Therapist Clubhouse A Podcast For Private Practice Entrepreneurs With Annie Schuessler

It's just you and me for this episode. I've been watching you, and I see where you're getting stuck in your business. You start out wanting to make a bigger impact and wanting to work in more creative ways. You feel drawn to expanding. You're scared. And you're excited. You start taking action. Then you run into obstacles from outside and also inside. Here are a few of the places I see you getting the MOST stuck and what I see you doing to get through that stuckness: The quitting trap. You take any little sign that this isn't a good idea. You walk away, or at least consider walking away. Examples of what you experience that makes you want to give up: Observing a colleague in your niche Running into a tech issue you don't know how to solve Nancy Jane Smith, author of The Happier Approach explains that our inner Fake BFF encourages us to quit. The way through this trap: Commit to your idea completely for a designated time. Set a date when you'll reconsider this, but commit to it until then. Don't allow yourself

What will YOUR signature program look like? How will you create it? One of the best ways for you to understand how you'll get there is to hear the stories of entrepreneurs who have taken their gifts and turned them into online programs. My guest this week shares how she created a successful online group program using a ton of intuition as well as experience. Meet Michelle Irving. She's best known for 2 areas of work: helping women find Feminine Maturity and guiding women into the Sacred Power of Illness. She's been bed bound twice in the last decade with serious illness herself. She now mentors women around the world. Here's some of what we talked about: Creating the program Finding Feminine Maturity Indentifying 7 powers of finding Feminine Maturity as she's mapped them out. How she uses the myth of Persophone and the journey to the underworld in her work Creating a strong and safe container with clear agreements and boundaries for herself and the participants Using Kajabi, Zoom and Facebook as the program

This week I'm talking to Lindsay Bryan-Podvin, a biracial financial therapist, speaker, and author. In her clinical practice, she helps people get their mind and money in balance. She's also expanded her services to help private practice therapists grow sustainable practices from the inside out. Last time Lindsay was on Rebel Therapist Podcast was almost exactly a year ago. Check out Lindsay's episode on December 3rd, 2019 about creating and launching her first scaled offer. It's a popular and valuable episode! Here it is. https://rebeltherapist.me/podcast/113 I was just a guest on Lindsay's podcast, Mind Money balance, and we started talking about how we've both made changes to our business practices this year. The 2020 uprising has helped just about everybody take another look at our values around anti-oppression and liberation, to do a deep inquiry, and to root out any practices that don't align with the kind of impact we want to have. It's also an opportunity to add in practices that move us and our clien

I ran my first remote coaching group using email and google docs. Zoom wasn't really a big thing yet, so we used the phone. I'm so glad I didn't wait. I'm grateful to my former self for not automating or polishing the offer before jumping in. The 3 entrepreneurs who signed up will always be so special to me. I use more sophisticated tools in my programs now, and I like to geek out about choosing a course platform or integrating and automating my different systems. Please don't allow yourself to get confused about this, though. The fancy tools and platforms are not what give value to your participants and clients. That's not where we should start. We need to start with the value we're providing as therapists, coaches and healers. We need to start with the transformations we're helping our participants make. In this week's episode, I'm talking with a therapist and entrepreneur who just launched her first online program, and I am so excited to share her with you. Hannah Green is a holistic psychotherapist and fe

Why is it important to have a unique framework as opposed to just being magic at what you do? And how do you find your framework? When I started coaching entrepreneurs, I was helping them one by one, using methods I learned from other people and co-creating the experience each time. Nothing wrong with that. Then over time I developed a framework that includes lots of parts that are uniquely mine. To claim my framework I had to first observe it, then get clear about the elements, write it all down and then articulate it for the people I help. And I refine it over time. Having a framework has deepened my work and set me free. You'll hear more about how that happens for me in this conversation. But much more than that, you'll learn from my guest. Hillary Rea is the founder of Tell Me A Story. She trains entrepreneurs, leaders, and change makers how to use the art of storytelling as a powerful communication tool. In this episode you'll hear what claiming her framework has made possible. Here's some of what we tal

How do you create an incredible, deep and effective retreat? How do you bring that magic to an online retreat? Those are the questions we're tackling today. Retreats provide a special opportunity for real time transformation. As a participant of a silent retreat at spirit rock a couple of years ago, I had a transformative experience. This retreat was about renewal and rest. Setting aside those days in a sacred space, learning from the teachers, and immersing myself in the process gave me what I needed. On the third day, I felt a shift. I was no longer bored. I started to be able to observe my thoughts in a new way. I got something on a gut level that I hadn't gotten before. If you're considering creating and running a retreat, it might be partly because you've experienced the magic of a retreat as a participant. But how do you create that magic for your participants? And now in 2020, how do you bring that magic online? I invited a master of retreats, Michelle Boyd, to help us answer these questions. Michelle

You don't have to create your business based on what's already been done. In this moment, there's no excuse to create your business by default. How do you create a new vision for what your business will look like? That's the question I'm tackling today. Our guest, Michelle Auerbach, is an author and consultant for entrepreneurs and organizations. She suggests mining science fiction for some of that vision. In my own business and the whole rest of my life, I've been on a journey of reading the work of Octavia E Butler to help me gather inspiration and a new vision. In Parable Of The Sower and Parable Of The Talents, through the main character, Lauren, she introduces a new way of looking at the world and a new model of leadership. I highly recommend these books and also the podcast Octavia's Parables. They're incredible sources of inspiration and ideas. We're co-creating a new world. Our businesses are part of that new world. Here's some of what we talked about: How she uses a 3-part story strategy to help her

How do you create healthy and effective financial practices for your small business? That's the question we're tackling today. Exploring that question for myself has been complicated. I've been tracking every penny in my personal finances since 1997. I've always tracked my income and expenses in my businesses. But all that tracking didn't mean I was doing well with my money. My bookkeeping practices had a stressful and tight energy to them. Several years ago, my wife found a red plastic button that looked like it was from an old fashioned computer, with the word "panic" on it. She suggested I glue it to my desk and press it when I was doing my bookkeeping. Although that was (sort of) funny, it kind of freaked me out. I didn't realize how stressed out I seemed when I was dealing with money. I just thought that was how that worked. Years later, I went through Bari Tessler's program The Art of Money, and also read her book. Her work helped me start to slow down my nervous system when relating to my money. Then I

How do you do feminism in your business? How do you run a thriving, profitable business while living your feminist anti-oppression values? That's the question we're tackling today. I'll give one small example of how feminism has played out in my business: the progression of images of myself I have put out over the last 10 years. I've had my photos done 4 times, 5 if you include the time my wife took a bunch of photos of me because I just really needed some new photos. For the first couple of photo shoots, I was focused on getting "good" photos taken. That meant kind of trying to look "pretty" and also relatable. without realizing it, I was asking my photographer to package me the way I'd seen other successful coaches being packaged: feminine, smiling, and in pink. The last time I got my photos taken, I asked my photographer, Sarah Deragon to co-create something more interesting and less expected. I asked her to help me bring out some more masculine energy, to NOT focus on making me look "pretty" and to play w

When is it time to take a brave step in your business? My guest is Jelisha Gatling. She helps therapists make the brave move of leaving their jobs and jumping all the way into private practice. I help therapists, healers and entrepreneurs take the brave step of creating a business beyond a traditional private practice. So we discovered that we have a lot in common. We both help people get ready enough to do scary things, and then we hold their hands while they leap. One thing we both know through personal experience is that you can't wait until you're ready to take a brave step. You can only be ready enough. In this conversation, Jelisha shares how it's been for her to take the brave step of creating a business for therapists. Topics Discussed In This Episode: Working with therapists around money and money mindset Creating a 1:1 package for therapists to help them leave their full jobs Feeling scared at the edge of a scary business move Writing a book proposal and facing a painful and deeply helpful moment M

Having a list of subscribers who are into what you're doing is a HUGE game changer in your business. If you're selling a course or membership or workshop series or really ANY kind of scaled offer, you want an email list. I know my own email list needed to hit 600 people before I was making a significant income in my business. I still have a relatively small list, of just over 2000 people as I'm recording this. I say that to say that you don't need a HUGE list to make a good living, but you do need a list of people who want your stuff. If you're working on getting your first 1000 subscribers or your next thousand, you're going to want to hear this. My guest is Anya Manes, an educator and coach who helps parents have open communication with their kids so they can talk about sex and relationships. She's grown an email list of 8000 people. If you google how to grow an email list, you might find some helpful resources, but you'll also find some icky tactics there that don't really resonate. An email list that was

How would you do things differently the second time around? I've talked a lot about the stages of a rebel business, meaning a business beyond the treatment room. In episodes 118 and 119 in February, I walked us through the things you might go through as a business owner during those stages. This week I'm talking to a business owner who's already got one thriving business, and one business that's just starting out. I wanted to delve into what she's experiencing differently and what she's doing differently with the benefit of knowing so much more the second time around. I'm talking to Karen Wolfe, a therapist who specializes in working with parents and children, and with a newer focus that we're going to delve into right.....NOW. It's called embodiment and sexual polarity. Here's some of what we talked about: How she came to this work in a personal way Her own exploration and discoveries in her sexual relationship Why this work is sometimes triggering, especially to therapists Her fear around creating this new

As an entrepreneur creating a business beyond the treatment room, you're gonna have legal questions. I certainly can't answer them. I'm bringing you a podcast episode with someone who can: my own lawyer, Elizabeth Potts Weinstein. Before we dived into her thoughts on your legal needs, I asked her about how she runs her own business: the systems she uses, the way she structures her time, and how she works with her team. Then she shared some helpful and nuanced thoughts on what you need to take care of on the legal side. Here's some of what we talked about: How she helps micro business owners like you Why she avoids working by the hour The tech systems she uses (some of which you might want to try) How she manages her time and sets priorities What legal stuff you should work on first (contracts and agreements!) What a trademark is and when you might want or need one Some legal issues to keep in mind as you enter into work beyond your therapy license Show notes at http://rebeltherapist.me/podcast/128

I don't talk a lot about being a mom and an entrepreneur, and I've resisted identifying myself as a "mamapreneur." I've always worked with tons of business owners who are NOT parents, and I didn't want to pigeon hole myself in that particular way or to alienate folks who are not parents. ...But we are going there today in a big way. I'm talking to Narissa Harris, a therapist, writer, podcaster and cultural consultant. She and her husband Art cofounded Culture First, where they provide consultation and training around cultural awareness and sensitivity. Narissa and Art are the parents of a 1 year old. In this episode, we dive in and get real about what's working for her in building their company while also raising a tiny human together. I've had my own experiences with parenting and running my company lately. As we're recording this, we're sheltering in place. I'm spending more time with my kids, and even when I'm not the one spending time with them, they're HERE. This is reminding me of times when my kids wer

Hello Rebel listener. I've decided to not release a new episode this week. I stand in solidarity with Black listeners, podcasters, healers, therapists, entrepreneurs, friends and family. I want to recommend something right now that's been so helpful to me as a white person who owns a business. Wherever you're listening to this right now, head to the podcast called That's Not How That Works. Hit play on their episode released on May 28th, 2020. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thats-not-how-that-works/id1358150402 The podcast That's Not How That Works is always all about justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in the world of coaching and personal development. It's by two JEDI masters (meaning justice, equity, diversity and inclusion) who are also very close friends. This particular episode gives you a whole guide to some of their most important episodes. This is an excellent time for me as a white person to look at how my business supports or stands against white supremacy, and to make long term commit

This here podcast has changed a lot since I started it in the spring of 2017. My business has grown a lot, largely thanks to this podcast. I started this podcast as a way to reach more therapist entrepreneurs and give you inspiration and information about growing your business. I've found my voice more and more over the last 3 years. I've learned a ton about podcasting and I have discovered that I LOVE it. Since then I've gotten to support some of my clients in creating their own podcasts. Here are a few things I've learned about podcasting: You have to love your podcast. It can't just be for marketing purposes. If it is, you'll be bored. You won't grow an audience and you won't stick with it. You have to have a specific listener in mind. Even though your podcast is free, it helps to think of it as an offer within your business that offers real value to the listener. If your podcast is part of your business, you need a clear connection between what the podcast offers and what people can pay you for. The more

You may have heard about these executive coaches who make hundreds or thousands of dollars an hour. I've been in rooms where therapists are kind of pissed off about how much money they're making. They say: "Why are these executive coaches bringing in money hand over fist? It's not fair. Some of them don't even have the training I have!" Could some small part of that reaction be envy? Just a little? And maybe a little bit of binary thinking? This work over here is altruistic. That work over there is not. Hmmm. Side note...I know for sure people have those thoughts about business coaches like me, because I've been in those rooms too. But that's for a different day. I have been really curious about executive coaching. Here's what we tackle in this episode: What's it like to be an executive coach? Would you like it? Could you do it? How would you get started? How would you get clients? Our guest is helping us answer all of that. Dr. Alyssa Adams is A psychologist, intuitive business coach, and executive coach. He

I recorded today's interview BEFORE the pandemic, so you're not gonna hear us talking about COVID 19. And you might be thinking...um.... in-person retreats are impossible right now. Yep. I realize that. And still, I'm interested in helping you explore the possibilities for your business not just this month or next month or even just this year, but FAR into the future. For everyone, and perhaps particularly for marginalized groups, IN PERSON events matter. In person connection matters. If you're feeling that, listen to this interview and think about how in person events might fit into the future of your business. Even before this pandemic, I ran my entire business online. I love the freedom being online gives me. I love being able to reach folks all over the world. I get to create relationships with people and help them with their businesses, and it's FINE if we can never meet in person. The rebel therapists I work with are from many time zones. AND I plan to do some in person work again in the future. I ran a

I deal with a lot of anxiety. Sometimes people don't know that because I usually appear calm. And I tend to get a lot done. I cope with my anxiety BY getting things done. But my anxiety isn't only helpful. It's also kind of nasty. I have an inner critic that speaks up when I'm anxious, and I don't like that. It hurts. Still, me and anxiety are such old friends, and we've gotten so much done together. My productivity is fueled by my anxiety. How am I gonna give that up? Who would I be without anxiety? would I get anything done? The work of Nancy Jane Smith has really helped me step out of this binary way of thinking about my anxiety and my productivity. When I recorded this interview, I had just finished her book The Happier Approach. It's been a couple months now, I'm still using her concepts regularly, and they're helping. In fact the pandemic classification and shelter in place happened after we recorded this. So anxiety much? Yes! I'm glad to have read this book. I appreciate how she shares her OWN journey

How do you find your ideal business model? A business model is simply the different ways you make money. When you go beyond the therapy room, you've got SO many options. How do you decide the optimal combination of offerings for you? Small group? Large group? Evergreen course? Workshop? That's the question I wanted to delve into with my guest this week. Her answer is unique to her own superpowers and the needs of her clients, but listening to her process will help you think through your own answer. Introducing Megan deBour, a financial wellness coach. Listen as we explore how she developed her current offerings, her take on growth, and what she had to work through in order to grow her own income. Here's some of what we talked about: Working through her own struggles with financial anxiety and underearning Helping solopreneurs who struggle with their earning capacity Creating a hybrid between a self-led and group cohort program How she encourages participants to do their homework throughout the program Why sh