Mind Your OT Business

If you've recently started your business and you're struggling to get your message out there to the world you have to listen to this episode with Katie Caspero.

In this episode, you'll hear the live coaching call I had over in my Facebook group, Occupational Therapy Entrepreneurs with Katie. She is the founder of OT Graphically, where she creates infographics for OTs and other research professionals and we explored how she can bring more clients to her business through marketing.

You'll hear how Katie finds her customers, what she's working on to clarify her marketing messages, my ideas for helping Katie establish herself as an expert and what takeaways she had from our conversation!

Katie and I discuss:

• What Katie does within her business
• How she's pursuing a certificate in implementation science
• Who her ideal clients are (and who she works with)
• Where she finds her audience online
• Her approach to finding her customers online
• How Katie shares her message with potential customers
• The two problems her business solves
• What she's doing to clarifying her messaging
• Issues that have come up within her marketing
• Ideas for establishing Katie as an expert in her field
• Katie's takeaways for leveraging her marketing

Resources from this episode:

Occupational Therapy Entrepreneurs FB GroupOT Graphically

Katie's Twitter

Linktree

Having a framework for your business will give you the ability to say "no" to the things that don't align with your growth plan. In this episode, I am talking about the many benefits of creating a framework to help you grow and scale your business. You'll hear about how this sets you apart from other businesses, how it helps you to simplify your marketing strategy and so much more!

I discuss:

• What I mean by a framework or model
• Examples of frameworks I've created for my businesses
• The 5 benefits of using your own framework

Resources from this episode:

Outdoor Kids OT

OT Entrepreneurs Facebook Group

My Instagram

Business Bedrocks Group Coaching Program

Email marketing is imperative for your business. If you want to get more sales, you need to be utilizing emails to build the know, like and trust with your audience. In this episode, I talk about the ins and outs of building an email list. You'll hear the reasons why you need one plus tips on how to make the emails you send out to your audience more successful!

I discuss:

• Why you need to be doing email marketing
• What a lead magnet is and how you use that to get emails
• How email marketing systems
• Reasons why building your email list is essential for your business
• Why you should get rid of the newsletter
• How you can judge the success of your email campaigns
• Why you should learn copywriting
• How often you should be sending emails to your list
• What you should know about HIPPA and email marketing

Resources from this episode:

Strategic Planning Party

Business Bedrocks Group Coaching Program

This Book Will Teach You How To Write Better: Learn How To Get What You Want, Increase Your Conversion Rates, and Make It Easier To Write Anything (Using Formulas and Mind-Hacks)

Considering using video to market your business but have no idea how to get started?

Cheryl is the founder of Arthritis Life and a registered Occupational Therapist. She started her business, Arthritis Life to educate, empower and inspire people living with arthritis. She is the creator of the Rheumatoid Arthritis Roadmap, an online educational and support program that helps patients navigate through living with RA.

In this episode, Cheryl gives insight into the best practices, tools and strategies for using video to market your practice.

Cheryl and I discuss:

• Cheryl's reasoning behind starting Arthritis Life
• Her strategy for picking out which social platforms to be on
• Cheryl's experience on various social platforms
• An overview of what TikTok is and how people use it
• Why you have to know your goal on social media
• How to repurpose your content across platforms
• The importance of getting started (it's the hardest step but you have to just put yourself out there)
• Tools you need to get started making videos
• How to listen to your audience to find out what they want
• Our tips on building your know, like, trust and expertise
• How to deal with constructive feedback
• The lack of honesty in the healing space

I'm sharing my top ten tips for a successful online launch based on my lessons learned from launching 3 online products this year: my Business Bedrocks Group Coaching Program, The OT Entrepreneur Summit, and my Nature-Based Therapy Treatment Plans & Camp Kit -- which combined grossed $53,781 in total revenue, all during a global pandemic. I hope what I've learned in the process can help you.

While these tips are focused on online launches, much of what I share here applies to ANY new product or service in your business.

In this episode, you'll learn:

· Why "launching" is important versus having an evergreen product or service.

· Marketing strategies to set your business up for a successful launch LONG before the actual launch.

· Pre-launch preparation tips to make launching as simple as possible.

· Specific tips for structuring the launch so that you can ENJOY selling your awesome service or product!

Resources from this episode:

· Now LAUNCHING: The ConTiGO Approach Online Course! The long-awaited online course to give pediatric therapists the therapeutic framework and practical skills for effective and evidence-based therapy with children in nature. Registration will be open Nov. 15-20, 2021 (yep- just 5 days!…listen to the episode to find out WHY) for our January 1-30, 2021 cohort…so check out the details and register today if you're a peds therapist who is ready to adventure into nature-based therapy! 🌿

In our digital age, it is so important that you know how to effectively market your business on social media. But most business owners have a love/hate relationship with social media. We know we need to be there to promote our businesses, but we struggle to post in an authentic way that is not exhausting and life-sucking. 😣

I hope this episode will help you see social media as a way to CONNECT and make it feel less of a burden! Here I share 6 different types of social media posts so that you'll never have to struggle with "What should I post?!" again as a business owner.

They are:

1. Inspiration - Inspire your followers to live a better life or have hope for the future.
2. Education - Teach your followers something. (Keep it simple! Better to do more posts with less information than one HUGE post that no one will read in full.)
3. Community building - Invite your followers to be part of a community that is bigger than themselves and has a higher purpose in the world.
4. Behind-the-scenes - Show behind the scenes of your business or your life (if you are comfortable doing so).
5. Recommendations - Make a recommendation for a product or service you know and love. Not your own product, but something that will make life easier for your followers!
6. Entertainment - Make your followers smile or laugh. (Even better if you can COMBINE this one with #2 and educate them at the same time! Reels and TikTok are great for this.)

Today's episode was originally published as a Facebook Live video in the OT Entrepreneurs Facebook group. Come join us if you're not already there!

Shout out to Sarah Putt, host of the OT4Lyfe Podcast, the genius who suggested I also re-purpose the FB live content as a podcast episode! 💚

Episode 30: Building a Profitable Insurance-Based Practice with JoAnn Keller

Ever wondered if you should join insurance panels in your private practice?

JoAnn Keller, OTD, OTR/L, CHT is the owner of Hands for Living in Lynnwood Washington. She is a certified hand therapist and a successful clinic owner with a profitable insurance-based practice. She also provides professional coaching for therapists to begin their careers in hand therapy and start their own businesses.

In this episode, JoAnn shares insider tips on how to scale and grow your business in an insurance-based model.

JoAnn and I discuss:

• How JoAnn started her clinic
• Why you MUST generate referrals to be profitable in an insurance-based model, and how to do it.
• Things to consider when deciding between cash-based or insurance-based practice models.
• The administrative duties behind taking insurance.
• The primary reason for insurance is the pool of potential clients is larger which may increase referrals, but the downside of insurance is capped income from the visit (which is set by the insurance company and varies by company).
• Things to consider when hiring a medical biller to help with some of the administrative tasks of insurance-based practice.
• The process of becoming a network provider with Medicare vs Medicaid varies per state.
• How to be more profitable with proper documentation.
• JoAnn's biggest lesson from starting her clinic was thinking marketing wouldn't work. She waited for people to call her, instead of reaching out to potential clients directly. The LESSON: don't be afraid to talk about your business!
• Also, make sure CONTRACTS are in writing …... lesson learned!

Resources from this episode:

Join 7000+ other OT Entrepreneurs in the OT Entrepreneurs Facebook Group

JoAnn's private hand therapy practice- Hands for Living.

JoAnn's free Facebook group for hand therapist entrepreneurs.

Sheela Ivlev is an occupational therapist and owner of OT Bay Area, a wellness-based OT practice in California. Her passion is serving others to improve their mental health and wellness.

In this episode, you'll learn a variety of ways to serve ALLLL the possible people in your niche market. Sheela shares a variety of ways to increase equity and access to services in your business, while also keeping your focus on your specific niche clientele.

Sheela and I discuss:

• How Sheela runs her mental health and wellness OT practice.

• How OTs can help destigmatize mental health challenges.

• The significance of July being Minority Mental Health Awareness Month.

• How we as OTs should consider disparities in health care access when creating our business models, and what we can do about it as business owners.

• Sheela describes how it is OK to have a niche in business! No business can serve everyone. But she shares ways you can think about equity while still maintaining your niche focus in your business.

• I share some ways I struggle with my own fears of perceptions around reaching out specifically to communities of color as a white OT business owner. Sheela's responses surprised me and you'll hear me process in the episode what this may mean for my own practice! I hope her ideas will inspire you to take steps in your business to increase equity to services.

• Why we have to get over our FEAR and discomfort and put ourselves out there to increase equity and access to our services.

• How we perpetuate inequities by staying silent and not taking action.

• How it is possible within a cash-based model to take steps to increase access to services.

• Why we should think about marketing to a wide-range of people within our specific niche market.

• The differences between "mental health" OT and "regular" OT...there aren't many! :)

• Mentoring pre-OT students as a way to increase diversity in our profession.

• Why diversifying our social media feeds may help us understand the perspectives of those who are different than us and educate us and equip us with resources to help us serve a diverse range of clients in our ideal niche in our businesses.

Resources from this episode:

OT Entrepreneurs Facebook Group

Peggy McIntosh's article: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack

Instagram hashtag: #blacktherapistsrock

Sheela's business website with loads of resources!: www.OTbayarea.com

Sheela's business on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/otbayareasf/

Follow Sheela on Instagram @otbayarea

This is a new kind of episode where we hear from brand new OT-practitioner-owned businesses in non-traditional niches. For our first Brand New Business Highlight episode, Anita Martin, owner of Sex Assist, joined me to talk about her coaching business where she helps female clients become more sexually satisfied. You'll hear how she got started in this important work, and the important lessons she's already learned. *Warning- this episode contains adult topics and may not be suitable for children. Wear headphones! :)

Anita and I discuss:

● Identifying her ideal client and meeting their needs.

● Marketing her services and getting her first clients.

● Diversifying revenue streams by offering webinars or online courses.

● How she defines her work as an "independent coaching clinician" using her occupational therapy assistant background to inform her work.

● How she connects with other OT practitioners as referral sources.

● What her sessions with clients look like.

● Supporting clients with a history of trauma.

● And as always: her biggest "fail-learn" and biggest success as an entrepreneur and what you can learn from her experiences.

Connect with Anita on her Facebook page here! (I purposefully scheduled this several months in advance to post ON her birthday so if you're listening on August 13, go wish her a very happy birthday!) 🎉

Anita Martin's Sex Assist Business on Facebook

This is a solo episode where I answer frequently asked questions about starting and managing a nature-based pediatric practice, PLUS share some super-honest insights (as usual! haha!) from the prep for launching my practice's online products. (Wanna go straight to the nature-based resources? Click here!)

***[NOTE: If you just want to listen in for the "Honest Talk about Mindset Issues While Launching & Pricing Online Products!" it starts at 32:40!]***

In this episode you'll learn:

• How I started Outdoor Kids OT (OKOT), my nature-based pediatric practice, and how it grew.

• How the ConTiGO (Connection & Transformation in the Great Outdoors) Approach was developed. 😁

• Start-up logistics: finding a location, getting liability insurance, and grouping children for services.

• Structure of our nature-based OT groups at OKOT: length of sessions and the different activities we include in each group. You can get a bunch of treatment activities to try in my book.

• Systems needed for nature-based therapy: Nature-based therapy is not just nature play. There is a therapy process behind nature-based therapy in which you individualize the support for children based on their needs as you carry out your therapy services as a co-facilitator with nature. (Learn more about the differences between nature-based learning/enrichment/schools versus nature-based therapy by checking out my FB live on the topic in the free Therapy in the Great Outdoors ~ Nature-Based Pediatric Therapists Facebook group.)

Click HERE to check out ALL the resources Outdoor Kids OT has created to support nature-based therapists in their work outdoors with children: the Nature-Based Treatment Plans Pack, the Ultimate Nature-Based Therapy Camp Kit, and the BUNDLE of both the Plans Pack and the Camp Kit that includes TONS of bonus content.

I want to share some honest insights about mindset issues I encountered while pricing and preparing to launch these online resources. [This talk starts at 32:40 in the episode…]

1. Having a cart open/close is SO MUCH more sane then having "evergreen" resources. It allows me to "sell" only while the cart is open and then just be "me" on social media and focus on connection and relationships when I'm NOT selling. Also, it helps people make the actual decision to buy because they can't get the resources at all times. (FYI- a 7 day cart open is plenty long! You have to be promoting while it's open and that begins to feel heavy after about a week.)

2. We need to price for VALUE, rather than asking "What might people pay for this?" to set our prices. Shifting mindset to thinking about WHAT exactly are you offering people in any offer you make! To use my products as an example: they are NOT impulse purchases. I WANT people to only purchase these if they are right for them and can help them. If they are the right customer for us, I am 100% confident these products will save them HOURS of time, prevent LOADS of stress, and allow them to feel confident and clear-minded as a nature-based therapist. What is that worth? WAY more than we're charging, I'm positive. This way of pricing allows you to truly value your products, your customers, and your time as a business owner.

3. BUT I still have fears of being judged by our OT community. And I need to sit with that and be OK that some people will not agree with my business decisions. Here's what helps: I give away a TON of content for absolutely FREE and have been doing so for many years now. When you have a track record of serving people for free, you can feel much more comfortable as a business owner pricing your products for the true value they offer to your customers.

4. Finally, I truly believe if it is the right product for a customer, they will pay for something they value because they know its worth is far greater than what they're paying.

That's it for this week! I hope I got some wheels turning in your head about either taking your work outdoors OR pricing and valuing your services!

Take a small step because small steps make great gains over time…so until next time, mind your OT business…outside maybe? 🌿