December 24, 2025 • 30 mins
Our top episode in 2025 was all about how therapists can move from generalist to go-to expert with a clear niche, strategic partnerships, and a hybrid visibility plan that drives premium private pay clients.
Ann Carden explains the exact steps to position your practice, package outcomes, and scale without burning out.
Book a call with Ann Cardin:
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*Intro/outro song credit:
King Around Here by Alex Grohl
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Marketing your practice is hard enough already,
but positioning yourself in away where you are a sought-after
expert is really challenging andsomething that honestly a lot of
practice owners don't quiteachieve.
Well, today my guest Ann Carden,the author of Expert in You, is
going to talk about how toposition yourself in a way that
people look to you for yourexperience and expertise, and
(00:22):
they are drawn and attracted toyou, whether it's through public
speaking or through onlinepresentations or podcasts or
whatever you're doing to getyourself out there, making
yourself the expert.
My name is Craig, and I'm theowner of Daisy Financial
Coaching.
Our team is on a mission to makeyour therapy practice
permanently profitable.
If you own a solo or grouppractice, we're here to help you
(00:45):
build a business that createsmore time, makes more money, and
serves more people.
This is the Therapy BusinessPodcast.
All right, and we are so glad tohave you here on the show with
us.
How are you doing?
SPEAKER_02 (01:01):
I'm doing great, Craig.
Thanks so much for having me.
SPEAKER_00 (01:04):
Yeah, I'm super excited for this one.
I was um perusing your when wefirst got in contact, which I
feel like has been a littlewhile ago.
Uh, I looked at your website andI got excited.
And even just before this call,I was looking at your website
again, got re-excited because Iwas like, okay, I'm gonna learn
a lot today as well.
But uh let the audience membersknow who are you?
What is your business?
What do you do?
SPEAKER_02 (01:26):
Yes, so I am a business consultant.
I also do run a marketingagency, a media and marketing
agency.
My entire business is builtaround helping people really
stand out in their market to beable to get more clients and
build, get the best clientseven, but really establish that
authority and that expertise.
(01:47):
And I like to say influence yourmarkets.
So all of the pieces that gowith that is a is a big piece of
what I do with people.
SPEAKER_00 (01:55):
And it's such a need, I think, in every
industry, but specifically intherapy practices, because I
think uh a lot of times uh wetalk about a lot on this show,
but it's people go to gradschool to become therapists and
they end up working for somebodyelse.
And at some point, like, youknow, I think I can make more or
have more freedom of time to doit myself, but no one ever
taught them how to marketthemselves or how to run the
(02:16):
business side.
And so that is just an somethingwe're always learning and always
trying to hone in on.
And so what you do is really,really helpful, I think.
SPEAKER_02 (02:25):
Yeah, create that market fame.
SPEAKER_00 (02:28):
So yes.
So let's tell me more aboutthat.
So, for somebody who'slistening, what are some of the
best ways to get yourself outthere and establish yourself as
an expert?
SPEAKER_02 (02:38):
Yeah, I one of the first things to do is really
think about your positioning inthe market.
How are you different from yourcompetition?
What and if you are in businessfor yourself, you do have
competitors, right?
It doesn't matter what you'redoing.
Um, so how are you differentfrom your competition?
So, one way to really do this toseparate yourself uh from
everybody else would be to gomore specialty or specialized.
(03:02):
That might be one direction thatyou could go.
Um, maybe that would be withkids only, maybe that would be
weight loss, maybe that would beanxiety, or there's so many
different ways that you couldgo.
And there's no shortage ofpeople in any of those areas.
But when you establish yourselfas an expert for that particular
(03:24):
thing, now you can buildreferral partners.
So that's one way to reallybuild your business.
You can write a book aroundthat.
You all of your marketing,everything that you're doing,
you can go out and speak aboutit.
All of that will help you buildyour market fame, so to speak,
and and really become known inyour market.
And it's really not hard to dothis in a local market.
(03:46):
It is work, but it's not hard todo it.
And I did it offline many, manyyears in many of my businesses
before I ever did it online.
It in fact, it's interesting.
I still have people thatrecognize me from some of those
old businesses because I haddone that.
I had built such a name formyself.
And that's really what we'retalking about.
Building a name for yourself sothat there's no doubt this is
(04:10):
what you do, this is who you'refor.
That is the first step.
That's like the foundation ofyour business.
SPEAKER_00 (04:17):
Great.
So building a name for yourself,which uh, and as we are talking
about that local, I think, youknow, uh with therapists,
they're I'm gonna say somewhatlocal.
Just some of them may havelicenses in a few states, but
usually it's uh most of them areworking just in the one state
that they're licensed in.
And so, yeah, that almostprobably is a relief to hear
(04:37):
because I think we are in thisday and age, you just hear all
these things like you know,podcasts, obviously, or have
YouTubes or uh get on blogs andall these different things that
are more national reach.
And concerns I hear a lot oftimes are well, what if people
come to me and I'm reaching outto people who I can't even work
with because of that?
So thinking on the local side,uh, where should somebody start?
(04:58):
If somebody were come to you forthe first time and be like, I'm
trying to build a name formyself, what are some of the
tips you give them for the bestplace to start?
SPEAKER_02 (05:05):
Yeah, and some of this is going to depend on who
your market's going to be or howyou're going to establish
yourself in the market.
So, for example, if you're goingto target kids, TikTok might be
the place, right?
If you're going to targethigh-level professionals,
LinkedIn might be your place.
So it's really aboutunderstanding first who are you
trying to reach and being very,very um very prominent on that
(05:29):
platform.
But then also, how can you nowalso get to them offline?
So you it's the best model is ahybrid model where you're doing
a lot online and you're doing alot offline.
But offline would be things likespeaking, uh, building
partnerships.
You could be running events, youcould be running small workshops
or partnering with people anddoing offline events.
(05:50):
I did all of that for years.
But you can also really buildyour business online as well,
even if you're trying to do itlocal.
In fact, it's easier to do itlocally because you can run paid
ads, you can have that podcast,that show, that YouTube channel.
I always say you should have anexpert platform, and that's
usually going to include somesort of show or something that
(06:13):
you're doing to really continueto build on your expertise and
let people see what you're allabout.
So now people do vote onlinebefore they ever come and talk
to somebody offline, unless evenif you're referred, people still
check you out.
You really need a very strongonline um brand and presence and
(06:35):
expert platform.
Um, so I would say both of thosethings are are places to start.
Is that helpful?
SPEAKER_00 (06:42):
That's so helpful, yeah.
And that's good to hear thatboth, even locally online is
still valuable.
Because as you're saying, I'mlike, that's true.
SPEAKER_02 (06:49):
You know, people are there.
SPEAKER_00 (06:52):
They are there, yeah.
And they're coming to see yourcontent.
And if you're gonna be leading,you know, if they're if they're
looking for a therapist and theygo to a website and there's
videos of you talking andthere's a podcast of you
talking, you create thatconnection, and it's such a
relationship-based engagementthat forms them up.
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (07:11):
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (07:12):
So that's that's huge.
And I guess reaching too manypeople is a good thing, right?
SPEAKER_02 (07:17):
Yeah, absolutely.
And here's the other thing.
So I I like to expand people'sminds when when I'm talking
because I help people buildbusinesses.
One of the things that you cando is you can partner with
people.
So if you're if you can onlywork with somebody locally, you
still can partner with people inother states.
And there's ways that you canstill work together and build
(07:39):
other revenue streams.
There are other things you cando to build more revenue into
your business versus justtrading your time for money.
And so I I love for people tothink even bigger like what are
other things that I can offer orwho can I partner with?
But not only that, when youestablish yourself as an
authority and an expert andyou're influencing people even
(08:02):
in your local market, you canalso get paid more premium fees.
You could attract even betterpatients if you call them
patients, you could attract evenbetter people to your business.
Um, so all of those things buildyour revenue and they they start
to build your business.
But more than anything, you whenyou build that authority, uh,
(08:25):
there's no question about youbeing the best.
And so you think about thatdoing the heavy lifting for you.
Now you don't have to, when youwhen people come to you, they're
going to be ready.
They're about 80 to 90 percentready to work with you because
they do feel like they know you,they already like you if they've
seen you out there.
(08:46):
You've just warmed them up tothe point that when they are
ready or they know someonethat's ready, you're gonna be
top of mind the first personthey think of.
And that's so easy to do in themarketplace today.
In the old days we had to likerun print ads and it was
expensive.
And now we have all these toolsand opportunities that we can do
that so organically and easy.
SPEAKER_00 (09:09):
Yeah, 100%.
And as you're saying that, I'mthinking I'd heard it once said,
uh, you know, like there's areason that a surgeon makes a
lot more than uh, you know, yourgeneral practitioner.
That's because they arespecialty, they specialize in uh
this one thing, knees orwhatever you're getting surgery
on.
So to specialize in somethingthat's huge.
I mean, obviously, I'm on atherapy business podcast.
(09:31):
So we we coach all kinds ofbusinesses, but we also
specialize in therapy practices.
So that really rings true.
So as somebody's looking atgetting out into their local,
you were you alluded to doingworkshops or partnering with
local people.
Um, what have you seen work?
And I know maybe not even justspecific to therapists, but with
some of your clients or somethings you've tried, what what
(09:51):
works, what have you seen work,or how can maybe somebody get
their foot in the door to dothat?
SPEAKER_02 (09:56):
Yeah, I mean, that's really not hard to do when
you're when you're going to run,say, a local workshop.
So one of the easiest ways is tofind out who else has got your
people.
So first you have to establishthat foundation.
What are you going to be knownfor?
What are you going to be theexpert and the authority for?
Uh, I worked with a therapistand she was able to charge three
(10:17):
times more than other people perhour because she worked with uh
people that had eatingdisorders.
Well, that's very special.
And she partnered with othertherapists that sent those
people to her.
So she didn't even have to do alot of marketing.
She was still was out there andshe was visible, but she got so
(10:38):
much business coming to her.
Her biggest issue was how do Inow grow this and expand my
practice?
Um, and so that's that's kind ofwhat we're talking about.
But if you're going to do, say,a local event, who is it you're
trying to pull into the room toshare expertise and really uh
help them and give them value?
(11:00):
And who would have those people?
So here's an example.
Um you're dealing with kidsmaybe that have some kind of an
issue.
Would it be coaches maybe thatwould have those kids?
Would it be um people sellingservices to those kids that you
(11:21):
could partner with?
So thinking about who who hasthose people and how can how can
you they help you kind of curatethat audience or that those
people in the room with you?
So that's an easy way.
And you can get, I mean, Chamberof Commerces have free rooms and
restaurants.
You can do things withrestaurants.
(11:41):
There's just so many ways to dothat if you're going to do it
offline.
And then online you can do it aswell.
SPEAKER_00 (11:47):
Love it.
So, like an online workshop orwebinar where people can sign up
and attend.
Um, great.
Yeah, and I think even sometimesthe online uh for me personally,
as I admit, some of these thefears that I think a lot of
people have with these is like,what if no one shows up?
Um the online, at least if noone shows up, no one knows.
But yeah, there's just somethinguh about nobody showing up while
(12:09):
you're there live and in person.
But I think partnering withsomeone like you were saying
really could probably helpovercome that.
And I never thought of that.
I would anytime I thought ofdoing a live-in-person workshop,
I was thinking, just me and I'llpromote it and cross my fingers
that some people show up to it.
Uh so I think it's a great ideato partner with someone.
SPEAKER_02 (12:25):
Yeah, strategic partnerships are great.
In fact, I just ran a two-dayonline event uh about a month
ago, and I partnered withsomeone, and she promoted it.
And a lot of the people thatwere there were from her, from
her email list and and from her.
Um, it was a really high-levelevent.
So, and the attendance was 95%show rate for both days.
(12:49):
And so it's just how you'redoing it, how you're putting the
pieces together.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (12:53):
Yeah, that's fantastic.
That's super great.
And uh going back to somethingyou even talked about with uh
partner with other therapists,which again is maybe something
we overlook because I think it'seasy to look at all of them as
competition.
But you're right, if we'respecializing in different
things, uh, that's a huge, hugearea of opportunity of um not
only setting yourself up asvaluable to send somebody else,
(13:16):
you know, I have a connectionthat I think would be really
good for you, or vice versa,business coming in.
And so is that a good place tostart?
Is because as people are like,oh, who should I talk to?
Doctor, like who do I talk to?
Maybe therapists.
Other therapists is a greatstarting point for connection.
SPEAKER_02 (13:32):
Yeah, it's a great way.
Um, in fact, it my client thatI'd worked with that was a
therapist, she did partner withdoctors, she partnered with um
other therapists, they didn'twant to deal with that.
That wasn't something they did.
And so because she specialized,she got a lot of business from
other therapists and from otherpartners.
And but you have to you have todo that because it here's the
(13:55):
one thing if they feel likeyou're competition to them,
they're not going to send youbusiness, right?
But if they feel like you aretruly exceptional at something
and you would do a better jobthan they would, um, they would
recommend you all day long.
And then you can, and this isprobably going to vary state for
state.
Um, you might even be able towork out some sort of a a money
(14:18):
exchange or some sort of a umrevenue opportunity there where
you're partnering.
And again, that's going to bedependent on the state and what
the regulations are.
But in a lot of cases, forexample, realtors can't do that
a lot, but they can give giftcards and they can they can get
around it, right?
So there are ways that you canget a get around things if it's
(14:41):
an important thing for you.
But um, it's it's powerful to dothat, and it really can help you
build your business faster.
SPEAKER_00 (14:48):
Yeah, that's that's great.
And I think so even going backto what you said to start with,
which was figuring out whatyou're gonna be known for.
And then maybe from there it'sseeking out other therapists who
so let's say you're like, I'mgonna be known for uh trauma.
Um, and so you're like, I don'tnot gonna really want to do
marriage counseling or work withkids or any of those.
(15:08):
And so that's a great place tostart looking out is okay, who
are those people that specializein that who maybe don't want to
do trauma?
Or uh I also know there'sdifferent licenses that people
carry.
So if anyone listening has aspecific license, maybe
connecting with people who don'thave that because you're gonna
be they can start sending thosepeople to you because you're
maybe they can't or don't wantto handle them.
So there's a lot of opportunitythere.
SPEAKER_02 (15:30):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (15:30):
Yeah, I think that's fair.
SPEAKER_02 (15:31):
You can even pick a ch a particular market.
So uh let's say you're in a bigcity, for example, and there are
you know hundreds of thousandsof people or maybe millions of
people, and you can even godeeper than just trauma.
Maybe it would be trauma aroundchild abuse, uh, maybe it would
be trauma around, so you can godeeper and really specialize,
(15:54):
and there's gonna be more thanenough people than you could
ever serve in most cases, butyou'll get all that business
because now you are the go-toperson for that, right?
And then you establish that inthe market so everybody knows
you're the go-to person forthat.
And again, it's easier to dothat locally than it is um to do
(16:14):
that on a global stage or on aglobal level, which is what I do
in my business.
So I can tell you it's easier todo it local because I did it.
Um, but yeah, you you but eveneven globally, you can set
yourself apart in the industryin or in your field that you're
in.
SPEAKER_00 (16:30):
Love it, love it, love it.
Yes, I think that's locally.
I could see that because there'sless, just less people um to
that could carry that sameexpertise.
And honestly, very few peopleare actually showcasing
themselves as industry expertson something.
And most people are generalists,they're so desperately trying to
get clients that they're tryingto appeal to everyone, and
(16:52):
that's um spreading them thin,that's making it to where they
can't charge as much as theywant to charge.
Uh, so it sounds like whatyou're saying is by doing this,
you might even not only are yougonna get more clients, but
you're gonna be able to charge alot more for what you're doing.
Are you sick of the overwhelmthat comes with managing the
finances in your practice?
(17:14):
What if you can have a clearpicture of where your money's
going, pay yourself what youtruly deserve, and have a rock
solid game plan to grow yourpractice without the financial
stress?
Well, that's exactly what ourprofit coaching program is
designed to do.
We specialize in helpingpractices like yours achieve
financial clarity so that youcan focus on what you do best,
(17:36):
helping your clients andmanaging your team, while we
help handle all that businessystuff they didn't teach you in
grad school.
Our profit coaching program isenrolling new practices right
now.
We'll walk with you as youcreate a financially healthy and
sustainable practice.
To see if you might be a goodfit, schedule a free
consultation attherapybusinesspod.com.
SPEAKER_02 (18:02):
Yes.
Yeah, and if you think about youhad kind of mentioned uh a
general practitioner, right?
So if you think about a brainsurgeon, um, a brain surgeon has
this instant credibility, thistrust, right?
You wouldn't go shopping aroundfor a brain surgeon.
You would um you would justrealize you would just believe
that they knew what they weredoing if they were a brain
(18:23):
surgeon.
But if your doctor retired, youjust go find another doctor,
right?
So, and and you're only gonnapay them so much for that visit.
And so that's really what we'retalking about here.
It's about really elevating yourbrand and elevating what you're
so great at and what you do thatwould be completely different
from other people in the market.
And it really does make you thego-to.
(18:45):
And people don't question thepricing or the money when you
are specialized, when you arethe brain surgeon.
They you wouldn't go priceshopping for a brain surgeon.
You just right, and so it it'sthe same thing, and it that
might sound like a silly umcomparison, but it really truly
(19:06):
is the same thing when theybelieve you're the only person,
the go-to, they're going to uh,you know, they're gonna pay for
that.
SPEAKER_00 (19:14):
Yeah, and a lot of our therapists are some of them
want to take insurance, but Iwould say majority are feel
stuck taking insurance and theywant to switch over to private
pay where they can dictate theirrates.
Um, there's a lot of fears andstigmas around it, uh fears of
leads dropping out, but alsojust value and will people pay
what I'm asking?
(19:35):
Um, and so it sounds like havingthat specialty can really,
really help bridge that becauseeven the people who maybe they
have insurance like, no, I wantto hire you because you are the
industry expert on this, andit's worth the extra money in my
pocket to get it.
SPEAKER_02 (19:53):
Well, and here's another way to look at it.
And I don't really know whattherapy rates are and things
like that, but here's a way thatyou can think of It if you're
charging, let's say$300 an hour,okay, and or you're selling a
package.
Maybe if you're if you'reselling something and you know
that they're going to need thismany sessions and you're selling
it almost like a package, um,but let's just say you're
(20:15):
charging$300 an hour, and youknow, three people would be a
thousand dollars, or you couldwork with ten people at a
hundred dollars.
I mean, which is not going togrow, right?
Because you're gonna max out,you're going to tap out.
And so that that's really whatwe're talking about.
So just because you don't takeeveryone doesn't mean that your
(20:39):
business can't grow because youyou're gonna max out at some
point anyway.
Um, and so if you think aboutthat, it's a lot less work.
It's it doesn't mean you can'ttake on other people if you want
to do that, or maybe you canoffer um some sort of a
scholarship programming orsomething, you can offer some
sort of help to certain people,but for the most part, you're
(21:02):
still one person.
So it's what what do you want tomake from that practice?
You're building a business ifyou and there's overhead and
there's things that you have topay for in that business.
So you can't think aboutyourself like an hourly
employee.
It doesn't work in a business.
You have to be able to, I alwayssay you need to be able to make
(21:23):
three times what you would as anemployee just to make the same
amount of money.
But here's where the differenceis the opportunity is bigger.
You have all these differentways that you now can make money
and different uh different ideasand revenue streams that you can
add in where you don't have thatwhen you're an employee.
So that you know, that's thedifference in having a business
(21:47):
if you are treating it that way.
SPEAKER_00 (21:50):
Yes, absolutely.
There's so much opportunitythere, but you're right.
It's um as a therapist who'sworking for another practice,
your scalability is only somuch, but when you own your own
business, you got to find a wayto uh really stretch out because
at some point your capacity isgonna get so thin that you're
like, I have other stuff to dobesides just meeting with
(22:11):
clients.
I have marketing and I have torun the business, do the
finances.
And uh so yeah, the the lesspeople I'm seeing, I need to
kind of almost get as as tackyas it sounds in this
circumstance, more bang for mybuck on each of these clients.
Um, just you need to get morepremium clients and pass off the
ones who maybe, if they needinsurance, you know, there's
other therapists that you canrefer to.
(22:32):
Um, I think that's that could bethe other referral partner piece
of it.
SPEAKER_02 (22:36):
But it is hard to do this if you don't do the other
things we've talked about.
If you're not the specialist, ifyou haven't, you you really
don't stand out in your market.
It it's really hard to do that.
It's hard to justify the prices,it's hard to justify the
increase.
So those it's not just onepiece, oh, raise your prices,
right?
It's all of these things thatbuild a more powerful, robust
(22:59):
practice.
And and by the way, that clientthat I was talking about, I
mean, she's expanded, she's putin massage therapy and she's put
in all these other revenuestreams, but because she was
making the money in herpractice, she had the funds and
she was able to do a lot ofother things.
And that's really what we'retalking about.
So the opportunity is bigger tomake more money.
(23:21):
If you're only thinking about itlike a job, why not just work
for someone?
I mean, why the opportun, youknow, the whole reason people
want to be in business is theopportunity to make more money,
better their life, um, be ableto set their hours, all of those
things.
And but if you're not buildingin the right way, none of those
(23:43):
things are gonna happen, you'regonna have more headache for
less.
SPEAKER_00 (23:46):
Yeah, completely, completely agree.
So establishing your area ofexpertise, um, then starting to
leverage that.
So we talked about getting, youknow, with other network
partners or referral partnersand uh making that yourself
known in that realm.
I assume uh updating yourwebsite and making sure that
it's targeted to that specificum, yes.
So when somebody is like wetalked about, maybe it's
(24:09):
childhood trauma is what you'reum focusing on.
And so that's what the messagingon your website is speaking to.
When somebody's ready to getthemselves out there and do
public speaking, I know wetalked about doing like
workshops.
Well, do you do you work withclients a lot, or I assume you
recommend, but getting likemaybe speaking at conferences or
speaking at other things thatpeople have.
SPEAKER_02 (24:29):
Absolutely, all that.
Yes.
I say step into the expertspotlight, speak, sell, and
scale.
So that's sort of um, yeah.
So when you're out there, uhgoing, you know, getting uh in
front of the right audiencespeaking at conferences can be
huge.
Uh let's say you want to um domental health or mental wellness
(24:51):
in a corporate environment.
You need you're gonna have toget out there and speak, right?
You're going to have to be seenand heard.
Um, so it really all of this ispart of a marketing strategy
that's going to fit what you'retrying to accomplish.
And there's no one size fits allhere.
Uh when I work with my clients,we figure out what's going to be
the best path for them.
(25:11):
And so they're not just outthere trying to do all this
stuff and making themselvescrazy.
That's not the right way.
You need a great strategy behindwhat you're doing.
But yes, absolutely.
Speaking, getting on stages, butyou have to be in front of the
people that you could eitherpartner with and they could
refer business to you, or peoplethat um are, you know, potential
(25:36):
patients or or clients, whateveryou want to call them.
SPEAKER_00 (25:39):
Okay, that's great to know.
That's a good point because Idon't know.
They could be out there, but Iwas like, I don't know how many
uh people go to conferences justfor um uh trauma or whatever it
is they're they're doing, butyou know, maybe it's the
referral you're going to umconferences where you're right,
other network partners thatmaybe you can work with that you
can connect with.
Um awesome.
(26:00):
And so I think it's great.
You're talking about all theseideas, but you like you said,
there's got to be a strategybehind it because I think that's
where a lot of people get stuck.
Um, so when somebody comes toyou to work with you, uh, what
does that look like?
Tell me about how you helpclients kind of create that
strategy.
SPEAKER_02 (26:15):
Yeah, the first thing we want to do is figure
out what do you want thisbusiness to be for you?
How much money do you want tomake?
Um, you know, so I I like tohelp people make a
million-dollar leap.
How can you make amillion-dollar leap?
And so that's going to come downto first uh your offer creation,
like what are the packages orthe offers that you have put
(26:35):
together that you're selling?
How are you going to beestablished in the market?
What is that positioning?
How are you gonna be differentfrom your competition?
So we look at all thosefoundational pieces and we do
all of that before we startmarketing because you can't
market with the right strategyuntil those basic things get in
place.
What are you selling?
Are your packages going to getyou to the money that you want?
(26:58):
Uh, for example, I mentionedthe, you know, if you want to
make a thousand dollars workingwith 10 people, okay, how many,
what is your capacity?
We have to look at that, right?
And so what would be this themodel of your business that
could get you to the revenuethat you want?
So all of that has to happenfirst and and getting really
(27:19):
dialed in on that specialty andwhat that looks like.
Then I help people put reallywhat I call the the influence
strategy in place and thevisibility strategy in place.
Okay, you need to do what I callas high impact marketing.
And I already mentioned it.
Write a book, do a show, be outthere, be visible, speak on
(27:41):
stages, run workshops virtually,offline, all of that starts
building out your visibility andit also raises your authority
and establishes you in themarket as the go-to and as the
expert for what it is you do.
So that becomes then the nextpiece.
And then obviously you have tobe able to close sales, and then
what do you do beyond that?
(28:02):
How can you grow that thingbeyond you?
What are the ways that you cancontinue so that you have a real
business and not just a job foryourself?
So many people create a job forthemselves, but they don't.
But you're in business.
If you if you're in business,you've got opportunity to build
your wealth and impact morepeople.
And so you want to the firstthing is you really want to just
(28:24):
expand your mind to what ispossible.
SPEAKER_00 (28:27):
Yeah, that's amazing.
And I know a lot of people thatresonates.
Um, I know that firsthand withsome of my clients who've who've
really been struggling to getthemselves out there as experts
and industry experts and umfinding these opportunities.
And so I know there's got to bepeople listening who are hearing
this is what I am looking for.
I need help because I feeloverwhelmed with it all.
(28:47):
So, how can somebody get incontact with you if they're
saying, you know, I want, Iwant, I want her to help me do
all this?
SPEAKER_02 (28:55):
Yes.
So you can uh book a call withme at acarton.com and you can
also follow me on social.
I have a big YouTube channel,but you can go to my website at
annlcarton.com if you want tojust check things out and um
just learn a little bit more.
But yeah, book a call if you'reinterested in doing that.
SPEAKER_00 (29:17):
Yes, I recommend everyone does.
Um I think that's a great,great, it's so important.
And I think that's probablysomething a lot of people are
lacking.
And so we'll put all those linksin the show notes below.
Um and it's I've learned I tooka whole page of notes here.
I learned a lot already formyself.
SPEAKER_01 (29:33):
Oh, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (29:34):
I hope I know a lot of people listening are gonna
take away a lot.
And so uh I'm grateful for you.
And um also we'll put a link touh your books out there as well,
right?
So we'll put a link to that inthe show notes.
SPEAKER_02 (29:45):
Yes, yeah, and I actually have a new one coming
out probably this week.
It's gonna be called Be the OneThey Choose.
And it's going to go into a lotof these, it's it's the new uh
rules for standing out andwinning the business.
So it's going to go into a lotof these things that I already
talk about.
SPEAKER_00 (30:04):
Fantastic.
I'll link uh I'll link those inthe show notes as well so that
people can find those and readthose as well.
But um, thank you so much forbeing here.
I've learned a lot and I'm justgrateful for you.
SPEAKER_02 (30:15):
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00 (30:18):
Thanks for joining us on the Therapy Business
Podcast.
Be sure to subscribe, leave areview, and share it with a
practice owner that you mayknow.
If your practice needs helpgetting organized with finances
or just growing your practice,head to therapybusinesspod dot
com to learn how we can helpyou.
Marketing your practice is hard enough already,
but positioning yourself in away where you are a sought-after
expert is really challenging andsomething that honestly a lot of
practice owners don't quiteachieve.
Well, today my guest Ann Carden,the author of Expert in You, is
going to talk about how toposition yourself in a way that
people look to you for yourexperience and expertise, and
(00:22):
they are drawn and attracted toyou, whether it's through public
speaking or through onlinepresentations or podcasts or
whatever you're doing to getyourself out there, making
yourself the expert.
My name is Craig, and I'm theowner of Daisy Financial
Coaching.
Our team is on a mission to makeyour therapy practice
permanently profitable.
If you own a solo or grouppractice, we're here to help you
(00:45):
build a business that createsmore time, makes more money, and
serves more people.
This is the Therapy BusinessPodcast.
All right, and we are so glad tohave you here on the show with
us.
How are you doing?
SPEAKER_02 (01:01):
I'm doing great, Craig.
Thanks so much for having me.
SPEAKER_00 (01:04):
Yeah, I'm super excited for this one.
I was um perusing your when wefirst got in contact, which I
feel like has been a littlewhile ago.
Uh, I looked at your website andI got excited.
And even just before this call,I was looking at your website
again, got re-excited because Iwas like, okay, I'm gonna learn
a lot today as well.
But uh let the audience membersknow who are you?
What is your business?
What do you do?
SPEAKER_02 (01:26):
Yes, so I am a business consultant.
I also do run a marketingagency, a media and marketing
agency.
My entire business is builtaround helping people really
stand out in their market to beable to get more clients and
build, get the best clientseven, but really establish that
authority and that expertise.
(01:47):
And I like to say influence yourmarkets.
So all of the pieces that gowith that is a is a big piece of
what I do with people.
SPEAKER_00 (01:55):
And it's such a need, I think, in every
industry, but specifically intherapy practices, because I
think uh a lot of times uh wetalk about a lot on this show,
but it's people go to gradschool to become therapists and
they end up working for somebodyelse.
And at some point, like, youknow, I think I can make more or
have more freedom of time to doit myself, but no one ever
taught them how to marketthemselves or how to run the
(02:16):
business side.
And so that is just an somethingwe're always learning and always
trying to hone in on.
And so what you do is really,really helpful, I think.
SPEAKER_02 (02:25):
Yeah, create that market fame.
SPEAKER_00 (02:28):
So yes.
So let's tell me more aboutthat.
So, for somebody who'slistening, what are some of the
best ways to get yourself outthere and establish yourself as
an expert?
SPEAKER_02 (02:38):
Yeah, I one of the first things to do is really
think about your positioning inthe market.
How are you different from yourcompetition?
What and if you are in businessfor yourself, you do have
competitors, right?
It doesn't matter what you'redoing.
Um, so how are you differentfrom your competition?
So, one way to really do this toseparate yourself uh from
everybody else would be to gomore specialty or specialized.
(03:02):
That might be one direction thatyou could go.
Um, maybe that would be withkids only, maybe that would be
weight loss, maybe that would beanxiety, or there's so many
different ways that you couldgo.
And there's no shortage ofpeople in any of those areas.
But when you establish yourselfas an expert for that particular
(03:24):
thing, now you can buildreferral partners.
So that's one way to reallybuild your business.
You can write a book aroundthat.
You all of your marketing,everything that you're doing,
you can go out and speak aboutit.
All of that will help you buildyour market fame, so to speak,
and and really become known inyour market.
And it's really not hard to dothis in a local market.
(03:46):
It is work, but it's not hard todo it.
And I did it offline many, manyyears in many of my businesses
before I ever did it online.
It in fact, it's interesting.
I still have people thatrecognize me from some of those
old businesses because I haddone that.
I had built such a name formyself.
And that's really what we'retalking about.
Building a name for yourself sothat there's no doubt this is
(04:10):
what you do, this is who you'refor.
That is the first step.
That's like the foundation ofyour business.
SPEAKER_00 (04:17):
Great.
So building a name for yourself,which uh, and as we are talking
about that local, I think, youknow, uh with therapists,
they're I'm gonna say somewhatlocal.
Just some of them may havelicenses in a few states, but
usually it's uh most of them areworking just in the one state
that they're licensed in.
And so, yeah, that almostprobably is a relief to hear
(04:37):
because I think we are in thisday and age, you just hear all
these things like you know,podcasts, obviously, or have
YouTubes or uh get on blogs andall these different things that
are more national reach.
And concerns I hear a lot oftimes are well, what if people
come to me and I'm reaching outto people who I can't even work
with because of that?
So thinking on the local side,uh, where should somebody start?
(04:58):
If somebody were come to you forthe first time and be like, I'm
trying to build a name formyself, what are some of the
tips you give them for the bestplace to start?
SPEAKER_02 (05:05):
Yeah, and some of this is going to depend on who
your market's going to be or howyou're going to establish
yourself in the market.
So, for example, if you're goingto target kids, TikTok might be
the place, right?
If you're going to targethigh-level professionals,
LinkedIn might be your place.
So it's really aboutunderstanding first who are you
trying to reach and being very,very um very prominent on that
(05:29):
platform.
But then also, how can you nowalso get to them offline?
So you it's the best model is ahybrid model where you're doing
a lot online and you're doing alot offline.
But offline would be things likespeaking, uh, building
partnerships.
You could be running events, youcould be running small workshops
or partnering with people anddoing offline events.
(05:50):
I did all of that for years.
But you can also really buildyour business online as well,
even if you're trying to do itlocal.
In fact, it's easier to do itlocally because you can run paid
ads, you can have that podcast,that show, that YouTube channel.
I always say you should have anexpert platform, and that's
usually going to include somesort of show or something that
(06:13):
you're doing to really continueto build on your expertise and
let people see what you're allabout.
So now people do vote onlinebefore they ever come and talk
to somebody offline, unless evenif you're referred, people still
check you out.
You really need a very strongonline um brand and presence and
(06:35):
expert platform.
Um, so I would say both of thosethings are are places to start.
Is that helpful?
SPEAKER_00 (06:42):
That's so helpful, yeah.
And that's good to hear thatboth, even locally online is
still valuable.
Because as you're saying, I'mlike, that's true.
SPEAKER_02 (06:49):
You know, people are there.
SPEAKER_00 (06:52):
They are there, yeah.
And they're coming to see yourcontent.
And if you're gonna be leading,you know, if they're if they're
looking for a therapist and theygo to a website and there's
videos of you talking andthere's a podcast of you
talking, you create thatconnection, and it's such a
relationship-based engagementthat forms them up.
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (07:11):
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (07:12):
So that's that's huge.
And I guess reaching too manypeople is a good thing, right?
SPEAKER_02 (07:17):
Yeah, absolutely.
And here's the other thing.
So I I like to expand people'sminds when when I'm talking
because I help people buildbusinesses.
One of the things that you cando is you can partner with
people.
So if you're if you can onlywork with somebody locally, you
still can partner with people inother states.
And there's ways that you canstill work together and build
(07:39):
other revenue streams.
There are other things you cando to build more revenue into
your business versus justtrading your time for money.
And so I I love for people tothink even bigger like what are
other things that I can offer orwho can I partner with?
But not only that, when youestablish yourself as an
authority and an expert andyou're influencing people even
(08:02):
in your local market, you canalso get paid more premium fees.
You could attract even betterpatients if you call them
patients, you could attract evenbetter people to your business.
Um, so all of those things buildyour revenue and they they start
to build your business.
But more than anything, you whenyou build that authority, uh,
(08:25):
there's no question about youbeing the best.
And so you think about thatdoing the heavy lifting for you.
Now you don't have to, when youwhen people come to you, they're
going to be ready.
They're about 80 to 90 percentready to work with you because
they do feel like they know you,they already like you if they've
seen you out there.
(08:46):
You've just warmed them up tothe point that when they are
ready or they know someonethat's ready, you're gonna be
top of mind the first personthey think of.
And that's so easy to do in themarketplace today.
In the old days we had to likerun print ads and it was
expensive.
And now we have all these toolsand opportunities that we can do
that so organically and easy.
SPEAKER_00 (09:09):
Yeah, 100%.
And as you're saying that, I'mthinking I'd heard it once said,
uh, you know, like there's areason that a surgeon makes a
lot more than uh, you know, yourgeneral practitioner.
That's because they arespecialty, they specialize in uh
this one thing, knees orwhatever you're getting surgery
on.
So to specialize in somethingthat's huge.
I mean, obviously, I'm on atherapy business podcast.
(09:31):
So we we coach all kinds ofbusinesses, but we also
specialize in therapy practices.
So that really rings true.
So as somebody's looking atgetting out into their local,
you were you alluded to doingworkshops or partnering with
local people.
Um, what have you seen work?
And I know maybe not even justspecific to therapists, but with
some of your clients or somethings you've tried, what what
(09:51):
works, what have you seen work,or how can maybe somebody get
their foot in the door to dothat?
SPEAKER_02 (09:56):
Yeah, I mean, that's really not hard to do when
you're when you're going to run,say, a local workshop.
So one of the easiest ways is tofind out who else has got your
people.
So first you have to establishthat foundation.
What are you going to be knownfor?
What are you going to be theexpert and the authority for?
Uh, I worked with a therapistand she was able to charge three
(10:17):
times more than other people perhour because she worked with uh
people that had eatingdisorders.
Well, that's very special.
And she partnered with othertherapists that sent those
people to her.
So she didn't even have to do alot of marketing.
She was still was out there andshe was visible, but she got so
(10:38):
much business coming to her.
Her biggest issue was how do Inow grow this and expand my
practice?
Um, and so that's that's kind ofwhat we're talking about.
But if you're going to do, say,a local event, who is it you're
trying to pull into the room toshare expertise and really uh
help them and give them value?
(11:00):
And who would have those people?
So here's an example.
Um you're dealing with kidsmaybe that have some kind of an
issue.
Would it be coaches maybe thatwould have those kids?
Would it be um people sellingservices to those kids that you
(11:21):
could partner with?
So thinking about who who hasthose people and how can how can
you they help you kind of curatethat audience or that those
people in the room with you?
So that's an easy way.
And you can get, I mean, Chamberof Commerces have free rooms and
restaurants.
You can do things withrestaurants.
(11:41):
There's just so many ways to dothat if you're going to do it
offline.
And then online you can do it aswell.
SPEAKER_00 (11:47):
Love it.
So, like an online workshop orwebinar where people can sign up
and attend.
Um, great.
Yeah, and I think even sometimesthe online uh for me personally,
as I admit, some of these thefears that I think a lot of
people have with these is like,what if no one shows up?
Um the online, at least if noone shows up, no one knows.
But yeah, there's just somethinguh about nobody showing up while
(12:09):
you're there live and in person.
But I think partnering withsomeone like you were saying
really could probably helpovercome that.
And I never thought of that.
I would anytime I thought ofdoing a live-in-person workshop,
I was thinking, just me and I'llpromote it and cross my fingers
that some people show up to it.
Uh so I think it's a great ideato partner with someone.
SPEAKER_02 (12:25):
Yeah, strategic partnerships are great.
In fact, I just ran a two-dayonline event uh about a month
ago, and I partnered withsomeone, and she promoted it.
And a lot of the people thatwere there were from her, from
her email list and and from her.
Um, it was a really high-levelevent.
So, and the attendance was 95%show rate for both days.
(12:49):
And so it's just how you'redoing it, how you're putting the
pieces together.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (12:53):
Yeah, that's fantastic.
That's super great.
And uh going back to somethingyou even talked about with uh
partner with other therapists,which again is maybe something
we overlook because I think it'seasy to look at all of them as
competition.
But you're right, if we'respecializing in different
things, uh, that's a huge, hugearea of opportunity of um not
only setting yourself up asvaluable to send somebody else,
(13:16):
you know, I have a connectionthat I think would be really
good for you, or vice versa,business coming in.
And so is that a good place tostart?
Is because as people are like,oh, who should I talk to?
Doctor, like who do I talk to?
Maybe therapists.
Other therapists is a greatstarting point for connection.
SPEAKER_02 (13:32):
Yeah, it's a great way.
Um, in fact, it my client thatI'd worked with that was a
therapist, she did partner withdoctors, she partnered with um
other therapists, they didn'twant to deal with that.
That wasn't something they did.
And so because she specialized,she got a lot of business from
other therapists and from otherpartners.
And but you have to you have todo that because it here's the
(13:55):
one thing if they feel likeyou're competition to them,
they're not going to send youbusiness, right?
But if they feel like you aretruly exceptional at something
and you would do a better jobthan they would, um, they would
recommend you all day long.
And then you can, and this isprobably going to vary state for
state.
Um, you might even be able towork out some sort of a a money
(14:18):
exchange or some sort of a umrevenue opportunity there where
you're partnering.
And again, that's going to bedependent on the state and what
the regulations are.
But in a lot of cases, forexample, realtors can't do that
a lot, but they can give giftcards and they can they can get
around it, right?
So there are ways that you canget a get around things if it's
(14:41):
an important thing for you.
But um, it's it's powerful to dothat, and it really can help you
build your business faster.
SPEAKER_00 (14:48):
Yeah, that's that's great.
And I think so even going backto what you said to start with,
which was figuring out whatyou're gonna be known for.
And then maybe from there it'sseeking out other therapists who
so let's say you're like, I'mgonna be known for uh trauma.
Um, and so you're like, I don'tnot gonna really want to do
marriage counseling or work withkids or any of those.
(15:08):
And so that's a great place tostart looking out is okay, who
are those people that specializein that who maybe don't want to
do trauma?
Or uh I also know there'sdifferent licenses that people
carry.
So if anyone listening has aspecific license, maybe
connecting with people who don'thave that because you're gonna
be they can start sending thosepeople to you because you're
maybe they can't or don't wantto handle them.
So there's a lot of opportunitythere.
SPEAKER_02 (15:30):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (15:30):
Yeah, I think that's fair.
SPEAKER_02 (15:31):
You can even pick a ch a particular market.
So uh let's say you're in a bigcity, for example, and there are
you know hundreds of thousandsof people or maybe millions of
people, and you can even godeeper than just trauma.
Maybe it would be trauma aroundchild abuse, uh, maybe it would
be trauma around, so you can godeeper and really specialize,
(15:54):
and there's gonna be more thanenough people than you could
ever serve in most cases, butyou'll get all that business
because now you are the go-toperson for that, right?
And then you establish that inthe market so everybody knows
you're the go-to person forthat.
And again, it's easier to dothat locally than it is um to do
(16:14):
that on a global stage or on aglobal level, which is what I do
in my business.
So I can tell you it's easier todo it local because I did it.
Um, but yeah, you you but eveneven globally, you can set
yourself apart in the industryin or in your field that you're
in.
SPEAKER_00 (16:30):
Love it, love it, love it.
Yes, I think that's locally.
I could see that because there'sless, just less people um to
that could carry that sameexpertise.
And honestly, very few peopleare actually showcasing
themselves as industry expertson something.
And most people are generalists,they're so desperately trying to
get clients that they're tryingto appeal to everyone, and
(16:52):
that's um spreading them thin,that's making it to where they
can't charge as much as theywant to charge.
Uh, so it sounds like whatyou're saying is by doing this,
you might even not only are yougonna get more clients, but
you're gonna be able to charge alot more for what you're doing.
Are you sick of the overwhelmthat comes with managing the
finances in your practice?
(17:14):
What if you can have a clearpicture of where your money's
going, pay yourself what youtruly deserve, and have a rock
solid game plan to grow yourpractice without the financial
stress?
Well, that's exactly what ourprofit coaching program is
designed to do.
We specialize in helpingpractices like yours achieve
financial clarity so that youcan focus on what you do best,
(17:36):
helping your clients andmanaging your team, while we
help handle all that businessystuff they didn't teach you in
grad school.
Our profit coaching program isenrolling new practices right
now.
We'll walk with you as youcreate a financially healthy and
sustainable practice.
To see if you might be a goodfit, schedule a free
consultation attherapybusinesspod.com.
SPEAKER_02 (18:02):
Yes.
Yeah, and if you think about youhad kind of mentioned uh a
general practitioner, right?
So if you think about a brainsurgeon, um, a brain surgeon has
this instant credibility, thistrust, right?
You wouldn't go shopping aroundfor a brain surgeon.
You would um you would justrealize you would just believe
that they knew what they weredoing if they were a brain
(18:23):
surgeon.
But if your doctor retired, youjust go find another doctor,
right?
So, and and you're only gonnapay them so much for that visit.
And so that's really what we'retalking about here.
It's about really elevating yourbrand and elevating what you're
so great at and what you do thatwould be completely different
from other people in the market.
And it really does make you thego-to.
(18:45):
And people don't question thepricing or the money when you
are specialized, when you arethe brain surgeon.
They you wouldn't go priceshopping for a brain surgeon.
You just right, and so it it'sthe same thing, and it that
might sound like a silly umcomparison, but it really truly
(19:06):
is the same thing when theybelieve you're the only person,
the go-to, they're going to uh,you know, they're gonna pay for
that.
SPEAKER_00 (19:14):
Yeah, and a lot of our therapists are some of them
want to take insurance, but Iwould say majority are feel
stuck taking insurance and theywant to switch over to private
pay where they can dictate theirrates.
Um, there's a lot of fears andstigmas around it, uh fears of
leads dropping out, but alsojust value and will people pay
what I'm asking?
(19:35):
Um, and so it sounds like havingthat specialty can really,
really help bridge that becauseeven the people who maybe they
have insurance like, no, I wantto hire you because you are the
industry expert on this, andit's worth the extra money in my
pocket to get it.
SPEAKER_02 (19:53):
Well, and here's another way to look at it.
And I don't really know whattherapy rates are and things
like that, but here's a way thatyou can think of It if you're
charging, let's say$300 an hour,okay, and or you're selling a
package.
Maybe if you're if you'reselling something and you know
that they're going to need thismany sessions and you're selling
it almost like a package, um,but let's just say you're
(20:15):
charging$300 an hour, and youknow, three people would be a
thousand dollars, or you couldwork with ten people at a
hundred dollars.
I mean, which is not going togrow, right?
Because you're gonna max out,you're going to tap out.
And so that that's really whatwe're talking about.
So just because you don't takeeveryone doesn't mean that your
(20:39):
business can't grow because youyou're gonna max out at some
point anyway.
Um, and so if you think aboutthat, it's a lot less work.
It's it doesn't mean you can'ttake on other people if you want
to do that, or maybe you canoffer um some sort of a
scholarship programming orsomething, you can offer some
sort of help to certain people,but for the most part, you're
(21:02):
still one person.
So it's what what do you want tomake from that practice?
You're building a business ifyou and there's overhead and
there's things that you have topay for in that business.
So you can't think aboutyourself like an hourly
employee.
It doesn't work in a business.
You have to be able to, I alwayssay you need to be able to make
(21:23):
three times what you would as anemployee just to make the same
amount of money.
But here's where the differenceis the opportunity is bigger.
You have all these differentways that you now can make money
and different uh different ideasand revenue streams that you can
add in where you don't have thatwhen you're an employee.
So that you know, that's thedifference in having a business
(21:47):
if you are treating it that way.
SPEAKER_00 (21:50):
Yes, absolutely.
There's so much opportunitythere, but you're right.
It's um as a therapist who'sworking for another practice,
your scalability is only somuch, but when you own your own
business, you got to find a wayto uh really stretch out because
at some point your capacity isgonna get so thin that you're
like, I have other stuff to dobesides just meeting with
(22:11):
clients.
I have marketing and I have torun the business, do the
finances.
And uh so yeah, the the lesspeople I'm seeing, I need to
kind of almost get as as tackyas it sounds in this
circumstance, more bang for mybuck on each of these clients.
Um, just you need to get morepremium clients and pass off the
ones who maybe, if they needinsurance, you know, there's
other therapists that you canrefer to.
(22:32):
Um, I think that's that could bethe other referral partner piece
of it.
SPEAKER_02 (22:36):
But it is hard to do this if you don't do the other
things we've talked about.
If you're not the specialist, ifyou haven't, you you really
don't stand out in your market.
It it's really hard to do that.
It's hard to justify the prices,it's hard to justify the
increase.
So those it's not just onepiece, oh, raise your prices,
right?
It's all of these things thatbuild a more powerful, robust
(22:59):
practice.
And and by the way, that clientthat I was talking about, I
mean, she's expanded, she's putin massage therapy and she's put
in all these other revenuestreams, but because she was
making the money in herpractice, she had the funds and
she was able to do a lot ofother things.
And that's really what we'retalking about.
So the opportunity is bigger tomake more money.
(23:21):
If you're only thinking about itlike a job, why not just work
for someone?
I mean, why the opportun, youknow, the whole reason people
want to be in business is theopportunity to make more money,
better their life, um, be ableto set their hours, all of those
things.
And but if you're not buildingin the right way, none of those
(23:43):
things are gonna happen, you'regonna have more headache for
less.
SPEAKER_00 (23:46):
Yeah, completely, completely agree.
So establishing your area ofexpertise, um, then starting to
leverage that.
So we talked about getting, youknow, with other network
partners or referral partnersand uh making that yourself
known in that realm.
I assume uh updating yourwebsite and making sure that
it's targeted to that specificum, yes.
So when somebody is like wetalked about, maybe it's
(24:09):
childhood trauma is what you'reum focusing on.
And so that's what the messagingon your website is speaking to.
When somebody's ready to getthemselves out there and do
public speaking, I know wetalked about doing like
workshops.
Well, do you do you work withclients a lot, or I assume you
recommend, but getting likemaybe speaking at conferences or
speaking at other things thatpeople have.
SPEAKER_02 (24:29):
Absolutely, all that.
Yes.
I say step into the expertspotlight, speak, sell, and
scale.
So that's sort of um, yeah.
So when you're out there, uhgoing, you know, getting uh in
front of the right audiencespeaking at conferences can be
huge.
Uh let's say you want to um domental health or mental wellness
(24:51):
in a corporate environment.
You need you're gonna have toget out there and speak, right?
You're going to have to be seenand heard.
Um, so it really all of this ispart of a marketing strategy
that's going to fit what you'retrying to accomplish.
And there's no one size fits allhere.
Uh when I work with my clients,we figure out what's going to be
the best path for them.
(25:11):
And so they're not just outthere trying to do all this
stuff and making themselvescrazy.
That's not the right way.
You need a great strategy behindwhat you're doing.
But yes, absolutely.
Speaking, getting on stages, butyou have to be in front of the
people that you could eitherpartner with and they could
refer business to you, or peoplethat um are, you know, potential
(25:36):
patients or or clients, whateveryou want to call them.
SPEAKER_00 (25:39):
Okay, that's great to know.
That's a good point because Idon't know.
They could be out there, but Iwas like, I don't know how many
uh people go to conferences justfor um uh trauma or whatever it
is they're they're doing, butyou know, maybe it's the
referral you're going to umconferences where you're right,
other network partners thatmaybe you can work with that you
can connect with.
Um awesome.
(26:00):
And so I think it's great.
You're talking about all theseideas, but you like you said,
there's got to be a strategybehind it because I think that's
where a lot of people get stuck.
Um, so when somebody comes toyou to work with you, uh, what
does that look like?
Tell me about how you helpclients kind of create that
strategy.
SPEAKER_02 (26:15):
Yeah, the first thing we want to do is figure
out what do you want thisbusiness to be for you?
How much money do you want tomake?
Um, you know, so I I like tohelp people make a
million-dollar leap.
How can you make amillion-dollar leap?
And so that's going to come downto first uh your offer creation,
like what are the packages orthe offers that you have put
(26:35):
together that you're selling?
How are you going to beestablished in the market?
What is that positioning?
How are you gonna be differentfrom your competition?
So we look at all thosefoundational pieces and we do
all of that before we startmarketing because you can't
market with the right strategyuntil those basic things get in
place.
What are you selling?
Are your packages going to getyou to the money that you want?
(26:58):
Uh, for example, I mentionedthe, you know, if you want to
make a thousand dollars workingwith 10 people, okay, how many,
what is your capacity?
We have to look at that, right?
And so what would be this themodel of your business that
could get you to the revenuethat you want?
So all of that has to happenfirst and and getting really
(27:19):
dialed in on that specialty andwhat that looks like.
Then I help people put reallywhat I call the the influence
strategy in place and thevisibility strategy in place.
Okay, you need to do what I callas high impact marketing.
And I already mentioned it.
Write a book, do a show, be outthere, be visible, speak on
(27:41):
stages, run workshops virtually,offline, all of that starts
building out your visibility andit also raises your authority
and establishes you in themarket as the go-to and as the
expert for what it is you do.
So that becomes then the nextpiece.
And then obviously you have tobe able to close sales, and then
what do you do beyond that?
(28:02):
How can you grow that thingbeyond you?
What are the ways that you cancontinue so that you have a real
business and not just a job foryourself?
So many people create a job forthemselves, but they don't.
But you're in business.
If you if you're in business,you've got opportunity to build
your wealth and impact morepeople.
And so you want to the firstthing is you really want to just
(28:24):
expand your mind to what ispossible.
SPEAKER_00 (28:27):
Yeah, that's amazing.
And I know a lot of people thatresonates.
Um, I know that firsthand withsome of my clients who've who've
really been struggling to getthemselves out there as experts
and industry experts and umfinding these opportunities.
And so I know there's got to bepeople listening who are hearing
this is what I am looking for.
I need help because I feeloverwhelmed with it all.
(28:47):
So, how can somebody get incontact with you if they're
saying, you know, I want, Iwant, I want her to help me do
all this?
SPEAKER_02 (28:55):
Yes.
So you can uh book a call withme at acarton.com and you can
also follow me on social.
I have a big YouTube channel,but you can go to my website at
annlcarton.com if you want tojust check things out and um
just learn a little bit more.
But yeah, book a call if you'reinterested in doing that.
SPEAKER_00 (29:17):
Yes, I recommend everyone does.
Um I think that's a great,great, it's so important.
And I think that's probablysomething a lot of people are
lacking.
And so we'll put all those linksin the show notes below.
Um and it's I've learned I tooka whole page of notes here.
I learned a lot already formyself.
SPEAKER_01 (29:33):
Oh, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (29:34):
I hope I know a lot of people listening are gonna
take away a lot.
And so uh I'm grateful for you.
And um also we'll put a link touh your books out there as well,
right?
So we'll put a link to that inthe show notes.
SPEAKER_02 (29:45):
Yes, yeah, and I actually have a new one coming
out probably this week.
It's gonna be called Be the OneThey Choose.
And it's going to go into a lotof these, it's it's the new uh
rules for standing out andwinning the business.
So it's going to go into a lotof these things that I already
talk about.
SPEAKER_00 (30:04):
Fantastic.
I'll link uh I'll link those inthe show notes as well so that
people can find those and readthose as well.
But um, thank you so much forbeing here.
I've learned a lot and I'm justgrateful for you.
SPEAKER_02 (30:15):
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00 (30:18):
Thanks for joining us on the Therapy Business
Podcast.
Be sure to subscribe, leave areview, and share it with a
practice owner that you mayknow.
If your practice needs helpgetting organized with finances
or just growing your practice,head to therapybusinesspod dot
com to learn how we can helpyou.
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