← Private Practice Startup Podcast
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- [00:02]
Podcast Host
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.
- [00:31]
Alison
Hey there.
- [00:32]
Kate Campbell
Start what nation? Welcome back. We are at episode five of the up close and personal podcast series. So this is our fifth and final guest again, one of the people that you guys voted on. And we're really excited to have her because she's not only a colleague, but also a friend. And that is the awesome and amazing Alison per year. So we are super excited to have her and really get up close and personal. And just like each podcast, I just want to remind you the guests have no idea what we're asking them. So all of this is authentic. We off the cuff, just the way that we like it and hopefully that you guys like it. But before we get started, we hope you joined us yesterday because we're releasing one of these episodes daily. We hope you guys joined us Yesterday for Tiffany McLean and that was a whole fun. We got into this whole like deep dive about like money and spirituality and existentialism. It kind of felt like. So you want to make sure you listen to that podcast, but if you are brand new to us and this is the first time that you're joining us, what a great time to join us right in the middle of this season. So we want to welcome you into the startup Nation family. And with that, we have a gift for you. That is our A to Z cheat sheet, the essentials for building and growing your dream practice. And you can just grab that right off our website by heading over to PrivatePracticesStartup.com head on over to the resources tab and there you will see it. And it also comes with five days of practice building emails.
- [01:52]
Katie Lemieux
So without further ado, let's get personal with Alison.
- [01:55]
Alison
Yes.
- [01:56]
Katie Lemieux
Hey, girl. Hey.
- [01:57]
Alison
Hey. Hey.
- [01:59]
Katie Lemieux
We were just saying it's so fun to have you in your house because we, when we visited at, we were literally sitting in those chairs behind you in your living room. So it feels very personal. It feels like we just get to continue the conversation with you, which is great.
- [02:12]
Alison
Yeah.
- [02:12]
Kate Campbell
And you guys can consume the podcast and or video. We'll release that as well. So you can see us or listen.
- [02:17]
Alison
Now you can spy on my house.
- [02:22]
Kate Campbell
So Allison, we've just been really starting with everyone. And the question really is, tell us a little bit about your story, your upbringing. Where did you grow up? Family. Yeah, give us a little bit of that background.
- [02:34]
Alison
Okay. So I grew up right outside of Atlanta in Marietta, Georgia. My parents are still married. They're like. I just feel like nobody I know still has parents who are married. So I'm like, that's. That's new and different about me. They. They now live about 30 minutes from where I live, and they moved here first, which is strange. So I grew up. I'm an only child until I was 2016 or 17, and my best friend got kicked, kind of kicked out of his house, and my parents became his legal guardian. So that's. So I got a sibling when I was, like, 17 and he was my age, and it changed the relationship significantly, especially because I didn't really know how to share. So let's see. Working class upbringing, and I lived in an area that had really blown up after my parents bought the house. And so it was like, land of wealth. And meanwhile, we were not in the land of wealth in our home. So it was an interesting dynamic. Personally, y' all mentioned Tiffany, who's one of my biz besties, and she and I have had a lot of conversations around, like, that dynamic of being around a lot of people with money when you didn't have a lot of money. And I think that there are some ways in which that upbringing really. I mean, I think we all have money stuff, but I think that that particular upbringing really changed some of my ideas or shifted some of my ideas about what I wanted in the world and what was good and what was bad. So part of my money stuff that I had to get over was as I was making more and more money in both my private practice and then later in abundance, I had to, like, shift to, like, but I'm not a jerk, but I'm making money. But how can I make this money and not be a jerk? Isn't that a given? So it was a nice. It was a nice reframe of, like, oh, yeah. These old rooted beliefs of mine don't have any real bearing with truth. So, yeah. So I grew up. My family is really supportive and really loving. I'm very, very, very lucky that way. And went to a performing arts high school that was across town. And that was an interesting shift because they put a performing arts high school in a high school that was not doing well in terms of, like, socioeconomic. Like, the taxes in that area were not supporting it in the way they Needed to. It was a really nice shift to go to a school where there's a lot more diversity in that area. There was a lot more socioeconomic diversity as well. And just kind of being what felt like more in my element because I wasn't just with kids who were like spending their winter vacations in Germany skiing, when like I got a CD for Christmas and I was excited about it. So it was nice to shift and to feel more kind of at home in my own skin. Yeah.
- [05:35]
Katie Lemieux
What were you like as a teenager?
- [05:38]
Alison
I was a go getter. I was super ambitious. I really, I was a people pleaser. I wanted all of my teachers to really like me, but I also didn't want to be like a teacher's pet because my peers opinions of me were highly valued as well. I don't think. I mean, I don't think many teenagers have a very strong sense of identity, but I really don't think I did. I knew I wanted, like it was a value system in my family to treat people kindly and to work hard. And so those were two things that were very important to me and something that have been a through line in my life. But I also, because I was doing well in school, because I seemed like kid with a halo on, I could get away with stuff that maybe I wouldn't want my daughters to get away with. Do tell.
- [06:27]
Kate Campbell
Like what?
- [06:28]
Alison
Oh, just like the usual kind of high school nonsense with like drinking parties and boys and stuff like that. So just because I wasn't like an Eddie Haskell necessarily, because it wasn't like mean to anybody, but I think that I had a little bit of a wilder side that I was trying to explore that, you know, I still wanted everybody to think I was a good kid. So it was a good, it was a good experience of both. And right. Instead of it being this, only bad kids do this and only good kids do this, I think I was. I had parents who trusted me. And at some point in high school, they stopped telling me yes or no about things. Like I'd say, I want to go to this party at so and so's house. And they'd say, you know, is, are her parents gonna be home? And I'd say no. And they'd say, we'd really rather you not. And so sometimes I like just wouldn't go because I felt like there's a reason they're saying that. And sometimes I would just lie, be like, yeah, her parents are totally gonna be there. It's just us girls, we're gonna watch a so yeah, just depending on where I was developmentally, sometimes I. Sometimes that works really well, and sometimes it didn't.
- [07:46]
Kate Campbell
Allison, I know you talk about being a rule follower. Were you a rule follower even growing up?
- [07:51]
Alison
Oh, absolutely. I mean, I think I didn't use your name. I was definitely a rule follower growing up, except for those things. But I feel like I was kind of following, like, the peer rules still, you know, So I think that there was, I do, like, a sense of structure. I do like good boundaries. They make me feel safe and contained and, like, I know what's coming next. There are some ways that I really do like to innovate, but for the most part, I would rather be kind of, like, held within a structure most of the time. And that was, you know, you get tons of that in high school. So cool that need was met.
- [08:33]
Katie Lemieux
Tell us how you became a therapist.
- [08:36]
Alison
So, and I guess this is. I kind of skipped over a pretty important part of my teenage years. So from the age of 12 until the age of 20, I had just a raging eating disorder and depression and significant anxiety. I was kind of a mess. And I was also that kid who everybody went to with their problems because I was a really good faker. Everybody around me thought everything was fine and so I could, like, support the people in my lives with, like, big, heavy stuff that, like, little kids don't need to be told. So, like, I remember in elementary school, somebody I know telling me that, like, she was being molested, and in middle school, somebody telling me that her dad was beating her. So, like, these big, heavy things that I would be like, I don't know what my role is, if I'm supposed to, like, keep this secret that they've asked me to keep or if I'm supposed to go to my parents, because I think I'm supposed to go to.
- [09:28]
Katie Lemieux
My parents with this.
- [09:29]
Alison
But then my parents aren't therapists. They're not equipped with, like, who to report this to and all that kind of thing. But I did. I always went to my parents because I felt like this is the kind of big, bad problem that a kid can't help a kid with. And I trusted my parents, so I knew they would do what needed to be done. They'd figure it out. So, yeah. So the eating disorder, really, that people pleasing tends to go along with eating disorders much of the time, being a high achiever, what Brene Brown calls, like, hustling for your worth, I think was definitely a large part of my life, even after I recovered from my eating disorder. So as A young child. I decided I wanted to be a therapist because kids were already coming to me with heavy stuff. I didn't, I'd never been to a therapist. I didn't know any therapists. I just thought it was like you sit on a couch and you give advice all day and then people are happy again. So I had this very like, childlike idea of what that was. And then when I got into college, I finally got into therapy because I couldn't really, like, hide it or like function anymore. And then I was like, oh, yeah, this would be a really good career. I'm kind of a psych major. And after just a ton of work, finally got into recovery and then eventually got recovered. And I still definitely battle with anxiety sometimes, but I'm glad it's not the like, mixing bowl of eating disorder, depression, anxiety like it used to be.
- [10:58]
Kate Campbell
And then what propelled you to become a practice builder and really help others with their private practices?
- [11:02]
Alison
Yeah, so we, we moved across the country. I'd been working, I'd had an agency job and had a part time private practice for five years. And the agency job I'd loved. And that's why I kept on to it until it just started. Like leadership shifted, things got bad. But I knew we were moving, so I was like, well, I'm, I'm not going to like change this right now because we're moving in a year anyway. So I stuck it out. We moved across the country where I knew no one. And I was like, I can't deal with the BS of agencies anymore. I can't. Like, as somebody who loves rules and loves structure, and he was always like, you know, star on my employee chart. I was like, it's just not worth it. It's not worth having like my colleagues coming in my office crying or me going into their office crying, like, this is bs. I'm not doing it. And so we decided I'd just open up a private practice in Seattle. Like that was gonna be a snap. Like, obviously that's just what we'll do. And my husband was in school there and his program was like 80 hours a week. So there's no way he could bring in any money. And so I think that there for somebody like me, I think for some people that would be a pressure cooker, that would not work. But for me, the fact that everything was on me and if I didn't succeed, like, things were going to be really bad. Something about that dynamic just made me make it work. Like, I tried so much, I did so much. I'M a go getter anyway. But I think that it was, like, turned up to volume 11 because there was no option to fail. We couldn't. We couldn't. So I did that. And then I was like, oh, my God, like, I feel like I should have been doing this for years. Why in the world did I stick around with all that nonsense? I didn't realize that you could make this kind of money. I didn't realize you could have this kind of freedom. Like, I didn't realize I got to choose things. Like, I got to create the structures. That's amazing, because even when I was in leadership and agencies, like, I didn't actually get to lead, you know, so it was really exciting. And I started kind of bullying my friends into going into private practice, especially the ones who were at that old agency. And when I remember the first month that I made over $8,000 and my good friend Alison, who was working at an agency in Seattle, I was like, alison, I don't know how to say this without bragging. I don't know. I don't know how to process it because of, like, how I grew up and, like, blah. But I made, like, over $8,000. And I don't understand why you're making, like, 30 in this expensive city in this really hard job. Like, it doesn't make sense that you should make less than me. And I think you should come on and, like, start a private practice. So she was another one I bullied into it. And you know, when you cajole people into going into business for themselves, there's been a little bit of an onus on you to help them, right? Because, like, instead of just being, like, do it. It felt really fun to be able to support them in it and to, like, hear their fears and their concerns and to, like, map out, like, no, next you need to do this or X, Y, or Z. I just found I loved it. And then we moved from Seattle to where we live now in Asheville, and. And I noticed I was feeling sad that this was the last time I was going to build a private practice. And I was like, that doesn't seem common. Maybe even not, right? And so I was like, well, I've helped all these other people. Maybe I can help some more. I brought up enjoying it during a networking event that my friend Jane Carter threw. And all these people were like, tell me more. I want to hear more. And abundance was essentially, like, born out of that networking event.
- [15:06]
Kate Campbell
That's awesome. I love it. I have another question for you, and I'm going to ask you the question, then we'll go to break and then we'll come back. And so the question is, what things have you learned about yourself through business? So let's take a quick sponsor break.
- [15:18]
Katie Lemieux
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 Pleiner and took an in depth view into their ehr. Katie and I love the DISC personality assessment. Knowing each other's profiles makes working together easier and helps us to be more productive when growing our business. Especially when hiring new team members. Today's sponsor is Wisehire. We just had their co founder Sid on Podcast 165 talking about how to hire employees that you can trust. Wisehire helps you get ideal candidates and make better hiring decisions with its all in one online recruiting service. Their simple software and expert hiring coaches streamline the hiring process and eliminate all the guesswork from writing job ads, choosing the right salary, evaluating applicants and more. Here's how it works. You answer a few questions about what role you're filling and what type of person you're looking for. Then you paste your job for review and relax. Their team will optimize it and post it on the top job boards for you. And when candidates apply, they administer a DISC personality assessment and score the candidates based on how their personality matches up to the role. There are no contracts required or commission fees. You can pause or cancel your account at any time. Over 4,000 small businesses have trusted WiseHire to help them find great people. Visit wisehire.com privatepracticestartup for $20 off your first hire. That's W I Z E hire.com all.
- [17:23]
Kate Campbell
Right Allison, how do you learn about yourself through business?
- [17:26]
Alison
What does business taught you so much? I am so much stronger than I had any idea before. Like I'm very. And that's, that's not to say like.
- [17:36]
Katie Lemieux
It'S been so hard.
- [17:37]
Alison
It has been so hard. Sometimes I realize I'm really good at like my superpower in life is helping people believe in themselves. That like that that's something different from just like other people who like try to pep talk somebody. Like there's something about me that is truly meant for that. I realized I'm good at business. I always thought business was like slimy and skeezy back in the day and to be like, oh no, it's about, it's a new and different way of giving back to people in the world. Yeah. I also learned I can burn out on organization, which I didn't realize was a thing because I'm just a highly organized person in general. But I realized that there are limits to that for me, that there are limits to how much I can work even at something I love. And that was. Those are things I had to learn the hard way. And yeah, I just think I'm more empathetic. I'm also more boundaried. I just love it. I love, I love what I've learned and I love what it's created in my life that otherwise if I'd worked in agencies for the rest of my life, I don't think I would have had these realizations or opened up these parts of myself.
- [18:55]
Kate Campbell
Totally. And I know for me, like when I think about business is like, you know, when you can accomplish that, like other things, other avenues open and other things seem possible.
- [19:04]
Alison
Absolutely.
- [19:05]
Kate Campbell
And you know, as you talk about your own journey, I remember watching you and I remember especially when you launched abundance first and you were working so hard and like, you know, for you personally and you had some other stuff kind of going on, is that you really had to take a step back and create more space and more time. And so I know we've watched that evolution that you've gone through and it's been really cool and it's a great role model for others and so important.
- [19:30]
Alison
Yeah. Because the work thing, like I was creating a lot of work for myself. I didn't realize it was like kind of useless pedaling. It felt important. It all felt important. But so much of it was just like pedaling while you're going downhill. And I didn't have to work so hard. So yeah, yeah, it's much nicer to like work efficiently and the right amount now and like have time for other things in my life.
- [19:54]
Katie Lemieux
How did you go through that process of differentiating what was non productive to what was really essential and being able to be laser focused on those aspects of your business that are so essential?
- [20:06]
Alison
Yeah, well, one of the things that was eating up a lot of my time was Facebook and not just like scrolling, but I Run a Facebook group with over 16,000 people in it. I also have my party Facebook group, which is my membership site. And I try to respond to every single thing in there. And before I wasn't scheduling that in, I was just kind of, like, hopping in to these places when I had time, and then I'd get sucked into it. And so it'd be like two or three hours a day on Facebook. And it was productive in that I was forming relationships and I was having good conversations and I was giving some helpful pointers. But I could have done all that in a more efficient way. And the way that I do it now, where I've got, like, an hour to an hour and a half every day, that is, like, devoted Facebook time, where I'm just going through and I'm hammering it out, and I'm like, being with the person, and I don't. Nobody needs me to follow up with them five hours later. Like, I can follow up with them in 24 hours. Everything's fine. But I felt this sense of urgency and need. I also had to tighten up my systems, and that showed me some things that were not quite so necessary. And I'm still, like, a content creator. Like, I create, like, five pieces of content a week. Is that right? Yeah, at least five pieces of content a week. It's a lot, but I really enjoy it, so I'm going to keep doing that. But I had to play with it to figure out the most efficient way to do that. I do a lot of batching. I reuse a lot of material. Like, I really believe in reusing the content we work hard on instead of just, like, doing it, putting it out once and being like, okay, next. Because not everybody's going to see that. Not everybody's going to. There are some people who will want to see that. That would miss out the first time. So I do a lot of content reuse, and that's also freed up a lot of time because I'm not reinventing wheels every week.
- [22:02]
Kate Campbell
It's funny that you say that. And I'm thinking about my own journey, and I remember thinking about, like, oh, reusing content. Like, this was way back when, right? Reusing content. Oh, my gosh. People are going to get so annoyed if they keep seeing us put out the same thing. And the reality is it's like a small, small percentage of people see it. You know what I mean? Initially. And, yeah, so reusing it. Changing the title, Working little bit different. Putting it on a different platform. I know for us learning so much about business and how to be successful in business. It's a lot simpler than it a lot of times appears.
- [22:36]
Alison
Absolutely. Yeah. And I think when you're starting out and you're so eager and you're like just hungry for like creating all the things you want to create, it's easy to be like, okay, well, this podcast says I need to do X and this one says Y and this one says Z. And then you've got like 37 marketing strategies. And you can't do all those. Well, not while maintaining balance in your life or a semblance of balance even. So. Yeah.
- [23:00]
Katie Lemieux
And as you've been on this journey, obviously a lot's happened in your personal life. You and your husband, you've had children and tell us a little bit about navigating the personal side of things as you've been navigating the professional.
- [23:12]
Alison
Yeah, absolutely. So we've got, we have a six year old and we have a three year old. And so we had the six year old before I started Abundance. But while I was in private practice and my husband couldn't work. Right. So he's in school, we got pregnant. We're really lucky. We got pregnant faster than all of our friends. All our friends are like, it's going to take a year and a half. Get started now. Put your time in. And then it was. We were really lucky that it happened really fast. And that also meant he was still in school when she was born. So there was no like, here's his income to like hold us over. So that was scary in private practice. And I was still in a pretty scarcity minded place around money, even though I was making enough. So I saved a stupid amount out of fear because I'm good at saving, because I'm anxious.
- [24:01]
Kate Campbell
So I'm right there with you, girl. Learning not to be a saver.
- [24:06]
Katie Lemieux
Yeah.
- [24:07]
Alison
Yeah. So I started Abundance before I had June, our three year old. And it was interesting because I was like, well, I do a blog every week. I can't let anybody down. I can't skip a week. So I stockpiled all my blogs and just scheduled them out through maternity leave. Yeah. And we'd moved in between having the girls and had miscarriages and things like that, which also had an impact on my business, a pretty significant impact on like my well being. So it's been an interesting journey. And then my husband started his own practice last year he started a psychiatric practice. And that's also an interesting journey as the partner who's like, this is my wheelhouse. I got this and wanting to be like, just move over. I'll do it. It's like, not a dynamic that's going to work in my marriage. So it was a humor. It was interesting and fun to watch him, like, all these light bulbs go off of these things I've talked about for years. All of a sudden, he's living it, too. And he gets the business ownership thing that you can't really put into words for people, like, the ongoing responsibility part of it, like the pressure that you chose and that you would feel naked without. But that is there nonetheless. So he gets that now in a way that I feel lucky about, because there's just more understanding around it.
- [25:39]
Katie Lemieux
What has that been like for you guys in your relationship now that he's been building his own practice? This is your wheelhouse, your expertise. How's that dynamic been between the two of you?
- [25:49]
Alison
So, I mean, now it's smooth and easy. We're shifting them over to profit first, which is how I like to. I know you guys do, too. How we like to do business finance. But we wanted to kind of keep an eye on what everything looked like before I implemented that, or helped him implement, I should say, before I. So you see how the dynamic is, like, me retracting and being like, oh, yeah, this isn't mine. But he. There are some differences in psychiatry than there are in therapy. And I knew some of them having worked with people in psychiatry, but there were some blind spots that I didn't have that when he's like, ah, you didn't know this? And I was like, Because I tell him the opposite. I tell him to do the opposite of something and then be like, sorry. It's really different for us in counseling in this way. So it got a little messy. Not like heated or anything, but, like, me feeling bad that I misguided him and it made his life harder or more stressful. And also, like, he still had the training wheels by having a partner who gets it, even if I hadn't been a practice builder. I think if. If you're a therapist and your partners and you're in private practice and your partner's opening up a private practice, like, they've got it pretty lucky because you've gone before them.
- [27:05]
Kate Campbell
Exactly. And what does your family think about your success?
- [27:09]
Alison
They're proud. I mean, like, my. My dad edits my podcast. He works for me, and my mom I will sometimes hire for things. Like we're working on some merchandise. My mom's a potter, so there's some mugs she's working on just for like, the party that are really cool. So it's fun to be able to include them in some of it. It's also like, so far removed from anything they ever did. My dad worked for the railroad until retirement. Like the same company, the same job. I mean, like, he moved up in the ranks, but ultimately he worked for the railroad his entire career. So it's. This is like a whole other world, right? And they're supportive. And sometimes I have to work through guilt around, like, the money I make. Like, my parents worked hard their whole lives and I can work, you know, 20 hours a week and financially be in a really great place and have everything just purring along in the business. And sometimes I have to, like, work through my own guilt about that. But they have never once put that guilt on me, which I'm lucky. I mean, I'm really lucky with my parents. And Joel, my partner, is so he's always been really supportive. Like when I was like, I want to start a private practice in Seattle, he was like, I believe in you. You can do that. I think we both underestimated what it would take. So I think that there were some harder times when I was getting really obsessive in abundance that he would have to like, pull me back and be like, hey, we're over here. You want to come enjoy family time and get off your phone? That kind of thing. And I'm glad he did. Like, one of the beautiful parts of our relationship is that, like, we call each other on our stuff in a way that the other person can hear. And there was a spate of time where he was having to call me on it, like, daily. And I was like, but it's just one more thing. He's like, we're sitting here, we're waiting for you. Come on.
- [29:09]
Kate Campbell
I remember you sharing with us, like, when Joel was starting his practice and he then was the one on the computer and you said, was this what.
- [29:17]
Katie Lemieux
I was like, uh huh. Yeah, totally.
- [29:20]
Alison
Because there's just so much. There's so much work in any startup. And yeah, and yeah, I was a little bit jealous of his computer for a while. And I'm sure many of our partners have felt that way before.
- [29:34]
Kate Campbell
What do you not like about being a business owner, an entrepreneur?
- [29:39]
Alison
Hmm. What do I not like? It's funny because when I imagine anything else, it feels so stifling. I mean, I don't like the fears that will come up sometimes. Like, sometimes I'll be like, oh, what if I haven't like, met these people's needs to the nth degree. Like, what if, like, what if something weird happens and everything falls apart? I think that that risk is also present in any agency, but that because it's not our responsibility for the agency to stay open or whatever, the pressure isn't on us. Yeah, I don't. You guys know how I don't love launches. I don't hate them anymore, but I don't like the anxiety that goes along with not knowing what's going to happen, so.
- [30:33]
Kate Campbell
And we're gonna podcast ourselves with Laura long, talking about the good, the bad, and the ugly of launches and the.
- [30:39]
Katie Lemieux
Roller coaster ride of launches.
- [30:42]
Kate Campbell
And we have some stories, so you guys aren't gonna want to miss that one. And interestingly enough, we all three with Laura have a group text.
- [30:49]
Alison
It's kind of our support group.
- [30:51]
Kate Campbell
Our support group, literally. Yeah, for sure. So you guys will actually get a little insight inside look on what we're talking about in our group support, for sure.
- [31:02]
Alison
Absolutely. And I think, like, luckily, like, private practice, like, therapists don't have to launch in the same way that, like, online business owners do, and we don't even have to launch. But it's a choice we make depending on what we're trying to put out there. And since what I'm putting out there is a cohort model, everybody's got to start at the same time. It's just what makes sense. But I don't. I don't like the attachment I have to the numbers and what they mean about me as a person. Even though, like, logically I know how many people sign up for something has nothing to do with me as a human being. There's still this, like, thread that I have to be like, let go thread. Like, this is not helpful.
- [31:43]
Kate Campbell
So I feel you on that, Kate. A lot of times will be like, stop getting attached to the number. Because if I don't hit it, then it's kind of like, this sucks.
- [31:52]
Alison
We're disappointed.
- [31:53]
Kate Campbell
Like, that's where just my mind goes, right? And Kate's just like, stop, we did this. And then I have to, like, look at, wow, we increase from here. This. How many more people are helping and all of that kind of self talk and really letting go of the numbers and more feeling into the emotion of what we're creating, you know, and lately I've just been in the place of just magic, allowing the others, you know, whatever else I want is just gonna magically begin to appear sometime, somewhere, and.
- [32:20]
Alison
Just be excited for that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [32:22]
Kate Campbell
It definitely weighs on the psyche Especially when you're wanting to hit a certain number.
- [32:27]
Alison
For sure.
- [32:28]
Kate Campbell
We'll save all of that talk for the other.
- [32:30]
Katie Lemieux
Yes, we'll save the launch talk for the next podcast where we're all hanging out, discussing that. What's next for you, Alison? When you think about the next, I don't know, maybe two, three years.
- [32:40]
Alison
Yeah. So we have a fourth business that my husband and I are going to start, which I'm not ready to talk about yet, but I'm really excited about it. It's not the fourth business I've talked to you guys about. It's a different one. So I'm excited about that one. And I've got the inner circle. We're going to launch that again in the spring. And I'm psyched about. Right after I get off this call with you guys, I start my first inner circle for this cohort. Doing private practice school with them for the first time today. And I'm super, like, I love this first. I love getting to, like, meet everybody and get to know them and, like, get to know their needs and just know, like, we're in this together for a year. It's awesome. So. But yeah, we'll be launching wise. We'll be doing that later in the spring. And then I have a whole new offering I'm gonna be working on that's gonna be open in the fall that I'm psyched about.
- [33:35]
Kate Campbell
Very cool.
- [33:36]
Alison
Yeah, very, very cool.
- [33:38]
Katie Lemieux
I think it's a good time to shift into the lightning round. Are you ready?
- [33:41]
Alison
Let's do it.
- [33:42]
Katie Lemieux
Yeah. We like to keep you on your toes.
- [33:46]
Kate Campbell
So first question, biggest pet peeves.
- [33:50]
Alison
Oh, chewing gum with your mouth open. I hate that. I hate that sound. I don't have misophonia or anything, but, like, I can't tolerate that. Or people, like, lingering and hugs in, like, a creepy long way. And that's another nice.
- [34:11]
Katie Lemieux
What is the weirdest job you've ever had?
- [34:14]
Alison
Oh, Oh. I was a Miller Lake girl back in the day.
- [34:24]
Kate Campbell
I am still putting that one in the show.
- [34:25]
Alison
Notes back when. I wish I had an awful picture. Like when it was like the. I don't know, umpire, referee, whatever the stripes were. And I would go. I was also a bartender at the time. And I'd go like around the bar and be like, you'll notice with Miller Light, the color is a golden amber or whatever I was supposed to say. It was horrendous.
- [34:45]
Kate Campbell
That is funny.
- [34:47]
Katie Lemieux
I was a beer girl many times, too.
- [34:48]
Alison
Were you?
- [34:48]
Katie Lemieux
Yeah, I was a penny draft girl. I worked at A bar. Penny draft. I mean, how much money can you make in tips? Penny draft.
- [34:54]
Alison
Yeah. Yeah.
- [34:55]
Katie Lemieux
Doing the promos for the different beer companies in college. It was a good way to make money.
- [35:00]
Alison
Yeah, it was a great way to make money. I mean, I.
- [35:03]
Kate Campbell
Cocktail waitress and bartending. I was never the beer girl, so. That is funny. I would love to see an old picture.
- [35:11]
Katie Lemieux
That's hysterical.
- [35:11]
Alison
I hope they're gone forever.
- [35:13]
Kate Campbell
A lot of Startup Nation and our other collective audiences, they sent in all of these really great questions. So a lot of people always have questions. So if there's one food that you could eat every day, what would that be?
- [35:23]
Alison
Nachos. Easy answer. Nachos for sure. Nice.
- [35:28]
Katie Lemieux
And what type of clothing? If you could wear it and live in it every day, what would it be?
- [35:35]
Alison
Jeans and a T shirt, I guess.
- [35:37]
Kate Campbell
Yeah, nice.
- [35:39]
Alison
I feel less committal to that than nachos, but we'll go with it.
- [35:43]
Kate Campbell
And are you a coffee drinker or not?
- [35:45]
Alison
Oh, yes.
- [35:46]
Kate Campbell
And any type of favorite coffee.
- [35:50]
Alison
Generally a medium roast, but I'm not like so specific on a brand. After I left Seattle, I got less snobby. You know, you have to. When you're not there anymore.
- [36:03]
Katie Lemieux
What's your spirit animal?
- [36:04]
Alison
A turkey.
- [36:06]
Kate Campbell
A turkey do sound.
- [36:08]
Alison
I wasn't expecting that one.
- [36:11]
Kate Campbell
A turkey?
- [36:12]
Alison
Yeah, we live. I mean, y' all have been here. We live in a place that has a lot of wildlife. And so like any given day, like yesterday we saw a fox, but most days we have turkeys in our yard. And it's usually like this mama and her three kids. And I get so excited about them. And so I was like, I wonder what spirit animal. Like, what is this situation? They keep showing up on my driveway and one of them is abundance. And I was like, obviously they're my spirit animals with their weird wobbly necks and everything.
- [36:44]
Kate Campbell
That's super cool. What's one of your favorite movies?
- [36:49]
Alison
Oh, the Sound of Music is my all time favorite.
- [36:53]
Kate Campbell
Very cool. I can see you kind of dancing and singing.
- [36:57]
Alison
Yes. I just. Yeah. Kate's looking at me like. Well, okay.
- [37:03]
Katie Lemieux
No, I'm just thinking about my next question. What's one of the craziest situations that you've ever found yourself in?
- [37:09]
Alison
Oh, God. For PG level stuff, we'll go to mental health work. I think, like getting attacked by clients. Like, I had one guy who had. I forget the type of tumor, and if I knew the brain like I should, I would probably be able to trace it back. But he had a kind of tumor where if he got super frustrated like, if he hit a certain level of frustration, he basically just blacked out and attacked. Like, he just went into fight mode. And he was also blind. And this was. Yeah, this was back in the day. I was like 19 and I was working as a house parent. He was my age, but he'd never been around anybody his age before. Like, since he went blind and had his tumor when he was like nine. And so we would, like, listen to movies together and play braille cards. But I was trying to teach him a new Brill game and shouldn't have. And yes, he ended up with my hand in his mouth, like, with my pinky bent. Like, I still have scars on it where I was like, this finger is about to break.
- [38:16]
Kate Campbell
How did you get him to stop biting you?
- [38:18]
Alison
His grandmother just had a bad feeling. She was mowing the lawn and she just had a bad feeling. So she came in and like tossed the water from a pitcher of water in his face and it made him rear back. You know, he couldn't see it coming. So he reared back and released. And I ran. But I have, like, from working in that agency, I have a few stories like that.
- [38:40]
Katie Lemieux
Yeah, that's pretty crazy.
- [38:41]
Alison
Another reason I love private practice. So, yeah, not.
- [38:46]
Kate Campbell
Not much finger biting from your clients in private practice, I would say, unless you're like doing like play therapy or something and something accidentally happens.
- [38:54]
Alison
I don't know. But no, no.
- [38:57]
Katie Lemieux
Awesome.
- [38:58]
Kate Campbell
Well, we so appreciate you being here on the up close and personal and really finishing out the last part. We hope that you had fun and, you know, thanks for allowing us to interview and getting a little bit more up close and personal so people can just know the personal side of you, which I'm sure you share much more with.
- [39:14]
Alison
You know, the people that you're.
- [39:15]
Kate Campbell
You're working with in abundance. But this way, now everyone can.
- [39:20]
Alison
Yeah, I appreciate it. It's a different kind of interview. I'm into it.
- [39:23]
Kate Campbell
We appreciate it too.
- [39:25]
Katie Lemieux
Yeah, it's always great to see you and I know you'll be back on the podcast pretty soon for talking all about the launches and the good, bad, the ugly, all that good stuff and Startup Nation. If you're enjoying this, we hope you're enjoying the up close and personal podcast series. We know it's been a little bit different and we hope you enjoyed all five episodes. And also let us know how you're enjoying our regular podcast episodes as well. If you're loving them, definitely. Subscribe, subscribe, rate and review. And we love when we get little emails from you guys and just little notes saying, hey, this particular podcast really spoke to me or hey, we haven't had this topic. We'd love to be able to really hear about how to handle whatever it is. We just want to make sure that our content is really speaking to you and helping to inspire you along your journey. So keep letting us know your feedback.
- [40:09]
Kate Campbell
And don't forget to join us next week as we talk with Eric Reed and Shawna Roberts. So we had really the pleasure of meeting Eric and Eric works for Edo and they on this podcast they talk about how to scale your private practice. So they have this really, really, really cool business model where they help group practice owners. Like they remove the business stuff and they handle a lot of the business stuff and really help you scale. So Shauna Roberts is a clinician, so she joins and she talks about from the clinician's perspective of she's been working with them and what that's like. So you'll definitely not want to miss that part podcast if you're especially in a place of really wanting to grow and scale your private practice. So like we say at startup, like we say from Startup Nation to Startup Nation, thanks for always allowing us to inspire you guys. From startup to mastery. Have an awesome, inspired day, everybody.
- [40:58]
Alison
Take care.
- [40:58]
Katie Lemieux
See you next week. Thanks for joining us on the Private practice startup. Visit theprivatepracticestartup.com for awesome resources, free trainings, attorney appointments, approved private practice paperwork, and so much more.