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Letting Go of Things, Doing Less, Doing More of What You Love

BY MAUREEN WERRBACH

You may have noticed that people in private practice often talk about how having their own practice has given them the freedom to work less, make more, go on vacations,…just live this sort of life that sounds amazing and relaxing! You may be thinking, “how the hell are they doing that?! I am seeing 20+ clients a week, am managing staff, answering emails, marketing, supervising, blogging,…The list goes on!

“How do I get to that place?!”

I am sure you have heard about outsourcing. But you may be confused as to what or how to outsource things in your practice. Also, you may feel like all that outsourcing costs your practice money, and you doing these things saves your practice money that you can pay yourself or reinvest in your business. What if I told you that outsourcing actually increases your business profits and your time?

What things are you doing in your practice that you don’t love doing?

What things are you doing that you hate doing in your practice?

Write them down.

Then write down what someone else would charge to do those things.

What do you charge to see a client? $100? $130? $150? Were any of those things on your list anywhere close to what you get paid to see clients? Probably not. What that means is that you should outsource those tasks so that you can free up time to see clients.

You may be saying, “Many of the things I do, I do after the kids are sleeping, while I watch a T.V. show, or early in the morning. Not during times when I would see a client.” Well, add up all the hours you spend doing those tasks. Then add your clinical hours. How many hours were you expecting to work as a group practice owner? You are likely exceeding that.

There are many things that need to be done that make a group practice run efficiently that can get outsourced for much less that what you get paid to do doing what you love: counseling. And even those things that cost more, like website design, often take us novices hours upon hours over weeks time can be done in a fraction of that time by a professional. This leaves you with more time to run your practice.

Here are some things that can be outsourced:

  • Answering phones
  • Reception
  • Billing
  • Benefit checks
  • Website design
  • SEO
  • Marketing
  • Logo design
  • Artwork for blogs, articles, Instagram and Facebook pages
  • Social media posting (like MeetEdgar)
  • Payroll
  • Accounting (obviously, I hope everyone is doing this already!)
  • Supervision (not so much outsourcing as it is handing it off to a great therapist on your staff)

I remember when I first started outsourcing, it was scary and I wasn’t sure if it would drain me of income or not be worth it. So I started small, with outsourcing billing (which I did while I was still solo! Talk about getting frazzled easily 🙂 ) I noticed a weight lifted off my shoulders knowing an experienced person was taking over something, giving me more time to see clients.

As I grew my practice and hired clinicians, I realized answering all the calls left me dreading when the phone rang. Phones ringing. Something that usually makes a practice owner giddy with excitement, left me with this incongruent feeling. So I handed it off. I paid another clinician (admittedly, I first hired a 24 hour answering service that messed up so many times) to answer the intakes and never looked back! The money I spend on having her do intakes is well worth it, as I don’t feel on call 7 days a week to answer the phones. That feeling alone is worth the money.

It should be noted that I outsourced things one at a time, from the things that caused me the most stress first, to things that I just knew was not worth my time as a business owner. It was my goal, as it should be yours, to spend more time at home, with friends, doing things I love at work and at home.

When you have more time, and you are able choose to do the things that fill you up, you realize you can spend your time turning your business into what your vision is rather than the small or otherwise time consuming tasks that can bog you down and get in the way of your greater vision.

So, spend some time this week thinking about what you do for your business and what you haven’t been able to do yet, decide what boundaries you have for your work and personal life, and jot down how to get there. You will be pleasantly surprised at how much time you can free up to do what you love! I believe it!

Letting Go of Things, Doing Less, Doing More of What You Love

Maureen Werrbach is a psychotherapist, group practice owner and group practice coach. Learn more about her coaching services here: LEARN MORE HERE

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* I am an affiliate for some of the businesses I recommend. These are companies that I use in my own group practice, and make recommendations based off of my experience with them. When you use some of these companies through my links, I receive compensation, which helps me continue to offer great free information on my podcast, blog, Facebook group, and website.

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