How I raised my rate from $125 to $250 in 1 year

Are you struggling with making the money you need in your private practice?

It seems like everyone around you is thinking about raising their rates, so now you’re thinking through if you want to raise your own rates and, if you do, by how much.

There’s a lot that goes into a session fee including:

• How much you lose to taxes

• Your personal debts

• Your business debts

• Your savings needs

• Your self-care wants (that help you do your job better)

Let me tell you that when I started my private practice and set my fee at $125 (mostly because I was afraid no one would pay me more than that), I was NOT making enough.

I was also tired as heck because as a new business owner I was:

• DIY’ing everything, and getting frustrated 24/7 because I was realizing there’s a LOT I didn’t know

• Relying only on free advice from others on the free FB groups, feeling confused and ashamed by those telling me I shouldn’t care about the money – I should care about the clients (as if they’re mutually exclusive)

• Not to mention I was worried about setting a fee that met my needs but would bring judgment from other therapists or make me inaccessible to populations I wanted to work with

So what did I do?

Something really freaking scary – invest $2k in a program for therapists that’s all about overcoming money blocks.

And it was one of the best things I’ve done for my business and life because it helped me do better business math, acknowledge the ways I was trying to compensate for a broken mental health system, and prioritize my own well-being so that I’m doing really good clinical work with all of my clients because I’m not pulling my hair out stressing about business and money.

After that program, I began investing more and more into group and individual coaching programs to teach me exactlywhat to do and exactly what to prioritize so that I could make big moves in my practice faster.

Within one year, I doubled my rate to $250 (and have BOOKED clients at that amount, AND booked clients at a $275/hr rate for intensives – which then actually turns out to be $400-500/hr).

If you’re needing more money in your practice (and life), here’s my best advice:

Get yourself some business coaching!

And before you say “I can’t afford it,” let me put your mind at ease. You don’t need to invest an arm and a leg investing in business coaching. In fact, you should be cautious about who you entrust with your hard-earned income. You should invest in someone who has a LOT of knowledge (and proof of their success).

But don’t be too cautious. Don’t be too afraid to take risks. Because, yes, there is a cost associated with business coaching but there’s ALSO a cost with NOT investing in yourself and your business.

It could take you longer to get to where you want/need to be, causing more stress, more strain, more overwhelm, etc.

The biggest risks I’ve taken have actually led to the greatest successes in my business(es).

And when you’re ready to start investing in your business so you can start learning how to work smarter and not harder?

That’s exactly what I help therapists do.

Amanda K Buduris