Traits of Successful Private Pay Therapists

Things a successful private practice cash only/private pay business excels at:

1. Are good enough therapists

2. Are working on/have worked on their scarcity and money mindset issues (e.g. shame, guilt, etc.)

3. Are good at providing quality customer service and focusing on their clients

4. Are flexible and adaptable to the changing social and economic conditions

   1. Covid-19

   2. Recessions

   3. Artificial intelligence like Chat GPT

5. Are good at being a business owner

   1. Managing their money (accounting, paying taxes)

   2. Accounting for sick time and time off

6. Know their own limits/boundaries and consistently honor them

   1. If you don’t, you’ll get crispy and burn out eventually

   2. Or you’ll resent yourself

   3. Or you’ll resent your clients

7. Communicates the message they are a specialist in some manner

8. Communicates the message they can help the client without promising results as this isn’t ethical

9. Shows value to prospective clients why working with them is worth the financial fee/investment (rationale and reasons)

10. Provides client centered copy (focused on the client, not the therapist)

11. Removes barriers to accessing care such as:

    1. clear copy, easy online scheduling, easy way to contact the therapist, etc.

    2. Make it super easy for the client to reach out to you or schedule a meeting/consultation

Clients who use insurance for therapy

1. Often times do not want to spend hundreds of dollars a month for treatment

2. More focused on getting help rather than finding a specialist