Therapy Business Brief
Hi, I’m Avivit Fisher. I help therapists build stronger private-pay practices through positioning, visibility, and better business decisions. Therapy Business Brief is for practice owners who want to grow with clarity, not more noise. Each week, I write about private-pay strategy, marketing decisions, and the economics of building a sustainable therapy business.
🛎 [TBB #175] Introducing the Private Pay System™
THIS ISSUE IS SPONSORED BY Trusted by over 225,000 practitioners. For a limited time, get 50% off your first four months. Activate your exclusive trial today NOTES FROM THE EDITOR Introducing: Private Pay System™ If you’ve been in private practice for a while, you’ve probably done many of the “right” things: updated your website, refined your niche, maybe even invested in marketing support, only to find private-pay growth still hard. That gap between effort and outcome is something I’ve been...
🛎 [TBB #186] What 10 years of Mental Health marketing taught me
NOTES FROM THE EDITOR This week I did a quick retrospective of my last 10 years in the mental health space. I revisited past client work, notes, and outcomes. Having worked with dozens of practices over the years, it was interesting to see what has changed, and what hasn’t. Here is what stood out: Mental health has shifted from a niche topic to the forefront of healthcare conversations. The provider market has exploded and the competition has become more complex due to big tech and AI. Brand...
🛎 [TBB #186] How to be chosen by clients
NOTES FROM THE EDITOR There's one aspect of client attraction that is almost never mentioned by marketers. But but it’s central to your business strategy: Being consistently chosen by your "ideal clients". Every time I work with a private-pay practice, I run into the same issue: They’re not the obvious choice yet. While you can't predict other people's behavior, you can influence how easy it is for someone to choose you. When your positioning is clear and specific, the right clients don’t...
🛎 [TBB #185] That $13 lead isn’t what it seems
THIS ISSUE IS SPONSORED BY Mentaya is a mental healthcare startup that helps private practice therapists unlock the value of out-of-network insurance benefits for their clients. Use the code AVIVIT for a 30-day free trial of the Benefits Checker. NOTES FROM THE EDITOR Last week I had lunch with a friend whose business is a luxury design service. During our conversation, she received a new lead through an app that “guaranteed” business leads at $13 per lead. Naturally, she was excited. In her...
🛎 [TBB #184] Why a “Grand Opening” Doesn’t Work for Private Practices
NOTES FROM THE EDITOR This week I was contacted by a well-meaning life partner of a practice owner who's opening an office in a new location. The practice owner wasn't part of the conversation, but the partner introduced himself as the person who's in charge of the business aspect of this launch. It's not uncommon. Sometimes, providers who view themselves as not "business oriented" delegate business decisions to someone they trust. But the way private practices grow is quite different from...
🛎 [TBB #183] The “people can’t afford therapy” myth
NOTES FROM THE EDITOR We all have different financial priorities. Look around your own social circle and notice how people spend their money. I see women invest thousands of dollars in cosmetic and beauty procedures. And while it's not something that I prioritize, I understand that it's important to them. Not surprisingly, the medical spa industry is growing, despite being perceived as a luxury. I'm bringing this up because I've spoken to many providers who worry that people can't afford...
Let's talk about income
Hi Reader, There’s a side of private practice that people don’t talk about enough. It’s not marketing. It’s not branding. It’s income. Even though we don’t talk about it openly, most of us have wrestled with these questions at some point. Often alone. How long does it take to fill a caseload? When is it safe to raise fees? Should I take insurance? What happens if referrals slow down? How do people create real stability over time? The answers to these shape our decisions and our financial...
🛎 [TBB #182] This is how to protect private-pay in 2026
THIS ISSUE IS SPONSORED BY Trusted by over 225,000 practitioners. For a limited time, get 50% off your first four months. Activate your exclusive trial today NOTES FROM THE EDITOR The Ruler of Your Own Castle All therapists that I've ever worked with see clients for anxiety and depression. Many work with trauma and relationships too. And yet, none of them ended up with the same message. Each practice, after we clarified their positioning, became a distinct therapy brand. Arriving at that...
🛎 [TBB #181] Protecting Your Private Pay Fees with multi-state license
THIS ISSUE IS SPONSORED BY Trusted by over 225,000 practitioners. For a limited time, get 50% off your first four months. Activate your exclusive trial today NOTES FROM THE EDITOR Keep or Lower? Here's a conundrum. If you're moving or expanding to a state with lower average fees, what are you planning to do about your rates? This isn’t a trivial decision. Lowering your fee once is easy. Raising it back later is not. And even a $25 difference per session compounds quickly across a full...
🛎 [TBB #180] The Real Math Behind Courses vs. Private Pay
THIS ISSUE IS SPONSORED BY Trusted by over 225,000 practitioners. For a limited time, get 50% off your first four months. Activate your exclusive trial today NOTES FROM THE EDITOR Private-pay vs. Courses Throughout the years I've worked with therapists who considered building a course or a coaching program. Some wanted to do it for revenue diversification; others felt that trading time for money was becoming outdated. In many cases it was driven by the anxiety about the future. What I found...
🛎 [TBB #179] The State of Private Pay Practice in 2026
THIS ISSUE IS SPONSORED BY Trusted by over 225,000 practitioners. For a limited time, get 50% off your first four months. Activate your exclusive trial today NOTES FROM THE EDITOR A new brief I've spent the last year observing the private pay practice model. I talked to clients and other therapists to better understand their experiences of attracting self-paying clients. The patterns I noticed are: Therapists are worried about large companies gobbling up the market share of small practices....
Hi, I’m Avivit Fisher. I help therapists build stronger private-pay practices through positioning, visibility, and better business decisions. Therapy Business Brief is for practice owners who want to grow with clarity, not more noise. Each week, I write about private-pay strategy, marketing decisions, and the economics of building a sustainable therapy business.