Therapist Clubhouse A Podcast For Private Practice Entrepreneurs With Annie Schuessler

I got this fabulous question from a client of mine recently: Why is my email list growing SO slowly

I invited my pal Jeff Guenther back on Rebel Therapist because I've noticed 2 things he does brilliantly well in his marketing. Not only is he great at marketing, but he's also really honest and willing to give you zero BS as he explains what he does and why. I expect you to listen to everything he's sharing here and borrow the parts that might work for you in marketing your incredible and unique business. Just so I don't bury the best part, due to how Jeff has been using TikTok, his company Therapy Den has had a 50% increase in therapy referrals. That's absurdly high. Before we go there, I'll share more about him. Jeff Guenther, LPC, is a therapist in Portland, OR. He has been in private practice since 2005 and currently leads workshops on how health and wellness practitioners can build their digital brand and attract more clients online. Jeff is the creator and owner of two highly ranked therapist directory sites, Portland Therapy Center and TherapyDen. Here's some of what we talked about: Writing effectiv

Looking over some of my 2021 Reflections Making more money and seeing that I can trust myself with it

Listen to how my guest is zigging when others are zagging. This is a business owner who is growing a unique and profitable business by doing things her way, thoughtfully. She speaks to a particular audience and has no desire to appeal to everyone. She's building her thought leadership, and she's not doing it on social media. I want you to listen to how she does her marketing and then think about how you could borrow some of her ideas and make them your own. Podge Thomas is a business coach and management specialist. She works with women business owners to help hire and grow strong teams in order to find financial, systemic and structural sustainability. Here's some of what we talked about: Podge's coaching services for hiring and managing teams of women-owned businesses Podge's system to manage and steward employees from hiring through letting go Why Podge and Annie both love the app Notion Finding the right length for her work with clients Why she is in no hurry to scale beyond 1:1 work How she uses discove

This week I shared my thoughts on niching beyond private practice and at the end I gave you a small list of niches I think we need more of you to create programs and services around. Keep reading for a summary of what I talked about. Niching beyond private practice is SO different from niching to fill a practice. You CAN fill your traditional private practice without a narrow niche. Once you move into the global online space, you are likely to need a narrow niche. What's a niche? A niche is a problem your person is trying to solve. An identity or community is not a niche, but an identity or community can be a huge ingredient of a niche. Here's why: Even if you came up with a group for 49 year old white cis queer women who are parents by both adoption and birth, live upstairs from their sisters, and are Elton John fans, I would not join until you told me what problem you're helping us solve. (That describes me, if you didn't guess.) That said, identity can be a HUGE part of what goes into your niche. Just look

I love bringing you behind the scenes of successful businesses so that you've got lots of examples of different ways to build YOUR business. In this week's episode of Rebel Therapist, I'm talking to a healer and entrepreneur who has built a robust ecosystem with high priced offerings. I asked her about how she's developed her offerings, her sales and marketing processes, and how she's scaled back her work hours. Meet Cate Stillman. Cate established Yogahealer.com in 2001, and Yoga Health Coaching in 2012 for wellness professionals. Her books include Body Thrive and Master of YOU. Here's some of what we talked about: Creating a business around yoga health coaching Developing a second branch of her business around business coaching How Cate listens to her people in order to create her curriculum and offers Starting a 2 hour workshop that became a year-long course Using an "intense" sales process Setting high prices Working 20 hours per week outside of her book writing time Her webinar process, from idea to del

If your program doesn't fill, first of all, welcome to the club! This secret club includes me and almost all of the people you see running successful programs right now. On one level, when your program doesn't fill, it means absolutely nothing. It means nothing about your future success, your brilliance, or your ability make this business fly. In this episode I'll share how it felt to me when my own program didn't fill years ago, a mindset process you may go through when a program doesn't fill, and then some questions to help you analyze what might have caused your program not to fill so that you can make changes for next time. Here's some of what I talk about: The stuff I told myself when my own program didn't fill Nancy Jane Smith's helpful approach to an anxiety producing situation like this How to know when you're ready to do a post-launch analysis (hint: don't do it while you're still in free fall!) Specific questions to ask yourself about your launch An argument for creating a 1:1 replicable offer firs

When you step into a big project or a big pivot, you've got to carve out some space, time and energy. Meet Sarah Buino who has been doing just that. Sarah had a very full time job as a group practice owner with 12 staff people, and knew there was something else she was meant to do with healers on a larger scale. She talked to me about how she set her group practice up to require much less of her so that she could step into this new work without overworking or burning out. Here's a bit more about her: Sarah Buino, LCSW, RDDP, CADC, CDWF is a speaker, teacher, therapist and the founder and president of Head/Heart Therapy, Inc. She’s a member of the adjunct faculty at Loyola University Chicago and hosts the podcast Conversations With a Wounded Healer, which examines the role of one’s own healing while being a care-giving professional. Sarah is obsessed with her 10-lb chihuahua named Batman. Here's some of what we talked about: Building Head Heart Therapy, a therapy center for weirdos with a staff of 12 Hosting

So why am I so sure your first step to creating a business beyond private practice is to create a pilot program? This podcast episode answers that question. First, here’s what I mean when I say “pilot program”: A high quality offer delivered live (usually online) to one person or a small group of people, which may or may not be offered at a lower price than it will be in the future. Some formats of pilot programs: 1:1 coaching programs Retreats Small group coaching programs Training or consulting packages for organizations Hybrids between 2 or more formats I’m not usually a one-size-fits-all kind of business coach, so why am I so convinced that this one thing is true for just about everyone? Here are 5 of my reasons why you should start with a pilot program: Creating a pilot program fights perfectionism. Perfectionism will get you stuck for months or years getting ready to create something perfect. It might just slow you down so much that you won't deliver ANYTHING. Excellence doesn't come from waiting. It

As you get ready to move beyond private practice and create your signature program, you might believe you’ll need to run many many programs in order to stay interested. I’m gonna tell you to start with one. Usually boredom is not what happens. If it does, you can add more! I’m on round twenty (!) of my core program right now, which had a few different names in the beginning. It’s been called Create Your Program for quite a few minutes now. I’m having fun making changes to improve it every single time. We just added a session with an attorney who answers legal questions and a systems expert to help with setting up tech. Of course I’m always fascinated by the participants and what they're creating. There’s just very little boredom happening around here. This week's Rebel Therapist podcast guest is positively obsessed* with her program as well. You’re about to hear from someone who loves fine-tuning her signature program. Therefore she’s created an outstanding program that her participants love. It’s called Mind

Do you love the idea of running a retreat? This week's guest hosted her first retreat this year, and she's about to talk us through her process, from getting the idea during a meditation to planning it, filling it, running the retreat, and all the way to announcing her next retreat which happens this fall. Meet Christa Harrison, founder of Healing For Queer Healers Retreats, where she holds space for fellow queer folx. Christa is a queer therapist in private practice in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma specializing in PTSD and trauma. She's a secular therapist in a sea of folx looking for someone they can feel safe with after religious trauma. Here's some of what we talked about: How Christa realized suddenly that she wanted to create a retreat for queer healers Clarifying her vision for the retreat Getting positive feedback and making plans for rounds 2 and 3 and beyond The most intimidating parts for Christa: following through with setting up all the systems Leaving plenty of free time in the schedule Helping every

This conversation might open up some new possibilities for you about what marketing looks like. Today's guest is going to tell you about how she uses a free monthly workshop as her main marketing activity. She'll explain how these monthly workshops accomplish a bunch of things at once: raising money for a different anti-racist organization every month selling her coaching program collaborating with guest presenters & growing her audience. Introducing Ariana Lloyd. Ariana is an LCSW and business consultant who helps therapists build liberation-oriented private practices. She proudly hails from the dry lands of Eastern Oregon, where she was raised along with her 9 siblings by her Mormon and Jew-”ish” parents. Ariana grew up farming and fighting and believes these strongly contribute to her approaches in both therapy and business. She now lives in Portland, OR with her two young children and her best friend, a golden retriever. Here's some of what we talked about: Creating her first workshop and deciding to

If you're a kind and gentle person, do you wonder if you can lean into those qualities AND grow your business? Or do you worry that you have to let those things go to be really successful? In other words, do you wonder if you have to be an asshole to have a really successful business? My guest today is committed to doing things gently and ethically. You'll hear some specific choices we've each made in the past that we wouldn't make again because they didn't feel right. You'll also hear what's actually working for her to grow her business and serve her clients. Introducing Sarah Santacroce. Sarah encourages people to bring more empathy and kindness to business and marketing. As a ‘Hippie turned Business Coach’, Sarah hosts the Gentle Business Revolution podcast and works with heart-centered entrepreneurs to question their assumptions when it comes to marketing and give them permission to market their business their way. Here's some of what we talked about: Creating a community or "circle" for business owners

Many of Rebel Therapist's program participants and listeners are brilliant folx who feel intimidated by the idea of consulting for organizations, and yet you're the ones who have the gifts those organizations need. It's part of my mission to help healers, especially those who have marginalized identities parachute into organizations, facilitate real change, make lots of money, and not lose themselves in the process. This is part three in a 3-part series on getting those corporate gigs. If you haven't listened to part one or two just make sure you also listen to my conversations with Femily and Kristen Meinzer. Now, I'm so thrilled to introduce Dr. Sand Chang. They're going to talk about how they've followed their interests and passions to create a robust consulting business which brings in about half of their overall revenue. You'll also hear how they take good care of themselves and stay true to their values in the process. Before we dive in, here's little more about Dr. Chang: Dr. Sand Chang (they/them) is

Many of Rebel Therapist's program participants and listeners are brilliant folx who feel intimidated by the idea of consulting for organizations, and yet they have the gifts those organizations need. I'm talking about you. It's part of my mission to help healers, especially those who are queer/trans and/or BIPOC to parachute into organizations, facilitate real change, make lots of money, and not lose themselves in the process. If you want in on this exploration, this is for you. I'm so excited to bring you one of my personal heroes, Kristen Meinzer. Kristen is an award-winning podcaster, culture critic, royal watcher, and author. She currently hosts Movie Therapy with Rafer & Kristen, a podcast in which listeners write in with their quandaries, and she and her cohost Rafer Guzman respond with a mix of advice and viewing recommendations. She also hosts By The Book, a podcast in which she and her cohost Jolenta Greenberg live by the rules of a different self-help book in each episode. Her book, So You Want

Let's go get that corporate money. Shall we? Many of Rebel Therapist's program participants and listeners are brilliant folx who feel intimidated by the idea of consulting with organizations, and yet they have the gifts those organizations need. Yeah, I'm talking about you. It's part of my mission to help healers, especially those who are queer/trans and/or BIPOC to parachute into organizations, facilitate real change, make lots of money, and not lose themselves in the process. If you want in on this exploration, make sure to listen to the next 3 episodes. I'm so excited to kick this exploration off with Femily. As a Gender/Cultural Studies MA with a big firm management consulting background Femily speaks at and advises Silicon Valley and other male-majority sectors and teams, like law, finance, and engineering – on gender, equity, and building an ally culture. Femily's popular, digital courses give ambitious women and nonbinary people concrete, evidence-based instruction on leading in today's male-majority w

Thinking about making the flip to coaching? You might be excited about the liberation that comes with expanding beyond private: Working from anywhere. Working with folks from everywhere. Breaking free of the limits of your therapy license (if you've got one). Getting to create and serve in new ways. If you're going to make that transition, should you do it quickly? Or slowly? When I was making a transition from private practice to this business, I did it pretty slowly. It wasn't until about 2015 that I fully put myself into what's now Rebel Therapist. In internet years 6 years is a long time. My guest this week, Dr. Lynyetta Willis, made the flip all at once. She had a thriving private practice, and for reasons you'll hear in this conversation, she decided to flip completely into coaching all at once. You're going to be taking notes not just on how she's built her coaching business, but also on how she sets up her time and creates harmony between her business and the rest of her life. Here's a little more abo

We're talking about building your team today. Have you experienced a nightmare with hiring or managing a team member? Or are you imagining a future nightmare because of what you've heard from your peers? Are you confused about what role you should be hiring for? Or whether it's time to hire? Our guest, Tara McMullin, leads 2 successful companies, and she's about to share her experiences building and managing both of those teams. A bonus treat for me is that she's an introvert, like me, so we get to lean into some particular challenges and solutions for introverted bosses. If you want to hear an earlier episode with Tara from 2 years ago, head to episode 102, which I'll link in the show notes. Tara McMullin is a business strategist, podcaster, writer, and producer. She's the founder & host of What Works, a platform for small business owners building stronger businesses. She's also the co-founder of YellowHouse.Media, a podcast production agency that helps small business owners produce standout podcasts to

I've been paying attention to my guest's work for probably about 10 years. As soon as I heard her talking about following energy in your life, I was intrigued. It felt deeply right to me. And I also felt like.....well.....I wasn't ready for it yet. I wasn't ready to fully take in her ideas because I was a bit more in push, hustle and suffer mode. I think part of me believed that "following energy" would mean not getting my shit done. I thought maybe following energy would lead me to laziness. As the breadwinner, a sometimes depressed person, and someone with a huge vision, I thought following energy could be risky. But I kept reading her emails and listening to what she had to say. I've been noticing that I'm making a bigger impact, including more money, NOT by hustling but by getting into alignment and focusing on the most important things. Lots of my guests, colleagues and clients have been noticing in their businesses too. And now I'm totally ready for Staci's message. It's right on time. Staci Boden is a

You're about to hear how EbonyJanice Moore has dreamed herself free in life and business. You'll be different after you hear from her. You'll hear the 80/20 rule that she lives by (and no, it's not the one you've probably heard of before). You'll also hear how she identifies her trusted collaborators, why making millions of dollars is where she's headed very quickly, and how she builds and manages her team in a truly caring way. Here's a little more about EbonyJanice Moore: EbonyJanice is a dynamic lecturer, transformational speaker, and passionate multi-faith preacher focused on Decolonizing Authority, Hip Hop Scholarship, Womanism as a Political and Spiritual/Religious tool for Liberation, Blackness as Religion, Dialogue as central to professional development and personal growth, and Women and Gender Studies focused on black girlhood. EbonyJanice has a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology and Political Science, and a Master of Arts in Social Change with a concentration in Spiritual Leadership, Womanist Theology, a