Three Differences Between Six-Figure and Multi-Six Figure Practices

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Six-figure practices


In the last article, we discussed playing bigger and how to keep leveling up. Wasn’t that interview with Christopher awesome?!

When I was first starting my career as a counselor, I was talking to my dad on the phone. He said, “The best way to get a raise is to leave your job”. My dad worked for the schools as a doctoral level psychologist.

The message I received throughout my childhood was: work hard, get good grades, and someone will hire you.

But, this advice seemed a little bit different. My dad’s point was that it’s easier to jump to another agency for a raise, than wait for one when you work. But, what’s interesting, is that it’s true in our own business too.

We have to leave things behind to get to the next level.

Through my consulting, Next Level Mastermind, and podcast interviews, I have been able to watch hundreds of practices grow and thrive. I can compare that to what the average person does in their business and see a remarkable difference.

Why Six-Figure Doesn’t Matter

A six figure practice sounds fancy, but it’s actually easy to get to. To make $100k net, you’d probably need $150k gross, at most. That’s working 48 weeks per year, seeing 21 clients, per week, at $150. If you charge $195, it’s only 16 clients. In most markets, I see my consulting clients do that within six months of focused energy.

What’s challenging is getting to $250k. Say we have $75k in expenses, we’d need $325k gross. At 48 weeks per year, at $150, that’s 45 sessions per week!

What Top Multi-Six Figure Practices Do

Top owners do a few things:

  1. They focus on ROI
  2. They touch only a few things
  3. They only take the highest paying gigs

ROI

ROI, or return-on-investment, is a term you probably know by now. For example, if I hire someone to do my SEO, blogging, and social media and it costs $1,000/month, on the surface, that’s really expensive. But, a top practice owner will look at the ROI. If ranking #1 for a bunch of search terms, having active (and beautiful) social media, and regular blogs leads to clients, the cost doesn’t matter as much.

If I know the average client comes to my group practice and pays $165 and comes five and a halk times, they are “worth” $165 x 5.5 = $907.50. That means that, annually, if I pay $12,000 (12 months x $1,000) I need to have 13.22 new clients come as a direct result of hiring that person. But, that is to break even.

Top owners look for a multiplier of 3-10x ROI. So, they would want to see 39.67-132.2 new clients (13.22 x 3 to 13.22 x 10) as a result of that work. Knowing numbers, watching results, and analyzing ROI is one of the top determiners of multi-six figure practice owners. But, they also don’t touch much.

Can’t Touch This

Practice owners that are scaling (and not overstressed and going crazy) touch only what they need to touch. Instead of micromanaging, they have systems, people, and technology do what they used to do.

They get reports or “dashboards” of where they are at with the company. They really see what they do as being top level and visioning things. Their brains are the thing that keeps the whole organization going and it shouldn’t be used on small tasks.

For most practice owners, who seen some success, they add in a hodgepodge system and then the practice gets away from them. They may even hit $200k, but they have to undo quite a bit of the mess. Imagine if you could create the systems right the first time!

Highest Paying Gigs

Whether it’s speaking or counseling, next level practice owners only do the highest end work. By having practitioners that are charging lower fees, it sets them up as the expert. That way, they can charge 2-5x the local going rate.

But, what’s interesting, is they almost always have another, bigger project. For me, that’s been my 1:1 consulting. I know that if I can make $650-$950, per hour, doing consulting, doing a $225 session isn’t really worth it.

But then, I launched my Next Level Mastermind, which outperforms my 1:1 consulting and allows me to impact more owners. Top achievers will be experimenting with ways to increase income, influence, and impact. Then it perpetuates itself. I can charge more for counseling, because consulting is working. Then the podcast is taking off, so my consulting can be more, which allows me to charge more in counseling, and I can test a mastermind group. That fills up, so my time to do the podcast is less valuable, so I raise my sponsor rates.

See how it all works to keep leveling up?

ACTION: Brainstorm an area you could start leveling up in. Maybe it’s a podcast, book, consulting, or another big, world-changing idea.

In the next article, I have an invitation for you on how to commit to long-term change to get to the next level.

 

Joseph R. Sanok, MA, LLP, LPC, NCC

joe-sanok-private-practice-consultant-headshot-smaller-versionJoe Sanok is an ambitious results expert. He is a private practice business consultant and counselor that helps small businesses and counselors in private practice to increase revenue and have more fun! He helps owners with website design, vision, growth, and using their time to create income through being a private practice consultant. Joe was frustrated with his lack of business and marketing skills when he left graduate school. He loved helping people through counseling, but felt that often people couldn’t find him. Over the past few years he has grown his skills, income, and ability to lead others, while still maintaining an active private practice in Traverse City, MI. To link to Joe’s Google+ .