We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kelly Anderson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kelly below.
Alright, Kelly thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. 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.
Looking back, starting a small business when I had absolutely no background in business management was a bold move! I knew I was great at being a psychologist and could provide amazing psychotherapy resources to clients. Being confident in that regard, and having no clue what I was doing as far the business aspect, I focused my efforts on building a reputation for amazing care. Building genuine connections with other providers was one of my first steps. From there it became abundantly clear that there was so much I didn’t know. It became clear to me very quickly that building a successful business has little to do with the business owner and far more to do with building a team you can trust. I worked hard to check my own ego and notice my strengths and weaknesses. When I found a weakness that was usually my sign to delegate. I will never understand tax laws so I found a CPA. I don’t have the time for managing payroll so I outsourced to a company that does. I can only provide so many hours or therapy in a day and therefore I found amazing colleagues to share in my vision and make it something far better than I could have imagined.
While I’ve been fortunate enough to learn from my (many) mistakes to create a successful business, if I were to change one thing knowing what I know now, I would have invested in business coaching prior to launching my practice. That likely would have saved me from many of the challenges I initially faced alone – not to mention a lot of tears. At the time of launching, it was scary to imagine investing hundreds or thousands of dollars into a coach which stopped me from utilizing the resource. I now know the investment would have paid off significantly both financially and in terms of avoiding mistakes that led to setbacks and loss of time which is a business owner’s most valuable commodity.
My top piece of advice for a young professional who might be considering starting their own practice would be to start with your values and build your practice from there. Prior to opening my private practice, I had only worked for someone else or agencies that already had their guiding principles and policies in place. The further I got into my career, the easier it became to see how other people’s visions didn’t match my own. When I decided to branch out, I started with the things that were most important to me – cutting edge patient care and cultivating a space that is safe for all people despite differences/ diversity markers in an environment that is compassionate and safe for all who seek care with us. Starting with these values in mind helped to guide every choice I’ve made in building the practice from smaller choices like bus stop access near the building to bigger choices such as the clinicians who have been hired into the practice. It’s my belief that having built something that is values-based has created the type of practice that I feel not only deeply proud of, but that is viewed by the community in the same way.
Kelly, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Most of the time you’ll hear me refer to myself as therapist, though what I actually am is a licensed clinical psychologist. Psychologist is a protected term. To call myself a one I had to obtain specific, regulated coursework, research, and training including thousands of hours of supervised clinical experiences, to culminate in a degree to then become licensed. The term psychologist being protected means that clients who seek out therapy with a psychologist know that the person had to adhere to the high standards required by their governing board(s) to obtain their degree. This can help clients seeking therapy find quality care. However, since psychologists often get confused with psychiatrists (who prescribe medication) it’s easiest to say that I’m a therapist.
The training that I needed to get to the point I was qualified to sit for licensure, gave me the pleasure of living throughout the United States. I received my Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Texas Tech University and completed my internship at the Durham Veterans Affairs in North Carolina before returning to my home state of California to complete my postdoctoral residency at the San Diego Veterans Affairs/University of California, San Diego psychology training program.The programs I was involved in for graduate school and internship trained me as a generalist. This means I obtained both clinical and research experience working with clients with a number of presenting issues, allowing me to effectively treat a diversity of psychiatric concerns. During my postdoctoral residency, I honed my treatment skills a bit by specializing in treating individuals with serious mental illnesses such as psychosis, Bipolar Disorder, PTSD, severe depression and anxiety, and substance abuse.
A unique piece of my background is that I’ve been trained in tailoring treatments for each client. I believe my commitment to using the most relevant strategy for each individual helps clients gain a sense of wellness and power over their concerns. An aspect I find to be crucial in delivering treatment is considering the diverse background and individual differences of each client. No two clients are exactly the same and that means that no two plans for treatment can be the same. More specifically, I use my training with evidence-based treatments as a framework to tailor therapy to each person with whom I work. I take a whole-person approach to treatment and go further than focusing on symptoms and problems. This allows the space needed to consider the context of each client in regard to their background, life experiences, goals, and personal values. This perspective makes treatment all the more effective and meaningful to each client I have the honor of working work.
One of the things I’m most proud of about the practice is my team. My current colleagues, and those who have been with us in the past, all add something special to the practice. I’m a true believer in the sentiment that a business is only as good as its people. I have an amazing team who each add something distinctive to the practice whether that’s a specific type of therapy they utilize, a population they work with, or a piece of their own background or culture. Having other skilled psychologists who bring something unique in the practice has allowed us to better serve more clients, more effectively.
Any advice for managing a team?
I once heard that you should never expect someone to work as hard for your business as you do and this has so deeply resonated with me. Not only do I not expect someone to work as hard as I do for my business, but I don’t want them to either! To assume that someone wants to put in the effort I do would be silly, they’re not going to be nearly as invested as I am for so many reasons. By keeping in mind that I should be the hardest worker for the business I own, I always have my employees’ interests at the forefront of my mind. The success of the business relies heavily on my employees and therefore keeping them happy and excited about showing up for work everyday is my number one job. This shows up in constantly reevaluating not only compensation, but benefits, and work-life balance. This is all the more important for small businesses where the business owner interfaces with employees on a regular basis. I attempt to keep myself approachable to have discussions about what would increase satisfaction at the job and what my clients need to achieve their own professional goals. As I would with clients, I think about employees as individuals with their own needs and desires for what brings them happiness and work to accommodate those individual differences.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
Without fail, word of mouth has been the most effective strategy for growing clientele. This goes back to my belief that a business should start with a foundation based on your values and be built from there. Taking that approach allows you to build a product/service that you can truly stand behind and be proud of. In today’s world where technology has made finding a product or service so easy, standing out due to a stellar reputation is necessary. When you build a business with strong ethics and consistency – whether that is consistency of a product or the service your clients receive – this doesn’t go unnoticed by our clientele.
Contact Info:
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