A virtual therapist follows this daily routine to run her six-figure therapy practice and coaching business
Alexandra York
- Kelly O'Sullivan McKenna started her private practice, Sit With Kelly, in February 2021.
- Sit With Kelly is fully virtual and aims to help therapy clients and aspiring therapists.
Kelly O'Sullivan McKenna started her own private therapy practice in February 2021 after working in the nonprofit mental-health industry for almost six years. The pandemic gave her opportunities to work virtually with clients one-on-one, an experience that sparked her interest in opening a business of her own.
Last year, her mental-health company, Sit With Kelly, booked $350,000 in revenue — which comprised client work, business coaching, consulting, and social-media deals, documents verified by Insider showed. On any given day, her time might be divided between client therapy sessions, aspiring-therapist coaching calls, and digital-content creation, such as Instagram videos explaining social anxiety and posts with tips for managing burnout. Despite so many branches to her brand, McKenna intentionally shapes her daily schedule to best fit her business needs, and she works only 30 hours a week.
"I've experimented with a lot of different ways to do it over the past two years," she said, adding that she landed on dividing her tasks based on the day of the week. She sees clients on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays and saves Wednesdays and Fridays for administration, coaching work, and filming social-media content.
While McKenna makes a living by helping others manage burnout and anxiety, she, too, has struggled with her mental health. This Mental Health Awareness Month, McKenna told Insider how she schedules her days to manage her own anxiety and her advice for creating a work-life balance that works for you.
Wake up and start the morning at 7:00 a.m.
McKenna wakes up at 7:00 a.m. every workday morning. Her routine includes drinking a beverage from Athletic Greens — a company she works with on social-media collaborations — and listening to books on Audible.
Her current nonfiction favorites include "I Want This to Work" by Elizabeth Earnshaw, "Not Drinking Tonight" by Amanda E. White, and "Atomic Habits" by James Clear. And her fiction favorites include "A Flicker in the Dark" by Stacy Willingham and "Final Girls" by Riley Sager.
Get a workout in at 7:30 a.m.
At 7:30 a.m., McKenna heads our for a walk or Pilates class. She said moving her body helps set the day up for success.
When she arrives home after working out, she cooks breakfast — eggs, mushrooms, and cheese — and gets ready for the day.
Start work around 9:30 a.m.
McKenna starts her workday around 9:30 a.m. She sets her to-do list for the day, checks in with coaching clients on Slack, responds to any urgent emails, and posts an Instagram story.
By 10:00 a.m., McKenna opens Zoom to start her first therapy session.
While she has back-to-back client calls on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, the remaining weekdays are reserved for administrative tasks for the business, McKenna said. On Fridays, McKenna has recently started working half days and finishing work around lunchtime.
"It's been really helpful for me to have different days to focus on different things in my business because it can be hard to go from doing a one-on-one therapy session to popping into Instagram to meeting with someone about their social-media strategy," she said. "It's a lot easier for my brain to compartmentalize each different aspect of the business."
Take a break at 12 p.m.
McKenna takes a midday break to eat lunch, check emails, create Instagram stories, respond to Slack messages, and go for a walk outside.
"There's always going to be more you can do," McKenna said. "It's about recognizing that where you are right now is good enough, even if you want to grow." For example, while she could engage more on Instagram during the day, that's ultimately not going to help.
"Being structured with it has really helped me," she said. "I have time limits on all my social-media apps so that I'm conscious of how much time I'm spending there and not getting sucked into the void."
Afternoon business planning from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
If it's an administration day, McKenna spends the afternoon at a coffee shop. There, she works on planning content, finalizing brand campaigns, and fine-tuning her business-coaching Reels Membership, which educates social-media creators on best practices for growing on Instagram and producing video content.
She also takes this time to complete any introductory calls with potential clients or respond to media requests and interviews.
"It can be hard when you don't get client inquiries for a week and you're like, 'Nobody likes me anymore,' or your Instagram engagement is down," she said. "But when you stop and reflect, you can see that you're still moving forward."
Finish work and prep for the evening at 5 p.m.
McKenna finishes her work by 5 p.m. and starts winding down. Her favorite methods of relaxation include cooking dinner with her husband, reading a book, or watching TV. Some nights she scrolls through Instagram and TikTok to get inspiration for her own content.
Before bed, she stretches her body and completes her skincare routine.
Each night, she's in bed by about 10 p.m.
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