WP164 | How to Scale to a 7-Figure Practice with Alison Pidgeon, LPC
In this episode of the Wise Practice Podcast, I’m excited to welcome my dear friend and trusted colleague, Alison Pidgeon. Alison is the founder and CEO of Move Forward Counseling, a thriving multi-location practice in Pennsylvania with eight offices and more than 65 clinicians. I’ve had the joy of watching her grow from a single-location practice to a seven-figure business, and her insights on scaling are truly invaluable.
Before we dive in, I share a quick story about a long-running joke between us—our shared dream of owning hot tubs. Alison bought hers years ago; I kept putting it off. And then, in the most unexpected way, I ended up being gifted a blow-up baptism hot tub from our church. It felt like the perfect metaphor for business growth: sometimes the things we hesitate on finally come together in surprising ways.
Today, Alison and I talk about what practice owners often get wrong when scaling, how to hire and retain strong clinicians, when to invest in leadership, and why delegation is essential if you want to grow to seven figures without burning out.
If you’re dreaming of a bigger practice—or wondering what sustainable scaling really looks like—you’re going to love this conversation.
The Hot Tub Story That Came Full Circle
Years ago, when Alison and I were working together on consulting projects, we would joke about wanting hot tubs. She went after hers right away, but I kept putting it off. Life, business, excuses—you name it. I even updated my backyard with a space for one and still never got around to buying it!
Fast-forward to this year. I’m riding in the car with my girlfriend and casually say, “I’d love a hot tub for my birthday. I just don’t want to do the work of actually going to pick one out.” Later that day, I mentioned the same thing to my husband, fully expecting nothing to come of it.
And then—God, in His humor—stepped in.
At church the next morning, my husband’s assistant walked up to me with a grin and said, “Whitney, I have something for you… a hot tub.” It turns out they were clearing out the building and no longer needed their blow-up baptismal hot tub. Yes, you read that right—a blow-up hot tub used for baptisms. Blessed. Holy Spirit filled. Fully sacred.
We put it in the back of my car and brought it home. And honestly? I love it. It feels symbolic of how business works sometimes: we put things off, we overthink, we tell ourselves it’s too much trouble—and then the thing we’ve wanted all along comes together in an unexpected, grace-filled way.
Which leads perfectly into this conversation with Alison.
The Real Path to Seven Figures Isn’t What You Think
Many practice owners assume that scaling to seven figures means constant hustle, endless hours, and drowning in tasks. But Alison shares something very different: as she scaled, she actually worked less.
Here are just a few of the takeaways from our conversation:
1. Delegation Isn’t Optional
One of the biggest mistakes Alison sees is owners waiting too long to hire support. You cannot scale if everything still funnels through you. At some point, you need people who love doing the things you dread.
For her, hiring a COO created immediate momentum—so much so that her practice doubled revenue within a year.
2. HR Should Come Much Earlier Than You Think
Many clinicians try to manage HR on their own far too long. But as Alison explains, once you hit a certain size, HR becomes a full job. Hiring fractional help first and then moving to part-time or full-time support can be the difference between sustainable growth and total burnout.
3. Culture and Values Matter More Than Money
Clinicians want to work in places where they feel supported, respected, and aligned with the mission. Values-based hiring not only attracts the right people—it repels the wrong ones, which is equally important.
4. Bigger Doesn’t Mean Busier
This one surprises people: Alison says running a practice with 65 clinicians isn’t any more work than running one with 30. Once the leadership team is strong, and systems are tight, the owner’s workload becomes more spacious—not more chaotic.
5. Scaling Requires Courage
Alison is honest about the discomfort that comes with investing before you feel ready—whether in HR, leadership roles, or expansion. But those strategic risks are often the catalyst for the next stage of growth.
A Look Inside Alison’s CEO Role
Today, Alison focuses her time on:
Leading her department heads
Guiding new initiatives and expansions
Running an efficiency committee to improve operations
Hosting leadership retreats
Overseeing her new sister practice, Heartwell Therapy
She’s truly stepped into the role of visionary, and it’s inspiring to see what’s possible when a therapist fully embraces CEO leadership.
If You Want to Scale, This Episode Is for You
Whether you’re dreaming of hitting seven figures or simply want a more sustainable, supported group practice, Alison’s wisdom is a gift. She’s lived the journey, made the tough decisions, and figured out what works. I trust her deeply—and I think you’ll see why when you listen.
And who knows… maybe this will be the year you get your own hot tub too. 😉
Alison Pidgeon’s Resources
Links and Resources
Join the Wise Practice Membership Community
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[00:00:00] Whitney Owens: Hi, I am Whitney Owens. I'm a group practice owner and faith-based practice consultant, and I'm here to tell you that you can have it all. Wanna grow your practice, wanna grow your faith, wanna enjoy your life outside of work, you've come to the right place. Each week on the Wise Practice Podcast, I will give you the action steps to have a successful faith-based practice while also having a good time.
Now, let's get started.
[00:00:29] Jingle: Where she grows your practice and she don't play. She does business with a twist of faith. It's Whitney Owen and Wise Practice Podcast, Whitney Owen and Wise Practice Podcast.
[00:00:47] Whitney Owens: I am thrilled to have Allison pitching on the podcast today if you've known me for very while. Very long, for a long while.
Allison is a dear friend of mine and an incredible business consultant. In fact, she has an eight location practice in Pennsylvania. She knows what she's doing and I've had the honor of being friends with her for years and watching her grow and kind of watching our practices grow alongside each other, which have had a similar but different trajectory.
And she's insurance based, even though she recently started a private pay sister practice that she'll tell you about in the show. And then I have private pay, but it's been really cool to like grow our practices together and kinda see that process. So I'm excited to have her on the show. She's gonna talk about how to get to a seven figure practice and, you know, considerations in becoming a seven figure practice and thinking about scaling and where you wanna go.
So I, I kinda wanna go back and share a little bit of a story and it's gonna all wrap up in the end. And I love sharing fun stories on the podcast. So. Allison and I met in 2019. We were working for another consulting agency at the time, and then we kind of partnered up as we were working together on a lot of different projects.
We hosted a membership community for group practice owners for years, and some of you that listened to this show, you know what I'm talking about, maybe that's how we met. We also started a program for. Helping people launch their group practice. We also did a course on transitioning from 10 99 to W2. So we did some really fun stuff together.
Well, at the time, both of us talked about wanting a hot tub, and I'll tell y'all, I'm obsessed with hot tubs. Like I cannot go to an Airbnb unless it has a hot tub. And when I got my yard redone years ago, I even had a spot for a hot tub. When all that was going on, Allison and I were chatting and Allison's like, I'm getting in my hot tub.
I was like, you are. And then she got her hot tub and I was jealous. I was like, she got her hot tub and she was like, Whitney, we are group practices. We work really hard. We deserve to, you know, buy things that we can enjoy. And so she had her hot tub and I dilly doi, I was lazy. I didn't wanna think about it.
I had other things going on and I just never actually got it. I, I did go look at them. So. Recently, this was, when I say recently, I mean last week, of course I'm recording this in November. My birthday's coming up and I say to my girlfriend while we're in the car, I'm like, man, I would love a hot tub for my birthday.
I just don't wanna go through all the work of going to get the hot tub. And so I come home and I say to my husband, I'd really like that hot tub. I'd love to have one. And of course he's like, eh, you know, maybe I'll convince him to go get one for me. The next day I go to church, and as you know, my husband's a minister.
Sadly, they're, they are no longer able to keep their space as the space, the rent is too much for their current budgets. They're gonna be going elsewhere. But in that process, they are getting rid of some of the things that are in the church. And so his assistant comes over to me and says, Whitney, guess what?
And I'm like, huh? She goes, I have a hot tub for you to take home today. I was like, what? And she said, the hot tub. Is a blow up and they used to use it for baptisms at the church. I love it. So this big I, I shouldn't say big, I guess it's medium sized blow. A hot tub used to be on stage when they baptize people.
So I love the fact that now my hot tub is sacred. It has been blessed by the Holy Spirit and it has helped people find Jesus. Anyway, we put that hot tub in my back car in the back of my car that day. And I brought it home and I really didn't think my husband would do something that minute, but he like ran out there as soon as we got back and he put that hot tub, blew it up and got it ready going for me.
Now we did have to order some chemicals, so I haven't had the full enjoyment yet, but I'm being told that this weekend I'll be enjoying my blowup hot tub. So maybe I'll let you know in another episode, but I found it so humorous as I was interviewing Allison and remembering how we both said we'd have hot tubs.
I finally came around Allison. It's just a little different, but this will give me the opportunity to see how I like having a hot tub and how much I use it and how my kids feel about it. So there you go. There's my hot tub story. We do have a podcast episode here today, though, on growing to a seven figure practice and scaling beyond that.
So you were in for a treat. And so let me go ahead and introduce you to my dear friend Alison Fit.
I am excited to have my friend Allison Pigeon here on the podcast. I'm pretty sure you've done a few shows with me here, other podcasts. You know, we have a lot of fun together. So for those of you who don't know, Allison, let me tell you a little bit about her and then we're gonna jump into the episode.
Allison Pigeon is the founder and CEO of Mood Forward counseling, a statewide private practice in Pennsylvania. She's a serial entrepreneur. This is very true, having several different businesses. Also has a real estate investor business. She lives with her three boys in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and proudly drives a minivan to soccer practice.
Love it, Allison. Alright girl. So maybe we should talk a little bit about how we know each other. In our history, and then we're gonna kind of talk about all the growth you've had since we've known each other because Wow. Wow. In fact, how many locations do you have right now for move forward?
[00:06:22] Alison Pidgeon: Yeah. First of all, thanks for having me, Whitney.
It's always fun to talk to you. Yeah. We have eight physical locations right now.
[00:06:28] Whitney Owens: Eight. Mm-hmm. Love it. Love it. Great. Alright, so Allison and I, we met in 2018, 1919. 19. Yes. 19. And at that time you had one location, right? Is that right?
[00:06:45] Alison Pidgeon: Yeah, just one. Mm-hmm.
[00:06:47] Whitney Owens: Okay. And you had like what, 12, 14 therapists maybe?
Yeah, about 12. Okay. So now we're hanging out, what, six years later? Six and a half maybe. Where are you sitting now?
[00:07:00] Alison Pidgeon: Yeah, we have 85 employees, 65 therapists. We built out a whole leadership team. We opened a bunch of physical locations as the pandemic was winding down, so we've, we've grown exponentially in the past, really just since the pandemic.
[00:07:18] Whitney Owens: Certainly. Wow. I'm sure people are like, whoa, right? Mm-hmm. So Allison knows how to do it. So today we're gonna jump into this idea of how do we grow to a seven figure practice? And not just doing it, but doing it well. 'cause so many people, I don't know what, what you've noticed. Actually, let's just start with that.
What do you, what are you seeing as some of the maybe pitfalls that you see with people going to seven figures? And then we can kind of talk about how to do it sustainably?
[00:07:48] Alison Pidgeon: Yeah, absolutely. So what I see is people not delegating enough and not realizing all the different. Folks they need to hire to grow and handle the volume of not only the employees, but also the clients.
So I think a lot of people start, you know, their practice and they add a few clinicians and then they grow to 10 to 12 and they can still kind of all manage it themselves. But once you get, you know, to be 15 clinicians, it's a whole nother thing that you have to do in terms of structure and, and leadership and delegation and.
All of those things.
[00:08:26] Whitney Owens: Certainly. Yeah. I, I see people just grow too fast. Mm-hmm. Yes. Right. Especially, I could see this more with insurance based practices as they get on as many panels as they can and they just start hiring a bunch of people not being as intentional as they need to, and then it kind of becomes this like outta control monster of a practice that they don't know how to manage.
So do you see that too?
[00:08:49] Alison Pidgeon: Oh, absolutely. And then people don't do their research to understand how much they can pay their people, and they just think like, well, I'll just pay them as much as I can, because then people wanna come work for me, but then they're making no money and they're burned out. So it's, you know it, that happens a lot.
[00:09:07] Whitney Owens: Yeah. So I'm curious, when you started your practice, did you think to yourself. I wanna have this huge group practice one day, or I wanna make this specific amount of money. Like what was that like for you in maybe looking back like, wow, are you surprised? Or you were like, I'm gonna do this.
[00:09:25] Alison Pidgeon: No, I had no idea.
I think I had that vision in mind of like, I'm gonna have my 10 to 12 clinicians and then I'm gonna be making a hundred thousand dollars a year, which. It sounded like when it was double what I was making when I worked in the agency. Yep. So that sounded amazing. So I just thought, yeah, that'll be, that'll be great, and I'll stop there.
But then we got to that point and it was like, this is great. The clinicians are happy. We're creating a really great work environment for them. The, the clients are getting better. They're really pleased with our services. So it's like, why not just do more of this? You know, so we just, mm-hmm. Kept building from there.
[00:10:01] Whitney Owens: I can relate to that feeling. Yeah. So let's talk about how do we actually go to seven figures? How do we sustainably grow? And I know you've got all the tips, so let's just kind of go through each one of them.
[00:10:17] Alison Pidgeon: Yeah. What I tell people when I work with them doing business consulting is like really think about what you want your end goal to look like.
So, you know, if you want a multi-state practice with hundreds of clinicians, we're probably gonna. Make a different plan than if you just wanna grow to like 30 clinicians in two locations. You know, that's a very different model. So if you know what that end goal looks like, then that's great, and if you don't, that's okay too.
We can still kind of work around it, but I think just kind of understanding like at certain numbers of clinicians, what you need to add or what you can afford to add. And I think along with, you know, obviously working with your accountant or whomever advises you on your financial stuff, but. You know, I think a lot of people wait way too long or they to add a position or they hire somebody that's maybe not necessary.
Like I think one of those like really key things to hire earlier on is hr. 'cause there's always HR stuff that you have to deal with. There's always, you know, just. Yeah, there's always a lot of HR work to do and so for us, that became like one of the first like positions we hired for, because that was a big chunk of what we were doing.
[00:11:35] Whitney Owens: So it sounds like a big part of it is figuring out where you wanna go. And who you need in the right seats to get there. Yes. Yeah. Um, so let's, let's talk a little bit about HR and maybe we can talk about some of the other components too. But when did you, or what, when do you recommend that you hire an HR person?
Like, is this someone for your practice or are you hiring out a company or kinda what does that look like?
[00:11:57] Alison Pidgeon: Yeah, we used sort of a fractional HR person from a company for a long time, but we kind of kept running into issues with that and it just, the job grew to the point where like, okay, now it makes sense to hire somebody, let's say part-time to do all this HR work and then.
We got a little bigger and then it was like, okay, now it makes sense to hire somebody full-time to do all this HR work. So that was kind of the progression that we went through and I think that's pretty typical for business. And I think the other, just going back to what you were saying about, you know, kind of mistakes people make or where it's hard to know, like how to grow, like I think there is definitely, uh.
You know, a process where it's very normal for a business to like hire out and use another company for things. And then you don't always realize when you get big enough to, you know, hire a part-time person or hire a full-time person to do that job. And so. There is, you know, you can do the math and kind of figure out like, well when does it make sense to stop using this billing company and you know, bring the billing in house and how much does that cost?
And versus what am I paying the billing company now? And all of that kind of stuff. So, and I think too, a lot of times people think. It's gotta be like all or nothing. Like I either am using this billing company or I have like this full-time biller. Well there's, you know, an in-between step in there too if you need it to be that way.
[00:13:18] Whitney Owens: Yeah, I think that's a good point. 'cause there are a lot of in-between steps at any phase of growing your practice. Like I think about part-time people answering the phones when I was small, you know, and I had interns that worked part-time and then therapists that covered part-time, things like that. But I am actually very curious more for my own sake.
When did you hire an HR person?
[00:13:40] Alison Pidgeon: It was during the pandemic, which my memory of that is pretty fuzzy 'cause it was such a stressful time. But I imagine it was probably. 2021. So we switched, we had contractors the first five years. We switched them over to BW two employees at the beginning of 2020. And then because of the pandemic and the demand going through the roof and the fact that we were now offering benefits and all of that kind of stuff, we just really started to grow exponentially and we're much able to hire much more easily at that point.
So we were hiring more quickly. And then that's just more and more HR stuff to do.
[00:14:19] Whitney Owens: Certainly, yeah. Okay. So I'm guessing you, we kind of touched on this hiring like staff hiring therapist, hiring the types of therapists in your practice. I'm guessing this probably contributes because unfortunately the world of therapists, the turnover is.
Rough.
[00:14:39] Alison Pidgeon: Mm-hmm.
[00:14:41] Whitney Owens: So I, I would love to hear more about how do you hire well sustained therapists that you can grow to seven figures.
[00:14:51] Alison Pidgeon: Yeah, I think definitely W2 employment with offering competitive compensation, good benefits is a big key. I think having a good culture is a, is a big key to retaining people.
I think therapists aren't always money motivated. They wanna work at a place where they feel supported, where they, you know. Like their boss where they feel like they have good relationships with their colleagues and their, you know, their teammates. I think that goes a long way as well. I think something also that is important to my clinicians that I've heard is like, because we are clinicians running the practice, we make sure things are being done ethically and legally within the, you know, bounds of our profession.
And I think, you know, there's like here in Pennsylvania you can open up. Practice and not be a clinician. And so, you know, I think it's really important to them that we're clinicians and that we're doing. You know, absolutely. Like even if it costs more money, we're gonna do it in the most ethical, legal way that we can and we're not gonna skimp on that.
So I think that's really important to them. So yeah, so I think those are things I think, you know, we're still figuring that out as well. Like we just added a position, a therapist that works for us, who's like our engagement specialist, and so she's gonna figure out ways to help retain. Therapist longer.
The average industry averages therapists stay at one place for two to three years, and ours we calculated ours, it's about 2.8 years. So we're trying to figure out ways to extend that. Mm-hmm. Because turnover costs a lot of money. Yes, it does. Mm-hmm.
[00:16:27] Whitney Owens: That's a really good statistic that you're tracking there.
I recently created a whole spreadsheet that was like, here's every person that's worked here. Here's when they left, here's why they left. You know, I think, and I don't know if you would agree with this, one of the challenges is are they actually telling you the real reason they're leaving or not? Yeah.
You know, but you can't assume, and you'd like to think we're all therapists, aren't we honest? But you know, no. The best we can. Yeah. Another thing that I changed recently. I feel like is, and it's recent, so I can't say I've like had enough time to know exactly how good it's gonna go. But we redid our values, we have values, and then we were like, okay, I think these are some different values and we really need to hone in on like describing these.
And then we started using those more in our hiring process and really talking about who we are in the interview process, instead of just getting to know the person and being like, oh, they seem great. Whatever. You know, really. Giving scenario questions and looking at values, and I think that's really helping us hire people more in alignment.
[00:17:33] Alison Pidgeon: Yes. We've done that for a long time.
[00:17:35] Whitney Owens: Yeah. And have you noticed a difference when you started hiring with that? Absolutely.
[00:17:39] Alison Pidgeon: Yeah. Because basically it's repelling the wrong people and attracting the right people. Mm-hmm. And I will be very clear about, you know, like in our practice, one of our values is, you know, diversity inclusion, like it's a safe space for everybody.
Like, you know, like that's just what we're all about. And like, if that's not who you are, then like, please show yourself to the door, basically. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:18:03] Whitney Owens: Great. What else do we need to be thinking about when we're talking about wanting to scale to seven figures?
[00:18:09] Alison Pidgeon: Yeah, I think the delegation piece is so huge.
I think people get all tripped up on delegation, like, how do I do it? How do I know they're doing the right thing once I give them this task to do? You know, all of those kinds of things. And there's so much to that. I'm not sure, like. That's something we can cover in this conversation. But I think like really figuring out what, what are things that you're good at?
What are things that you really wanna be spending your time doing? And everything else, you know, should be delegated to somebody else. Like, I didn't realize until I hired my COO. Like I, I can do all that stuff, but it's very tedious for me and I don't. Enjoy a lot of it. And then I was procrastinating, you know, so I was becoming like the bottleneck to making things happen because I just, I was like, I don't wanna write a policy procedure manual.
That sounds terrible. So like, as soon as I hired her, I was like, here's all the things that I don't wanna do. And I've been putting off like, do you, like, what do you think about doing these? And she's like, I love doing that stuff. And I was like, this is amazing. And she's like, you know, gets it done quickly.
She's. You know, super competent and just, I, you know, I totally trust her to do a great job and like it's just amazing, like how much we grew. The first year she came, our revenue doubled and I really think that's because she like jumped in and did all those things that I was procrastinating about and we're just like a really good like match in terms of our strengths and weaknesses.
[00:19:46] Whitney Owens: That's great. I think a lot of people. Couple of thoughts here. Group practice ownership. This has surprised me as I've grown. You know, I always thought, oh, well the more I grow, the more money I'll have to invest in things, you know? But that's not always the case. 'cause you have more people to pay more.
Expenses, that kind of thing. So I think it makes it hard to make decisions on what to invest our money in, what not to do. I have enough money to invest in these things. Like, oh, I think a lot of people are probably listening going, do I have enough money to hire a coo? That sounds like a really good idea.
But then you also just said that I'm gonna, might double, you know, or you did like, do you have any advice or questions, thoughts for people to be asking themselves when they're like, do I have the money to bring on these people or to do this thing? Yeah.
[00:20:31] Alison Pidgeon: The way I think about it is like, you know, again, there, there can be sort of an in-between phase, right?
Like. You can, like I hired my COO, she was a clinician, so I said, you know, like in the beginning, the first year, you're gonna have to see some clients because I can't cover your whole salary without you generating any revenue. I said, but then after we grow to, you know, a certain size, we can have you.
'cause she didn't wanna see clients anymore. So I said, you know, we can have you not have a caseload anymore. And she was okay with that. And so yeah, there was sort of a. In between transition time for like a year where she saw clients half the time and did that work half the time. And that helped to get us to that point where we didn't have to have her see clients anymore.
I also couldn't really pay her what a typically A COO makes. And I said, you know, like I can pay you this salary for sure, and like if the practice makes a profit, I said, I will share it with you. And we worked that out. Obviously everything is in writing and. So she knew like, okay, if I meet, you know, these goals and help the practice in this way, we're gonna make a profit and then I'll get, get a share of that.
So I think that was also a really great way of just kind of getting started, because I think a lot of times we think like, oh, I'm gonna hire the COO, I need to like. Magically have this a hundred thousand dollars salary to pay this person, but you really don't. You can, you know, you can kind of figure out a way to make it work for the practice so that you're not putting like a huge amount of money up front.
On the other side of the coin though too, is that you, you have to sort of invest some money and you're gonna have to maybe. See your, you know, revenue go down a little bit, maybe for a period of a few months to make that investment, to get to that next level. And I think that's scary for people, but I think, you know, you really, that's the only way you're going to get to the next level.
You can't keep doing it all yourself, so. Yeah, kind of tolerating that discomfort for a little while. And I think too, just asking your accountant, like in the beginning I was like, I wanna hire this person. I have no idea if I can afford to pay this person's salary. Like can we run some numbers to see what this looks like?
And they were able to do that for me, so that made me feel more comfortable too.
[00:22:47] Whitney Owens: Mm-hmm. I've done that before as well. It does really help.
[00:22:51] Alison Pidgeon: Mm-hmm.
[00:22:52] Whitney Owens: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I'm, I'm even just kind of reflecting. We just had our best month ever at Water's Edge in October and. I definitely just spent the most money I've ever spent on consulting the months leading up to it, right?
Mm. And so it just kind of shows that you do a bunch of different things, or I now have more leadership team members, I'm paying them more, you know? And that really does make that difference. You gotta take those leaps of faith, you know, to be able to kind of get to where you wanna be. Any other tips that come to mind when we're talking about scaling?
Um, I think a lot of
[00:23:29] Alison Pidgeon: times people think like, oh, the more. Clinicians I add, or the bigger I get, the more work that's gonna be for me. And that's the actual opposite that I found. I found that it's actually less work because I can now hire all these people to do all the things that I used to do, so actually work less than I used to, which is really nice.
And I'm finally like at that point where I feel like I'm just doing the things I really wanna be doing and I've delegated everything else. And so that's a constant. You know, sort of revisiting like every few months, like what am I doing? What can I give to somebody else? Like, did something land on my lap that I don't really need to be doing?
You know, that kind of thing. So I just talked to somebody yesterday actually who has 30 clinicians and I told her I had 65 and she's like, oh my gosh, this sounds like so much work. And I was like, actually it's not really any more work than 30 clinicians was. It's about the same. So,
[00:24:27] Jingle: mm-hmm.
[00:24:27] Alison Pidgeon: I think that's something to keep in mind too.
[00:24:30] Whitney Owens: Mm-hmm. I think that's such a good point and, and it really does go back to obviously getting the right people in the right seats, because that is what allows you to step back. And then I, gosh, when you have an employee that's not well, especially if they're, you know, in a leadership role or something, it does take up a lot of our time.
[00:24:48] Alison Pidgeon: And having really good systems too. Like we have really great systems. We have, you know, bonus structures in place to really like maximize the jobs that people are doing. So they're, you know, going above and beyond to do their best work. And that is helpful too.
[00:25:06] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Is the bonus structure for anyone in the practice or just for therapists?
[00:25:11] Alison Pidgeon: Anybody.
[00:25:12] Whitney Owens: Wow.
[00:25:14] Alison Pidgeon: Yeah.
[00:25:14] Whitney Owens: That's really great. And once you implemented that, did you notice a difference?
[00:25:19] Alison Pidgeon: I think I see, yeah, I definitely see people who are motivated to get the bonus. I think especially our billing and our admin departments are motivated to get the bonus and they have actually figured out, like especially the admin team who does all the scheduling, have figured out like how to work together as a team to like capture all the inquiries and get people scheduled and that kind of thing.
So that's been really cool to see. Nice. Nice.
[00:25:45] Whitney Owens: So going back to you feel like you work less, I would love to hear more about what, what does Allison do in a typical day running move forward, and how much time is it and how do you enjoy it?
[00:25:58] Alison Pidgeon: Yeah, so I have three direct reports, so I meet with them every week.
And then mostly what I do now is anything related to like new programs or expansion. I run what we call the efficiency committee. So we meet every two weeks with all the department heads and we anybody can bring to the. Table, like, Hey, this process is broken. Or you know, we're implementing this new thing, but we didn't think about X, Y, and Z.
How are we gonna make this work? You know, that kind of thing. So I really like doing that. It's fun to see like us making progress and how we can make things more efficient. And yeah, it just sort of depends on what's happening in the practice. Like I. Kind of getting involved in different projects, so to speak.
And then I also do two leadership retreats twice a year for our manager level on up. 'cause I feel like it's important for them to continue to have, you know, leadership training. We also do what's called a state of the practice address twice a year. So we talk to them. Staff about how the business is doing our goals.
If we've met our goals, I share with them the budget, like how it's looking from a like percentage standpoint. Mm-hmm. So they appreciate that transparency into how the business is doing. We started a sister practice this year, so a practice that's a separate entity, but all of the. Sort of resources and, and employees from move forward are working in that entity.
So it's called Heartwell Therapy and it's specializing in couples and families, and it's all self-pay, which is why it's a separate entity. So that's been exciting to like set that up and see how that's working and it's a different way of marketing and
[00:27:49] Whitney Owens: yeah. That's great. Yeah. So, so it sounds like. Even though you have separate locations, you really do kind of keep it unified.
And when you're talking about the business, you're talking about the goals of the business for all the locations, right? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And when you do your meetings, do you do all those over Zoom or do you ever get the whole team together?
[00:28:11] Alison Pidgeon: So mostly we do things over Zoom because we're so spread out, but we also try to have in-person opportunities for people to get together, like e either within their own team or like, we had a 10th anniversary celebration party Oh, cool.
A couple of months ago. So we invited everybody to have dinner and it was really nice.
[00:28:32] Whitney Owens: Aw, I love it. I love it. Awesome. Okay, so people who are listening who are thinking, I would love to get to that seven figure mark, you know, what are some next steps? Like, how can they follow up with you? And this is what you do consulting for, right?
[00:28:48] Alison Pidgeon: Yeah, so the consulting business is called Private Practice by Design, and that's, you can find us there, private practice by design.com if you wanna kind of check out what we're all about. I also have another one of my employees, Tiana Kelly, who helps with consulting around compliance. So she's one of those people who like nerds out on spreadsheets and chart audits and all of those kinds of things.
So if you need help with compliance, either setting up a. Or just, you know, making sure your system is, you know, working how it should be and is comprehensive. Tiana can definitely help with that and I, I really love working with people who, you know, have started a group practice and they're like, you know, I really wanna scale up and make, make something bigger.
That's, you know, exciting for me. And then a lot of times too, I help people go from contractors to W2 employees. 'cause that seems to be a trend that's happening now. That great. So that too
[00:29:48] Whitney Owens: wonderful and, and I can just say from personal experience, Allison, someone I turn to with my practice questions. So definitely has a lot of knowledge and an ability to bring the kindness and the directness to the conversation as we kind of move forward as therapist and running a practice.
'cause there's so much involved. It's not just the business, it's who we are, you know, as a person in our families and you understand that aspect as well. So thank you. Yeah. Yeah. So what's the best way for somebody to reach out if they're looking for some business coaching?
[00:30:22] Alison Pidgeon: I would say my email address, which is, it's Allison with one L at private practice by design.com.
[00:30:28] Whitney Owens: Nice. Wonderful. I know you've, you've been setting it up and. Doing good work with it. So I'm excited for you and thank you for coming in and providing some information even for me as I'm like, huh. So where are we at and how do I wanna keep growing? You know, you've, you've helped me think about some things and I appreciate you coming on the show today.
[00:30:47] Alison Pidgeon: Oh, thank you for having me.
[00:30:51] Jingle: So click on follow and leave a review and keep on loving this work we do with Whitney Owen and Wise Practice Podcast, Whitney Owen and Wise Practice Podcast.
[00:31:09] Whitney Owens: Special thanks to Marty Altman for the music in this podcast. The Wise Practice Podcast is part of the Site Craft Podcast Network. A collaboration of independent podcasters focused on helping people live more meaningful and productive lives.
To learn more about the other amazing podcasts in the network, head on over to site craft network.com. The Wise Practice podcast represents the opinions of Whitney Owens and her guests. This podcast is for educational purposes only, and the content should not be taken as legal advice. If you have legal questions, please consult an attorney.
