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Private Practice Startup Podcast
Episode 131: How Your Business is Suffering by Not Being in a Mastermind
00:30:43
Alison Pidgeon
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- [00:03]
A
Welcome to the Private Practice Startup where we inspire you from startup to mastery. We chat with entrepreneurs, experts in the mental health and business arenas, and successful private practitioners to give you the tools needed to make your dream practice a reality. Visit theprivatepracticestartup.com for awesome resources, free trainings, and so much more. Here are your hosts, Dr. Kate Campbell and Katie Lemieux.
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B
Hey everybody. Welcome to another episode of the Private Practice Startup podcast. So I am flying solo today without.
- [00:34]
A
Kate, but we have a really awesome.
- [00:36]
B
Guest with us today and I will share with you just in a minute. If you didn't check out last week's show, you are going to want to do that for sure. We talked to Beth Medina on avoidance to action with brain spotting, so you'll definitely want to check this out. But before we dive into the show, I just want to let you guys know we're doing something really cool. We're actually doing a contest for the month of April. So all of our podcasts that are released in April, what you're going to do, you are going to go over to our website, private practices startup.com you're going to head over to the Resources tab and you're going to look for the free HIPAA download. Go ahead and download the free HIPAA which is our attorney Approved Private Practice HIPAA form. And each week in the month of April, April 2019. So in case you're listening to this podcast in 2020, so April 2020 19, we're going to choose one person who actually downloaded the HIPAA of that week and you guys are going to get a peak package of paperwork for free. So that is our complete 20 plus forms of all of our attorney approved private practice paperwork. So don't miss out on that. Make sure you head over to the Resources tab and do that. So our guest today is Allison Pigeon. She is the CEO of Move Forward Counseling, Move Forward Virtual Assistant and Business consultant. And we're going to be talking today about how your business is suffering by being in a mastermind. I know, I'm excited about this because we haven't had a topic yet on masterminding and I'm really excited that Alison is going to go ahead and share this with us. So just a little bit about Allison. Alison is a therapist and has a group practice with 10 providers. She's also, like I said, the CEO of Move Forward Virtual Assistants, which is a VA which provides VA services for therapy practice. In addition, she works as a business consultant for our friend Joe Sanock at Practice of the Practice and when she's not building businesses and helping other therapists build theirs, she's chasing two of her children and soon it will be three. They're welcoming a baby boy this summer, so that's really exciting. Welcome.
- [02:40]
C
Thank you. I'm really excited to be here.
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B
We are excited to have you, so let's just kind of dive in. I don't know if we want to start with masterminding or just even how did you get into the field? Where do you want to start?
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C
Alison that is a great question. Yeah, I feel like how I got into the field could sort of be a long story, but I'll give you the shortened version. So obviously I became a therapist. I worked in community mental health. I got super burned out. I left, started my own private practice and realized that I could make a bigger impact and make more money by starting a group practice. So started building a group practice and just loved the business side of it. Actually worked with Joe Sanock as my business consultant and approached him about working for him and he graciously said yes. I've been working for him and for a little over two years now and it's sort of grown from there in terms of now I bought a building for the practice and I started this virtual assistant company. So I just really love the business side of things and that's really where I focus my time now.
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B
That's awesome. Share the story I know we had talked about it when we were talking about you being on the podcast of the story about how you actually approach Joe and everything like that.
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C
I love that story. Oh, when I was out in Michigan, is that what you're talking about? Yeah. So when I went out to Michigan to be a part of a event he was doing called Pinot in Practice, which was like two days of business consulting and then wine tasting, which was lovely. And realized during the course of that two days that I was a lot further ahead than the people that were there. And you know, you don't know how you're doing as an entrepreneur a lot of times because you're just sort of doing your own thing and you're not necessarily comparing yourself to your peers, but realized that I knew a lot and thought it would be really cool to potentially be a business consultant and so didn't think much about it, went about the rest of the day and then Woke up at 4 o' clock in the morning with one of those like, you just sit straight up in bed like, oh my gosh, I need to ask Joe if I can work for him as A business consultant. So I got up early and I went to the conference center to talk to him and he was like, you know what? I've been thinking about that. And so we talked about it a little bit more and then he was gracious enough to bring me on and train me and it's been a great experience working for him.
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B
Very cool. Very cool. So let's dive into the topic of masterminding. I know that I have heard that it's really important to have a coach, a mentor and be involved in a mastermind. And what I've heard and how people really define the difference between coach and mentor. Coach is really your accountability partner, or I shouldn't say partner, but someone who coaches you and talks about mindset stuff where a mentor is really someone who knows your profession. Right. So if you're in real estate, it's a real estate person. And then the importance of being involved in a mastermind. So share with us. Do you run masterminds? You do that for Joe? Share with us a little bit about that.
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C
Yeah, so I've actually been on both sides of that. So I've participated in mastermind groups, but I also run a mastermind group specifically for people who want to take a solo practice and grow it into a group practice. So I'm actually on my fifth time of running that group, which is really cool. So yeah, so I have a lot to share, not only as a participant but also as somebody who runs them. And I just, you know, have always seen the value in participating in mastermind groups sort of on a variety of levels. So I'm definitely a proponent.
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B
So share with us some of the benefits of being involved in a mastermind.
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C
Yeah, I think, you know, even just the process of like setting aside the time to participate because I think a lot of us get caught up in the day to day of our business and if we're not carving out that time to look at how can we continue to improve the business or grow the business. It's not going to happen because we all get busy with other stuff. So that's one reason I like the mastermind format. The other reason is because you're obviously then in a group of like minded business owners or entrepreneurs and people are maybe at different stages or have different ideas, things you've never thought of before. Maybe they've already gone through what you're going through and they have good advice for you. So in that way I think it's a great support and it also can be really inspiring to be around other people who are really, you know, reaching for big goals. Over the summer, I went to slowdown school, which is another event that Joe put on, and I was actually helping to lead it. And, you know, even though I was there as the person leading the group, I was so inspired by the other practice owners that were there because they were doing amazing things. And it was at that point that I got the idea to, you know, really go all in on starting the virtual assistant company. So not only was I helping, but they helped me as well. So that was really cool.
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B
Yeah, I find that there's this, you know, reciprocity. Like, it's a reciprocal, mutually beneficial relationship and a mastermind. I know as therapists, it's not a reciprocal relationship.
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C
Right.
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B
It's like we're giving to our clients, and that's overall what it is. But Kate and I talk about this even in supervision as supervisors. It's this really cool, like, intellectual process where you get so much value out of it as well, whether you're running it or not. I know for me, like, anytime I had did master, I ran a mastermind for about a year and a half, and then I just. Sometimes, you know, you feel like you outgrow stuff. And so I decided, like, I started creating my new mastermind in my head, and then I started reaching out to people who might do it. I decided I didn't want to run it. I feel like I run too much stuff. So I'm like, I just want to be a participant. And it's interesting because my old business coach, I had talked to him, and we're actually creating a mastermind, but almost like, by my design. So it's super cool, and I'm really excited for that. For me, I know that when I do mastermind or when I go to workshops or big conferences, it's almost like, I don't know, I get, like, this business high. Like, it's like, yes. And you get so creative, and you get so excited, and then you're like, yes, I can do this. You know, and it just pumps me up. So I know that that's, like, one of my great benefits that I get from masterminding.
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C
Yeah, definitely. I feel the same way.
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B
Yeah. So I know your topic is really, like, you know, your business is suffering by not being in a mastermind. So share with us your thoughts on that.
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C
Yeah, I think that, you know, a lot of people have big goals and, you know, dreams of where they want to take their business. And, you know, a lot of us as therapists obviously didn't go to Get a business degree. And so we're, you know, just sort of, like, struggling along, trying to figure out all this stuff. And I just think it's so important to, you know, ask people who've already been there, done that, you know, for guidance of how to reach your goals. Because, you know, especially my own journey, just starting out, like, I see how many mistakes I made, and now I wish I would have gotten, you know, help sooner. Like, I was pretty far into the process by the time I reached out to Joe. And I just think about how I could have grown so much quicker and also made so many fewer mistakes if I had just gotten some help with the business side of things.
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B
Totally. And I feel like, as you say, that it's really speaking to my point about having a mastermind, a coach and a mentor, and especially, like, early on, and we don't have to do everything, but it's just really helpful because the mastermind to me is that juiciness of collective ideas where most of us who really love being entrepreneurs, that's where we just get. Get off on. Right. Is that. That. That movement of ideas and then the coaching, the accountability, the mindset, and then the mentorship is really helping you achieve. Like, so what. How should I market? And if I want to market this way in therapy, you know, what are the steps to that? And those things are really important for your creation of your virtual assistant business. So you've been masterminding when you were in the mastermind, which gave you the idea to create it, and you've been masterminding since then. Like, share with us the different. Because it's a different business. Right. So share with us, like how it's helped you because you've been masterminding with the virtual assistant business as opposed to you got into the mastermind later with the therapy practice.
- [11:08]
C
Yeah. I think what really helped me was I had then made some connections, and so I had some contacts I could reach out to to ask, you know, oh, you're doing something similar. How does this business work? Because I really had no idea how it. How it worked, so that was really helpful. And then also just having, like, support people who, you know, either became clients of ours or, you know, Joe was a big support to me. He sends me clients, which I really appreciate. And yeah, so I think too, what was also helpful is already having the experience of building a business with my practice, and then it's like, okay, now I'm doing this again. And a lot of the, you know, a lot of things are the same. It's not the exact same business, but a lot of the concepts are the same. So that was also. It felt easier to get it going.
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B
The second time around. It's almost like when you buy a house, right. When you buy a house for the first time, it's very nerve wracking and you're very emotional about it. I'm making the right decision. And then it's like, you know the process, you know the steps, and it does. It just gets easier.
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C
Yes.
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B
And one thing that I find about masterminding is like what you're talking about is the connection to other people's networks and how important that is. Right. We can go to networking things, but to be able to, you know, give and receive within the context of the mastermind and be able to have people just say, you know, I know you, I like you. We've been working together and this person would be a great connector. This person would be a great contact. I also love that as well.
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C
Yeah, that's been huge for me, for sure.
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B
Yeah. So share with us some other things about, you know, how your business could be suffering if you're not in a mastermind.
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C
Yeah. I think, you know, a lot of times people say like, you don't know what you don't know. And so the mastermind can be a great place to go, you know, maybe even present your plan of, okay, this is how I want to grow my business or whatever it is. And just see, did I forget anything? Is there something that I'm not thinking of that I didn't include in my plan or whatever that is. And then obviously if you have multiple people in a group, you may get multiple opinions or ideas. I think too, a lot of times we get distracted by things and we start something, but we don't always follow through on it. And I feel like whether it's a mastermind or whether it's what we do as business consultants, a lot of times I'll say to people, like, why are you like, all of a sudden we're going off on this rabbit trail of like, you want to start this new project. When you originally came to me and said you wanted to build up your practice, you know, it's just like getting that kind of feedback. Because I think that a lot of us do that we get distracted by the next shiny object and then we don't follow through what we originally set out to do. So I think it's good to have that, have that feedback from people.
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B
Yeah. Gordon Brewer turned us on to shiny object syndrome and that's like the truth, for sure. You know, it takes. For me, I think it's been almost like this five year practice of really staying very present. Like each week I create my weekly plan and it's divided in sections in regards to my different businesses. What I need to do for myself, the house is on there because there's a lot of stuff we want to do for our house. But really identifying what's important and what's urgent. Right. So important how I was taught in business through my business coach was anything that if you do this task will progress your business. Right. And if you don't do this task, it's a consequence to your business. So whether it's, you know, sometimes when we're in that place of what do I do next or I have so much going on, asking yourself what's important right now that's going to move my business along. Right. It's not important that, you know, I send something to my accountant when a potential client called me because that will move my business forward in this moment. And that's been really helpful. But I like me, I have like right next to my computer, like that plan is looking in my face all day. So just in case I'm getting off on track is the ability to come back and be like, okay, what am I supposed to be doing here? What's really important, right? But I love how you talk about like the mastermind really kind of helps you be able to do that.
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C
Right.
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B
I'm thinking people might be wondering, like, how do you find a mastermind? And if I'm a therapist, do I find a mastermind that has other therapists? Do I not? What would you recommend?
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C
Yeah, I think some good things to think about are, you know, who is leading the mastermind. Because obviously you have to feel like you connect with them or, you know, sort of resonate with maybe how they, you know, present their content or how they run the group. Something else too. You know, I've gotten good learning opportunities from being both in groups with therapists, but also I was in a mastermind just of other business owners that had all kinds of different businesses. And I learned a lot from that as well. So I tend to kind of switch around and do different types of coaching and different types of groups just because it feels like I always learn something new and that might just be my personal preference. But I think it was all worthwhile. So I think it depends too what your goals are. So obviously like in my start a group practice mastermind, everybody has a solo practice wants to grow into a group Practice and they want help doing that. And so because everybody's singularly focused on that goal, obviously it's very valuable to them to be in that kind of a group. But that's a very niche type of group. So I think it just really depends on what your goals are as a business owner.
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B
Gotcha. What is one of the things that you got from being in the mastermind with therapists and then being in the mastermind with other business owners?
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C
Yeah, I think in a lot of ways I realized that, you know, there's just certain things about running a business that's the same no matter what the business is. And it was nice to see, like, oh, because it was a group of all women. It's like, oh, these women are, like, struggling with the same sorts of things that I am. Even though one of them is running a drapery business and the other one is running a, you know, whatever it was.
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B
That was so random. Yeah, drapery.
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C
Yes. Yeah, she ran a high end drapery business.
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B
That was her.
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C
That was her business. She did very well at that. But yeah, it was just nice to sort of see the similarities. And there were also differences, and the differences, you know, were something that I learned from as well. So, yeah, that was cool.
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B
What about being in a therapist mastermind?
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C
Yeah, I think obviously being with other therapists, you all have a shared language and you all are kind of, again, you're sort of going through the same things at the same time. Especially in my group. I don't know if that's true for every mastermind group with a therapist in it, but so that's nice as well. I think there's a nice camaraderie that develops because something that comes up a lot of times in my group is how, you know, it's scary building a group practice. It's scary to hire that first person. It's scary to, you know, put yourself out there as the owner and the boss of a group practice. And so I think there's a nice, just sort of like, supportive environment because of course, we're all therapists, so we can all empathize with how each other is feeling.
- [18:26]
B
Totally, totally. We do do that. Well, yes. Share with us. Like, how should someone go about finding a mastermind?
- [18:36]
C
Yeah, that's an excellent question. So, I mean, I think, you know, there's so many great private practice consultants now, and so, you know, you can consume a lot of content for free, right? Like podcasts and blogs and all of that kind of stuff. So maybe just sort of check out, you know, different Consultants and see, you know, who you resonate with. Again, there's just, you know, certain people that you just seem like, oh, I, you know, I get her or get him or whatever. And it's just like, oh, yeah, I could see, you know, I picked Joe because he and I think in a very similar way in terms of business. And so it just became apparent after, you know, listening to his podcast for so long, like, oh yeah, we'd be a really good match. So, I mean, another resource too would be see what there's available to you locally. You know, I think my, my mastermind that had the. In businesses of various types was actually in person. And there is something to be said for actually like meeting, you know, in a room and not necessarily, you know, having a meeting virtually that can be great as well. So I know in my area there's a lot of supports for entrepreneurs. Some of it's free, obviously some of you have to pay for, but, you know, just might be something you need to think through whether you, you know, you're fine with having something virtual or if you want, you know, that in person connection. So I think there can be, you know, many places to look for a mastermind group.
- [20:07]
B
That's a really good point. I know that my last mastermind that I was running, even though we're mainly in two different counties, pretty local, we did all online and this one now that I'm creating with my business coach, it's going to be like in every other week and actually once a month, once a quarter, which I had participated in before, which I absolutely loved and is so valuable when you talk about working on your business and not in your business, is part of the mastermind is that we're going to be allowed to attend Growth Club as well. So this is like a full day where there's about an hour, hour and a half where they talk on a specific topic, but then you're creating your next 90 days. So I'm really excited about that. But I also, I like that you say that is. I think you really have to look at yourself and are you a person that, you know, just doesn't want the online? Do you want some in person? Is there a mixture of both? Is there an opportunity for that as well?
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C
Yeah, definitely.
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B
Nice. What, what in regards to like structures of masterminds, what can people expect? What have. What's been your experience?
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C
Yeah, from what I understand, like the format can be quite different, I guess, depending on who's leading it and how they want to do it. So the way so Joe obviously taught me how to run Mastermind, so I do it the way he does it.
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B
Tell us a little bit about that. How do you do that?
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C
Yeah, yeah. So we start out the group by doing wins. So everybody gets to share something positive that happened in the past couple weeks. And then we move on to the traditional sort of hot seat model, which is like it's one person's turn. They present a question or a problem to the group. The group then asks clarifying questions so they get to elaborate on exactly what they're talking about. And then the group then gives them kind of rapid fire advice or suggestions or ideas about what they should do. So that's what we do. The Mastermind group that I was in was a little bit more, I would say, informal. So there were just sort of blocks of time that people were able to talk about what they wanted to discuss. But then there was also kind of a teaching component at the beginning of it. So I mean, it can look, it can look different depending on the goal of the Mastermind and, you know, the person's who's running it, their preferences.
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B
Yeah. Let's just take a quick break. For our sponsor, there are so many.
- [22:26]
A
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- [23:58]
B
About that, one of the things that comes to mind, I started reading Clockwork by Mike Michalowicz. We had the opportunity to have him on our podcast talking about profit first, and he said he would come back once I finish the book Clockwork. So I'm actually reading that right now. And in the book, he talks about Parkinson's Law. Right. So basically is that our work, amount of work expands with the amount of time that we have. And interestingly enough, I know for me, when I think about Mastermind and I think about kind of my, like, life already, right. So I still see clients. I see about 12 to 15 clients a week. So that time is, like, completely gone. There's no time to do anything else. And then with the private practice startup doing the podcast, having meetings with Kate calls, like, the amount of time is very minimal. So for me, when I, like, think about a mastermind, when we did ours, it was like, literally four people, 30 minutes. And it was very interesting because with the amount of pressed time, you had to be very clear, right? You couldn't say, well, you know, I was working and I was thinking about. And it's just like, you have to come prepared. Like, this is. You know, we did wins, too. Like, celebrate a win. This is my issue. This is what I need to be held accountable for. Boom, next person. So I think it's also understanding yourself and what it is that you're really looking for. I'm a high D on the disc profile, like, all the way. So I just like, I like to get it done. Don't waste my time. Let's do it. Let's move on. Very cool. Any other final thoughts on masterminding or how it could benefit or it's. Your business is suffering if you're not in one.
- [25:25]
C
Sure. Yeah. I just think, you know, if you have some clear business goals, even if they're not clear, even if you know the path there is sort of nebulous to you. I think a mastermind just is so beneficial for all of the reasons that we talked about here. Obviously, you have to find the right one and feel like it's the right fit, but I think if you're really in that mode of wanting to grow, it would definitely be worthwhile.
- [25:57]
B
Awesome. And I know you reference a lot that you do have a mastermind for solo practitioners wanting to be group practice owners. Do you have a Mastermind coming up. How often do you run that?
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C
Yeah, so I run it maybe two to three times a year. So there's gonna be a long break here because I'll be on maternity leave, but I think in the fall of 2019, I'll start a group up again because I do get a lot of requests for it.
- [26:24]
B
That's awesome. And if people are interested, how can they reach out to you about that?
- [26:29]
C
Yeah, so through the Practice of the Practice website, there is a separate page for consulting with Allison, and there's a contact form on there. If they're interested, they can fill it out.
- [26:39]
B
Very cool. And I know you wanted to actually give away a resource for your VA business, so what is that?
- [26:46]
C
Yeah, I wanted to give away. If anybody is listening to the podcast and is interested in signing up for VA services, I will give away two hours of free VA time that they can use if they happen to go over their allotted package time for the month, which happens sometimes. We get busy. So. Yeah, so that'll be a nice. A nice bonus for folks if they're interested in getting a va. And share.
- [27:13]
B
With us a little bit about your VA services. What are you guys providing?
- [27:16]
C
Yeah, so we have VAs who provide mostly answering phone scheduling, managing emails, all the stuff that practice owners, once they get busy, don't have time to do. The number one thing that we get asked about is, can you live answer the phone? And we try to live answer the phone as much as we possibly can. If we can't answer the phone right, then we will answer or we will return the call within two business hours. So we especially work well with practices who do take insurance. So if you need help with checking benefits and posting EOBs and following up on insurance claims, the VAs can do.
- [28:00]
B
All those things for you. That's awesome. Very good. And, Allison, what's the best place for people to get in touch with you?
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C
Probably my Practice of the Practice email. So it's Alison with one L, A L I S O N at Practice of the Practice. And if you're interested in the VA service, it's moveforwardvirtualassistance.com.
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B
I thought you were gonna say get in touch with my virtual assistant. Well, you're gonna have to.
- [28:29]
C
When you email that address, that's who you get.
- [28:33]
B
That's awesome. Very good. Well, it's been a pleasure having you on. Thank you for sharing your thoughts about Masterminding. I know that this has been really helpful. I've enjoyed talking about it at least, and I hope it's been helpful for our Startup Nation guys. Next time we are going to have Becky on with us where she's going to be talking about emotional support animals, doing evaluations and things like that. Some of you have been asking for that. I obviously know that there are evaluation stuff done, but I have no idea about that. And actually one of my clients had just asked this week to do that. I'm like, I can't do that. I don't know anything about that. So join us next week for that. And you know, we started doing something new recently as we close out is we just want to give a Startup Nation superhero shout out to Naz Mo. Naz says if you're thinking about starting a private practice or are a seasoned therapist thinking about augmenting your practice, you have to listen to this podcast. This one is unique to all other business podcasts I listen to since it's for therapist by therapist. So we appreciate you shouting us out, Naz. We want to shout you out and we hope you are doing awesome things in your practice and we know that you have a podcast too. So it's a really good podcast. So if you guys check that out as well. So that is about it, guys. For today's show, make sure you check out the show notes where we will have all the links and information regarding Alison's giveaway, the show note tips and how to contact her. So have an awesome and inspired day. Thank you for allowing us to always inspire you from startup to mastery. And next time we'll be back with Kate. So we'll see you guys later. Check you later. Startup Nation.
- [30:05]
A
Thanks for joining us on the private practice startup. Visit theprivatepracticestartup.com for awesome resources, free trainings, attorney approved private practice paperwork and so much more.