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Annie Schuessler
The Best Niches Beyond Private Practice

This week I shared my thoughts on niching beyond private practice and at the end I gave you a small list of niches I think we need more of you to create programs and services around.

The Best Niches Beyond Private Practice

multiple streams

Being A Disruptor with Deb Benfield

Being A Disruptor with Deb Benfield

How can you create a business if you’re a disruptor in your field?

If you’ve got a unique voice and you’re finding yourself pushing back against most others your field, that could actually be a wonderful thing for your business.

Today’s guest has carved out an important space right at the intersection of the Body Liberation and Pro-Aging movements. And she’s pretty much on her own as a leader there.

Meet Deb Benfield, a Nutrition and Body Relationship Coach with over 35 years of experience working with women to heal their relationships with food, eating and their bodies.

You’ll hear why Deb created a program for women in mid-life and beyond, how she designed her program and grew her audience, and what works to fill her program.

Why I’m Keeping My Business Tiny

Listen above or on your favorite podcast platform.

Show Notes

I’m grateful to be running a tiny and simple business right now. I have no plans to grow this business up to 7 figures.

I was a bit hesitant to tell you that!

I feel some fear that you won’t think I’m a badass, or you’ll think I have upper limit problems or limited beliefs.

Maybe you won’t want to hire me because I’m not as ambitious as you hoped.

Or if you’re my friend who runs a larger and more complicated business, maybe you’ll think I’m judging you when you hear what I have to say about running a tiny business.

(I’m not. I promise!)

But since I have the desire to be radically honest and I think this serves you, I’m sharing it anyway.

I trust you to identify the parts of this that fit for you and the parts that don’t.

Note: I’m talking about service based businesses, because that’s what I know best.

Capitalism tends to point us towards one vision of what it means to be a successful business owner. And that’s being a business owner who always makes and does MORE.

Capitalism tends to pull us AWAY from noticing when we have enough, or even considering what enough might be.

Us feeling enoughness or satisfaction is NOT helpful to capitalism.

Here’s the default vision of a successful business owner:

  • They’ve got a company bringing in revenue of 7 figures or more.

  • They’ve hired a big team.

  • They expand their business to serve more people year over year.

  • These numbers are all as big as possible: total revenue, number of team members, number of followers, and number of people served.

  • This person might be a coach who runs a course or membership with hundreds or thousands of members at a time. Perhaps they also have many many other offers at many price points.

But when I look around at my colleagues and friends who are having a good time and feeling fairly stable financially, I tend to see a people with tiny and simple businesses.

Here’s the vision of that (tiny) business owner:

  • They’ve got a tiny team, like zero or one employees.

  • They’ve got smaller revenue, like under 500k, but they get to keep more than half of that money.

  • Their tech is simple.

  • They don’t have much overhead.

  • They have one or two high-touch offers.

Sometimes people come work with me hoping to create huge empires. I’m delighted to help them because the first phase in creating an empire should be to create a really solid small business. And that is what I help with.

When you start with a tiny, strong and simple business, you focus on creating value. And that’s where every business needs to start.

Listen to the episode to hear

  • 2 stories of folks who scaled big, hated it, and decided to simplify and shrink their businesses

  • How I keep Rebel Therapist simple

  • How you can still serve more people with a tiny business

Resources & People Discussed:

adrienne maree brown

Sonya Renee Taylor

Tarzan Kay

Episode with Tara McMullin

Ask Annie: Should I Create My Own Program Or Teach Something Well Known?

Ask Annie: Should I Create My Own Program Or Teach Something Well Known?

I got this question recently from someone getting ready to expand their business to beyond private practice. They want to start offering a non-therapy program within their own business.

“Should I create my own program from scratch, or should I just deliver an established method from a well-known person?”

For example, although it’s not the example this person gave: Brene Brown’s Dare To Lead method.

Creating a Program for Parents with Danika Maddocks

Creating a Program for Parents with Danika Maddocks

Even if you already work with the niche you want to work with in your private practice, you might ALSO love having an innovative signature program as an additional way to serve them.

Danika Maddocks is a parent coach who's passionate about supporting parents of gifted and twice-exceptional kids. She's been partnering with bright kids and their families for over a dozen years as a teacher and therapist.

You’re going to hear why she created a signature program for twice exceptional kids, and you’ll hear how she grows her business without becoming a full-time marketer.

Real Advice About Making Money Beyond Private Practice: Open Coaching Call Replay

Real Advice About Making Money Beyond Private Practice: Open Coaching Call Replay

I ran a free and open coaching call recently for everyone in our audience, including podcast listeners, clients, and email subscribers.

A record number of folks submitted questions, and I spent over an hour riffing on a bunch of them.

We had such a great response from the attendees that I decided to share the entire call recording with you.

Permission To Create The Program You’ll Love With Rebecca Lee

Permission To Create The Program You’ll Love With Rebecca Lee

Can you REALLY make great money running a program that you love and that’s based on what you do best?

Rebecca Lee does. And she’s got a year-long waitlist.

As a social worker and supervisor for social workers, she felt a pull to create something totally different, something that wouldn’t fit into the box of supervision or therapy or even coaching as we know it.

No More Half-Assed Business Boundaries

No More Half-Assed Business Boundaries

In the last episode of Rebel Therapist Podcast, talked to Claire Pelletreau about switching roles with her husband so that she’s no longer the default parent.

That change made a REALLY big difference in her business.

Because she made that change she’s able to take on big projects, and make more money.

And that got me thinking about what boundaries help me take on the big stuff that really makes me happy, makes a big impact and sometimes makes my business lots of money.

I’m No Longer The Default Parent with Claire Pelletreau

I’m No Longer The Default Parent with Claire Pelletreau

It’s really fucking hard to be a mother entrepreneur with young kids, especially if you’re the default or primary parent.

My guest this week has a robust business and she makes good money.

She realized last year that she was afraid to take on big projects in her business because as the primary parent of 2 young kids, she didn’t consistently have the capacity she’d need to carry them through. She and her husband decided to switch roles. In this conversation she talks about what’s changed since they made that switch.

Ask Annie: How Do I Find The Energy To Create My Business?

Ask Annie: How Do I Find The Energy To Create My Business?

I used to ask every podcast guest: “What productivity or time management hacks do you use as an entrepreneur?”

I’ve stopped asking that.

I’m no longer lit up by trying to make my habits atomic or maximize my time.

The work of Tricia Hersey, Ebony Janice Moore, Tara McMullin and others has helped me (along with everyone I know) to question whether productivity is the measure to focus on and strive for.

Creating A Program For Love, Joy & Resistance with Damon Constantinides

Creating A Program For Love, Joy & Resistance with Damon Constantinides

I love to help you make more money. AND…For some of you, the biggest reasons you have for creating your own signature programs are not financial.

You want to create programs to tap into your purpose, to express your love for your communities, to experience and share joy, to resist oppressive forces, and on and on.

Our guest created a program for his community because he loves his community.

Ask Annie: What If I’m REALLY Afraid To Launch My Program?

Ask Annie: What If I’m REALLY Afraid To Launch My Program?

Everyone is scared to launch their first program.

Someone asked recently: what if I’m REALLY scared to launch my program. Like…what if there are powerful individuals and structures out there who might want to do me harm?

What if putting myself out there associated with this work might actually be dangerous to me or my family?

Less Trauma In My Business

Listen above or on your favorite podcast platform.

Show Notes:

I mentioned in episode 196: 332K Of Revenue With Over 2 Months Off that I’ve been engaging in some profound trauma healing, and that’s changed the way I experience my business.

I’ve heard from many of you that you’d like to hear more.

This episode is all about how trauma healing has been changing just about everything about how I experience my work.

Although I avoid binaries, I talk about the difference between the old Annie (less healed) and the new Annie (more healed).

A few highlights:

  • I’ve stopped trying to manage/control my participants’ experiences as a way to feel safe.

  • I still get anxious in moments, but I no longer identify myself as a constantly anxious person.

  • I’m more straightforward with my participants and tell them the truth about what I see in their businesses right away. (And they can handle it!)

  • I’m more patient with the process my participants go through as they build their businesses. I embrace the beautiful nuance you each bring to your work.

  • I’m asking for help when I’m struggling, rather than reporting when I’ve got it all figured out.

  • I’m more transparent about what’s going on in my own business and life, rather than trying to make everything seem perfect.

More from Annie:

A Liberated Way To Lead Groups with Tracy Gantlin-Monroy

A Liberated Way To Lead Groups with Tracy Gantlin-Monroy

You want to run a group program? One common question from my participants is: “What skills do I need to learn in order to facilitate a group really well?”

I’ve got someone here on the pod to share her unique process of leading large groups in an expansive, liberated and trauma informed way.

Introducing Tracy Gantlin-Monroy.

Tracy Gantlin Monroy is a licensed professional counselor and resident therapist at Grace Community Counseling & Social Services in Atlanta, Georgia. She is a brain-wise, body therapist passionate about trauma healing. Tracy is the first Black female Brainspotting trainer in the world having been mentored by Dr. David Grand, founder & Developer of Brainspotting. Tracy also runs healing retreats for Black women.

Ask Annie: How Can I Not Feel Totally Freaked Out During A Launch?

Ask Annie: How Can I Not Feel Totally Freaked Out During A Launch?

I got a message from one of the grads of Create Your Program recently saying that she was in the middle of launching her program. She said that launching was both a soul expanding and soul draining experience.

I want to talk about some ways to protect and take care of your soul while you’re launching your program.

First I’ll define “launch”: The time when registration is open for a time limited with a deadline, and the things you do to promote your program during that time.

When we’re launching, we’re opening ourselves up to a lot of different feelings and voices, both internal and external.

Filling A Program Using Social Media with Heidi Savell

Filling A Program Using Social Media with Heidi Savell

Heidi Savell is a therapist and polyamory coach. She helps those newish to polyamory find more steadiness and fulfillment in their relationships.

You’re about to hear about the business she’s created beyond her therapy practice, how she built it and why she loves running her program.

Heidi’s giving us a masterclass on using Tiktok and Instagram to move the needle on your business.

332K Of Revenue With Over 2 Months Off

Listen above or on your favorite podcast platform.

Show Notes:

This episode is all about my 2022 year in review in my business.

I needed a minute to reflect and prepare this for you, hence the March release date.

Some highlights.

My gross revenue for 2022 was just shy of 332,000

That’s my biggest year yet, 78,000 over 2021.

I took a 2 month sabbatical as well as several other weeks off throughout the year.

And my biggest highlight:

WAY less hypervigilance thanks to trauma healing!

It turns out I was living in hypervigilance while doing a decent impression of a calm person.

I didn’t know this because I didn’t have anything to compare my feeling state to. I just thought that was how I was.

I might talk more in upcoming episodes about the way trauma had been impacting my work and my business and how healing is changing my work and my business.

For now I’ll say, I’m in a really different spot!

Work feels easier and more joyful. I’m less worried about how everyone is doing every moment. And whether I’m disappointing anyone.

This is making my coaching better, more direct, super honest, and still very kind.

And also I’m more unapologetically confident about how phenomenal my programs are.

Also in this episode:

What Rebel Therapist spent the most money on and what we gave us the best ROI

My take-home pay

What I did to make our programs even better

My goals for the next few years

Which of our marketing activities have brought in the most participants

More from Annie:

Building A Community Membership with Laura Reagan

Building A Community Membership with Laura Reagan

Want to start a membership community? Have you thought about creating a paid community about a topic you care deeply about? I’m glad you’re here. My guest this week founded and runs a membership for Trauma Therapists called Trauma Therapist Network.

You’ll hear an honest break down of exactly how she created it, how the membership works, how she brings in new members, and what you need to have in place before you consider starting a membership community of your own.

Laura Reagan, LCSW-C is an integrative trauma therapist, group practice owner, podcaster, consultant and coach. In 2021 she founded Trauma Therapist Network, a membership community where trauma therapists can gather for support while building their therapy skills. She hosts Therapy Chat and Trauma Chat podcasts and lives in Maryland with her husband, 2 dogs and a cat.

A Novel Approach To ADHD With Liz Adams

A Novel Approach To ADHD With Liz Adams

Some of us fit right into the middle of our own niches. We have created the programs we really needed ourselves. That would definitely describe me, and it describes this week’s guest.

My guest this week is someone who created a totally unique and expansive program for women with ADHD.

Liz Adams is a neuropsychologist specializing in ADHD. She is also a woman with ADHD. Liz has a huge passion for empowering women with ADHD, and she's excited to bring her novel approach out into the world!

Ask Annie: How Can I Build A Program? My Private Practice Is Full!

Ask Annie: How Can I Build A Program? My Private Practice Is Full!

Here’s the question I answered from a listener I’ll call Susan:

I pretty much constantly have a full caseload. I know that staying full and seeing this many people is burning me out. How do I find time to build a program with a full caseload? I'm really struggling on how to shift slowly out of private practice and into something more sustainable for my own mental health, while also being financially stable. I love my clients but it's exhausting. I hate telling people no, but I'm maxed out and turning multiple people away every week. I've spent the last couple weeks setting schedule boundaries of when I am and am not seeing clients.