The Counseling Landscape Workshop Pt 5 (7 CEU)

There's a major disconnect in our community between what grad students and others are being told about what it takes to start up a small business, a mental health practice. This workshop exists specifically to address just that. In the opening segment we'll do a few introductions and talk about our objectives for the day as well as a quick review of The Counseling Landscape to establish what the field ahead of you really looks like. We're going to take a hard look at the mental paradigm needed to run a small business.

Session 1

In Session 1 we're going to talk about why you're thinking about getting into business for yourself then take a sobering look at what it is that will keep you in business should you decide to take the plunge. Following that we'll do our best to convince you that you should be thinking about your business as the investment that it is and what a fair return on your investment should be. There's a large faction of folk out there who are all-too-happy to help you decide how you should spend your money. We're going to wrap up this first session by giving you some ideas about whom you should be listening to for financial advice and whom you should not.

Session 2

Session 2 is intended to help you with the legal questions you're going to have about starting a practice. We'll begin with Your Practice Alternatives and discuss which of two options,  owning a business or maintaining employee status somewhere, is best for you. Then you decide. Attorney, John Pearce, will thoroughly discuss your business entity options (LLC, Professional Corp, Partnership, etc), dispel a few myths and generally get you headed down the right path. We'll close out this session listening to CPA Darrel Ingram explain the specific differences between 1099 and W-2 status which seems to be a perennial hot topic.

Session 3

In Session 3 we're going to get our hands dirty in Phillip's, The Optimal Practice Spreadsheet, a tool he's created specifically for you and available only though this workshop. You don't need to be a spreadsheet junkie or a math major to use this thing. If you can answer questions and fill in some blanks it'll work for you! The Tool addresses a lot of things including:

• Your Personal Budget and how it, and debt, play into your decision to open a practice or not.
• A Start-Up Checklist is included and lists scores of items and their probable costs that you'll need to consider prior to pulling the trigger.
• Your Practice Budget, how to set one up and what to watch for.
• You have to pay for all this somehow so Determining Your Initial Client Load will identify how many clients you'll need to see in a given period of time to stay in the black. We even account for no-shows and no-pays.
• The Optimal Practice Spreadsheet Tool is even going to determine accurate contractor splits for you. Why "guess and hope" when you can be accurate?

Session 3 also includes an in-depth, very detailed discussion of what The Cost of Proper Insurance is, and what that looks like. This is one area where mis-information abounds and the one area you don't want to use for your financial short-cut sandbox! Wait, there's more! We've got Michael Nuttal from SecurityMetrics with us to talk about The Cost of Federal Compliance and you should hear the exchange between me (Kathleen) and Michael on the topic of the current FERPA vs HIPAA debate!

Session 4

The only task harder than getting a new practice/business off the ground is keeping it there! In our final session of the day, Session 4, we'll take a very specific look at Maintaining a Profitable Clientele Mix, also a part of the Spreadsheet Tool, and finish up with a plan for Keeping Your Expenses Down, one of the fastest ways to get in financial trouble. Included in this workshop are a number of downloadable documents including:

• The Optimal Practice Workbook
• The Optimal Practice Spreadsheet Tool
• Additional PDF files

I may be the last person standing between you and a financial tragedy that doesn't have to happen so let me be blunt...if you're thinking about starting your own practice, the bad news is that you stand to lose everything if you begin with bad, little, or no information. For $295 bucks, you will greatly, astronomically, increase your chances of success. I look forward to seeing you and your successful practice, at the top. Go grab a ticket!