From 40 Hours to 20: My Journey to a Freedom-First Practice

Sep 3

When I first started my practice, I thought filling my calendar was the goal. More clients meant more success. A packed schedule felt like proof that I was “making it.”

But after months of forty-hour weeks filled with back-to-back sessions, paperwork, and the constant pressure to keep up, I realized something painful: I had built a business that drained me instead of sustaining me.

I loved my clients. I loved the work. But I couldn’t keep up with the pace. I was exhausted, underpaid, and on the edge of burnout. That’s when I decided to do something most therapists never imagine possible: cut my workweek in half while keeping my income intact.

Here’s what that journey looked like.

Step 1: Facing the Reality of Overwork

At first, I told myself it was temporary. That working late nights and squeezing in one more client would eventually “pay off.” But instead of creating stability, the forty-hour grind left me feeling resentful and depleted.

The truth is, more hours didn’t equal more freedom. They just left me with less energy to enjoy the life I was working so hard to build.

Naming that truth was the first step toward change.

Step 2: Redefining Success

I realized I had been measuring success by the wrong metric: hours worked.

True success wasn’t about how many sessions I could cram into a week. It was about building a business that gave me time, energy, and financial stability. Success meant:

Being able to take a Friday off without guilt
Earning consistently without a packed calendar
Having the mental space to dream, create, and rest

That shift in definition opened the door to reimagining my practice.

Step 3: Raising My Rates and Redesigning My Caseload

One of the hardest but most necessary decisions I made was raising my rates.

I moved from a model of single sessions to packages and set clear limits on how many clients I could sustainably see each week. This allowed me to maintain income while cutting down my caseload.

Instead of 25 clients a week at a lower rate, I moved to fewer clients at higher value. This created breathing room in my schedule and gave my clients a deeper, more consistent container for transformation.

Step 4: Introducing Scalable Offers

The second turning point was realizing that my income didn’t have to depend entirely on therapy sessions.

I began creating small, scalable offers: digital guides, workbooks, and eventually group programs. These allowed me to package the knowledge I was already sharing in sessions and make it available to more people without adding hours to my week.

This shift into scalable revenue gave me stability, especially during vacations or slower seasons, and helped me expand my impact far beyond my office walls.

Step 5: Building Systems That Protect My Energy

The final piece of the puzzle was systems.

Automation tools now handle my scheduling, reminders, and invoicing. A virtual assistant manages my inbox and client onboarding. My content system attracts new clients while I rest.

These systems freed me from the endless cycle of admin tasks and gave me the confidence that my business could keep running even when I stepped away.

What My Freedom-First Practice Looks Like Now

Today, I work about twenty hours a week. My caseload is intentionally small, my income is stable, and I have time for rest, creativity, and the relationships that matter most.

I don’t measure success by how many clients I squeeze into a week anymore. I measure it by how aligned my business feels with the life I want to live.

The Lesson I Want You to Take Away

You don’t need forty hours a week to run a successful practice. You don’t even need twenty clients to hit six figures. What you need is a model that prioritizes freedom over grind.

Ask yourself: