Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Subscribe: Spotify | Email | RSS | More
Is it possible to take home six figures as a solo practitioner? Do people quickly earn as much or more as they made in group practice? How can you take your income goals and work backwards to know what steps to take next in solo practice?
In this podcast takeover episode, Melissa Schneider speaks with Julie Herres, CEO of Green Oaks Accounting, exploring if solo practice actually makes you more money and how long it takes to succeed.
Podcast Sponsor: Gusto
Something always comes up when you’re running a private practice. Well, Gusto’s payroll and HR services can make it a little easier.
Gusto was designed for you, the small business owner. They take the pain out of running a business. Automatically calculating paychecks, filing payroll taxes, setting up open enrollment—Gusto does it all.
Want more? Time tracking, health insurance, 401(k), onboarding, commuter benefits, offer letters, access to HRexperts—you get the idea. With Gusto, you can focus on the joy of running your business.
It’s super easy to set up and get started. And if you’re moving from another provider, Gusto can transfer all your data for you.
It’s no surprise 99% of businesses said the value they get for Gusto is worth the price. Here’s the best part: because you’re a listener, you get three months totally free. All you have to do is Click here!
Meet Julie Herres, CPA
Julie Herres is an accountant who has helped hundreds of private practice owners gain financial freedom. Founder of GreenOak Accounting, the country’s largest firm serving healthcare private practices, Julie is also an consultant, speaker, author of Profit First for Therapists and the host of the Therapy for Your Money podcast.
Visit Profit First for Therapists and listen to the podcast!
Freebie: Visit profitfirstfortherapists.com/joe for a free workbook on How to Get Started with Profit First for Therapists!
In This Podcast
-
What inspired Julie to pursue her passions
-
A solo practice success story
-
Let’s talk hours and numbers
-
What to know if you are planning to go solo
What inspired Julie to pursue her passions
Julie has a core dream to inspire and assist therapists. She knew her goal, her desired market, and how to develop her skills in a way that would directly connect with them, and serve them.
Early on, I realized that if I am helping everyone, I can help no one in the really meaningful way I wanted to. (Julie Herres)
With her book, podcast episodes, and business platforms, she’s spread out her passions in a way that connects with the people she truly understands: therapists.
That’s how Green Oak Accounting became what it is today, a business that serves the financial needs of mental health practitioners, therapists, and private practice owners.
[We’ve] worked with over 1000 practices at this point … we’ve seen under the hood of so many! We have this unique perview of what works and what doesn’t, financially at least, in a private practice. (Julie Herres)
A solo practice success story
What does a regular private practice’s success look like financially? Julie gives us a brief rundown:
- Post year one, which is the toughest to get established, practitioners have the chance to earn higher amounts on average
- Work 10 hours a week or less, since working more will make it tough to be successful while still sustainable
- There is a ramp-up time to get to a place where earning six figures a year becomes possible
There’s always a point in a small business of a lot of work, and solo private practice is a small business. You become the owner, so there’s that point of, “Either you are jumping all in and doing a ton of work, being both a clinician and a business owner … or you are jggling two roads at the same time, and also doing a ton of work.” So, it’s a question of: when do you want to do all of that work? That’s up to you. – Julie Herres
Let’s talk hours and numbers
Let’s take $125 per session that you get reimbursed from insurance, because it’s a nice, clean number. Then, you’d likely be taking home anywhere between $37 and $75 for every session.
If we zoom out to the whole year, and if you think of, “What are the household requirements or needs for that year?” How much do you need personally to generate for your household, whether you are the sole breadwinner or someone else in the household, because it’s all just math, we can reverse engineer from there what needs to happen. (Julie Herres)
Following this hypothetical example, let’s say you need to take home $75,000 after tax each year for your household.
If you are taking home $75 per session, that’s 1000 sessions per year, which, if you are working 48 weeks out of 52, means you need about 21 billed sessions per week.
To minimize falling short of this goal, you could schedule 24 sessions per week, to make sure you always have enough on the books and aren’t falling behind.
What to know if you are planning to go solo
I truly believe that if business ownership is in your heart, then great, you should go ahead and you should do that. But I want to be very honest that business ownership is not for everyone, and we see that happen a lot in the first year. It is a ton of work, right, because you could be a great clinician, but that does not automatically translate to being a great business owner.
Being both a great clinician and a great business owner are two completely different skill sets. However, they are also both entirely learnable. You can learn how to become a business owner, just like you learned how to be a clinician during grad school.
It will take time, and a lot of work. So, if you have that calling, follow it. At the same time, remember that wearing too many hats can burn you out, so many sure that this is something you really want to try doing before jumping in.
You have to be in this mindset: “It’s going to be a lot of work and I can do this, and I’m going to have to learn a lot of new things and get uncomfortable. Get comfortable with the uncomfortable”, because there’s going to be a lot of things that you weren’t doing that you are going to need to learn how to do. (Julie Herres)
As a solo practitioner, you are the:
- Clinician
- Marketer
- Bookkeeper
- Business strategist
- Even sometimes the janitor!
Therefore, Julie wants to set the expectation that you know it’s going to be a tough job within the first year, but if you stick it out and build that strong foundation, it will give you a much longer runway to keep going up and go further too.
Sponsors Mentioned in this Episode:
It’s no surprise 99% of businesses said the value they get for Gusto is worth the price. Here’s the best part: because you’re a listener, you get three months totally free. All you have to do is Click here!
Sign up for the 2026 Group Practice Boss Conference! Use code PJ between April 16th to 20th and get $200 discount on your Group Practice Boss Conference!
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Work with us one-on-one!
Sign up for Group Practice Boss!
Check out these additional resources:
- How to Take Interns in Private Practice with Alexandria “Alyx” Fields | POP 1364
- Practice of the Practice Network
- Group Practice Launch
- Group Practice Boss: www.practiceofthepractice.com/grouppracticeboss $149 a month
- PoP Group Practice Owners Facebook Group
- Free resources to help you start, grow, and scale
- Work with us
- Practice of the Practice Network
Meet Melissa Schneider
Melissa opened Resolution Counseling Center in Jersey City, NJ in 2019, a multi-site insurance practice with 65+ therapists. In 2023, she launched her second practice, Cultivate Therapy, a boutique out-of-network group. In 2026, both brands were successfully acquired by a national mental health platform. In her consulting work with us, Melissa specializes in strategizing with group practice owners who want to scale and change our industry for the better and with aspiring owners who want to plan a successful, low-risk launch.
