The Therapist Business Growth Podcast

What does it take to build a therapy group practice that can run without you being the go-to person for every question, problem, and decision?

In this episode of The Therapist Business Growth Podcast, I’m sharing how I built a leadership team that helped me go from answering therapist calls at 7 p.m. to working about five hours a week in my practice.

I’ll explain the five roles a growing group practice needs, how to hand off responsibilities without losing control, and where to start if you’re still the bottleneck in your business.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

How to Know If You’re the Bottleneck: Four questions that reveal whether your practice can operate without you.

The Five Roles Your Group Practice Needs: The leadership functions that keep your practice running and why one person can fill multiple roles.

How to Delegate Without Losing Control: How documentation, training, decision rights, and accountability help you successfully hand off responsibilities.

Episode Timestamps

• (00:20) - The 7 p.m. phone call that showed me my practice was taking over my life

Top Takeaways on Building a Leadership Team for Your Group Practice

1. Build the Machine, Don't Be the Machine

If your team texts you on your day off, you’re the only person who can handle a denied claim or schedule change, or you regularly say, “It’s faster if I just do it myself,” you’re probably the bottleneck.

Your job as you scale is to build the structures, systems, SOPs, and pipelines that allow other people to keep the practice running.

2. Build These Five Roles Into Your Practice

Role 1: Operator. Handles day-to-day operations, administrative questions, systems, onboarding, payments, paperwork, office needs, and other tasks that keep the practice running.

Role 2: Clinical Lead. Owns clinical standards, supports therapists, manages clinical questions, and creates accountability around documentation and client care.

Role 3: Client Care Coordinator. Manages the client journey from the first inquiry through consultation and scheduling, including follow-up when potential clients do not immediately book.

Role 4: Money Person. Tracks revenue, payroll, expenses, KPIs, and the numbers you need to make informed business decisions. I kept this role myself throughout the time I owned my practice.

Role 5: Visionary. That’s you. Your role is to set the direction, protect the culture, coach your leaders, and decide where the business is going.

You do not necessarily need five different people to fill these roles. In my practice, they were ultimately handled by three people.

3. Start Removing Yourself as the Bottleneck

Here’s how to start implementing this today:

Step 1: Track every task you complete during the week.

Step 2: Sort each task into one of the five roles: operations, clinical leadership, client care, money, or vision.

Step 3: Identify which tasks take the most time, which you hate doing, and where you are holding up growth.

Step 4: Start handing those responsibilities to someone already on your team or determine whether it’s time to hire.

Document your processes and use an “I do, we do, you do” approach to gradually transfer responsibility without sacrificing quality.

Resources

✨ Instagram: @dranahitabanoo
✨ Website: dranahitabanoo.com
✨ Solo to Group Practice Accelerator
✨ Freedom First Group Practice Accelerator
✨ Get your free marketing audit to help fill your caseload
✨Jane App Referral Code/Link (code: ANAHITA1MO)

Work With Me

Ready to build a profitable group practice that supports both you and your therapists? Explore my Group Practice Accelerator programs above or reach out directly.

🎙️If this episode helped you think differently about ethical group practice ownership, hit subscribe and share it with another therapist.

Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for therapy, supervision, or legal or financial advice.

Are group practice owners exploiting therapists by earning revenue from their clinical work?

In this episode of The Therapist Business Growth Podcast, I’m responding to the claim that group practices are inherently unethical or predatory.

I’ll explain what actually makes a group practice unethical, why compensation percentages never tell the whole story, and five questions you can use to evaluate how you’re supporting your team.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

Why Pay Splits Don’t Tell the Whole Story: How expenses, taxes, supervision, referrals, and administrative support affect compensation.

What Makes a Group Practice Unethical: The practices that cross the line from running a sustainable business into exploiting therapists.

How to Evaluate Your Own Practice: Five areas to examine when deciding whether your business model aligns with your values.

Episode Timestamps

• (00:24) - Are group practices inherently unethical?

Top Takeaways on Building an Ethical Group Practice

1. Compensation Is Only Part of the Equation

A practice may retain 40 or 50 percent of session revenue, but that number alone does not determine whether the arrangement is fair.

Consider what the practice provides in return, including referrals, supervision, marketing, payroll taxes, office space, technology, administrative support, and reliable pay when insurance claims are delayed or denied.

2. Evaluate These Five Areas

Step 1: Value. What support and infrastructure are therapists receiving in exchange for the revenue the practice retains?

Step 2: Transparency. Do therapists understand their compensation, contract terms, and opportunities for increased pay?

Step 3: Client choice. Can clients follow a departing therapist without being restricted by an unreasonable non-compete?

Step 4: Growth. Do therapists have opportunities to develop, advance, or take on leadership roles?

Step 5: Investment. Are you doing the work, or hiring someone to do the work, required to market, strengthen, and sustain the practice?

3. Ethics Require an Ongoing Check-In

An ethical practice does not need to offer every possible benefit from day one. Your resources and level of support may change as the business grows.

Check in regularly with yourself and your therapists. If something no longer feels aligned, identify which of the five areas needs attention and decide what you can improve.

Resources

✨ Instagram: @dranahitabanoo
✨ Website: dranahitabanoo.com
✨ Solo to Group Practice Accelerator
✨ Freedom First Group Practice Accelerator
✨ Get your free marketing audit to help fill your caseload
✨Jane App Referral Code/Link (code: ANAHITA1MO)

Work With Me

Ready to build a profitable group practice that supports both you and your therapists? Explore my Group Practice Accelerator programs above or reach out directly.

🎙️If this episode helped you think differently about ethical group practice ownership, hit subscribe and share it with another therapist.

Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for therapy, supervision, or legal or financial advice.

What should you outsource first as your therapy group practice grows, and when are you actually ready to hand those responsibilities to someone else?

In this episode of The Therapist Business Growth Podcast, I’m sharing the first four responsibilities I handed off, when I hired my first admin, and what I would prioritize if I were starting today.

I’ll also explain which parts of leadership you should continue managing yourself as your team grows.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

When to Hire Administrative Support: How your team size, workload, personality, and capacity can help you decide when it is time to bring in an admin or virtual assistant.

What to Outsource First in Your Group Practice: Why billing and credentialing, your website, referral management, and paperwork are the four areas I would prioritize today.

What Practice Owners Should Continue Managing: Why hiring, staff check-ins, and team meetings still need your voice and leadership as you build your team.

Episode Timestamps

• (00:54) - The first four things I outsourced and what I would do differently today

Top Takeaways on What to Outsource in Your Group Practice

1. Hire Support Before Your Systems Become Overwhelming

I hired my first admin four months after hiring my first therapist, when we had grown to a team of five. Around three or four therapists is a good time to consider administrative support.

Hiring early allows someone to learn your processes and strengthen them as the practice grows.

2. The First Four Things I Would Outsource Today

Step 1: Billing and credentialing. Hire someone who can track claims, resolve denials, verify coverage, and make sure you get paid.

Step 2: Your website. Invest in a professional website that attracts clients, supports referrals, and represents your brand.

Step 3: Referral management. Create a system for responding, following up, scheduling consultations, and tracking conversions.

Step 4: Paperwork. Assign someone to manage consent forms, releases, record requests, and other essential documentation.

3. Keep Leading Your Team

Continue managing hiring, staff check-ins, and team meetings during the early stages of growth.

Your first therapists need to understand your expectations, feel your investment in their success, and see the culture you’re building. You can develop other leaders as the practice grows.

Resources

✨ Instagram: @dranahitabanoo

✨ Website: dranahitabanoo.com

✨ Solo to Group Practice Accelerator

✨ Freedom First Group Practice Accelerator

✨ Get your free marketing audit to help fill your caseload

✨Jane App Referral Code/Link: https://signup.jane.app/ (code: ANAHITA1MO)

Work With Me 

Ready to build a profitable group practice that gives you more freedom and time outside the therapist chair? Explore my Group Practice Accelerator programs above or reach out directly.

🎙️If you want to fill your life with more motivation and belief that scaling a multi million dollar group practice is possible for you too, then hit subscribe and share this podcast with your therapist bestie!

Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for therapy, supervision, or legal or financial advice.

Hiring therapists as 1099 contractors may seem like the simpler, less expensive way to grow your group practice. But if you’re managing them like employees, that decision could leave your business vulnerable to an audit, back taxes, and penalties.

In this episode of The Therapist Business Growth Podcast, I’m breaking down what determines whether a therapist should be classified as a 1099 contractor or W-2 employee. It comes down to the working relationship, including who controls the schedule, caseload, tools, systems, and day-to-day expectations.

I’ll also share the surprisingly useful “plumber test,” the classification mistakes I see group practice owners make most often, and why building a W-2 team can strengthen your company culture and the long-term value of your practice.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

How to Tell the Difference Between a Contractor and an Employee: The questions to ask about control, finances, tools, scheduling, and the therapist’s role within your practice.

What Changes When You Hire W-2 Employees: How taxes, benefits, caseload expectations, workplace policies, and legal protections differ between the two classifications.

Why Correct Classification Matters as You Scale: The financial risks of misclassification and how your hiring model can affect your culture, operations, and ability to sell the practice later.

Episode Timestamps

• (00:00) - Introduction

Top Takeaways on Hiring 1099 Contractors vs. W-2 Employees

1. Classification Depends on the Actual Working Relationship

Calling someone a contractor in an agreement does not automatically make them one. What matters is how the role functions within your practice.

If you provide the clients, set expectations for documentation, require specific systems, determine caseload requirements, manage schedules, and oversee how the work is completed, the role likely has many characteristics of W-2 employment.

A helpful way to think about this is the “plumber test.” An independent plumber sets their own rates, brings their own tools, determines how the work will be completed, and operates a separate business. A true 1099 contractor should have a similar level of independence.

2. Decide How You Want the Role to Function Before You Hire

Here’s how to start evaluating the role:

Step 1: Consider the level of control you need. Do you want to require staff meetings, set minimum caseloads, approve time off, provide supervision, or establish specific documentation procedures?

Step 2: Look at what the practice provides. Consider who supplies the clients, marketing, office space, EHR, clinical tools, training, and other resources needed to complete the work.

Step 3 (pro tip): Evaluate the whole relationship. A contractor agreement cannot override the day-to-day reality of how someone works inside your practice. When the classification is unclear, consult an employment attorney who understands the requirements in your state.

3. Your Hiring Model Affects the Practice You’re Building

Hiring W-2 employees involves payroll taxes, additional administration, and potentially offering benefits. It also gives you more ability to establish shared systems, create consistent expectations, and build a cohesive team.

This becomes especially important if you eventually want to sell your practice. Buyers are generally looking for a stable business with employees, repeatable processes, and a team that is fully integrated into the company.

Misclassifying employees as contractors can also lead to back taxes, penalties, and other costs if your practice is audited. Saving money upfront may create a much more expensive problem later.

Resources

✨ Instagram: @dranahitabanoo
✨ Website: dranahitabanoo.com
✨ Solo to Group Practice Accelerator
✨ Freedom First Group Practice Accelerator
✨ Get your free marketing audit to help fill your caseload

Work With Me

Ready to build a profitable group practice that gives you more freedom and time outside the therapist chair? Explore my Group Practice Accelerator programs above or reach out directly.

🎙️If you’re wondering whether group practice life is right for you, hit subscribe and share this podcast with your therapist bestie!

Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for therapy, supervision, or legal or financial advice.

Is starting a group practice actually worth the time, money, responsibility, and inevitable growing pains?

In this episode of The Therapist Business Growth Podcast, I’m giving you my honest answer, including the version of group practice ownership that leads to burnout, overwhelm, and financial confusion, and the version that can give you more income and time outside the therapist chair.

I’ll also share what I learned from my own terrible supervision experience, the strategies you need before hiring, and how to decide whether group practice ownership is the right path for you.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

When a Group Practice Is Not Worth It: Why casually bringing on a supervisee without a larger vision, financial plan, or support systems can quickly create overwhelm.

What Makes Group Practice Ownership Worth It: How intentional strategies for hiring, marketing, processes, and finances can help you build a profitable practice.

How to Know If You’re Ready to Start: The commitment, investment, mindset, and leadership required to successfully manage and grow a team.

Episode Timestamps

• (00:00) - Introduction

Top Takeaways on Whether Group Practice Is Worth It

1. When Starting a Group Practice Is Not Worth It

Bringing on a therapist because someone asks for supervision can sound simple: you fill their caseload, provide supervision, and earn income from their sessions. But becoming a group practice owner also means managing people, creating processes, tracking finances, and providing the infrastructure therapists need to do their best work.

Without an intentional plan, owners often end up overwhelmed, resentful, and confused about where their money is going.

2. How to Build a Group Practice That Is Worth It

Here’s how to start implementing this today:

Step 1: Create a strategy. Before hiring, make a plan for marketing, hiring, practice policies, processes, and finances.

Step 2: Step into the CEO role. Managing a team requires different skills than working as a solo therapist. Be prepared to lead people, make difficult decisions, and take responsibility for the practice.

Step 3 (pro tip): Get support early. You do not have to reinvent the wheel. Invest in a blueprint, coaching, or other guidance that can help you avoid expensive trial and error.

3. Signs Group Practice Ownership May Be Right for You

A group practice can be worth it if you’re willing to invest your time and money, follow a clear strategy, and keep moving when things get hard. There may be tight financial periods, hiring mistakes, and moments when you want to burn the whole thing down.

For me, group practice was the simplest and fastest way to increase my income and get my time back because it built on skills I already had as a therapist and business owner. If you’re willing to grow as a leader, manage other people, and get a little delusional about what’s possible for you, it may be the right next step.

Resources

✨ Instagram: @dranahitabanoo
✨ Website: dranahitabanoo.com
✨ Solo to Group Practice Accelerator
✨ Freedom First Group Practice Accelerator
✨ Get your free marketing audit to help fill your caseload

Work With Me

Ready to build a profitable group practice that gives you more freedom and time outside the therapist chair? Explore my Group Practice Accelerator programs above or reach out directly.

🎙️If you’re wondering whether group practice life is right for you, hit subscribe and share this podcast with your therapist bestie!

Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for therapy, supervision, or legal or financial advice.

What does it actually take to build a therapy group practice that can run without you and become an asset someone else wants to buy?

In this episode of The Therapist Business Growth Podcast, I’m sharing how I invested $25,000 to start Empowered Living Collective, built the systems that allowed it to operate without me, and eventually sold the multimillion-dollar practice after a year-and-a-half-long process.

I’ll also share the marketing strategies that moved the needle, what didn’t work, why I chose to sell, and the four things I would tell myself if I were starting over.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

How to Build a Group Practice That Can Run Without You: The marketing, automation, hiring, and systems that turned my practice into a sellable asset.

What It Actually Took to Sell My Therapy Practice: How I found the right buyers, prepared for due diligence, navigated valuation and financing, and finally closed the deal.

What I Would Do Differently: Why choosing a differentiator, tracking your data, and getting help sooner can make your practice more valuable.

Episode Timestamps

• (00:00) - Introduction

Top Takeaways on Building and Selling a Group Practice

1. How to Build a Group Practice That Can Run Without You

A buyer does not want a business that depends on its owner for every task and decision. Marketing, automation, clear systems, and strategic hiring helped me remove myself from daily operations. During maternity leave, I ran payroll, paid myself five-figure months, and watched the practice reach $1 million in revenue without relying on me.

2. How to Build a Sellable Therapy Practice

Here’s how to start implementing this today:

Step 1: Reverse engineer your goal. Decide what you want the practice to become, then identify the revenue and profitability required to get there.

Step 2: Choose your differentiator. Let the reason clients and therapists choose your practice guide your hiring and marketing decisions.

Step 3 (pro tip): Track your data from the jump. Buyers will want financials, referral sources, conversion rates, caseloads, and retention data. Having it ready makes the process much easier.

3. Mistakes to Avoid When Scaling Your Group Practice

We all make mistakes, but let’s save you the headache:

Mistake 1: Expecting an immediate return on every investment instead of giving the business time to grow.

Mistake 2: Trying marketing tactics without a clear strategy. Our website, Google Business Profile, Psychology Today, and intentional networking worked. The $20,000 to $30,000 I spent experimenting with Google Ads did not deliver the return I expected.

Mistake 3: Putting too many responsibilities on one person because you’re afraid to invest in the roles your business actually needs.

Resources

✨ Instagram: @dranahitabanoo
✨ Website: dranahitabanoo.com
✨ Solo to Group Practice Accelerator
✨ Freedom First Group Practice Accelerator
✨ Get your free marketing audit to help fill your caseload

Work With Me

Ready to build a profitable group practice that gives you more freedom and time outside the therapist chair? Explore my Group Practice Accelerator programs above or reach out directly.

🎙️If you want to learn how to build a group practice that can run without you, hit subscribe and share this podcast with your therapist bestie!

Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for therapy, supervision, or legal or financial advice.

What does it actually take to go from solo therapist to the owner of a multimillion-dollar therapy group practice without letting the business consume your entire life?

In the first episode of The Therapist Business Growth Podcast, I’m sharing how I went from earning $56,000 as a school psychologist to co-founding Empowered Living Collective, growing the practice to nine therapists within five months, reaching $1 million in revenue while on maternity leave, and eventually selling the business after scaling it to $2 million in revenue.

I’ll also explain who this podcast is for, who it probably isn’t for, and what you can expect from future episodes about hiring, filling caseloads, compensation, marketing, leadership, mindset, and money.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

Signs You’re Ready to Grow Beyond Solo Practice: How burnout, an unsustainable client schedule, or the desire to lead other therapists can signal that you’re ready for something different.

How I Built and Sold a Multimillion-Dollar Group Practice: My path from school psychologist to group practice owner, including the early decisions, rapid team growth, financial wake-up calls, and eventual sale.

What to Expect From This Podcast: Honest conversations about building a profitable group practice that gives you more freedom, income, and time outside the therapist chair.

Episode Timestamps

• (00:00) - Introduction

Top Takeaways on Scaling a Group Practice

1. Signs You're Ready to Scale Your Therapy Practice Beyond Solo Sessions
Scrolling Indeed wondering if private practice is sustainable, squeezing five sessions into a day just to protect your evenings, answering therapist emails at 10 p.m., or not being able to take a real vacation - that's burnout baby, and it's usually the first sign you're needing a change. Recognizing which of these you're in is the starting point for figuring out your next step.

2. How to Actually Start (and Scale) a Group Practice

Here's how to start implementing this today:

Step 1: Get aligned. Get clear on your vision, your name, and whether you're building a true group practice or just operating under one shared LLC - this is exactly how my co-founder June and I started, over coffee with a running checklist.

Step 2: Move fast on the unglamorous logistics - forming your LLC, securing your domain, getting credentialed with insurance panels - rather than letting overwhelm slow you down.

Step 3 (pro tip): Build a culture therapists actually want to show up for. That single focus is what let us go from our first hire to a team of nine in just five months.

3. Mistakes to Avoid When Scaling Your Group Practice

We all make mistakes, but let's save you the headache:

Mistake 1: Doing things because they "sound like" what a business owner should do, instead of what your business actually needs.

Mistake 2: Losing track of where your money is going. I share what it was like running payroll and realizing there was nothing left to pay myself after paying my therapists - a wake-up call most owners hit if they aren't watching their numbers closely. 

Resources

✨ Instagram: @dranahitabanoo

✨ Website: dranahitabanoo.com

✨ Solo to Group Practice Accelerator

✨ Freedom First Group Practice Accelerator

✨ Get your free marketing audit to help fill your caseload

Work With Me

Ready to build a profitable group practice that gives you more freedom and time outside the therapist chair? Explore my Group Practice Accelerator programs above or reach out directly.

🎙️If you want to fill your life with more motivation and belief that scaling a multi million dollar group practice is possible for you too, then hit subscribe and share this podcast with your therapist bestie!

Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for therapy, supervision, or legal or financial advice.

The Therapist Business Growth Podcast is for therapists who want to grow and scale a group practice that gives them more freedom, more income, and more life outside the practice.

Hosted by Dr. Anahita Banoo Lake-Khosravi, PsyD, who scaled her own group practice to $2 million in three years and sold it, this isn't just theory. You’ll hear honest conversations about hiring therapists, filling caseloads, marketing, finances, leadership, and building a practice that can run without you.

The Therapist Business Growth Podcast launches Tuesday, September 8!

Ready to stop trading your time for money and start building a freedom-first group practice that gives you your life back? Follow The Therapist Business Growth Podcast now so the first episode lands in your feed. The more you follow and engage with me, the more I can tailor this podcast to exactly what you need!

Connect with Anahita

✨ Instagram: @dranahitabanoo

✨ Website: dranahitabanoo.com

✨ Get your free marketing audit to help fill your caseload