Private Practice Success Newsletter

Feb 2007, by Lynn Grodzki, LCSW, MCC (Master Certified Coach)
www.privatepracticesuccess.com

(Un) Welcome Changes

Can we talk? How do you really feel about change? No, I mean how do you feel about change when it involves you and is going to directly affect the way you work and earn money? Oh I see, maybe it is not so welcome after all.

It’s ironic, I suppose, that even though we are in the business of changing others, we are just as human as anyone else, and creatures of habit. According to neuroscience, there are valid reasons why change often feels just like pain.

The task for all of us is to welcome change. To be profitable in business over the next decade, change needs to become our new normal. We need to embrace change and instead of saying, “Change is hard,” say, “Change means that I am moving forward.”

Have you made any changes lately in the way you practice or do business? If not, you are past due.

Here’s is a hint about what to change in your practice: Notice what worked well for you in 2000, or 2004, or even last year in terms of advertising, referrals, marketing, administration, staffing, services, or billing. Now think if the same strategies are working the same way for you today. If not, you are getting feedback about what you probably need to change.

Pay attention to this kind of feedback — what is and what is not working. Your greatest strength in being a small business owner is your ability to be flexible.

“Change is not a threat, it’s an opportunity.” Seth Godin

Here are some key changes you need to make in your practice this year to stay competitive, responsive to the market, and ultimately, profitable.

1. Re-do: Take a look at your business card, brochure, website, any other materials that you use to promote your practice. Also assess your policies, office space, answering machine, services, programs, and anything that your clients encounter as they work with you. If you have not redone anything external within the past 2 years, you are past due for change. How can your image (what you project to the community) stay current with who you are and what you do?

2. Re-think: Do you have a plan for 2007? Are you going to broaden services, narrow services, go in a new direction? Most of our businesses naturally change and grow as we do, but too often we neglect to plan and just let them meander, developing by circumstance. This is the time to think about what you want to achieve and develop a plan so it can become reality. Review your business identity today, your current services, strengths, and target market. Crate a plan that brings them into alignment for the future.

“Test fast, fail fast, adjust fast.” Tom Peters

3. Re-view: What is your source of feedback? How do you know what is going well and what is not? This is the role of measurement. Your measurement needs to be client-based (pre and post tests, self-evaluations, goals and charts) and business-centered (business plan and targets, financial markers, monthly reviews.)

Keep up with change by using evidence-based indicators. Start now.

“Survival is not the goal, transformative success is.” Seth Godin (again)

4. Re-birth: Change is an essential aspect of our evolution. Organizational Development researchers suggest that every business ecosystem develops in four distinct stages: birth, expansion, leadership, and self-renewal (or death). If you have been in practice for ten years or more, what stage are you in today? If you are new to practice, how do you see your next few years in terms of expansion?

To stay viable, you need to go beyond surviving, and move forward with plans to transform your business each decade. This year, I will be addressing these 4 stages in this newsletter to help you find and implement good strategies for change, so that you can create good beginnings, develop plans for expansion, guide your practice into better directions, and reinvent yourself and your work to stay vibrant and fresh.

2007 Presentations

March 16, 2007: Washington, DC
"From Insight to Action" (Lynn's workshop helps therapists and other professionals integrate a coaching approach to elicit motivation and action.) Psychotherapy Networker Conference

March 17, 2007: Washington, DC
"The Future of Private Practice" (Lynn's workshop gives a big-picture look into the "2007 State of the Practice," and suggests trends, markets, and strategies that can define a successful private practice during the next decade.) Psychotherapy Networker Conference
To register contact: www.psychotherapynetworker.com

June 1, 2007: Philadelphia, PA
"The Evolving Private Practice": Hyatt at Penns Landing sponsored by the Marworth Treatment Center
Contact: David Reynolds: dwreynolds@geisinger.edu

September 2007: Australia! Workshops in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth."Success in Private Practice: How to love what you do and be highly profitable too!"
For information and dates, to to:
http://kassanevents.com.au/training1.html

Want to book Lynn for a presentation? Have your organization contact her at: info@privatepracticesuccess.com

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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) Reviewed by author Richard Leider as "Nothing less than a radical rethinking of the essentials of building a coaching practice. A must read for all coaches, master and novice alike."
	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.