September Reset: A Therapist's Guide to Refreshing Your Private Practice

Hi, and welcome back and if it's your first time here, it's just fantastic to see you. I hope you're okay. I hope you're having a good day so far. so as I'm recording this, it's September, we've just started September and. Autumn is actually a season that I really, really love. You know, I love going for walks with the dog.

I love the changes in the colors in nature. You know, I love nourishing stews and cozy evenings and closing the curtains, and I just love it. Having said that, here in the UK this week, we are having a late summer blast. So I'm recording this in 26 degrees, looking outside at perfect blue skies. So the thought of a stew is maybe not quite as pleasant today, but I.

But you catch my drift. I absolutely love Autumn, and I think one of the things that I like about Autumn is in September is that it's kind of a time for new starts. You know, especially if you've got kids, you know, if you've got kids, they're gonna be going back to school. You might feel great about that.

You might feel less great about it, but it does represent a new school year, a new start. So however you feel about it. If you've got kids, maybe you just. Don't want them to go or maybe you can't wait to see the back of them. You, it's going to be different for you. And if you don't have kids, you know, the summer months can have an impact on you and your practice.

You know, as much as I like, you know, holidays and breaks and all the rest of it, I am very much a creature of habit and I like things going back to normal. how about you? I know that not everybody does. Some people. Hate the thought of things going back to normal for me, it makes me feel kind of comfortable and safe and yeah, there's something about it that I like.

So, yeah, so for me, I think there are two times of the year that kind of have a, a new start vibe. Well, there's three really, but there's two that I think mainly. So the main ones, as you probably already know, I'm gonna say January. January's obviously got a massive new start vibe to it. April has a new start vibe to it.

It's not as much because, it's not as big as September, but April can have a new start vibe to it of getting, you know, getting all set up for that new season. But yeah, September is the other one. I, I think this is like the, the second biggest new start vibe. Because of what I've said. There's the change of season, there's a change to school, there's a cha.

There's just a big change and I think that this is a great time to. Do a bit of a stock take on your business and go back to basics because those basics really do do a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to marketing your practice and attracting clients. So why is this important? Why is it important to do a bit of a stock?

I call it a stock take. It doesn't mean a stock take, obviously, but I call it, call it a stock take. 'cause it's like an overview of everything that's happening in your business at the time, at the moment. And thinking, right, okay, what do we need to look at? So I think it's because of the change that we make.

You know, we don't always appreciate or even notice some of the changes that we make. I talk a lot about the power of baby steps and how they can add up to making big changes, but you don't notice the baby steps. Sometimes they, you know, you're making changes, but they're just small Changes might be changes even in your mindset, in your attitude, and you don't necessarily.

Really notice them. So I think it's really important to have regular reviews and just check out your marketing. How can you make the most of it? Is what you've got out there still, how you feel is what you've got out there. Still the best that you can put out there, or do you need to do some tweaking? So I've got a few different ideas now.

I've got about five different things for you to look at. This is not an exhaustive list basically, but just to give you an idea of some things that you can do to just. Have a look, take an overview of what's happening in your practice and think about tweaking it. And the first thing I would just suggest is, and this is quite a basic one really, and that is to reconnect with your audience.

It's sometimes hard to know what to, how to describe the, like your audience. It could be your audience, it could be your potential clients, it could be people in your niche. It doesn't, you know, it doesn't really matter how you describe it, but it's about you really knowing who it is that you want to attract and letting them know that you are going to be the right person for them.

That's literally what marketing's about. So if you haven't had a look at this for a while, then you know, take a break, grab a piece of paper, go to the, go to the cafe, get some cake. You know, make it pleasurable and have a little think about, you know, who are your ideal clients?

What are the struggles that they currently have? What are the things that they have going on for them that's making their life difficult? And have a think about what are the sort of changes that they want in their lives. And consider what you want as a, as a counselor, what you want to be working on in your business. Now, I've, I did, recently I did a three part miniseries all about, you know, getting in touch with your ideal clients. So I'll put the. Details of that in the show notes, so you can go and have a look at that if you want to.

There's loads of great information there, so I do recommend that you go and check it out. But yeah, number one in this is basically reconnecting with your audience and reconnecting with yourself. Are you still working with the people that you feel passionately about? Are you still doing the thing that you thought you wanted to?

Because sometimes we can start, we might start for. Working with bereavement. A lot of people do because I think there are lots of places where people can get a placement in, in the bereavement services, but you might find after a while that that's actually not what you want to be working with. There might be something else that you feel.

Really passionately about, and it's okay to change. You know it's okay to change your niche. It's okay to make a change. It's more important for you to be doing the thing that you feel really passionately about that's gonna make the biggest difference to you and your life. Okay, so the second thing is to look at your website.

So what I want you to do is, you know, do an exercise in empathy. Pretend that you are your dream client and you are looking for a cl, looking for a counselor. And take a look at your website and have a think about, you know, will they know who you work with? Will they feel understood by what they see on your website?

And. Is what you are writing on there? Is what you've written on your website going to resonate with them? Are they gonna think, oh crikey, this person really, really understands me. This person really knows me, and will they know that you are going to be a really good choice for them? So if not, and really be honest with yourself.

If not, review it. Tweak it, update it, using all the information and the knowledge that you've had of the last, you know, however long, to review it and make it up to date so that it's going to resonate with those people. So that's number two. Work on your website. So number three is to check out any directory entries that you have. So as with the website, I would recommend that you take a look at it, review it, tweak it, update it, and make it, you know, make it update and reflect who you are at the moment, who you help at the moment. But also something to consider on your directory entry is consider your photo.

Do you need to update it? Maybe the picture that you've got is one that you weren't really very happy with, or maybe it's one that's actually a bit old now. Maybe your hair's completely changed. Maybe you've, you know, put weight on or lost weight, or something like that. You really need to make sure that the picture is a true reflection of who people are going to see.

Remember, it's not because. Firstly, I would say don't, you don't have to worry about getting a professional in to take a photograph. You really, really don't. Obviously, if you want to, you can, but it's not necessary. These days. You can try just taking a selfie or asking a trusted friend to help you, just using the camera on your phone.

There are just a few little things to be aware of. You know, if possible, use a natural light. So stand in front of a window. Think about the colors that you are going to wear. Don't have anything to, you know, don't have too much around your neck. You know, have a scarf if you want to, but don't make it so there's too much going on around your neck.

and think about using branded colors. This is always a good idea. So if your branded colors are, say, green, Wear a green that's as close to the shade of your branded color as possible. It's just quite a good idea to do that and remember to smile. I can remember somebody saying, well, I, I don't think I should be smiling.

'cause I don't want them to think I'm not going to be serious when they're talking to me about things like bereavement. But I would say, you know, make sure that you smile. You want to be approachable. Really. You want that photo to just look like somebody that. People are gonna think, yeah, I'd like to sit with them and talk to them for an hour.

So, yeah, now I hate having my photo taken. I absolutely loathe it. And when I take a selfie, it's a bit embarrassing to sort of admit to this, but when I take a a selfie, I always hate them. So I can sometimes take 80, a hundred photographs on my phone and I'm just snapping away, you know, most of the time thinking, oh, God, how awful and awful.

That's horrible. But then you'll find there's a couple that you think, oh, I don't look so bad in that one. So just take as many as you take as you need to. It's, you don't have to. Just take one. And that's it. That's the beauty of having a phone take loads and loads and you are bound to find something on there.

That's okay. Okay. It's not easy if you don't like having your photograph taken and if you don't feel comfortable about how you look, but all you're trying to do, remember it's not a beauty competition. All you're trying to do is give them a representation of what you look like. And like I say, they don't.

It's not that they want someone that's particularly pretty or handsome. I think it's, when you think about it, if you went to somebody's, you know, if you were seeing a new counselor and you go and knock on their door and they open the door and that counselor looks just like your mother mean, that's not a very good start, is it?

So, it's just important that they can see you and just know who you are. So, So, yeah. So on your directory, again, have a little look at it. Are the details still correct? Do you still work the days that you said that you work? Do you still have the same times and you know, all of that? So just check it all out.

And then the fourth thing similarly is social media. Take a look at the bio that you have. How does that look? Now, you know, you've now got more experience about these sorts of things than you did when you first wrote it. So take a look at it. Does it need tweaking? Does it need updating? And again, check out the image.

It's, you know, it. You need to use an image of you, not a logo. Please don't use a logo for social media images. In fact, just don't use a logo on your marketing. It's about connecting with you. So you know, just. Be brave, you know, just go for it. And the last one, and like I say, this is certainly not an exhaustive list at all.

These are just a few things that you can do over the next couple of weeks just to update what's happening for you in your business. So I would say Google Business Profile. If you don't have one, I would say get one. It's free. It's a good thing to do. I'm not gonna be going over it. To any extent in this, call.

There's loads of great tips on Google. So go and have a look on Google and have a look for Google business profile. And there's loads of training over there. Or not Google on YouTube. There's loads of great training there. But if you do have a Google business profile, Go and check it out. Make any amendments.

So consider what are your opening hours? Keep those up to date. When did you last add something on there. You know, if you haven't added something for a while, you should be trying to add something on there, maybe once a week. So it might be that you've got a blog that you've recently published or a social media post that you can use.

You know, you can take a social media post from the past and just share it on there as new content. But yeah, just have a look. Tweak it, update it, and make it so that it's, Yeah, make it so that it's up to date. And the last thing, I was just gonna do five things, but the last thing I'm gonna talk about is your fee.

When was the last time that you updated your fee? September is a great time to update your fee. I think sometimes after Christmas we can think, oh God, people have got no money at the moment because they've just been through Christmas. And that can make us feel a little bit, I dunno, just. Not so good.

But September is a really great time to, consider your fee and if you need to or want to increase your fee to keep in line with inflation and make sure that you are earning enough to cover what you need it to cover. Then have a think of your fee, think about what you want it to be, and have a think about how you're gonna go about updating it.

I have information on podcasts, so I'll link those below. But, I know for a fact, for, for a. Massive fact that therapists are not particularly good at increasing their fee. So if you've not increased your fee for the last year, you definitely need to have a look at it. And remember, you don't have to update it by five pounds or 10 pounds.

You could update it just by two pounds or three pounds. It's gonna make a difference to your pocket. It's gonna be easier for the client to manage that. You are in business. It's important that you raise your fee. We all know we're all only too aware of how much the cost of living has gone up over the last year or so.

It's gone up dramatically and it will have impacted you. It's not fair. If you are the person that is missing out because you are having to subsidize everybody else's therapy. So like I say, if you haven't checked out your pricing now, might be a really good time to check that out. Like I say, I've got quite a few podcasts that you can have a look at to, To consider it.

So like I say, that was just a few ideas. It's not an exhaustive list. So have a little think about your own business. What have you been putting off doing? What have you been meaning to do? Maybe now's the time to start doing that. Maybe it's increasing your fees or maybe it's starting to write a blog, or maybe it's reviewing your note keeping system, or your onboarding system, or how you keep your accounts.

You know, this is a time to just take a, take stock and review these different things. And like I say, I've got podcasts about all of these things, so just check out the show notes or you can just do a search for it and, find those. Previous podcasts. So what happens if you don't keep your details up to date?

Well, you know, this is probably a bit obvious, but as I said earlier, it's easy, easy, really to forget how far you've come. You know, we do have baby, usually we're taking baby steps. We are tweaking a little bit of this. We are learning a little bit about that, and it doesn't necessarily come as a great big.

To add to your website or add to your to your business. So if you don't have a periodic review or a bit of a stock take, then you're gonna run the risk of the information being outta date. All over the place. It's, you can run the risk of it being outta date of attracting people that you are no longer interested in working with, of your website, not speaking to the people that you want to work with of your, social media, just not being up to date and correct.

And, you know, it just reflects on all of those things. So give yourself a couple of weeks to really look into these things because then you're gonna know that, when you. Get found by a potential client or you are out there actively marketing that you are sending people to a place where you've got everything all set up and as good as it could be.

Now if you feel a bit stuck with any of these things, or if it feels a bit overwhelming because it can feel overwhelming, I know this. I often feel overwhelmed myself, but it can feel very overwhelming. Then look, please don't struggle on alone. You know, in the greater private practice membership, we've got something called the Private Practice Success Roadmap, and that's gonna walk you through all of the basics that you need.

focus on the last quarter of: 2023

So hop on over to the Grow Your Private Practice UK website. Bear in mind that I need to tweak my website as part of my own personal stock take. So if you are looking at it and you're thinking, oh, I don't know, that's could do with updating. Yeah, you are absolutely right. That's part of what I need to do.

so go and check it out and if you have any questions at all about, you know, the membership, just let me know. I'm quite happy to, to answer any questions that you have. So that's it for today. Thank you so much for listening to the Grow Your Private Practice Show. And if you are looking for any additional resources to help you grow your private practice, be sure to check my website out.

I've got a variety of free resources available to you and it's awesome. Well, it's got all of my free and paid for resources all there in one place, so you can go out and check what there is available and you can download and use from today.

So head on over to Jane travis.co uk slash start here and have a look at what there is available to you. And as an added bonus, you'll get added to my email list, which means that I'll be able to send you helpful tips and strategies to grow your practice every single week. And. I promise if you don't want to have that happen, I promise I'm not gonna spam you.

So what are you waiting for? Go and visit jane travis.co.uk now. And, you know, let's, let's take your private practice to the next level. So I am now gonna have to cover myself in , sunscreen and take my dog out for a walk. I hope that whatever you are doing today, you are having a fantastic day and I look forward to speaking to you soon.

Okay, take care. Bye-bye.