Setting Fees and Rates In A Counseling Private Practice | Episode 18

07/20/20 • 18 min

A Counselors Journey To Private Practice

Welcome to A Counselors Journey To Private Practice. I'm your host, Juan.
In this episode, we cover Setting Fees and Rates In Counseling Private Practice. Here are 6 key take-aways:
1. Focus on your market. Take time to search online and do a careful study of your market. This process is referred to as, Market Research. The goal is to identify what fees and rates are around your area.
2. Have a long term plan. Focus on what your fees are today and what they will be 5 years from now. This is the process that helps clinicians in private practice build success one step at a time.
3. Know your numbers. In your private practice, you should have a spreadsheet that goes over money coming and out. Identify what your rate should be based on (a) expenses (b) savings (c) other associated fees.
4. Reflection. Answers to key questions allow the private practice to become a successful private practice.

How many clients do you need in your private practice for you to reach your level of success?
What is the average income in your area? Or the area that your practice is located?
What type of lifestyle do you desire to create from your private practice?

5. Caping your session rate. This will take place. At some point, you will go from an $ 100.00-hour session to $300.00. At some number, you'll notice that you can't keep going up.
At this point, you can continue to play with your fees by adding additional services. An example can include, adding a group to your practice. Your session fee can cap at $300.00 per hour. While your group includes 10 clients each at $50.00. This will come to $500.00 per hour.
6. Raising fees. Consider the variables: education, additional training, and continuing years of experience. Each of the variables focuses on reasons why you can increase your fees. The rate of increase should be in increments. Even a small $10.00 increase can go along way. Consider if you worked with 40 clients per month at $100.00 per hour compared to $110.00 per hour. The increase in fee would lead to an additional $400.00 per month or $4800.00.

Are you interested in receiving help with your counseling private practice?
CLICK HERE

Thank you for listening.
Please leave an awesome review and subscribe to the podcast so that you never miss an episode in your journey of private practice.
I'm always looking for awesome counselors that are ready to share their story. Visit the link below, let's connect.
Visit http://acounselorsjourney.com/be-a-guest/
Watch the episode on the YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/M2d0z5ziQaw
Visit the website: http://acounselorsjourney.com

Support the show

How many clients do you need in your private practice for you to reach your level of success?
What is the average income in your area? Or the area that your practice is located?
What type of lifestyle do you desire to create from your private practice?

Are you interested in receiving help with your counseling private practice?
CLICK HERE

Support the show

Previous Episode

Mistakes To Avoid In Your Counseling Website | Episode 17

Welcome to A Counselors Journey To Private Practice. I'm your host, Juan.
In this episode, we cover Mistakes To Avoid In Your Counseling Website. Here are 10 key take-aways:

Do not have inconsistent colors or font. Pages and posts on your website should be consistent. This gives users that land on your website a great experience.
Do not write a blog post or create a page without focusing on keywords. When writing pages or posts, take time to identify what your potential clients are searching for. Use the found keywords as the foundation for writing your content.
Do not forget about compatibility. It's important for your website to be optimized to fit the screen of cell phones, tablets, and other smart devices. Not doing so can lead a potential client to have a bad experience and leaving your website too early.
Do not information hidden. When people visit your website it is important to have the items that need to be found right in the front. As an example, a potential client visiting your website will be looking for a button to schedule an appointment. Or a place that they can contact you, review your fees, or see your location.
Do not have a slow loading website. Your website has a loading speed. This is basically how fast a page or post loads. Most people have an attention span. With this in mind, I want you to consider how long it takes your website to load.
Do not use bad images. There is such a thing as a bad image. Consider a professional picture of your office that has dark lighting and makes it difficult for your potential clients to see the space. Or a picture of an address that is difficult to read. The basic point here is to make sure that your website is clear and has great quality images.
Do not skip key points. When potential clients visit your website take time to give them key answers to questions that they have. As an example, include the following: fees, location, types of services, short bios of the counselors in the office, and insurance information.
Do not ramble. It's great to explore topics in a blog post or share details regarding the counseling services provided. The area we want to steer away from is rambling on topics for too long. This tends to steer people away. Instead, try to mix your content with videos, infographics, and writing.
Do not have expired content. Websites can have pages that are expired or with broken links. Basically a page that doesn't load. It is important to understand how your potential client will feel if they click on a page on your site and find themselves lost. Take time to address this issue.
Do not stop working on your website. A website is a strong connection to your business. As such, it is important to grow your business and website. When your fees increase take time to reflect the change on your website. When new counselors enter your practice, take the time to add the change to your website.

Are you interested in receiving help with your counseling website?
CLICK HERE

Support the show

Next Episode

Learn All About Building A Rural Counseling Practice With Brianna Toomes | Episode 19

Welcome to A Counselors Journey To Private Practice. I'm your host, Juan.
Today we interview clinician Brianna Toomes who has a private practice in North Carolina.
Learn how Brianna got started in private practice and what she did to overcome challenges and build a successful counseling business. To connect with Brianna visit: https://irenictherapy.com/
Key areas to focus on when building a counseling private practice:

Relationship building. Create relationships with referral partners in the community. This is a great way to expand your counseling practice while building healthy and genuine relationships with counselors in the community.
Strategic marketing. Explore adding additional services that connect to your community. Take time to understand the needs of your community and how you can bridge the gap. As an example, if your community has a need for teen groups. Create one.
Excellent service. Part of building a business includes customer service. In addition to serving your clients with excellent clinical skills, take time to serve appropriately. Explore if you are able to have snacks and water in your office. Small touches like this can go a long way.
Work on your website. A website is a strong connection to your business. As such, it is important to grow your business and website. When your fees increase take time to reflect the change on your website. When new counselors enter your practice, take the time to add the change to your website.
Create content with a focus on keywords. When writing pages or posts, take time to identify what your potential clients are searching for. Use the found keywords as the foundation for writing your content.
Email list. Start an email list focused on those that you serve in your counseling practice. An email list is a beautiful platform that helps you communicate with those that you serve. I like using my email list as a direct source of keeping people updated. Just like every week those that subscribe to this podcast receive an update of the new episode, the email list can serve in a similar way.
Reuse content. If you are a counselor that helps couples. This can give you an edge to creating tools as a board game that helps couples strengthen their communication. Each stage of the board game can have a mixture of education and coping skills.
Structure your business. Take time to consider how you will structure your business. Some counselors in private practice take the LLC route, corporation, or other options. At the end of the day, it's up to you.
Create additional streams of income. Examples of additional streams of income for counselors in private practice include: write a book and have it published, get paid to write for publications and major magazines, create a product to help your clients, create merchandise focused on wellness, develop courses to teach what you are teaching in counseling sessions, create courses to help counselors learn how you help your clients or start a YouTube Channel and monetize.

Are you interested in receiving help with your counseling practice? CLICK HERE

Thank you for listening. Please leave an awesome review and subscribe to the podcast so that you never miss an episode in your journey of private practice.
Visit http://acounselorsjourney.com/be-a-guest/
Watch the episode on the YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/WCPH3m91OLg
Visit the website: http://acounselorsjourney.com/

Support the show