This one's for everyone who's been spinning on the niche question.

You don't need to have it all figured out. You don't need to pick the "perfect" niche. You just need to start somewhere.

In this minisode, I break down how to approach niche selection without the spiral.

Still stuck? I'm now offering Niche Positioning Reports. You tell me your niche, state, rates, and income goals - I send you a personalized report with ideal client profile, messaging angles, pricing recommendations, and referral source ideas. Starts at $67.

https://www.privatepaypractitioners.com/services/p/niche-positioning-report

Everyone tells you that you MUST have a niche or your practice will fail. That’s not true. Some of you are thriving as generalists and should stay that way. In this episode, I’m helping you figure out if you’re a happy generalist who just needs better systems, or if lack of niche clarity is actually costing you money and clients. I cover: ∙ The signs you’re a “happy generalist” who doesn’t need to change anything ∙ The signs that lack of niche clarity is actually holding you back ∙ How to tell the difference between a niche problem and a systems problem ∙ What to do if you’re on the fence This isn’t the sexy answer business coaches want to give you. But it’s the honest one.

Listen now and figure out which category you’re in.

This week I sat down with Jana Glass, a solo practitioner in Sandy Springs, Georgia who specializes in perinatal mental health, trauma, and addiction.

Her insurance exit story is one of the wildest I've heard. She took insurance for 15 years. Then BCBS sent her a letter about a client she'd seen two years prior - a woman who'd been on short-term disability for anxiety. Jana saw her for 6 months, used Brainspotting, helped her get back to work. Did everything right. Billed on time. Got paid.

Two years later, BCBS retroactively denied the disability and demanded Jana pay it back. When she appealed, they started taking money from her current clients' payments - she was getting EOBs showing $0 with deductions. The person at the insurance company finally told her: "You're not gonna win."

They took $1,200 she'd already paid taxes on. That was her exit.

We also got into:

• How she found her niche (hint: she moved her office near Northside Hospital - where more babies are born than anywhere else in the US - and clients started finding her)

• Brainspotting vs. EMDR and why she made the switch

• The stats: 1 in 4 pregnancies end in loss, 1 in 5 birthers experience perinatal mood disorders, 1 in 10 non-birthing parents get postpartum depression

• Networking at group events instead of endless coffee meetings

• Why she does adjunct therapy alongside other therapists' clients

Jana also trains therapists in Brainspotting (Phase 1 and 2) and offers a one-day perinatal training online.

Find her at SupportiveSolutionsGA.com or on Instagram @rainbowconnector3

Niche Positioning Report Now Available at www.privatepaypractitioners.com/services

You THINK you have a niche. But does it actually do what it's supposed to do?

In this episode, DJ breaks down the five most common niche mistakes therapists make - using real examples from consultation calls. If your marketing feels exhausting, if consultation calls aren't converting, or if you're not getting the referrals you want, your niche probably isn't specific enough.

What you'll learn:

• The five niche mistakes keeping you stuck (and how to fix them)

• What a niche is actually supposed to DO for your practice

• How to tell if your niche is working or just generic positioning

• Real examples of weak niches vs. strong niches

• The one question to ask yourself to know if your niche needs work

Featured mistakes:

1. The "I Work With Everyone Who..." Problem

2. The "Empowerment" Problem

3. The "Life Transitions" Problem

4. The "Anxiety Without Context" Problem

5. The "I Work With Everyone In This Demographic" Problem

If you recognized yourself in any of these, this episode is for you.

NEW: Personalized Niche Positioning Reports now included FREE for Essential and Founders members ($67 value). Custom market research, ideal client profiles, messaging angles, pricing recommendations - all tailored to YOUR niche and market. Check your tier benefits to request yours.

https://forms.gle/eKz4tT8Uf9yMzhhd8

NEW: Therapy for Therapists with Tiffany Green

First episode of 2026 is live.

Tiffany Green is a solo practitioner in Chicago who's built a practice where a third of her clients are therapists. We talked about how that niche found her, what it's like to do deep work with people who do deep work for a living, and the three categories she sees therapist clients wrestling with: personal stuff, existential/meaning-making questions, and professional crossroads.

One thing that stuck with me: "Therapists appreciate being therapized under the right conditions."

We also got into burnout, compassion fatigue, the "am I really making a difference" spiral, and why therapists rarely ask for discounts (they value therapy).

Plus Anna jumped in with a question about imposter syndrome as an associate - worth the listen if that's where you are right now.

Find Tiffany at CharismCounseling.com

linktr.ee/charsismcounseling

__________________________________________________________________________

Speaking of niche...

If you're still figuring out how to position yourself, I'm now offering Niche Positioning Reports. You tell me your niche, state, rates, and income goals - I research and send you a personalized report with ideal client profile, messaging angles, pricing recommendations, and referral source ideas. Starts at $67.

https://www.privatepaypractitioners.com/services/p/niche-positioning-report

The Private Pay Practitioners Playbook is now on Audible. 20 five-star reviews. Amazon best seller. And I narrated every word myself — because no one else was going to tell this story with the same fire.

I wrote this book for the therapists who are done letting insurance dictate their income, their schedule, and their clinical decisions. The ones who are ready to build something sustainable — on their own terms.

If you've been waiting for the audiobook, here it is. Listen on your commute. In between sessions. While you're plotting your exit from the panels. And when it helps you take that next step?

Leave a review. That's how other therapists find this.

Private pay isn't a dream. It's a decision.

https://a.co/d/arbPZ4q

This week I sat down with Emma Kobil, and we went somewhere I didn't expect.

Emma built a successful coaching business helping therapists grow their private pay practices. Her clients got results. She was doing all the things — the Facebook group, the weekly lives, the sales funnels, the Instagram, the course.

And then she walked away from it.

Not because it failed. Because she was miserable.

She told me: "I was tied to my computer all the time. I had trouble getting up to pee sometimes."

The turning point? Her therapist asked if she was out of alignment with her values. And Emma realized — she loved her private practice. She didn't want to lose it chasing something else.

We get into:

• The real cost of building a coaching business (it's not beach vibes)

• Why putting half the effort into your practice that you'd put into coaching would give you a beyond-full caseload

• How walking away gave her a renewed love for clinical work

• What her life looks like now — Mexico, intensives, $250/session, 3-day work weeks

If you've ever wondered whether you "should" be building courses or coaching on the side — listen to this first.

🎧 Listen now.

This week I'm sitting down with Tony Rella — IFS-certified therapist, author, and someone I've known since our insurance-panel days in Seattle.

Tony fully transitioned to private pay in October 2024, and this conversation gets into the messy middle of what that actually looked like: the panic of Q1 2025 when referrals dried up, the temptation to go back, and the moment he realized he couldn't.

We talk about:

• Why seeing 22 clients/week still wasn't enough to make ends meet

• The insurance clawback that became his final straw

• What it means to get paid as "the contract" in therapeutic relationships

• The codependency trap of making financial decisions FOR your clients

• What his schedule looks like now (spoiler: 18 hours, 4 days, long lunches, gym time)

If you're in the thick of your own transition — or you're full private pay but still doing the mindset work — this one's for you.

🎧 Listen now.

Hey everyone,

Just dropped a bonus episode that I'm making FREE for everyone - members and non-members alike.

This one's different. It's not an interview. It's not a teaching session. It's a raw, honest reflection on what happened at Saturday's Private Pay Practitioners Playbook crash course workshop.

What I talk about:

The Mistake - How I accidentally didn't record the first hour of the workshop (yes, really) and the panic that followed

Money Stories That Surprised Me - I went in expecting to hear about overspending. What I actually heard was the opposite - people stuck in NOT spending, NOT investing in themselves or their businesses

The Scarcity Mindset - Why we're threatened by each other's success when there are literally enough clients for all of us

The Power of Imperfection - How showing up as perfectly imperfect created the most psychologically safe, healing space I've experienced

What Made It Fire - The participants gave EVERYTHING. Vulnerability. Honesty. Support for each other. It was community at its best.

One of the participants, Esther, jumped on live during the recording to share what it felt like to be in a space where she could show up imperfect and still be seen, affirmed, and supported. Her words are powerful.

This episode is for:

• Anyone who thinks they need to have it all figured out before they start

• Anyone who's scared to invest in themselves or their business

• Anyone who feels threatened by other therapists' success

• Anyone who needs permission to be perfectly imperfect

I left that workshop changed. And I'm coming back with more.

January 10, February 7, March 7 - dates are already set for 2026.

Listen to the bonus episode now - it's available to everyone.

This is what community looks like.

DJ

This week I sat down with Kellyn McCullough, LMFT and EMDR-certified therapist in Washington State, who's navigating something so many of us are feeling right now.

She took a year off for maternity leave, moved locations, and came back to a completely different landscape. The post-pandemic abundance? Gone. Now it feels like scarcity. And everyone - EVERYONE - does EMDR now.

Sound familiar?

We dug into:

• The post-pandemic shift: From abundance to scarcity mindset

• The differentiation problem: When your specialty becomes everyone's specialty

• Niching down in 2024: How specific do you actually need to get?

• The rollercoaster: One week you're booked, the next week you're panicking

• Networking that actually works: She's been meeting 2-3 providers a week

• Standing out when everyone has the same training

The breakthrough moment? Kellyn does EMDR intensives and loves working with men who've experienced medical trauma (near-death experiences, high-risk professions). But she wasn't saying that anywhere. She was trying to be everything to everyone.

I walked her through getting clear on who excites her, not just who calls her. Because when you're on insurance panels, you take whoever calls. But in private pay? You get to choose.

Her homework: Narrow the niche by next week. Follow up with her October networking contacts about EMDR intensives. Get specific about who she wants to see walking through that door.

If you're feeling like you're starting over, like everyone else has your specialty, or like you're in a scarcity spiral - this episode is for you.

Find Kellyn McCullough at NewMoonCounselingSeattle.com

Watch the full episode now.

BONUS: I'm going LIVE tonight for an additional episode - see you at 7pm EST/4pm PST!