Private Practice Success Newsletter

October 2005, by Lynn Grodzki, LCSW, PCC (Professional Certified Coach)
www.privatepracticesuccess.com

One Minute Summary: When it comes to making money in your private practice, are you earning what you want or need to make? This month, we review the three steps that can help you build a six figure practice. Read further to understand how to run a business, not a hobby; reconcile profit and service; and leverage your time and efforts.

The Six Figure Practice

If you are a consultant, therapist, coach, or healing professional who owns and operates a small business, are you earning less than you desire? When it comes to making good money, what's considered good is usually relative to what those around you make.

For most of the entrepreneurs I coach, six figures is considered the beginning level of good money. But when you are working your hardest in a small private practice and your business grosses no more than $50,000 a year, breaking through to the $100,000 level can feel impossible. What does it take to make a big earnings leap?

Here are 3 important steps involved in making six figures.

Money is power, freedom, a cushion, the root of all evil, the sum of blessings. (Carl Sandburg)

Step 1:Run a Business, Not a Hobby

Turning a private practice that is essentially a hobby into a business feels like growing up. It’s time to take your practice by the hand and, like a responsible parent, give it some tough love to help it mature.

Do you have a written business plan with objectives and goals that you use to guide your practice each week? Do you know your top five business goals for this year and the action steps to take in order to accomplish each one? Are you in control of your day-to-day operations? If you can’t answer yes to these three questions, you may not take your business seriously enough to earn six figures.

I notice that when people hire me as their business coach, the expense and time that they commit indicates a readiness to make change. Could you find a way, in the next month, to get more serious about your business? Remove all the frivolous, unprofessional elements in your practice, and run it like a real business.

I don't like money, actually, but it quiets my nerves. (Joe Louis)

Step 2: Reconcile Service and Profit

Making six figures can help you to feel calmer and more in control of your working life. Even though we all say we want to earn more, one obstacle to making the leap to six figures involves the idea of increased profitability, if it stands in opposition to your mission of service.

Service means helping, assisting, aiding, benefiting others; profit means to take advantage, make money, achieve financial gain from someone else. And yet, as a consultant, therapist, coach, or healing professional in private practice, you do both.

For some in the field of service, service is seen as the “better” of the two concepts. Service is pure and good; profit is tainted and evil. (For some within the field of business, profit is the natural order of transactions between people; service to others is considered charity and while a worthwhile endeavor, one that is far removed from business.)

Take action to reconcile an obstacles you have to both profit and service. Let your clients know that you will hold firmly to the boundaries of your policies and business. Educate your clients about how they can get the most out of your working relationship and become “ideal clients.” Treat your time at work as a valuable commodity and manage it carefully.

A formula for how six-figure professionals spend their time is:

At least 75 percent of your total time at work is spent doing what you do best--seeing clients and delivering service. (Include marketing and networking here if your time is not yet full with clients.)

No more than 10 percent of your time at work is spent handling paperwork or on unbilled calls or meetings.

Reserve 10 percent of your working time for training, reading, writing, contemplating, networking, or learning so that you stay energetic, interested, and on top of your field.

The remaining 5 percent of your working time each week is spent working on the business --improving the overall health of your practice.

The only limits are, as always, those of vision. (James Broughton)

Step 3: Leverage Your Time.

In a private service-oriented practice, time is money. The more you can leverage your time, the more money you can earn. How can you do this? Use your creativity and vision. Think out of the box. Study trends. Brainstorm with others.

For example, as a service provider, see the maximum amount of clients you can in the least amount of time. Run groups, lead classes, offer seminars and workshops. Focus on the most profitable services you offer and repeat those often.

As a networker, meet with those people who are the most connected in your community, so that your marketing takes the least amount of personal time and effort. Identify those key people within your community who know a lot of other people intimately and ask them to add you to their list of referrals.

As a business owner, choose strategies of diversification, so that you have more than one income stream (passive and active income), more than one way that people hear about you and your work (through existing clients, referrals sources, and from web-based writing or speaking), and more than one way of matching your potential clients to a list of packaged, desired services.

Upcoming Presentations

Saturday, October 15, 2005, New York City
Symposium panel: "What is Coaching Excellence?"
Association for Coaching Excellence (ACE). To register go to: www.acecoachdirectory.com

November 10, 2005. San Jose, California
Workshop: "Achieving Financial Prosperity as a Coach: A Reality Check"
International Coaching Federation Annual Conference. To register go to: www.coachfederation.org

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Books by Lynn Grodzki, published by WW Norton. To order, click on each book.

	The Business and Practice of Coaching By Lynn Grodzki and Wendy Allen (2005) An estimated 30,000 coaches have entered the coaching profession in the past five years, but unfortunately, the majority report they are unable to earn a living wage from their coaching services. This book shows you how, using a coaching approach to the business of coaching. Reviewed as "A needed voice of realism for the coaching profession."
	Building Your Ideal Private Practice By Lynn Grodzki (2000) The best-selling guide to what you need to do and who you need to be in order to have a highly profitable, personally satisfying private practice. Often called the "private practice bible" this book has become a resource for tens of thousands of your colleagues.
	The New Private Practice:Therapist-Coaches Share Stories, Strategies and Advice Edited by Lynn Grodzki (2002) A groundbreaking look at the profession of coaching through the eyes of 16 successful therapist-coaches who tell you how to become a coach, what to charge, and show you how they coach their clients.
	12 Months to Your Ideal Private Practice: A Workbook By Lynn Grodzki (2003) This planned, motivational workbook will help you build the practice you desire. The workbook incorporates fresh ideas, new exercises, further skill sets and much more to give you a direct experience of being carefully coached by Lynn, month-by-month, for a full year.

More next time,

lynn@privatepracticesuccess.com
See the website for additional articles, information about individual coaching, and upcoming classes.