Depaneling With a Plan (and Hitting $10K Months): Monica’s Story (Episode 52)
This episode is a deeply honest look at what it really takes to build a sustainable, values-aligned private practice—especially if you’re coming from agency work, wrestling with burnout, or questioning whether full-fee is truly possible for you.
I’m joined by Monica Jurado Kelly, LCSW, who shares her journey from agency and school-based work into private practice, through taking insurance, and eventually de-paneling and building a full-fee practice she can actually trust. We talk about niching with nuance, marketing as a learned skill (not a personality trait), and what shifts internally when your practice starts to feel stable instead of precarious.
This conversation isn’t about shortcuts or overnight success. It’s about strategy, support, and learning to trust yourself again as a business owner.
Here’s what you’ll learn in this workshop:
1️⃣ How Monica clarified a niche rooted in lived experience, culture, and over-functioning—without boxing herself in
2️⃣ What changed when she stopped trying to do all the marketing things and focused on relationships and clarity
3️⃣ What it was really like to de-panel, raise fees, and hit her first $10K month
4️⃣ Why community, strategy, and learning therapist-specific marketing made all the difference
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Monica, welcome to Marketing Therapy. I'm so happy you're here. Will you please start by telling us your full name and where you're located?
Sure. Yeah. So, I am Monica Jurado Kelly. I am a licensed clinical social worker and board approved supervisor. I am based out of Round Rock, Texas, which is just north of Austin. And so I serve folks in the Texas, uh, you know, throughout Texas. And then I'm also licensed in Virginia.
Okay. Do you see folks in person or are you all online?
I see folks in person like one day a week, and then the rest is online. Yeah.
Alright, next up I wanna know about your niche, Monica. Tell me about who you do your best work with.
Woo. Niche. So, uh, to, if I could. Kind of just make a real quick illustration, essentially. Luisa Madrigal from Encanto is like my ideal client,
right, there we go. All of the moms in the room are nodding like, oh yeah, I've seen that one a time or two.
Yeah. You know, so really, uh, uh, folks who are parts of the BIPOC and L-G-B-T-Q communities may also be parts of the immigrant communities. But, you know, these are folks who are used to performing strength, who, you know, always show up for everyone else. They want to rest but can't often are hiding or shrinking their own needs in order to care for everyone else around them.
So of course along with that is a lot of perfectionism, people pleasing, over-functioning, burnout. Yeah, that's the work. Yeah. That's who I love working with.
Awesome. And how did you sort of come to this niche? Is this where you landed initially and you've always served these folks or have you found a sort of narrowing or, or refocusing happen in your journey?
Yeah. So, you know, I, I as a social work social worker, I came from agency, uh, work and, and working in public schools, which meant that I worked with everyone. Yeah. So in going to private practice, I honestly was like, I don't really know who I really wanna work with. And so over time have figured out, you know, I.
I love doing that, like deeper, more layered work. I was noticing for a lot of folks, you know, the, the, the work that we were doing that was really exciting and engaging was around these issues of like perfectionism and people pleasing and is, and particularly for folks who are children of immigrants, like how that experience kind of reinforces these, you know, these behaviors or these tendencies to people please. And to over-function.
Yeah. There's another layer of nuance there.
yes. Yeah. Yeah. So I, I think though I really haven't been able to figure out how to talk about that until maybe like a, a year ago, honestly. So, yeah.
So tell me, let's go way back to the beginning. You went from agency life to private practice. Tell me about that transition and what led you into private practice at all.
Yeah. So I have wor, you know, I've worked in child welfare I've worked in HIV and AIDS support.
But, and then. Clinically moved into supporting kids and their families in schools. And, you know, we, I was doing short-term solution-focused work, which I loved doing. But I also was recognizing, like I wanted to stay in touch with some of those deeper clinical skills that I, you know, learned in, in training.
And so, you know, I decided and s. September of 2019 to open my practice, very small part-time, private practice, uh, in order to stay connected to that type of work. And then eventually realized that that is really the the work that I want to do at, you know, the chapter of working in agencies. This was coming to an end for me, and so I transitioned over to full-time private practice in the summer of 2023.
So,
So we're going on three years then of full-time.
Mm.
Awesome. When you started that practice, and I don't know if, if you wanna speak to the initial part-time or possibly when you made that transition to full-time, what were your hopes for it? Obviously to stay in touch with those deeper clinical skills.
What else did you wanna get out of private practice?
You know, I honestly don't know that I knew that then.
It was just what you were gonna do
it was just what I was, what I thought that, what I needed to do next. And I, I, I think when I really reflect back on it it was a lot of, like, I wanted to help people in a different way. You know, it was like, if I can help a handful of folks and maybe make a little extra money on the side and just kind of figure out what this private practice thing is all about.
Then that sounds perfect. That sounds great. Yeah. Yeah. And so that was really kind of where it started.
Okay. Okay, so you launched the practice. What, what happens you, how do you start getting clients? What do you do or not do in those first couple of years? What was hard or maybe easy? Easier than you expected?
Yeah. So launching, you know, that was at, at, at a time where, I mean, I did have a website, but I got a lot of clients through Psychology Today. And you know, the, the therapist Facebook groups when folks are asking for referrals. And so, you know, I had launched this in-person practice in September of 2019, and then six months later we faced a lockdown.
And really was kind of hitting a point of. Do I keep doing this? You know, I don't need to do this, but do I, do, I keep doing it. And so, you know, thankfully I had met some really amazing. Therapists who were in private practice who've become really close friends of mine and just kind of observing what it was that they were doing because none of us were doing online therapy.
And I didn't even know that it existed at the time.
that wild to think
Yes, yes. Like I didn't know it was five years ago. I didn't know this. There's six
That wasn't even an option. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. And so just kind of watching them pivot to, offering services online and thinking like, I think I could actually do that.
Let me see how that, you know, would, would work for me. And also, like, I've put so much time and effort into launching this business and six months later I'm gonna close it. Like, it just didn't really feel right to me. So, I think when things kind of really exploded for, for me in, I guess a small way was during the summer of 2020, during the Black Lives Matters protest.
It was a part of the, and still am a part of the inclusive therapist community. And it was really important to me at that time to, to support folks who were, who were, who were really struggling and you know, all of these issues around race and racism were really coming to the forefront on top of dealing with the uncertainty of a pandemic.
Yeah, yeah.
Were you actively marketing to the Bipoc community at that time?
yeah, I was and I was through. Inclusive therapists. And I think, you know, on psychology Today, you know, definitely like checking the boxes, but I don't know, I don't know that I knew until that point that that was really who I, I wanted to work with. You know, I wanna work with both, you know, I definitely wanna work with folks who resonate with the type of support but.
Being able to sit in this uncertainty and in these spaces of, you know, all of these people around me don't really know what Black Lives matters protests are bringing up for me. And I need a space to be able to kind of talk about it freely with someone who has similar lived experiences. So, you know, that, that, yeah, I think that it's incredibly powerful to be able to, to sit with someone who gets.
You without having to really get into like the nuances and the nitty gritty. So, yeah, that's kind of where, where that went. And then I just did that for a few years with a handful of folks and being able to do virtual was really helpful. And in, you know, being able to serve more people than, you know, just the one day a week in person.
So,
Sure, sure. So you were at this time taking insurance. Is that right?
No, I was, I
not. Okay. Tell us about that journey.
Yeah. Well, so because it wasn't my, uh, primary form of income, uh, I was like, I can do this service and take anybody at any price point. And so I honestly, I think I was taking folks at like 20, $25. I think my highest fee at that point was around like 75, maybe $85. And you know, that was, that worked at that point.
You know, I was pretty much just breaking even. And when I kind of recognized that I was just breaking even, I was like, okay. This is fine, but it's not really what my goal was. You know, my goal was to maybe earn some extra income to, you know, yeah. Pay off debt, et cetera. So yeah. So then you know that with that came like, how do I figure that piece out?
I don't know that I really did while I was part-time, to be quite
Okay, so what happened when you went full-time there?
Yeah, so this is when I had to kind of transition to my folk, to, to the clients that I currently had and saying like, okay, so this is now my main source of income, which means I am gonna have to increase my rates. And, and, uh, you know, and, and being able to navigate those conversations with those folks and figuring out what is a workable rate that is for both works for both of us, or finding someone who could serve them at the rate that they could afford.
So, you know, we, I transitioned over to full-time and was private pay and fortunately had a salary through the end of August. But it became pretty clear pretty quickly that I needed more people in my practice. And so that was when I decided to become paneled. So it was like fall-ish of 2023. And then my practice like filled, you know, I was full to the gills in like February 20, 24. Yeah. So, so insurance for a little bit,
and then 2025 was a big year for you as you chose to
mm-hmm. Yes. Yeah.
So you joined Confident Copy almost exactly a year ago, right? It was January of 2025. How did you find out about Confident Copy?
I honestly think through like a Facebook ad but many, many years ago. So when, yeah, when I was in, uh, like doing it part-time. And then when I was transitioning over to full-time and getting ready for that, I wanted to kind of revamp my website. And did your, uh, fill your practice formula? I think kind of the through line through this was like, I still don't really know how to capture these folks that I want to, to work with and who, how to not only speak to them, but also speak to others about the work that I do.
You know, I, I have these folks who are experiencing these specific issues and are parts of these communities. So how do I find that? Like how do I talk about that intersection of both of those, you know, and. I, you know, I, I think when I had decided to leave insurance was about mid 2024. I was like, okay, I need to strategize about this, which really means that I need to learn about marketing.
So, that was kind of part of my plan for 2025 of learn all of the things that I can about marketing for therapists and learn how. I mean, I, I loved the fill your practice formula and was like, I actually wanna hear and learn from you in like a live sort of way. And so, that was, and I decided to jump in,
Yeah. What surprised you most about Confident Copy and what happened for you there?
Hmm. I, I think honestly, like the clarity, I didn't expect to, I mean, I expected to get some clarity in the language, you know, but I honestly didn't expect to get clarity on, you know, how I wanted to work, who I wanted to work with, and how that would show up in, you know, in, in, in my work life. Yeah, it was really helpful in figuring out. is the way that my brain works. This is the way that my energy goes here is how I want my schedule to look like. And really being able to stick to that. You know, I think really clarifying who are the people that light me up and how do I wanna talk to them and how can I talk to them. Was super helpful in.
You mentioned that one of the other challenges you'd had early on, and this is something I've been talking to a handful of clinicians about lately, is not just how to talk to those clients, but how to talk to other people about that work that you do. Right? Because networking still reigns supreme these days.
Like our data shows it. We know that networking is important, but the only way people are gonna ever refer to you as if they think of you and if they know how to talk about you, right? It's about being memorable and about being easy to talk about. Have you found clarity in that regard when it comes to the networking conversations you have?
Yes, yes, 100%. Uh, you know, uh, it's, I was thinking about like. When in, in that time it was, you know, when, whenever you talk about the, uh, the elevator speech I wasn't necessarily doing an elevator speech. I was doing like a very fumbled like Oscar acceptance speech where they start to play the music and you know, it's, your time is up and I'm, I'm still talking, you know, so I was like, okay, I gotta, I gotta tighten this up a little bit.
'cause you know, like you said, like being people being able to identify really quickly. You know, this is a person who does this specific type of work. So, yeah, being able to talk to other people and saying, these are the communities that I serve who are struggling with these issues. And, you know, and, and being able to figure out ways to work with them in this sort of like deeper way.
Mm-hmm. Cool. So you, you went through confident copy for, you know, kind of the, the first quarter or so of 2025, you launched your new website. What happened after, what was your summer and your fall like last year?
You know, summer was pretty steady and then fall kind of exploded, which was awesome. You know, fall was also the time that I was deep paneling. And, you know, there were. So I officially depa in at the end of August, but throughout July and August was like, am I really gonna do this? Am I sure? Is this the right move?
You know, just constant doubt in that. And I being able to get referrals for folks who were amazing fit and like, who I could tell from the get go were really, really good fit clients. Was, uh, you know, kind of the, the turning point. I mean, September was the first time I've ever hit $10,000.
I remember when you shared that milestone. It's
yeah.
Yeah. Which, you know, was kind of one of those like goals that, that, you know, one of those sort of like, this is a great goal to potentially have. So, so yeah, fall was really, paul was really pivotal in being able to like ground myself in this is the right decision.
Yeah, you got kind of those, those indicators, those confidence boosters where you're like, okay, I can do this. Something's working.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Cool. Now we talk a lot about the fact that your website doesn't exist in a vacuum. If all it took was just launching a website, everyone would be full. Right? So you've taken, you've been very intentional about action beyond just clarifying your niche and putting together a website.
So tell us kind of what does your marketing rhythm or routine look like these days? What have you found to be effective when it comes to calling in those folks who are such incredible fit?
Yeah. Well, I'm still figuring out what my marketing routine looks like. But, you know, a a, a big piece of it is also. Realizing that I don't have to do everything. 'Cause that felt really overwhelming, you know, the prospect of networking and creating content and, you know, SEO and all of those things.
Like, oh my gosh, this is so much and I'm only one person. But, you know, as you, as you stated having really great connections with solid referral sources has been kind of my number one. Marketing, uh, tool. So, you know, making sure that we're continuing to connect. I try to connect with, you know, I, I'll ask my clients like, who are your other providers?
You know, are they in couples counseling? Do they have a psychiatrist or a psych nurse practitioner that you know we can connect on? And really kind of not only just surround themself with, good care when we're together, but also with their other providers and reinforcing all of the work that they're doing.
So that has, yeah, that has really been the, the biggest tool. And, you know, I'm starting to work on, I guess SEO was also a big one really figuring out like what my header ones need to say and, you know, I didn't even realize that I had to Google my business, you know, all of those types of things.
But this year I'm. Hoping to do more, uh, visibility type of things, which is something that I struggle with. So, you know, potentially, uh, you know, I, I launched my first blog, which was,
Congratulations.
yeah, which was a lot of fun, but also very like, anxiety producing for someone who struggles with visibility. But, uh, it was, it was also a really awesome experience.
So I wanna do more of that. Uh,
Okay. Awesome. You know, I think continuity of care, like seeking out those other providers is low hanging fruit. A lot of clinicians miss. Because no doubt the person you're sitting across the room from has someone else they're seeing or talking to. Right. And obviously there are, you know, you get an ROI and there are steps that need to to happen there, but.
It's, it's just such a natural opening to forming relationship with someone else who's seeing your ideal client. If they have one of your ideal client, they probably have more. And the reciprocity that's possible. I do. I think it's just something that, that other clinicians kind of forget is there. So I love hearing that that's served you so well, uh, because it is just such a natural extension of how you're already serving your clients so well in the room.
Yeah. Yeah. I, I, i 100% agree and it is something, you know, at the beginning that I didn't really think about but also was something I was doing in schools, you know?
Sure. You already had that kind of naturally Yeah. Built out. Cool. Okay. So we're sitting here at the beginning of 2026. This will be your first complete year being de paneled. You are full fee. You are doing the dang thing. What is next for you? What are you excited about, either personally or professionally this year and potentially beyond as you look at what's coming for your practice?
Yeah. Well, you know, from a, a professional standpoint, I, you know, last year was a lot of getting the learning pieces, you know, understanding what I needed to do. This year I think is really about putting those pieces into practice and really trying, like I was, like you said, like finding what is my marketing rhythm and routine.
And I also, uh, recently just launched, doing intensives. I would love to do more of that type of work. Yeah, I, it it with the type of clients that I've worked with you know, I am, I'm also an EMDR therapist and, uh, being able to do some of that deeper work in order to get to those places of, setting boundaries and resting, you know, like we can read all of the articles about how to do the thing, but if we have, if it feels really unsafe to do it, it we're never gonna do. Exactly. So I, I love being able to do intensivess with folks you know, using EMDR, using parts work and sand tray. Uh, so that's something professionally that I'm pretty excited about.
On a personal level my, I uh, will be celebrating my 20th wedding anniversary later this year, so I'm really excited about that. Yeah. And also my best friend is getting married and I'm really excited to go to their wedding. So yeah, those are kind of the, yeah, those are kinda the big things that are, that are coming up.
But yeah, I
What does, uh, what, you know, 20, 25, I mean, I just, I love reflecting on what I know of you and what the year that you just accomplished, because it was massive. I mean, you didn't just. Get, get a great website out there or clarify your niche. You depa. And then you started to see results like you were attracting RightFit clients.
Not immediately, but pretty darn quickly. You hit your first 10 K month and now you're headed into this new year. What does this new kind of upleveling of your practice open up for you? Maybe like, not tangibly, like maybe it's more of your confidence in how you feel about yourself, but also maybe it is tangible, your ability, maybe you're gonna go on a trip with your husband or something like that for your anniversary.
But what do you feel like this new level of of practice is, is opening up for you? I.
I honestly feel like it just opens up possibility, which is something that is, IM really important to me. I I love. Being curious and I love being able to explore. But within that, it has really helped me to focus what those possibilities can really be. 'cause you know, I've previously kind of just looked at all the new shiny things and dabbled in all of the new shiny things, but then wasn't really getting anywhere.
So being able to have this like focus and this very clear focus of the direction that I'm heading. Finding the, the, you know, tools, the education, the, you know, other, other pieces that support that. I'm really excited about. I'm also just excited about ma this being more sustainable, you know?
I'm in my mid forties and you know, with that kind of looks at like what does the rest of kind of my working life look like? And you know, I've spent a lot of time in really unsustainable jobs and you know, at one point even considered leaving the profession. So I was so burnt out and I think being able to reengage with this is what I set out to do and I wanna be able to keep doing it, feels pretty awesome to be quite honest.
Such an achievement to build something you can rest in and trust and not always feel like you're spinning or you're, you know, you're seeking out that shiny object. I think. I think at the end of the day, anyone starting a business of any kind, that's what they're hoping for is to create something where it's like, oh, I can re, I can rely on this.
Now is doesn't mean that work goes away. Of course not. There's always going to be effort required, but to know I can put in A and add B and probably get C, that's there, that's there's safety and security in that. Right? And that flows out into every area of your life I would imagine.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And you know, I, I, I think a big piece that I have internalized or, you know, had, had previously internalized from working in nonprofit and in agencies is, you know, funding scarcity and, you know, elimination of positions or, you know. Having to do more with less and the toll that that takes on our health, that it takes on our mental health, you know, not having to deal with that anymore has, I mean, it's been, it has been huge.
Yeah. Yeah. Liberating in a lot of ways.
Mm-hmm.
One of the most shocking things from our state of the industry survey that we put out last month that has just shocked me is the number of people that plan to depa this year compared to last year. It's increased. Almost 90%. So not people who have depas but who want to.
And so I know for a fact that there are people listening right now who are sitting in a position you were in about a year ago where they were grappling with this desire, but this, this fear, right, of the leap you filled up after you had, after you started taking insurance. De paneling is a big move. It's not necessarily the right one for everyone, but what, what advice would you give to someone who's sitting in that place?
I think it's really important to have a strategy and, you know, and to keep coming back to the why, like why is it that you need to depa and, you know, I would, I would love to be able to accept insurance. Unfortunately, it's not financially sustainable. You know, I could go on and on about how low fees really actually harm our industry, how they can also harm our clients.
And you know, honestly, like it isn't our responsibility as individuals to solve what is actually a systemic problem, you know? So I, I think. Really grounding in the why. Why is it that you are feeling pulled towards de paneling? What is that additional income going to give you? What the freedom, the sustainability I think are really, really important things to ground in.
And to really have a strategy in the way in which you're going to do it. Uh, I, I have a couple of post-its that are up on my board in front of me that it, you know, to remind the, remind me of those things. Like, I trust the version of myself that made this decision, you know?
Powerful.
Yeah. Yeah. So. And I, I think also being able to connect with other folks who are either doing the same work or who have done that work.
And. You know, being able to, to vent about what that is like, or brainstorm or, so just like support each other in, in that work. You know, the, the work in the therapy room that we do is so important and so impactful and so hard. We can't do this in a silo. We need each other to be able to support each other.
So I think those are the, the biggest things I would say.
I love that. I think there's an echo chamber any of us can find ourselves in. But in the current economy, the current state of things, it's really easy to find people to reinforce the belief that you can't. Be successful with a full fee practice that it's impossible to build a practice if you don't take insurance.
That de paneling will whatever. It's really easy to find people to reinforce that message right now. If instead you can find an environment, a chamber, that will reinforce the idea that it is possible that you can do this, that others have gone before you and done it and are doing it today. There is. There's nothing that can replace the, the community element of being surrounded by people that actually are supporting you in that journey versus causing you doubt every time you open up Facebook or whatever it is that, that you're part of.
Absolutely. I also would say that learning from folks who know how to market for therapy specifically is gonna be really huge in that piece. And, you know, it was what I was really looking for in kind of my strategy of, of deep paneling last year. But those are also the folks who are part of that community who are often trying to figure out how do I.
Create a sustainable, exactly. Exactly. And I mean, I, I feel like folks who are probably listening know that marketing for a therapy practice is such a different knowledge base than marketing for other,
Literally anything else?
Exactly, exactly. So, and I mean, we all have the opportunity to learn from that.
I mean, I would say probably 99%, if not all of us didn't get any type of education about how to market a private practice in grad school, and understandably so. But it's really important to trust folks who know what they're talking about, to be able to tell you. I mean, I am a scrappy d Iyer, but there's only so far that
Yeah, there comes
take me.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Alright. My favorite question to end these interviews with is to invite you to. Tell something to the, we'll say the 2019 version of you. So the 2019 version, who decided, I'm gonna start the part-time private practice. What would you say to that version of Monica now?
I probably would say just stay the course. Trust yourself. Umm, much like my clients, I have a lot of self-doubt and a lot of, you know, voices that come in from, you know, experiences that I've had that are like, are you sure? Is that really what you wanna do? Or that's not the, you know, quote unquote right thing to do or the good thing to do.
But I truly believe that we hold. Inherent intuition and internal wisdom. And so, you know, being able to trust that, I think yeah, reminding that version of me, like, you, you, you know what you need and you want, and you need to trust that.
yeah. I think if every business owner can learn to do a little bit more of that, of trusting themselves and as you said, the version of yourself that made this decision. We would all get a lot further and in a lot happier way probably. So I think that's powerful advice for anyone wherever they find themselves today.
Yeah. Yeah. I just, I feel so grateful to, for all of the folks who have like supported me along the way. I've had some really amazing therapists and coaches and you know, that that has kind of been the through line of like trust the decisions that you make, you know?
Yeah. Yeah, because at the end of the day, that's what you're betting on. And if you know you can bet on yourself, then you can't fail. Right.
Mm-hmm.
Awesome. Well, Monica, thank you so much for being here. What an honor to learn about your journey. I know lots of folks are listening inspired right now and I'm just so grateful you carved out some time as you start your year to sit down with me.
Yeah. Well, thank you so much for inviting me. This has been such an awesome conversation and you know, quite honestly, really helpful and like kind of figuring out what does 2026
There you go. Yeah. A little bit of planning session for you too. Absolutely. Thanks so much, Monica. I appreciate you.
thank you.
Resources & Links Mentioned:
Confident Copy (discount, bonuses, & live support expire 1/29): walkerstrategyco.com/cc
The Walker Strategy Co website: walkerstrategyco.com
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Marketing Therapy is the podcast where therapists learn how to market their private practices without burnout, self-doubt, or sleazy tactics. Hosted by Anna Walker—marketing coach, strategist, and founder of Walker Strategy Co—each episode brings you clear, grounded advice to help you attract the right-fit, full-fee clients and grow a practice you feel proud of.
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