How To COVID-Proof Your Therapy Practice With An Online Group Program

For a lot of therapists right now, the race is on to convert as many clients to telehealth so they can keep their practices running. Then, the new problem becomes how to bring new clients when it looks very much like some form of social distancing will be around throughout 2020.

From my perspective there’s actually a far greater, far more profitable opportunity for psychologists to adopt online models, and there’s never been a better time in our history to do it than right now.

This opportunity has been proven in the last few years by life coaches. And during this time of social distancing, life coaches are seeing their sales soar because they have models that work entirely online and people are stuck at home, coming face to face with problems they’ve avoided through busyness for much of their lives.

The most profitable life coaches operate some form of online group program. They offer a program that solves one single problem that people are currently paying to resolve, they charge a single, set fee or a monthly membership fee to join their program, and they serve these people together in a single online group.

Usually the program comprises 3 elements: prerecorded videos with teaching material, a group call for live teaching and support, and an online community where people can post messages and get answers from you.

This allows them to help more people, in less time, while making a lot more money.

Online group programs are a very significant percentage of the $2bn life coach industry. It enables one single life coach to make seven-figures in revenue in the same amount of time that it takes a therapist to make $100,000-$200,000 per year.

And you don’t need any fancy, complicated tech to make it happen. All you need to do is follow a simple process to build and launch it.

So why are life coaches so savvy to this, when psychologists are not?

Three reasons.

Firstly, life coaches often spend more time and money on learning to market themselves than they need to spend to be certified. They’ve had the help of the internet marketing industry to sell themselves since 2013.

Secondly, life coaches have never been constrained by state licensing or a board, so they’ve always operated globally and online.

Thirdly life coaches have never had to rely on the insurance industry to make sales. Because their marketing is good, people are willing to pay them thousands of dollars for help out of their own pockets. And because people are paying from their own pockets, often they’re actually more likely to take action and get results than they would if they only paid a $30 copay.

Whenever I’m talking to a psychologist about how to make a bigger impact and more money without burning themselves out, I always recommend some form of online group program be a part of their practice.

It also positions them for even greater service and more revenue during pandemics, disasters, recessions, and other major world events that force people to stay in their homes.

It gives them the option to ditch brick and mortar offices and expensive overhead costs.

Their programs can yield greater results, because working with people in groups allows each member to learn from others’ experiences.

Because an online group program only takes a few hours per week to run, they can take vacations and breaks without losing any money.

They can specialize only on the clients they are most passionate about working with, which opens the potential to build a national or international platform as a leading expert in their area of specialty.

And, if working one-to-one is something you still want to have as part of your practice, you can convert clients from your group program into one-on-one work when the need and opportunity arises.

So during the rush into telehealth, I recommend that therapists evaluate the business model behind their practice and consider online group programs that will grow their impact and revenue exponentially, rather than converting their current model online only to create another time-for-money trap for themselves which limits their potential and positions them for more burnout and stress down the road.

Robin Thompson is a digital marketer who helped to generate over $15,000,000 in revenue for online group programs in the last five years. He is the founder of Leveraged Group Programs, Inc, and he helps psychologists make a bigger impact and more money in less time by launching online group programs that take the limits of their practices. You can find out more about him at www.leveragedgroupprograms.com