Your Agency Job Escape Plan - Community Mental Health to Online Private Practice
You (finally) just got licensed
You’ve been wanting to open your own private practice even while you were in grad school. It’s the dream that’s gotten you through years of working at an agency, daydreaming about the logo you would choose, who you would see. You’ve even wondered what it would be like to be able to work from the comfort of your own home in your own virtual practice.
But now, your agency just offered you a crazy sweet promotion.
It’s more money than you’ve ever made before - PLUS you’re saving up to buy your first home so it seems like really good timing.
But you can’t help thinking working from home in your own online private practice.
You love the cushy benefits of working for your agency.
The steady paycheck, the great health insurance.
But you don’t particularly love the lower pay, the long hours, or the overwhelm - and you’re starting to feel burned out.
Maybe you’re chronically ill or recovering from a major illness and you feel stuck because you desperately need to keep your insurance. Or you’re the insurance carrier for your kids or the breadwinner of the family and you can’t afford to throw caution to the wind and leave your job.
Do you take the risk in practice? But who would pass up this kind of opportunity?
What if you could work smarter (not harder) and get the best of both worlds?
Whatever the reason you’re staying at your agency, the transition to private practice doesn’t always have to feel like a big scary jump.
Sometimes it can feel like a small step.
Like 1-2 clients in the evenings after work.
Working from your laptop in the spare room or closet.
Keep reading for a step-by-step breakdown of how you’re going to leverage your position and set yourself up for success in less than a year - your very own agency life escape plan.
STEP 1: Build your practice
If I were you here's what I would do: negotiate the heck out of that position. They've been wanting you forever. Use that. A W2 makes it a lot easier to qualify for a home loan too if that’s in your goals. So use that as collateral to purchase a home.
In the next few months or year, I'd start a telehealth practice where I see 1 extra client a day or on the weekends. I’d start off just seeing 5 clients a week so that the infrastructure of your practice is in place. I'd save that money in an emergency fund.
STEP 2: Build your reputation
I'd go to EVERY single event your agency puts on. I'd offer to represent the agency at medical events, marketing events, community events etc., just working the table for the agency. I wouldn't market my own practice per se, but I'd make sure people know my name and know my specialty (i.e. “I’m Victoria and I specialize in chronic illness”).
I would keep in touch with them, checking in every now and then about referrals you could send them or meeting up at other community events. Then a year later at my next performance review, I'd use all those hours I spent representing the agency to negotiate a pay raise (i.e. “I’m requesting a 10% raise based on my presenting the agency at over 35 community events last year with over 250 hours of community outreach resulting in a 20% growth of x program”).
STEP 3: Take your next (small) step
A few months later, you’ve built up your practice and you make the transition to full-time. You feel confident because you’ve been saving all of that extra income from your side private practice so you can feel comfortable for the next 6 months. You let every person you've ever met at those marketing events know you're in practice now and how to refer to you.
Here is a script you can use:
“Hi, ______. Thank you for your expertise on cases we’ve collaborated on over the years. I’m excited to tell you I’m now seeing clients virtually in my telehealth private practice. Should you have any patients experiencing _____ who could benefit from therapy, I’d love to have them sign a release of information so we could collaborate on future cases”.
You now have a built-in networking system that you’ve been taking care of for over a year, already starting off your practice with a trusting, organic referral network. Win win!
When you take your transition 1 step at a time, each small success motivates you to the next one.
And before you know it, you’re closing the door to your office at the agency for the last time ready to step into your next big move.
Ready to open your own mini-telehealth practice on the side of your full-time job?
Check out the guide “7 Steps to Getting All New Branding Photos as an Online Therapist” to start off the right foot with all new branding photos you can add to your website, flyers, or social media.
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