Many clients who have started their own private practice are faced with this dilemma: Can I really afford to hire another therapist? Hiring another person will mean you need to give up patients, time to get the other person up and running, and worst of all, some of your income.
Managing and expanding a practice requires that you get the right answer to the above question, and many other questions like, “What if things get slow and I have that extra expense?” “Should I wait until things get better?” or “What will I do if I’m not treating?”
The handling would be to put your attention on referral development actions because that will get you sustained expansion through the rest of the year. But you can only do that if you get away from treating for long enough periods of time.
Will you have growing pains and anxieties? Heck yes! It will not be a walk in the park, that’s for sure. Will you be bigger and stronger at the other end? Most likely. So after all, it’s a matter of courage on your part. Didn’t you have to have courage to start a practice in the first place and then keep it running this long?
The key then is to get out of the vicious cycle, not to stay in it waiting for some external force to get you out of it. So, when should you do it? When you decide you have the courage, when you decide to give up some patient treatment, and when you decide it’s time to grow. One-man bands never made it too far.