MHM#30 Say no, so your therapy practice can grow
Mar 30, 2025One of the key indicators of a successful practice (or any business) is the ability to say no. No to new opportunities that distract you from staying focused and consistent and saying no to the wrong clients.
When I started my business, I struggled with saying no to potential opportunities and no to clients who weren't the right fit. You're probably familiar with that feeling you get in your gut when you've said yes or agreed to something you know isn't right for you. But once I overcame my fear of that tiny but scary word "no", it became a very empowering experience.
Endless marketing shiny objects
There are lots of shiny objects in marketing - people emailing you with new opportunities that will result in new clients overnight, new marketing tools and trends being developed, cool-sounding partnerships, and the fear of not jumping on the latest marketing thing that just launched.
The "early mover advantage" used to be seen as an essential component of business success, but being a strategic adopter is increasingly recognised as the smarter approach. Instead of jumping on every new platform or tool, it's smarter to sit back, observe and see if it actually gains traction. Why waste time and effort when you can let others test it for you. A good example of this is Instagram's Threads.
Threads had a strong launch, but it never quite became the "Twitter killer" it was hyped up to be. It had initial momentum—100 million sign-ups in less than a week—but retention was a different story. Engagement plummeted after the initial rush—by some estimates, user activity dropped by over 70% within weeks. There seem to be a few reasons why Threads struggled. One thought is that the Instagram audience is very different to the Twitter/X audience. Many Instagram users probably signed up out of curiosity, but Instagram's audience isn't necessarily the same audience that loves Twitter/X for news, debates, and live conversations.
My recommendation to my therapist clients at the time Threads launched? Don't distract yourself with Threads; stay focused on creating content for Instagram and building connection and trust with your Instagram followers.
You could be doing many marketing activities, many of which can get you in front of prospective clients and build connection and trust. You could be on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X etc. The challenge is that you start spreading yourself too thin when you try to do too many at once.
Consistently doing one marketing activity long-term is how you'll fill your caseload. The challenge with trying to do too many marketing activities at once is you either become inconsistent, jumping between different marketing activities, or doing them all consistently becomes unsustainable and unenjoyable. Growing a practice is hard work, and as much as we can, we also want the experience to be enjoyable and not feel like you're constantly drowning in tasks you can never get on top of.
For those of you who have downloaded my Solo Therapist Marketing Checklist, you would be familiar with the marketing activities I recommend. I created this list with a few things in mind - firstly, knowing you can't do everything, especially when it's just you as a solo therapist, and secondly, selecting the activities that I have seen get better results from testing different marketing activities with therapy practices over the years. Of course, in 3 years, things will have no doubt changed and the priority list will be slightly different. But for now, as a solo therapist, if you commit to consistently doing these tasks for 12 months, you should be or at least be very close to filling your caseload with clients you love working with.
Just to summarise the checklist here:
Foundation marketing tasks
- Select your niche / ideal client
- Write your tagline
- Build a website (that talks to your ideal ideal)
- Optimise your website for Google
- Create a Google Business Profile
- Create profiles on Therapist Directories
Ongoing marketing activities
- Search Engine Optimisation
- Google Ad Campaign
- Develop Referrer Relationships
Saying no to non-ideal clients
Speaking of filling your caseload with clients you love working with, a key part of achieving this is saying no to clients who aren't your ideal clients. Once you've completed your marketing foundations and have been consistently doing your ongoing marketing activities for a while, you should start to get fewer non-ideal clients contacting you. It should be clear when a prospective client lands on your website or checks out your Instagram account who you work with and, therefore, who you don't work with. But you'll always get some people who aren't the right fit reaching out to you.
However, I also understand it can be challenging to say no in the early days of growing a therapy practice. The fear and stress around money can be overwhelming, leading to the instinctive urge to say yes to every client who contacts you. Money might not be the number one motivator, but without consistent money/revenue, a therapy practice or any business won't survive.
The reality is, in the early days, it's normal to make compromises about who you'll accept as clients. Sometimes, you just need to keep the money coming in to survive and continue on your path of growing a private practice.
Once you feel more financially secure, the ability to say no becomes incredibly valuable. Turning down clients who aren't the right fit is crucial to building a practice you love. It allows you to focus on working with clients you genuinely enjoy working with, creating a more fulfilling and sustainable practice.
One way to help alleviate that initial financial pressure is to maintain a part-time role while growing your own practice, such as working at an agency or another practice or doing some EAP work. This can significantly relieve financial stress and take the pressure off, allowing you to be more selective with your clients as your practice grows.
So, what will you say no to this week?
