How Much Can You Actually Earn in Private Practice?
Resource: a free income calculator to work out what your practice could actually pay you.
This one’s not on the usual schedule. But with Natalie’s session on today (the recording will be with you Monday if you didn’t make it), anyway, I couldn’t sit on this workbook i’ve been putting together any longer.
Your diary might be full. Clients might be booking in. From where anyone else is standing, private practice looks like it’s working.
So why do you still open your banking app with a small sense of dread?
You’re not imagining it. Making money and understanding money turn out to be two completely different skills, and nobody hands you the second one when you qualify.
Most of us set our fee the same way. Looked at what everyone nearby was charging. Picked a number that felt “reasonable”, quietly hoping it wasn’t cheeky. Got on with it.
Which is a perfectly normal way to land on a fee. It’s just not a plan.
I put together a free workbook to close that gap — How Much Can I Earn in Private Practice? No comparing yourself to the therapist three towns over, no guesswork. Just your numbers.
It starts with the bit that actually matters:
Your fee × your caseload × your working weeks
Ten clients a week at £80, for 46 weeks, creates gross revenue of £36,800 a year. Eighteen clients a week at £100 creates gross revenue of £82,800 — before expenses, tax and any unpaid cancellations. Same profession, wildly different numbers and neither one is “right.” They just depend on the life you’re trying to build around the work.
The workbook walks you backwards from what you actually need, rather than forwards from what you think you’re allowed to charge.
Download the free workbook and work out what your practice could realistically generate — based on your fee, your caseload and your working year.
→ Download the free workbook here
Natalie Scott joined us today to talk about exactly this — the gap between making money and understanding it, and the four numbers she says every practice owner should actually know. Paid members, the recording will be with you on Monday.
If you want my take on where people actually get stuck once they’ve run these numbers for real, that’s below.