Today’s encore is at the heart of the Quiet Builder philosophy. The question is, “How do we design a business that supports our lives, not swallows it?”

This becomes increasingly important as the world grows more uncertain and our responsibilities grow daily. This episode is for anyone building a business that fits into real life, and not the other way around.

You’ll Learn:

• My story of stepping back and reassessing my business
• 3 anchors for building a life-first business in an uncertain world:
• Design for margin, not maximum.
• Clarity comes from creating margin, not hustling.
• Designing for margin is how we stay well enough to serve others.
• Build products that don’t require your constant presence.
• Design for asymmetry, where value isn’t tied to one-to-one time.
• A life-first business scales impact, not just hours.
• Plan around what you can’t plan for.
• Your business should be designed to absorb disruption, not collapse under it.
• Strategies that work for me are “Walden months,” a hard growth ceiling on STC, and allowing maximum flexibility to travel when loved ones need extra help.
• To sum up today’s topic: “A resilient business doesn’t break when life happens; it bends with grace.”

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Ready to launch (or grow) your online course?

Haven is our membership for therapists who want to turn their expertise into sustainable online income through courses, content, and simple systems that actually work.

Our next Accelerator, Building Authoritative Guides That Stand Out In The Age of AI, begins soon.

Learn more here: https://melvinvarghese.kartra.com/page/july2026

Today’s encore is on what therapists often get wrong about selling their first online course, considering all the assumptions we make and the misconceptions we hold about online courses.

I’m bringing full transparency to today’s topic as I share what I’ve learned through my years of experience with online courses.

You’ll Learn:

• The guilt loop running in my head (“I became a therapist to help people, not to sell things.”)
• Mindset shift that made it all make sense to me
• Ethical selling: a path to transformation with deep care and clarity
• 3 sales mistakes therapists make—and what to do instead:
• Thinking “sales equals sleazing”
• Think of aligned sales as clear communication with a gentle and generous invitation.
• Avoiding the “ask” entirely
• If someone is clearly interested, don’t make them guess how to work with you. Give them a clear call-to-action.
• Not believing in the value of your course
• Your confidence comes from alignment. Focus on the transformation you can offer.

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Ready to launch (or grow) your online course?

Haven is our membership for therapists who want to turn their expertise into sustainable online income through courses, content, and simple systems that actually work.

Our next Accelerator, Building Authoritative Guides That Stand Out In The Age of AI, begins soon.

Learn more here: https://melvinvarghese.kartra.com/page/july2026

Today’s encore is from a live coaching call talking about the many nuances of online courses. I hope this episode will be helpful to you and bring new ideas if an online course is on your radar.

Our Featured Guest-Kristen Boice, LMFT

Kristen Boice is a therapist in private practice and a fellow podcaster. She has realized the need among her listeners for an online course. Her podcast, Close the Chapter, is about closing the chapter on certain things in our lives so we can open ourselves up to new opportunities. In today’s coaching call, I’ll share some lessons I’ve learned along the way about online courses. We’ll talk about the rationale behind creating a live course vs. a pre-recorded one. We will wrap up with a pre-launch strategy to help get buyers for your course before you launch.

Pathways To Healing Counseling

Kristen Boice

You’ll Learn

● Why Kristen started her podcast about two years ago to provide another opportunity for deeper work for her clients

● How an online course can help you get more information out to curious people

● The options for your course and other services

● Why niching down is a big challenge for therapists

● How Kristen sees the epidemic of people feeling “not good enough” and being scared to speak up

● How a niche can help you offer value and find your sweet spot

● How the best courses take people from one place to another

● Why Kristen focuses on helping with the hard conversations

● How to use phraseology that appeals to people and addresses their need

● Step-by-step actions to build your email list and create effective opt-ins

● How to create value on the front end of your course by validating your content

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Ready to launch (or grow) your online course?

Haven is our membership for therapists who want to turn their expertise into sustainable online income through courses, content, and simple systems that actually work.

Our next Accelerator, Building Authoritative Guides That Stand Out In The Age of AI, begins soon.

Learn more here: https://melvinvarghese.kartra.com/page/july2026

In today's encore, we're tapping into creative thinking. How are you at thinking outside the box?

This episode is perfect for everyone who has thought about creating, marketing, and selling a product. What is the process like? How do you take care of all the little details? What about the marketing piece of your product? We’re diving deep into these questions and more on today’s show.

My guest is Rosanne Marmor, LCSW, in Portland, Oregon. She created a Feelings Wheel as a way for clients to identify their feelings both inside and outside the therapy room. Rosanne went on a journey that took almost two years of gathering data, development, and production. She was finally able to put this tool in the hands of her clients and has been overwhelmed by its success.

Today's encore is on the 400th episode of Selling the Couch!

It was truly surreal to think back to 2015 and the show’s humble beginnings; reaching this milestone is beyond anything I ever dreamed of 10 years ago. I wanted to use this milestone to reflect on a few meaningful thoughts about staying the course to reap the quiet rewards.

What does it mean to choose depth over scale and to build intentionally and slowly when the world often tells us to go fast? The truth in this concept of depth over scale is the most impactful lesson I’ve learned on this journey.

In this episode, I’m focusing on 3 reflections that I hope encourage you, especially if you are in a season of slow growth.

You’ll Learn:

• My experience: Feeling behind when everyone else seemed to be scaling faster: “Am I doing this wrong?”
• What clicked for me: “Speed makes noise, but depth builds roots.”
• 3 Quiet-Builder truths for longevity and depth:
• Slow growth is often the healthiest growth.
• We often think reputation comes from a single moment, but it comes from quiet consistency.
• Depth protects your nervous system. (“There is a cost for going fast. Depth is kinder.”)
• A business should give you life—not drain you.
• Want to know more about being a Quiet Builder? Check out The Quiet Builder Newsletter to get more of my reflective thoughts.

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Ready to launch (or grow) your online course?

Haven is our membership for therapists who want to turn their expertise into sustainable online income through courses, content, and simple systems that actually work.

You’ll get access to trainings, live accelerators, and a community that supports you every step of the way.

Get on the waitlist: sellingthecouch.com/haven

Are therapists focusing on the wrong kind of content in the age of AI?

In this episode, Mel explores one of the biggest shifts happening online right now: why Google and AI-powered search are quietly rewarding depth-first, human-centered, experience-based content, while most social media content disappears within 24–48 hours.

If you’re a therapist building:

• a private practice,
• a podcast,
• a course,
• a coaching business,
• or a thought leadership platform…

this conversation may completely change how you think about content creation moving forward.

• Why social media content is a perishable asset
• What Google’s new EEAT framework means for therapists
• Why AI-generated “generic content” is getting buried
• How clinicians have a unique advantage in AI search
• The difference between a blog post and an authoritative guide
• Why long-form, depth-filled content is quietly winning
• How therapists can create evergreen content that compounds over time
• What AI should actually be used for in content creation
• Why specificity and lived experience matter more than ever
• How one well-built guide can become a podcast, YouTube video, workshop, and newsletter
• Why therapists should stop waiting to feel like “experts” before publishing

And for the first time in a long time, it may actually be shifting in therapists’ favor.

Because what Google increasingly rewards now is depth, specificity, real-world expertise, and trustworthy human insight.

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RESOURCES

Building and managing the practice you truly want can feel overwhelming. That’s why Alma is here—to help you create not just any practice, but your private practice.

With Alma, you’ll get the tools and resources you need to navigate insurance with ease, connect with referrals that are the right fit for your style, and streamline those time-consuming administrative tasks. That means less time buried in the details and more time focused on delivering exceptional care to your clients.

You support your clients. Alma supports you.

Learn more at sellingthecouch.com/alma and get 2 months FREE–an exclusive offer for STC listeners.

--

Ready to launch (or grow) your online course?

Haven is our membership for therapists who want to turn their expertise into sustainable online income through courses, content, and simple systems that actually work.

You’ll get access to trainings, live accelerators, and a community that supports you every step of the way.

Get on the waitlist: sellingthecouch.com/haven

What happens to your private practice if you suddenly become incapacitated… or pass away?

It’s a difficult question, and one most therapists never want to think about.

But in this deeply practical and important conversation, Mel sits down with Dr. Robin Miller to discuss one of the most overlooked responsibilities in private practice: creating a professional will.

Dr. Miller shares the personal story that led her to found TheraClosure after unexpectedly losing a close colleague and stepping in to manage the aftermath of her private practice, client care, records, and continuity planning.

This conversation is thoughtful, grounded, and incredibly relevant for every clinician in private practice.

• What a professional will actually is
• Why every therapist in private practice should have one
• What happens to client care and medical records if a clinician dies unexpectedly
• The emotional and ethical impact on clients after sudden therapist loss
• How professional wills differ for solo practitioners vs. group practices
• Common mistakes therapists make when planning for continuity of care
• Why “I’ll deal with this later” can create major problems for loved ones and clients
• How retirement, incapacitation, and practice sales impact continuity planning
• What therapists should think about regarding passwords, EHR access, payroll, and two-factor authentication
• Why professional wills are about protecting clients — not just protecting businesses

Very few conversations ask: What happens if something happens to you?

This episode is an invitation to think proactively, ethically, and compassionately about continuity of care — for your clients, your loved ones, and your profession.

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RESOURCES

Building and managing the practice you truly want can feel overwhelming. That’s why Alma is here—to help you create not just any practice, but your private practice.

With Alma, you’ll get the tools and resources you need to navigate insurance with ease, connect with referrals that are the right fit for your style, and streamline those time-consuming administrative tasks. That means less time buried in the details and more time focused on delivering exceptional care to your clients.

You support your clients. Alma supports you.

Learn more at sellingthecouch.com/alma and get 2 months FREE–an exclusive offer for STC listeners.

--

Ready to launch (or grow) your online course?

Haven is our membership for therapists who want to turn their expertise into sustainable online income through courses, content, and simple systems that actually work.

You’ll get access to trainings, live accelerators, and a community that supports you every step of the way.

Get on the waitlist: sellingthecouch.com/haven

In this deeply personal episode, Mel shares an honest update on a new chapter he’s building: one that sits at the intersection of psychology, nervous system regulation, golf, performance under pressure, and the future of clinical work in the age of AI.

This is not a polished “success story.” It’s a real-time reflection on what AI is changing in mental health, why traditional private practice models no longer fit for some clinicians, and how to build work that feels deeply aligned with your life instead of consuming it.

• The childhood basketball story that shaped his understanding of pressure and performance
• Why the same person can succeed under pressure one year and crumble the next
• How AI is transforming therapy, healthcare, and human work
• Why the future belongs to the irreplaceable parts of human connection
• The difference between burnout from the work vs. burnout from the model
• Why he chose not to return to traditional private practice
• The vision behind a new golf-focused performance psychology retreat
• How golf became a “laboratory” for understanding nervous system regulation under stress
• Why experiences and human presence may become the most valuable forms of care in the AI era
• The concept of building the one model only you could build

• What population have you spent the most time with, and what do they truly need that nobody is delivering?
• What life experiences or non-clinical skills could become part of the intervention itself?
• What would you build if you weren’t trying to make it look like what a therapist is “supposed” to offer?

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RESOURCES

Building and managing the practice you truly want can feel overwhelming. That’s why Alma is here—to help you create not just any practice, but your private practice.

With Alma, you’ll get the tools and resources you need to navigate insurance with ease, connect with referrals that are the right fit for your style, and streamline those time-consuming administrative tasks. That means less time buried in the details and more time focused on delivering exceptional care to your clients.

You support your clients. Alma supports you.

Learn more at sellingthecouch.com/alma and get 2 months FREE–an exclusive offer for STC listeners.

--

Ready to launch (or grow) your online course?

Haven is our membership for therapists who want to turn their expertise into sustainable online income through courses, content, and simple systems that actually work.

You’ll get access to trainings, live accelerators, and a community that supports you every step of the way.

Get on the waitlist: sellingthecouch.com/haven

Do therapist websites still matter in the age of AI?

With platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, Google AI Search, social media, and online directories changing how people search for support, many therapists are wondering:

Is it even worth investing in a website anymore?

In this episode, Mel sits down with Sarah Gershon of Strong Roots Web Design to explore why therapist websites may actually matter more than ever, especially in a world where AI is becoming the intermediary between clinicians and potential clients.

Together, they unpack how websites shape a client’s first impression, why authenticity matters more than “marketing,” and how therapists can create websites that feel safe, human, and deeply aligned with their values.

We cover:

* What potential clients are really looking for in the first few seconds on a therapist website * Why websites still matter in the AI era

* The difference between “rented” platforms (social media) vs. owned platforms (your website)

* How to write website copy that feels authentic instead of salesy

* Why therapists are uniquely positioned to create high-quality, human-centered content

* Google’s evolving EEAT standards

* A simple homepage audit exercise every therapist should do this month

Your website isn’t just a marketing tool.

It’s a place where potential clients can feel safe, understood, and begin building trust before they ever reach out.

If you want to improve your website this month: ask: Would a hurting person feel safe here?

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RESOURCES

Building and managing the practice you truly want can feel overwhelming. That’s why Alma is here—to help you create not just any practice, but your private practice.

With Alma, you’ll get the tools and resources you need to navigate insurance with ease, connect with referrals that are the right fit for your style, and streamline those time-consuming administrative tasks. That means less time buried in the details and more time focused on delivering exceptional care to your clients.

You support your clients. Alma supports you.

Learn more at sellingthecouch.com/alma and get 2 months FREE–an exclusive offer for STC listeners.

--

Ready to launch (or grow) your online course?

Haven is our membership for therapists who want to turn their expertise into sustainable online income through courses, content, and simple systems that actually work.

You’ll get access to trainings, live accelerators, and a community that supports you every step of the way.

Get on the waitlist: sellingthecouch.com/haven

Are therapists quietly leaving social media… on purpose?

In today’s episode, we explore a growing shift: not burnout, but intentional withdrawal from platforms that promise connection... but often create fragmentation.

If you’ve ever felt conflicted about social media—needing it for visibility but feeling drained by it—this conversation will hit close to home.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why social media isn’t a neutral tool, it’s a shaping force
• The “dysregulation paradox” therapists face online
• What social media actually does to your brain (especially as a clinician)
• Why intentional creators are stepping back, or redesigning their relationship with it
• How to market your work without handing over your nervous system
• A simple framework to decide if social media is still serving you

Key insights:

• We teach nervous system regulation… on platforms designed for dysregulation
• Social media often trains reactivity, comparison, and fragmented attention
• Leaving (or limiting) social media isn’t about productivity, it’s about protecting your attention
• You don’t owe any platform your presence
• The most meaningful work rarely comes from constant scrolling, it comes from depth, slowness, and focus

Because the real question isn’t just: “Should I be on social media?”

It’s: “What is this platform shaping me into?”

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RESOURCES

Building and managing the practice you truly want can feel overwhelming. That’s why Alma is here—to help you create not just any practice, but your private practice.

With Alma, you’ll get the tools and resources you need to navigate insurance with ease, connect with referrals that are the right fit for your style, and streamline those time-consuming administrative tasks. That means less time buried in the details and more time focused on delivering exceptional care to your clients.

You support your clients. Alma supports you.

Learn more at sellingthecouch.com/alma and get 2 months FREE–an exclusive offer for STC listeners.

--

Ready to launch (or grow) your online course?

Haven is our membership for therapists who want to turn their expertise into sustainable online income through courses, content, and simple systems that actually work.

You’ll get access to trainings, live accelerators, and a community that supports you every step of the way.

Get on the waitlist: sellingthecouch.com/haven