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ABA Business Leaders

ABA Business Leaders

Written by: Stephen & April Smith
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You started an ABA practice because you wanted to provide good services. Now you are also responsible for hiring, payroll, billing, training, supervision, policies, and making sure there is enough money to keep it all going. Somewhere in there you are supposed to have a life too.

We get it. We ran an ABA practice for nearly 10 years, and we know what it feels like when the business depends on you to hold everything together.

ABA Business Leaders is hosted by April and Stephen Smith, the owners of 3 Pie Squared. We talk about the practical work of starting, running, and growing an Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) practice. That includes the decisions that affect your staff, your families, your finances, and the quality of the services you provide.

Some problems look simple until you start looking at where they came from. A billing issue may have started at intake. A staff performance issue may come back to unclear expectations or training that never included a competency check. A full schedule can look great while the company is struggling to make payroll. These are the kinds of things we talk through.

Along with our guests, we share experiences, ask questions, and discuss what owners and leaders can do to build better systems. You’ll hear conversations about:

  • Starting an ABA practice: Planning, startup costs, credentialing, choosing funders, and building the foundation before taking on more than you can support.
  • Hiring and supporting staff: Recruiting, onboarding, training, supervision, feedback, accountability, and helping people understand what is expected of them.
  • Billing and financial health: Claims, denials, cash flow, funder rates, expenses, and understanding whether the services you provide are financially sustainable.
  • Quality and ethics: Looking beyond billables to consider treatment quality, staff support, family communication, and the pressures that influence everyday decisions.
  • Policies, compliance, and audit preparation: Turning requirements into processes people can follow and keeping documentation from becoming something you scramble to fix later.
  • Leadership and growth: Delegating, tracking useful measures, developing leaders, and getting information out of the owner’s head so the team can do its work.
  • Technology and practice management: Making scheduling, documentation, communication, training, and billing easier to manage without creating more work for everyone.

We also talk about the strain of ownership. It is difficult to support your team when you are burned out, making every decision, and fixing the same problems every week. Hiring more people or adding more clients does not automatically fix that. You need to understand what is breaking down and build systems that your team can actually use.

Whether you are preparing to open your doors, managing an established practice, or leading a team, our goal is to give you something useful to think about and bring back to your company. We want more ABA businesses that can provide quality care, support their staff, pay their bills, and keep doing that over time.

Learn more about our training, handbooks, consulting, credentialing, billing services, and practice management software at 3piesquared.com.

2025 Stephen & April Smith Economics Leadership Management & Leadership Science Social Sciences
Episodes
  • From Burnout to Action: Applying Behavior Analysis to Ourselves and Our Organizations

    From Burnout to Action: Applying Behavior Analysis to Ourselves and Our Organizations
    Oct 15 2026

    Dr. Becca Tag returns to the ABA Business Leaders Podcast for Part 2 of a conversation that began with burnout, self-care, systemic challenges, and the realities facing ABA clinicians and leaders. This time, April, Stephen, and Becca focus on the question left open after the first discussion: what do we do with that understanding?

    The conversation explores why there is no universal “easy button” for complex human problems, why leaders need to keep updating their understanding of themselves and the people around them, and how behavior analysts can apply the same curiosity and contextual thinking they use clinically to leadership and organizational systems.

    Becca also discusses interoception, nervous system regulation, self-worth, feedback, power differences, and the importance of understanding the patterns that shape our own behavior. For ABA business owners, the episode is a reminder that sustainable change starts with accurate information, curiosity, and a willingness to update the model when the context changes.

    In this Episode, You'll Learn

    · Why Part 2 shifts the conversation from naming burnout and systemic challenges toward action

    · Why no outside expert can understand another person’s experience better than that person

    · How leaders can treat understanding as an ongoing process rather than something they finish

    · Why expecting an organization to change overnight can create additional pressure

    · How interoception and nervous system differences can affect the way people notice their own needs

    · Why leaders may become less patient, flexible, or responsive when their own capacity is depleted

    · How power differences change the responsibility leaders have when giving advice, feedback, or direction

    · Why self-worth should not depend on credentials, productivity, compensation, or professional status

    · How case conceptualization can be applied to ourselves before trying to change our own behavior

    · Why accurate information and trustworthy feedback can create a stronger sense of safety

    · How leaders can use curiosity to identify breakdowns in policies, training, supervision, and organizational systems

    · Why ABA professionals need to learn the process of behavior analysis, not simply how to follow a protocol

    Have Questions for April and Stephen? Call the ABA Business Leaders Hotline: (737) 330-1432

    Resources and Links

    Business Essentials List: https://www.3piesquared.com/blog/the-essential-list-for-a-successful-business_24

    ABA Business Leaders Support Group: https://forms.office.com/r/cigPR8wFFC

    Schedule a Consultation with Stephen: https://3piesquared.com/stephen-booking-page

    Free ABA Business Readiness Assessment: https://3piesquared.com/aba-business-readiness-assessment

    ABA Billing Tips Guide: https://3piesquared.com/productDetails/ABA_Billing_Tips

    ABA Business Leaders Podcast CEUs: https://3piesquared.com/productDetails/ABA_Business_Leaders_Podcast_CEUs

    Podcast Production

    This podcast was produced by Max McLellan of MKM Audio. Want to start or grow a podcast for your business or brand? https://www.mkmaudio.com/contact
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    1 hr and 34 mins
  • You'll Never Train Staff The Old Way Again

    You'll Never Train Staff The Old Way Again
    Oct 8 2026

    How can ABA business owners give employees a clear path to grow while making training and pay decisions more consistent? Stephen and April Smith of 3 Pie Squared welcome Mallory to introduce their ABA training platform and explain the thinking behind its growth path system.

    Mallory has helped develop the platform's training structure and shares how employees can continue learning within their roles. The conversation covers branches, stages, badges, and individual skills, along with competency checks that help supervisors see what a staff member has mastered and where support is needed.

    For ABA owners balancing clinical responsibilities, staffing, and financial decisions, the discussion offers a practical way to connect expectations, development, and compensation. Stephen and April also explain which parts of the system are free and how feedback from users will guide future improvements.

    In This Episode Youll Learn

    • Why staff need ongoing development and a visible future within an ABA practice
    • How growth paths organize roles, career stages, badges, and individual skills
    • How BTs can develop within their current role and explore other career directions
    • How skill requirements clarify required training, certifications, and completion expectations
    • How supervisors can assign specific skills and track demonstrated competency
    • How tagging can connect staff development to the skills needed for particular clients
    • How course participation and completed badges make progress easier to see
    • How growth paths can support more structured comparisons of job candidates
    • How skill acquisition can be linked to pay increases with company-defined controls
    • Why subjective performance ratings can create inconsistent feedback
    • How company values can guide training and employee development decisions
    • What is included in the free system and why some courses have separate costs

    Resources

    • Business Essentials List
    • ABA Business Leaders Support Group
    • Schedule a Consultation with Stephen
    • Free ABA Business Readiness Assessment
    • ABA Billing Tips Guide
    • ABA Business Leaders Podcast CEUs

    Have a question for Stephen and April

    Call the ABA Business Leaders Hotline: (737) 330-1432. Share your questions, stories, and ABA business challenges for discussion on the podcast.

    This podcast was produced by Max McLellan of MKM Audio.

    Want to start or grow a podcast for your business or brand? Contact MKM Audio.

    Show More Show Less
    43 mins
  • Building an ABA Business Around Values, Quality, and the People Doing the Work

    Building an ABA Business Around Values, Quality, and the People Doing the Work
    Oct 1 2026

    The podswap with ABA on Tap continues. In Part 2, Stephen and April welcome ABA on Tap hosts Mike Rubio, BCBA, and Dan Lowery, BCBA, to the ABA Business Leaders Podcast after Stephen and April joined them for Part 1 the previous week.

    The conversation picks up with Stephen’s “vision test” and a practical question: does a company’s mission statement describe how the organization operates, or is it simply language on a page? The group discusses how values show up through decisions about billable hours, training, staff support, compensation, profitability, and growth.

    They also examine the limits of financial KPIs, the need for clinical and quality measures, RBT training and turnover, the difficulty of moving BCBAs into leadership roles without leadership preparation, and the importance of listening to the people delivering services every day.

    Mike and Dan also reflect on building Ascend Behavioral Solutions and the role 3 Pie Squared’s resources played as they developed their own company.

    In This Episode, You'll Learn

    • How Stephen’s “vision test” can help owners evaluate whether a mission or vision has meaning inside the business
    • How to evaluate whether your mission and vision truly guide the business
    • Why employee experience often reveals company values better than a mission statement
    • How generic AI-generated plans can miss the owner’s deeper thinking
    • Why profitability matters without becoming the only measure of success
    • How financial, clinical, and quality KPIs can work together
    • Why RBT training, support, compensation, and turnover are connected
    • How leadership roles can pull experienced BCBAs away from clinical work
    • Why ABA owners need both clinical judgment and business knowledge
    • How listening to RBTs can uncover issues leadership may miss
    • Why asking “Why are we doing this?” can help businesses get back on track

    Continue the Podswap This is Part 2 of the conversation. Listen to Part 1 on ABA on Tap.

    Have a Question? Call the ABA Business Leaders Hotline: (737) 330-1432

    Resources & Links

    Business Essentials List

    ABA Business Leaders Support Group

    Schedule a Consultation with Stephen

    Free ABA Business Readiness Assessment

    ABA Billing Tips Guide

    ABA Business Leaders Podcast CEUs

    Podcast Production

    This podcast was produced by Max McLellan of MKM Audio. Want to start or grow a podcast for your business or brand? Get in touch with MKM Audio.

    Show More Show Less
    58 mins
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