5 Myths That Are Keeping You From Innovation in Your Private Practice with Daniel Fava | PoP 440

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5 Myths That Are Keeping You From Innovation in Your Private Practice with Daniel Fava | PoP 440

Do you really have to wear all the hats in your business? When do you get more done? What can you do to ensure that you keep moving forward in your business and continue growing?

In this reverse podcast, Daniel Fava speaks with Joe Sanok about 5 myths that can be keeping you from innovation and moving forward in your private practice.

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These days, most people looking for your services are turning to Google. So, you know it’s important that you show up well when they do those searches.  You’ve heard of Search Engine optimization, but aren’t sure where to even start.

Jessica and her team at Simplified SEO Consulting make SEO understandable and show you exactly where to start. In addition to their popular “Done for You” SEO services, they offer SEO workshops around the country where you learn to do your own SEO so you can get your site ranking now and then continue to make changes yourself as your business grows.

To learn about their upcoming SEO training workshops or begin with $100 off their comprehensive online course, head over to https://simplifiedseoconsulting.com/joe/

Meet Daniel Fava

Daniel Fava is the founder of Create My Therapist Website and Private Practice Elevation. He has worked for over 11 years in various online marketing agencies while doing freelance work on the side.

While he has worked on hundreds of projects, including brochures, logos, and business cards, his passion since college has always been this crazy place known as the world wide web.

Visit Daniel’s website here and here, listen to his podcast and connect with him on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.

In This Podcast

Summary

  • Why innovation is important
  • Myth 1: You get more done when you do more
  • Myth 2: Ideas need to be brand new
  • Myth 3: You should stay in your lane
  • Myth 4: It’s all been done
  • Myth 5: Wearing multiple hats and bootstrapping

Why innovation is so important

It is curiosity turned into action.

Innovation is so important because it sets you apart from the crowd. It allows your message to transform other people.

Myth 1: You get more done when you do more

The idea creation and the innovation starts with slowing down, it starts with stepping back.

If you take a step back and you think about where good ideas and innovation usually come from, you will notice that it’s when you take a step back, in the shower or you’re taking a long drive and letting your mind wander.

Myth 2: Ideas need to be brand new

Linking things together is more where the good ideas come from as opposed to saying you’re going to create something out of thin air that’s brand new.

Myth 3: You should stay in your lane

Lets get outside of our silos and say there’s a lot of good information out there on podcasts where maybe you don’t see any application to your work right away, but you’re going to have those ideas inside of you that you can draw from when they’re needed.

You should be inspired by a variety of things and people outside of the therapy space so that you can be motivated to think differently within the therapy space. Our perceived failures have such a big impact on us and then we avoid those things. But in reality, the things that really push us forward are stepping into those risks, stepping into that potential failure and then realizing that the failure is really just a way to gather information in terms of what’s going to work in the future.

Myth 4: It’s all been done

When things have already been done, that tells you that there’s an audience for it

If something has been done it is telling you that it will probably work. Jump on in there and give it a go, especially podcasting.

Myth 5: Wearing multiple hats and bootstrapping

The more you spend the time on things that only you can do, the faster your business will grow.

When starting your business you will do a lot of bootstrapping to keep costs low. You can move forward faster when you only wear the hats that allow you to be in your zone of genius, hand over and delegate all the other things to a VA so that you can continue growing your business.

Click here to download the free Smart Strategies to Start a Podcast Guide.

Books mentioned in this episode:

Useful Links:

Meet Joe Sanok

private practice consultant

Joe Sanok helps counselors to create thriving practices that are the envy of other counselors. He has helped counselors to grow their businesses by 50-500% and is proud of all the private practice owners that are growing their income, influence, and impact on the world. Click here to explore consulting with Joe.

Thanks For Listening!

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Podcast Transcription

[JOE]: This is the Practice of the Practice podcast with Joe Sanok, session number 440.
These days, most people looking for your services are turning to Google. So, you know it’s important that you show up when they do these searches. You’ve heard of Search Engine Optimization, but aren’t sure even where to start. Jessica and her team at Simplified SEO Consulting, make SEO understandable and show you exactly where to start. In addition to their popular Done For You SEO Services, they offer SEO workshops around the country where you can learn to do your own SEO so you can get your site ranking now and then continue to make changes yourself as your business grows. To learn about their upcoming SEO training workshops or begin with $100 off their comprehensive online course, head over to simplifiedSEOconsulting.com/Joe. Again, that’s simplifiedSEOconsulting.com/Joe.
Welcome, welcome, welcome. I hope that you are doing amazing today. I hope that life is treating you well and that your practice is thriving. You know, we absolutely love helping people start, grow and scale their private practices and launch podcasts. So, we’ve actually been launching quite a few podcasts. We have eight new podcasts we will be launching in early 2020 and we’ve already launched three of them at the time of this recording and we have more coming out soon. Actually, pretty soon we have Veronica’s Empowered and Unapologetic podcast. So, you can check out all of those podcasts over practiceofthepractice.com/network. That’s where we’re going to have our family of podcasts that are changing the world. And so, you know, today, in just a second, I’m going to tell you a little bit about on this reverse interview but we’ve got just a couple of housekeeping items.
So, the Slow Down School tickets are going fast. I think at the last look we had 12 people. So, this is a smaller conference, so 20 to 30 people or so. You’re going to want to grab your ticket if you are headed towards six figures, want to grow your practice, but also maybe you want to work on a big idea. Some people are coming just because they want to work on their big idea, their podcast, e-course speaking and some people are coming because they just want to really kind of tighten up the ship of their practice. And Alison and Whitney are both going to be there as well, helping you grow your practice. So, it’s going to be something you don’t want to miss. We’re here on the beaches of Northern Michigan when summer is at its peak in late July, the is warm, the sunsets are beautiful and rocking out private practice and big ideas is what we do around the campfire.
So, you can get more information over slowdownschool.com and if you want to join Next Level Practice. Next Level Practice is our membership community for people starting a practice. So, if you’re under a hundred K and you’re like, “I want to rock it out, I want to grow this thing,” head on over to practiceofthepractice.com/invite and on Monday we are opening the doors. Just for four days, they’re opening up, but you won’t be able to jump in until August again after that. So, you’ll want to make sure that you jump in when you can. Also, if you want to get access for the first time, we are offering an annual fee. You get a discounted price. Instead of $99 a month, you’re going to get it for an average of $83 a month. That’s available until launch. So practiceofthepractice.com/door. And so, if you want to jump in beforehand, the only way to do it is to sign up for that annual fee and that’s 997. Whereas you know, once the doors open on Monday, then it goes to just $99 a month. Again, that’s practiceofthepractice.com/door.
I mean, you’re going to get community, over 30 e-courses, connections, support. We have monthly Ask the Experts where we bring in experts like Perry Rosenbloom from Brighter Vision, Clay Cockrel from onlinecounseling.com, Allie Casazza who has written and done a bunch of e-courses around minimalism, Jessica Tappana from Simplified SEO Consulting and people that genuinely help you grow in a new and different way. Those folks are going to be coming in as Ask the Experts. And then we also do these, What’s Working type things where we break into small groups. It’s a live event on Zoom and so, we start with a big group. Say we have 20 people break then into smaller groups of four or five to have conversations about what’s working, come back together, share the best of what we just learned and then do that over and over. And if we have a smaller group, like we often have, then it’s just Q&A with Joe. And so, I mean, you know, usually, my consulting packages are around a thousand dollars a month. And so, if you want that kind of help and individualized attention, think about joining Next Level Practice. These doors only open a couple of times a year. The next one isn’t going to be until August. And so, I really want you to bounce over there to practiceofthepractice.com/door to sign up. And if you want to read about it, it’s forward slash invite (/invite).
Well, today it’s a reverse interview. Daniel Fava, who has a great podcast, had me on to talk about five myths that are keeping you from innovation in your private practice. And so here without any further ado, is Joe Sanok on Daniel Fava’s podcast.
[DANIEL]: Joe’s. It’s good to see you. We were just chatting before we hopped on and it’s been a while since we’ve actually chatted. I think it’s been like two years, which is crazy, but it’s good to see you again and thanks so much for coming on.
[JOE]: Oh yeah. You know, it’s been a while. I feel like because I see your work all over the place, I feel like it hasn’t been two years, but yeah, when we looked at how long it’s been on Skype, it’s been two years. So, we both been doing good work, but I feel like you’ve been in my presence for a while.
[DANIEL]: Yeah, same with you. I mean, I follow you on Instagram and watch all your videos. And so yeah, it’s, there’s this weird sense of like, “Oh, I know him, I know what he’s up to.” But it’s so good just to talk face to face and just hear how things are going.
[JOE]: Yeah, absolutely.
[DANIEL]: So, and also another thing that we have in common that we just learned is kombucha.
[JOE]: Absolutely. Got my glass and kombucha right here.
[DANIEL]: I wish I had mine. My wife’s been making it and it’s been actually multiplying in our basement and so it’s kind of taking over our fridge, but I love it.
[JOE]: Oh yeah. We still buy it, but we have a scoby, scovy, whatever it’s called in the fridge that, it’s an aspirational kombucha. Like someday it’s going to be like, it’s just sitting there waiting to be birthed. But it’s just like every time I see it, I’m like, “Someday that will be a kombucha drink.”
[DANIEL]: I always say that my wife is getting me back because I brew beer sometimes. And so that takes over the kitchen, takes over the basement and it’s much bigger than kombucha, so she’s just going to be back a little bit.
[JOE]: You know, I brewed beer for a bit but every recipe turned out so bad and just like I didn’t get it down. Like, I mean I even bought the kits and you know, I just was like, I am spending all this time and money on this and the beers that I like, I just buy now. So, I just sold on my beer-making stuff. One time I actually, I was out of brewer’s sugar and like sugar, sugar, I used regular sugar and it was, my friends jumped in as the cotton candy beer because it just tasted like cotton candy.
[DANIEL]: Oh, that’s awesome. Well maybe one day we can get together and brew batch. It’s, I haven’t done it in a while because of, you know, life with a two-year-old, it’s hard to find a five-hour chunk of time. So yeah, I’m just buying it. It’s so much easier.
[JOE]: Yeah.
[DANIEL]: But we didn’t come here to talk about kombucha and beer, obviously. So, for people who don’t know who you are and what you do, I’m a sort of a Marvel universe, geek sort of person. So, I want to know what is your superpower and how do you help therapists and private practice owners?
[JOE]: Yeah, so I’m Joe Sanok and, I help people start, grow and scale private practices. But even more than that, I think I help them optimize their time to go after their big ideas. And so, a lot of people as they grow and scale their practices, they realize they don’t want to spend as much time in the chair. And so, they start launching podcasts and e-courses and membership communities or retreats and, you know, my mastermind groups are on big ideas and helping people launch podcasts. I’d say that’s really my sweet spot because we as therapists, counselors, coaches, you know, whoever’s listening, highly undervalue what all we have to say. I was just at a podcasting conference where a bunch of people pitched me and 39 other podcasters to be on our show and the amount of people that have zero background and are calling themselves an expert is crazy and then we have all these experts that still feel like they’re paralyzed by perfection and that they don’t have anything to say and they undervalue themselves. That helping someone transition from, you know, I’m just kind of doing work in the chair, which nothing wrong with that, but to realizing just how big their message is and how much the world really needs to hear it. To me, that’s where I just light up.
[DANIEL]: That’s awesome. That is beautiful because there is so much value. Like everyone’s got so much value to add and it’s totally, like you said, it’s a mindset thing.
[JOE]: Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. And being able to really understand how do you articulate what you’ve learned in these sessions? I mean we’ve all dealt with really intense situations and to us it’s second nature, but to most of the world it’s mind-blowing that we know how to do the work that we do.
[DANIEL]: Yeah, absolutely. And well, how did you get started doing what you’re doing now?
[JOE]: Yeah, it all started with you know, I had a private practice. I sold it in June of 2019 and so I started a private practice really just on the side and my wife and I were on a six-week road trip out West between her graduate school and her graduate school internship in occupational therapy. And I just quit my job with Community Mental Health and kind of dreamt up this private practice while we were on this road trip and read this book, Guerrilla Marketing that to me is still one of those essential marketing books and started a side gig private practice while I was working as a foster care supervisor once we landed in our hometown of Traverse City. And really it was just a patch to student loan debt and just thought, “Hey, if I can make an extra five, 10 grand a year like that’s a sweet vacation or that’s a lot of debt to take a bite out of.”
And you know, as I learned things about marketing, at the time, there weren’t very many kinds of resources out there. I had a friend, I remember she said, “Oh, you could just build your own website.” And my mind was blown that someone could build their own website. And I realized that very few people at the time were talking about private practice, about marketing, and so I started Practice of the Practice in 2012 really just to track my own journey and to say, “Hey, I just read Guerrilla Marketing. Here’s how I’m applying it. Hey, just read The Four Hour Work Week. Like obviously I’m going to work more than four hours, but there are some really cool principles in there for therapists.” And then I noticed, and this is something that I think people really need to think about is where could I stand out quickly where I could really, I don’t have to compete.
There’s this book called Blue Ocean Strategy where it has the metaphor of sharks, where the red water of the ocean is where everyone’s kind of fighting for things and the blue ocean is where there’s as many fish as you want. And at the time there was only one other podcast aimed at counselors and private practice and that was the American Counseling Association. And they had been dormant at the time for six months. And so right away I was the number one podcast for counselors in private practice. And you know, even if someone outranks me, I can say I’m the longest-serving, you know, podcast. And so, to pick those spots where there’s just not a competition, I started the podcast and really, I mean, that’s where it blew up for me. Was that it set me apart. It’s how most of the people that follow me first heard about me or they heard about me and then found out I had a podcast and it was just something intimate. I don’t need to, you know, share that with you. You do a podcast. There’s something intimate about having these conversations, but then being in somebody’s ears and in their brain that it’s just amazing how you can connect with people and really kind of work through their issues and have access to experts.
[DANIEL]: Yeah, that’s awesome. And we’re talking today specifically about innovation. And just to follow up on your story, when you started the podcast, were you thinking in that sort of mindset of like, “Oh, this is going to, this is so new, this is so fresh, it’s so innovative.” Or was it really just this desire that you had just to start a podcast?
[JOE]: You know, it really came out of wanting to start something bigger. I knew that I probably didn’t want to work. At that time, I was at the community college locally as a counselor doing a 40-hour workweek, very kind of traditional role. I knew that was probably the best job I could have without becoming a supervisor and working, you know, 50 or 60 hours a week instead of 40, and I knew I had to scale something. And so, my practice was already starting to scale at that point. I had started to add clinicians to the practice. So, by 2014 I had left that full-time job for private practice and for the consulting. And I knew that the podcast was going to be something that, would offer an opportunity. I didn’t know what it was going to be, I didn’t know how it was going to look, but I knew that it was going to be a platform that just continued to grow. So, I like talking ever since third grade, my report card always said like, “Joe is talking to his peers too much,” and now I get paid to talk.
[DANIEL]: That’s awesome.
[JOE]: And so, the thing that was once a fail as a kid, that’s all I do all the time now.
[DANIEL]: Yeah, beautiful. Awesome. Well, we’re going to, let’s segue a little bit into our topic for today. So, we’re going to be talking about innovation and specifically five myths that are keeping private practice owners from innovation. Before we get into those and what you have for us, why is innovation so important for someone who is a business owner, a private practice owner?
[JOE]: So, there’s four I’s that with Practice of the Practice, we often talk about; income, innovation, influence, and impact. And to me, innovation is so important because it sets you apart from the crowd. So, it allows you to create things that kind of push you, that you take your curiosity that’s there and you’re doing something with it. It’s kind of curiosity turned into action. And so, for me when I think about innovation, those are the things that make a difference in the world, they’re the things that set you apart, but it also allows your message to transform other people. One of the myths that we’ll get to is that, I have to start something brand new. We’ll dive into that, but I think that’s one of those myths that people think, “Oh, I got to start something brand new. I can’t do that.” And then they just stop and they think the innovation is always coming up with, you know, the next Space X.
[DANIEL]: Yeah, right. And I think, too, that it’s so important to be able to come up with these ideas for your business, because I mean, I talk to business owners, private practice owners too and sometimes, like I can see the patterns of, somebody might think and not wrongfully so like, “Okay, I start my Psychology Today profile, I start a website and then the clients show up.” And then it’s just like, “Well, what else can I do to get clients?” And that’s really, I think where like the innovation can come in. And you know, for me as a business owner myself, it’s kind of fun for me to figure out the puzzle of like, you know, you’ll be on a walk and you come up with an idea like, “Hey, let me do that. Let me try that in my business.” And I think that that’s what makes business ownership kind of fun.
[JOE]: Yeah. I was just this morning interviewing Whitney Owens, who’s our newest consultant with Practice of the Practice and she’s specifically helping faith-based practices launch. It’s interesting because she was talking about, with her practice, one partnership they have with a church where for four weeks in a row on a Friday night from 4:30 to 6:00, they do some sort of teaching to the community. And so, couples will come and or individuals and they’ll talk about emotional intelligence or they’ll talk about, you know, cognitive behavioral therapy and parenting in a faith-based setting or something that applies to the church, but also super psychological. And then the church from six till eight they watch the people’s kids. So, from 4:30 till 8:00, they watch the people’s kids and then they can go on a date downtown.
So, people pay 10 bucks to come to this event. They get an hour and a half solid teaching about something psychological and then they get to go on a date. And it’s like, even if I didn’t go to that church, I’d be like, you know, “I’d sit through that to have a date for 10 bucks?” Like, you know, and how smart is that? Because it’s what people are already doing. They’re already going on dates, they’re already trying to learn and, now let’s do it with a partner and offer something that maybe the church couldn’t offer on their own and that that private practice couldn’t offer on their own. So, I mean, that’s the kind of innovative things that I just love hearing about.
[DANIEL]: That is so cool. I love that too. Awesome. Well, let’s get into the five myths that you have for us. So, why don’t you to kick that off?
[JOE]: The first one is that the myth of that you get more done when you do more. And so, you know, if we really step back and say, you know, where do good ideas come from? Where does innovation come from? I mean, it’s usually you’re taking a shower and you’re like, “Oh my gosh, like what if I did that?” Or you’re on a long drive and you turn the radio off and you just let your mind wander. It’s never, “Boy, I had the best idea when I was stressed out and just totally freaking out and running from here to there.” And so, just the idea creation, the innovation, starts with slowing down. It starts with stepping back. If I want to have a new idea, the first thing I should do is sit down and meditate because my brain for that first minute goes crazy like, “Oh, I should do this and this and this and this,” because it doesn’t have all the stimuli that’s usually like going into our brains.
[DANIEL]: Yeah, absolutely. I think one thing that’s been huge for me is recognizing that when I’m in that place of stress and also fear, like sometimes fear, like creativity just cannot thrive in fear, you know? And so that’s something we’re always like, if I’m feeling like I’m in this place of like, “Oh, I got to get this done and all this stuff is happening and what about this and what about that?” there’s no creativity coming out of that. And it’s like every aspect of life kind of suffers from there, you know?
[JOE]: Yeah, and it’s one of those things that you know, you think about even having savings for your practice, it’s one of my recommendations, is have three to six months of savings of what it takes to run your practice. Because you don’t want to be backed into a corner financially and then don’t take your ideal client or make a decision that’s just based on the money or whatever. I mean, that carries over in a lot of different ways. And so, if we allow ourselves to step back, that’s really when the creative energy flows. Like even this morning, I’m working on a book proposal that we’re sending out to formal like, you know, book publishers not self-published. And I’m working with this Harper Collins editor, a former Harper Collins editor on the book proposal and she has me doing all these writing exercises and I just felt myself really struggling and I was like, “Okay, I just need to go downstairs. I need to step outside, watch the squirrels all over my backyard for a couple of minutes, take some deep breaths.” And then when I came back to the screen, it just flowed right out of me. And those quick micro-breaks alone can sometimes help us reset.
[DANIEL]: That’s good. For me it’s, I play guitar. So sometimes I just have my guitar in the office and I’ll just like, “Okay, I need to, before I step back to my computer, like let me just sit down and play a song and just have a little fun, just do something totally different or go play with my son for a little bit because he’s just so silly.”
[JOE]: Yeah, that’s so true. The second myth I think is the ideas need to be brand new. You think about some of the best things that have come out in society. So, if we take Uber or Lyft, the backstory of Uber is that two guys were at a conference in Paris, smartphones had just come out, taxis existed, on-demand TV existed, and they were standing there in the rain saying, “This is absolutely ridiculous. Like, why are we having so much trouble hailing a cab?” And you know, Lyft has a very similar back story. And then let’s take it a step farther. In most big cities now you see the, they’re called nests or limes or birds or these little like motorized scooters. It’s basically like Uber on scooters, which I would say that then raises a lot of questions about why they just get thrown in bushes and you know. But that’s innovation.
You know, the innovation always like goes first and then the problems behind it then have to get cleaned up. You know, that was true. Even if you look back to when you know, the late 1800s, if you look at pictures of downtown Chicago all of the streets were pedestrian. Pedestrians had the right of way no matter what, more than horses, more than when cars started coming out and then it switched. People said, “Wow, there’s these cars. Like no longer do pedestrians have the main right of way on a road. It’s actually a car. And so, society then adjusts to innovation when they see those problems exposed.
[DANIEL]: Yeah, that’s a really good point. And I haven’t actually thought about that; it’s we have the lime scooters here in Atlanta and I have seen in news articles and stuff and on TV, on news, like they’re trying to get rid of them, but like other people want them and you do see them just lying around all over the place. And it is a mess. It is a mess. But at the same time, like I love that somebody did that. Like somebody had just the mind to say like, “Hey, let’s make this accessible to somebody. It’s new, it’s sloppy, but you know, all that stuff kind of works out in the end. And so, I think that that’s really encouraging for someone who’s going to take a risk and innovate in their business for sure.
[JOE]: Yeah. I mean, we own two Airbnb’s, and in our town there’s a big debate all of a sudden over like, so, do we want this? Where do we want it? How do we want it? That’s going to happen. And so, for a private practice to just say, “Okay, so you just listened to a podcast about, I don’t know, marketing, how does that then apply to your private practice?” Or you listen to one about EMDR? How do I link that with something else in my life that I’m interested in? Linking new things and good ideas together is more where the new ideas come from then saying, “I’m going to create something out of thin air that’s brand spanking new.”
[DANIEL]: Yeah, it takes a little bit of the pressure off too.
[JOE]: Yeah, for sure. For sure.
[DANIEL]: All right. What’s the third myth?
[JOE]: So, number three would be the myth of staying in your lane. Now, yes, you should niche in, in a lot of ways. That’s helpful. It helps you move forward faster but a lot of people will say, stay in your lane. And this kind of goes along with the whole idea of where ideas come from. But with me, I’m inspired by a lot of different people. I listen to Sam Harris’s podcast, Timothy Ferris, Rob Bell. I listen to all these different ones that are way outside of the therapy space. But then that inspires me to think differently within the therapy space to, you know, hear how Sam Harris and Rob Bell do an amazing job with storytelling, how they structure out ideas. If I only listen to people that are in private practice space or private practice consulting, I’m going to just have that information versus, you know, let’s get outside of our silos and say, there’s a lot of good information out there on podcasts that maybe you don’t see any application to your own work right away, but you’re going to start to have those ideas inside of you that you can draw from when they’re needed.
[DANIEL]: Yeah. I love that. I love that because there’s just inspiration everywhere and you can really pull from pretty much anything you need. You never really know where it’s going to come from.
[JOE]: Absolutely. I would say also people feel like, you know, they stick with what they know. That kind of status quo reinforces itself because you don’t feel any danger or risk because you know how to do private practice. You know how to do that. And when we try something new, when you step outside of your comfort zone, it may fail. And you know, we know just from evolution, the things that made you super sick, rightfully so, you’re scared of, and all the 20 times you ate berries that were great, that didn’t mean you nearly ate as much as the one that you are puking for 24 hours. And so, the same is still true of our brains, that our perceived failures have such a big impact on us. And then we avoid those things and just stick with the status quo. But in reality, the things that really push our businesses forward are kind of stepping into that risk, stepping into that potential failure and then realizing that that failure is really just a way to gather information on what’s going to work in the future.
[DANIEL]: I love that. That’s so good. Again, it takes the pressure off and it’s just, it’s always just a learning experience. Absolutely.
[JOE]: Yes. So, number four would be, it’s all been done. And so, I think people will see innovation, they may see a podcast like yours or mine and say, this has already been done. So, when things have already been done, that tells you a few things that there’s an audience for it. And so, I struggled for a good two years to really get above 500 downloads per episode. Like it took forever and then when I decided to start doing it every single Tuesday, changed the artwork, changed the website, all three of those things really helped my podcast start to grow significantly. And now it’s, you know, over a hundred thousand downloads a month. But that then, you know, I struggled through that, but then everyone else behind me, it’s like, well, there’s a market there. You know, if someone got sick of my voice when it was just me, then it was like, “Okay, I guess I’ll listen to Joe.”
But then other people started to come along and they liked their voice. And it proves that there’s a market for it. And especially for podcasting, I think a lot of people feel like, “Oh, that’s already been done.” But I’ve been really kind of diving into the stats for our launch of Podcast Launch School and so I want to just take you through just a couple of ways to think about just podcasting alone as an innovative tool. And so, if we think of the average blog as being a six-foot-tall human, all right, and then the larger the next thing is, that means the more of an impact it will make. And so, the difference between just having a blog and having a YouTube channel is the statistical difference between a six-foot-tall person and King Kong who’s 110 feet tall.
And so, the impact of a YouTube channel for your same hour of time versus an hour of your time on a blog is that of King Kong. All right? So, the next step up is to launch a podcast. So, the impact of a podcast compared to that six-foot-tall person or King Kong is three of the largest building in the world. So, the building in Dubai, that’s like a thousand feet tall, three of those on top of each other is the impact of just having a podcast. And so that’s not even saying you’ve posted anything recently, just having one. So now we’re at six feet versus 3000 feet. Now the difference between that and having posted a new episode in the last 90 days is the difference between Mount Everest and those three tallest buildings. And so, when we think about it, do you want to put an hour of your time into blogging, which is good for SEO, or maybe you do a podcast episode, have it transcribed into a blog, repurpose it on YouTube like you and I are doing right here and then you get the six-foot-tall person, the King Kong, the buildings, and the Mount Everest? So, it’s still the early days of podcasting. Each month there are only 160,000 podcasts that post a new episode; so hardly any compared to the millions and millions of blogs and YouTube channels that are out there. So, it’s still one of those things that if you have any message that the world needs to hear, to me, podcasting is the number one way to do it right now.
[DANIEL]: That’s awesome. Wow, Joe, that’s really encouraging for myself to hear, because this would probably be episode 29 of my podcast. So, I’m really fresh and I’m really figuring out this whole podcasting thing. But just hearing you say that, it’s like, “Okay, I think I’m going in the right direction here? So that’s what kind —
[JOE]: Well, I think a lot of people get stuck on those vanity metrics of how many like downloads per episode or total and all that. And you know, honestly, you don’t need that many people following your work in order to make a decent living. You know, if you get 500 to a thousand listens per episode, that’s 500 to a thousand people every week that are showing up to listen to you, that are being influenced by you, that your sponsors, you can say, “Hey, I love this sponsor, I have this e-course or whatever. It’s great to have that audience that is there for you.
[DANIEL]: Yeah, and you wouldn’t sort of put down, if you had a speaking engagement and you’re speaking to 500 people in a room, you would probably think that was pretty big for yourself to do. So, for me, I just remind myself like, you know, even just five, 10 people connecting on a really good level and sharing your message, I mean, that’s huge. That’s so important.
[JOE]: And you think about even just someone that’s moving from having a private practice to wanting to do a podcast to figure out kind of what is it that you’re really good at in your private practice that then the rest of the world needs to hear? You know, do they want an e-course, do they want a membership community, do they want downloads? There are so many ways that you can monetize a podcast to make it worth your time too.
[DANIEL]: Yeah, absolutely. And I think too, just another encouragement that I’ve learned when, I mean, I first started with a blog, so clearly my therapist website was just a blog, weekly blog. And I remember at first worrying about how much traffic am I getting and am I showing up on Google and all that stuff. And all that stuff came in time. But really once I let go of those metrics and really served my audience and really found out like what do you need help with? And really started answering their questions. That’s where it really started growing. And then when I went back in and started tracking it, you know, more strategically in a way where I was not so close to finding my identity in these metrics, you know, then it really, I was seeing the impact of that,
[JOE]: Yeah, 100% because I think, and one of the reasons I think that happens is that when someone’s grounded in what they do, then they’re going to be more innovative, they’re going to take risks, they’re going to be less kind of punched in the face when things go wrong whereas if your ego is all-around what’s happening outside of yourself. I mean we tell our clients this stuff all the time, like, you know, internal loss of control. You know, the same sort of thing that if you’re grounded in what you’re doing, you feel like it’s good and you know, okay, when something’s not working, you know, I might pull the plug on that or I might change it or adjust it. Then you’re just grounded in what you’re doing and it’s going to attract more people that you want to attract.
[DANIEL]: Yeah, absolutely. All right, so we up to number five already?
[JOE]: We are, we are.
[DANIEL]: All right, what is that?
[JOE]: I think it’s the myth of wearing multiple hats. So, so often I hear people say, “Well, I’m bootstrapping it.” And yes, there is a time to bootstrap it. I never want your business decisions to make your family not be able to live the life you want to live. Of course. But most people will bootstrap it way too long. And so, you know, how many people are still cleaning their office when they could pay someone 50 bucks a week to come in and do a quick vacuum and empty the trash? How many people are still answering their phone calls, which honestly, like if you’re in session, you’re losing money by not answering those phone calls. You know, how many of you are still doing your own website updates? So that’s just practice stuff. But then when you look at kind of leveling up, if you have a podcast that show up to the things that only you can do.
And so, let me walk you through what this looks like for me. So, if I do a Facebook Live and it’s one that I think is worth going on YouTube and worth, you know, kind of getting some extra traction. So, say I do a Facebook Live, you know, five reasons that you should start a podcast today. So soon we’re launching Podcast Launch School, so I’m in the middle of kind of promoting that a little bit. So, I do, let’s say a Facebook Live on that. I’ll then download that video and then upload it to Dropbox and then I’ll put a note in Trello to my assistant Sam, who’s our chief marketing officer. So, at that point she gets triggered and I do nothing else after that five-minute Facebook Live, she then takes that video, she makes it look fancy, she adds little images to it and you know, gets things from Unsplash and uploads that to YouTube.
She then pulls the transcription off of that and turns it into a blog post, then embeds that video into the blog post. And then if it’s good enough and it makes sense, she’ll add that to an email series. She’ll also then create an opt-in for people to opt in to have, say the five tips in a PDF download. And then I just got all those different pieces of content for five minutes of my time compared to me spending hours doing all of that. So I can move forward faster because I found people that can be those team members that I can just wear the hats where I’m, you know, some people say in your genius or your superpowers, whatever words you use, I just like doing it. You know, I try to do only the things that only I can do. And even those things I enjoy doing to challenge myself and say, “Well, why am I the one that’s doing this? Could someone else do this? Could this be eliminated?” That’s been so helpful for the scaling side of both my private practice when I had it, but even the consulting business.
[DANIEL]: That’s beautiful and super exciting to hear. I know for me with, I’ve got a virtual assistant, somebody else helps out with the podcast and making sure that that’s live on the website and stuff, but it can become almost like addicting. Like somebody else is helping me do this stuff. This is amazing. So, if anyone’s listening, I just want to encourage them, like find some help, find out the things that you don’t have to be doing but you could either write a process around and send it off to somebody. I think, I mean, one question that comes to mind for me, and I’m curious to hear your answer, I know for myself at first getting into this mentality of hiring somebody and looking for help, it was like, where do I find this person? Where do I find somebody to help? Do you have any tips on that?
[JOE]: Yeah, I think a lot of people look for this perfect person that’s going to do it all. And I would highly encourage you not to because even if you find that person, they’re probably going to be highly sought-after and leave really fast. And so, I would start with what are the first handful of tasks I want to take off my plate? So, it could be answering phones, it could be website updates, it could be SEO optimization. I’ll just start with those things that you’re like, “I should not be doing this,” and then look for that person. So recently we transitioned for our director of details so I hired someone new for that. And so, the director of details starts with just looking at my emails, responding to my emails starring ones that are important so that I’m not stuck in my email and spending my energy on that except for the kind of high-end emails I need to be responding to. So that’s what she started with. And then there’s a lot of other things that go with it. So, I just posted it through Facebook.
So, Facebook has a new job section for your Facebook page and I know a lot of people use a lot of the hiring services. Honestly, I had four qualified candidates. They came in for that director of details position because people can tag their friends on it. Everybody’s already on Facebook. To me, it was amazing to find that. Another good site is Upwork. Upwork, you can find people that are more on a kind of freelance project-based. They’re not going to be long-term. But I would say you want to stretch yourself to say, you know, if you’re spending 15 bucks an hour on somebody and you want to lock them in, maybe guarantee them 10 hours a week. Now that’s a chunk of change, but it’s going to force you to say, “What can I give them? I’m paying them, you know, 150 bucks a week, no matter what. I got to make sure I send them enough design things.” And so that’s what I did a couple of years ago where, Sam, she left her full-time job at a magazine and I said, “Okay, like, let’s define what this job is.” She has a 35-hour workweek, she has a certain number of days off per year, and then she gets paid a salary every month. And so, it forces me to keep her busy, and I just keep adding to her Trello list of, “All right, here’s the next thing to work on.”
[DANIEL]: That’s great. I love it. Awesome. Well, let’s recap here. So, we finished our five myths. Can you just recap what they were?
[JOE]: The first one was the myth that when we do more, we get more done. And the truth is actually slowing down is what sparks innovation. Second is that ideas have to be new and the truth actually is that most of the good ideas are bringing together established ideas in a new way. The third is the myth of staying in your lane and the truth is we should get out of our silos and learn from other people and then come back and apply that to our audience. Fourth is the myth that it’s all been done and the truth there is that actually that’s tested that this thing’s probably going to work. And so, if it’s done, jump on in, especially in podcasting. And then last is that you need to be wearing multiple hats and bootstrapping. The truth is, the more that you spend the time specifically on the things only you can do, the faster your business will grow.
[DANIEL]: Awesome. Love it. Thank you so much, Joe. This has been so helpful. I love this topic.
[JOE]: And Daniel, can I give something away for free?
[DANIEL]: Absolutely. You can.
[JOE]: So, I have a free podcast guide for people. So, we’ve put together 27 tips, tricks, and statistics that’ll help people start a podcast. It’s called the Smart Strategies Podcast Guide. They can get it over at practiceofthepractice.com/podcastguide.
[DANIEL]: Awesome. Thanks so much for that. And one final question. Well, before I ask this question, is there anything else that you want to say about innovation? Anything you want to tie this all up with?
[JOE]: You know, I could talk for days on this. I love it so much. But I think the big thing that I didn’t say is that you should jump before you’re ready. When you see an opportunity, go for it. I was interviewing Daniel Pink recently and he was talking about how when he was an intern in politics, someone asked in this group of interns, “Hey, does anyone write speeches here?” And nobody did. And he rose his hand, even though he had never written a speech in his life. He ended up becoming Al Gore’s speechwriter because he’s figured it out after he said yes. And the most successful people are the people that figure it out after they say yes. So, stop being paralyzed by perfection and go get things done.
[DANIEL]: Awesome. I love it. Okay, so the one thing that I always ask each guest on the show is a, what’s one book that you’ve read recently that’s impacted you?
[JOE]: Ooh, one book that I’ve read recently that’s impacted me. You know, actually it was Ram Dass’ Polishing the Mirror. I really enjoyed that book. You know, Ram Dass is one of the, not founders of mindfulness, obviously like the Buddha and a couple of other people were before him, but he really, I think is one of the leading teachers of kind of the 20th and 21st century. And so that book has really shaped kind of my point of view of the world.
[DANIEL]: Awesome. All right, well, where can people find you if they want to learn more about what you’re doing?
[JOE]: Everything’s over practiceofthepractice.com. If you look for us on any social media, any of the podcasting sites, you’ll find practiceofthepractice.com.
[DANIEL]: Awesome. Thanks, so much Joe, really appreciate it, it’s great chatting with you.
[JOE]: Thanks Daniel.
[DANIEL]: Well, thank you so much for tuning in. Don’t forget that Next Level Practice opens up on Monday. You can sign up over practiceofthepractice.com/door. If you want to read more about it, it’s practiceofthepractice.com/invite and maybe right now’s not the best time for you to jump in or you are hearing this after the doors have closed. If you want to be in the next cohort that opens up in August, you can just give us your email over at that forward slash invite (/invite) and then wait for a little bit and then we’ll give you access in August.
Thank you also so much to Simplified SEO Consulting. Simplified SEO Consulting is the best SEO consulting for private practices. And so, if you are looking at leveling up this year, head on over to simplifiedSEOconsulting.com/Joe. You can get $100 off of their online course, you can also work with them to do a free consultation call. We would love for you to connect with Jessica and her team. They are amazing. We can’t recommend them higher enough, higher enough, high enough and they’re just helping people do it right. So have an awesome week. Thanks for letting me into your ears and into your brain and have a great day.
Special thanks to the band Silence is Sexy for your intro music. We really like it. And this podcast is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is given with the understanding that neither the host, the publisher, or the guests are rendering legal, accounting, clinical, or other professional information. If you want a professional, you should find one.