WP 77 | How to Transition from Solo to Group Practice Owner - Live Consulting with Liz Fava
Navigating the Shift: From Solo to Group Practice - Insights from Liz Fava and Whitney Owens
In a recent episode of the Wise Practice podcast, host Whitney Owens had an engaging conversation with Liz Fava, the owner and director of Fava Counseling Associates, about the journey and challenges of transitioning from running a solo therapy practice to managing a group practice. Below we will examine the wisdom shared in their discussion, offering valuable insights for therapists considering or currently making a similar transition.
Embracing New Challenges
Transitioning from a solo to a group practice involves a myriad of challenges, from establishing new systems and processes to managing a growing team. Liz Fava shares, "It's not just about scaling up; it's about thinking differently. Systems that worked for you as a solo practitioner, like managing your phone line or email, might not hold up well under the demands of a group practice."
The Importance of Systems and Processes
One crucial aspect of transitioning to a group practice is developing new systems and processes. Both Owens and Fava discuss the need to rethink operations, especially regarding client intake and communications. Fava emphasizes, "Having a solid intake process is where everything starts. If your intake isn't going well, the whole process isn't going well."
Delegating to Thrive
A pivotal point in their discussion revolves around the art of delegation. As a practice grows, the ability to delegate effectively becomes crucial. Fava admits, "At some point, you have to examine what tasks you're doing that can be handed off so you can focus on what only you as the owner can do."
Whitney Owens echoes this sentiment, suggesting therapists conduct a "time audit" to identify areas ripe for delegation. Identifying tasks that consume valuable time without contributing directly to the practice's growth can reveal opportunities for delegation.
The Role of Technology in Practice Management
As part of the transition to group practice, both Fava and Owens highlight the importance of utilizing technology, such as practice management software and communication tools, to streamline operations and enhance efficiency. Fava shares her experience with transitioning to a system like Spruce for managing calls, noting, "You need something that grows with you and is easy for your therapists to manage."
Cultivating a Supportive Community
Perhaps the most overarching theme of their conversation is the importance of building a support community, whether through joining membership communities, engaging with a mentor, or connecting with peers facing similar challenges. Owens mentions, "Being part of a community where others are at similar phases or further ahead can provide both wisdom and accountability and structure."
Leaps of Faith and Learning
Both Liz Fava and Whitney Owens's insights underline that the transition from a solo to a group practice is a business decision and a journey of personal growth. It requires a willingness to face new challenges, learn continuously, and adapt strategies as the practice evolves.
Navigating solo to group practice management is a profound journey with its share of challenges and rewards. Through strategic planning, delegation, and community support, therapists can successfully transition and see their practices thrive, contributing positively to their personal development and the wellness of their clients.
How Can Guto Hep Save Time with Payroll Processing?
Gusto is an excellent payroll processing option for therapist group practice owners due to its intuitive interface and comprehensive support. It simplifies the complex task of managing payroll, taxes, and employee benefits, which is particularly beneficial for practices with multi-state employees. Gusto’s paperless onboarding streamlines the hiring process, and its user-friendly software makes it easy for administrative staff to run payroll efficiently. Additionally, Gusto’s responsive phone support ensures that questions or issues are promptly addressed, allowing therapists to focus more on their clients and less on administrative tasks. If you sign up using this link, you will get a $100 sign-on bonus!
Register For the Webinar
How to Make Faith-based Decisions in your Practice - Monday, April 29th at 2:00 EST
Guest Resources
Links and Resources
Learn More about Whitney Owens Consulting
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Check the podcasts on the PsychCraft Network: PsychCraftnetwork.com
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[00:00:00] Whitney Owens:
[00:00:04] Whitney Owens: Hello, friends. And thanks for hanging out with me today on the wise practice podcast. You are in for a treat. I interviewed the amazing Liz Baba and she has a group practice. And as we were kind of talking about what to talk about on the show, we were discussing those challenges that we face when we go from solo to group practice, there's a lot of ow to Confront Others with Love with Scott Watersthem, but one of them is like, I Making new systems, new processes, because you got to think differently when you have a group practice, you know, a system that worked when you were solo, maybe your phone line or your email or something like that.
[00:00:35] Whitney Owens: It's not working as well. When you have a group practice or maybe your process of intake, you had a certain way you did it. And now that's changed. You can't answer the phones anymore as a group practice center, just for example. And so in this episode, Liz and I kind of problem solve and talk through ways that she's transitioning from solo to group practice ownership.
[00:00:52] Whitney Owens: But before we jump in the episode, I want to tell you about a free webinar I'm going to be doing on how to make faith based decisions in your practice. We know that making decisions in our private practice is challenging in so many ways. And when you bring faith into the picture, we have an extra layer that we're considering.
[00:01:09] Whitney Owens: And what is God leading us into and how do we listen to his voice and how do we listen to others that are also encouraging us? In our faith and in this journey. And so in this webinar, I'm going to talk about how to do all that. So when you're making these difficult faith based decisions in your practice, it's crucial that you first establish that deep understanding of your belief and value.
[00:01:30] Whitney Owens: And you reflect on those core principles within your profession. So in this webinar, we're going to address those business decisions and how to apply that in regards to your faith. This is completely free. And it's on Monday, April 29th at two o'clock. Eastern. So to register for that, you can head to the show notes, or you can head to wisepracticeconsulting.
[00:01:49] Whitney Owens: com slash events and make sure you register because. You will get a recording also afterwards if you can't make it to the event. If you have questions, feel free to reach out to me, Whitney at wildestpractisconsulting. com. And I will also have some time at the end to answer questions. So free webinar, how to make faith based decisions in your practice, Monday, April 29th at two o'clock.
[00:02:11] Whitney Owens: All right. Let's jump into the episode with Liz Fava as we talk about how to transition from a solo to a group practice owner.
[00:02:17] Whitney Owens: Today on the wise practice podcast, I have my friend Liz Fava, who's the owner and director of Fava Counseling Associates. It's a small group practice in Atlanta, Georgia that emphasizes helping people have better relationships. Liz still sees a small caseload of mainly couples, provides clinical supervision and facilitate small group workshops and CE events.
[00:03:03] Whitney Owens: She has two boys ages. Seven and three and has unique advantage of being married to Daniel Fava, the owner of private practice elevation and online marketing agency for therapists. Thanks for coming on the show.
[00:03:16] Liz Fava: Hi, it's good to be here. Thanks for having me.
[00:03:19] Whitney Owens: Yes. Yes. I actually was referring to Daniel's podcast on my show this week because I was leading a group, um, talking about ways to simplify your website.
[00:03:27] Whitney Owens: So yeah. So if, you know, if y'all didn't hear that episode, it's like in the first 20, I think you can go back and hear that. Um, but I'm so excited to have you here today and boy, your boys are growing up seven and three. I was like seven to three already.
[00:03:41] Liz Fava: I know. Isn't that crazy? Yeah. Samuel just turned seven a couple of weeks ago.
[00:03:45] Liz Fava: Caleb's turning three next week. We're in what we like to call the birthday season because Daniel has a birthday end of January, Samuel in February, Caleb in March. And then we can breathe for a moment and all gear up for mommy's birthday in May. So everyone like, Hey, regroup, save your money. And then let's have a party when it's my birthday.
[00:04:03] Whitney Owens: Save your money for me. That's right. Well, I think this is just the perfect intro here because I think a lot of us. You know, we're going to talk about your consulting question, but just being a mom, having little kids running a group practice, you're married to an entrepreneur, like there's a lot on your plate there.
[00:04:20] Liz Fava: Yes. Yes. Sometimes I feel like we tend to choose to do everything the most complicated way I'm like, what is this about? Is this you? Is this us? Is it probably some combination of both?
[00:04:32] Whitney Owens: I know. I know. Okay. So your group practice, tell us, um, how many therapists you have, where is it located? How long have you had it?
[00:04:39] Whitney Owens: People want to know the deets.
[00:04:41] Liz Fava: Sure. Yeah. Um, yeah, so I'm in, in Atlanta and I'm actually in town, uh, really close to like the Buckhead area, technically Sandy Springs, but like we're right in the middle of everything. So it's great location. Um, and I started out working, Or a group practice when we moved to Atlanta, I wasn't licensed yet.
[00:04:59] Liz Fava: I did the whole associate license track under somebody else's group and they were in Buckhead. So it really helped me kind of get established and and even just learn and observe about being a part of a practice being a part of a group practice. And, you know, I think I watched that. Normal transition that a lot of us do that after a certain amount of time fully licensed and just you start to observe things.
[00:05:20] Liz Fava: And I have that. We have some entrepreneurial blood in our family. My mom ran her own business and I watched that. And so I think it was probably inevitable at some point in time, even though I didn't really set out to do that, where you're like, okay, I think I want to do this kind of my own way and see how it it's going.
[00:05:38] Liz Fava: Um, and really just moved into solo practice first and was content there. Um, then we started having kids, we had our first one. And, um, I think that really hit the first time that I went out on maternity leave and just to add complexity and to the story that was the, while I was pregnant with our first was when Daniel launched his business.
[00:05:59] Liz Fava: So he left his salaried position where we got benefits and health insurance and decided to go out on his own, which, you know, it's just. Fun timing. It was good because I mean, for us, we have very strong values of like being with our family, spending time together, having that flexibility. So we talked about it and it was like, okay, maybe let's do this now so that we can have the life that we're trying to create when we have kids.
[00:06:25] Liz Fava: Um, and so then I went out on maternity leave and as a solo practitioner, I was like, Oh my goodness. I knew like, I knew, of course I know I'm not going to be making money for three months. What's that going to feel like? But I think just the residual and then coming back and getting yourself built back up, I was like, I can't do this again.
[00:06:42] Liz Fava: Like, I know that we want to have another kid. I've got to hire some people. Cause like everything can not come to a grinding halt when I step out and just those limitations, like you mentioned the limitations of being a mom, running a business, having really little kids. I didn't want to be working all the time.
[00:06:59] Liz Fava: So I had, thankfully I had learned how to be successful in private practice, solo practice. I always had enough clients. Thanks to, you know, in part to my husband, building me a nice website that performed well and people would find, um, I was turning clients away that I couldn't see myself. And so it was kind of that sweet spot of like, okay, I need to get moving into transitioning to a group.
[00:07:23] Liz Fava: So in 2019, uh, a good friend of mine and myself. Took the leap together to get an office space that was like a four office suite. Um, you know, yeah, the timing, right. You know, maybe nine months before COVID. So we took on four offices. Um, we made it through and kind of learned how to do that. I started like with.
[00:07:47] Liz Fava: I started kind of in a hybrid way of maybe we'll, you know, she's got two of the offices that she uses. I've got two of the offices that I use. Maybe I'll just start with a renter. I'll like sublease the space, get my feet wet. And then very slowly added in part time contractors. Cause right, right about that time was when COVID hit.
[00:08:04] Liz Fava: And it was, we were also then had a, I guess he was two, two year old home with us all the time. Um, so I'm like, wow, this is. This is interesting timing. So it's been slow in the like, I've been okay with it being slow to transition to a group practice. So I kind of dabbled with a couple contractors. And then really last year was when everything ramped up.
[00:08:27] Liz Fava: We were kind of hitting the pain point in our current office space where I was like, okay, I've got a great renter in one office. I had hired one contractor who was really rocking and rolling. And I was thinking she could get filled to full time, but I do not have office space for her. Cause she and I are now sharing my office.
[00:08:42] Liz Fava: We've got to do something different if we're going to grow. So I took on another suite in our same office park that got me like five more offices. So I moved in last April and, um, it's just been. Running full steam ahead ever since I did continue with kind of that hybrid model in order to get into the space of like, let me find a few renters who will lease some of the offices just to offset some of the overhead.
[00:09:08] Liz Fava: And then let me focus on really trying to hire. So started last year with just one person and then started this year with four therapists and a part time admin and myself. So we're still in that real building phase. A lot of growth over the last year, but like a lot of gray hairs too.
[00:09:26] Whitney Owens: Definitely, definitely.
[00:09:27] Whitney Owens: You know, and I do tend to see that when you hit four, four or five, it's like a new pain, right? Like you you're in pain when you start your group practice, it's hard. I made it, you got to hustle and then it starts rolling a little bit. And then when you get to four or five, you're like, okay, the things I did for one or two.
[00:09:46] Liz Fava: Right.
[00:09:47] Whitney Owens: Aren't working anymore. Yeah. And then that happens again, when you hit like eight to 10 and then again, when you keep growing, you know, but yeah, yeah. So I know that we're going to do some live consulting today. So what is your question that you have about growing your practice?
[00:10:01] Liz Fava: Yeah. I mean, I guess in general, just wanting to know how do I make that transition as the practice owner from somebody who still has really ran a business somewhat like a solo practitioner into running it more like a group practice.
[00:10:15] Liz Fava: Right.
[00:10:16] Whitney Owens: Yeah, this is a great question. There's a lot that we can cover. So this will be fun. Um, I think 1 thing that I always recommend is anything you do always be thinking about your growth. So, when you hire 1 or 2 therapists. What is it that could grow with you if you got to 10 or if you got to 20, you know, if you can implement that now, you're saving yourself more gray hairs later, you know, by having that in place.
[00:10:45] Whitney Owens: Now, some of those things are just not feasible. I mean, it could be costly, whatever the case may be, but some things maybe you could implement earlier rather than later. I also think that doing things that are easy for your people, You know, they came to work for you because they don't want to do all the admin.
[00:11:04] Whitney Owens: They don't want all these softwares to download passwords to keep up with, you know, things. So, whatever you can do to streamline and and and care well for your team, they're going to stay with you longer. So, I think those are just a couple of things to be holding on to as we have this discussion. And then you're thinking about things.
[00:11:22] Whitney Owens: Um, I think some other really good questions to be asking yourself is, you know, What can only I do right? And what can I farm out? That's going to be a question. You should always be asking yourself as the business owner delegation is really important
[00:11:38] Liz Fava: and then what are the things stuck in still doing a lot of those things where I'm like, okay, I don't need to be the person buying the toilet paper.
[00:11:45] Liz Fava: I don't need to be the person making keys when a new person comes on or whatever that is.
[00:11:50] Whitney Owens: Okay. We're going to we're going to work on that for sure. Right? And then what are the things that are going to make us money? Because I think a lot of times we get bogged down into tasks and we forget like, well, that task I'm doing, even though it feels good to complete that task.
[00:12:04] Whitney Owens: It really isn't actually getting me where my goal is, which is to bring in income. Right? I mean, you're at a place right now where you just need to really rev up your income so that you can expand and grow. Um, all right. So let's, let's go back to what you kind of just said, the, the delegation piece, you know, things that you did as a solo practice owner, you're realizing that maybe you shouldn't be doing that anymore as a group practice owner.
[00:12:25] Whitney Owens: What are some of those things? And let's, let's try to problem solve some of those.
[00:12:28] Liz Fava: Yeah, so one that I've, I've been in the process of getting off my plate, which I'm, I'm feeling pretty good about is I was the main person answering and doing a consultation call. So that is something that I know people have different opinions on if you offer a free consultation call or not to clients.
[00:12:45] Liz Fava: Um, I personally have done it and we have found over time that it's cut down pretty significantly on like our no show rate and helps with that like matching piece. But again, initially I built my whole practice based on myself, my name, my face, you know, my referral. So there was, it kind of made sense, I think for a little while, maybe even in that transition for me to still be the one kind of like, Hey, I know you're calling thinking you're going to book with me, but let me tell you why this person is also fantastic.
[00:13:15] Liz Fava: Um, but now I've been getting my, um, VA trained on doing those calls. And so she's doing more and more of them and we had to kind of like. You know, we're in the process of doing a better job of tracking all the client phone calls. We still don't have a great system. Um, we're just using, like, a Google sheet that we have, like, a tab for people who are pending, people who are, have, like, completed, like, they've moved into scheduling, and people who didn't move forward for some reason.
[00:13:42] Liz Fava: But, you know, people can still book consultation calls with me, with anybody on the team, with my admin. So it gets hard to get everybody to make sure that they're accurately keeping up with the document. I was seeing that it was getting bogged down because my, Um, the person answering the calls more often now, uh, she was often booking a consultation call with a client for herself and then recommending a therapist, but then booking them with another consultation call with the therapist, which I know this came up in the membership community recently.
[00:14:13] Liz Fava: And I was like, Oh, I need to file that away. We're having too many contact points before people are getting scheduled. And so needing to kind of streamline that, my guess is some of that is about training. The, you know, I'll call her my intake coordinator now. Cause I think that she's kind of moving into that role, maybe training her to feel more confident to like.
[00:14:34] Liz Fava: Just go ahead and schedule them with that first session. Get it on the books. Don't make them do another call in between. Um, I think our conversions are, are still fairly good. I don't have an exact percentage. I see. I can, I can see your face on this, so I know that that's a good idea. Um, so there's just lots of things there.
[00:14:53] Liz Fava: That's one piece. The consultation calls, getting clients booked.
[00:14:57] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Well, this is the great first step because I think everything within your practice starts with this. You know, if your intakes not going, well, the whole process isn't going to go out. I used to work at a psychiatric hospital if we messed up admitting clients.
[00:15:11] Whitney Owens: Their whole experience at the hospital was messed up, you know, and so really this is important and it's where the money's coming from, you know, so we want to make sure that that's going well, and it's the thing that you were super involved in. Right, right. Yeah. And so you need to get on involved in it.
[00:15:28] Whitney Owens: Right. Um, you want to streamline it as much as possible, make it as easy as possible for those therapists to see the clients they want to see. Right. And you're right. Everyone does this process differently and you have to figure out what works for you. But I would say, ask yourself, how can I work the least in this process?
[00:15:47] Whitney Owens: Um, so definitely we were kind of talking before we got on air about how hard it is to find time to do all these things. Right. You're saying, Hey, I need to track my calls better, but I'm not really sure how to make that happen. Yeah. Could someone else help you make that happen?
[00:16:07] Liz Fava: Probably so.
[00:16:09] Whitney Owens: Yeah. I mean, you got an intake person, right?
[00:16:12] Liz Fava: Yeah.
[00:16:13] Whitney Owens: Is she, um, is this person a 1099 or a W 2?
[00:16:17] Liz Fava: 1099. We're all still 1099. Well, I'm a W 2. Everybody else is 1099.
[00:16:22] Whitney Owens: Okay. Um, so you could obviously ask her if she'd be willing to do it and see what she says about it. Okay. You know, um, but I would say, let her, let her take it over. She can create the form.
[00:16:38] Liz Fava: Okay.
[00:16:39] Whitney Owens: Right. Yes. And she can start doing the tracking.
[00:16:43] Liz Fava: But my like control senses are like coming up. I'm like, she doesn't do it like I want her to.
[00:16:50] Whitney Owens: Oh, okay. Okay. And, and that's actually where the whole 10 9 9 W 2 gets complex, right? Because. Yeah. Yeah. Technically, you know, she can do it however she wants to do it as long as she's completing the job.
[00:17:02] Whitney Owens: Um, but what does it do to you when you don't let her do it?
[00:17:12] Liz Fava: I mean, it's bogging down my schedule, that's for sure. You know, I, I, I could picture myself. At my computer staring at all my open tabs thinking like, Oh, I got to work on that spreadsheet. Oh, I got to make the form for that. Oh, I got to get in the finances, which I feel like some of those, like, especially the strategic parts.
[00:17:32] Liz Fava: I think that is mine to do. But maybe I don't get there because I'm messing with the columns on our Google sheet.
[00:17:40] Whitney Owens: Yes. So that's a perfect example. What are the things that only Liz can do, which is the finances, which is the strategic planning. And what are the things your admin can do, which is creating spreadsheets, looking at forms, tracking numbers, right?
[00:17:55] Whitney Owens: If you don't know your conversion rate, you don't know what's going on. Right. And that's the most important thing. You're spending all this money marketing your practice and we want to make sure it's working. Um, you have probably heard me use this example before. But I think it's so such a good 1, like, if you call the doctor, does the doctor offer you a 15 minute free consult call?
[00:18:17] Whitney Owens: No, no, but as therapists, we feel like we need to and therapists tell me all the time. Well, it converts them. They're probably going to convert anyway. You know, your admin is going to know how to talk about your therapist. Now, that doesn't mean if they ask for the call that you don't offer it to him. Like, but I wouldn't necessarily market.
[00:18:34] Whitney Owens: Hey, we offer free 15 minute calls because what it sets Precedent for what therapy is and how we do it. Like if they're going to, and plus a 15 minute call usually goes longer than 15 minutes. And it's hard to really assess in that amount of time. And it does bog you down. You're exhausted because these intakes are exhausting, right?
[00:18:55] Whitney Owens: So maybe training her some more on really being able to sell the therapist, really be able to match them well. So it's easier. When the therapists are assigned.
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[00:20:25] Liz Fava: So I'm curious, do you have any recommendations on like with an intake coordinator with an admin person? Um, do you find it's better when they are in person at least some and like interacting in person with your team?
[00:20:43] Liz Fava: Or can this be somebody who's 100 percent virtual? Does that create a barrier at some point with them? Like, really understanding the ins and outs of the business?
[00:20:52] Whitney Owens: Yeah, so I think everyone's going to have a different feel for that based on their branding and their practice. I know some therapists who do great with virtual people, like they love it.
[00:21:02] Whitney Owens: I personally don't do great with virtual people. I have a very relational branding with my practice. We're very family oriented. So I want them here in the office, you know, and in fact, our most recent hire, and I actually just talked about this on a podcast that's coming out right before this one. Um, but she.
[00:21:22] Whitney Owens: Got trained in the office, you know, and then the other person I was talking to on the podcast, hers got trained more virtually or hybrid model. And I just noticed the difference there, like me sitting and actually hearing her on the phone. Was very different than me hearing about a call later and me looking at it on a piece of paper because I, I even sensed her attitude, you know, and she didn't sense it till I pointed it out.
[00:21:44] Whitney Owens: Not a bad attitude. Just her fear of how she was talking about cash pay. Like, because she's never gone to a cash pay therapist and pay, so it's like, I got to train her on. It's okay. Like, don't don't be nervous to tell them what the rate is. Um, so, yeah, so I think in person. I think it's pretty powerful.
[00:22:02] Liz Fava: Yeah. That's what I'm starting to feel, um, that I might need to make that shift. I've had somebody who's fully virtual. We've only ever seen each other on a screen. We're mainly hopping on calls or corresponding with email and texts. And I just starting to wonder if like, if there's a, a gap or again, if it leads to me needing to do.
[00:22:21] Liz Fava: Extra training and contacts to kind of fill in that gap. And that could be a space where I could get a little bit more of my time back to, if it was somebody who was in the office with me a little bit more.
[00:22:31] Whitney Owens: Could your current person come into the office?
[00:22:34] Liz Fava: She is unwilling to come in in person. So it would make, it would mean a shift, but you know, for the right time.
[00:22:43] Whitney Owens: I know that's hard and it's hard, but. Also thinking about what is it that's going to work for you? Like, I think a lot of times as business owners, we cater to our team. Right. And then we're unhappy. So what's going to make you happy and feel good about the work that's going on. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and you did say earlier.
[00:23:03] Whitney Owens: You're getting the toilet paper.
[00:23:04] Liz Fava: Yeah,
[00:23:06] Whitney Owens: you had an in person. I mean, that was actually 1 of the things that got me really hiring. Somebody was I was tired of the supply runs.
[00:23:14] Liz Fava: Yeah. Yeah, and I haven't really figured out a great way to do that to anybody else because the admin person is virtual. So, yeah, that's another.
[00:23:23] Liz Fava: Kind of vote in favor of finding somebody, and it could even be, I have wondered about like, what if I stripped her role back to really just being the intake coordinator and then find somebody who can come in person. And, you know, I could even divide it between two people for a while, have them do some of the other in person office admin things, helping with the systems creation or something, especially if it may not be my current VA's strongest areas to build the systems herself.
[00:23:53] Liz Fava: She's really good at running with a system that I make and hand her not as strong and like building it from scratch.
[00:24:01] Whitney Owens: So kind of an office manager, really,
[00:24:05] Liz Fava: I think it's a great idea. Okay. Yeah. That's helpful to think about.
[00:24:10] Whitney Owens: Yeah. I would start making a list of things that an office manager could do that you're currently doing and see how much it is.
[00:24:16] Whitney Owens: You will be shocked.
[00:24:17] Liz Fava: Okay. Yeah. How do we find good office managers these days?
[00:24:22] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Um, I just post on social media and just kind of see, um, I mean, you don't want to hire a friend. Please don't hire a friend. I've, I've made this mistake. Um, but I tell people not to do it and then I went and did it, but. Um, yes, I would hire on social media, see who knows who right and see how that goes first.
[00:24:48] Whitney Owens: Um, but it brings up another good point that you want someone else who can do everything that you do in your business. In a way, like not necessarily you do, but like two people that can do everything. So like, you don't want to be in a situation where there's no one else that can take calls every, you need someone else that's trained on calls.
[00:25:05] Whitney Owens: You know, you're, if you're the only one who can do supply runs, that might be a problem if you're sick or out of town or whatever. You don't want that relying solely on you.
[00:25:15] Liz Fava: Yeah. Now, have you found that it, it can be a good thing to find like therapists on the team? Again, I'm still in that like 10 99 space, but maybe one of them would want to take on some of those.
[00:25:28] Liz Fava: Okay. office manager roles or managing the social media role or something where I'm paying them an admin rate and they're already invested because they're already on the team. Or is it better to kind of keep the therapist just in the therapist space and find separate people to do like those admin tasks?
[00:25:44] Whitney Owens: No, I think it's great. I would ask them if that's what they want. They might really appreciate that you asked them, um, and it might help them build their, you know, while they're building their caseload, continue to have that income. So I did that with 1 of my therapists. She, um, she was young. She started right out of school.
[00:26:02] Whitney Owens: She was 2. Part time admin, part time seeing clients until she grew to a full caseload. And it was great. She learned a lot. So,
[00:26:10] Liz Fava: okay. Yeah. Cause I've got a couple of people on my team right now and they're hustlers and they're, they're hungry for like work and learning and opportunities, and they're always willing to lend a helping hand.
[00:26:20] Liz Fava: So I've been thinking about maybe I could, maybe that would also be a good interim for me that I could utilize and help them feel more, you know, get more hours, get more pay, be more busy while they're building.
[00:26:31] Whitney Owens: Definitely. Definitely. What are some of the other things that you feel like maybe you're having a hard time letting go of moving from solo to group?
[00:26:39] Liz Fava: Let me think about that. Um, this is like kind of indirect to that, but I think I'm still doing I'm just I've got my hands in too many different things. I am the type of person. I love a lot of things. I enjoy a lot of aspects of this job. So I'll say yes to them. But then it just it's. Increases the workload.
[00:27:01] Liz Fava: So, you know, I got my, my clinical supervision distinction, um, and didn't really do a lot with it initially. And then had somebody kind of chased me down there. They're like, I really want you to be my supervisor. Um, it was actually somebody I tried to hire in the practice and they, they went somewhere else, but they were like, I just really love if you would be my supervisor.
[00:27:21] Liz Fava: So I'm supervising someone and it's like, I enjoy it, but when I'm doing that, and I'm also trying to. Be the group practice owner and do my director roles and all of that. It's just another thing that adds time in my week. There's systems you have to put in place with supervision tracking hours. So there's things like that.
[00:27:42] Liz Fava: And even one of the other things I love doing is, uh, leading workshops for clients. Um, but up until now, it's pretty much just been me doing them. Now I would love to train other people on the team to take them over and get that off my plate too, because. Much as I enjoy it again, I'm just looking at like, and going back to that values piece, you know, my kids are seven and three.
[00:28:04] Liz Fava: They're still pretty young. The little one is just in half day preschool. I don't work full time hours in my business. So every hour feels that much more precious of like, Hey, do I really, even though I like this part. Do I really need to be doing that right now? Or is that taking from my focus of trying to make sure that the group part is set up well, and maybe that's something I could put down and then I could come back to it in the future.
[00:28:28] Liz Fava: You know, if I get the systems rolling really good, which probably helps me feel more willing to let go of some of those things, but I think I'm having to kind of go through my own Calendar and schedule with like a fine tooth, uh, comb and see what can I just say no to for now or pause on, or is there anything I can get, get out of that?
[00:28:48] Liz Fava: I've said yes to, that's just taking up a lot of my time.
[00:28:53] Whitney Owens: Yeah. You brought up some good stuff here. I would suggest that you do a time audit. Okay. They're pretty exhausting, but they're very helpful.
[00:29:02] Liz Fava: Okay,
[00:29:02] Whitney Owens: 3 days of whatever your normal workday is, write down columns, put them in categories, you know, how much time I was spending on admin?
[00:29:10] Whitney Owens: What am I spending on clients? What am I spending on the various things that might help you see what you need to let go of. Okay, you might be surprised. Oh, I spent a lot more time on this aspect that I never realized I was doing, or I could find that out. Or actually, that part's really important. I should probably do that earlier in my day.
[00:29:29] Whitney Owens: Whatever the case may be, you're you were definitely juggling a lot when I just heard you share all the things right and little kids. I think another thing to think about in the last time I did a time audit. This really was helpful for me. I realized that. I'm stressed because I put too many things in front of me and I don't give myself enough hours to do them.
[00:29:50] Whitney Owens: Right? Yes. And so I had to start really changing when I work. So, for example, you have a special needs daughter and the child care has been so inconsistent. We just have let go of that idea. Um, and so I have to pick her up in the middle of the day, a couple of days a week and picking her up takes about an hour and 15 minutes because I got to drive over there, drive her to therapy, drive back to the office and then other days I pick up my other daughter before the, you know, from school.
[00:30:17] Whitney Owens: Um, so there were some days during the week that I was only in the office for. 5 hours, right? And I, in my mind, I was thinking, oh, well, I work 4 days a week. I take off Friday. So, you know, I should be able to get all this done. And then when I started doing my hours and looking, I was like. I work 26 hours a week, part time, and I run two businesses.
[00:30:36] Whitney Owens: No wonder I'm stressed out. Right? Yeah.
[00:30:38] Liz Fava: Right.
[00:30:38] Whitney Owens: So, so I think that having that helped with me realistically seeing all that I was doing now, I think people can do all that depending on where their business is at and how they systematize it all right now where I'm at. So anyway, I, I added Fridays and I was like, I'm just going to start working Fridays and it has helped me breathe a little better.
[00:30:58] Whitney Owens: So, and, and, and I started working in the mornings sometimes before the kids get up and that's really helped me too, because then I can spend my time with them, driving them around or whatever I need to do when they're awake. So, so that's something to be, to kind of think about your time and how much time you actually do have.
[00:31:14] Whitney Owens: Right.
[00:31:14] Liz Fava: Okay.
[00:31:16] Whitney Owens: All right. The supervision part. Okay. Um, are you an L you're an LPC, right? I'm an LPC. Yeah. So have you been following the laws in the state of Georgia about that? Yes. So I, I need to look back at it, but what do you know it to be at this very moment?
[00:31:33] Liz Fava: At this moment, I don't think it's changed yet, but they are moving to, if you are the, in the clinical director role at your practice, you cannot be the clinical supervisor for your people.
[00:31:43] Liz Fava: Um, which honestly I'm, I'm in favor of now, I, I have the benefit of being in a very large metro area where there's ample. Resources of people to supervise people to do direction, you know, like, so it's not like we're in a rural area where it's hard to find a supervisor. So, I'm okay with that. So, in my actual practice, I only play the role of clinical director for anybody on my team.
[00:32:08] Liz Fava: And I help them, like, either line up outside supervision or something like that. This is just somebody who works for another practice who just wanted me to be their supervisor. So, it's, it's, yeah, it's clinical supervision. I enjoy it, but it is. It's just one of those like one off things I do that probably isn't as aligned with the business goals, um, as, you know, some of the other things.
[00:32:33] Whitney Owens: Yeah, I think you just answered your question.
[00:32:35] Liz Fava: I know, it's hard to let go of things that we like. Sure,
[00:32:41] Whitney Owens: you can just tell her to come work for you.
[00:32:43] Liz Fava: I know, right?
[00:32:43] Whitney Owens: She can keep doing supervision somewhere else. You'll be her director. And let me just, you know, directors, we provide. Right. In air quotes, supervision.
[00:32:51] Whitney Owens: I mean, I'm always helping my team be better clinicians. So
[00:32:55] Liz Fava: yeah. Yeah, that is a good strategy. I do. I enjoy her and I have thought, like, I think she's having an okay experience where she is, but honestly, I think she'd have a better experience if she came and worked for me.
[00:33:08] Whitney Owens: Yep, she probably would. Um, is there anything else that you're kind of tackling that's a process systems kind of thing as you're.
[00:33:17] Whitney Owens: Going into group,
[00:33:19] Liz Fava: the only other thing I can think of, and you kind of mentioned this on a recent podcast already. So I don't want to make you repeat stuff, but is I'm trying to figure out the phone system. So the best way for. Having like for a long time when it was just me, I could just have everything come to my personal cell phone.
[00:33:38] Liz Fava: It wasn't really an issue. Um, we always had an office line. We didn't really use it. Um, a lot of the inquiries and stuff, I would just, you know, call them from my phone or something. So now it's like, we have this office line. I changed it to at least a mobile number. So it's not like some landline in the office.
[00:33:54] Liz Fava: Um, but just the challenges of like, okay, who answers the phone? How do we make sure that they. Then are we forwarding it? Do they have the phone available? So I need to look at some other options. And I heard you, I think it was when you interviewed David, you guys were talking about spruce as one of your recommended things, and I was like, I made a note during that episode, like I need to look into spruce and see how that works, if that would solve some of our problems with that.
[00:34:20] Whitney Owens: Again, when I think about things like this, I think what is going to be easiest for all the therapists, right? Give them what they need. Um, and I don't, I don't like for them to do anything other than see clients. Um, not even though earlier we were talking about if they want to do some extra things. Sure.
[00:34:41] Whitney Owens: But like, I never want that expectation on them. And to be truthful, they're not really trained on business. They didn't come to take their intake calls and track calls and, you know, all that kind of stuff. They came to see clients. So. I want to track things really well, you know, I'm a numbers girl, you've heard me saying a million times.
[00:35:00] Whitney Owens: And so, in fact, I've had a few times, especially when I was smaller that I did have some of the therapists. I trained them just like, while I was at the beach for a week to take the calls. Oh, it was not good. It was not good. Like, they didn't get tracked. I don't know what happened, you know, so, and that's not what they're really supposed to be doing.
[00:35:18] Whitney Owens: Anyway, they were doing me a favor. So, all that to say is I like to track it all through the intake. I want to have someone really trained on it. And I want to know exactly what's going on. Um, so I see a lot of people do this a lot of different ways. I want the convenience of being able to do it from anywhere.
[00:35:36] Whitney Owens: Okay, so some people are like, I have a landline. I mean, this girl talked to the other day. She's got this phone that she, like, can take with her home, but you have to connect it into the wall or something. And I was like, so having it on your cell phone makes it easy. Also, my therapists, they like being able to contact their clients.
[00:35:52] Whitney Owens: Now, you can do that through simple practice, you know, or things like that, but it's a little easier to just text, isn't it? You know, and so spruce does offer an app. They have the client has to download it as well for it to be. Technically secure, but we let them know you don't have to download it. You can still text us, but it's not secure on your end.
[00:36:11] Whitney Owens: But on our end, it's still coming through our spruce app, even if they text, you know, cause it's a different phone line. So I want all my therapists to have their own phone line. They can, if they need to call a parent, call a doctor's office, you know, whatever they need to do, they have that ability without having to use their own phone.
[00:36:30] Whitney Owens: I know other practices that only get 1 line and everything goes through intake. So, if a client needs to reschedule, if the therapist needs to get in touch with someone, you got to go through the main line. I find that difficult and the main line is going to get overrun. If, I mean, we have a practice, you know, we're seeing 300 client, 300 sessions a week or whatever.
[00:36:48] Whitney Owens: Like, that's a lot of, you know,
[00:36:49] Liz Fava: Um,
[00:36:53] Whitney Owens: so anyway, all that to say is, I think thinking about something that goes with your growth, you know, and that's easy for your therapist to manage, uh, spruce is you can do the most basic plan. Um, and I think it's 25 a line, the most basic one. If you use the code wise practice, you'll get 20 percent off for your first year.
[00:37:14] Liz Fava: Okay.
[00:37:15] Whitney Owens: So that puts it at what 20 bucks a month. So, you know, you're looking at 100 for your practice, maybe something like that. Um, but to be able to have that system that has that you're not answering phones. Yeah, it's pretty great. And even in the spruce app, they have a lot of other cool features. I could go on and on about it, but one of the things I love is there's an intake folder.
[00:37:35] Whitney Owens: So anything that comes through intake, I can see it. So at any point in the day, like I could just pull up my phone. So like right now I'm like, how's the intake line doing? Is everybody answering the calls? Are they getting back to people? And I can walk in here and look at it. So, yeah, okay, it's kind of fun, um, anyway, so hopefully that's helpful for you and, you know, with business, it's all about just trying different things and seeing what works, you don't like something, you just stop doing it.
[00:38:03] Liz Fava: Right. Yeah. That is the good part. You know, we've got that freedom and that flexibility.
[00:38:08] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Well, well, Liz, we, um, we didn't even meet in person until the summit, did we know faith and practice conference? That's when we met. That's right.
[00:38:17] Liz Fava: Yes. And
[00:38:17] Whitney Owens: then I saw you get a little
[00:38:18] Liz Fava: chafing around a little baby at that point.
[00:38:20] Liz Fava: Yeah. Yes.
[00:38:21] Whitney Owens: Yes. You were very busy then. And then, um, we had the wise practice summit. We had more time to spend together and, um, so, so glad. And that was when you joined the wise practice membership community. So could you talk a little bit about why you're part of the community and what you love about it?
[00:38:37] Whitney Owens: Absolutely.
[00:38:38] Liz Fava: Yeah. Um, you know, after going to the summit especially and just you connect with such amazing people and you see the value of the content that you and your team are putting out there. It was like, you know, of course, I'll try the. The free trial and see what that's like. And it seemed like a great way to stay connected.
[00:38:55] Liz Fava: I mean, I think so many of us who are running practices, group practices, or solo practices, it can be very lonely. I mean, the therapist profession can be very lonely because so much of what you do is behind a closed door where you're not really. You're interacting with their clients, maybe, but you're not necessarily interacting with others.
[00:39:12] Liz Fava: So to be in a group of people who so many of us are at similar phases or people are a little further ahead, and you get to pull on the wisdom of who's in the group as well as I mean, you give such great content. There's amazing. Quality of webinars that you get to watch and learn from as well as like resources, the resource library, where it's like you can get sample documents and, um, ideas of how, like, specifically how to do it, how to structure, you know, the rates or whatever it is, like, there's just enough detailed information.
[00:39:47] Liz Fava: It's so valuable. Now. I can't imagine not being a part of the community.
[00:39:52] Whitney Owens: I'm so glad you're there and I always say the people that invest their time and energy into memberships and to consulting into these things, the ones whose businesses grow, and you've been very consistent and coming, showing up and getting the work done.
[00:40:05] Whitney Owens: Um, and so I think that that's starting to show as your business is growing the past few months, you're putting in the work. Um, yeah, so I appreciate your kind words about the, um. Topics and the things that we cover, try to make it very relevant based practice owners. And yeah, that community, it is
[00:40:21] Liz Fava: my favorite
[00:40:21] Whitney Owens: part of the week when we all get on zoom together.
[00:40:23] Liz Fava: Yeah, for sure. And it's just, I mean, it creates accountability and it's nice when it's like, oh, I've got this problem, but maybe this problem feels like kind of vague and I haven't. Like nailed it down, or I just haven't taken the time to focus, focus on solving it. And then all of a sudden we'll meet and that's the topic of the conversation that week.
[00:40:42] Liz Fava: And you're like, okay, well, great. I know what I'm going to be doing now. I've got my task list and making all my notes. So it's really good accountability and structure.
[00:40:51] Whitney Owens: I love that and another thing you kind of did mention the free month. That was something we gave to summit attendees last year, but we do have tons of deals and discounts.
[00:41:00] Whitney Owens: Like, you know, there's deals on the summit or deals on different products and services that people use and that's another huge benefit to being part of the community.
[00:41:10] Liz Fava: Absolutely. Wonderful.
[00:41:12] Whitney Owens: Well, I appreciate you being in the community and taking the time to come on the show today. I'm excited to hear about, um, the progress that you make after this episode and we'll be in touch.
[00:41:22] Liz Fava: Wonderful. Thank you.
[00:41:43] Whitney Owens: 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.
[00:42:03] Whitney Owens: 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.
