The Therapy Business Podcast
We know how challenging growing a therapy practice can be, and don’t think it should require an accounting degree just to run your business. If you own a solo or a group practice, we’re here to help you build a business that creates more time, makes more money and serves more people.
The Therapy Business Podcast
Building a Personal Brand to Grow Your Therapy Practice with Lisa Apolinski
Can building a strong personal brand really transform your therapy practice? Join us as we explore this compelling question with Lisa Apolinski, author of "The Greatest Personal Brand Story Ever Told."
Lisa uses her marketing expertise to reveal how essential personal branding is for therapists striving to build genuine trust and connections with their clients.
Discover how the enduring personal brand of Jesus serves as a model for effective messaging and human connection.
This episode uncovers how timeless marketing principles can help therapists attract the right clients and ensure lasting business success, even in today's digital landscape.
This episode is packed with actionable advice for enhancing your presence and influence within your community, making it a must-listen for therapists dedicated to elevating their practice and making a lasting impact.
Lisa's books:
Persuade with a Digital Content Story
The Greatest Personal Brand Story Ever Told
Lisa's website
Our Profit Coaching program is enrolling new practices now.
We specialize in helping therapy practices like yours achieve financial clarity, so you can focus on what you do best—helping your clients and managing your team- while we help handle all the businessy stuff they didn’t teach you in grad school.
To see if your practice might be a good fit, schedule a free consultation at therapybusinesspod.com.
Meet with one of our coaches
*Intro/outro song credit:
King Around Here by Alex Grohl
When's the last time you thought about your brand, the brand of your practice, the brand just your personal brand as a business owner? Today, my guest, lisa Apelinski, the author of the Greatest Personal Brand Story Ever, told, is going to be joining me talking about how you, as a practice owner, can leverage your brand to draw in more clients and build a business that lasts. My name is Craig and I'm the CEO of Desi Financial Coaching. Our goal is simple to help you run a therapy practice that is permanently profitable. If you own a solo or group practice, we're here to help you build a business that creates more time, makes more money and serves more people. This is the Therapy Business Podcast. Business podcast. All right, lisa Apolinski is here. How are you doing, lisa?
Speaker 2:Good. How are you doing, Craig?
Speaker 1:I'm great. I'm great. Thank you so much for being here ready to talk about personal brands, which, oh my goodness, I know for therapists is such a big topic because a lot of them are afraid of putting themselves out there and drawing a lot of attention to themselves. So I know that you're going to just have a huge wealth of expertise in this area. So talk to me about you and your business. What do you do? Just give us a little background on you.
Speaker 2:Sure. So I am a content coach and creator. I have had my agency for God. It's been over 12 years I can't believe that. It's a little shocking and I've been doing marketing for over 30. So I started way back in the day in the traditional marketing realm where we used to do postcards and direct mail campaigns and mass mailings and all this stuff before digital came into being. But a lot of the same fundamentals still apply. There hasn't been a shift, even with this whole. What's the next greatest thing that's happening? There's still the foundation of, especially with therapists. People have to know who you are. That's first and foremost. So it's not being famous, it's being known for something. People have to feel that they can connect with you and belong to something, and that then leads to trust in you and your practice. And this is true for every single business, especially in the dawn of AI and all of this fake stuff that's out there. People want to find that human connection, and who better to give that than therapists?
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, and we, you know I've talked about this multiple times in past episodes but therapy is such a relational thing that it's so important exactly what you're talking about that you build that connection, because once you build that trust, getting people to come to you, it's just this. There's a big I think probably the biggest hurdle for potential clients is actually scheduling that first call, because it's overwhelming. Looking for a therapist it's when you don't know what you don't know. So being able to make that connection is huge.
Speaker 2:Yes, and there are so many horror stories out there, right About what if you pick the wrong therapist? Or, on the flip side, what if you get the wrong patient side? What if you get the wrong patient? So there's there's a relationship that's needed on both ends to really have the relationship work and for both parties to move forward.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely so, with leveraging your personal brand. I know you have a book coming out the greatest personal brand story ever told there. It is right there, and so talk to me a little bit about. Uh, I guess, how do you even? What is that about? Like, how do you have the greatest personal brand story ever told?
Speaker 2:Sure. So, um, the book is out, uh, it's currently on Amazon. And when I was writing this book, I had attended, uh, mark Schaefer's Uprising Conference. That is a community I am part of and going through and listening to all these experts about all these new things that are happening and digital and things we have to be aware of. And I kept thinking I feel like I've heard this before, I feel like I've heard this before, I feel like I've heard this before. And Mark asked me at the end of the conference to kind of go through and do like a little recap, a summation, and as I'm going through all of my notes and I had pages upon pages upon pages of notes and it just kind of hit me that all of this has been done before.
Speaker 2:If you think about the personal brand of Jesus, if you look at Jesus purely from a marketing and business development standpoint, taking away any kind of religion, anything else, and just look at it in that lens, you know who he is, you know what he stands for and he's lasted for over 2000 years and who doesn't want that kind of impact and brand legacy? I certainly do, and at first I was like, oh no, we're not inventing anything new. And then I thought well, hold on a second. That means that the foundational elements are already there and anybody can use them. Anybody, no matter who you are, no matter where you are in your business, no matter what type of right fit clients you're trying to attract. These foundational elements can help you, and we are absolutely in a time where having that relationship and that human connection is what is making or breaking our revenue stream and it all I mean I will be the first to say it it all comes back to are you making enough money to live? Are you making enough money to have the impact that you want? And of course, you want to do it with the best clients you can and have the best experience, but at the end of the day, you still have to hit some kind of a revenue dollar.
Speaker 2:So in my book I looked at all of these different elements that we talked about during this conference and how we can leverage those cornerstones in today's environment. And think about it this way the personal brand of Jesus developed with no technology, no social media, no phones. There wasn't even mail. It was all word of mouth and referral and stories being shared and being able to still have that kind of purist brand purpose that we didn't really stray from the brand purpose of Jesus and still being able to impact people today. And I'm like there is some kind of science and art in that. There is some kind of science and art in that and if we can figure out the formula which I have in my book, you'll be able to build the kind of legacy that you're looking for, build the kind of practice that you want and have an impact in the communities in which you serve. And who doesn't want?
Speaker 1:that. I think we all want that and I think you're right. You have to be profitable, you have to make money as a business. That's why we're in a business and the only way to serve more people is to make more money. And so that legacy piece truthfully, for a lot of therapists, that's at the core of them. That's why there's a lot of these money mindset hangups that most of them have, most of us have as even business owners. But being able to leverage that and say, okay, there's this legacy, this lasting impression that I'm trying to make this impact on my community, on the world, and how can I best do that? So I love that. And so you talked a lot about these foundational elements. Can you give us some more context on, maybe, what some of those are or what those look like, or how some therapists can leverage those?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so. There are several in the book, but I'll just go over two or three right now so I don't spoil it. And really this will become your brand Bible. You will refer to this over and over and over just to remind yourself. The first is going to be that sense of community. That sense of community. So when we are bringing in our clients and we're hoping to impact people, we have to have some kind of a community in order to do so. And community is really just a group of like-minded individuals working towards a common purpose and that you know, and each therapist will have their own specialty and that can be their common purpose with the community that they're attracting. So if you're doing family therapy, if you're doing couples counseling, if you're doing trauma, whatever the therapy is, those people coming together, not only you get to work with them, but then they get to connect with each other and there's a lot of power in that, a lot of power in having that community support, especially when you're going through therapy, to be able to say, yes, you know and my therapist shared this or, you know, I learned this technique or I was able to leverage the tools that I got this way and really again impacting that community.
Speaker 2:That's, first and foremost, the second area, and I think a lot of therapists don't want to lean into this, but it's the idea of storytelling. Now I am going to preface this. I'm not saying that you disclose client information to other clients. I'm not saying that. But you can create a parable.
Speaker 2:It doesn't have to be exactly. It can be based on several different sessions and you combine it into one and you can say you know, let me combine a few of my clients, or you know, these clients typically have this immediate problem or this is something that's blocking them from wanting to even make that first call and then talking about what they were able to do to overcome that block with you as the guide. So you know, stories are so powerful because we can relate to them. We've been hardwired for them. If you think about movies and fairy tales and TV shows, it's all stories. So we get it and it helps therapists and business owners in general to share what they can help their clients with in a manner that allows the audience to see themselves in the situation and coming out at the other end successful and helps them retain information. Yeah.
Speaker 2:If you just tell them you know, do this, do this, do this. That's not as powerful as sharing a type of parable where they can see themselves and now they're incorporating that information into their subconscious and they're actually able to envision themselves in a future state.
Speaker 1:Love that and I think what you're saying too, with that storytelling, which is huge, that sometimes therapists might be a little nervous about. You're right, confidentiality or what's that gray line, but we, as everybody I mean I can, I could think of the. I've been doing finance with businesses for long enough that I can think of just the common theme of the clients we work with and the common results that we see across a lot of the clients we work with, and I can come up with a case study, parable story about you know about Tim, who's a business owner. Even though I've never worked with Tim, I could tell you exactly what his problems are, because we've worked with hundreds of businesses with that same problem, and so the same thing is true for the therapist. Exactly kind of what I think you're saying is you could say I've worked with this person who is struggling with this and it just it's true among all of them and here's what we're able to do, which is true among so many of your patients if you've been doing it for a while.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes and I love that, capturing the where they were before and kind of where they are at the end, right which a lot of people overlook that piece of. Here's what you're struggling with. Here's what life can be like.
Speaker 2:Yes, and it's, and that's where I think leveraging storytelling and I actually have another book that has a formula on how to do it because it's very, very common to get trapped into making yourself the hero in the story and talking about all the things that you are going to do for the client no offense, but the client doesn't care. The client wants to know what is my endpoint, what am I going to get as a result of working with you? They have to trust that you're going to get them there. The details of that is your secret sauce. But helping them get to that future state and that puts your client in the role of hero, that you are the guide, you are the tool that helps them overcome whatever obstacle to move into that future state and that also, especially for therapy, removes some of the stigma, the fear, the anxiety, because it's I'm going to help you get there. You're going to be able to control this. You're going to be able to get there. I'm simply the guide to pull this out of you and get you to that future state and again, having that red line to.
Speaker 2:As a result of working with me, clients report or clients are able to, or this individual was able to, are able to, or this individual was able to. It helps you to really drive home that future state so that you don't get bogged down in a bunch of details that, honestly, at the initial conversation that you're having is not as impactful as them seeing themselves, you know, with less anxiety, with less phobias, with more confidence, whatever that future state is. And it also helps to separate you from every other therapist who, quite honestly, will want to lean into that safe space because it is a safe space to be able to talk about. Well, I do this therapy and I have this formula and this is how I work with patients. It's very comfortable for us to talk about those features and benefits because it's a lot more transactional when you move into that future state now you're already starting to invest in the relationship with those future clients.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, and I think nine times out of 10, if I go to a therapist website, it's just pummeled with you're right about them not necessarily the client journey, a lot of acronyms of the licenses they carry and their education story and truthfully, and I talk a lot about when I went on my path of finding a therapist, I wouldn't, even, as a consumer, know what that means I'm really looking for, especially my first-time therapy.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of, probably a lot, of those thoughts of is this even going to work? You know, is this really going to help me? So, somebody who can speak directly into the pain points you're feeling, the feelings you have, the emotions you're feeling, speak into here's what's possible. Now, I know in therapy you can't guarantee results always at a certain timeline, but you can say here's what's possible. You don't have to live with anxiety all the time about X, y or Z or feeling like you're not doing enough or whatever it is. So being able to kind of give them that light at the end of the tunnel, I think it is amazing, so 100% valuable Absolutely, and you know there are other parables or stories that they can share about.
Speaker 2:You know what are ways to choose the right therapist. How do you prepare for your first session. What if you decide that you are ready to exit? How does that exit session work? You know what things should you be covering. It again, it puts your clients in the driver's seat of their journey.
Speaker 1:Yeah absolutely so. Let's let's look at a therapist who maybe this most therapists are new I say new to business. Maybe they've been doing it for a long time, but no one teaches them how to run a business or how to brand themselves or how to market. So someone who's brand new to this, they're going okay right now. I'm on psychology today and I've got word of mouth and I have a website, but it's not really doing much. What do you feel like is a great first step into launching that personal brand, getting themselves out there, building that connection?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So one of the first things that I tell my clients to do and this is an exercise that I think everybody should go through, and they should go through it regularly to make sure that the way they are showing up for their clients is appropriate for what their clients need I ask my clients to go through an XYZ statement. We work with X and really define who you work with, because you don't work with everybody. I don't care what kind of business they are, you don't work with everybody. There is a type of client that really, if you were going to duplicate your best client and your best day, what does that person look like? So I work with X type of person doing Y work. This is where you talk about the type of therapy or the problems that you're solving and typically you look at your client base. Like you said, what's the if, if someone could pay you a dollar for every time the person said X problem, what would it be? And for me it's. I spent all sorts of money on marketing and I got no results from it, and I'm mad and I get it If I had a dollar for every single client that tells me well, I already tried something and it didn't work Well, that's because you probably tried the wrong thing at the wrong time. So, understanding that main problem, it doesn't mean that there won't be other problems, but typically our problems for our clients fall into one or two main categories and that's it Like. Again, you're talking 80%, 90% of your client base. So X person, I work with X group to do Y so that they can, and that's your Z, and again, we're doing all the way through so that they can. What is it? And mine is stop making bad marketing decisions with questionable ROI. That's what I want to prevent. That's what I want to help them overcome. So, as a therapist, what is it that you're trying to get them to overcome?
Speaker 2:Understanding that XYZ statement and again, getting very detailed, it may feel weird to go really niche. However, when you decide to go really niche now, you have an area of genius that you are really confident about that you can start to now share on social media, on Psychology Today, on your website, on blogs, on videos, on email podcasts, where you are leaning into that area of genius, that one area where you're like you know, this is something that I wish everybody would do, or this is something that, if I got a hold of all these clients. Wow, holy bananas, I could, you know, really impact a bunch of lives. And by really leaning into that XYZ statement and that niche, you're now starting to establish your authority power. And again, it's not about being famous, it's about being known for something. And think about it this way Jesus was very, very specific in what he wanted to do and that attracted all of these individuals into his community. If I am very specific and what I want to be known for, and I have this community who understands my area of genius, I now have brand ambassadors. You can go out into the world and they are now my eyes and ears on the ground, whether or not they are a client of mine. And that's what I love about about this work you don't have to be in front of your clients all the time.
Speaker 2:You can have this second layer, third layer, fourth layer of individuals who understand your area of genius, who have listened to your videos, your area of genius, who have listened to your videos, heard you on a podcast, read your articles, watched, you know, watched interviews, what have you? And they are like, wow, this person is really great. I don't need them. But hey, I'm at a party and I'm talking to so-and-so and they're saying, hey, you know, I'm really looking for a therapist to do this, or I'm. I'm struggling with this. Oh my God, you need to listen, to fill in the blank. You need to follow. Fill in the blank. Right.
Speaker 2:And they're. They're attracting those right fit clients on your behalf, and that is how you have scale and how you have brand impact and how you have legacy and all these wonderful things that we're looking for. But again, it's having real clarity around who you serve, what your area of genius is and how you impact the person for the future.
Speaker 1:Yeah, love that. Love that so much Because I think just honing in on one certain niche is super valuable. It can be nerve wracking for sure. Now there's some luxury to the therapy world unless the therapist is holding every single license there is known to man. They might have certain specialties already, just laid there in front of them, right. But I think you know, even right here we're on a podcast that's directed towards therapy practices. We doesn't mean we don't work with other businesses, it just means that that's who we specialize in, that's who we cater a lot of our messaging to, because I feel like if every business just spoke to everybody and tried to make it as general as possible, then nobody would stand out, no one would be getting the quality information they need. So you know, I know there's and there certainly wouldn't be the impact.
Speaker 2:There certainly wouldn't be the impact. No, and you know, I'm sure you know people who are listening, I'm sure there are a bunch of areas that you can help in. But again, if at the end of the day, I said you get 100 clients for the rest of your career to impact and you're like, okay, I'm going to make these 100 clients count and I'm going to impact their lives and I'm going to give them the tools that they need, and you know, at the end of the day I'm going to go yes, I was, I fulfilled something, I took care of something, I helped someone. What would that area be? Yeah.
Speaker 2:And that's the area that you should be leaning into Again. You're right. It doesn't mean that you can't take other types of clients, but we're looking at quality over quantity and when we get the quality, quality over quantity and when we get the quality.
Speaker 1:The quantity comes into play 100% and you could charge a premium when you work with the quality, when you're focusing on a niche, because I mean the example I hear all the time is you know you have your general practitioner and you have your surgeon who specializes in brain tumors, and so you know the general practitioner is doing fine, but the surgeon's house is way bigger because they specialize on this one little thing. They only see and do the same thing all the time. They know it incredibly well and they get paid a premium as a result of it, they get paid a premium. Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 2:Yes, look at any kind of engagement that my clients are getting, any kind of clients that they're attracting. Once that, you know they get up in the morning and they're excited to work with and they're looking forward to their day. Because I'm sure you and I have both had clients where I'm like, oh my God, I just have to get through this. I just have to get through this, this assignment, I just have to get through this call and you're like psyching yourself up to try to get through it because the fit isn't there and why. You know we have a finite time on this earth. Why wouldn't we work with people who get it, who want to work with us, who are coachable, who are open to you know, to what we can provide and are a joy to work with and at the end of the day, they're super happy with the results? I mean, I would much rather have clients like that, and that means that I can't take everybody and not everybody is a fit and that's okay 100%.
Speaker 1:Yep, and that is such a topical thing too, cause I think just a couple episodes ago I spent some time talking about how to, how to pinpoint that, even in those consultation calls, how to find what those things are so that you can make sure your calendar is full of people you're excited about. Cause, to what you're saying, you don't want to get sit down for the day, look at your calendar and go, oh, I got that call with with Craig today. I'm not looking forward to that. It's, it should be. Oh, yes, like I'm, I'm can't wait to hear how X, y and Z went or to hear any if there's any progress or anything new. They're struggling.
Speaker 1:So, being excited and eager, and I think and maybe you can tell me if I'm wrong or if you agree but I think sometimes starting with your current client load can tell you answer a lot of these questions. So somebody's struggling with what is my niche? Or who do I really enjoy working with? I mean, write a list of all your current clients and give them a rating. You know how excited am I to see them, what do I enjoy about them, what areas are they struggling with? And then the ones who maybe do kind of give you a pit in your stomach, or who do, who make you roll your eyes or go. You know, give you that weight on your shoulders. Whenever you see them on your calendar, start looking for ways to let them go and refer them out. Serve them in different ways other than just working with them one-on-one.
Speaker 2:Yes, and that can be scary too, and I you know, but I was taught that you can't make room for truly right fit clients If you're filling up your day with a bunch of wrong fit ones right.
Speaker 2:If you don't have the space for them, they won't be attracted in. So, and like you said, you're you're actually serving them better. You're serving in a more complete way by moving them on to someone else who would be a better fit. So you're actually really doing all of your clients a service by going through and saying, okay, this one's not a right fit. How can I help them find someone who can help them? How can I move them on so that they do get what they're looking for? And now you've opened yourself up to bring in more right fit clients.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I think that's so great and a lot of our listeners are group therapy practice owners. So, as the business owner, most therapy practice owners are trying to free up their calendar, free up their time, see less people, and so those are even opportunities to maybe, whether you refer them out to another business or just pass them down to maybe another one of your therapists on your team who might be better suited for them, who maybe it's just they're more in line than what you are with them, and that's a great chance to a starting point for freeing up your calendars. Pinpoint the ones who are not your ideal ones and start passing them off. You can keep them in your ecosystem with one of your other team members, but either way.
Speaker 2:And that's when that community comes in, where you're still supporting them. You're just supporting them in a different way. And there's someone else who maybe that is their true area of genius and they click with that, that patient or that patient clicks with that therapist, and everyone's happy and and you've supported that with your community and those you know, potential referral partners we like to call them PB&Js peanut butter and jellies where you know it's very similar and it creates a wonderful environment and the client is always served. And that's what I love about that You're still serving your clients. The client is always foremost. You're just serving them in a different way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. Well, this has been such a wealth of knowledge. I plan on going back and listening to this all over again and taking notes for myself, because I've pinpointed a few things. I'm like, oh yeah, I could do that differently or go rehash some of my marketing efforts, but we'll link to both of your books. But how can people get in touch with you if they're thinking I need some more support? Yeah, what can people? Is there a way they can work with you or reach out and connect with you?
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. If they want, they can send me an email at lisa at 3dogrightcom. So it's number 3, dog D-O-G, right like right with a pen. W-r-i-t-ecom. I do a 20 minute no cost consultation. So anything you want to talk about, anything where you want to get clarity, move the needle a little bit, I'm happy to get on a call and help you do that. My brand is about being relentlessly helpful and that is part of that. And then from there we can discuss what you're looking for and where you're struggling. And is it that you're struggling with deciding where you have your area of genius and you want to be known? Is it struggling with how to actually create that authority power and attract those right fit clients? Is it that you're struggling with how to do storytelling and helping people understand and retain the types of impact and services that you provide? You know, whatever it is, we happy to get on the call and we can go through that together.
Speaker 1:Perfect. We'll link your email address as well in the show notes, so if anyone's driving while listening to this, it's okay. Just when next chance you get, pull up in the show notes and connect with Lisa. Lisa, thank you so much for letting us pick your brain for the last half hour. I know it's been valuable, I know it's helpful and you probably made a huge impact on many therapy practices.
Speaker 2:So thank you you probably made a huge impact on many therapy practices. So, thank you, oh, absolutely, and make sure you get the book, because the book will really give you amazing insight so that you can start building your own personal brand and have the impact in your community that you are looking to do.
Speaker 1:Thanks for joining us on the therapy business podcast. Be sure to subscribe, leave a review and share it with a practice owner that you may know. If your practice needs help getting organized with its finances or just growing your practice, head to therapybusinesspodcom to learn how we can help.
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