Reverse engineering your practice
You’ve studied. You’ve interned. You’ve sat in hours of supervision. You have likely worked in agencies, hospitals, schools, and mental health clinics. You know who you are as a professional and how you can help.
Yet it is easy to lose sight of this knowledge once you start your private practice. The clarity you once had about your work, your mission, and your limitations can easily get lost in your agenda to build a viable business. In the pursuit of financial security, you can find yourself saying “yes” to every client that is willing to work with you. Your original ideals can easily be replaced by a louder mentality that suggests that overbooking clients is better than not having enough. If you’re in this space, it is important to consider what actually is “enough” for your business.
If you have followed the “more is better” path, your practice may be stacked with clients with similar issues. You may have evenings booked with families and couples. You could even have clients whose needs don’t align with your professional interests. These are sure signs that your goal of filling your practice replaced your personal work ideals. It is easy to be unaware of how just one additional client can tip the balance of your week from sustainable to exhausting.
If you have found yourself unsure what “enough” is for your business, reverse engineering your practice can help.
Look at your practice’s weekly flow. How much of the “same” do you have all week? What kind of diversity is lacking for you to keep your days interesting and exciting? Before you agree to any new clients, look at your work flow and decide what would be better for you.
For instance, ask yourself:
How many clients with depression/anxiety/divorce can I healthfully see per week?
On the days I work evenings, see couples, groups, or families – what is a reasonable limit that will maintain my energy without me feeling drained the next day?
What do I need to do to maintain better focus?
How many “week of” appointments will I keep blocked off in the event of an urgent matter?
When you reverse engineer your practice, you shift from saying, “Yes, I am open to work with couples” to “I have two spaces available in my schedule for couples work.” This limit may be one that you only need to confirm to yourself, but it is worth considering advertising these boundaries more clearly.
While no therapist wishes to reduce a client down to their presenting problem or chief complaint, you can consider a “call out” for specific types of work that diversifies your week.
For example, your website or bio may include:
Appointments currently open for:
Family work – openings Wednesday at 5:30p.m.
Clients struggling with depression – daytime availability
Short-term solution-focused work for people anxiety – Saturday mornings
This specific call for clients not only will help you curate your client base but could also reassure a prospective client that you are specifically wanting to work with them.
Once your “call outs” are filled, you can easily remove them from your online profiles or replace them with a notice that your “appointments for couples are currently full.”
Or you could start a waitlist, which is a wonderful way to maintain your practice’s limits while supporting your continual business flow. A waitlist can also allow the client to feel supported while they continue to look for someone more immediately available.
Reverse engineering your practice is a great way to view and correct any bad business habits that you have adopted. It can be a self-reflective tool that allows you to keep adjusting your business needs with your professional awareness as you grow and change over time as a practitioner.