If you are a in private practice and make money solely by seeing clients you may be working in a job, not your own business.  Why? Because you are working "hours for dollars."  Confused? Let me explain.

When we work on an hourly basis, seeing clients many hours a week and only getting paid for the time we meet with people face-to-face, we work in the "hours for dollars" model. We only get paid for the hours we work. This can cause stress and burn-out because if we take a vacation, get sick or need to tend to a family member in need and miss work our income decreases immediately.  The fewer hours we work, the less we get paid.

The hours for dollars model is the definition of a j-o-b.  Whether someone makes minimum wage or $100 per hour their income depends on their showing up and working enough hours to create the income they desire.

A business, however, is bigger and more robust as an income generator. A business provides for multiple streams of income, passive income and leveraged income.  In other words, a business provides more than one way to make money, is designed to allow you to generate profits while you are not at the office by selling products (like books, CDs, DVDs, etc), and leverages your time so you serve many people at once as a means to generate more income for each hour you work.

The job of psychotherapist is rewarding and meaningful, but if you are relying on an out-dated hours for dollars model, it is time to rethink your private practice and how you generate your hard earned income.