It takes an enormous amount of sweat, time, money, and endurance to become a licensed professional. After completing graduate school, you must get experience to become licensed. Both of my CPA and LCSW licenses in California required 3,000 hours, and I haven’t even mentioned the process of passing the board examinations. My LCSW exam included a mock session where I had 5 minutes to prepare some potential diagnoses and a treatment plan based off of one paragraph and then had to present my findings to a panel of people! I won’t even go into the nerves of working as a public auditor. All of this is leading up to the idea that licensed professionals have paid costly dues to get here, and there should be personal rewards from all of that hard work.
The best reward, in my opinion, is to have a side hustle, a business of your own where you are your own boss and can practice the way you dreamed. If possible, I recommend starting slowly with a side gig, assuming that is allowed with your current employer. Of course, you will not be poaching clients from your employer, but pick a diagnosis or niche where you really want to focus. Take it one client at a time. Please do not make long-term commitments with rent. Yes, this likely means you are working much overtime for awhile, but this small hustle is your own!
I know people who have significantly lowered their blood pressure by choosing to launch out on their own. Some people start contributing to a portion of their family budget like travel or schooling. I know people who are contributing significantly to their retirement. There are no lengthy, unproductive, and stressful work meetings that never end! There is no office politics. Imagine that!
Please consider changing the pattern where YOU get to start benefitting from the hard work you continually invest into your license. A side hustle in a helping profession allows you to help people the way you want to help them. I speak from experience when I say that this is a game changer!
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