Thinking about hiring a virtual assistant (VA)? Let Jaime Jay from Slapshot Studio and Bottleneck.online fill you in on the essential steps for getting started. In this episode, Jaime dives deep into the process of selecting and hiring a VA, deciding which tasks give them, how to get your VA onboarded, how to leverage their strengths, and how to supervise them to ensure a successful working partnership. Also included in this episode:

1. Category design and how to differentiate your company
2. Slogans vs mission statements vs brand mantras
3. Brand consistency
4. Creating an affirmative experience when potential clients arrive to your website
5. How to hire a VA
6. Determining which tasks to give to your VA
7. How to use Jaime's VA delegation tool
8. How to leverage the strengths of your VA

http://slapshotstudio.com/

http://bottleneck.online/

Promoting your solo practice is one thing, but what about promoting a group practice? Maureen Werrbach from TheGroupPracticeExchange.com is here to talk all about promoting your group practice. Some of the areas she talks about include getting involved with your local Chamber of Commerce, running effective Facebook Ad campaigns, and helping your clinicians write their web copy and give local presentations.

Also included in this episode:

1. Maureen's journey into starting a group practice
2. Evaluating the needs in your area
3. Hiring your first clinician
4. Hiring clinicians of varying specialties
5. Different types of Facebook Ad campaigns

From Maureen: I believe clinicians should have access to help on the business side of having a group practice. I know the questions that practice owners have as they start and grow their group practices, and I am here to help guide you through the tough spots as you take the leap into a leadership role. The Group Practice Exchange offers helpful tools, articles, and services to help you grow your practice.

www.TheGroupPracticeExchange.com

Your Psychology Today profile has been up there forever, and it *kind of* helps your practice by bringing in a client or two here and there, but is it really working for you? Laura Long is the creator of YourBadassTherapyPractice.com, and I personally consider her the Oprah of practice building. In this episode, Laura talks to us all about how to optimize your Psychology Today profile and how to write mouth-watering copy for your website. Included in this show:

1. Laura's essential tips for your Psychology Today profile
2. Why therapists struggle with writing copy
3. How to attract your ideal clients with your copy
4. How to repel others with your copy

Laura Long is the creator of YourBadassTherapyPractice.com, where she helps therapists in private practice organize their business systems, streamline their marketing strategies, and fill their practices with loyal clients. Laura is best known for her straight-up, no holds barred approach that often includes humor and...colorful language. You can connect with her through her mailing list, where she distills the secrets of successful entrepreneurs in a way that makes practice-building fun. Laura will be re-opening enrollment for her popular course, 60 Days To Your Badass Therapy Practice, later this August.

Links:

www.YourBadassTherapyPractice.com

http://courses.YourBadassTherapyPractice.com

www.facebook.com/YourBadassTherapyPractice

https://www.amazon.com/Wired-Story-Writers-Science-Sentence/dp/1607742454

A lot of therapists are wondering: Should I start a podcast? Why is podcasting so important? How do I test my podcast idea? Where do I begin? Dr. Melvin Varghese is a licensed psychologist and the founder of SellingTheCouch.com. Melvin's podcast has received more than 275,000 downloads in more than 100 countries around the world. Listen in to this week's episode to learn all about how starting a podcast can help you grow your audience and open new doors in your life and business. Included in this show:

1. Melvin's impressive morning routine
2. The power of your voice
3. How to test your podcast idea before starting
4. How a podcast can help you grow your practice
5. How to use your podcast as a medium to promote anything
6. How to leverage Calls to Action (CTAs) in your podcast
7. Some podcast gear essentials
8. How to decide whether to use a podcast editor

Links:

sellingthecouch.com,

Free Podcasting Workshop with Melvin: sellingthecouch.com/podcastingworkshop,

Healthcasters Podcasting Course/community for health, wellness, and fitness podcaster: http://sellingthecouch.com/the-healthcasters/

Melvin's private practice site: melvinvarghese.com

In the era of technology, what is commonly overlooked is the power of receiving a physical product in the mail. That's where Sean "Peppy" Meyer comes in. Sean lives on a farm in Austin, Texas and founded GoatMonthly.com as a way to fund his farm. Subscribers to Goat Monthly receive adorable and ridiculous photos of his little goats dressed in fancy clothes, in front of fancy backdrops. The whole thing is done with a very high production value.

Sean is a character like no other. He rocks a mullet and suspenders and drives a car with a license plate that reads "WATAGUY". He once snuck onto Taylor Swift's tour bus. He sent some editions of Goat Monthly to President Obama.

Sean is unforgivingly authentic--oh, and he studied marketing in college, too.

In this episode Sean talks to us all about:

1. How he started Goat Monthly
2. The power of a physical product
3. Reducing the separation between your business self and your authentic self
4. Using your "Captain's log" to plan the course of your work and life
5. How to think about money
6. How an encounter with a mountain lion changed his perspective

Links:

www.goatmonthly.com

www.privatepracticeworkshop.com

The work we do as therapists is meaningful, intentional, and client centric—so why would our website be anything less? Sure, anyone can put their name on a webpage with a list of credentials and contact info, but when you are trying to build and market your practice, you might want to consider taking a deeper look at your website design. Yes, the visual aspect of your webpage can change the accessibility and mission of our website, so you can better market your brand. You have the potential to communicate to potential clients and referrals the type of change you want to make in the world.

This week's guest is Kat Love of Empathy Sites. The mission is to teach you how to execute some dynamic content and email marketing, all while generating a beautiful and functional website that will win you clients. What makes Kat's approach unique is genuinely caring about doing work for therapists. Kat is proof that the work we do can change lives, so dive in this week and see how your life might be able to change too!

More in this episode:

• Kat's courage from self-healing work with therapists.
• Why a great website is so important.
• A website is a place for potential referrals and potential clients to meet.
• Kat has developed interesting tools you can use to make home pages and "about" pages shine.
• Reducing psychobabble and using plain language to create approachable copywriting.
• Defining "content marketing" and the importance of reaching your clients in a personal, direct way.
• The difference between inbound and outbound marketing.
• Personal emails verses linking email list to website content.
• Why is design a priority to Kat?

Links:

To connect with all the great things Kat has to offer:

https://empathysites.com/ - If you are interested in how Empathy Sites can help you, schedule a Free 20 Minute Consultation on the website.

Twitter @empathysites

Business Basics Workshop

https://www.privatepracticeworkshop.com/

What do you as a therapist want to be known for? To answer that question, let's ask another: What are you the most passionate about in your practice? In order to build your practice and serve your community, you need to get the word out that you are here, doing amazing things no one else is doing. What better to communicate what you have to offer, than a strong brand.

Forming a brand is a slow process. It takes time, it takes some digging, and it takes a little bit of help from our friends. This week's guest, Nikki Bonsol, is a coach and brand expert who specializes in brand development for therapists and healers. Nikki is great at asking creative questions like "Where would you take a client out to dinner?" to get to the heart of who you are and what kind of practice you want to have. Using those clues, she stitches together a beautiful website with an eye towards authenticity that will communicate your brand easily.

Hear Nikki's creative approach and more in this week's episode!

• Nikki works with therapists and healers to help them get excited about marketing themselves.
• A journey towards entrepreneurship, and a stint as a singer/songwriter!
• Working through the fears of starting your own business.
• The power of coaching to make positive changes.
• The process of brand creation, it's not just colors and websites.
• What is your niche and your specialty? Build a brand around that.
• Nikki's process moving through brand coaching to brand creation.
• Techniques for developing a brand in a collaborative way.
• Questions you can be asking yourself as you visualize your brand.
• The perks of a professional eye for your website.

Links:

Connect with Nikki Online

There is a wealth of information online for mental health professionals about how to have a successful private practice. However, one particular type of question keeps cropping up. How am I going to get my next client, how am I going to keep clients coming? The answer is deceptively simple: Marketing. Promoting your practice is a personal and somewhat uncomfortable process, but it is vital if you want to see your practice grow.

Now is your opportunity to dig in deep to marketing. The Marketing Workshop Podcast is all about growing your audience to serve the world. This week, host John Clarke talks the ins and outs of promotional video and social media engagement with Ernesto Segismundo. Ernesto specializes in helping therapists promote their practice through online video. Posting videos can lower the veil between client and therapist, and bring a desirable human element to your practice. Hear how to make that happen, plus a few tools of the trade to get you started.

Also in this episode:

• The power of video and social media to grow and humanize your brand.
• Therapy is an intimate encounter, so video narrows the gap between you and your potential clients.
• Advice for new therapists trying to figure out their brand.
• Ernesto's use of the "Johari Window" technique to develop a personal brand.
• Creating client dialogue to improve your brand.
• Utilizing social media and Facebook Live to generate a community and a network.
• Social Media is unfriendly for therapists: so here's how to maximize its use without crossing client boundaries.
• Getting engagement from Live Facebook videos.
• Societal changes around fear and confidence.
• Exploring the mindset of marketing as a shameful practice.
• Private practice mental health professionals are established business people.
• The ins and outs of video production.
• Video ideas and tricks for private and group practices.

Links:

Join the Online Community with John

https://www.privatepracticeworkshop.com/

Ernesto's Website

https://www.fylmit.com/