You have updated your psychology today profile.
Hug in you're saying yes to more therapy networking events than you did last year.
You're dropping off business cards at yoga studios and local cafes and doctor's offices hoping your next client is just a cappuccino away.
The situation is that your case load is full, but your bank account is not reflecting the emotional labor or the time that you are putting into earning more in your private practice.
You are exhausted, you are underpaid, and in theory you're doing everything right, so why does it feel so wrong?
Here's the truth that nobody's gonna tell you.
When it comes to your private practice, chasing more clients is the biggest mistake you can make.
In today's episode, I'm going to show you exactly why that strategy is actually costing you clients costing you revenue when.
You chase clients in order to earn more money in your practice.
In fact, the more business cards you're dropping off, the more lunch dates you go on, the digger you the the the the deeper you dig yourself into a practice model that was never actually built to sustain you.
Let me say that again.
The more business cards you drop off, the more lunch dates you go on, the deeper you are digging yourself into a practice model that was never built to sustain you.
But there is another path.
There's a path that's actually working, and in this episode, I'm going to show you what the most successful, spacious, well-paid therapists are doing instead.
And it's not chasing clients, and it's not burning out, and it's not guessing and spinning and trying to figure out what's one more thing I can do today.
To get another client, got it?
OK, let's get into it.
By the way, my name is Tiffany McLean.
I run this podcast, The Money Sessions.
I have a business called Lean In Make Bank where we help therapists actually understand what do they need to be doing in their practice to earn more so they can have more spaciousness, more freedom, more time to spend with their family, to write, to do creative work, to travel, where they're actually building a business that takes care of them.
Versus taking care of their business.
There's one more thing in their life, your clients, your business, your family, you're always the one taking care of others.
I actually want you to have a business that serves you, that pays you, that takes care of you, that gives you time, that gives you ease, that gives you freedom.
That's what we're talking about today.
So here's what I have found consistently over the past 7 years of doing pricing strategy with mental health therapists in private practice.
Here's what it is.
The therapists who earn more, they're not working more.
Let me say that again so that it lands.
The therapists who earn more are not the ones who are working more.
Now take that with a grain of salt.
If you're seeing 10 clients on insurance panels and someone else is seeing 30 clients on insurance panels, they're certainly earning more than you.
But the clients who are the, the, the therapists who are at the top of their game.
The therapists who are standing out from the crowd, working 12 to 15 clients a week earning $185,000 a year, they're not working more, they're not grinding through 30 client sessions a week.
They're not booking evening clients to make ends meet where they have to go home at 3, pick up their kids, make dinner, and then go back to a client session.
They're not crossing their fingers hoping for one more good fit inquiry from their Psychology Today profile.
The therapists who are thriving, what I'm seeing here in 2025, I've shown them how to do three things very differently.
One, they've raised their fees to match the life they actually want to live, not the fee they think they're supposed to settle for.
I call this your fear fee, your fear first fee.
That's when you set your fee based on fear, who's gonna pay me?
What can the market bear?
What are my colleagues charging?
Who, who, how am I gonna get anyone?
You base your fee on that, that's called a fear first fee.
I want you to set your fees based on the life you actually want to live.
You can actually scroll down to the show notes, get our fun with fee calculator, find your, what I call life first fee.
So#1, our therapists have raised their fees to match the life they actually want to live.
They have found their life first fee, and with our help, they're now charging that fee across the board.
Number 2, they've reduced their case loads because they realize that the quality of care and the quality of life drops when you're maxed out.
They reduce their caseloads because they realize that their quality of care as a therapist and their quality of life as a human being drops when they're maxed out.
Number 3, They learn to hold boundaries around their time, their money and their emotional labor without.
Apology.
They learn to hold boundaries around their time, money, and emotional labor, and we teach you how to do it without apology.
Let me be clear, this doesn't happen because they got lucky.
This happens because with our help they designed a premium fee practice step by step on purpose, intentionally, thoughtfully.
The shift did not come from downloading a new marketing funnel or jumping on Instagram and doing a story.
It came from making a decision.
I'm no longer willing to build my practice on sacrifice.
I'm no longer willing to build my practice by sacrificing myself and my family.
Because once you raise your fee, once you stop over accommodating, once you claim what you need to be taken care of, once you do those things, everything else in your life starts to change, not because your clients change.
Because you change, because you do.
This is what we help you do in a limb.
This is not about being louder, it's about being clearer.
It's about being more intentional, starting with yourself first.
So let's talk about what chasing more clients is really costing you.
When you're looking at your practice and you're not earning the money you wanna earn, and your first thought is I need to learn how to market better.
I need to fix my website.
I need to invest in SEO I need to do Google Ads.
I need to find a way to get more referrals coming in.
Let me show you what that's costing you.
We can even just run these numbers.
If you're seeing 25 clients a week at $125 per session, that's $12,500 per month.
If you're seeing 12 clients at $250 per session, that's the exact same income with half the hours, 25 clients at 125 $12,500.
12 clients at $250 12,500 dollars, the exact same income with half the hour, same revenue, twice the spaciousness, twice the recovery time, twice the creativity, presence, impact, time with your family, rest.
Now here's what most therapists miss.
The cost of undercharging and overworking.
It is not just financial.
The cost of undercharging and overworking is not just financial, it's emotional, it's physical, it's relational.
I can't tell you how many therapists I talked to, and I talked to a lot of you.
Whose bodies have given in.
Their their backs hurt.
they're having chronic fatigue symptoms.
They're, just ADHD has ramped up.
Their neurodivergence is off the charts, their, their ability to focus is out of control.
Because they're they're working too hard.
They're trying to be part of a system that was not built for them and I'm gonna be frank, I don't think the system of seeing 30 people a week and not earning enough money, I don't think it's built for anybody.
Every week you stay in this hustle.
Model and and we can't even call it a hustle for worthiness.
I gotta be worthy.
I gotta give back.
I gotta make an impact every week you stay in this model.
You you are reinforcing a belief that burnout is noble, that struggle is what makes you valuable, and that depletion is just part of the job.
And I'm here to tell you today and every day, every day of my life that none of that is true.
None of that is true.
Every month that you delay finding and implementing your life first fee is another month of sacrificing time, energy, and freedom without gaining any ground.
Year after year after year.
It's another month where you're doing exceptional work as a therapist while feeling like you're just barely holding it all together.
So you have to ask yourself, how long am I willing to keep paying the cost of waiting.
How long am I going to keep focusing on getting more clients, getting more volume, increasing my case load when none of it is actually making any financial difference, when when none of it is actually helping you make any financial gain any financial traction.
There's another game to play, folks.
There's another game to play.
I'm trying to tell you about it now.
Listen, listen to what I'm saying on these solo episodes.
When you listen to our guest episodes on the money sessions, there's another game that that you can be playing that involves ease and spaciousness and presence, peace of mind, better clinical work, creativity, passion, impact, actually making an impact in a sustainable way that you can see in a way that brings you joy.
If you're ready to build a practice that's profitable, that's sustainable, that's spacious.
That actually lets you see that the work you're doing is of value.
Well you know the work you're doing is of value because you're starting with valuing who you are, yourself, and the transformation you provide.
I encourage you to send me an email, Tiffany at leanin makebank and just text me the word ease.
I'll know what you mean.
Tiffany at leanI makebank.com, text, email me.
Email me the word ease.
I'll send you the next steps to qualify for a private call with me and see if, see if it feels like a good fit.
If I can help you, I'm gonna let you know.
Not everybody gets in, not everybody's the right fit.
I just talked to someone today who was lovely.
, but not the, not the best fit.
I work with people who I see the potential for change, people who are ready to do the work, people for whom you have fear, you have reasons why it can't be done, but you take the leap anyway.
If you are ready to have a practice, build a practice, design an intentional practice that gives you life, instead of draining your life.
This is a shift, my friend.
This is the new paradigm that you have been waiting for.
This is the game.
You didn't even know what was out there to be played.
I look forward to hearing from you.