Private Practice Made Simple
Everything you need to start, grow, and scale your private practice, in one place.
- Practice Builder, our proprietary software that does the hard parts for you
- Business Coaching with Jena Castro-Casbon every other week, in a safe, judgment-free space
- The Private Practice Network, clinicians at every stage, so you're never doing this alone
With Jena Castro-Casbon, MS CCC-SLP · helping clinicians since 2008.
You love the therapy. The business part is where you get stuck.
You didn't go to grad school to market yourself, set your own rates, wrangle the taxes, or hire and manage a team. But a private practice comes with all of it.
You didn't start this to trade one kind of overwhelm for another. You started it for more time, more freedom, and the income you actually wanted.
You're not bad at business. You're just busy.
So I cut the fluff and give you exactly what you need to knock each thing out, like raising your rates, filling your caseload, or adding a new revenue stream, one at a time, until it's off your list.
From To Do to Done.
Supporting every stage of your private practice journey
Same school, same price, same everything included. The only thing that changes is what you focus on. Pick the one that sounds like you.
Get your legal ducks in a row and get your first client.
The scariest part of starting is the part everyone gets wrong, so it's the part we handle first and fastest. An LLC on its own is not enough, and depending on your state it may not even be the right move.
- Week one: the 12-Point Check tells you in five minutes exactly what's missing, then walks you through all twelve steps to being properly, legally open in your state, because the rules aren't the same everywhere.
- Week two: Practice Builder writes the things that get you found, your website, your intro letter to local pediatricians, your social media announcements, all in your voice for your specialty.
- Then you're in the same place as everyone else, working on getting your first ideal clients and building a practice you're proud of. That's the point. Foundation is the seatbelt, not the destination.
Stop Googling. Stop guessing. Get out of analysis paralysis and get your practice set up.
You're seeing clients all day, and the business keeps falling to the bottom of the list.
You started, you've got clients, and now the business itself is the thing you never get to. So it sits on the back burner, half-done, while you're in session. Your first move is a quick checkup: check off everything you've already handled, and what's left is your real list, shorter and more valuable than you think.
- Consistent clients, not feast or famine. Build the referral engine that keeps your caseload full, so the inquiries don't dry up the second you get busy.
- Get paid what you're worth. Set your rates with confidence and finally make the insurance decision you keep circling: private pay, which panels, or out.
- Systems, so you can grow without drowning. Set up the scheduling, intake, billing, and no-show systems that run without you, so wearing all the hats stops eating your evenings, and you can take on more clients without hiring anyone yet.
The Messy Middle is a normal stage of business, not a sign you're doing it wrong. Let's get you through it as fast as possible.
You're full. Now you grow by making more, not working more.
When the caseload's full, more clients isn't the answer and more hours definitely isn't. Growth now comes from better margins, new revenue, and finally getting some help. Those are the expensive-to-get-wrong decisions most owners keep putting off. Your checkup takes ten minutes; most of it you'll check off on sight, and what's left is the real list.
- Keep more of what you make. Raise your rates, fix your payer mix, and close the quiet money leaks, no-shows, underpricing, the insurance panels costing you more than they pay. Same caseload, bigger take-home.
- Add income that isn't tied to your calendar. Build the group program, the parent course, the digital product, the streams that earn while you're not in session, so your income stops being capped by your hours.
- Hire without the horror stories. Run the real numbers before you panic-hire, then bring on your first or next clinician the right way, W-2 or contractor, so you buy back your time instead of a second job.
You're not a beginner. You're a real business owner now. It's time to laser-focus on the business side of the business.
[PLACEHOLDER: had an LLC and a handful of clients but no plan for what came next. What changed in the first 90 days. Should sound like relief, not hype.]
Hi, I'm Jena Castro-Casbon. I've helped over 15,000 SLPs and OTs be successful private practitioners.
I started my own speech therapy practice at 26, because I was burning out. Friends kept asking how I did it, so I built The Independent Clinician to show them.
I'm a clinician at heart, just like you. I know the "I'm not a business person" feeling, because I felt it too. The difference? I got completely obsessed with the business side. I think about business all day long, and you don't have to.
Since 2008, I've been inside more than 15,000 private practices. I know what works, what doesn't, and why. So I took everything scary about starting and growing one and made it clinician-friendly: no MBA, no jargon, just what to do, in order, for your practice and your situation.
So you can get back to what you do best: helping your clients. I just get to help the clinicians now.
Mom. Hot sauce lover. Musical theatre dork.
Here's exactly how this works.
First, I get to know your practice and your goals.
You start with the Private Practice Priority Finder, a short intake where you tell me where your practice is today and what you actually want. Not a vague someday. A real goal, like:
Then I look at your whole practice, because every private practice runs on the same six areas. Focusing on the wrong one at the wrong time is what keeps practices stuck.
Most practices have something unfinished in more than one. That's normal, and it's usually where the money is.
Then you get your Personalized Private Practice Plan.
Practice Builder turns your intake into your Jena-Approved Practice Plan: exactly what to focus on, in what order, and just as importantly, what to wait on. Each move is a Level Up, and each one ends with the actual document, script, or calculation handed to you finished.
Notice what didn't happen: you didn't get sent back to the beginning. Whatever isn't done yet becomes your list because it's part of hiring, not instead of it. Most people work on one to three priorities a quarter, one at a time.
And I'll tell you what to wait on.
This is the part people say they didn't know they needed. Every week something new lands on the list, and most of it is not your problem this quarter. You'll know what to skip, and why, so you can put it down without wondering whether you're making a mistake.
You don't need a business degree. You need an experienced private practice business coach.
Every other week, you bring me your questions. The ones you'd ask a business partner, if you had one. Should I raise my rate? Is it time to hire? Do I take this contract? Is this worth my time?
Since 2008 I've been inside more than 15,000 private practices, so I can tell you what I'd do, and why. You leave the call knowing your next move.
A straight answer
Not a list of options to go weigh on your own. I'll tell you what I'd do in your situation and what it depends on, so you can stop turning it over at 11pm and go do it.
No snark. No belittling.
You know the groups where asking a basic question gets you piled on. That isn't what this is. Ask me anything, at any stage, and get a real answer from someone who's on your side.
No course, no template, and no chatbot can do this part. Anyone can tell you how. I can tell you what to do.
You make more money, and you get your life back.
More money
Your rate raised, your no-shows handled, your caseload full, and a stream of income that isn't tied to your calendar.
More time
Systems that run without you, notes done before you leave, and a schedule you actually chose.
Less stress
No more wondering whether you're working on the right thing, or whether you got it right. You'll know, because I'll tell you.
One enrollment instead of buying something new every time you hit a wall
Here's how it usually goes. You buy a course to get set up. Then a different one when the caseload stalls. Then a coach when the money still doesn't work. Three purchases, three logins, three people who don't know anything about your practice, and a gap between each one where you're stuck again.
This is one enrollment that covers all of it, and one place that already knows your state, your rates, your caseload, and what you've already done.
A year of always knowing your next right move, and having the thing you need to make it, already written.
You don't graduate from having a business. A course ends. A practice doesn't.
[PLACEHOLDER: established owner who worried this would be too basic. Raised a rate, fixed a payer mix, made a first hire, or built a program. Real numbers if she'll give them.]
So how do we make private practice simple?
Three things, working together, so you always know your next move and never start from a blank page. Here's each one.
Your Plan & Practice Builder
Your Personalized Private Practice Plan tells you exactly what to do next. Practice Builder's systems, tools and calculators do the hard parts for you.
Coaching with Jena Castro-Casbon
Every other week, you bring your questions and get a straight answer from someone who has seen inside 15,000 private practices.
The Private Practice Network
Clinicians in practices like yours, so you always have someone to ask and never feel like the only one.
The Private Practice Network
Clinicians in practices like yours, so you always have someone to ask and never feel like the only one.
Practice Builder does most of the work for you
The tools above do the math for you. Practice Builder does the rest. Think of it as my brain in software: it's trained on the way I've walked 15,000 practices through these exact decisions, so it helps you build the actual thing instead of just deciding what to do. Here's how it works.
Your state, your specialty, your rates, your caseload, and what you've already done. So it knows your practice, not private practice in general.
Your next step, which priority to work on, and what you're not ready for yet. No more wondering whether you're working on the right thing.
The actual asset with you. Your website copy, your attendance policy, your intake paperwork, drafted for your practice so you're editing instead of starting from a blank page.
It isn't built from the internet's best guess. It's built on my answers, from 15,000 practices and counting. It tells you what I would tell you. When it's your license and your livelihood, "sounds about right" isn't good enough. It's included in your enrollment, at no extra cost.
- ✓Know Your NumbersProfit per session: $68 · done
- ✓Employee or Contractor?W-2 · decided
- 3Write the Job PostDrafting for your specialty and state...
- •Onboard & Pay Your TeamWaiting until you've hired
A look at Practice Builder. Your plan, your progress, and what you're deliberately not doing yet.
The Level Ups: every move, already broken down for you
A Level Up isn't a lesson. It's one move you can actually finish: a short why and how, then the document, script, policy, or calculation, written for your practice. You do one at a time, in the order I give you.
Ten minutes on why this matters and how it works for a practice like yours. No filler, no 90-minute video.
Practice Builder drafts the actual asset in your voice, for your state and specialty. You're editing, not starting from a blank page.
Bring it to coaching, I tell you if it's right, and it comes off your list for good.
There are dozens, across all six areas. You'll never have to figure out which one you need.
Don't know your numbers? Totally fine. Our calculators find them, and tell you what they mean.
This is the part people brace for, and it's the part you do the least work on. Each tool asks a few plain questions. How many clients are on your caseload. What you charge. What each payer actually pays you. Then it runs the analysis for you and tells you what the number means and what to do about it. No spreadsheets, no formulas, no homework.
And these aren't a separate library you have to go dig through. Each one lives inside the Level Up it finishes.
Ready to Hire?
Enter what you'd bill and what you'd pay them. See your break-even session, your net per month, and what it looks like if they ramp up slowly.
The Profitable Payer Mix™
Enter your payers, rates, and weekly visits. Drag one down and another up, and watch exactly what one shift is worth.
Price It Right
Enter your rate now and the rate you'd charge if you weren't nervous about it. See what it does to your year before you send a letter.
Know Your Numbers
Your rate is not your profit. Enter your costs and find out what you actually keep per session.
Protect Your Schedule
Enter your no-shows and late cancels. See what they've really cost you this year, then get the policy written.
The Profitable Program™ Builder
Design the program, price every piece, and see it side by side against billing session by session.
Build Your Referral Engine
Not all referral sources are created equal. Find out which ones are actually making you money.
Design Your Ideal Week
Sort every task in your practice by whether it actually needs you. Then stop doing the rest.
Revenue is vanity. Profit is sanity. Most owners have never run these numbers, which is exactly why the first one you run tends to change something.
"I don't know what I don't know."
Almost every person who joins says some version of that exact sentence. That isn't a character flaw, and it isn't a knowledge gap you can close by reading more. Nobody handed you a business education in grad school, and the internet gives you four hundred answers when you need one.
So you Google. You ask in a Facebook group. You open a tab about setting your rates and close it again, and you get stuck in analysis paralysis. Two years go by, and it starts to feel like the reason nothing has happened is you.
It isn't. Running a practice is a sequence, and nobody ever showed you the order.
Everything is included in your enrollment. All of it, for one price.
You'll use one part at a time. It's all here so you never hit a wall alone.
Your Personalized Private Practice Plan
Where you are, your one next move, and, just as usefully, what you're not working on right now. One page, updated as your practice changes.
Practice Builder
Learns your practice, guides your decisions, produces the actual thing. Available at 2am when the question shows up.
The Level Ups
Every proven move to make more and work less, with the tools, templates, and scripts to actually do them. Across all six areas.
Business Coaching with Jena Castro-Casbon
Every other week, you bring your questions and I tell you what I'd do and why. Not a lecture. Your practice, my eyes on it, on a rhythm.
12 months in The Private Practice Network
Not a Facebook group. A professional network of SLPs and OTs at every stage, organized by what people are working on, so you're never the only one.
The Private Practice Network: you stop doing this alone
Private practice is isolating. You left a building full of colleagues, and now the only person to ask is you. The Network gives you the colleagues back.
Find your people
Connect with clinicians near you and with practices like yours: same setting, same specialty, same stage. The person who solved your exact problem last year is in here.
Real referral relationships
These are the people who send you clients when they're full, cover you when you're out, and tell you what a school contract actually pays in your area.
Somebody to ask
The question you'd feel silly posting publicly. Ask it here and get a real answer from someone who's been there, usually the same day.
No mean girls. No anonymous posts. No snark. Nobody gets piled on for asking a basic question, and nobody hides behind a blank profile to be unkind. This is a professional network of people who remember exactly how it felt to be starting out. Nice is the culture, and I protect it.
How Much Is Your Practice Leaving on the Table?
Check what you want to add and see for yourself.
Check the ones that you want to add to your practice. Ignore the rest (for now!) Most practices add 2 or 3 per year.
Raise Your Rates
Only if you haven't raised yours in the past year.
Land a school contract
Districts are short-staffed and contracting out. One clinician added $240k in a year.
Fill your empty slots
A few gaps or a mostly empty week. Every unfilled hour is money sitting on your calendar.
Add a group, camp, or intensive
Serve six clients in the hour you'd have seen one.
Sell packaged programs
Stop billing session by session. Sell the outcome, like "The 12-Week Feeding Program," at a price that reflects it.
Sell digital products
A parent handbook, a home-program course, a screening guide. Income that isn't tied to a session slot, or to you being in the room.
Stop losing no-shows
Sessions you never got paid for, because there's no policy protecting the slot.
Tick a few boxes above to see the number.
It's okay that you haven't added these things just yet. You've been too busy seeing clients to go learn how. And that's the part worth knowing: we don't just teach you how to add these things. We hand you the tools to actually do them, in minutes instead of months.
Private Practice School is $1,997 for the year.
You're not deciding whether to spend $1,997.
You're deciding whether to leave that on the table for another year.
Or spread it over 12 payments of $197, about $46/week.
At $120 a session with 5 clients a week, Private Practice School pays for itself in about 3.3 weeks, or 17 sessions total.
And if you've been thinking about this for a year or two already, that's the real number. Not $1,997. It's every year of the practice you haven't started yet.
Private Practice School is $1,997 for the year.
Five clients. Five weeks.
Then it's just your practice.
Or spread it over 12 payments of $197, about $46/week.
Plus 3 things that help this pay for itself faster
Included, not upsells, and nothing here adds to your to-do list.
Profitable Packaged Programs
Stop billing session by session. Build and price a packaged program, like "The 12-Week Feeding Program," that families pay for up front, with the profit calculator that prices it so it's actually worth running.
A Year of Social Posts, Done
Editable Canva carousels, a year of prompts, your three pinned posts, and a posting schedule. So marketing yourself stops being a blank page every Sunday night.
Found Money: The Write-Offs Most Practices Miss
The deductions private practices leave on the table every year, and a simple way to track them. Starting with this one: your enrollment is a business expense.
[PLACEHOLDER: was scared of the legal and business side and had been thinking about it for years. Got properly open and saw her first private clients. The "I'm not a business person" reversal.]
Imagine a year from now
You raised your rates without flinching. You know your numbers cold. You took a real day off and didn't feel guilty about it. Your caseload is full of the right families, your weekends belong to you again, and you're earning what you should have been earning all along. And when the next challenge shows up, because it will, you know exactly where to go.
Or it's another year of writing notes at 9pm, with the same twenty-seven things still sitting on the list.
You can keep waiting until you feel ready, but ready doesn't show up before you start. It shows up after, once you have a plan and people who've done this walking beside you.
What it does for real clinicians
Keep in mind these are people who did the work. They took the plan, used the tools, showed up to coaching, and built something. Their words.
[PLACEHOLDER: beginner. Was scared of the legal/business side, got open in weeks, saw first private clients.]
[PLACEHOLDER: messy middle. Had an LLC and a few clients, no plan. Filled caseload or raised rate. Real numbers.]
[PLACEHOLDER: money. Raised a rate or fixed payer mix and what it added to her year.]
[PLACEHOLDER: time. Got nights and weekends back, closed the laptop, took a real vacation.]
[PLACEHOLDER: hiring. Made a first hire, went from solo to a small team without the panic.]
[PLACEHOLDER: established owner who worried this would be too basic, and wasn't.]
[PLACEHOLDER: the coaching. What Jena's eyes on her work actually changed.]
[PLACEHOLDER: isolation. Found her people, stopped feeling like the only one.]
Pull the strongest 8 from your 498 written testimonials in Airtable. One per stage, one on coaching, one on community. Real names, credentials, and states.
I rebuilt the whole thing to make private practice simpler.
After 18 years and more than 15,000 students, I know what works, what doesn't, and why. You're investing in my brain, my experience, my systems and my methods.
For years I sold two programs. One for people starting out, one for people scaling. And the question I kept getting, over and over, was some version of: "Which one am I?"
Because most of you aren't either. You've got an LLC and a few clients and a website you're not proud of. You're too far along for a beginner course and nowhere near ready to hire anybody. There was no room for you, so I spent this year building one.
Here's what I know after 18 years and 15,000 clinicians. You are not missing information. You can find every answer online in about four minutes, and that's exactly the problem, because you'll find nine answers and no way to tell which one is yours. What's actually missing is somebody who knows your practice telling you what to do next, and then handing you the thing.
That's the whole school. One price, everything included, and a plan that changes as your practice does. You work on one thing at a time, and we tell you what to leave alone.
And here's what I actually believe, after all of it. Private practices change the lives of clinicians and clients. Yours changes yours: you finally have the balance to be present for your family and the finances to take the trip. And it changes every family who finally gets the therapist they needed, on a schedule that works, from someone who isn't burned out. Building it properly isn't something you're taking for yourself. It's the most useful thing you can do for both of you.
Here's the honest part. You have never run a business before, and that is not a flaw, it's just true. Figuring it out alone is how steps get missed, how rates stay too low for another year, and how you end up lying awake wondering whether you set it up right. You are a business owner now, and this is a business expense, one that pays for itself the first time you raise your rate or fill a standing slot.
Private practice, made simple. You'll know what to do at every step, you'll have the thing already written, and you'll have me to tell you if it's right. No fluff, no guessing, no more figuring it out at 11pm. If you're ready, I'd love to have you.
Questions people ask before they join
The real ones. If yours isn't here, email me and I'll answer it myself.
But I only need one thing right now.
Right now, that's probably true, and that's exactly how I want you to use it: pick the one thing, do it, move on. Everything else isn't there to give you more to do. It's there so that when the one thing changes, and it will, you're not shopping again. Fix your rates and the next thing is your schedule. Fix your schedule and it's "should I hire someone?" That's not a flaw in how you're running things. That's just what running a practice is.
Couldn't I just ask ChatGPT?
You could, and for some questions it's fine. But it sounds right even when it's wrong. Ask it for an attendance policy and you may get a no-show fee you're not allowed to charge your Medicaid families, and you won't find out until it's a problem. It doesn't know your state, your rate, your payer mix, or what you've already done, so you'd re-explain your practice every time and you'd have to already know the right question to ask. And it will never tell you to stop. Ask it how to hire and it tells you how to hire, even if hiring is the wrong move for you this year. Practice Builder knows where you actually are, so it can say "not yet, do this first" and save you the expensive detour.
I'm not sure I can afford it right now.
That's the most common thing people tell me, and I take it seriously. So look at it the way a business owner would: this is a tax-deductible business expense, and it takes one rate increase, one filled slot, or one policy that stops your no-shows to earn it back. Run the calculator above with your own numbers. If the return isn't there for you this year, don't join. If it is, it's math, not a leap.
I don't have time. I'm already stretched thin.
Then you're exactly who this is built for. You don't watch 40 hours of video. You get one move at a time, and the document, script, or policy comes to you already drafted. Most Level Ups take an afternoon, and several take twenty minutes. This is designed to take things off your list, not add to it.
I'm not ready yet. Shouldn't I wait until things settle down?
There's no cohort and no start date, so your year begins the day you join and nothing passes you by if you're on vacation or it's IEP season. But I'll be straight with you: "when things settle down" has been the plan for a lot of people for a lot of years, and practices don't settle down on their own. Ready shows up after you start, not before.
I've bought courses before and never finished them.
Me too, honestly. That's why this isn't a course. There's no binging, no lesson one, and no shame about what you skipped. You get one priority at a time, and every other week you show me what you did. Knowing someone's going to look at your work is the difference between owning a course and finishing something.
Does this work for my state?
Yes. Your legal setup, requirements, and paperwork are built for the state you practice in, because the rules genuinely aren't the same everywhere. That's one of the first things Practice Builder asks you.
I'm an OT, not an SLP. Or I see adults, not kids. Is this for me?
Yes. The business of private practice, your rates, your systems, your marketing, your hiring, is the same whether you're doing feeding therapy with toddlers or working with adults after a stroke. Your plan is built around your specialty and your setting, and the Network will connect you with clinicians doing what you do.
I already have a practice. Is this going to be too basic?
No, because you're never sent back to lesson one. Your intake shows what you've already handled, you check it off, and what's left is your actual list. Established owners usually spend their year on profit, payer mix, revenue streams, and their first hire, not on forming an LLC.
I'm a new grad, or I've only been practicing a couple of years.
You know more than you think. The most common thing that stops people isn't clinical skill, it's not knowing the business steps or the order they go in. That's the part I hand you.
What if I don't know what my priority should be?
Then this is the whole point. You fill out the Priority Finder, and I tell you what to work on first, and just as importantly, what to leave alone for now. Nobody expects you to arrive knowing.
What exactly do I get for $1,997?
Your Personalized Private Practice Plan, Practice Builder, all the Level Ups and calculators, business coaching with me every other week for a year, and 12 months in The Private Practice Network. One price, everything included, and your price stays locked for as long as you stay enrolled.
Is there a payment plan?
Yes, 12 monthly payments of $197, which works out to about $46 a week.
What if it turns out not to be right for me?
You have 14 days. Go in, fill out your Priority Finder, look at your plan, use the tools, come to a call. If it isn't what you hoped, email us within 14 days and we'll refund you. No form to fill out, no hoops, no hard feelings. I'd rather you be somewhere that fits than stay somewhere that doesn't.
Here's exactly how this goes for you
Enroll in Private Practice School
One price, one door. You're in for the year, starting the day you join.
Tell me about your practice
Fill out your Priority Finder and get your Jena-Approved Practice Plan: your priorities, in order, built for your practice.
Bring your questions to coaching
Every other week, you get strategic feedback from Jena Castro-Casbon in a safe, judgment-free space. Then you go knock out the next thing.
Try the whole thing. If it isn't for you, get your money back.
Join, fill out your Priority Finder, see your Personalized Private Practice Plan, use the tools, come to a coaching call. Look at all of it. If it isn't what you hoped for, email us within 14 days and we'll refund you. No form to fill out, no hoops, no hard feelings.
I'd rather you be somewhere that fits than stay somewhere that doesn't.
Enroll in Private Practice School
Everything included. One year. One price. Foundation to freedom.
Founding rate. Your price stays $1,997 for as long as you stay enrolled, even as it climbs for everyone who joins later. Or spread it across a payment plan.
The increase is real and it's coming. We'll tell you before it happens, because that's the only honest way to do this. Lock the founding rate now and it's yours for good.
No countdown timers. No fake urgency. Take the time you need.
Remember, your business pays for this, not you. You already invest in continuing education to be a better clinician. This is how you invest in being a better owner, and unlike a CEU, this one pays you back. A tax-deductible business investment.
Want to talk it through first?
Book a free call with a Private Practice School Advisor. We'll help you figure out where you actually are, where you'd start, and whether this is right for you right now. No pressure, ever. If it isn't your moment, we'll tell you honestly.
Talk to an Advisor →You don't graduate from having a business. A course ends. A practice doesn't. So we built the school that's there for all of it.
