks, and take a look at Xero. If you can afford it, Xero is the best I've found. But if money is really tight, something like FreeAgent is probably fine at the beginning.
A decent computer: And finally, make sure that you've got a decent laptop or computer. Because you really can't run a business if you're seeing that circle of doom every five minutes, every time you try and do something on your laptop. You can't make do with a rubbish internet connection. You can't make do with rubbish video, rubbish sound. You need to be presenting a professional service to your clients, and you need to feel like a professional that can do their best work. So, make sure that your computer reflects those values.
If you are struggling for cash at the beginning of your business like I was, there are companies like Hardsoft which can allow you to lease computers, for a monthly fee. That might be something that's worth considering if that's going to hold you back at the beginning of your practice.
Non-essential, nice to have tools
Okay, so moving on to the tools that are nice to have, but not essential.
Appointment booking system: The first thing to consider is some kind of online appointment booking system.
You can get this function through your practice management system, like WriteUpp, for example. So if you already have that, you probably don't need to worry. But you can also get separate tools for this, like Calendly or Acuity. And these help you to share a simple link with a client, or a potential client, or somebody you want to have a meeting with, and they can then book and pay for an appointment using that link and it goes straight into your diary and makes sure that it doesn't clash with anything else that's in that diary. So you don't have to do any kind of back and forth about when you're free and when they're free. It just makes it really easy, which frankly is bliss to somebody like me that's rubbish with calendars.
Phone answering service: Another nice to have is a phone answering service. So if you want to provide a phone number where inquiries can call and have a quick chat with you rather than using email. For some client groups that is essential and for others it's not, but if you're going to do that, then I would strongly advise having a call answering service like the one offered by answer.co.uk where a receptionist will answer the phone for you and take a message and then email that message to you. That means that you can respond at a time which works for you when you're not in the middle of doing something else, when it's not going to be disruptive, and when you can give a proper and professional answer.
Password management software: Another tool that's nice to have, and which will help you work faster and more efficiently in your practice, is a tool called LastPass, or any other kind of password management software. It allows you to securely share your login details for other tools that you're using or websites or anything like that with somebody else without them ever seeing your password.
I use it to share my details for software packages with my VA, but I also just use it to make sure that I always know my password for all the software tools that I'm using. I find that really, really helpful.
A decent microphone:Something else you might want to consider is getting a decent microphone. It's not essential if you've got a decent laptop, because most of them do have a good built-in microphone and you can just use something like the microphone on your AirPods. But it does help you to feel more confident in your sound, and if you're doing a lot of online therapy, it can help your clients to feel more connected to you. So it's definitely worth thinking about.
A decent webcam: In a similar vein, you might want to have a look at getting a decent webcam. Again, it depends on the quality of the inbuilt webcam on your computer or your laptop, but it can help by pulling in a lot more light, which makes sure that you don't get weird shadows, and that your client really gets to see how you look and your body language in real life, even if you're working online. So I think it's really valuable in terms of improving that client connection.
Also this and the microphone would be useful if you're going to do marketing that involves an online presence at some point in your practice.
A backdrop: A backdrop is also something you might want to consider, but it's not essential.
Having a consistent backdrop or screen behind you when you do your online therapy sessions can help your clients have that sense of a containing space. A lot of my clients have commented on how much they liked it when I kept my backdrop really consistent during our work because it made them feel like they were really in the room with me and I think we can't underestimate the value of that.
You can get backdrops cheaply from shops on Etsy or Amazon that were actually designed for photographers and those kinds of businesses but have become really popular for people online working. It's much better than the kind of Zoom backdrops that you can create that don't look real and I think invite the mind to be curious about what's really there. So I'd always recommend a real physical backdrop rather than one of those kind of pretend ones that you can get on Zoom.
Also, it can help you to create that containment away from your normal space. So if you are having to do sessions in a less than ideal location, even having that backdrop behind you can help you bracket off from that kind of normal life.
Lighting: Lighting's really important for online therapy. If it's a bit dingy in the room that you're doing therapy in, it can create weird shadows that make you look a bit odd and make it difficult to establish a relationship with a new client. A very cheap ring light that you plug in via USB to your computer can make all the difference.
It can make you look more approachable, more professional and just brighter and more connected. I've linked to a ring light here, but there are a million out there that you could have a look at. They don't cost much and it can make a big difference.
Project management software: Our final nice to have is project management software; something like Asana.
If you listen to my episode on the business of psychology with Amy Mitchell, where we talked about
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