The 5 Best Ways To Destroy Your Private Practice

Even if you are doing many things “right,” you can still end up destroying your private practice. Here’s the 5 top ways you can blow it up fast:

# 5 – Don’t change things up.
Keep doing the same old things you used to do when you started in the business 20 years ago. Be predictable i.e. boring. Keep working with the same old issues (and only those same old issues) that you’ve always worked with. Don’t develop new bodies of work, new skills, or new interests. Allow your work and your practice to become dated and irrelevant. It works every time.

Caution! Caution!

# 4 – Don’t ask your clients.
Whatever you do, do not survey or poll your clients. Don’t ask for their feedback about anything . . . your office location, the way they are greeted at the front desk, your billing / fee collection process, your clinical effectiveness, or their thoughts about your work after they terminate. And, should your clients volunteer such feedback, be sure to argue, justify, or dispute it. Whatever you do, make sure you do not actually consider it and make appropriate changes (see comments above).

# 3 – Don’t ask for referrals.
Don’t explain that you are expanding your practice; don’t tell friends and family that you have a few extra time slots to fill; and, don’t tell clients that your business depends on referrals from satisfied customers. Better yet, tell everyone you know that you have a one month waiting list and are not looking for new clients.

# 2 – Don’t brand yourself.
Branding is for businesses that want to present a clear, succinct and memorable message about who they are and what they represent. By not branding you and your private practice, you can ensure that your business becomes forgettable, at best and, at worst, becomes confused with too many / unprofessional images and messages. To kill your practice, I highly recommend avoiding all tendencies toward branding.

# 1 – Don’t niche your practice.
Most importantly, try to be everything to everyone. Be a generalist. Do everything OK. Work with everyone all right. Refuse to specialize in anything and become forgettable fast.

Why isn’t your private practice surviving?