Selling the Couch

Many of us are wondering what our careers are going to look like in 2021 and beyond. We know the therapy model of 2019 as we knew it is not coming back. How do we pivot and move forward? We are answering this question in today’s show. Our Featured GuestBrant ThomsenBrant Thomsen is a therapist in private practice in the twin cities area of MN. He has an interesting life and career because he became a social worker after training at a music school in high-level piano performance. He is now making the move into less therapy and more coaching. Through interesting and unexpected circumstances, Brant was forced to make a quick transition to telehealth during the early days of the 2020 pandemic. He’s here to share what he considered and what he encountered, along with three lessons learned during the transition.Connect with Brant: Online Practice Builder  You’ll Learn:●     How 2020 played out for Brant when he was abruptly quarantined because of a client’s positive exposure●     How Brant transitioned smoothly to telehealth in 48 hours’ time●     What it was like to quarantine in his room for two weeks, and why Brant calls it a focused, peaceful, almost monastic experience that brought increased connection with clients and colleagues●     How Brant’s diverse range of careers helped prepare him mentally for his transition●     How Brant navigated the struggle to be authentic in his online presence and realize what he can give to others●     Three life lessons learned in Brant’s transition to online therapy:●   “I realized how much passion, focus, and readiness I have in supporting other therapists in a coaching role.”●   “I realized the importance of staying connected to the natural environment around me.”●    “I realized the lack of permanence in our lives and that what we give each other is temporary.”●     How Brant is handling the day-to-day stress of the pandemicPODCAST SPONSORHushmail: Hushmail is a secure, HIPAA-compliant way to communicate with clients via email and to fill out clinical forms like intake packets securely. Please visit sellingthecouch.com/hushmail and let them know that Mel sent you =). Transcript:Melvin:Hello, welcome tosession 265 of Selling the Couch, I hope that you are having a wonderful dayI'm actually recording this at the very tail end of December; December 30. Iknow how difficult Well, I don't know, the individual stories, but on the collectivewhole, I know how hard of a year 2020 has been for so many of us. And I knowthat many of us are ready to make this transition into 2021. So I hope thatwhen this session airs that you are doing well, that you are making thistransition and we have more clarity with regard to vaccines and all of thosedifferent things.Today’s conversationis with Brant Thomsen from onlinepracticebuilder.com. Brant is actually atherapist in private practice in the Twin Cities in Minnesota. And Brant has apretty interesting life career. So he's a social worker, but his original majorin college was high level like piano performance, and so he actually went to amusic school and was going to become a professional musician and then decidedto make this transition into social work and has done some pretty amazing stuffthroughout his career.But I wanted tohave Brant on the podcast, we've been friends for a number of years and Brantdecided as for many of us who have made this transition this past year to Telehealth,Brant had a pretty crazy situation, which you'll hear on the podcast about justhow real this became. In short, he had to make a really quick transition intotelehealth.And here intoday's session where we're planning on just talking about that, what are someof the things that he had to consider? What are the struggles that he had? Andthen wrapping up with what are three of the business or life lessons that Brantlearned during this transition?I wanted to haveBrant on because many of us are in this season, where we might be thinking,what is our career going to look like in 2021 and beyond? And I mentioned thison the podcast interview. But it's therapy and private practice. As we know it,the 2019 version of this is not coming back. There's just too many changes toomany things now to factor.And so what doesthis look like and how do we honour that part of ourselves that desires to makethat transition and not listen to fears and all of those different things.Before we get to today's podcast session, just wanted to take a moment to thankthe team over at Hushmail for supporting this month's podcast sessions. I knowthat you guys know a lot about Hushmail, but if you don't know about Hushmail,Hushmail basically allows you to send and receive private encrypted email and thenalso allows you to get your forms completed and signed faster.So for example,your initial documentation for clients and things, it allows you to do that inan encrypted way and you can actually put forms and things like that on yourwebsite. So clients can fill that out through the website instead of kind ofgoing back and forth and just generally not being efficient.You can learn moreabout Hushmail over at sellingthecouch.com/hushmail. So we'll get right totoday's podcast session. Here is my conversation with Brant Thompson, fromonlinepracticebuilder.com.Hey Brant, welcometo Selling the Couch.Brant:Thank you, Melvin.It is great to be here.Melvin:It's been reallynice. I think we've known each other a couple of years now.Brant:I think so wefirst made contact a couple of years ago, although I first became familiar withyour podcast, as it was beginning around four years ago for myself.Melvin:Wow, I didn'trealize that it had been that long. One, I'm sorry that it took so long toreach out. But I really am grateful for this conversation because I know thisis something that many of us have done in the field, which is make thistransition to telehealth and more specifically even thinking through what thismeans for our businesses going forward. So I really am just grateful for thistime.Brant:Great! Myself aswell.Melvin:I was trying tothink about where to even start this conversation. And I think that questionthat I wanted to ask you was, tell us a little bit about what was happening foryou as you transition to talk therapy, especially in the start of 2020 as thispandemic as we were learning more, and all of those different things.Brant:For me, thingschanged quite abruptly. My last in person client here, I am actually in myoffice, although I do telehealth entirely, had an exposure and he informed methe next day. And we just did not know enough about COVID its features etc. Therewere not even masks for health care providers and putting that out there as acontext, and it meant for me quarantining immediately. We have a day-care inour home and to keep those kiddos and families safe, and because we knew solittle about COVID, I ended up quarantined in my own bedroom for two or threeweeks.Melvin:Oh, my Gosh, youknow what I didn't even realize that had happened. Talk about like, somethingthat is abstract and happening somewhere else, and then becoming very real injust the course one session.Brant:So within a matterof 48 hours, I had everything set up and ready to go my computer, my laptop, mybed, my bedside table, a chair, and brought a table in, and I was figurativelyand literally in business and quite smoothly, virtually missed no sessions withmy clients.Melvin:How did you Iguess, communicate with the remainder of your clients about this transition andpotential exposure? Like how much I guess disclosure did you have with that?Brant:Yeah, thank you.Good question. I tend to do long term work with my clients. So about 80% of myclients have been with me for more than two years approach being psychodynamicprimarily, and in those cases, it was fairly easy, we have a fairly closerelationship and of course, with boundaries. What I found was, it was nice wasthere really was a lot of parallel process happening with my clients, many ofthem are professional, and supporting them in the transition from being at workto needing to be at home, while the same thing was happening to me. Self-disclosurewas actually a wonderful thing that we could do that, because I already hadsuch strong relationships with those clients.Melvin:And I thinkthere's something just so unique about this pandemic. We were all in this anddealing with it. So it's not like some abstract thing. For example, if you wereto tell a client, significant person in your life passed away, and I need to dosomething or I need it; we were all dealing with it. So you made thistransition set up the office. Even take us into that moment, were you scared,like uncertain or it was more like, you know what, this is what we have to do,it kind of just went into like, okay, this is the next logical step.Brant:So a five secondnarrative, and then how it felt, I went in the back door, I was required to buymy family, took off any potential laundry, shoes, etc, showered, and wasbasically forced by my family with a smile, to go up into my room and staythere. And I did not come out for about two weeks. But for me, setting up therewas a level of focus. It was almost a monastic experience. It was verypeaceful.Although there wasisolation, on a deeper spiritual level and emotional level, there was increasedconnection with the people who I could not see in person, family, clients,professional colleagues, networks, long term relationships I've had with peoplewere no longer in person. And what I would add to that is there also was somefun. I had times where I literally would go out my window onto my porch roofwith a pizza and social distance, 100 yards from people walking by and have mypizza and wave of people walking by playing Yahtzee with a friend in Maryland,while I'm here in Minnesota. So we made some good, positive experience out ofwhat really was a true quarantine.Melvin:Yeah, it isamazing that you took something that's so startling and sudden and just beingable to see things like almost a spiritual experience and then to even like reframethat, and not just in your mind, but actually that it translates into tangibleaction. These are opportunities where I can now connect with different peoplewhere I can see the world differently and all of those things.I'm really curiousbecause I know a little bit more about your past history, careers and all ofthese different things that then listeners might know. But so I wanted to askyou that you've had a diverse range of careers and I know like you were even ahigh level performer in music, right. I was just really curious, how do youthink that if, if you think it did, how do you think that affected just sort ofyour mentality in that moment?Brant:If you were to askpeople who know me the best they would say I'm creative, I have a quietemotional intensity and I think that carries across areas of who a person is,as well as what they do with it professionally. So I went to New EnglandConservatory piano performance major, realized that was not what I wantedprofessionally, became a social worker realized that frontline, straight socialwork was not just what I wanted, I became a clinical social worker, worked inthe schools for almost 15 years. As the role of clinical social work andtherapy, school base changed, I no longer felt like I was a good fit in theschool setting and I opened my own practice.It literally was aleap, I left, let everything go and jumped right into my practice. And as atherapist, in practice, it was very scary, discerning, what is my niche? Wheredo I want to work? Who am I, as a therapist? What do I feel like? What clinicalskills and information do I bring to the table? It has now moved forward evenfurther to Who am I as a creative, as someone with clinical knowledge andskills in front of a computer screen? Who am I? What do I do? How do I engagewith people over the computer screen? Whether it's personally orprofessionally?Melvin:I love how you'resaying this because truthfully, this is a struggle that I have. I consider I'ma psychologist, I'm a licensed psychologist, but I'm also I think that title ofcreator is sort of how I would think of myself in this space. I love buildingthings, creating things, creating videos, doing podcasts, all of these things.And truthfully,it's something that I've struggled with even very recently, which is, I feellike intuitively, and creatively, I want to do all of these things. But I do insome ways, feel that tension of needing to confine myself, I guess, maybe totraditional talk therapy. I don't know if that makes sense. But I wonder ifyou've ever struggled with that because I think a lot of folks listening havethat tension and do you sort of navigate that?Brant:That's a nice wayto think about who we are as therapists, but also who we are in person comparedto online because ultimately, that is the question that is the reality thatwe're living in. So discovering who I am, and going through processesinternally, spiritually, with people who know me well, of self-exploration hasbeen very important and it has changed since the quarantine I had in March.I was againquarantined with my daughter who's a young adult who works at the hospital, shewas at bedside of two people who died from COVID on the same day, and sheneeded her dad. So when she got home that night, I gave her a hug and I knew itwould mean a couple more weeks of quarantine. But I was okay with that. Itwasn't necessarily a problem. So I brought my family, my daughter and I closerand it made me realize that I have much to give other people in addition totherapy.So during thattime, I have literally taken more than 150 hours of courses on becoming aprofessional coach on what does different aspects of therapy look like online?On what does it mean to be a business person online? And I had not thoughtabout that in such clarity until this time.Melvin:I think that thingthat I often struggle with is, especially in this online space, especially inlike a lot of these professional communities of therapists, we see this oneside. This is the niche that I work with. This is my training. But yeah, we'reall hold people and how do we sort of integrate all those parts of ourselves?Because I don't know, at least for me, that's such a big part of small businessownership is that we get to create something that I guess honours that creativespark, you know?Brant:Yes.Melvin:I also just wantedto say I resonate as a fellow girl dad. So yeah it’s wonderful. I wanted tojust transition and kind of dive a little bit deeper into a couple of things.So I think I'd asked you Brant, would you mind just thinking about like, threelife or business realizations that you've had as a result of transitioning toteletherapy and making this transition now to 100% online, what would thosethree be and maybe what we can do is just kind of take one at a time and divedeep in?Brant:Sure. The firstone would be that I realized how much passion and focus and readiness I have tobe supporting other therapists in a coaching role. I had not realized thatbefore I began noticing and realizing that I was increasing my contact withother therapists. They were having anxieties like I was. So we were having acommon experience.But I found myselfwanting to reach to provide information to support and challenge accountabilityto my colleagues who are also therapists. So for me, that has meant a realbusiness change, I'm intentionally allowing my own therapy practice, togradually decrease in numbers just on its own, not accepting new clients makingreferrals out, and I'm increasing the number of professionals to whom I providebusiness coaching, including therapists, and I could not have seen this coming10 months ago.Melvin:It's amazing, whatis it like to slowly let go of the therapy practice?Brant:Letting go of thetherapy practice slowly on two levels has a level of sadness to it. Because itmeans knowing that I'm letting go of my clients who I have supported for longperiods of time, it's nice that I have the option of doing that gradually.That's very, very nice. But it also means a change in identity. I'm a veryvisual person, a very physical person and experiencing an environment when Iwalk into a room, into a space, feeling the energy of that space, I will haveto give up my office, I will have to transition into a new space, which is my home,and create that new space and there's some sadness in that.Melvin:Yeah, which iscompletely understandable; how do you make space, I guess, for that newidentity, and emotionally and all of those things?Brant:Relationship, soinfluence of other people asking others, what do you think? Or how does it feelif the wall is this color, or some funk tray, and actually getting the input ofother people, and then I'm not so alone in making the change, and I...

Do you love learning new things but struggle to retain the information you’d like to remember for later use? This problem is an ever-present obstacle in my nerdy quest to accumulate knowledge. The good news? I’ve found something that works for me, and I’m sharing it in today’s show. Join me to learn more.This is a solo episode about building a second brain. You may or may not have heard of this concept, but it has revolutionized my life. As I stick to my commitment of setting aside two hours every day to learn new things, I find that I can grow as a business owner, gain knowledge and expertise, become more proficient in offering valuable products and services, and improve my physical and mental health. The problem is that I can’t always remember everything I read, hear, and think. That’s where the magic of the second brain comes in to help. Let’s dive in. You’ll Learn:●     How note-taking helps me remember things and stay organized●     How I was introduced to the “second brain concept” through the work of Ali Abdaal, a physician in England●     The basics of the second brain: Instead of feeling pressure to store accumulated knowledge in my brain, I can store it online in a digital brain●     How the second brain principles of productivity were developed by world-renowned productivity expert Tiago Forte, who has a free 10-part podcast on the topic (see Resources)●     Ten Principles in Building a Second Brain:○     Borrowed creativity○     The capture habit○     Idea recycling○     Projects over categories○     Slow burns○     Start with abundance○     Intermediate packets○     You only know what you make○     Make things easier for your future self○     Keep your ideas moving ●     “The key is not to just consume content, but to personalize and recycle it.”Resources mentioned:Ali AbdaalForte Labs Find the 10-part podcast series on Building a Second Brain at Forte LabsApps and tools recommended by Melvin:For live transcription of Mastermind groups: OtterFor pulling highlights from Kindle books: Readwise For capturing snippets of podcasts: Airr For pulling highlights from blog posts: Instapaper To use a central repository for information: Notion or Evernote or Roam Research.com  Transcript:Melvin:Hey friends, welcome to session 264 of Selling the Couch, I hope that you are having a wonderful day. So today's episode is a solo one. And I wanted to start this episode by sharing a story or rather a scenario. As you may have figured out based on these podcasts episodes, I’m a little bit of a nerd when it comes to learning new things. And in fact, as Selling the Couch has grown and as I've really worked hard to create a schedule that's conducive to both doing things as well as ample time learning.What I have actually tried to do is set aside two hours each afternoon to simply learn. And these days, I'm learning about podcasting, because, as you know, I'm a podcaster, and the world of podcasting is constantly growing. And so I think a lot about how to grow the STC podcast. I also have a course called Healthcasters, which helps you create and launch a successful podcast. And I'm learning a lot about online courses as well, because Healthcasters is an online course, and I'm constantly trying to figure out how to tweak things and all of those different things.Then I actually have my second online course that's coming out in the future, with hopefully three to four more in the pipeline. And it's a course that's actually focused on helping you create, plan, launch and scale a successful online course. I know that most of us are really nerdy, and we're probably nerds just walking around as therapists.I imagine, for you, if you're like me, which I imagine you are, you read through a lot of clinical stuff, a lot of business books, you go to a lot of trainings and conferences, and maybe you watch YouTube videos or live streams, or you listen to podcasts, or you read blog posts, or watch webinars, or however, the many ways that you can consume content. And I do this in the same way as you do so that I can grow as a business owner, I can get proficient when I offer products and services and gain knowledge and expertise that way, or just to improve my own physical or mental health.Now I have a little bit of a confession which is; when I go to these things, generally I try to take notes, just because I find that taking notes and actively engaging with that material helps me to remember things a lot better. So I might jot down some notes at a conference or a training on some paper, or a Word document, or I might even - if I've got my laptop near me, I'll pull up the Notes app on my Mac, and just take some notes there.Sometimes I use Evernote, or something like that to summarize a blog post that I want to incorporate into a future podcast episode or something for an online course or if I'm providing direct services, just something that I can reference later. Other times, I might even just put it in like a Google Drive document.So here's the confession part in this episode; I try to take a lot of pride in just being organized, I find that just being organized makes business a lot easier, and my mental health just a lot better. But honestly, how I take notes and more specifically how I connect my past, current and future learning is not really very organized and in fact, I would say it's almost chaotic. And if I'm just being completely honest, there are times where I've taken notes in the past that I keep thinking, “Okay, I'm going to remember this and I got a reference this for something for the future,” and then I actually never do that, and it’s okay, I guess in some scenarios.But to me, one is I’m just being honest, I don't have like the greatest memory where I can access all of this, like accumulated knowledge at the drop of a hat, and so I have to kind of take notes and in order to just remember things. I think, personally for me, and this is just something I've realized as a business owner, having a great way to take notes, and being able to access these notes when needed is really important. Because as healthcare professionals and business owners, we're knowledge workers, people seek our services based on our knowledge and expertise. We're also knowledge shares. So in other words, we accumulate this shared knowledge and we share it through various free mediums and through paid products and services.So for example, let's say you go to a brain spotting training and you read an article later on brain spotting. And then later, you might listen to a podcast interview on somebody that has built a successful practice based on brain spotting. How do you take all of that knowledge? So how do you connect your past knowledge, your current knowledge and your future knowledge, so that you can make it easier to access this knowledge for your future self in however you want to use it, whether it's to incorporate it into a therapy session, or let's say you end up doing consults on brain spotting, or you want to plan some future content, or maybe you want to do some sort of a webinar or something just to explain, or even just create a simple video just explain to potential clients what brain spotting is.But how do you do that? How do you take that knowledge and store it in an organized way so that you can access it when you need it? As I shared kind of at the beginning, this is something I've been thinking a lot about, especially now that I'm six years into my small business journey, I've crossed the five year mark, and I think one of the most important lessons I've learned as a small business owner, and as an online creator is that you have to optimize your environment and schedule for learning.I came across this YouTube video in late 2020, from Ali Abdol, who when it was all about something called the second brain. Ali is actually a physician based in Cambridge, England, and he has over a million subscribers and the channel is a great one to check out, especially if you're interested in tech and productivity and learning and all of these different things. And I've been fortunate to actually meet Ali and we actually got on a zoom call fairly recently and it was just really nice just to be able to connect with him and just learn about some of the things that he's doing in the world.And the second brain that Ali mentioned is simply this idea that instead of feeling all of this pressure to store accumulated knowledge in our brains, why not store this online in our digital brain in an organized way, so that we can maximize our output with it. And this way we maximize productivity, we maximize creativity, all of these different things.The second brain concept is actually based on the work of Tiago Forte. His website is over at fortelabs.com, which is another blog that I highly recommend checking out. Tiago actually has this crazy expensive online course that goes into the second brain concept. I've heard really good things about it. Honestly just haven't had the financial resources to take it yet, I'm hoping to one day, because I tried to be really discretionary in terms of just taking online courses. But this is one of these things that it's absolutely changed the way that I look at my business and more specifically, it's absolutely changed the way that I look at learning.Tiago also has a free 10 part podcast, like a mini podcasts. And I'll link to in the show notes for this episode that's well worth listening to. I've listened to those series; they're just basically 10 minute episodes. And I've listened to that about four or five times just to really wrap my mind around this. Today, I actually want to share the 10 principles, of how you can build a second brain and just briefly share how I'm actually employing this in my own business so that it can help you as well.The first principle is something called borrowed creativity. Borrowed creativity is basically this idea that creativity is less about original ideas, but more about blending existing ideas to create novel connections. Basically, you take things that you see here and watch. You see them through your experience and perspectives and connect them in new and unique ways. For example, I didn't realize I was doing this at the time. But my first online course was, as I mentioned was a course on how to plan launch and generate income from podcasting. So I took notes that I had learned from going to a bunch of podcasting conferences, from mentors that I had done consult with, from people that I consider experts in the podcasting space. And then I used all my own experiences in creating and growing the Selling the Couch podcast.But by having these notes digitally, I could then visually see things and form patterns and create. Then when I was ready to create the course I could create the course based on my unit bent and my own unique experiences.Principle two is called the capture habit. And one of the most honoring things that I think we can all do as business owners is to write down every idea that pops up in our brain without judgment, just the act of saying, “Hey, this is a great idea brain, I'm going to write this down,” is so powerful. So the capture habit is basically this idea that every time you have an idea that comes in your mind, no matter how silly or any of those things that it seems, at the time, trying to just find a good and simple system to be able to write these things down. This does not come naturally for me, because I have a very strong critical voice that often says, “Oh, Melvin, that's a really dumb idea, or, oh, no one's going to pay for that. Or someone's already thought of that. So why are you trying to do that again?”Or sometimes I convince myself, “Oh, Mel, this is a good idea. You can remember it later.” But the reality is, I hardly ever remember it later and so it usually then ends up getting lost. Now I'm still trying to figure out a great way to have a good capture habit, but I wanted to at least share a little bit about how I'm capturing ideas depending on where I am.So I get a lot of ideas in the shower, and I keep shower markers to write things down that come to mind, because I noticed that my mind goes into creativity hyper drive when I'm in the shower; I'm calm, I'm relaxed and all of those different things. And shower markers are basically these markers that you can use to write on glass, or on tile. And the cool thing is they wash off when you're done. Usually what I do is I'll jot down ideas and on the tile, and then after I'm done taking a shower or whatever, I will take my phone and take a picture of it, and then I'll wash it or whatever. The shower is actually how I came up with the name Selling the Couch, and so I really do try to think about how I can alter that shower type.The second thing is I usually do masterminds with various folks during the week talking a walk. Specifically I try to do many of these when taking a walk. I'll do a future episode on this. But there are a lot of benefits of hiking, and creativity. And so what I've been trying to do, actually pretty much most days of the week is I do a 1pm hike and that's usually my mastermind time as well. And what I do is we usually meet on zoom, and I use otter.ai to do live transcription of what we're talking about during the mastermind. After the mastermind, I have a fairly flawless script; otter.ai uses artificial intelligence. So it's not like a real person transcribing. But it's pretty accurate and I can then use this transcript to pull things from. I can then go back later or do this even in real time and highlight things and pull things into my central repository.So usually during masterminds, what I'm doing is I'm asking a question that I'm struggling with in my business, and I'm getting feedback from my mastermind friends. Then I take that piece of advice and then I put that into my central repository. I use an app called Readwise to pull highlights from Kindle books that I'm reading. I use an app called Airr, A-I-R-R to capture snippets of podcasts that I hear. I capture blog posts using Instapaper, which is a really cool app that lets you clip blog posts and videos that you want to check out later, perhaps during your own learning time. I believe Instapaper is still something I've just recently downloaded. But I also believe you can actually copy or you can actually like clip tweets, things that you might find on Pinterest, all of these into like a central repository.So basically what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to use these different pieces of software to capture ideas in environments that I'm usually in, and then I'm taking those ideas into a central repository. And that central repository that I use is called Notion, N-O-T-I-O-N. There are a bunch of different ones. Evernote is a really common one as well. There's one called Roam Research that is well worth checking out. I like Notion because I feel like for me, I like having structure and I also like having a little bit of unstructured or chaos in structure and so I feel like Notion is kind of a good balance of those kind of things.So principle three is this idea of idea of recycling. So in other words, you can reuse or repurpose ideas in multiple ways. So for example, I've spent quite a bit of time researching and scripting for this podcast episode. I'm doing this because I'm planning on using second brain concepts into future videos that I might create, or as part of an online course. So for example, as part of my Healthcasters course, one of the pieces of content I'll likely create is how do you come up with new podcast episode ideas without starting with a blank canvas?The best way to think about idea recycling is I was trying to figure out a good image. And when I was a kid I used to love Connex. I don't know if you remember Connex, but they're like Legos, but they have blocks, rods, and these various different shapes and you can use them to create things like a simple car, or a Ferris wheel.The only reason I remember this is my AP physics teacher passed away really recently, and I saw social media posts and it reminded me of this project I did in AP Physics, when I had Mr. Renshaw. And it was, I created a mousetrap car out of connects and connects comes with these gear sets and so I basically use like CDs, to create this mousetrap car, and got this mousetrap car to go down this hallway using gears and stuff. But so think of your ideas like pieces of Connex or Legos, and you can then swap out those ideas in and out of like different situations.Principle four is projects over categories. One of the roadblocks that I was having with my previous way of taking notes was how I organize things. So for example, let's say I wanted to learn more about Instagram, what I used to do was I have a folder called Instagram, and then I put a bunch of stuff in there and that's where it set me never looking at it again. Instead, what second brain says is thinking projects. So what I should do is if I have my Healthcasters online course folder. I should have a folder called Healthcasters online course, and then put the content that I find into those, because it will further enrich that course.And going back to principle one of borrowed creativity, I can more easily form connections between ideas. So another example of this would be let's say that you are creating a productivity course for entrepreneurs who are held back by their trauma. Instead of separate folders for productivity and trauma, you actually create a folder for your online course, and put related ideas in there. And that way, you are accumulating all of this store's knowledge over time, and when you are ready to create that course, you actually have a nice repository to work from. And it's literally like then, like pieces of Legos or Connex, where you're just connecting these pieces in order to form your online course.Principle five is called slow burn. So think of your business products and services as slow burns versus heavy lifts. This is what the...

Today’s topic is a relevant one for any clinician interested in diversity and multiculturalism. It can be fulfilling and empowering to show up in authentic ways for your clients, especially with today’s increased awareness of diversity and social justice. I hope you’ll join us to learn more. Our Featured GuestDr. Lindsey BrooksDr. Lindsey Brooks is a licensed psychologist. In these times of racial injustice, many of us wonder how to be a clinician in private practice who shows up in multicultural identities. Lindsey is here to share what she’s learned along the way in her niche of underrepresented achievers. We’ll talk about how Lindsey came upon that niche and how she gathers ideas to speak to that population on her website. She has helpful tips for taking and transcribing voice notes. Lindsey shares what a multicultural practice looks like for her and common mistakes she sees other clinicians make. WebsiteSexual Empowerment SchoolYou'll Learn:●     How Lindsey determined to present herself as authentic and genuine with her clients●     How Lindsey connects with those whom she serves●     How Lindsey goes “old school” and transcribes voice memos as if she’s having a conversation with a client●     How Lindsey decided to work with underrepresented achievers●     How to determine which parts of yourself to hold back in private practice and how much personal detail to share●     Why Lindsey is intentional about serving a multicultural and diverse community in her practice●     A practical first step toward a multicultural practice is to have a small group community (For Lindsey, it’s a book club) to learn and grow regarding social justice issues●     Common mistakes that clinicians make in developing a multicultural practice:○     Not doing the ongoing work required○     Not “talking the talk” when opportunities arise to use your voice●     Lindsey’s sexual empowerment groups for womenTranscript:Melvin:Hello, hello, welcome to session 262 of Selling the Couch. I hope you are doing well having a good start to the New Year. I'm actually recording this in late December, two days before Christmas. And yeah, I am doing well given everything I know that vaccines have started to roll out and I'm hoping by the time this episode starts, it becomes live that more of us will be able to get the vaccine; if you would like to get the vaccine, of course. And yeah, just more than anything, just wanted to encourage you to continue to lean on your loved ones, your social support, lean on our side of the couch community as we navigate all of this.Today's podcast session is with Dr. Lindsey Brooks. Lindsey is a licensed psychologist; her website is at drlindseytherapy.com. And we're talking all about developing a multi-cultural niche in private practice. I know that especially given everything that has happened in our country, particularly this year, and definitely in years past, but I think really has been magnified with racial injustice, the continued murders of black men and women and all of those different things.I know that many of us are thinking about what it looks like to be a clinician in private practice, and how do we show up in our multicultural identities, I guess is what I'm trying to say. And so Lindsey is here to share some of the things that she has learned along the way.Her niche is underrepresented achievers. We're going to be talking about how Lindsey came upon that niche, how she gathers ideas, to be able to speak to that population, on her website, and all of those different things, including some really cool tips for like taking voice notes, and all of those different things. And even some of the things that I started doing just to make that process a lot easier to be able to get a good copy content versus sticking to more academic language, which I know a lot of us struggle with.We are going to then transition to talking about what a multicultural practice looks like for Lindsey and then a common mistake that Lindsey sees when clinicians do try to develop multicultural practices. So we'll get right to today's podcast session. Here's my conversation with Dr. Lindsey Brooks from drlindseytherapy.com.Hey, Lindsey, welcome to Selling the Couch.Lindsey:Hey Melvin, thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here. I've listened for so long, so I can't believe I'm talking to you live.Melvin:Well, I'm really grateful for your time. I know you're out in California, and you're a trooper for being willing to record this at 7am and yeah, so thank you on my end as well.Lindsey:Of course, no problem.Melvin:You have been busy in private practice doing like so many interesting things and before we get into our conversation, I just wanted to tell you like just looking through your website, I felt like there was just a real sense, I got to know you and I feel like that's something that a lot of clinicians struggle with. So I just wanted to give you like props on that because you did that so well.Lindsey:That means a lot. Yeah, I put a lot of thought and effort into it and want it to really be genuine. So that means a lot.Melvin:I know and maybe we can actually just kind of start there. You said you did put a lot of like work and thought into that. I guess what did that look like? Was it like brainstorming? What does that even look like at a practical level?Lindsey:Yeah, well, I spent a lot of time really just thinking about my niche and thinking about who I wanted to serve, and then wanting to make sure, okay, I'm really speaking to that, I'm speaking to the people I want to speak to and I'm speaking from a place of service. So just having that mindset was a big piece of it to switch from like, let me present my CV and all the things I've done. Just kind of get away from that academic mindset and think about I'm speaking to a real person and make sure I'm speaking to them and to give myself permission to be more real and not a blank slate. So I think it was a lot of mindset work was the main thing.Melvin:Yeah, I feel like this is even so many of us struggle with, I struggle with as well right? Because we go through undergrad, grad school, apply for jobs, all these sorts of things and it's always our achievements or what's told should be emphasized. But especially in developing a private practice, particularly one that's more niche there's a lot of wisdom I think in showing up in the way that makes the most sense for you.How did you even again, just sort of at a practical level, we all grew up with this training like you got to highlight your CV, you got to do all of this. How did you hold that sort of fear or anxiety or even power, but then say, “You know what, I have to show up on my website, in a way that connects with those who I've met serve.”Lindsey:Yeah, I think building community that shared a different story. It really helped. I found a community of folks who were also starting private practice and trying to kind of undo that learning. So surrounding myself with those people and talking with them really helped. And then also something I did that I just this idea came to me, I don't know where it came from, but instead of like sitting down and writing, I did like voice memos into my phone. Like, I just started talking to my phone, almost as if I was talking to a person and that generated a lot of ideas. And then I just actually, like, just started transcribing that and took that as my starting point and I think that just helped kind of break out of the old patterns.Melvin:That's so awesome. Okay, the nerded me is going to totally try to dissect all of this. So you transcribed voice memos, and I imagine like you're going on a walk, you're taking a hike, maybe you're at the grocery store, I don't know, like random cooking, right? What are you transcribing? Just random thoughts or things that you could say, take us a little inside that?Lindsey:Yeah, sometimes just random thoughts like, oh, make sure you include this or make sure you include that. But I think what was most helpful was talking as if I was actually talking to the client like, “Oh, you're going through this or that.” My niche is working with underrepresented achievers. So a big part of that as often like, struggling with believing you're enough. So I say things like, “Oh, so you're dealing with that feeling that you're not enough.” That feeling comes up again, like talking almost as if it was a real conversation, which sounds a little kooky as I say it out loud. But I think that helps me get into more of that conversational style and come up with some of those more genuine words and language that I can translate over to the website.Melvin:Yeah and I don't think it's kooky at all because I think one of the things is, it's helping you to break out of that academic mindset and into almost like human language, right?Lindsey:Yeah.Melvin:I do something like very similar with voice dictation and one thing I've recently been doing is, I have a friend who's actually also in California, he's a YouTuber, he's an online creator and so entrepreneurs are sort of MySpace and so obviously, he's not a client, but he's like my perfect client. And so one of the things we do is like a mastermind, and we discovered recently that you can use zoom, and there's a software program called otter.ai, which is like artificial intelligence transcription, like real time transcription.Essentially, what we'll do is we'll get on zoom, and I'll ask him stuff, like, “What are your biggest fears as an entrepreneur? Or what are your biggest hopes?” And this thing will transcribe our conversation in the background, so that at the end of it, we have this nice transcription. And then I can go through and highlight key things he said which to incorporate into a website. I don't even think what you're doing is like crazy at all. I think it's smart because, for example, in clinician speak, we might be like seems your self-esteem really is at a certain place and that's maybe not what underrepresented achievers are necessarily saying, right?Lindsey:Exactly! Yeah, I don't think I've had anyone say, “Oh, I'm struggling with self-esteem.” You have to think about one of the world’s real people use not just us in our jargon.Melvin:What are you using to just dictate; the voice thing on your iPhone or what?Lindsey:Yeah, just the voice app.Melvin:And then how are you transcribing it, what do you usually use?Lindsey:I'm old school, I listen to it, and then I type.Melvin:Nice, back to our grad school; transcribing our practical videos.Lindsey:Exactly.Melvin:I joke about that, but I actually think that would be really kind of empowering because it would allow you to hone in on certain phrases and things like that.Lindsey:Yeah, exactly. I found it useful for my process, just to be really engaged with it and that it was many iterations and tweaking, and I will still continue to tweak it, but it's going to have my hands in it more, I think helped me.Melvin:Are these recordings more spontaneous? Or do you like set aside time to almost brainstorm or think through things?Lindsey:It’s spontaneous. Yeah, I usually get the most creative ideas, when I just let them come spontaneously.Melvin:Really random questions; I feel like many of us have really great ideas and we have those ideas that spontaneously come. At least for me, there's a moment where I have an idea and then I'm like, “Oh, that's a dumb idea.” Versus like, “Oh, I should probably write that down or record it.” How do you take that step to actually record it? Versus being like, “Oh, Lindsey, that's a dumb idea.”Lindsey:Yeah, I just think I really practice that self-compassion, and just really give myself permission to just say whatever is coming to your mind, it doesn't have to be good, it doesn't have to be perfect, and just put it out there. And I'm going to hone it and make sure I like it before I put it out there into the world; but when I'm just with myself brainstorming, just really trying to quiet any of those voices of judgment.Melvin:I have this image of like, working with clay on a potter's wheel, when you first have that piece of clay, just a lump of clay and the most important step you take is to put that clay on the wheel and slowly over time it molds. I just had that image as you were talking, because I think that's right. Like the most important step is to put it on there, get that idea out there and then you can tweak and refine and all those things.Lindsey:Yeah, I love that.Melvin:So on your website, you share that underrepresented achievers are my people, which by the way, I love that phrasing. Tell us more about how you found this space?Lindsey:Sure, yeah. Well, that was a phrase that came to me in a brainstorming and talking out loud session and I found it really fit. But how I came to that and thought that's what I want my specialty to be and my focus as with everything. I think commonly starts back with our family. And when I look back out my story, and I think back to my mom, and growing up with her as she was an awesome badass first generation college student and she was going to college when I was growing up. So she grew up in a time in the 50s, and 60s, in a more conservative area where there wasn't an expectation or resources for her to go to college, and that woman particularly would go to college.And so I grew up in a situation where she was going to college, working, and taking care of two kids and seeing her deal with the barrier she was dealing with just to get her college education. I'm sure I could not articulate it at the time as a kid. But now looking back, I can see how that planted a seed of empathy for anyone struggling with these systemic barriers that get in the way of something as simple as wanting to get education.And then as I got to know myself more and have my own experiences, understand my own identities, having my own experiences with that, both as a woman, as a queer, bisexual person, I've had experience of being the only one of those identities in the room, or the one a very few have experienced that pressure of oh, I've got to represent my group. I want to make sure I'm advocating for my group and speaking up for my group and also everyone is looking at me as the representative and the pressure that's there and so I've had my own moments of struggles with those feelings as well.But then over time learning, okay, I also have privilege that has helped me navigate those barriers for myself as a white person, a white therapist, thinking about how all those things weaved together began to form an ally identity. So it was kind of my journey over college and graduate school, and so then once the time came to start a private practice, it just felt really natural that I wanted to bring all those pieces of my experience together that I really wanted to serve people who have similar experiences to me and support them, as well as different experiences to me that face different systemic barriers, and be an ally and be of service. So just felt like a really natural outgrowth that. Of course, I want to serve the communities I'm most passionate about supporting.Melvin:Yeah, I think we just articulated that so well. I feel like some of the best private practitioners are the ones, who private practice is not just a means of income, but it's rooted in their own story and how they've been able to weave their own stories and narratives into their private practice. How do you figure out for you because this is honestly a struggle for me, how do you figure out what parts of your story or identity show up in private practice and what parts you kind of hold back? Just because like privacy, or any of those kind of things?Lindsey:Sure. Yeah in general, I think I take a pretty feminist perspective, which is that we're all real people with real experiences, and we can't pretend that we can totally keep those at the door. So, to a degree, I think I bring all of those things into the room. As I say that, though, I don't disclose a lot, which is interesting. But I think it's just in the way I embody it and the way people seek me out knowing oh, okay, she holds a social justice perspective, they see that on my website, I think they see that in how I interact with them and the questions I ask them. So it comes through, but also without me sharing a lot of detail.So I think where the line is, for me, I don't share a lot of detail about, “Well, this is the personal struggle I had, here's the emotions I had, and here's the thing I had to get over.” I don't share that. But it may make statements as like, “Oh, as marginalized people, we sometimes go through blah, blah, blah.” So I might join with them to help them feel seen and understood. But making sure of course, the space is about them, and them getting support is not showing a lot of detail about my experience.Melvin:Yeah, that makes perfect sense. So it's almost like you focus on the overarching value and the overarching experience, as opposed to going into the details, at least in session. Now for things like a website, or even like when a client calls like, I guess what does that line for you too? Do you self-disclose more on your website? And if so, what's that? And again, I know, this isn't so black and white. But just kind of curious, because I've always been...

Like many of you, I’m looking forward to a different 2021, but I am grateful for what we’ve learned about ourselves, our businesses, and our resilience. Today’s topic is more relevant than ever, as we all want to learn more about improving our private practice website. Join us to learn more! Our Featured GuestDaniel FavaDaniel Fava, from Private Practice Elevation, is my friend and an expert in website design. I trust his insight and advice, and I rely heavily on him for everything website-related. Daniel is here to share what is working for private practice websites post-pandemic. Much of what we think about our private practice websites has shifted greatly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and what used to serve us well may not be working now. As many of us are transitioning to full-time online counseling or at least some increased element of online therapy, Daniel’s advice is relevant and timely.WebsiteROI ReportWebsite AuditYou'll Learn:What has changed about websites and online traffic since the pandemic beganThree things that are working well for private practice websites:A professional website is more important than ever.People are searching online, so you need to have a presence there that stands out.Content is the foundation for getting found online.Foundational content includes your home page, service pages, and specialty pages.Online therapy has become an essential part of private practice.Your website audience is now expanded throughout your entire state, instead of just your local vicinity. How to incorporate non-written content, like videos and podcasts, into your websiteWhy you should take this opportunity to view your website through new eyesTranscript:Melvin:Hello, welcome to session 262 of Selling the Couch. I hope you are having a good start to the New Year. Man after the fun adventure that was 2020 I am really looking forward to a different 2021. At the same time, I feel like I'm so grateful. As hard as this has been that in some ways that we were able to go through this because I think it's definitely taught all of us just how resilient we are; especially if you have been able to manage a business and during a pandemic, you're pretty legit.So today's podcast session is with my good friend Daniel Fava from Private Practice Elevation. Daniel is an expert when it comes to website design. It's someone I rely on for both STC and my private practice website. And Daniel is here to share three of the things that are working for private practice websites post-pandemic. I know that how we think about private practice and even how we think about our private practice websites has shifted in the midst of this pandemic.There are just things that were working in the past that are not working as well now and we've learned a lot of insights and key things in terms of what could work and what will be working going forward. Especially as many of us transition either fully to online counseling or maintain some element of online counseling in our practices. I think there are just a lot of different things there. So we'll get right to today's conversation. Here is my conversation with Daniel Fava from privatepracticeelevation.com.Hey, Daniel, welcome back to Selling the Couch.Daniel:Hey Melvin, how's it going? Thanks so much for having me back.Melvin:You're welcome. And Happy New Year, because by the time this releases, it'll be the New Year.Daniel:That's right. That's always the interesting and strange part of recording podcasts is the timing bit because we're recording before Christmas, but we're saying Happy New Year.Melvin:Yes, absolutely. We have to get it all in our mind.Daniel:Yeah.Melvin:I'm really excited for our conversation because this pandemic this past year has up ended so many things. Even I think about like just across but especially in the mental health field. Many of us have had to transition to telehealth, think differently about marketing, and think differently about our websites. Even as we record this right now, we've had one vaccine that's I guess been approved for emergency use, but looks like a second and potentially third and fourth ones on the way. So we see the dim light at the end of the tunnel.But I do feel like this is definitely going to change our field and how we see private practice. And I'm grateful for this conversation because you're my friend, first of all, and second here, someone that I really trust when it comes to just learning about what's working for private practice websites and websites in general. So I’m grateful for this time together.Daniel:Yeah, thank you so much. I'm grateful for it too. I really appreciate you having me on and it's always fun to chat about this stuff. I know that we tend to geek out a bit and so you're kind of like an equal with me as we nerd out on some of this stuff and dig into it. It's a lot of fun.Melvin:Yeah, absolutely! About you, I would say you're probably a little bit more. I love websites, but when it comes to at least a website, I think you take it to a level that’s more than I can go. So perhaps you’re my nerdy friend.We were thinking about the topic for this podcast conversation, and one of the things we just realized is, websites are changing, and how we think about websites are changing in the midst of this pandemic, and even afterwards, and what I asked Daniel to share was the three things that are working for private practice websites post-pandemic. So we'll just jump right in.Daniel, what would you say is like-- well, I guess maybe even before we get into those three things, if you could sort of give a big picture overview, how did people look at websites pre-pandemic and what do you think has changed since the pandemic?Daniel:Yeah. Well, I think that for a while, I kind of noticed, and I've been doing websites for therapists and private practice owners for little over four years now. And so I have seen sort of a shift and it's been kind of slow going from people were like, “Oh, maybe I need a website, maybe I don't. I've got referral networks going on. Maybe just having really basic website is enough and it's just a place that I can send people to.”But then over the years as platforms like Squarespace have evolved and they've become more popular People are starting to see really the importance or have been seeing the importance of having a website and how it can be really an asset in their business to get more clients. That shift has really been happening slowly over the years that I've been noticing.I remember when I first began this work and kind of just talking to people and looking at in like social media and Facebook groups and stuff like that. A lot of people there are still in this mix of like, “Oh, I'm thinking about starting a website, do I really need a website?” That sort of thing, but I feel like people have kind of really grabbed hold of; yes. “Yes, I do. I do need a website.” And especially with the shift to more online therapy, and not being able to do in person marketing and networking and stuff like that; it's become more important than ever.Melvin:Yeah, absolutely! I forgot who mentioned this. But this phrase has always resonated with me that, website is the modern day business card and I feel like that that statement is true now more than ever. Like you said, because of like, so many restrictions and having a presence online is just really important, especially because telehealth was growing, and it's definitely not going away post-pandemics.Daniel:Yeah, absolutely, and that's really my point number one was kind of just starting at the beginning. And I wrote down in my notes here, a professional website is more important than ever, because so many people are turning to online, so many people are turning to searching- clients are searching for these services in Google and if you're not able to do in person networking, and you don't have a number of different streams for your marketing, you could be missing out on a lot of potential clients there.Melvin:Yeah, absolutely! So you said a professional website is more important than ever. So what's the difference between a regular website and a professional website?Daniel:Well, with the shift that's been happening is that a lot more people are as we said, getting smart to the fact that you need to have that presence online, especially if you're doing online therapy, you can reach more and more people and we'll talk a little bit more about that later on. So many people really hustled to get their online presence in order. And that was really what we saw a lot in my business was, I got all this influx of people who were like, “My website is just, it's really crappy, I haven't done anything with it. It's just kind of there. But now we are really in need of more clients especially with the uncertainty of COVID.”When all that started a lot of people weren't investing in their online marketing or their website. So a number of therapists came running to us like, “Hey, I need help, I got to get this in order, we need to get this up, so our clients don't dry up.” That's great, but when you kind of look at the big picture for each of those individual therapists, that often lead to even more competition; more people are investing in their websites, more people are getting their SEO in order. So that means that there's more competition, especially if you're in a densely populated area or largest city.So it's important not to only have a website, but you have to have one that really stands out, because people are going to be doing those searching, they're going to be researching who do they want to work with, who's the best person to help me with my challenges. So you want to make sure that your website stands out. So when I talk about professional, and this is not just because I am a web designer, yeah that can be a little bit of part of it.But you want a website that does what it's meant to do. It's got to be clean; it's got to be modern and easy to use. And if you really want to stand out among that crowd of competition, you want your website to look stellar, you want it to be professional, you want it to work the way it's supposed to work to get you more clients.Melvin:Yeah, absolutely, and I think both with selling the couch as well as my private practice website, I felt like, especially with selling the couch, I felt like I was like a little bit naive to it. I just thought, what website is, I can kind of use a template and put my main sections up and put the words up. But I think what you're saying is a website in a way is kind of this living, breathing thing and evolving thing. So just because you post something or have a certain sections doesn't mean you stop tweaking it.Daniel:Yeah, absolutely, and I understand that there's certainly a starting point for everybody. Budgets are super important when it comes to should you invest or should you build it yourself? You want to make sure that no matter what stage you're at, you are investing whether that's time or money into your website to make it better and better and make it stand.One client of ours comes to mind and she is in New York City and so there's a lot of competition in her location and she had a website that she put together herself on Wix, and there was a lot of just for me, as a designer, when I come to it, I can see all the things that are just kind of out of place, or it's missing the right content, or it's hard to schedule that first appointment or a consultation call. And so we worked on her website, and we redesigned it made it beautiful, professional, easy to use works on mobile, and then when her website went live in just three months, she went from about eight clients a week to 25 clients a week.That project actually, funny thing, it didn't really have a lot of focus on SEO. But because she was getting a number of people searching through Psychology and landing on her website, because we focused on that conversion optimization, she was able to get more leads, have more phone calls with people, and then sign those people up.So certainly investing in a website; it's my hope, it’s my desire and it's really our goal to make sure that we help our clients reach those goals and impact their business. Like I don't want to just create pretty websites to create pretty websites, and that's something that I’ve really been passionate about over the last year, is I want to dig in and be a partner with people in their private practices, in their business and how many more clients do they want in their business? What goals are they trying to achieve?Melvin:Yeah, I know. Absolutely, all are really good points. I wanted to come back to something you said a little bit earlier.Daniel:Sure.Melvin:A professional website-- like this is can really be silly question; should there be like, especially in 2121, should there be like certain core elements in a professional website? Like, you should have a homepage, you should have a specialty page, like any of that kind of stuff? I'd be like, really interested to hear from you and pick your brain on that.Daniel:Yeah, absolutely, and we can actually go there. That's kind of part of my point number two here for things that are working post-pandemic.Melvin:It's so funny. Like I asked Daniel like to share these tips, but I haven't seen the tips, and it's funny how we're on the same wavelength. So yeah, let's jump into point two, then.Daniel:Yeah, you're tracking with me here. So number two is that content is still the foundation for getting found online. With the folks who have come to us over the last year who are really starting to focus in on their online marketing, I would hear time and again, “We're not getting found for these keywords, the right types of clients that we want to track aren't coming to the website.” And when I dig in and look at their current website, I can see just clear holes in their content.I've really been working on really our process at Private Practice Elevation, like what do we do to elevate people's practices with their online presence, and I've been working on this diagram. I think we've spoken about this before. But I have these three circles, and in the first circle, the very first thing that we focus on really is the foundation, the foundational content for your website.What I mean by that is yes, definitely having a homepage. Your homepage is super important, because it's often the most visited page on the website, and that homepage really serves to get people to the information that they're looking for as quickly as possible, and as easily as possible. So that could be an introduction to you and your private practice, followed by the services that you offer, and getting people to those services pages; and that's really the second most important thing, if not the most important.It's kind of like a toss-up between the homepage and your service pages, because your service pages are so specific and that's really where the SEO piece comes in; and I encourage people to get creative, and it might sound like a lot of content. But this is something that you can develop over time, you can start with your initial services, might just look like individual therapy in Atlanta, or whatever the city is, couples counseling in Atlanta. But then over time, you want to build those things out to have subpages even under that and all of those really act as ways for Google to see those services.Because people are more likely to search for anxiety therapy or counseling after divorce, something like that, and maybe not just couples counseling, but it's related to couples counseling, you understand what I'm saying?Melvin:Yeah.Daniel:You got to really dig into the services and the topics and the things that you help your clients with. And that's really the best way even before you start building links back to the website or doing other things that are off of your website, you really got to focus on that content.Melvin:Yeah, that's like really good stuff. So I wanted to just understand because you said like specialty pages. So would that be like I often get confused between these. Like it's a specialty page saying like, you do individual counseling versus couples counseling, those are separate pages or are the specialty pages like the niches that you serve?I can even give like a practical example from my own private practice. So in general I think my niche is successful by overwhelmed entrepreneurs. But within that, like I have pages for entrepreneurs with what's called founder depression and then I have like specialty page for entrepreneur from a dysfunctional family or alcohol dysfunctional family. So I guess, are those the examples of the specialty pages?Daniel:Right, yeah. That's what I consider the specialty pages. And another example, just to kind of drive this home, we just worked on a website for a psychologist, Long Island, New York, which I'm super excited about, because that's where I grew up. So it's fun to look at their content and see all the towns nearby where I grew up at. So my Long Island accent kind of came out while I was working on that project. But anyway, so they have done a great job; their website was very outdated, but the content that they had was incredible. It was like 95 pages of content and I was like, “Oh, my goodness, they have done a really great job and they’re getting great traffic, because of all the different content that they have on there.”So what it kind of looks like and how it's organized. And I just pulled it up just to get this right. So they've got services on their homepage, they

I’m hoping 2021 will be a new year of great experiences and opportunities after what we went through in 2020. Today’s show covers one specific way that clinicians have had to adapt to new ways of doing things because of difficult circumstances. Join us to learn more.Roseann Capanna-Hodge is an integrative and pediatric mental health expert. She’s the founder and director of the Global Institute for Children’s Mental Health and Dr. Roseann and Associates.  Roseann had a simple idea during the pandemic about doing therapeutic activities via Zoom and telehealth sessions. This realization led to her writing the first-ever book on the subject. She’s here to share about her book, its inspiration, and the mental shifts that have become necessary.www.sellingthecouch.com/session261Transcript: Melvin:Hello, welcome to session 261 of selling the couch; Happy New Year. I hope that you are doing well. It's so good to be back with you. With the way 2020 was I'm really hoping that 2021 would just be a new year, year of new opportunities and new experiences and new podcasts episodes. This is my wish for all of us because I feel like I shared this toward the end of last year in our community.But I felt like one is just how resilient we have all been in the midst of all of what's happened with the pandemic and even as I'm recording this right now we're in mid-November. And here in Philly, we are about to go into a second modified lockdown and trying to navigate all of this and so even I, I'm hoping when this episode releases that we'll just be in a different space, that there will be vaccine ready and that distribution channels and all that stuff will have been figured out and navigated through and all of those different things.Today's podcast session is a special episode. My guest is Dr. Roseann Capanna-Hodge. Roseann is a integrative and pediatric mental health expert. She's the founder and director of the Global Institute for Children's Mental Health, as well as Dr. Roseann and Associates.Roseann had a simple idea during the midst of this pandemic, which is many of us are doing zoom sessions and using various other online platforms to do telehealth, and how do we do activities in a zoom session? So she did a quick search on Amazon and discovered that there weren't any options out there, and so she decided to create the first ever book on Teletherapy, therapeutic activities, and we're actually talking about the process of creating this book, where her inspiration came from, and some of the mental shifts that Roseann had to really consider and own in the midst of this pandemic.Roseann was actually super busy; as you'll hear on this podcast. She actually wrote four books in the midst of this pandemic, which is just an amazing feat. So we'll get right to today's podcast session. Here's my conversation with Dr. Roseann Capanna-Hodge.Hey, Roseann, welcome to Selling the Couch.Roseann:Well, thank you for having me Melvin.Melvin:I'm so grateful that Christy connected us; shout out to Christy.Roseann:We love Christy.Melvin:We do. We really do love Christy. Selling the Couch would not function and exist without Christy's editing. So thank you Christy, for connecting us and Roseann, I'm really excited for our conversations. You are doing so much in the world and including creating the first ever book on Teletherapy therapeutic activities. You've been busy.Roseann:I have been busy Melvin during what I call my Corona creative period, I wrote four bucks.Melvin:Oh my Gosh! That's crazy.Roseann: Yeah, and I did a bunch of other things including; getting a podcast of my own, which is how we both know Christy.Melvin:Yeah, absolutely. I wanted to ask you; maybe we can even start there. With this pandemic, I feel like a lot of clinicians when it happened, it was almost like you got sideswiped right?Roseann:Absolutely!Melvin:How in the world did you find the energy to write four books and do a podcast in the midst of something that's just so chaotic and uncertain?Roseann:Yeah, we all have different superpowers, and I think one of my absolute superpowers is really thriving during points of crisis. I'm one of those people like I can visualize being an undergrad, and somebody got in a motorcycle accident literally right in front of me. Like 15 feet away from me, and everybody was totally immobilized and I remember looking and thinking, why isn't anybody moving? And I just sprung into action and helped him and I just have that ability to future think, think about what needs to happen and take action.So during this time, I think like all of us, all the therapists in the world, we thought, “Okay, just going to be like four to eight weeks, and we'll all be back at work.”Melvin:I remember those early posts even in the selling the couch Facebook community like, “Yeah, we'll do our quarantining for like, three, four weeks, and we'll be good.”Roseann: Yeah, I said to myself during this time, when do I have time off? I have a large practice with many therapists, and we do a lot of Neurofeedback, and I do a boatload of media, and I was on an airplane or driving into New York City a minimum of once a week. Sometimes I'd be in L.A in New York, and then seeing clients in between in the same week.And literally up until March 5th, that was what was happening. And when I had time off, I knew when the pandemic started, I said to myself, “Oh, they're saying a couple weeks,” I said, “This is got to be at least four weeks” My sort of prediction was eight, we went to closing our Center for 10 and we were able to open up on May 20th.I knew during this time, after the four weeks, I was like, “When we come back to work, it will not be the same.” And I had said, I have worked with a lot of special needs parents and we work with people of all ages, but our specialty really is kids with ADHD and do a lot of work with PANS and PANDAS and autism, all of these things that are common today.And so I wrote my first book was, It's Gonna be OK! And I worked on that, and then we've two books to support that book. And then June happened, and I said, “Wow, people really aren't coming back to in person.” And I was surprised on that. I thought, “Okay, people are going to come back in person.” I knew Teletherapy was here to stay and we've been doing Teletherapy for 10 years at our center in Ridgefield, Connecticut.But I didn't realize that almost nobody was going to come back in person, and then we really have very high level training at our center. Everybody gets a least one supervision a week. Some people we do ERP. So there's ERP supervision. We do EFT tapping, we have supervision for that, we do group supervision and all the new clinicians have to have at least one supervision on their own a week for like the first two years.So we're really serious about supporting therapists and blossoming them. And so I started to get worried; what were my therapists doing? Did they have enough activities? And I started doing what all the other therapists were doing; scrolling on their phone, checking the Amazon, looking for a book on Teletherapy activities.I remember this so vividly; it was a Wednesday night was late June, and I'm sitting in my hot tub and I put in Tele, and then mental health activities came up, and then it just dawned on me, there wasn't a book. So I said, I'm going to write this book; and I wrote it in 31 days, it's 420 pages and I just came very fast at writing and also done a boatload of Neurofeedback. So my brain works really fast.I started with wanting to support my own therapist, and then I realized that like therapists Melvin, during this pandemic, they all are feeling like they just got out of grad school because nobody was trained for Teletherapy.Melvin:Yeah, and I think many people are like, yeah, it's a new skill set. A lot of folks I think, what we talked about earlier they’re dealing with their own emotions, and then the practical things. Like a lot of therapists are, for example, caregivers or parents, and they're trying to navigate changes on multiple levels and on multiple systems.Roseann:Absolutely! And practical like, before we started Melvin had me do a tech check, and a lot of therapists that regardless of age may not have the comfort level with technology, and just even that was a barrier then supporting your clients’ technology. There were a lot of hurdles to face.I think people now are in their stride with that, like everybody knows zoom now or different platforms that you're using, I use the HIPAA compliant version of zoom and have always have. And then, like you said Melvin, people who are like feeling their own raw emotions; we've been on a roller coaster during this whole pandemic, not just with COVID, but with many other issues.Melvin:Yeah, absolutely! I wanted to shift a little bit and the question is actually about mental shifts. So I totally did not do that on purpose. But what do you think like a mental shift is that a clinician needs in working with kids and teens because you said that's like a big part of the population in an office versus a Telehelp, so like mentally, what's the shift they need?Roseann:For those of us that work with kids and teens, we all know that a requirement is actually really enjoying kids and teens and thinking they're fun. So it's the same in Teletherapy. I think the first mental shift that all therapists need to have in Teletherapy, is that they absolutely can be a rock star teletherapist, and they can be as good in Teletherapy as they were in person. And I think that's the first, aha, because I think that I've met a lot of therapists who are like, wow, it's just not as effective, and that's not the truth.We know, through the research that it is. And just like everything else, there needs to be in terms of efficacy in therapy, there are so many factors, but the client motivation, and the skill set and experience of the therapist is another huge factor. So the shift that needs to happen, and I'm basing this on being in a lot of Facebook groups with therapists is, we need to shift back to therapeutic activities.I think a lot of people jumped in to tell us therapy, and not knowing what to do, are overusing activities for engagement. I see therapists doing Minecraft with kids, still playing Scrabble on the regular and just different things; and why?I think it's because they didn't have a resource and that's why I wrote this book, which is like literally dozens and dozens and dozens of activities that are therapeutic and just ridiculously easy to use. You get this book, you open it up. But they also can go to their own toolkit and just look what I did is, I modified solid therapeutic activities to be done in a really either visual and or tactile kinesthetic way on they need to get creative, Melvin and I think some people really are.Melvin:Yeah, I think absolutely. I would say the vast majority of clinicians are quite creative. Again, I feel like this was such a unique time where there was like, such a profound grief around whether it's having shut down an office or try to think about things differently and all of the different other stressors that have come with this pandemic. But to your point, I feel like so many clinicians now, like we really are blossoming and emerging…Roseann:Blossoming for sure.Melvin:Yeah, even yesterday, I wrote this post in the community, just about like, “Hey, guys, I know we've been doing telehealth for a number of months, can you share what your office space looks like? And what tech are you using? And what's not working? What’s working?” And it's just some of the stuff like that our colleagues are creating. It's just absolutely beautiful.Roseann:Yeah. I think like you brought up, Melvin some grief points, but I think one of the biggest grief points that I hear from therapists is that, even though they're bracing teletherapy, they feel isolated. And we have two therapists in my office that are like, “I got to see people in person.” They do different kinds of things. One works with a lot of really littles and so that presents us a different challenge. And she's great in teletherapy. But I know both the therapists what it is for them, is they need the interaction with us, the office staff, me, our Neurofeedback staff. So, everyone's got to do what's right for them, but therapists, you're right, like they're getting into technology now. They're putting up beautiful backgrounds and getting great lighting. I love all that stuff. And then they're really creating a lot more exciting activities that they can use with their clients. But kids, they're very different working with kids and teenagers than adults. Adults are going to come in, I'm going to tell you, I always prefer working with kids to adults. And it's not that way, the majority of therapists work with adults, but kids are open, and they're open to creative things. But they need a lot more in this virtual world because they're doing many of them virtual learning, and then we're asking them to get on and do a virtual session. Again, they need movement. They need a focus on activities that are stimulating that are visual, otherwise, you're just not going to get that same kind of therapeutic growth.Melvin:Yeah, right. Absolutely. So really random like, not at all to put you on spot like, what's an example of an activity in the book?Roseann:Oh, yeah, you're not putting me on the spot; I could talk about this all day. I have some activities that are coming up on my YouTube channel, Dr. Roseann, that are there and people can just see them. One of the activities that we have is calm my brain and so there's different ways to do it.So you can use this if you're anxious, if you have OCD, if you have social issues, whatever the issue is, but we know most people are experiencing stress and clinical anxiety at this point. And so its calm R activity is what it's called. And so it's a brain and with my book, you can get PDFs. So you can either email a PDF, or pop it on the screen, or you can draw a brain, and you get into habit of a check in with a kid or a teenager, this is a great activity for a lot of things. And then you can say like, what is the issue. They can write it, they can draw it, they can put it right on their brain, and I'm huge into a lot of things, but a big part of my work is psychoeducation and really teaching kids teens and their families about what the issue is. I have a lot of psychoeducation sheets in my book as well. Many people come to me, I deal with a lot of complex issues at my center, Melvin, and it's not unusual for somebody, even with a child have seen 10 or 12 other providers. And often they are craving that understanding that psychoeducation. It’s so important, and we know therapeutically, that when people understand the issue, they're more likely to take action. So this is an activity to bring in psychoeducation about the brain, but it's really for them to connect with their body to understand. So the other part about my book is all the activities have a somatic component to them because I do a lot of work with trauma. I was one of the approved providers with Sandy Hook. So I did a lot of work with Sandy Hook survivors. But long before that, I've been working with trauma sufferers. It’s important to get people to connect their body. And so that's one of the activities that has the psychoeducation piece, it's got R in there, it's got a kinesthetic and visual part, as well as, it's really, really getting kids to understand their body and be like, “Wow, here's an alert signal. And this means I need to take action.” So that's an activity that I have in the book. Melvin:That's really cool. Our time flew. So I wanted to ask you a final question. Just in general, like, how did you come up with these activities? I mean, was this like, I know I've done this, and it was almost like you sat down and wrote it down? Or how did you even compile? I mean, that's a lot of activities in this book?Roseann:Yeah. It’s 420 pages. So how did I do it? This is what I do with everything. I wrote my other book, 200 pages, 35 pages of citations; it's going to be okay, really quick, too. But what I do is I do a lot of planning and organizing. So writing itself is ridiculously easy for me. I can bang out writing, but where I spend the bulk of my time is planning. So, what I did is I said, “What are the most common issues facing kids that therapist needs support?” So it's anxiety, it's mood, it's anger, OCD. We have an OCD section in the book, so many people have OCD, we had R and psychoeducation component. And so then I started with that, and then I just was like, wait a second, we sort of like just a wave where you're like, I did this activity, and this helps. And then we use this and we use that. I've been supervising therapists for well over a decade. I've been a college professor, even working in mental health for 30 years. There's a lot in my brain, and it's super organized. And it just really honestly flowed. And I also interviewed a few of the therapists in my office and was like, wait a second, I know you use this technique. So I did a little picking of the brain and of my favorite colleagues, but really, honestly, it just poured out of me and I know what works. I think when you deal with really complex cases, you have the best strategies available to you, and they're applicable to the easiest, I should say situations that maybe just need a short term support. But they're also great for challenging cases because in these 30 years, I've been working with kids, cases are challenging now, Melvin, like people have multiple layers younger. So that's how I did it. Started with the need, and I've been often referred to as a walking encyclopedia, and I just got writing.Melvin:Did you organize this? Did you use any…Roseann:You know what I used? A good old Google Sheet, my friend. And I do a lot of color coding. And then I put Google Docs to it. And I'm going to tell you the next time because book editors, somebody edited it for me. Book editors edit in word. So now I know to make it in word because that was a pain. The hardest part about our book was actually, there's got to be probably 200 supporting graphics. And that was the hardest part. Melvin: Oh, I would imagine, like having someone draw this or like what? Roseann:We used a graphic design software. And it's in there, you'll see tons of hands out. There's like 200 handouts in this book. Like, it's no joke. This is why we call it the handbook, the therapists handbook for treating children and teens, because it really has a lot of stuff...

Every once in a while, you’ll hear the success story of someone who breaks the mold and goes against the norms. Today’s show highlights the story of a therapist who bucks the trend of everything we normally learn on the podcast and is the direct opposite of what the experts say about building a private practice. Katie Zimmerman, LMFT, practices in Arroyo Grande, CA. She endured some crazy circumstances that led to her leaving one job and having to quickly figure out how to create and open her private practice---in about two weeks! She found office space that was appropriately perfect, established a name for her practice, and got it going with some foundational clients. It may sound impossible, but it speaks to the importance of intentionality and relationships. Katie shares reflections on the reasons for her success, the narratives we struggle with about what we can accomplish, and the importance of certain training modalities. Join us! You can read the full show notes at: Session163Mentioned in this episode:Try Alma!Building and managing the practice you truly want can feel overwhelming. That’s why Alma is here—to help you create not just any practice, but your private practice. With Alma, you’ll get the tools and resources you need to navigate insurance with ease, connect with referrals that are the right fit for your style, and streamline those time-consuming administrative tasks. That means less time buried in the details and more time focused on delivering exceptional care to your clients. You support your clients. Alma supports you. Learn more at sellingthecouch.com/alma and get 2 months FREE—an exclusive offer for STC listeners.Sign up for the new online course workshop of a small launch to a $300K course at https://sellingthecouch.com/onlinecourseworkshopSign up for the new online course workshop of a small launch to a $300K course at https://sellingthecouch.com/onlinecourseworkshop

Balance sheet, profit/loss statements, cash flow, business expense----do these terms send you into a sudden state of anxiety and panic? If so, then this is the perfect show for you! The entire topic of keeping accurate records for your business can be ultra-intimidating for any clinician. Let’s try to make sense of it all together! Greg Higdon is the founder of Grow the Books. He’s here to discuss the biggest bookkeeping blunders that clinicians make and offer solutions that make sense. If looking at your numbers makes you sweat, or if you’ve taken the ostrich approach of hiding your head in the sand, then I hope this episode will make things more manageable and less stressful for you. Join us! You can read the full show notes at: Session180Mentioned in this episode:Sign up for the new online course workshop of a small launch to a $300K course at https://sellingthecouch.com/onlinecourseworkshopSign up for the new online course workshop of a small launch to a $300K course at https://sellingthecouch.com/onlinecourseworkshopTry Alma!Building and managing the practice you truly want can feel overwhelming. That’s why Alma is here—to help you create not just any practice, but your private practice. With Alma, you’ll get the tools and resources you need to navigate insurance with ease, connect with referrals that are the right fit for your style, and streamline those time-consuming administrative tasks. That means less time buried in the details and more time focused on delivering exceptional care to your clients. You support your clients. Alma supports you. Learn more at sellingthecouch.com/alma and get 2 months FREE—an exclusive offer for STC listeners.

Today’s show is one that I’ve looked forward to for a long time. We are covering a topic that comes up frequently in the STC community, which is the process of hiring a virtual assistant. I’ve been through this process more than once, and it was a rocky road before finding Nicole three years ago. Hiring a VA teaches you about your strengths, weaknesses, and communication skills. I’ve learned what tasks I can delegate and what help I need for long-term sustainability in my business.Today you’ll meet Nicole Denison, who is my awesome VA. I found her through my colleague, Laura Reagan, who raved about Nicole and her abilities. I’m so thankful to have found Nicole three years ago, and I can honestly say that STC wouldn’t exist as it does today without Nicole’s hard work and dedication.www.sellingthecouch.com/session232Mentioned in this episode:Try Alma!Building and managing the practice you truly want can feel overwhelming. That’s why Alma is here—to help you create not just any practice, but your private practice. With Alma, you’ll get the tools and resources you need to navigate insurance with ease, connect with referrals that are the right fit for your style, and streamline those time-consuming administrative tasks. That means less time buried in the details and more time focused on delivering exceptional care to your clients. You support your clients. Alma supports you. Learn more at sellingthecouch.com/alma and get 2 months FREE—an exclusive offer for STC listeners.Sign up for the new online course workshop of a small launch to a $300K course at https://sellingthecouch.com/onlinecourseworkshop

Today’s episode is a solo session in which I discuss Smart Ways to Repurpose Blog Content. I tried doing a Facebook Live recently on this topic, but there were technical difficulties. I knew it would be a great topic for the STC podcast, so we’re talking about taking existing content and presenting it in different ways. Join me!   You can read the full show notes at www.sellingthecouch.com/session135Mentioned in this episode:Try Alma!Building and managing the practice you truly want can feel overwhelming. That’s why Alma is here—to help you create not just any practice, but your private practice. With Alma, you’ll get the tools and resources you need to navigate insurance with ease, connect with referrals that are the right fit for your style, and streamline those time-consuming administrative tasks. That means less time buried in the details and more time focused on delivering exceptional care to your clients. You support your clients. Alma supports you. Learn more at sellingthecouch.com/alma and get 2 months FREE—an exclusive offer for STC listeners.Sign up for the new online course workshop of a small launch to a $300K course at https://sellingthecouch.com/onlinecourseworkshopSign up for the new online course workshop of a small launch to a $300K course at https://sellingthecouch.com/onlinecourseworkshop

Today’s show is a little different than normal. We’re highlighting the first online marketplace exclusively for mental health professionals to buy and sell their original products. We’re talking to one of the founders of Practikat about her journey--and how this platform might be just what you’re looking for! Katie Englert has a group practice in Paducah, Kentucky, and fills her time with counseling, consulting, and public speaking. Today’s show focuses on her newest endeavor, Practikat, which came about because Katie was looking for a hub of resources for clinicians. She shares how she came up with the name and the branding advice she received from experts and attorneys. Katie explains how to go about setting up something like Practikat, how revenue is generated, how to test it out, and the logistics of the development process. Katie wraps up our time by sharing the advice she would give to herself in the past and the future. You can read the full show notes at: Session196Mentioned in this episode:Try Alma!Building and managing the practice you truly want can feel overwhelming. That’s why Alma is here—to help you create not just any practice, but your private practice. With Alma, you’ll get the tools and resources you need to navigate insurance with ease, connect with referrals that are the right fit for your style, and streamline those time-consuming administrative tasks. That means less time buried in the details and more time focused on delivering exceptional care to your clients. You support your clients. Alma supports you. Learn more at sellingthecouch.com/alma and get 2 months FREE—an exclusive offer for STC listeners.Sign up for the new online course workshop of a small launch to a $300K course at https://sellingthecouch.com/onlinecourseworkshopSign up for the new online course workshop of a small launch to a $300K course at https://sellingthecouch.com/onlinecourseworkshop