Why You Should Add Coaching to Your Service Menu
As a licensed therapist you worked tirelessly to get to where you are now. I often hear of the hard work and sweat equity that goes into the educational and licensing requirements for therapists of all calibers.
And then there’s the hustle and grind that it takes to be a therapist once you’ve finally achieved those hard-earned credentials. It takes tons of time--not to mention emotional energy--to be fully present with your clients in session. On top of that, you dedicate hours upon hours outside of session to things like documentation, attending trainings to improve your skills as a clinician, and processing with other therapists.
While most clinicians I know are passionate about their work, they’re also exhausted. They love what they do, but they’re teetering on the edge of burnout that is all too common amongst mental health professionals.
Many therapists I work with don’t want to leave clinical work. They just want to create more time and wealth to enjoy life outside the therapy room!
Sound familiar? I thought so.
Adding coaching to your service menu might be the answer.
If you’re like most clinicians I know, that suggestion probably caused a strong reaction.
Yes, advertising coaching on social media comes with major grey, ethical territory, which can be scary. I get it. You don’t want to do anything to compromise your professional ethics or the license you worked so hard for.
But you shouldn’t continue to compromise your own mental, emotional, and financial well being either. You--and your clients!--deserve better.
The thing is, you’re probably coaching in session already.
You enjoy working with clients who are high achievers, professionals, and are interested in self-development. They may struggle with perfectionism. Sometimes they’re seeking more balance in life to create or cultivate spirituality. They may be other therapists, entrepreneurs, doctors, lawyers, working moms, creatives/artists searching for more and searching for meaning.
With these clients, you likely spend your time setting and clarifying goals, identifying barriers to achieving those goals, and building on strengths they already have. You give them tangible skills to improve their mindset and propel them toward goals you’ve identified together.
That’s coaching--why not treat it as such?
You can keep supporting these folks for $150 per clinical hour and do admin for free. Alternatively you can create a new revenue stream and business where you sell coaching services and are paid for all hours associated with client work.
Offering both therapy and coaching can help you--and your clients.
You already know I’m going to talk about money and time. Make more money, spend less time. YES. But let’s shift the focus for a moment…
You’re in this field because you want to help, you want to walk with people and support them in living fulfilled, happy and healed lives. But the system is broken and even in private practice, clients don’t know what they don’t know.
Picture this…
You’ve crafted a coaching framework chock full of your best evidence based tools and skills. The framework meets your ideal client where they are now and carries them to an end point (their desired transformation) in a specified amount of time. You're ready with your various skills to help them talk and work through any blocks that may arise. It’s personalized support, troubleshooting and accountability that moves them toward the desired outcome.
The clients you serve are jazzed about self development. They are willing to spend the big bucks and put skin in the game, and they work your framework inside out. At the end of a specified time period they’ve seen big changes in life and your support has been impactful and invaluable.
That’s you with a signature coaching offer.
Therapy has many of those same benefits, no doubt. But it doesn’t generally come with the same big paycheck and minimal time commitment.
Coaching allows you to see less clients and make more money. If you’re pricing your services right and working to build your personal brand, you can break into passive income really successfully, too. After all, your framework is straight fire!
What holds therapists back from offering coaching?
By now you’re probably thinking: all of this sounds really great--so what’s the catch? It’s the therapist in you--you know that there’s always more than what meets the eye.
And you’re right. Coaching comes with some challenges, including:
- Ethics
- Legalities
- Ideating, creating and testing the framework using market research as the foundation
- Marketing
- Personal branding
- Acquiring consistent leads
- Sales
All of these are important to consider as you break into this space. However, I promise that it’s nothing you can’t handle.
There’s no doubt you can DIY — whatever type of business you build because you’re not limited to JUST coaching in a 1:1 capacity. You’re resourceful, industrious and capable.
But that list has a lot of rabbit holes to fall down. Before you jump in head first ask yourself two questions:
- How valuable is your time?
- How can you make decisions for your future self today?
My advice is to find a coach, mentor or consultant you can trust, and make the investment. My other advice is to know when to outsource, stay in your zone of genius and serve — after you've learned the ropes. Know your worth, ask for the sale and show up shamelessly.
It's not a sidewalk, it's a runway and if you don't work it... you'll spend the rest of your life watching others who already know that.
What is stopping you from stepping outside your comfort zone and into the unknown?
