C (2:45)

Thanks for having me on. It was an honor.

B (2:48)

Great to have you here. Absolutely, Absolutely. I'm really excited about this topic and I know that we've seen you kind of in the Facebook groups, and I reached out to you and I'm like, this would be a great topic for Startup Nation. So maybe just share with us. What is a private practice warrior?

C (3:03)

Well, for me, like, a private practice warrior is an identity. It's something that is a mindset, I guess you could say. Identity, mindset. Don't get too much into the specifics of the definition of what they are, but it's essentially those kind of things. And it all kind of came from when I was really looking around about, like, why practices fail. And I read all the numbers from, like, the Small Business Administration about how many people fail in a year, how many people fail in 10 years. And then I looked at it with our latest technology and all this support and all these trainings that we have access to today, and like, the numbers don't change over time. So then I was like, what's kind of the missing factor? And without having to spend the next 40 years doing research, I find that a lot of it has to do with the mindset, the mental game. And so once I looked at, okay, how do you keep that and master that, I put together a lot of that formulated identity of what a private practice warrior is, what a private practice warrior represents. And taking that kind of. That lens towards your practice enables you to be a little more successful in.

D (4:18)

That kind of what brought you to.

B (4:20)

Discover the private practice Warrior?

C (4:24)

I think for me, it's. It's. I look at it like from the book. It's essentially my own mindset to a point. It's my first practice. When I first started out, I was doing fairly well, but you just couldn't get over this hump. Like there was something that wasn't quite there. And I did a lot of work with, like, mindset, mental toughness, mental practices, stuff like that. And after doing a lot of those and knowing why I do what I do, what I stand for, what I represent, and every single day paying attention to that, then my practice just took off.

B (5:01)

Awesome. What are some of the things that you had to overcome? Really looking at yourself to be where you are in Business today, I think.

C (5:09)

A lot of it is mainly most of us as therapists are pretty introverted. So we don't like get ourselves to go out a whole lot. Some people told me, like, you're very much maybe socially introverted. Where I can learn to be that. There's a lot of things, like even in my own personal life, like I was married for a long time. That was not the greatest marriage. And so there was not allowing myself to put myself out there for some of those reasons, where now I've been separated for a bit and it's a lot different where now I can finally get myself going up there. But I was in a fortunate spot when I got my practice because being in a rural area, it's a very big need. And so I had people approach me like, we need a really good provider, Chris. And I remember telling them, I'll go look for that person. Like, no, no, no, that's you. Okay. But one advantage I do have is I have like business degrees. I lived in the business world before being a therapist, so it's a nice easy transition for me. With a lot of operating a business, it was just balancing a lot of the day to day everything, getting your all your little systems all fine tuned. And then even when I looked at how fast can I get stuff done, like all time stuff, there's many different tools and stuff to be able to be more productive in a quicker time without being distracted by the latest shiny object stuff like that.

B (6:38)

True, true sos Shiny object syndrome.

C (6:43)

Even with projects that I even work on now, I mean, even with the book, I had that idea. And then I was starting to go along that path and then I was, I saw a local nonprofit, didn't get some funding, and so I thought, well, maybe I could assist with them. And so I jumped over there and started working on that. Then I'm like, oh, no, no, I'll get back to you. So there's a lot of different ways in which for me it's like, all right, identify your high value targets, stay focused, finish the project totally.

B (7:12)

And so, you know, why do practices fail? What's the inner stuff about why they fail?

C (7:20)

For me, I don't know if it's a particular thing. It's like, what if there's one message I think that if anybody can get out of this today is just don't ever, ever forget about that. That it's always going on every minute, even when you're learning, it's still there. And like, I get an example of when people first start Their practice. I mean, you go out and you. I think you could probably spend a weekend and you could find out with a lot of checklists what you need to do to actually build a practice and get it going. The difference is sustaining it and keeping it going is going to be up to you. You're the one who makes the decisions. You're the one who do this. So it comes down to you and what goes on in your mind. And it's not necessarily like a lot of what we go back to graduate school and start going back to our childhood and family of origin. Not even like a lot of those kind of things. It gets to be where, you know, you finally get the practice and you identify a niche, you know, like, say like adolescent female trauma victims or something. And you start the practice and after a bit you're getting some clientele, but you're not quite getting enough. Pretty soon some fear, maybe some insecurities start setting in and that can start influencing you to widen the net a little bit. And they know I'm starting to bring in some depression people, anxiety people. Next thing you know, I'm doing couples counseling, family counseling, and then I got a full practice. It's just. And then you realize one day, like, wow, now I'm stressed to the hilt with clients that I'm really not excited about. And so that fear and stuff got in to just fine tune me in a different direction. And then you start getting burnt out, which from that you get frustration, exhaustion that gets into your head and you're making decisions from that place and it keeps fine tuning to the point where it'll just erase that you forget about why you even did this first place.

D (9:21)

It's such a common, yeah, such a common issue that clinicians struggle with in private practice because of that, that fear based scarcity mindset of if I, if I niche down and really focus on my true passion and really specialize in that area with my ideal client, that I won't be able to fill my practice, I won't be able to pay my bills. I'm gonna struggle. There's not enough people to go around. And it really does influence people to work with more of a generalist practice. And you just gave like the perfect continuum of how that kind of sneaks up on people. And all of a sudden they find themselves with a full practice, but not enjoying themselves and not doing their best work, not working with the people that they're truly called to serve and feeling burnout. And that's a lot of times how clinicians come to find us and work with us in coaching, because we believe so strongly in the importance of really tackling these mindset issues at the forefront. And then also over time, because they pop up, these little. They're like little critic on your shoulder. Yeah. A little gremlin on your shoulder, the mindset issues. And they really wreak havoc in your practice if you don't tackle those. And then also if you're not clear on who you're serving and really staying true to the population that you were really called to serve, that you love working with, that you're really fulfilled by and do your best work with, then, you know, you really can go in that. In that negative experience with your practice.

B (10:53)

You know, one of the interesting things that I find is a lot of times, you know, clinicians and even other business owners, I know that we're not, you know, it's very much the same anywhere. But we're looking for strategies. So it's funny because we'll have podcasts on strategy specific things, but the downloads for people listening to the more vulnerable stuff, the fear stuff, all of that stuff is way more. So I think there's this kind of disconnect of, hey, I want to build a business. What's the best strategy? Or what should I do next? And, wow, I'm really dealing with all this fear stuff that either we're not talking about enough or we're not sharing or we're uncomfortable, right? Because all of those, the fear of failure, the fear of success, feeling ashamed, all of that stuff comes up. So, Chris, as people are dealing with this stuff, maybe in their mind, like, how do you help them recognize it and what can they do about it?

C (11:44)

I think the biggest part with all we've been trained to is really paying attention, having that awareness to start with. And to me, it's, you have to be challenged in order for all of it to start surfacing. Like, if you're comfortable, it's just not going to happen. And to me, like, part of, like, private practice warrior, part of the identity is you just don't create a practice to make a lot of money or you're making a practice to have the greatest practice ever. It kind of goes back to a lot of the arts or martial art kind of stuff, where it's not just how to teach you how to hit kick or just give you the right marketing plan. All this stuff. There's something to it about who you are as a person. And so building the practice is the challenge that you need to become a better person. And so through a lot of those challenges that you might face, if it's, you know, it's, oh my gosh, they don't have enough money and how am I going to collect from them? And I feel really bad. And you get a lot of the, like you said, the gremlin stuff going on. Those are those moments that you have an opportunity then to either fine tune where you need to go or you're going to be pulled away. And a lot of what I, in the book I talk about like the path to success. And so to me, like a path has a right side, it has a left side. We can all talk about what's more right or left, but it essentially the path to success. And to me, like the right side I look at as mastery, left side would be service. And if people want to flip them, they can do that. Doesn't matter, just the two sides. Mastery, service, those become the two things that if what you're doing is related to any of those two things, which is mastering what you do, becoming better at operating a private practice or better at who you are as a person, but then also being of service, how are you of service to those you serve? How can you identify their particular needs? If everything you're doing is related those two things, you're on the right track. It's when you're not, then you're off in the jungle and you got to be very, very cautious of what's going on. But it can be very subtle. It's just a matter of like when you sit down and you got to type up notes or you want to do belly. Yeah, it would be easy just to go home and leave or whatever, something like that. But it's the discipline to say, no, I need to do this because that's who I am, that's what I do. So a lot of, for me, like with the being like a warrior is being very clear on why I do what I do, the purpose, what is the mission of my practice? Who are those people that I truly do serve? And that's where I focus on every single day. I'll review my purpose. Every single day. I'll take a look at my principles, of what I stand for. And the principles are not something that you just live by. Those things, you got to go every day and earn those by how you act, how you exude. And many of that can be looked into branding. People are familiar with branding. It's that stuff too, about what you stand for, what you represent, all of those things that sets that day up to Be very focused on what it is that I need to do and not getting so distracted by a lot of different things. But you can go into even like imposter syndrome stuff that'll come up a lot of times that, like I said, it's like you can hear about it, but once you get faced with it now it's game off just to be very aware of it. If you're not aware of it, then it's going to pull you off for a little bit until somebody snaps you out of that. Hopefully.

B (15:25)

You know, it's interesting. As I hear you talk, I don't know why I sit on the other side of this mic and I'm constantly surprised by people kind of, you know, sharing what we believe, what we say and things like that. But it's always so validating. And I know for me there's this process that I go through and I know one of the beautiful things and you said this is the journey of entrepreneurship is really a mirror to you. And if you choose to accept the challenge, you come out as a way better person.

C (15:51)

But.

B (15:51)

But if you don't, we can fall into blame and victimization and things like that, thinking something's wrong out there.

D (15:58)

Right.

B (15:58)

But when this is what you're talking about, really mastering that in our game of self. I know Kate and I just had an E course launch and I'll tell you, if you want to grow, you should definitely level up or do a launch. It is moment by moment, because you're in it, that you have to look at yourself. I did some self directed EMDR on myself one morning before, but part of being an entrepreneur is really having some type of habit of mindset. And I think that's kind of what you're talking about. And so for the people that you've come in contact with, what are some of the things that they do to stay aware of this and then kind of tackle it as it comes up?

C (16:35)

Besides the awareness, I think it's being real with yourself. Like when you talk about a launch, there are many times where it's like, look, if you've never done this, there's a learning curve to this. So don't expect if you come in and with a timeline, more than likely your timeline might not be accurate. So don't get too busted up because you missed the timeline.

B (16:55)

You're speaking right to me, Chris. And I think Kate is smiling because she's like, this is what I tell her because I go through polls and then I get really disappointed. Right? And then we actually have A awesome little chat with Allison per year and Laura Long, Kate and myself, where it's like a little mini support group, a tech support group. And sometimes when I do get caught up in that stuff, they just remind me, like, think about how many therapists lives are going to change. And the beauty is, as a therapist is not only are we affecting one person, but we're affecting many. And when you're a coach for therapists, that's a huge deal. And I do, I say, and I remind myself, and this is what you're saying is really keeping the mission present, is that we don't fulfill Kay and I don't fulfill our mission unless they fulfill theirs. Right. So when they have a practice that they love, working with their ideal clients, that's when we fulfill them. And I get chills as I say that because we. That's way more exciting than how many coaches do we have, Right?

D (17:49)

Absolutely.

B (17:50)

So I love that you talk about realigning yourself with your vision and mission every day. Sorry I jumped in, but I got excited about that. I had to show.

C (17:58)

No, that's all fine. No, but that's exactly how it works. Like, you don't. You might not be aware of what you like. It can be. People can be like, oh no, I have any problem accepting money. And then all of a sudden you get in a situation, you get these weird feelings going on. You have no idea. Like I said, if you're not aware of some, it's just gonna take you to a place. And so a lot of it is like the purpose, knowing exactly why you do what you do. Knowing, and I think a lot of it too. Like learning. All of us in graduate school learn how to like run a therapy session. So you're paying attention to a lot of variables. There's a lot of techniques and stuff that we all had learned. To me, running the business is nothing but running like a therapeutic operation. It's just so like for me, when I look at private practice, to me, and where some of the stuff from my book comes from as being more warrior. I mean, it's people that are at an agency. A lot of times it's like the regular army. You know, you have your job. This is what you do. Your infantry. Infantry. You're cavalry. You're cavalry. You're doing therapy. Doing therapy. Well, here it's kind of like, no, it could be just by yourself, like a 007 type agent or a small team where you're looking at more special operations type community where you not only are engaged in doing these stuff, but you're like planning your marketing and to me it's the ability that's cool for private practice owners is you can get really up close and personal people you serve and get beyond just doing the therapy. There can be a lot of ways to help out people beyond just therapy to reach a lot of those too.

B (19:35)

Nice. Before we continue, I mean, I'm excited about this topic. We have to take a break for our sponsor.

D (19:40)

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B (21:13)

Know that we've kind of just like dove in and just kind of took this natural progression, but I really want to make sure that you have the opportunity to share anything that you really want to talk about specifically as it comes to to private practice Warrior.

C (21:25)

Okay.

B (21:26)

Things we haven't covered yet.

C (21:29)

No, I think we're kind of hitting that. I mean there's a lot of like they can get into specifics, so we really don't need to get into specifics. Like I said, I'm really focused on just getting people aware of the inner game. I mean there can be Things like it is the mastery service. Those two things really focus on, you know, I can describe more about what the book looks like because it's not a. I didn't write it like a business book. It's a story.

D (21:55)

Yeah.

B (21:55)

Share with us about that. That'd be great.

C (21:57)

Yeah. So stuff like that where I like how people learn more from stories. So as people, as the character learns, so do you. So. Yeah.

B (22:05)

So what are some of.

D (22:07)

Katie, I wanted to jump in and ask you because you talked a little bit about your own experience recently with the launch of like working to master the inner game in the mindset issue that pop up when we launch. And I know you have some strategies that you use on a regular basis. You have routine to help you master the inner game. And I thought it would be helpful for you to share that too.

B (22:28)

Yeah, thanks. I didn't know I was being interviewed. I got anxious all of a sudden.

D (22:32)

Putting you on the spot, girl.

C (22:34)

Yeah. Because I mean it could be like specific stuff that I do to help myself get back focused or even routines that put me in a mindset. Like those kind of things could be. People need that.

B (22:44)

Yeah. Share what it is that you do and then I'll share what I do.

C (22:49)

Okay. Yeah. Like for me, like getting focused, I'll do like a box breathing pattern for a good maybe five to 10 times before I focus on what I'm going to do and seeing myself doing that. And to me, I'm more productive when I do. I'll go at tasks for maybe 30 to 40 minutes at a time. Then I'm taking a five minute break because I know I'll be more productive on that. There's a lot of different things. Like I do the same thing when a client comes in. It's the way I stand up, whatever I grab to go to greet them. It is everything's the same that gets my mind, body in line with what it is I need to do stuff like that.

B (23:24)

Nice. You know, as you mentioned that Kris, I kind of think about really understanding people who are super successful thinking about like Steve Jobs and things like that and other entrepreneurs. There's things that they do do actually to conserve their energy. So Steve Jobs, he's notorious. Not notorious, but he's famous for the black turtleneck Right. In the jeans. And one of the things or one of the reasons he did that is because that's like wasted time and energy trying to figure out what you're going to wear and where you're going. Right. So having those routines in those systems you know, even as Kate and I do the podcast, she always takes the picture. Obviously, if she's not here, I'll take that. But we have a certain task and, you know, it's not like, well, I always do that every time. Why don't you do it? No, it's just like, we know it, we do it. It's going to take more time for us to do the opposite thing. For me, what I do, I do a lot of. I call it me first in the morning. Right. Because if I don't get me first in, that's probably not going to happen. Ever since I've done business coaching back in 2015 and became a reader, I do try to read every morning. I also sometimes do a mix, sometimes meditation. But what I've been doing recently, I just am about to finish Hellrod's second book, actually his first book, which is Miracle Morning. I already read Miracle Equation by but there was parts. So how Elrod talks about savers. So SAVERS stands for silence, affirmation, visualization, exercise, reading and scribing. And so he talks about, he's researched and assessed all like successful people. And they do a mixture of these things each morning. And so recently what I've been doing is writing down the commitment that I have for the next 100 days. And that's through John Lee Dumas, entrepreneur on fire.

D (24:57)

Freedom Drop.

B (24:58)

Yeah, so that's been really great for me because I'm definitely a task driven person. So it keeps me super focused because like you said, all the shiny objects can really pull us away. So I've been doing that and I definitely exercise because sometimes I have some anxious energy that I really need to get rid of. So I definitely work out. And it's kind of also like oil to the tin man for me. Got a lot of like aches and, you know, cracks and things going on there. So that's pretty part of what I do. And then having a business owner, like a business partner like Kate is awesome because we definitely step into the space with each other and share when something is just kind of up for us and not going well. So that's helpful. But I think as therapists, one of the things is we're interested in the psyche anyway, so we have an opportunity, right, to really utilize what we're experiencing right in the face of business entrepreneurship and take it on, like you said, as a challenge and a challenge to overcome. So that's one of the reasons I just love being an entrepreneur. You know, it's the mirror in front of your face.

D (26:01)

Every day.

B (26:02)

And it's, it's you and you.

C (26:06)

Yeah, no, I do a lot of stuff to like, like you said between exercise, meditation and do what I can to take care of my brain because that's what enables me to do everything. And so there's a lot of like mental training or mental practices that go on to make sure that. How do you deal with overwhelm and managing your day to day stuff that's going on? And that's where I think a lot of the stuff that I've done with the mental toughness, the mental training, a lot of that stuff that I've been involved with have changed. A lot of that where I've been more productive, get more done, I feel more relaxed and I can do a better job helping people.

B (26:43)

Yeah. And I know one of the crucial part is as we get into the business aspect, one of the mistakes that most people make is working too much in the, the business. Right. So a lot of time planning and looking and identifying like what is in support of your goals. That stuff is really important. I know that we want to get a lot to the doing. Right. Because we feel like the doing creates the results. And so sometimes that's a hard shift to step back and really plan and work on the business.

C (27:10)

Yeah, that's a good point because that's exactly where I talk about the inner game getting you. Because those questions like what kind of practice do you really want? What kind of practice is really going to benefit the lifestyle that you want to have? Who do you really want to work with? All those like prep stuff to get yourself figured out on a purpose mission. People just want to like jump in and like, okay, should I take insurance? Should I not take insurance? And to me, that rush and that thing, that's where it slowly just gets you to forget about why you're doing this and you get a great practice, but it's not what you wanted. Feel miserable.

B (27:46)

Yeah. So Chris, what do you most want people to take away from your message today?

C (27:52)

To me the biggest part would just be don't ever, ever, ever forget about the inner game. It's there all the time. Even when you're learning, when you're asking questions, it's just there. You can't escape it. It's going on all the time. But the best part of it to me is if you want to be a better person, like if you want to grow, then you have to be able to be put in uncomfortable situations that challenge you. And when that happens, it's not the most pleasant but It's a great opportunity during that time to learn about you and your normal tendencies. And you find out, yeah, that wasn't very productive in that and being able to shift that. And to me, that that's what life is all about. And so to me, it's like I said, with private practice warriors, you grow through your practice. That's the idea. It's not just to become an expert at marketing, because, wow. And look what I can do with my practice. A lot of it is so you can become a better person, a better spouse, a better parent, a better community person through what you do, and that's what you stand for. And some of that title I forgot to mention, like, the Private practice warrior piece. Like, when people walk in a room and they're like, oh, what do you do? I'm a physician. Like, whoa, instant respect. You walk in and like, what do you do? I'm a therapist. Oh, you know that you don't have.

B (29:14)

Let me run away because you're psychoanalyzing me.

C (29:17)

Yeah. So there's this time where it's like, we don't have this cohesive thing that it's like, okay, you know, you're in private practice. You know, it should be like, oh, my gosh, like, now I know if I go to you, I know you're gonna help me out because I know how you are, what you stand for, what you've kind of, like, been through that you help people because you're like, wow, that should be looked at on a respectful level, more so than out there, because we don't have a title. We're entrepreneurs or therapreneurs or something. You know, our business people. I'm like, like, in the book I mentioned, like, there's samurai, there are Spartans. For us, it's like, we're private practice warriors, something like that. That has some cohesion to it.

B (29:57)

Nice. So I know that you have been mentioning your book, and I know that you actually have a giveaway for our audience. What is that?

C (30:03)

Yes, I will definitely give all the audience people a free copy of my book. I think in the show notes, if you all leave the link there, and if it's not in there, all you have to do is go to iamchrissensen.com and everything is all there. And a special bonus with that too. So.

B (30:22)

Cool. And we will definitely leave that in the show notes for ease. So you guys can just click on the link for the podcast and everything will be there. So, Chris, thanks so much for joining us, and thanks for the validation and support of what Kate and I share and teach and do. It's always just nice to hear kind of from the other side and reflections back Startup Nation, you definitely want to join us next week because this is an episode that you guys requested. Again, we really tried to serve you. So we're going to be talking with Barbara and Barbara is going to share share all about progress notes stuff so the things that you might be missing in your progress notes in regards to having good progress notes but also for insurance stuff. So next week's a strategy talk, not an inner game talk.

D (31:05)

And we want to take a moment to do a quick shout out for our Startup Nation superheroes. And this one is super sweet. It's from Ireland under the sun who says great resource, awesome. Thank you Ireland under the sun for letting us know that you're finding this be valuable and we love to get feedback from you guys because that's why you are, why we do what we do. And when we get that feedback that we're providing content that's valuable, that's inspiring, that's really on point. It just inspires us to keep going. So definitely we encourage you to subscribe, rate, review our show, share with your friends and colleagues and we always love to give the shout outs on every episode. So definitely send us an email, let us know.

B (31:46)

Startup Nation, thank you so much for allowing us to inspire you from Startup to Mastery. We hope you have an awesome and inspired day. Take care everybody.

D (31:55)

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.

C (32:10)

SA.