I get lots of great questions by email — each newsletter I will try to answer one.
Q: I find myself bogged down or lifted up weekly simply by the number and quality of clients. One week new clients contact me and everyone shows up. Next week may be cancellations, no shows and no new prospects. I hate the roller coaster ride …any advice?
Lynn: The ups and downs of uneven client count is normal, but sometimes hard to stomach. Some of us are not good sailors and when we feel the rolling of rough seas, we get nervous and worried.
Seasoned business owners and sailors know how to ride out these bumps and stay focused on the destination or big picture.
Here are two tips recommended by a sailor-friend which can help you stay resilient and keep your practice feeling that it is on an even keel, even during inevitable ups and downs.
1. Make your practice seaworthy: When sailing in rough waters, our friend the sailor checks that gear is simple and uncluttered onboard. When you hit rough water, it’s best to have less to attend to. Getting uncluttered mentally and physically in the face of business turmoil makes good common sense.
Make space daily for mental downtime. Clear your brain. Relax with a hot bath. Take a walk. Schedule time for office uncluttering. Get as organized and efficient as possible, to help you feel some internal degree of control. Clean out files; collect unpaid receivables; don’t procrastinate.
Then you can feel calmer and in control of that which is controllable. You can’t control the flow of business, but you can control the internal state of your mind and your practice.
2. Heave to: When my friend is sailing in very rough waters and the ride is getting uncomfortably bumpy, sometimes she sets the sailboat to a “heave to” position. She holds a set course, but allows for some natural drift to occur.
Here’s how to adapt this for private practice. Focus on your goals, but anticipate and tolerate some drift.
For example, what is your desired client session and/or income goal for the year? Where is your practice each week in relation to these goals?
One of my clients determined that to meet her annual goal she needed to see an average of 20 clients a week. Some weeks she has 30, some weeks she has 10.
As long as she is tracking her progress over time, she can stay assured that she is going in the right direction.
Anticipate the drift. Clients come and go. The practice is bursting and then there is draught. You can minimize the ups and downs by having cancellation policy and a marketing plan that tries to keep the client count steady, but you can’t eradicate this completely because nothing is wrong. This is simply how a small business behaves.
All that is needed, for those of us who want to be in private practice, is to develop a strong stomach and flexible sea legs!
(These strategies are adapted from those in my book, The Business and Practice of Coaching by Lynn Grodzki and Wendy Allen, WW Norton, 2005).
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Midwest Book Review
“Crisis-Proof Your Practice: How to Survive and Thrive in an Uncertain Economy offers psychotherapists solid business advice on how to build and preserve a private practice during uncertain economic times. From a 4-step process for crisis-proofing a practice, to what to charge and how to save, these guidelines are key to success!”
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“Crisis-Proof Your Practice provides a framework for success that transcends place and time, making it an ideal resource for today’s ever changing and evolving marketplace.”
David P. Diana, M.A., LPC, Director of Business Development for Palmetto Behavioral Health
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“Crisis-Proof Your Practice – if you read only one practice-building book this year, this is the one!
Casey Truffo, author of Be a Wealthy Therapist
Lynn Grodzki, LCSW, MCC is a senior Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a Master Certified Coach. She is a licensed therapist, business coach, international speaker and published author.
Lynn can show you how to start up or rebuild your private practice or improve your small business, non-profit, or other work situation.
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