At what point should you start thinking about multiple income streams as an online therapist? When we first start out, most of us focus on our 1:1 client work. Naturally, this is where most of our time and energy go and where most of our income comes from – at least at first.
But for many therapists, there comes a point where you’re starting to feel burned out because your case load is too full. You’d like to reduce how many clients you see, but at the same time, your income isn’t quite where you want it to be. Plus, you’d like to be able to make money even when you take time off, rather than your income being tied directly to the number of hours you see clients.
When you’re pushing yourself too hard and start to feel burnout creep in, it might be time to make some changes in your business. There are steps you can take to avoid burnout as an online therapist and design your practice so it’s sustainable for you. But one of the most impactful things you can do in your business is to diversify with multiple income streams.
So let’s explore how you can start building multiple income streams as an online therapist. We’ll look at the different options available and how to approach this in a way that feels sustainable.
Why online therapists should consider having multiple income streams
Many therapists feel they should be seeing 20-30 clients a week, or that it’s a necessity to make ends meet financially. But at the same time, they realise how draining and unsustainable that is – especially when they’re juggling all the responsibilities that come with being a business owner.
These conversations come up a lot in the LIT Community, especially when we ask our members to think big and envision their dream business setup. What we hear from them is that, ideally, they would be financially comfortable with a caseload of 10-15 clients per week – but that their reality is often very far from that.
1:1 work can only take you so far, for many reasons:
- Your income is directly tied to your time
- The only way to earn more is to work more hours
- If you’re sick, travelling, or on leave, income pauses
- It can be emotionally draining
That’s where multiple income streams can come into the picture. The benefits go beyond just having more income. It can also create more flexibility in your business. For example, when you have money coming in that isn’t tied to how many hours you’re working, you can take more time off or change your work schedule to suit you better (3-day week, anyone?).
But before you start diversifying your business, you need to get clear on your bigger life and business vision. Here are some things you should consider:
- How much income do you need to live sustainably now and plan for the future?
- What would your ideal work week look like? How much time off would you like to take?
- How do you want to balance your 1:1 work with other offers?
- What kind of work feels energising rather than draining?
- What formats suit you best (e.g. seasonal, recurring, or more self-paced offers)?
Knowing the answers to these questions can guide your decisions and help you make your dream a reality. If you want to dive deeper into this, read our blog post on big vision planning.
But first: The myths of passive income
Before we go further, it’s important to talk about the myth of “passive income”. The truth is that it’s rarely ever completely passive. No matter what kind of offer you develop, there will always be some ongoing work involved. You’ll need to do the initial work of creating the offer, and even once that’s done, you’ll probably need to continue handling some admin, marketing, and maintenance.
What is possible is to develop other sources of income that aren’t directly tied to how long you sit at your laptop, rather than fully passive income.
It’s also worth keeping in mind that most additional income streams take time to build. A course, workshop, or resource might not generate significant income straight away. Often, it requires testing, refining, and building trust with your audience over time.
And not every offer will be the right fit for you. Some may feel energising and aligned with your way of working, while others may feel like another layer of pressure.
The goal isn’t to create something that runs itself or to keep adding to your plate. It’s to build offers that support your income and your energy in a more sustainable way.
Multiple Income Streams for Online Therapists: Weighing up your options
Once you have a clearer sense of what you want your business to look like, you can start exploring the different ways to diversify your income.
Here are some of the most common income streams for online therapists. Each one has its pros and cons, and what will work best for you is personal, so keep that in mind as you read on.
1. Group Programmes
Group therapy, support groups, or themed programmes can offer a powerful shift in both income structure and energy use.
From a financial perspective, group work allows you to increase income per hour worked. Instead of being paid by one client for 60 minutes, you’re facilitating a space for multiple people at once. This can make a significant difference if you’re trying to reduce your 1:1 caseload without reducing your overall earnings.
From a clinical perspective, group spaces can also be deeply rewarding. Clients benefit from shared experiences, normalisation, and peer connection, something that individual therapy can’t always replicate.
Group programmes can take many forms:
- Ongoing therapy groups
- Time-limited themed programmes (e.g. 6–8 weeks)
- Support groups for specific populations (expats, new parents, burnout recovery, etc.)
Some therapists choose to run one group per quarter. Others build a steady rhythm of seasonal offerings. The key is designing something that complements your energy, rather than draining it.
2. Workshops & Webinars
Workshops and webinars can be a gentle entry point into diversification. They are typically shorter, more contained offerings focused on a specific topic within your area of expertise. This might include psychoeducation for clients, skill-building sessions for corporate clients, or even professional development workshops for other therapists.
The beauty of workshops is flexibility. You can:
- Run them live and charge per attendee
- Record them and sell them as an evergreen product
- Use them as an introduction to a longer programme
They don’t require the same scale or infrastructure as a full online course, but they still allow you to leverage your time more effectively than 1:1 work. For example, our co-founder Sonia also runs business bootcamps twice a year for German colleagues, offering structured, time-limited programmes that complement her clinical work.
For many therapists, workshops feel less intimidating than creating a large digital product and can be a useful way to test interest in a topic before developing something more substantial.
3. Online Courses
Online courses require more upfront planning and creation, but they can provide longer-term returns.
A well-designed course allows you to share your expertise in a structured way, helping clients work through material independently or alongside limited live support. Unlike therapy, courses are typically more psychoeducational and skills-based, which creates a different kind of impact.
Courses can:
- Be fully self-paced (recorded and automated)
- Include live cohorts with group calls
- Be sold year-round or during specific launches
One of the biggest advantages is that a course separates income from direct session time. You create it once, refine it over time, and it can continue generating income beyond the initial launch.
That said, courses aren’t “passive” in the beginning. They require a lot of thought, testing, and marketing. The most sustainable ones are built slowly and intentionally, often starting from workshops or group programmes that have already proven effective.
4. Digital Resources
Digital resources are often the simplest form of diversification, and so some therapists like to start here when they first feel ready to expand their offers.
These might include:
- Ebooks
- Guided journals
- Workbooks
- Structured exercise packs
- Audio meditations or reflections
They tend to be lower-cost offers, and because of this, they might not replace a significant portion of income on their own. But as they can reach a wider audience, they can provide steady supplementary income and serve as entry points into your offers, whether 1:1 therapy or otherwise.
For therapists who enjoy writing or creating structured materials, they can feel like a natural extension of clinical work. They also allow you to support people who may not be ready for therapy, while still maintaining clear ethical boundaries.
5. An Online Membership
Memberships offer a recurring income model that can provide more financial stability month to month. Unlike one-off workshops or courses, memberships create ongoing engagement. Members pay a regular fee (monthly or annually) in exchange for access to resources, live sessions, or community spaces.
But for a successful online membership, you need to know:
- Who it’s for
- What ongoing value it provides
- How much time you’re willing to commit
Our co-founders, Sonia and Melissa, chose this route with the LIT Community. While they each have their individual clients, they realised that relying exclusively on 1:1 sessions wasn’t the only way to build a fulfilling and sustainable business. The LIT Community began as a side project to support other therapists while diversifying their income.
An online membership can be rewarding if you enjoy community-building and ongoing connection. But they also require consistency, so they’re best suited to therapists who want that relational continuity beyond 1:1 work. Also, an online membership will have member turnover, so you’ll need a solid marketing strategy and time to implement it.
Your next steps
These ideas are by no means exhaustive, and there’s no right way to structure your offers and business. You might want to add just one more service or product and stop there, or you could scale your business with several offers over time.
But when you feel ready to start diversifying your business, we recommend starting small. Create one additional offer and make sure you know exactly who it’s for and how it helps them. Then, put it out into the world – test it, refine it if necessary, and learn from the process. As with anything, it takes time to create sustainable income streams, so patience is key.
Building multiple income streams as an online therapist is ultimately about creating a business structure that supports your ideal lifestyle. The goal isn’t just to scale, scale, scale. Diversifying your offers creates more flexibility, allowing you to reduce pressure on your caseload and enjoy the work you do while maintaining a sustainable income. For many therapists, this shift is also an important part of preventing burnout and creating a more sustainable way of working.
If you’d like more support as you explore this, join us inside the LIT Community. We regularly have conversations about building sustainable practices, and you’ll find more resources to help you scale. You don’t have to figure it all out alone – learning from others who are navigating similar questions can make this process feel much clearer and less overwhelming. Start your free 7-day trial of the LIT Community here.
