17: Building an Intentional Nature-Based Business with Kim Wilson
Building a nature-based occupational therapy business comes with a whole lot of considerations. How many children do you want to see? Do you want to do group or individual therapy? Will you take insurance or operate cash-based?
Today, I’m chatting with fellow nature-based OT, Kim Wilson, about how she answered those questions for herself, and how that led her to keep her business small to align with her vision and lifestyle. She shares how her business evolved, why it’s her mission to empower families to be equipped with tools and knowledge, and how she’s made a cash-based business work in multiple locations.
As you’ll learn in today’s episode, the most important thing is to be intentional with your decisions and make them from a place of honoring your interests, your passion, your current season of life, and your personal business goals. You get to chart your own path, and there are so many ways to make a nature-based therapy practice work for you.
We’ll discuss:
- How Kim got into the field of nature-based OT and how she juggles her business as a mom of six children
- The evolution of her business, Nature’s Path OT, why she has kept it intentionally small, and how word of mouth has worked for her in acquiring clients
- Why you should define your area of interest and passion before assessing other parts of how to grow your business
- The importance of learning to communicate confidently about your business, seeing the value in your work, and building relationships that can lead to clients
- The differences between cash-based and insurance models, and the value of activities that would not be reimbursed by insurance
- Why you shouldn’t let yourself believe the lie that your business has to look a certain way to be successful
- Kim’s thoughts on what services set apart a nature-based OT business that make it worth paying cash for
- How Kim individualizes her home programs boxes to the needs of the child, and what a relief it is for families to have the weight of creating activities off their shoulders
Resources from this episode:
If you're ready to take the next step in this adventure, join our free Therapy in the Great Outdoors Community at therapyinthegreatoutdoors.com. The TGO community is a private space just for nature-based pediatric practitioners. We have loads of resources there to support you as you start or grow a nature-based practice or program.
Are you a pediatric therapist interested in taking your work with children out into nature? Visit www.ConTiGOapproach.com to join the waitlist for the next ConTiGO Approach Online Course.
