Healers Get Vulnerable

Show Notes:

What if you need to BE different in order to accomplish your next goals? What if the missing link is not working harder or investing more money in your business, but rather making your SELF more resilient and strong?

This week it's just you and me. I'm gonna talk about something that's been on my mind.

You know how you keep hearing a theme over and over again and it finally sinks in?

I've been going through that about how self-care and fitness connect to being an entrepreneur.

I resisted the hell out of this connection for years. But I have been hearing this theme too many times from people I respect to ignore it or naysay it.

I was hesitant to talk about this with you because some stuff out there about fitness feels really alienating to me. The tyranny of thinness is alienating. The idea that bodies should look a certain way is alienating. I'm not into that. I don't believe fitness or self-care looks one way. I think it's very personal and different for each person.

But I decided I NEED to talk about this because it's important for me to share what's helping me in my business and what's helping others in their businesses. So here I am, talking about fitness.

I've been hearing something over and over from entrepreneurs who accomplish a lot. Over and over I hear that they have fitness and self-care routines that they stick to.

I'm talking about routines to take care of yourself and your health so that you can be who you need to be to in order to run your business at a higher level.

Tara McMullen, the founder of Cocommercial, has said that you need a morning routine that gets you ready to be who you need to be to lead your business each day. She's taken it all the way there and is now running half marathons and bouldering and doing all the stuff. She started just with morning walks and increased from there.

Jeff Guenther was on this podcast recently and said that hiring a trainer and working out 4 or 5 times a week has made a big difference in leading his businesses.

Casey Truffo talked about this when she was a guest. She talked about getting up before the crack of dawn to do an intense workout each day before she starts running her companies.

Bari Tessler who was a guest last year does a daily hike up a mountain near her house.

These folks are all entrepreneurs who keep on growing and evolving their businesses.

So what if it's true? What if the thing you have to do in order to take your business to the next level is to change your self-care routine? What if that is a necessary key to helping you build the capacity to go where you want to go next?

Here's my story right now. I have a big pivot coming up in my business. I'm going to tell you all about it on the podcast soon. In order to get ready to make this pivot, I am changing my self-care routine. I'm increasing my capacity and my energy level so that I have the resilience to follow through and do the work to make it happen.

My recent routine change (from the outside at least) has not been huge or dramatic. It's the right amount for me now. I will be 100% honest and I will promise right now not to inflate or exaggerate what I'm doing. As tempting as that may be. I had already changed how I eat a few years ago so that the vast majority of what I eat is real food and I'm avoiding the stuff I discovered doesn't make me feel good. It's made a huge difference in my energy level and day to day health. What I'm changing now is about movement. I used to exercise quite a bit. Then I dealt with an injury a few years ago and haven't been doing as much.

So what's my new routine? I'm simply getting up 20 minutes earlier every morning, drinking a glass of water while I start to brew my coffee or tea, and then getting some exercise. On one day, I go jogging. Just a mile for now. My knees don't like more than a mile at this point. The next day, I do strength training. I just do a plank, a very small but growing number of push-ups, and a few other exercises each time. I am averaging 10k steps a day by walking more throughout the week. So I'm not doing the same thing as Jeff, Tara, Casey or Bari. I'm doing what's right for me for now. I'm easing back into it.

It's only been a few weeks at this point. What's the impact?

One thing I'm noticing is that I start the workday feeling a little more physical energy and a little more mentally alert.

I'm also feeling a sense that I can trust myself to do what's important.

I am showing up for myself each morning, and that's building my sense that I can trust myself to do the same for my business.

It feels subtle but important.

I will keep you posted about this. I have resisted this connection between fitness and entrepreneurship for so long. But I can't ignore the message anymore. Between hearing from Jeff and Tara and Casey and Bari, and so many others, I'm convinced that I need to be committed to doing this.

So here's what I'm wondering about you:

Who do you need to BE in order to take your business to the place you want to take it, whether that's more income, a bigger reach, starting a podcast, writing a book, or creating an online program?

What if self-care is a huge key to this?

What kind of self-care routine could help you be who you need to be?

How can you show up for yourself so that you can build your capacity and resilience? Show notes at http://coachingwithannie.com/podcast/81

Listen as Maureen talks about how she keeps her practice full and what she's doing to leverage her skills beyond her therapy room. You'll hear some solid ideas about marketing online and creating high-quality referral partnerships. You'll want to implement some of these right away.

Maureen has used two different business models to expand her income. You'll hear what worked, what didn't, and what she might do next.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

• How she fills her practice now and why it's different from when she was getting started
• Getting great referrals from medical doctors
• Writing great directory profiles
• Writing client-attracting website copy
• Transitioning some of her clients to online therapy
• How she structures her time for optimal well-being
• Letting go of evening and weekend sessions
• Getting off of insurance panels
• Bringing on a second clinician, loving it, and then parting ways
• Earning passive income through furnishing and subletting multiple offices
• Her advice for her former self: invest in consultation and don't isolate!
• Raising her fees and working through money mindset blocks

Show notes at http://coachingwithannie.com/podcast/80

Are you tapping into your creativity to run your business and your life? Loretta Staples is a private practice entrepreneur as her 5th career. She's proudly 64, and she's learned quite a lot about how to follow your intuition and take action to get yourself unstuck. If you're heading for burnout in your life or business or if you feel like there's a lack of YOU in your business, listen up.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

• Being in her 5th career at age 64
• Her journey from working for a corporation to being a private practice entrepreneur
• How she follows her creativity and intuition
• What she means by small c creativity and why it's important
• Steps to get unstuck if you're heading for burnout or feeling stressed in private practice
• Creating her new business and what she's learned about being an entrepreneur

Show notes at http://coachingwithannie.com/podcast/79

Starting a private practice can be hard. Raising your fees can be hard. Putting yourself out there to grow your practice can be hard.

This week I talked to Montoyia McGowan, and we talked about how she pushed through a low moment. Six months in, her practice was extremely low, and she was considering letting it go. A friend told her to give it another six months. She did. She challenged herself to network, market her business, and really put herself out there. She came through the other side with a waitlist. Listen as she dives into her mindset work and the steps she takes to keep her business thriving.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

• Getting past the difficult 6-month mark in private practice
• Helping her clients and community feel pride about being in therapy
• Why "stopping the chase" is her tagline
• Her monthly calendar ritual
• Her feelings about her fees
• Avoiding the comparison trap
• How Beach Body helped her get comfortable with marketing
• Finding her entrepreneurial community
• Using podcasts for business education and inspiration

Show notes at http://coachingwithannie.com/podcast/78

Want to be profitable and ethical in your business? Do you wonder how to do both well? Listen as we dive into how Jeff is growing profitable and ethical businesses and how he responds to (and grows from) challenging feedback.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

• What he's learned this year about running multiple businesses
• Learning from mistakes
• Prioritizing ethics and social justice
• Welcoming and incorporating feedback from clients and customers
• Managing his time and energy
• Acknowledging his privilege as a straight, white man
• How hiring a trainer has changed his work/life balance

Show notes at http://coachingwithannie.com/podcast/77

When your business is growing fast, how do you manage it? Dr. Joy Harden-Bradford has grown Therapy For Black Girls in a big way over the past year. Her podcast reaches a big audience, and it keeps growing because she listens carefully, delivers high-quality content, and focuses on serving. I talked to Dr. Joy about what she's learned over the past year and what she's still learning.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

• How she started hiring her team
• Time management tactics that help her get some sleep
• Holding her time boundaries as her business grows
• How her view of her role has changed as she builds her team
• Managing a large Facebook group while maintaining quality
• Learning about email marketing
• Embracing her role as a visionary
• Creating and planning her weekly podcast

Show notes at http://coachingwithannie.com/podcast/76

Are you intimidated by SEO? But you want to make it work for you? Enter Cathy Hanville. Cathy consistently comes up as #1 on Google in her keywords in her area. She's been helping other therapists use SEO to build their practices for years. Now she's teaching a lesson in my program, The Superpower Method For Therapists®. In our conversation, Cathy shares how she's kept her business full for 17 years and how she's keeping her own life balanced as an entrepreneur, therapist, and human.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

• Handling consult calls so you get only your ideal clients
• Using SEO to keep her business full
• Why SEO doesn't have to be so hard or intimidating
• Taking insurance so that she can work with students
• Planning for eventual retirement and for a more balanced life now
• What sets her apart from other therapists
• Identifying her niches
• Becoming an expert serving transgender and non-binary people
• Getting a raise on an insurance panel
• Taking a break from private practice for a family emergency

Show notes at http://coachingwithannie.com/podcast/75

Making big changes in your business is both liberating and scary! Sarah got off of insurance panels, clarified her message, honed her niche, raised her fees, and overhauled her website. Her advice for therapists ready to make a big move? Nurture yourself, and don't punish yourself for your past mistakes. Listen to the steps she's taking to grow her private pay practice while also prioritizing her work-life balance.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

• Coming up with her (brilliant) headline on her home page
• The pros and cons of niching down more specifically
• Using more self-disclosure on her website
• Finding her ideal schedule and her ideal caseload
• Setting boundaries around her business
• Bringing intuition into her business
• How she's bringing in clients
• Getting off of insurance panels and transitioning to private pay
• Time-saving hacks and systems she uses in her business

Show notes at http://coachingwithannie.com/podcast/74

Nick has created a workshop for Queer folks to go through a profound spiritual process, and he helps his clients make use of spiritual tools every day in his office. Now he's expanding his work and has created a podcast to help more people. If you've ever felt like your work is too edgy, you'll want to hear how Nick has stepped further and further into what he does best.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

• Allowing for spirituality into the therapy room
• Creating the podcast The Queer Spirit
• Being at the intersection of spirituality and queerness
• His feelings about being seen as a leader
• How he decided his business needed 2 websites
• Running workshops by both planning and being flexible
• Taking his workshop on the road
• How he fits his business into his life
• How The Superpower Method For Therapists® Program helped him grow

Show notes at http://coachingwithannie.com/podcast/73

If you've ever felt called to be a leader beyond the therapy room, you'll want to hear my conversation with Dara Hoffman-Fox, LPC. We dive into Dara's journey to becoming an author and leader in serving gender questioning, transgender, and non-binary people. You'll love Dara's honesty and ability to stay humble and curious while also being a fierce leader.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

• How Dara realized it was time to step into an expert role
• Writing their book: You And Your Gender Identity: A Guide To Discovery
• Creating Youtube videos
• Balancing family and entrepreneurship
• Learning from podcasts for entrepreneurs
• Helping therapists become more affirming and competent with transgender, non-binary and gender questioning people
• Creating a course for therapists
• Some tips for folks who want to be better allies
• Testing out ideas in their business

Show notes at http://coachingwithannie.com/podcast/72