How do I start up my own social work business?
To start a social work business is an exciting undertaking! You get to pick out your business name, plan out your office and what it wants to look like, and make lots of other fun decisions. And then there are the tedious necessities to keep your business compliant with laws and protect yourself from liability.
Social work businesses need to follow a specific process when starting up. This post will take you through each step involved in starting a social work business so you can get an idea of how it goes.
Step 1: Get your license.
This may seem self-apparent, but we can’t overstate its importance. You can’t really start forming a social work business until you have your license. The Clinical Social Work and Social Work Practice Act lays out all of the important licensing laws. 225 ILCS 20/. There are two levels of licenses for social workers, the Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and Licensed Social Worker (LSW), and only LCSWs are permitted to establish their own independent practice. 225 ILCS 20/10. To get your license as an LCSW, you have to pass a character check, complete a doctoral or master’s program from an accredited school, complete a required number of supervised clinical practice hours, pass an exam, submit an application, and pay the required fee. 225 ILCS 20/9.
If you’ve already gotten your LCSW license, congratulations! That takes a lot of work and commitment, and deserves celebration. At this point, you’re also ready to move onto the next step: starting the business.
Step 2: Filing with the Secretary of State.
You can choose to run your business as a Sole Proprietorship, PLLC, or Professional Service Corporation (often referred to simply as a Professional Corporation). However, forming your business as a sole proprietorship does not protect you from liability for accidents or other problems that may arise. You can read more about the advantages and disadvantages to all of these business entities in our blog post LLC, Corporation, Partnership: What Kind of Business Is Right for Me? In this post, we will focus on the typically preferred methods: PLLCs and Professional Corporations.
PLLCs are formed under the Illinois Professional Limited Liability Company Act. 805 ILCS 185/. Professional Corporations are formed under the Illinois Professional Service Corporation Act. 805 ILCS 10/. Both of these statutes contain rules about what you can and cannot do in your business. For example, all of the business owners (and certain types of employees) have to have one of a few specific licenses. 805 ILCS 180/13; 805 ILCS 10/3.4.
**Note that you cannot start operating your business or soliciting clients until you have obtained a business license according to the next step.**
Step 3: Get Your Business License.
Social Work businesses are regulated by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR). Because of this, they do not usually need to get a separate business license from Chicago (or whatever Illinois city your business is in). However, a social work practice that engages in auxiliary activities that are not governed by IDFPR may still require a city license. For a full list of professions governed by the IDFPR, and thus do not usually need licenses from the city of Chicago, you can go to the City of Chicago’s Website.
However, you do have to get a license for your business from the IDFPR, in addition to your individual license. You can get a PLLC or PC license, and other information about the license, at the IDFPR website. We also have a step-by-step guide on how to register your business with the IDFPR here.
Step 4: Display all of your licenses and renew when necessary.
After you have all your licenses, you will need to display them prominently in your office. 225 ILCS 15/3(i); 805 ILCS 185/15. If you have a physical office, we recommend that you place them somewhere easily visible when people walk in, especially for your business license.
After your business is up and running, you’ll need to follow the rules in the Clinical Social Work and Social Work Practice Act, 225 ILCS 20/, and the laws that govern your business entity. Two of the most important bits of business maintenance are filing your annual report with the Secretary of State every year and keeping your registration with the IDFPR current, so be sure to mark those on the calendar.
Step 5: Run your business.
After all the filing and drafting is through, you can finally enjoy running your own business. At this point, you should also talk to an attorney to review your patient forms and practices to help avoid legal trouble down the line.
**For more information on Professional Limited Liability Companies and the IDFPR rules, check out these resources.**