You Don't Offer Quick Tips. You Offer A Paradigm Shift. That's A Good Thing.

I hear this a lot from therapists:

“I like to help people with deep and nuanced transformation rather than quick fixes or practical tips.

I worry that people are just looking for the practical solutions.”

The fact that you are providing a real and nuanced process rather than a quick fix is actually not a problem. It’s how you’re going to attract the right folks to your work.

Therapists and healers work with me to create high quality, niched programs beyond private practice. The people I work with have a ton of integrity.

What I mean by that is that the people I work with really give a shit about the work they do and the programs they create. They care deeply about the people they help.

As they get ready to create their programs, this anxiety-provoking thing tends to happen.

Once you’ve chosen the topic of your signature program, you start noticing Reels, Tiktoks and articles with simple tips to solve the problem you help people with.

Some of those tips are useful, or even sufficient for some people.

But those are not the people you’re selling your program to.

Your people are ready for a paradigm shift, and that’s what you’re going to guide them through.

Before they even sign up to work with you, they’ll learn that you’re inviting them to look at their problem in a different way, perhaps questioning some of their underlying assumptions.

I actually encourage you to lean in to the depth and nuance of the solution you offer.

Leave the quick tips to someone else. You get to be known for the stuff you are great at.

The people who want to purchase your program have probably already tried those practical strategies, and have been failed by them, or they’ve already spotted that those strategies aren’t the right fit for them. Maybe some of your people are wondering why those things haven’t worked for them.

They might even feel shame that they don’t seem able to fix this problem when some people say it’s simple.

The attractiveness of YOUR offer is that you have a deeper solution, one that perhaps gets to the root of the issue. And your solution is one that they have not yet tried.

You get to tell them:

“You’ve tried these practical tips. It’s not your fault that those things haven’t solved this for you. To have a lasting change in how you experience this issue, here’s a completely different approach.”

And then you name the paradigm shift.

The person who wants to work with you will feel relief and resonance when they hear this.

I’ll give you an example.

Lots of therapists I’ve worked with who help parents tell me:

“I want to help parents who’s kids are having undesirable behaviors, but I’m not going to teach the parents how to get their kids to stop doing the undesirable behavior. I’m going to take the parents through a much deeper process that has to do with the parents accepting themselves and deeply accepting their child. The behaviors do usually shift quite a bit during that process, but I don’t want to promise that.”

Great! You’re going to work with people ready for a paradigm shift around their children’s difficult behavior.

If they’re like I was when my kids were younger, they’ve already tried about a million tips that seemed to work for other parents. But nothing stuck, and none of it really helped my family to feel grounded at a deeper level.

Don’t hide the fact that you have a deeper solution, and don’t apologize for it. Lead with it.

If you can articulate this paradigm shift well, the right folks will be grateful they finally found you.

Your future participants are smart, and they like hearing what YOU’RE saying because they’re finally hearing something that sounds true.

You’ll talk about the problem exactly as your right fit person is experiencing it, which perhaps includes feeling totally frustrated, hopeless, confused or ashamed.

You’ll help them feel less shame when you point out that the reason why those quick fix solutions haven’t worked is because those tips don’t address the root of the issue. There’s nothing wrong with them. It’s not their fault.

A deeper paradigm shift is needed, and it’s totally normal that they need support in moving through that.

In fact, when I realize I’m ready for a paradigm shift, it’s an easy leap to wanting to consider signing up for your high touch program. If I’m gonna do some deep unlearning and profound inner work, I’m probably going to benefit from a container and a guide to walk me through that.

And by the way, you probably DO offer some practical tips that will help your people find some relief soon. Feel free to share those too.

In fact, just hearing about this paradigm shift is probably already helping them feel better.

How To Run Great Calls In Your Course Or Program

Today I’m talking about how to run engaging and effective group calls in your signature program, rather than calls that leave people bored or frustrated or just not showing up.

When I say PROGRAM, I’m talking about a niched, outcome oriented, structured container. Your program might be a workshop, retreat, group coaching program, course, or some hybrid of different formats.

These are the kinds of programs that are always in demand because they actually help people make significant transformations. I’m not talking about flimsy self-led courses here. I’m talking about programs where your participants get to interact with you in a meaningful way.

Therapists and healers make the best programs. We’ve got training and experience in how to help people get from point A to point B. We know how to work with resistance, emotions, and all of the other things that make change difficult.

If you’ve been a participant in a lot of programs, you know that some group leaders have no idea what they’re doing!

You as a therapist or healer have the potential to be a skilled group leader for your program.

BUT there’s some stuff that therapists also need to learn about running calls in their structured, niched and outcome oriented programs.

A question I get a lot is: “How can I facilitate group calls well in my new program?”

And I’m excited to share my answer with you here.

THE TROUBLE WITH THERAPISTS

Our biggest mistakes as therapists are that we tend to run our group calls like group therapy sessions when we need to be doing something different.

⭐️ I’ll use myself as an example. I really fucked this up at the beginning.

In the beginning, I ran group calls a lot like group therapy sessions, and that wasn’t the what my business coaching program needed.

I tended to go towards depth and bigger emotional material because I was comfortable there and that’s what I was used to doing with groups. I had been moving that way during years and years of working as a therapist.

If a person brought up feeling stuck in perfectionism or imposter syndrome, I’d expand and encourage that conversation to the point that it took up most of the session. Then I’d try to rush through some business concepts.

I didn’t know how to balance that beautiful depth with the need to direct the group towards the goal of the program.

My group calls left people feeling understood, bonded to others in the group, and probably with less shame about their experiences, but the calls didn’t give the participants enough help with taking strategic steps in their businesses.

Were the calls bad? It depends what you think the purpose of the calls was. People who primarily wanted space to process about their emotions about their businesses probably felt like the calls were great. People who wanted to move forward with strategy probably felt frustrated.

Even more likely, some participants probably felt pretty good about the calls while they were happening, but then bummed out at the end of the program that we hadn’t gotten very much business stuff done.

As therapists, we still get to use our attunement skills, but we need to harness them differently.

The problem was that I hadn’t chosen ONE clear purpose for my calls.

CHOSE A PURPOSE

That brings me to one of my favorite thought leaders around running groups: Priya Parker. She’s an author and a facilitator, and she’s NOT a therapist.

Her book, The Art Of Gathering, has changed how I think about groups forever.

Priya Parker says that for any gathering, you need to choose ONE clear purpose.

You definitely need one clear purpose for your program.

The purpose of your program is the outcome it helps people move towards.

For example: Let’s pretend your program helps couples in blended families to strengthen their relationships. That’s a juicy niche by the way. Grab it if you want!

This program is designed to get the couple from point A to point B.

Point A is where the couple is now, feeling distress in their bond. point B is feeling stronger in their relationship.

Every single decision you make about your program should be in service of helping your couples towards the goal of a stronger relationship.

Your whole program has a purpose.

Within that program, each of the group calls needs to have one clear purpose as well.

For each session, you can ask yourself: “What is the one thing that this call needs to do well?”

Is the purpose of each meeting to internalize a concept? To feel connected to other participants? To hear each other’s stories?

Choose ONE purpose to build the call around.

Yes, they’ll get additional benefits out of those meetings too.

But choosing just one purpose saves us from this bias we all tend to have. We overestimate our ability to prioritize lots of things at once and do all of them well.

That’s when calls get boring and frustrating for the participants, and you notice that people stop showing up.

That’s also when you as the leader get stressed out and maybe even resentful. You’re trying to do SO much and it’s not working.

Here’s something I hate to hear from the leader at the beginning of a workshop or a meeting:

“We’ve got way more stuff to cover than we have time for!”

We’ve all learned to humble brag about being over committed and doing too much, but when a group call doesn’t have enough time to accomplish the goal, it’s just not as valuable.

RUN YOUR CALLS IN A WAY THAT PROTECTS THE PURPOSE

Once you know the purpose of the program and specifically of each of calls, it’s your job to protect that purpose.

When people signed up for your program, you promised them a process to get from point A to point B.

I’m gonna talk about some things you can do in structuring your calls to make that happen.

THINGS TO DO ON THE FIRST CALL

Your first meeting will be different from the subsequent ones because the purpose of the first call is to get everyone set up for success in the program.

(If what you’re running is a multi-hour workshop or a retreat, this applies to the beginning of that event.)

Start on time. If you wait to start until everyone has arrived, people will take that cue and show up late next time.

Don’t start the first meeting with logistics because that’s a missed opportunity.

Start the very first moment of the very first meeting with something that brings people into more presence.

Logistics can be the second thing you do.

You might start with a breathing exercise, an inspiring story, or a simple experiential exercise.

Name and ask for acknowledgement of group agreements that's you've already created.

Ask participants to share other desired agreements, and allow them to email you with suggested additions if they don’t want to bring them up in the group.

Tell people how you’d like participants to behave on the group calls.

Talk explicitly about what’s in the range of desired behavior, including things like eating, turning their cameras off, coming late or leaving early. There’s no one right answer to these things, so you need to tell them what’s expected here.

Model taking care of yourself. For example, take a sip of water and stretch when you need to.

Tell people to expect that you’ll interrupt them sometimes, always with loving kindness, because you’re going to be driving this bus towards a particular direction.

Tell people what kinds of feedback or comments are welcome.

Unlike in a therapy group, their feedback to each other might not be the priority on these calls. If that’s the case, tell them.

Tell them how to get the most out of these calls and the whole program.

If there’s homework, give them a sense of how much time that will take, and help them plant seeds for themselves about how they’ll get that done and what they’ll do if they fall behind.

STRUCTURING THE REST OF YOUR CALLS

Start with a ritual in each meeting to help people arrive.

Briefly tell people after that ritual what will happen during that call. When that plan changes partway through the call, acknowledge that you’re pivoting. They won’t care that you’re pivoting. They’ll just be glad you’re still driving the bus.

If you’ve got multiple group calls, a structure that often works well is one portion for teaching, then a portion for spotlight coaching or discussion.

90 minutes tends to be a good length for calls where both teaching and discussion and coaching happen.

If you’ve got 6 people or more, breakout rooms of 2 or 3 people can be a helpful tool for discussion. When you use breakout rooms, give them a prompt and tell them to use the time as feels best.

When you’re teaching something, teach! Keep the focus rather than going into too much discussion in the middle of teaching.

Every time you teach a concept, include something experiential so that participants can grapple with what they’re learning.

That could be as simple as pausing for silent reflection or journaling. You could fill in a worksheet together. You could lead folks through a visualization.

Try to show a visual like a slide every time you teach a big concept.

You might include spotlight coaching in place of or in addition to more open ended group discussion. This might move you away from your comfort zone if you’ve been a group therapist. In spotlights, you coach one person in front of the group. If you’ve got a lot of expertise in this topic, and people have paid big bucks to learn from you, so don’t shy away from spotlight coaching.

Sometimes therapists love to say “you’re the expert on you” or “the group has all the wisdom” and we don’t step into our authority enough. Return to the purpose of your group call. If spotlight coaching will fulfill that purpose better than open ended discussion, do it.

Remember when you said you’ll interrupt in order to protect the purpose of the calls? As someone is talking, it is YOUR job to decide if this discussion serves the purpose of the call. If it doesn’t, explain that kindly and move on. On the other hand, If what’s happening with a person does serve the purpose particularly well, you might spend MORE time on one person’s spotlight.

At the end of your very last session, do something that brings people into being present, not logistics. That means you’ll need to talk logistics before the end.

EXPERIMENT WITH DIFFERENT STRUCTURES

I’m a participant in a group right now in which we learn and internalize a new concept each week.

The leader summarizes in one sentence what she would like us to internalize. Then she teaches on that. Then we have a discussion to further internalize the concept.

In my container, Create Your Program, people do all of the short video lessons and work between sessions.

By the way, I do NOT recommend that you prerecord videos. I recommend that you teach everything live at least the first time you run your program. I taught CYP live many times before I recorded the curriculum.

In CYP, the purpose of the weekly calls is to move through obstacles to getting your program created and launched.

The structure of most of my calls is a quick ritual, then spotlight coaching, and sometimes a 10 minute breakout with groups of 2 or 3.

People get other benefits from the calls, but by focusing on that one purpose, I know the calls do that one thing really well.

I’ve also been a participant in a group where we met two times a week. One session was all about learning a concept, and the other session was for discussion and Q&A.

DIFFICULT MOMENTS

Handling difficult moments might come easily to you as a therapist. We know how to have some really tricky conversations while staying present.

One difficult thing you’ll deal with is shame. Your participants will sometimes experience shame during calls because they’re learning big stuff and making changes. Rather than expanding in that direction, which might be too much for the container, you might want to normalize and contain shame. You’re containing the group process, not the person.

One way to do that is to say out loud what you see in others (” I see lots of head nods” or “I see a lot of resonance on people’s faces”) to show that the person is not alone in their experience.

You can also name it if you have struggled in a similar way yourself.

If a participant seems to be in fight or flight or freeze, you might acknowledge that things got big, and that this is big stuff. Name that you’ll circle back with the person if that feels right. Don’t feel you have to tie a bow on every interaction. You won’t always be able to fix or resolve everything, and that’s OK.

When you’re the one who gets dysregulated, especially if you cause any kind of harm, name it. Say “that was about me.” Don’t over apologize, because then participants are likely to feel they need to take care of you.

Circle back next time if you’ve got more accountability to take.

Even if you’re not normally available between calls, you’ll need to be available if a conflict happened and harm happened.

Now remember what I said about talking about homework in the first session?

It’s gonna come up in subsequent sessions.

If you’ve got a program where there’s homework, you’ll need to acknowledge many times that it’s hard to get the work done. Whether you give 5 minutes of homework or 3 hours of homework, it will be hard for people to get it done. If there’s any way to get people to the outcome without homework, don’t assign homework!

This is gonna go against your therapist sensibility, but you’ve got to contain the conversation around how hard it is to get the homework done. Don’t allow your program to become a group only about how hard it is to do the homework. That will not serve the purpose of the group.

In my program, there’s a LOT of homework. The homework is broken down into bite sized pieces, but it’s a lot, because people are creating their programs.

I have a lot of practice at normalizing the struggle to get things done, and strategizing with people about what to prioritize and what to let go of.

BE WILLING TO BE LESS LIKED

This is something you might already be good at as a therapist.

Running a group program is great for getting over people pleasing because you can’t people please 4 or 8 or 25 people at once.

I used to have the habit of scanning for the person who looked least happy on the call and focusing on them.

I rarely do that anymore. Partly because I’ve done a lot of trauma healing recently and partly also just because I’m 52, I just don’t need everyone to like me at every moment.

It’s also helped me to be a participant and watch group leaders who don’t take it personally when someone is struggling or unhappy in the moment. I’ve noticed how calm that makes me feel.

I’ve watched myself as a participant and noticed when I’m the “difficult person”. It’s fine and helpful to be redirected in those moments.

When someone else is the “difficult person”, it’s very comforting to watch the group leader handle it with compassion and clear boundaries.

I work to allow myself to be a conduit for anger, frustration, or whatever a participant might need to feel in a particular moment.

It’s always generous to protect the purpose of the group.

Therapists and healers really do create the best programs.

Once you harness what you’re already great at and grow your skills around this particular kind of facilitation, my prediction is that you’re going to be hooked on running group programs.

The energy and mutual support that happen make group calls my favorite part of my whole job.

What Kind Of Program Beyond Private Practice Should You Create?

If you're wondering what kind of program you should create beyond private practice, let's take it back a couple of steps. Then I'll tell you my favorite 2 kinds of pilot programs to start with.

First you'll want to know these things:

Who is your program for?

What is the problem they're trying to solve that you want to help with?

What is the transformation your program helps them achieve?

Stick with me and these weekly emails and you'll hear MUCH more about choosing a viable niche and figuring out when your niche needs tweaking.

Here are a few hints for now about how to choose a viable niche.

A viable niche involves a problem that a person knows they have, and that they are actively trying to solve. (You don't need to convince them to care about this problem).

A viable niche passes the "cousin test", meaning when you tell someone about your niche, they might have a particular cousin who needs your program. When you explain your viable niche, you're likely to hear: "My cousin (or neighbor or friend...) needs that." You're unlikely to hear: "Cool! I bet everyone could use that."

A viable niche is specific and easy to explain. You can explain it in a sentence or two. If you need several sentences to explain your niche, you're not there yet.

If you're thinking: "I need much more time and help to figure out my niche," you're in good company!

Choosing and honing your viable niche is incredibly important. It's the first thing we focus on in Create Your Program, and I've got several ways to help you settle on one.

Once you've identified the niche you're creating a program for, you'll identify the transformation you're taking your participant through.

You'll choose the size of that transformation and what outcome you'd love to see for your participant. This outcome should be something you are confident you can help them achieve if they're the right fit for your program. It's small enough that they can get there in a number of weeks or a few months, and it's large enough that it profoundly matters to them.

Once you've got a rough draft of your niche and your transformation, you're ready for the question we started with:

"What kind of program should I create?"

Start with a program you'll deliver live, to one person or a small group of people, probably online.

Start by brainstorming everything you might need to include in order to help your participants through the transformation you've chosen. You've probably already used most of these elements in your work with clients. Think of every concept, exercise, example, writing prompt, discussion topic, article, skill, tool, and/or experience you might want to include in your program.

You might want to use sticky notes so that you can move each element around and play with the order.

There are no bad ideas at this stage.

Then pare down by identifying the elements that you believe are truly necessary to this transformation, and put them in the order that creates the best path for their transformation.

Create an outline out of those elements.

As you look at those elements, notice what format is calling out to you.

If you have a small audience or no audience, I recommend starting with a 1:1 structured coaching program, even if you plan on running a large group program in the future.

When you run your pilot or beta program as a structured 1:1 program a few times, you can observe what's working and make adjustments instantly.

Here's what Katy Prince said on Claire Pelletreau's Get Paid Podcast (one of my favorite podcasts) in a recent episode about what you might think is a nightmare situation. Katy piloted a small group program. Three people signed up, and two dropped out. OH NO! But LISTEN.

"I learned so much through that first round of it. SO SO much. It was a total gift.....being able to go through with the intention of it being something replicable because before doing 1:1 work it was always super super custom. Yes, I had a process to follow, but what we would cover would be completely different, and I wasn't fussy about who I worked with at the time. I would adapt to their needs rather than set the agenda."

🔑 This is key: She ran this 1:1 program with the intention of it being something replicable.

Now her program fills with dozens of participants every time.

Starting with a small group program can work too!

If you've got an email list of over 100 engaged subscribers who are within your niche, or you've got a lot of colleagues who are ready to recommend your program, you might be able to fill a small group program right away.

That often happens for participants in Create Your Program.

Run your program LIVE.

I highly recommend running the entire program live the first time, meaning don't pre-record videos or audios for your participants.

When you teach and facilitate everything live, you have the chance to find out in real time what's confusing, what's landing well, where you need to give more examples, and what you need to deliver differently.

You give yourself a break from perfectionism when you're delivering everything in the moment, and you can't stop and redo each piece of content over and over. You'll probably save yourself dozens of hours this way.

I am not a perfectionist, but recording videos still takes me a LONG time.

If you decide to pre-record videos or audios, you will VERY likely re-record them for round 2, so you might as well just wait until round 2 (or 3) to pre-record.

If you need to add some time to each meeting in order to deliver all of the content live, do it.

DO record the content as you're delivering it live. You'll be able to go back and watch what worked, and that will help you iterate round 2.

Have your outline with you, but allow for some flexibility as you respond to the pacing and the needs of your participants.

Your participants will not care if you change the outline a bit to make the program better for them. In working with hundreds of people, I've never heard anyone complain when I strayed from an outline.

If you're ready to create and run your signature program beyond private practice, I've got a process for you.

Join me for Create Your Program.

You'll work through viable niching, creating your pilot outline, designing a marketing plan to grow your audience, and you'll actually launch your program!

Create Your Program is designed to get you there quickly without wasting time.

You'll have a ton of support from me and you'll be working alongside a group of smart, progressive therapists and healers like you.

5 Reasons You Need To Create A Pilot Program

So why am I so sure your first step to creating a business beyond private practice is to create a pilot program?

I made a video for you answering that. If you'd rather read a summary, you'll find that right underneath.

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 comes from iteration. So start iterating. When you need to create something excellent and important, you’ve got to start delivering it soon.

Charlie Gilkey said this really well in his book Start Finishing: “We often falsely assume that the more it matters, the better the start should be. The reality is much humbler and more accessible. the more something matters, the better it is that we start finishing sooner.”

Creating a pilot gets us feedback fast.

We create our best work in relationship with the people it is for. You’ll get way more information from delivering your pilot than you could any other way. You'll know right away what's working and what changes you'll need to make next time.

Creating a pilot forces you to get clear on where the value is.

Creating a simple and live version of your offer forces you to clarify what matters most instead of piling it up with lots of features. Delivering more content will not necessarily add more value. Sometimes adding more content clutters up your offer.

Creating a pilot tricks you into doing the important foundational work that you need to do.

The project of creating your pilot gets you to do foundational things like clarify a truly viable niche, create a solid marketing plan to get that pilot to the people who need it, build a simple website, and more. (Breathe. You can do all this.)

Every program you’ve ever benefitted from began as a pilot.

Ask the founder or creator of any excellent program and you’ll find out it started as a simple pilot program.


Here's how I can help:

The place where you can get my help with creating your pilot program is called Create Your Program.

Learn more and register for CYP

We walk through these steps together:

  • Identify your viable niche

  • Create a high quality live version of your offer

  • Create a marketing plan

  • Announce your pilot to your community

  • Get your legal questions answered by an attorney

You’ll get a ton of support from me both in a small group and privately, and you keep the lessons, worksheets and recordings forever so that you can return to the process as many times as you like.

You’ll make important decisions and take brave steps during this program. We’ve got enough time for you to accomplish this project, but not so much time that you can procrastinate or get lost.

If you’ve got any questions about whether Create Your Program is right for you, please click on “contact” and ask us!

Running Free Online Workshops (18 Pieces Of Advice For My Former Self)

I’ve offered 3 free live online workshops so far in 2021. Each one was a truly fun and energizing experience for me. That’s not something I would ever have believed I’d say about public speaking!

The first live online workshop I ever gave was SO painful for me. I was uncomfortable with the tech, I felt excruciatingly self-conscious, and I was distracted by how few people were in attendance.

I’d like to time travel back through the years and give some advice to the Annie of that day. I’m hoping some of this advice will help you as well, even if you've delivered a bunch of these.

There’s not just one way to do online presentations well, so please take what works for you and ignore the rest.

Here’s what I’d tell past Annie in order to speed up the process of making these experiences feel SO MUCH better:

Before you jump into the material, tell people what to expect.

Give the participants a bulleted outline before they sign up, again when they sign up, and finally right at the beginning of the workshop. That way they’re giving full consent to be a part of what you’re up to. If you’re going to pitch your services (which you should), include that in the outline.

Ask people to do what you want them to do.

If you’re running something on zoom and you wish people would turn on their cameras, respectfully request that. If you want people to answer a question in chat, let them know it will help you out. (I once ran a 3 hour training where everyone kept their cameras off the whole time. I was miserable. Why didn’t I ask them to consider turning their cameras on? Why?!)

Pause.

Tell people you need to gather your thoughts and pause from time to time. Allow yourself a drink of water. Breathe. Let your nervous system slow down for a moment. Do this as often as you need to. A colleague just shared this article with me about why it’s so important to take a “revolutionary pause.”

Invite people to connect with each other.

Sometimes you’ll do that by inviting them to connect in chat. Other times you’ll have breakout rooms.

Leave time for people to reflect.

This is beyond pausing. We learn the most when we’ve got a chance to interact with the material. Give people questions to ponder and let them take at least a full minute to write and reflect.

Use your slides as your notes.

I used to keep notes separate from my slides. Now I have ALL my notes on my slides so that I can just focus on one thing and not have to look elsewhere. This also means that if someone wants my notes, I can simply share my slides with them.

Talk about the reasons and assumptions behind what you’re teaching.

I’ve learned this from listening to Paula Pant. Rather than just teaching tactics, I now try to spell out the larger ideas and assumptions behind those tactics. This puts people in a better position to apply what I’m talking about to their own situation rather than just following my particular advice.

Find the right online platform for you.

I used to rely on zoom for my online workshops. Now I prefer Crowdcast. It’s simple and the recording is automatically saved for us. Experiment and find what you like.

Wear what you enjoy wearing, including on your face.

Don’t feel like you’ve got to dress up or wear makeup if you don’t usually wear makeup. Show up as the person your future participants will see when they work with you. (In my own case, that’s not a glammed up person. If you are a glammed up person, I am SO here for that. Keep rocking that awesome makeup and I will fully enjoy your eye liner. It’s just not me most days.)

Have good lighting.

If you’re in the shadows, it’s hard to connect with you. Invest in a softbox lighting kit for under 50 bucks. (Honestly, the Annie of the past would be confused by these last 2 pieces of advice. When I did my first live online workshop, these things were audio only. Yep. Long-ass time ago.)

Stand up.

This isn’t right for everyone. If standing doesn’t feel good to your body, sit down. I immediately feel more access to energy when I’m standing and I find it easier to project my voice.

Have great sound.

Sound is perhaps more important than video. Folks want to hear every word without effort. Invest in a good USB mic for about $100 right away.

Say “I don’t know.”

Past Annie, repeat after me: “I am not a legal expert. I am not an SEO expert. I am not a designer.” Thank you. Whenever you don’t know the answer, say it loud and proud.

Cite your sources and name your inspirations.

You don’t have to be perfect about it, but whenever you’re sharing something you learned from a particular person, give them credit. We entrepreneurs need to get better at that. Tara McMullin is one person I’ve heard say that several times. (You see what I did there?)

Pitch your program joyfully and briefly.

You told people that this pitch was going to be part of the presentation. Is your program wonderful for the right person? Yes. So don’t apologize for sharing it. Sell it with honesty and joy.

Don’t worry about conversion rates.

For some business owners, it works well to focus on the conversion rates of their online workshops. Not for me. My online workshops sometimes lead folks RIGHT into my programs. Still, when I focus on connecting with people and giving them value in the workshop, I have a better experience.

Leave time for Q&A.

It’s OK if no one has a question, but do give them a clear way to ask and bring a couple of questions you know folks are likely to have in order to get the ball rolling. You can say “Here’s something people often ask me…”

Clear your schedule right after the workshop.

You may want to lie down and feel weird for a little while. That’s OK.

Creating Your Pilot Program Beyond Private Practice? Keep It Simple.

“I have SO many ideas! I have so much to share!”

We just got through pilot week over here in the current round of Create Your Program. That’s when participants outline their pilot/beta programs.

I give individual feedback to every participant who asks for it, which means I get to see what folks are creating, and I LOVE it. One piece of advice I give over and over:

Pare it down and make it simple.

By the time you get ready to create your pilot or beta version of your course, group, retreat, 1:1 coaching package, or other offer, you’ve already spent a lifetime gathering ideas. You’ve got a TON of information and tools to share. You’re an expert in your thing. I know you might doubt that in your most insecure moments, but yes, I’m talking to you.

We’re tempted to include as much content as we possibly can in our programs. We want to do this for a few reasons.

  • We want to pile on more content because we’re hoping that will bring more value.

  • We worry that if we don’t give a ton of information, we’ll be seen as an imposter. (Multiply that if we’re part of a marginalized group!)

  • We aren’t sure what to leave out.

  • We’re concerned that some of our participants might already know the basics, so we’d better include advanced stuff for the advanced folks.

  • We don’t even realize how much we’re piling on because this stuff seems simple to us.

  • We don’t want to do the painful work of editing.

And yet we should pare things down.

Please put yourself in the shoes of your future participant. They aren’t an expert in your topic, and they’re paying you to simplify this process for them.

So how do you figure out what to include in your pilot offer and what to leave out?

Decide exactly who this is for and what transformation this person will achieve with your pilot. (By the way, I know deciding on those things is hard! In Create Your Program we walk through a process to get you there before you create your pilot outline.)

Once you know those things, you can create your simple, pared down pilot program to provide only what is necessary to guide your participants through that transformation. No bonus material. No “but wait….there’s more.”

One way to get started with this process is to write down every single dingle tool, piece of information, exercise or example you might include, each on its own post it note. No editing in this first step. Put them ALL up on your wall or across your kitchen table or floor.

Next, put the post it notes that MUST be included into the center. Put the maybes on the periphery. You're probably going to edit those out.

Once you’re clear on what you’ll include, start categorizing those post it notes. The modules/lessons/topics of your offer will begin to emerge.

Are you ready to create the pilot offer that will launch the next phase of your business?

Let’s do it together. Join me and a group of warm, innovative therapists and healers.

In Create Your Program, you’ll walk through a process to identify a viable niche, outline your pilot, create a marketing plan, and launch your offer. You'll do all of this in 5 weeks, and you’ll get a ton of support.

Learn more and apply right here.

33 Ways To Create Time, Money & Energy For Your Business Beyond Private Practice

Here's what I hear from my participants when they first come to my programs:

"I want to create a business beyond private practice, but I'm already stretched. My life as it is takes up a lot of time and energy and I'm trying to fit in this new business around the edges."

Cramming more into a full life doesn't work. We don't have access to our most creative selves when we're burned out. Our best ideas don't usually emerge at the end of an eight or ten hour work day. Our best ideas come when we're rested and focused.

Folks in Rebel Therapist programs get intentional and creative about carving out time, money and energy for their new businesses because they take their goals seriously.

I'm gonna share some of the ways they make the next thing possible.

I want you to imagine tons of brilliant therapists and healers giving you this advice. Not everything here will work for you, but there's something here for you to try or recommit to.

  1. Turn off all notifications from social media. Only go to social media platforms on purpose and do not scroll.

  2. Put a lock on your door and do not accept interruptions from your household for particular time blocks.

  3. Set up a work retreat, either by going away or by creating space and time at home.

  4. Block out time on your calendar every day or at least every week for the expansion project and take that appointment as seriously as you would a session.

  5. Go on more walks.

  6. Identify the one most important next step to expanding your business, and DO that. Hint: It's not coming up with your brand images or a clever name for your business.

  7. Commit to not refilling a spot in your private practice when someone leaves.

  8. Guard your attention. Do not use it up on anything that doesn't matter.

  9. Respond to email only once or twice per day.

  10. Turn on do not disturb on your computer at all times.

  11. Create an email autoresponder telling folks when they'll hear from you or why they may not.

  12. Delegate or stop doing a time consuming household task.

  13. Write down why you're expanding your business. Share your reasons with someone who will take your expansion seriously.

  14. Raise your rates in your private practice. (This might create thousands of dollars this year without working more.)

  15. Follow/enforce your cancellation policies. (This also might create thousands of dollars this year without working more).

  16. Tell everyone close to you that you're focusing on an important project.

  17. Tell everyone close to you about your income goal.

  18. Completely unplug from all of your work for at least 2 days per week.

  19. Sleep more.

  20. Attend co-working sessions with accountability partners. Check in briefly and then work.

  21. Create an end of work-day ritual so you can completely let it go and rest.

  22. Meditate.

  23. Create a focus playlist to play while you work on your expansion.

  24. Use the Pomodoro Technique.

  25. Only work four hours a day so that you only do the most important work.

  26. Get more childcare.

  27. Create a spiritual ritual and devote yourself to it every day.

  28. Create a joyful and pleasurable exercise practice and devote yourself to it as often as works for your body.

  29. Decide what your private practice schedule will be going forward and actually stick with that, even when it doesn't work for one of your clients. Really.

  30. Regularly talk to someone who believes in your vision and in you. Borrow their confidence in you when you're feeling shaky.

  31. Quit a committee.

  32. Quit something else you don't want to be doing.

  33. Don't sign up for any courses or programs until you've finished the ones you're in.

Please tell me what you're going to try or recommit to from this list. Tell me what else is working for you to carve out time, money and energy. I'll LOVE knowing what's working for you.

More Truth About Passive Income For Therapists

A couple of weeks ago I told you that I don't think you should set passive income as your goal.

If you'd like to read that post, here it is.

I was concerned that you'd be bummed out by this message, but I heard from a lot of you, and everyone who replied said they loved hearing the truth.

A lot of the folx who replied are my Rebel Therapist clients and my colleagues who have built successful businesses beyond traditional private practice.

That got me thinking. If people who already run successful businesses beyond private practice know that passive income is kind of a lie, then why do so many beginner entrepreneurs think it's a great idea?

I think passive income has the beginner entrepreneur's attention because passive income is high profile. Passive income businesses require huge audiences and a TON of marketing, so we see them and we know about them.

(They also require big teams and lots of work. That's all in my previous post.)

On the other hand, businesses based on small-scale high-value offers within clear niches don't require huge audiences or a ton of visibility.

Tara McMullin of What Works was recently talking about how many of the small businesses she sees making great money put very little energy into marketing:

"Many of the most successful business owners I know spend very little effort on marketing and, instead, spend most of their effort on systems & operations."

Tara would know. She’s a business strategist who runs a network for small businesses.

I'm not trying to make Rebel Therapist into a household name. I'm not against it, but it's not my goal. I want to be the secret medicine behind visionary therapists and healers who are doing amazing work and making excellent money beyond private practice.

I don't need a huge audience for that. I need my programs to be highly effective, and I need the right people to know about my work. (Like you!)

Perhaps you're wondering what some of these other low-profile, high-quality, high-profit businesses look like.

Some of the signature programs I see making a huge impact and really good money without going passive are:

  • 1:1 coaching

  • Small-group coaching

  • Retreats

  • 1:1 and couple intensives

  • Masterminds

  • Courses with live calls

  • Workplace trainings

Many of these businesses are featured on Rebel Therapist Podcast.

So what about you? What might your ideal business look like?

I'd love to know.

Why I Don't Love The Goal Of Passive Income

Pretend you just asked me “Will you help me create passive income?”

Here’s what you’d hear me say:

I want to help you create a business that allows you to work in the ways you’re meant to work and get paid really well for it.

I also don’t want you to work more than you want to work.

(I work less than 25 hours a week myself. Often less.)

And YET...

Passive income is often not a great central goal because:

Passive income takes a long time.

It takes so much time and love and effort to get to passive income that if that’s your primary goal, I’m concerned that you won’t have the patience to get there. If years of serving directly in new and innovative ways doesn’t appeal to you, it will be HARD to turn your rebel business into something passive.

Passive income requires a really huge audience.

If you want passive income, you will need to throw yourself into audience building in a big way. (Unless you already have an audience of tens of thousands right now. If that’s the case, ignore this email. You’re already on your path to passive income if that’s what brings you joy.)

Wanting to go passive is sometimes a sign that you’re burnt out.

You may be working WAY too much and resting WAAAAY too little. You may be working in ways that don’t feel good to your body or spirt. That’s not a great place to be when you start or expand a business. If you're burnt out, it’s time to clear some space to REST and HEAL before starting a new project.

The biggest value to our participants often comes from interactive work.

When I ask people to think about the programs and services they’ve purchased and participated in, and notice which ones brought the biggest transformation, they often talk about interaction with the leader and/or community as an important component in the most valuable programs.

Passive comes after highly interactive iterations.

Even when a passive program is highly effective, as soon as we look into its history, we find out it was run live at least a few times before it went passive.

So perhaps you'd like to ask: CAN a program be made passive successfully?

Let’s look at a successful example. I’m taking a self-paced course right now that was taught live in its first iterations. When she ran it live, the instructor took note of what questions the participants asked and the feedback they shared. She and her team have built all of that into the videos, worksheets and quizzes that I now get to enjoy.

Now I can take this course in a self-paced way because others came before me to help shape the experience.

But it’s still not passive.

She’s running three office hours calls every week.

She and her team are making improvements and updates to the curriculum constantly.

In case you’re curious, I’m talking about Paula Pant’s course about buying your first rental property. I highly recommend if that’s something you want to learn about. I’m not an affiliate, just giving credit where credit is due.

Watching Paula geek out about assessing a potential rental property is delightful because she has energy for it.

I have no doubt that Paula is making a GREAT living from this course, but if she didn’t love talking about rental properties, she’d be very unhappy and burnt out.

I use that example of a “passive” program to say yes, it can be done well. And it’s really not passive.

If you’re interested in creating an expanded business beyond a traditional private practice, please ask yourself what transformation you have energy for. What’s your “positive obsession”? (as Octavia E. Butler would say).

Follow that energy. That’s where you’ll create the program or service only you can create. You probably won’t be impatient to make it passive. You'll want to make it excellent.

Rather than listening to the tired, burnt out voice that says “I want passive income,” listen for the voice that says “Here’s what I want to devote myself to!”

From that energy, you’ll be able to build an empire if you like.

Burn Your Therapy License

burn your therapy license.png

When I talk to therapists about what they truly want to accomplish and how they most want to work, they talk about wanting to work in ways that involve less 1:1 sessions. Some folks feel limited by the constraints of private practice, and they're ready to expand in a new direction.

They start to dream into the idea of creating innovative programs. They want to collaborate with different kinds of healers. They may even want to help lead movements.

And then within a few minutes, they start worrying about their therapy licenses.

I hear these concerns:

"What if I do something to mess up my therapy license? I could lose it."

"What will my colleagues think?"

Sometimes those concerns are enough to stop some people before they even get to dream into a new vision.

The possibility is shut off.

🔥Now let me be clear. My suggestion that you burn your therapy license is a symbolic one.

If you've got a therapy license, you worked hard for that thing. You may want to keep it! You may not. Either choice is fine. Your therapy license is one important tool in your career.

But symbolically, take a moment to burn it or otherwise let it go. Just in your imagination. Just for a moment.

Ask yourself this:

In what ways is your fear of losing your license holding you back from serving in the ways you are meant to serve?

I'd love to know.