Selling the Couch

Today’s show is a little different than normal. We’re highlighting the first online marketplace exclusively for mental health professionals to buy and sell their original products. We’re talking to one of the founders of Practikat about her journey--and how this platform might be just what you’re looking for!

Katie Englert has a group practice in Paducah, Kentucky, and fills her time with counseling, consulting, and public speaking. Today’s show focuses on her newest endeavor, Practikat, which came about because Katie was looking for a hub of resources for clinicians. She shares how she came up with the name and the branding advice she received from experts and attorneys. Katie explains how to go about setting up something like Practikat, how revenue is generated, how to test it out, and the logistics of the development process. Katie wraps up our time by sharing the advice she would give to herself in the past and the future.

Mentioned in this episode:

Try Alma!

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.

Today’s show is a live coaching call regarding a topic that has been very relevant to me recently. We are 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

Today's Sponsor: Online Course School

I know that many of us want to launch a successful online course whether it's to share our message with a larger audience or to diversify our income beyond 1:1 work.

Speaking from personal experience, I also know that there are a ton of barriers to getting started: the tech, the mental hurdles, being unsure of whether our course will make money, or even how to market and grow our online course. 

Online Course School is a live 8-week cohort-based experience where you'll gather with other therapist course creators to create your online course. It includes teaching workshops from Mel

and the STC team, weekly assignments, and opportunities to work together to get things done. By the end of our time together, you'll have your lessons and modules outlined, know what tech, software, and platform you need to record your online course, a working sales page, and have a concrete growth plan for your online course.

We'll be launching our first cohort in Sept 2021 with six members. If this sounds like something you'd love to be a part of, please check out my free A to Z Online Course Guide.

The guide will help you learn from my mistakes over the past 6+ years of being an online course creator and lessons I've learned from moving the Healthcasters podcasting course from a $297 first sale to over 275 students and passing the $200k revenue mark in 2021.

 RESOURCES TO GUIDE YOUR BUSINESS JOURNEY 

Disclosures: Please note that all opinions are my own and based on my personal experience. Sponsors are acknowledged. Some links in the description are affiliate links where if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a commission at no additional cost to you.  I use these funds to continue to create helpful content to serve our field.  As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.

MY FREE ONLINE WORKSHOPS (These Can Be Watched At A Date/Time That Works For You):

🎙️   Using Podcasting To Grow Your Business (Lessons Learned From 9 Downloads On Day 1 To 1.2 Million And a 7 Income Stream Business)

💻   How To Launch And Grow A Successful Online Course (Lessons Learned From A $297 First Sale To $150k Online Course)

MY FREE GUIDES:

🎤   Start your Podcast: The QuickStart Guide 

🖥️   The A To Z Online Course

MY COURSES:

🎧   The Healthcasters (A podcasting course + community for helpers/healers): 

💻   Online Course School (A course to create, sell, and grow a successful online course): COMING IN 2022 (please feel free to download the online guide course above and I can keep you updated as I'm trying to build this with ample input and care including a chance to work 1 on 1 with me!): 

MY FAVORITE SOFTWARE:

🧳   My Podcast Hosting Platform (Captivate-Includes 7 Day Free Trial): 

🚀   My All In One Online Business Platform (Kartra-Includes 14 Day Free Trial): 

🤖   What I Use For Evergreen Webinars (Easy Webinar)

🌐   My Website Host (SiteGround-Includes Discount)

🎨   My WebSite Theme (Divi)

MY FAVORITE GEAR:

❤️   STC Home Office Tour! 

📔   My Online Counseling + Coaching Gear

🎥   My YouTube + Live Streaming Camera Gear

SUBSCRIBE TO THE STC PODCAST:

Since 2015, I've hosted a weekly podcast where I interview successful therapists in private practice and other business owners to help us grow our impact + income in and beyond the therapy room. 

The podcast has been downloaded over 1.2 million times and is heard in over 140 countries.

You can find also it by searching “Selling The Couch” on any podcast app (eg: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify etc) or simply saying "Alexa, listen to Selling The Couch" on your Amazon device. =

Or simply click below for ease =). 

SUBSCRIBE HERE

LET'S BE FRIENDS:

💌   Sign up to receive the free A To Z Online Course Guide + receive the weekly STC email newsletter (trusted by over 7k colleagues) 

🌍   My website / blog

📸   Instagram (I mainly post "behind the scenes" stuff about my life and business)

WHO'S THIS GUY? 

Hi. I'm Melvin. I'm a psychologist (PhD), entrepreneur, and online creator living in Philadelphia, PA. 

In 2014, I began to think about how to use the therapy skills we learn in grad school, and in our clinical work into different realms (e.g., podcasting, consulting, online course creation, etc).  

This allows us to serve others on larger scales while diversifying our income beyond 1 to 1 work. 

I make podcasts and videos about business, tech, productivity, and lessons I'm learning from becoming the CEO of a lean, mean 5 person 100% remote team (we're not really mean..it just rhymed =P).

Mentioned in this episode:

Try Alma!

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 today’s technology, most people rely on online reviews when it comes to products, services, restaurants, hotels, and much more. When it comes to clinicians and clients, online reviews can reveal a lot, but is that a good thing? Do people mainly leave online reviews when they are upset or dissatisfied with the service they have received? Join us for a deeper look at this issue on today’s show.

Dr. Keely Kolmes is a Licensed Psychologist in California. They did research via anonymous surveys about the experience of therapy clients who had accessed personal or professional information about therapists. We’re taking a close look at the results of the survey, how these results are interpreted, and how these results can help improve your private practice.

Mentioned in this episode:

Try Alma!

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.

Today’s show is the first of a two-part series about livestreaming. I jumped somewhat hesitantly into this world a few months ago, and surprisingly, I’ve enjoyed this new outlet. Join me as I share what I’ve learned about livestreaming.

I was nervous about starting The STC Online Income Stream because I am usually self-conscious on video. I’ve become more comfortable and more familiar with being in front of the camera over these months of livestreaming. My livestream focuses on podcasting and online courses, but I have plans to expand into other content areas. The current format is set for 15-minute talks about growing our impact and income beyond the therapy room, sharing tips and strategies that have proven to be successful. Today’s episode is all about the technical gear needed to set up a livestream, and next week’s Part 2 will focus on livestream content creation.

Mentioned in this episode:

Try Alma!

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.

This is the follow-up to last week’s podcast about creating a professional livestream. We’ve already covered the gear you’ll need, so today’s show focuses on creating the content for your livestream. Join me for Part 2!

If you listened to Episode 258, you might be saying, “OK, Melvin, I have the gear, so what else do I need to do to prep for my livestream?” I’m glad you asked! After only doing livestreams for a few months, I’ve already learned a lot (including some very cool timesaving hacks and helpful tools), and I’m eager to share those experiences with you.

Mentioned in this episode:

Try Alma!

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.

Welcome to Session 300! I never even imagined reaching this point, and I’m very grateful to be at this milestone. I love everything about connecting with people through podcasting, so thank you for joining me on this journey. Today’s show is a coaching call about online courses and the imposter syndrome that sneaks in with fear and doubt. Join us to learn more!

Our Featured Guest for today’s coaching call:

Nikki Sewell, LCSW

Nikki Sewell was part of our beta group for Online Course School’s eight-week live experience where we went through each step from start to finish in setting up your online course. Nikki is ready to get her pilot students into her course, but she has encountered a lot of fear around charging her worth for her grief course for therapists. Nikki built a successful private practice focusing on the niche of grief counseling, motivated by losing her father to suicide during her grad school years and suddenly losing her husband at age 41 back in 2013. Join the coaching call with Nikki and Melvin!

Nikki Sewell

You’ll Learn:

● How Nikki found her niche in grief counseling with widows, suicide survivors, and orphaned adults

● Why Nikki views her grief counseling work as something beautiful that empowers people to see “what’s lost, what’s left, and what’s possible”

● How Nikki decided to create her online course to help other grief and trauma therapists

● Why the best online courses combine clinical training with personal experience–like Nikki is doing

● How money blocks, shame, and internal voices get in the way to create imposter syndrome for Nikki

● The new perspective: Nikki’s course is helping clinicians to become better clinicians, help their clients more fully, and become better business owners (who make more money)

● Why we struggle with shame in charging what we are worth because we are a “helping profession”

● How Nikki can implement the same steps in charging for her online course that she employed in establishing her private practice

● How to take a “ladder view” of our expertise and experience, realizing that there are always people on lower rungs who need your help

● Why it’s better to take the tortoise approach and pace yourself in launching a course

Disclosures: Please note that all opinions are my own and based on my personal experience. Sponsors are acknowledged. Some links in the description are affiliate links where if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a commission at no additional cost to you. I use these funds to continue to create helpful content to serve our field. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.

?️ Using Podcasting To Grow Your Business (Lessons Learned From 9 Downloads On Day 1 To 1.2 Million And a 7 Income Stream Business)

? How To Launch And Grow A Successful Online Course (Lessons Learned From A $297 First Sale To $150k Online Course)

? Start your Podcast: The QuickStart Guide

?️ The A To Z Online Course

? The Healthcasters (A podcasting course + community for helpers/healers):

? Online Course School (A course to create, sell, and grow a successful online course): COMING IN 2022 (please feel free to download the online guide course above and I can keep you updated as I'm trying to build this with ample input and care including a chance to work 1 on 1 with me!): 

? My Podcast Hosting Platform (Captivate-Includes 7 Day Free Trial):

? My All In One Online Business Platform (Kartra-Includes 14 Day Free Trial):

? What I Use For Evergreen Webinars (Easy Webinar)

? My Website Host (SiteGround-Includes Discount)

? My WebSite Theme (Divi)

❤️ STC Home Office Tour!

? My Online Counseling + Coaching Gear

? My YouTube + Live Streaming Camera Gear

Since 2015, I've hosted a weekly podcast where I interview successful therapists in private practice and other business owners to help us grow our impact + income in and beyond the therapy room.

The podcast has been downloaded over 1.2 million times and is heard in over 140 countries.

You can find also it by searching “Selling The Couch” on any podcast app (eg: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify etc) or simply saying "Alexa, listen to Selling The Couch" on your Amazon device. =

Or simply click below for ease =).

SUBSCRIBE HERE

? Sign up to receive the free A To Z Online Course Guide + receive the weekly STC email newsletter (trusted by over 7k colleagues)

? My website / blog

? Instagram (I mainly post "behind the scenes" stuff about my life and business)

Hi. I'm Melvin. I'm a psychologist (PhD), entrepreneur, and online creator living in Philadelphia, PA.

In 2014, I began to think about how to use the therapy skills we learn in grad school, and in our clinical work into different realms (e.g., podcasting, consulting, online course creation, etc).

This allows us to serve others on larger scales while diversifying our income beyond 1 to 1 work.

I make podcasts and videos about business, tech, productivity, and lessons I'm learning from becoming the CEO of a lean, mean 5 person 100% remote team (we're not really mean..it just rhymed =P).

Mentioned in this episode:

Try Alma!

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.

One of the new things for STC this year is the incorporation of coaching calls into the podcast from time to time. Join us for a glimpse into today’s coaching call about online courses.

Our Featured Guest for today’s coaching call

Heather McKenzie, LCMHCS

Heather McKenzie came through Online Course School as a beta student back in the fall of 2021. Online Course School is a live, eight-week experience that takes your online course from a simple idea all the way through the development stages so that you are ready to record. Heather created a course specifically focused on anxiety that can be found at Dial Down Anxiety. Like most of us who create an online course, she faced a common struggle about how to handle marketing time and costs to promote her course. Join us to hear the coaching call!

McKenzie Counseling 

You’ll Learn:

• How to handle logistical challenges in the online presentation of your course
• Why Heather’s course is an eight-week course to help people understand anxiety and DBT emotion regulation skills
• How marketing options for an online course can be overwhelming for most people 
• How to pinpoint your own superpowers in teaching and the style that works best for you
• How to structure the content levels for promoting your course in six-month blocks:
• Start with webinars, both free and paid.
• Offer a downloadable guide or cheat sheet.
• Use a core blog post as a stand-alone feature that blows people away.
• Tips from Melvin about content levels:
• Offering too many things can confuse people, so stick with one core webinar.
• Less is more!
• Be thoughtful about using the words “webinar” and “workshop” so as not to intimidate people.
• Link your blog post videos to YouTube to drive more traffic back to your webinar.
• Consider that high-quality offerings through webinars, guides, and blog posts help to establish your authority as an expert and give people value that keeps them returning.
• How podcasting can help with future promotion by giving a call-to-action to your webinar
• Why you need to take notes during the first offering of your course with beta students to know what content resonates the most; that content can be used for future free webinars
• In summary, five tools to market an online course that have evergreen potential:
• Webinar (start with live ones and then transition to evergreen ones)
• Downloadable guides or cheat sheets
• Core blog post
• Select podcast episodes
• Mini-podcast 

Disclosures: Please note that all opinions are my own and based on my personal experience. Sponsors are acknowledged. Some links in the description are affiliate links where if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a commission at no additional cost to you. I use these funds to continue to create helpful content to serve our field. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.

🎙️ Using Podcasting To Grow Your Business (Lessons Learned From 9 Downloads On Day 1 To 1.2 Million And a 7 Income Stream Business)

💻 How To Launch And Grow A Successful Online Course (Lessons Learned From A $297 First Sale To $150k Online Course)

🎤 Start your Podcast: The QuickStart Guide

🖥️ The A To Z Online Course

🎧 The Healthcasters (A podcasting course + community for helpers/healers):

💻 Online Course School (A course to create, sell, and grow a successful online course): COMING IN 2022 (please feel free to download the online guide course above and I can keep you updated as I'm trying to build this with ample input and care including a chance to work 1 on 1 with me!): 

🧳 My Podcast Hosting Platform (Captivate-Includes 7 Day Free Trial):

🚀 My All In One Online Business Platform (Kartra-Includes 14 Day Free Trial):

🤖 What I Use For Evergreen Webinars (Easy Webinar)

🌐 My Website Host (SiteGround-Includes Discount)

🎨 My WebSite Theme (Divi)

❤️ STC Home Office Tour!

📔 My Online Counseling + Coaching Gear

🎥 My YouTube + Live Streaming Camera Gear

Since 2015, I've hosted a weekly podcast where I interview successful therapists in private practice and other business owners to help us grow our impact + income in and beyond the therapy room.

The podcast has been downloaded over 1.2 million times and is heard in over 140 countries.

You can find also it by searching “Selling The Couch” on any podcast app (eg: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify etc) or simply saying "Alexa, listen to Selling The Couch" on your Amazon device. =

Or simply click below for ease =).

SUBSCRIBE HERE

💌 Sign up to receive the free A To Z Online Course Guide + receive the weekly STC email newsletter (trusted by over 7k colleagues)

🌍 My website / blog

📸 Instagram (I mainly post "behind the scenes" stuff about my life and business)

Hi. I'm Melvin. I'm a psychologist (PhD), entrepreneur, and online creator living in Philadelphia, PA.

In 2014, I began to think about how to use the therapy skills we learn in grad school, and in our clinical work into different realms (e.g., podcasting, consulting, online course creation, etc).

This allows us to serve others on larger scales while diversifying our income beyond 1 to 1 work.

I make podcasts and videos about business, tech, productivity, and lessons I'm learning from becoming the CEO of a lean, mean 5 person 100% remote team (we're not really mean..it just rhymed =P).

Mentioned in this episode:

Try Alma!

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.

Today’s show covers lessons I have learned from launching a successful cohort-based course (CBC). The process takes a lot of work but is very rewarding, so if a CBC is in your future, don’t miss this episode.

You’ll Learn:

● How I launched my first online course, The Healthcasters, in 2015, even though I felt like an inadequate novice

● How Online Course School launched in late 2021, with 16 workshops for nine colleagues in the beta cohort group

● Ten lessons learned from my CBC launch:

○ Get your beta students through your email list, previous courses, and Mastermind class colleagues.

○ Screen the participants well. (I did this through one-on-one Zoom calls.)

○ Do welcome calls with breakout rooms, so the students get to know each other.

○ Keep the CBC length around 6-8 weeks, or structure a break after a few weeks if it is longer.

○ Have an assistant with you on all workshops.

○ Tier your support for students at multiple levels.

○ Start with the “I do/we do/you do” framework for teaching.

○ Prep your lessons ahead of time before the cohort begins–not at the same time.

○ Don’t get too high with the highs or too low with the lows.

○ Charge your worth.

Resources mentioned:

Accelerator programs through Maven

Disclosures: Please note that all opinions are my own and based on my personal experience. Sponsors are acknowledged. Some links in the description are affiliate links where if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a commission at no additional cost to you. I use these funds to continue to create helpful content to serve our field. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.

🎙️ Using Podcasting To Grow Your Business (Lessons Learned From 9 Downloads On Day 1 To 1.2 Million And a 7 Income Stream Business)

💻 How To Launch And Grow A Successful Online Course (Lessons Learned From A $297 First Sale To $150k Online Course)

🎤 Start your Podcast: The QuickStart Guide

🖥️ The A To Z Online Course

🎧 The Healthcasters (A podcasting course + community for helpers/healers):

💻 Online Course School (A course to create, sell, and grow a successful online course): COMING IN 2022 (please feel free to download the online guide course above and I can keep you updated as I'm trying to build this with ample input and care including a chance to work 1 on 1 with me!): 

🧳 My Podcast Hosting Platform (Captivate-Includes 7 Day Free Trial):

🚀 My All In One Online Business Platform (Kartra-Includes 14 Day Free Trial):

🤖 What I Use For Evergreen Webinars (Easy Webinar)

🌐 My Website Host (SiteGround-Includes Discount)

🎨 My WebSite Theme (Divi)

❤️ STC Home Office Tour!

📔 My Online Counseling + Coaching Gear

🎥 My YouTube + Live Streaming Camera Gear

Since 2015, I've hosted a weekly podcast where I interview successful therapists in private practice and other business owners to help us grow our impact + income in and beyond the therapy room.

The podcast has been downloaded over 1.2 million times and is heard in over 140 countries.

You can find also it by searching “Selling The Couch” on any podcast app (eg: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify etc) or simply saying "Alexa, listen to Selling The Couch" on your Amazon device. =

Or simply click below for ease =).

SUBSCRIBE HERE

💌 Sign up to receive the free A To Z Online Course Guide + receive the weekly STC email newsletter (trusted by over 7k colleagues)

🌍 My website / blog

📸 Instagram (I mainly post "behind the scenes" stuff about my life and business)

Hi. I'm Melvin. I'm a psychologist (PhD), entrepreneur, and online creator living in Philadelphia, PA.

In 2014, I began to think about how to use the therapy skills we learn in grad school, and in our clinical work into different realms (e.g., podcasting, consulting, online course creation, etc).

This allows us to serve others on larger scales while diversifying our income beyond 1 to 1 work.

I make podcasts and videos about business, tech, productivity, and lessons I'm learning from becoming the CEO of a lean, mean 5 person 100% remote team (we're not really mean..it just rhymed =P).

Mentioned in this episode:

Try Alma!

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.

This episode is the last one before I take an extended break for a few months. The plan is to be back in April 2023, with exciting, brand-new STC episodes. I think rest is important in the human journey AND the entrepreneurial journey, so I’m looking forward to some extra downtime after podcasting regularly for seven years and hitting the 1.5 million download mark. Unbelievable! Thank you from the bottom of my heart! This is my life’s work and my great privilege to serve you, my colleagues. 

Today’s episode takes a closer look at a major passion of mine: online courses. Let’s talk about the important questions to ask–and answer–before launching an online course. Join me!

You’ll Learn:

• How online courses can help fill in the gap for those who need mental health services
• 7 Questions to Ask Before Launching an Online Course:
• Have people paid me one-on-one for this course idea?
• Can I see myself being in this space for 10+ years?
• Is this course idea confronting a “massive pain” vs. an “annoying inconvenience” for my audience?
• Can this population afford the course I’m selling? Do they have purchasing power?
• Is this a population that is easy to target and find online?
• Is my course idea a growing concern/need for my audience?
• Are there others out there creating information products for this niche?
• Further details about the STC Elite Mastermind for therapists who are creating online courses (The next launch is scheduled for Spring 2023.) 

If you aren’t ready for the mastermind-level commitment, check out my FREE Webinar about creating online courses.

Mentioned in this episode:

Try Alma!

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.

Today’s topic is very relevant in our post-pandemic world. Many clinicians are left wondering if their best work lies in the clinical field or the coaching/consulting arena. I’ve felt this dilemma myself, pondering how to balance my interests, endeavors, and the evolution of family life. I realized that I couldn’t sustain multiple paths, and I made the hard decision to give up my clinical work.

If you are struggling along those same lines, I hope today’s show gives you insights, clarity, and encouragement. Join us to learn more!

Our Featured Guest

Angela Williams, LCSW

Angela Williams is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Orlando, Florida. She has made the transition from clinician to coach, and she now works with other therapists who are making the same change in their lives. Angela shares her thoughts about why so many clinicians are leaving for the world of coaching, along with the biggest roadblocks that may come up on this path. She gives her best tips for overcoming those big roadblocks and recommends several books as helpful resources. 

Website

You’ll Learn:

• Why so many therapists are becoming coaches
• How the therapy field, with its inherent regulations, contains many barriers to providing services to clients—and coaching is different
• The biggest mental roadblock for Angela in moving from clinician to coach
• Why each clinician feels like the “insecure expert” and has to intentionally build up their confidence
• Why it’s challenging to become an online, visible brand rather than a care provider
• What holds clinicians back the most and presents the biggest roadblocks
• How a mindset coach can help us rewrite our roadblocks into our success story
• How perfectionism, fear of failure, and standards of success can prevent us from taking action
• Why money blocks and financial literacy play into our beliefs about money
• Why the fear of success can be just as crippling as the fear of failure
• Books recommended by Angela:  The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks, Get Rich, Lucky Bitch by Denise Duffield-Thomas, and You Are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero

Mentioned in this episode:

Try Alma!

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.