Holistic psychotherapists, coaches, and healers of all modalities are more needed than ever. In my practice, I noticed increase in clients that are seeking more than just a traditional “talk therapy” such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Instead, they are interested in brief, solution-focused approaches that do not require medication and are holistic in nature.
So this is great news for all of us. However, if you are like most counselors and healers, you were never taught in graduate school or during your professional training how to market yourself and how to monetize your natural gifts. In this article I am sharing some of my own pitfalls and mistakes and I hope this helps you to avoid spending as much as time as I did on things that simply don’t work. I am blessed to have had wonderful mentors and coaches who are licensed psychotherapists like me and they helped me to up-level my business and starting getting ideal clients.
I knew all my life that I wanted to help people and my mission crystalized as I underwent my own therapy for years to heal from childhood abuse and trauma. As I healed (which is ongoing journey), I knew that I wanted to help others do the same; however I became quite frustrated with the pay rate, high demands, and high pressure, mostly doing home visits in unsafe neighborhoods. Finally in 2012 the Universe gave me a wake-up call. I was stressed, overworked, and I ended up with acute gastritis which forced me to really look at my life. I decided that the only way I can do therapy is to work for myself or in a group practice setting mostly seeing self-pay clients. It has not been an easy journey over the last 4 years; however results are finally paying off.
Here are a few things to consider if you are a licensed psychotherapist or psychologist wanting to start your own practice.
- DO YOUR RESEARCH WHEN HIRING A BUSINESS COACH. Does he or she know your field and industry? I initially hired a business/marketing coach who didn’t have a clue about my industry and what works – it’s very different from traditional businesses or even coaching vs therapy differs a great deal. Does the business coach have a thriving practice and has been able to make minimum 6 figure income a year? Don’t waste your valuable resources without thoroughly checking them out.
- KEY – WHAT IS YOUR PASSION AND NICHE THAT YOU WANT TO FOCUS ON. This is a MUST before you start spending money on branding and creating promotion materials. Who is your target audience? Who are your ideal clients? I initially wanted to focus on stress management but I realized it’s really not my passion so after I switched my niche to helping my clients heal from abuse, trauma, depression, anxiety and PTSD. I started to get more likes on my Facebook page and many more people started to attend my free tele-classes. I also published my autobiography in 2010 which gives me additional credibility.
- HIRE A COACH EVEN IF YOU THINK YOU DON’T HAVE BUDGET FOR IT. Spend money to create a SYSTEM so that you will avoid what I did – going backwards as I initially didn’t have a system in place. By that I mean your sales funnel and automate the process as much as possible. When you are just starting out, having an email provider such as MailChimp is a great way to go and you can create an opt-in offer and link it to your email list.
- Another important tip – WORK ON YOUR MINDSET. This was a huge barrier for me as I not only came from a Socialist/Communist ideology, but also the mindset in spiritual and mental health field that you are providing service and therefore you should not be charging a lot of money. I learned that the opposite is true – by making more money, I can help more clients and can really focus on those 10 clients I am working with on a regular basis.
These are just a few tips I will be discussing more in the upcoming articles so stay tuned!
