From One Kid to Complete Flexibility: Roshanda Epps on Building a Practice Around Family
A daycare director stopped Roshanda Epps at drop-off one morning and asked a simple question: "Do you see kids on your own?"
She paused. "Well, I guess so."
He laughed. "When you come back, we have a group of kids and parents who are waiting for you."
That conversation in 2016 was the push Roshanda needed to leave her teletherapy contracts behind and launch Speech Therapy Zone. Three years later, she's running a private practice with 20 to 24 clients a week, a hybrid model that blends in-person and teletherapy sessions, and a level of flexibility that most SLPs only dream about.
The Long Road from Schools to Autonomy
Roshanda always knew she wanted entrepreneurship. She'd worked across clinic settings, schools, skilled nursing facilities, and hospitals, but the school setting was home base for most of her career. The problem wasn't the work itself. It was the autonomy, or the lack of it.
When her first son was born, she made a deliberate move to teletherapy, contracting with other companies. It gave her more flexibility than a brick-and-mortar school, but she was still on someone else's schedule, still working under someone else's contracts. For an SLP who wanted complete control over her time and her practice, "a little bit of flexibility" wasn't enough.
"I was striving for complete autonomy and complete flexibility. Being an independent contractor still wasn't enough, because I was still on someone else's time."
So when that daycare director opened the door, she walked through it. She went home, told her husband, and never looked back.
Growing a Caseload One Screening at a Time
Speech Therapy Zone didn't start with a marketing budget or a polished launch plan. It started with one child and a willingness to show up.
The daycare where Roshanda dropped off her own son allowed her to offer complimentary screenings. Parents already knew her face from the pickup line. They'd been stopping her with questions about milestones for months. The trust was already there, and the screenings turned that trust into referrals.
From evaluations to therapy services, the caseload grew organically. Then she'd move to another daycare, offer the same speech therapy screenings, and the cycle repeated. No cold outreach, no ad spend. Just presence, credibility, and word of mouth.
She kept her startup costs low too. Standardized tests from previous positions, a Fluharty screening kit, and an audiometer she found on eBay. "Everything was low cost, starting right out," she says. "I just pretty much built from those single assessments and went from there."
Flexibility as a Business Model
What sets Speech Therapy Zone apart is how Roshanda structures her service delivery. She doesn't force families into one setting. Instead, she lets them move between options based on what their week looks like.
A child might receive therapy in their daycare classroom during the week. Then the parent can call and book an office visit so they can participate in a session together. Or, if evenings work better, the family logs in for a teletherapy session at 5:30 or 6:00 p.m.
"The parents love it because I give them the opportunity to go back and forth between whichever location or whichever setting they choose to be in."
For Roshanda, this isn't just a nice perk. It's a reflection of how she thinks about care. As a mom of two, ages three and six, she builds her own schedule around school drop-offs and pickups. Morning sessions happen at daycares before she drops her youngest off. Afternoon teletherapy sessions happen after she picks her first-grader up. The model works for her and it works for her families.
She currently accepts Medicaid and private pay, noting that many insurance companies still don't reimburse for teletherapy services. That means parents who want the flexibility of virtual sessions often pay out of pocket. Roshanda supplements therapy with parent coaching, giving families activities to implement at home and asking them to demonstrate their techniques during follow-up sessions.
Getting Out of Your Own Way
When asked about her biggest struggles, Roshanda doesn't point to finances or logistics first. She points to mindset.
"A lot of times it was just me and my thinking holding me back from doing things, my fear of wanting to put myself out there, a little bit of imposter syndrome."
The early days of any private practice are a one-person show. You're the therapist, the marketer, the scheduler, the billing person. Roshanda wore all of those hats, and the turning point came when she learned to delegate. She now has an hourly billing coordinator and an intake coordinator who doubles as a community liaison, going out to daycares and networking while Roshanda focuses on her clients.
With her administrative team in place, she's ready for the next step: bringing on a part-time employee therapist. Not a contractor. An employee. She's thought carefully about the distinction and believes the employee route better fits her long-term vision for personalized, consistent care.
Define Your Why
Roshanda's advice for SLPs thinking about starting a practice comes down to one thing: know why you're doing it.
"Your why is going to carry you a lot further than anything else. It's not if things will get hard, it's when they get hard."
Her why was flexibility. It was being both mom and business owner. It was autonomy. And every time the imposter syndrome crept back in or the workload piled up, she returned to that why and kept moving.
"You can do it," she says. "But you have to get out of your own way."
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Transcript
Kadie: You are listening to Clinic Chats, the speech therapist's private practice podcast, a podcast full of personal journeys where we not only talk about success stories, but also real life struggles of small business startups. Clinic Chats is sponsored by ClinicNote, a HIPAA-compliant, cloud-based EMR platform used specifically by private practice owners and university clinics. I'm your host, Kadie Jackstatt, and thank you for joining me today.
Kadie: Okay, today I'm with Roshanda Epps, the owner of Speech Therapy Zone. Can't wait to dive into what your practice entails. Roshanda, how are you today?
Roshanda: I am well, thanks Kadie.
Kadie: Let's start from the beginning. Can you give me a brief background of your experience and what led you into creating your own business?
Roshanda: Okay, sure. Well, I actually began working in multiple clinic settings. I've been in the school setting, skilled nursing facility, and the hospital setting, but primarily in the school setting. And I've always known that I wanted to go into entrepreneurship. Always known that I wanted to start a private practice, but didn't necessarily know how. And so I was very intentional about making the shift from the school setting to private practice.
Roshanda: And so it wasn't until I had my first son where I just said, you know what, I have to do this. I have to finally make it out of the schools. And so what I started out doing was shifting from working in the school setting, going into teletherapy. And so I left the brick and mortar schools and went into teletherapy. And I chose teletherapy at that time, contracting with other companies, because I felt like the teletherapy would give me the flexibility I needed to still be at home with my child, but still have the whole experience as an SLP.
Roshanda: So I know I wanted to do both, but what I found that as I started working in teletherapy, that I had a little bit of flexibility, but it was still not as much as I wanted. And so with that, I just decided that, you know, being an independent contractor still wasn't enough, because I was still on someone else's time, I'm still on their contracts. And I was striving for complete autonomy and complete flexibility.
Roshanda: And so it wasn't until I was taking my own son to daycare, where the daycare director stopped me and said, hey, do you do this on your own time? Or do you see kids on your own? And I stopped and I said, well, I guess so. And so he laughed and said, well, you know what, when you come back, we have a group of kids and parents who are waiting for you.
Roshanda: And so I went home and told my husband, I said, I think it's the time, you know, it's time for me to finally step out and do this. And he was supportive and I wasn't afraid. I stepped out, never looked back, I left teletherapy and left all my contracts. And I birthed Speech Therapy Zone in 2016.
Kadie: Wow. So it was kind of like cutting teletherapy off completely and jumping straight in full force.
Roshanda: Yep. I went all in. Yes.
Kadie: And so did you begin by going out to this specific daycare, seeing the handful of kids and then trying to build from there?
Roshanda: Absolutely. So listen, it started with one kid. So what the daycare allowed me to do was go in and do screenings. And so with that, I knew I had one kid because the director said, oh, the parents keep asking and we'd like to send this referral to you. So I started with one kid, but to build from that one, I was allowed the opportunity to go in and offer the screenings to that particular daycare.
Roshanda: And from that, the parents started to build trust and rapport with me because again, these people have seen me every day dropping my own child off and they had already began to establish a rapport with me. They would stop me after I was picking my son up and say, hey, I have a question. What milestones? And so that's when all the questions started coming in.
Roshanda: And so I began to offer my services, my free screenings there for the daycare to take advantage of and the parents would sign up. And that is how I eventually grew. And then from there, I would go to another daycare where they would want me to do the screenings and then I grew my caseload from there.
Roshanda: So it essentially started from one kid getting the service to providing the complimentary screenings to parents being able to take them on and want the evaluative services and the therapy services for themselves.
Kadie: And did you have to purchase any standardized tests or these specific screenings?
Roshanda: So I've had them from previous experiences because I did work in a private practice as well, but I was just doing some PRN work. So I did have the CAP, the articulation test, and I went out and purchased the Fluharty for the screening, for the preschool screening and audiometer. And I found that on eBay, everything was low cost, starting right out. And I just pretty much built from those single assessments and went from there.
Kadie: So I assume you started seeing kids directly in their daycare setting, which I'm sure parents loved. Tell me where the practice is at today.
Roshanda: Okay, so yes, as a parent and as a speech pathologist, I feel like I'm in the best of both worlds because I'm able to hear what the parents' needs are, but then I'm also able to consider my needs as a parent. And so one key thing where Speech Therapy Zone is now is to offer complete flexibility.
Roshanda: So a lot of times this is what I get. I get parents who are in the daycare and they drop their kids off, but they're like, oh, Ms. Epps, I really don't have the chance to get to see what you guys are doing in the sessions. How can we make that happen? Because as an involved mom, I wanted the same thing. I wanted to know what my child was doing in the sessions.
Roshanda: And so I offer complete flexibility. So I'd say, okay, this is what this is going to look like. You'll have the therapy. I'll go into the classroom to see your child and I'll work with them there. But once or twice a week, call the office and get scheduled for you to come into my office for us to do therapy together.
Roshanda: Another way that I offer flexibility is I offer them teletherapy sessions. And so if they feel like, oh, I just don't have the time after three o'clock, do you offer sessions after that? Yes, I do. We can log in and we could do teletherapy sessions at 5:30 or 6:00 into the evening time. So the parents love it because I give them the opportunity to go back and forth between whichever location or whichever setting they choose to be in.
Kadie: That is so nice. So is that quite the juggling act as far as your own schedule constantly changing and evolving?
Roshanda: Yes. But you know what? I love it. I'm one of those personalities. I cannot sit still. And so this works for me. I'm constantly moving. It's dynamic. I'm literally all over the place. But it's still structured in a way to where it works for me.
Roshanda: And so those families that click and they're all over the place, too. And this week, they're working late. So they want to log in. Next week, they want to come into the office. I mean, it just works for all of us. And it's a beautiful thing to allow that flexibility.
Kadie: Yes. And it sounds like you've just created the perfect environment for yourself to find satisfaction in your job. And now I don't know if you have more kids or not, but are they school age now? Are they both gone during the day or do you kind of work around their schedules a bit?
Roshanda: Absolutely. So I have a three-year-old and a six-year-old. So I absolutely work around their schedules. So my six-year-old, he's in school all day and my three-year-old is in school three days. The therapy sessions at home through teletherapy in the afternoons after I pick my first grader up. Sometimes I'm in the daycares in the morning before I drop my little one off. So it's a great deal. I love it.
Kadie: Awesome. Yes. So how many clients do you typically see a week? I know you say it changes quite a bit, but just an average guess.
Roshanda: So I do have a consistent caseload between 20 to 24 clients a week.
Kadie: Oh, that's a great number to have kind of a nice balance.
Roshanda: Yes, absolutely.
Kadie: And do you accept insurance or have you maintained private pay?
Roshanda: Absolutely. So I currently accept Medicaid and then I also, for the most part, accept private pay. And so a lot of times the families that come in, they want to take advantage of the teletherapy. And so a lot of the insurance that we found, they are not on board yet with accepting teletherapy as far as reimbursement. And so the parents that I typically see tend to pay out of pocket for the therapy expenses.
Roshanda: I'm really big with the parent coaching. I love to give my not just homework, but just parent coaching. So I give them an activity. We follow up. We discuss it. We talk about it. And I actually ask the parents to show me how they're implementing it at home.
Kadie: Oh, I'm sure they love that because they do want to be involved if they're seeking out private services. That usually means they're invested in their child's success. Have you had any struggles along the way over the last three years? Could you look back and kind of be open and honest about any hiccups?
Roshanda: Absolutely. I would think first starting up, coming up with the finances to do everything. How am I going to market myself? How am I going to pay for all of this? And so what I found is that a lot of times it was just me and my thinking holding me back from doing things, my fear of wanting to put myself out there, a little bit of imposter syndrome, telling myself, oh, should I do this? Can I do this?
Roshanda: So just, you know, getting rid of those fears of the things that we tell ourselves that, hey, I don't think I can do this, but I just had to get rid of that and say, yes, I can and go out there and put my business out in front.
Roshanda: And those were some of the things that I had to face early on was being a one man show, not having a group behind me to do all of these things. So what became difficult is that I had to wear several hats at first. I had to be the marketer. I had to be the person who did the scheduling. But it wasn't until I learned to delegate and actually hand things off is when I began to see a shift in my practice. So now I'm at a point to where I'm growing and I'm ready to bring on a team member to grow with me.
Kadie: Oh, that was going to be my next question. If you plan to stay solo, I know some people prefer that or if you wanted to grow. So you're at a point where you are going to hire. Yes. Do you plan to hire them as an independent contractor or will they be like a part-time employee?
Roshanda: I believe I would go with a part-time employee starting out. And so right now I have an hourly person who does my billing. She's kind of coordinating all of my billing services. And then I have an intake coordinator who kind of acts as a community liaison because while I'm seeing the kids, she's out in the community getting me set up for the screenings or what's to come next.
Roshanda: And so I feel like I've already built my administrative staff and now I'm ready to bring on a therapist and be part of the actual team.
Kadie: Yes. Are you currently looking or haven't posted that position quite yet?
Roshanda: I have not posted that position quite yet. And that's one of the things is going from a solo practitioner to growing is letting go. And yeah, it's letting go because I've done everything, but not quite there yet. But coming soon.
Kadie: And whenever you find that special person that fits your needs, will you kind of do some research and look into the paperwork needed to file them as a part-time employee or will you hire that out through an accountant?
Roshanda: No, I'll absolutely look at the paperwork to do that, which I have already. And so that's how I was able to make the decision on whether I wanted an employee or a contractor. How my current business is structured and for the long haul, I believe that the employee would be the best route to take.
Kadie: Yeah. And in basic terms, can you kind of explain the difference between the two for our listeners who might not quite be at that place yet of hiring anyone?
Roshanda: Okay, so an independent contractor is someone who has complete autonomy. So this person likely has an LLC or a business structure of their own. And you are contracting that person to come in and provide what's seen as temporary services, maybe not as long term as what you would want.
Roshanda: And so this person would come in and they would be providing the service, but they would be responsible for all of their taxes. And so there are no taxes or income taxes taken out. This person will be responsible for their mileage and all of their supplies and their materials. And so basically you're just onboarding them and supplying them with the client.
Roshanda: Versus an employee where from a tax purpose, you're looking at the taxes being taken out of the check and then they are your employee. So you could provide the necessary training, the CEUs and all the courses that this person would need. And you would onboard them and provide them with your company mission and vision and how you want your company to be run. And this person would be likely a part-time or full-time person working with your company.
Roshanda: And technically, the difference between the two, how I would explain it, is taxes or no taxes. So if this is someone who you want to have on your team long term, then the employee route would be what you would probably want to look into.
Kadie: Yes. And it seems like you like to keep things personalized for your families. And so, yeah, I imagine as you're hiring on, you hope this is a person that will stick with you for the long haul. So I see where you're coming from in going the employee route.
Roshanda: Absolutely.
Kadie: We spoke about the struggles, but can you look back and then think of a moment where you thought, aha, this is working. Clients are coming. I've made it and it's going to succeed.
Roshanda: Well, greatest success. You know, I just feel like I'm in this moment. It's right now. I've had several aha moments, but I feel like the greatest success is working with my families every day and just hearing the positive feedback from them and them telling me how great of a job I'm doing and how great of a job that their kids are doing and basically them being able to be advocates for their own kids and me empowering them through the services that I provide. This is something that God has blessed me with and this is my give back.
Kadie: So rewarding. That's amazing. As far as marketing goes at this point, do you still have to get out there very often?
Roshanda: So at this point, no, I don't have to get out as much. A lot of the marketing is done word of mouth from a lot of the parents passing on information to other families that they feel will benefit. And then I do a lot of social media. I connect a lot with parents online through Instagram and Facebook.
Roshanda: And as far as me, I like to go out and network within the community still by attending conferences and workshops and just networking with other related professionals such as psychologists and mental health providers and doctors and dentists. And I enjoy being a community networker that way.
Roshanda: And then also the community liaison person that I've employed, she goes out into the daycares and talks to the directors and pass out pamphlets and brochures and just to kind of keep the community connection. And so if the daycare would like the complimentary screenings, all they would have to do is let us know and we would be there.
Kadie: Yes. Well, I really appreciate all of your insight and it sounds like you are living your dream. So I'm very happy for you in that. Any last words of advice for those who have not quite taken that leap of faith in private practice?
Roshanda: Yes, I would tell someone to define your why. Why do you want to go into private practice? And the reason why I say that is because your why is going to carry you a lot further than anything else. You're going to want to have to refer back to that because it's not if things will happen in your private practice, it's not if things will get hard, it's when they get hard.
Roshanda: And so for me, I always have to refer back to the why I started my practice to begin with. I started it for flexibility. I started for complete autonomy. I started it to be mom and business owner. You know, you can do it. Definitely you can do it, but you have to get out of your own way and get away from the imposter syndrome and really take those first steps and get out there and say, I got this.
Kadie: Absolutely. That is some great advice. Well, I appreciate your time. Thank you for joining me and listening to Clinic Chats, the speech therapist's private practice podcast. If you have a moment, please leave a five-star review for Clinic Chats to help other SLPs find our podcast. If you'd like to share your own personal journey through private practice, please email me kadie at clinicnote dot com. That's K-A-I-D-E at clinicnote dot com.