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?
Listen above or on your favorite podcast platform.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
Listen above or on your favorite podcast platform.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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!
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.
Many of us get stuck. We wait to create a program beyond private practice because we want it to be perfect before we launch it. And that can leave us waiting forever.
My guest today is going to help you let go of that idea.
She’s letting us in on the many iterations her programs have gone through.
The business she has now is thanks to being willing to get started imperfectly.
Meet Reverend Maureen Cotton, an Interspiritual minister, serving the spiritual-but-not-religious. She’s a spiritual wedding coach and officiant with her business The Soulful Wedding, which helps couples experience their wedding as a transformative rite of passage.
I thought this episode was going to be titled “A Little Dose Of Healthy Narcissism.”
One of my brilliant past clients pointed out that a little dose of healthy narcissism seems to be necessary in order to grow a program beyond private practice and step into the world of marketing.
Their idea was that perhaps you’ve got to step into a tiny bit of narcissism to have the courage to grow your audience and sell your offer.
Disclaimer: We’re not talking about narcissism like what we see in Elon Musk or Donald Trump. We’re not talking about a diagnosis either. We’re really talking about a bit of bold inner confidence.
How do you create and fill a group program?
How do you navigate a full therapy practice at the same time?
We’re about to go behind the scenes and find out exactly how my guest has done it.
Meet Sonya Brewer, a trauma specialist and relationship expert who specializes in creative life and relationship design for overachieving trauma survivors and their partners.
People ask me all the time “What should I do now to grow my business?”
Often they say: “I heard….is a good idea. Should l do that?”
Every online business expert is selling their thing to us. (Including me!)
Our friends and colleagues tell us that what they are doing now is THE thing that works.
It’s confusing to figure out what to invest our time and money in and what to try.
What should YOU focus on next?
My approach to goal setting and productivity have changed in a big way based on what you’re about to hear.
Listener favorite Tara McMullin is back on Rebel Therapist Podcast, talking about a huge pivot she’s made in her work life. She's also sharing her new book, What Works, A Comprehensive Framework to Change the Way We Approach Goal-Setting.
People ask me all the time: How can I compete with the big names?
My short answer: Don’t.
Your program has the potential to be better than those of the big names, if you lean into providing a high touch, highly intimate experience.
In this episode I share how and why you can ignore what the big names are doing and instead be a valuable disruptor in your field.
If you’re wondering what kind of program you should create when you move beyond private practice, keep listening. Our guest has created a totally unique program. She figured out its format by trusting herself. She had to move through the doubt and questions that so many of us deal with.
Is this enough? Am I enough?
Mishara also talks about why she’s retired her license. You’re going to love her reasons even if you know you’re keeping yours.
This is the final episode in a miniseries featuring entrepreneurs who have created phenomenal programs, and the lessons they’ve learned.
Today you’ll hear why one of these entrepreneurs needed to bring her farmer self to her program, why a solo mom realized she needed to create a different program, why one psychologist finds her coaching program liberating, and why collaboration is so so important.
I’m so glad you’ve been with me on this series.
This is part 5 in a podcast mini series featuring rebellious entrepreneurs.
This is a treat. I’ve roped these four wonderful entrepreneurs into showing up and sharing their stories with you. You’re about to hear about the programs beyond private practice they’ve each created, and one lesson each person learned in the process of creating and marketing their program.
These lessons cover everything from mindset to marketing strategy.
This week on the podcast, we're hearing from four entrepreneurs who have created phenomenal programs beyond private practice. This is part four in a pod mini series featuring cameo appearances (or a-hear-ances?) from folks who have been through Rebel Therapist programs this year. You’ll hear what they created and the biggest lesson they each learned in the process.
