How I Grew My Canadian Private Practice – Year Three | EP 04
Episode description
By the end of 2018 things were going pretty well. I was working in my private practice 2 days a week and I was teaching at Dalhousie. I was making money and all the hard work I had done in setting up the foundational phase of my Canadian private practice was paying off.
The stage was set for me to grow my private practice.
IN THIS EPISODE:
- Starting my 3rd year off on a good note
- Burn out started to creep in
- Too tired to do anything
Starting my 3rd year off on a good note
'In my first year, I started to set those foundations for my private practice: the website, the video, marketing, networking, blogging… I also made a Psychology Today profile.' – Julia Smith
With everything that I had done in my first year, setting up the Psychology Today profile and then getting referrals from the clinic, networking, and a doctor at Dalhousie, my private practice continued to grow in my 3rd year.
For 2 days a week, I was working in my Canadian private practice. I would see up to 6 people on a Saturday and up to 6 people on a Tuesday. At Dalhousie, I was also seeing up to 6 people a day, twice a week. But because these were intakes, it was a lot of work and high energy output.
When winter came around, I was offered to work a 3rd day at Dalhousie, it was really busy, but it was so worth it and I was gaining so much experience.
'Being able to work 2 days a week at the clinic in my private practice and watching it grow, and building my clientele… It was just a great time.' – Julia Smith
Burn out started to creep in
As winter was coming to an end and things started getting quieter at Dalhousie, I was offered to work there 1 day a week during summer and I was now at a point where I needed to add a 3rd day to my private practice. So now, I could see clients on a Saturday, Tuesday, and Thursday.
By September 2019 juggling my private practice and my job at Dalhousie University, it was getting to be just a little bit too much.
When I wasn't working, I didn't have much energy to do anything else. With the busy schedule that I had, it was difficult to go out and socialize. The thought of interacting with people on my time off didn't sound like fun.
Too tired to do anything
When I was invited to social events, I couldn't go because I was working on the weekends. After working a long week, I was sitting in my apartment watching Netflix.
'It was becoming a concern, I was starting to see that I needed more than just 1 day off a week, of not doing anything. I wasn't unwinding, I was just watching TV and then going back to working on my business and then seeing clients throughout the week.'- Julia Smith
I started to notice that I was getting headaches when I was counselling clients. This had never happened before. On the one hand, my Canadian business was growing and I was making money, but my personal life was not great and I was just burned out.
'I'm getting what I wanted, I have my dream job at Dalhousie, my private practice is doing well… But I feel like sh*t. So, I knew that some things needed to change.' – Julia Smith
In the next episode, I will share with you how that change started to happen.
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Resources Mentioned and Useful Links:
Ep 03: Dealing with Unexpected Changes in my Canadian Private Practice – Year Two
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