Ready to Increase Private Practice Profit and Peace? Declutter in Q4

Private practice profit isn't just driven by the number of sessions you have. Have you ever looked at your services, your no-shows, and your client list in order to eliminate unprofitable inventory costing you money and stealing your joy? Learn three steps you can take today to Marie Kondo your private practice to increase your profit and your peace of mind.

TCCBB 0111 Ready to Increase Private Practice Profit and Peace? Declutter in Q4

Unprofitable inventory

Most of us don't think of our schedule as inventory, but it is. Monday at 5:00 may not be as profitable as Wednesday at 5:00 PM. While it might be easy to relate profit to client consistency, that would be a mistake. After all, as counselors we try to work ourselves out of a job with each session.

So how do you determine if a time and day is unprofitable?

Drill down into the numbers. Make it so easy an eighth grader could figure it out. You should be able to look at a spreadsheet or list of each day and time on your schedule, and see which ones are the most profitable.

Then what?

Get rid of it.

What do you do with it after you get rid of it? You free up that day or time to work ON your business instead of IN your business. Focus on the things Mike Michalowicz talks about in his book the Pumpkin Plan.

Turning unprofitable inventory into marketing material

In The Pumpkin Plan the author describes how one giant pumpkin makes the farmer as much profit as an entire field of small pumpkins. So why on earth would a farmer devote time, resources, and energy growing small pumpkins? Get rid of them! Focus on growing the services that bring in the most income.

Now that you have freed up a day, let's eliminate unprofitable inventory. Go through your products that haven't brought in as much profit as you expected. Identify the services (and days and times) that DO profit the most and devote your time and energy to that.

Your passion product is still important though!

Now that you are no longer selling it, turn it into a free resource. Every 10 minute consultation should end with you referring the caller to one of your free resources that they can share with family and friends. Now you have created a raving fan!

Unprofitable client

This is the hardest part of decluttering. One of the easiest ways to increase private practice profit is to look through your client list and identify clients who are difficult, threatening, or litigious. Now go through again and identify clients who constantly no-show or late cancel or push your boundaries. Do they spark joy? Let them go.

You are too important to lose because one of your clients is costing you money due to no shows or peace because they are constantly threatening you.

To increase private practice profit you can't just look at number of sessions you have. Decluttering unprofitable services services, obsolete inventory, clients who steal your joy and cost you money will help you start 2023 on the right foot.

Blog post by Kate Walker Ph.D. LPC/LMFT Supervisor Texas