Diversifying Your Income Using Online Products

Running a private practice means that you are not only a therapist but also an entrepreneur. 

This means that, as the business owner, you can decide on the services or products you offer to your clients and set your rates to suit your lifestyle and your goals. 

A common misconception amongst private practitioners is that working with clients one-on-one is the only possible option for revenue generation. 

In this business model, you are trading time for money. You only earn income when you are in session with your clients … and the number of appointments you book each week dictates your revenue. Ultimately, this will cap your earning potential and may lead to burnout with only so many hours in the day.

What sets successful private practitioners apart is embracing your role as an entrepreneur. This means thinking about other ways you can solve your ideal clients’ pain points or impact their lives. 

Therapy sessions are not the only answer!

What is the Solution?

By moving beyond one-on-one sessions, you will allow yourself the opportunity to succeed long-term at the work that you love and increase your reach and impact without having to feel as though you are constantly trading time for money. Ultimately, the more diversity you have in the way you help your clients and the way that money comes into your practice, the more sustainable and enjoyable your practice will be!

What are the Steps?

Choose your perfect profitable product

Think about your ideal client. What are their struggles and how can you help them? Brainstorm what types of products can help them experience the transformation they are looking for. This step may also include performing some market research.

Reach out to past and prospective clients to interview them. By asking your ideal client what they need help with, you can work to create a product that they will actually want to purchase, which is also aligned with your mission and the work you love to do.

Create your product 

Online products are an accessible way to reach your target market and impact the lives of your ideal client. This may look like an online course, a workshop, a community support group, a membership or even an e-book. Think about your area of expertise, your therapy techniques and the transformations that your past clients have experienced and work to create a product that will have the same results.

For example, you may specialize in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for individuals who experience anxiety. Offering an online mindfulness and meditation course or workshop series with journaling exercises, video meditation sessions and mindfulness practices would be the perfect complement to your one-on-one sessions with your clients. You could market this product as an add-on to your therapy sessions or market it to prospective clients interested in working with you who would like to learn at their own pace or work with you now while they wait for a spot to open up in your client roster.

Market your product

Utilize free marketing channels. Sharing the link to your sales page in Facebook or Instagram posts is the perfect way to let your audience know about the new and exciting way they can work with you.

If you haven’t done so already, develop a lead magnet to build your email list. An email list is an incredibly important aspect of small business marketing. An email to your subscribers is an effective way to announce your product and invite your audience to make an investment. 

The goal of marketing your product is to get it out there so the people who need it will see it. And contrary to popular belief, there is no such thing as being too repetitive in your online marketing strategy. With the volume of messaging your ideal client encounters on a daily basis, sharing your product and inviting your audience to take action needs to happen more than once or twice to be successful!

When you have moved beyond one-on-one sessions in your Private Practice and you are experiencing the creativity of creating products and the security of having more than one income stream (while helping the people you care about!), you will be in a much better position to sustain your career as a private practitioner.

If you’re interested in learning more about creating online products for your private practice and diversifying your income stream, check out the Scale Your Practice Program here.