Answer 3 Questions About Your Business Before 2017

As you get ready to set your business goals for 2017, ask yourself these three questions:

1. What worked this year?

2. What have you started doing that will likely show results in 2017?

3. What have you been doing that needs a small tweak in order to show results?

If you’re just starting out, read this post with 2018 in mind.

The Pereto principle states that 80% of your success will come from 20% of your efforts. Let’s apply this principle to your therapy business. Identify the marketing activities that contribute the most to bringing in clients, do more of those things, and you’ll fill your practice.

Are you drawn to trying new things? I get it. Me too. As you set goals for 2017, it’s tempting to add new marketing activities. That MIGHT be a good idea. After carefully considering these 3 questions, you’ll be in a good position to choose the right new activity. It might be the year for you to start a blog, add a workshop to your offerings, or launch a podcast. Just wait until you’ve figured out what’s already working. This process is like going through the clothes in your closet before you head to the store.

You may think doing a little bit of every marketing activity will be the best way to build your practice. That's exactly wrong. 

Doing a very small number of activities well and consistently is more likely to bring you the practice you want.

Wondering how it can hurt to do everything? You’ve got limited time. If you spend 2 hours a week on marketing you’ve only got 100 hours to dedicate all year. Spending those hours wisely is one key to your success.

When you spend time on one marketing activity, you’re taking time away from another one. That’s opportunity cost. Doubling or tripling the time and energy you spend on the most effective activities will bring you more clients. You can’t increase the most effective activities unless you cut back on the activities that have been taking up the other 80% of your marketing time. Something’s gotta go.

If you were a larger business, opportunity cost would be less of a big deal. For example, you could afford to send a team off to work on social media and then measure the results of that experiment. You’re one person. When you experiment with social media, you spend less time writing articles, talking to your colleagues, or finding public speaking gigs. You must make room for change and innovation, but you also must be careful with how much of your time you spend in different areas.

WHAT WORKED THIS YEAR?

How did your clients find you in 2016? It might be difficult to identify which of your marketing activities led to new clients. Sometimes you don’t know exactly where your clients found you because they don’t remember. That’s ok. Do your best to figure out where your clients came from this year.

Two tools that will help you gather this information are an inquiry tracking system and Google analytics. If you aren’t familiar with Google analytics, um…Google it.

If you’ve been using an inquiry tracking system, you have a wealth of information to examine. If you haven’t, start now! At minimum, track this information for each person who inquires about services: date, name, where they found you, and whether they came in for a session.

To figure out what’s happening with your website, use Google analytics. Install it now if you haven’t already. Google analytics will start gathering information from the moment you install it, but it can’t gather past data. Start looking at how many people visit your site each month, where they come from, and which pages on your site are most popular. Don’t go down a wormhole and spend too much time on Google analytics. As all online tools, it can be a helpful assistant or a time suck.

If you have no tracking system and you don’t have analytics installed, do your best to remember where your last 10 clients came from.

Now get ready to do more of what worked. Here are two examples.

If you discover that many of your clients found you through an online directory, put MORE energy into your profile on that directory. Get a better photo, update your specialties, and edit your statement so that it speaks directly to your right-fit client in the very moment that they need you. Then consider joining a second directory.

If you notice that one or two colleagues sent you many of your clients, nurture those relationships. Invite those colleagues to attend a training with you, or set up a lunch date. Then think about what makes these referral partners such a good fit and look for a few more colleagues just like them. Nurture those relationships too.

WHAT HAVE YOU STARTED DOING THAT WILL LIKELY SHOW RESULTS IN 2017?

Maybe you’ve planted seeds with some of your marketing activities and they haven’t had a chance to grow yet. Don’t abandon your activities before they have a chance to work.

For example, if you’ve started relationships with colleagues who have told you “I’ve sent you a few referrals,” but those people never seem to call, don’t give up. It sometimes takes months for the necessary chain of events to happen: Your colleague gets to know you and understands what you do well, they talk to a person who is looking for a therapist just like you, they give that person your name, the potential client looks you up, and then the potential client takes the first step of contacting you. If you’re planting networking seeds with several colleagues, those seeds will bloom. You just can’t control when.

In my experience and the experiences of the many therapists I’ve worked with, these are the activities most likely to start working after a number of months of persistent activity:

• Networking 1:1 with colleagues

• Giving talks to groups that include your right-fit clients

• Having good, niched profiles in directories with high traffic

• Creating great copy on the most popular pages on your website

• Creating great content such as articles for your website

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING THAT NEEDS A SMALL TWEAK IN ORDER TO SHOW RESULTS?

Maybe you’re doing some of the right things, but you need to make small changes to HOW you’re doing those things.

Let’s look at a few examples.

You study Google analytics and discover that your website isn’t turning visitors into clients often enough. You’ve got hundreds of visitors to your site each month, but you only get one or two phone calls. Just about every visitor looks at your homepage, so work to make the copy better. Every word should speak directly to your right-fit client. Need some help with this process? Here you go.

You’ve gone to an organization’s networking event every month all year, and not a single client has been referred from those colleagues. If no one you’ve met there appeals to you, jump ship now and don’t look back. If, on the other hand, you feel like you’ve made some good connections with colleagues who you like and respect, make a tweak to your process. Go to the event every other month, and invite one or two of those colleagues to coffee one on one in between. Go here for more help with networking.

You’ve done 3 public speaking gigs this year, and only one client has resulted. Ask yourself a few questions to identify what small changes you need to make. Did you give your audience members an easy path to sign up for a free consultation right after the talks? Did you keep the topic of your talks narrow enough that you could cover that topic well? Did you give opportunities for the participants to interact with you and the other participants? For more tips on public speaking, go here.

Before you go on to the next stage of goal setting, take a deep breath and congratulate yourself on what worked this year.

Ready to create the practice you want and deserve? My next Superpower Method For Therapists® Program begins in February. Find out more. 
 

25 Productivity Hacks Just For Therapists In Private Practice

Are you finding it impossible to get enough done in your business?

 

You've decided to build your business, learn more about marketing, create content for your website, and network more. Perhaps you’ve got a few other ideas too. Do these goals stall out at the planning stage?

I put together these 25 productivity hacks especially for therapists because I want you to get the important stuff done without working more. These hacks have helped me make progress in my businesses, and many of them have worked for therapists I work with. I hope some of them work for you!

Hack #1: Don’t use your email inbox as your to-do list.

Your email inbox is a great tool but a terrible master. It can lead to distraction dozens of times a day. I achieve inbox zero at least once a week. That doesn’t mean I’ve accomplished everything associated with every email I received. It means I’ve taken care of the urgent emails and put other tasks onto my to-do list.

Hack #2: Categorize different kinds of tasks and schedule time for each category.

I group my tasks into 4 categories, according to the kind of energy they require and then I schedule tasks from the same category together. Here are my four categories:  

Clinical work:

Obviously, this is the time you spend serving clients.

Creative/deep work:

These tasks include writing articles, creating content for courses, creating outlines for talks, and learning new skills. This kind of work is best done in chunks of 90 minutes or more, and I don’t bother tackling one of these items if I have less than an hour available. I often feel resistant before I delve into this kind of work, but once I’m in that zone, it’s easier to stay there.

Interactive work:

This includes any task that involves calling or. This requires social energy, and once I’ve transitioned into that energy, I can work through all of those items. Networking, whether it’s returning emails or calls or reaching out to people, belongs in this category.

Administrative work:

These tasks require attention to detail. Some of these tasks are writing notes, paying bills, tracking numbers, and monthly reports.

Hack #3: Make checklists of all of your mundane weekly tasks.

Run through them as quickly as possible so you can save your time and energy for more creative tasks.

Hack #4: Set up your to-do list at the beginning of each day or the day before.

Decide what you’re going to do every day before you start. This prevents you from getting scattered throughout the day.

Hack #5: Do your to-do list in a way that actually works for you.

I use my calendar as my to-do list now. I have a very limited to-do list elsewhere for items I will plan to do far in the future. Every other item goes straight into my digital calendar so that I know exactly when I’m going to do it. Experiment with what actually works for you. Pen and paper? Great! Task management app? Fabulous. Experiment until you find your jam.

Hack #6: Complete all your client-related paperwork during the part of your day set aside for client work.

Write notes between clients so that you never have to catch up. Take care of any invoicing, charging credit cards, or insurance related paperwork before you leave your office each day. If you need to add half an hour in the middle or at the end of your time with clients, do it. Don’t allow these items to swallow up your time or hang over your head.

Hack #7: Create a marketing checklist.

You’ll tend to make marketing more complex than it needs to be if you try stuff with no system. Decide the minimum marketing you’ll do each week. I encourage every therapist I work with to create a flexible marketing checklist. Your checklist should include all the marketing activities you plan to try and how often you plan to work on each one.  

Hack #8: Create a model week.

You can do this in Google calendar, a paper calendar, or anywhere you like. Create the ideal week, in which you assign every task to a time. Plug in your sessions, your admin time, your marketing time, your networking time, exercise, self-care, social time, and everything you need and want time for. Work to move your actual schedule as close to this model week as you can. Return to your model week often to remind you how to set up your time.

Hack #9: Create a brain dump.

Do you have dozens of items on scraps of papers and stored in different places on your computer and phone? Pull them all together in one place so that you don’t have to hold them in your head. This isn’t your to-do list, because that would be too overwhelming. You’ll accomplish some of these items soon, but some won’t happen for a long time, or ever. Use your to-do list for you for those items that you’ll deal with in the near future, and leave the rest on the brain dump list for another day.

Hack #10: Estimate the amount of time every single item on your to-do list will take.

This is built into the way my to-do list works because mine is my calendar. But you can do this with any to-do list system. When you add an item to your to-do list, always include a number of minutes next to it. Don’t write, “check email,” rather write “check email 10” meaning you intend to spend 10 minutes on email. You write “article 120” meaning you plan to spend 2 hours on an article that day. This practice forces you to be realistic and kind to yourself when you plan your day. When you add up the items and they take up more time than you have available, you decide what you’ll move to another day.

Hack #11: Create productivity rituals.

Set up your work time up so that it feels special. This is your special chair. This is your mug with your favorite tea. This is the stretch you do before you sit down. You’ll come to associate your rituals with being productive.

Hack #12: Find an Accountability buddy.

Set up “get it done” day with a friend. It doesn’t matter if you’re rewriting your home page and she’s cleaning out her closet, as long as you both intend to focus. Start at a predetermined time and check in by phone for a VERY short time about what you’ll both accomplish. Check in again 2 hours later. Report back briefly and get back to work. When you’re done for the day give one final report and congratulate each other. Many of us thrive on accountability, and this is a free way to get some.

Hack #13: Get unstuck by taking a small step.

If an item lingers on your to-do list for months, decide whether it really needs to happen. If it does, identify the very first tiny step. For example, maybe you’ve got “create a web page about depression” on your to-do list, but you don’t know the technical steps to create a new page on your site. Your first tiny steps are to figure out what your technical question is and then to get that question answered.

Hack #14: Get offline.

Don’t allow online to become your default setting. I don’t allow myself to bounce around from site to site while I’m working. I stay focused on my task, and if questions or ideas come up that need my attention, I write them so I can let them go now and tackle them later. Have a hard time staying offline? Go somewhere with no Internet or use an app like Freedom or Anti-Social.

Hack #15: Get rid of your worst app.

Gretchen Rubin and Elizabeth Craft of the podcast Happier suggest that you "delete a soul-sucking app off your phone." Many of their listeners have deleted candy crush or Face book. One tip from their listeners is to take FB off your phone so you can only access it from your computer.

Hack #16: Make a plan about when to return calls and emails from potential clients.

Maybe you want to cut back on how often you check email and voicemail, but you still want to check for potential client inquiries 5 times a day. Create a boundary for yourself that you’ll ignore all other messages sometimes so these checking times don’t become opportunities for distraction.  

Hack #17: When you’re working on something that requires focus, resist the urge to do something easier.

You’ll notice that when you schedule time for writing or any activity that requires intense focus, you’ll start jonesing to take care of something else urgent and easy. You’ll desperately want to pay a bill or check your email or look up an article. As you resist that urge, you’ll not only get a lot more done, but you’ll strengthen your ability to concentrate next time. I think therapists are better about this than the average person. We’re practiced at shutting off devices and distractions and going deep into sessions. For 50 minutes or more at a time, often several times a day, we focus intensely. We just need to do this more outside of sessions.

Hack #18: Schedule a walk in the middle of your workday.

This may seem counterintuitive if you need to be productive. When we completely unplug and go on a walk, we’re better able to solve problems and focus when you return.

Hack #19: Observe your distracted thoughts for a moment without acting on any of them.

Write down anything truly important and giggle at the rest. Here’s me for example. Today I had this article to write, and here’s just a moment of my distracted thoughts:

“There are clothes in the dryer and if they sit there they will wrinkle. And also the dishes will be so much easier tonight if I take care of emptying the dishwasher now. And also I think someone had emailed me a question. And maybe there’s something truly urgent that I’ve forgotten about. Are there any deadlines coming up that I may have forgotten? Are there any memberships about to lapse? Are any of the emails sitting in my inbox are urgent? Have I checked recently? Should my phone really be off right now? Could there be an urgent message from a client or from my child’s school? There’s a page on my website that could use some attention…”

Hack #20: Ask yourself how you’d focus if you had 3 clients in a row right now.

Somehow all of those distracting thoughts and competing priorities would leave your mind. You’d give your clients your full attention. Now try to tune out everything else and give the tasks you’ve chosen that same level of attention.

Hack #21: Clear a space.

Don’t procrastinate with a daylong desk-clearing day. Even a productivity hack can become a distraction. Just move the clutter out of your way.

Hack #22: Set a timer.

Until the timer goes off, you’re not allowed to change your mind about your area of focus.

Hack #23: Choose your priorities every quarter or so.

Knowing what you want to accomplish one to three months from now will help you focus and ignore out what’s less important.

Hack #24: At the beginning of your workday, picture yourself at the end of your workday several hours from now.

What will your future self feel happiest to have accomplished?

Hack #25: Make your Monday to-do list on Friday afternoon.

I used to waste time on Monday morning figuring out what to do first. After two days away from work, I had to get centered, catch up and remember what I was in the middle of the week before. By making my Monday list on Friday, I can let go over the weekend, and get right to work on Monday morning.  

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Are You A Self-Care Rockstar Or A Martyr?

Randi Buckley, the creator of the course “Healthy Boundaries For Kind People,” says that the purpose of boundaries is not to keep certain people or things OUT of your life, rather boundaries serve the purpose of keeping certain people and things IN your life. When you’re a kind person (and I know you are), holding a self-care boundary can make you feel mean or selfish. You might feel uncomfortable with ending a session on time, charging for a missed session, or saying no to working hours you don’t want to work.  

You want to be kind and helpful to your clients, and I believe that your self-care boundaries help you do that.  I’m not talking about clinical boundaries, although those are incredibly important. I’m talking about self-care boundaries. When we practice great self-care, we’re better therapists.  We’re better at helping our clients make the huge transformations they have hired us to help them with. Self-care boundaries support your energy, financial health, and physical health.

Here’s a little quiz to see how well you’re holding self-care boundaries in your therapy practice. Give yourself a point for every statement that’s true for you. If you get 10 out of 10, you’re a self-care rock star. If you get 0 out of 10 I’m afraid you may be a martyr. And we can fix that!

1. I end my sessions on time with a few exceptions when it makes sense to me.
2. I eat nourishing and yummy food when I’m at work.
3. I stretch my body and move around between sessions.
4. I consult weekly with peers who I like and trust.
5. I charge for missed sessions within the frame of my policies.
6. I take time off regularly.
7. When I take time off, I don’t work.
8. I work hours that make sense to my body and life rhythms.
9. I’ve set up my business so that when my practice is full I make more than enough money.
10. I avoid colleagues who I feel undervalued by and seek out those who I feel supported by.

Alright then. So how did you do? Let's go through these, one by one and make you into a rockstar. 

I end my sessions on time with few exceptions. 

When you end a session on time and leave yourself the full break between clients, you may  focus on the impact on the client who’s leaving the session. How will they feel when I say it’s time to stop? Will they feel unimportant? But consider the impact it has on your NEXT client. When you stop on time, you give yourself time to write a note, go to the bathroom, get a drink of water, touch your toes, and maybe even sit in silence for a minute. What you’ve held on to in those 10 minutes is your energy and feeling of groundedness.

I eat nourishing and yummy food when I'm at work. 

Why am I including your food habits in this list? Having healthy and yummy food at work is a self-care boundary you set with yourself. When I’m not holding my self-care boundaries with myself, I might not plan ahead and bring food with me. Then I’m stuck choosing between something unhealthy or spending too much money on a meal. When I hold my boundaries and stick to my self-care rituals, I pack leftovers and snacks the night before.

I stretch my body and move around between sessions. 

This goes back to taking your full break between clients. You deserve to check in with yourself between clients and attend to your body.

I consult weekly with peers who I like and trust. 

You’re busy, I know. Getting the regular support of your peers makes you better at your job and makes you feel less alone in this work. My consult group is my professional lifeline. As busy as my life becomes, I have to hold the boundary of keeping that weekly meeting on my calendar.

I charge for missed sessions within the frame of my policies. 

Do you feel guilty when you charge for a missed session even when it’s within the window of your policy? Do you look for any excuse to NOT charge for a missed session? You absolutely get to decide what your cancellation policy is, but once you create it thoughtfully, I encourage you to hold that boundary. Of course an exception will come along, but don’t put your own financial self-care last on your list.

I take time off regularly. 

I really hope you can say yes to this one. If not, please read my article about how to take a proper vacation.

When I take time off, I don't work. 

Set things up before you go so that you can really let go, OK?

I work hours that make sense to my body and life rhythms. 

I used to work evenings and weekends, and sometimes saw 8 clients in a row. It worked at the time. As my life and rhythms have changed, I’ve needed to move my schedule into the morning and not have as many sessions in a row. If you’re working hours you don’t want to work, start transitioning off of them now. If you know that your quality of life will improve when you stop working by 7 pm, do not take another regular appointment at that time! I know it’s tough when you have an opening and you want to say yes to a client who really wants that time. Remember that when your schedule feels good to you, you feel more ease and joy in your life. It’s a big deal.

I've set up my business so that when my practice is full I make more than enough money. 

This boundary is about financial self-care. As you are setting your fees and arranging your schedule, do not set your income goal right where you NEED it to be. When you design your business to make just enough money, you’re going to make a little bit less than enough, even when you’re full. Something always goes differently than you planned. Allow an income buffer and set your goal higher.

I avoid colleagues who I feel undervalued by and seek out those who I feel nurtured by. 

Spend time in those mutually supportive relationships that make you feel valued, inspired and engaged. If you spend time with a colleague who makes you feel less-than, cut it out. Your time and energy are valuable.

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Use Public Speaking To Grow Your Therapy Practice

Is it time to try public speaking?

Speaking rocks. It’s one of the fastest ways to bring clients into your practice. If you told me you absolutely need to bring in ten solid clients in the next month, I’d tell you to plan some speaking engagements. Speaking is an opportunity to interact with several of your potential clients and show them your expertise and what it’s like to work with you.

You may be coming up with reasons public speaking isn't for you.  

Is this what you’re saying?

"I’m not a charismatic speaker."

"I hate public speaking."

"I don’t have a talk ready."

"I don’t know where to speak."

"I’d rather write, network, or do just about anything else."

Allow me to push you a little bit.

When my friends invite me to go on a hike, I ask them to call it a “walk” instead. I can always go for a walk. A hike? Sometimes it sounds like a bit much.

So maybe you don’t have to call this thing “public speaking.”

How about one of these:  

• “Running a short workshop”
• “Leading a group discussion”
• “Teaching a skill to a group of people”

Choose who, what, where, and when.

You might think the first step is to plan out your talk, but that comes later. Choose your audience, topic and title, then choose where you’re giving your talk, and schedule it. You’ll figure out the content and practice the talk as you get closer.

Think about who your right-fit clients are. If you work with a wide range of clients, choose one type of client to start with, then figure out where those clients go to talks. If you don’t know, crowdsource to find out. Ask your colleagues and friends who most resemble your right-fit clients.

The easiest way to give a talk is to present at an organization’s event. The organization advertises your talk to their audience and you just show up.

If you don’t want to speak for an organization, you can host your own talk.

Does your therapy office have room for 4 or more participants? Host a one-hour free workshop, and offer it a few times so that you can include several participants. Invite colleagues to come and/or to tell their clients.

Give an online workshop. Use google hangouts or zoom to host a webinar. If your right-fit clients are busy professionals, they might find an online talk easier to attend.

Plan your talk. 

Decide what you want your participant to be able to do or know by the end of the talk, then plan the entire talk to achieve that goal. Keep it simple. A deep dive into one skill is more valuable than an overview of everything you know. If you’re presenting about relationships, don’t give an overview of the 10 most important relationship skills. Teach one or two skills so the participants can use them when they get home that night.

Leave plenty of time for practicing and discussing. Go beyond just adding a question and answer period to the end of the talk. Breanne Dyck, author of Beyond Satisfaction, says that people learn more when they interact with the material than when they just hear it. You know this from your own experience as an audience member. When you do an exercise, write or talk about a skill, you learn that skill much more thoroughly than when you only listen to a lecture. Throw in a silent think, a pair share, a group brainstorm, or a writing exercise.

Practice your talk. If you hate the idea of talking to yourself for the full length of your talk, divide it up and practice 15-minute segments.

Give your talk. 

Be yourself rather than trying to imitate your favorite public speaker. Figure out how you communicate when you’re at your best and be that way in during your talk. If you’re an excellent story-teller, start with a story that pulls people in. If you’re more of a listener than a talker, set up the event as a group discussion. Make eye contact. Let them see what you’re like as a therapist.

At the end of the talk, give the participants a clear next step to work with you. Pass out a feedback form with very simple questions such as “What is one thing you will implement from this talk?” and include a check box to sign up for a free consultation with you. Explain what a participant will get out of a free consultation with you. For example “If you’re thinking you want to learn more about how to….sign up for a free consultation. We’ll talk for 15 minutes and I’ll suggest some next steps you might take.”

Contact those people who sign up for a free consultation right away.

The more times you give a talk, the easier the process becomes. You can do this.

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Free 5 Day Challenge To Bring In More Full Fee Clients

Your goal is to fill your practice with more full-fee clients. All of your sliding scale or insurance slots are full, and you’ve figured out that with five or ten full-fee clients, your business would be way better off. 

Potential clients don’t contact you often enough, and you’re feeling discouraged and frustrated. 

You’re pretty sure if you keep on doing things the way you have been, your practice won’t be in a significantly better spot by the beginning of 2017. 

Here’s the misconception you may be living with: 

It just takes time. You need to wait for clients to find you. Your colleagues will get to know you better, your work will keep on improving, and eventually you’ll have a full practice. 

The truth: 

When you wait and hope to build your business without strategy or intention, you don’t create the businesses you really want. You burn out because you end up working too much and not doing enough of what you’re great at. 

In this 5-day challenge, you'll identify a plan to bring in more of the full-fee clients you want to work with, and begin taking steps using that plan. 

We'll kick off the challenge with a live online workshop on Monday, November 14th at 10:00 am PT, 1:00 ET. 

During the live workshop, I’ll walk you through the Free 5-Day Challenge and answer your questions. If you can’t make it live, you can watch the recording. You'll receive it later that day. 

Then the challenge begins! 

Day One: Choose your next 10 clients. 

This is a short exercise to help you clarify your focus. At the end of this step, you’ll be able to identify who you’d like to bring into your practice and you’ll have some keys to reaching those people. 

Day Two: Brainstorm ways to help those next 10 clients find you. 

The possibilities are overwhelming, but your best marketing strategy includes a small number of activities done well. Today, you'll brainstorm and tomorrow you'll choose the best ideas based on who your right-fit clients are, what your strengths are, and what you don't hate doing. 

 

Day Three: Design your flexible marketing checklist or grab bag. 

You’ll create a plan you can follow and adjust. With a marketing plan, you don’t have to waste any more time sitting in overwhelm. 

Day Four: Take one networking step. 

Based on your marketing plan, you’ll take one important step to start bringing in your favorite clients. 

Day Five: Take one step to improve your online presence. 

You’ve got your flexible checklist or grab bag at this point, and you’re going to choose one key step to help your right-fit clients find you online. 

What the 5-Day Challenge IS NOT:

• This challenge is NOT going to fill your practice in 5 days. We both know that’s not gonna happen. 
• It’s not a blueprint. I SO don’t believe those work. I’ll give you a path to create a short-term plan tailored to you and your right-fit clients. This is a choose your own adventure story. 
• This isn’t a boot camp. I’m giving you small assignments you can complete in 30 minutes or less per day. If you’ve got extra time, you can always do more! 

Sorry, this challenge has already started! Sign up below so you don't miss the next one. 

Visual Goal Setting Works (Here's How)

Here’s a tool that will help you accomplish more in your business without working harder.

I’ve started using visual goal setting. It’s way more fun and creative than your usual quarterly goal setting. If a to-do list and a vision board had a child, it would be this method.

The chalkboard method was created by life coach Jay Prior. I learned about it from Kathleen Shannon and Emily Thompson of the podcast Being Boss. It’s a way to create intentionality, and it uses the principle “that which is measured improves.” -Karl Pearson (at least he’s one person who said it).

It’s really working for me. I’m hitting my goals and staying inspired every day.

What is the chalkboard method?

Your “chalkboard” or "goal board" doesn’t need to be an actual chalkboard. You can use a big piece of paper or poster board, a chalkboard or a dry erase board. Your board should be big and visible in a place where you’ll see it every day. My “chalkboard” is a big piece of paper taped up to the wall.

At the top of the board, write one big, long-term overarching goal that you’re working towards in your business. Your one big goal should take you from six months to 18 months to accomplish. In my course The Superpower Method For Therapists® Program, I dedicate a lesson to choosing your “one big goal.”

Some examples of a possible one big goal are:

• Fill my practice with an average of 20 sessions per week.
• Earn an average of 12,000 per month.
• Consistently fill my therapy group.
• Write my book.

Then you write a few words that will set the tone for the next three months. Choose words that represent the values you most want to lean into.

Choose between 3 and 6 smaller goals that you want to accomplish in the next 3 months that will move you closer to your one big goal. Visually represent those goals on your “chalkboard.”

Use markers or chalk in your favorite colors. Use illustrations wherever you can. It doesn’t matter if you’re not a skilled artist. If you plan to write a book, draw a picture of a book. If you’re hiring a therapist, draw a picture of a therapist. Stick figures are fine.

Create space on your board for what you want to bring into your business. If you want to bring 5 new clients into your practice in the next 3 months, draw 5 empty boxes or circles. If you want to earn $30,000, you can create a thermometer that goes from 0 to 30,000.

As you accomplish those goals, you’ll fill in the blanks and color in the thermometer.

Leave a space on your board labeled “something else” or “unknown” so that you’re on the lookout for new opportunities.

Here's what a goal board might look like. I created this one for a fictional therapist based on lots of folks I work with. 

Here's what this method can do for you: 

This process forces you to choose what you need to accomplish most.

When you stick items on a regular to-do list, you might add more than is realistic. When you visualize goals and tasks on your board, you can see exactly how much you’re planning to accomplish.

You step out of ambivalence as you choose your goals and map them out on your board. The decisive action of writing out a goal in large letters helps you commit.

The board helps you remember what’s important.

Working in private practice is isolating. You’ve got some colleagues you can talk to about the clinical stuff. If you’re lucky, you’ve got a few colleagues you can talk to about the business side as well, but no one is holding your business vision with you. With no team members or accountability, it’s easy to let your plans fade into the background. One day you’re excited about some new plans for your business. A few weeks later you can’t remember exactly what you planned, and you can’t find the excitement. Your board can serve as a physical reminder.

You’ll still need your to-do list. This goal board will be your inspiration and your reminder. You’ve got tons of everyday tasks that you need to keep track of, and those shouldn’t clutter up your board.

Every 3 months, or more frequently if you need to, you’ll create a new board. Hold this planning time sacred. Give yourself plenty of time and space. Light a candle, make some tea or have a glass of wine. This is time for just you and your business.

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Why You're Handling Your Vacation All Wrong & 8 Ways To Do It Better

You’re emotionally present for your clients every day, and that takes a lot of energy. It’s an incredible honor to step into your clients’ lives and witness their vulnerability. You’re responsible for practicing self-care so that you can be a great therapist.

When you’re burned out and exhausted, you’re...less good.

Part of your job is to take time off.

Vacation is not a disruption in your private practice. It’s a normal part of the rhythm of your work. Time off, just like sleep, is a necessary and regular part of your life. When you treat vacation as a disruption to your private practice, you don’t get its full benefits.

Most therapists are handling vacation all wrong.

Here’s how it’s supposed to work: you look forward to vacation, leave work behind when you go, take enough time off, feel well rested when you return, and then ease back into work. If you’re not handling vacation this way, read on.

Here are 8 ways to do vacation better

 

1. DON'T double up on sessions in the week before you leave or the week you return. 

When you try to make up the sessions that would have happened during your vacation, you’re setting yourself up to be too busy before you leave and too busy when you return. That’s stressful, and it doesn’t count as vacation.

If you’re working with a client who shouldn’t take time off of therapy, you need to establish a backup therapy relationship right now, before it’s time for your vacation. In most cases in private practice, it’s appropriate for the client to miss those sessions. If you’re uncomfortable taking time off without doubling up before and after, you might need some consultation so that you can sit with your clients’ feelings.

Maybe  the financial impact of vacation brings you discomfort. That brings us to the next guideline.

2. Build time off into your financial plan. 

When you calculate the amount you need to bring in every month, account for the weeks when you’ll take time off. Make sure your fee and your number of sessions per week set you up to be able to take vacation without financial distress.

3. DON'T wait until you can afford an amazing vacation. 

Staycations are great too. If you can’t afford to go away, take time off anyway.

4. If you go away during your time off, take one more day off at home before you go back to sessions. 

This is a great self-care tactic. Take a day to recover from jet lag, unpack, or just get caught up on paperwork and email before you step back into the therapy room.

5. Set up your time off well so that you can really relax. 

Give your clients ample notice that you’ll be away.

Ask a colleague to be available for your clients if they need to talk to a therapist before you return.

Create and record an outgoing voicemail script stating when you’ll return, what to do if they are a new client who wants to work with you and what to do if they are already working with you and need to speak to someone.

Set up your email to automatically respond with your backup therapist’s information and your return date.

The day before you go, give yourself at least an extra hour to tie up loose ends. In that hour, respond to emails from clients and potential clients, and quickly email anyone else waiting for a response from you that you’ll be away and won’t be able to respond until you return. Make a list of what you’ll need to do on your return day. You’re in a better position before you go to write that to-do list, and you’ll avoid feeling overwhelmed when you return.

6. Allow yourself to return slowly. 

Remember that it takes a few days to catch up completely. If you took my advice and didn’t overbook yourself for the week of your return, you’ll have enough time to catch up on email and voicemails within a few days.

7. Take enough time off. 

Do you ever take more than a week off? You’ve got to go through all of the trouble of getting prepared for time off. Take as much time as you really need so you can completely let go.

8. Schedule your next vacation before you take this one. 

Schedule some time off every few months. Don’t wait until you feel burned out before you plan your time off. Consider planning out your vacation time for the next year. Looking forward to pleasant events gives us as much happiness as the events themselves.

Ready to take some action to bring in more clients? Click below to start the challenge. 

Want To Add Another Stream Of Income To Your Therapy Business? Here's My Challenge To You

Your first goal in private practice is to get enough clients to cover your expenses and support yourself. Once you get there, or even before you get there, you might start to want a bit more.

Maybe there’s something beyond seeing clients in your office one or two at a time that sparks your interest. You see other therapists with online offerings, group practices or large in-person workshops. You want to find a way to use different skills, reach more people and make more money without working more.

Perhaps you’ve started playing with some ideas beyond private practice on the back of an envelope.

Here are some examples of additional streams of income for therapists:

• In-person group

• Online coaching for groups or individuals

• Online course

• Group practice

• Weekend workshop

• Book

• Workbook

• Paid speaking

• Retreat

If one of these ideas excites you, you might be tempted to start dreaming big. You imagine your online course... that leads to your book deal... that leads to your keynote addresses at conferences. You see other therapists or former therapists who have developed what seem to be huge empires.

What you don’t see is their first attempts beyond private practice. Therapists with successful multiple streams of income started small.

There’s a concept that began in the startup world called the “minimum viable product.” The MVP is is the smallest version of a product that has enough features to be valuable. It’s the simplest version of a product they can test with consumers.

The MVP concept can be boiled down to: start as small and simple as you can

There’s some major wisdom in that idea for any therapist considering an additional stream of income.

For our purposes, I’ll call it your Minimum Viable Service (MVS)

If your plan is to wait until you have time to develop a robust offering, make a different plan. Don’t spend months creating something huge before you test it with real people.  

Pare your idea down to the smallest and simplest version that still gives value. For example, if your dream is to create a six month online course with 300 members, your MVS might be a 2 week online course for three to five members.

Your MVS lets you learn quickly what works and what falls flat. Test your idea early, and then pivot to make it better.

If you’re just starting out in private practice or you aren’t clear on what you’d like to offer, then wait. If, on the other hand, you know you’d like to offer something more, read on and consider my challenge.

I challenge you to start this week. 

Take 20 minutes today or tomorrow and sketch out a very simple new offering, your MVS. Use questions like these to design your first offering:

• Who is this for?

• What is this person struggling with?

• What do I help this person with over and over again in my current work?

• What kind of process, insight or support do they need to change this struggle?

• What is the before and after of this offering?

Get yourself a notebook or open a new document on your computer or phone. Begin taking notes about what your very simple first offering will be. Brainstorm and then simplify and pare your offering down to your minimum viable service.

Then start testing this new idea with a few people.

Are you up for the challenge? I’d love to know what you design.

Ready to get much more support creating your second stream of income? Our small-group, intensive program, Rebel Therapist, is for you. Click below to learn more and apply.

How To Write (Ridiculously Effective) Pages For Your Therapy Website Part 3

In this series, I’ve been walking you through 11 keys to writing great copy for your website pages. Great copy helps your conversion rate, meaning more of your website visitors will turn into clients. Here are all eleven keys.

1. Identify your Superpowers
2. Find your authentic writing style
3. Write to a person (or a small group of people)
4. Identify their pain
5. Identify their hope
6. Express what you believe about therapy
7. Make each page simple
8. Use headlines, not greetings
9. Give a clear call to action
10. Create a logical structure for your site
11. Edit out any professional jargon

In this post I’ll walk you through the last 5 keys.

Make each page simple

When you write a page on your website, it’s tempting to include a lot. You don’t want to leave out anything that your potential client needs to know about you, your therapy practice, or the issues you help with. There’s so much you want to share with your potential clients!

Step away from the keyboard.

We read web content differently than we read print content. Assume your readers are skimming. Rather than reading through the content in order, your visitors read across the top of the page, then quickly read only some of the rest of the words on their way down the page.

Visitors tend to engage on a website by clicking through to view more pages rather than by reading entire pages.

Give your visitors a comfortable experience on your site by keeping it clear and simple.

Focus on making one main point per page.

Got more to say? Add a blog to your site and start writing articles for those visitors who want to go deeper.

Use headlines, not greetings. 

Don’t use a greeting such as “welcome to my website” or “This is a safe place.” Those kinds of headlines waste precious real estate.

The headline is the first thing your visitors will read, and for some it may be the only thing they read. Use your headline to say something important about your right-fit client or the way you help. In part 2, I told you that you need to identify and name 3 things: your potential client’s pain, their hope, and one key that helps them heal in therapy. Your headline should be a statement or a question that focuses on one or more of those three elements. Don’t try to summarize your entire practice in your headline. Say something simple that pulls your visitor to read further.  

Give a clear call to action. 

What do you want the visitor to do? Make that clear on every page. Your call to action may be to set up a free phone consultation, call you, or schedule online. Tell the visitor exactly what to do. Even if you have a contact page, you’ll also give a call to action on every page.

Create a logical structure for your site. 

There’s not one right way to structure your site. Imagine the journey of your right-fit client and consider what pages you’d most like them to see. Make those pages easy to find and linked at the top of your home page. Is there one specialty you want to focus on more than all others? Place that front and center so that your right-fit client can’t miss it. Ask a few different friends to look at your site while you’re sitting with them. Watch how they navigate your site and see if there’s anything you need to shift to make it easier or more logical.

Edit out any professional jargon. 

Who is your right-fit client? Unless they are a therapist, you’ve got to edit out the professional jargon. As therapists, we’re so used to talking about our work that we forget how much we’re speaking therapist.

Do a jargon audit, looking through every page and finding places where you’re using words most people don’t use often.

The one place on your site where some of those jargon words may belong is on your about me page. When you talk about your training and experience, you might use some words the average person wouldn’t be familiar with. When you use those words, explain what they mean. After your jargon audit, invite a friend who doesn’t speak therapist to read your copy. Ask them to point out any jargon you’ve missed.

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How To Write (Ridiculously Effective) Pages For Your Therapy Website, Part 2

In my last post I went through the first 2 keys to writing ridiculously effective pages for your website. Let’s tackle 4 more. First, here's the whole list. 

1. Identify your Superpowers
2. Find your authentic writing style
3. Write to a person (or a small group of people)
4. Identify their pain
5. Identify their hope
6. Express what you believe about therapy
7. Make each page simple
8. Use headlines, not greetings
9. Give a clear call to action
10. Create a logical structure for your site
11. Edit out any professional jargon

Now I’ll focus on the keys 3 through 6.

Write to a person (or a small group of people)

You’re trying to speak to everyone and you have to cut it out. When you write to everyone, you reach no one.

You invite an entire imaginary committee into your head as you write your website. You’ve got past clients, current clients, imaginary future clients, colleagues, mentors, family, friends, and even frenemies, all in your head, voicing their opinions about everything you write. You’re trying to please all of them and offend none of them.

You’ve got to write to a person or a very small group of people every time you write, and you’ve got to be willing NOT to please everyone else.

It’s ok if some of your friends or family members read your site and say “this site would really put me off.”

When my mother looked at my therapy site with its mention of “cutting edge therapy,” she said it would scare her away. That’s ok! She is different from my right-fit client. My center works with couples in the Bay Area who insist on the cutting edge for just about everything in their lives. My mom lives in a small town in Wisconsin, and she’d be looking for a different therapist.

Please ask your committee to leave your head. Instead, try writing to just one person or a very small group. In my Superpower program I take you through an in depth process called “the right-fit client exercise” to identify exactly who you need to be speaking to and how to speak their language. In that process, you choose actual people to design your business around and write your web copy for.

You may worry that you risk limiting yourself and excluding important potential clients if you get too specific.

That’s not likely. You are at risk though: for standing out. (See what I did there?)

Once you’ve figured out exactly who you’re writing to, and you’ve kicked everyone less helpful out of your head, you can try the next keys.

Identify their pain

Your right-fit client is asking: Does this therapist understand what I’m struggling with?

Write down what your right-fit client is struggling with. Don’t name every problem you can think of. Choose the things they are most distressed about when they choose to call you.

Describe that struggle in the words the client would use.

Let’s imagine a client named Becca. She’s in the middle of a break up and she’s in a depressive episode for the first time in her life. She’s feeling alone and hopeless.

Becca looks at 2 websites.

Website A names depression among a long list of other issues and then focuses on the methods the therapist uses.  Becca may keep searching and plan to come back later.

Website B talks about about what depression feels like and gets it right. Becca may go ahead and take the next step to make an appointment.

Take some time to sit with and write about the pain your right-fit client experiences when they are getting ready to make their first appointment with you. Use the words they would be likely to use.

Identify their hope

What’s on the other side of therapy? If the pain you’ve described is the before, what’s the after?

We’ll use Becca and her depression as our example again. If she’s struggling with depression now, what’s the hope? It’s not just a lack of depression.

Maybe she hopes to feel alive again. Maybe she hopes to enjoy the simple moments of life that feel flat for her right now. Maybe she hopes to find motivation to get important things done.

Think about the people you’ve helped work through their pain and come out the other side.  Write about the relief your work brought them.

Never oversell or guarantee results. Describe what is likely and possible.

Express what you believe about therapy

You’ve got strong opinions about therapy. You’ve got stuff to say about why therapy works and how your clients get better. Grab your laptop and write about one of those beliefs. This doesn’t have to be ground-breaking, and you don’t have to be the only person who holds this belief. Brene Brown wasn’t the first person who thought vulnerability was an important aspect of mental health. (Not that you have to be as compelling as Brene Brown. You really don’t.)

Make it simple and focus on one belief or opinion rather than several.

For example, perhaps you believe that one key to recovering from depression and awakening health is to speak one’s truth. In therapy, you give a lot of attention to helping your clients find and speak their truth. Name that.

I’m not done! Next time I’ll cover the final keys. If you ignore the last 5 keys, your copy might be pretty terrible. That’s not a scare tactic. I’m telling you because I love you and I want you to reach the clients who need you.

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