Therapist Clubhouse A Podcast For Private Practice Entrepreneurs With Annie Schuessler

This week I’m talking to Janelle Allen, an online instructional designer turned marketing expert. Janelle is a business rock star, but she's willing to talk about her inner resistance. Inner resistance is HUGE for us as entrepreneurs. I find this reassuring, because it's my truth. I'm dealing with my own growth edge in my business. I'm committed to reaching more people who need the kind of help I can offer. That means reaching more visionary therapists and healers. Right now, that means I'm reaching out to a lot of podcast hosts and asking them if they'd like to have me on as a guest. I pretty much always feel like being a guest on a podcast, but I pretty much never feel like making that ask. Still, I'm doing it, week after week, because I decided to. It's worth working through my resistance. The obvious benefit is that I'm showing up on more podcasts. The side benefit is that as I follow through with this, my trust in myself grows. And as I trust myself more, and grow my capacity for discomfort, I'm a more r

This week I’m talking to Hillary Kinavey, co-founder of Be Nourished. They offer programs for people looking to reclaim Body Trust®. She's a leader in this movement, working from the principles of HAES and intuitive eating. We've been talking a lot about the stages of a rebel business lately. I did a 2 part series, episodes 118 and 119, on the stages you go through from creating your pilot offer to actually thriving. You're about to hear from someone who really values the long game. She and her co-founder, Dana Sturtevant, have always paid attention to the long game because Body Trust is something they care deeply about. They don't want to make money and then get out. They've been setting things up along the way in order to stay in this for several decades. They've been building this for 15 years, and they're still looking way ahead, paying attention to where this movement is going and what kind of impact they want to have. They're also paying attention to how they need to take care of themselves so that they

This is part 2, a continuation from the last episode. We're talking about the stages a Rebel Business goes through. Here are the stages as I think about them: Create stage: this is where you create your business beyond the therapy room. Grow stage: this is where your business starts making a real income. Expand stage. this is where you really hit your stride. Limitless Growth stage: this is where you grow your empire to 7 figures and beyond. For each stage, I'll talk about the biggest internal change that can happen, what we most need to do and put in place during this stage, and what can go wrong. I'll also tell you what programs I've got to help you through the different stages. Last time I talked about the first stage, which I call the CREATE stage. and today I'll take us through the rest. If you haven't heard part 1 yet, you should go back right now and start there. Shownotes at: https://rebeltherapist.me/podcast/119

One of my Rebel Therapist Masterminders mentioned recently that they like it that these episodes feature people at different stages of business. That got me to thinking. I've never really done an episode on the different stages and what gets folks from one stage to another. I realized I would have found an episode about that really helpful when I was going through the earlier stages, so I'm making it for you. I'm gonna talk about what I know I needed and what I see my clients and colleagues needing in each of these stages. I'll give examples and refer you to Rebel Therapist episodes you might want to listen to about people going through each of these stages. I'll use myself as an example, and I'll mention places where my journey could have gone better if I'd approached each stage differently and therefore made different choices. One of my biggest delights is when I can help you shorten your learning curve in creating your Rebel Business. I'm using my own labels and parameters for these stages, and they may no

This week I’m talking to Abi Weissman, a psychologist, founder of Waves Group Practice in San Diego, providing queer and trans centered depth work, and a sought after speaker. You've heard that public speaking is a very common fear, and you know it's an opportunity to make a big impact. I met Abi in person at the Diversity In Parenting Conference where she was giving a keynote. It was clear that she comes to speaking with a lot of joy and passion. I was so excited when she said she'd be willing to share her experience with making speaking into an additional source of income. Make sure you stick around until the end when Abi gives advice to a person who wants to step into speaking and is getting started with pitching to conferences. Topics Discussed In This Episode: How she makes her talks highly engaging Why she hosted a dance party in the middle of a talk Where she gives talks How she thinks about compensation How she decides whether a particular speaking opportunity is a good fit What she learned by being

Meet Ayelet Marinovich, an author, pediatric speech-language pathologist, parent educator, and podcaster. Ayelet built the Learn With Less Empire, helping parents learn to maximize the time and energy they have with their tiny humans, so they can do the big job of raising them. As you listen to Ayelet's journey to creating learn with less as it is today, there's a theme I want you to listen for: Ask Your People. One of the rebel therapists in my program asked me recently what sets apart people who's programs succeed, and this is one of those things: have a regular practice of asking your people. Have a habit of asking your people from the very beginning and then along the way. I think this episode can serve as a master class in that practice. Ayelet asked her people at every step of building her company. The first person she listened to was herself. As a new parent, she asked herself what she was needing, and then she asked other parents and caregivers what they were needing. She responded to those things. Fr

I got something wrong this year. In August I said that to be right for my programs, you have to want to make at least 20k in the next year from your new business beyond the therapy room. I said that this should be your goal. Here’s why that didn’t work: Your biggest reasons for leveling up are not about money. When you’re in touch with your big reasons (again, not money), you tend to make money. Focusing on 20K sometimes puts Rebels in negative mindset spaces: grasping, comparison, or scarcity. Rebel Therapists need to lean into a mindset space of curiosity, experimentation and creativity. That’s how you’ll get through the times when your current experiment fails. We look at two examples of entrepreneurs who don’t focus primarily on short-term financial goals. They focus on creating value, following what matters most to them, and serving people who are the most engaged with what they have to offer. Kim Restivo Lange, our guest from episode 114, talked about why she ended a profitable program to start a mem

This week I’m talking to Kim Restivo Lange, a therapist and entrepreneur in Wilmington, North Carolina. Listen as we talk about how and why she created the Growing Up Confident Collective, a membership for parents who want to help their kids with social and emotional learning. Kim tuned out the most common advice and conventions about what she SHOULD be doing in her business in order to create the vision for her collective. In this conversation we get into how she made the rebellious decision to start her community before some people would have said she had a big enough audience. For me this brings up the question of how you decide what to create. You can get advice from colleagues and coaches and consultants about what you SHOULD create, but if you don't create what really fascinates you and brings you joy week after week and month after month, what's the point? As you create your signature program, how can you let JOY have a seat at the table from the very beginning? As you listen to Kim talking about her p

THIS WEEK: This week I’m talking to Lindsay Bryan-Podvin, a financial therapist and entrepreneur. Lindsay describes herself as being at the very beginning of her journey of scaling her services beyond 1:1 or 1:2. We dive into how she's creating a group workshop and a 6-month course to help couples with personal finance. You'll hear how she is using all of her experiences in the therapy room to create thoughtful programs that encourage deep transformation. As I listen to Linsday, I hear a really important combination. She's got her personal reasons for wanting to scale up beyond the therapy room AND she's got a bigger mission. She wants to help as many couples as possible to strengthen their relationships by making peace around money. She noticed that most of the personal finance resources out there were shame-based or overly restrictive. She's got a different perspective. I see that combination of having personal reasons AND a bigger mission in myself and in my colleagues and clients who are able to create su

In this episode we're talking about productivity, time & energy management, and getting important shit done. I'm also going to invite you to a free planning session. Every year, I host a 90-minute planning session for all of my clients. This year I'm also hosting one for free for YOU my listeners. I'll tell you more about it in just a little bit. I have gotten way more productive over the past few years. I've always been able to get a lot done, but I've gotten more efficient and more effective. I've noticed that for me, it's NOT that I'm working more. In fact, I'm working less hours. I've been taking the resources of time and energy really seriously in my life. I've been having a very intimate relationship with my calendar, using my calendar to block out every single task, and then actually sticking with those appointments. I've been tracking my time using an app so that I can analyze what I'm spending my time on. Breanne and I use notion to keep track of all the tasks, templates and processes in my busin

This week I’m talking to Dr. Holly Sawyer, a psychotherapist, teacher, and author in Philadelphia. She shares the process of writing and releasing her new book It's Time To Talk About Trauma. As I talked to Dr. Holly, I noticed her commitment to taking steps, doing the important stuff and never giving up. You'll hear the steps she took to clarify the book she needed to write, write, edit, publish and promote it. If you're thinking of writing a book, this conversation will probably make you feel more ready to get started. You'll also hear behind the scenes stuff about her support system, daily rituals, how she manages her time, and how she stays organized. Topics Discussed In This Episode: Becoming a therapist to provide what she needed when she was looking for one. Helping professional women of color in her therapy practice. Why she wrote her book about trauma and how she choose the workbook format. Creating a "Personal Bill Of Rights" in the book. The myth we all hear about how a book gets written and Dr. H

Our guest is Kelly Pratt, the founder of SO DO IT! A community helping creative women take action on what matters to them. Listen as we talk about how she created her in-person So Do It! Salons and her online So Do It! Society. You'll also hear about what she's creating next. For those of us who have (or want to have) online programs, it's important to figure out how to create high-quality experiences for our participants. We strive to figure out how to hold on to what works well in person while also taking advantage of what the internet makes possible. We also want to avoid the things that can make being online feel toxic or distracting. In our conversation, we talk about the choices Kelly's made about what online platform she uses for her programs, and how she brings some of the best aspects of in-person work to the online space. We also talk about how Kelly networks both online and in person. It's her #1 marketing strategy, and she does it with authenticity and without attachment to the outcome. Topics Dis

Our guest is Sonalee Rashatwar, a social worker, activist, and public speaker based in Philadelphia who works primarily with sexual trauma, internalized fatphobia, and immigrant kid guilt. I was so excited to talk to Sonalee because I've been learning from them and inspired by them for a while, and I knew she would have wisdom to share about being public with views that are seen as radical and edgy. As many of the therapists and other healers I work with step into work that is anti-oppression or even just work that is outside the mainstream, they are feeling the fear. These therapists and other healers fear judgment from their peers and their potential clients, and from that unknown "they." They also fear loss of income. Sonalee has been through real measurable loss of income, and has come through it. She shares that story with us. As you're getting ready to grow your following and put yourself out there in a bigger and even braver way, it's helpful to hear the truth from someone who's been there. Another top

This week I’m talking to Dr. Erin Griffiths, a holistic psychiatrist in San Francisco and the owner of Beyond Psychiatry. Listen as we talk about why she made a pivot from more traditional psychiatry and what that change has been like for her business so far. We stop working for others and create our own businesses partly because we want the freedom to work in the ways we want and the ways we really believe help our people the most. Then we can accidentally replicate the things we didn't love about wherever we were working before. Erin was brave enough to look at her business and acknowledge that it wasn't using all the best parts of her and she wasn't yet serving at her highest level. It was already a great business, but she wanted more for her and for her clients. Can you relate to this? I know I can. I know every single year I see things in my business that I've replicated unconsciously. And then I'm able to consciously change them. As you listen to Erin's story about creating beyond psychiatry, think abou

Sarah Argenal is on a mission to eradicate the burnout epidemic that is crushing working parents. She offers programs to individuals and organizations to integrate mental and emotional support for parents in the workplace. She walks parents through a 4 step framework to craft a life. I see a theme here that I want you to pay close attention to. Sarah's 4 part framework is something that she has created and nurtured, and it's something she is becoming known for. Having a framework you can use to help you describe your work AND help people is a huge asset. It's your message AND it's your way of serving. Sarah didn't just stumble on this 4 part framework. She discovered and created it through observing herself and the thousands of parents she talked to. Now she's able to use that framework everywhere. She talks about it in podcast episodes. She talks about it in public speaking. She teaches it in workshops. She uses it in all of her content. She goes deep into one of the steps at times, and she sometimes gives a

THIS WEEK: This week I’m featuring Jacquette Timmons, a financial behaviorist in New York City. We focused on two areas: how she prices her offerings and how she builds and nurtures her audience. If you're working on expanding your business beyond the therapy room, those are two areas you know require a lot of thought and attention. If you don't pay attention to them, your business can't thrive, even if your work is amazing. As we get into pricing, listen for how Jacquette combines trial and error with a careful process. She factors in everything including her expenses, what the outcomes are that she's providing, the value her clients place on that outcome, the time and energy the offer requires, and more. AND like I said, she allows for trial and error. You may think being methodical and using trial and error are mutually exclusive. Nope. Like Jacquette, I always leave room for experimentation. The first time I ran what is now Rebel Therapist, the cost was 1400, it happened over 8 sessions, and I had 3 amazi

Show Notes: Ali Psiuk is a therapist and digital nomad. She runs her therapy practice from all over the world. This conversation might make you question your assumptions about what's possible in your business and life. As Ali talked about the freedom she's experiencing, and the awareness she has of her choices, I felt my own awareness expand. For a while now I've been planning a long travel adventure for the summer of 2020, and I kept saying "this is just a maybe. we'll see if it works out." Right after this interview, I told Ali: now I see that I've got to stop saying that. I've got to decide it's happening and then work out all the pieces. by waiting to see whether or not it will all fall into place I'm pretty much assuring that it won't happen. obstacles always come up. Ali agreed. Maybe you want to do more online work and you're not sure how to make it happen. Maybe there's another change you're getting ready to make. Maybe it's a travel adventure, launching a second business, radically shifting your hour

This week I’m talking to Heather Gray, a mindset consultant who works with entrepreneurs all over the world. Listen to what Heather is doing in her business that’s working for her. It's totally different from what most other therapists and coaches are doing. Listen to how she’s using ONE form of marketing to make her business thrive. Listen also to how she’s providing service to her clients on demand rather than in regularly scheduled sessions. Of course, you’ll hear some of the mindset work she’s moved through herself, which she now helps her clients move through. I left this conversation with new ideas for my own business and I think you will too! Topics Discussed In This Episode: Permission to want more from your business Maintaining a DAILY podcast Giving up her therapy license Leaning into vulnerability to make a bigger impact Her life-changing time-management hack the difference between a goal and a decision Providing her coaching on demand through vox Using podcasting as her ONE lead generator Staying