Exploring Secondary Income versus Passive Income in Private Practice

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Many mental health professionals are exploring additional income streams. Whether it comes from a place of wanting more freedom, supporting burnout prevention, or a desire to have greater flexibility than seeing 20-25 client per week, diversifying income is an important consideration in a successful, balanced private practice.

So let’s talk about passive income versus secondary income. Passive income is something that once launched, makes you money without much effort. Things like:

Book sales

Digital downloads

Online courses

Digital workbooks

An App

Secondary income is a bigger bucket of possibilities, but they also take time to build, effort to maintain, and require time allotted to produce regularly, meaning a more significant shift in your client schedule to avoid feeling overextended. Things like:

Professional training and workshops

Professional speaking

Podcasting

Radio show

Online merchandise or swag*

Retreats

Hosting conferences

Group practice

Video series

Group therapy

Intensives

Supervision

Consultation

Online memberships*

Teaching/Being a Professor

*Depending on how they are built, these could become more passive

Why should we talk about both passive and secondary income streams? As someone with 16 current income streams, the differences and options within private practice matter! For colleagues who connect with me in consultation on this piece, they want to work less so they are seeking passive income streams. Which is great, I’m all about it! And perhaps they are surprised to hear that it can take 4-5 years to see the passive income really flowing well, where additional effort or time isn’t required to maintain them. So then we start to look at secondary income streams together to make a faster, satisfying shift in their money story, with momentum towards a passive income stream in the near future. The ability to bring in additional income is an important skill in business, and thus a skill to master in private practice as well.

Want to know one question (of many) that I ask colleagues in these types of consults?

What’s one pain point for your clients that you already address?

Pain point being defined as an area of hardship, difficulty, or discomfort. Seeking a solution. Is the thing you do (exercise, skill, tool, technique) replicable and scalable to a larger platform for increased reach and income? Let’s talk about it in a consultation!

Both passive and secondary income have a place in the equation of private practice success. Honestly, my favorite type of consultation these days is helping colleagues identify their interests and passions and turn them into possibilities that generate new income. What’s holding you back from dreaming about these possibilities? Maybe you have ideas but aren’t sure how to implement them. With so many colleagues creating amazing things, you are closer than ever to finding your additional income stream(s). Reach out to one of us that speaks to what you are dreaming about. Before you know it, you’ll be one of the professionals showing others that diversified income is possible and maybe even necessary to avoid burnout in our field.

Essentials for Course Creation

As you explore a possible secondary income stream of offering courses and course creation, perhaps you are feeling overwhelmed by what you might need to create professional content people would want to purchase. Thankfully, you don’t need a whole elaborate set-up to create quality content, instead consider a few items that make a big difference in delivering a course you can feel proud to launch within your community!

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1.     Light Ring

There is a reason this lands as the number one thing I suggest to colleagues who want to create courses. Having full lighting on your face supports trust in your audience and conveys professionalism. Additionally, people respond best to video content in courses so ensuring they see your face clearly can support participation and full engagement in your content and what you have to share!

2.     Laptop Stand

Looking down isn’t exactly flattering. Wanting to avoid a double-chin in one thing, but cutting off your airway or straining your neck by holding your head in this position for hours a day isn’t recommended either.

3.     Ear Buds or Microphone

Although a stand-alone microphone is the tool of choice for folks who do a lot of interviews or podcasts, the built-in mic of ear buds is sufficient to cutting down outside noise while allowing your voice to come through clearly. Be careful with corded headphones if you talk with your hands or wear collared shirts, the cord can rub against your clothing which would create a sound that is picked up and recorded on the microphone. We know now that people can be forgiving of a grainy picture, but they are much less forgiving of terrible audio.

4.     Video Recording Software

How would you like to record your content? Do you prefer using your phone on a tripod? Or your laptop with Zoom or another meeting software? Either way, you have plenty of inexpensive options for capturing your content before you gear up to do some editing!

Still have questions about creating your online course? Check out our course on creating courses or book a consultation for momentum on your project!

Master Your Money in Private Practice: Five Tips from a Financial Therapist

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As we find ourselves fully in the fourth quarter of 2022, perhaps you’ve started thinking about your goals for next year. You might be thinking about setting a goal to earn a certain amount, launching a secondary income stream, or are preparing to raise your rates. Do any of these bring up some anxiety? If so, you are not alone! Mental health professionals are helpers through and through. Some would say our worth is wrapped up in what we do for others. We complete extensive training to provide professional interventions and obtain a license to practice, but for many of us, having a business degree isn’t part of the initial equation. Therefore it’s not uncommon to see our community struggling with how to navigate money matters in private practice. It has become a challenging rite of passage when becoming our own boss.

Thankfully, we can support one another in the process of creating a healthier relationship with money to thrive in private practice. We’ve already embraced our vulnerability by exploring how to go about increasing our rates, moving to a cash-pay practice, and navigating when to charge for no-shows and late cancellations, as just a few examples. It’s the challenge of running your practice as a business that brings up some additional money blocks. Sometimes the blocks aren’t even ours to own! There are times we receive judgement from our communities who may question our motives, our focus or purpose, or believe we can’t maintain a thriving six-figure business and be a heartfelt professional at the same time. A change in mentality around money is needed. Although we can’t make the bigger systemic change overnight, there are several things we can do as helping professionals to master our money and meet our professional goals.

1. Read a Money Book. Find a book that speaks to you, preferably one with built-in exercises to challenge your own discomfort around money. I appreciate the exercises found within Jen Sincero’s book, You are a Badass at Making Money and Bari Tessler’s book, The Art of Money. Exploring our current emotional response to money in crucial. Are you avoidant with your money? Do you feel like your money is controlling you rather than you controlling your money? What do you want your future relationship with money to be? By moving through these simple yet powerful exercises, you can remove money blocks and recognize your money triggers as a business professional.

2. Revisit Your Values. When exploring your relationship with money, it helps to know what holds the highest value for you. If one of your top values is stability, you may find yourself pursuing income streams to ensure stability within your business. If one of your top values is community, you may consider carving out a select number of reduced fee or pro bono spots to serve clients who couldn’t normally afford your services. Values, in principle, mean they are important to your life. Check in on how present your values are in your work now. If one of your top values is family but you find yourself working all the time, reworking your beliefs about money can help.

3. Watch Something on Money. I love having people watch the movie “Knives Out” to see what comes up for them in their money story related to each character. Who do they relate to and why? Who are they repulsed by and why? Seeing money behaviors and disorders represented in these characters can be an eye-opening experience for professionals to discover their own limits when working with clients and money. More recently, Netflix put out a documentary called “Get Smart With Money,” where four individuals were paired up with financial professionals to identify strategies to help them achieve their money goals. For some, it was about getting out of crippling debt. For others, it was about investing and making their money work for them. The concepts and tools presented throughout the documentary have value, so I encourage professionals as well as clients to watch.

4. Know Your Numbers. As you explore your emotions around money, it’s equally important to know your numbers. Do you know your average income each month? Do you have a sense of your expenses each month? Have you created a PTO account to pay yourself while taking a much-needed break for self-care? Do you know your net worth? Fortunately, there are tools out there to help you organize your money. Perhaps you start with an excel spreadsheet of your expenses to see where things land. Or maybe you have a graph already populating your spending habits through your online banking portal. You might invest in an app like TillerHQ, YNAB, or Mint to track your money or save for the future. With so many options out there, the important thing to remember is to find one that works for you.

5. Work with a Financial Therapist. As a Financial Therapist myself, I was inspired to take the leap into this role after doing my own personal money work. Talk about ah-has and epiphanies! I’m excited to share that the Financial Therapist community is growing and that there is a whole directory of Financial Therapists online who focus on helping people improve or heal their relationship with money. Find your best-fit professional by state or specialty and see how your feelings towards money shift, in having a safe space to do this powerful work as a practice owner.

Your relationship with money will evolve and change for the better as you do your own meaningful work. 2023 is a new year with new perspective for all of us. Let’s cultivate a healthy relationship with money for improved mental health, work-life balance, and money mastery as professionals in private practice!

Khara Croswaite Brindle, MA, LPC, ACS, CFT-I is a Certified Financial Therapist-Level I, Licensed Professional Counselor, Approved Clinical Supervisor and Group Practice Owner in Denver, CO.