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Private Practice Startup Podcast
Episode 164: Google Maps - 4 Steps to Fill your Practice
00:31:06
Brandon Santan
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- [00:02]
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 there Startup Naysh.
- [00:32]
B
Hey.
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A
And welcome back to another episode of the Private Practice a Startup Podcast. We are excited to have you back. I don't know, it feels like a long time since we podcast, but I'm sure it really hasn't been that long. Maybe it's because we've been in the E course launch mode and now we're shifting gears back into the podcast mode. We hope you guys joined us last week as we talked to Casey Compton. If you guys don't know who she is, you definitely want to know who she is. She has massive growth in Kentucky and she talked about knowing when to grow, hold and pump the brakes. But today on our podcast we have Brandon Santan. And the topic we're going to cover today is Google Maps the four steps to help build your private practice. So this is really interesting and I think I saw Brandon kind of posting or I don't, maybe he was answering a question one of the Facebook groups or ours. And I just thought, wow, we haven't had a podcast on that and I was just really curious myself. So I'm super excited about today's podcast. But before we get started, we wanted to say welcome to all of our newbies. If this is the first time that you are listening to our podcast, we are welcoming you to the Startup Nation family and we have a gift for you. That is our A to Z cheat sheet. The essentials for building and growing your dream practice. And just head over to private practices startup.com over to the resources tab and there you will see that not only is it your roadmap to start building your private practice, but it also comes with five days of practice building emails to really support you and get you going. Just a little bit about Brandon. So Brandon is a trained and credentialed mental health and relationship therapist. Brandon's private practice accepted, exploded when he got his Google Maps listing on the first page of Google. He became a Google Maps nerd and now helps other therapists and business owners to kill it with Google Maps. When Brandon isn't seeing patients or helping others with Google Maps, he's spending time with his wife, son and twin Girls, welcome. Brandon.
- [02:20]
C
Thank you. It's good to be here.
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B
How old are your twins?
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C
They are nine. My son is 12.
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A
Wow. We've been having actually quite a few parents of multiples lately. That's interesting.
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C
It's so much fun. I love it. Yeah.
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A
What's the best thing about it?
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C
Oh, my word. Just watching them bond and play together. It's just such a unique relationship, unlike anything else that if you. If you don't. If you haven't experienced it, it's just amazing to watch. So my son is great too, but having multiples is just an experience that you can't really describe it unless you see it or watch it.
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A
Gotcha. Or unless you're the parent of a multiple.
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C
Yes. Yeah. Or you yourself are a multiple.
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A
Yeah. Very cool. So share with us, when did you get started in private practice? And then share with us the story about this Google Maps explosion that you found that really helped you.
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C
Sure. I stumbled on this actually by accident. I started in private practice about 13 years ago. I did my part of my practice, my internship, for my master's program in private practice. I really liked it. I didn't quite know what to do, so I went to work with a group. The group required us to do our own marketing. So I kind of hit the ground running and tried to figure out what would be best to market my practice. In my research, I came across this Google Maps idea. And the more I learned about it, the more it made sense. And hopefully, as we talk today, I'll be able to explain why. But that's just kind of a basic background.
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B
Gotcha.
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A
And when did you start your private practice?
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C
Well, it was about. Let's see, I graduated my master's program in 2006, and I was doing my practicum and my internship in a private practice at that time. So about 2005, 2006 is when I started.
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B
That's really cool that you got to.
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A
Do your internship in a private practice.
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C
Yes. I was fortunate to have that. A lot of my classmates did not get to do that, so it was a great experience.
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B
Tell us about the importance of using Google Maps to grow your practice.
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C
Well, the main thing to keep in mind is that Google is shifting now to local search results. So many people are using their phones in mobile search. Location services are turned on. So Google wants to make sure that you are finding the services and products you need where you're at in your location. Google Maps has been developing their Maps listing for quite a while, probably over a decade now. And I think the biggest Thing is just that we're considered local businesses. Google sees us and views us just like they would chimney repair service or a pizza shop. So they want to know that when people search for us therapists, whatever your specialty is, marriage therapist, anxiety counseling or whatever, that people who are in that location can find what they need.
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B
And so often therapists or people are searching for a therapist near me or couples counselor near me using those exact words. So I'm sure that really plays a part.
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C
Yes, absolutely. That particular search phrase, whatever they're searching for plus me or me has exploded in recent years. It's just people just know that Google will provide them what they want. We all know about location services on our phone and so that's the way Google has it set up.
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A
And so I'm curious as you had to learn how to do marketing on your own, what made you kind of, you're like, oh, Google Maps. What made you kind of go that way rather than other forms of marketing?
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C
I don't know if it was any one thing in particular. I just stumbled across this idea of Google Maps. I guess we could say, you know, part of this is just my personality. I like to do things that web design and things kind of behind the scenes. I don't really care to go out and network and meet with big groups of people. I've done that before and I mean, it's okay. It gets old after a while. Most people who are networking are there because they're networking too. So I just wanted to kind of find a way that I could spend my time a little bit better that would be a little bit more permanent. When I found Google Maps that it just, I just kind of naturally gravitated towards it for those two reasons. It ended up being a perfect match.
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A
Awesome. And I love that you share that because Kate and I constantly talk about is that you don't have to run after all the shiny objects when it comes to marketing. And you know, the market is saturated with people saying you have to do social media, you have to blog, you have to network, you have to this, you have to that. And the reality is none of that is true. There's definitely some things that are non negotiable. The high quality website, SEO, things like that. And I love that you shared this is what really fit you. Networking is not your thing and it's probably not a thing for many introverts. And you don't have to build a business off networking. And I really appreciate that you shared that and you really found this thing that fits you and what we call it is your superhero natural talents. And like you said, you like the web design, the development and those things like that. And so Google Maps, I'm sure there's a lot of analytics and things like that to really understand and it just really fit you. So I appreciate that you shared that.
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C
Sure, absolutely. I think it taps into a little bit of my creative side as well. I like to kind of see something on the screen. I like to do the work and then see it come to play out on the screen. So yeah, that's just. It's part of that is my personality.
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B
I know. You have four specific tips for Startup Nation on how to really incorporate Google Maps.
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A
Yes, Google.
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B
Google.
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A
That's funny.
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B
Wow.
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A
G O O B L E goo.
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B
Yeah, it's coming off of this E course launch. My words are messing up and having prego brain, you guys will just have to bear with me. Yes, Google. Understandable.
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C
Yes. Yeah, the first thing. Oh, do you want me to. Yeah, I can just run down those four and then you can, we can go into as much detail as you feel is necessary. So the first thing that you need is, is what we what's called a Google My business account. So the way Google has this set up is that if you're a local business, you have to have kind of a brick and mortar address. This can't be like an online shop or you can't use your home address. Google knows that the difference between a home address and a business address. So the first thing you need is a Google My business listing. This is free, there's no charge. You go to Google, you fill out all your business details, your hours of operation, your address, your phone number. And once that's all set up, you have to go through a verification process. Google will send you either a PIN number or they'll call the number, verify your listing. Once your listing is live, then you kind of qualify, I guess, quote unquote, for to go into Google Maps listing. Most people who just complete that step will find themselves in the Google Maps listing for particular geographical location. And then after that, the goal is to try and move up to the top. Google puts the top, puts three listings in the front page. And they do this by a few different things. Their algorithm is proprietary. They don't let those secrets out. But what we've discovered over the years is that popularity is one of them. So the next most important thing is to have, like you said, a high quality website, something that's getting lots of traffic. And by lots, I mean, you know, people are Visiting it. It's not just kind of sitting there collecting Internet dust. So some backlinks. Write an article for a newspaper, do a press release. Make sure that Google knows that your business is alive and booming and people are searching for what is in your listing. Make sure it's verified.
- [11:15]
B
I want to jump in with a little hashtag, ninjatip, which we love to give. When you're filling out your Google My business profile, you want to make sure that you really fill out the complete profile, not just the bare minimum. And also there's a section for post any content that you produce, you can post a link for that and a little blurb about it in the Google My business section. And it will populate and tell you how many people are viewing your post, how many people are viewing your pictures. And that's also part of showing Google that you're staying active, you're staying relevant, you're producing relevant content. And it's pretty amazing the amount of views that I see these posts get for our group practice in South Florida. And it's something that really helps. So just a little ninja tip for you guys.
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C
Nice. Yes, Google has. They now have. This is relatively new relative to Google Maps, but in Google My Business, you can actually go in there and create a website for free. It's bare basic minimum website. It's basically just your address and the things that are listed in your Google My business account. But Google loves that kind of stuff. They want you to use their software, they want you to use their program as streamlined as possible. And yes, post is a big one that Google looks for.
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A
So, Brandon, out of curiosity, how did you make your Google My business page popular?
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B
What did you do?
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C
Yes. So that brings me to the third step. The third step in this process is to get as many, what are called citations as possible. It's technically called nap Nap citation. And that just stands for name, address and phone number. So what you have to do is you have to go out, you have to find all the directories that list businesses like yellow pages. If you've ever Googled your name, you've probably come up in healthgrades.com or psychology today is a good citation that most people have already. LinkedIn, Facebook business page, Yahoo Local, Bing Local. Both Yahoo and Bing have similar programs as Google My Business. So you go out, you go to all these websites, you put your business listing in, and what Google does is they send out their bots to crawl the Internet and they find that you have all these business profiles out there that match your Google My Business listing and they think, oh, well, you must be relevant, you must be active. So we're gonna bump you up to the top because you must be popular. People are looking for you. So I know that sounds weird. A kind of personifying Google, anthropomorphizing Google a little bit.
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B
It's creating your digital footprint.
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C
Yeah, your digital footprint. Yes. That's a great way to say it.
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A
Well, and interesting like how you said you didn't really like networking, but it's almost like kind of going into this group, right? Whether it's Yelp or Bing or whatever, and you're dropping your card and be like, hey, I was here, you know, and that's kind of the popularity. So you're almost kind of networking online in the sense of, you know, like you said, napping, I guess. Name, address.
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C
Phone Address. Phone number. Yes.
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B
There's a lot of work to do with that. It's pretty time consuming and some of the companies make it really hard to figure out how to do without actually paying another company to do it for you. But there are paid for options where you can hire a company to set up your digital footprint for you or you can DIY it. It just sometimes can be a little tricky. We want to take a quick break for our sponsor. There are so many ways to keep your practice organized, but TherapyNotes is by far the best. Their 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. If you're in private 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 and 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 for those of.
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A
You that know me, you know that I did not do that myself. I definitely paid a company to outsource all of that stuff. They had a nice little software program where they were able to do that. So there's options there for sure. Because if you guys do know me, I'm not a tech lover. So doing all that stuff makes me super anxious and I rather spend my time elsewhere. So share with us a little bit more about how you popularized yourself, Brandon.
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C
Sure. Well, the fourth item or component to a strong Google Maps listing are what's called social signals. Just like these directory websites or citations, Google pays close attention to social media. Facebook posts, Twitter posts, Pinterest, Instagram, and what they do is they monitor how active you are on those counts and how popular what you're posting is. So they're called social signals because Google looks for backlinks and clicks to your website from these big heavy hitter social media accounts. And it's just one way to kind of prove to Google that people are interested in what you have to provide. So that's kind of the fourth way that's a really important aspect to bump your listing up to the top. It's not mandatory. And I know that as therapists we kind of have a little bit of an allergic reaction to kind of putting ourselves out there on social media. We don't like to think about interacting with patients. And you know, it's against most of our ethics codes to do so. But we're not talking about this really as a marketing strategy. We're talking about social media as a way to kind of prove to Google that what you're doing is active and relevant. So does that make sense?
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B
Yeah.
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A
What are some of the things that you do for social media? The social signals?
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C
Yeah. Well, anytime I do a blog post, I'll post it on social media. Facebook, Instagram, things like that. And then the other thing I do is just kind of attach my social media profile to any type of article that I write, or if I respond to a reporter who wants to do a story about depression, I'll attach my social media accounts. So people are not only clicking on my website, they're looking at my Facebook page and my Instagram page. And. And Google connects those dots. They see that there's a connection between your website, your business and Social media.
- [19:22]
B
Yeah. With the online marketing, it's almost like you're speaking twofold. And we talk about this in our E course, about how you're speaking to your ideal clients and wanting to provide content that's going to be valuable for them and using specific keywords and phrases that they would actually use. So it makes your ideal clients know that you understand them. You get it, you're the person to really help them. And then the second side of that is to really speak in a way that Google is going to love. And Google's going to basically reward you because you're using these different strategies and techniques to show Google that you're relevant, you're providing valuable content consistently, you're using proper keywords and your search engine optimization, and you got your digital footprint going. There's a lot of steps, but it's highly effective.
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C
Yes. And a lot of people want to know, how does Google know all this? It's kind of scary if you think about it, but they know, trust me. Google's in the business of selling information to advertisers. So they want accurate information. They want to make sure that their data is all connected and squared away so that they're providing the service that they promised, which is results. Search results.
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A
Gotcha. So what other advice do you have for Startup Nation regarding really making your Google Maps robust and also seeing results from that?
- [20:48]
C
Yeah, there's one other thing that becomes really important. Again, this is something that I think as therapists, we tend to shy away from, but it's about getting reviews again. Remember, Google wants to know that you're providing the service that you say you're providing, that people actually want it and enjoy it. So reviews start to become a big part of that. It's not quite so important in our industry because I think we just. There's just not a lot of people who leave reviews for therapists. I've been fortunate enough to get a few reviews. I didn't solicit them and I didn't ask for them. But, you know, a good idea is just provide good service, hope that somebody leaves a review. But reviews start to become part of the algorithm. And again, it's just a way to prove to Google that you're providing good service and people want what you're actually providing. So, again, this isn't a mandatory thing. This is. It's a step that will help you. But the first four steps are really the most important ones.
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B
Yeah, it's interesting. Katie and I talk about the importance of reviews and part of our E course as well. And there's a past coachee who I was speaking to, and she went on a mission to get 50 reviews. And this is not from clients, this is from colleagues. And it still legitimizes the business. And she got 50 reviews. I'll share her name with you after the fact, but she's one of our past coaches from previous cohort. She got 50 reviews and her calls, her new client calls skyrocketed. It's really been super effective for her. And the way that she's gone about it is to get reviews from people from professionals that she has collaborated with, from doctors, from attorneys, from other clinicians who know her and trust her work. And they've done review exchanges. It's been an extremely beneficial thing.
- [22:44]
A
Right. And I think that's always so important is kind of coming from the position of, you know, I would like to give you a review. Do you mind doing that in turn? It's really important. And I can't say enough about reviews in the sense of not only is it great for Google, but when people contact you and I always ask them, what made you decide to reach out to me specifically, maybe 50% will be, you have really great reviews. Right. And then obviously they did some more research into the website and other things. But as consumers ourselves, we look at reviews, so it's really essential. So obviously, yes, there's a lot of things in regards to our ethics and laws and stuff like that regarding reviews, but getting reviews from your colleagues is so, so, so important for several reasons. Not only Google, but also for your consumer and what they see.
- [23:29]
C
Awesome. One caveat, if I may. If you're going to do that route, and that's a legitimate thing to do, I mean, Google, there's no ethical violation that I'm aware of, and Google doesn't mind that you're not going against their terms of service. But Google wants to know that your reviews are legitimate as well. So they monitor the location, believe it or not, of where the reviews are coming from. So if you're in one area of the country and you have family in another area or a colleague in another area and you're asking them to do a review, Google's going to flag that as a bit suspicious. So make sure you're staying within your geographical location if you want to do a review exchange.
- [24:14]
B
Yeah, absolutely. That's a great tip.
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A
Because you're kind of saying, because we are a brick and mortar business and Google knows that.
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C
Yes.
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A
So it's noticing where the reviews are coming from. So here's a question then. What if you have an online company and maybe you're duly licensed or licensed in three states, how does that work then? And you have colleagues in other places.
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C
Yeah. At this time, I don't think Google really recognizes those. It would probably be a good idea to attach that to a local brick and mortar practice. But most people who do online therapy are strictly online, probably work from their homes, so they probably wouldn't be able to get a Google listing anyway. The advice I would have for somebody who's doing strictly online is to find a small office, you know, a cheap office space that you can kind of call your home office and then use that as your Google listing.
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A
Gotcha. Really important. And I appreciate. Like to me, that's like the takeaway right there. And that one statement for anyone who has the online businesses had one other question and I couldn't remember before we get to what do you want people to take away? Oh, one of the things that I wanted to say, and this is just for any of you who are listening and maybe you're not so familiar with reviews, because I've had people ask this before. I know we actually sent out email about reviews and someone like responded back, what do you want my colleagues to lie?
- [25:40]
B
Absolutely not.
- [25:41]
A
We're not saying that your colleagues, they're not giving you reviews, that they've seen you. They're giving reviews to speak to you as a professional, to talk about your characteristics, their interactions with you. Maybe they've shared a client with you so they can talk about how professional you are, the expert that you are. So those types of reviews.
- [25:58]
C
Absolutely.
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A
We wouldn't kinky. Would never say to have your colleagues exchange reviews, whatever that means.
- [26:06]
C
Yes, yeah, yeah. Be ethical about it. For sure.
- [26:09]
B
Yeah.
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A
Brandon, what do you want to make sure Startup Nation takes away from your message today?
- [26:13]
C
Well, I think the biggest thing is that I just want people to understand there's hope for marketing. You know, there's a lot of legwork and there's a lot to think about and to research and to understand, but it can be done. There's great ways to get new clients through these online methods. And I don't think anybody should overlook the power of a Google Maps listing. I think we should all be doing that, taking advantage of it. There's no cost involved unless you want to, like you said, pay somebody to help you do some of the legwork and of course, small fee for the website. But there really are methods that work that are low cost and relatively easy to implement.
- [26:58]
A
And just out of Curiosity, before we do get to your giveaway. When you, before you started Google Maps, how many clients did you have coming in a week? And then after you had a robust Google Maps or Google my business, the whole thing, where were you at? Just kind of an idea.
- [27:15]
C
Yeah, it's hard to really quantify that because when I was, when I first started my in private practice at the group I was with, I was fresh out of school. I wasn't taking insurance, so I really wasn't getting a whole lot of traction. I was getting some referrals from the group and Psychology Today. But by contrast, ever since I got into Google Maps, I've been booked out for at least a month and that had never happened before prior to getting Google Maps. And a really quick story if I may. Before I realized that I was actually in Google Maps and that it was at the top, I didn't even realize it when it happened. I had several new people kind of all at once want to come in to see me. I was trying to figure out what was going on and I had one client tell me. He said, we saw you in Google Maps, so we assumed that you had to be the best. And that's the power of getting up there in Google Maps. People really put a lot of faith and trust in what Google provides and they want to see the best. So that's the big difference, I think, from pre Google Maps to where things are at now.
- [28:34]
B
Awesome.
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A
And what is your giveaway, Brandon?
- [28:38]
C
So what I've done is I've compiled these four or five steps into a little ebook. It goes into details about them. I have a list of all the website directories that you can go and make it a directory listing on. And it's really easy to follow. It's only about 20 pages or so. And it just kind of takes you through those steps step by step. I kind of hold you by the hand and take you through that so that you can go to, I think it's advocor strategies.com therapist. You'll be able to find the link there.
- [29:19]
B
Cool.
- [29:19]
A
And of course you guys can just click the link and head over to our Show Notes page and all of the resources, tips and everything that we've talked about today will be there. So, Brandon, we wanted to thank you for joining us. We hope that you guys join us next week as we talk to Sid from Wisehire talking about three key strategies to hiring pretty stellar staff. And I'm excited about this podcast because they actually use disc profiling and I don't know if you know anything about disc, but it is a really great way to understand where to put people in your organization.
- [29:50]
B
Let's take a quick moment for our Startup Nation Superhero shout out for today's episode. This comes from Melissa Cimorelli. Melissa says after having discussion with my therapist about future goals, it was recommended that I check out the Private Practice Startup to begin my journey into private practice. The podcasts are fun and encouraging. Melissa, we're so glad to hear that you're finding our podcast to be helpful and inspiring and thank you so much for sharing that feedback with us. We wish you the best of luck on your practice journey.
- [30:19]
A
And so Startup Nation, thank you so much for joining us. As we always say, have an awesome and inspired day. Take care everybody.
- [30:28]
B
Thanks. 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. Sam.