Business Model Selection when Expanding your Clinical Team

I clearly remember the nervous excitement of hiring my very first clinical team member.

Contrary to popular belief, my very first clinicians weren't Contractors - they were both Employees.

In typical Gerda style, I hired not 1 but 2 Employees at the same time.?

The one was a Child & Adolescent Psychologist and the other was an Adult Psychologist.

The C&A Psych came on board full-time, booking 7 clients a day, 5 days a week. The Adult Psych came onboard part-time, booking 7 clients a day, 2 days a week.

Now, I know what you're thinking...

That won't fly today Gerda!

Did they not burn out from booking a FTE of 35 clients per week?!!

Did you not get any push-back from requiring that?!!

The answer is no - because the FTE attendance rate (after reschedules, cancellations and no-shows) was 24 clients per week FTE.

Back then, the practice didn't have the level of admin support to refill appointments, as we do today, AND I had not as yet established and rolled out the Dynamic Diary Management principles that we use today.

Both of these clinicians stayed with me for quite some time. The C&A Psych only left when she went on maternity leave and the Adult Psych left to start his own practice (with my full support and mentoring) and till today he has a very successful practice in Brisbane.

It was only later that I dipped my toes into Contracting.

And to just - once and for all - set the record straight:

I don't prefer or recommend Contracting over Employment.

I recommend what works for you.

Both of these models can be profitable and both of these models can be a disaster.

Looking back, I did a lot of things right - just by plotting along on my own - when hiring my first clinical team members. However, I also did a lot of things wrong - which I only realised in retrospect.

Unfortunately, back-tracking on how you operationalise your business model AFTER you’ve already hired clinicians is painful not only to you but also your clinicians and the business as a whole.

So today I’m speaking to those of you who are on the precipice of adding your very first clinical team member.

I know that right now you are nervously excited.

I know that right now you have done the research and sourced some resources.

I know that right now you think you know what you need to know in order to get this right.

But hindsight is 20/20.

And take it from me, I thought I had dotted all the I’s and crossed all the T’s, but I still got a lot wrong. Stuff that took me 12 months of painful back-tracking and change-management to correct in order to get on the right path towards building my Self-Running Practice.

Fast-forward to today, I find that one of the key tasks I have to undertake with at least half of my new Academy members is what I refer to as ‘Model Modification’.

This is where we identify gaps in their business model that is currently keeping them stuck and preventing them from achieving the revenue and profit growth they seek.

In essence, we do a Business Model Health Check whilst addressing their business and money mindset, in order to ensure they are 100% confident in their chosen business model and how to operationalise it.

So, if you want to get this right - right from the start - then I invite you to consider joining The Academy.

Doors are open until Monday, 6 February 2024 @ 5pm AEST or as soon as we reach 5 enrolments (whichever happens first). ?As I'm writing this, 2 spots remain for this intake. Email me for the details.

Here to help you build your very own Self-Running Practice?.