Am I Accidentally Practicing Therapy?

Five questions to ask before you build your non-clinical side business

This post is written for therapists and counselors over age 50. If you are a licensed professional in another field, some of it will apply to you, as well. The parts about your profession will look different. But the parts about your name, your day job, and your visibility will not.

When I started building an online business outside of medicine, I thought the hard part would be the business.

It wasn’t.

The hard part was what people would find when they looked me up.

I practiced psychiatry. I closed my private practice in 2005 and worked at other medical jobs through the years until I quit in 2017.

So when I started setting up my online business, I ran into something I hadn’t planned for.

My name was already out there as Douglas Kalunian, MD.

I didn’t put it out there for the new business, but it was already everywhere.
So that’s what people saw when they searched my name.

Search for me on Google and my medical career is everywhere. Look me up on LinkedIn and you find my training, my education, my former practice, and the jobs I held along the way.

I hadn’t published a word about the new business yet.

My old profession was already speaking for me.

Then I made it worse.

I named my company Mastering Your Wellbeing Inc.

Read that name next to a psychiatrist’s background. What does it sound like I'm offering?

Nobody accused me of anything. No board contacted me. I caught it myself, looking at my own website the way a stranger would.

That’s the thing about this particular worry. It doesn’t show up as a complaint. It shows up as an impression someone forms about you before you ever get to explain.

So let me say the reassuring part first.

I offer workshops and an online community for therapists and counselors who want to build a non-clinical, passion-based online side business.

Not once has someone brought me something clinical that I had to redirect.

But it’s an issue that’s worth your attention before you build.

If I were to start all over again, here are the five questions I’d want to sit with first.
They may be worth your time as well.

Question 1: What does your name already say about you?

Before your business says anything, your history does.

Type your own name into Google. Do it in a private browser window so you see what a stranger sees, not what your own search history serves you.

What comes up first?

For licensed clinicians, the answer usually includes your professional title or license.
Your practice listing.
Your directory profile.
Your LinkedIn headline with the credentials sitting right after your name.

Now look at three things.

Your business name.

Does it sound like a service you’re qualified to provide?
Mine did.
Wellbeing is a word I chose because it described my mission.
It also described something a psychiatrist sells.
I didn’t see the second meaning until later.

Your credentials.

Here’s a rule I’ve held since day one of this business.

I signed my name Douglas Kalunian, MD for over 30 years.
Since starting this business, I’m simply Doug or Douglas Kalunian.

When I mention my medical background, I spell it out, I qualify it.
And I place it after my current title.

So you’ll see: retired geriatric and adult psychiatrist.
Not MD sitting after my name like a shingle on a door.

Same credential. Completely different signal.

Letters after your name read as an announcement of services.
A sentence reads as biography.

If your new business is about hiking, LMFT does not belong after your name on it.

Your language.

Look at how you describe what you’re building. Every single time I name mine, a boundary word rides along with it. Non-clinical. Passion-based. Outside your clinical work.

I named one of my workshops Beyond the Couch for exactly this reason. The name does the work before the description gets a chance to.

That habit does something fine print can’t.
People actually read the words on the page.

Question 2: Could this idea collide with your day job, your clients, or your colleagues?

This one is about the rest of your life.

Think about your current role. Your employer. Your colleagues. The people you serve.

Is there any overlap between the business you’re imagining and any of them?

Not “is it therapy.”
Just: does it touch any of them?

There may be limits you agreed to and forgot about.
An NDA.
A non-compete.
A moonlighting clause buried in an employment agreement you signed years ago.
A policy about outside work that lives in a handbook nobody has opened since orientation.

You may have signed something you don’t remember signing.

And here’s the part I want to be honest about.

Sometimes the answer is that this idea doesn’t work for you.

Not “structure it differently.” Not “add a disclaimer.” A different idea.

If what you want to build sits directly on top of your day job, your clients, or your colleagues, no amount of careful wording fixes that.

Better to find that out now than after you’ve spent six months and real money on it.

That’s not a failure. That’s information.

Question 3: What actually happens inside the thing you sell?

This is the question I think matters most.

The first two questions are about how things look.
This one is about what actually happens.

Say you build a course about gardening. Clearly not therapy. Nobody could argue otherwise.

Then you run a live call.

Someone starts telling the group how gardening got them through a divorce.
The room goes quiet.
And everyone looks at you, because they know what you used to do.

Nothing was wrong with the idea. The delivery drifted.

Here’s a way to think about it that has nothing to do with rules.

Notice where your offer sits on this line:

A book or guide. One writer, many readers, no back and forth.

A recorded workshop. Same content for everyone.

A live group call. Now you’re responding in real time, but to a room.

A one-on-one session. Now you’re responding to one person’s specific situation.

The closer you move to the one-on-one interaction, the more it starts to resemble a professional relationship. That’s not a rule I’m handing you. It’s just what's true about the format.

I’m not telling you to avoid the one-on-one offers.
I make those offers myself.
I’m suggesting you decide ahead of time what you’ll say when the conversation turns.

Because it will turn. Eventually, someone will bring you something personal.

Here’s what I’d say.

“That’s outside what I’m able to help you with.
But I hope you find someone who can.”

That’s it. It’s true. It doesn’t embarrass anyone.
And it makes clear the question is worth answering, just not here, and not by me.

I’d stay away from “I don’t have an answer for you.” You probably do have an answer, and the room knows it. People can hear a dodge.

One more thing to check inside your content.

When you write about your passion, where are your examples coming from?

You have a career’s worth of the best stories anyone could ask for.
But they belong to your clients.
Even if changed or blended together.
Even when you’re certain nobody could identify anyone.

That’s a different problem than scope, and it’s an easy one to walk into while genuinely trying to be helpful.

Use your own life instead. It’s yours to tell.

Question 4: What happens when a client finds your business page?

Here’s a potential collision worth thinking about.

An online business requires you to be visible.
Post about the thing you love.
Put your face on it.
Tell people why it matters to you.
That’s how anyone finds you at all.

Your training says the opposite.
Manage what clients learn about you.
Protect the frame.
Keep the focus on them.

Those two things point in opposite directions.

And a current client can find your business page in about four seconds.

This isn’t a licensing question. It’s a boundary question, and it’s the one I think you’re actually carrying, underneath the one you'd say out loud.

So think it through before it happens, not after.

What does that client see when they find your business page?
What would you want them to see?

What happens if they want to buy from you?
Do you sell to them?
What do you say if you don’t?

What if they just quietly follow along and never mention it?

I’m not going to tell you where your line is.
That’s yours, and it depends on how you work, who you serve, and what you were trained to do.

But decide it now, while it’s still hypothetical.
Not in the moment, when you’re surprised.

Question 5: Who do you need to ask, and what do you ask them?

Everything above is your own assessment.
Nobody can do that part for you, and nobody knows your situation as well as you do.

I can’t tell you where your boundaries are.
It isn’t mine to decide.

But your assessment isn’t the last word.

What’s acceptable in your situation depends on your license, your state, your employer, your contracts, your industry, and other issues you might not be aware of.

Once you’ve worked through the first four questions, consider taking what you found and checking it with people who are qualified to tell you.

That means your professional licensing board.
Your employer’s human resources department.
Appropriate legal counsel.
A qualified financial advisor.
Any other relevant professional.

But notice what the first four questions just gave you.

You’re not walking in and saying “I’m thinking about starting something, is that okay?”
That question is vague, and a vague question gets a vague answer.

You’re walking in with specifics:

Here’s my business name and here’s why I’m unsure about it.
Here’s how I plan to present my credentials.
Here’s the format of what I’m selling.
Here’s what happens if a current client finds it.
Here’s the employment agreement I signed years ago, and I’d like to know what it says about outside work.

Specific questions get useful answers.

That’s the whole reason the assessment comes first.

One last thing

You’ve spent your career helping people improve their lives.

You’ve told people to find something they enjoy.
To protect their energy.
To stop postponing the thing they keep saying they’ll get to.

You know what happens when someone stays too long in something that’s draining them because leaving felt too risky.

You’ve watched it. Maybe more than once.

And something similar might be holding you back right now from pursuing your side business.

You earned your license. You have every right to protect it.

And being careful is part of what makes you good at your work.

But being careful isn’t the same as being frozen.

These five questions are one way to answer this one: “Am I accidentally practicing therapy?”

Here’s something worth remembering.

When someone in your community brings you something personal and you have to redirect them gently, without making them feel rejected in front of other people, you’ll already know how to do it.

You’ve been doing it your whole career.

You just never thought of it as a business skill.

Want to think this through with people who understand what’s at stake?

I run a free community for therapists, counselors, and other professionals over 50 who are building non-clinical side businesses.

You can join here: skool.com/masteringyourwellbeing

Inside you’ll find:

• A list of potential business ideas and business categories you can browse for inspiration

• A couple of AI prompts you can use to explore your own ideas and start defining your ideal audience

• Access to me. When you post a question, I’m the one who answers it. I’ll do my best to get to your questions within a day or two. (Sometimes life gets in the way. I'm one person.)

Bring your rough ideas, or bring your questions about how to find one. Both are welcome.

See you inside.

Warmest regards,

Doug

Douglas Kalunian
Side Business and AI Coach, Mastering Your Wellbeing Inc
Retired Geriatric and Adult Psychiatrist

Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes and reflects my personal experience and opinions. Nothing here constitutes business, financial, legal, medical/mental health, or other professional advice. Any business examples shared here, including my own, are individual results and are not a guarantee or prediction of what you will achieve. Building a business takes time, effort, and consistency, among many factors, and outcomes depend on factors unique to you. Before starting any side business, therapists and counselors should review their employer’s policies, including any moonlighting and intellectual property policies, and consider consulting Human Resources, their professional licensing board, and/or independent legal counsel or other relevant professionals, to ensure their plans align with their license and workplace obligations.