Scaling Your Business as a Therapist - Your Deeper Underlying Goals and How to Make It Happen
Many new clients come to me wondering if and how they can transition from being therapists to coaches. They meet with me because my career and life embodies what they want to achieve.
They usually come with concrete goals like:
Doubling income within a year
Reducing face-to-face client work hours to 10 or less and/or reduce total work hours to less than 30 per week
Bringing in clients that aren’t draining and are enjoyable to work with
Bringing in enough clients to start a group practice
Doing work with clients that actually produces results
Being able to tell clients directly what their blind spots are and how to heal them
Moving away from having to hold clients’ projections towards more directive and teaching approaches with motivated clients that don’t project
When I first meet with therapists in our consultation calls, I talk with them about their overall life goals and how they want to feel. What I have learned over many years of having successful businesses, is that not all business ideas will help you reach the deeper goals you are seeking to achieve when you are looking for the above-listed goals.
What therapists often do not realize when they reach out to me is that the goals above coincide with much deeper, more meaningful life goals.
Ultimately, these deeper goals are:
To make the money they deserve for their hard work in supporting clients in transforming their lives
To heal from burnout
To be present with their kids, friends and partner
To have time to take care of their bodies
To have the energy to feel motivated to engage in self-care and growth oriented activities
Being seen, heard and respected in all areas and by all people in their lives
Feeling energized and excited about their work and career
To be free of freeling obligated to, responsible for and burdened by life, clients, family, etc
For me, the last 5 years of my life have been a deep dive into pursuing these deeper goals. My work is always important to me and I do my best to align it to what matters to me in life. But more importantly, I want to live my life to the fullest in all ways possible. I refuse to be a slave to my career or any one aspect of life.
I wanted my career to support the life I desired, rather than my life to bend over backwards for my career. And the truth is that we can’t do it all. We can’t see over 20 clients a week, make $50K a year and then have the energy to be a great parent, have a healthy body and have time for friends, hobbies, relationship, etc.
In order to have space for all those awesome life items, we have to make time in our workday. And even more importantly, we need to find ways to have more energy coming out of our workday to have motivation to engage in and enjoy them!
So how do we do it? How do we create that ideal business in order to bring our dream life to fruition? Here is what I recommend based on my own experience and as a business coach of many years:
Create the life vision first! If you start creating a plan for your business without priortizing your life goals, you may find that several years later, your business has consumed your life. So start with getting clear on your values, especially in the stage of life you are in now (you can always refocus differently in other stages of life) - what do you most want to get out of life? Is it to help others heal and grow, is it to be present with your kids, is it to help heal the planet, is it to have time for play? Get clear on how you truly want your life to look, even if it seems like a pipe dream.
Build a business vision that will support the life vision. Explore your options with someone who has experience in actually running the businesses you are considering. When I work with clients to decide what business expansion makes sense for them, we discuss the reality of each possibility, not just the idealistic view of them. Some people will benefit more from owning a group practice as it will allow them to have more time for life outside of work and they won’t need to market as much. While others will do well building a coaching business because they don’t want to manage others, enjoy marketing or are more energized at the idea of doing the work themselves. And there are an endless number of possibilities beyond those two options to consider as well! Most of all, the pros and cons of each option must be weighed in terms of its impact on life goals.
Invest in working with a business coach that is living the life you want to live. We learn by role modeling. If you want to learn something from someone, they have to have learned it themselves. So choose someone that has created the life you desire and you feel is an energetic match for you and then learn from them! With business coaches, you have to ensure they will treat you with respect and compassion, as many are not trained in empathy. I can tell you from experience, there are many coaches out there just looking to make money by preying on your desperation for income and time freedom. Be cautious about discerning if you can trust them to prioritize your process to deadlines and goals (not shame you for struggling), to prioritize your needs to their paycheck and to be heart-centered while also delivering.
Set aside time in your schedule to review your vision and make tiny commitments (or big ones!) towards your vision. If you don’t make consistent time to work on your goals, you may never reach them. So block out time and guard it fiercely. Remember, this vision will result in you having the life of your dreams. Also, make small achievable commitments as much as you can. Baby steps will get you to your goals.
Process any blocks you notice getting in your way - by way of your body if possible. In my opinion, the best way to heal and expand is through the body. I work with a somatic business coach weekly so she can call out my blind spots and help me break through them. Doing so has allowed me to grow well beyond my expectations time and time again. I can’t see my blind spots, so I need someone to tell me where there are! Then I am relentless about breaking through them.
Keep leaning into trust. It is hard to trust that a pipe dream can become reality. When you first create a vision, it feels impossible to bring to fruition sometimes. All you can do is keep leaning into trust that your vision or something even better will come together as long as you keep working towards it.
I find that the visions I create come together within 2-3 years. I still work with my own coach once a week along with a therapist once every 2 weeks. These set aside meetings allow me to keep progressing even if everything is already great. The more I work on me, the more alignment, love, freedom and meaningful work I experience.
Ready to walk through these steps? Want some support from someone who has walked through them herself? I would love to connect with you about your goals and potential. Fill out an application to work with me on the contact page of my website!