We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dr. Kimberly Wagner a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Dr. Kimberly, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Setting up an independent practice is a daunting endeavor. Can you talk to us about what it was like for you – what were some of the main steps, challenges, etc.

I had always known that I wanted to go into private practice, even in my early days of graduate school training. While I was in graduate school, I worked at a private practice, under the supervision of a licensed psychologist, not only to enhance my therapy skills, but also to learn the business of private practice since that was not something they taught us in graduate school. When I graduated from graduate school, my first job was working at a group practice. I knew that I eventually wanted to have my own private practice, but I didn’t feel ready to take that leap out on my own. When I was working in the group practice, I remember thinking to myself that there were many ways in which I would run the business differently, and I felt like I could have a more successful practice if I did it on my own. Even though I had those thoughts, I still did not have the confidence to open my own practice. I worked at the group practice for about eight months, and I learned what to do to run a successful practice, but maybe more importantly, what not to do. I wish I could say that I finally got the courage to go out on my own and start my own private practice, but that was not the case. What actually happened, is that I received notification from the group practice that they would be closing practice the following week. I panicked because I had patients scheduled for the following week, but had nowhere to meet with them since my office was going to be closed. Trying to keep my patients best interest in mind, I called around, trying to find office space that I could begin working in immediately so that there was no lapse or disruption in my patients treatment. The following week, I began to see patients in a new office the following week and that was the beginning of my own private practice. It was a steep learning curve and I had to learn quick in order to run a profitable business, but my practice quickly grew given my marketing efforts and word of mouth. Looking back, I wish I had the courage to start my practice sooner and had the confidence to know that I could have a successful business on my own without needing the safety net of someone else.

Dr. Kimberly, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

How I became interested in the field of psychology is very personal, but not a secret. I share this with anyone who asks me. When I was 16 years old, I experienced a significant life event, and it was recommended to my parents that I go see a therapist. Given that I was an adolescent and had never done therapy before, I was very resistant, but my parents made me go. The first few therapy sessions, I was very closed off and wouldn’t speak much, but as my rapport and relationship with my therapist grew stronger, I started to open up more and more. As time went on, I noticed how much the therapy was helping me and how it was having a significant positive impact on my life. It was life-changing really. Given my own personal experience with therapy, I wanted the opportunity to help people and change people’s lives for the better, just like my therapist did for me. I started taking elective classes in high school in psychology and found not only did I have a personal interest, but also an academic interest in the field of psychology. I majored in psychology in college and then completed a doctorate program and became a licensed psychologist. While I was in graduate school, I met an academic advisor who specialized in sport psychology, which I found to be very interesting since I had always been a competitive athlete myself and love sports. Being able to combine my love and passion for sports and psychology seemed like the perfect niche for me. I did my doctoral research, focusing on sport psychology and performance enhancement in major league baseball players. My research then led to me working with elite athletes to help them improve their performance by teaching them critical mental skills. Throughout my time working with athletes, I began to get inquiries from high-level professionals from all disciplines, asking me if I could teach them the same skills that I teach elite athletes so they could perform better in a professional setting. I then expanded my practice to executive and business coaching and adopted the title of Performance Coach.
I primarily provide one on one services. I combine my knowledge in training with clinical psychology, sports psychology, and performance psychology to assess a person‘s needs and wants and work with them to develop goals and a unique treatment plan. I assist the individual on reaching their goals and making a positive impact on their life.
My most recent business endeavor, is an online course that I developed for people seeking to achieve more from their professional life by teaching them the mental skills that I discovered from my research and the same ones I utilize everyday with people in my private practice. The online course consists of 4 modules. Each module has 5-7 videos that range anywhere from 3-10 minutes. The videos are concise and get right to the point and are designed for active learning strategies. Each video covers a different topic and has worksheets that accompany the lesson, so you can be an active participant in the process of learning these mental skills. Working in private practice, I can only meet with so many people a day, so my thinking behind creating this online course was so that anyone, anywhere in the world could have access to and learn these critical mental skills that I teach my clients in my private practice.
There are many people that do similar things to what I do, but what sets me apart is my higher level of education, training, research, years of experience, and proven results. I also genuinely care and want the absolute best for everyone that I work with. I have been told that the people I work with are well aware of how much I do care about them and want them to succeed and that my support and confidence in them helps them to reach their goals.
I am most proud of the individuals that I work with. Watching them transform into the person they wanted to be is the most amazing thing. I am so lucky to have the privilege to be able to help these individuals make positive long lasting changes in their lives.

If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?

If I could go back, I wouldn’t change a thing. I am proud of what I have accomplished professionally and I have accomplished more than I ever thought I would. My work is so rewarding, not only for the people that I work with, but also for myself. My work provides me with a greater sense of purpose, increase, self-confidence and self-esteem, perspective, and gratitude. I couldn’t see myself doing anything else, especially something so fulfilling.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

One of my biggest referral sources and what has helped to grow my business, is word-of-mouth. The services and the experience that I provide speak for themselves. It is important for me to maintain a good reputation in the psychology community, but the general community as well. It has helped my business to grow tremendously.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.drkimwagner.com
• Instagram: dr.kimberlywagner
• Facebook: Dr. Kimberly Wagner
• Linkedin: Kimberly Wagner, Psy.D.
• Other: kimberly-wagner.mykajabi.com/believeitachieveit

  Direct link for online course