Are you a therapist who wants to start a private practice, but feeling stuck and afraid?
Then stick around, because in this episode of the Mental Health Toolbox, we are talking with expert private practice coach, Allison Puryear, of Abundance Practice Building, who shares her expert tips for starting a private therapy practice.
Allison is a private therapy practice building expert, and has produced a lot of helpful advice on the subject. She is the founder and CEO of her practice building coaching business, Abundance practice building . In this episode, she shares with us some of the best tips for starting and running a successful private therapy practice. Inside her practice coaching membership, she teaches on everything from setting up your business to finding the right clients. Allison has everything you need to get started in private therapy!
*Some of the links found here are affiliate links: As an Associate I earn from qualifying purchases by way of commission at no additional cost to you. See full disclaimer here:
Table of Contents
BIO: Allison Puryear
Allison Puryear (rhymes with “career”), LCSW, CEDS, is a therapist who burned out on agency work & then built successful private practices in 3 wildly different markets. After her caseloads grew faster in each “saturated” market, Allison realized that practice building is not rocket science when you have clarity, confidence, & a figured-out formula. So, Allison started Abundance Practice Building to help other therapists build their own full & happy private practices
https://www.abundancepracticebuilding.com/about
Learn More About Allison Puryear And Tips For Starting A Private Therapy Practice.
CONTACT AND SOCIALS:
- Website: https://www.abundancepracticebuilding.com/
- Podcast and Blog: https://www.abundancepracticebuilding.com/blog
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Abundancepracticebuilding
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abundance_practice_building/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abundancepracticebuilding/
- GET HER FREE PRIVATE PRACTICE CHECKLIST: https://abundancepracticebuilding.com/checklist
Watch The Interview
If you liked this episode, be sure to check out my full playlist of interviews here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnPL9gahfhWatKmy2YSyU0jt20h_jrj3H
Listen To The Interview
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Interview Transcript:
00:00:00 Patrick Martin LCSW
Are you a therapist who wants to start a private practice, but you’re feeling stuck and afraid?
00:00:04 Patrick Martin LCSW
Then you won’t want to miss this episode because in this episode of the Mental Health Toolbox we are talking with well-known private practice coach Alison Puryear of Abundant Practice building.
00:00:15 Patrick Martin LCSW
She shares with us her tips on how to start a successful private therapy practice.
00:00:20 Patrick Martin LCSW
So let’s go.
00:00:29 Allison Puryear, LCSW
Learning to put yourself out there in the ways that work, I think that’s the.
00:00:35 Allison Puryear LCSW
That’s the skill to learn, and it is not hard.
00:00:39 Allison Puryear LCSW
It’s really not.
00:00:40 Allison Puryear LCSW
It’s a different way of thinking, because often therapists don’t like to be the center of attention and it feels very like look at me.
00:00:49 Allison Puryear LCSW
Look at me when.
00:00:50 Allison Puryear LCSW
You’re putting yourself out there, but if you reframe that to helping.
00:00:55 Allison Puryear LCSW
Your potential clients find you.
00:00:58 Allison Puryear LCSW
You’re able to really see marketing as a service instead of.
00:01:02 Allison Puryear LCSW
This showy thing that you’re doing to stroke your own ego.
00:01:06 Patrick Martin LCSW
Allison Puryear rhymes with career as a licensed clinical social worker and certified eating disorder specialist and as a therapist who burned out on agency work and then built successful private practices in three wildly different.
00:01:20 Patrick Martin LCSW
Markets after her caseloads grew faster and each saturated market. Allison realized that practice building is not rocket science. When you have clarity, confidence and a figured out formula, so Allison started abundance practice building to help other therapists build their own full and happy private practices. You can learn more about Allison’s work.
00:01:41 Patrick Martin LCSW
And get her free checklist on how to build a private practice.
00:01:45 Patrick Martin LCSW
By visiting her website abundancepracticebuilding.com. So let’s meet Alison. Hello Alison and thank you so much for making time to be on the mental Health Toolbox Podcast today.
00:01:56 Patrick Martin LCSW
I really appreciate it.
00:01:57 Patrick Martin LCSW
Huge fan and I’ve been looking forward to this interview.
00:02:00 Patrick Martin LCSW
So thank you so much for jumping on.
00:02:02 Allison Puryear LCSW
Absolutely thanks for having me.
00:02:04 Patrick Martin LCSW
Yes, my pleasure.
00:02:07 Patrick Martin LCSW
I know quite a bit about you because I’ve been following you for I don’t know how many years you’ve been a great inspiration to me, and starting a private practice and all things.
00:02:17 Patrick Martin LCSW
In that realm and online space and social media and you just you’re killing it in that space and you do great work.
00:02:23 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yay, look.
00:02:24 Patrick Martin LCSW
So I feel like I know you.
00:02:25 Patrick Martin LCSW
I feel like we’re friends because I’ve yeah, because you have such an online presence.
00:02:29 Patrick Martin LCSW
You know, especially Instagram and Facebook and YouTube.
00:02:33 Patrick Martin LCSW
I mean, you’re everywhere.
00:02:35 Patrick Martin LCSW
Provide so much value, so I appreciate that.
00:02:37 Allison Puryear LCSW
Absolutely, I’m happy to it’s what I love to.
00:02:39 Allison Puryear LCSW
Do so what’s that?
00:02:40 Patrick Martin LCSW
Yeah, I can tell I can tell you’re so genuine and it’s like you know you’re when you’re working in a clinic with other therapists and you walk to Starbucks in between sessions and chew the fat.
00:02:50 Patrick Martin LCSW
You just seem like that kind of therapist.
00:02:52 Patrick Martin LCSW
Or you could just hang out with you.
00:02:53 Patrick Martin LCSW
Know so I appreciate it.
00:02:54 Allison Puryear LCSW
Well, thank you.
00:02:55 Patrick Martin LCSW
Yeah, yeah it shows.
00:02:58 Patrick Martin LCSW
UM, so I know quite a bit about you, but why don’t you go ahead and start us off by sharing a little bit about your history?
00:03:04 Patrick Martin LCSW
What you’re passionate about and kind of what you would like to share in terms of your Nuggets of wisdom today.
00:03:09 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yeah, so I’ve been a therapist at graduated from grad school 2003 so or 4 so I guess coming up on 20 years.
00:03:18 Allison Puryear LCSW
Almost and I have been an eating disorder therapist for most of my career.
00:03:26 Allison Puryear LCSW
Also worked at a sexual assault Center for a while as I was moving through my career as a people pleasing like Gold Star.
00:03:37 Allison Puryear LCSW
Kind of a worker.
00:03:39 Allison Puryear LCSW
I was really surprised at how unhealthy a lot of the different agencies and nonprofits that I was working for.
00:03:48 Allison Puryear LCSW
How toxic those environments could be.
00:03:54 Allison Puryear LCSW
Being willing to say yes to pretty much anything.
00:03:57 Allison Puryear LCSW
I was asked to do by my supervisors did not protect me from the toxicity and the ways that it had maybe.
00:04:05 Allison Puryear LCSW
In other areas.
00:04:06 Allison Puryear LCSW
Of my life of just like fawning all over the.
00:04:08 Allison Puryear LCSW
Place so I found that you know, even if you’re following all the rules and going above and beyond.
00:04:15 Allison Puryear LCSW
And above and beyond again, if that didn’t protect you from.
00:04:22 Allison Puryear LCSW
Just the nonsense of bureaucracy or.
00:04:28 Allison Puryear LCSW
Money hoarding or whatever was going on with the various places I worked over the years.
00:04:34 Allison Puryear LCSW
Probably nothing would, so I got to a point.
00:04:38 Allison Puryear LCSW
My husband and I were about to move cross country.
00:04:40 Allison Puryear LCSW
And I was.
00:04:41 Allison Puryear LCSW
Like I can’t do this in another place again like I just can’t.
00:04:47 Allison Puryear LCSW
And so we moved from Georgia to Seattle, and I’ve had a part time private practice for five years.
00:04:54 Allison Puryear LCSW
In addition to my full-time job in Georgia.
00:04:56 Allison Puryear LCSW
And when we moved to Seattle, I was.
00:04:58 Allison Puryear LCSW
Like I’m just.
00:04:58 Allison Puryear LCSW
I just want to do it like I just want.
00:05:00 Allison Puryear LCSW
Go full time private practice and let that be my thing because I know I can keep on top of myself of the things that me doing in private practice and.
00:05:12 Allison Puryear LCSW
I also know I deserve to have time.
00:05:14 Allison Puryear LCSW
Off that I.
00:05:15 Allison Puryear LCSW
Have either earned or would like to have and it was rough at first.
00:05:21 Allison Puryear LCSW
This was a time when there weren’t private practice consultants out there.
00:05:24 Allison Puryear LCSW
There were a couple books and.
00:05:28 Allison Puryear LCSW
Overall, I was like throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what stuck as my marketing strategies like pro Tip don’t do that.
00:05:37 Allison Puryear LCSW
And yeah, yeah, and figured out like OK, well here are the things that are working and private practice was such a different ball.
00:05:38 Patrick Martin LCSW
No need now, right?
00:05:39 Patrick Martin LCSW
Some reason.
00:05:49 Allison Puryear LCSW
It felt so different from any job I’d ever had, even the ones that were considered like the really good ones that were hard to get.
00:05:55 Allison Puryear LCSW
It was such a different experience.
00:05:58 Allison Puryear LCSW
My life was so much easier because I had far more time than I’d ever had.
00:06:03 Allison Puryear LCSW
I was used to working 50/60 hour weeks and here I was taking three or four hour doc.
00:06:09 Patrick Martin LCSW
Dog walks.
00:06:10 Allison Puryear LCSW
At the shore, you know, like it was a very different way of living.
00:06:15 Allison Puryear LCSW
And started bullying my friends into private practice.
00:06:20 Allison Puryear LCSW
It’s like.
00:06:20 Allison Puryear LCSW
******** peer pressure.
00:06:22 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yeah it was all coming from love and.
00:06:25 Allison Puryear LCSW
And realizing that like the things that I had done, worked for my friends too.
00:06:29 Allison Puryear LCSW
And they were scattered across the country.
00:06:31 Allison Puryear LCSW
And so it wasn’t just like here’s what works in Seattle.
00:06:34 Allison Puryear LCSW
Then we moved back to the Southeast and.
00:06:38 Allison Puryear LCSW
I knew we were putting down roots.
00:06:39 Allison Puryear LCSW
Here I started my private practice.
00:06:42 Allison Puryear LCSW
It started going swimmingly and I got sad that I wasn’t going to get a chance to start over again.
00:06:48 Allison Puryear LCSW
And so I decided to kind of like be.
00:06:50 Allison Puryear LCSW
A stage mom.
00:06:51 Allison Puryear LCSW
For other people who wanted to start private practices, yeah.
00:06:55 Patrick Martin LCSW
Well, thank goodness for that.
00:06:57 Patrick Martin LCSW
I wouldn’t be here.
00:06:58 Patrick Martin LCSW
If you weren’t, if you hadn’t.
00:06:59
Oh, OK.
00:07:00 Allison Puryear LCSW
Well, thank you, that’s I mean that’s.
00:07:02
What I love.
00:07:03 Allison Puryear LCSW
Because I honestly, truly in my heart no. That private practice is a better situation for 99% of therapists.
00:07:12 Allison Puryear LCSW
And what we do really matters.
00:07:15 Allison Puryear LCSW
It’s really important, and I know too many people who’ve left the profession because they worked crappy.
00:07:20 Allison Puryear LCSW
Jobs that treated them like they weren’t valuable.
00:07:24 Allison Puryear LCSW
And if that happens in private practice, like that’s you, that’s on you.
00:07:29 Allison Puryear LCSW
So you can.
00:07:30 Allison Puryear LCSW
You know you.
00:07:30 Patrick Martin LCSW
Right are you gonna complain about yourself, yeah?
00:07:31 Allison Puryear LCSW
Can fix that, yeah?
00:07:35 Allison Puryear LCSW
So yeah, so I’ve been doing that. I’ve been doing that as a job since 2014.
00:07:41 Patrick Martin LCSW
Wow, that’s very exciting, yeah.
00:07:43
I love it.
00:07:44 Patrick Martin LCSW
Yeah, I can tell and you’ve started.
00:07:46 Patrick Martin LCSW
I believe 3 private practices in three different states, right?
00:07:50 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yeah yeah.
00:07:51 Allison Puryear LCSW
Georgia Washington and North Carolina.
00:07:53 Patrick Martin LCSW
Yeah, so you know your.
00:07:54 Patrick Martin LCSW
Stuff yeah, how it works.
00:07:56 Patrick Martin LCSW
I do.
00:07:59 Patrick Martin LCSW
Right, so I mean, it’s just you’re such an inspiration and I’m wondering.
00:08:05 Patrick Martin LCSW
Since you got into this coaching, put on your coaching.
00:08:08 Patrick Martin LCSW
Are you still maintaining your practices like as much as you were before or right now?
00:08:12 Patrick Martin LCSW
Is that strictly coaching?
00:08:14 Allison Puryear LCSW
It’s I can’t give up therapy.
00:08:16 Allison Puryear LCSW
I love it too much.
00:08:17 Allison Puryear LCSW
I own a group practice and I see three clients right now and their clients.
00:08:23 Allison Puryear LCSW
I’ve had a long time they’ve like come in when life situations have shifted.
00:08:27 Allison Puryear LCSW
They came back and I just love them and I’m not.
00:08:31 Allison Puryear LCSW
Like there’s no reason for me.
00:08:32 Allison Puryear LCSW
To not see them.
00:08:34 Allison Puryear LCSW
So I.
00:08:36 Allison Puryear LCSW
I don’t I mark it the group practice, but I don’t mark it myself and anybody new goes.
00:08:42 Allison Puryear LCSW
To someone else.
00:08:43 Patrick Martin LCSW
So yeah, that’s a whole other that’s a whole other thing.
00:08:48 Patrick Martin LCSW
A group practice.
00:08:49 Patrick Martin LCSW
I mean, I didn’t.
00:08:50 Patrick Martin LCSW
Even I wasn’t even thinking about asking that question, but that’s a whole different category because there’s private practice.
00:08:55 Patrick Martin LCSW
And then there’s starting a group practice.
00:08:57 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yeah, which is a.
00:08:57
The difference, right?
00:08:58 Allison Puryear LCSW
Totally different thing and I’m lucky.
00:09:00 Allison Puryear LCSW
I’m good friends with Maureen Werbach of the group Practice exchange, so anything and everything I did write about group practice was from like her age.
00:09:08 Allison Puryear LCSW
Place because.
00:09:11 Allison Puryear LCSW
It feels like a natural next step for a lot of therapists.
00:09:13 Allison Puryear LCSW
They’re full, they continue to get referrals.
00:09:15 Allison Puryear LCSW
They’re like, oh, let me just take on another therapist, but they don’t have the.
00:09:21 Allison Puryear LCSW
Setup either from a legal or an accounting perspective.
00:09:25 Allison Puryear LCSW
They don’t have the leadership training that is necessary because being a great therapist has nothing to do with being a great boss.
00:09:34 Allison Puryear LCSW
And I would say part of my success as a practice building coach comes from all those therapists who just decided to start adding therapists to their practice and make a group practice without any sort of thoughtful planning about how to make it.
00:09:49 Allison Puryear LCSW
A healthy work environment.
00:09:51 Patrick Martin LCSW
Wow yeah so again great great resource.
00:09:55 Patrick Martin LCSW
You are to tap because.
00:09:56 Patrick Martin LCSW
That’s I imagine for you know, that would be the next goal for anyone starting off in private practice would be then to start a group practice, right?
00:10:04 Patrick Martin LCSW
Because you can scale it, you can only.
00:10:05 Allison Puryear LCSW
Scale yourself so much.
00:10:07 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yeah, to be honest like I just swayed it.
00:10:09 Allison Puryear LCSW
I just swayed people from it more than I encourage people because a lot of the time it’s about like, well, I’d like to have some more kind of quote UN quote passive income.
00:10:18 Allison Puryear LCSW
And and and I get that.
00:10:20 Allison Puryear LCSW
I mean, I am very open to people admitting to me that they like money.
00:10:25 Allison Puryear LCSW
I like money too.
00:10:26 Allison Puryear LCSW
I don’t think it’s anything to be.
00:10:27 Allison Puryear LCSW
Shameful for.
00:10:27 Allison Puryear LCSW
You can you.
00:10:27 Patrick Martin LCSW
Great opportunities serve more people.
00:10:29 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yeah you can do all sorts.
00:10:30 Allison Puryear LCSW
Of great stuff with money, yeah.
00:10:32 Allison Puryear LCSW
And so when somebody is.
00:10:35 Allison Puryear LCSW
Wanting to scale in some way, like there are the profit margins with the group practice are actually pretty slim.
00:10:42 Allison Puryear LCSW
It is not the best way to create more income, and if what you want is more income, we don’t have to involve other people necessarily with that, especially other professionals who’ve been in.
00:10:53 Allison Puryear LCSW
Other traumatic job experiences?
00:10:56 Allison Puryear LCSW
If you really want to get back to your community and you really want to provide excellent leadership and a healthy work environment, then yes, please start a group practice.
00:11:07 Allison Puryear LCSW
But if you want more money, there are many other ways.
00:11:10 Allison Puryear LCSW
And I suggest those instead.
00:11:10 Patrick Martin LCSW
Right?
00:11:11 Patrick Martin LCSW
Yes, it seems to me that when you’re starting to manage other people.
00:11:14 Patrick Martin LCSW
Then it becomes.
00:11:17 Patrick Martin LCSW
You’re less in control of the.
00:11:19 Patrick Martin LCSW
The contributing factors to this dress, right?
00:11:22 Patrick Martin LCSW
Because any number of exponential things can go wrong?
00:11:25 Patrick Martin LCSW
Yeah, right.
00:11:27 Patrick Martin LCSW
Yeah, excellent.
00:11:28 Patrick Martin LCSW
So I just you know I just have so many questions I want to dive in with you.
00:11:31 Patrick Martin LCSW
Yeah I’m leaving on quite a journey.
00:11:34 Patrick Martin LCSW
You said in a reason to ask Allison episode that when starting off in private practice, it’s better to invest in coaching than like office furniture, right?
00:11:44 Patrick Martin LCSW
Can you talk a little bit more about that, because I think that’s a really when somebody starting off.
00:11:49 Patrick Martin LCSW
There’s so many things, expenses that maybe you don’t.
00:11:53 Patrick Martin LCSW
Factor in, and especially if you’re just trying to get the boat close enough to the dock to jump from agency, work to private.
00:12:01 Patrick Martin LCSW
You don’t necessarily have, you know, a a big a lot of seed money to do that right, and so every every dollar counts.
00:12:07 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yeah, absolutely.
00:12:09 Allison Puryear LCSW
So I think about it like if you’re in this place where you are.
00:12:12 Allison Puryear LCSW
I love this analogy of trying to get the boat close enough to the dock to jump.
00:12:17 Allison Puryear LCSW
The vast majority of the time, the reason the boat isn’t there is because money, right?
00:12:22 Allison Puryear LCSW
Like you need more money to feel safe making that leap.
00:12:26 Allison Puryear LCSW
And if you.
00:12:28 Allison Puryear LCSW
Have enough in savings or you have enough trust in your ability.
00:12:35 Allison Puryear LCSW
Then it makes that leap less scary.
00:12:39 Allison Puryear LCSW
I’m somebody here like I love a beautifully designed room.
00:12:43 Allison Puryear LCSW
I love my office, I love my house like I really value and care about how a space feels and looks and.
00:12:52 Allison Puryear LCSW
I still if I was starting over from scratch right now, would spend my money like like maybe Craigslist or Facebook marketplace my furniture.
00:13:03 Allison Puryear LCSW
And spend my money on something that’s going to make me money and any good business coaching or private practice coaching should absolutely be making you money not.
00:13:12 Allison Puryear LCSW
Immediately, because that’s not how it works, I.
00:13:14 Allison Puryear LCSW
Wish it was.
00:13:16 Allison Puryear LCSW
But within a few months you should be making.
00:13:18 Allison Puryear LCSW
Far more than you spent, and I’ve never had a couch make me money so.
00:13:24 Allison Puryear LCSW
If you’re in a place where you.
00:13:24 Patrick Martin LCSW
Unless you’re living on it.
00:13:25 Allison Puryear LCSW
Don’t have a.
00:13:26 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yeah I would love.
00:13:27 Allison Puryear LCSW
For somebody to design that couch, yes.
00:13:30 Allison Puryear LCSW
But I’m not a.
00:13:32 Allison Puryear LCSW
I’m not working that couch, so to speak, so if somebody is in a place where they don’t have a ton of money right now and they’re trying to find the most.
00:13:43 Allison Puryear LCSW
Bang for their.
00:13:43 Allison Puryear LCSW
Buck, it’s going to be.
00:13:46 Allison Puryear LCSW
Putting it into some coaching and I’m not even saying it needs to be with me.
00:13:50 Allison Puryear LCSW
There are other great practice practice building coaches out there and it’s finding the person that you feel like you’re going to listen to and.
00:13:57 Allison Puryear LCSW
The model that.
00:13:58 Allison Puryear LCSW
Works for you if you are not somebody who’s going.
00:14:02 Allison Puryear LCSW
To work well.
00:14:04 Allison Puryear LCSW
Like with a self-paced course kind of thing then don’t even if you like a coach, don’t choose their program because it’s not going to work for you if you’re not going to log in if you need yeah, and you’d be surprised how many people we’ve been like.
00:14:19 Allison Puryear LCSW
Oh yeah, I didn’t really get a lot out of this and we look and they literally signed in for two minutes over six months and I’m like well.
00:14:25 Allison Puryear LCSW
There’s a reason.
00:14:28 Allison Puryear LCSW
But finding somebody that resonates with you, somebody that has a model that works for the way that you learn and put your money there so that you can start making more money.
00:14:39 Patrick Martin LCSW
Excellent advice.
00:14:41 Patrick Martin LCSW
Yeah, I remember about a two years ago.
00:14:43 Patrick Martin LCSW
I was grocery shopping.
00:14:44 Patrick Martin LCSW
I was listening to one of your episodes and you were talking about like when to.
00:14:50 Patrick Martin LCSW
Use a credit card and business very very carefully and when not to, and I think the one exception was on something that gives money back to you and investment.
00:14:58 Patrick Martin LCSW
That’s it.
00:14:59 Patrick Martin LCSW
Uh-huh, yeah.
00:14:59 Patrick Martin LCSW
On a shopping spree to decorate your.
00:15:02 Patrick Martin LCSW
Office and then you know.
00:15:04 Patrick Martin LCSW
Kick yourself later because.
00:15:06 Allison Puryear LCSW
Right, because now you’ve just got a really pretty.
00:15:08 Patrick Martin LCSW
You started your business off on in debt, yeah?
00:15:12 Patrick Martin LCSW
Yeah, absolutely.
00:15:14 Patrick Martin LCSW
And in your vast experience, what do you?
00:15:17 Patrick Martin LCSW
What do you perceive as some of the biggest challenges for therapists starting off right?
00:15:22 Allison Puryear LCSW
Ah, I think the thing I see most.
00:15:31 Allison Puryear LCSW
Either believing in themselves too much or not believing in themselves enough.
00:15:35 Allison Puryear LCSW
There’s kind of a false confidence it can come because a lot of people know, like I’m a really great therapist.
00:15:40 Allison Puryear LCSW
I can do this private practice thing.
00:15:42 Allison Puryear LCSW
And they can be amazing.
00:15:45 Allison Puryear LCSW
Private practice therapists, just like they’re amazing agency therapists, but they have to learn different skills and so the overconfident people tend to think that because they’re great therapists, they’re going to automatically have a bunch of people refer.
00:15:57 Allison Puryear LCSW
Clients to them.
00:15:59 Allison Puryear LCSW
And even if you’re pretty well known in your community that doesn’t always happen.
00:16:03 Allison Puryear LCSW
And that can feel really devastating and then people slide from maybe overconfidence to where everybody else started.
00:16:09 Allison Puryear LCSW
Which is I’m going to fail.
00:16:12 Allison Puryear LCSW
I don’t know what I’m doing.
00:16:14 Allison Puryear LCSW
Like total imposter syndrome, and the truth is like none of us studied marketing right?
00:16:20 Allison Puryear LCSW
I mean, maybe somebody did an undergrad or something, but like.
00:16:22 Patrick Martin LCSW
Yeah, they teach you that in grad school, not least in.
00:16:24 Patrick Martin LCSW
That therapy school.
00:16:25 Allison Puryear LCSW
Definitely not.
00:16:26 Allison Puryear LCSW
I mean I feel.
00:16:26 Allison Puryear LCSW
Like mine did the opposite.
00:16:28 Allison Puryear LCSW
Right of like don’t ever call any attention to yourself in any possible way, or you’re just the wrong kind of.
00:16:32 Patrick Martin LCSW
Same with me.
00:16:33 Patrick Martin LCSW
No online accounts, no Facebook, no you being visible, right?
00:16:37 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yeah, don’t even have a family picture up back when we used to frame things and not just have it on our phones.
00:16:47 Allison Puryear LCSW
Learning to put yourself out there in the ways that.
00:16:50 Allison Puryear LCSW
Work, I think that’s the.
00:16:53 Allison Puryear LCSW
That’s the skill to learn, and it is not hard.
00:16:56 Allison Puryear LCSW
It’s really not.
00:16:58 Allison Puryear LCSW
It’s a different way of thinking, because often therapists don’t like to be the center of attention and it feels very like look at me.
00:17:06 Allison Puryear LCSW
Look at me when.
00:17:07 Allison Puryear LCSW
You’re putting yourself out there, but if you reframe that to helping.
00:17:13 Allison Puryear LCSW
Your potential clients find you you’re able to really see marketing as a service instead of.
00:17:20 Allison Puryear LCSW
This showy thing that you’re doing to stroke your own ego.
00:17:24 Allison Puryear LCSW
Or your fear of people perceiving it that way, I.
00:17:26 Patrick Martin LCSW
Should say absolutely.
00:17:27 Patrick Martin LCSW
I know that was.
00:17:28 Patrick Martin LCSW
Weird for me.
00:17:29 Patrick Martin LCSW
Still is a little bit, you know, getting on and or posting even the podcast and stuff years later and it still kind of feels like a little, you know, cuz I’m that guy who doesn’t like to be center stage.
00:17:38 Patrick Martin LCSW
You know, like you said, I’m I’m just, you know, comfortable, kind of in the quiet serving quietly and.
00:17:44 Patrick Martin LCSW
Yeah, I mean it it.
00:17:45 Patrick Martin LCSW
I don’t know that it ever gets super comfortable for.
00:17:47 Patrick Martin LCSW
Anybody but themselves, yeah, right, yeah, I mean.
00:17:50 Allison Puryear LCSW
I’ve gotten to a point where.
00:17:52 Allison Puryear LCSW
I’ve done it a lot over the last few years for sure, but I started out as like I had to have Klonopin for bridal showers like I would not have made it out of the place to go to walk down the aisle for my wedding if I didn’t have quantin on board and it was not something I took regularly.
00:17:54 Patrick Martin LCSW
Yeah, yeah.
00:18:09 Allison Puryear LCSW
It was only when I had to be the center of attention.
00:18:11 Allison Puryear LCSW
I really.
00:18:12 Allison Puryear LCSW
Created it and like literally couldn’t do it.
00:18:15 Allison Puryear LCSW
I broke out into hives talking about an upcoming the my upcoming bridal shower.
00:18:21 Allison Puryear LCSW
While I was chatting with one of my colleagues who was a psychiatrist and she.
00:18:25 Allison Puryear LCSW
Was like you did realize you have hives.
00:18:28 Allison Puryear LCSW
Do you, do you want a prescription so it’s?
00:18:32 Allison Puryear LCSW
It’s not natural for me to want to be the center of attention, and I I think I in order to be able to do it at the level.
00:18:39 Allison Puryear LCSW
That I do.
00:18:39 Allison Puryear LCSW
It now I had to shift it for like.
00:18:42 Allison Puryear LCSW
What’s natural for me is to be helpful and to be.
00:18:46 Allison Puryear LCSW
In any way, instrumental in somebody’s life being better and in order to do that I have to be willing to say the things I know are.
00:18:54 Allison Puryear LCSW
True and helpful.
00:18:56 Patrick Martin LCSW
Absolutely, absolutely.
00:18:58 Patrick Martin LCSW
And so it’s about service, right?
00:18:59 Patrick Martin LCSW
Yeah, and out of our own way so we can serve other people more better.
00:19:03 Patrick Martin LCSW
Yeah mm-hmm yeah.
00:19:05 Patrick Martin LCSW
That’s what keeps me in the game.
00:19:06 Patrick Martin LCSW
Just remember, this is not a.
00:19:07 Patrick Martin LCSW
This isn’t even about me, it’s about.
00:19:09 Patrick Martin LCSW
Providing value.
00:19:10 Patrick Martin LCSW
Right, yeah?
00:19:11 Patrick Martin LCSW
Absolutely so on the whole marketing aspect.
00:19:14 Patrick Martin LCSW
I mean, oh, we could talk a lot about that alone, I’m sure.
00:19:18 Patrick Martin LCSW
But what I have because I know even when I was starting off with my, which is still a part-time private telehealth practice.
00:19:24 Patrick Martin LCSW
But when I was starting off, I immediately went to psychology.
00:19:29 Patrick Martin LCSW
I think that’s like a lot of therapists.
00:19:31 Patrick Martin LCSW
What are your thoughts on?
00:19:33 Patrick Martin LCSW
Because you’re very present on Instagram and obviously all of the socials, and you’re very, very personal, personable and humanistic and you know funny right?
00:19:44 Patrick Martin LCSW
I love all of your hilarious, hilarious and I think that that’s you know, even with music, example is how I feel so connected to you.
00:19:52 Patrick Martin LCSW
So having ever met you is that no trust like factor.
00:19:57 Patrick Martin LCSW
How do you weigh that against something that you can do on your own right versus like a paid?
00:20:04 Patrick Martin LCSW
Paid ads or Psychology Today.
00:20:06 Patrick Martin LCSW
What are your thoughts around the marketing aspect of private practice?
00:20:10 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yeah, so it’s it’s interesting.
00:20:12 Allison Puryear LCSW
I could not be everywhere on social media if I didn’t have a whole team of people helping me.
00:20:16 Allison Puryear LCSW
With that right?
00:20:16 Patrick Martin LCSW
I thought you cloned yourself.
00:20:17 Allison Puryear LCSW
Like I, I don’t think I’d want more than.
00:20:20 Allison Puryear LCSW
One of me.
00:20:22 Allison Puryear LCSW
But like I don’t know how.
00:20:23 Allison Puryear LCSW
To upload a thing.
00:20:24 Allison Puryear LCSW
To YouTube, you know.
00:20:26 Allison Puryear LCSW
And so luckily I have people working.
00:20:28 Allison Puryear LCSW
With me, who are super skilled at all these things that I.
00:20:31 Allison Puryear LCSW
Really, honestly suck at but.
00:20:35 Allison Puryear LCSW
For a solo practice, which is the vast majority of people in private practice, it’s known.
00:20:41 Allison Puryear LCSW
What you actually enjoy and will do.
00:20:44 Allison Puryear LCSW
There’s so many different ways to market your practice, like hundreds, and instead of being like, well, I guess I gotta get on Instagram because clients are on Instagram.
00:20:53 Patrick Martin LCSW
All right?
00:20:54 Allison Puryear LCSW
No, like if you don’t like social media, please don’t get on it.
00:20:58 Allison Puryear LCSW
God like live your life.
00:21:01 Allison Puryear LCSW
If you don’t like it, you’re not going, you’re gonna start to resent anything that you’re doing on it.
00:21:07 Allison Puryear LCSW
And that’s gonna in turn change the way you look at your practice.
00:21:13 Allison Puryear LCSW
Like maybe you love writing, in which case please blog like that’s a great way to be of service.
00:21:19 Allison Puryear LCSW
It’s great for search engine optimization.
00:21:21 Allison Puryear LCSW
It’s great for clients to be able to get a better feel for you if you hate writing, please don’t blog, but it’s choosing.
00:21:28 Allison Puryear LCSW
I always say no more than five with two set ones.
00:21:32 Allison Puryear LCSW
So like.
00:21:33 Allison Puryear LCSW
Definitely having a website, even if you’re not techie.
00:21:35 Allison Puryear LCSW
Even if you hate writing the copy on it, that’s one thing I want you to do.
00:21:38 Allison Puryear LCSW
Like swallow the pill, drink some tea or a glass of wine while you do it and like just.
00:21:44 Allison Puryear LCSW
Get it done and.
00:21:45 Allison Puryear LCSW
Then networking, which sounds so businessy and gross and most people are like, oh, I don’t.
00:21:51 Allison Puryear LCSW
I don’t want to do that, but if you’re networking you’re doing the thing you’re naturally good at.
00:21:56 Allison Puryear LCSW
As a therapist, you’re connecting with somebody else.
00:21:59 Allison Puryear LCSW
And typically other therapists are great low hanging fruit for networking because like.
00:22:05 Allison Puryear LCSW
You’re both naturally good at connecting with people you already have.
00:22:08 Allison Puryear LCSW
This really big important thing in common, and so, like a starter kit to networking, would be to send out an e-mail to some people.
00:22:16 Allison Puryear LCSW
Either you’ve known in the past because.
00:22:18 Allison Puryear LCSW
You worked with them.
00:22:19 Allison Puryear LCSW
Or a friend of a friend, or just somebody who looks really nice and their copies.
00:22:25 Allison Puryear LCSW
And warm that you happen to like.
00:22:27 Allison Puryear LCSW
Check out online and just.
00:22:31 Allison Puryear LCSW
I always use the subject line.
00:22:32 Allison Puryear LCSW
I’d love to connect and then in the body it’s just short and sweet like hey, I also work in this part of town or I also work with this population.
00:22:41 Allison Puryear LCSW
I’m trying to get to.
00:22:42 Allison Puryear LCSW
Know other people who.
00:22:43 Allison Puryear LCSW
Are also therapists in town as a potential like so that I could potentially refer to you when I get?
00:22:50 Allison Puryear LCSW
Referrals that.
00:22:52 Allison Puryear LCSW
Are a great fit for me.
00:22:53 Allison Puryear LCSW
Would you be able to meet for coffee or would you be able to do a Skype date?
00:22:56 Allison Puryear LCSW
Skype what is?
00:22:57 Allison Puryear LCSW
This like 98.
00:22:58 Allison Puryear LCSW
Would you?
00:22:59 Allison Puryear LCSW
Want to do a zoom date?
00:23:01 Allison Puryear LCSW
That kind of thing so.
00:23:04 Allison Puryear LCSW
Really like no more than five sentences.
00:23:08 Allison Puryear LCSW
If you are networking and you’ve got a great website, and that website needs to be really clearly niched, that’s another really important part of marketing.
00:23:16 Allison Puryear LCSW
If I’m like I am a therapist who really believes in the resiliency of the human spirit, and I work with people with depression and anxiety and eating disorders and substance abuse and bipolar disorder and personality disorders.
00:23:29 Allison Puryear LCSW
Like nobody.
00:23:31 Allison Puryear LCSW
Nobody who’s going through say depression is going to land on my website and be like.
00:23:35 Allison Puryear LCSW
Her I want her.
00:23:37 Allison Puryear LCSW
Because I haven’t spoken to them.
00:23:39 Allison Puryear LCSW
And when we’re looking for a therapist.
00:23:42 Allison Puryear LCSW
We feel very different and we need somebody who understands that difference and talks about it very clearly.
00:23:51 Patrick Martin LCSW
Thank you for clarifying that.
00:23:52 Patrick Martin LCSW
That was only one of their questions is because I hear that a.
00:23:55 Patrick Martin LCSW
Lot, you know, not just that the riches are in the niches, but the service, right?
00:23:59 Patrick Martin LCSW
As far as being found to be known for.
00:24:01 Patrick Martin LCSW
Something you said, and I think that can be really hard for a therapist, especially coming from agency practice who is.
00:24:08 Patrick Martin LCSW
Is handed a very mixed bag of all the problems, right? Anything from schizophrenia to your run-of-the-mill? General anxiety, right?
00:24:18 Patrick Martin LCSW
And you’re just expected to, to, you know, to manage all of it right?
00:24:23 Patrick Martin LCSW
And so you kind of become a Jack of all trades or Jane of all trades, right?
00:24:26 Patrick Martin LCSW
And then you get into private practice, and you’re supposed to pick, you know, pick your favorite, and that might you know, that could be very, very awkward, right?
00:24:31 Allison Puryear LCSW
Right?
00:24:33 Patrick Martin LCSW
Because for somebody that’s experienced in so many different aspects of counseling.
00:24:38 Patrick Martin LCSW
How do you pick one?
00:24:39 Patrick Martin LCSW
Or how do you know what you’re going to want to sync your?
00:24:41 Patrick Martin LCSW
Listen to do you have any words of wisdom for like how to get over that mental mental barrier?
00:24:42 Allison Puryear LCSW
Right?
00:24:46 Patrick Martin LCSW
I’m sure you get that a lot in your yeah your coaching business.
00:24:50 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yeah, so I think.
00:24:52 Allison Puryear LCSW
With Niching I usually have people look at their caseloads.
00:24:56 Allison Puryear LCSW
If they still have access to them and to think about like who are the clients that after each session.
00:25:03
You’re like?
00:25:03 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yes, that was awesome.
00:25:04 Allison Puryear LCSW
You know, like you want to do a little dance in between because it just felt so you felt so in flow right?
00:25:11 Allison Puryear LCSW
And you know that they were getting their needs met if you can’t.
00:25:16 Allison Puryear LCSW
Parse those out, then start with.
00:25:18 Allison Puryear LCSW
The people that you.
00:25:19 Allison Puryear LCSW
Felt the opposite way about at the end of session.
00:25:21 Allison Puryear LCSW
Like I don’t know if I was any help at all I don’t like.
00:25:25 Allison Puryear LCSW
I just get so nervous when I see that person or I feel dread when I see them in my schedule.
00:25:31 Allison Puryear LCSW
So sometimes it’s kind of like dating.
00:25:32 Allison Puryear LCSW
In that way.
00:25:33 Allison Puryear LCSW
Right?
00:25:33 Allison Puryear LCSW
Like you might know, what you don’t want.
00:25:36 Allison Puryear LCSW
Based on past experiences before, it’s more clear.
00:25:39 Allison Puryear LCSW
What you do want?
00:25:40 Patrick Martin LCSW
I love that analogy.
00:25:42 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yeah, and sometimes people will be like Oh well, I’ve been a trauma therapist and so since I’ve been a trauma therapist and there aren’t enough of us, then I’m going to continue to be.
00:25:52 Allison Puryear LCSW
A trauma therapist.
00:25:55 Allison Puryear LCSW
In which case I’d be like, well, that’s lovely if that’s what you want, but I want you to like stop and ask yourself honestly if that’s what.
00:26:01 Allison Puryear LCSW
You want.
00:26:03 Allison Puryear LCSW
Because sometimes we just keep going and the thing that we’re known for, or the thing that we.
00:26:06 Allison Puryear LCSW
Know we’re good at.
00:26:08 Allison Puryear LCSW
Because that just feels like the logical next step.
00:26:11 Allison Puryear LCSW
But like my thing with private practice is like if you’ve got to build this whole other thing that never existed before anyway, like let’s.
00:26:19 Allison Puryear LCSW
Make it what you want.
00:26:21 Allison Puryear LCSW
And if you’re honestly a little burned out because trauma is super hard to support day in and day out.
00:26:28 Allison Puryear LCSW
And like it’s OK if you wanna like.
00:26:32 Allison Puryear LCSW
Work with.
00:26:33 Allison Puryear LCSW
Millennial women who feel like they have it all together and worried that they’re not the kind of mom.
00:26:38 Allison Puryear LCSW
That they.
00:26:39 Allison Puryear LCSW
Should be.
00:26:39 Allison Puryear LCSW
You know, so you can shift your niche.
00:26:44 Allison Puryear LCSW
You’re not married to it.
00:26:47 Allison Puryear LCSW
I mean, I guess you could divorce it if you.
00:26:48 Allison Puryear LCSW
Are married to it.
00:26:51 Allison Puryear LCSW
But there’s this sense of like if I.
00:26:56 Allison Puryear LCSW
I find that people who have a real stuck place around choosing a niche are often non committal in other areas of their life too.
00:27:03 Allison Puryear LCSW
And so if you’re feeling really stuck with it to be like, OK, well, does that apply to me?
00:27:07 Allison Puryear LCSW
Am I just?
00:27:08 Allison Puryear LCSW
Am I just hard to commit to anything, period?
00:27:10 Allison Puryear LCSW
Is it just a part, a structure of my personality?
00:27:14 Allison Puryear LCSW
In which case I say choose one.
00:27:17 Allison Puryear LCSW
Like if you’re.
00:27:17 Allison Puryear LCSW
Like I can’t choose between these three, just choose one, give it a go for six months, six months to a year, see how it feels.
00:27:25 Allison Puryear LCSW
If you decide it’s not for you.
00:27:26 Patrick Martin LCSW
I’ll run right and no.
00:27:26 Allison Puryear LCSW
Right, you can always shift.
00:27:28 Patrick Martin LCSW
Sure, yeah, you kind of AB test it right.
00:27:30 Patrick Martin LCSW
Absolutely too and or even have like two different pages for your website that you promote and see which one feels better.
00:27:36 Patrick Martin LCSW
I mean, there’s a lot of ways you could.
00:27:37 Patrick Martin LCSW
You could play with that right without ridges.
00:27:38 Allison Puryear LCSW
Totally yeah, as long as it’s not confusing to the people who.
00:27:42 Allison Puryear LCSW
Land there you’re good.
00:27:44 Patrick Martin LCSW
Yeah, I like that you had mentioned in a recent post too on social that you know you learn a lot about yourself as you.
00:27:50 Patrick Martin LCSW
Build a practice right about.
00:27:53 Patrick Martin LCSW
Like you said, other other areas of your life that may been more passive, right, passive than or have some internal conflict so you can get a lot of clarity, like you said because starting to.
00:28:04 Patrick Martin LCSW
Starting to practice is not just about being.
00:28:08 Patrick Martin LCSW
An autonomous therapist.
00:28:09 Patrick Martin LCSW
It’s about wearing a lot of hats, being challenged in ways that you’ve never been challenged, right developing new muscles, right?
00:28:16 Patrick Martin LCSW
Your personal development.
00:28:17 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yeah, yeah, and it’s gonna like.
00:28:18 Patrick Martin LCSW
Marketing business owner, et cetera right?
00:28:23 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yeah, it’s going to bring up all the stuff you thought you resolved too.
00:28:26 Allison Puryear LCSW
That’s another tough part.
00:28:28 Allison Puryear LCSW
It’s like whatever your stuff is like your version of not enough or not good enough.
00:28:34 Allison Puryear LCSW
It’s coming back around because you’re doing this big hard thing and it’s not that you haven’t done incredible work on it.
00:28:40 Allison Puryear LCSW
It’s just that I don’t know that those things get fully resolved.
00:28:44 Allison Puryear LCSW
As long as you’re continuing to challenge yourself in your.
00:28:47 Allison Puryear LCSW
Life, and so it is, it is I.
00:28:48 Patrick Martin LCSW
It’s a good sign actually.
00:28:50 Allison Puryear LCSW
Think about it like a spiral staircase, like one of mine is like everybody’s relying on me and I can’t let them down right? The hours I have spent over my lifetime in therapy of needing to like.
00:29:04 Allison Puryear LCSW
Support all these people who never really asked for my support and the way that I.
00:29:08 Allison Puryear LCSW
Try to offer it like I mean.
00:29:10 Allison Puryear LCSW
Since I was a teenager, I’ve been talking about this in therapy, right?
00:29:14 Allison Puryear LCSW
But the version that comes around now as I’m.
00:29:18 Allison Puryear LCSW
Like doing a new thing.
00:29:20 Allison Puryear LCSW
It’s like.
00:29:22 Allison Puryear LCSW
A higher level version of it where I’m like, Oh yeah, there’s that again, what’s this next way that I can manage this?
00:29:29 Allison Puryear LCSW
This like deep understanding of.
00:29:33 Allison Puryear LCSW
Of a struggle I have, or of a block that gets in my way.
00:29:38 Allison Puryear LCSW
Because I’ve done all the other levels of that staircase, all that amount of work on it, that it’s just like getting to know how I work.
00:29:46 Allison Puryear LCSW
At a deeper level.
00:29:47 Allison Puryear LCSW
Which sounds very like involved and like heady.
00:29:52
But sucks in.
00:29:53 Allison Puryear LCSW
The moment for all of us, right?
00:29:56 Allison Puryear LCSW
So anybody who’s starting to practice right now and listening to this and just like was sitting on their bathroom floor bawling their eyes.
00:30:03 Allison Puryear LCSW
Out about it yesterday.
00:30:04 Allison Puryear LCSW
Like I know it.
00:30:05 Allison Puryear LCSW
Sucks, it sucked for me.
00:30:06 Allison Puryear LCSW
I definitely.
00:30:07 Allison Puryear LCSW
Pride as many tears over my first full time practice as I did over like my biggest heartbreak in my youth, it is hard.
00:30:15 Allison Puryear LCSW
And it is.
00:30:16 Allison Puryear LCSW
Scary and there’s this whole sense of like.
00:30:19 Allison Puryear LCSW
If I do let myself down, what does that mean about me as a person?
00:30:23 Allison Puryear LCSW
Because letting myself down means failing.
00:30:25 Allison Puryear LCSW
There’s just a.
00:30:26 Allison Puryear LCSW
Lot of fear that comes up and.
00:30:30 Allison Puryear LCSW
It’s not rocket science.
00:30:31 Allison Puryear LCSW
You can learn what you need to learn.
00:30:33 Allison Puryear LCSW
If you can get to grad school, you can learn anything and everything you need to learn for a private practice.
00:30:37 Allison Puryear LCSW
It’s wholly doable.
00:30:38 Patrick Martin LCSW
Like we tell our clients, right?
00:30:39 Patrick Martin LCSW
You know, that’s why history is so important.
00:30:41 Patrick Martin LCSW
Obviously you can do.
00:30:42 Patrick Martin LCSW
Hard things, yeah.
00:30:43 Patrick Martin LCSW
Right?
00:30:44 Patrick Martin LCSW
Like you said, it’s not.
00:30:45 Patrick Martin LCSW
It’s not like it hasn’t been done before.
00:30:46 Patrick Martin LCSW
You’re not creating something new, I mean new for you, but.
00:30:49 Patrick Martin LCSW
The concepts there the the blueprints are there, right?
00:30:54 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yeah, absolutely.
00:30:56 Patrick Martin LCSW
Alright, I love that.
00:30:56 Patrick Martin LCSW
Thank you.
00:30:57 Patrick Martin LCSW
It’s sounds like a lot of a lot of growth, personal growth, work around our our mindset, right?
00:31:04 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yes, yes, it’s unavoidable really. Like all your stuff’s going to come up well, I guess it’s your choice.
00:31:10 Allison Puryear LCSW
Whether or not to work on.
00:31:11 Allison Puryear LCSW
It, but the experience of all your stuff coming.
00:31:15 Allison Puryear LCSW
Up is unavoidable.
00:31:18 Patrick Martin LCSW
How long?
00:31:19 Patrick Martin LCSW
Do you think it typically should? I know I say it, should you know, cause every situation’s different? How long do you feel it?
00:31:26 Patrick Martin LCSW
It should typically take for someone to go from zero to 60 and practice meaning a full caseload, or if they wanna go part time a part time, whatever.
00:31:34 Patrick Martin LCSW
That means because I know it’s a little convoluted.
00:31:36 Patrick Martin LCSW
We’re talking about cash pay versus.
00:31:37 Patrick Martin LCSW
Insurance, yeah, what that means is for example, you want to make and so forth, but.
00:31:43 Patrick Martin LCSW
You know, ballpark.
00:31:45 Patrick Martin LCSW
What in your experience with with coaching?
00:31:47 Patrick Martin LCSW
How long does it typically take to build out a practice versus maybe solo?
00:31:52 Allison Puryear LCSW
So I can.
00:31:52 Allison Puryear LCSW
Speak to we have like a higher tier offer more expensive.
00:31:56 Allison Puryear LCSW
It has a lot more like it has individual consultation and.
00:31:59 Allison Puryear LCSW
Things like that so.
00:31:59 Patrick Martin LCSW
For party plus.
00:32:01 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yeah party plus.
00:32:02 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yeah, and so.
00:32:04 Allison Puryear LCSW
I will say first, yes, whether your cash payer insurance is going to make a.
00:32:08 Allison Puryear LCSW
Huge difference where?
00:32:09 Allison Puryear LCSW
You live is going to make a.
00:32:10 Allison Puryear LCSW
Huge difference because people.
00:32:12 Allison Puryear LCSW
Are like I live in a rural area.
00:32:13 Allison Puryear LCSW
This will never work, that’s.
00:32:14 Allison Puryear LCSW
Not the case, it’s more of like how.
00:32:18 Allison Puryear LCSW
Acceptable is therapy. When you’re struggling where you live, because you can live in a huge city where it’s like very shut down and very like, just pull yourself up by your bootstraps and it’s gonna be a harder place to build than like I live in kind of like a hippie community where everybody’s got a therapist and a guru and.
00:32:38 Allison Puryear LCSW
You know tarot card reader, you know so?
00:32:41 Patrick Martin LCSW
It’s not taboo.
00:32:41 Patrick Martin LCSW
Yeah yeah, yeah.
00:32:44 Allison Puryear LCSW
It also matters what your niche is.
00:32:46 Allison Puryear LCSW
There are some niches that are more in demand than others.
00:32:50 Allison Puryear LCSW
There’s some people who niche in ways or in in populations that everybody can work with.
00:32:56 Allison Puryear LCSW
They just happen to be really great at it, right?
00:32:58 Allison Puryear LCSW
Like somebody who niches and breakups.
00:33:03 Allison Puryear LCSW
Right? Like most therapists can absolutely help somebody help support somebody going through a breakup, but that doesn’t mean that that person’s not truly exceptional at it, right?
00:33:14 Allison Puryear LCSW
But if I get a call for a breakup, I might just keep that client instead of being like oh substance abuse.
00:33:18 Allison Puryear LCSW
I don’t do that.
00:33:19 Allison Puryear LCSW
Let me send you to this person.
00:33:21 Allison Puryear LCSW
So there’s so many factors.
00:33:24 Allison Puryear LCSW
So I can only speak to party plus.
00:33:29 Allison Puryear LCSW
And because we track those people, we know what they’re.
00:33:31 Allison Puryear LCSW
Doing we know they’re putting in the work because we’re with them and with party plus.
00:33:39 Allison Puryear LCSW
What is it like 70?
00:33:40 Allison Puryear LCSW
4% are full within three months.
00:33:43 Patrick Martin LCSW
And you’d have numbers, right?
00:33:45 Patrick Martin LCSW
You seem like a number person.
00:33:45 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yeah you.
00:33:45 Allison Puryear LCSW
Know I love numbers and then on follow up with six months it’s 90 something percent I should know that second number but it’s 90 something.
00:33:55 Allison Puryear LCSW
Percent wow.
00:33:58 Allison Puryear LCSW
But again, it it differs.
00:34:00 Allison Puryear LCSW
There are the people who, the people who are not in that 90 something percent might be stuck, right?
00:34:06 Allison Puryear LCSW
And so we’re working with them to get them unstuck because.
00:34:10 Allison Puryear LCSW
We want them to have what they want, like they were trusting us to help them.
00:34:12 Allison Puryear LCSW
Get there, we want to help them.
00:34:15 Allison Puryear LCSW
So sometimes that’s a matter of.
00:34:19 Allison Puryear LCSW
They’ve created a block around some big important part of their practice, like, oh, I can’t I hear this one sometimes.
00:34:26 Allison Puryear LCSW
Like oh, I can’t network here because where I live everybody’s a total jerk like none of the therapists want to meet like OK, well how many emails did you send?
00:34:35 Allison Puryear LCSW
I didn’t send any cause none of them.
00:34:36 Allison Puryear LCSW
Wanna meet?
00:34:38 Allison Puryear LCSW
And so, like OK, I can tell you how.
00:34:42 Allison Puryear LCSW
To do it.
00:34:43 Allison Puryear LCSW
I can even give you the words but.
00:34:45 Allison Puryear LCSW
Like you still have to be the one to hit hit send.
00:34:49 Allison Puryear LCSW
But I would say.
00:34:52 Allison Puryear LCSW
I’d say if you’re not full within six months and you truly been working a marketing strategy, it’s either you haven’t been working that marketing, marketing strategy, best practices, like maybe you’ve been posting on Instagram, but you’re just posting a bunch of quotes.
00:35:08 Allison Puryear LCSW
And they’ve done.
00:35:09 Allison Puryear LCSW
It five days a week and that’s amazing.
00:35:10 Allison Puryear LCSW
But like.
00:35:11 Allison Puryear LCSW
Nobody cares about quotes.
00:35:13 Allison Puryear LCSW
And so, like it’s not best practices for Instagram.
00:35:16
Thank you.
00:35:20 Allison Puryear LCSW
Either, so either you haven’t been doing it.
00:35:23 Allison Puryear LCSW
Best practices wise, or you haven’t been doing it truly consistently.
00:35:27 Allison Puryear LCSW
Sometimes people will be like I’ve done it all right, and I’m like, OK, let’s go.
00:35:31 Allison Puryear LCSW
Let’s look at.
00:35:32 Allison Puryear LCSW
Each strategy 1 by 1.
00:35:33 Allison Puryear LCSW
To see what’s not working and they might be using best practices, but they’re not being consistent enough for it.
00:35:38 Allison Puryear LCSW
To be effective.
00:35:40 Allison Puryear LCSW
And so usually those are the two culprits.
00:35:43 Allison Puryear LCSW
If after six months, you’re not either full or very much on your own.
00:35:48 Patrick Martin LCSW
Yeah, imagine you can get and there’s whole strategies just around outreach, right?
00:35:52 Patrick Martin LCSW
The basic question is.
00:35:55 Patrick Martin LCSW
Hunting people down on LinkedIn and emailing them better?
00:35:58 Patrick Martin LCSW
Or is Instagram cause it’s you’re not limited to searches and you can find specific people and deeming them there and your experience kind of what’s the better sandbox to to network?
00:36:10 Allison Puryear LCSW
I think it depends.
00:36:11 Allison Puryear LCSW
I think most people aren’t checking Instagram regularly.
00:36:14 Allison Puryear LCSW
Like if I’ve logged in to Instagram, I’d be embarrassed if how or not Instagram.
00:36:18 Allison Puryear LCSW
Sorry LinkedIn, if I logged in to LinkedIn right now, I would be embarrassed by how many unread messages I have and like whatever they call for a request on there, because like it’s not an engaging platform for me.
00:36:31 Allison Puryear LCSW
That’s not to say it’s not useful, but it’s not the place that I’m spending my time.
00:36:36 Allison Puryear LCSW
I would rather.
00:36:37 Allison Puryear LCSW
Go to LinkedIn to get somebody’s contact information and use that e-mail there.
00:36:43 Allison Puryear LCSW
So if you’re talking about other therapists, I would probably just find their their e-mail through their website or their contact form through their website.
00:36:52 Allison Puryear LCSW
You just go directly from there.
00:36:53 Patrick Martin LCSW
Smart makes more sense.
00:36:55 Patrick Martin LCSW
Yeah, yeah, that’s that would be for me that would.
00:36:58 Patrick Martin LCSW
That would be a stumbling block.
00:36:59 Patrick Martin LCSW
It’s like OK, I have all of these options.
00:37:01 Patrick Martin LCSW
Which one cause you don’t always know you would know cause you do this.
00:37:04 Allison Puryear LCSW
Right, right?
00:37:06 Allison Puryear LCSW
Well, I mean, if you think about it from like a therapist perspective, are you going to be more likely to check your work e-mail?
00:37:06 Patrick Martin LCSW
But there’s no one fair enough, yeah?
00:37:13 Allison Puryear LCSW
Probably so because you’re you know you’ve got clients emailing, and so that’s a good way to make it.
00:37:22 Allison Puryear LCSW
More likely to be seen not, not always.
00:37:24 Allison Puryear LCSW
Some of us hate e-mail, right?
00:37:26 Allison Puryear LCSW
But like more likely.
00:37:28 Patrick Martin LCSW
It’s where eyes are eyes and attention, right?
00:37:30 Patrick Martin LCSW
Right, the Graham LinkedIn.
00:37:32 Patrick Martin LCSW
Those are more sometimes drive by or kill time, right?
00:37:35 Patrick Martin LCSW
For someone in business, right?
00:37:37 Patrick Martin LCSW
Or someone.
00:37:37 Patrick Martin LCSW
Or they may not even manage.
00:37:38 Patrick Martin LCSW
Their own social media, right?
00:37:40 Patrick Martin LCSW
That’s true, but most business owners do have eyes.
00:37:42 Patrick Martin LCSW
On their e-mail.
00:37:43 Patrick Martin LCSW
Mm-hmm sense yeah excellent.
00:37:46 Patrick Martin LCSW
So that also begs the question when you’re talking about marketing and building a practice.
00:37:51 Patrick Martin LCSW
Telehealth versus brick and mortar, right?
00:37:53 Patrick Martin LCSW
Because that wasn’t really.
00:37:56 Patrick Martin LCSW
I mean, there was no such conversation pre pandemic so much when I started my private telehealth.
00:38:01 Patrick Martin LCSW
It actually was just pre pandemic and the whole purpose behind that was it was very part time.
00:38:07 Patrick Martin LCSW
It was maybe to help pay off some student debt and something that didn’t take away from family time and that was my value was like I’m not going to.
00:38:17 Patrick Martin LCSW
Take time away from my kids and my wife unless absolutely necessary.
00:38:21 Patrick Martin LCSW
At least with the least amount of fallout, right, right?
00:38:24 Patrick Martin LCSW
I wanna have more autonomy in that sense and so then boom the pandemic hit and suddenly Tele health was a thing.
00:38:30 Patrick Martin LCSW
Uh-huh, yeah, so it wasn’t like taboo anymore, but.
00:38:36 Patrick Martin LCSW
What are your thoughts on that?
00:38:37 Patrick Martin LCSW
Like hybrid brick and mortar?
00:38:40 Patrick Martin LCSW
Strictly telehealth.
00:38:42 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yeah, I think it depends on the therapist either way.
00:38:45 Allison Puryear LCSW
Is great, right? Like I’m.
00:38:46 Allison Puryear LCSW
Pro, whatever works for the therapist.
00:38:49 Allison Puryear LCSW
I think sometimes therapists will be like, well, I’m totally going to do online then.
00:38:52 Allison Puryear LCSW
I don’t have to pay for rent somewhere.
00:38:54 Allison Puryear LCSW
It’s like easier.
00:38:56 Allison Puryear LCSW
I could stay home.
00:38:57 Allison Puryear LCSW
I have tried to work from home before.
00:39:01 Allison Puryear LCSW
Before the pandemic, working from home makes me as a human being terribly depressed like I’m somebody who has to get out in the world every single day or.
00:39:11 Allison Puryear LCSW
I don’t know what happened.
00:39:12 Allison Puryear LCSW
Something bad, bad, bad bad.
00:39:13 Allison Puryear LCSW
Bad happened.
00:39:15 Allison Puryear LCSW
And so.
00:39:16 Allison Puryear LCSW
Knowing that yourself, and I think the only way to know is to do it.
00:39:21 Allison Puryear LCSW
I think a lot of us had the experience during COVID of or during earlier COVID where we were like, OK, we’re all working from home.
00:39:31 Allison Puryear LCSW
This is the way to go.
00:39:33 Allison Puryear LCSW
I also don’t love telehealth personally.
00:39:36 Allison Puryear LCSW
Something about the like I love it for consulting, but for therapy it feels different for me like I love having my like very few clients in person now and so.
00:39:48 Allison Puryear LCSW
It’s trusting that whatever is a better fit for you will work because it really will.
00:39:53 Allison Puryear LCSW
You could do either one or both.
00:39:56 Patrick Martin LCSW
Yeah, OK, so it’s very much a personal decision, yeah?
00:39:59 Patrick Martin LCSW
Neither is better or worse than the other.
00:40:01 Patrick Martin LCSW
It’s just how you want to build what makes sense for you.
00:40:05 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yeah, unless maybe like if you’re working specifically with like octogenarians or something you know.
00:40:11 Allison Puryear LCSW
Like if you’re working with a very aged population who has never been on zoom or whatever, then maybe not, but if you’re working with anybody like younger than that, it’s probably fine.
00:40:22 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yeah, yeah.
00:40:24 Patrick Martin LCSW
That makes sense.
00:40:25 Patrick Martin LCSW
Well, I really appreciate that.
00:40:26 Patrick Martin LCSW
Lots of words of wisdom.
00:40:28 Patrick Martin LCSW
And there are some very specific kind of brass tacks.
00:40:31 Patrick Martin LCSW
Things that come along with starting to practice.
00:40:33 Patrick Martin LCSW
It’s not just about theory, strategy, mentality, right?
00:40:37 Patrick Martin LCSW
There’s some brass tacks and you have a a great checklist on that, by the way.
00:40:41
Thank you.
00:40:42 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yeah, I love that thing.
00:40:43 Patrick Martin LCSW
Very well done.
00:40:44 Patrick Martin LCSW
Yeah, and I think that’s that’s probably where you know.
00:40:47 Patrick Martin LCSW
Everybody likes a road map.
00:40:49 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yeah, and it’s those are the things like nobody gets excited about anything on that list, but they’re excited to have the list right?
00:40:57 Allison Puryear LCSW
Because like we all need to know how to get an EIN number, we all need to know.
00:41:03 Allison Puryear LCSW
How to find out if we need to like?
00:41:07 Allison Puryear LCSW
Get a business permit in our city so they’re they’re these boring, annoying things that we have to do to get our practice going to get to.
00:41:16 Allison Puryear LCSW
The good stuff.
00:41:17 Allison Puryear LCSW
And while it’s probably not the best idea to put out a whole list of boring annoying things, you know it’s helped 10s of thousands.
00:41:25 Allison Puryear LCSW
Of people so.
00:41:25 Allison Puryear LCSW
Like I’m very happy to.
00:41:27 Allison Puryear LCSW
Have put it out there.
00:41:28 Allison Puryear LCSW
And giving people an opportunity to get going the right way because I really don’t want anything to bite anybody in the ****.
00:41:34 Patrick Martin LCSW
Yeah gotcha.
00:41:35 Patrick Martin LCSW
Very very well done and lots of humor in there.
00:41:37 Patrick Martin LCSW
Too which I love.
00:41:37 Patrick Martin LCSW
I try shows so.
00:41:44 Patrick Martin LCSW
Where can our listeners learn more about you?
00:41:47 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yeah, so our website is the best place abundance practicebuilding.com. When you’re building your businesses, choose something with fewer letters.
00:41:56 Allison Puryear LCSW
That is a lot to type in but abundance practicebuilding.com. We’ve got a lot of free resources on there. We have our paid programs on there.
00:42:04 Allison Puryear LCSW
Videos, blogs, podcasts.
00:42:07
All of it.
00:42:08 Patrick Martin LCSW
This is you right that’s.
00:42:10 Patrick Martin LCSW
Me you, you’re so fun.
00:42:13 Allison Puryear LCSW
Thank you.
00:42:15 Patrick Martin LCSW
I love the way you pronounce it too.
00:42:16 Patrick Martin LCSW
Abundance makes like a dance party.
00:42:18 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yeah, like the abundance party is, one of our offers and that was like just a beautiful pun coming together just as I.
00:42:24 Allison Puryear LCSW
Needed it to.
00:42:25 Patrick Martin LCSW
Yes, I love it.
00:42:26 Patrick Martin LCSW
Caught on right away.
00:42:28 Patrick Martin LCSW
So Alison Puryear rhymes with career, and this is everything you’ve got going on, plus plus some.
00:42:37 Patrick Martin LCSW
Checklist blog podcast.
00:42:39 Patrick Martin LCSW
Obviously worksheets.
00:42:40 Patrick Martin LCSW
I love your ask Allison series.
00:42:43 Allison Puryear LCSW
Thank you.
00:42:44 Patrick Martin LCSW
I know we’re crunching on time.
00:42:47 Patrick Martin LCSW
I just you know for our listeners.
00:42:49 Patrick Martin LCSW
What is the best place to catch you on that cause I know you’re on Facebook, you’re doing the the Instagram and you put them up on the pod.
00:42:56 Patrick Martin LCSW
Broadcast, what is that best?
00:42:58 Patrick Martin LCSW
Do you do those live?
00:43:00 Patrick Martin LCSW
It almost seems like sometimes.
00:43:01 Patrick Martin LCSW
They’re live, they’re not live.
00:43:03 Allison Puryear LCSW
They were long, long ago.
00:43:04 Allison Puryear LCSW
They were live back when I was.
00:43:05 Allison Puryear LCSW
In like 3 a week.
00:43:06 Allison Puryear LCSW
Which was just a lot of content.
00:43:07 Patrick Martin LCSW
I think I remember that yes, that’s what I’m yeah.
00:43:11 Allison Puryear LCSW
But what we do is we put them on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook on Monday of every week and then that same episode is on the podcast on Saturday and that podcast is called the Abundant Practice Podcast.
00:43:28 Patrick Martin LCSW
I’ve been an avid listener for years.
00:43:28 Allison Puryear LCSW
And so.
00:43:29 Patrick Martin LCSW
Love it.
00:43:29 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yay, thank you.
00:43:31 Allison Puryear LCSW
Yeah, and so if somebody is like more of a podcast person than a video person like me.
00:43:37 Allison Puryear LCSW
Then you don’t have to worry about catching it online.
00:43:40 Allison Puryear LCSW
You can just listen to the pod.
00:43:42 Patrick Martin LCSW
Excellent and I know first hand to grab that checklist.
00:43:45 Patrick Martin LCSW
Super easy, right?
00:43:46 Patrick Martin LCSW
Just subscribe to your newsletter through the the tab here and you’ve got it right there.
00:43:52 Patrick Martin LCSW
You have a YouTube channel as well, right?
00:43:54 Patrick Martin LCSW
Yeah, we do excellent.
00:43:57 Patrick Martin LCSW
Excellent, all right and everything that all the links are right up here on your site for anybody who wants to find you right.
00:44:03 Patrick Martin LCSW
Very well done.
00:44:04 Patrick Martin LCSW
Very easy peasy.
00:44:06 Patrick Martin LCSW
Wonderful and then yeah, if.
00:44:10 Patrick Martin LCSW
Any of our listeners have follow up questions for you.
00:44:13 Patrick Martin LCSW
Would it be OK to have you back on down?
00:44:15 Patrick Martin LCSW
The road maybe check in.
00:44:15 Allison Puryear LCSW
Absolutely yeah, happy to.
00:44:17 Patrick Martin LCSW
You’re you’re a wealth of information, so.
00:44:21 Patrick Martin LCSW
Happy, happy to have you on now and hopefully again in the future.
00:44:24 Patrick Martin LCSW
Just love everything you’re about so.
00:44:27 Patrick Martin LCSW
Well thank you pleasure.
00:44:29 Patrick Martin LCSW
Well, it’s been fun.
00:44:31 Patrick Martin LCSW
Thank you so much for making time today.
00:44:33 Patrick Martin LCSW
It’s North Carolina.
00:44:34 Patrick Martin LCSW
You’re probably pushing 1:00 o’clock, so yeah, I got some stuff to handle lunch and all that good stuff so.
00:44:40 Patrick Martin LCSW
My day is just getting started here.
00:44:42 Allison Puryear LCSW
In LA, yeah, good morning.
00:44:46 Patrick Martin LCSW
All right, Allison, I appreciate you and all of the time you spent sharing your wisdom and I.
00:44:51 Patrick Martin LCSW
Wish you a blessed week.
00:44:52 Allison Puryear LCSW
You too take care.
00:44:55 Patrick Martin LCSW
Hey, if you’re getting value from this content and you haven’t done so already, be sure to subscribe to the MEHT newsletter.
00:45:00 Patrick Martin LCSW
That way you don’t miss out on any new content as it’s released and as my gift to you you’ll have some free resources waiting for you there.
00:45:08 Patrick Martin LCSW
Also, be sure to subscribe and like on the YouTube channel and podcast and leave a review on Apple Podcasts if you have a moment.
00:45:15 Patrick Martin LCSW
And helps to raise mental health awareness and push it out to more.
00:45:17 Patrick Martin LCSW
Our people also be sure to share with friends and family and it helps to support this channel.
00:45:22 Patrick Martin LCSW
Thank you so much for your support.
00:45:24 Patrick Martin LCSW
Well, there you have it.
00:45:25 Patrick Martin LCSW
Another tool to help you thrive well until next time make good things happen.
00:45:28 Patrick Martin LCSW
Bye bye.
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