When Karin Kassab learned from a business coach that only about 2% of women-owned businesses in the U.S. break the $1 million revenue mark she was taken aback. In 2018, 1.7% of women-owned firms made $1 million or more, according to the State of Women-Owned Business Report from American Express.
In 2020, her business,
Clarity Counseling Center, closed at $1.5 million, making her part of that small percentage.
Kassab is a psychologist and founder of Clarity Counseling Center in Wilmington, a business she was able to launch by blending her interests in entrepreneurship and helping others.
“I knew I wanted to make money while also having a positive impact on the world, both at the same time, not one without the other,” she said.
The launch of Clarity in 2015 was guided by a mission to address a pain point she had identified in the mental health industry: finding the right therapeutic fit for clients.
To help make finding the right therapist for each client easier and more successful, Clarity hires and trains what Kassab calls “super specialists,” who can be the best choice for a client.
“If I’m someone who has issues with anxiety, it’s more difficult than it should be to find the anxiety experts,” she said. “I think there are a ton of advanced generalists, and our strategy is to move from generalists to specialists.”
A cornerstone of what Clarity does is using modern, evidence- based therapy, Kassab said.
“In our field, it’s a very soft science, so there’s a bit of an uphill battle to be legitimized,” Kassab said. “Legitimizing our field creates value and trust. People know that we are starting in a place with what has been proven to work for most people, most of the time by empirical journal articles. They are not going to work for everyone all of the time, but it seems like a good starting place.”
Clarity has opened a branch for testing and for psychological evaluations with a focus on ADHD and gender dysphoria that has met with “overwhelming demand,” Kassab said.
A shift the company underwent like many others during the pandemic was a pivot to telehealth.
During the pandemic, about 4 in 10 adults in the U.S. reported symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder, up from 1 in 10 in 2019, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. This placed Clarity in the position of offering telehealth services to the growing number of people undergoing mental health challenges.
During this time Clarity added 10 therapists, two interns and two administrative workers, with revenue increasing by more than $500,000. It also opened a second location.
This year, Clarity is well underway to hitting the $2 million revenue mark, Kassab said, and she has a goal of providing no/low-cost appointments for those in need each week to make care more accessible. She plans on opening more locations this year and in 2023.
Click here to meet all of the 2022 CEA winners
