How I Run My Therapy Business From Anywhere: The Exact Systems, Tools & Processes

This is one I get asked about constantly.

How the business actually runs when I’m not in the clinic or on a completely different time zone.

Because from the outside, “working remotely” can feel daunting but it was the best and most sustainable shift I ever made for my business.

In this episode, I walk through the exact systems, tools and processes that hold my business day-to-day.

And we go even deeper on that - on what had to change in the way I work too.

Because this wasn’t just about adding a few apps or tightening things up. It required a complete shift out of doing everything myself and into building a business that can actually run without me being across every step.

Inside this episode, I talk about:

• the systems that stopped me being the bottleneck in my own business
• how we manage communication across different time zones (without being “always on”)
• the tools we actually use daily — and why I keep it simple 
• what changed when I stopped working in a reactive way 
• and how I prepared the business before ever stepping away

If you’ve been thinking about taking time off, going on mat leave, working from somewhere else or just creating more space in your week…

this will show you what that actually looks like behind the scenes.

Connect with Mia:

Instagram: https://instagram.com/miapoko and https://www.instagram.com/ot_inspire_therapy/

Get the Complete Personal Brand Kit for Therapists for just $47! https://thefreedomtherapist.com.au/kit

Join the Waitlist for The Freedom Therapist Club: https://www.thefreedomtherapist.com.au/club

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to the Freedom Therapist Podcast. Your safe space to learn and unlearn all the things about scaling your business, evaluating yourself in the process. I'm your heart, made a pocket hope, a previously fental health occupational therapist and business owner who found her way to fall back in love with business and life all over again. Because success doesn't have to come at the cost of your freedom. You're going to get so much chat, a lot of energy, and of course, a little bit of chaos because it comes with the territory. I can't wait. Hello, hello, and welcome back to the Freedom Therapist Podcast. I am so excited to be back in your ears this week. We had a really busy week at remote last week, which was so incredible. Actually, it's been the last couple of weeks we've been at remote. I'm completely losing track of the days at this point. But we've had a few weeks at remote and it has been so fulfilling. I absolutely adore doing remote outreach. And I really just loved being back in the red dirt. As cliche as it sounds, I feel like you just never really quite get away from that. And I just really loved like being back with clients, being back in the Outback, being back in the red dirt, like all of those things that are such a big part of the business that I've built over the last almost eight years now, which is wild. Um, but it's so nice to be back in the studio recording these episodes for you. And we will do a little life update with that in the coming weeks as well, because there are so many things I'm so excited to talk to you all about this year. But today's episode is one that I get in the DMs all the time. The request for this episode came through my DMs, and it is how to prepare your business to set it up to run remotely. So this is a really big question. I talk about this a lot in the Freedom Therapist Club. I talk about this a lot with colleagues and friends in the space. It's something that I am deeply, deeply passionate about, and it's something that I think can be done really, really well as well. I know that I've been through how I run my practice remotely and how I had to really figure out how to do that because of all my life circumstances. But I think if you're in a position where you're thinking about doing that and you've got time to prepare, that is so incredible because you are going to be able to set this up really, really well. And when I talk about working remotely, sometimes that might mean working from a different state, a different country, a different town. It might mean working from home, it might mean taking some time off for maternity leave, it might mean working overseas. Like there's so many different aspects and elements of what working remotely looks like. And I think that it's really important not to let your version of working remotely be defined by somebody else's, because working remotely can look so different for each of us, and it can be done so incredibly well so that your team and staff feel so incredibly supported as well. So I'm gonna run you through the things that I did when I first set up my business to run remotely, a few things I've learned, and a few quick takeaways that you can actually take and implement in your business today, so that if this is something that you're like, hey, maybe I do want to take some maternity leave down the future, maybe I do want to go and live somewhere else that is different to where I'm living and working at the moment, like there is gonna be some really cool tips and tools that you're gonna be able to take away from today's episode. So the first thing that I wanted to speak to was we use a number of tools and a number of systems to be able to run the business remotely. And this is something that I'm really, really passionate about. I used to be a hate on systems girly. Thank God to my OBN NIV. She's amazing. She really changed my perspective on systems. And I also just have seen how much of a difference having really solid systems in my business makes for my own regulation, my own space, my own time freedom, profitability, all of those things. Like systems are where it is at in 2026. And when you are looking at the systems that you're creating in your business, essentially a system in your business is something that can run on repeat without you needing to be the touch point for every single step. Because often what happens in our business is we become the bottleneck in our business because everything has to run through us or has to be checked by us or is waiting on us for a little part to be done. And this comes through in really big ways, like when we have teams, if like, you know, somebody has to send something to you and you're behind on your thing, we know that can then impact the delivery time and all of those factors there. And so having really solid systems like just makes those outcomes and those guidelines super clear from the start. So for us, that looks like having a system for literally every single thing we do in the business. We have a system for how we create contact, we have a system for how we market the business, we have a system for how a referral comes in, we have a system for what happens when you close off a client, we have a system for what happens during supervision. Like there is a system for everything. The way that I do my systems is I have them written with a loom as well, so that anyone at any one point can step in and go, okay, cool, that person's not available today. I need to figure out how to do this. There's an instruction that's really clear that will explain it and give examples as well. That is something that has been so, so critical in setting my business up to run remotely, especially when we might all be working on different time zones or um different work days or all of those sorts of things as well. Because if somebody is waiting on me to tell them how to do something, that's not going to be effective. I'm essentially creating a bottleneck. However, if we've got a really effective system that they can pick up and run with it, it's not going to cause those delays in those work outcomes, which is what we want. We want that business to be able to run on repeat without us being across everything every single time. Now, having really good systems is really important. The biggest thing I would say is like not to get overwhelmed and try and do all your systems at once. I am a big believer in creating a system as you're doing the task. So if you're like, right, I want to prioritize my systems for the next quarter, every time you go to post a piece of content, you create a system for that. Um, maybe the next time that you do an intake for a new referral, you create the system for that as you're doing it. This is not only going to save you time, but it's also then going to make sure you're doing that process correctly and you're recording it correctly as well. After you do your systems, the next thing that I look at is the tools and the apps that I use to run my business remotely. And this has been a really big one in my business. I took a few goes to find the tools and the apps that I really like. I don't like to be overwhelmed by tech. I don't like to be overloaded by tech. I don't like to have too many apps and systems on the go, but these are my go-to's that I literally could not run my business without. So the first one is Slack. I'm a huge believer in having Slack. You may have heard me talk about it before, but Slack is a really big one for us because we have team members who are working on different time zones. I might be replying on a different time zone. And a really big factor for me is that I want everybody to be able to switch off outside of work hours. And if we are contacting each other via text messages, via phones, all those things, we're not able to then just like close that off and be like, work's done for the day, shut that down. I will see it tomorrow. There are gonna be times where I'm doing something at a different time zone to somebody else. And I don't want to always have to like schedule send or be, you know, um be in there and be messaging and then being like, oh, I can't send this till this time tomorrow because that's gonna, you know, just stop that workflow as well. And so a really big part of this is we use Slack for all of our team comps. We don't message, we don't call, we don't text. It is all through Slack. And it is each of our responsibilities to make sure that our app is turned off at the end of the workday. And also we all know each other's work time. So we're like, I might send something at 4 p.m. my time, knowing that over on the East Coast, that is, you know, they're all finished for the day, but I know that that's not gonna be checked until the next morning as well. And that is why we use Slack. I am such a big believer in it because I know personally that sometimes if we see something come up on our phone, say for example, you know, we're checking our text messages or we're checking our missed calls, it's gonna be really hard not to react to that. So our phones are designed to really capture our attention. We just try and make that as easy as possible and use Slack for all team communications with the um policy that everybody turns their Slack off once they finish work for the day and they're not expected to reply. The other app that I could not live without when running my team remotely is Asana for all task management, all task delegation, all task feedback. Asana is an absolute weapon. I love that I get notifications. Um, I love that I can ping task to each other. I love that we can like reply for feedback on each other. I have found that Asana has cut down my meeting times so much. And also it's allowed for things not to have to wait until supervision. So, for example, if I've got a therapy assistant who's like, I've, you know, developed this resource, I want to check I'm on the right track, flick it to me. I can be like, yep, yep, yep, this, this, this, change this, adjust this before they've completed it and then having to go back and redo things. So Asana is not only a huge time saver, but it is really, really great for making sure tasks are done effectively and that you can get what we like to call a little vibe check all the way through as well. And I think that just increases everybody's confidence in like what is being developed. It increases everybody's confidence in being able to work together and like being able to take on constructive feedback and being able to bounce ideas off each other. And it also doesn't affect each other's workflows because I think a really big part of it is when you're in an office together. Sometimes it can be really hard because somebody might have finished something. They just like, can you just have a quick look over this or can you just, you know, have a quick squeeze over this for me so I can keep moving on the next thing. Asana is where we respect each other's like boundaries around that task management. We trust the other person to know that they're working on what they need to be working on and they're gonna notify us when they need to. So cannot recommend Asana enough. It has been brilliant for being able to delegate tasks at the end of a remote trip. If I need some help with follow-up, I will do like a full brain dump and I'll be like, I need some follow-up with this, this, and this. And then what I do is I actually allocate it to the person on that day so they know when it's come in, but then they reallocate the time when they will have it done by as well, which I also think is really important. I think it's really important to give your team that independence to be able to manage their time, manage their calendar, and to say, hey, look, I've got capacity to do this. This is what I'm gonna be, this is where it's gonna, you know, be finished by it. So this is when you'll have it back as well. Another really big system that we are huge on for working remotely and being able to work in all different spaces at all different times is we are really, really tight with our calendars. And that means updating our calendars at the end of the week for the week ahead. So each of us, we always go into the week ahead with an updated calendar. Usually mine's like already set for the month, but majority of the time, like the biggest recommendation I would say is if you are just bringing this in, is to start with getting your team to update their calendar perhaps on the Wednesday or the Thursday for the following week. Obviously, I have been doing this a long time, and I also know the benefit that can come from having a really clear and realistic updated calendar. So mine is usually updated at the start of the month, and then I might re-jig things around. But for the team, the expectation is that they will have their calendars ready to rock and roll by Thursday for the following week. That way then I can see what they're working on. I can see, you know, how busy they are, what's going on. I can also see if there's something I can squeeze in or if I need something done, I can flip them a message and be like, hey, can you move this and can we drop this in there instead? So, really big part of it is calendars. It also just allows us to all communicate about our availability. You know, if someone's got a school assembly or if someone's got school holidays or something going on, like we really live and breathe through our calendars. We're always checking each other's. I will always check someone's calendar before like reaching out to them for a meeting or seeing if they can get them, you know, on a call or anything like that as well. So having a really good calendar management system, I don't know if it's calendar management, calendar scheduling policy, calendar scheduling process, just a process for making sure your appointments are in your calendar at an earlier time than say just the day before or just, you know, a couple of days before. I think that week is really, really crucial. It's been such a game changer for us. The other tool that I use so much in running my business remotely is we use Loom a lot. So I will often use Loom to provide instructions and to provide visual instructions of how I want something done, of what needs editing, or where I'm up to with something as well. Loom is such an important one because we voice note backwards and forwards a lot, but Loom gives us that visual to be like, hey, change this, let's adjust this. What do you think of this? And it actually then allows that person to come back to that instruction without having to ask us again and again and again. So all of these systems that we put in place have been so incredible because each of them, there's a record of that task and that task instruction as well. So we can all come back to it if we're like, oh, what did they say about this? There is always a record of that that we can come back to too, which just makes everyone's life so much easier because we are not robots. We are gonna forget things, we're gonna write down notes wrong, but having something like a loom, having something like your task details in a sauna is really, really crucial and also just allows for easier workflows. And so everybody can stay on top of their instructions too. We also have team meetings. We have regular team meetings, they stay in our calendar. These are sharp and short. I hate long-team meetings. I literally, it is the bane of my existence. I am not a long-team meeting girly. Usually I would recommend we like go for a walk or something like that, but we have regular team catch-ups in the calendar because there are times where we need to be face to face. There's things where we need to go through and be like, where are you up to? Where's this up to? Where's that up to? I find this is usually for me at higher management level, um, unless there's something that, you know, we're doing supervision or it's clinically and that's a little bit different as well. But I do think having regular team meetings is such a big part of running the business as well. The other thing that I want to speak to, which I think has been really important in transferring to like a fully run remote practice, is I really had to do some self-reflection and learning on how I was giving instructions as well, the time frames I was giving instructions in. And I also had to be a hell of a lot more organized with my work to give my team enough time and enough space to be able to get those things done in a way that feels regulated for everyone. Because years ago, when I was running in such a dysregulated way and a really reactive way, if I was firing off a task, it was too hard to fire off because it needed to be done in 24 hours or it had too fast of a turnaround. And that's when we often see all of the tasks falling on us. So a really big lesson for me in transferring to a fully remote team was I had to be really, and I still have to be, really organized in what I need done and what I've got on my to-do list, what's in my asana, what's in my tasks, so that I am able to then give my team enough space and time to do their job well and to follow up on tasks and do it to the best of their capacity as well. No one works well under pressure, and no one is going to work well in like a really urgent reactive mode. And a really big part of that is realizing, okay, I need to figure out how to create some space in my workday, how to create some preparation and some systems around my workflow so I give my team enough preparation time as well. And so personally, for me, a big part of that has been planning my year out in advance, planning my quarters out in advance. Not only does it help keep me accountable to goals and I know what's coming up, but I can mentally and also visually in my calendar prepare and go, cool, I'm not going to commit to that there because I've already got this on. That's going to be too much of a push. Let's move it there. Let's check everybody else's calendar. And in having a really good calendar system and in having a workplace that isn't reactive, we can actually see realistically what space we've got. And so we're not feeling that pressure to get things done, which we ultimately know does not end up in the best workflows. Finally, my final tip for you if you are thinking about eventually running your practice remotely, eventually taking some time off a mat leave, taking some time out of the office, working from elsewhere, whatever it is, the biggest thing that I would say is to do some trials first. Take your time, set these systems up long before you actually need them. Let everybody get used to them. Because often what we do is we try and implement these systems as we need them. We're like, oh, I want to go and do this. So I'm going to start to like put everything in here and we're going to change everything at once. If you can change these slowly, step by step, and implement one at a time, you're going to get such a great response from your team. You're going to get really honest feedback about what is and isn't working because you're really getting the feedback on the one thing that you're changing at a time. But also you're going to give everybody a chance to get really comfortable with these systems as well. And then what we actually want to do once these systems are implemented is we want to do some trial runs. We want to maybe take a week out of the office or maybe take a few days here or there. I usually recommend to my clients inside Freedom Therapist Club, if they're going on Mat Label, they're taking some extended time, I say to them, start off having one day out of the office, one day a week out of the office and see how you go, see how people react, see how people respond, see what needs support, see what gets stuck, see what needs moving, and then maybe move it to two days a week. And then maybe move it to three days a week. If you're bringing it in gradually, your team are going to feel so much more supported. They're going to feel way more confident. And everybody is going to be able to give each other feedback on what isn't isn't working as well. The other thing that I really want to speak to that I think is so important is in implementing these systems, our productivity has gone through the actual roof because we are not interrupting each other's workflows. We're not like, you know, bouncing our reactivity or our urgency or all of the things off each other through conversations all day, every day. We still have really incredible, meaningful conversations. I adore the women that I work with. Like I'm such good friends with each of them. But we allow each other to work in the way that works best for us. So we're not constantly interrupting each other. We're not constantly wanting to debrief. There's allocated spaces for all of these things. So these things still happen, but our workflows are way more effective because we are all getting into our individualized workflow and they're working really, really well. I absolutely adore having a business that I can run remotely. I love having the flexibility for my team where we can work from all over, we can work on different time zones and we can still create a highly supportive team-led environment. I know that in having these conversations with my staff, we have all not noticed that there's been any lack in team support. We haven't noticed any, you know, less closeness as a team. We run as such a tight-knit team of beautiful women. And I think having these systems has just allowed us to respect each other's boundaries in such a better way and also allow us to work in ways that actually work for us. And so I have to say, I love being able to run the practice remotely. I love us all being able to live and work from wherever we want to, work on our own times. You know, it's worked because we have so many women on our team who are mothers. And this just allows us all to work best in our zone of genius, best in the way that makes us feel good. And that is what allows us to all show up to the business and work in a really regulated and beautiful way. I really hope you loved today's episode. If you did, I would love to hear in the DMs what you found helpful, or if you've got anything in the DMs that you would love to hear more about, or you'd love me to speak to. I am always here for the request. Love a little request. As always, you can find me on Instagram at Miapoco at M I A P O K O. And I loved being in your ears this week. Thank you so much for being here.