Episode 2: Marketing Mistakes I’ve Made and I Bet You Have Too
The True Path to Building a Thriving Private Therapy Practice
The Journey from Missteps to Mastery: Embracing the Role of Networking in Private Practice
Building an online therapy practice isn't a smooth path littered with instant successes. My journey began in 2015, in a place where I had zero connections—Hawaii. I had this romanticized idea that all it would take was some well-designed business cards and brochures, and soon clients would be lining up. Spoiler alert: That’s not how it happened.
Mistakes are Part of the Process
Like many of us, my master's program didn't teach me how to build or market a business. Mistakes were made, money was spent on eye-catching business cards and postcards, and I believed that just handing these out would bring in a flood of clients. Reality check: It didn’t.
It’s easy to look at established practices and think they've had a smooth journey, but every therapist out there has faced struggles, made mistakes, and learned valuable lessons. The key takeaway? Mistakes are inevitable and essential for growth.
The One-Off Card Drop-off: A Common Misstep
Initially, I heavily focused on designing perfect business cards, believing they were my golden ticket. I spent money and time, confident that once people saw my cards, referrals would start pouring in. I dropped these cards everywhere—community colleges, doctors' offices, you name it—but I hadn't nurtured any real connections.
Just dropping a card and saying, "Hey, I'm here," doesn’t build the trust required to receive referrals. People refer clients to those they know and trust, not just someone they’ve met in passing. It took me some time to realize that relationship-building is more important than quick exchanges.
The Shift to Meaningful Networking
After moving away from the group practice and establishing my solo online practice, I thought things would be different. I was more strategic, targeting OB GYNs, lactation consultants, and doulas—places my ideal clients would frequent. Yet, results were still minimal.
What I missed, again, was the follow-up and nurturing required. Handing out a card, no matter how beautiful, isn't enough. There has to be a genuine effort to build and foster these connections.
Networking: The Real Game-Changer
Networking isn’t just a buzzword; it’s the lifeline of a thriving practice. It’s about creating meaningful relationships with other professionals and being selective about who you network with. Networking is a tool, not a one-off task. It requires getting to know people, following up, and consistently engaging with them.
Would you refer a friend to a service simply because you saw a card once? Probably not. You’d refer them to someone you trust, someone who has taken the time to build that trust and relationship with you.
The Benefits of Networking
Networking brings numerous benefits:
- Increased Visibility: The more people you connect with, the higher your chances of being remembered when referrals are needed.
- Professional Support: Private practice can be lonely. Networking helps build a support system of colleagues to share ideas and collaborate with.
- Long-term Referrals: When relationships are nurtured, they lead to consistent referrals, not just one-time gigs.
Practical Steps to Start Effective Networking
1. Identify Potential Connections: Think about mental health providers, medical professionals, and community stakeholders who frequently interact with your ideal clients.
2. Create a Follow-up Plan: Send an introductory email, set up meetings, and schedule regular follow-ups to keep those connections alive.
3. Use Scripts: If you’re unsure how to start, use networking scripts to guide your conversations.
To help you get started, I’ve created a free guide called "Comprehensive Connecting: Effective Scripts That Expand Your Networking Community and Actually Fill Your Online Practice." Download it [here](bit.ly/compconnecting) to remove the anxiety from your initial outreach and start building authentic relationships.
Building Relationships is Key
Remember, networking is a marathon, not a sprint. Set aside time each week to cultivate these connections, and be patient. The effort you put in today will pay off in the long run, bringing you a fulfilling and prosperous practice.
Let’s continue to support and empower each other on this journey towards creating the private practice of our dreams. Keep believing in yourself and the incredible work you do!
Transcript for Episode 2
Ashley Comegys: You are listening to the Raise to Empower podcast. I'm your host, Ashley Comegys, a licensed clinical social worker with a multi-state online therapy practice. I have a passion for empowering women and mom therapists to break free of the fear, overwhelm, and oppressive systems that hold them back from taking action and building the private practice of their dreams.
My goal is for you to boldly believe in yourself as a clinician and business owner. If you are looking for a place to learn, practice, building, strategy and skill, while also claiming your own power as a woman and a therapist, then you are in the right place. Welcome to the show. I'm your host Ashley Comegys, and I'm so grateful to have you here with me today.
I just wanna take some time to actually pull back the curtain a little bit about how I've built my own online therapy practice, just to share with you that, you know, the reality is I've made mistakes along the way and hopefully that you can learn from them. As I have had to learn from my own mistakes.
I think sometimes we have this idea when we see other people who have. Built a practice and it seems like it's thriving, that somehow like they've just hit the golden ticket and that they had this immediate success with their business and that there's no way we could, you know, have such, such luck as they have
But the truth is that's not really the reality. Um, They're, they've made mistakes along the way, and I guarantee you that if you ask them and they say, oh no, everything was perfect from the time I started my practice from the time I said, go that they're lying, , I'm gonna just call it out as I see it.
They're lying. We have all made mistakes. Because none of us are perfect. And one of the things that we all actually have in common is that our master's program, regardless of whether you got a master's in social work in counseling, marriage and family, uh, therapy, psychology, none of our programs taught us how to build or grow or market a business.
Like that's just not part of the curriculum. And so we've all made mistakes. , even if we have hired a business coach or someone to help us in structuring our practice from the get-go, we've still made mistakes. I guarantee you that. So I don't want you to think that, you know, if you are in the beginning stages of building your practice, um, or are thinking about starting.
it can oftentimes feel like there's this pressure of like to get it perfect or to get it just right. And that one little mistake is this like ultimate failure. And that is so far from the truth because like I said, we've all done that. We all continue to make mistakes. I know people who have had practices thriving for years and still make mistakes.
I am one of them. So I wanted just to take today to kind of have some openness and honesty about that so that hopefully you can hear about my mistakes, take those lessons and learn from them so that you don't have to maybe suffer this particular pain as I have. So let me just kind of rewind and take you back to when I was starting to build my own practice.
This is back in the end of 2015. I was living in a place that I knew no one, my husband and I had literally moved across the world to an island in the Pacific, in Hawaii. I had zero connections to anyone there. Didn't know anyone was as far as I could possibly be from where I had built my career up until that point.
And so it was. Time period that I decided to start my own practice because I couldn't find work that I felt called to or had a salary that was going to pay me a decent wage, and that also was gonna give me the flexibility that I needed for our life. And so that's when I started to build my practice and I started to put the pieces together.
One of the things that I didn't know at the time was I needed to get my name out there. I need to get connected with other people and let people know, Hey, I have this practice. I have this. Counseling service that I'm beginning to offer and you should send clients to me. I knew that there was a real great need for mental health services in the community, and so I truly thought it was just gonna be as simple as handing out some brochures, some business cards, and that people would just be knocking the door down to get help.
Cuz there really is such a. And so I spent a lot of time, I spent money designing, you know, this like perfect card. I made business cards and I made what I kind of call like a postcard where I didn't necessarily mail them out, but it was kind of like a, you know, three by five size and it, so it had just a little bit more information about who I was and the types of clients I worked.
And was supposed to be the thing to get people to contact me, so I made these things again, this is gonna be like the golden ticket to get people in the door. And so I did begin reaching out to people that I thought would be a good place to kind of have that initial connection. I reached out to, Community college counselor to let them know, Hey, like I'm willing to see college students and I will see them super cheap.
Like, I just need clients, so send me them. I think I even mentioned some things to let my own doctor that I was seeing at the time, but never really would the intention of, Hey, I have this. If you have people to refer to me. Here's how you do it. Let me share. But it was just kind of like, yeah, I'm doing this thing and here's my card.
If I'm being really honest, a lot of that I think was just this fear that I had. I didn't know how to talk about myself. I didn't know how to, Really market myself or market a practice. And I think there was some hesitancy of like, what are people gonna think? Or am I good enough? You know, so much of that mindset stuff that really can just mess us up.
I would just kind of start leaving these business cards in places. I might say, oh, I have a therapy practice and. If you think of people like, I'm just gonna leave my cards here, and I would think I would leave there being like, yes, I've done the thing. I've accomplished the goal, which is just to hand these out.
There was no connection, no real nurturing of the relationship. Just kind of drop and go this like almost hit and run. Here's my information and if you need me call. And so again, I really thought, I was like, okay, the calls are gonna come. This is gonna be the thing, like the practice is gonna really start growing.
Cuz again, I know there's this need. The reality is the calls didn't come in from that. I did not get people knocking on my door. I didn't get people emailing me. I didn't get people calling me. There's, I think, a variety of reasons for that, which I will get into in another episode. But a big part of that was I did not take the time to nurture any of these relationships that I was really hoping would be a referral source for me.
I was, you know, networking with anybody and everyone. I just needed to get my name out there is really what I. And so in the process of that, I did start to connect with just a couple other clinicians on island who were also in private practice, and they had a bit more established than I did at the time.
They had been there, lived there their whole life, and so knew more of the community. But we did begin building a group practice together. . I was the director of the clinic while I was there, and so it wasn't technically my business, but I was a big part of helping to put it together. Along the way, I saw us as a group making some of the same mistakes that I had.
We may have kind of niched a little bit more, or we maybe had kind of a specific brand or positioning of ourselves, but we weren't really taking the time to truly build the relat. Oops. We weren't helping people to really understand like, who are we? What are we doing? You know, what is the larger organization, but also who are our clinicians and what are they providing?
What are the services? How can they help you? How can you help us? So it was again, this same mistake of kind of, here is this thing, this card, this brochure, and that's supposed to be the magic thing to get people to. Fast forward several years at this point, I've left the group practice. I've had my first kid and I decided to start my own solo private practice this time completely online.
I. Got some more support at this time to like help structure my business. I got into a coaching program to really help me structure things in a way that was different than the last time I had tried to do it on my own and was like, okay, I, this time I'm not gonna make mistakes. , I know I did make mistakes, I still do , but this time you would think that I would've learned from my mistakes in the past and I had coaching supporting me.
But I made a lot of the same mistakes. But this time that you maybe were a little bit more strategic, I really was thinking about where does my ideal client go this time? I actually had an ideal client. I did not have that when I was first starting out, and again, I will go into that in a whole other episode.
That's definitely something we need to talk about. So this time I really was looking at like, where are my ideal clients going to be going and who would be a source to refer to me? And so, like I said, I made again these beautiful cards and I began, you know, dropping them off places and sending them out.
This time again, the strategy was with OB GYNs, or you know, leaving them in their offices or reaching out to lactation consultants or doulas, people that were going to be connecting with women in the perinatal or postpartum period, because that was where I really wanted to focus my practice. And surprisingly, the referrals did not come from there again.
And I was confused, right? Like I had spent time and money to do like again, create these beautiful business cards. I even had like an electronic one, so like I didn't have to give 'em this paper one, they could just have it on their phone, right? Like this is the new technology. I was doing the thing and I was focusing on where my ideal client was supposed to be going.
So like what was happening? Why was it not working? I was really confus. And just wondering like, am I doing something wrong? Do I not have good services? Is this just not for me? But when I took a step back, I had to really consider, and I had to really be honest with myself that if I was gonna refer someone out, like if I was in that other person's position and I had someone coming to me saying, Hey, I'm needing to see somebody for therapy.
Am I gonna be likely to just. Think of that business card that's in a stack in some drawer in the back of my desk. Or from like a singular message of someone sending me on Instagram or in an email of just, Hey, I'm open, I'm accepting clients. Like, is that singular message that kind of drop and go going to be the thing that's gonna get me to refer to somebody And, and if I'm really honest, the truth is most likely not.
I'm not gonna think of that person whose information I just casually got. I'm gonna be considering referring somebody to a person that I actually know that's actually taken the time to get to know me, understand my practice, and has really shared with me about who they are and what they're doing in their practice, that they've taken the time to connect and to foster and build that relat.
Now, I don't have to be like best friends with that person. It doesn't have to be that I've known them from the beginning of their career, you know, that I've seen them come up to where they are now. It doesn't have to be like that at all, but I do have to feel comfortable with them. I have to have an idea of who they are beyond just what their business card tells.
So often I see this happening with other clinicians, whether they're just starting out or looking to expand their practice or branch out in a different way. They do what I've done. They spend so much time. And money on making these beautiful cards, gift baskets or goodie bags that they're gonna take to doctor's offices, and then they take time to pass them out and leave them places.
Time is the commodity of ours. If we're not spending money, we're spending time. And that is something that we don't just have an endless amount of. . And so again, it's that kind of drop and go method. It may even be like, I'm gonna talk to somebody at the front desk for 10 minutes, but it's not really a fostering or a nurturing or building of that relationship.
And so then they're left wondering like, why am I not getting these referrals? You know, I've got 2,500 business cards and I've passed them all out. I've hung up flyers, I've knocked on doors, but I'm not getting these referrals like I thought I would. And the truth is, is because that relationship has not been built with that referral source.
You know, when we're in grad school, we are not taught at all how to market ourselves, how to network, and if we are like taught how to network, I'm thinking more of, you know, when you're coming outta grad school and they're trying to teach you, you know, this is how you connected with somebody to get a job.
Maybe not even like in building a private practice. If we are taught something, it's something like, you know, you go up to somebody and you say hi, and you shake their hand. You look them in the eye, you hand them a business card and let them know, Hey, I, I'm seeing clients, or I'm available for hire, and like magically you have this network.
Connection with them. And like that's the thing that, that simple exchange of that handshake and that K nod and that smile and the card is supposed to be the, the way that you do it. And that's like what's portrayed a lot in the media or even just in the world of business of that's what you're supposed to do to network.
But the truth is that networking is actually about relationship building. It's about being selective with who you are building these relationships with. Because the other part is you don't need to network with everyone. And I think that's another mistake so many of us tend to make, especially at the beginning when we're trying to start out right?
We're like, I just need clients. I just need someone to come in the door and see me cuz I need to start making money. And so we're networking with anyone and everyone, but again, Time is a commodity of ours, just like money is. And if we're spending all of this time networking with everyone and anyone, then we're probably not necessarily going to get in the door the people that are our ideal client, and it's going to be spending a lot of time doing something that we're not gonna get the return on our investment.
So if you haven. Started to network in your practice. I really encourage you to really think about this as a marketing tool. I'm not somebody that believes there's a specific way that you have to do things necessarily in building a practice or in having a practice, but. Networking is one of the things that I do believe is really important and vital for you to have a practice.
It's gonna look different for you in how you network with people versus how I do it, and that's okay, but the end result has to be the same that we've built this relationship that people are going to connect with us and want to refer to. And so if you're questioning like, okay, but like beyond just a referral, like what are, what are the benefits to me doing this?
And yes, like having a referral network is absolutely a big part of it because these are the people who are going to think of you specifically when they need to refer out. They're going to be the ones that you come to mind when they have somebody that needs to be seen. And so you can count. Them sending you a referral because they know that they can count on you to be the type of clinician that their, um, friend or their neighbor or people in their community or their patients or other clinicians.
Can refer to you are the person that they want these people to go to because they know you, they trust you, and they know that you have a service that is needed and that you can provide. I still have people that send me referrals that I've met years ago, not because. I dropped a business card off, not because I did this magic thing and the goodie bag that I left at the office is the thing that they remember me by.
But because I've built a relationship with them, and so that is something that I put time in and invested that time in at the beginning, and I am now years later continuing to see the return on that investment. And so one of the other benefits too, to having these networking relationships is a way of getting more visible.
The more we connect with people, the more likely they are to remember us. You know, yes. If you want to create those business cards, I'm not gonna tell you not to, but just to consider how you're using them. So if you wanna leave that business card, that is fine, but you need to follow up and to continue to connect.
The more they see you, the more they connect with you. The more they know you, the better they understand who you are and what you're doing, and the more likely they are then to refer to you. Think about how we experience visibility in things that we choose to engage with or purchase or participate in.
So like let's say someone you hear in the community, like you're walking by in the grocery store and you hear them talking about this new restaurant or product or something that they've recently tried. And so you hear like you overhear that and then maybe you're on social media or you're actually talking to somebody, you know.
Same name or that same company comes up and then you see an advertisement for it, you know, um, whether it's a commercial or something that pops up in your social media feed and you're like, Hmm. Like maybe I need to actually check that out for myself. Everybody seems to be talking about it. It's the same thing for us, but this time, Those people are talking about you and sharing with others the work that you are doing and why they need to check you out.
So the more you are building these relationships with the type of people that are going to be around your ideal client, the more likely they are going to be referring to you. The more visible you are, and the more that it's going to help with keeping you at the top of other people's minds when they need to refer someone.
And one of the other benefits that I think is so underrated in having networking relationships is the relationships that you can build with colleagues. I love being in private practice, don't get me wrong, like I love it. . I never wanna work for somebody else again. But the truth is, it can be really lonely.
Sometimes private practice can be really isolating. You don't have people to chat with. You don't have that person that you can just pop into their office after a tough session and be like, oh my gosh, I need to just decompress with you. I just need to kind of process. And so networking is another way for you to be able to build professional relationships that aren't just about the referrals?
Yes. That is a big part. But these professional relationships, they can become collaborators. You can work on a project together if it's something that you wanna do that is client focused or other business focused. It's a way for you to be able to bounce ideas off of when you're trying to figure out something clinically or.
Needing to process how things are going in your business or in their business, and you have that other person or other people to be able to process and, and, and kind of run those ideas by. And again, to have that person that you can just talk to like after you've had those rough sessions, we need the support of others and networking is a way of building those relat.
It's not just about that referral, but it's also about building those relationships with colleagues so that you have that support system. So you may be asking like, okay, so how do I do this ? What am I supposed to do? Because it, the truth is, it really can feel overwhelming when you're thinking about what to do when you're building a networking referral.
And many of us have that imposter syndrome at the beginning of my practice building. I would get this kind of like, Anxious, intimidating feeling of sharing with people what I was doing. You know, who am I to be sharing that? Like I have a private practice, especially if I'm starting out, like I really struggled with that imposter syndrome at the beginning, and so like, who am I to tell them that I have this practice open and that they should refer to me?
What are they gonna think of me? You know, fear of rejection comes up or we don't feel confident in putting ourselves out there again. Partly we've not been taught how to do that, or we've not even really been given permission to do that in many ways. But the truth is you have something to offer. You have a service that others need, and there are other professionals and individuals and organizations that need you.
They are looking for you, but they just haven't found you yet. They need to hear from you, but I get it, like making that first step, that initial contact can feel really intimidating and hard. So I've created a free guide to kind of help take that. Anxious, feeling away or feel of intimidation, and just give you some support in how do I actually go about making these connections?
So it's a free guide called Comprehensive Connecting Effective Scripts that expand your networking community and actually fill your online practice. This is a free guide that breaks down thinking about networking into three different categories or groups of people. So the first group is other mental health providers.
So these would be other therapists or psychiatrists or psychologists, others that are working in the same field as us. That one would be great referral sources, but also are to help build that professional network as. The second category is our medical professionals. So doctors offices could be a potential referral source depending on the types of clients you're working with.
It may even be specialists or. Different types of therapies like speech therapists or occupational therapists or physical therapists in the guide. It really does help you to think of, okay, what types of medical professionals are you going to network with? And if you're going to do that, how to do it in a way that is not just that drop and go method.
The third category is our community stakeholders. These may not be people who are working with clients, um, in a mental health capacity. They're kind of what I call client adjacent to our clients. And so these would be people that come in contact with our ideal clients frequently. So these could be if you're working perinatal, Lactation consultants or doulas.
If you work with children, it could be school counselors or the school principals or p t O organizations. If your practice is in, has a specialty in, um, a type of like religious counseling. It could be priests or pastors or chaplain. So really thinking about other areas that your ideal client would be connecting with that maybe they are letting these community stakeholders know they're struggling, and that would be a person that would wanna connect with you to be able to refer to you.
So again, this guide is going to really help you to think about. Who you want and need to work with. Uh, and then it gives you these plug-in, send scripts that really help open up the initial conversation. That can be really hard. That can be really intimidating. This is the part that is just the beginning of getting your foot in the door.
And like I said, that can sometimes be the hardest part of just opening up that initial dialogue. So using these scripts will help you to. Have a clear game plan of what it is you need to share, what it is that you're looking for, and how to kind of schedule and build that initial connection so that you can connect.
So I encourage you to download the guide. If you go to Bitly forward slash comp Connecting, and it'll also be in the show notes. And again, remember that networking isn't over. Once you send that email, once you create your, your email scripts, that's not, it's not over. That's the first stage. And the next thing comes with setting up that time to either meet in person or over a Zoom coffee chat to begin the steps of nurturing that relationship.
This is a strategy that takes time. And if you get some initial referrals, that's awesome. You may be able to make that like initial connection with somebody in the, it's like, yes, I've been looking for you. I have so many referrals to send your way. You also may connect with somebody who says, yes, I'm looking for you, but I don't have anybody at this time to send to you, and they may be slower in referring to you.
That is okay. It's really important to keep in mind that this is a strategy that's going to serve you in the long run. These are relationships that will continue to think of you over and over into the future and continue to refer to you. So be sure to grab the scripts guide. And what I would encourage you to do is to set aside maybe 10 to 20 minutes this week to go through this guide, make a list of people in the three different categories that you'd like to begin building these networking relationships with, and then use the templates to begin crafting your message, to open the door to connect and start building these relationships.
I just wanna thank you for taking the time to hang with me here today, and I look forward to chatting with you more next time. Thank you so much for listening to the Raise to Empower podcast.
Check the show notes for all links and resources mentioned in the show. If you found today's episode helpful or inspiring, be sure to share it with your therapist friends, and don't forget to subscribe to the show and leave your five star rating and review.
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