Why I Decided to Start My Own Business - and How

I’m still not totally sure - but here are my thoughts so far!

I think it’s time to start practicing what I preach and “be vulnerable” and “be myself”… but that’s, like, really hard. Nevertheless, she persists. Fun fact - I’m a sucker for inspirational quotes (if you follow TCC on Instagram, then you definitely know this already).

So here we go! Hi - I’m Katy. I’m the founder and CEO of The Clinical Collective. I’m also a therapist who specializes in DBT and treating borderline personality disorder. I’m from a really small town in Massachusetts, and I love my dogs with all my heart just like any good millennial should. Professionally, I really love supervising and mentoring new clinicians, providing clinical consultation to individuals and teams, and working in my own private practice. I enjoy leading teams and helping support therapists to find meaning and resilience in their work. I’m a social worker by training and at heart, and I find the work of being a therapist deeply meaningful.

When I decided to go to grad school for my MSW, I was dead set on being in private practice as FAST as humanly possible. It was my singular goal to be a therapist and to do it on my own terms. I wanted the flexibility and financial possibility of setting my own schedule and charging my own session rate. And I did just that - as soon as I was independently licensed, I asked every single person I knew every single question I had and I started seeing a couple clients here and there in my private practice. I went through several iterations of billing and documentation options, each with a steep learning curve that was not in my skillset. I worked nights and weekends to fit it in and it was exhausting, but I loved it. Still, I wanted to do something more and couldn’t quite figure out what that was. Then I thought, what if I go all in and start a business that helps therapists the way I needed help along the way to start my own private practice? What if I could make it easier to enter the private practice world and handle the business end of things since none of us therapists got even a second of education on this in our graduate programs? But starting my own business is insane, right? Who exactly do I think I am? This thought process plagued me for at least a year until I got sick of listening to my inner critic having a blast at my own expense.

So one sunny but cold LA afternoon, grabbing a snack and a drink at a picnic table in some restaurant’s parking lot in the beginning of the pandemic, my husband and I started jotting down ideas on a piece of scrap paper we found. Business names, main focus and mission of the business, what would we offer, how would we get clients, etc. The roughest and I mean ROUGHEST outline of a business plan was started.

I embarked on the confusing and daunting administrative journey of incorporating a business and put my idea out to my network. I was so nervous for the response and my imposter syndrome came back full force, head on, in a way it hadn’t since earlier days of being a new therapist. But the response was overwhelmingly positive and encouraging, and little by little, I started to gain traction and see interest in my idea.

I will never stop saying “I’m no expert” even if I’m literally an expert - you can’t completely take away my protective layer of self-deprecation - but the truth is that I don’t have a roadmap for anyone on how to start a business. What I do have is the knowledge and assurance that it is possible, and there are more resources and help than you probably realize. And to be clear - starting a private practice is equivalent to starting your own business. 

So reach out to your colleagues, your supervisors, that mentor you learned a lot from but haven’t spoken to in a couple of years. The power of connection never stops surprising me and I believe is an ingredient to entrepreneurship that isn’t often talked about. If you wonder whether you can be in private practice, here it is plain and simple: YOU CAN. If you need some help getting up and running, let us help! It’s kind of our whole thing, and we’d love for you to Join the Collective.