Pivot Your Group Practice Intensive 2020 with Whitney Owens and Alison Pidgeon | GP Bonus Episode

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Pivot Your Group Practice Intensive 2020 with Whitney Owens and Alison Pidgeon | GP Bonus Episode

How has COVID-19 affected your group practice? What long term goals should you be setting to make sure that your business remains successful during this trying time? What if you had a level of support that would help you look at your goals and how you can pivot your business in this new world?

In this podcast episode, Alison Pidgeon and Whitney Owens take a look at the opportunities that COVD-19 has uncovered for the mental health landscape and how you can take advantage of them and pivot your practice.

Podcast Sponsor

Green Oak Accounting

Tired of never quite feeling comfortable with your practice financials? I’d like you to meet GreenOak Accounting. Their goal is to empower private practice owners with the financial information they need to make good business decisions. They specialize in working with solo and group private practices in the mental health industry, so they are uniquely positioned to help with figuring out what’s “normal” in your business finances and what’s not. So if you’ve ever had a conversation with your accountant or bookkeeper that left you wishing that they understood private practice or had some best practices to share, head over to www.greenoakaccounting.com and schedule a free consultation to see if they might be a good fit for you. They can help with all your accounting needs from bookkeeping to payroll to Profit First and budgeting & forecasting.

Meet Whitney Owens

Whitney OwensWhitney Owens is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Private Practice Consultant. She lives in Savannah, Georgia, where she owns a group private practice, Water’s Edge Counseling.

In addition to running her practice, she offers individual and group consulting through Practice of the Practice. Whitney places a special emphasis on helping clinicians start and grow faith-based practices. Whitney has spoken at the Licensed Professional Counselors Association of Georgia’s annual convention and at Killin’ It Camp. Whitney is a wife and mother of two beautiful girls.

This entrepreneur went from a private practice owner to being a consultant. Providing fellow clinicians the tools they need to run a successful practice.

Visit Whitney’s website, connect with her on Facebook, listen to her podcast, or consult with Whitney. Email Whitney at [email protected]

In This Podcast

Summary

  • The purpose of the intensive
  • Program layout
  • Areas that will be focused on

The purpose of the intensive

You may have to make some permanent changes in your business that you didn’t think about 6 months ago.

This intensive is going to really help you change your goals for the long term while having consultants at your side helping you figure out how to do that. It will give you the time and the space to ask questions, discuss obstacles you are running into, and brainstorm about where you can take your business in this new world.

The details:

  • Date – August 14th
  • Time – 10am – 5pm EST
  • Register here and make sure to do so by August 5th – spots are only limited to 20 people

For any questions, you can get in touch with Alison ([email protected]) and Whitney ([email protected])

Program layout

  • August 7th: 1-hour prep for the day
  • August 14th: Deep dive into the things you really want to be working on, questions, taking advice, and insights from consultants. You will leave with some action steps for how you are going to accomplish your financial and personal goals.
  • September 11th at 12-1 pm EST: Follow up Q&A session to make sure you are meeting your goals
  • October 9th at 12-1 pm EST: Follow up Q&A session to make sure you are meeting your goals

Areas that will be focused on

  • You will receive an audit for your established group practice to see where you are excelling and what is lacking
  • Improving and optimizing on things you already have in your business
  • Your goals beyond the practice

Useful Links:

Meet Alison Pidgeon

Alison Pidgeon | Grow A Group Practice PodcastAlison is a serial entrepreneur with four businesses, one of which is a 15 clinician group practice. She’s also a mom to three boys, wife, coffee drinker, and loves to travel. She started her practice in 2015 and, four years later, has two locations. With a specialization in women’s issues, the practices have made a positive impact on the community by offering different types of specialties not being offered anywhere else in the area.

Alison has been working with Practice of the Practice since 2016 and has helped over 70 therapist entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses, through mastermind groups and individual consulting.

Thanks For Listening!

Feel free to leave a comment below or share this podcast on social media by clicking on one of the social media links below! Alternatively, leave a review on iTunes and subscribe!

Podcast Transcription

[ALISON]:
Green Oak Accounting is the accounting firm I use for my own group practice. I started working with them in the beginning of 2020 and I am so glad I did. Julie and her team are super impressive. They’re always on top of things. When COVID-19 started, they were super helpful with navigating me through the whole process of getting SBA loans. They really helped me to navigate all of the changes that were happening and how it was affecting the finances in my practice. What I love about them is that I felt like in my practice, it had grown to the point where I really needed a sort of CFO perspective, that Chief Financial Officer perspective, to help me make business decisions based on my financials and I feel like that is what they provide. So if you are running a group practice and you’re feeling like it’s hard for you to make business decisions because you don’t have a professional and expert to look at your numbers and help you figure out what decisions to make in your business based on that, definitely check out Green Oak Accounting. You can go over to their website greenoakaccounting.com, you can schedule a free consultation to see if they would be a good fit. They can do everything from bookkeeping to payroll; they can set up profit first. They also do budgeting and forecasting. So, I am so glad that they are sponsoring this podcast because it’s such a great service and I have really benefited from it.

If you’re excited about joining our one-day intensive to help you pivot your group practice, check out the link on our website, it’s www.practiceofthepractice.com/pivot.

Hi, I’m Alison Pidgeon.

[WHITNEY]:
And this is Whitney Owens.

[ALISON]:
We’re business consultants with Practice of the Practice. How are you doing, Whitney?

[WHITNEY]:
I’m doing well. How are you today?

[ALISON]:
I’m doing pretty good. So we wanted to do this special bonus episode to talk about an exciting new program that we are going to be launching – well, I guess we’ve already launched it by the time you’re listening to this recording – and we’ll give you kind of a little bit of the backstory of how this came to be. So obviously this past year with COVID, things have really kind of turned upside down. So, I’m sure Whitney, you made some goals for your practice back in January 2020. And how’re those goals looking now?

[WHITNEY]:
I was just looking at it a minute ago, actually. Believe it or not, some of them did really well. And some of them not so well. Yeah. How about your goals?

[ALISON]:
Yeah. Well, yeah, so I think I can still accomplish my goals. I think just how we’re actually going to do it looks very different than it did six months ago. I have an income goal in mind, I have a number of staff that I want in mind, and different specialties and things that we want to offer, and so we will likely get there; it will just look much different than I originally thought.

[WHITNEY]:
Definitely, definitely. When I was doing my 2020 goals, I wasn’t thinking, oh wait, there might be a global pandemic to prepare for. I was thinking that was not happening.

[ALISON]:
Yes, I never imagined being in that situation, or overnight, all of the insurance companies saying we’re going to cover telehealth, which is an amazing opportunity that now we’re trying to capitalize on. So, a lot has changed in a very short amount of time. So, you and I did a webinar that was actually the most popular webinar we had ever done. And I forget if it was back in like April or May, but we talked about how do you pivot your practice now that all of these things have changed and affected the mental health landscape? And it was so popular, we decided to start kind of an intensive one day virtual event to help people really pivot their practice and really flesh out how they can still meet their goals, even though obviously COVID-19 has thrown a big wrench into everybody’s plans.

[WHITNEY]:
For sure. And when I think back on when this all started back in March and April, it was so much go-mode, strategize for the immediate, like, I got to take care of this right now. And I never thought it would last this long. I mean, I think a lot of us thought, okay, let’s get our group practices in a place where we can survive this however much time, honestly in my mind I thought six weeks. I thought, surely by the end of the school year, or surely by the middle of the summer, yes, I think there was this mindset of get through this, my business can survive, I have enough savings, or whatever the case may be. And now we’re realizing, hey, this might be a little bit longer than we initially planned for. And so, when I think back on those webinars we did – we did that one and then we did another one, I think with Joe, about pivoting and like kind of changing your practice and thriving during COVID-19. And so, I think back on those, and I think we brought some really good topics to the table, but they’re not so much long term, you know, completing the year. And so as we kind of look at these goals, and I’m sitting here looking at my own sheet of the goals I had for not only my practice, but my personal life and the consulting, being able to change those to meet the needs of what’s going on. And so, this intensive is going to allow you to really, not only change your goals, but to have some consultants by your side helping you figure out how to do that.

[ALISON]:
Yeah, I’m glad you brought that up, because I think you’re right, when COVID first started, I was thinking too, yeah, this can’t be more than like six or eight weeks and then things will go back to normal. I’m putting that in air quotes. Well, obviously, we see now this is a much longer road and so you may have to make some permanent changes in your business that you didn’t think about six months ago. And so, Whitney and I came up with this idea for this one day intensive. We’re calling it Pivot Your Group Practice Intensive 2020. It’s going to be held on August 14, and we’re going to do it all day. So, it’s going to be 10am to 5pm, eastern time. And it’s really meant to give you the time and the space, and also access to Whitney and I, to be able to work through questions or obstacles that you’re running into, or maybe just think a little bit more creatively about where can I take my business now that this is kind of the world that we’re living in? So, I’m really excited about it. It kind of reminds me of the type of work that we’ve done with clients at Slow Down School, the event that Joe has in Michigan in the summertime. Unfortunately, he’s not doing it this year because of COVID, so I think this will be a really good fun way to do similar types of work and help people with their practices; plan out the rest of the year in a very kind of just get it all done in one day kind of thing. Do you want to talk a little bit more about the other pieces of the program that we’re offering, Whitney?

[WHITNEY]:
Yeah, I would love to. So along with this full day event, we want to make sure that you really maximize the time and so we want you to be able to prepare for that appropriately. So, we’re going to be doing a one hour just prep for the day, basically, the intense day where we’re going to get a lot of awesome work done. And so this day before, that’s going to be on August 7, you’re going to meet with Alison and I and a lot of other great established practice owners, and we’re going to prepare for what the day is going to look like, we want you to start thinking about the things you want to work on in your practice. We have this great auditing tool for group practices that you’ll be able to take this and it’ll look at different areas within your practice, like your marketing, or your employees, and your finances, different things. That way you can kind of say, hey, these are the things that are going really well in my practice, these are the things that are going okay, but maybe could use some improvement, and these are the things that really stink, I’ve got to really make some changes on. So then when we all get together on August 14, we can really dive into the things that you really want to be working on.

And I just love when Alison and I get together, we bring different components to the table, which is great. We run our practices differently. We have lots of different experience and working with different people. And so, we kind of run the gamut in different resources that you’re going to need, and different insights and advice that you’re going to need. And so, you’ve got consultants right there with you as you’re kind of taking some tough questions, thinking through things for your practice, what’s going to be best for your clients and for your team. Then when we finish that day, you’re going to walk away with some action steps for how you’re going to accomplish your financial goals, your personal goals, maybe less time working, because don’t we all want that? And then walking away with those goals. And then we’re going to have two follow up Q&A’s – one in September and one in October – because we want to make sure that you’re meeting those goals, and that we can wrap up any loose ends if you find that there are. I mean, a lot of times we create a goal, we start doing it, we realize we need to go back, change something, fix it, do it again, change it, fix it, do it again. And that’s just normal. And so, we didn’t want to leave you guys hanging. So, we’re actually gonna have two more sessions after that day to be able to make sure that we’re hitting your goals for 2020.

[ALISON]:
Yeah, so those Q&A sessions are going to be about a month after the intensive and then another month after the intensive so the first Q&A will be September 11, from 12pm to 1pm Eastern, and then a month later – these are all Fridays – the second one will be October 9 from 12pm to 1pm Eastern and so one will be with me and one will be with Whitney, so again, you’ll kind of get both of our perspectives on things. I think too, I wanted to say about the actual intensive day, that I really do want there to be time and space for you to start doing some of the work. Obviously, you’re not going to get it all done in one day. But we might, you know, do like a sprint that Joe is known for doing, like, where you just spend like a really intense 20 minutes, like, getting something done with no distractions. And so we really want you… it’s not like us talking at you, like, you consuming information; you’re gonna be taking what you’re learning and applying it and starting to implement some of the steps even before though the intensive is over.

[WHITNEY]:
I love that you brought that up. Because a lot of times we do go to these conferences and we hear things, but then we never have time to implement, or we never know how to implement. And so, it’s cool that people are really going to walk away actually having done something and then discuss with the team, the team of people that are there that day, what they have accomplished. And that’s really awesome. I do encourage the people that are coming to this to really put the time aside too though, even outside of the meetings, to be able to work on this stuff, so that you can really have some success.

[ALISON]:
Yeah, and I think too, just to kind of give folks a little bit better of an idea of what kinds of things that we’re going to be talking about, obviously, we’ve talked a lot about goals, and how you still may want to reach those same goals you set six months ago, but maybe just how you’re going to get there looks different now. Maybe you want to make totally different goals, because COVID has so fundamentally changed your business. And that’s okay, too. And I think like mapping that out and being really strategic about what still fits in with the mission and vision of my practice, without getting distracted by a million shiny things. And then I think also, this group is really going to be for established group practice owners and so I’m really excited about using this audit tool that I developed. This is a relatively new thing that I’ve made, where we really go through and ask a lot of different questions about all facets of your practice. And so for the clients that I’ve used it with already, they found it to be super helpful just in looking at the data in their practice, and also looking at what are areas that, hey, I’m doing great in this area versus oh, I’m not doing so well over here. And so, this is really where I need to do a deep dive and focus on fixing these problems. And then we can give you very actionable advice about okay, yes, this area is an issue, and this is, you know, some ideas for how to fix it. And so, I think that is also going to be really cool, to really do a deep dive into some of those things. And really, you know, I think when I work with group practice owners, typically what we look at is like, let’s see what you already have, the foundation of your practice, and what needs to be sort of cleaned up, or there’s, you know, maybe a couple gaps in how you set it up initially that you just didn’t know, or didn’t think about, or you know this process is broken or whatever. And let’s make sure that the foundation of your practice is super solid, and then we can talk about what your goals are beyond that. So maybe it’s scaling up the practice, maybe it’s offering another service, maybe it’s you backing out of the business, so you have more time to start another business or just be at home or whatever you want that to be. So in my mind, that’s sort of the two areas that we’re really going to focus on, like, cleaning up what you already have, but then also talking about what are ways you can continue to like, optimize what you already have.

[WHITNEY]:
Yeah, those are awesome. And I’m even finding, and I don’t know if you agree, Alison, lately, it’s been a lot of people needing help on how do I take in this influx of new clients? That now the phones are ringing again, and I don’t really have the systems in my group to be able to care for all these people, or I don’t have the staff I need, or I don’t have the assistant I need. And so, this is a really good time, if you’re finding that you’re getting that, what we don’t want to do is not change your practice to meet that need, because you’re gonna lose a lot of money. We want to be able to make those systems go into place so that you can really maximize the financial gain, but also your name in the community and helping clients of course, but the financial gain is important, and you don’t want to be losing money through the process, so being able to set up systems that you can handle that influx.

[ALISON]:
Yeah, and we were talking before we recorded about my prediction is that the fall, typically, is a busy time anyway for mental health. But I think that with this year, just how things are kind of playing out with COVID. And unfortunately, you know, it seems like the cases are going up and not going down, that that might cause a lot of strain for people just in various ways. And so, I think we might even be busier than we normally are in the fall. And so really taking the time this summer to get that all set and establish how you are going to take that potentially big influx of clients, I think, will be really important.

[WHITNEY]:
Yeah. So, like Alison said, this intensive is for established group practice owners. We want to make it really effective for you and so we’re actually going to limit the number of spots that we have to 20 people. So, if you’re interested in this group, please don’t wait. I want to make sure that you get a spot in the group. We felt like 20 was a good number, that you would get some specialized time and asking questions and getting specific feedback, but also being able to benefit with everyone else in the group as well. So, we’re going to open up registration on July 22 through August 5, and that’s when we’re going to close it. So make sure that you go to the link in the show notes so you can make your payment and once you do that you’re going to have a secured spot in the group, you don’t have to worry about that anymore.

[ALISON]:
Yeah, and if you are interested, the link for the information for the intensive is in the show notes, we’re actually in the process of making it right now. So, I can’t tell you what it is, but it will be included in the show notes. And like Whitney said, yeah, we only have so many spots, we definitely want to keep it on the small side. So yeah, and we also need folks to sign up before August 5, because we need a couple of days to get you all the materials. And then August 7 is when we have that sort of prep meeting. So, you would have a whole week then to get all of your information together in order to come prepared to our intensive so you have everything together that you might need to work on that day.

[WHITNEY]:
Well, Alison, I’m excited. I think this is gonna be really effective.

[ALISON]:
Yeah, I think… I’m really excited too. And like I said earlier, you know, we did something very similar at Slow Down School and it was just so cool to see when you take that time and you make that space to really, like, plan out the rest of your year, how much you can get done. And you don’t have interruptions of the email dinging or the phone ringing or whatever. It’s like, you’re putting all of that aside for the day to just be the CEO of your group practice, and to look at those big picture things that only you can do, and really get your practice going in the right direction for the rest of the year. Obviously, this year being what it was with COVID and quarantine, I think it’s even more important than ever to make sure you’re looking back at your goals and figuring out okay, what are we going to do for the rest of the year because obviously, a lot of things have changed pretty dramatically.

[WHITNEY]:
That is the truth, but we’re going to get everybody on the right track. So, I’m looking forward to it.

[ALISON]:
Yeah, I think it’s going to be awesome. So, if you’re interested in signing up, if you would like to pay in full there is a discount. The total price is $897 for making an upfront payment, and then if you want to do monthly payments, we also have the option of paying $499 a month for the two months. So, either way, we just wanted to make this super affordable for group practice owners so that they can get the help they need but also felt like they were getting a lot of value for what they were paying. So yeah, I’m really excited to see what the group comes up with.

[WHITNEY]:
Yeah, and if anyone has any questions, if there’s something we left out here today, feel free to email us. Alison is [email protected], and I’m [email protected].

[ALISON]:
Well, thanks so much, Whitney.

[WHITNEY]:
Yeah, good to be with you and looking forward to the 7th and the 14th.

[ALISON]:
Yeah, have a great day. Bye.

Grow a Group Practice is part of the Practice of the Practice podcast network, a network of podcasts seeking to help you grow your group practice. To hear other podcasts like the Imperfect Thriving podcast, Bomb Mom podcast, Beta Male Revolution or Empowered and Unapologetic, go to practiceofthepractice.com/network.

This podcast is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. This is given with the understanding that neither the host, the Practice of the Practice, or the guests, are providing legal, mental health, or other professional information. If you need a professional, you should find one.