Branding Your Private Practice by Clearly Defining Your Personal and Professional Identity

‘We act in accordance with our self-image.” ~ Moshe Feldenkrais

As healing professionals, I’m confident that you have a clear self-awareness of who you are as a person and as a practitioner and expert. However, when you start branding your own private practice it gives you a unique opportunity for major growth as you exercise self-awareness of who you want to be in business.

What image will you portray to your clients, colleagues and in your community? What is your mission? Your purpose? How do you feel about money, success, power, leadership? And how will you work through beliefs when they are standing in your way of creating a successful private practice?

It will be most helpful to define these concepts based on YOUR needs and values. This will have the largest, positive impact on your practice. Here are a few areas to give thought to as you begin to define your brand…

Build a Good Support System. As I mentioned in an in an earlier post, when I began, people said some very discouraging things to me. So I recommend you, first of all, gain positive support as you build your practice. Can you turn to your family members for support? Or will you need to join a professional group or find a coach who can provide the encouragement you need as you hold true to what you value as you’re branding your private practice?

Define your Specialty. What clients do you want to work with? What mental health issues will you treat? What services will you provide? What treatments will you offer? What are the professional goals, interests and skills that make you unique? When you narrow down your specialty, you’ll attract the people you want to work with and discourage the ones that you don’t want to work with. Remember, it’s okay to let them go to another healing professional.

Develop a Private Practice Business Plan. How many days and hours do you want to work? How many clients do you need? How much income do you need coming in to pay for all your expenses plus have enough left over to enjoy life? What processes will you use in your practice to schedule clients, collect fees, record transactions, and provide follow up? Will you hire a bookkeeper, office manager, janitorial service and so on? Will you rent or buy office space or work out of your home? So many things must be considered in running a successful practice including keeping track of your finances. And properly branding your private practice means that all of these must be in alignment with your values.

Create an Inviting Office Space and Web Presence. Your professionalism can be greatly enhanced by a well-designed office and website. People will make immediate judgments based on whether they feel comfortable with what they’re seeing, even before they speak with you. Everything that represents you, your business cards, flyers, letters, should look professional and inviting, while displaying your unique style. This will ensure your prospective clients will recognize you and come to trust you as they see your identity revealed in everything you put out there.

Not quite sure how to integrate your personal and professional identity into branding your private practice? Then contact me and we can discuss one-on-one coaching options so you can see all the possibilities that are before you.