Niching, SEO, blog and website design----these are concepts we need to be familiar with as clinicians, but don’t they tend to be confusing? How do they fit together—or do they? Today’s show will break down the terminology and answer your questions about how these aspects of your practice can work in your favor. We’re talking all about niching and how it connects with our website and how everything factors into search engine optimization.

My guest is Paul Steinke, LPC in Colorado, and the owner of the Karibuni Center. If you know Swahili, then you know that “karibuni” means “welcome.” Paul has created a private practice where he works with people and their relationships around marriage and couple issues. Interestingly, Paul is a former wedding photographer who transitioned into the therapist’s chair, and his former career taught him a lot about marketing, web design, and visual images. Now Paul is all about helping couples in crisis, especially through affair recovery and divorce. Don’t miss my amazing conversation with Paul!

www.sellingthecouch.com/session154

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Today's Sponsor is Turning Point HQ

Don't let your own money blocks rob you of your future financial security. Turning Point HQ is a financial planning company specifically for therapists. They've created a free guide to help you avoid the 7 money mistakes that most therapists make. Download the free guide today!

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What are the essential elements in creating a successful private practice? We all know the list of things to consider and plan goes on and on and on! Everywhere we turn, there are new challenges to meet and new details to handle. Today’s show features a clinician who has navigated this journey, faced the ups and downs, and created a beautiful practice that focuses on relationships.

Shirani M. Pathak, LCSW, practices in the Bay area of the Silicon Valley of California. She has created a successful private practice that focuses on helping women who struggle in relationships. We discuss how she intentionally chose the phrasing on her website, how she took a step back to learn to “speak her clients’ language,” and the lessons she has learned in her practice-building journey. Shirani explains how she uses her mission statement and email newsletter for a deeper purpose beyond the walls of her practice.

www.sellingthecouch.com/session153

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Check Out PsycCareers!

Today's Sponsor is Turning Point HQ

Don't let your own money blocks rob you of your future financial security. Turning Point HQ is a financial planning company specifically for therapists. They've created a free guide to help you avoid the 7 money mistakes that most therapists make. Download the free guide today!

Turning Point HQ

How are you at thinking outside the box? As private practitioners, that kind of creative thinking is vital, but we know that any journey has its bumps in the road. 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.

www.sellingthecouch.com/session152

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Check Out PsycCareers!

Today's Sponsor is Turning Point HQ

Don't let your own money blocks rob you of your future financial security. Turning Point HQ is a financial planning company specifically for therapists. They've created a free guide to help you avoid the 7 money mistakes that most therapists make. Download the free guide today!

Turning Point HQ

What if your clients did their homework? Wouldn’t it be great if you could keep your clients engaged in- between sessions? These questions are behind the development of Therachat, a HIPAA-compliant, encrypted app that helps with the process of therapy homework. Join us to learn more!

Kouris Kalligas is the founder and CEO of Therachat. When I heard that Kouris was developing this app and I understood the immense research that went into its development, I knew I had to have him on the show to tell us more. This is a practical topic, and our discussion of client homework involves how to assign the work and how to motivate clients to complete it. Kouris interviewed over 500 clinicians about their homework practices and has developed new ideas about incorporating homework into a therapy practice. The challenge is how to keep the homework short, sweet, intentional, and customized, and Kouris has helpful tips to share.

www.sellingthecouch.com/session151

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Check Out PsycCareers!

Today's Sponsor is Turning Point HQ

Don't let your own money blocks rob you of your future financial security. Turning Point HQ is a financial planning company specifically for therapists. They've created a free guide to help you avoid the 7 money mistakes that most therapists make. Download the free guide today!

Turning Point HQ

Have you ever thought about starting your own online community? You’ve heard me talk often about the STC Facebook Community and the many questions and show topics that spring from that group. In fact, the idea for today’s show comes from emails I recently received about our online community. I hope this show gives you the information you need if this is something you’ve been thinking about doing!

Today’s show is a solo episode, which I try to do once a month. I love teaching and sharing transparently about the mistakes I’ve made and what I’m learning. The STC Facebook community now numbers over 7,000 members, and with that unexpected growth come many issues in its day-to-day management. Our group began in March 2015, and our members are known as “Couchies.” It’s a gathering place for members to share and reflect, so let’s talk about Growing an Online Community. Join us!

www.sellingthecouch.com/session150

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Today's Sponsor is Turning Point HQ

Don't let your own money blocks rob you of your future financial security. Turning Point HQ is a financial planning company specifically for therapists. They've created a free guide to help you avoid the 7 money mistakes that most therapists make. Download the free guide today!

Turning Point HQ

Thrizer

Thrizer can help private pay therapists transform out-of-network therapy into an in-network experience to help you attract and retain private pay clients!

Learn More About Thrizer

How do you build a successful private pay practice in an area heavily dominated by insurance pay practices? It’s a question that many clinicians either struggle with, or think about, and this is our topic for today’s show. This topic has been frequently discussed in the STC community, so I know it will be impactful for you, regardless of which kind of practice you currently find yourself.

Dr. Erika Martinez is a psychologist in the Miami area, and she set out to build a private pay practice in 2015. She’s learned many lessons about what to do and what not to do, and she’s here to share with us. Her initial journey into this kind of practice was based on her circumstances, and she certainly could have given up with the mental anguish she had to endure, but she kept working hard to make her dreams become reality. She’s sharing how she found her niche and overcame the struggles she faced. She also talks about how to navigate the conversation with a client who wants to use your services but also wants to use insurance. Erika caps off our conversation by sharing her three biggest lessons learned along her path, so I hope you’ll join us and find your own nuggets of wisdom from Erika’s story.

www.sellingthecouch.com/session149

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Today's Sponsor is Turning Point HQ

Don't let your own money blocks rob you of your future financial security. Turning Point HQ is a financial planning company specifically for therapists. They've created a free guide to help you avoid the 7 money mistakes that most therapists make. Download the free guide today!

Turning Point HQ

We'd LOVE To Partner With You!

➡️ Want to launch your online course?

Thrizer

Thrizer can help private pay therapists transform out-of-network therapy into an in-network experience to help you attract and retain private pay clients!

Learn More About Thrizer

Today’s show highlights a common problem for clinicians, especially those in a private pay practice. How do we get clients’ out-of-network claims paid? Rachael Norman is here from Better; their mission is to help providers not lose patients because of not accepting insurance. Better is an app for filing out-of-network insurance claims.

They are a free resource for clinicians and they help in an ongoing effort to help reduce medical costs to patients. Rachael is sharing practical tips that she’s learned and explaining more about the concept of “out-of-network” benefits. We’re discussing the basics of superbills, wording, and coding, along with common mistakes clinicians make with superbills and the next big changes to come regarding claims and coding. Join us!

www.sellingthecouch.com/session148

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We'd LOVE To Partner With You!

➡️ Want to launch your online course?

Thrizer

Thrizer can help private pay therapists transform out-of-network therapy into an in-network experience to help you attract and retain private pay clients!

Learn More About Thrizer

Today's Sponsor is Turning Point HQ

Don't let your own money blocks rob you of your future financial security. Turning Point HQ is a financial planning company specifically for therapists. They've created a free guide to help you avoid the 7 money mistakes that most therapists make. Download the free guide today!

Turning Point HQ

My guest today is Dr. David Craig, from Spruce Health, which is a great resource for HIPAA compliance. Today’s conversation will give clinicians something to think about staying HIPAA compliant when we communicate with clients over cell phones. Join us!

www.sellingthecouch.com/session147

Mentioned in this episode:

We'd LOVE To Partner With You!

➡️ Want to launch your online course?

Thrizer

Thrizer can help private pay therapists transform out-of-network therapy into an in-network experience to help you attract and retain private pay clients!

Learn More About Thrizer

Today's Sponsor is Turning Point HQ

Don't let your own money blocks rob you of your future financial security. Turning Point HQ is a financial planning company specifically for therapists. They've created a free guide to help you avoid the 7 money mistakes that most therapists make. Download the free guide today!

Turning Point HQ

Today’s solo episode topic may be one you’ve thought a lot about, or it may be something that hasn’t crossed your mind. We are discussing the ins and outs of creating a membership site, something that comes up frequently in discussions in the STC Facebook community. It’s something I’ve been trying to figure out over the past 13 months.

We are talking about what goes into creating a membership site, how to launch it, how to create it, and more. I’m sharing the lessons I’ve learned along the way, and I really hope this closer look at creating a membership site is helpful for you, either right now, or as something you might utilize in the future.Join us!

www.sellingthecouch.com/session146

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Thrizer

Thrizer is a payment platform designed for private pay therapists, built to help clients automatically tap into their out-of-network benefits and save on therapy upfront. Thrizer can help instantly verify clients’ out-of-network benefits ahead of a client’s first session, so they get the transparency upfront on their out-of-pocket costs. When therapists charge their clients via Thrizer, an out-of-network claim is automatically submitted for them, so no need to deal with superbills. Best part? After meeting their deductible, clients have the option to just pay their co-insurance portion for sessions while Thrizer floats the rest of the therapist’s fee and waits for reimbursement on the client’s behalf, helping clients afford therapy upfront. Please visit sellingthecouch.com/thrizerand enter the promo code “STC” and receive waived fees for your first $2500 in charges.

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I’m excited to share with you my conversation with Amy Van Slambrook, who is a clinician in Florida and a member of the STC community. We are talking about how she’s accomplishing good in the world that is much bigger than private practice. She shares her journey, some lessons learned, the intention behind her website design, and how she narrowed down the niches she wanted to reach. Amy tells us about the supplemental service of email sessions that she offers her clients, along with the pros and cons of providing an unconventional counseling service. Our conversation also includes the wide range of counseling, coaching, and consulting services that are part of private practice, and how to separate those services. Join us!

www.sellingthecouch.com/session145

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