Stop Talking Clients Out of Hiring You: Angie Hronek on Confidence, Parent Training, and Building a Home-Based Practice

"I would be like, so just so you know, the school district office offers services. And if you have insurance, they'll have a list of providers." Angie Hronek pauses, laughing at herself. "I'd almost talk people out of doing therapy with me."

It's the kind of confession that makes every private practice owner wince in recognition. Angie, the owner of Speechworks in Utah, spent years undermining her own consultations before realizing the people sitting across from her weren't there by accident. They'd already chosen her. She just needed to stop giving them reasons not to.

On this episode of Clinic Chats, Angie shares how she built a part-time, home-based speech therapy practice around her family, turned parent training into her specialty, and learned that confidence isn't just nice to have. It's what keeps clients walking through the door.

You Don't Have to Go Full-Time to Go All In

Angie's practice didn't start with a business plan or a grand opening. It started with a text message. She'd been dragging her feet for months while her family encouraged her to take on private clients. Then one day a colleague reached out: "Hey, are you taking private clients? I have someone out your way."

That was the push. She called her dad (an attorney), got an LLC set up that same day, and saw her first client that summer, all while still working in the school district.

Here's the part that matters: Angie's husband works full-time as an electrician. Her income is supplementary. She's transparent about that, and it's refreshing. Not every private practice has to be a full-time livelihood from day one. For Angie, keeping it part-time meant she could be selective, stay passionate, and avoid the financial pressure that burns people out before they ever hit their stride.

Four years in, she carries about 15 clients and is working on an online course. She's full. She's turning people away. And she did it on her own terms.

The Consultation Mistake That Cost Her Referrals

For the first couple of years, Angie's biggest obstacle wasn't marketing or logistics. It was herself.

During free consultations, she'd lay out every alternative a parent could pursue instead of working with her. The school district. Insurance provider lists. Cheaper options. She did it because she felt like a fraud, like she needed to prove she wasn't just in it for the money.

"I almost felt like a fraud. Like, oh, do you know there's other options that are more affordable than me? Which was totally the wrong thing to do. They wouldn't be coming to me if they didn't want to work with me."

The fix wasn't about hiding those options. It was about framing. Now Angie walks families through the pros and cons honestly. The school district evaluation takes six to eight weeks. She can get them started next week. She sets a tentative first session, gives them space to think it over, and lets the value speak for itself.

That shift, from apologizing for her existence to presenting her services with clarity, changed everything. Her schedule filled up. Referrals started rolling in through Google reviews and word of mouth. The difference wasn't a new marketing strategy. It was believing she belonged in the room.

Parent Training as a Practice Philosophy

Angie's specialty isn't a disorder or an age group. It's a method: parent training. She completed the Hanen "It Takes Two to Talk" certification and built her entire practice philosophy around it. The idea is straightforward. Kids get 30 minutes a week with a clinician. They get every other waking hour with their parents. If parents know what to do, progress accelerates.

"When you come and do speech with me, you're doing what I'm doing in the moment. I'm talking you through it. I'm letting you practice on your own kid and giving you feedback."

She learned the hard way that passion doesn't automatically translate to attendance. After completing her Hanen training, she organized an orientation meeting at the local library. She posted on Facebook, hung flyers, sent emails. About 50 people said they were interested. Three showed up, and two of them were family.

She called her husband and cried. Then she picked herself up and pivoted. Instead of running group programs, she wove parent training principles into every individual session. Late talkers, articulation, phonology: it didn't matter the diagnosis. The parent was always part of the treatment.

That pivot turned a failed event into a thriving practice model. And it's exactly the kind of therapy documentation approach that sets a clinician apart when families are choosing between providers.

Running a Practice From Your Basement (Kids in Underwear and All)

Angie sees clients in her home, and she's honest about what that looks like. She's got a massive playroom with a swing, monkey bars, and a ball pit under the stairs. She's got a more formal office space for structured sessions. And she's got a three-year-old who once ran downstairs in just her underwear during a session.

"I love having it in my home because it's really natural."

Her schedule runs Monday and Wednesday evenings from 5:30 to 7:30, after her husband gets home from work. Tuesdays are her full day: childcare in the morning for paperwork and preschool-age clients, then evening sessions. Her husband feeds the kids, takes them out for ice cream or to the trampoline park, and Angie works downstairs.

It's not glamorous. She eats dinner at 8:30 or 9:00 on her busiest nights. Her two-year-old knows what "clients" means. But Angie frames it as modeling something valuable for her daughters: a mom who follows a passion and helps people.

For documentation, she keeps it old school. A locking file cabinet, manila folders, and quick handwritten session notes at the end of each appointment. She uses the Articulation Station app for data on artic kids and does deeper data dives once or twice a month. Since she's private pay only and not billing insurance, she doesn't need the same level of detail that Medicaid billing demands.

"In grad school, you get this false sense of, oh, I'm going to have a solid 20 minutes to create this perfect SOAP note after every client. No."

Just Start. People Need What You Have.

Angie's advice to anyone thinking about private practice software and startups is blunt and kind at the same time:

"Just do it. Think about if you just jump in and take a risk, don't be afraid of that because it will pay off. People need what you have. And if you're not giving it to them, that is such a loss for you and for the people who you could improve their quality of life."

She's proof that a practice doesn't need to be full-time, full-scale, or fully figured out to be meaningful. It just needs to start.

Running a home-based practice means wearing every hat at once. ClinicNote is a HIPAA-compliant EMR built for private practices and university clinics, handling scheduling, documentation, and billing in one place so you can focus on the families you're there to serve. See how ClinicNote works.

Transcript

Kadie: You are listening to Clinic Chats. Clinic Chats is a multidisciplinary therapy podcast that was created for students, professionals, clinic directors, and supervisors. Clinic Chats is bridging the gap between graduate programs and professionals, sharing personal journeys of the smallest of private practice startups, large and expanding practices, as well as university clinic triumphs and tribulations. We hope you'll find our podcast informative and helpful in your career endeavors. Clinic Chats is sponsored by ClinicNote, an electronic medical record company for private practice and university clinics. ClinicNote was designed to make scheduling, documentation, report writing, and billing effective, efficient, and HIPAA compliant.

Kadie: I have the pleasure of speaking with Angie Hronek today. She is the owner of Speechworks in Utah. So Angie, you've been in business for about four years, you were telling me, and I'm curious on why or how this journey all began for you.

Angie: Oh my gosh. Okay. So like a lot of your past interviewees, I spent a couple of years in the school district, my local school district, and just felt really bogged down by the paperwork and I just really loved connecting with parents. And so I started my private practice to get more of that parent interaction because I knew if I had buy-in from parents, that therapy was going to be more successful. So I started seeing a couple clients during a summer before I left the school district and started being a little bit more committed to the private scene.

Kadie: And did it all happen that quickly? You got your first couple of clients in the summer and then it was full force, let's resign and do this?

Angie: Well, I'm lucky enough that this is kind of like a side thing for me. My husband works full time, he's an electrician, and so my income is purely supplementary and mostly for my travel and to help my family too. So he worked full time and we started our family and I just saw a couple clients there in the beginning and then slowly built up. I'm still only part time now, I've got about 15 clients and working on other projects too. I'm working on an online course and stuff. So yeah, just a really slow progression. We're not ready for me to go full time. Like I said, my husband's in the construction industry, if he were our stay at home dad, he'd be knocking down walls and pouring concrete while I'm away. So it's good for him to have a full time job.

Kadie: Honestly, I'm so thankful that you're being transparent in that regard because it is a very nice gig for someone who doesn't have to totally rely on their income. Let's be honest, clients come and go. If you've got littles at home, which I know you do, then you want to spend time with your family and be able to focus on that as well. So if your family is relying on your husband and yours is purely that non-mom guilt expenses, then I think that's well deserved and you need some time away too for your own sanity, I bet.

Angie: Yeah, this career is really fulfilling and really feeds your soul and so I need that as a mom. Things would be a little tighter if I wasn't working, but I really enjoy my work and I can put my girls in dance and it's really such a great fit and so much flexibility that I found by moving to a private therapy.

Kadie: Exactly. And because you're doing it kind of by choice, that means that you're that much more of an excellent clinician, I'm sure, because you truly want to do it and you're passionate about it, it sounds like.

Angie: Well, thank you. I appreciate that.

Kadie: So when you got started, you started seeing some private clients, at what point did you decide, okay, I think this is going to grow to the point where I at least need to register my business, figure some logistics out?

Angie: Right. So I really took baby steps. I'm kind of this strange breed where I love to jump all in all of a sudden and I will drag my feet all the way up until that point. So my family was encouraging me to start this business and to start with clients and I'd express some interest to some colleagues. And then over the summer I had someone message me and say, hey, are you taking private clients? I have someone out your way. And so I have three brothers and my dad, they're attorneys. So as soon as I got that call, I just called my dad and I'm like, hey, can you set up an LLC for me today? And luckily enough, he said yes. And so I got that part set up. I still hadn't chosen a business name. So my LLC is in my Angie Hronek LLC or whatever. And then so that's kind of how I started there. And I just did private pay. I had that one client and then like a month and I got another. And so for a little while I had like two or three clients.

Angie: And for the first maybe like two or three years, I had between sometimes like usually between three and seven clients. And I didn't know how to market. I didn't know how to build this or scale this or put myself out there. And I kind of made, looking back, one of the mistakes that I made, which I hope is okay to talk about, is that I didn't know how to sell myself. So like I do this free consultation. They come to me and I would be like, so just so you know, like the school district office offers services. And I don't know if you have insurance, but if you do, you know, if your insurance does cover speech, they'll have a list of providers that, you know, and I'd almost talk people out of doing therapy with me. Right. Because I almost felt like a fraud, you know, like, oh, do you know there's other options that are more affordable than me? Which was totally the wrong thing to do. And so silly because they wouldn't be coming to me if they didn't want to work with me.

Angie: So right. That's kind of how it went at the beginning. And now that I've grown my kind of online presence and gained confidence in myself, now the referrals are rolling in and I'm starting to have to turn people away because, you know, my schedule for now, what I have available is full. And which is really exciting. That happened just last week I filled in. So yay.

Kadie: What's the new approach? Obviously, you're not hiding those other options from your clients, but it's almost like have you gained confidence in saying, oh, I'm really great at this. I think I'd be a good fit or what's the tactic there?

Angie: Oh, yeah. So first I recognized that I was doing that, that I was trying to talk people out of working with me and being like, oh my gosh, what am I doing? So I would just at the initial consult kind of say, okay, here are my thoughts. Here's what I would recommend. Here's the benefits. I would say, like, are you being seen through the school district? If they say no, I say, okay, so if you do decide it takes longer and I kind of give them like pros and cons. So it's going to take six to eight weeks to get an evaluation through the school district. I could get you in next week, you know, and we could get started right away. And so I'd kind of give the pros and cons of both and then let them decide. And I'd say, okay, let's set a tentative first day of therapy, you know, initial assessment. And if you go home and you think about it or you talk with your spouse and you think you want to do a little bit more research, that's totally fine. Just let me know. But we'll have that scheduled.

Angie: And so just really making just gaining that confidence in myself that they're coming to me because they want to hire me, not because they want me to send them somewhere else. They're looking for private therapy, you know, and that's what I'm offering. And I have what they need and I have the knowledge to share with them.

Kadie: So getting back on the LLC topic, I think that's interesting because not everyone chooses that route. And it sounds like you have some lawyer connections as far as legally. Do you know what that expense might be typically for someone who doesn't have connections and get the LLC? Yeah, because as a sole proprietor, they don't really do anything besides register their business name, correct, and get a tax ID number. But to do the more extensive options, you do need a lawyer. So what is that process typically?

Angie: Yeah, I'm really, really lucky that, you know, I have family members who know the ins and outs of that. But I know that when I had my dad do it, he filled out the paperwork with me like in less than 30 minutes and submit it. But do keep in mind that attorneys are like $500 an hour sometimes to do that sort of thing. So I would say someone who's charging you more than $500 to do that, I would be like, oh, I'm going to shop around like, you know, it can be an intense and hard. It's a hard thing to approach. I just felt really lucky that I had those connections because I don't know if I would have. It would have been me dragging my feet again to get into this. You know, it would have been another excuse for me to not do something that I love to be like, oh, I don't know.

Kadie: Well then just call and find out, you know, it's a phone call and they don't charge you for a phone call.

Angie: That's true.

Kadie: Is it even possible, do you know, to become an LLC without the help of a lawyer? I have an idea on this, but I'm not for sure.

Angie: There are online legal services where if it's just a paperwork thing, you can pay a smaller fee if you kind of want to DIY it. You'd have to Google that a little bit more, but I know that those options are out there.

Kadie: Well, thank you. I receive that question a lot, but I was just a sole proprietor whenever I was in business and so I never really have a good answer for people. So that's helpful. You know, you got your LLC in place and you are still private pay, is that correct?

Angie: That's correct.

Kadie: Oh, that's keeping it nice and straightforward. What paperwork do you need in place for your clients as far as privacy policies, anything else that you had to gather up front?

Angie: Yeah, so that's another thing that like, you know, just as you get interested in setting up a private therapy business, you're like, oh, I can't do it because I don't know what paperwork you need. I can't do it because I don't know how to set up an LLC. And that was another thing that I drug my feet on. But when I got that first client, I was like, okay, I've got to do it now. And I just went on Teachers Pay Teachers and found a little packet that someone had made of initial paperwork for a private speech therapy clinic. And you could add in your logo and whatever.

Angie: So right now I have like a case history form from that packet. I have a HIPAA policy. I have contact forms. I have like the release forms if I want to talk to a school speech therapist so the parent can release that information. I have releases for if I want to take pictures and videos for whatever reason. And then I have like forms that I can use if I'm doing an evaluation and for goals. So it was really nice just to hop on and have something already pre-made. I'm very type B, which I think is a little bit rare in the SLP world. But I just needed something like a fillable form. And that made it so easy for me.

Kadie: You know what? We probably bought the same one because that sounds exactly like what I used. It's great. It really is amazing. I mean, why reinvent the wheel so many times for just these standard forms? So I ended up also using an EMR, but do you stick with the templates that were included in that package?

Angie: So I, as far as like billing goes, I do my own invoice just through like Square and QuickBooks if people want that. I do use their kind of super bill form.

Kadie: And documentation, how do you track all, keep track of all of that and organized?

Angie: I'm very old school. So I literally have like a locking file cabinet where I've got manila folders. And I just, whoever I'm seeing that day, I take out all their folders and I have five minutes at the end and I just jot a quick note. And then like once or twice a month, I'll do like some really hard data. So I'll have kids coming in and you know, for kids, artic kids, I'm using my Articulation Station app. So there's data in there. So it's really simple. That's the benefit of being in private practice. I'm not billing insurance. I don't, I'm not billing Medicaid and you know, in your heart and in your mind, you know where these kids are at. And I can put that on just a little one sentence thing of what we did and how hard it was for them and how many prompts I needed to give and call it good. Move on.

Kadie: Right. Yep. And you don't have to spend that precious therapy time doing data checks. You know what I mean? I can spend more time doing the intervention. In grad school, you get this false sense of, oh, I'm going to have a solid 20 minutes to create this perfect SOAP note after every client.

Angie: Yeah. No. Exactly. Yep. And intermittent data collection is definitely efficient and works. There's no shame in people. There's no shame.

Kadie: Right. Totally agree. So is there a certain population that you specifically like to find?

Angie: So my specialty is parent training. So that is my passion. That's what warms my heart. Right. So I love, I did Hanen, the Hanen training. It Takes Two to Talk a couple of years ago. And that's what made me feel so connected because that's why I started private practice in the first place is because I wanted to make that connection with parents to have the buy-in to teach them what they can do at home. And I was like, oh my gosh, this program has it all. And I loved that about it.

Angie: When I first incorporated that parent training piece, it really was focused on late talking toddlers and you know, those language delayed younger kids, and teaching parents what they wanted to do. And here's another mistake that I made after I took that training. I was so jazzed because they give you all the stuff you need to run your own parent training group. Right. So they have like this big binder and you've got the slides and the videos and the homework and the, you know, you just copy these sheets and you send it home and you can buy pamphlets. And I was like, you know what? I'm just going to try it. I'm going to see if it works.

Angie: And I took it with a group of other speech therapists in my area. And I remember being like, hey, I'm setting this up. I'm going to have an orientation meeting at this date. And they're like, oh wow. Okay. You're jumping right in.

Angie: So that was my impulse thing. And I had this orientation meeting, I sent out emails, I put up posters, I handed out flyers and you know, I had a Facebook event and I think like about 50 people said that they were interested in coming to this. So I was really excited.

Kadie: Wow.

Angie: So I had set it all up at the library and my aunt and uncle came, another speech therapist in the area who just wanted to check things out came and then someone who had an initial consult with me recently. And I said, hey, you should try this parent program. Come to my, you know, come to my orientation meeting came. So there were three people in this giant conference room. And I like, I tried to just rush who could actually benefit. Yeah. I called my husband and just cried because I was like, oh my gosh, what did I do? I was so embarrassed. You know how you feel after you do something and it doesn't work.

Angie: And so I kind of was like, okay, how can I redo this? Because I don't, I'm not particularly good at advertising right now. So maybe that's one thing I can take the principles of that class and apply it to all my kids. That can be what I specialize in. Come see what I do. Practice with me. You can go home and practice every single day and your kid's going to make progress. And so that's kind of what has been the central theme ever since I took that It Takes Two to Talk course is making sure that parents are involved because that's what they really want.

Angie: You know, parents come to me because they have no idea what's going on at school. They don't get to talk with the speech therapist. They get, you know, four times a year, get a one sentence progress report. But when you come and do speech with me, you're doing what I'm doing in the moment. I'm talking you through it. I'm letting you practice on your own kid and giving you feedback. So that's really my passion and that's what I specialize in with late talkers and with articulation and phonology therapy.

Kadie: Such a good point because I mean, as everyone who's listening probably knows already, you know, once a week for 30 minutes is not very much practice for a child. They need to be using it every day, which isn't in our schedule in schools or in private practice. So it's kind of up to the parents at some point as well.

Angie: Yeah, I've really loved it. And it's great. I love the connection with adults and I love to see the progress in kids. And I just love saying, look, you did that. I taught you how to do it and you went home and did it. You know?

Kadie: Yeah. That's so rewarding.

Angie: That's what I love. So yeah, that's kind of my specialty is teaching parents what they can do and walking them through the therapy process. It's been really awesome.

Kadie: So do you have a website now and they contact you directly? You're a one man show, you eval, you treat, everything, right?

Angie: Yes, I do it all. So I've got a website up. That was the first thing that I did and it has a little contact form on it. And I've gotten just a small handful of people who've contacted me through the form. But I've noticed that people will send me an email that they want an initial consult and I'll email them back. And then I never hear back from them. You know what I mean? I should probably add like a phone number capture on there too. So I can give them a call. But most of my referrals have come from Google. So setting up a Google business listing, I guess, and where people can go and rate you and just encouraging people who I know and are happy with my services to go on there and give me a rating. People call all the time and say, oh, I was just Googling and I saw that you have five stars and some really great reviews. So that's where a lot of my referrals come from, not necessarily from my website.

Kadie: Absolutely. And do you have a space that you rent now or do they come to your home?

Angie: I work from my home. So I do this in my home office, which really has been awesome and also crazy. There's been a few debacles that have happened, but luckily I feel like when parents come and they know what they're getting into, they're a little more flexible if, you know, my three-year-old runs downstairs in just her underwear and I've had that happen, you know, which is really embarrassing. But I love having it in my home because it's really natural.

Angie: So I have this massive playroom. I put up a swing and monkey bars. So there's really great, you know, I installed a ball pit under my stairs and then I also have this room. That's my office space. That's a little more formal where I can do a lot of more structured therapy. So most of the time people come to me. I have a couple of clients that I see like within a 10 mile radius where I'll go to their home, which has been really cool for people who need it. So I'm a little bit flexible that way, but mostly I like to see them right in my house.

Kadie: Wow. It sounds like such a nice setup. You work in the basement. Things are going on upstairs with your own family. So do you typically see your caseload like after school hours then once your husband is home from work or how do you juggle that?

Angie: Yep. So my husband gets home from work right around 5:30 and he'll, I always, you know, have lunch in a crock or dinner in the crock pot or whatever. So he'll feed them while I've got clients and they literally like, I have a sign outside that says walk in, come downstairs. So they know that my family's eating dinner and I'm doing therapy downstairs. So they're really, you know, understanding and flexible that way. So they come downstairs, they do therapy. I usually tell my husband, feed them and go take them to ice cream and go to the roller rink or go to the trampoline park, like get them out of the house so that they're not running down.

Angie: But it's been a really great setup to have them come be in a naturalistic setting. And then, you know, in between clients I can switch a load of laundry, I can you know, say hi to the kids, eat quick dinner, come back down. So usually on Mondays and Wednesdays after school hours, like between 5:30 and 7:30 and then I do have childcare all day on Tuesdays where I do paperwork during the day on Tuesdays or I'll see like my preschool age clients that can be seen in the morning or in the afternoon times during school hours that day and then I work through Tuesday evenings as well.

Kadie: That sounds like a really nice setup because when you first said that I was like, oh, their poor family, they're never getting to spend their dinners together. But if you just have it primarily a few days a week, then I'm sure it works just fine.

Angie: Yeah, it really works out. I try and there's like Tuesday nights. I don't. Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm like, okay, I don't get to eat till like 8:30 or 9:00 for me, right? I don't mean to complain, but like, I'm not trying to complain, but that's just the reality of it. And I know, you know, those two nights I spend all day with my kids and it's okay if I miss that dinner for me. It's okay. Right. On Monday nights, I can slip it in, but you know, it's part of that flexibility and that balance.

Angie: Sometimes it makes me sad that my two-year-old knows what a client is, but I mean, she's like, mommy, you working with clients? I'm like, oh, yeah, but you know, I also realized that I'm giving them a great example of someone who's following a dream and a passion and helping others. So that work-life balance, man, it's a killer.

Kadie: Yeah. It sounds like you've done such a good job though. You're able to spend a lot of time with your kids during the day, the young ones still that aren't in school, but I love to hear everyone's different takes on how they run their businesses. And I think this is a perfect example for a mom of young kids and how you've been able to juggle.

Angie: Well, thank you. It's been amazing. Yeah. I really love it. And it's been such a rewarding thing for me to do and amazing to be able to work from home. I feel really lucky.

Kadie: Absolutely. Do you have any words of advice?

Angie: Just start. Just do it. Think about if you just jump in and take a risk, don't be afraid of that because it will pay off. Hang tight for those first year to two years where you're still figuring things out. Give yourself a lot of grace and don't be scared to be excited about risks and about change and putting yourself out there. People need what you have. And if you're not giving it to them, that is such a loss for you and for the people who you could improve their quality of life. So just do it. Get in there.

Kadie: Well, Angie, thank you so much for joining me today. If our listeners would like to see some of Angie's work, you can follow her on Facebook and Instagram at SpeechworksUtah. Angie goes live with parent information and trainings. Is there anything else you'd like to add, Angie?

Angie: I'm also coming out with a parent training course for parents of late talkers that launches on March 2nd. So if you've got parents that want to learn all those awesome techniques that we use to build language, send them my way. I've got a great course for them.

Kadie: Awesome. Is that going to be in a form of like an ebook or pamphlets or video recordings?

Angie: So it'll be a video recorded course offered through Thinkific. So it's online. I log in and I send them one week at a time certain skills that they can practice at home and a little community where they can ask questions and talk about what's going on with their child too.

Kadie: Awesome. Well, thank you again for joining me and good luck with all of your future endeavors.

Angie: No, thanks so much, Kadie. I had a great time.

Kadie: Thank you for joining me and listening to Clinic Chats. If you have a moment, please leave a five-star review for Clinic Chats to help other SLPs and our podcast. If you'd like to share your own personal journey, please email me at kadie@clinicnote.com. That's K-A-I-D-E at clinicnote.com.