How Long Does it Take to Establish a Successful Private Practice?
Having a successful private practice is extremely rewarding.
However, many clinicians seriously underestimate how long it takes to develop enough clients to make their practice a financial success.
In fact, it can take a significant number of months or even years to develop a full case load, while the costs of running a practice or continual living costs are still coming in.
How Long Does it Take to Establish a Successful Private Practice?
Networking is the Key to Getting Referrals
If you are considering beginning a new practice or joining an existing one, you should work on building your referrals. One successful way to do this is to utilize opportunities in business network groups.
When you go to meetings ensure you ask the other members for referrals. These could be to large institutions like hospitals, family law offices or even funeral parlors – any place where people are in need of therapy and support.
It takes time to build a full case load
How Long Does it Really Take to Build a Full Case Load?
Ideally, all clinicians would like a consistently full list of clients and then a waiting list, but this takes time.
If a therapist joins an existing practicewhich can immediate refer new clients to them, it may take 3 to 4 months to build up a full case load. This also includes credentialing time, and is reliant on solid client retention rates
However, if they are starting out on their own it can take up to two years, and this gap, although inherent in all private practice business models, can lead to a tremendous amount of anxiety and a heightened likelihood of failure.
Understanding the time delay and working towards reducing it is up to each individual and his or her long-term success.
