Leaving community mental health to build a thriving private practice isn’t easy, especially as a young therapist navigating burnout, financial stress, and single motherhood.
Danielle Swimm, licensed clinical social worker and founder of The Entrepreneurial Therapist, joins Michael Fulwiler to share her path from driving Uber and making home visits to coaching other therapists on how to market themselves, go off insurance panels, and build sustainable businesses.
Danielle opens up about the mindset shifts that helped her stop “manic marketing,” redefine entrepreneurship on her own terms, and create time freedom while staying clinically excellent.
Listen in to learn how she went from feeling overwhelmed and underpaid to becoming a confident therapist entrepreneur with multiple income streams, and how you can, too.
In the conversation, they discuss:
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(00:00) Welcome to Heard Business School
(00:25) Meet Danielle Swimm
(03:19) Discovering therapy at 16 and struggling through high school
(04:21) Learning leadership and business from a clinical director
(07:25) Driving for Uber and doing crisis work to make ends meet
(10:39) The realities and risks of doing unmonitored home visits
(13:04) Learning marketing through trial and error without business mentors
(18:00) Redefining what it means to be an entrepreneur as a therapist
(22:32) The long, messy road to starting a private practice
(25:05) How Danielle transitioned off insurance panels
(27:14) Manic marketing vs. focused marketing
(30:46) Embracing the mindset of a full caseload before it happens
(36:08) Behind the scenes of Danielle’s course, Mastermind, and income streams
(45:17) The best ways to get private pay clients today
(48:11) Navigating tech, AI, and therapy’s uncertain future
(53:33) Rapid-fire questions on motherhood, burnout, bad advice, and being seen
This episode is to be used for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, business, or tax advice. Each person should consult their own attorney, business advisor, or tax advisor with respect to matters referenced in this episode.