Allow me to get a little personal. Often we tend to want to despair but, there is opportunity in any situation.

I have a few tips in this podcast on what to set in place now to improve your future situation.

You can watch the video of this podcast HERE where I also give a tour of my victory garden and where you can sign up for my free upcoming webinar. 

Download Episode

Download Episode

Jayson Davies is a school based Occupational Therapist with a Podcast and a ton of tools and resources. Listen in as we talk about school based therapy and how he can help you be a better therapist and get CEU's by listening to the OT School House Podcast.

Jayson has some great resources. I really like his guide to OT practice guidelines for school therapy and his gray space paper package. Both of these and more are FREE HERE.

I had the privilege of being a guest on the OT School House Podcast. Have a listen HERE.

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Mandy Chamberlain is an Occupational Therapist and the founder of Seniors Flourish. Listen in to see how Mandy can help you be a better therapist and have a better business through her recommendations for treatment of adults and seniors.

If you join Mandy's Learning Lab using this link HERE you will receive my ebook ($40 value) on how to start a therapy practice for free. Just email me a screen shot of your purchase and I will send you the ebook. You must use the link provided on this page to get my ebook.

Mandy started the Seniors Flourish website and podcast after spending too much time searching around the internet to find reliable treatment ideas. In true entrepreneurial fashion she saw a need and filled the need. Her Seniors Flourish website now helps therapists like you know what to do when it comes to treatment.

Mandy is very active on social media. Be sure to follow her and subscribe to her podcast:

Facebook              Instagram

Pinterest               Her Podcast

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I recently did a consultation with a therapist who will be opening his therapy business this year. This is what I told him. 

Be sure to join me on an upcoming FREE webinar where I share how to start your therapy practice the right way.

St. Nicholas was a real person. Here's a little bit of history and how it applies to you as the owner of a therapy practice.

You can learn more about the real St. Nick here

http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/bishop-nicholas-loses-his-cool/

Godspeed. 

Mandy Chamberlain MOTR/L has over 15 years experience working in a variety of diverse settings including home health, outpatient, SNF and inpatient.

She shares therapy ideas and resources through her website, SeniorsFlourish.com and the Seniors Flourish Podcast. She has also developed a membership for OT practitioners and students to help with mentorship and streamline evidence-based therapy with resources and treatment ideas.

Mandy is passionate about helping OT practitioners and students be the best they can be when working with older adults.

Sound Health Music, in San Diego is Kat Fulton’s private practice. She also has a continuing education website atMusicTherapyEd.com. She has been a keynote speaker at conferences and is a team builder for Forturne 500 companies. Kat also helps people like you launch their expertise into the world profitably, practically, and successfully.

No matter what type of therapist you are, this podcast will give you insight and motivation to take your business and your skills to the next level. If you want to learn how to start a music therapy practice or any type of therapy practice this episode is a great place to start.

Here is what we cover:

• How Kat became a Music Therapist

• Why and how she started a private practice

• How she juggled her practice and launching a continuing education website

• How you can teach a course on Kat’s continuing education website

• How to position and market yourself as an authority in your geographical area

• How to pitch yourself to another authority like Forbes.com

• How Kat marketed her new private practice location

• What to have on your practice website

• How to diversify your practice revenue stream

Check out the links we mention HERE

Paul Potter is a physical therapist who has been in private practice for over 30 years. His practice specializes in manual orthopedic rehabilitation and medical fitness programs for special populations. I spoke to Paul when he was in the process of selling his practice in order to go on a different adventure in his life: helping other PT's start and run their own therapy practice.

Paul has his own podcast called the Functional Freedom Podcast where he interviews other leaders on practice issues and strategies to facilitate the professional effectiveness of therapists.

Paul gives an awesome marketing tip that generates almost an

80% conversion rate of prospective customers to actual customers.

You can download the tool he uses to do this for free in the show links below.

In the world of start ups, having a mentor is essential. Paul had strong mentors early in his career, and now he is offering his services for mentor-ship.

Paul's motto is "win the day and finish strong." Listen in to this episode and learn more!

Here is some of what we cover:

• How Paul started slow and small

• Why it is important to have a specific niche

• How to determine your niche

• Timeless principals of marketing a practice

• The importance of relationships in your marketing strategy

• What to do about your competition

• How to pick up business skills to start and run your practice

• How to get more referrals

• Tracking referrals - how and why

• Paul's gold star referral generating tool that has an 80% conversion and get it for free below

• Paul's PT Pad App that he developed to help PT's do their job faster and better

"Average people see money through the eyes of emotion. Rich people think about money logically."

This is a quote from an article at Yahoo Finance.

Fear is an emotion which can cause you to think  illogically. This episode will give you some specific insight on business skills and whether you have what it takes to run a private practice or not.  If you already own a private practice, then you will learn some specific techniques on how to think about business and some tips on how to run your private practice well.

I think you will find this information as inspiring as I did.  Please leave a comment about how rich people think differently and how you try to implement that way of thinking.

Here is what is covered in this episode:

• The business skills you need to run a private practice
• Take the test to determine if your private practice idea is a good one
• How to determine if your private practice idea will work without taking a risk
• Who should you ask to see if your private practice is a good idea
• Should you get a business degree
• The Entrepreneur mind- how it works and how yours should work
• What type of business model you should consider
• Maslow's hierarchy and your private practice
• What numbers you should track and when you should  track them
• Is there such a thing as a bad customer
• Other ways rich people think
• Is money the number one motivator

Yvette McCoy is a Speech Therapist in private practice in Maryland. She has a brick and mortar clinic called Speak Well Solutions that provides Speech, Occupational and Physical therapy. Yvette has a great attitude toward her private practice and delivers a fun and insightful interview.

Here is what we cover:

• How she "accidentally" got into private practice
• Why she partnered with an OT and how she set that Partnership up
• What her biggest marketing tool is
• How she shamelessly markets her practice to local doctors - Learn her one tip that will be huge for your practice marketing
• How she pays the therapists she hires
• What tools she uses for billing

James Lomuscio

I "met" James on Twitter using the #bizpt hashtag. I checked out his website and was intrigued by his tools for private practice therapists there. I thought you might be interested too so I invited James to visit with me about what his service offers.

Hability.net is a patient relationship management solution for therapists designed to help you
strengthen your relationship with patients. In this episode, James shares with us how this tool can help your private practice reduce no shows using text messages and emails which are automated and configurable.

Hability gives you the power to create one or more communication plans for your patients, and Hability automatically follows-up with each patient during and after their course of care. Each message is completely configurable, ensuring scheduled messages reflect your voice and your clinic's brand.

Hability is not just for PT's.  Any private practice therapist would benefit from this service.

I love different sauces, don't you? In my fridge there is Tiger Sauce, many different salad dressings, chili sauce, Tapatio, and one of my favorites, Show-Me Bar-B-Q Sauce.  You can really create the best meal with that special, secret sauce.

There's a secret sauce to managing a private practice too.  This secret is called productivity, and it's is all about learning to harness and control your time.  To run a successful private practice, you absolutely must learn to be productive.

If you leave a productivity tip in the comments below you will have a chance to win a FREE copy of my E-book to be given away May 24, 2014.

I have been very excited about this episode because it is one of the best ways I can help you make a positive change in your private practice and in your life. In this podcast, I will share some philosophical thoughts on productivity and some very practical tips and tools that you can use to improve your productivity. You will definitely want to check out the links at the end of this post.

Here are some of the insights you will learn:

• How productivity helps you reach your ultimate goal with your practice
• The secret to scheduling success
• What tasks you should delegate to others
• Evernote is the secret ingredient in the secret sauce
• How I use Evernote
• How I use Siri
• How I use email
• Life habits that make you productive and successful
• Screen capture for productivity
• Bluetooth your learning capacity
• How service to others fulfills you as a person
• Why productivity is important to make you a better servant
• The servant of the servants of God
• Duty is not a four letter word

Rachel Wynn is a private practice Speech Therapist with an award-winning blog at GrayMatterTherapy.com. Rachel worked in a nursing home setting and became disillusioned with what she saw there. Her entrepreneurial husband encouraged her to step out into private practice so she finally took the leap. After discovering her niche, she soon figured out that even though she loved what she was doing she was not able to make money doing it. She had to pivot and go in a different direction. She actually went in a few different directions. You will want to hear how an entrepreneur therapist isn't reactive but proactive in taking her private practice in new and exciting directions.

Here are some topics we cover:

• How to fail and succeed at networking
• Evidence based practice tools
• Your website may have a problem
• Importance of presentations and community events
• The "Why" of your practice and how it makes a difference
• The Area Agency on Aging tool
• Private Practice is not just one on one treatment

Aaron LeBauer joins me to discuss cash based therapy. He and his wife own and operate a cash only PT practice.

Aaron started a massage therapy business in 1999.  He decided he needed more knowledge and expertise on the body and how it worked so he went to PT school.  As a student, he figured out quickly that he did not want to work in the corporate world of PT because he wanted to give more individualized care to his patients.

Besides running his own cash based practice, Aaron now helps other therapists learn how to start a cash only practice too.

I love Aaron's attitude of simplicity both in life and in private practice.  It's definitely an attitude that builds success.

Be sure to check out the links at the end of this post which are mentioned in our conversation.

Here are some of the subjects we cover:

• How to begin and nurture relationships that will bring you referrals
• What to do if you are just starting a private practice
• Specific information to have on your website to bring in customers
• How to optimize your practice website so people can find you
• A great marketing tip on how to follow up with clients you discharge
• Different types of marketing and which types you should use
• What Aaron uses for therapy notes
• What tools Aaron uses for billing a client
• Useful scheduling tools and apps
• ...More

In this episode I had the opportunity to talk with Cyndee Bowen, a speech therapist who owns a private practice in Florida.   She knew she wanted to pursue a private practice right out of graduate school.  She became an independent practitioner in 2009, and in 2012 decided to take it to the next level and open a brick and mortar clinic.  Her private practice has been a success, and she is here to share some of her wisdom with you. 

 Here are some topics we cover:

• billing insurance
• marketing
• practice management software
• using debt to start a practice
• having a niche
• importance of a website
• ASHA Private Practice Institute

I have received many questions from therapists that I want to present in this Podcast episode. I bring my wife Jennifer on to help out. Be sure and listen all the way to the end because I tell you what I do when doctors call me wanting information quickly about a client we serve. You will definitely want to scroll to the end of this post at www.startatherapypractice.com/11 for some great links that I mention in the podcast and a picture of the marketing poster I mentioned.

Here are the topics we cover:

• Marketing poster and the QR code used on it
• What to do when the doc calls needing fast information on a client
• Shark Tank and the Entrepreneur Therapist
• How to let a client know you are tired of sitting in poop in their house
• Automatically be informed when Medicaid or Insurance is accepting new providers
• What type of screenings my clinic does and what I recommend
• What to do if a client switches providers and brings their previous evaluation report to you for treatment
• What insurance providers are doing now with Prior Authorizations
• Do you rent your therapy gym for events such as birthday parties?
• What to do when a client doesn't pay for your services
• Sissy Dog and Miss Kitty

Kim Lewis is a Speech Therapist who does solo private practice. She treats pediatric clients in thier homes, daycares and schools. Kim also has a very helpful website at ActivityTaylor.com. You will learn how Kim got started and how she markets her private practice. Allow Kim to peek your interest in developing a product that relates to the type of therapy you do.

Kim is a very innovative therapist that has allowed her talents to bring other forms of revenue to her private practice.

I coaxed my wife Jennifer into the cloffice (that's part closet part office) to sit down for an interview.  You have heard of the better half, well she is more than that to me.  If you so desire you can go to this post and see a lovely picture of Jennifer and I.  She is the one that makes it lovely, not I.

In this interview you will hear her take on the following:

What type of personality traits do you need to run a private practice

What she thinks are the best marketing tools that we use

How to start off

How to choose a location

Opening a therapy practice is hard work but worth it

What our kids have learned from our private practice

There may be a funny blooper or two placed after the music at the end

Ideas of where to do therapy without owning or renting a physical location. Also tips I learned from my recent presentation. I also throw in a productivity tip and ask your help with a survey that you can learn a lot from.

This is the first podcast episode about marketing and referrals for your private practice. I have also created a downloadable PDF file that further explains marketing and getting more referrals for your private practice.

Some of what you will learn in this podcast:

• Who the most important person is in your marketing plan
• What to do if you are just starting
• People you need to market to
• The most important type of person to be when marketing
• What to put on your business card
• What to put in your brochure
• Who is your target audience
• Social Media marketing

The Affordable Healthcare Act or Obamacare will affect everything in the next few years and it is not going away.

Here is what you will learn in this Podcast

• What I learned at little known Healthcare meetings
• What are Medical Homes
• Who are the people pulling the strings in this system
• What to expect as a consumer
• What to expect as a doctor
• What to expect as a therapist
• Will reimbursement rates go down
• Will my insurance premium go up
• What steps can I take now
• Concierge and Cashed Based Medicine

Links

A quote I found regarding medical homes in AR--they were talking about adding hip and knee replacement and congestive heart failure but of course these quotes will apply to all.

  http://freebeacon.com/government-seeking-inclusion-of-social-and-behavioral-in-health-records/

What You Will Learn in this Podcast:

• Specifics of what you need in a treatment note
• How to set up a treatment note template
• What notes need to have in case of an audit
• How to minimize time writing notes
• Why you need to stop handwriting notes

• Why, as a newbie independent clinician,  you don't need to pay monthly fees to a note writing software companies

Links Mentioned

www.dropbox.com

http://www.quickoffice.com

Scott's Therapy Note

Tasks and activities that a therapist needs to start doing and thinking about whether you want to start a private practice today or years down the road

In this Start a Therapy Practice Podcast. I walk you through our insurance billing process and give you definition of terms and billing tips to get started

This is a brief launch episode where I introduce myself and give some background of how I got started with my private practice and grew it into two brick and mortar clinics. I also let you know what to expect in future episodes.