[00:00:00] Dr. Anahita Banoo: Welcome to the Therapist Business Growth Podcast, the podcast for therapists who want to grow and scale a group practice [00:00:10] that runs itself so you can make more money, work less, and actually live the life you’re dreaming of. I’m your host, Dr. Anahita, and I am so glad you’re here. Let’s dive in. [00:00:20] Welcome back to another episode of the Therapist Business Growth podcast.

[00:00:23] If you are watching this, you may notice that I am in a different location. It is still my office. [00:00:30] I’m just on the comfy, cozy chairs over here. And that’s because this week’s episode is going to be a little bit, uh, it’s not gonna be as, like, [00:00:40] strategy and tactical as a lot of the other episodes have been so far.

[00:00:44] And I thought, no better place than to do it right here, um, on my comfy, cozy chairs. So I’m [00:00:50] gonna give you a little context here, because I had a plan for this week’s episode, and I was going to make it about all the [00:01:00] investments I’ve made in business. I was going to name all of them, how much they all were, and let me tell you guys, they have ranged to, like, upper five figures, [00:01:10] um, for, like, one offer alone.

[00:01:12] And I was gonna dive into all of those. I actually reached out, if you all know, um, Christina on Instagram, her handle is [00:01:20] aligntherapyshop. If you don’t, go give her a follow. She’s, she’s an incredible therapist and coach, um, and really just a wonderful human. Um, but I was talking to her about [00:01:30] this, and I was like, because not every single investment that I’ve made in my business has been useful or, um, was worth it, I’ll say that.

[00:01:39] Not, [00:01:40] not every single one was worth the investment I made. And I wanted to find a way to talk about it without it coming off as, like, um, antagonizing these people or talking [00:01:50] down about other coaches in, in this space and in this industry, because that’s just not my style. So anyways, I was talking to her about it and getting her, like, opinion on how do you [00:02:00] talk about this without it coming off…

[00:02:01] I’m not gonna name anyone’s name by any means, but how do I talk about it without it being overly negative? And she gave me some great [00:02:10] feedback and insight, and so I was like, “Okay, I’m gonna move forward with this. That’s, that, that’s gonna be the episode this week.” And then yesterday, I’m on a call with, um, my neighbor, [00:02:20] Deanna.

[00:02:20] She’s wonderful, wonderful human. Uh, we got, we got really lucky in the neighbor department here, I’ll say that. Um, but I was on a call with her. She’s, she’s actually [00:02:30] also a school psychologist, but she works more from, like, a macro systems level, which is really, really cool to, like, hear what she’s doing. So she reached out.

[00:02:37] She was like, “Hey.” She co-founded a [00:02:40] business called Wise Mind Systems, um, and their goal is to go and implement DBT, she’s a huge DBT fan, to go implement DBT into schools. So her and her co-founder, [00:02:50] um, Zoe, wanted to, are wanting to start a podcast, so they reached out, like, “How do you do it?” So I was meeting with them yesterday to talk about it, and I was kind of giving them what I’ve learned [00:03:00] about it, um, and how I was telling them, you know, like, the first, the first…

[00:03:05] I mean, all the episodes so far, um, except for the very first one, was, w- has been tactical. It’s [00:03:10] been really strategy based, really giving you guys some, um, actions that you can go implement right away. And I was like, I’m gonna do that I think for like the next few episodes before I get into anything [00:03:20] that’s like my more personal or um, that’s So it’s just not as like, “Here’s your action.

[00:03:27] Go do it,” right? Um, and [00:03:30] so I kinda named it as like Mindset, which I think in our industry can get kind of a bad rap of, you know, if somebody’s just doing mindset work, is that worth an investment and [00:03:40] blah, blah, blah, right? So anyways, I’m talking to her about this, and they were asking me about social media ’cause they haven’t used social media at all, and she was telling me about her, [00:03:50] um, uh, nerves I’ll say.

[00:03:52] And for any of you guys who are on social media, you know that we all start there. Um, and so I was talking to her about it, and she’s like, “I’m here for the mindset episode.” And I [00:04:00] was like, “You know what? This feels like a week that a mindset episode is actually needed.” So I don’t know for any of you guys out there if you’re feeling that too, but it was definitely a [00:04:10] week where, like, I needed that reminder, um, of the mindset hacks and tools that I really used when I was scaling this business.

[00:04:19] And honestly, [00:04:20] now that I’m scaling this coaching business, too, I’m finding myself needing to re- uh, re-implement some of those, um, hacks. So usually, when I’m [00:04:30] recording episodes or when I’m planning them, I create a Google Doc, and I, like, outline the whole episode and make sure that I have all the points that I really want to talk about with you guys and share.[00:04:40] 

[00:04:40] Um, and I didn’t do that this time. Instead, I have my handy-dandy phone, and I have my little notes app. Oh, you can’t really see it. I’m holding it up. You can’t see anything. That’s fine. [00:04:50] Um, and it’s just a couple bullet points, and so we’re gonna do this quick and dirty. Um, and I’m gonna share really the three biggest [00:05:00] mindset strategies or, like, mindset shifts I had to make back when I was scaling Empowered Living Collective, my, my group therapy practice, but [00:05:10] also now that I’m scaling this coaching business as well.

[00:05:14] So we’re just gonna dive in. The first one that I’m gonna talk to you guys about, being delusional. [00:05:20] This is one that I know, like, a lot of people out there talk about, like delulu. I actually, like, hate that word, delulu. It sounds so, I don’t know, like [00:05:30] kid-esque. But truly being delusional, and I’m gonna tell you what this looked like for me when I was scaling the therapy business.

[00:05:36] And honestly, it’s looking different with the coaching business, and I’ll share a little [00:05:40] bit about that as well. But with my therapy practice, I remember when I started it, I didn’t know what was possible with a therapy practice. I didn’t know what income levels were possible. I [00:05:50] truly didn’t even think you could sell a therapy practice.

[00:05:52] I was like, “Who would wanna buy that?” Again, if you listened to my first episode, I talk about, I thought selling businesses was only for, like, tech [00:06:00] companies, and so I didn’t think a therapy business was, was sellable. And so I just put my head down. I knew… Honestly, the biggest reason, um, I even started [00:06:10] hiring therapists was because I wanted to provide a really positive work experience for other therapists, and so that’s, that was my main driving factor.

[00:06:17] Um, yes, income was part of it. Yes, getting my [00:06:20] time back was part of it, but that was, like, the first biggest driver for me. Um, and so I didn’t have, like, income goals in mind. I didn’t have time goals in mind, anything like [00:06:30] that. It was just like, I wanna create a really, like, great experience for these people.

[00:06:34] So I just put my head down and I got to work, and I started doing that. And as I was doing that, I remember when [00:06:40] I, um– I remember it was like, gosh, what month was it? It must’ve been, like, September or October of 2023. So I hired our first therapist, it was April of 2023. [00:06:50] Um, September or October, I remember looking, and that was, like, the first time that I really saw profit from the business.

[00:06:58] For the, for the months [00:07:00] before, I had invested– Overall, I had invested around $25,000 into this business. And I remember looking at my bank account and being like, “There’s more money in [00:07:10] here than what I brought in from my, um, my own caseload.” And that, that was the first time that I really started about income.

[00:07:18] Before that, I was just delusional. [00:07:20] I was just like, “I’m gonna scale this thing to the moon.” I remember telling my uncle, who, he’s like a big tech guy. I was like, “I’m gonna create a million-dollar business.” I didn’t know if that was possible. I didn’t know how quickly [00:07:30] it would take to get there or how long it was gonna take to get there.

[00:07:32] I just was like, “Cool, I’m gonna build a million-dollar business.” I didn’t have an income goal in mind. I didn’t have any, like– It [00:07:40] was just a– It was, like, on a vision board. I think that’s the best analogy I can make. It was just, like, something I put– I literally actually have my vision board over here and it has a million dollar cut out on it because I [00:07:50] always wanted to say, like, “I created a million-dollar business.”

[00:07:53] Again, I didn’t know what was gonna happen or if it was possible. I just kind of had this, like, delusional idea in my brain. [00:08:00] And so that was with, that was with the group practice, right? Like, I didn’t have– I had that, that number, but I didn’t have an idea of, like, what my income would be, or I didn’t break it [00:08:10] down into here’s what’s possible month by month and here’s how I’m gonna actually get it and, like, backwards plan.

[00:08:14] I didn’t do that. Now, the difference in my coaching business is I [00:08:20] do know what’s possible in the coaching world, right? Like, you see people out there who are making insane amounts of money in this space. And I always had this goal in my [00:08:30] brain of I wanted to get to 50K months. That’s been the goal for Since I started, which was, like, two and a half years ago.

[00:08:38] And I just, [00:08:40] I knew that that was, that was a goal. I, like, had set it in my brain. And yes, like, I had hit that plus some, like, plus a lot in my group practice. But it felt different [00:08:50] because there were so many people working for me, and such a high percentage of that was going to other people. Profit in therapy practices should be, group practices should be around 20%.

[00:08:59] [00:09:00] So that was what my profit was. Now, in coaching, obviously profit can be, I mean, it can still range depending on your team and everything like that. But I just knew, okay, I have this goal of 50K a [00:09:10] month. And at this point I’ve reached that, which is so incredible, and I’m so insanely grateful. Um, but it’s been really different.

[00:09:16] Like, the delusional aspect of this has been really different because it [00:09:20] has been more intentional and more targeted. So my advice to you with delusional, get out of your own head. I know that there are a lot of therapists out there who [00:09:30] have goals, have numbers, which is incredible. I’m not saying don’t.

[00:09:33] Absolutely, if you have numbers in mind, like, paste them around your room, put it on a whiteboard, put it on your [00:09:40] computer, right? Like, make it your password to your email or, you know, whatever you log into the most. And don’t save it. Make yourself type it every single time that you log in. Um, [00:09:50] so have– It’s fine to have that number, but I need you to be delusional about what that number can be, how quickly you can get there.[00:10:00] 

[00:10:00] And at the same token, I’m saying this, and I, I– If you’re not getting there as quickly as you think you should be, listen, that 50K number has been in my brain for two and a half [00:10:10] years. It took me… The first time I hit it was this past August. Two months ago was the first time I hit it, okay? [00:10:20] Took over two years to get to that number.

[00:10:23] So if it’s not happening as quickly as you want it to, keep being delusional. Keep being [00:10:30] delusional that it’s possible for you. And it, maybe it’s not gonna happen as fast as you want it to. Your timeline might not be the same as other people’s timelines. But the only difference between people [00:10:40] who reach those goals and people who don’t is that they never gave up, which I know is such cliché advice, but truly you just have to be delusional about sticking the course.

[00:10:48] Okay, so that’s, [00:10:50] that’s our first mindset, um, strategy I wanted to talk to you guys about. The second one kind of comes from what we were just talking about, is patience. [00:11:00] Being patient. And here’s what I’ll tell you. When I, like you just heard me say it in my group practice, I, I wasn’t even… I didn’t even care about [00:11:10] profit.

[00:11:10] Like liter- I know that sounds fucking crazy to say. I did not care about the profit for a really long time because in my brain I was building something [00:11:20] sustainable for the long term. Okay, again, we talk about timeline. I, again, I, I think it was actually to my benefit that I had blinders on and I had no idea [00:11:30] what other people were doing, how much money they were making in their group practice, how much they were profiting, how quickly they scaled, how many therapists they hired, and how fast.

[00:11:36] Like, I had no idea what other people were doing, so I [00:11:40] couldn’t compare myself to anyone else. I just put my head down and I was focusing on the next step, just putting in the next step, hiring the next person, filling their case load, getting the next client, writing the next [00:11:50] blog. I was just like one step in front of the other and I wasn’t…

[00:11:54] It’s funny ’cause I tell people like, “You do need to know your numbers,” and I did, but I didn’t, I wasn’t [00:12:00] managing my money in the same way that I did after probably like six, six to eight months into the practice. Then I really had a money management system which I teach everyone in my program, but I didn’t for [00:12:10] a really long time and so I just, I took what I was making from my own caseload, that was my income.

[00:12:15] Everything else I didn’t touch and I just kept reinvesting it into the business, adding [00:12:20] specialty pages, h- having people help me with SEO. I tried Google Ads at a certain point. Like I was pouring all that money back in because again I had this longer [00:12:30] goal, this longer vision in my brain and so I was being patient with what was going to come.

[00:12:36] I was not expecting profit to happen right then. My [00:12:40] caseload sustained me for a very long time and then once I started noticing, honestly it was just like a, “Holy shit,” looking in my bank account. “There’s profit here. This is incredible.” [00:12:50] And that’s when I started making draws from the business. That’s when I started letting my caseload naturally lower Okay?

[00:12:58] It wasn’t [00:13:00] from the first or second month. It wasn’t, like, even two or three months after hiring our first therapist. I knew I wanted to scale quickly, but I also knew that in order to [00:13:10] scale quickly, I couldn’t be taking money out of the business right away. And if you look, I know I make these comparisons sometimes, but if you look at any other business out there, [00:13:20] nobody expects to take profit from the business within at least the first year.

[00:13:25] I don’t know if we have any Shark Tank fans over here. I love me… I love Shark Tank, [00:13:30] okay? And you hear some people, and there are some amazing stories, right? Where people, like, have just crushed it. They had no overhead. They didn’t run ads. It was all social that dr- [00:13:40] that, like, built their business for them.

[00:13:41] Incredible, incredible, incredible, right? And they were able to make such insane profit so early on. But most businesses, some businesses [00:13:50] even come to them and are at a loss of, like, hundreds of thousands of dollars, okay? But again, they’re being patient. They’re, they have the vision ahead of themselves, [00:14:00] and that vision is what they’re holding onto.

[00:14:02] They’re not desperate. They’re not impatient. They’re not making rash decisions based off of what’s happening right now. [00:14:10] And something I tell a lot of my clients in the, in the program is you can’t take data on something that doesn’t, hasn’t had time to work. [00:14:20] This applies especially to your website, to SEO, AEO, those things, right?

[00:14:25] You have to be patient. And I know, and this is gonna feed [00:14:30] into the third mindset thing that I was gonna talk to you about. I know that it feels scary to hire a therapist and not be able [00:14:40] to fill their caseload as quickly as you want to. And I know group practice owners are holding so much responsibility, and I see it in the people in my program who are just [00:14:50] feeling like I, like they’re desperate for clients, right?

[00:14:54] They just want to fill people’s caseloads so quickly. And I have to remind them, [00:15:00] your website literally went live like a month ago, two months ago. You just started blogging. You just started doing these things, right? And clients are coming in, [00:15:10] okay? We have to be patient. I’ll tell you, my goal is for everybody in the program to get to a point where they are getting daily referrals, and I have people who that has been the [00:15:20] case.

[00:15:20] Like, they have gotten to a point where they are getting consistently daily referrals into their practice. I built my business that way. We were getting to a point where it was multiple a day, [00:15:30] okay? We didn’t start there, guys. It did not start there. And here’s what I’m gonna tell you. When you’re in solo practice and you’re getting like one client a week or a couple clients a week or [00:15:40] something, or you have like a few weeks where you get no referrals and then all of a sudden you get like three in one week, that’s, that…

[00:15:45] I mean, I know that people are still, like, impatient with it, but that feels okay [00:15:50] because you’re just filling your caseload. But when you make that first transition from solo provider to hiring your first few therapists, it’s [00:16:00] going to take time. It’s going to take time to fill caseloads, unless you already have like a really well-oiled machine, you are already getting consistent referrals.

[00:16:09] But if you’re [00:16:10] just now really focusing on the marketing of your business while you’re also hiring, you have to be patient with it, okay? Patience is what [00:16:20] is going to get you to that million-dollar business, multi-million dollar business, knowing that that doesn’t happen tomorrow. All right? So [00:16:30] with that, we’re gonna talk about this third mindset, and I, I like actually had some notes here of things that I wanted to say and I’m looking at it now and I’m like, “Okay, this was, this is a good one for [00:16:40] patience.”

[00:16:40] I did say, will it be worth it to you if it doesn’t happen the second you put that, put it in place? So what I mean by that is when you’re building out your website, when you’re networking, when [00:16:50] you’re, whatever you’re doing in your business, will that task, will that action still be worth it to you if it takes six months to get there?[00:17:00] 

[00:17:00] Six months is like no time, you know? And we’re so focused on, like, immediate, tomorrow, this has to happen right now. Like con- continuing to check and check and [00:17:10] check. Listen, I was there. I remember when I first started hiring a therapist, m- multiple times a day, I was checking our email, I was checking our EHR to see if people had scheduled consults.

[00:17:17] Like, I was pretty [00:17:20] neurotic about it. Not to my benefit by any means, but again, the delusional part took over where I was like, “I know this is gonna work. It’s just gonna take time.” [00:17:30] Okay? So our third one, and this is one that I am continuing to work on, is releasing ourselves from the responsibility [00:17:40] of others’ actions.

[00:17:41] Okay? And what I mean about that is we… L- listen, I understand that this is gonna sound so basic. [00:17:50] We can’t control how other people respond. And in therapy practices, in group practices where we are holding so much in that practice, and [00:18:00] often we are holding it alone, right? Like, we don’t have… We’re not gonna go to our therapist and, like, vent and, and bitch about what’s happening, right?

[00:18:07] Like, usually we’re operating in isolation [00:18:10] at the top of a group practice. But when you have people in your practice who maybe respond in a way that impacts you [00:18:20] negatively, we have to detach from it, okay? And I see this a lot with people who are like, they feel responsible for the financial [00:18:30] wellbeing of the people working for them.

[00:18:32] And What I really encourage people, and listen, I was there too. There was a lot of, like, [00:18:40] really the beginning of my practice, I felt like I had to provide for these people. I had to make sure that they were financially secure. Um, my, one of my admins, like, she was [00:18:50] really relying on this job to be her whole financial wellbeing.

[00:18:54] It was a part-time admin position. And I still had to release the responsi- [00:19:00] my own responsibility from how she responded to what I was doing. I say that within a range, right? Because, and if you listen to the [00:19:10] episode a couple weeks ago where I talk about, like, the ethical, um, your ethical range, right? If you are operating within your ethical range and somebody [00:19:20] responds in a negative way to what you feel good about, what is within that range, we have to release the responsibility from it.

[00:19:28] We, we just have to. [00:19:30] And, uh, this applies, this applied to me in my group practice. It was really, really hard for me, um, initially. If somebody would leave, I did have, um, I had [00:19:40] somebody leave because we weren’t filling her caseload as quickly as she needed it to. Um, and so she needed the financial security, right?

[00:19:49] And I [00:19:50] don’t fault her for that by any means, and I felt awful that we couldn’t provide that for her, but I had to release it. And what I tell a lot of people in the program is, “If you know [00:20:00] that you’re somebody who’s gonna take on that responsibility for other people, especially for their financial wellbeing, you need to very intentionally hire somebody who is not relying on this as [00:20:10] their sole income, or who doesn’t need to make a significant amount of money from this, at least not immediately.”

[00:20:18] Because then when you hire [00:20:20] and people come in and they don’t have this expectation to fill up within a month, or they don’t have this expectation to hit a certain income level right away, then you can release that pressure [00:20:30] from yourself, right? Like, you’re gonna feel less stressed about it because you’ve released the responsibility of other people’s actions.

[00:20:38] And we have to hold [00:20:40] steady and remind ourselves people will react differently even though our action is the same, okay? So if [00:20:50] you are You’re networking, you’re writing blogs, you’re maybe running ads for your practice. Like, whatever you’re doing, you’re doing the same thing [00:21:00] across the board with all of your therapists.

[00:21:02] Maybe you have one person who’s really pissed off, and they’re really upset that their caseload isn’t getting filled quick enough. But then you have somebody over here who’s, like, grateful. [00:21:10] They’re like, “I’m in school. This is really hard. Like, I don’t want my, my caseload to fill up quickly. Do I wanna get to, like, 15 clients a week?

[00:21:16] Yeah, but it’s okay if it takes, like, three to four months because I’m [00:21:20] adjusting.” Your actions are the same. Their responses are different. You can’t take responsibility for either of those responses, [00:21:30] but you have to, you have to recognize that you can also build a practice of people who are gonna r- hopefully respond more in the way that it’s [00:21:40] not impacting them so negatively Okay?

[00:21:45] So those are my three mindset tips for you. That is what helped me build [00:21:50] my group practice. That is what is helping me now build this business. And I just really do encourage you, if you don’t have some sort of mindset [00:22:00] practice or mindset strategy built in to your day-to-day life, do it. Any time I find myself really, really struggling [00:22:10] with my mindset, whether it’s, like, scarcity or it’s just feeling, like, the overwhelm or the burnout or anything like that, I would– I have this journal.

[00:22:18] It’s called The Five-Minute Journal, [00:22:20] and it’s basically a gratitude journal, and you fill it out in the morning and at night, and it’s super quick. And you just write down the things you’re grateful for, and it’s just so helpful to [00:22:30] every single day be reflecting on something that you’re grateful for. All right?

[00:22:34] So if you’re like, “I don’t know where to start,” start there. Start with gratitude for what you’re doing, [00:22:40] for the work you’re putting in, for the therapists who are working for you, for each and every referral that comes your way. Just start with gratitude. And I guarantee [00:22:50] it’s going to dramatically change the course of your business.

[00:22:54] It did for me, okay? Having that daily gratitude practice 100% changed the [00:23:00] course of, of business for me. So I hope you enjoyed today’s episode. That was a little less tactical but still wildly important for [00:23:10] you as you’re scaling your practice. Um, I– next week my co-founder, June, is– her and I are going to be recording our episode [00:23:20] together, and so I highly encourage you.

[00:23:23] I will post– This is gonna drop on Monday. Um, so it’s– If you’re listening to this when it dropped, it is Monday. [00:23:30] Um, and on my Instagram page, I am going to have a poll in my stories to see– or not poll, just a question box. Whatever questions you have for me and June [00:23:40] to answer about our business, about the process of scaling it, anything like that, please drop them, um, in there.

[00:23:47] And if the question box is not up yet or you’re listening [00:23:50] to this after Monday, um, then just DM me. We’re happy to answer some questions that you guys might have. All right? So thank you so much for tuning in. Um, again, it means [00:24:00] more to me than you possibly know hearing– when people are like, “I listened to your episode, and, like, it really made me think about X, Y, and Z,” I love, love hearing that.

[00:24:06] So please feel free to reach out in DMs, um, and let me know [00:24:10] what resonated. Let me know what’s sticking. Let me know what’s helpful. Um, and I’ll see you next week. Bye for now. That is a wrap on today’s episode. Thank you so much for spending this time with me. [00:24:20] If you connected with what we talked about today, the best thing you can do right now is hit subscribe so you never miss an episode.

[00:24:26] Leave a review to let other therapists know how this was helpful, and share this with a therapist [00:24:30] friend who needs to hear it. Come find me on Instagram @dranahitabanoo. That’s where I hang out the most, and I genuinely love connecting with therapists there. If you have a question, a win to [00:24:40] share, or you just wanna say hi, my DMs are always open.

[00:24:42] And if you’re ready to actually take the next step in building your group practice, head to www.dranahitabanoo.com. [00:24:50] There you can learn about my group practice accelerator programs or grab my free marketing quiz to get started filling caseloads. See you next week. Over and [00:25:00] out