Author Archives: Shelley Skelton

You Can’t Turn Off Your Cell Phone in Private Practice

Posted by: Shelley Skelton on December 9, 2015 3:59 pm

The latest rule I have learned in private practice is that putting your cell phone on silent for an evening might mean losing out on a new client.

In the past, I used to enjoy having a cell phone-free evening at home or an internet-free weekend; sadly, those times are gone. No longer do I have a specific time that represents the end of my work day when I can ‘unplug’ and ‘disconnect’ from technology. This may change as I build up a practice, but for right now when one of my main goals is to build my client list, I cannot afford to miss a call or ignore my emails for a day or so.

So far, I have missed out on three potential clients who likely contacted a few counsellors at the same time and chose the one who called back first because I turned my phone to silent in order to enjoy an evening. Now, I check my cell phone three to four times a day to see if a new client has tried to contact me. I struggle with this because I have become ‘one of them.’ You know – one of those people who are never without their phone.

I know that it is the judgmental part of me who finds it odd when I see others who seem to focus more on their phone than on the people around them that is causing me my discomfort. Part of what we encourage in counselling is how to be more present and I see regular cell phone checks taking away from this once-healthy boundary that I used to protect. I knew that there would be adjustments when I became a business owner and the benefits greatly outweigh anything else – I am simply grieving my freedom from my cell phone.

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Counselling in Private Practice and Using Social Media

Posted by: Shelley Skelton on November 3, 2015 12:17 pm

Are you thinking about opening a private practice sometime down the road? Are you wondering about what you can be doing in advance? If so, I have a great suggestion for you. Let me back up and tell you about how I arrived at this great idea.

I had a timeline to open my private practice and there were many things that I put on hold until everything was in place, such as designing a website and getting business cards. Those two choices served me well, but I missed out on some preparatory work that would have sped up my process. Once I had everything in place and opened my practice, I began catching on to ways in which I can bring more people to my website. Now let me say that many of you may already know about what I am talking about, but for those of you like me who are not as online savvy, this information may sound new.

One way to draw people to your website is by having a strong online presence in social media, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. On Twitter, you can build a following of people by posting ideas, reposting other people’s tweets, and responding to others’ ideas. This following can become very useful for two reasons. The first is that from time to time, you can post about a blog that you have written on your website and you can direct people to read more. The second reason is that the more you connect your website to other links online, the more people visit your site and then your ranking in a search engine will increase. By that I mean when people search for counselling in your city, your website is closer to the top of the list. This is referred to as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and this takes TIME.

No doubt you see where I am going with this … before you even get your private practice opened, if you invest some time in building your online presence in social media, you will be better equipped to direct people to your website when you are open for business.

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

The Online Presence of You and Your Private Practice

Posted by: Shelley Skelton on October 27, 2015 5:00 am

I heard some good advice in the business class that I took last spring and that is to maximize your online presence so that potential clients can learn more about you. I do not tweet, nor am I a fan of Facebook, however, even someone like me (and maybe you) can establish an online presence .

This is what I’ve done so far: I have a website that I built through Wix, I am on LinkedIn, and I am in three online directories. Also, one of the reasons I chose to do this blog was to increase my presence. In the near future, I plan to create an additional website with other therapists that have links to our individual websites. One common suggestion that I have heard is that having numerous links to your website increases its standing on Google searches.

These are the fees that I have encountered for professional online directories:

$ 94…/year (pro-rated) – my provincial association referral list
$40.00 / month – Psychology Today Directory
$25. 00 /month – my city directory
$50.00 / month – Yellow Pages

My plan is to use the first three directories for a year or so, monitor how my clients found me to determine which referral sites I will continue to use.

I know that there are companies that can audit your website and improve its visibility on Google searches. In fact, one tracked me down within weeks of launching my website. Out of curiosity, I researched two such companies: one costs close to $600.00 and the other’s fees were approximately $400.00. It is good to know that this service exists, but I hope that I won’t need it.

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Marketing my Private Practice

Posted by: Shelley Skelton on September 17, 2015 2:57 pm

In an earlier blog, I wrote that part of my marketing plan is build relationships with neighborhood medical clinics in the hopes that they will be a referral source. I have been working on this for three weeks and this is what I’ve learned so far. Continue reading →

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Payment Options for Counsellors

Posted by: Shelley Skelton on August 26, 2015 3:30 pm

How do you plan to receive payment from your clients? Are you collecting payment yourself or will there be a receptionist doing that for you? Do you have third party payment? Will you be mobile or in one location? Will any of your counselling be online? All of these answers will help determine which option is best for you. I will share what I have learned about payment options and how I made my decisions. Two very useful online articles are listed at the bottom. Continue reading →

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

How Do you Plan to Promote your New Private Practice?

Posted by: Shelley Skelton on August 10, 2015 4:12 pm

Many colleagues in private practice have suggested to me, “Don’t spend too much time on promotions like brochures and fancy business cards because you will get the majority of your clients through word of mouth.” I believe that this is good advice, however, word of mouth must start somewhere. Here are a few of my ideas about how to promote oneself as a counsellor/therapist opening a new private practice and to set in motion word of mouth.

I think it begins with connecting with the leaders in the community. These leaders may be in churches, cultural organizations, and social service agencies. For my purposes, I plan to build relationships with doctors in neighborhood clinics, school counsellors, and community association leaders who are part of my target regions. I think that it makes sense to concentrate time and effort connecting with groups and individuals who may become regular sources of referrals.

Continue reading →

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Payment Options for Counsellors

Posted by: Shelley Skelton on August 2, 2015 3:30 pm

So, there seems to be four basic payment options: cash, cheque, credit, or debit. Each have benefits and disadvantages, depending on your answers from above. These are my thoughts based on my single person, mobile, face-to-face private practice.

Considering how much a counselling session can cost, cash does not seem like the best option because I am the holder of the payment and I wouldn’t want to have a lot of cash in the office. If the client is not paying the full amount, however, this could be a hassle-free way to be paid.
Cheques seem like a good option assuming they don’t bounce but the bank usually holds them for a few days before they can be accessed. Also, I don’t know how many people use cheques anymore. I wouldn’t make this the only option, but I see few disadvantages to accepting cheques.
Debit does not cost anything to accept, so in that way it is preferable to credit, although some online payment systems such as Paypal do not include debit. I like debit, although I could not find any debit options that did not also include credit.
Credit costs the counsellor money (somewhere around 2.75%), however, it is very convenient for everyone. Also, there are a number of ways to receive payment through credit: a point of sale system like the square, a mobile card processor, a credit card terminal if you are in one location, and online payment like Paypal. I like this option because the fee transfer happens right away.

My plan is to accept cheques and cash while encouraging credit or debit. For credit options, I narrowed my top two choices to the Square or Moneris because I wanted the transaction to be face to face (rather than e-transfers or Paypal). Even though Moneris has a monthly fee, I chose it over the Square for a few reasons. First, Moneris has been around longer and has a strong track record for customer service. Second, this service has a relationship with my bank (RBC) and a person in my city who has already talked to me on the phone – how often does that happen these days? , Third, I can accept debit or credit with Moneris. The Square only takes credit. If you are curious about online payment systems, you can visit the two articles I listed below; I found both very informative.

This decision about payment options is an important one to make and you would be wise to do so before opening your business bank account because there are a number of different types of accounts based on how your receive payment. I found it very helpful to speak with a business account manager at my bank in order to sort out all of these options. If anyone has opinions or insights about payment options, please leave a comment and share with our readers.

Lindzon , J. (2014, Nov. 14). Top five online payment systems for your small business. Globe and Mail. Retrieved from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-money/cash-flow/top-five-online-payment-systems-for-your-small-business/article21553705/

Purch. (2015, June 11). Square Review: Best Mobile Credit Card Processing Solution. Business News Daily. Retrieved from http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/8064-best-mobile-credit-card-processor.html

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Office Space

Posted by: Shelley Skelton on July 14, 2015 9:20 am

Looking for office space has made this experience feel a lot more real. It’s about making real decisions with significant consequences. Working out of my home is not a practical option for me and so I am going to share my newly acquired wisdom about finding office space to set up a counselling practice.

Through my gap analysis, I was able to target the part of town in which I want to open a private practice. To get a sense of my options, I sent a brief email to professionals in the counselling, chiropractic, naturopath, massage therapy, and physiotherapy fields in that part of town to introduce myself, and to inquire if they had any space to rent. Not only was I very pleased with the number of responses, but also about the useful information I gained when meeting with many of these individuals.

Continue reading →

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Where are the Gaps?

Posted by: Shelley Skelton on July 10, 2015 8:00 am

What is in a Name?

Posted by: Shelley Skelton on June 10, 2015 12:00 pm

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If choosing between incorporation and sole proprietorship was the hard part (http://www.ccpa-accp.ca/blog/?p=4247), choosing a business name can be the fun and creative part. You may already have a few ideas; I didn’t and so this is the process that I followed.

First, I did an extensive google search of private practitioners in my area. Originally, I just wanted to see what names were already taken. Then I decided to create a list of all of the other private practices noting their area of expertise, area of the city, the number of counsellors on site, and their contact information. I strongly suggest you do the same because this can be the basis for your gap analysis, a referral list later on, and a contact list for rental space. I also developed some ideas for a website by looking at how everyone else did it. I’ll have more information about these ideas in later blogs, so stay tuned!

What I noticed were a few trends in business names. A number of counsellors chose names highlighting location, others chose names that conceptualized the counselling process, and some kept it simple by using their names for their business. Because I am incorporating a business of one, I decided to use my name.
Continue reading →

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA