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Private Practice Startup Podcast
Episode 147: How to P.R.O.F.I.T. and Build a Six-Figure Private Practice
00:31:35
Dr. Elizabeth King
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A
Welcome to the Private Practice Startup podcast where we help ambitious private practitioners across the globe to brand themselves and grow their dream practices. We chat with successful private practitioners, business coaches and marketing experts, bringing you tons of practice building Ninja tips. Visit privatepracticestartup.com for awesome resources, attorney approved private practice paperwork and our signature marketing E course. Here are your co hosts, Dr. Kate Campbell and Katie Lemieux. Hey everybody. Welco. Welcome back to another episode of the Private Practice Startup podcast. So we have had some moving around as sometimes we usually do. It's usually tech and it was tech today, but we got actually to have our guest come live to Kate's house. So they're recording live together. Usually Kate and I, if we're recording together, we are. The two of us are together recording live, not usually our guests. So I'm actually on the opposite side of the screen while they're together today. So it's going to be an awesome podcast. But before we get started and before I tell you who our guest is and the title and all that interesting stuff, we hope you guys joined us last time for Lynn. Excuse me, Lynn. Louise wonders talking about how to bake self care into your business practices. So you want to make sure you listen to that because that was a requested show topic by you guys and we wanted to say thank you. If you are new here, we wanted to welcome you with open arms and say you are our vip. You're a very important person and we have a special gift for you. That is our A to Z cheat sheet. The essentials for building and growing your dream practice. Head over to private practice startup.com. look for the resources tab. There you will see the A to Z cheat sheet that comes with a whole series of five days of practice building emails to really support you and your private practice growth. So our guest today is Dr. Elizabeth King and we have known her for quite some time. She'll be talking to us today about five steps of building a six figure counseling practice. Just a little bit about Elizabeth. She is better known as the holistic psychotherapist. She's internationally recognized wellness expert, motivational speaker, hypnotherapist, radio, TV personality, success coach, author, social entrepreneur and philanthropist. Ooh, that was a tongue tire for me. She also serves as adjunct professor at Nova Southeastern and she just recently told us she is actually launching her own podcast. She is also the founder of the foundation of ssl. And that's really important because we're going to be talking about suits, stilettos and lipsticks. So if you guys know Elizabeth King. She is always known for the lipsticks she wears healthy. Healthy lipstick, that is. I went to a networking event hers one time and I remember everyone got a lipstick. So join me in welcoming Dr. Elizabeth King.
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B
Welcome.
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C
Thank you. I'm so excited to be here.
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B
Yes.
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C
And to be next to you.
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B
I know it's fun that we get to actually podcast in person. We've got my dog Roxy on my lap because she wouldn't stop barking. It's been one thing after another. But we are bringing this podcast to you. No matter how many obstacles. We are here.
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A
We are here. Awesome. So, you know, I don't even know where your story got started. Where'd your story get started?
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C
Oh, my gosh. In a nutshell, I'm going to give it to you in the Reader's digest version. Right. So my story started from the Dominican Republic, and I contacted polio at the age of three and just fast forward my whole life, I have spent it trying to figure out how to maintain a positive attitude and how to live my greatest life. So everything that I have done have really stayed focused on that mission. And I have been so blessed that my mother and my grandmother and the women in my life were always instrumental in making sure that I saw the bigger picture. And so I didn't let polio or 36 surgeries stop me. And I started as an educator. Actually, I was a teacher for the Broward county school system for 20 plus years. And even during that time, I knew that I was so passionate about teaching children and the parents on how to overcome life circumstances. And so that's how I got into counseling and how I got into doing therapy and then started my practice. And in actuality, I started my practice because I ended up being bedridden for two years. At the tail end of my career as an educator, I was developing programs for the school system, for the ment health professionals and for the teachers. And right in smack in the middle of that, I ended up being bedridden. And then I had to reinvent myself and I found my health back with holistic medicine. And so I put it all together and I figured, well, I'm a teacher, I'm an educator. Now I just get to teach people how to live their greatest life through the mental health profession.
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A
That's awesome.
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C
I said in a nutshell. But it wasn't in a nutshell.
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B
I've heard the longer versions of it. And there's a lot that you've been through so much that you've overcome, and I've been to your networking events and followed you for quite some time. Tell us a little bit about what you've created with suits, stilettos and lipstick.
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C
Well, I love talking about that. Thank you for asking the question. So in my practice, in my clinical practice, I just noticed that so many professional women were having a hard time balancing their life, right? And in 2012, I saw that it was an epidemic of women coming in really with stress related disorders, you know, hypertension, with a lot of depression, a lot of panic attacks, a lot of anxiety. And I just noticed that a lot of what was out there for professional women didn't speak to what the woman was going through in that balancing act. We were talking about business and how to create a successful business, but we were not talking about how to create a happy person while doing it. And so, you know, it basically I put out. This is really funny. I put out an email to bring in more therapists into my holistic center. And I got a response from this woman. Her name is Yvonne Haas, which, you know, love her. I love her. She's my bestie. We've become bestie. And I asked her, are you seeing the same dynamics in your practice? And she said yes. And so very shortly, soon after, I said, why don't we create something for women to teach them how, how to be empowered to say no to things, to be able to take care of themselves and to put their oxygen mask on first. And she said yes. Well, little did I know that she didn't know how to put a conference together. Neither did I. She thought I did. And so the story goes that I went ahead and booked the Ritz Carlton because I knew that all women would come to that even if we didn't know what we were doing. So I love that it's serious. You know, you have to go.
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A
Go big or go home.
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C
And this is awesome because we're talking about business and creating successful businesses. Well, you have to go all out. You have to just, you know, think out of the box and just go for it. And so that's what I did. Of course I was nervous, but 250 women walked through the door the first time we opened conference. And it just became a movement. And Our last conference, seven years later, hosted 1500 women and men because men are also invited to be part of the sassy revolution. And really, you know, it's just, it's really my love walk. I have, you know, dedicated the last seven years to making sure that women are heard and that they have a place that's safe for them. To flourish and be themselves and to be successful in their own right. And I'm excited to say that this year we have full force, have gone into the foundation mode. And now we are also empowering children because we have to change the generations that are to come, because that's how we're gonna make a difference in our community. So super excited.
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A
And I've been to your holiday gift drive and you've collected over thousands of gifts for children.
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C
8,000 toys last year. Yeah.
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A
Amazing. That's amaz.
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C
Wow.
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B
I love how you call it the Sassy revolution. And it is such a movement that you've created. It's something so much bigger than you, I'm sure, could have ever imagined it.
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C
Would turn out to be. And sase, you know, a lot of people at the beginning would say, oh, don't say sassy. But there is an acronym. I do acronyms for everything. So SASSY stands for smart, assertive, strategic, selfless, and young at heart. And that is really the SASE revolution is to create that confidence within yourself to be able to go for it. I just love the whole idea of the movement.
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B
We couldn't have you on the podcast today and not talk about this movement and everything that you've created because it's so amazing. And I'm sure our listeners are wondering about your topic here today. So let's dive into the five steps to building a six figure counseling practice.
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C
Yes. I am so excited to talk about that. And honestly, when you asked me to be on your podcast and I started to think of the topic that I wanted to present, I literally started to cry because this is me creating this amazing practice in, what, nine years? When I was an educator, I started off in teaching, and so I am so grateful that to have had this opportunity to build and now to coach on it and talk about it. So I'm so excited.
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It's all coming full circle.
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C
It is totally, totally.
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A
So start us off.
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Tip number one.
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C
So tip number one. So like I said before, I love acronyms. So to make it easy, I'm a teacher at heart. Remember that. So if you could just put these this word, profit. Because that's what we want to focus on, right? Profit. So the first tip is to be proficient, you need to become proficient in what you do. And I know we're all generalists, we're all mental health professionals, and that's awesome. But you need to come up with what is your niche? What is it that you want to focus on? For example, I'm a holistic psychotherapist. So people know to look for a holistic psychotherapist by Googling. Right. And then they find me because I am a holistic psychotherapist. That's a niche. I also specialize in trauma, and everybody knows that I treat trauma, depression, anxiety. But you have to be very clear on what you're good at and what you're passionate about so that when people think of you, they think of that condition so that they know who to refer to you. Right? Yes. And I think that that is so important to become proficient in one or two areas and then really tell the about it.
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B
Beautiful. That's something that we talk about often in our marketing E course. And we couldn't agree with you more, because when you're a generalist and you're trying to speak to the masses, you end up really speaking to nobody. So to become that expert and the authority in one or two areas and really build a name for yourself and really make an impact, it works beautifully.
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C
And you have to deliver on what you say you're going to deliver. Right. Because being proficient and saying, oh, I'm a trauma specialist, for example, you know, I do EMDR or whatever treatment modality you use is not enough. You have to really deliver so that your clients, when they leave, they're talking about you. Like they talk about a great restaurant or they're talking about a great movie. You have to be a top of mind if you have delivered the right resources and the right therapy. And I think those two things in combination, being proficient and delivering your proficiency really plays a big role and being successful.
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A
And so before we go to R, because that's the next. I actually had to check my spelling. I'm like, wait, that's the next one. Let's just take a quick break. For our sponsor, if you're in private.
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B
Practice, you wear a lot of hats. And some of those hats are totally great. But some, like filing taxes and running payroll, for example, not so great. That's where Gusto comes in. They make payroll taxes in HR actually easy for small businesses like your private practice. Fast, simple payroll processing and benefits and expert HR support all in one place. Gusto automatically pays and files your federal, state and local taxes so you don't have to worry about it. Plus, they make it easy for you to add on health benefits and even 401ks for you and your team. Let them wear one of your many hats. You have so many better things to do with your time. Listeners get three months free when they run their first payroll. Try a demo and see for yourself@gusto.com pps that's gusto.com pps there are so many ways to keep your practice organized, but TherapyNotes is by far the best. They're easy to use, secure platform, lets you not only do billing, scheduling and progress notes, but also create a client portal to share documents and request signatures. Plus they offer amazing unlimited phone support. So when you have a question, they're there so you can get help fast. Get started with TherapyNotes today, trusted by over 60,000 professionals. Go to therapynotes.com and enter promo code PPS as in Private Practice Startup and you'll get two months for free. Also, you can listen to episode 54 where we interviewed Brad Pliner and took an in depth view into their ehr.
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A
So go ahead and tell us what R is.
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C
Well, R is the rate. I know that mental health professionals really don't like to talk about fees and they don't like to talk about how much money they're worth. And we have to dispel that myth and start talking about it. Because if you want to be successful and build a six figure income for yourself or more, you have to talk about rate. What is it that you are charging? I remember when I first started my practice, this is hilarious. I remember I set my price, right? Because I read all the books and they said set your price and this woman calls for an appointment. I didn't have an office manager yet and I gave her the price and then I talked myself out of it. By the time we were done with the call, I had slashed it to half price and the woman had never asked me for a discount. She never did. And it turned out that she was very wealthy. When she came to me for the first time, she said, why did you do that? Obviously I don't know what I'm doing. No, I thought that in my head. But yeah, don't do that. You have to set the price and I'm going to give you just a little formula really quick. If you, I'm going to give you just. You could do the math yourself, but I figured this out for yourself, for you, so that you can just follow along. So let's say you work 30, 35 hours a week, right? 35 hours a week, which is a lot. But let's say you work 35 hours a week and let's say you work 48 hours, 48 weeks a year, right? That brings you to 1680 sessions that you would have been able to produce. If you multiply that with $100, which is really way below. I'm just giving you an average. Hopefully you are charging way more than 200 and above in our area. I don't know in your market area where you are, but you need to figure that out. But let's say $100 to just say an even number, that would bring you to $168,000 a year. Okay, that is easy math. Of course, you have your expenses and all that, but you need to set your goals with a rate that is reasonable. And you need to do the math and understand the math. And then do not apologize for your rates like I did when I.
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B
You are not alone. I know. Katie and I both did the same thing. And, I mean, it's uncomfortable because here we are, we're in the helping profession. We're taught to keep that focus on the client's needs. And when we're putting our needs first. In the beginning, when you first start practicing and start getting used to this, it can feel really uncomfortable. It can feel like it's almost like, wrong or, like, dirty. Exchanging cash for services, it's like, ugh. I remember feeling that way in the beginning.
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A
I talked about those early, early days, like, feeling like it was prostitution. Almost like we just had this, like, really intimate encounter. And then I'm asking you to pay me. Like, it just felt so weird. And then through my. When I was supervising, I still supervise, but I'm thinking one specific intern. It was funny because she would always pay me in cash, and it was always, like, rolled up, and she would always, like, slip it to me. And I was like, what are we doing here? Like, you're bringing back old memories. You know what I mean? But it's interesting about what we do around money. And I remember talking myself out of money, too, right? Like, I would pose it as a question, like, $125 question mark, right? Like, it's not up for negotiation, right? Like, this is what it is. Now shut up and let them respond.
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C
Yes, absolutely. I think because we are in this for the right reasons. I think that's why it's so comfortable. But if you start realizing then everyone else charges for what they do, for their value, for their work, we should not be any different than that. And in fact, listen, mental health is really the key to everything. So I think we should be charging more, not less, because we really have a lot to offer.
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B
And when you focus on that, when you focus on the value and the results that we help people get, we help them save relationships. We help them to help their kids with whatever they're going through. We help them to be happy and fulfilled, and there's just so many amazing outcomes and that stuff. Priceless.
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It is priceless. So remember that.
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Yes.
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C
Let's move on to O. O is for offer. Make sure that you're offering a lot of different things in your practice. Don't be on one topic. Don't. Don't just say. And I know this is almost sounds contradictory because I just said specialize, and now I'm saying offer more, but offer more in your specialty. How about that?
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There you go. Clarity.
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C
Diversify. Blog. People get paid for blogging if. If you have a following. Podcasting. Right, of course. This is an amazing example of how you can do this and speak. If you are a speaker, have workshops, have groups, have all kinds of different ways, have a book. Yes, absolutely. There are so many different ways that you can augment your income and make sure that you have many offerings. Because sometimes you cannot reach one person with one item, but you can reach many people with many items. So don't leave anything on the table. Make sure that you're always looking for other things to offer.
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Beautiful.
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C
Yeah.
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A
And I'm definitely curious what F is. I mean, I'm looking at the show notes, so I get to see. But I don't even know what F would stand for, like, how you relate it. So I'm curious.
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C
Yeah. Flag. I know that that's a little bit foreign and it sounds a little bit out of the norm, but it's something that we don't do enough of. You need to flag things that are not working for you.
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A
Ah, there we are.
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C
And you need to flag things that are working for you. FLAG could be a positive and a negative. Right. It is neutral because you have to be on top of your game. You have to see what is the value that you're offering. And if something is not working, don't be afraid to take it away off the plate and don't do it anymore. You know, it's. Sometimes we get so hung up on, well, I put so much time into this. I need to keep doing it. No, you don't. I give you permission to stop it right now. Swag it and stop it.
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A
Stop it right now.
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It's interesting.
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A
Kate and I had. So we have a weekly, you know, business meeting, but yesterday we had our quarterly to prepare for the next quarter. And we look at our goals and stuff like that, and that those two questions are always on there. We didn't get to them yesterday because we ran out of time. But what's working and what's not working. And I'll tell you when you step back and just take an observer view of what you're doing in your business, and you're like, yeah, this isn't working well. And then you just give yourself the permission just to cut it out. It's so relieving. And it also opens up places for new opportunities, you know, So I love that idea of flagging.
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C
You know, I actually have little flags and it's a great visual because sometimes you're so busy and you're juggling so many things and I can't get back to it. But I have my plan, right for the year. Yvonne and I have a plan. And while we're going through it, if something is not feeling right, if it's not bringing, producing what we need it to, we put a flag on it and then we come back to it. So you don't have to necessarily address it right at that moment, but just make sure you come back when you are having your meetings and your review.
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A
Let's move on to I. Yeah, I.
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C
Is my favorite word and something that I live by, being intentional. So intentional actually was my word for this year, 2019, because so oftentimes we get caught up with saying yes to everything and we have to again, stop that. We have to be very intentional to what our goals are and then really only say yes to the things that are producing that goal. Otherwise you need to table it. Maybe it's something you want to do down the road, right. Maybe in the future. But right now, you need to be intentional on what your goal is at this moment.
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A
I think as you talk, I keep hearing you say, stop it. And I'm just trying to think of now an acronym for stop it on how to systemize your practice.
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C
I love it. See, you like acronyms too.
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A
I do, I do. And it's fun to play.
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C
Yeah, it is.
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B
Definitely.
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C
I love it. And my last one, which is, you know, I said five tips, but I always like to throw in a bonus, right? It's to track it. You have to track everything. Just like when you're flagging, you need to track what it is monetarily looking like for you. Don't just, you know, say, oh, it was great or was good. Those are good words. But you need to actually track it. What is the monetary value to that program that you created? And if it does not mean meet your goal, you need to again, stop it. And if it does, then you need to continue and augment and modify. Start thinking out of the Box when you are putting together your practice and you're looking at what your goals are for the year.
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A
Yeah, I can't. Tracking and measuring, to me is like such an important thing because it's just like black and white numbers of what's working and what what's not. And, you know, as Kate and I have grown in business, we've obviously seen our own evolution. And it was probably two years ago, I think, that we really, after we went to. Was Russell Brunson last year. Okay, so it was last year. Was it last year? Two years ago?
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B
Two years ago.
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A
I don't know. Anyway, well, whatever. Whenever we went to Funnel Hackers Live and just reading Russell Brunson's books and things like that, and, you know, we went way wide with a private practice startup. Right. Like, it was funny because we fell into old behaviors. Like, we had already niched down our practices, but then coming into an online world, that was a different, quote, unquote, different business, but it's not really. It's a business. And so we went way wide where we're doing too much time, too much effort, and we streamline, and we continue to streamline, and we have one product, one service in the podcast, and that's it. And everything else is created from that. And it's just so beautiful to look at the numbers and say, okay, you know, what's working here? Let's do more of that. And what's not working here, let's either stop it, modify it, tweak it, or get rid of it.
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B
And it's just really cool to be.
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A
Able to do that. And it's just like. It's like business made simple to me when you look at those things. But I think a lot of times, like, tracking and measuring is, like, not on people's radar, you know, that's not really where we start. I know. I didn't start there until I did a year business coaching. My business coach made me track. And that's just so important to just, you know, it's. It makes things easy.
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C
Yeah. Don't you feel like weightlifted? I feel like, especially at the beginning when you start your practice, you're like chicken with your head cut off. Like, where do I go? Where do I begin? Right.
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B
Chasing after all the shiny objects.
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C
Yeah, exactly. Which, by the way, I just have to say thank you to both of you for doing this podcast, because I wish you were around when I started. It would have made my life so much easier, and I would have not been arguing my own rate on the phone.
- [26:11]
B
I wish we were around when I first started, too.
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C
Right. So thank you. This is a community service you're doing for all of us. Thank you so much.
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A
Pleasure.
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B
And I love your acronym. And each, each tip along the acronym was so helpful. What do you want our listeners to take away from your message today?
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C
Well, number one, I want you to know that you can be successful at doing psychotherapy, mental health. You absolutely can. Don't let anybody talk you out of it. And the second thing is I want you to, to think out of the box so that you can make it a success. And don't be afraid to go for it. Don't be afraid because, you know, I think a lot of times we're just afraid to get out of our own little office. But don't be. You have the world waiting for you.
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A
I love it. And you have a giveaway for our audience. What is that?
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C
Well, I am going to offer the first five people that call my office, which I'll give you that number in a second, my book. So this is how I started my whole journey of finding holistic medicine. It's Dr. King's simple guide to holistic health, Lessons learned from my personal journey. It's on Amazon as well. But the first five people to call, 954-903-9426. I will ship that to you. I'll sign it, and I want you to take a look and really get, get to know what is out there in the holistic world because I think a lot of people don't understand it. And you get to find out a little bit more about me.
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A
So that's for. That one's for our super loyal listeners who are, like, biting at the chomp, waiting for the podcast to come out. So you're like hitting the button right when it comes out and they'll get the book. And then for you latecomers, then you're gonna just have to order it out.
- [27:56]
B
If you sneeze, you lose. You can order it online, put the link and the number in the show notes so people will be able to access it there.
- [28:04]
C
Perfect. Thank you so much.
- [28:06]
A
So you talked today about profit, so we're talking about proficient rate, offer, flag, intentional, and the bonus track, even though it's not to me, it's not a bonus, it's a necessity. So you guys want to make sure you do that. Yep. And definitely check out the show notes page for all the stuff that we have talked about today. How to contact Dr. King. I know that Kate is going to give our Startup Nation superhero Shout Out. But before we do that, what I would like to do and how to close our podcast today after that is I want you to share with everybody about the Shimmy. Can we close that way? Would that be okay? Let's do the Shout out first and then we'll do the Shimmy. But before we do that, we want you guys to join us next week as we talk with Ernesto and Talia, shattering the status quo. How not to be the typical psychotherapist. You're going to want to hear all about that because that was an amazing summit that we went to and it's coming here to Fort Lauderdale in May 2020. And if you don't have your tickets already, you're going to be sad because it will sell out. I just want say that. So jump on the bandwagon fast. I know Ernesto posted it and he didn't even have the venue yet and people were purchasing tickets.
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C
It's that awesome.
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B
So, yes, definitely take advantage of that. And let's give our superhero shout out for today's episode, which is from VeganVixen82. She says, well, I'm assuming that the vixen is a female, but I don't know. They say Kate and Katie are an awesome duo and present a wonderful on the podcast. They have a natural charisma that allows their personality to shine through. Their podcast is great for current practitioners, students and anyone considering a private practice. Well, we hope that our podcast has been super helpful in inspiring you along your journey, Vegan Vixen. And thank you so much for the shout out.
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A
How perfect for our holistic podcast guests. So Dr. King, why don't you take us to the close with a shimmy and tell everyone what that is is.
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C
Well, actually the shimmy is just a very cool way to just tell people to quiet down. As Yvonne says to shut up. We do this at our events when we want to bring everybody together. So basically we just count 1, 2, 3 and then you shimmy. So let's do it. 1, 2, 3, shimmy. I love.
- [30:28]
A
Well, we thank you so much for being live with Kate here through the electronic ethos, Ethernet, Internet, whatever with me. And we really appreciated you guys being here today, being with us and Dr. King on how to profit and build a six figure private practice. So we'll see you guys next time. Thanks for always allowing to inspire, allowing us to inspire you from startup to mastery. Have an amazing and inspired day, everybody. Take care.
- [30:53]
C
Bye everybody. Bye everybody. Thank you.
- [30:57]
B
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.
- [31:20]
C
SA.