The Money Part of Private Practice (Heard Business School)

Dr. Audra Horney filled her private pay practice within six months of opening it, then built an audience of more than 130,000 on TikTok as a therapist for men. In this episode of The Money Part, she talks with Andrew Riesen, co-founder of Heard, about what it took to charge what her work is worth and grow a business beyond one-on-one sessions.Audra trained in university counseling centers and spent six to seven years at a private pay group practice before going out on her own. She walks through how working under someone else's fee schedule gave her practice saying a $200 rate out loud, and why she now tells colleagues that if a new rate feels comfortable, it should be higher.She also shares how a niche she had been building quietly for years became her whole brand, why her audience showed up on TikTok and stayed silent on Instagram, and how a Google Sheet of referrals turned into the Therapist Directory for Men.What you'll learn:- How to tell if your session rate is too low- Why niching down helps a private pay practice fill faster- How to find the platform where your ideal clients are comfortable engaging- What to outsource first so you can stay in the work you do best- How adding revenue streams can mean fewer hours and more incomeGuest: Dr. Audra Horney, licensed psychologist and founder of the Therapist Directory for MenInstagram: @dr.audra.horneyDirectory: https://www.draudra.com/Mentioned in this episode: Buy Back Your Time by Dan MartellHeard provides bookkeeping, quarterly taxes, annual taxes, payroll, and banking for therapists in one place. Learn more at joinheard.com.[Disclosure line if needed]

Jonathan Seltzer, CEO of SimplePractice, joins Heard CEO and Co-Founder Andrew Riesen in Minneapolis for a conversation about what it takes for therapists to stay independent.SimplePractice supports more than 276,000 clinicians, and most of them are solo practitioners. Jonathan talks about why the company chose to stay neutral software instead of building its own therapy group. He shares the hidden tradeoffs of working through a platform and the company’s goal of making an insurance card as easy to accept as a credit card. He also covers what he’s learned from watching early-stage practices grow, along with what’s working with AI in therapy and what isn’t.If you’d like to connect with Jonathan, check out his next monthly livestream, Let’s Talk with Jonathan: https://simplepracticeevents.com/LetsTalkNovLearn more about Heard: joinheard.com

Laura Vargas, LCSW, launched her Denver grief practice in fall 2025 while working full time and teaching on the side. She put up a website and waited. Nobody came.In this episode, Laura walks through what she did next: cold-calling funeral homes and grief support groups, investing grant money in professional SEO after her own attempts fell flat, signing a lease on an in-person office, and deciding to take insurance for grief work even though she had planned to stay private pay. By summer 2026, her practice went from zero to booked, with one client finding her through ChatGPT.Laura spent her early career at the Philadelphia medical examiner's office, where she built a bereavement program for families who lost someone to substance use. Today she works with Peer Support Community Partners, teaches, and runs Vargas Counseling and Consulting, where she specializes in grief after suicide and overdose loss and is one of the few Spanish-speaking grief therapists in Denver.They talk about:Why a website alone will not bring in clients, and what doesWhich early investments paid off and which ate time for nothingHow to decide on private pay vs. insurance when your specialty resists a diagnosisManaging three jobs and a 14-year-old dog without falling apartWhat it takes to think about a group practice a year after wondering if a solo one was possibleThe one thing she wishes someone had told her before she launchedLaura is a recipient of the Heard Private Practice Launch Grant.Find Laura at vargascounseling.com.The Money Part is a podcast from Heard, financial management software built for therapists. Bookkeeping, taxes, payroll, and banking in one place. Learn more at joinheard.com.

Most therapists in private practice run a business with one revenue line, the client hour. Anim Aweh decided that wouldn't be her whole story. Over 16 years she has built a private practice, a corporate wellness consulting firm, a movement called Therapy Over Silence, a children's book, a YouTube channel, and a speaking career. She recently accepted a director of marketing role at a tech company.In this episode, Andrew asks Anim how she got from "I'm just a social worker" to all of that. Her answer is that therapists already have the skills. The intake is a needs assessment. The treatment plan is a proposal. Collecting outcome data is how you get invited back. What has to change is the belief that the one-hour session is the only thing you're allowed to do.Anim walks through her first corporate engagement with an engineering firm, how she finds the right contact inside a company on LinkedIn, the budgets companies already have for this kind of work, and what to say when someone tells you they already have an EAP nobody uses. She also talks about a relationship that turned into paid work three years after an awkward introduction at a party.The conversation closes on money. Anim shares how she handles bookkeeping across several income streams, why she moved from an LLC to an S corp on her accountant's advice, and what changed the first time she filed afterward.What you'll learn:How to translate clinical skills into consulting: intake, treatment plan, outcomesWho to contact inside a company (HR, ERG leads, head of people) and how to find themWhere corporate budgets for wellness programs come fromHow to respond when a company says it already has a program nobody usesWhy pre and post surveys matter more than anything else for repeat workHow Anim uses AI in her day to day and where she draws the line clinicallyWhy an S corp changed her tax pictureTimestamps: 02:15 From "just a social worker" to director of marketing 03:44 The mindset shift 06:30 Imposter syndrome 08:55 Talking the talk in business settings 12:27 What corporate clients want and landing the first engagement 15:51 Who to reach out to inside a company 17:50 The budgets that already exist 18:13 "We already have an EAP nobody uses" 19:25 The relationship that paid off years later 21:01 Measuring results with pre and post surveys 24:40 What a week looks like now 26:31 Prioritization and staying grounded 29:19 How Anim uses AI 31:17 AI in clinical work and licensing boards 33:52 Her tool stack 36:31 Bookkeeping across multiple income streams 38:33 Switching from an LLC to an S corp 39:55 Energy over a number 41:59 Where to find AnimAbout Anim Aweh: Anim Aweh is a licensed clinical social worker with a public health background. She is the founder of Aweh Supports, a consulting practice that helps companies build employee wellness programs, and the force behind Therapy Over Silence, a movement to close the mental health gap in Black and brown communities. Her work has been featured in The New York Times and Yahoo News. She co-hosts the Founders Table, a cohort program for clinicians ready to move into consulting and other ventures.Links:Anim on social: @animawerFounders Table: https://the-founders-table.com/braveweekend-pageHeard: https://www.joinheard.comAbout Heard: Heard is financial management software built for therapists. Bookkeeping, quarterly and annual taxes, payroll, and banking in one place, so you can focus on your clients. Learn more at joinheard.com.

How do you know when you're ready to leave group practice and start your own? In this episode of The Money Part, Heard co-founder Andrew Riesen talks with Nia Henderson, LMFT, founder of Soft Spot Therapy Collective in Illinois, about the real timeline, pay math, and fear involved in going independent.She also shares how she told her group practice owner she was leaving, how she's moving clients over in batches, and the advice she'd give any therapist in the messy middle: take your time and find your footing. You do not need to be a perfect business owner on day one.Nia is a Black queer therapist serving BIPOC and LGBTQ+ individuals and couples navigating relational trauma and sociocultural stress, using narrative therapy, somatic work, and Internal Family Systems. Her long-term vision is a community healing center with integrated care.Questions this episode answersWhat is a typical group practice pay split for a pre-licensed therapist? How much do therapists make per session at a 50/50 split? How do you negotiate a higher split in group practice? How long does it take to plan a private practice? How do you tell your group practice owner you're leaving? How do you transition clients from group practice to private practice? How do you prepare financially before going independent?Chapters00:00 Cold open: "It was a grueling experience" 00:23 Welcome to The Money Part 01:13 Meet Nia Henderson, LMFT, founder of Soft Spot Therapy Collective 02:57 Why Nia became a therapist: from neuroscience research to clinical work 11:40 Bringing your full identity into private practice 16:01 The grueling road to licensure in group practice 19:39 Group practice pay splits: 50/50, 52%, and negotiating for 60% 24:18 The messy middle: building a practice while still employed 29:06 How to tell your group practice owner you're leaving 32:36 The biggest fear about going independent: the money 35:19 How Nia prepared financially for the transition 38:11 Advice for therapists becoming accidental entrepreneurs 41:16 ClosingLinksSoft Spot Therapy Collective: https://softspottc.com/ Heard: https://www.joinheard.com