536. Paying Well Without Sinking the Ship

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The Testing Psychologist Podcast

Dr. Jeremy Sharp: Licensed Psychologist & Private Practice Consultant

500 episodes

3 days ago

Come check it out as Dr. Jeremy Sharp covers everything you need to know to start or grow psychological assessment services in your private practice. We talk about finances, marketing, time management, self-care, technology, and life as a mental health practitioner. Jeremy chats with successful clinicians who share their experiences in testing and private practice to give you straightforward ideas for building thriving assessment services. Dr. Sharp is a Licensed Psychologist specializing in psychological and neuropsychological testing. Over the past seven years, he has grown the Colorado Center for Assessment & Counseling from a solo practice to a multi-clinician clinic with over 1000% revenue increase. http://www.thetestingpsychologist.com

All content for The Testing Psychologist Podcast is the property of Dr. Jeremy Sharp: Licensed Psychologist & Private Practice Consultant and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

536. Paying Well Without Sinking the Ship

The Testing Psychologist Podcast

49 minutes 29 seconds

1 week ago

536. Paying Well Without Sinking the Ship

Would you rather read the transcript? Click here.

Today, I walk through four compensation models that work for testing and therapy practices – percentage split (fee-for-service), salary + production bonus, salary + profit share, and flat hourly – plus when each model makes sense. I break down the math behind forecasting (capacity, reimbursement, payroll taxes, PTO, benefits), show where owners get into trouble (overpaying early, ignoring utilization, fuzzy admin time), and share a step-by-step rollout plan with transparency practices that improve retention and engagement. You’ll leave with clear guardrails to pay people well without sinking the ship.

Main Topics

* Why compensation causes the most stress for owners and how it became confusing (00:00)

* Percentage split (fee-for-service): ranges, pros/cons, when it fits (02:23)

* Salary + production bonus: structure, turnover impact, transparency keys (04:24)

* Salary + profit share: culture/retention upside and owner transparency (06:51)

* Flat hourly per billed hour: predictability vs. reimbursement risk (09:18)

* Forecasting the math: eval capacity → revenue → sustainable pay (11:40)

* Aligning pay with values: quality, timeliness, client satisfaction (16:30)

* Pitfalls and guardrails: utilization, admin caps, COL raises, communication cadence (18:55)

Cool Things Mentioned

* The Testing Psychologist mastermind groups and business consulting

* Reverb: the premier AI-powered report-writing platform for testing psychologists

* APA Work in America Report (context on workplace stress): www.apa.org/pubs/reports/work-in-america/2024/2024-work-in-america-report.pdf [American Psychological Association]

* BLS Occupational Outlook—Psychologists (national wage benchmarks): www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/psychologists.htm [Bureau of Labor Statistics]

* BLS Occupational Employment & Wages—May 2024 (wage tables): www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ocwage.pdf [Bureau of Labor Statistics]

* Pay transparency and business outcomes (SHRM research summary): www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/inclusion-diversity/shrm-research-pay-transparency-improves-business-outcomes-close-wage-gap [SHRM]

* Profit sharing & retention (PayScale brief): www.payscale.com/compensation-trends/new-research-finds-profit-sharing-increases-employee-retention-and-engagement [Payscale]

* WorldatWork Pay Transparency Study (policy approaches): worldatwork.org/research/pay-transparency-study [WorldatWork]

Featured Resources

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