Healers Get Vulnerable

This here podcast has changed a lot since I started it in the spring of 2017.

My business has grown a lot, largely thanks to this podcast.

I started this podcast as a way to reach more therapist entrepreneurs and give you inspiration and information about growing your business.

I've found my voice more and more over the last 3 years. I've learned a ton about podcasting and I have discovered that I LOVE it. Since then I've gotten to support some of my clients in creating their own podcasts.

Here are a few things I've learned about podcasting:

• You have to love your podcast. It can't just be for marketing purposes. If it is, you'll be bored. You won't grow an audience and you won't stick with it.
• You have to have a specific listener in mind. Even though your podcast is free, it helps to think of it as an offer within your business that offers real value to the listener.
• If your podcast is part of your business, you need a clear connection between what the podcast offers and what people can pay you for. The more clear and logical that connection is, the better.
• Your podcast has to be unique. That means you need to find your voice and provide value in a unique way.

I realized right away that I'd need to figure out how to create something different. For me, that difference has come from interviewing folks about their own businesses, rather than interviewing business experts who will tell us what to do. If someone's not open to talking about what's happening behind the scenes in their own business, they're not a fit for this show.

I myself am a business expert who tells people what to do at times. I'm not against that. For this podcast, however, I love giving you examples of folks who have created their own innovative and successful businesses. When you want to hear from business experts, I know you've got no shortage of other shows to listen to.

OK, enough about me for today! I'll share more about my own lessons learned, but now I want you to hear from some other wonderful entrepreneurs.

You're going to hear from 5 Rebel Therapists who dare to podcast. They're all leaders in creating unique and valuable podcasts.

Introducing Asher Pandjiris, Bianca Hughes, Dr. Kelsey Harper, Marielle Berg, and Nick Venegoni.

Each of them is sharing with us who their show is for, what it gives the listener, one thing they've learned in the process of creating their show, and how their podcast supports their business.

Asher Pandjiris is the host of Living In This Queer Body, a podcast about barriers to embodiment and how our collective body stories can bring us back to ourselves.

Bianca Hughes is the host of Authentic Wednesday, a podcast where she and her guests share their vulnerable, behind the scenes stories of giving themselves permission to take off their masks, let go of expectations, and embrace their own paths of freedom and authentic connection.

Dr. Kelsey Harper is the host of Warrior Grrrl, which is still in development. It's podcast for survivors of sexual assault. It brings a candid and authentic conversation about all the different things that are impact survivors.

Marielle Berg is the host of 2 podcasts: The Skillful Podcast, focusing on DBT skills, and It's Just A Cookie, for people struggling with food and body image issues, using a HAES and intuitive eating lens to help people heal from eating disorders, disordered eating, and food and body angst.

Nick Venegoni is the host of Queer Spirit Podcast, a show for spiritually minded queer folks on a path of personal healing and transformation.

Show notes at http://rebeltherapist.me/podcast/126

You may have heard about these executive coaches who make hundreds or thousands of dollars an hour. I've been in rooms where therapists are kind of pissed off about how much money they're making.

They say: "Why are these executive coaches bringing in money hand over fist? It's not fair. Some of them don't even have the training I have!"

Could some small part of that reaction be envy? Just a little? And maybe a little bit of binary thinking?

This work over here is altruistic. That work over there is not. Hmmm.

Side note...I know for sure people have those thoughts about business coaches like me, because I've been in those rooms too. But that's for a different day.

I have been really curious about executive coaching. Here's what we tackle in this episode:

What's it like to be an executive coach?

Would you like it?

Could you do it?

How would you get started?

How would you get clients?

Our guest is helping us answer all of that.

Dr. Alyssa Adams is A psychologist, intuitive business coach, and executive coach.

Here's some of what we talked about:

• Running a business with 3 arms: therapy, business coaching, and executive coaching
• How she gets clients (public speaking and personal referrals)
• The key to nurturing your potential referral sources (It's all about follow up!)
• How she structures her coaching packages so people accomplish their goals
• Setting her fees and working through mental blocks to charge enough
• Setting expectations and weeding out the wrong-fit clients
• Making the mistake of too-short packages in the beginning
• Working in sweatpants (no really, we had a lot to talk about on this)
• Her time-management and productivity hacks
• How she keeps therapy and coaching separate

Show notes at http://rebeltherapist.me/podcast/125

I recorded today's interview BEFORE the pandemic, so you're not gonna hear us talking about COVID 19.

And you might be thinking...um.... in-person retreats are impossible right now.

Yep. I realize that.

And still, I'm interested in helping you explore the possibilities for your business not just this month or next month or even just this year, but FAR into the future.

For everyone, and perhaps particularly for marginalized groups, IN PERSON events matter. In person connection matters.

If you're feeling that, listen to this interview and think about how in person events might fit into the future of your business.

Even before this pandemic,

I ran my entire business online. I love the freedom being online gives me. I love being able to reach folks all over the world. I get to create relationships with people and help them with their businesses, and it's FINE if we can never meet in person. The rebel therapists I work with are from many time zones.

AND I plan to do some in person work again in the future.

I ran a retreat last year with my dear friend Rebecca Wong. Bonding with Rebecca and the participants, sitting with them, actually hugging them, breathing the same air, it all added so much depth to the work. It's something we can't do at the moment.

I KNOW I'll do more in-person work in the future. That's why I'm talking to our guest today with you in mind, but also with me in mind.

This week, I'm talking to Nailah Blades Wylie, founder of Color Outside. She's a professional coach, consultant, retreat leader, and communications strategist. She runs retreats and in-person events for women of color. That's the part of her work we're focusing on today, so that you can get a master class in what makes an in-person retreat successful.

Here's some of what we talked about:

• Creating her first retreat because women were asking her for it.
• Why women sign up for her events (they're craving community)
• How she chooses her locations
• Why she always hires a photographer of color at every event
• How she keeps costs reasonable
• Creating a seamless experience for participants
• Adapting retreat activities for all ability levels
• Setting up retreats for both introverts and extroverts to thrive
• Allowing for free time in the schedule (and how she figured this out during a snow storm)
• Changing the way she uses her email marketing (away from a focus on selling and towards giving value)
• How in-person events fit into her overall business model
• How to get started with events if you have a small audience
• How she decompresses after a retreat

Show notes at http://rebeltherapist.me/podcast/124

I deal with a lot of anxiety. Sometimes people don't know that because I usually appear calm. And I tend to get a lot done. I cope with my anxiety BY getting things done.

But my anxiety isn't only helpful. It's also kind of nasty.

I have an inner critic that speaks up when I'm anxious, and I don't like that. It hurts. Still, me and anxiety are such old friends, and we've gotten so much done together. My productivity is fueled by my anxiety.

How am I gonna give that up? Who would I be without anxiety? would I get anything done?

The work of Nancy Jane Smith has really helped me step out of this binary way of thinking about my anxiety and my productivity.

When I recorded this interview, I had just finished her book The Happier Approach. It's been a couple months now, I'm still using her concepts regularly, and they're helping. In fact the pandemic classification and shelter in place happened after we recorded this. So anxiety much? Yes! I'm glad to have read this book.

I appreciate how she shares her OWN journey with anxiety in this interview.

You'll also hear a lot about how she developed her unique message about high functioning anxiety and is building her company around that unique message.

Here's some of what we talked about:

• Her realization that she wasn't using the tools she was teaching (and how she changed them)
• Why starting and running your own business WILL bring up anxiety
• How losing her father led to clarity about her unique message
• Pivoting to working with "High Functioning Anxiety"
• How she rebooted her podcast, stepping up the quality and the focus
• Struggling with her own anxiety as she goes into the next stage of her business
• How she increases her productivity using Voxer
• Setting her schedule in a way that works best for her energy
• Using the Pomodoro Technique for time management
• Working through her blocks about getting paid well for providing what comes easily to her

Show notes at http://rebeltherapist.me/podcast/123

How do you find your ideal business model? A business model is simply the different ways you make money. When you go beyond the therapy room, you've got SO many options. How do you decide the optimal combination of offerings for you?

Small group? Large group? Evergreen course? Workshop?

That's the question I wanted to delve into with my guest this week. Her answer is unique to her own superpowers and the needs of her clients, but listening to her process will help you think through your own answer.

Introducing Megan deBour, a financial wellness coach. Listen as we explore how she developed her current offerings, her take on growth, and what she had to work through in order to grow her own income.

Here's some of what we talked about:

• Working through her own struggles with financial anxiety and underearning
• Helping solopreneurs who struggle with their earning capacity
• Creating a hybrid between a self-led and group cohort program
• How she encourages participants to do their homework throughout the program
• Why she keeps her groups small
• The inquiry she uses to decide on her prices and size of her offers
• How she tested and added another program this year
• Creating the modules for her new program while delivering it
• Bring in a flow of clients mostly through word of mouth
• Creating her marketing plan to match the needs of her clients and programs
• How she uses email marketing to connect with her audience
• Why meditation as her magical productivity hack

Show notes at http://rebeltherapist.me/podcast/122

This week I'm talking to Janelle Allen, an online instructional designer turned marketing expert.

Janelle is a business rock star, but she's willing to talk about her inner resistance.

Inner resistance is HUGE for us as entrepreneurs.

I find this reassuring, because it's my truth. I'm dealing with my own growth edge in my business. I'm committed to reaching more people who need the kind of help I can offer.

That means reaching more visionary therapists and healers. Right now, that means I'm reaching out to a lot of podcast hosts and asking them if they'd like to have me on as a guest. I pretty much always feel like being a guest on a podcast, but I pretty much never feel like making that ask. Still, I'm doing it, week after week, because I decided to. It's worth working through my resistance. The obvious benefit is that I'm showing up on more podcasts. The side benefit is that as I follow through with this, my trust in myself grows. And as I trust myself more, and grow my capacity for discomfort, I'm a more resilient business owner.

As you listen to my conversation with Janelle, I want to encourage you to think about what inner resistance you're experiencing.

What is the hard thing you're avoiding?

What are you doing even though it's hard?

Here's some of what we talked about:

• How she helps entrepreneurs with their marketing
• Facing her own resistance in one area of her own marketing: YouTube videos!
• How her own therapy has helped her as an entrepreneur
• How she spends her marketing time
• Streamlining her business down to 2 offers
• The best way to get started growing your email list
• The hardest thing about group programs
• What she added to her group programs to increase engagement and results
• Why habits and mindset are the most important indicators of success
• Delegating in order to grow
• Why "business problems are personal problems."
• How she organizes her week with block scheduling and theme days

Show notes at http://rebeltherapist.me/podcast/121

This week I'm talking to Hillary Kinavey, co-founder of Be Nourished. They offer programs for people looking to reclaim Body Trust®. She's a leader in this movement, working from the principles of HAES and intuitive eating.

We've been talking a lot about the stages of a rebel business lately. I did a 2 part series, episodes 118 and 119, on the stages you go through from creating your pilot offer to actually thriving.

You're about to hear from someone who really values the long game. She and her co-founder, Dana Sturtevant, have always paid attention to the long game because Body Trust is something they care deeply about. They don't want to make money and then get out. They've been setting things up along the way in order to stay in this for several decades.

They've been building this for 15 years, and they're still looking way ahead, paying attention to where this movement is going and what kind of impact they want to have. They're also paying attention to how they need to take care of themselves so that they can stay in for the long haul.

As you're listening to this episode, think about what would sustain you in your business.

What kind of support do you need?

What kinds of people do you need to spend time with?

What kinds of self-care practices do you need to invest time and money in?

What do you need to say no to in order to say yes to what really matters to you?

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

• Why she's loved having a business partner for 15 years
• How they developed their programs, starting with in-person groups and growing to several offers
• Why and how they developed a certification program for providers
• Making a salary in this business for the first time in the last year
• What she spends her time on in the business
• Hiring 3 employees and creating a workflow
• Taking the long view on this business and her impact on this movement
• How they grow their audience
• How she brings pleasure into moments throughout her day

Show notes at http://rebeltherapist.me/podcast/120

This is part 2, a continuation from the last episode. We're talking about the stages a Rebel Business goes through. Here are the stages as I think about them:

Create stage: this is where you create your business beyond the therapy room.

Grow stage: this is where your business starts making a real income.

Expand stage. this is where you really hit your stride.

Limitless Growth stage: this is where you grow your empire to 7 figures and beyond.

For each stage, I'll talk about the biggest internal change that can happen, what we most need to do and put in place during this stage, and what can go wrong. I'll also tell you what programs I've got to help you through the different stages.

Last time I talked about the first stage, which I call the CREATE stage. and today I'll take us through the rest.

If you haven't heard part 1 yet, you should go back right now and start there.

Shownotes at: https://rebeltherapist.me/podcast/119