How to get a book deal: A behind the scenes look
Forever and ever I’ve wanted to be an author. And forever and ever I thought that was impossible. See, I’ve got this eye thing from childhood seizures (long story, I’m fine now) that makes it really hard for my eyes to see typos (I also CANNOT find Waldo, but that’s a story for another day). And to me, that felt like an insurmountable problem!
It’s not like people didn’t like my writing… they would read my blogs, and told me they enjoyed my emails… but I assumed they liked it because I have a quirky sense of humor, not because it was GOOD or anything like that.
Or at least that’s what I told myself because:
There is no dream scarier than the one you have buried deep in your heart.
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How to Grow Your Practice Through Community and Networking
You have likely experienced both personally and professionally that our mental health world is a world of word of mouth.
One of the biggest myths I hear constantly is that word of mouth is something that happens by chance. Luck. It’s out of our control, or the universe is (or isn’t) on our side. Sound familiar?
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Top 5 Questions I Get Asked About Building A Successful Practice
Starting a private practice is tough. The internet is an amazing tool, but it is also a virtual avalanche of conflicting information promising to make everything “easy” while actually just making you feel ashamed and confused.
If everything is so “easy,” then why does it feel so hard?
It’s not uncommon for the excitement of jumping into private practice to turn into total overwhelm and analysis paralysis.
I GET IT.
What you need in place of that information overload is someone who has done all that reading and taken all the courses, sifted through the nonsense, and come out the other side with a clear understanding—plus a track record of success.
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What It Really Takes to Grow a Practice
I recently did a survey of almost 50 coaches and therapists to get a pulse on what they struggle with the most when it comes to building their private practice. And do you know what they wrote again and again?
“I work and work and work and work and WORK. I write blogs, I post on Facebook, and I tweak my website… it’s nonstop, I’m never done… And NOTHING is happening. How do I know what to do, what to stop doing, and what’s really going to return on investment?”
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How To Tackle Self-Promotion Without Feeling Like A Fraud
When I decided to dive head first into my business, I was PUMPED. I couldn’t wait to share my gifts with the world and really help people succeed. But there was one aspect of the business that really didn’t sit will with me – self-promotion.
Logically, I knew that people wouldn’t know who I was, what I could do, or how I could help them unless I gave them a gentle nudge and told them. But try as I might, I kept imagining myself as one of those people dressed up in a giant hot dog uniform handing out flyers and free samples that inevitably get tossed out into the garbage… metaphorically speaking of course.
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How to do a TedX Talk: A behind the scenes look
My imagination had been captured by TedX many years ago, when I saw Shawn Achor talk about his sister Amy. He convinced her she was a Unicorn and stumbled upon the power of happiness to shape a life (and evade consequences). I’ve talked about Amy the Unicorn many times since then in my classes, coaching sessions, and in conversations. Ted’s mission is to promote ideas worth spreading, and I’m doing my part! Then it occurred to me… do I have an idea worth spreading?
I think I do!
Thus inspired, I set out to discover how I might also give a Ted Talk. What I learned is that there are many, many independently organized Ted events– referred to as TedX events. In fact, in the last known accounting of TedX events (July 2015) there had been 13,522 TedX Events, in 3174 cities, in 143 countries. (By the way, featured TedX talks had received almost 600 million views on youtube, during that same time period. That’s a LOT.)
Each of these independently organized events accept applications, conduct interviews and choose 9-12 speakers… which, If I could apply to enough of them, felt like good odds!
10 Reasons to Come to the Build Your Practice-2018
As you may know, I am holding a one-day conference here in New York City on September 29th called Build Your Practice-2018. It’s on a Saturday from 9:00-3:30 and will weave together simple, actionable strategies with a chance to create a strong referral network of other professionals looking to support your growth. Add to that an internationally renowned speaker, relaxing and rejuvenating breaks, and the best cupcakes I’ve ever had in my whole life. . . I have no doubt that it’s going to be AMAZING.
But I get that another way to look at it is that you’ll spend a Saturday in September with strangers. It’s reasonable that you might be hesitating. In this post, I’m hoping to put those hesitations to rest so that you’ll want to go ahead and register before the early bird tickets end, then spend the rest of September getting excited about everything you’ll learn.
How to build your practice by having more fun
Are you an introvert?
If you’re a therapist, there’s a good chance you are. I mean, studying psychology, counseling, and therapy basically requires an obsession with all the messy internal stuff. Who finds all of that fascinating? We introverts do!
So when it’s time for us to grow our practice, we are often uncomfortable with the social aspects: networking, creating partnerships, running events and speaking can feel downright daunting.
In fact, these things may feel like they goes against your very nature. And who wants to do that? No one… unless they can be done authentically, in a way that feels aligned with your values and infused with integrity. And, as a fellow introvert I’m here to tell you: when you find the right partners, the community you create is the golden ticket to the growth you’re looking for.
So, how can we create a powerful, fun-loving network that will turbocharge our growth?
How You Are Cursed By Your Understanding
Do you struggle to market your therapy and coaching services? You’re not alone. The truth is, the better you are at therapy and coaching, the worse you probably are at selling your services. It all comes down to “the curse of understanding,” which basically means that the expert (who has the deepest, most nuanced understanding of how to solve the problem) is cursed by her knowledge when she tries to sell her services.
Why? I’ve got a story for you …
How to Battle Burnout With Kindness—and Why it’s the Only Thing That’ll Work
Last year I published an article in Quartz arguing that teacher burnout is one of the biggest social justice issues of our time. I really meant it… if our passionate teachers continue to burn out and leave education, our most vulnerable kids will suffer, the opportunity and achievement gaps will widen, and the health of our economy will continue to erode.
But do you know who else is suffering from work burnout symptoms? Therapists. That’s at least as important. Feeling stress and burnout is so painful when you are passionate about your work. It feels like a major betrayal to the part of you that loves your role as the caretaker.