ABA Business Leaders

Planning to start your own ABA business in 2027 but wondering if you're ready? In this episode, we explore business planning, financial preparation, business registration, and insurance credentialing.   Learn how to prepare for business ownership, find the right mentor, gain clinical experience, define your business vision, and set clear goals.   Discover how to overcome self-doubt, avoid common s...

Thinking about starting your own business but unsure where to begin? Are fear of failure, self-doubt, or lack of experience holding you back? In this episode, Stephen Smith and April discuss common challenges aspiring entrepreneurs face when starting a business.  They share practical business startup tips on overcoming fear, building confidence, identifying your strengths, and creating a clear bus...

What does it really take to run a sustainable ABA practice? Stephen and April Smith of 3 Pie Squared welcome Sean Daly for an honest conversation about the business realities that can challenge even dedicated behavior analysts.  Drawing on his experience building, downsizing and ultimately closing his ABA company, Sean discusses the gap between clinical expertise and business ownership. The conver...

Why can’t I just be consistent? Stephen and April Smith talk with Nicole Skotz, M.S., BCBA and ADHD coach, about executive functioning, capacity and self-awareness for ABA business leaders.  Nicole shares ACT tools leaders can use on themselves, from treating “should” as a cue to naming your inner critic. The conversation also covers why the BCBA fixer instinct makes delegation hard, what Stephen...

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” f...

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 rol...

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...

Welcome back to the ABA Business Leaders Podcast, brought to you by 3 Pie Squared. In this episode, Stephen and April Smith are joined by Brian Lopez and Kara Batson of Jumpstart Autism Collective for a practical conversation about what quality really means in ABA services and how business owners can build systems that support it. Brian, Director of Psychological Services and Research, shares how...

Welcome back to the ABA Business Leaders Podcast, brought to you by 3 Pie Squared. In this episode, Stephen and April Smith are joined by Taylor Beagle, BCBA and Director of Product Experience at 3 Pie Squared, to officially introduce 3 Pie Squared's new ABA practice management software. Built from the ground up with input from BCBAs and people who have worked inside ABA practices, the platform is...

Welcome back to the ABA Business Leaders Podcast , brought to you by 3 Pie Squared.  In this episode, Stephen and April sit down with Joseph Bolden, Head of Recruiting at 3 Pie Squared , to take a deep dive into one of the biggest challenges facing ABA business owners: finding, hiring, and retaining the right people.    The wrong hire can create operational problems, impact your existing team, inc...

Running an ABA business can be incredibly rewarding, but it can also be demanding. Between operational challenges, leadership responsibilities, staffing, and the constant needs of the people you serve, it can be easy to lose sight of what made you want to do this work in the first place.  In our final episode of National Wellness Month, April and Stephen explore what it means to rediscover and pro...

As part of National Wellness month, we’re re-airing some classic older episodes which look at Mental Health, Burnout and more. In one of our most insightful episodes to date, we welcomed Chris, Liz, and Rebecca from AByay! to the ABA Business Leaders Podcast to talk about something that doesn’t get nearly enough attention: the real, day-to-day experience of being a Registered Behavior Technician (...

In this episode of the ABA Business Leaders Podcast , Stephen and April Smith are joined by Mallory and Jennifer to discuss empathic leadership and the experience of RBTs and other frontline ABA professionals.  The conversation covers workplace culture, burnout, recognition, career development, professional growth, and the importance of applying the principles of reinforcement to your own team. Th...

In this special National Wellness Month re-release, Stephen and April Smith revisit one of the most honest conversations they've had about burnout, workplace culture, and the realities of working in ABA. Inspired by real posts shared across Reddit, TikTok, Twitter, and other online communities, they react to the frustrations, challenges, and ethical dilemmas that many RBTs, BCBAs, and ABA professi...

How much training should an RBT receive before working with clients? Is online training as effective as in-person instruction? And why are so many talented clinicians leaving the ABA profession?  In this episode of the ABA Business Leaders Podcast, Stephen and April Smith are joined by Allyson Wharam to discuss how effective staff training directly impacts clinical quality, employee retention, sup...

Is ABA Canceled? What Every ABA Business Owner Needs to Know  With social media full of headlines asking whether ABA is "getting canceled" or if the industry is in crisis, it's easy for business owners to feel uncertain about the future. In this episode, Stephen and April tackle those concerns head-on.  Rather than focusing on fear, they explore what's really happening in the ABA industry, why inc...

Saving money sounds like good business. But what happens when being frugal starts costing you more in lost time, staff frustration, compliance risk, and burnout?  In this episode of the ABA Business Leaders Podcast, Stephen and April Smith unpack the hidden cost of underinvesting in your ABA business. Drawing from their own experience of piecing together free and low-cost systems, they explore why...

Ever wondered why handbooks are so crucial to ABA business success? A strong employee handbook helps create consistency, protects your business, and gives your team confidence in how your organization operates. In this episode, Stephen and April Smith continue their discussion on building the operational foundations of a successful ABA practice by breaking down five essential policies every employ...

A Special Podcast Swap with Allyson's In the Field Podcast   This week, April and Stephen Smith of 3 Pie Squared and the ABA Business Leaders Podcast joined Allyson's In the Field: The ABA Podcast for a special podcast swap episode.  April and Stephen share the story behind building and operating their ABA practice for 12 years before transitioning into full-time consulting. The conversation explo...

In this episode of the ABA Business Leaders Podcast, Stephen and April Smith sit down with Dr. Brian Lopez, PhD, BCBA, licensed clinical psychologist, behavior analyst, and Director of Psychological Services and Research at JumpStart Autism Collective. Drawing on more than 20 years of experience in autism services, diagnostics, and healthcare leadership, Dr. Lopez explains why better outcomes for...

What happens when a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) becomes a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA)? In this episode of the ABA Business Leaders Podcast, April and Stephen sit down with Rose Griffin, MA, CCC-SLP, BCBA, founder of ABA Speech, to discuss the intersection of speech therapy and applied behavior analysis. The conversation explores common misconceptions between disciplines, how ABA...

What happens when behavior analysts shift from compliance to connection? In this episode of ABA Business Leaders, Stephen and April Smith talk with Sarah Moore, CEO of The Jai Institute for Parenting, founder of Dandelion Seeds Positive Parenting, and author of Peaceful Discipline. They explore nervous system regulation, emotional safety, authenticity, and what it means to show up as a human being...

How do we define quality ABA services with Bryant Silbaugh  What is quality assurance in ABA, and how can behavior analysts measure service quality more effectively?  In this episode of the ABA Business Leaders Podcast, Stephen and April Smith speak with Dr. Bryant Silbaugh, behavior analyst, researcher, author, and Founder of the National ABA Service Quality Network (NASQN), about the systems, pr...

In this episode of the ABA Business Leaders Podcast, April Smith speaks with Melanie Thurston and Amanda Williamson, BCBA, about one of the most important factors in successful ABA therapy: strong parent-provider relationships.  The conversation explores how ABA providers can communicate more effectively with families, build trust with parents navigating an autism diagnosis, and better understand...

What does a parent-led approach to ABA therapy look like? In this episode of the ABA Business Leaders Podcast, hosts Stephen Smith and April Smith speak with Zandra Santella about how ABA providers can create more collaborative, sustainable, and family-centered care.  Zandra Santella is a BCBA and founder of Beauty in Behavior, a platform focused on ethical, collaborative, and parent-led ABA pract...