Establishing your own firm or practice is an incredibly daunting task. From myriad of legal and regulatory hurdles to the financial and career related risks, professionals who choose to start their own firm have to overcome so much and so we wanted to reach out to those who’ve done it successfully for advice, insight and stories.

Grace Kanzenbach

I jumped into my own practice quite quickly, and it happened to be my only option at the time. I’ve had multiple mentors who introduced me into the world of private practice, but their clinics and policies never fully matched my personal morals and values. I wanted to create a practice that is fully aligned with who I am, and found myself at a fork in the road to either choose myself, or continue to mask my feelings of discomfort. I’ll be honest.. it was not worth the feelings of discomfort!I jumped into my own practice quite quickly, and it happened to be my only option at the time. I’ve had multiple mentors who introduced me into the world of private practice, but their clinics and policies never fully matched my personal morals and values. I wanted to create a practice that is fully aligned with who I am, and found myself at a fork in the road to either choose myself, or continue to mask my feelings of discomfort. I’ll be honest.. it was not worth the feelings of discomfort! Read more>>

Toma’ BLUE

In June of 2022, I started my own private practice as a, Mental Health Counselor. I at first was very hesitant, due to me being a new counselor to the filed but I took a leap on faith; and I don’t regret it at all. It has been a challenge but I am starting to see the fruits of my labor. I love that I am able to provide affordable mental health counseling to those in my community. I also love the fact that I am growing and learning everyday; when I am in the presence of a client. Read more>>

Danelle Dickson

When you decide to step out on your own and create a business out of a vision, there is a moment where you find yourself at an intersection of firmly believing in yourself and stepping into the uncertainty that comes with creating something new. At that moment it is important to have clarity in your vision, determination and mastering action despite discomfort. That moment for me was in March 2017. Read more>>

Alicia Fike

“You’ll probably only make about $12 an hour your first year as a counselor” my professor told us during one of our last classes in our graduate program. My jaw hit the floor. I never got into this business to become wealthy, but I knew that there was no way I was going to be able to serve my clients if I was struggling to feed myself or put a roof over my head. Read more>>

Willishia Johnson

I decided to start Beautiful Butterfly Community Corp when I was working full time at a community mental health agency where I felt that as a mental health provider my mental health and wellbeing were not a priority to the agency I was working for. It was during the struggle of working 40 hours plus to acquire my hours toward licensure that IU realized that none of the agency I worked for valued the mental health of its employees and that when I decided to start an organization that not only supports its clients with healing and growing but supports the growth of its employees as well. Read more>>

Jessica Daher

I remember being in the massage therapy program and creating my five year plan. It was my plan to open my own practice within five years of graduating, I did it in one year and I am beyond thankful. I started in 2020 doing house visits for friends and family after work and weekends, and word spread. In April 2021 I was able to quit my full time job with Health Images and fully step into my career. Read more>>

Jasmine Simmons

Mental Health has been a very important factor in my life in which I already knew that I wanted to have my own practice to make a difference. For a few years, I had to remind myself while I was in graduate school that I have to continue going because this is my purpose and I want to go beyond just being a therapist but a business owner. In 2020, I decided to take a leap of faith and obtain my LLC, Tax ID and Domain. Read more>>

Jessica Anvar

Starting a lawyer referral service is an exhilarating journey that demands a lot of hard work and dedication to succeed in a fiercely competitive market. One key element of creating a legal firm is to have an unwavering focus on your goals and an unrelenting commitment to go above and beyond what others are doing. You can’t expect to achieve exceptional results by merely doing the bare minimum or following the status quo. Instead, you must be passionate about your business, consistently seeking ways to improve and innovate, which can often be challenging in and of itself. Read more>>

Cristina Chianese

During the early stages of the pandemic, I was working as a marketing consultant for experiential marketing firms. Unfortunately, the pandemic had an immediate impact on in-person events and engagement, which significantly affected my line of work. With uncertainty looming, I decided to shift my focus to supporting local businesses in my community. I undertook a variety of efforts such as taking over a local gift shop run by an elderly couple, building websites, and coming up with new revenue streams. Read more>>

Syama Meagher

The first company I started was Scaling Retail (2012). I was coming out of a successful corporate career where I had a chance to see how some of the best brands in the world (Gucci, Barney’s New York, Macy’s) ran their operations. I had known that I wanted to open up a practice in 2009, but I felt I needed some time to hone it on what I wanted to do and how I would do it. I took three years (2009-2012) to do just that. My first email out was to 50 friends letting them know I was starting a practice while working a corporate job, Read more>>

Dr. Edison Tai

Tell us the story of the early days from when you decided to start your own firm/practice to establishing the practice. My name is Edison Tai, I am a licensed Acupuncturist, I am from Taiwan, a country that inherits Chinese culture. My family in Taiwan is a Chinese medicine family. I have fifteen cousins, 11 out of them are medical doctors. Therefore, practice Chinese medicine is what I did since I was a child. when I grow up, I work in a big hospital fitness department, I help weak patient rehab, and also get a personal trainer certification. Read more>>