Recently, I wrote about the numbers you needed to work on in order to replace your day job with a life as a self-employed therapist. As I said then, in looking at trading a full-time employment position for a full or part time self-employed position, the questions are far more complex than working out the numbers. The number crunching is the easy part. Making the choices, and dealing with the “yes but…” and the “I can’t because…” is the harder part.

So let’s look at some of the limiting factors that may be getting in the way of earning enough as a self-employed therapist. What do you think they are? In general, when I ask this question, the answer is one of the following:

• The financial environment (No one has the money to do this)
• The competition (There are too many counsellors/ therapists in my area)
• Doctors telling everyone to get CBT instead (They don’t understand the problem)

And indeed, these are all relevant issues. However, they do not mean that you cannot earn a sufficient living at this work. The difference between a self-employed person and an employee is that an employee can look to his employer to find a solution to these problems. As I’ve said before, as a self-employed therapist, the buck stops with me. So, let’s look at those problems again, and see if there’s anything we could do:

The financial environment: There’s no shortage of people who could benefit from counselling or therapy. However, not all of them have the money to do so. Those who do have an income are making careful choices about where to spend. Ideally, we would like them to choose us. This leaves us with some interesting choices. Here are a few:

1. We can work harder to get them to choose to spend their money with us. This means being more vocal and convincing about the benefits of this work.
2. We can change the pricing structure of the service or product we are offering to make it more attractive to potential clients, perhaps by offering a fixed term basis, or discounts for longer term work or repeat business.
3. We can direct our marketing more clearly towards those who have the money to pay for our services, and give our time for free to those who can’t pay.

The competition: There is competition, that’s a fact. And more therapists are qualifying every day. In addition, we are also competing with other alternative therapies, and with other spending choices. However, competition is not always a bad thing. More therapists out there means that there is greater acceptance of therapy as a means to finding a better life. More therapists out there means that the stigma of having emotional and mental health issues is beginning to ease. And more therapists out there means more people to network with, and more people to refer clients to you.

Doctors telling everyone to get CBT: Doctors like CBT because it’s time limited, it’s focussed and solution oriented. You may or may not agree with them, but you are unlikely to change their view without an uphill struggle. There’s an easy solution to this. In marketing terms it’s called “harmonising with the market.” The market wants CBT, so find a way to give them what they want or some form of what they want. When someone asks me about CBT, I say I work with thoughts AND feelings, both cognitively and emotionally. This works for me. Many therapists have done a short course in CBT in order to be able to say they offer it, whether that’s their main way of working or not. I also offer a free 20 minute session for clients who might be unsure.

The message here is really a simple one. If we don’t have enough work, we can sit at home and rehearse the reasons why that is, or we can do something about it. It’s just a choice.

If you’d like to explore what action you could take to boost your therapy practice income, please contact me here to make an appointment or for a free 20 minute consultation.