In This Issue

Ideas to jump start your practice

I recently found a picture of me in front of my first private practice office. My dad took the picture at the koi pond at the entrance of the building.

A flood of emotions came back when I found that picture. My mom had died shortly before that picture was taken. I never got to share with her the excitement of getting licensed.

But there were more feelings coming up as I looked at that picture. I felt almost catapulted back in time. I remembered how nervous I was – about being a brand-new therapist and specifically about how to get clients. I certainly hadn’t learned that in grad school.

At that time, every time my pager went off, I raced to the phone hoping it was a new client. (In case you are really young, back in that day we didn’t have cell phones – just pagers.)

What about you? Is now a time in your life when you are looking for more clients? Maybe you are just starting out. Maybe you have moved to a new area and are starting over. Maybe you have a full caseload that has dwindled and you aren’t sure what to do since you never had to do any marketing.

Here are three tips to get you started.

So here are some tips to jump-start your practice.

	Interview successful therapists in your local area. Observe which therapists in your area have full caseloads and ask to buy an hour’s worth of their time. Tell them you are new and would like to get some advice for building your practice. There is a strong possibility that the advice they give you will be outdated as many built their practices before the internet. Be respectful, take notes and write a thank you note. Many times they will remember you (especially since you treated them like an expert) and will refer their overflow to you. Just remember to focus on them and their success and not on yourself. You do not have to sell yourself. They will decide if they like you and want to refer to you. Of course if they ask about you and your interests, be genuine. Just don’t think you have to sell yourself. It might backfire if you do.
	Make a list of 20 people, organizations or occupations of people who might be good referral sources. I love this exercise. Sit down and identify 20 resources for potential referrals. For example, if you are working with grief and loss, you might seek out estate planning attorneys. If you are working with women and divorce, consider churches and women’s group, as well as allied professionals such as OB-GYN, chiropractors, and naturopaths. Do not get up until you have at least 20 individuals, organizations or occupations on your list. We can all list about 5 of them but listing 20 allows you to break through some creativity blocks. Then reach out to those resources and start building relationships.
	Make sure your internet presence is up and client attractive. Start with your headline. The purpose of the headline is to invite the web visitor to read further. Put yourself in your client’s shoes and read your website headline. Does it make you want to read further. Your headline is a lot like “curb appeal.” If your headline doesn’t invite the person to want more, you have lost a potential client. So if your headline (or header graphic) says “Welcome!” or “Here you are!” or “Life Balance” – then I might back up and rethink it. You have less than 4 seconds before the prospective client gets off your site. Make your headline something that is of value and pulls the reader toward the rest of your site.

Try these three exercises over the summer and see what happens!

I get a bit misty when I look at that picture my dad took. He and I are much older now – and closer. And I took that anxiety about getting clients and turned it into a personal mission. I want therapists worldwide get the information they need to have a financially rewarding practice.

Until next time,

Casey

About

Casey Truffo

Casey Truffo, MFT is an award-winning speaker and coach to
therapists on five continents. She is the author of Be A Wealthy
Therapist: Finally You Can Make a Living While Making a Difference.
and Pink Spoon Marketing For Therapists. Casey is the Founder of The TherapistLeadershipInstitute.com and BeAWealthyTherapist.com. Her mission is to support and enrich the lives and careers of therapists worldwide.

If you have any questions, please contact the TLI and Be A Wealthy Therapist team at http://therapistleadershipinstitute.com/blog/contact-us/ or
call 949.309.2590.

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Tagged as: advice, Caseload, Cell Phones, Dad, Emotions, Excitement, Feelings, Flood, Grad School, Koi Pond, Level 1, Local Area, marketing, Mom, Newbies, Practice Interview, Private Practice Office, Summertime, Telegroup, Teleseminar