It’s Okay to Make Money as a Therapist - Elliott Connie
SFBT Moments

It’s Okay to Make Money as a Therapist

March 17, 2024

As you can see, I’m in Washington, DC. I just spent two days talking to some amazing entrepreneurs at my mastermind helping them to grow their business. And there’s a really important message that I wanna share with psychotherapists and that is, it is totally okay for you to have ideas and run businesses that generate revenue and make you money.

I think a lot of times when we’re in this field… a mentor of mine named Bill O’Hanlon said, “We take a vow of poverty.” And people criticize you if you make money. People criticize you if you go after money. But look, money reduces your stress. If you’re like me, you

Now look, I’m just like everybody else. I don’t think money should be the goal. We shouldn’t run our businesses and make money at all costs and all, but money is the secondary consequence of impact. So if you are doing a really good job of running your therapy practice and making people know in your community that you’re available and delivering really good services, Hanlin said, we take a vow of poverty and people criticize you if you make money, people criticize you if you go after money, but look, money reduces your stress. If you’re like me, you had to get like student loans to get your graduate degrees. You had to do certain things. And if you are stressed,

you’re probably touching a lot of lives and as a consequence of touching a lot of lives, you’re probably making the kind of income that will allow you to not be stressed. I think it’s really, really important that we do that and we understand it is okay for me not to carry financial stress and financial burden. In fact, that’s a crucial part of self care.

In order for you to take care of yourself and be at your absolute best and the way you show up for your clients that you serve, you have to acknowledge that you are a real human being and you have to do things that will alleviate that stress. And part of that is making money, and part of that is taking vacations. And part of that is treating yourself well.

So again, I wanna make it clear. I don’t think we have to run businesses and make money. The absolute thing, the only thing we care about, but we do have to change our mindset as a field to make sure we are okay making money. It was really interesting to spend time around these people who are amazing, they’re wonderful, and they’re in the beginning of their business journey,

some of them, and they’re gonna start touching people’s lives through their businesses. But part of the process is like changing our mindset about what a business means. Money is the secondary consequence of impact. So the more people’s lives you touch, it is likely the bigger your business will get. And that’s a good thing for you and the people you serve. a real human being and you have to do things that will alleviate that stress. And part of that is making money, and part of that is taking vacations. And part of that is treating yourself well.

some of them, and they’re gonna start touching people’s lives through their businesses. But part of the process is like changing our mindset about what a business means. Money is the secondary consequence of impact. So the more people’s lives you touch, it is likely the bigger your business will get. And that’s a good thing for you and the people you serve.