If you’re a therapist who knows you can’t grind away at being fully booked forever, but feels stuck on what to offer next or what to charge, this episode is for you.

In this conversation, James walks through how to create clear, aligned products beyond 1:1 sessions and how to price them with confidence and integrity. This isn’t about copying others or selling harder. It’s about stewardship, sustainability, and building something that truly fits your life and calling.

Who This Episode Is For

This episode is especially helpful if:

In this episode, you’ll learn:

If you’re tired of living on the fully booked, energy-drained path—and you’re ready to build one clear product beyond 1:1 sessions—I’d love to help you think it through.

You don’t need ten offers.
You don’t need a perfect funnel.
You just need one clear product that serves people and serves your life.

When you’re ready, I’m here to help.

Episode Title: Why Solving the Right Problem Brings Clients to Your Door
Host: James Marland
Podcast: The Scaling Therapist Podcast
Keywords: therapist burnout, clarity in marketing, scalable income, private practice growth, digital products for therapists, ideal client, mom test, client journey

In this episode, James Marland explains why understanding the real problem your clients want solved is the key to building scalable income and attracting the right people to your work.

Most therapists start with the solution—courses, groups, workshops, tools—but clients don’t buy solutions. They buy results. James shares simple strategies to gain clarity on client needs, avoid polite-but-false feedback, and discover the deeper problem your offer should solve.

You’ll hear stories about restaurant choices, car dealerships, burnout, “The Mom Test,” and the famous idea: people don’t want a drill; they want a hole.

If you want to reduce burnout and bring clients to your door without feeling salesy, this episode delivers solid steps you can use this week.

00:00 – Intro: A Message for Therapists Feeling Stretched Thin
James introduces an upcoming cohort for therapists who want to build products that free them from their calendar.

01:15 – What Clients Really Want: The Result, Not the Process

“People don't necessarily wanna go through therapy… they want the life that's on the other side of your solution.”

01:42 – The Three Pillars of Scalable Income
Clarity, Connection, and Confidence — and today’s focus on clarity around the real problem.

02:11 – The Restaurant Analogy
Why clients choose a provider the same way they choose a restaurant: to solve a deeper desire, not just the obvious need.

03:47 – The Classic Marketing Mistake
Why starting with your solution pushes clients away and creates “polite but useless” feedback.

05:22 – James’s Early Mistake Creating Courses for Therapists
Asking the wrong questions leads to the wrong product — and why tech problems weren’t the real pain.

06:46 – The Real Problems Therapists Shared
Burnout, exhaustion, compassion fatigue, drowning in clients, no time for family.

08:01 – People Don’t Want a Course. They Want Their Life Back.
The shift from solving “course problems” to solving life problems.

08:50 – The Car Dealership Story
A powerful example showing why people hate being sold to and how therapists can avoid that dynamic.

10:32 – Your Ideal Client Doesn’t Want to Be in a Funnel
Helpers want relief, not sales pressure — and how clarity helps you serve, not sell.

11:10 – The Drill vs. The Hole
Why clients buy outcomes, not tools.

“People don’t want the drill. They want the hole.”

12:44 – Three Methods to Get Clarity on Client Problems
A simple framework to understand the right problem to solve.

13:05 – Method 1: Talk to Your Ideal Client Using The Mom Test
How to ask questions they can’t lie about—and why this gives better data than “Would you buy this?”

16:53 – Method 2: Map the Before, During, and After
A storytelling tool to reveal the real client journey and the problem worth solving.

19:36 – Method 3: Listen to What People Already Ask Online
Using Google, AnswerThePublic, Reddit, and Facebook groups to find real problems therapists care about.

22:06 – How Clarity Changes Your Message
The shift from “let’s build a course” to “let’s build income flow” and why clients respond differently.

24:02 – Action Steps You Can Take This Week
Easy next steps: talk to people, map their journey, and find the problem that repeats.

25:43 – Clarity Turns Selling Into Helping
How solving the right problem brings clients to your door and frees you from your calendar.

26:35 – What’s Coming Next
A look ahead at the next episode on products and pricing that feel like service, not pressure.

27:00 – Invitation to Join the Free Webinar
James invites therapists to the Beyond Fully Booked webinar on December 11th.

Course Creation Studio Cohort:
https://coursecreationstudio.com/stepgroup    

Book: The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick
How to ask questions people can’t lie about.

AnswerThePublic:
https://answerthepublic.com 

AlsoAsked:
https://alsoasked.com

The holidays can be a joyful season, but for anyone dealing with grief, they can also bring stress, loneliness, and moments you don’t expect. In this episode, I talk with therapist and author Debbra Riemann, who shares her personal journey through loss and how slowing down, journaling, and connecting with others helped her heal. Debbra explains why so many people enter the holidays without a plan for grief—and why making one can bring comfort, direction, and hope. If you or your clients are navigating grief during this season, you’ll find support, practical tools, and the reminder that you don’t have to do this alone. 

 Debbra also opens up about the hidden cost of pushing through pain, the power of community, and how grief shows up in places we least expect. Therapists will appreciate her honest look at how personal healing shaped her private practice, her published book, and her online grief community. This episode blends heartfelt wisdom with actionable steps that can help you support yourself, your family, or the people you serve.

00:04 – Journaling helps release holiday grief
02:16 – Debbra’s story of stacked losses
04:39 – Hidden impact of unprocessed grief
07:53 – Marketing a grief-focused practice
09:32 – “Ugly sells” for therapists online
11:46 – Moving states and rebuilding practice
15:10 – Creating an online grief community
17:02 – Why grief feels so isolating
20:12 – Holiday grief hits without warning
22:57 – Making a clear holiday grief plan
24:34 – Changing traditions without guilt
26:05 – How to find Debbra’s resources

This episode of The Scaling Therapist Podcast is for therapists and helpers who feel the weight of being “fully booked” and quietly wonder, “Is this really it?”

James talks about why burnout is normal in the current system, why that doesn’t mean you’re a failure, and how one clear decision about who you are and who you serve can make every other decision easier. You’ll hear how to design a business around your life, not squeeze your life around a business model that was never built for you.

If you’re wondering whether there’s more to helping people than endless sessions and creeping burnout, this episode is your gentle nudge to pause and get clear on who you are and who you’re really called to serve.

Listen in, do the five-minute reflection, and start building a business around your life—not the other way around. If this conversation encouraged you, share it with a therapist friend who needs the same reminder.

How the System Breaks Therapists—and What to Build Instead

This episode kicks off the Three Pillars of an Income Flow System series. If you’ve ever felt like your fully booked calendar was actually draining the life out of you, this one’s for you. I share my thoughts on how the current mental health system often leads therapists to burnout, not success, and what it really means to build a system that serves both your mission and your well-being.

What You’ll Learn

Timestamped Highlights
[00:00] Full calendar ≠ true success
[01:02] Burnout signs for helping pros
[01:38] Series intro: 3 income pillars
[02:03] Why this system keeps you stuck
[02:59] Story: desperate families denied care
[04:00] Fighting a system built to say no
[05:15] Learning the real insurance rules
[06:00] Applying systems thinking to care
[07:33] The burnout cycle of feast/famine
[08:26] Running on caffeine and compassion
[09:48] The problem with chasing capacity
[10:22] Why working harder won’t fix it
[11:18] From buckets to aqueducts
[12:13] The moving truck metaphor
[13:59] Systems turn effort into flow
[14:44] Flow keeps working while you rest
[15:13] You are the architect, not labor
[16:34] Settling for stability over purpose
[17:57] Someone saw my potential first
[18:50] Don’t trade your future for comfort
[19:59] This system wasn’t built for you
[21:28] Join the Beyond Fully Booked cohort

Resources & Links
Beyond Fully Booked Workshop → https://www.coursecreationstudio.com/BeyondFullyBooked

Closing Invitation
If this episode made you pause or breathe a little deeper, share it with someone who's building a mission-fueled practice. You weren’t meant to carry all the buckets alone.

Guest: Christi Engle | Enneagram Teacher & Personal Development Coach

If you’ve ever felt stuck waiting for the right time or the perfect plan before taking a next step, this episode is for you.

I talk with personal development coach Christi Engle about starting small, rethinking success, and what to do when your brain wants you to stay safe and stuck. Christi shares how she went from uncertainty to clarity in her coaching path, and how you can do the same, even if the road ahead feels foggy.

We cover the messy middle of building a coaching life, why mistakes are part of the process, and how to shift from autopilot to aligned action.

This episode is for therapists and helpers who feel like their calendar is running their life. If you're constantly chasing productivity but feeling further from peace, this one’s for you.

James Marland unpacks how overwork became the norm—and why your business needs to serve your life, not swallow it. Discover how to scale your wisdom, not your burnout.

Who It's For:

Resources & Mentions

Closing Invitation

If this helped you breathe a little deeper, share it with someone who’s been stuck in overdrive. Your course—and your calendar—shouldn’t cost you your joy.

Let’s build something sustainable, together.

Podcast: Scaling Therapist
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/scaling-therapist-podcast-more-income-more-independence/id1654020972 
Produced by: Course Creation Studio
https://www.coursecreationstudio.com/ 
Host: James Marland, MBA
Guest: Sri Kaza, author, consultant
https://sri-kaza.com/book 

What do indie bookstores, therapy practices, and pumpkin patches have in common? More than you think.

In this episode of Scaling Therapist Podcast, James Marland talks with Sri Kaza, former McKinsey partner and author of Unconvention: A Small Business Strategy Guide, about what it really takes for small businesses to thrive against corporate giants like BetterHelp or Amazon.

Sri reveals the three “Underdog Principles” that help small, mission-driven businesses build loyalty, grow sustainably, and stand out in their market:

Positioning – Be the only choice for your ideal clients

Proximity – Understand what your customers actually need

Purpose – Build beyond profit for long-term client connection

This episode is a practical blueprint for independent therapists, group practices, and any small business owner tired of feeling like the underdog. You can compete—and win—without selling out.

Compete with big brands like BetterHelp without giving up your local edge

Learn the 3 key strategies that kept small businesses alive during COVID

Understand how positioning beats “niching down”

Get actionable ideas for marketing, scaling, and client loyalty

Reframe your role as a business owner—and remove yourself as the bottleneck

[00:00] – "Go double down on the things your customers love about you." – Sri starts strong with a differentiation mindset.
[02:00] – From McKinsey to Main Street: Sri’s journey and the origin of Unconvention.
[03:30] – Surprising data: How some businesses outperformed during the pandemic.
[05:45] – Indie bookstores vs. Amazon—and what therapy practices can steal from their playbook.
[07:00] – Deep dive into the 3 Underdog Principles:
✔️ Positioning – Stand out by being specific
✔️ Proximity – Know your people better than anyone else
✔️ Purpose – Clients care when you care

[10:00] – BetterHelp vs. Boutique Practices: The big-brand trap vs. deep local value
[13:00] – “Niching” vs. “Positioning with Purpose”—a better way to focus your practice
[15:00] – Use your client journey to power smarter marketing
[17:00] – Loyalty is built on trust: why your purpose needs to shine
[20:00] – The business owner bottleneck—how it’s holding back your growth
[24:00] – Scale less. Focus more. Grow smarter.
[25:45] – Books, tools, and where to buy Unconvention (hint: go local at Bookshop.org)

📖 Unconvention: A Small Business Strategy Guide by Sri Kaza
https://sri-kaza.com/book 

🌐 Sri Kaza’s Website: https://sri-kaza.com 

💼 Connect with Sri on LinkedIn: Sri Kaza on LinkedIn

🛍️ Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org 

📘 The Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz

📗 Effortless by Danny Iny

📕 The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt

🎙️ Scaling Therapist Podcast on Apple:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/scaling-therapist-podcast-more-income-more-independence/id1654020972 

Love the show? Hit subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your rating helps more therapists discover how to scale their practice with purpose and strategy.

You’ve got income stream ideas—maybe too many. But instead of building momentum, you feel stuck in research, adding features, or waiting until it’s perfect.

In this episode, I share a personal story about my basement remodel that spiraled out of control. More importantly, I connect that story to what happens when we try to build without a clear finish line. If you’ve been spinning your wheels or afraid to start your course or offer, this episode is a gentle nudge to stop planning and start defining.

You’ll learn how to pick a “minimum viable product” version of your idea, set boundaries around it, and move forward with clarity. Progress doesn’t come from having all the ideas—it comes from choosing one and finishing it.

Guest: Susan Schramm | Author of Fast Track Your Big Idea

Host: James Marland | Scaling Therapy Practice Podcast
Episode Overview

Why do great ideas fail before they ever get off the ground? In this episode of Scaling Therapy Practice, James Marland talks with author and strategist Susan Schramm about the surprising root cause of stalled projects: fear of risk. But it’s not just financial or legal risks—it’s the people side of risk that’s often overlooked.

If you’re a therapist, coach, or solopreneur with a course, program, or big idea sitting in a notebook or buried under client work, this conversation is for you. Susan shares how to reframe risk as a leadership tool, not a barrier—and how to use her 6-step De-Risk System to build momentum and finally launch your idea with confidence.

3 Reasons to Listen

Timestamped Highlights