Episode #783: Private Practice While Grieving

Summary

Abundant Practice Podcast – Episode #783: Private Practice While Grieving

Host: Allison Puryear
Guest: Zach (Therapist)
Release Date: August 12, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the realities of running a private therapy practice during a time of personal grief. Host Allison Puryear offers strategic and compassionate guidance to guest Zach, who is navigating the aftermath of losing his father while maintaining and growing his private practice. The discussion covers balancing personal capacity with professional ambition, adjusting business practices during times of low energy, managing marketing and networking efforts, and allowing oneself to grieve.

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Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Intersection of Grief and Private Practice

• Zach’s Journey: Zach openly shares his recent experience of losing his father and how that overlaps with his work as a therapist specializing in grief and trauma.

  • “My father died about six, eight months ago…a lot of my work and my background is also kind of a parallel process with a lot of my clients around that, around death and dying, grief, loss, and a lot of trauma.” (03:01)

• Current Struggles: Zach expresses difficulty finding his footing again in his practice, especially in terms of motivation and emotional bandwidth.

  • “I’ve been struggling as of late to kind of find my, you know, harbor, like, safe harbor in terms of my practice and like, what I really want to push myself forward from here.” (03:44)

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2. Assessing Ease vs. Challenge in Practice During Difficult Times

• What Feels Easy: Zach finds himself most in flow when actively doing therapy with clients dealing with traumatic grief—his clinical niche.

  • “When I’m doing the work in my niche, that feels like really easy and in a flow place…helping people through traumatic grief…that’s been really, really easy for me to kind of just get in there.” (04:29)

• What’s Challenging: The energy required to market and bring in new clients, and to follow through on tasks like discovery calls, feels much more strenuous.

  • “Trying to network with other therapists seems really easy to me. But all the other marketing seems really hard.” (05:36)

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3. Capacity, Fullness, and Financial Pressure

• Current Caseload: Zach’s practice is about 75% full.

  • “I would say I’m about 75% full.” (05:57)

• Financial Motivation vs. Internal Pressure: Zach acknowledges a desire for financial breathing room and runway, but admits the urge to fill his practice isn’t driven purely by ego.

  • “I get a lot of, like, meaning, and my ego gets fueled from landing my ideal clients. I think mostly it’s like that financial kind of like, runway is what I’m like, yeah.” (06:28)

• Permission Not to Overextend: Allison reminds Zach not to push himself needlessly during a time of grief, especially when he’s not in crisis financially.

  • “You’re still deeply in the grieving process…I don’t know how much pushing of yourself you really need to be doing right now, unless it’s really necessary.” (23:25)
  • Memorable Quote:
    “75% is full right now. And you will have capacity and you will have energy to do more later, but right now it might not make sense for you to. And so that’s why you don’t.” (25:05)

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4. Raising Rates as a Growth Lever

• Discussion on Rate Increases: Zach considers increasing his rates for individuals from $200 to $250 and for EMDR sessions similarly, noting minimal attrition after the last increase.

  • “Right now, I’m at 200 for individual, and I’m doing about 250 for EMDR. So I think for me, increasing it 50, 50 for each…and then going up from there, I think would really give me that space.” (07:26)

• Allison’s Guidance: If Zach decides to increase rates, he can do so incrementally and only when it feels right, especially since minimal drop-off is expected at higher tiers in this market.

  • “Usually when you’re in that 200 plus range, $50 isn’t make or break for people. Because these are folks who can comfortably—whether it’s comfortable or not—they are prioritizing 200. And often, if you can prioritize 200, you can prioritize 250, 250 to 300.” (08:25)

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5. Marketing and Client Acquisition

• Networking Over Marketing: Zach enjoys and excels at networking with other clinicians but finds traditional marketing taxing.

  • “I would say going into the holidays, I was meeting with like two people a week…right now, about once a week.” (09:07)

• Allison’s Suggestion: Focus on what feels easiest during low-capacity periods—networking with clinicians who actively refer, especially ones he enjoys connecting with.

  • “I would first kind of reach out to those people that have sent you referrals in the past, and only the people you like.” (09:18)

• Discovery Call Process & No-Shows: Increased recent no-shows in discovery calls are noted, but overall website booking remains robust.

  • “I think recently I’ve had six or seven discovery calls. I’d say maybe three…didn’t show.” (13:25)

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6. Navigating AI, SEO, and Practice Listings

• The Role of AI in Referrals: Allison shares that AI-driven referrals (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude) are becoming increasingly effective for matching clients to highly specialized therapists, which may soon outpace traditional directory SEO.

  • “Claude or ChatGPT would be like, well, this is actually traumatic grief. And I think you should probably work with somebody who specializes in traumatic grief. Here are some referrals.” (15:19)

• Action Step: Allison encourages Zach (and listeners) to attend upcoming training on optimizing AI referrals as a more streamlined alternative to SEO blogging.

  • “It’s really…a lot easier than SEO is. In terms of, like, upkeep. You don’t have to write 1 billion blogs…” (16:04)

• Google My Business Challenges: Zach describes a snag in updating his practice address on Google, with Google’s video verification posing a barrier in therapy suite settings. Allison suggests trying to create a second location and then phasing out the old listing after approval.

  • “Can you create a second location essentially?...Then cancel the first one once that second location is approved.” (18:20)

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7. Navigating Community and Avoiding Burnout

• Therapist Communities: Both agree that many Facebook groups for therapists are anxiety-driven and not helpful for meaningful support or referrals during times of sector-wide uncertainty about venture capital disruptors.

  • “The vast majority of [Facebook groups] are just people freaking out. And that’s not helping anybody…They tend to make people spiral.” (21:12)

• Power of Relationships: In-person networking and authentic peer relationships will remain the most resilient referral mechanism—even as VC and AI disrupt other channels.

  • Memorable Quote:
    “VC is—they can’t beat us on relationships. They can beat us on ad spend and SEO and all of it…and they will beat us eventually on AI…But they can’t beat our relationships. And that’s where our best referrals end up coming from anyway.” (22:14)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Balancing Grief and Practice:
  “I also know my body is telling me, like, nope, you—you can’t. Unlike maybe in past years, like, I’m really leaning in and listening to that and, like, noting, like, I just. There’s a day where I don’t want to network or if I’m, you know, behind on certain things, I’m giving myself grace to do that.” (23:32) – Zach

• On Granting Permission to Step Back:
  “Why don’t we just ignore everything I said the previous 24 minutes and, please, like, just give yourself, like, 75% is full. This is full right now. And you will have capacity and you will have energy to do more later, but right now it might not make sense for you to. And so that’s why you don’t.” (25:05) – Allison

• On Therapist Self-Care:
  “Therapist taking their own advice.” (25:26) – Zach

• On Future Growth Steps:
  “When the time does come for me to, let’s say, turn on the green light…Anything else you can think of that maybe I’m missing or have missed out?” (27:01) – Zach
  “I’d double down on networking. I think AI is a great option…But yeah, I would just double down on what’s easy and what you like first.” (27:05) – Allison

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:01 – 04:13: Zach introduces his recent loss and desire for feedback.
• 04:29 – 05:54: Zach and Allison discuss which parts of the work feel hardest and easiest during grief.
• 06:07 – 08:19: Exploring caseload fullness, financial needs, and raising rates.
• 09:07 – 10:05: Networking frequency and strategies.
• 11:11 – 14:13: Discovery calls, client acquisition channels, and recent no-shows.
• 15:19 – 16:15: Shifting from SEO to AI-driven client matching.
• 16:51 – 19:38: Troubleshooting Google My Business listings for therapists in sublease/shared office settings.
• 20:42 – 22:14: The shifting landscape of therapist networking groups; maintaining supportive relationships.
• 23:32 – 25:26: Balancing capacity with ambition and granting self-permission to slow down during grief.
• 27:01 – 27:35: Future-focused growth recommendations and encouragement.

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Conclusion

The episode is a candid exploration of maintaining a private practice while dealing with loss. Allison reminds Zach—and all listening therapists—that self-compassion, sustainability, and permission to step back are vital, especially during periods of grief. Rather than pushing for constant maximal growth, therapists can honor their current capacity and trust their relationships and expertise to sustain their practices until the time is right for further expansion.

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If you’re navigating grief or personal upheaval alongside your practice, you’re not alone. This episode is a reminder to honor your limits, nurture your connections, and give yourself grace. 75% can be full right now.

Transcript

[A]

Foreign. Hi, welcome to the Abundant Practice Podcast. I'm Alison from Abundance Practice Building. I have a nearly diagnosable obsession with helping therapists build sustainable, joy filled private practices, just like I've done for tens of thousands of therapists across the world. I'm excited to help you too. If you want to fill your practice with ideal clients, we have loads of free resources and paid support. Go to abundance practice building.com Links all right, onto the show so I've talked about therapy notes on here for years. I could talk about the features and the benefits in my sleep. But there are a couple things I want you to know about therapy notes that doesn't typically make it into an ad script. First is that they actually care if you like their platform. They don't only make themselves available on the phone to troubleshoot so you don't pull your hair out when you get stuck. They also take member suggestions and implement those that there's client demand for, like Therapy Search, an included listing service that helps clients find you internal and external secure messaging Clinical outcome measures to keep an eye on how your clients are progressing. A super smooth super bill process Real time eligibility to check on your client's insurance. In my conversations with the employees there at all levels, they all really believe in their product and they want you to love it too. Second, they are proudly independently owned. Why should you care about that? Because as soon as venture capital becomes involved, the focus shifts from making customers happy to making investors happy. Prices go way up. Innovation plateaus. Making more money with as little output as possible becomes the number one focus. With over 100,000 therapists using their platform, they've been able to stay incredibly successful and they don't have to sacrifice your experience to stay there. You can try two months [e-mail] with the coupon code. Abundant Therapists whose practices are full Is this actually the practice you want? If you're secretly stuck, you're cramming in evening sessions, glued to insurance panels, unable to raise rates. Limitless practice is your way out. Over 12 weeks, you'll make the changes you've been thinking about making for months so that you can work fewer hours while making more money. You'll design a schedule that actually fits your life and you'll say yes to only the clients you love. Together, we'll release you from your golden handcuffs. We're capping the cohort at 10 people because I'm personally running every individual call, every group call, and every accountability check in. People on the waitlist will get first dibs on those Spots, and then the opportunity to sign up will go out to the rest of my audience. So join the wait list. Now. I'm going to put the link in the show notes, and I look forward to helping you get your practice exactly where you want it. Hey, Zach. How you doing?

[B]

Hey, Alison. Good. Good to see you.

[A]

You too. What would be helpful today?

[B]

Man, I. I guess since we last met a couple years ago, like, so much has happened and I guess I would. I would love to get your feedback on, like, when kind of like life happens and you're trying to like, reorient and like, find. Find your grounding in practice again. A little. Little snapshot. I'm. I'm pretty open about it. My. My father died about six, eight months ago. And, you know, a lot of my work and my background is also kind of a parallel process with a lot of my clients around that, around death and dying, grief, loss, and a lot of trauma.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So I've been struggling as of late to kind of find my, you know, harbor, like, safe harbor in terms of my practice and like, what I really want to push myself forward from here. And I'm. I just kind of would love to, like, maybe just get some feedback or maybe brainstorm couple of ideas. I don't. I don't know if that's. That's all right.

[A]

Yeah, of course. And I'm so sorry about your dad. I know. Like. Yeah. Yeah. So is there anything about your practice that feels easy right now?

[B]

Yes. Question mark. What. What feels easy is when I'm doing the work and doing the work in my niche like that, that feels like really easy and in a flow place, which that right now is like really helping people through traumatic grief when they can't get into the grieving process and they're just in that grief overwhelm. So. Yeah, when I've been working with clients around that, it's been really, really easy for me to kind of just get in there. But it's a lot of the process of getting into that space that I. I've been struggling. I've made, I'd say, a decent amount of changes in my practice over the last maybe year, year and a half. I started seeing people in person part time in my practice. I run a sublease, an office space. And that seems to be great. Like the location seems to be like, accessible to a lot of the people that I'm trying to target.

[A]

Mm.

[B]

And weirdly enough, like, trying to, like trying to network with other therapists seems really easy to me. But all the other Marketing seems really hard.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

So, yeah, the two things that say that seem to be, like, easy for me right now.

[A]

And where are you with fullness with your practice?

[B]

I would say I'm about 75% full.

[A]

Okay. And does there feel like there's pressure to get full, or can you coast at 75 for a minute?

[B]

Realistically, I could coast, but there's that. There is that feeling of, like, I do feel like I need to get full.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So is that more ambition talking? Is that more ego talking? Is that, like, it'd be nice to spend money on fun things, too? Like, what's the. The push part?

[B]

I think it's. I think it is that Runway to have a little bit of breathing room, kind of financially less. Less so ego. Because I feel like when I have landed, like, my ideal clients, like, I get a lot of, like, meaning, and my ego gets fueled from that. So I don't think it's that. I think there's another side of me that is, like, I have all these ideas of what I want to do with my practice, but I also know, kind of, like, in the last few months, I've been revisiting some of the stuff in the abundance party, and I'm like, if I just increase my rate and focus on the marketing, I know that will kind of, like, help, you know, flex that part. But I think mostly it's like that financial kind of like, Runway is what

[A]

I'm like, yeah, yeah, we think about increasing your rate. How much do you imagine increasing it? Like, what would give you that breathing room?

[B]

There's what I know versus, like, what that. Like, that feeling of justifying that rate. Right Now, I'm at 200 for individual, and I'm doing about 250 for EMDR. So I think for me, increasing it 50, 50 for each, and then going up from there, I think would really give me in that space. I just increased my prices, like, about six months ago to the 200 range. So there's that part of me that is like, I just did this, but I know, like, times are what they are. So.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Did people leave when you increased your rate?

[B]

I think one person left. Yeah. And I think it was. They're just like, I'm gonna use insurance. And I'm like, I respect that. So, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

So I asked these questions just to keep that in the conversation, not because I'm saying that's what you should do.

[B]

Right.

[A]

There's also the argument of get full first, then raise your rates. Then if people fall off which usually when you're in that 200 plus range, $50 isn't make or break for people, because these are folks who can comfortably. Usually, whether it's comfortable or not, they are prioritizing 200. And often, if you can prioritize 200, you can prioritize 250, 250 to 300. You know, it's different than going from 100 to 150.

[B]

Right, right.

[A]

So let's keep that as kind of an option on a shelf. If you were to network some more, which is the easiest thing for you right now, it sounds like from a marketing perspective, like, how often are you meeting with somebody, say, to network?

[B]

I would say going into the holidays, I was meeting with like two people a week, just even just, you know, like virtual coffees. And right now I'm about once. Once a week.

[A]

Okay. So maybe if you went back up to twice a week and one of those each week was somebody you've already met with, so you're really like forming and nurturing that relationship. And that way it's not also like new, new, new, new, new all the time. Right, Right. So it's not the one night stands. It's those like. And then you're staying top of mind. I would first kind of reach out to those people that have sent you referrals in the past, and only the people you like. That's another thing I want to always stress is like, you do not have to reach out to somebody that you're like, oh, God, yeah, the easy connection people.

[B]

Sure, sure.

[A]

I mean, you work with a niche that most of us don't touch.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So that's like, people are gonna be like, this person needs Zach, like, quick get them to him, you know?

[B]

Right.

[A]

And since the work itself is feeding you figuratively and literally, I think that there's something to seeing more clients might be healing for you right now.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You'd said the work up to is, do you. By that, did you. Is the hard part by that, did you mean getting yourself in the place where you're like, okay, okay, I'm doing therapy right now, or is that getting more clients? What did you mean by that?

[B]

More so they're getting the more clients piece? You know, kind of like all the life stuff leading up to me, like stepping into the therapy room. That's. That's fine. It's more so of, you know, having those discovery calls and getting, getting the clients in the door, not getting frustrated when someone doesn't show up for a discovery call and take. Not taking it Personally. Right. I think I've. It's more so just that than the numbers and just people getting through.

[A]

Yeah. And what's your process for these discovery calls? Do they call and make an appointment? Do they book them through your website? How do you usually get those?

[B]

I've been experimenting with that lately. It seems like people have been. I've been using calendly through my website, and that seems to be the place that people have been kind of booking the most. And I think partially some of that comes through, like people getting my website and because I'm trying to. Trying to do better by tracking the SEO and everything and how everyone's clicking through my website, and it seems like someone will get my website. They'll then use that, then they'll land on my booking page and then book the discovery call.

[A]

Awesome.

[B]

I do need to be better about updating those discovery call times, but for the most part, that's where, like, people are finding me. I think I, like, did some updating on my site today. I don't know, maybe October, November, I had a spurt where I'm like, I'm gonna update it, and nothing came through. But the beginning of the year, kind of classic. I had, like, one or two people reach out through site today, but nothing. So it's all. It's all through my website. I'd say, like, maybe 30% of the time, they direct email me, and that's probably because one of those regular referral sources, therapists, have kind of given my information.

[A]

Got it. But people are not calling you.

[B]

Not now. They. I would say they used to. I mean, like, probably Covid and post Covid two years, but I. I don't think I've had someone call me in probably six to eight months. Like, it's all through email or website.

[A]

Yeah. I feel like as our clients are. Are aging. Right. Like the. As the millennial. The people who didn't get on the phone a lot. Like, I lived on the phone as a kid, so I'm really comfortable on the phone. But, like, yeah, the adults these days don't like the phone so much. Yeah. Okay, so it sounds like your website is really doing its job. Like, it's compelling people to book. What percentage of those people. This is gonna be super rough, but, like, what rough percentage would you say are showing up to those calls?

[B]

Up until recently, I would say, like, pretty high. Like, probably like 80 were showing up to those calls.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

But I. I think recently I've had six or seven discovery calls. I'd say maybe three. Like, Didn't. And then I'd, like, follow up, and then I'd hear from them a week later, and they're like, oh, can you, you know, can we still buck a time? And I'm like, sure. And then it's just kind of like that, you know, at that dance to try and get them on a call again. So I'd say like three out of six, three out of seven didn't show.

[A]

Okay. Which is not ideal, but.

[B]

Right. And it's. And it's definitely unusual because I was like, I wasn't used to that. Like, typically when people would put the time, they would show up, you know.

[A]

Yeah. Okay. So then the whole Psychology Today thing we should also address because it is not really a driver for referrals the way it used to be with all the venture capital up in there. Tomorrow in the party we have, Amber Lyda is doing a deeper training on the AI being found on AI. So if you can't show up live, definitely watch the training recording, because I really think that's going to be a pretty easy, effective way to get folks in the door. Simply. I don't know if you listen to the podcast or not.

[B]

I do.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, AI just gets so much more information from its users, so it's able to better direct people. And so whereas, like, SEO might just send people to random therapists who say they work with grief. Claude or ChatGPT would be like, well, this is actually traumatic grief. And I think you should probably work with somebody who specializes. And traumatic grief. Here are some referrals.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So I think that that would be a good in for you. That isn't a super heavy lift that doesn't take ongoing. Incredible consistency in the way that, like, social media or something like that might.

[B]

Sure, sure, sure. And so, like, to start that, are you recommending, like, listen to the thing tomorrow or is there, like, a precursor podcast to listen to?

[A]

So we did a podcast. We recorded it, like, last month, but I think it came out last week.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

You don't have to listen to it before the training. The training is going to go far more in depth, so I might skip the podcast and hop to the training because we'll do a brief review of everything we discussed and she has a freebie also for us, so grab that. But it's really. It's a lot easier than SEO is. It's in terms of, like, upkeep. You don't have to write 1 billion blogs, that kind of thing.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay, cool. I'll have to check that Out. This is really random, man. I don't know if, if you've come across this because I know you've had multi state practices and whatnot. So about a year ago, is that right? But I can't keep track of time. About a year ago I was subleasing from a different therapist and at the time I was kind of doing it on trial. I did it for about three, four months and I was using their address. It was on my website. It was on site today. And then I had created Google, my business profile.

[A]

Mm.

[B]

Since then therapist moved to a different location. I stopped until I got this new, this new location that I'm at now. But in the process, Google, my business won't let me change my address. And I've like, I'm like jumping through like their random hoops to be like, oh, you need to do this video and everything. And I like so many literally do the video and they deny it. And I'm wondering your thoughts on, because of like SEO and search and everything. What about canceling that original Google my business profile and starting a new one? Like thoughts on that? I'm curious.

[A]

Yeah, I mean the video part is the trickiest thing. So for anybody who's listening who's like, what are you talking about? Basically Google is like, you can no longer act like you are in one place when you are virtual from your house. You need to show us your name on a sign. You've got to like walk us through and like basically prove proof.

[B]

Proof.

[A]

Which is interesting. And people try all sorts of weird workarounds and they sometimes work. But the fact that like you legit have it and it's not working, I might, I don't know how Google, my business long term interacts with your Google. I mean I know it impacts how good your SEO is. So I wouldn't want to like ding your SEO. I wonder if, can you create a second location essentially?

[B]

I could try. I haven't thought about that.

[A]

That might be an option. And then cancel the first one once that second location is approved.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Did they give you a reason why they didn't accept your video?

[B]

I'd have to find was something really arbitrary. Like I had my phone in one hand and I had an iPad like trying to do make sure that I was doing it right. And I like had all the, all the criteria that they had mentioned. So I think because my name wasn't on one of the signs they, they like reject. They rejected it. And because it's like, it's one of those like, you know, Shared sublease spaces. You know, you. You don't necessarily. It's like a therapy suite. So it's like, it gives one. And I. I can't necessarily put my name on it unless I print up a sign and put that on top, you know, put it over somehow.

[A]

But yeah, which maybe, maybe temporarily. I've had people have like, professional signs, like made by sign makers so that they could hang it up for the video and then take it down.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

So. Because they were in a similar situation where it's like, there's no way to prove this, but, like, my one on the one I printed out didn't work. So. Yeah.

[B]

Okay. I'll have to try the second location and see if that. See if that works. I know there's like all the AI search and all of that, and I've been following a lot of the stuff that you've been posting around it. I've just been noticing so much saturation, you know, within some of the local groups that I'm a part of. And it's like everyone's doing like a Marketing Monday type situation whether. And of course, like, it's very hard to see anything through there. But, you know, do things like Facebook networking groups, email listservs. I know things constantly are changing, and I'm sure it's going to change again with AI. But is there anything that you're seeing coming down the pipeline that might be like, oh, this might be kind of like a cool new way to get a collective group of people to network?

[A]

I don't think it's the Facebook. Any Facebook group. I mean, aside from the party Facebook group, the vast majority of them are just people freaking out. And that's not helping anybody. No, of course I agree with you. It's interesting because I've always been like, there's no such thing as saturation. But what we're seeing with VC sure feels like it. What I'm seeing, though, is the people who are freaking out and they're not doing much either. They're spending a lot more energy freaking out than they are marketing. And the people who are consistently marketing, they're still getting clients. So I would actually aside from the party group, because that one stays pretty positive. I wouldn't look at any of the Facebook groups for therapists at all right now because they tend to make people spiral.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

And we don't need that listservs feel pretty old school. What I see the thing that I think is gonna be most important are our personal relationships. So, like, if you're friends with a lot of therapists or psych prescribers or people that you think would be great to get together, then a more informal, hey, let's all go to this brewery and just hang out. We have that here in Asheville. It's called not working. And it's just therapists getting together at a brewery and hanging out and it's really chill and people aren't like, there's not an elevator pitch, you know, like, people are just hanging out together. And yeah, work comes up because we all know we're all therapists even if we don't know each other. And having a good group of people with a good vibe I think is going to be a lot more impactful and a much better time. Because VC is they can't beat us on relationships. They can beat us on ad spend and SEO and all of it and they will beat us eventually on AI. Like, we have an upper hand right now, but ultimately they will long term, but they can't beat our relationships. And that's where our best referrals end up coming from anyway.

[B]

Gotcha. That makes sense. And honestly, like, it's been those direct one to one kind of connections that I've been getting the most referrals and allowing me also to refer out like when I need to too. So.

[A]

Yeah. And I want to go back to my question, what makes you want to make more or be more full? And I totally get and totally agree that like when you have more money, there's more wiggle room. It feels, there's more security. It feels, it just feels better. And you're still deeply in the grieving process.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I don't know how much pushing of yourself you really need to be doing right now, unless it's really necessary.

[B]

Thank you for mentioning that because that's the other side of this is like my limited capacity, you know, Like I, Yeah, in some cases, like I. A lot of my friends are therapists. So like when we get together, we're, you know, they're obviously checking in with me, but they're also just letting me show up and be a human. And I think that's the thing that I've been wrestling with is like, where is my capacity to do. Just to do the work? And, and that's why, like, I'm. When you ask me like, you know, is it, is it financially or is it ego? Is it all that? I think part, you know, I come back to it, it's like, maybe part of it is ego for me to be able to kind of be okay. As I'm going through this process, but I also know my body is telling me, like, nope, you. You can't. Unlike maybe in. In past years, like, I'm really leaning in and listening to that and, like, noting, like, I just. There's a day where I don't want to network or if I'm, you know, behind on certain things, I'm giving myself grace to do that. So a little bit further when I'm trying to get people in the door, you know.

[A]

Yeah. And right now, you don't have to.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Like, if you were like, I don't know how I'm going to be able to pay, you know, my mortgage or my car note, then I'd be like, okay, let's. It sucks, but, yeah, you need to.

[B]

Right.

[A]

But, like, why don't we just ignore everything I said the previous 24 minutes and please, like, just give yourself, like, 75% is full. This is full right now. And you will have capacity and you will have energy to do more later, but right now it might not make sense for you to. And so that's why you don't.

[B]

Yeah. Okay. Therapist taking their own advice. Yeah,

[A]

sorry.

[B]

No, it's good. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. I think that's the thing that, you know, not only I need it, but I also think, like, so many therapists who probably also, you know, whether it's the podcast or the program, like, they, you know, we need those reminders, too, of, like, 75 is full for now.

[A]

Mm. And there are times when you do need 100. You know, financially, like I said, I think about, like, after Hurricane Helene, all the therapists here, like, working the same week because they needed to pay their rent or their mortgage, you know, and that sucked. And it was necessary because defaulting would feel even worse. So. But you're in a position where you can pay your bills and you can take some of that space that you were giving to clients or to networking or to marketing and give that energy to yourself that you were spending elsewhere. And. Yeah. To the memory of your dad.

[B]

Thank you. Thank you. Part of that was just getting the permission to do that.

[A]

Granted.

[B]

Thank you. I appreciate it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Well, when it. When the time does come for me to, let's say, turn on the green light, so to speak. Anything else you can think of that maybe I'm missing or have missed out?

[A]

I mean, you've gotten 75% full right now during a hard time with networking. It's been working really well for you. You're good at it. I'd double down on networking. I think AI is a great option. It won't be too late by the time you're ready. We're years away from VC interrupting that for us. You're good. But yeah, I would just double down on what's easy and what you like first will do. Awesome. Sounds good.

[B]

Thank you so much, Allison. I appreciate it. Thanks, Zach. You take care.

[A]

Take care. Bye. If you're ready for a much easier practice, therapy notes is the way to go. Go to therapynotes.com and use the promo code abundant for two months free. If you're listening, you probably need some support building your practice. If you're a super newbie, grab our free checklist using the link in the show notes. I'd love for you to follow rate and review, but I. But I really want you to share this episode with a therapist friend. Let's help all our colleagues build what they want.