Speaker 1 (00:00:00) – What are you doing? October 1st through third. I want to hang out with you just south of Nashville, Tennessee. Down in Franklin. I’m going to be key noting the Mental Health Marketing Conference, and I would love for you to be there. We are also sponsoring the clinical track, where there are going to be tons of amazing trainings, all for you in private practice. This is the national gathering for marketers and clinicians in mental and behavioral health. You’re not going to want to miss this awesome conference. It’s the one conference I’m keynote this year and you can read more over at MH marketing. Org. Also, Steve over at Mental Health Marketing has given 25% off to any practice of the practice. Listeners that want to come to this, whether you’re coming in person or online, you’re going to want to use promo Code Joe at checkout to get 25% off. I would love for you to come in person for my closing keynote on Thursday, October 3rd at the Mental Health Marketing Conference. But if you can come online, that works as well. Speaker 1 (00:00:56) – Can’t wait to hang out with you in Tennessee. Again, that’s MH marketing. Org and use promo code Joe at checkout to hang out with me October 1st through third, 2024. This is the practice of the Practice podcast with Joe Sarna. Session number 1032. Welcome. I am so glad that you are here hanging out with me and our panel today. we have an exciting, panel of people that we’re going to be introducing in just a second. We are talking all about going from solo practice to group practice. Now, if you don’t know me, welcome. I’m Joe Santokh. I founded practice of the practice in 2012, and then, started the Practice Practice podcast in 2013. Honestly, it was because I had a counseling practice called Mental Wellness Counseling, and I had no idea what to do when it comes to business stuff. back then. And so just started interviewing people and sharing my story. And as I learned, got to help a lot of people along the way. we’ve helped over 2500 practices start, grow and scale at this point, bringing in over $250 million, for those practices. Speaker 1 (00:02:14) – So it’s really amazing. I wrote I wrote a book. I do a lot of other things, but get to play with my two daughters who I have, full physical custody of. And so just get to be a single dad and have lots of fun with them. so we’re going to have our panelists actually, introduce themselves because, you know, they each have these really extensive bios, but I really want to make sure that we dive into just getting the panel going. so why don’t we kick it off with you, Vicki? well, we’ll, put you, up first. Speaker 2 (00:02:45) – All right. Sure. My name is Vicki, and I am a clinical psychologist located in the DC area. I could probably share a lot of pieces, but I started my practice right out of graduate school. I actually, Joe, your podcast essentially helped me launch my solo practice. So kind of passively through podcast listening was was really, really helpful for me to be able to actually launch a pretty successful one. So I’ve had it for about six, seven years now. Speaker 2 (00:03:13) – and last year I would I was planted a seed by a colleague. I was networking with that. You know, if you’re thinking about group practice, you could probably do it a lot sooner than you think. and all it took was that before I really picked a name, I called my practice the Perfect therapy group. Because I work a lot with perfectionists. There’s a lot of anxiety, a lot of imposter syndrome. I also work with a lot with athletes. So between perfectionism and athletes, current and former ones, obviously you can imagine there’s a lot of overlap in those populations. So it’s a pretty good niche, especially in this this area, in this metro area. and so that’s it’s really been my practice has been full and I’m looking to take on some more. I actually just, verbally hired an admin this this week. I’m about to present an offer letter there, and then I’m bringing on a postdoc and hoping to hire another therapist or two later this year. So that’s kind of where I’m at. Speaker 2 (00:04:04) – practice wise. Speaker 1 (00:04:05) – Corrales, why don’t you introduce yourself? Tell us a little. Bit about your practice, where it’s located and kind of starting a group. just. Yeah, a paragraph or so, and then we’re going to dig into some questions. So. Speaker 3 (00:04:16) – Yeah. Thank you for having me here this morning. So yeah, I have been practicing for over ten years now, and a licensed mental health counselor, and my entire practice is actually virtual. And I’m practicing based here in Orlando, Florida. and I just hired two clinicians that are joining me for my group practice. And my goal is to maybe hire 2 or 3 more by the end of the year. And in the process of also looking for an admin as well. Speaker 1 (00:04:44) – Awesome. And Todd tell us about you and your practice. Speaker 4 (00:04:47) – Hello. Good morning everybody. sorry I’m, I’m getting over a sinus congestion right now. So if you guys can’t make out what I’m saying, you just, you know, text me in the chat, but, Speaker 1 (00:04:56) – All good. Speaker 4 (00:04:58) – Awesome. So, yes, my name is Todd Bukhari, LPC therapist here in the state of new Jersey. started my practice unofficially in 2020. at that time, I wasn’t fully licensed, but I was doing a lot of, like, workshops, public speaking events. I became fully licensed in 2022. Therefore, I started my practice officially as far as offering therapy in 2023. 2023 was pretty much a really good year for me. My practice is also virtual. we focus on helping athletes when it comes to mental wellness issues outside of their sport. so we’re helping athletes that are struggling with anxiety, depression, family stress. you know, just the stress of, from school, pressure from coaches, different things like that. We help our athletes with that. currently, right now. So after 2023, the year picked up pretty fast. And I also was in the same situation as everybody else as far as like, you know what, let me try to bring on additional help. so same as Vicky. Speaker 4 (00:05:52) – I was listening to your podcast show and, I think I got into group practice launch, like the last day before the deadline. You know. Nice. I was listening to one of your episodes, and at the end, the speaker pretty much, was promoting the, the, the group. So I was able to jump in. a lot of great resources. And, currently, right now with my practice, I do have one administrative, one admin staff. I have two pre licensed therapist and one clinical supervisor to supervise those pre licensed therapist. So right now still in the early stages of developing everything, but I feel like I have a solid team to, to get the ball rolling. Speaker 1 (00:06:27) – Oh amazing. And I love just hearing how quickly the first three of you have just been able to launch in. Todd. Just one thing about your branding. I love it that knowing you work with athletes like seeing your professional headshot, that it’s a zip up and that, you know, even showing up for this webinar like you’ve got your Nike hat on, like you are living the brand and like so many people would second guess themselves and feel like they’re an imposter by dressing how they want to dress. Speaker 1 (00:06:48) – And it’s like, I love that. So, Christina, tell us about you and your practice. Speaker 5 (00:06:52) – I’m Christina Blanton. I’m a licensed professional counselor and a registered play therapist. My practice is in Kearney, Missouri, so we’ve got, like, ten, 11,000 people, I think, in our town. So it’s a smaller town, and we’re about 30 minutes north of Kansas City. so what we are is kind of like a generalized therapy practice, but we really want to focus on quality care. so that’s our big thing. So, you know, we started out with group practice launch I think in September is when it started October maybe. And then I have two clinicians hired on. so it’s really been a great experience because it’s a lot of things that I didn’t realize that I didn’t know. And then, you know, just having the system for it. so, yeah, getting a lot of really good growth and then, yeah, building connections in the schools. And so, you know, I also go out to the schools and do therapy. Speaker 5 (00:07:43) – So it’s really a good connection for the community. Speaker 1 (00:07:46) – Awesome. And, Milo, tell us about your practice. Speaker 6 (00:07:49) – Yes. Good morning. My name is Milo Wilson. I’m a licensed clinical psychologist in practice in Richmond, Virginia. I two, like several others here, got my motivation to go into solo practice from listening to some of Joe’s podcasts. I was in a soul crushing job and was looking for a way out and that, you know, helped me to get the motivation and confidence to take that step to do that. so I did that 2018 part time built for the next couple of years while working at a different job that was less soul crushing, and then went full time in, 2021 and has been growing ever since. And I’m excited to bring on some clinicians throughout the year. My practice focuses on, helping LGBTQ+ communities, and also focuses on evidence based practice. So the intersection of those two things. Speaker 1 (00:08:43) – so awesome. Well, so those of you that are here, we only have an hour. Speaker 1 (00:08:47) – Yesterday when we had our panel about starting a practice, it was clear we could have just gone for hours and hours. And so, we have five people here today, so I’m not going to say a question and then have all five of you answer because we only get through like 1 or 2 questions. So, if you have questions for our panel, please drop those in the chat. so put those in there. I’ll be reading them. We’re going to go through them. We’re just going to kind of hear their point of view of how they went from solo to group, like how did they add that first person, then how did they scale a little bit up? A lot of you here today have a solo practice. You’re looking to grow. Maybe you have a struggling group practice and you’re looking at how do I kind of launch that a little bit more? So we’re going to be asking them questions throughout. This is really for you. You know the audience that’s here. I don’t have a bunch of scripted questions. Speaker 1 (00:09:27) – I have a couple to get us started. But drop those in the chat. Also, please, one thing that is so great as a presenters to know that you’re engaged. So if you see that little reaction where there’s emojis, if someone says something that you’re like, that is amazing, well, you either put that as a reaction or put that in the chat. We want to see some mind blown. We want to see some confetti, some champagne, some dancing girls. Whatever it is that to you represents what our speakers are saying, because sometimes it feels like you’re just talking into the void. So let let’s have a little bit of fun here today. I already see some killer emojis coming in in the chat. Thanks, David, for kicking that off for us. All right. Why don’t we start, why don’t we start with you, Todd? So, Todd, if you think about when you made that transition from solo to group, like, what were indicators that for you said like, yeah, there’s potential here that I need to go after. Speaker 4 (00:10:14) – so that’s a great question. So thinking back to like, you know, last summer, I would definitely say my practice filled up really fast, to the point where I had to start, like, slowing down my marketing. I had to start slowing down the intakes. I was doing, just because I didn’t have enough time, you know? So currently, my personal life I had at that time my son was only one years old last summer. So like, I had a lot going in my personal life. I was still working with another agency, so it was just like, I feel like my hands were in so many different parts that I couldn’t really grow the practice where I wanted to take it. So just seeing like referrals coming in and me saying, I have to put you on the waiting list or refer them to other practices was when it was like, okay, like, I think I need to start thinking about how I can stop doing that and keep people in-house. Speaker 1 (00:10:59) – Corrales, what about you? When did you know it was time to start adding people into the practice? Speaker 3 (00:11:04) – Well, I think for me it was just transition from a professional level to where I was afraid to expand organically. Speaker 3 (00:11:13) – I also was inspired by a colleague of mine that had taken those steps, and she kind of gave me that inspiration, that job that I needed to do. And for me, it was all about accessibility for people to be able to reach me and user insurance. So I had that ability to do that. Speaker 1 (00:11:32) – Now, Christina, I’m wondering, you know, after you decided, okay, I want to start a group practice, what were some of the first actions you took that really helped you get to where you’re at now that you’d say, wow, those were smart decisions early on to fast forward things for yourself. Speaker 5 (00:11:45) – Right? And so whenever we feel like we know that we wanted to do so I’m doing this alongside my husband. He does like logistics. I’m like the face of the business. Right. And so we knew that this was ultimately what we wanted to do. And then so we’d been looking around like, how do I start a group practice? And we, you know, we found some resources that were helpful, but it was a lot of googling. Speaker 5 (00:12:08) – And then we saw this program, I think at the last level up week. And it was like, wow, like this sounds amazing. And then getting into it, it’s there’s a system in place, you know, and even sometimes we’d spend our like, I would spend hours on Google even after on the program trying to find specific answers. And then I’d be like, oh yeah, I have this group practice launch that I’m a part of, and the resource would be right there, and I wasted hours searching for whatever the resources was there. so just getting a part of the system was very helpful. Speaker 1 (00:12:40) – Yeah. To me, I think that idea of when you’re in a membership with other people that are, like, doing what you want to do, like, yeah, you can go, you can go learn things and dink around a lot, or do you want to just implement, like that whole idea that we’re past the information age, we’re in the implementation age, Like there’s plenty of information out there, but you’re going to spend hours searching and questioning, being like, is this the right way? Whereas if you can find people that you’re just like they’ve implemented already, I want to be around them. Speaker 1 (00:13:04) – Let’s do this now. Milo and Vicki, I want to ask you a question, and I’m going to start kind of getting we’re having tons of questions coming already, so I’m done facilitating my own questions. I kicked it off officially. So, so the two of you, did you hire someone to do your marketing and maybe the other three that aren’t answering? If you could just put in the chat. How did you handle marketing so that people can kind of hear your point of view without us taking up all the time. But, Vicki, let’s start with you. Like how did you think through marketing your group practice. And then Milo will go to you after Vicky’s done? Speaker 2 (00:13:33) – Sure. so I with my practice, I have such a niche. So I really was marketing to the same areas that I’ve had. So for me, I, overlap a little bit with Don in terms of working with some athletes, but it’s really like the top performer, the perfectionist, the folks that have anxiety. So, I, I really think about it from a boots on the ground perspective, really creating personal connections with people. Speaker 2 (00:13:56) – So whether it’s, doctors, physical therapists, I’ll connect with nutritionists as well. So it really depends on like sort of who are the ancillary people that my ideal client tends to interact with. And so I try to network with those folks who might be good referral sources, cardiologists specifically when you think about anxiety and panic attacks, for example. so I started thinking about it in that way, but I also rebranded my website. I actually use John’s services, which have been really great. I’m actually working on editing it yet again to add, a blog section and rework so that I can add my team pages as well. So I actually think the rebranding was really important to to shift what my language was like and from I to we, but also really focusing on those mission, vision and values, which is obviously what I learned through group practice. Launch two. I do I echo what Christina was saying as well about just having, a structure, a system. to me, I really like learning. So actually having webinars that I can also revisit because to me, it’s almost the repetition that is really useful to hear things over and over and over again at different phases, because otherwise you get really overwhelmed with all of the different parts. Speaker 2 (00:15:10) – there. but marketing, I would say like even just adjusting my website, I got referrals even from Google searches. So if you actually use the niche areas and the language that clients are searching for you. So for example, perfectionism is a big one. Someone actually found me recently by searching perfectionism support group. Now I don’t have a support group, but they found my website because it’s called the Perfect Therapy Group. And I talk about perfectionism. So that to me is telling me that my, my, my branding and my, my website is working. Well. Speaker 1 (00:15:40) – That is such a good point. Like just yesterday, when we, I forget which webinar we were in. There was a couples therapist and she had a question and we just went onto Google and typed in, why does my husband and then look to see what people were searching? I was like, why does my husband hate me? Why does my husband not talk? Why does my husband fart so much? Right? And it’s like, those are all things. Speaker 1 (00:15:58) – And then it was like we did, why does my wife and it was like all sorts of other things that were funny, but like, people are searching those things. And so the idea that we have to be all clinical, it’s like if people are searching, why is my husband giving me the silent treatment? And you’re a couples therapist and then you have a whole article on that, that’s just going to be mind blowing for that, for that individual. Milo, tell us about your marketing journey. Speaker 6 (00:16:19) – So I started off, doing very little marketing. So back when I was started off launching in 2018, I really had no clue what I was doing. I knew how to be a therapist, but running the business was like foreign territory to me, so I really didn’t do a whole lot of marketing. And at the point that I went full time, in 2021, I had developed, name recognition in the community. my niche is is enough that, you know, people who are looking for a therapist who specializes in working with LGBTQ+ folks, there’s only a handful of us in town, and they’re going to find one of us. Speaker 6 (00:16:56) – So, I think that just kind of that slow build and building reputation within the community was part of it. I’m also involved in some local LGBT community groups, which I know spreads some word of mouth through that as well. I have, done a little bit of networking with some medical practices that also specialize in working with the LGBTQ plus community. And so there’s been some kind of, you know, mutual referrals back and forth. I think another thing that was really helpful, speaking to Vicki’s point about website is, when I launched full time, I did a website revamp. I use Brighter Vision, so they took care of all of the SEO and that really increased website traffic and got a lot more people in the door that way. I am going to be starting to I am starting to work with a marketing professional here locally who is going to be, helping with, you know, adding some social media to use those connections for SEO and all of those, all the ways in which those things intertwine. Speaker 6 (00:18:04) – as as well as a few other things. Speaker 1 (00:18:07) – So awesome. The next question is, which of you have independent contractors and which of you have employees? So maybe raise your hand if you have employees and then the other ones that aren’t raising their hand. We will no have independent contractors. So employees. So yeah. Oh yeah. Both okay. So for clinicians primarily say primarily, clinicians as employees. mostly. Speaker 7 (00:18:29) – Okay. Speaker 1 (00:18:30) – Cool. So, maybe, Todd, why don’t you share with us why you went the W-2 route, and then Corrales, maybe you can talk about why you went the 1099 route. Speaker 4 (00:18:39) – Awesome. So, the reason why I went W-2 is because, number one, the the therapists I have coming on, they’re pre licensed therapist. so that means I have to be a little bit more hands on with them with their development through becoming a clinician. So and I also want to agree the culture with my practice. You know, with us focusing on helping athletes and, you know, at the same time, we do focus on helping athletes, but we do take clients that are not athletes as well, just to put that out there. Speaker 4 (00:19:03) – but just with them being a new licensed therapist, I wanted to give them an opportunity to grow with the team, and I wanted to be really hands on with their development throughout that process. So I felt like W2 was the best approach, compared to 1099 for my for my own clinicians. Speaker 1 (00:19:19) – Corrales what about you? Speaker 3 (00:19:21) – I mean, right now working mostly with license people. And because I’m starting, I want to use maximize my capital as much as I can and keep things simple. I might eventually evolve into W-2, but it’s just a good fit for me right now. Yeah. Speaker 1 (00:19:36) – Oh that’s great. I think one thing that we’re noticing, at least, in regards to our consulting clients, that a lot of people are switching from that 1099 to W-2. and mostly because it seems like those people that in general want to be a 1099 contractor oftentimes want to start their own practices. And so we’re seeing a lot of these group practices that kind of launch people. And then just within, you know, a year or two, they’re full and they’re like, I’m going to go do my own thing. Speaker 1 (00:19:59) – Whereas the person that has a W2 mentality, you know, they want a job that they can show up to, they can get paid well for. Your competition isn’t private practice, it’s CMH, it’s the local nonprofits. It’s things like that. So if you can pay even 5% more for a part time person at 20 hours a week, 15 sessions a week, or, you know, full time person, 25 clinical hours and maybe 35 hours a week, you can be really competitive in that. But, you know, I think each situation, you want to think through that and that’s where you’re having whether it’s group practice, launch or other people to bounce those ideas off of to say, okay, here’s the pros and cons of each of those. There’s there’s benefits. And if you do it right, you know, then you know, you’re not going to get in trouble with the IRS. It’s when people, you know, do it incorrectly that you have some liability there. So that’s where I think bouncing it off other people like you guys have is great. Speaker 1 (00:20:44) – Christina, we have a question that came in and the other four of you, if you have other insights on this, feel free to throw that into the chat. once you start hiring people, how did your marketing change? Speaker 5 (00:20:55) – So we really, since we’re a generalized therapy practice, you know, so I work with kids, teens and women, which is a very targeted group. And so with my practice growing, I wanted to have clinicians who saw, men, couples, families, you know, and really target everybody. And so we had to really shift our marketing towards focusing on what our other clinicians offer, which is what I don’t offer, and so targeting it towards them. and really focusing a lot of the Google ads and making pages specifically for services for men and services for couples and things like that to grow them. Speaker 7 (00:21:35) – Awesome. Speaker 1 (00:21:35) – This next one I’m going to just open up to the group and maybe we can have a couple of you kind of weigh in on this and how you would think through this. Speaker 1 (00:21:41) – I think there’s value in just saying like how would you think through this situation? So we have Chad asking, I’m in solo practice and not getting much traction. Do I wait until I am full in my solo practice before starting a group? I don’t really want to have an office. I want to do virtual and walk and talk therapy. How soon should I bring on an admin or VA for calls? Well, let’s not cover the VA thing yet. let’s just talk about starting a group practice. When do you think it’s appropriate to start a group practice? If you aren’t getting a ton of traction in your solo practice? Speaker 6 (00:22:11) – For me, I’m a numbers person. and so and I will admittedly say I’m a I’m on the risk averse side. so if it was me making that decision, I would want to make sure that I had enough income to both pay myself, keep the practice afloat. for, you know, at least a couple of months before bringing on another person. Speaker 1 (00:22:36) – Awesome. How else would people think through it? Yeah. Speaker 1 (00:22:37) – Go ahead. Speaker 4 (00:22:38) – Yeah I’ll jump in right after that. So once you find that find out the details behind the financial piece. I think right now is actually a good time to start it because you don’t want to wait till you’re completely full, you know, and like you don’t have enough time to market a new clinician or you don’t have enough time to do the onboarding process. So I would definitely like if you’re in that position right now, I would try to take your time with finding the right clinician. But when you find him or her, bring her on board now and then. You guys can grow together as a practice grows as well. Speaker 7 (00:23:05) – Love that. Speaker 3 (00:23:06) – Yeah. You got to keep in mind too. Just because you hire someone doesn’t mean that they’re going to have a full caseload immediately. That’s going to take a few months to ramp up as well. So that’s all the time that you’re buying while you do your own marketing. Speaker 7 (00:23:18) – So yeah. Speaker 1 (00:23:19) – Great point. I you know, I’m thinking, you know, especially if there’s an area that, Was it Chad? Let me just scroll. Speaker 1 (00:23:26) – Yeah. The Chad doesn’t cover, you know, there’s complimentary services. Where is he referring out? Are there times of the day or times of the week that he just doesn’t want to work? Like, I don’t want to work weekends, but I want to offer virtual therapy or walk and talk on the weekends. and then, you know, making sure it’s not like a salaried position. You can always have it be per session or a percentage based model, even with a W-2. And so, you know, creating that kind of risk averse side, you know, you definitely don’t want to have to be paying them a certain amount per week for them to be empty. cool. Let’s jump into I would love for Vicky and Christina. What are your thoughts on how soon to bring on an admin or VA for phone calls? Speaker 2 (00:24:01) – I guess I’ll jump in. So, I’m actually very grateful to bring somebody on, so I think it’s just going to expand my time. I think with GPL you helped us kind of look at really, return on investment. Speaker 2 (00:24:13) – So if you really just price it out and figure, what’s it going to cost me to have an admin for five hours a week versus me doing a clinical hour? It’s definitely well worth it. So for me, I’m just now looking to hire an onboard people, so I haven’t even brought anyone on. I would say do it before then. I would actually try to onboard an admin. As soon as you’re looking to hire somebody on so you can onboard the admin and have processes starting to get in place as best you can, and earlier than you think that you might want to. And just to make a quick comment about that last question, I was just going to say make sure you’re paying attention because I’m very practical. And in terms of the risk, if you’re not getting traction and not getting referrals, you might want to first start focusing on networking and building your referral base before you start hiring somebody, if you’re not even getting people in the door. I don’t know if that’s how bad it might be, but make sure you’re actually getting a little bit of traction because your referrals are going to tell you which way to go. Speaker 2 (00:25:08) – So just for what that’s worth, awesome. Speaker 5 (00:25:10) – I agree with Todd in the comments here saying since yesterday I don’t have an admin right now, but I’m recognizing fully the need for it because my capacity is so split, you know, trying to do the group practice, managing employees, managing my own caseload and everything that I have going on, and then trying to do intakes and calls and then get making sure all the paperwork is in. And so that’s where an admin would really take off a lot of that stress. So I’m at that point yesterday, you know, where I need to get on it and get that admin to have that extra support. So that way I can keep focusing on what I need to do. Speaker 1 (00:25:48) – Awesome. I just put, in the chat. one of our sponsors. So full disclosure, they are a sponsor, but we have been looking for a good VA sponsor for a while. well received. If you go to well-received dot com forward slash Jo, they’re giving, 50% off of your first three months of it, and their plans are 500 to $1000 a month, but you buy a certain number of minutes. Speaker 1 (00:26:07) – So it’s nice that you’re not just paying for someone to sit there, but they have 24 over seven. They have bilingual services. they’ll do chat, they’ll do the intakes. So, definitely an awesome resource. We’ve sent a bunch of our consulting clients there and heard really good things about them. All right. Next. I’ll just open this one up to the group for a couple comments. I’ve also slowed down marketing because I am too full. How did you ramp marketing efforts back up to fill other people quickly enough to know you were ready to hire and fill them? Speaker 4 (00:26:34) – So I’ll start this one off. to be honest with you, the clinicians I brought on board, I was transparent with them, letting them know that the practice. This is my first year doing group practice. Therefore, you’re not coming on board to a full caseload. So that took the stress off of me, you know? So I didn’t feel the pressure like, oh my God, I need to get these, get, get them filled with clients or anything. Speaker 4 (00:26:52) – So I think for me it’s just like all the ideas I had when I was in solo practice and I didn’t start, I’m able to start now. As far as developing relationships with schools, athletic directors, coaches, trainers, even doctors offices like Vicky mentioned earlier. So I think, you know, just being transparent with my clinicians, letting them know that, okay, while you guys are getting approved by the board for your clinical supervision, I’m working on the marketing piece, you know, and the plan is within a month or two, you might have 2 or 3 clients, and then we’ll build as time goes. So and what I’ve noticed with the clients that the clients with the clinicians that I brought on, they’re okay with that. You know, they don’t want to come on to a full caseload. And now they’re drowning in paperwork and they’re drowning and trying to figure out how to be a good clinician. So I think transparency is definitely really important. Speaker 1 (00:27:35) – Yeah. One rule of thumb we often say is when you’re 60% full, that should be like the latest you start hiring that really like to make sure that if you’re 60% full, I mean, because you figure say it takes a month to find a good person, a month to then have them leave their other job or get onboarded a month to get full. Speaker 1 (00:27:52) – I mean, you’re talking three months from when you’re 60% full, and then ideally you’ll be 100% full by the time they’re full. And then it’s like, okay, let’s kind of keep that going. If you’re anything like me, you savor the moments when you get to clock out at the end of a long day at your practice and just relax. Now, this may sound simple, but you know all too well it’s never that easy. Demand for after hours calls answering is real, and it often comes at the expense of our personal time. When you partner with a medical answering service, you get to enjoy your evenings, weekends, and holidays knowing your clients are still being cared for. Well received are experts in getting you valuable time off the phone. They offer 24 over seven live call answering from human medical receptionists, new patient intakes, bilingual services, client appointment scheduling and client live chat, and so much more. As a practice of the practice listener, you can get an exclusive 50% off your first three months of service. Speaker 1 (00:28:59) – Head on over to well received. Com forward slash job. Again, that’s well received. Com forward slash Joe to start growing your practice today. next question is this is a really good one. from Aaron. My practice is full and stopped all marketing but unsure steps on how to find how to find clinicians to hire and what that process looks like. who’s who’s hired in the last month? Any any of you hired in the last month? so let me start with Todd. What were some of your steps? And then maybe of the four of you, like, you know, Christina, I don’t think we’ve heard from you in a little bit. We’ll jump to you after Todd. Speaker 4 (00:29:40) – so for me, I would say I’m gonna tell you myself, we don’t really follow it to like, everything else, because I definitely like I sometimes try to be a perfectionist. So for me, it was definitely having like the job description in order, having my contracts in order have my attorney review that. so I kind of was overboard, you know, I just wanted to be as prepared as possible before I started marketing the position. Speaker 4 (00:30:01) – But when after I did all the behind the scenes work, I market the jobs on, indeed. And I got a lot of traction on indeed. so what I did was every time I got a, not a referral, every time I got an application completed on indeed, I would do a Google search on a person to try to find their LinkedIn account. You know, just kind of do like my own research on a person. If their resume stuck out to me, you know, just so I can kind of, like, get a visual of who they are and their different background and stuff that’s not on the resume. After I completed that, then I started to conduct the interviews. So for all the people I have coming on board now, I did at least two interviews with them. both of them were virtual because some of my clinicians are located in different parts of new Jersey. So, so I completed all the the interviews virtually. Then after that, check the references and then did the background checks and then brought them on board. Speaker 4 (00:30:50) – So it’s definitely it sounds like a lot of steps, but as you’re doing it, it all can be done in like a three week process or a two week process, depending on your availability. but for me, I definitely in the beginning I really was like fine tuning the job description. Some of my, members in here know I was, you know, fine tuning the job description. The contract’s like to the point where I was just like, okay, so I’m like, let’s just go. Let’s just try and see what happens. Speaker 1 (00:31:13) – So good. And Christina. Speaker 5 (00:31:14) – Right. So I found my employees through indeed it was you know I did LinkedIn and then I haven’t really had much success with LinkedIn I know other people have, but indeed is where I found my employees. And really, I think just having that system and practice of the practice, you know, where it walks you through, like step by step, this is what you need because I thought I knew what I needed. Again, you know, I thought, you know, I had a general idea, but I, I didn’t realize, you know, how much I didn’t know. Speaker 5 (00:31:46) – So having. Oh, like, I need a job description. Like I need all of these steps in place. And now that I’ve done it twice, you know, with two clinicians now I’m looking to hire another person on. And I have a system in place now. You know, I have an actual checklist that I go through. You know, I don’t. And I think that’s the thing is, like, it’s been really hard to hire on those first clinicians because you’re you’re learning everything. And then now I am like, my fear level is like way down here because I already have the system in place. I already know what to do. I just have to implement it. so it’s I feel a lot less stressed with this next hire that I’m working on. so just having that system in place and then, you know, following the group practice launch resources has been incredibly official for everything. Speaker 1 (00:32:33) – So awesome. I’m going to share with you guys something I put together for some of my consulting clients. Speaker 1 (00:32:37) – We’re going to be turning it into, a thing that we sell and give away to our membership communities in the next couple of months. But, this is like, literally just like, behind the scenes. we don’t usually show all this, but this is the forecaster that I put together. We’re going to be launching. it’s the when to hire calculator. and so I see there’s a bunch of questions about like when should I hire. so and this will be available soon. we’re also going to be releasing a staff wage calculator. That’s actually going to be a bonus for anyone that signs up, during level up week. but for this, you’re just looking at the numbers of, average new intake calls. So say you had ten new intake calls per week, and of those 70% of those actually scheduled in intake, and then say 90% of them actually showed up. So you got some good systems, people coming in. And then we want to put the average total sessions the client completes. So do they come for ten total. Speaker 1 (00:33:27) – Do they come for 15 or 20. So say they come for 15 sessions and it’s, you know, 150 per session. If we say what is full for the new clinicians. So say we’re looking for a full time person. So 25 and then for you as the owner, what’s your percentage profit from the gross profit. So usually you’re going to get anywhere from 15 to 30%. So let’s just do say 22%. So what this does is it says that this new clinician should be full within 3.96 or 4 weeks. They should be full based on these numbers. And so if they’re not then you need to say, well my number is actually what this is. So you can say, okay, if we end up having only three calls per week, it’s going to take us 13 weeks to fill this person up versus if we, you know, are getting 20 a week, maybe we’re doing some, you know, pay per click advertising. It should only take two weeks. So once that person is full, your profit would be 825 per week. Speaker 1 (00:34:16) – And then looking at some of the lifetime value for you. so then this also forecasts, you know, if we look at, you know, amount per week. Now this is you know, no one’s going to 151 sessions per week. But at these numbers, if we said okay, they cap out every two weeks, then you’re hiring every two weeks. This starts to add up pretty quickly in regards to your monthly 50 K, you know, if you just kept hiring. So those are the kind of numbers, things that we’re putting together for you and for our communities to just really make sure that you have access to just good forecasting. I’m going to share just a little bit with you about some of our programs, and then we’re going to go through the rest of those questions as many as we can. our panel here has referenced group practice launch, and you may have heard of that. You may not have heard of that, but just want to make sure that, you know, that you can go from solo to group way faster than what you probably think. Speaker 1 (00:35:03) – so group practice launch, is specifically focused at helping you go from solo to a group, or if maybe you launch the group and you’re like, I don’t think I did this right. Like, it’s not clicking along. I need some help. if you feel like you’re still in that launch phase, group practice launch would be for you. If you already have a group and you’ve got a couple people, it’s clicking along. Group practice boss would be the problem. We’re not going to talk about that in here, but you can read all about all of our memberships over at practice of the practice.com/membership. But the things that we cover in group practice launch are your systems, your phones, your email, the EHR, payroll, liability insurance, hiring, that first clinician. Do I do 1099 W-2? we bring in other clinicians that own practices. So we brought in three people that had mega practices that have a W2 model specifically to help with that transition. We actually put Andrew Andrew, one of our consultants, just went through an HR training, where he just passed this national test. Speaker 1 (00:35:58) – I think it was in February, specifically to help people go from 1099 to W2 to do it right, to make sure that we’re following all of the IRS things. So he’s a part of group practice launch as well. onboarding and hiring. What are those exact steps? So we give you frameworks. We give you handouts, all sorts of things that help, you know, when you’re doing that interview. What questions should you be asking looking at that marketing and branding and switching from that? I’m just marketing myself to now. I’m marketing a group. Like, what? What do I need to even think through? What’s my checklist there? How do you keep that that DNA in that positive culture of what you created, like the way that, you know, one of our panelists might create their practice. And the DNA of that practice is probably completely different than someone else that’s on this panel. Neither is right. But we want you to have a thriving practice you love. And so how do you keep that positive workplace culture? And then really looking at your numbers, your KPIs. Speaker 1 (00:36:45) – So like even later today I’m doing a presentation all on the ROI, the return on investment of different tasks and ways to think through that. So all the things that are included in group practice launch. So every Thursday at 1:00 eastern, 12 central, 11 mountain, ten Pacific. We have our live webinars run by one of our consultants. So I do that. Ash does that. We have Andrew. We have a number of consultants we bring in around specific topics. We have learned from a boss meetings where you get to ask group practice owners how they did it. We have at your pace training. And so we just recorded this last fall actually this cohort, they were it was kind of rolled out with them. We updated all of it. I went through and every month I have four hours of videography, of videos that we’re doing. so it’s we just recreated relaunched this to have it be as up to date as possible. You also get exclusive resources and discounts when you’re one of our members. Speaker 1 (00:37:38) – So, for example, therapy notes, gives six months for free to any of our members. That’s nothing that they publicly announce. it’s something that, you know, we try to negotiate with all of our podcast sponsors to give you better than what they give the public. You also get live trainings and Q&A with me and our consultants, and you get a library of over 30 courses, small groups and access to all of the online community. So this is only $250 a month for six months. This program is only six months long. You’re guaranteed to make your first hire in those six months, or you can come back through the program totally for free. But you also get access to all of next level practice. So that’s an additional four meetings per month. All the trainings around solo practice, around marketing, networking. We bring in ask the experts like Julie Gottman, people like that to ask questions too. So in the first six months, here’s what it’s going to look like in the first month. Speaker 1 (00:38:28) – We’re talking systems phones and transitioning from solo to group. Then we dig into really thinking about W-2 and 1099. How do you want to structure that onboarding and hiring an assistant. So, you know, just like I think it was Christina who said, you know, do that sooner than you expect. then we look at how do you brand and market yourself and then build that culture, and then looking at your numbers and with the idea that you’re hiring throughout, even just thinking about if you had one new clinician that saw ten clients a week at a conservative number of $125 per session times four weeks, with you taking only 30%, That’s an extra $1,500 a month when you’re when that person’s part time. So we have tons of testimonials of people talking about, all the different things. But, you know, this person said, I heard about group practice launch on the podcast, and by August, I was a CEO. I’ve been giving raises to my staff every month that we’re interviewing to hire two more W2 employees before the end of 2022, all because of you guys. Speaker 1 (00:39:22) – You’re amazing. So we’ve also done this work for a long time. We started this in 2012. We’ve helped over 2500 therapists start and grow their group practices. It’s a proven process. I owned a group practice for a decade. I’ve been doing private practice consulting for 15 years. and then we. Sorry, I flipped that. I had a private practice for 15 years. Consulting for a decade. we’ve received nine different awards within the Best of Therapy awards, and our members have collected over $250 million in sales. And that’s the conservative side of it. So, you know, just like we talked about at the very beginning, what’s the return on investment for your time? You know, think about all the information you could be consuming and sorting through and being like, is this right? Is this right going into Facebook groups and, you know, saying, hey, what’s the best EHR for a group practice? And you’re going to get five, ten, 15 different EHRs versus having people you trust that can just help you implement quicker. Speaker 1 (00:40:15) – With our experts like myself and the other consultants and our community like our panel. we’ve been there. We have started group practices, we’ve transitioned from solo into group, and we’ve helped people do it really quickly. We also have the circle community. So circle is a platform similar to Facebook groups, teachable courses and live events like zoom all in one platform. It’s aimed specifically at membership communities like this, so you’re going to want to check that out, and you’ll be able to have access to questions and all sorts of things in there. So we have a ton of bonuses right now during level up week. So first you’re going to get a free logo upgrade, an email signature based off that logo design for the first 20 people that sign up. so you’re gonna want to sign up for that. You get a 90 day money back guarantee. So if you go into this and three months in, you’re like, this is not for me. This isn’t what I expected. We will give you totally risk free your 90 day money back guarantee. Speaker 1 (00:41:09) – We also have our exclusive welcome party on April 4th. that new staff wage calculator, that you’re going to get as well, our networking course, our marketing course and our paperwork packet, which has contracts, intake forms, all sorts of things that you can borrow, steal, use however you want. So if you don’t sign up, I mean, hearing these five people talk about how quickly they filled up. Like, who’s supporting you? Who’s going to help you know what to do next, and where are you going to get that accountability? These folks have really said, you know, this was helpful for me to launch my group practice. So I would love for you to join group practice. I know the panel would as well. You’re going to get solid teachings that lead you to action. You’re going to get a community that’s going to support your goals and tools of the trade to move faster. Make sure you pull up that practice of the practice. Com forward slash GPL door. And we’re going to keep doing some of the panel. Speaker 1 (00:41:58) – But if you have questions specifically and group practice boss also we’d love for you to put those in the chat and we can answer those as well. So we’d love to have you join us. so. Oh, Katie, thank you for, answering some of those questions in there. So how many months is the group practice? it is six months. and, let’s let’s go through some of these questions. So I’m going to dive in here. One of the questions was, specifically around like a 6040 split versus per hour. How many patients do they need to see? for me, I’ll answer this. And then if there’s a couple other ideas to me right now, it seems like, the pay per session is attracting more people that want to stick with you than the percentage based model, because the percentage based model, then you’re like, knowing all over the place. Like what? What money’s coming in. And I think a lot of the, clinicians then maybe aren’t as likely to stay, but we’d love to hear percentage based versus hourly. Speaker 5 (00:42:54) – So, for our practice, we’re a W-2. And so again, this is really helpful because we didn’t know, like how do we find out how to pay. And so it did show like I can’t remember what the 1099 was, but I believe the W-2 is 40 to 45% of the session. And so we took the average because we’re also, an insurance based practice. So we have different pay rates. So we kind of did the average of that. And then what’s 40 to 45%. And then if a clinician has more skills or more values that I can see, you know, then we might pay a little bit more. but that’s how we did it for ours. Speaker 7 (00:43:30) – Awesome. Speaker 2 (00:43:31) – My understanding from some other group practice centers in the areas that, at least in the DC area I can speak to, the 6040 split is certainly common, but actually to hold on to contractors in this area, it’s closer to a 65 or 70% portion to hold on to them. is what I’ve been hearing from other folks. Speaker 2 (00:43:48) – I’m going the W-2 route. I also want to create a training program, which is another incentive for folks to join. My practice is like there’s a it’s beyond just what money you’re making to. But similar to what Cassino was saying, we, we use this percentage of for W2, that’s going to be less. But you want to factor in not just the I do the hourly rate. So I said about a third of the rate for now. So there’s room to grow so that it ends up taking about 40 to 45% eventually, once I add other benefits that I’d like to eventually offer, I just don’t want to offer it from the beginning until I get my numbers and my ducks in a row before adding on to that. Speaker 1 (00:44:23) – And there’s a follow up question here that I think would be applicable to what you just said, and maybe others of you could jump in here to, did you take on provisionally licensed clinicians, and if so, do you offer clinical supervision? I hear a lot of different things from local colleagues about the pros and cons of all this. Speaker 1 (00:44:39) – In addition to IRS considerations. Let me just speak real quick to the IRS side of that. So if you have a 1099 contractor, my understanding from my attorney, and this is just personal experience, I’m not a accountant or attorney, is that if you’re offering clinical supervision, that really sets you up for the IRS potentially coming after you because supervision, they’re supposed to be independent. And so when I had my practice, they were 1099. I probably would do w-2s if I were to do that all over again now. but 1099, then they would get paid in the practice. And then if they wanted me as a supervisor, they had to pay me for that. and so it was we had a group supervision model, so it was like 30 bucks an hour. And I had, you know, eight people or so. They came to that. And in Michigan, you don’t have to have specific individual ones. So I would say that’s one thing to think about if you’re doing 1090 nines. Vicky, how are you thinking through? because I know you have kind of a teaching component. Speaker 1 (00:45:31) – The provisionally licensed or limited license. Speaker 2 (00:45:33) – Yeah. so my first hire is actually a postdoc because I’m waiting for him to finish out his dissertation to get on board. but he. So I’ll be supervising him directly. But the thing that I factor in, in terms of the hourly rate, which is lower than I would offer, a licensed, fully licensed clinician is because I’m factoring in the time that I’m spending, so I’m placing a dollar amount on the number of hours that I’m using for supervision, because I also want to eventually, outsource that or have someone else in the practice incorporate the supervision. So I eventually am going to pay someone else for the supervision. So I just lowered the amount to factor in what that is going to look like over time. So just when you I would just recommend that when you’re especially if you’re going the W2 route, I would do your entire calculation around what benefits you want to offer eventually and work backwards from there, because it’s better to start lower and steadily increase than to offer too much and then say, hey, I’m going to pay you less because I can’t give you health insurance otherwise, or I can’t do this otherwise. Speaker 1 (00:46:32) – So good. Other ways people are thinking through a teaching practice or things like that. Speaker 4 (00:46:38) – So for me, for my practice, the pre licensed therapists do not receive supervision from me. so I have a contracted supervisor, clinical supervisor apart with the practice. So they get super clinical supervision from that individual. So now as far as I’m being accepted by the board, they had to complete their, their supervised application to send that to new Jersey State Board. But then also I had to send over the job description and also the contract that I have with the technical supervisor and also a written up consent that I, you know, advise that or I’m aware that my pre licensed therapist is working with this contracted supervisor. but I would definitely I’m also not an attorney, so I would definitely talk to your attorney in your state to review that, discuss that before you make any of those final decisions. Speaker 7 (00:47:24) – Yeah. Speaker 1 (00:47:25) – Let me just show that staff wage calculator real quick, that we’re releasing to the communities and doing as a bonus. Speaker 1 (00:47:31) – right now it’s password protected. So there’s a video walking you through how to use this. but it’s great. So what you do is you just put in, like, your total full time staff. So you have to say your average reimbursement rate is 175 per session. Total sessions. The full time person does say 25, say they work 48 weeks a year. That’s going to then over. Why is this not working? Well, we will have to figure out why this isn’t working. I must be in the beta desk one. So it’s supposed to add it up right there. before we give it to you, obviously, we want that to work. I’m going to let John know that immediately after this, but then it’ll tell you your profit, your net profit, and then you can look at, you know, we were talking about how your owner time, your supervision time, admin time, you can add all that in there. It’ll add it up and then and I might be in the wrong one. Speaker 1 (00:48:18) – That’s not the final live one. So but then you can put in your annual marketing budget, your insurance percentage billing, and then it’ll give you those numbers as to what your net profit is. And so just having that kind of like running of numbers, assuming it adds it up like it’s supposed to, which, you know, we’re imperfect here. We’re doing our best. So but running those numbers to know, okay, when should I be hiring? What’s my profit margin if I know that every full time person that’s 25 sessions a week is an extra 1000 bucks a month in my pocket, then you can start to run those numbers. As to your scaling, awesome. Todd, specific question for you. How did you do the background search, any apps or software that were helpful? Speaker 4 (00:48:54) – Yeah, I responded back to that person. so at first I was using my attorney, which was definitely, expensive. So now I, have the payroll software of gusto, and they have a feature on there, and I believe the HR feature is eight additional dollars. Speaker 4 (00:49:11) – Double check, but it’s like eight additional dollars per staff. And then you can, run background checks through that. So that’s what I’m doing moving forward. Speaker 1 (00:49:20) – Yeah, we use gusto. Also. I think they give six months for free if you use practice. You know, if you use gusto.com/joe. So if you’re checking that out question I’m taking insurance because that makes it more accessible for the community. I see also for financial stability. But I would like to transition into out of network. When I start a group, is it best to transition to out of network later on in the group or before you start the group? Anyone have some thoughts on that? Speaker 5 (00:49:46) – I think that’s a good question. I don’t have the specific answer to that, but we use, practice solutions. They were our we found them through one of the webinars or podcasts here, and they gave a lot of great information, and they’re actually really honest about their billing process. so that’s why we signed on with them. but they do filing for out-of-network billing. Speaker 5 (00:50:06) – And that’s been really helpful just to offer it as a benefit, just to say, hey, you know, you want to take insurance. We do have out-of-network benefits. So you can use those if you want. And so some people are really receptive to that if we don’t offer their specific insurance. Speaker 1 (00:50:22) – Great question in here about what a health care attorney be the best person to chat with about how to properly hire pre licensed folks. We serve new Jersey and New York. my guess would be an employment attorney would be best, but, anyone have a different opinion than that? You’re allowed to disagree with me. All right. Speaker 6 (00:50:44) – I hit the jackpot by finding an attorney who was formerly a practicing nurse. So kind of had knowledge of both sides. That was. That’s helpful. Speaker 1 (00:50:53) – Awesome. we’ve got some resources people are putting in here. Speaker 7 (00:50:57) – so question. Speaker 1 (00:50:59) – Oh, and Christina and Milo, you all jumped in on this question, but I’m just going to say, because other people may have it. So if they’re W-2, are they salaried? They don’t always have to be like in the same way that, you know, there’s W2 employees at McDonald’s that get paid per hour. Speaker 1 (00:51:12) – You can have that as long as the total ends up being above minimum wage, which obviously would, you know, be way above minimum wage. all right. Let’s see if there’s any other questions we miss. Sorry. Is out of network billing different than private pay, I assume? Yes. Do you have to contract with the insurer to do out-of-network billing. It’s a great question. I’ll just hit that one real quick. So out-of-network billing is when you are the client is paying you, and then they’re seeking potential reimbursement from their insurance for out-of-network. You don’t have to be working with the insurance. Typically, some insurances will reimburse better or different. If you are listed as an out-of-network provider, we recommend using mentira. they really help with a lot of that out of network. so entire helps, with that whole process. and so, yeah, other ways that people think through private, private paper, someone just pays. They don’t usually even want a super bill or receipt, whereas out-of-network, they pay and then, seek potential reimbursement. Speaker 1 (00:52:09) – Other ways you think through out-of-network or private pay that I missed in, in that quick, kind of conversation soliloquy. Speaker 2 (00:52:17) – I mean, the only I’ve always been pay, but I was I was just going to say that if I were considering it, I my understanding is that it’s a lot easier to fill with insurance because you always get increase with in-network. So I don’t think you really have to try as much in terms of networking and things. so I would actually try to at least start planting seeds to start growing the practice in a private pay way if you’re trying to shift in that direction, I would do it earlier rather than later, is what I would suggest. Speaker 7 (00:52:43) – So awesome. Speaker 1 (00:52:44) – I’m going to ask our panelists to just give, kind of one last, inspiring thing, in the last couple of minutes here. So we’d love just a couple sentences, maybe a paragraph or so from each of you. Just on, when it comes to starting a group practice, like, what do you wish you would have known if you can go, if you could go back to you in the months leading up to it, when you were sorting through stuff, considering it, thinking through it, like if you could go back and give yourself a little bit of advice when you were kind of on the fence sorting it out, like, what would you say to yourself? let’s kick it off with Christina. Speaker 5 (00:53:17) – I’d say buckle up because it’s just it’s an emotional roller coaster, honestly. to do this. But, you know, having a support team and then, you know, we’ve also had small groups within circle that have been really helpful. You know, I’ve always have, you know, like Milo and Todd calling me out and challenging me. And so they kind of become my inner voice of like whenever I need to, do something. so I kind of picture them in my head. But yeah, I think it’s an emotional roller coaster. But my why has always been at the forefront. Like why I want to do this. So making sure I’m really grounded in that and then remembering, you know, there being a therapist to yourself, like, you know, remembering like those inner strengths and those inner qualities, you know, remembering. Why did we start out to this? Why am I geared towards this? What what is my motivation for this? And that helps keep you grounded and keeps you centered along with that support team of people around you, encouraging you and walking alongside of you. Speaker 7 (00:54:18) – awesome. Who do you. Speaker 1 (00:54:18) – Want to pass it to? Speaker 5 (00:54:20) – Corrales. Speaker 7 (00:54:21) – Rally’s all right. Speaker 8 (00:54:23) – Yeah, I I my advice is. Speaker 3 (00:54:27) – You’re really in the right place using platforms like, like practice or the practice, I just which I have this kind of coach and guide coaching and guidance. I would have started way earlier. Right. Because I have been solo practice for over ten years. I just didn’t have this this nice, organized, step by step on how to move on from solo to practice and feel the support and the community. So that is my advice. Find a platform that’s going to work for you, where you’re going to feel the community and practices the practices. What gave me that? So, so long. You don’t have to do this alone. Speaker 1 (00:55:01) – Oh, thank you so much for that. That’s It’s wonderful. Who do you want to pass it to? Speaker 3 (00:55:06) – God, take care of her. Speaker 7 (00:55:07) – All right. Todd. Speaker 4 (00:55:09) – I love questions like this, reflecting questions so I can go back to Todd back in the last of last summer, I would definitely say, It’s okay not to know everything. Speaker 4 (00:55:18) – You know, I think what was holding me back in the beginning stages was like, I need to find all these answers, you know? And like Christina mentioned earlier, all spending nights and all day, all my free time is googling, researching things to the point where I started pushing myself further away from the actual goal that I said. So I think I will go back and tell young Todd that it’s okay not to know everything. You know? on top of that, I would say definitely, when I decided to join the group, I would definitely say, increased self-care because, like Christina mentioned, like, this is definitely a roller coaster, you know, and there’s times when impostor syndrome, sneaks in and, you know, you start doubting yourself, you start questioning yourself. you start just kind of focusing on work and just, you know, doing working on contracts and, and onboarding stuff. So I would say self-care has definitely been a good answer for me now to balance out my personal life and work life. Speaker 4 (00:56:08) – And then lastly, I wrote it down so I don’t forget. And lastly, I would say join this group. I would say the small groups have been like everything I was looking for, you know, meeting with everybody on this panel right now, hearing their experience, hearing what they went through, hearing some of the challenges they’re facing. sharing my my challenges and also being vulnerable to, you know, I love my girlfriend. I love the mother of my, my son. But sometimes when I’m talking to her about the things that I’m going through as developing the of the business, it kind of sounds like I’m speaking a different language to here, you know, so being in a group where I could be vulnerable and let people know, like, I don’t know what to do about this, hire said, I let them go. Or should I, like, should I bring them on? It’s definitely been a great space for me. Speaker 1 (00:56:51) – So good. Who do you want to pass it to? Speaker 4 (00:56:54) – I’ll pass it to Vicki. Speaker 2 (00:56:59) – Great. I got everything everyone was saying right there. and I will speak from a practical level outside of the some of the emotional and pieces that people mention. I was very, very skeptical. I will tell you, very skeptical. and I’m very glad that I joined GPL because it just gave a lot of structure and community. it it gives you something to follow because otherwise you end up spinning your wheels over the details. So it really helps you both zoom out at times and also reset. And also to connect with other group practitioners was really helpful. So I guess my the long and short of it would be and I would invest now for like, I think the resources in and of themselves are worth it. So you have a starting point for any type of data or any type of form, even just that it is worth the money, I would say just in terms of packaging, but you get obviously much more than that in the context of the group in a way that I didn’t anticipate. And anything that we felt like we needed more of, it was really helpful. Speaker 2 (00:57:58) – Like we were all headed toward a lot of us were headed toward the W-2 model, like Joe listened to us and he added, like three other seminars or webinars about the W2 model and have had folks who’ve done it before, which was really, really helpful in terms of guiding it. So I would just say that if you’re considering it, it’s. I mean, Jo hasn’t planted us here to just say this necessarily. Obviously we enjoy the practice, but I would really say like I was very, very skeptical and and I found it very, very worth it to have all of this structure and community in place. Speaker 7 (00:58:29) – so. Speaker 1 (00:58:29) – Awesome. Thank you. Milo, wrap this up for us. Speaker 6 (00:58:34) – I would echo everything that has been said. it is a big roller coaster with the emotions, I guess one of the things, a couple things that I would wrap up with is saying, like, as Kristina said, know your y, know your values, your personal values, your your values as a clinician, your values as your for your practice. Speaker 6 (00:58:53) – that will get you through the tough times when you’re like, why the hell did I do this? I have no time for myself or my family. and so that can really anchor you into that. Why? But also it can help you make those tough decisions, like if you’re should I hire this person, should I not like you can come back to like, well, what are the values of my practice. Like you know what you know, does this person fit within that framework. You know, that can guide almost all of your decisions? the easy ones and the difficult ones. And, especially when you feel like your emotions are pulling you this way or that way, like, should I change this? Should I do something different than I was initially thinking? Like, those values can really ground you and keep you on a path that works for you and your your practice, right? Speaker 1 (00:59:34) – So awesome. I’m so proud of all five of you. I mean, you’re impacting your communities. You’re building thriving private practices that you absolutely love. Speaker 1 (00:59:41) – You just embody everything that we hope practice the practice would be. So. Thank you so much for giving your time today. the rest of you can’t wait to see you in other sessions. And don’t forget, tomorrow is all about group practice. And so the five of you may want to come hang out there and hear from some mega group practice owners. So, thank you so much for letting me into your ears and into your brain and hanging out with all of us today. remember group practice launch. You can sign up over at practice of the practice.com/gpl daw. We’ll see you over there. Bye, everybody. Also, we could not do this show without our amazing sponsors and we’ve had a bunch of people join. Well received. So if you are overwhelmed by all of the clients that are calling you and you’re just like, I don’t know if I should hire a receptionist or not, getting a virtual assistant company like Well Received is the way to go. They can handle your new patient intakes, your after hours services. Speaker 1 (01:00:42) – Bilingual. They’re 24 seven. They do the medical appointments, scheduling all the things we talked about around sales. They are experts in. And you can get the first three months at 50% off when you head on over to well received.com/joe. Again that’s well received.com/joe. Thank you so much for letting me into your ears and into your brain. Have a great day. I’ll talk to you soon. Special thanks to the band silence sexy for that intro music. And this podcast is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is given with the understanding that neither the host, the producers, the publishers or guests are rendering legal, accounting, clinical or other professional information. If you want a professional, you should find one.