WP197 | The Hidden Reason Your Practice Isn't Growing
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What if the thing keeping your practice from growing isn’t your marketing, your website, or how hard you’re working?
Y’all, most practice owners already know a whole lot about what they should be doing. The hard part is actually following through when you’re trying to make every decision, solve every problem, and carry the weight of the business by yourself.
In this episode, I’m talking about why community may be the missing piece in your practice growth. I’m sharing how support, accountability, and honest feedback changed my own journey from solo practice owner to group practice leader. We’ll also talk about why more information isn’t always the answer and how having the right people beside you can help you move forward with more confidence.
You were never meant to build your practice alone.
Practice Ownership Can Feel Incredibly Lonely
Most of us were never trained to run a business. We learned how to diagnose, create treatment plans, follow ethical guidelines, and care for our clients. We didn’t necessarily learn how to market a practice, manage money, hire employees, build systems, or lead a team.
When I first started my practice, I didn’t know where to invest my marketing dollars. I didn’t really understand websites, business strategy, or leadership. I was putting myself out there and trying to figure things out as I went.
Podcasts and business resources helped me learn, but things really started changing when I joined a community where I had accountability, guidance, and other practice owners growing beside me.
Isolation Makes Small Problems Feel Bigger
When you’re running your practice alone, every problem can feel like proof that you’re failing.
A therapist leaves your group practice, and you start questioning whether you’re a good leader. Referrals slow down, and you wonder whether your business is falling apart. A marketing strategy doesn’t work, and suddenly you feel like nothing you’re doing is working.
I remember having two contract therapists leave during my first year as a group practice owner. I cried my eyes out and questioned whether I had what it took to lead a team.
What helped me keep moving forward was having other practice owners who could tell me they had been there too. They reminded me that one difficult season didn’t define my leadership or the future of my practice.
Information Doesn’t Automatically Create Growth
We can listen to podcasts, attend webinars, read books, and take courses all day long. But learning something and actually implementing it are two very different things.
Transformation happens when we have accountability, relationships, and live feedback. Sometimes we need someone sitting beside us, helping us work through an idea and pointing out the things we can’t see for ourselves.
Inside the Wise Practice Community, I’ve watched practice owners share marketing materials, questions, challenges, and business decisions. A little feedback from someone who understands private practice can help them make a change that moves the entire business forward.
You probably wouldn’t hand a client a book and expect that book to do all the work. Yet we often expect ourselves to build a successful business by consuming information without having anyone walk beside us.
Every Season of Growth Requires Support
When I look back at every major season of growth in my business, there were people beside me.
I had colleagues around me when I started as a solo practice owner. I had a coach when I began building my group practice. I found mentors when I needed better systems, policies, leadership structures, and support for a growing team.
More recently, I created a leadership team and implemented EOS in my practice. I also purchased a second building for Water’s Edge Counseling. None of that happened because I decided I should handle everything myself.
Great leaders don’t grow without community. We need people who can offer direction, cheer us on, challenge us, and remind us that we don’t have to carry every decision alone.
Find People Who Understand Your Business and Your Faith
Your spouse, friends, and family may be incredibly supportive, but they may not understand what it feels like to run a private practice.
There is something powerful about talking with someone who understands the pressure of maintaining a caseload, hiring therapists, managing finances, leading a team, and building a business that reflects your faith.
You weren’t made to build your practice alone. Finding a focused community of like-minded practice owners may be the thing that helps you finally move forward.
Show Sponsor Ubuntu Freelancers
If you became a therapist to help people, but now spend your evenings answering emails, managing schedules, chasing paperwork, and trying to keep your practice running, you’re not alone.
Ubuntu Freelancers helps therapy practices build dedicated remote administrative teams, so practice owners can spend less time managing the business and more time caring for clients.
Unlike general staffing agencies, Ubuntu focuses on work with therapy practices and behavioural health organisations. They understand the unique demands of mental healthcare and carefully match practices with experienced Virtual Assistants, Intake Coordinators, Executive Assistants, Billing Specialists and Client Care Coordinators who become a trusted extension of your team.
As a special offer for Wise Practice listeners, Ubuntu Freelancers will cover the first five hours of onboarding support with every successful placement.
Simply mention the code WISE when you book your Discovery Call.
Visit www.ubuntufreelancers.com to learn more.
Links and Resources
Free Webinar: 10 Proven Strategies to Grow a Christian Private Practice
[ August 25th ] Registration is required, so be sure to save your spot HERE!
Join the Wise Practice Community(The Wise Practice Community will open for enrollment August 26–28.)
Learn More about Wise Practice Consulting
Connect with Wise Practice on Instagram
Connect with Whitney Owens on Facebook
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[00:00:00] If you became a therapist to help people but now spend your evenings answering emails, managing schedules, chasing paperwork, and trying to keep your practice running, you're not alone. Ubuntu Freelancers helps therapy practices build dedicated remote administrative teams so practice owners can spend less time managing the business and more time caring for their clients.
[00:00:21] Unlike general staffing agencies, Ubuntu focuses on work with therapy practices and behavioral health organizations. They understand the unique demands of mental health care and carefully match practices with experienced VAs, intake coordinators, executive assistants, billing specialists, and client care coordinators who become trusted extensions of your team.
[00:00:42] As a special offer for Wise Practice listeners, Ubuntu Freelancers will cover the first five hours of onboarding support with every successful placement. Simply mention the code WISE when you book your discovery call. Visit ubuntufreelancers.com to learn more
[00:01:01] Whitney Owens: Hi, I'm Whitney Owens. I'm a group practice owner and faith-based practice consultant, and I'm here to tell
[00:01:06] 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.
[00:01:23] Now, let's get started
[00:01:27] Whitney Owens: Where she grows your practice, she don't play. She does business with a twist of faith. It's Whitney Owens and the Wise Practice podcast. Whitney Owens and the Wise Practice podcast
[00:01:46] Before we jump into the episode today, I wanna personally invite you to a free webinar that I'm hosting on August 25th, The 10 Proven Strategies to Grow a Christian Private Practice. If you've been wondering what's exactly right for spending your dollars, growing your practice, maybe your referrals have slowed down and you're trying to figure out, where do I best invest my time and my energy and my money?
[00:02:08] This webinar is for you. So I'm gonna share some strategies that has helped me grow Water's Edge Counseling into the thriving group practice that it is today, and the same principles that I have taught hundreds of private practice owners. The goal here is that I want you to walk away with practical ideas and strategies that you can implement immediately.
[00:02:28] The webinar's totally free. All you gotta do is register in advance. So make sure you check out the link in the show notes or head to wisepracticeconsulting.com, the Events section, and make sure that you register for this webinar, August 25th, The 10 Proven Strategies to Growing a Christian Private Practice.
[00:02:47] Now, let's jump into the episode today. So you might be wondering, what is that hidden thing that I need to know to help my practice get to the next level? So I always say that there's no magic bullet, right? And, and people hear that from me a lot. But I'm actually gonna tell you, this, this one might actually be a little bit of a magic bullet, and you'll understand when we get to the end here.
[00:03:13] But practice owners keep coming to me, "Why isn't my practice growing?" So they're doing all the things, right? "Hey, I'm doing the marketing, I'm investing in ads, I'm building my website, I'm going out into the community and talking to people, I'm networking," and, and it just feels like a hamster wheel, especially in today's economy.
[00:03:32] So those things, of course, are great. I want you to keep doing them. They will help your practice. But there's something about you're doing the things, and you really wanna take it to the next level, and you just can't seem to get there. So then it's like we think, "Okay, if I do this thing, I'll get there. If I do this thing, I'll get there.
[00:03:54] You know, s- if I can invest in this marketing company, then I'll be in this place, or this program or this thing." And the, again, they're all good, but it's not getting you where you want to. After consulting hundreds of practice owners, I am convinced that the biggest reason that people are not growing, one of the biggest, is a lack of community.
[00:04:20] They know all the things. They learn it, but the community aspect is lacking. And we're so lonely in our private practice. You were never meant to be alone. We could jump into so many biblical stories about the importance of community. You find that in your church, you find it in your family, you find it with your friends.
[00:04:45] Why don't we go after that within our profession? Now, it can't just be community without focus. It's gotta be a community with a focus and a drive and like-minded people in what you're doing. But this episode is not just about, hey, I want you to have community. It's, it's about your growth. It's about your personal growth, your faith growth, and your practice growth, and how isolation quietly keeps you stuck, and you're not even realizing it.
[00:05:18] So we were never trained to run a business, right? We went to graduate school. We learned all the things, the ethics, the diagnosis, the clinical, the, you know, how to write a treatment plan. Maybe if you're lucky, you got one class on building a private practice, but most of us didn't get any of that. I know for me, I felt so lonely when it was time to start a practice.
[00:05:41] I was living in Colorado right after I graduated. We moved out there for my husband to go to school. And during that time, I worked at a psychiatric hospital because I didn't know what else to do, and I needed to earn my hours. Fortunately, through that experience, I met some really amazing therapists who wanted to go do a practice together, and I was like, "Wow," like, "this is great."
[00:06:04] And so I went and joined another group practice, and I started learning. I was in supervision. I started seeing clients a few days a week. I worked at the psychiatric hospital part-time and did part-time private practice, and during that time, I really grew. After that, unfortunately, that practice closed, and I didn't know what I was gonna do.
[00:06:26] And so the ladies that were at this practice with me came together and said, "Let's go start our own practice. We'll each have to kind of have our own business, but we can share space, share referrals, and work together." I was like, "Oh, goodness." And I can tell you, I don't think I ever planned to start a private practice.
[00:06:43] That was never in my game plan or my journey. I just wanted to see clients. But then I got into this situation, and I was like, "I guess I'm gonna start a private practice." There is absolutely no way I would have done it if I hadn't had these ladies beside me. I didn't know what I was doing. So I did that for a few years, got my license out in Colorado, moved to Georgia, didn't know people in Savannah.
[00:07:08] So I started reaching out to practices. No one was hiring me because unfortunately, my license wouldn't transfer. It's a long story, but I, I had to go back and be an associate, and a lot of practices were insurance-based, and back then, a lot of insurance-based practices, um, couldn't bill for associates.
[00:07:24] That's gotten so much better. So I was alone. I didn't know what I was doing. And I started my own practice. I didn't know where to invest in marketing. I didn't know what that actually really was. I kinda knew what a website was. I built my own, but it wasn't too great. I had no direction and no community, no accountability.
[00:07:48] I was just kinda putting myself out there. Fortunately, I did start growing a practice, and I can definitely tell you that podcasts helped me tons. I listened to so many private practice building podcasts, but it wasn't until I got into a community that things really started moving forward. I ended up joining a mastermind group.
[00:08:12] I did that for two years, and when we all came together, I was challenged. I had a consultant guiding me. I had accountability that we could grow together, and I was no longer alone. Like, I- how to have business strategy, how to be a leader. And it was really at that time that I started hiring my first therapist in my practice.
[00:08:33] Most practice owners aren't failing because they don't know what to do. Most of them are failing 'cause they don't have the community to do it with, 'cause they're doing it by themselves. But when we bring in experts, when we bring in other practice owners, and that community starts to f- feed us what we need to have our growth So isolation makes small problems in your practice feel so much bigger, right?
[00:09:04] When you're isolated, you start fixating on things, you're not-- you feel alone in what you're doing. We know as therapists when we sit with our clients, and we just honor their journey, and we tell them that they're not alone, how powerful that is. Why do we not do that for ourselves as practice owners? We feel nervous about sharing our flaws with other people.
[00:09:28] We're worried about being judged, yet that's the very thing that we need, right? So you might feel like my practice is falling apart or on the outside I'm making it look like my caseload's full or on the outside I'm making it look like I know how to manage my money, especially if you're a group owner.
[00:09:44] But in the end, you, you're feeling, you're feeling alone in it. The marketing's not working. You're not getting to where you wanna be. You question yourself as a leader. I remember so clearly when I started my group practice, I had two contract therapists my first year, and both of them left within nine months or 11 months, and I cried my eyes out when the second one left because I was like, "What am I doing?
[00:10:12] I am uncertain if I'm a good leader." But then when I had other practice owners to go to and say, "Hey, this happened," they'll say, "Yeah, I know. I've been there. That's what happens," right? I lead a mastermind group of advanced group practice owners, and I tell them that story all the time because when they have transitioned, when they have somebody leave, I can say, "Hey, I've been there, and here's where I got later."
[00:10:39] Imagine if I'd given up on Water's Edge Counseling when that event happened, and I thought I wasn't a good leader and I didn't have it in me. But I kept pushing forward within the context of community, and now I'm in a much better place It was painful, it was lonely, but going to other people made all the difference, right?
[00:11:00] Helping me refocus, stay grounded, reminding me of my calling, right? What I feel like God has put into my heart and in my life, so I no longer have to do that alone. So the next thing I want you to consider is that information does not create growth. So even though I was listening to podcasts, attending webinars, going to conferences, learning about business, I needed community to help me push those things forward.
[00:11:29] I think so much of us, and I've seen this in my mastermind group, I teach the concepts of growing a practice, but the implementation can be a lot harder. And when we have somebody even sitting beside us, it makes the world of difference. When we, when I lead this retreat for group practice owners once a year, and this is through my mastermind group, everyone comes to Savannah, and we work on our practices together.
[00:11:50] It is amazing the amount that people can accomplish when someone is literally sitting beside them. Or when we're on virtually, we're telling each other what we're gonna do, and then we're doing it, and we're sharing our wins with one another. So transformation comes when we have accountability in our lives, when we have relationships, when we're getting live feedback, so you're not just listening to something and doing it, but you're doing it and somebody's watching you and giving you that feedback.
[00:12:18] Just the other day, a practice owner in the community was trying to get her space rented, and she had a flyer, and so she posted it, and she said, "I don't know what's going on, but I'm not getting any hits with this flyer." And boy, people were able to give her feedback. I'm snapping. People were able to give her feedback immediately, and then she was able to make some changes.
[00:12:39] Wow. Like, so simple and easy. It's the things we don't see that other people see that can help push us forward. So implementing what you're learning. Remember, it's like our clients. You, you're gonna give them a book and say, "Good luck with your trauma. Read this book and you'll figure it out"? Yet we expect that in our business.
[00:12:58] You know, read this business book. But we need people to walk us s- alongside us, to help us get through the book, to help us implement the things. You don't need more podcasts or more webinars. You need people with like-mindedness helping you move forward in your business. And again, it can't just be clinical talk.
[00:13:20] Like, I think a lot of practice owners... And clinical talk's great. I want you, I want you to better serve clients. But if you want to grow your actual business, business is something totally different than doing good clinical work. You can be the best therapist out there, but if you don't know how to run a business or know how to sell counseling, you're not gonna be able to get your clients to come back, and then they're not gonna get better anyway.
[00:13:44] So you need other people alongside you that understand it Every season of growth required other people. When I think about my journey, I think about the people who've been beside me through it. So I started as a solo owner. Thank goodness I had somebody in the office beside me, and we were able to partner and work together.
[00:14:08] I needed mentors along the way. When I started my group practice, I had a coach. When I moved into, like, eight therapists and I needed to know leadership structure, I started thinking about a second location, working on policies and procedures, 'cause everyone needed me and things fell out of control, I had a mentor then.
[00:14:31] And then most recently, I implemented EOS and created my leadership structure, and y'all, it has been game-changer to have this leadership team. Again, I needed other people if I wanted to get where I wanted to be. In fact, I just purchased my first... my, sorry, my second building for Water's Edge. I'm so used to saying only I have one, but I have two now.
[00:14:54] And I couldn't have done it without some amazing people by my side bringing me direction, cheering me on, and literally my COO sat beside me while I signed the paperwork to purchase the building. You don't have to do it alone. I am always leaning on other people, and I think that is a huge part of why I've had success in my business.
[00:15:16] And I want you to get there, too. I want you to go further, and you're gonna have to need other people. You're gonna have to open up to them. You're gonna have to share with them. Great leaders don't grow without community, hands down. You are the sum of the people that you spend your time with. The habits that they have are the habits you have.
[00:15:39] And so you wanna find a community and some accountability to help you get to that place. So think about it. What are some of the decisions that you feel like you're carrying by yourself, that you feel alone in, that you wish, "Oh, I'd love to run this idea by somebody"? And maybe you've got other people in your community, but they're not business-minded, or maybe they don't have a faith background that you have.
[00:16:02] And so being able to find other practice owners who have that can really help you take it to the next level. Think about where you're feeling stuck in your practice. What's the one thing that can make it better? And would having a community help? Who do you have in your life that truly understands what it means to run a private practice?
[00:16:26] Yes, I can go home and tell my husband about my day, and he is so supportive and helpful, but he has never run a group practice. When I call my friends that have group practices, it's totally different because they get it. I feel so much compassion when they-- I feel like I'm like in the mud, and they're in it with me, and we're working through it.
[00:16:48] We're getting out of it, but I'm not alone. I don't have to feel terrible, right? I don't believe the hidden reason that practices are small is because owners don't care or that they don't know what to do. I think it's because they're trying to build something that they were never made to build alone, and that is why we are here to build it with you.
[00:17:12] If this is resonating with you, I truly believe you will grow in the Wise Practice community. I believe in it. It is my passion. I do lots of things through this consulting business. The community is where I, I thrive, and I love it, and I see growth in the community. I could share you story after story. In fact, usually when I launch the community, I have practice owners come on and share their stories because I want you to know how it works.
[00:17:47] But over the next few episodes, I am sharing with you my best stuff to help you know how to grow, and community is how you grow. I am convinced of it. Now, you can't just join a community and not show up. I can't expect to have friends if I don't go to book club. I can't expect to connect with people at church if I don't go every week.
[00:18:09] So you cannot expect to grow your practice and connect with other people if you don't show up for our weekly meetings. But the Wise Practice community is a place of faith-based practice owners. We meet every single week, sometimes twice a week online live, where you can put your questions. You can share your wins.
[00:18:28] There's courses for you to take to grow your practice, live courses and trainings that you can do at your own pace. I put my best stuff in here. I put all my resources, forms for you to use to your practice. It is jam-packed We need one another. You need to know where to go when your referrals are down.
[00:18:49] How do I make a difference? You need to understand what it's like to hire therapists. How do I grow and scale into a group practice? Or how do I run a sustainable solo practice? How do I get the caseload that I've been looking for? We answer all that in the community and so much more. You can search for courses exactly on what you need.
[00:19:12] So the community is only open a couple of times a year because we wanna invest our time and energy into the new people coming in and put you through a cohort together. That way you form relationships with your cohort. I have heard people talk about the friendships they have made through the people they met in the community.
[00:19:28] It is so beautiful. So the doors to the community are only open August 26th through the 28th. I would love for you to join me. In fact, the free webinar I'm doing on the 25th is just gonna give you a little taste of what it's like to be in a community, because those are the types of things you do every week, but it's not just the learning, it's the practical strategies, which you're gonna get more of in the community.
[00:19:52] But the webinar I'm doing on August 25th, the 10 Proven Strategies to Grow a Christian Private Practice, will give you a little bit of an idea of what it's like to be in a Zoom room with us learning and growing together. You're gonna find the links to everything in the show notes. Thank you for taking the time to listen.
[00:20:07] If you have questions about the community, email me. I wanna answer them. I want you to feel totally good about your decision, and the truth is, you can cancel at any time. So if you get into the community, it's a monthly subscription, $89 a month. If you get in there and you're just like, "This ain't for me," totally fine.
[00:20:25] But the thing is, I think you're gonna love it. If you love this podcast, you are gonna love the community. Thank you for listening to the show, and I look forward to getting in your ears next week
[00:20:38] Whitney Owens: So click on follow and leave a review and keep on loving this work we do with Whitney Owens and the Wise Practice Podcast. Whitney Owens and the Wise Practice Podcast
[00:20:56] Special thanks to Marty Altman for the music in this podcast. The Wise Practice Podcast is part of the SiteCraft 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 sitecraftnetwork.com.
[00:21:17] 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.
