(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Welcome to Ask Allison. Y'all ask the questions about having a fun and thriving practice and I answer them. We have a worksheet for you today so you can bring this answer into your life. You can access that at abundancepracticebuilding.com slash links, where you'll also be able to ask any questions you have for Ask Allison. If you want more support, we've got some free trainings in there too.
If you can't get enough Ask Allison, check out our YouTube channel for our entire Ask Allison library. Hey, welcome back to Ask Allison. Here is today's question. I have a great referral source, but kind of feel like I have all my eggs in one basket. If something happened to that source, I don't know how I'd get clients. I'm okay now though. Am I worrying unnecessarily, kind of my MO, and appreciate what I have? Or should I change up how I get clients? Super question. Love it.
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All right. Such a good question. I was actually chatting with a therapist friend the other day who told me the story of how his practice went from very few clients to full in the span of a couple months. A local behavioral health agency lost the psychologist who did their testing and like, boom, my friend's business blew up. And as one of very few psychologists who enjoys testing in his city, he was in a really great position to fill that need.
But I've been worried about him ever since this conversation. He was no longer working on building his practice because there wasn't time or desire to. He had struggled for a long time to build before this situation, and now he felt saved by this agency's loss. He didn't seem to be worried about the fact that the behavioral health agency would likely hire another tester, especially since it's such a moneymaker for agencies.
Every bit of his business was coming from one place, and that is a scary situation to be in. I've seen this happen with therapists who are good friends with case managers at agencies too. There's the smooth direct funnel from their friend. And then when the friend moves on to other employment, the new case manager has his or her own preferred referral sources and the practice tanks.
So if another private practice person who sends you her overflow, they have a dip all of a sudden, or they take on another day of work per week, or they hire a clinician under them, if that's your only referral source, you're going to be screwed. Don't get scared by this. There are still plenty of referrals going around. You just have to diversify. No one referral source will be able to maintain your practice for the long haul.
So having relationships with case managers and PCPs and folks at agencies and private practitioners is important. It also ensures that you get the kind of clients that you actually want. You can clarify with referral sources who you do your best work with, and they feel great knowing that they're making a good match between you and that client, that you're going to be the best fit for them. I don't love to collude with your worried part, but I am team. Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
And you know my answer to the question, how do I find more referral sources, right? You network, you build your community. The diverse referral sources I built saved me from the summer slump most clinicians experience. So the university's impact in the counseling center isn't sending me folks in June. No problem. The other therapists are mid slump and don't have non-summer overflow to share. That's cool.
The teenagers are getting the physicals they need for sports teams and pediatricians and PCPs are sending me what's coming in. The psych prescribers are seeing a million clients a week because there are never enough of them. And they know I'll either take their clients or find someone awesome for them. The eating disorder dieticians I collaborate with all the time refer when the desire to have the perfect bikini body became a dire situation for someone who now needs therapy.
The talks I give will likely yield a handful of referral sources. And that's not including SEO or client word of mouth. It doesn't include online listings like psych today. So my advice is to spend one lunch break a week, having lunch with a potential two-way referral source. You're getting a steady stream of referrals. So there's no big rush. You don't have to panic, but building relationships and community is a really great way to beat back the loneliness of private practice.
It helps you build your reputation, get to know your colleagues and meet people who you'll be referring to. Even for shy introverts, once a week is doable. As long as you were cool with some self-care or downtime afterwards. So today's free worksheet is who to network with. So you can be really strategic about how to spend that valuable time. All right, friends have a really great week. If you're ready for a much easier practice, therapy notes is the way to go.
Go to therapy notes.com and use the promo code abundant for two months free. I hope that helped. If you have questions for ask Alison, or you want to get your hands on the worksheet for this episode, go to abundancepracticebuilding.com slash links. If you're listening, you probably need some support building your practice. If you're a super newbie, grab our free checklist using the link in the show notes.
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