From 0 to 100 Clients a Week with Dr. Givona Sandiford
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What motivated Dr. Sandiford to start her own private practice?
Starting a private practice isn't what it used to be. Today's clinicians are starting private practices much quicker, easier, and cheaper than before. And they aren't guessing their way through it or getting stuck in analysis paralysis, they're following a tried and true roadmap in order to save time, money, and frustration. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel or struggle to figure out how to start a private practice on your own. We've helped thousands of SLPs and OTs through this process and now we want to help you too. For a limited time, I'm offering a free copy of our private practice roadmap, specifically for SLPs and OTs who are curious about private practice and want to see what the journey looks like.
To download your free copy, please visit startyourprivatepractice dot com backslash roadmap to sign up. Now on to the episode. Dr. Giovanna Staniford is a speech language pathologist in California with two decades of experience working in pediatric and adult settings who decided to start her own private practice. I got to know Dr. Sandiford in the Start Your Private Practice program, and it has been truly amazing to watch her practice get started and then take off. In this episode, she talks about how she started her private practice, what payment sources she accepts, and also how, in addition to speech, language, and cognitive services, her practice also offers IEEEs or independent educational evaluations, as well as expert witness services.
Her private practice has grown to over 100 visits per week, and her team is growing too. You're really going to enjoy Dr. Dr. Sanaford's story, so stay tuned. I'm Jenna Castro-Kasbon, speech language pathologist, business coach, and creator of the Start Your Private Practice System. And I'm on a mission to turn stuck SLPs into successful private practitioners. If you're tired of dealing with high productivity requirements, high caseload sizes, and low pay, it's time to take control of your professional, personal, and financial life and finally get the freedom, flexibility, and financial abundance that you deserve by working with private clients in your own practice. Join me here each week as I share tips, best practices, and inspirational interviews on the Private Practice Success Stories podcast.
If you're a private practitioner or one in the making, you're in the right place, so let's get started.
Okay, before we dive in, can you please share your name, your location, and the name of your private practice?
Yes, thank you. My name is Dr. Javona Sandiford. My practice is in Temecula, California. And my practice name is Mellows Speech Inc.
I am so excited to do this podcast episode with you, which is coming at a pretty special anniversary. Tell the listeners what is this special anniversary that you've just recently celebrated?
Yes. We have been in business for exactly one year. I
love this.
So
Listeners, you're about to get a treat to hear exactly what has been going on for the last year and you know how she got started and how the practice has grown. And I think you're going to be really impressed by that. But before we talk about what your practice is like, can you take us back to the beginning of your career and kind of what you were up to? And then when did you start thinking about private practice?
Okay, that's a good question. Well, I have been a speech language pathologist for almost 20 years. I started off just wanting to work in the school district. I thought, hey, this is great. I'll have summers off. I love to write. I'll write books during the summer and I'll just work with kids in the school will be fun. And then my first year out of grad school, it was literally like my CF year. I got subpoenaed. All of my notes got subpoenaed for one kid. And I had So many meetings with lawyers, I was like, what is this? Nobody told me I had to be a lawyer to be a speech pathologist in a school. So at the same time, what I did is I decided that I was going to keep all of my skills like really up to date. So I worked in skilled nursing facilities, I worked in a medically fragile hospital, I worked at private practice for somebody else, a PT friend.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What motivated Dr. Sandiford to start her own private practice?
0:00–5:50
2
How did Dr. Sandiford transition from school‑district work to launching Melospeech?
5:50–10:10
3
What strategies did she use to land her first clients and grow to 100 visits per week?
10:10–14:47
4
Why does she choose contract work with schools and the state instead of traditional insurance?
14:47–20:30
5
When and why did Dr. Sandiford decide to hire additional staff?
20:30–25:11
6
What billing mistakes did she encounter and how did she fix them?
25:11–29:53
7
What are her goals and plans for year two of her practice?
29:53–34:19
8
What key advice does she give to SLPs/OTs starting their own practice?
34:19–39:21
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Private Practice Success Stories
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She Started With Two Clients on the Side - Now She Has Nine SLPs and a Clinic with Samantha Taylor
From 2 Clients on the Side to Ready to Hire — Then She Decided She Didn't Want To with Bianca Gizzi Fusco
She Told Her Dad She’d Never Start a Private Practice - Now She Has a Successful Clinic and Growing Team with Sarah Landry
She Started at 26 With One Referral - Now She Has a Downtown Office and a 3-Year School Contract with Becca Vilsaint
She Didn't Hate Her Job BUT She Left to Start a Private Practice Anyway with Heather Danielkiewicz