Brave and Well: Conversations helping mental health professionals build a sustainable, profitable & values-aligned business

In this episode, I’m joined by my coaching client, Valerie Rivera. Valerie is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and the owner of Inner Solace Therapy, a private practice that specializes in helping women heal from traumatic experiences, and helping couples strengthen their relationships.

Tune in as we explore:

• How Valerie experiences and works through imposter syndrome
• The ever-present tug of war with social media
• The benefits of in-person therapy
• Outsourcing the parts of your business that are overwhelming and tedious so you can focus on the most important tasks
• The importance of how you fuel yourself and how the people in your life also fuel you

Links:

• Visit Valerie’s Inner Solace Website
• Follow Inner Solace on Instagram
• Follow Inner Solace on Facebook
• Follow Brave and Well on Instagram
• Sign up for the Brave and Well newsletter

Work with me!

• Get my workbook — Laying the Foundation for your Private Practice
• Join my Private Practice Circle in Fall 2023 — https://www.braveandwell.com/private-practice-circle
• Join my Group Practice Circle in Fall 2023 — https://www.braveandwell.com/group-practice-circle

So many of us in private practice put branding and marketing on the bottom of our task lists. We tell ourselves it isn’t important or it’s too expensive. But what if it’s a key to actually get us where we want to go?

In this episode, I’m joined by Kristen Moses, owner of DesignGood, for a conversation about all the ways branding can support your therapy business.

Tune in as we explore:

• How branding helps you be visible to the right people for you
• Why sharing yourself in your brand attracts clients who are looking to share tough parts of their lives with you
• Creating a brand that is flexible and can grow with you over time
• Advice for therapists just starting out who might not have the funding to purchase branding and website support

More from Kristen:

• Learn more about DesignGood
• Branding Portfolio for Therapists
• DesignGood Instagram
• Personal Instagram
• Our Course: More Flow, Less Hustle

More from Vanessa:

• Follow Brave and Well on Instagram
• Sign up for the Brave and Well newsletter
• Get my workbook — Laying the Foundation for your Private Practice
• Join my Private Practice Circle in Fall 2023 — https://www.braveandwell.com/private-practice-circle
• Join my Group Practice Circle in Fall 2023 — https://www.braveandwell.com/group-practice-circle

Welcome back to Brave & Well, friends! In this week's informative and helpful episode, I've invited Profit First expert Julie Herres to join me on the podcast.

Julie is the founder of GreenOak Accounting and has helped hundreds of private practice owners gain financial freedom. She’s an accountant, consultant, speaker, author of Profit First for Therapists and host of the Therapy for Your Money podcast.

Together, we discuss Julie’s experiences helping practices apply the Profit First model and why therapists should embrace it.

Tune in as we explore:

• What Profit First is and isn’t
• How weekly transfers can help ease you into the Profit First system
• Embracing making mistakes in your business as normal
• Why it’s important that therapists leave the “vow of poverty” narrative behind

Links:

• Visit the Green Oak Accounting Website
• Get the free Profit First for Therapists Calculator
• Join the free Profit First for Therapists FB group
• Order Julie’s Book Profit First for Therapists
• Listen to Julie’s Podcast Therapy for Your Money
• Follow Brave and Well on Instagram
• Sign up for the Brave and Well newsletter

When you own a business and have a team, you take on a lot of responsibility. And this can be great! It helps your business grow.

But sometimes things don’t go as you hope… or you make decisions based on one person’s needs versus what’s best for everyone as a whole. Eventually you can end up resenting people in the process.

Over six years of running a group practice, I’ve had to manage many difficult emotions with and about my team. So in this episode I’m sharing my reflections on—

• The challenges of managing a team
• The difference between clinical supervision and employee management
• The importance of communicating through conflict
• How to avoid resentment, frustration & burnout in your business

Links

• Follow Brave and Well on Instagram
• Sign up for the Brave and Well newsletter
• Get my workbook — Laying the Foundation for your Private Practice
• Join my Private Practice Circle in Fall 2023 — https://www.braveandwell.com/private-practice-circle
• Join my Group Practice Circle in Fall 2023 — https://www.braveandwell.com/group-practice-circle

January 1st was my six-year anniversary of group practice ownership! So I thought it’d be fun to reflect and share what group practice ownership looked like back in 2017 and now in 2023.

Tune in to this episode to learn—

• How I went from solo practice to group practice
• The story of my first hire & the reality of moving locations
• Expanding the team & bringing on admin support
• Why I think it’s harder to run a group practice now than it was in 2017
• The challenges of a hybrid self-pay and insurance model
• How the pandemic impacted therapy practices

I hope you’ll listen then get in touch to let me know what questions you have about running a group practice! And don’t forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, then share this episode with a friend.

Links

• Follow Brave and Well on Instagram
• Sign up for the Brave and Well newsletter
• Get my workbook — Laying the Foundation for your Private Practice
• Join my Private Practice Circle in Fall 2023 — https://www.braveandwell.com/private-practice-circle
• Join my Group Practice Circle in Fall 2023 — https://www.braveandwell.com/group-practice-circle

Nothing changed my relationship to my business more than implementing the Profit First model for business finances.

What makes it so radical? Well, it’s all based on paying yourself first. (Yes, really!)

Tune in to this episode to learn—

• How Profit First works
• Why it’s so important to pay yourself first
• The magic of having five bank accounts
• How to organize & use your accounts
• Learning to look at & allocate your money

If you want to transform your business finances, I hope you’ll listen to this episode and share it with a friend!

Links

• Learn more about Profit First
• Therapy for Your Money
• Follow Brave and Well on Instagram
• Sign up for the Brave and Well newsletter
• Get my workbook — Laying the Foundation for your Private Practice
• Join my Private Practice Circle in Fall 2023 —  https://www.braveandwell.com/private-practice-circle
• Join my Group Practice Circle in Fall 2023 —  https://www.braveandwell.com/group-practice-circle

I’m currently on my second maternity leave, and I’ve learned a lot while planning and taking two periods of extended time away from work.

So in this episode, I’m sharing everything I’ve learned about planning a maternity leave with you all!

Tune in as we explore—

• Figuring out how much you want to save for maternity leave and when you plan to start saving
• Deciding when you want to start sharing with your clients
• Processing with your clients how they’re feeling about your leave
• Creating a plan for transferring client care, terminating or taking a pause
• Providing clients with a list of other therapists they can contact should they need someone to reach out to
• Making clients inactive in your EHR system and document the plan of care while you’re away on leave
• Setting your out of office message
• Really giving yourself permission to take the break and the time you need

If you’re considering any kind of leave, I hope you’ll listen to this episode and share it with a friend.

Links

• Follow Brave and Well on Instagram
• Sign up for the Brave and Well newsletter
• Get my workbook — Laying the Foundation for your Private Practice
• Join my Private Practice Circle in Fall 2023 —  https://www.braveandwell.com/private-practice-circle
• Join my Group Practice Circle in Fall 2023 —  https://www.braveandwell.com/group-practice-circle

The question I get asked the most about running a business as a therapist is how to make the money work.

So this week on the podcast, I’m sharing what I’ve learned about setting yourself up for financial success in private or group practice.

Tune in as we explore—

• Unpacking your money stories
• Finding your “ramen noodle number”
• Figuring out your business expenses
• Creating a savings fund
• Choosing your business structure
• Learning Profit First
• Getting your numbers right

If you’re interested in starting a private practice, I highly suggest pairing this episode with my workbook Laying the Foundation for your Private Practice for more in-depth exercises and reflections on choosing your business structure and setting up your business finances.


Links

• Get my workbook — Laying the Foundation for your Private Practice
• Join my Private Practice Circle in Fall 2023 — https://www.braveandwell.com/private-practice-circle
• Join my Group Practice Circle in Fall 2023 — https://www.braveandwell.com/group-practice-circle

In this final week of the year, I’m checking in to share my reflections on 2022 and to look forward to 2023 together.

Tune in to hear what’s happened in my world this year, and to learn my 4-step reflection process—

• Start with Joy
• Things I’ve Learned
• Things I’m Letting Go Of
• Things I’m Calling In More Of

Thank you so much for listening to the podcast this year. I’ve got big plans for what’s to come here in 2023, so make sure to subscribe wherever you like to listen!

Links

• Follow Brave and Well on Instagram
• Sign up for the Brave and Well newsletter
• Get my workbook — Laying the Foundation for your Private Practice
• Amelia Hruby at Softer Sounds Studio
• Maggie Gentry

In this week’s episode, I'm joined by Brandy Mabra and we’re talking all things CEO — from hiring to empowering and partnering with your team to setting strong standards for your practice. 

Brandy is a Certified Professional Coach, Master Energy Leadership Practitioner, and founder of Private Practice CEO. She has spent her career building, growing and leading multimillion dollar practices and now uses her skill set to help other women private practice owners scale their practices for growth, sustainability and profit.

Tune in to hear us discuss:

• Going from solopreneur to CEO
• Learning to make the tough decisions with compassion and empathy in mind
• Focusing on your high performers as a method to encourage lower performers
• Taking a breath and not rushing the hiring process
• The power of in-person networking and an honest ask
• Enjoying the journey

If you enjoy this episode, don’t forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, then share it with a friend!

Links:

• Visit the Savvy Clover Website
• Follow Savvy Clover on Instagram
• Get Brandy’s Free Business Health Checklist
• Sign up for the Brave and Well newsletter
• Follow Brave and Well on Instagram