Start Before You’re Ready: Building a Home-Based Speech Therapy Practice Around Your Family with Alyse Dillon

What if you could walk your kids to school and build a thriving private practice?  For most school-based therapists, mornings mean rushing out the door before the kids even wake up. But what if your workday could start with a slow walk to school with your children—and end with you picking them up from class? Today’s guest is doing exactly that. And I can’t wait for you to hear how she made it happen.

I’m introducing you to Alyse Dillon, a speech-language pathologist with over 10 years of experience and the owner of Small Talk Speech and Language Services in Modesto, California.

Alyse didn’t hate her school job. In fact, she loved it. But when life threw a move, she realized that the flexibility she wanted wasn’t going to come from being an employee. So she built it herself.

Now, after two years as a private practice owner, Alyse sees private clients from her home office, contracts with her old school district on her own terms, and is home for school pickup, class parties, and everything in between.

In this episode, Alyse discusses how she transitioned from schools to private practice, the unexpected way a school contract became a major part of her business, and why staying small on purpose has been the key to her happiness—both as a clinician and as a mom.

Alyse Dillon is a speech-language pathologist with over a decade of experience across schools, hospitals, and private practices. She specializes in early language development, speech sound disorders, and school-based services. She holds her master’s degree and describes her clinical approach as relational, family-centered, and deeply rooted in building genuine connections with both kids and their parents.

Outside of patient care, Alyse is a wife and a mom of three boys. She loves being able to volunteer at her kids’ school, take random Tuesday trips to Disneyland, and yes — walk her children to school every morning.

In Today’s Episode, We Discuss:

• How to start thinking about private practice when you’re not burned out (yet)
• The surprising benefits of running a practice out of your home
• How she’s combined a school contract with private clients for the best of both worlds
• Why “small and streamlined” might be the perfect fit for your personality and your family

Alyse is proof that you don’t have to hate your job to want something better. You don’t need a huge team or a commercial storefront. Sometimes, the best private practice is the one that fits around your life — not the other way around.

Want to build a private practice that gives you more time with your family, more control over your schedule, and more joy in your work? Learn more about the Start Your Private Practice program to know how to get started even if you’re still working your day job by visiting www.startyourprivatepractice.com. 

Or, if you already have an existing private practice and you’re ready to take it to the next level we’d love to support you inside the Next Level Private Practitioner. You can learn more at www.nextlevelprivatepractitioner.com. 

Whether you want to start a private practice or grow your existing private practice, I can help you get the freedom, flexibility, fulfillment, and financial abundance that you deserve. Visit my website www.independentclinician.com to learn more.

 

Resources Mentioned:

Follow Alyse on Instagram: instagram.com/smalltalkmodesto/ 

 

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