I was approached by a well respected therapist and counsellor a few months back. She wasn't even sure what she needed help with when we first spoke. And although I come from a pharmaceutical and medical device background, I knew nothing about the requirements and regulations for therapists and counsellors in Canada. So in a sense, we were both starting somewhere new.
She was already well established in the local market and had invested in a beautiful, professionally designed website to launch her new private practice. And then it started to get overwhelming. It is one thing to be a counsellor. Managing the business behind it, or launching one from scratch, is a different job entirely, and that part is not a regular component of a counsellor's training.
A great website, and a hundred loose ends
Despite years of training and certifications, there had never been a course called "how to start your private practice." Engaging a web designer and investing in a beautiful site to highlight your specialty is a great first step, but that is usually where the process ends. Her site was perfectly on brand and up and running, yet there were so many little pieces and disconnects across her professional identity and online presence still outstanding. I knew I could organize and streamline all of it.
Building the business behind the practice
So that is where we started. I built her a system to provide oversight into all of the regulatory guidelines she has to adhere to. Then we tackled her online and professional presence: we properly set up her Google Business Profile, connected her social media accounts, and created her content strategy. Piece by piece, the loose ends became a system she could actually run.
The piece we are building now is a dashboard to visualize and track her session hours across every certification she continues to pursue. It is a perfect AI use case, and something she will be able to adjust and run entirely herself, without further assistance.
That is the throughline of this work. She is excellent at the thing she trained for. My job was to take the business off her plate and hand it back as something she owns and can manage on her own.
