My Two Cents with Amy Neal

What They Didn't Teach in Grad School: Making Sense of Cents

Last newsletter, I told you why I chose the name Private Practice Cents. Today, I want to talk about what "making sense out of making cents" actually looks like in your practice, and how I can help.

Early in my career, I often repeated a common therapist myth: "I didn't become a therapist for the money."

It is such a wonderful thing that so many people enter the mental health field because they truly want to help others and make an impact in the world around them.

But here's the thing — therapists still need money to survive and to do the work we're passionate about! Even if our goal isn't to become millionaires, therapists deserve a stable income and freedom from the stress of living paycheck to paycheck.

Our field seems to attract people who lead with a passion for helping others, and treat income as secondary. Unfortunately, there also seems to be a correlation with therapists being averse to math, numbers, and business concepts.

Not only are many of us uninterested in those areas, but we also get little to no training in accounting or business in graduate school.

Because cents don't always make sense: income, revenue, expenses, taxes — our eyes glaze over. We feel overwhelmed, so we shut down and say "I don't like math," "I can't run a business," "I'll just pay someone else to figure it out."

And the problem is, we miss out on opportunities for earning and saving if we can't make sense of the cents. As business owners, we can end up with unpaid claims or invoices if we don't understand how to find the missing income and resolve whatever problem is keeping us from getting paid.

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I am so passionate about helping therapists become competent business owners by making sense out of:

Rates and policies

• Setting rates that reflect your value
• Enforcing those rates with clear policies
• Communicating those rates to clients with confidence
• Knowing what to do when invoices go unpaid

Insurance benefits and the billing cycle

• Helping clients understand their own benefits
• Setting up systems for smooth credentialing and billing

Technology and systems for your practice

• EHRs
• Email systems
• Cloud storage and business documents
• Phone and fax systems
• Bookkeeping systems

Marketing that makes financial and practical sense

• Building a website that converts inquiries to cents
• Getting found on online directories
• Growing through community networking
• Growing through peer-to-peer networking

Clinical processes and documentation

• Knowing what belongs in informed consent and other intake documents
• Knowing what documentation you actually need
• Protecting yourself from a clawback during an audit
• Building your own documentation templates
• Keeping up with your notes

I could add so many more topics/subtopics and each of these is its own deep dive… but you get the gist!

The ins and outs of private practice are one of my ADHD special interests, and I enjoy spending hours learning about it. But I know not every therapist has the time or interest to sort through what applies to group practice vs. solo practice, or what applies in one state vs. another.

I don't want the business side of private practice to overwhelm you so much that you feel stuck or held back from your career goals.

That's my goal with Private Practice Cents: to take the information I geek out over and translate it into something clear and easy to understand-- so you can quickly put it to use and focus on running your practice successfully, instead of feeling stuck in the weeds.

If you have questions about private practice, I'd love to hear from you! We can book a 1:1 consultation, or if it's a topic a lot of people are wondering about, it might turn into a future live workshop. My inbox is always open to hear your questions-- and your wins, too!
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Amy Neal, LCMHC Private Practice Cents, LLC​ ​www.privatepracticecents.com​ amy@privatepracticecents.com ​

P.S. Want to swap notes on this stuff in real time? Come hang out in my Private Practice Cents Facebook group, where private practice owners talk through the ins and outs of running a private practice!