Chloe Carmichael, PhD, recognizes that her approach to private practice isn't for everyone; the Manhattan clinical psychologist works mostly with high-functioning business people dealing with relatively mild anxiety. But "Dr. Chloe," as she styles herself, thinks she can be a role model to an extent for any early-career psychologists who hope to build a thriving business—who want to do well in addition to doing good.
Carmichael has been in practice for about five years, and in only her third year she passed the $1 million mark for revenue, which includes fees earned by three other therapists who work in her Park Avenue office. She's very proud of that fact. Carmichael chose psychology as a way to have a satisfying career on a number of fronts, but she works hard every day on the financial aspect of her practice. She believes that makes her a better, more relatable psychologist.
"Some people, even some great therapists, don't have a lot of business sense," she says. "What I want them to realize is that learning about business won't just help them make their practice better, it will make them better therapists for people who are in business."
In her own practice, that's the type of client Carmichael specializes in. "A lot of anxious people tend to have a Type A personality. I work well with those high-functioning people. They tend to be conscientious; they'll do their homework. If I'm doing cognitive-behavioral therapy or mindfulness exercises, I'll give them directions. They like that I'm organized and follow up, and I find it fulfilling as a therapist to work with people who do that kind of work outside of therapy."
Carmichael has embraced teletherapy, too. She has clients whose offices are not far from hers whose standing appointments are conducted via Zoom, which enables communication compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). "They don't have time to grab a cab to come to my office. They're just too busy," she says. In fact, Carmichael sees an online therapist herself.
When prospective executive clients get a referral to a psychologist, she says, "the first thing they do is Google you." In Carmichael's case, they'll see that she has written a book, as well as instructional materials, about how individuals can improve their prospects at work. She's also been quoted about psychology repeatedly in newspapers and magazines, appeared on television shows and published YouTube videos.
She says, "It's fun for me to be in the media. I enjoy it. Of course I realize that just because someone is on TV doesn't mean that they know what they're talking about. It's a marketing tool. People are more likely to see you as an expert," she says.
In line with that stance, Dr. Chloe counsels early-career psychologists to pay attention to the impression they are making with potential clients wherever they encounter them. She puts a lot of thought into her own personal appearance, as well as her LinkedIn account and other social media. She's on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and about 20 blog sites. She now hires people to handle much of her social media, but in the beginning, she did it all herself.
"I also encourage every therapist to commit to a monthly newsletter," Carmichael says. "It's not about connecting in that moment, it's about growing your network so that even six months later, when that person has been getting your newsletter and now is thinking about finding a therapist, they'll think of you."
Carmichael puts all this and more into a course she offers therapists at profitablepractices.net, with access to videos of her sharing tips on how to enhance a private practice, from $279 for four months.
For the public, Carmichael offers a different online course, this one on how to use cognitive-behavioral and other techniques to deal with anxiety, for $29 a month, at anxietytools.com, an offering she sees as the equivalent of a self-help book. The 10 Commandments of Dating, a book she wrote after talking about the topic on the New York Fox TV affiliate, is available on Amazon.
"At first, when I was becoming very successful in my practice, I had a little of the impostor syndrome," Carmichael says. "I thought, maybe it's just because I'm good at business, because I know how to attract clients—maybe that's why I'm so busy. But I've come to realize that I do offer something special as a therapist."
She says her ability to attract clients is based in empathy. "You have to think about what type of client you want to attract. What is that person likely to do when seeking a therapist? What are they looking for that would help them be drawn to you?"
Carmichael recalls learning about psychology when she was about eight years old, from a family friend in Holland, Michigan. "I gathered it was a job where people would come and tell you all their secrets. You'd have a special talk, and get paid for it. I thought, what's not to love about that?"
Carmichael got her bachelor's degree in psychology from Columbia University in New York City, graduating summa cum laude. During and after college, she worked as a yoga teacher, moving from a conventional studio setting to develop a private practice with clients she worked with in their homes, customizing programs to align mind and body on an individual basis. One of the reasons she returned to school for a PhD in clinical psychology, from Long Island University in Brooklyn, was that she could see how her customized yoga/mindfulness programs were dramatically improving her clients' functioning.
"I didn't want to go around to people's homes anymore, and I wanted to be able to speak with more authority," she says. But the experience of taking her skills into an entrepreneurial setting stayed with her. "That foundation helped a lot when I went into private practice."
Another bit of kismet came toward the end of graduate school, when Carmichael, who was still getting her licensing hours, had a job finding psychologists for Fortune 500 executives. "I learned how incredibly hard it is for people to find a therapist," she says—even for wealthy executives. She vowed that she would make it easy for people to locate her when she set up her own practice, especially individuals who could afford to pay a good rate without resorting to insurance. And within the first year, Carmichael says, she had so many clients she had to start hiring other people to work in her office.
APA member and early career psychologist Chloe Carmichael runs a successful practice in Manhattan. In just three years, her business surpassed the $1 million mark for revenue.
