CEO Days: The Power of Carving Out Time to Work ON Your Business
(Not Just IN Your Business)
As therapists in private practice, we often spend our weeks working back-to-back with clients. While this is the heart of our work, and usually the thing that drives us, it’s easy to get lost in the weeds and forget we’re also running a business.
Marketing, finances, strategy, admin. These things can all start to slide when our diaries are full. And then we wonder why things feel chaotic or unclear. This is where ‘CEO days’ come in. Carving out intentional time to take a step back, gain perspective, and move your business forward.
What Is a CEO Day?
In the corporate world, the Chef Executive Officer or CEO is the highest-ranking executive in a company. While they have to report to a board of directors, they are responsible for the overall management and success of the organisation they work for. The CEO sets the company's strategic direction and makes key decisions. They also oversee all aspects of the business, including operations, finance, marketing, and human resources.
Even if you work alone, you’re essentially the CEO of your business. Taking a ‘CEO day’ means dedicating a day (or even half a day) to working on your business rather than delivering sessions or handling reactive tasks.
It’s a chance to zoom out, think strategically, and make conscious decisions about where you’re heading and how you’ll get there. It might sound indulgent, but I’d argue it’s essential for success.
Why Therapists in Private Practice Need CEO Days
The phrase ‘you can’t steer the ship if you're always down in the engine room’ springs to mind. There’s definitely evidence to support this view. Female entrepreneurs who regularly review and set financial goals are 70% more likely to achieve consistent income growth (Forbes, 2022). CEO days have been linked to increased clarity, better time management, and reduced overwhelm across small business communities.
During my CEO days, I take time to review my current caseload, checking in on how things are going clinically and practically with each client. I look at unpaid invoices to make sure nothing has slipped through the cracks, and I use the time to bring everything up to date. It’s the kind of behind-the-scenes housekeeping that’s so easy to put off but doing it regularly gives me a real sense of clarity and control in my practice.
Our work is intensive, emotional, and deeply client focused. We don’t always feel like business owners, but we are. And if we don’t set time aside to manage our business, we can drift into under-earning, stagnation, or burnout.
📌Listen to my conversation with Business Strategist Emma Hine for more on this subject.
My Recent Experience in Mykonos
A few weeks ago, I spent five days in Mykonos with 22 other businesswomen. For me, being surrounded by people who regularly work on their business was a gamechanger. I realised I needed to let go of some things that were no longer serving me and get clarity on my financial goals. By the end of my trip, I’d recommitted to carving out regular CEO time in my schedule to plan and course-correct.