In this episode of In the Field: The ABA Podcast, I sit down with April and Stephen Smith of 3PieSquared and the ABA Business Leaders Podcast. April is a BCaBA with nearly three decades of experience in the field, and Stephen brings a background in quality management and engineering that shaped the operational backbone of everything they built together. They ran their own ABA practice for 12 years before closing it and transitioning into full-time consulting, where they now support more than 1,600 ABA organizations across the country. This conversation covers a lot of ground: the origin story of their practice, the lessons they learned the hard way, what they wish they had when they were starting out, and why they named their new book "The ABA Business Leader's Guide: How to Start, Grow, and Sustain an Ethical ABA Practice Without Losing Your Soul." If you are a BCBA® thinking about starting a practice, already in the thick of running one, or trying to figure out how to scale without burning yourself and your team to the ground, this episode is for you. Key Topics: The Origin Story and Early Chaos: April and Stephen started with a frustration, a neighborhood walk, and a decision to figure it out as they went, including learning insurance billing the hard way while navigating a newborn and a dwindling savings account. Vision: The Thing Most Founders Skip: April and Stephen did not have a shared vision when they started and it was not until year four that they actually sat down and asked what they were building and how they wanted it to feel. Hiring BCBAs®: The Skills and Gaps You Need to Plan For: Hiring BCBAs® surfaced unexpected gaps in assessment repertoires, parent training, and soft skills, reflecting a field-wide assumption that certification equals readiness to lead and manage. Building Systems That Let You Step Back: April encourages owners to apply the same behavioral thinking they use clinically to their operations: write task analyses, define expectations in observable terms, and give consistent feedback. Delegating, Outsourcing, and Prioritizing Hires: Stephen's practical framework starts with an accountant and an attorney, then works backward from your dream job to identify what is standing between you and it. The Ethics of Profitability: The incentives in this field currently reward lower-trained staff and higher turnover. April and Stephen have built their consulting work around helping owners resist that trap. Closing a Business and the Identity Shift That Follows: April speaks openly about the identity crisis that came with closing their practice and how intertwined her sense of self had become with what they built. Boundaries, Parenthood, and the Myth of Work-Life Balance: April shares how she learned to set and model firm boundaries with staff and restructure her own workday to protect her effectiveness at work and her presence at home. Key Takeaways: Vision is not optional. Know what you are building, how big you want it to be, and what it needs to look like when you are done, before you are two years in and wondering why you feel stuck.Profitability is an ethical issue. You cannot pour back into your team, your training systems, or your clients if your margins do not support it. Financial sustainability is part of ethical practice.Systems make delegation possible. You do not need a formal business background to build them. Use what you already know: task analysis, behavioral specificity, clear expectations, and consistent feedback.BCBAs® are not automatically ready to lead or manage. Build mentorship and soft skills development into your supervision model from the beginning.Closing or exiting a business is a real transition that deserves preparation, both operationally and personally.Self-awareness is not a soft skill. Knowing when you are micromanaging, when you need support, and when your identity has become too entangled with your business is essential to sustainability.Keywords: Efficiency, Assent, Foundational Skills, Effective Treatment, Matching Law, Instructional Design, Ethics Code 2.0, Dimensions Grid, DRA, Blunt Extinction, Behavior Efficiency, Steve Ward, Whole Child Consulting, Inventory of Good Learner Repertoires, ABA Ethics, BCBA® Supervision Resources: Connect with April and Stephen Smith - Free Consultation Booking Link Book: "The ABA Business Leader's Guide: How to Start, Grow, and Sustain an Ethical ABA Practice Without Losing Your Soul" by April and Stephen Smith Website: 3PieSquared Podcast: ABA Business Leaders Podcast Disclaimer: BCBA®, BACB® [or any other BACB® trademark used] is/are registered to the Behavior Analytic Certification Board® BACB®. This website and products are not in any way sponsored by the BACB®. All information and products are for educational purposes only.
