The Referral Squeeze: What Therapists Need to Do Before 2027

Camille McDaniel, LPC (00:28)
Welcome back to Christ in Private Practice. It’s wonderful to have you here for another episode.

today we’re going to be talking about some developments that just occurred in the last, ⁓ man, I want to say 72 hours for some information, ⁓ 24 hours for other information, and some things that have been going on for at least a year or so, but they are really kind of coming to a head as far as ultimate plans that are being revealed and how.

It’s impacting us, and then we’re going to discuss actionable steps to take because I don’t want to ever talk about something that’s really going on that’s going to impact our business, impact livelihood without some steps that we can take starting today.

Let’s just jump right on into what we’re going to be covering and what has been going on in the last 72, 24 hours and even a year. So we are all, first of all, ⁓ very familiar with the platforms that are used in order to deliver mental health services ⁓ via telehealth that are

pretty they’re plentiful. I think it started with us hearing more about BetterHelp. That was one of the first ones that had, I think, a big marketing program. And so you oftentimes heard their name more frequently. But then over time there are just a lot of other companies that have come along. You know, Grow, Headway, Alma. There are quite a few. I know I’m not gonna be able to name them all, but you

understand what I’m talking about and some of you are on those platforms. And we had a couple of developments, one with regard to one of the platforms, and that caused a a big stir and a pretty big concern.

We’ll talk about what was going on with that platform. So for anyone who is using that platform to see clients, they may have noticed a message in their inbox. They may have already heard about some changes. And some of us who are not, you know, on that platform may not have been as aware. Then there’s some things going on with the insurance, and then there’s some, well, with a particular insurance company, and then there’s some things just

Going on with insurance companies in general, and just how does that all impact us, in addition to everything else that’s already going on in our stressed and strained economy? And while every single socioeconomic level and every single person on every single socioeconomic level is not stressed and strained, ⁓ we want to still talk about what’s going on because there are a lot of therapists who are actually recognized.

Some changes in their private practices, in the number of emails that they are receiving asking for new services, and also in the number of telephone calls that are coming to their practice. For many, these developments are quite concerning.

For some, it’s very overwhelming and they may even feel like they have to kind of shut down and shut it out altogether because it’s just a bit too much. But I do want this podcast episode to be ⁓ encouraging. I want it to be strategic, I want it to be able to be informative all the way around with a positive light.

to know that we definitely are not going to just sit in the overwhelm and we are we’re not gonna worry. And we’re going to work on preparation with this episode. And ideally you’ll share some of this with others that you know so that you all can just think ahead a couple of steps as we are already into you know the middle of the the year.

We are we are literally already there. So let’s look at

Before we dive into some of the details, let’s look at a scripture just to kind of keep us grounded and remind us of the fact that we’re we are not called to operate in fear, but we are called to operate in wisdom. And Proverbs 21 and 5 tells us that the plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone whose

Hasty, surely, to poverty. And when you find yourself feeling overwhelmed and nervous, and you might be looking online and seeing all of the questions that people are asking about

essentially surveying others just to see, hey, is anyone else experiencing this too? And they’re asking about, you know, is anyone else seeing a decline in referrals? Is anyone else seeing a decline in clients? Is anyone else having this happen? Or this pay is now decreased and what am I gonna do for this? I mean there’s there’s some pretty significant concerns that are going on online, even to the point where some are

questioning whether they’ll be able to keep the roof over their head with the money that they’re bringing in and how can they structure things so that they can get steady income. It’s the it’s hard.

it’s hard to see people really have those burdens. It’s hard to see some of the I think the nervousness, the the stress that’s coming out when when others are asking or polling their their colleagues to see if they’re they’re the only ones experiencing this or if they’re not alone. And oftentimes, ⁓ they’re not alone. There are others who are experiencing this similar things.

And so we’re going to talk about what has been seen, what’s going on, but we do want to do first things first. And I would not be able to really move forward telling you what’s going on and all of the concerns around it without us

Just kind of re-emphasizing that we’re grounding this in scripture and we are going to seek the Lord first, right? Seeking the kingdom of the Lord first. ⁓ and ⁓ and he will add all things that need to be added to to you. He will add so we are going to go to the Lord first when we when we think about everything that’s going on in the world, everything that’s going on for us as business owners, as entrepreneurs, we are going to take

It to the Lord in prayer because we are going to discuss marketing, we’re going to discuss insurance on this episode and business strategy, but we definitely just want to start with the Father and with prayer, right? Because if we need wisdom on anything, the Bible says, ask God, and He will give it liberally and without reproach.

So if there’s anything we’re needing, and we do, we have questions, we we need to know and we need to be clear on how to move forward. And so for many of us, we we might go in prayer and we might be asking the Lord, what is my role in this season? What am I supposed to be focused on? How should I be using my time?

And my resources? What should I be paying attention to in this moment, Lord? Is there anything, Father God, search my heart, Lord? Is there anything that I am worrying about right now that you’ve not asked me to carry? And where do you want me to help your children? Or how do you want me to help your children in this field of mental health right now?

And if there are any worries as a business owner with regards to the things that are required to market and to advertise, some of us are not excited about the idea that we would have to market and advertise. And we need to give that over to the Father. Lord, do not allow fear to interrupt me from being able to go forth.

knowing that I am shining a light for things that are going to be helpful, for things that are going to be good, that are going to be supportive, that are going to be what helps heal the children you send to me, whether they’re young or old.

Don’t allow me to be afraid. Don’t allow the fear to stop me. Even if I do still feel some nervousness, even if I do start noticing I’m getting flushed and and a little hot because I don’t like rejection. And and this might be something that I have to do in the future with marketing and networking and and building connections. You know, strengthen me, Father. Give me courage. So whatever it is that you need to ask or

what you need to lay down and not pick back up. Do that first. We are going to spend more time seeking him than we are going to be online looking at what everyone is writing and posting and ⁓ concerned about at this at this point in time. We don’t want to focus on

just the stress, just the anxiety. We don’t want to focus on only what we can see. We want to focus on him who obviously creates in the unseen and then brings forth into the scene, right?

So with that being said, what are we seeing? Okay. ⁓ and what happened more recently was that for those of our colleagues who happen to be providing mental health services on the platform Alma, they may have already been notified, well, not may have, they have been notified that Alma, an Aetna insurance company.

Have made some changes and it’s hard to tell who made the changes. I think each person is kind of pointing the finger at the other person. So I don’t know if it was Alma who made the changes or Aetna who made the changes. However, the contract changes between Aetna and Alma are impacting those with doctoral degrees. So

The reimbursement rate for a doctorate level clinician is no longer going to be different than the reimbursement rate for a master’s level clinician. And the other change is that the reimbursement for actual sessions has been decreased so that an hour long

session or 53 minute session is no longer going to get the same reimbursement rate. There will be a lower rate that is given for those sessions, which impacts people who may have had to have

longer sessions in order to help more critical clients or different types of care that was being provided that was maybe a bit more intensive and therefore required longer than 53 minutes in order to provide that intense service.

that is not going to be then compensated. And so those are some significant changes that impact people in different ways. There have been many who have talked about seeing a significant decrease in their pay already. And so they are concerned and rightfully so. So

That’s one of the things that impacts those who may be providing care through Alma’s provider network, or I shouldn’t say provider network, provider platform, rather. There’s another change, again, with Aetna, that’s going into effect January 2027. And since we are in the middle of the year, that’s not too far away.

And so they are going to be offering their own mental health platform as well. And they’re going to be able to service individuals ages 13 and up. And this is going to be telehealth, mental health care ⁓ provided directly through Aetna’s own servicing platform or mental health service platform.

That provides a pretty in-house situation for Aetna. They have members, obviously, as an insurance company, and now they can also direct their members to their own in-house services for mental health care. Now it seemed as though from what I was reading about this that this is not long-term care. This seems to kind of be brief.

I don’t know, it’s not been rolled out, so we’ll have to wait and see. But what we can already plan for is that if Aetna happens to be

an insurance company that you accept within your practice, then you may see some changes. And this is why I’m mentioning this so early, because you may see some changes in the beginning of the year that go beyond some of the normal changes we see when people have a change in insurance or when deductibles get reset and people are now having to pay high deductibles, which sometimes causes some slight

Change in people’s I I want to say like attrition rate because some people are able to meet that deductible fee and some people need to move their sessions out and and different things that happen at the beginning of the year. We’ll just add to that the fact that Aetna will be then notifying in whatever way.

they decide their members so that their members can come to them directly. That will obviously have an impact for those of us who accept Aetna insurance. We’re already seeing an impact and ⁓ and I guess I’ll talk about that that next

We’re already seeing an impact because of some of the platforms for those of us who own our our practices and our business owners and our practice doesn’t actually feed through one of the current mental health platforms like you know, Headway, Alma, BetterHelp or or any of the other ones grow. There’s there are a lot actually. And there I think more coming. But either way, the insurance companies used to, even though they said

They do not do this. I know I know many times I have I’ve heard a representative say we don’t give referrals. But I recall

There was a time where we were getting quite a few referrals directly from the insurance company, and that has changed as the insurance companies have actually directed a good percentage of their members to some of the online platforms. And so that’s good for those who may be on the online platforms. Not so great for those of us who are in private practice for ourselves. We may have seen some changes.

In how people are directed to us who are using their insurance. And so that already was happening and has gotten worse over time for those of us who are in private practice for ourselves in certain areas. Now you’re going to add

Aetna being able to offer their own mental health services in-house through a telehealth system, and that may cause us to see additional changes in the number of referrals that we get. Although there may still be some that come through. And if you’re not keeping track of where your referrals are coming from, I encourage you to do so. We do so very simply at our practice with a question on the intake.

form that says, who may I thank for you coming to our practice today? Or I think it’s phrased something like, who may I thank for this referral today?

Either way, it helps us just to keep track of where people are coming from. A lot of the answers say Google. Sometimes the answer will say, you know, somebody who had once gone to the practice. Sometimes it will say psychology today. But we can actually track the changes over time. And we already are just tracking like how many emails or how many telephone calls we’re actually getting month to month so that we can tell if we’re seeing an

Increase, a decrease, things are staying the same. And then we are able to track where the referrals are finding us so that we will know where we might need to work or do a little bit more and where we can ⁓ where we’re holding steady. I’ve not had to do that in a long time because a lot of our referrals have

come from ⁓ a lot of the work that I did in many of the beginning years and stages of the practice. But as any business owner will tell you, things change. That’s right. And so I am having to actually go back to some of the things that I used to do with maybe a ⁓ 2026 twist.

and ⁓ and get started on that. Matter of fact, we’re gonna have a meeting, ⁓ myself and the other clinician in my practice this week to talk about some of the things that we’re going to focus on and get clear on some things and and then move forward with a plan of action. ⁓

So that we can have some changes for the upcoming year. And we already have some that are already in the works, and just looking at how we are going to work it even more. So if that happens to be something that sounds like, ⁓ yeah, that might be something I need to put on my radar, then you want to also be thinking ahead again, which is why this episode is coming out now.

because these developments are pretty significant and pretty important. And for those of

My colleagues and anyone who’s listening to the podcast who may be in Michigan, then Michigan got some news for those who accept Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance. Blue Cross Blue Shield ⁓ insurance for Michigan. Michigan has made some changes. I think Blue Cross Blue Shield allows each state to decide this for themselves. And so in Michigan, associate level mental health professionals will no longer be a

Able

to bill Blue Cross Blue Shields insurance underneath a fully licensed clinician, which we refer to as ⁓ incident two billing or supervisory billing. Now, before anybody who does billing comes my way, please just know I know that those two phrases do not mean the exact same thing.

However, when it comes to mental health and mental health associate licensed clinicians and the way that the insurance company was talking about it, they were kind of actually kind of mixing those two phrases. But essentially, it just means that certain certain insurance companies allow an associate licensed professional to accept insurance, even though that professional is not officially in network.

with that insurance company, they allow them to bill underneath the national provider number of a fully licensed in network provider, just as long as that provider is overseeing the associate licenses cases for that insurance company, just to make sure everything is on the up and up and along the contracted requirements.

Requirements of that insurance company. And so that is coming to an end in Michigan. And that will have an effect on those practices that actually have they employ, whether through W-2 employment or 1099 contractor, have associate licensed clinicians who are providing counseling care in their practice. And so those

practices will have to actually make some some changes as well and have to just think about how they want to continue or will need to continue care. So this this is the news that I wanted to to share with you. I know that there was a development that occurred even through CAQH and I know that’s pretty

Pretty big sounding. I don’t know exactly what that means yet. And for those who are not as familiar, CAQH is a platform where those of us who are on insurance panels, ⁓ we go through CAQH in order to download all of our information regarding our license.

goodness regarding they ask for some of everything. They want to know our license. They want to know our our national provider number. We have to tell them where we practice all of our locations we put in there. We put our resume, we put our work history, and it’s a place where then insurance companies can come and they can actually do their check.

Because that’s essentially just like a hub where they can check and see are we updated on our, for example, our

Liability insurance. That’s something else we have to upload. for certain providers, there may be certain designations or certifications that they have based on their degree. And so ⁓ you know, maybe for those who are medical professionals and also in mental health, they may have some additional things they have to upload. And again, like I said, it’s just a an online hub.

so that when insurance companies are checking to see if you are still maintaining all of the requirements that they have, ⁓ like keeping up with your license, keeping up with your liability insurance and any other certifications, just making sure they’re all updated, they can just go to this one hub and they will be able to see if you are in compliance or if you are out of compliance. And they can then make changes, whatever changes from there or make no changes at all.

If you are in good standing. Well, more recently, CAQH has been ⁓ taken over because I think CAQH was a nonprofit. Well, CAQH has been purchased and now they are no longer CAQH, but they are called Data Spring. And Data Spring is owned by

The insurance companies, so several of the insurance companies own data spring. I think it’s like United Healthcare, Aetna, Cygna, and I think a couple others that I am not remembering off the top of my head right now. Well, the concern that people have is, hmm, why would all of these large insurance companies want to purchase a place that has all the

All the information for every person who accepts insurance. ⁓ and so why would they want to have all that information? What is going to be happening? What’s the plan? What’s coming down the pipe? So we’re not really all the way sure, but what we do know is that that has recently happened and there’s obviously some plans in place because

Insurance companies don’t just purchase a massive hub like CAQH, which is now called Data Spring. insurance companies would not all come together and decide to purchase this if they did not have plans for the information and all the data that this ⁓ database holds. It’s going to be to their benefit in one way or another, and we are going to probably just have to stay tuned to see how they’re going to use it.

You really you don’t know. They may be looking to see who is who is exceptionally active, who has not been active in a while, you know, where are people practicing? How many do you have practicing in this area versus that area? What’s the reimbursement rate over here versus over there? You know, you just you don’t know. There’s so many things going on in the world, but all of these developments that are coming.

They really they don’t mean anything except for we need to pay attention. That’s what they really mean. As business owners, we need to pay attention. As individuals who are working within a business, even if you’re not the business owner, it’s still good to pay attention. There’s there’s nothing wrong whether you are a business owner or you happen to be working in a practice ⁓ under somebody else’s business. It’s just good to know what to do next. So all of this is being shared.

so that we can prepare. And we do want to stay prepared. We want to stay proactive. We want to stay a couple of steps ahead of of the game if at all possible. So with that, let’s actually talk about getting prepared and like what are some actionable steps that we can take. Like I said, I wanted to make sure that you do not leave this podcast without some actual steps that we need to think about as far as how we’re going to move forward in our business.

the remaining of this year and into the new year. And on that note, some some people who actually, you know, do know me, they’re in my same state, you might get an email from me as I’m going to be taking my own actionable steps and and connecting in ways that are going to be mutually beneficial. And also connecting in ways where I might even be reaching out and saying, hey, if you’ve had any

positive interactions during our collaboration, if you wouldn’t mind putting this, you know, some type of testimonial or, you know, just kind of vouching for us online and let me share this link. I’ve had people do that for me ⁓ in the past or t or to me. They’ve sent me something and said, you know, if you don’t mind sharing a little bit about your experience with our company, we greatly appreciate it. And then they gave a link. Now

In our field, we’re not really able to do that of our clients. We can’t say to them, can you give me a good testimony online? We can’t do that. But we can reach out to those individuals who we know are ⁓ referring to us and those individuals that we have collaborated with or they have sent people our way and maybe gotten feedback about how we have cared for those people that they’ve sent our way.

And we can then reach out to them and say if you’ve had a favorable experience with my practice, could you please, you know, share that online? And here’s our link to do that. So yeah, I’m going to be implementing that. But that wasn’t even, I don’t think, one of the actionable steps that that we had. So there’s a bonus for you. So then the first thing that we want to talk about is diversifying our referral streams. We want to, I know you’ve heard about diversifying your your income.

But let’s let’s jump to like let’s diversify our referral streams because think about it like this. It let’s say let’s say 70%. Let’s say 70% of your referrals happen to just come from like one source, one place, whatever that place is, then what happens if that one source all of a sudden goes away? And that one source could be insurance.

It could be a a church that refers to you or a doctor’s office or it could be a directory, an online ⁓ directory for mental health professionals. But if for whatever reason that source goes away, then what’s going to happen? I mean, ask yourself, really, if my largest referral source disappeared tomorrow, what would happen? Could my practice still survive? And

If you say no, we would be in trouble, then let’s go ahead and make sure that we’re diversifying our referral sources right now. Put something in place this week and start implementing it within the next two weeks. We want to make sure especially that we’re implementing it before we hit the last.

couple months of the year because although we’re in the middle of the year, remember things start shutting down and people’s minds start really focusing on other things, especially come November and December. So we have less than half a year to start really making sure that we are ⁓ doing what we need to to build relationships. And that could be relationships with churches. That could be doctors offices. You might have ⁓

Other providers, it could be attorneys. When school is in session, you can start up with schools unless you actually have some people that you know personally, community organizations in your area, other mental health professionals. ⁓ you know, and here’s the thing with the fact that now we can service other states. Many professionals are licensed in more than one state or

Or quite a few. I don’t know the exact numbers, but the idea is that you can also start now making genuine connections with therapists who don’t even live in your same state. But maybe you trust them and they happen to be licensed for your state and you keep them in mind when you have referrals that don’t mind telehealth. So we really want to start looking at where do we need to be building some genuine ⁓ referral sources.

That’s that’s one of the strongest ways for you to actually help your business because referral sources gen are genuine connections. Genuine connections are priceless, even above like any kind of social media post and of fighting all the algorithms, sometimes even above insurance companies, relationships are key, key, key.

So ⁓ the next thing that we want to do, ⁓ the next actionable step is we want to go ahead and make sure that we are building some type of recognizable specialty. You know, whatever it is that you do, you really want to be known for it. You really want to hone in that skill and show people how you can really help them with the knowledge that you have. It’s harder, it is r it’s it’s hard these days ⁓ to be a generalist.

It’s hard for a number of reasons. Because you may be practicing in a remote area of your state, but remote is no longer really remote anymore. Like you might have an area where physically there are not a lot of therapists in that area. But since therapists, like I just was talking about, can be licensed in more than one state, you have a multitude of people who can service the people in that area.

And unless all those people only want to be seen in person, then now you actually have quite a few therapists in your area, even though you can’t see them physically. So becoming or maintaining generalist status might be increasingly more challenging as we move into the future if you’re not already seeing the challenge now.

Especially when you have the the benefit of the platforms for I guess the the people in the community is that some of these online platforms that I’ve already mentioned, ⁓ the you know, the venture capitalists fund these platforms, but these platforms are like a one-stop shop. And so you can come and almost anything that you’re needing, they’re like, hey, we have a therapist for that.

So that’s the the appeal, but then it makes it kind of difficult for those who are already in the area who were generalists long before these platforms came in. So, you know, want to want to really be thinking about okay, what could I maybe stand out a little bit more for? You know, when when there’s when there’s pressures like, you know, like we have now.

all around us, we want to look at how we might be able to stand out and specializing in something can really be something that is helpful to to us and helpful to those who are in the community who might be searching. So just you know ask yourself the question, what am I even known for? And if you’re not really sure what you’re known for, take a look at who comes to you the most.

Who are you attracting? Who are you noticing yourself working with the most? And is this who you want to continue to work with? Because we sometimes change specializations in different seasons of our life. And so you want to be looking at that. What services do I currently offer? Who am I attracting? Who who do I want to be known for working with really, really well?

And start just again, start carving that out. ⁓ and then that way you will be able to, when you’re meeting with other mental health professionals, you’ll be able to help them to better understand who they should send your way. You wanna be able to be really clear about that, especially in a day and time where you have so many platforms where again.

Whatever you’re needing, almost whatever, right? ⁓ almost whatever you’re needing, they can provide. And so these it could be that you are specializing in addictions. It could be you specialize in trauma, ADHD, Christian counseling, women’s issues and chronic illness or marriage counseling, you know, they’re

There’s a l there are a lot of things that you can actually find yourself saying, you know, this is who I work with. You know, in my practice, as as I was just saying, things change through seasons. At this season of my career, I find myself really attracting and enjoying working with high achieving, high ⁓ excuse me, high stress, ⁓ high stress, high anxiety, high achieving women.

Who everyone leans on. So when we talk about like, well, what do you specialize in? I I specialize in the high achiever and overly stressed woman who everyone else is leaning on, and they’re just looking for some relief and to calm the chaos. You know, they don’t know necessarily how to not perform. Matter of fact, funny, I put I put a client on a non-performance plan.

⁓ which gave the person ⁓ a a good little laugh. Because you know, in in ⁓ many companies they they have like a performance improvement plan or they call it a pip. And that usually is when you are not performing the way you should, and the company has some reason to want to maybe evaluate how you’re going to continue to perform, and then they make a decision at the end of the pip whether or not you’re going to stay with the company or not.

and this was the opposite of that. So ⁓ so so this is what I would then kind of share and this is what I would put together as far as messaging and maybe even how I direct to part of my my platform. And I need to probably do more of that moving forward so that it is very clear. I also can help I’ve I mean, I’ve been in practice for a little over twenty years, so I have

A number of other challenges that I help clients through. And so trying to wrap that ⁓ into one is something that people oftentimes have to figure out and work through. How do I share what I do? But then also share I I have specialization in this area. And it might be that you have specialization in more than one area, but it is going to be helpful for you to start to zero in.

On what that area or areas are, and not to go too far with the number of specializations, ⁓ interestingly enough, because when you have too many, it makes it difficult for people to remember you for any. Isn’t that isn’t that interesting, just how the mind works, right? So you don’t want to have too many because then it makes it hard for you to be re be remembered for any. So if you have maybe two, maybe three.

then that might be a good a good sweet spot. And if you have fewer, that actually makes it easier for people to remember. The next thing that we want to look at as far as actionable step is we’re going to go ahead and try to reduce our dependence on just one source of of pay. So if you happen to be a a person who accepts insurance in your practice like I do.

You want to be able to reduce some of the risk. And so reducing your dependence on that particular or it may not be just one insurance, but reducing the risk on the insurances is something that you are going to want to do. And so you want to take a a little bit of inventory. And this is not saying, ⁓ you know, we don’t want to work with insurance at all. And sometimes it can be a headache, but look, people need to use insurance. So for our practice,

It’s it’s not a problem, but we do have to be aware when these changes are starting to occur. You don’t want to put all of your eggs in the insurance basket. So you’re just gonna ask yourself, hey, if the insurance reimbursements dropped in my practice, let’s say by 20% next year, what would happen? And again, if you say, Well, we would be in trouble, well then that means your business is at risk.

And you want to take some steps to mitigate risk. So consider developing additional revenue streams. You might have some services that you put in place that align with your specializations and they don’t require insurance. Maybe they happen to be self-pay. Maybe you start doing some trainings or workshops, a book, continuing education trainings, maybe some courses.

There’s some things that you can start thinking about. Let me just say this. And someone probably beat me to the punch while I was talking it through and giving examples, but let me say this because I have two books. I have the medical mimics book that helps us as mental health professionals to be aware of and learn how to identify and notice and ask more questions and document and help our clients advocate.

when we notice that there might be or learn to notice when there might be medical issues at play that require a referral to their primary care physician or to a medical doctor. And those issues, those medical issues could be mimicking mental health issues. I wrote a book on that. I have a s a a training that I’m offering on physiological challenges that are then impacting mental health symptoms.

I’m doing the first training ⁓ off of this book June 19th. So yeah, there’s a flow that you can start implementing. I have another book actually for ⁓ newer clinicians into the field that actually gives them an understanding of some of the things to expect and how things might work and what considerations to take when you’re looking at different jobs.

environments and lessons learned from somebody who’s been in the field a little over 20 years. And so, you know, that’s another thing. I have that’s the ⁓ the book that is about like giving a roadmap, the clinician’s career roadmap. And then you have the other one that is the medical mimics. And then I have a CE training. And you all know I offer now ⁓ CEs for some of the podcast episodes as well. And so

There are a number of things that you you may be able to do. Everything though isn’t just easy. I know sometimes when people throw that out, like you can start doing courses or you can start doing workshops or you can run a group. Please do remember. And again, that’s I can’t stress enough. That’s why we’re talking about it now, because you start working it now so that you might be able to implement maybe the beginning of next year.

There they’re tak it takes some time unless you already have a base of people that you can actually let them know about this. Like let them know you’re running a group, let them know that you have a training to offer, let them know about your courses and you already have a base of people who are wanting what you have to offer, then you are in a better position.

But if you are thinking about how you might diversify your income and not just rely on just one source, then you gotta get started ahead of the ahead of time because these things do take work to get off of the ground. Yes, I wrote two books and for a little bit there, the the books were showing up in the podcast episode videos. ⁓ you know, ⁓ you saw them.

I actually had them mentioned a couple of times at the beginning of the podcast. But you know, that’s not it. That it takes ongoing, ongoing sharing and ⁓ and letting people know, especially if you don’t have a publisher who’s doing it for you. Now, if you have a publisher who is also helping you, excuse me, who’s also helping you to market, then that’s wonderful.

And if you have a marketer who is helping to get your trainings out there and notice, that’s wonderful too. But if you don’t have that, then you definitely have to give some time for that ramp up. Yeah, absolutely. You gotta give some time because these things are not necessarily like just super easy. You just throw it together, and before you know it, everybody’ll come. No, it takes work. But once it is known and once it is received, and if you have

done the work to make sure it is something that is wanted and needed by maybe doing a survey or maybe it’s based on information that you have from a number of people that you’ve already helped and they’ve expressed this ⁓ this need or they wish that they had a particular resource and now you’ve developed it, then you already know that, hey, I’m gonna put all this work into it, but I know it’s wanted. I know it’s needed. I know that people are interested in it. Yeah. And that’s important.

The next thing you want to make sure to do is you want to make sure to strengthen your cash reserves. So it here’s the thing: it’s it’s not exciting to think about this. It’s like, what? More money that I’m having to try to take away from the money I’m already getting in and I need for these things. But yeah, ⁓ make sure that month to month you are putting a little bit away for reserve. And how much you put away.

Is going to be based on your numbers and your needs. And you’re going to need to know your numbers, right? Because essentially you’re going to save up so that you have an extra ⁓ mortgage payment or an extra month’s rent or an extra couple of months for the light bills and all the utilities. And and then you’re going to keep on going so that you have a couple more extra months of, you know, rent or mortgage and and so on and so forth. So that should something happen, you’re not.

in a situation where you are vulnerable and absolutely stressed out. So just add gradually, just little by little bit, month by month, a little bit at a time, add to just like build up to first your first month. Build up to having a first month of all of your financial needs saved up. And then you move up building to having two months and build to three months and one step at a time. Okay. One step at a time. So that when

things change in our businesses in the economy or with insurance or you know whatever, you have you have a buffer. Yeah, you have a buffer. And if you ever have a crisis and have to use that buffer, then it’s it’s going to be so much stress off of your shoulders. And then when you you are able to, you just start rebuilding it. You start building it again. If you ever had to use your buffer, I’ve had to use a buffer.

and then you just get back in and start rebuilding little by little by little by little and keep on going. All right. You do need to know y the numbers though. Like you do need to know how much does it take for me to run my business month to month, including paying myself. So that way you have an idea of how much you really need to start shooting for with your savings. Cause that’s gonna be really important. You kind of have to know that in order to know what you’re saving for.

And if you happen to ⁓ also be somebody, because this is just one other thing that you can think of, if you happen to be somebody with regards to another actionable set, but if you’re someone who is online, remember this. Just please remember if you find yourself focusing heavily in online, unless you happen to be a content creator and you are getting big money ⁓ or sufficient money, I’ll say, to actually contribute to paying.

For a month or so toward that goal that we just talked about: utilities, rent, your own pay. Unless you’re that type of content creator where you’re getting money in, then you want to also think about not just the social media, not just trying to fight through ⁓ how many followers you have and all of that, especially when it’s not generating money, but get an email list. I know I’ve mentioned this a couple of times on other episodes.

But you can have all kinds of followers. You can have all kinds of people liking and sharing and all of this, but it may not result in people calling your practice. It may not result in people signing up for your training. An email list is really, really beneficial because that’s where you have individuals who’ve said, I want to actually know what’s going on with what you’re doing, what you’re offering.

What you’re sharing. Yeah. Put me on the list so that I can I can be aware. That is what you want. You want a base, a base of individuals who are committed to wanting to hear from you instead of having to kind of reach out into the social media atmosphere, which is never ending, and ⁓ and just trying to throw it out there. Now you may see me on social media where I share.

what I am doing through Christ in private practice. I do share online, but my base, my my email list, they they actually I start there first. They actually have signed up ⁓ for whatever it is that I’m sharing, whether it’s a podcast episode or if I’m sharing a training, if I’m asking them to, hey, can you please complete this survey?

Yeah, I just want to hear from you all and and get a better understanding of what you all might think is beneficial for something I’m trying to create. You know, I start there because they’ve already agreed to be a part of my circle. But you don’t have a circle. And I know that for some, it’s like, but what am I going to I don’t know what I’m going to actually send a newsletter out about. What would I actually send a newsletter about? What are you trying to be known for? See how this list kind of like

All works together, what are you trying to be known for? Don’t you want to be memorable? You want to be memorable even beyond when people leave your practice. So, what are they going to think of when they think of you? Are they going to think of maternal care? Are they going to think of how to be free of some type of addiction?

Are they gonna are they gonna think of marital satisfaction? Like, what are they going to be reminded of and what tools are they going to get whenever you do send a message out to your list? And if you happen to feel overwhelmed by the idea, do something what once a month. Send something out once a month. And I would recommend, I would strongly recommend getting.

on an email management platform like a MailChimp or you know there’s so many. I I literally just remember MailChimp and A Weber in constant contact, but there’s so many others that are available if you just look at like, you know, email management systems. So pick one. There’s some that are free until you hit a certain number of of email subscribers. So

Let’s look at being able to do this. You do not have to stress yourself out. All you have to do is keep in touch and start working on branding yourself for whatever you want to be known for. Because social media, remember, social media belongs to the social media companies. Your email list belongs to you. Okay. And we want to be able to work on that. That’s how you’re going to stay memorable.

within ⁓ the circles where you help and do your best work. And that’s how you build your reputation.

And it’s a reputation that can transcend insurance, that can transcend a lot of things, but we want to kind of as we’re talking about the changes that are happening in with insurance, this is just one more way to help your reputation get stronger and transcend even the insurance panels that are ⁓ not always sending people the way they used to, okay.

So we want to continue to look at how we can build up our our reputation and stay and stay resilient and sturdy no matter what type of ebbs and flows occur around our business. Yeah, this is this is gonna be good for you. Okay. here’s something else. Create multiple ways, multiple ways for people to work with you.

So there there are a lot of us who, you know, we only desire, we want, we want the one-on-one counseling. That’s what we desire. That’s what we that’s good for us. And that’s fine. That’s that is fine. But for those who are are curious, let’s just think about what are some of the other things that we can offer so that people have multiple ways to connect with us. All right. So with all of that.

We want to just move forward. Those were a lot of actionable steps. Write them down, you know, and start thinking on them as it relates to your practice and how you want to move forward. And if you happen to be working in someone else’s practice, you can still use this. You can make a name for yourself. You can have a way that people can still know about you and your reputation clinically and how

you can help them what you’re known for. And if you happen to be newer in the field and you’re still building that up, then I would say that’s okay. You can still be known for the great care that you provide, ⁓ for your diligence, for your hard work on behalf of your client. and ⁓ well not working like harder harder than your client, but you know, the the good work that you’re doing in providing the care and the service that they need.

And ⁓ and you can be known for that as well until you start honing in on where you really feel your lane is in this field. So again, remember start we’re starting with prayer, we’re starting with our faith. We’re we’re going to put this plan together, but we are going to offer this plan up to the Lord because again in Psalm, it’s actually Psalm 127, ⁓ the first verse.

It says, unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. So we are going to we are going to start with prayer. We’re going to plan it out. We’re going to make these connections. We’re going to put some changes, ⁓ some things in place. We’re going to go back to the Father and make sure ⁓ to continue to ask for instruction and direction because he is our compass.

And so hopefully this has informed you, this has encouraged you, this has given you a place to get going and get started. ⁓ I I like to be informed, but I don’t want the information to overwhelm and cause confusion and worry and stress. ⁓ we don’t have to do all that. ⁓ but we we do want to be proactive. And so ⁓ if this episode has given you anything beneficial,

Then I want you to do me a favor. Share this episode with other people. Please. And thank you. Okay. Until we meet again for another episode next week. And some news that I’ll share next week.

God bless you in a great way.