Have You Reached Your Tipping Point Yet?

There comes a point as a therapist when you are working part-time in your therapy practice and want to go full-time. That can be exciting and scary.

Have You Reached the Tipping Point Yet?

The tipping point is, according to the Oxford English Dictionary:

“the point at which a series of small changes or incidents becomes significant enough to cause a larger, more important change”

So have you?

Every therapist reaches it.

You’ve completed your training, decided self-employment was right for you and reached the point when you are faced with THE decision to take a step or leap, depending on your viewpoint, into going fully-self employed.

It is a choice.

I know many therapists, who place a high value on security, will work as an employee either as a therapist or in some other field, and see clients on evenings or weekends. They may need the security of a steady income to help meet mortgage and other living expenses. If you are a single parent then there is an even greater need for a regular source of income.

For those who want to work as a full-time therapist there comes a point when you have to take that step.

I know it can feel daunting and a bit scary to think you have no safety net. That it’s down to you to earn a living at what you love doing.

There is uncertainty. There will be times when you question whether you’ve done the ‘right thing’. There’ll be times when you feel a tug to return to employed status.

These are normal reactions.

They are also balanced out by the pleasure of seeing the results clients are achieving and knowing you’ve played a big part in helping them change their life in some way. That buzz when someone who came to you in pain - physical or mental - is now able to get on with their life without those issues having such a big impact or gone totally.

We are amazingly privileged to have chosen a profession that enables us to help in this way.

What’s Your Tipping Point?

Even though we know we can help our clients and need to work for ourselves, what are the things that can tell you you're approaching your tipping point? The point when you just have to take that step.

“A single act of courage is often the tipping point for extraordinary change”

Andy Stanley

These are some signs that I think would be clear indicators you are reaching a tipping point. (In fact many would say they were past that point!)

#1 A full diary for a few weeks ahead

#2 A waiting list

#3 Regular referrals from happy clients

#4 Referrals from your non-client networks

#6 Your projected income can meet your life and business expenditure plus a bit!

#7 People don’t ask how much they ask when

#8 Abundance mindset

#9 Trust in yourself that You Can Do This

The latter is probably the most important. Trust in Yourself.

Often clients say to me they’d like to have more confidence. Confidence, for me, comes from the knowledge of having achieved something. We have all learned how to do things so we can have confidence in our abilities to learn new things.

You can trust yourself to learn how to build your therapy practice. If you’ve got to the tipping point you’ve been doing something right! You’ve avoided or overcome some of the mistakes I talk about in 5 Thinking Mistakes Therapists Make and implemented some of the Top Tips.

It takes courage, determination, persistence, flexibility and understanding to create and grow a thriving therapy practice.

Even with the 9 points being in place it is still an ‘act of courage’ to go into full-time self-employment. To make that change.

The Covid pandemic is a prime example of how uncertain our lives can be. With any upheaval, unfortunately, some people will suffer and others will thrive.

I know some of my colleagues didn’t feel comfortable working remotely, using Zoom or similar, and they stopped working. Others embraced the opportunity and are now only working with clients remotely. As human beings we are designed to adapt.

Have the courage to believe in yourself, to change your mindset, adapt and grow.

You will reach that tipping point,

What do you choose?

Remember you can also download my 7 Steps to Grow Your Therapy Practice Infographic

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Categories: self-employment