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How do you sell your practice successfully? What is the process to set your business up for success in a sales process? What are the three high-level things to do to make your practice easier to sell and the overall process smoother?
In this podcast episode snippet from the GPBC 2025 series, Dan King explains how to position your practice to sell well.
Podcast Sponsor: Headway
I want to thank Headway for sponsoring this episode. If you run a group practice, you know that accepting insurance can be overwhelming. Between credentialing, billing, and payroll, the admin side can easily take over your week. Headway was built to help you handle this — and they’re the only platform designed specifically for in-network group practices.
Whether you’re growing your team or running an established practice, Headway makes the business side easier with faster credentialing, higher per-session rates, and biweekly payments your team can count on.
They work with therapy, psychiatric, and hybrid groups — and there are no subscription fees. Just the support you need to run your practice with ease.
Run your best group practice with Headway — trusted by thousands of group practice leaders to simplify insurance admin and reach more people through in-network care.
Curious how Headway can work for you?
Meet Dan King
Dan King is co-founder of Fireside Strategic, a private equity firm focused on growing outpatient mental health practices. With a background in law, mergers & acquisitions, and organizational psychology, he combines business expertise with a people-first approach to help practices scale sustainably. Dan has built and sold companies in the coaching industry and brings hands-on experience in supporting clinicians and teams.
Outside of work, he is an avid traveler and has taken part in extreme auto races across Europe and Asia.
Visit Fireside Strategic and connect on LinkedIn.
In This Podcast
- Expect some chaos – at the start
- 3 high-value steps
- Final takeaways
Expect some chaos – at the start
The thing about selling a mental health practice or any merger-acquisition is that there’s going to be some chaos. There’s going to be miscommunication, there’s going to be rules that you didn’t know existed … But if you find a buyer that is aligned … and wants the same things you want, they’ll help you out. (Dan King)
Dan King explains in his talk about his cat food debacle, and uses it as an example of what happens when you undergo a mental health practice sale.
There will be miscommunication, there may be risks of people telling you about rules that may or may not apply, and since this is something that may not have been done before by you, folks may tell you not to do it.
However, you can and will find someone who is ready and willing to help you: look for those people.
If you find that aligned buyer, you can persevere through a lot of twists and turns … Acquisition is an emotionally challenging journey. There [are] lots of ups and downs … In the end, I got it done and so can you, if you want to sell a practice. (Dan King)
3 high-value steps
1 – Get aligned: This is the first and most important thing that you need to do.
You need to understand what you want. Why are you even speaking to an investor, right? Is it purely financial? Are there things that your business lacks? Are there things you want to improve about your business? … What are the values that you have stood for and that you would want an investor to stand for? You have to ask yourself these deep questions. (Dan King)
These kinds of questions are important for you to consider so that you can see the full picture before you pick who you want to work with and sell your business to, or sell a portion of it to.
The goal is to sell either your whole practice or a portion of it to a values-aligned buyer.
2 – Get your financials in order: Your P&L and balance sheets are the two most important documents detailing your practice’s financial health.
The balance sheet is a snapshot in time that shows the assets and liabilities of your business. People look for the last three years of your annual P&Ls, and what it does is help establish the practice’s run rate.
It shows that while maybe 2023 wasn’t a great financial year for you, 2024 was great. It’s a better measure to test the overall health of your business, as well as its potential.
3 – Think through the three biggest cultural or operational mistakes you’ve made. Crises tend to come up during transactions, because things are shifting, and it is an emotional time. Don’t think too much on them, take aligned action to smooth things over.
Crises come up all the time. What I would suggest you ask yourself is, “What are the three biggest operational and cultural mistakes that I have made over the course of running this practice? And of those, which of them have implications that are still playing out?” (Dan King)
Take an honest look at your business and see where some mistakes that were made early on could use some additional support and repair now, prior to the sale. Hire a consultant if you are not sure, and be proactive.
Final takeaways
- Get your financials in order
- Be proactive in patching up any lingering issues or sore spots in your business
- Invigorate your culture to build something for the long-term
- W-2 employee models are worth a lot
- Hire additional help from consultants and Mastermind groups if you need an additional pair of eyes to give you pointers on what to do next and how to do it best
- Be yourself, warm, authentic and professional with your consultants and aligned-buyers
Sponsors Mentioned in this Episode:
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Curious how Headway can work for you?
Useful links mentioned in this episode:
- Check out our Practice Academy!
- Visit Fireside Strategic and connect on LinkedIn.
- Sign Up to the Group Practice Boss Conference!
Check out these additional resources:
Mindfulness: Breaking Trauma Bonds & Healing from Within with Dr. Lissa Rankin, MD | POP 1227
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Meet Joe Sanok
Joe Sanok helps counselors to create thriving practices that are the envy of other counselors. He has helped counselors to grow their businesses by 50-500% and is proud of all the private practice owners who are growing their income, influence, and impact on the world. Click here to explore consulting with Joe.
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