Strategies for Balancing Private Practice and Coaching Business with Audrey Schoen [Ep 11]

Welcome to the Thriving therapyneur podcast. The show for ambitious therapists who are ready to unapologetically make more money, scale their impact and build their dream coaching business. I'm Carly Hill, therapist turned coach turned CEO of a seven figure online business. I created the Thriving Therapeutic podcast because I'm obsessed with helping big hearted therapists outgrow the office and build successful and sustainable online businesses. So if you are wondering how you can continue to make an impact without sacrificing the life you love, welcome therapreneur.

This is exactly the place for you.

Think of it like the business school we never had. I am so excited to dive in with you.

Let's get started. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Thriving Therapeneur podcast. I have Audrey here with us. She's a licensed clinician in California. She's a mom of twins. She is also a business coach for clinicians. Her MO Is really helping clinicians build a balanced life, a balanced practice. And I think this is something that you embody so well yourself. So I'm really excited to have you back. I had you in the Therapist to Coach accelerator Facebook group and we talked about how one could manage both a private practice and a coaching business. And we got such great feedback from that. I knew I wanted to have you back on the podcast. So welcome, Audrey. I am so excited to have you here.

Thank you. I'm so excited to be here with you.

Yeah.

Well, tell us in your own words a little bit about your own journey and how you even got started in private practice to begin with and where your business is today.

Yeah, so I definitely knew before I even became a therapist, one of the.

Things that made me want to be.

A therapist was private practice and the.

Flexibility so that I could have something for myself, be a mom, but also like have a profession and a profession that would accommodate me being a mom first. And so I went into becoming a therapist knowing I wanted to do that. Did a bit of internship in private practice as well, but then had to find my way into agency life to get the hours I needed because it.

Just weren't coming fast enough.

I spent like five years at this really incredible agency, which is a hard thing to find. While the pay was sort of on par with agency work was an incredible experience and a great place where I was able to have some. Some balance. And the director was really great about trying to make that possible because she knew, like, we don't pay you a lot, so we gotta make other aspects of this job great.

So it's rare.

Fine. I was there for a really long time. And when I got pregnant, I actually had plans to go back. Cause I was going to move into higher positions. I was gonna move up, do a little bit more of the administrative side of the work, do supervision, things like that. And I was excited for it because it used different parts of my brain. Right. But then I got pregnant with twins unexpectedly and that changed everything. Because the cost of childcare for twins in Northern California is outrageous. And I'd be bringing home basically nothing to work close to full time and there'd be zero balance and I wouldn't be able to be a mom the way I wanted to. And so that kind of thrust me into private practice a little before I had anticipated. But it's kind of been just that ever since. Right. As soon as I went in, I went in full force, built a fully online practice starting in 2016 before it was cool. And it really just thrived. And I realized like, oh yeah, okay, this is easy for me. I can do this, I can do this. Well, kind of to fast forward again, we ended up at a point where I needed to pay for full time childcare for my kids. And that was coming at a bill of around 2,800amonth. And I realized that the way that I set up my practice wasn't like financially wasn't going to support that income, that need. And so I had to make a huge change, increase all my clients fees. And I did that. And Everybody went to 200. And then once everybody was at 200, I was like, okay, I'm still not where I want to be financially. But I don't have bandwidth for more clients. I can't do more. So I'm going to have to do my fees. My dream fee was 350 at the time.

Yeah.

And so I took a flyer and I was like, well, let's see if I can get new clients at 350. And then I did. And it's been a couple of years now since I set that rate. I'm at 375 now and I have a few clients at that rate. And so it's just kind of been this thing where I'm like pressing the edges and pressing the edges. And along the way I started my coaching practice and helped other clinicians push the edges of their comfort and build practices that are more sustainable for their lives and their families.

And been a really cool. Been a really cool journey.

I love that so much. Was balance always a core value of yours before maybe you even Knew it. Like, I think about my journey, and freedom was always something that I craved. Even back when I was at college or when I was at like a 9 to 5 therapy job. Like, I would stare out the window when I started my private practice and I got like an itch of it. I was like, oh my gosh, like, I need more freedom. I always joke, like, I would quit jobs in college if they wouldn't give me time off, which is so irresponsible. But I needed my freedom, you know? And I feel like you embody balance. Like, it was always something within you and you made it work. What does balance even mean to you? And when did you recognize how important it was in your life?

This happened pretty early. So what balance to me is, is adaptability. The ability to respond to the things that life throws at you and stay in balance within that realm. So it's not about, like finding this perfect setup and then sticking to it. It's about saying, what do I need? What do I need to make sure fits? What kind of buffers do I need to have to make sure that I.

Have the ability to adapt?

And I think that, I mean, that started long before I had kids because I realized that, like, I'm not a nine to fiver. I've never been.

I've never actually a nine to five job.

Even my agency job was like 32 hours a week. And it was like different hours on different days, and sometimes I'd switch days and it was super flexible. So I always knew that I needed something flexible. I was always working like two or three different jobs at a time because I enjoyed it. Like, I was at the agency coaching CrossFit, teaching dance, you know, doing head of parties, things like that. And so always kind of dabbled. And I've always known that, like, doing a bunch of different stuff. I enjoy that. And that requires balancing all the pieces. Um, and that became much more apparent when I had my twins and I was like, oh, I can no longer take care of myself when I want to. It has to be planned and scheduled. And so then balance took on this new meaning of like, oh, now I have to fit me within the windows of availability between when my kids need me because they have to come first.

Right.

And so it balance took on this different look once I had kids and everything had to adapt to that.

Do you ever feel like the seasonality of life throws off your balance? Because maybe you are in a hustle and grind season and you're still trying to be balanced, but then maybe you're in like a flow state season, and you're really like, oh, yes, I am living in balance completely. But it, like you said, it ebbs and flows. So when you're in those tougher times where maybe you feel like you're not balancing as great as you could, what do you do? How do you handle it? Or do you just know that it's, it's going to pass and you're, you're going to get back into your state, you're doing the best that you can.

It's a little of both, right, in the sense that like right now, kids get out of school tomorrow. That's their last day of school is tomorrow. So we are shifting to a summer camp schedule, which for us, we decided means that they're going to be in care Monday through Thursday. And so Friday, Saturday, Sunday, they're home. It also means later drop off times, earlier pickup times, and so my entire work schedule just got shrunk. And so what balance looks like this summer is different than it's going to.

Look like when they're back in school. And it's going to be different just at every stage of their development and.

Their need and our life.

My husband's between jobs right now, making.

A shift in his career. So it looks different now because he has a different life. You know, balance.

And so with every season, with every shift, even a few times a year, I'm shifting. And then I, I talked.

I work with a lot of entrepreneurs in therapy, and one thing we talk about a lot is there's going to be grinds and there's going to be like normal, normal.

And you need to ask yourself, like.

Is this actually a hustle and grind moment?

Am I actually sprinting or am I just being busy? Because that soothes my urgency and anxiety. Right, Right. And so, yes, there are going to be times where you're gonna have to grind and hustle because you got a project deadline or you have a thing you're pushing out. But don't get stuck in high gear. And I think that's one of the things that for me, I'm coming back to when I feel out of balance. I'm like asking myself, am I stuck in high gear because I'm not adapting to what's actually happening? So can I zoom out and look at what actually needs to be different and then be realistic about what that means, about my capacity to produce? And that's gonna, that's a hard pill to swallow sometimes, because sometimes that means that the thing that I wanted to accomplish isn't gonna happen on the timeline that I decided I wanted to do it on.

Yeah, it's just not.

That's so well said. I feel like when therapists are going into the coaching world and they're first starting their coaching business, it's like they're starting their private practice again and they have all of these floating pieces and they kind of are hustling and grinding and they're like, carly, I can't even go to my Pilates class anymore. Like, I feel like I need to be working on my coaching business. And maybe that's true for quite some time. But what you said was so profound about not getting stuck in high gear because it can be almost, I don't want to say, like addictive, but like, you can easily say, like, no, I can't go to Pilates or do whatever it is that you would normally enjoy doing. That maybe seems like the thing that is less productive, but in hindsight, it's the total opposite. Like, if you can take those rest periods, you're actually going to be 10 times more productive in your business.

Right.

So to know when to step away is a difficult thing for most entrepreneurs, especially, especially during the foundational and growth stages.

Oh, it's hugely difficult. Right. Because there's this like, push and pull of like, well, if I just do this one more thing, how much sooner can I get results? And it's like, yeah, but like, at what cost?

Right?

Right.

Like, what is it costing you to get there? What, a month sooner, A few days sooner, A few weeks sooner? Like, enjoy the ride. Also, so whether maybe you're not going.

To Pilates, maybe you're doing a 20.

Minute ride on a bike at home, fine, get your fitness in because you know it makes you better. But don't let it go all out the window because that's when we get. That's when we're out of balance and we don't. We're not as resilient to the things that are happening in our life. And so don't lose it all. Right? You know, it looks different, but don't lose it all.

Yeah, I love that so much. Let's switch gears for a second because I'm stuck on your fees and I want to talk about money mindset. When you talked about it earlier, I was like, oh, we're coming back to this. So when therapists are starting their coaching business, and you know this because you have both a private practice and a coaching business, and we can talk about that too, something's gotta give at some point in time to have that balance. And it is difficult. But one of the things that therapists can do is raise their fees. They need to buy back their time. Maybe it looks like hiring a clinician. Maybe it looks like both or one or the other. So when therapists are deciding their fees. I think we've seen this before and maybe we're. I'm definitely guilty of it at the beginning of my private practice. Just basing it out of thin air and not actually doing any math.

Yep.

Oh, I know we both have private practice fee calculators to help people do the math, but walk us through that process because you have done it so many times and you are kind of climbing this ladder of raising it. Oh, I can do this. They said yes. Let me raise it again. I can do it. They said yes. Any advice for anybody who's looking to raise their fees but they're scared?

Yeah. There's two sides to this. There is make sure that your number is attached to something real. Because otherwise it just feels like because I want more. And that's actually an okay reason too, that there's nothing wrong with that reason. But I think it doesn't. It's too easily attached to, like, concept of greed and shame and stuff. When you say I want more because I want to take my kids to Disney once a year because I want to put X amount of money into my retirement because I need to save for X, Y and Z goal, when you attach it to a real thing, then it starts to feel like there's a grounded sense of why I'm asking for this number rather than a just because I want more. And so that I think is the first one is ground your income goals in reality of what you need and.

Want and what it will make possible for your family.

And then two, One of the things that I think is important that sometimes we don't do enough of is look at. Have you set yourself up to be a premium fee therapist? Have you set up your marketing? Are you doing the things necessary? Are you confident about what you.

Have you done the work on the.

Back end to be able to say I am presenting myself in a way that is a premium fee therapist. And that doesn't mean I'm wearing a suit. It just means that I am really.

Confident about what I have to offer.

And about speaking my fees and getting a no if necessary and then doing the marketing work to get the clients in. And if the clients are coming consistently and they're saying yes at your current fee, then you've done the work to bump it up. And then you test the market at that new level and you see what happens. And then when you're ready, you do it again, you bump it up, test the market at this new level, see what happens. That's okay. You are allowed to do that. Like, you're not breaking any rules. You're not being a bad therapist. You are trying to balance out the necessary components of running a business and running a life and being balanced, earning.

What you need, that's all you're doing.

Yeah.

And it's okay. So there's the logistical side, the strategy side, doing the work, the marketing, setting yourself up to be the premium fee therapist. But then also there's the mindset side of you're not a bad therapist, you're not doing anything wrong, you're allowed to do this. I think there's just a stigma around and we're almost kind of brainwashed in school sometimes. Or I think we get into this field because our hearts want to save the world. Like, it means so much to us and we hear that, oh, you're just trying to make a buck off of somebody's suffering. Or therapists aren't supposed to want to make money and we're running a business. If you're not making sales, you don't have a business. So I think decreasing the stigma around this and normalizing that therapists can simultaneously and unapologetically want to make more money while also transforming people's lives.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

And it enables you to do things, right? Money enables us to do things. And so if giving to an organization is important, you need money to be.

Able to do that.

If doing a certain amount of pro bono sessions is important to you, you.

Need money to be able to do that.

Like, you cannot run a business, a poverty business, just because you're supposed to be helping people. You can't do that. You're gonna burn out.

For sure, you're gonna burn out. You're not filling your own cup first. How are you supposed to continue pouring into other people's cups?

Absolutely.

What was your own money mindset journey like? I mean, I don't think it ever really ends. Right. But at the beginning phases, when you were, okay, I'm going online, I'm going to be self pay, all right, I'm going to raise my fee. I'm sure stuff came up and continues to as we go through different phases of life. But what was this journey like for you? What was any really big learnings that had to change with your relationship with money?

Yeah, I was fortunate that this started early. When I worked at the homeless services agency, one of our, one of the things we had to do was talk to our clients about money. And these were women on, you know, public assistance, few hundred dollars a month plus food stamps.

And we were having to help them budget it right. And when you have to work with.

Those slim margins and help people with that, like, you really have to confront your own stuff about money and get straight with yourself.

And I even got sent to a three day training about money mindset and such. So I was really fortunate to have that. So it started really early and I got really comfortable with my own finances, being in my bank account, managing my, my own money, and really having a.

Better relationship with my personal finances first.

So that when I did jump into private practice, I did do some of the math even early on, but I still sort of went all over the place with the fees because it wasn't grounded in anything. And then I realized the biggest realization was that the people around me were subsidizing my client's care and they were doing it at a cost, the great cost at the time when I brought all my fees to 200. My husband was a police officer and in the reserves. And he was like, just not well. And I could see like, there's a heart attack or a stroke coming if I don't do something different to allow him to pull back a bit. And so like, he literally was subsidizing my client's therapy with his house. And my clients were going to Disneyland but paying me $80 a session. And I was like, that's. We can't afford to go to Disneyland. He's suffering and they're paying $80 and going to Disney. Like, that's not okay. I can't allow that anymore. So that was the thing. And it did mean that some clients left, some clients reduced frequency, some clients didn't care. And I was like, well, thanks.

Wow, okay. Right.

And so I think it's, it's. That piece is like I had to get really okay with.

People are going to have reactions and that's fine.

People still have reactions to my fees and sometimes they're not great.

And I'm like, okay, then I'm not your therapist. That's okay, right?

It's okay to repel people. You don't have to be everybody's cup of tea. Being a business coach for clinicians who are looking to start private practice and do it in a balanced way. When you think about their money mindset and fears, is there any common themes that you see like the number one or two fears when it comes to them starting their private practice. I've seen a lot, you know. Well, I don't know anything about taxes and write offs and how this is going to look for me, the fees and setting their own fees, if they're going to do self pay is definitely one. But speak to that for a second.

I think the biggest one that comes to mind is am I worth that? Am I valuable enough that someone will get their money's worth? So, so to speak. And I think a lot of times when we're coming out of agency work, because we're doing work with just a broad range of people, we aren't our best clinician self. We're not doing the best work that we're capable of doing because we're having to do it all. When we get into private practice and we start specializing and we recognize where our zone of genius is and we really get into what we're great at, we do amazing work. And there's no number that you can attach to that. Literally no number you can attach to that. So whether you're charging 80 because you can and you want to, or you're charging 400 because you can't, you need to and you want to. Like you could be equally good clinicians doing equally transformative work just charging a different number and it has nothing to.

Do with whether you're good enough for it or not.

Right.

We need to separate our value and our how worthwhile we are as a, as a clinician from the number we're charging.

Yeah, you can't put a price tag on it. You're quite literally transforming someone's life. It's invaluable.

Yes.

But because we live in the 3D world, we have to put a price tag on it. And because we have our own life to live, we have to do the math. Right?

Yes.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Exactly.

Am I worthy of charging this? And to piggyback on that, are people going to pay it?

Yes.

That goes hand in hand. But I always say somebody is waking up, waiting, wishing, praying for you to help them. We're like 1.8 million therapists short being in this mental health crisis. I read that article not too long ago. There is a need for us for sure. And if you do the logistical marketing strategy piece that you were speaking to earlier and you're setting yourself up for success, this is very, very doable for you to be this premium fee, self pay therapist and do it in a balanced way.

And even to come on that premium fee place is not everybody wants or needs to either. Right. I have coaching clients who are like, I'm happy at 150, I'm earning enough, it supports my family, it's good for my area. I live in a rural place and it actually, it meets my needs. And I'm like, great, do it. You don't need to charge more just because do that. And so if everyone looked at what they needed and charged that, we would.

Have therapists at all the ranges, we.

Would have people doing pro bono work, we would have people doing reduced fees because we would all be getting what we need and people would get served. Right. We can't fix the broken system by sacrificing our well being financially and emotionally and physically. But we can build a practice that is responsive to who we are, what we need, where we live, all of those things. And we can take all of that into consideration. Right. Might not mean that you're coming right out of grad school, starting your private practice and charging 400 an hour. There might be a buildup where you're building your clientele and building your reputation and bringing your way up the scale. Or you could.

That's also a things I've seen it happen.

Right. And so it's like get rid of the expectations and look at what could be possible and then make it happen.

And 1:50 could be premium fee to them. I mean, I remember when I started my private practice, I was coming off of BetterHelp and I think that you worked there a time being too. Right. And I was like, I think it charged like 60 or $80 a session. So 150 to me at the time that was premium fee. And whatever it means to you in your family and your life and you know, traveling or expenses or childcare, whatever. And going back to actually crunching the numbers and having that relationship with your finances can determine what your quote unquote premium perfect fee is.

Exactly. Yeah, exactly.

What about the balance of running both a private practice and a coaching business? I know this is such a loaded topic, but how was this for you when you first were diving into your coaching business, which was years ago at this time. But how do you balance it?

I'm just gonna be real blunt. It's not easy. It is not easy. When you. It's kind of like they say, going from individual therapy to couples therapy, it's not twice the work. It's like three times the work. I feel similarly with running two businesses.

When you add a second business, you're not just adding a second business, you're also having to deal with the transit.

Like switching between the two.

And that adds another layer of trying to find that balance, right? And there's an ebb and flow to each business and they might both kind of rise at the same time or need you at the same time, or they might not. And so there's like just another layer of adaptability, there's another layer of bandwidth that you have to add to. And so there's just more layers. And I think, like so many I got into it and I was like, I'm going to build this in the time that I have left over from my practice.

Right.

Well, that was great until I built it. And then I had to also work in it and do the coaching, provide the services, right? And I was like, oh, now it needs more of me. And so I had to shrink my private practice to give more to that. And so it like shifted. And then at a certain point, you know, the coaching practice kind of needed to shift and shrink itself a little bit for a while so that my.

Therapy practice could grow.

And so there's been this like, constant dynamic of like, which one takes up more space in my life, which one is giving me more return on investment.

In my life, how I'm managing the.

Different ones, how I'm working on them versus in them. And so it's more complex in creating balance because of these different variables and ebbs and flows and there's just more to manage.

And also, which one feels good to you? I hear so often from therapists who are adding coaching and they are usually, you know, capped on their income in private practice. Feeling a little burnt out, want creativity, breath of fresh air. So although, yes, it's a ton of work starting a totally new business and there's so many tasks that you have to get done. Your to do list is like a CVS receipt. Like it's just forever long. I feel that way and it never really goes away. But they often say they're almost like resenting their private practice. Like, I don't want to see my therapy client right now. I really would much rather be working on my coaching business. And that's not always it. Sometimes it's when they don't have their perfect fit clients, but they're in that season of newbie excited, creative energy. And now you're, you're still in and running both businesses. Did that happen to you?

Oh, absolutely, yeah.

And it's, it's actually similarly, it's ebbed and flowed between the two recently. It's shifted Back to my therapy practice. Like, I. I got trained in brainspotting, and I got. Just lit up about therapy again. And so, you know, I still have the coaching business, but that's not where my energy's going right now.

That's not where it wants to be.

And so it's kind of taking a smaller role in my life right now. I'm not getting rid of it. I'm still running it, I'm still doing it. It's still worthwhile, but it's so much smaller than even if you asked me, like two or three years ago, maybe what I hoped. Look, like I was hoping that my coaching practice would be huge and my therapy practice would be tiny, and life is showing me that I don't always get to choose. And it could shift back again.

And that's okay.

It's nothing wrong with that. I'm excited about therapy again. I'm expanding into all these new arenas and trying new things, and that's only gonna make me a better coach, ultimately.

Yeah. Using your intuition to lead you where your passion is. And also this is a. A beauty of being a seasoned business owner and entrepreneur where you can kind of dial up the knob or turn it down at any given time. Like, you want a pop of cash, you need more, you know, clients. You know exactly how to do that because you've done the work on the back end, like you were saying at the beginning, to set yourself up for this type of success and be able to pivot and shift or shut one down for a season of life, or make it smaller for a season of life, or shut one down completely and then decide you want to reopen it years later. Like, you can be whoever you want to be at any given time. You can do whatever you want to do at any given time. I think sometimes we get so set on, like, this black and white thinking, and I know we're preaching to the choir here because therapists are listening, but we're guilty of it ourselves and thinking it has to be this one way. Even when therapists are figuring out their niche, I see that, like, it's this black and white scary thinking that it's going to be their niche for forever and you can change it just like you can change your business. And there's the seasonalities of life, the balance like you were speaking to.

I think one thing that I've definitely struggled a lot with, and it still pops up and I'm still grappling with it. So I'm not done. Not done figuring this out. And I don't know that I'll ever be done figuring this out. But I definitely have struggled with a sense of failure, that my coaching business isn't what I dreamed it could be. At the beginning, I set out with.

A certain goal for what I wanted.

It to become and it didn't become that. And there's probably a lot of reasons for that, but I have to trust that there's a good reason that it.

Didn'T become, that that wasn't what it.

Was meant to be. And so while I don't currently know what role it's meant to have in my life long term right now, I know what it needs to be in order to support me growing my therapy business. And I also know, like you said, if I need to get some extra income, I know what I need to do to get more one on one coaching clients. I know what I need to do, I know exactly what I can do and I can have them within a month or two and get a good income stream from it. So having the two really gives me variability because I'm not stuck with I just need another therapy client. I just need another therapy client, right? I get to choose.

Do I want a coaching client, do.

I want a therapy client?

Do I want to put a course out?

Do I want to try a mastermind? Like I have so many options now as to what my, what I do next and how I do it and what my energy wants to be doing that I get to choose. And I know that it's going to be there when I'm ready to do that. So that's the cool part about having both is I still need more options.

It's so cool. And I think every therapist needs to experience that cool feeling where you can just do so many things. Because we come out of grad school and we're like, okay, we're just a therapist. And then we're just a therapist and we stay in this therapist box. But therapists can do so many things. They can do so many things even.

Within your therapy practice. There are so many things that you can do that are beyond just one on one therapy that can be great without having to open a second business. And so, you know, some people are like, oh, I don't know if I can do all that. Cause I don't want to open a second business. I'm like, great, look at what you can do within your business. There's more you can do. You can speak, you can teach, you.

Could like there's so many things, yeah, write a book. You can do Podcasts.

Yeah. You might get the bug and you might open a second business later. Okay, great. Then it was time for it then. Don't force it. And don't feel like you failed because you didn't make something happen the way you thought it should.

Yeah, that's really, I want to say, vulnerable. And so many people relatable can relate to this fear of failure. I mean, I see it every day with my clients, and I think a lot of it stems from unrealistic expectations or comparisonitis and seeing, you know, other people's success. And then you set this lofty goal that maybe isn't realistic in the season of life that you're in. If you were in a different season of life, maybe it would have been different. But also trusting the process, like you said, and being able to fall back on different things and following your intuition, like, it always works out, sometimes better than we even expected.

Yeah. If my coaching business had been as successful and big as I had originally.

Planned, I would have probably not found brainspotting. And I needed it for myself and my clients need it in my practice. Need, needs it. And I wouldn't have, like, I'm just trusting that it has a role in my life. Just because I didn't make it what I thought it should be doesn't mean I failed. That's still a hard pill to swallow for me. But I need to trust that, like, it's not a failure. It was a lesson. And it will be there to become whatever it's supposed to be when the time is right. And that's probably something I don't even see right now.

It's all gonna make sense looking back on it, and it already does, but that is just like one little tad bit of learning. But I feel like if we can approach things in that way, like, why? Why is it happening like this for me? You know, maybe. Why isn't it taking off the way that maybe I thought it would be in looking for the lessons is going to help us get out of that frantic state that is detrimental to our business growth if we do really want it to keep growing. Maybe not now, but maybe later.

Absolutely. Yeah.

Incredible. Any last words for anyone who's thinking about starting a private practice, who's thinking about starting a coaching business? We have listeners and different buckets. Even so many people who have been reaching out, like, hey, I'm about to finish grad school. And I was like, damn, I wish I was as smart as you back then. And proactively thinking about all of these different ways I Could utilize my clinical skills. Yeah, but you've done it all. At this point I feel like, I mean, I know there's still more for you, but you've done the private practice, you've done all the agency work and you've done the coaching.

I think it's, what can I say, get the support and invest in the support. And I do really mean like get a realistic view of what you're signing up for so that you can have realistic expectations, so that you can put the work in to make it work. Right. This is maybe a hard thing for some people to hear, but therapy private practice is one of the easiest businesses to run and grow. We are fortunate most businesses are not cash positive for two to three years. We exist in an industry that is actually relatively easy to run and grow. A business that can be cash positive within your first few weeks and that's rare. And we're in a culture right now that promotes utilizing therapy. It's still hard, but it's one of the easiest businesses to start. And so, you know, don't be afraid to just get started. I highly recommend joining a program, joining a course, working with a coach, whatever you can afford. Get the support from somebody who supports, supports the kind of practice you want to build because you're going to save a lot of time and money and.

Hurt and energy by doing that.

So whether that's a few hundred dollars course or a thousand dollar coaching program, thousands of dollar, doesn't matter. Whatever you can afford, put the money in, get the support from the start. You will come in eyes wide open, so much better. You will fare better in the long run. Yeah, I think that's, that's the biggest piece.

And then. Oh yeah.

The other thing is do one thing at a time. Don't start a therapy practice and a coaching business at the same time. Don't start a coaching business until your therapy practice is on lock at supporting you. Don't try to start a therapy practice and do intensives and do workshops and do groups all at the same time. Do one thing at a time. Get it locked in. Do the next thing. Be patient. I have a hard time with it. Be patient and it will better in the long run.

Yeah. Start before you're ready. Be proactive. Get mentorship. Power of one. Super key takeaways.

Yeah.

Amazing. Where can everyone find you? Audrey?

Yeah. So my therapy Facebook group, Balanced Practice Community, that's balanced with a D and then balanced. Private practice.com is my website for coaching. If you want to find my therapy stuff, I, I'M in California. I'm also licensed in Texas. That's audrey lmft.com so you can also find what I do for my therapy practice there and how I market and all that stuff. Yeah, that's the best way to find me.

Incredible. Well, thank you so much for being on today's episode. You are a wealth of knowledge and a leader in this community. So until next time, everyone go follow Audrey.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much for listening to the Thriving Therapy podcast. I hope that this episode has inspired you to reduce burnout, work smarter, and see the freedom potential you have as a therapist. We would love to have you inside the Therapist to Coach Accelerator Facebook group where we have live trainings and cheat sheets on all things marketing, sales and adding coaching ethically and legally. I am here cheering you on and I'll see you around.