[ALISON]:
You’re listening to the Grow a Group Practice podcast. Whether you’re thinking of starting a group practice, are in the beginning stages of a group practice, or want to learn how to scale up your already existing group practice, we have lots of great content for you.

Hi, and welcome to the Grow a Group Practice podcast. I’m Alison Pidgeon, your host. I really enjoyed the interview that I’m going to share with you today with Brittany Schank. She is the owner of a group practice called Solace Counseling and she also has a number of side hustles that we’re going to talk about in the interview. And what I love about how she describes it, and we kind of go into, you know, work-life balance, and how does she kind of keep all of those balls in the air, so to speak. She really gets the whole idea of delegating out and making sure you’re not the one who’s doing all the things. And so she talks about how she started a website, and makes her income, and now she’s sort of handed the reins over to somebody else so she doesn’t have to do it. So she has lots of great ideas but I think the difference with her and somebody else who might just be doing a whole bunch of things, and not very well, is that she’s getting something off the ground, doing it really well and then delegating it to somebody else. So I think she’s one of those people who, similar to me, wants to start new things and see them grow, but doesn’t want to necessarily be the one managing the day to day. So I’m really excited to share this interview with you because if you have ideas for other businesses, in addition to being a practice owner, Brittany definitely has it down. And she also started a new business, which is a consultation and supervision directory for therapists. So we talk about that quite a bit as well. So I hope you enjoy the interview with Brittany Schank.

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[ALISON]:
Brittany Schank, welcome to the podcast.

[BRITTANY]:
Hi, thanks for having me.

[ALISON]:
Yeah, I’m so glad you’re here. And I’m so excited to talk with you. I feel like there’s a lot of different topics that I want to cover with you and hopefully we have time to get to all of them. So maybe a good place to start would be for you to tell us about your group practice.

[BRITTANY]:
Sure, absolutely. So our group practice, Solace Counseling is what it’s called, is based out of Fargo, North Dakota, and we are expanding our group practice as we speak. So I was in private practice by myself and about six months ago, we hired our first part time therapist. And that was really to kind of get my feet wet and figure out if group practice was something that I wanted to do with there being kind of low risk for both myself and the therapist who was coming on because she additionally had a full-time job. And so that happened six months ago and we decided to expand off of that. And we actually just moved into our new office space on Monday of this week, and we hired three additional full-time therapists that are going to kind of taper their start over the next couple of months. So we’re in a growth phase right now. And I’m kind of in the nitty gritty details of getting our group practice expanded. And so that’s kind of where we’re at right now, in a really, really exciting, busy, scary and rewarding phase of group practice.

[ALISON]:
Yeah, congratulations.

[BRITTANY]:
Thanks.

[ALISON]:
Yeah, so it must have gone well with the first part-time person if you hired three more people?

[BRITTANY]:
It did, it did. And a lot of it truly was figuring out like, the processes and the EHR we used, like, how do we add somebody? And what does that look like? And kind of some of those smaller details. And it was truly, in my opinion, just a really nice way to get us prepared for the expansion, to have those little details figured out. So it was nice, the way that we did it for us.

[ALISON]:
Good. And so does hiring the second, third, fourth person feel easier because you figured out all of the kinks with the first person?

[BRITTANY]:
Um, I don’t know about that.

[ALISON]:
It will. It will.

[BRITTANY]:
Hiring is such a scary thing for me, and I don’t know if other people feel like this or not, but, I mean, people’s livelihood is depending upon the practice, and our abilities. And so the first time somebody put in their notice at their current employer, my heart was just in my stomach that day of, like, this is a really big deal. So the hiring piece just feels really big to me.

[ALISON]:
Yeah, I think that’s actually really common because when I’ve run mastermind groups in the past, so they were focused around starting a group practice, and we would get to the point where they put all the foundational things in place and okay, now it’s time to hire somebody, they all looked at me like a deer in headlights, like I just asked them to jump off a cliff.

[BRITTANY]:
Yeah. Yes.

[ALISON]:
Like, no, really. It’s gonna be fine. Yeah. Yep. So that’s a very common feeling, for sure.

[BRITTANY]:
Well, thank you.

[ALISON]:
Yeah, yeah. So as you’re in the beginning stages of your group practice, what are some things that you thought through or some things that you wanted to be intentional about as you’re growing it from the ground up?

[BRITTANY]:
Yeah, absolutely. So when I went into private practice, my hope – I didn’t know if it would be a reality or not – but my hope was that I could have a private practice where I was able to work less hours, but make good money. And so you always hear that that’s a deal or that that’s a thing that you can have happen, but I don’t know that you actually believe it until you start living it and feeling it. And so when I was able to go into private practice, and that was able to happen for me, I really wanted to be able to spread that to other people who perhaps didn’t want to own their own private practice, but wanted to be able to live a really balanced life that way. So our goal, when opening up our private practice, or group practice, I’m sorry, was very much that we wanted to be able to take care of therapists, so they could come to work, do their job, do really great work while they’re here, but at the end of the day, be able to go home fulfilled to their families, or their pets, or whatever that is that makes life fulfilling to them, and feel really good about that. And so to give a really good work-life balance. And our goal, and our hope is to take care of clinicians really, really well.

So there was actually a podcast that I had listened to that was of yours, where I had known in my mind that that’s what we wanted, was to really take care of therapists, but the ideas of how do we realistically do that and what does that look like, weren’t fully formed. And in one of your podcasts, I actually think it was about books; it was like, the top five books that you were relaying. And you had talked about one of the things is filling a fridge full of beverages, or bringing in food, or whatever that looks like where therapists have direct access to and kind of getting their favorites. And so that’s just one small specific example of some of the things that we do is… there was a SurveyMonkey survey sent out where everybody was able to identify business side of things like, how do you feel motivated by your employers? Or how do you feel supported by your employer? But also then things like, what’s your favorite snack? What’s your favorite drink? And so we actively use that to do things like filling our fridge, or filling our break room, which can feel like a small thing to us as the employer, but a really big thing to people who are coming into work and who are feeling supported in ways outside of the job that they’re doing.

[ALISON]:
I love that you’re doing that and I’m really flattered that you took that suggestion, and you’re doing that as well. Yeah, that’s something actually I got from the book, it’s called ‘The Best Place to Work’. And, yeah, there’s just a lot of cool suggestions in there about just little things that you can do for your staff to make them feel cared for. And you’re right, it is a small thing. It’s literally like, $50 worth of groceries every month, or $100. You know what I mean? It’s not a lot of money, but to them it’s a big deal. How have your therapists reacted to that?

[BRITTANY]:
Fantastic. And honestly… so when the therapists have come in, we’ve said, well, you know, come in to get your keys, we’re going to show you around the office, and you can pick which office you want. And honestly, that’s probably the number one thing that has been talked about to their spouse or to whoever, like, hey, did you see in the breakroom? There’s all the food and all the drinks; we have access to that. That has been talked about so many times. And it’s just interesting because, you’re right, it’s probably one of the cheapest things we can do. But it’s making the clinicians just feel so accepted, so welcome, and so taken care of.

[ALISON]:
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was interesting. I hired a new staff person over a month ago and she commented on that. She also commented on how she liked that she was allowed to wear jeans to work because I have a pretty relaxed dress code. And she likes that her office was nicely decorated. Like, she didn’t say, oh, I’m making more money than I did at my old job or anything like that, even though she is making more money than she was at her old job. But like, those are the things that were important to her. So I just think it’s really interesting that we often focus on oh, we have to pay them the best or whatever, it has to be like a financial incentive. But really, I haven’t found that to be the case for many therapists.

[BRITTANY]:
Yes, yeah, it’s been something that has felt really, really good to implement. And the other thing that you just brought up too, is that support staff also has access to that. And I think it can be really easy for our support staff to kind of feel missed because they don’t have an office, or we’re not able to kind of decorate an office for them, or whatever, but they do have direct access to some of the same things as therapists do. And so I think it’s just a good way to honor them as well.

[ALISON]:
Yeah, for sure. Are there any other things that you’ve thought through about how you want to treat them so that they feel valued and they feel like they have work-life balance?

[BRITTANY]:
Yeah, absolutely. So one of the things that we do here is we require a minimum number of sessions in their schedule. And so what we require is twenty-five sessions per week, or twenty-five openings, I’m sorry, per week in their schedule. And so the hope is then that people are able to come see their twenty-five clients, spend five-ish hours, five to eight hours doing their paperwork and doing that piece of it, and then they’re able to kind of peace out and head home. And so I am hopeful that we’re able to attract clinicians that want that so we’re not seeing people working here forty, fifty, sixty hours a week just to kind of try and make ends meet, that they’re compensated in a way that allows them to be able to really live their life and enjoy life instead of spending so much of life working and worrying about work.

[ALISON]:
Yeah, I think that’s so important because I feel like the forty hour work week is so arbitrary. It’s like, you know, what is…? You know, if I’m done in thirty-two hours, why am I sitting here for another eight hours? I actually do the same thing with my therapists. They have to see twenty-five billable hours a week of clients, and if they’re done and their notes are done, they can go home, like, there’s no reason why they have to be there forty hours a week. So a lot of them actually work four days a week, because it works out that way. And imagine if you’re used to working your typical five days a week, eight hours a day, and now you have a whole ‘nother day off during the week. Like, that’s amazing in terms of work-life balance.

[BRITTANY]:
Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. I totally agree. And I think it’s something that a lot of us don’t even envision. And so when it’s brought up to us in that way of, you know, so the expectation is you have twenty-five openings in your schedule, and that your notes are done here by the end of the day Fridays, that outside of that, like, it just doesn’t matter to me what you do with your time. I think that’s just a big eye opener for people that they maybe have never even dreamed of before.

[ALISON]:
Yeah, for sure. And it makes them feel really valued and it makes them feel like it’s one thing to talk the talk of, like, yes, we value work-life balance. It’s another thing to demonstrate it and have it written into your policies that is really going to foster that. And so I think, yeah, that’s really cool that you’re doing that.

[BRITTANY]:
Yes. One of the other things that we have begun doing as well. And like I said, we’re brand new in kind of the expansion of our group practice. But we’ve put together kind of, like, welcome packets for clinicians that come with things that I think and I believe would be really helpful to them. So the packets on their first day… so they arrive and on their first day, sitting on their desk is a bouquet of flowers, an Amazon gift card so they can start decorating their office. We provide the furniture and things like that, but for decorations, then they can decorate it to their liking. So an Amazon gift card for them to decorate, a deck of cards called Peak Values cards, and they’re just cards that I found have been really helpful in therapy. So some Peak Values cards are in there and then a sweatshirt that has the solace counseling logo on it, like, a nice zip-up sweatshirt. And so just a nice welcome packet, or welcome gift, if you will, for when they come to work on the first day. Just as that reminder of ‘you are super valued, we’re really, really glad that you’re here’. And to give them some things that hopefully are useful and that they can be proud of.

[ALISON]:
That is awesome. I want to come work for you now. I need to start doing something like that. Can I steal that idea?

[BRITTANY]:
Absolutely. I stole yours, you can steal mine. That’s how this works.

[ALISON]:
Yeah, I can’t ever think of a time I started a job and had that kind of welcome. So yeah, that’s amazing.

[BRITTANY]:
Yeah.

[ALISON]:
Yeah. Cool. Well, I know we talked a little bit before we started recording about you have a number of different side hustles besides being a therapist and running a group practice, and so I thought it would be fun to talk about those because some of them are related to therapy, but also because I think that when you have that sort of entrepreneurial talent, like, you know, you come up with different ideas and then sometimes people get kind of carried away with trying to do too many things. So I’m curious to hear how all of these things have kind of worked out for you in terms of, like, balancing your time, but also, what the various little side hustles are that you have, and maybe they’re not so little. So do you want to tell us… give us the list?

[BRITTANY]:
Yeah, of course. So, I call this first one a side hustle because it’s just the first thing that I did that was outside of my forty hour work week, and it was far before I understood that my mind worked in any sort of an entrepreneurial way. And so when I was eighteen years old, I joined the military and I joined the Guard, which, for those that maybe don’t know, I’m in the Air National Guard. And so how the Guard works is you do one weekend a month. And then if you’re called to be activated at that point, you activate and you work full-time. But for the most part, majority of your career is your one weekend a month commitment. And so that’s just one piece that provides a lot of professional… I don’t know, a lot of professional training and just really reaches to my core of being able to support our country in just a really kind of cool, miraculous way. But so that’s kind of the first thing I had outside of my full time position.

And the next piece was me going to school and working on my license to becoming a social worker and working in practice. But during that time, I had been listening to a podcast and I heard somebody talking about how they were releasing a book in audiobook format, but they were just waiting for the narrator to finish narrating it. And I was like, wait a minute, like, audiobook narrating is a thing? So I googled it and sure enough, I got to some page that was like, ‘you too can narrate audiobooks’. And so I was like, what? Me? So I actually self taught myself how to narrate audio books. It sounds far more complicated than it actually is, quite honestly. But so I taught myself how to narrate audiobooks, and I think I’ve probably narrated somewhere around twenty audiobooks, and I actually then wrote a book about how to narrate audiobooks and then self-published it.

So it was just one of those things where… I had said this right before we got on here, but sometimes in life, when we come up with ideas, my way of managing actually getting something done is by not looking too far into it. So when I heard that narrating audiobooks thing and went to the website, I didn’t look into all of the specifics of how to get that done because it likely would have scared me away. I would have felt overwhelmed and I wouldn’t have moved forward with it. And my personality type just allows me to be okay with that. So it’s just one step at a time if you don’t get caught up in really looking at the finish line before you start looking at the start line.

[ALISON]:
That is awesome. Wait, I want to ask you what is the book called that you wrote?

[BRITTANY]:
It’s called ‘Narrating Audiobooks: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started’.

[ALISON]:
Wow. And do you sell it on Amazon?

[BRITTANY]:
Yep, it’s on Amazon. Yep.

[ALISON]:
Wow. So did you… Wow, I have so many questions now. When you said you self-published it, like, did you have somebody else, like, actually make the, like, format it for you and design the cover and all of that? Or did you do that yourself?

[BRITTANY]:
I had somebody else make the cover for me; I actually hired it off of Fiverr. And they have people who specialize in making covers for paperback books and audiobooks. And so that’s where I had gone for that. For the formatting piece of it, when you sell books through Amazon or Audible, they already have a process really set up for you to help you self-publish. And so they have you upload your document, like, in a… I think I uploaded it in a Word format, and then they kind of format it for you. So there’s already kind of a process setup out there to help walk you through it. I didn’t know that in the beginning. I figured that out as we went along. But yeah, so it’s, you know, doing that is just, um, at least the experience that I had had with it was just a little bit simpler than I was expecting it to be.

[ALISON]:
Wow. So is that something that you did just because you wanted to say, ‘I published a book’? Or was it something that you were hoping to make money from? Or both?

[BRITTANY]:
I would say that it was probably something more of I wanted to just be able to do it. I have had the thought of ‘I would really like to publish books’ before. I just didn’t really… I wasn’t in the space to write or anything like that. This was a really easy one to do, because it’s literally a step by step guide. So it just felt like a very easy start to that if I was going to actually move forward and write and publish other books in the future. I have not published any other books after that. But I would say it was more for the experience. And it was just an easy entry into that field for me.

[ALISON]:
Yeah, that’s awesome. So what was the next side hustle that you had?

[BRITTANY]:
So then the next thing probably would have been a website on Facebook. It’s actually a Facebook group where the goal behind it – this was pre COVID, COVID just made more people attracted to the website – but what the site is on Facebook, it’s called Steals and Deals, and essentially my goal for it was I do a lot of therapy for women, and most specifically moms kind of going through the thick of mommyhood, I call it. And my thought was, us moms are kind of out there busting our little tushies. And many of us have families that we’re caring for, or significant others, or spouses, and it is really hard to get shopping done and on top of that, to find deals while you’re shopping. So my goal was to be able to find deals on Amazon, post them on this Facebook group, and make it like a one stop shop for people where they’re not having to sort and sift through deals everywhere and spend their time doing that. So I would post affiliate links on this Steals and Deals page, and it kind of just blew up, like, in a way that we had never really expected. And so it’s been a beautiful place for people to be able to have deals at their fingertips without spending a whole bunch of time searching for them, and then they get delivered to their front doorstep. Well, what happened then, I believe, is that COVID happened and a lot more people were shopping online. And so I think that’s how the site just got its traction was there were more people shopping on Amazon and looking for things to come to their doorstep. So the site has expanded and since then, we’ve hired somebody to kind of take over a good portion of that site and to be able to post those affiliate links and stuff on there. But so that was kind of side hustle number three.

[ALISON]:
Wow. So is that really almost like passive income for you now? I mean, not totally, because the other person is running it for you.

[BRITTANY]:
Yes, it is almost entirely passive income. So there’s daily deals on that site. And so what we did is we hired somebody for six out of the seven days a week. And truly we did that, because I still wanted to be able to understand what was happening on the site, I still wanted to have some, like, input and understanding of what’s going on with the site. So one day a week, I’m the one that kind of runs and posts those deals. And then we just got a really fantastic person who is running it the other six days where she comes up with really cool giveaways, and we like to give back a ton on that site as well. So every week, there’s some sort of Amazon gift card drawing. And it’s just kind of a fun site as well, which I think also probably attracted some people. But so for the most part, I would say that’s residual income. There is still some work on my part going into that site, though.

[ALISON]:
Wow. That’s amazing. Very cool.

[BRITTANY]:
Yeah, that was a really cool experience. And it was one of those things where literally, in the middle of the night, I was like, hey, I don’t know of a site yet where you can find really good deals for moms. And then there it was, and I just ran with it. And that’s been a really cool one.

[ALISON]:
Wow. Okay, so what’s the next side hustle?

[BRITTANY]:
So the next and the last one is a directory that is called consultationandsupervision.com. And so we call it the Consultation and Supervision Directory. And so essentially, what this is for is to allow people who provide consultation services or supervision services to post their listing, like their bio, on the website. So when people are looking for those services, they have a good, quick shop to go to, to look for whether it’s people in their area, or people who specialize in a certain therapeutic modality. Whatever that looks like, they’re able to find somebody to fulfill those services for them. And this was born out of when I was getting my supervision services, or my supervision from my supervisor when I was pre licensed, I was in an agency setting where we saw a lot of kids – which was beautiful and I really loved working with kids – but I also really wanted to work with adults. And so I was kind of allowed to see adults, but I didn’t really have anybody to provide that supervision to me. Our sessions with adults look very different than our sessions to do with kids. And so I ended up really kind of going my supervision career without getting supervision from somebody who specialized in adults, and most specifically, kind of the clientele that I was starting to see a lot of. And so when I was done with supervision, and in private practice, I thought how beneficial it would have been to know if there was even anybody in our local area that provided supervision services, and that was somebody I would have meshed really well with. And so that’s really how that site was born.

So people are able… most of us are used to just getting our supervisor given to us through an agency or by word of mouth. And so the goal is for that site to be able to allow you to look at it, find somebody who’s the right fit for you, recognize that we have some options for supervision and or consultation, and to be able to utilize that site in that way. Also, I didn’t know how to market my services, that I was providing supervision or consultation. And so it was also a beautiful place for those of us in private practice, or those of us giving those services, providing those services, to have somewhere to market ourselves.

[ALISON]:
I think that’s such a brilliant idea. Because there’s, like you said, there’s not any, like, one clear place to go to find that information. I feel like on the Psychology Today classified section, there’s some of that, but then it’s, like, scattered in amongst a whole bunch of other stuff. And it’s just like there’s not one clear place where it’s like, oh, I want this type of supervision. Who in my state… really, now because of COVID and everything being telehealth, you know, you could really access anybody who’s licensed in the same state as you. But how would you know that unless you had a place to go to find them, right?

[BRITTANY]:
Yes, absolutely. And when I was in supervision, I was googling, like – I’m in Fargo, North Dakota – so I was googling “supervision, Fargo, North Dakota”, “licensed social workers Fargo, North Dakota”. And I was able to get some information from our state licensing board and things like that, but still not enough information to actually reach out to somebody and say, hey, I think you provide supervision services, I think you might be in the niche I’m looking for. You’re right, it just wasn’t a nice, clear cut… I want to see a picture, I want to see what they do for their practice, I want to get an idea of who they are, kind of like when we’re looking for a therapist for ourselves, we want to get kind of an idea of who that person is before we engage in those services. And so that’s the help of the consultation and supervision directory, that we can do that for the entire United States and give them a resource for people to go to to find supervision and consultation services.

[ALISON]:
Yeah, that’s an excellent idea. And is it organized by state, or like, if somebody wants to utilize the website, how is it set up? And it sounds like it’s for both sides, both through the therapist looking for supervision, but also for the therapist who wants to provide it, right?

[BRITTANY]:
Yes, that’s correct. So how it’s laid out when you go to the website is you’ll see a big map of the United States – an interactive map – and it will show you a little pegs in where people are located that have signed up for the services. And then we kind of have two different sides of the website, one’s consultation and one’s supervision. So you can sort by if you’re looking for a consultant, then you only get the consultants’ information, if you’re looking for a supervisor, you only get the supervisors’ information. But there’s also other ways to sort, like, if there’s a certain therapeutic modality, like, if you’re looking for somebody to give you supervision in EMDR, you can sort it that way and you can see that. So it’s a growing website, we’re constantly kind of updating things as we get the feedback. Hey, you didn’t have for example, EMDR on there. And so then we’ll go in on the back end and put EMDR in. We’re really getting feedback as well as this process is going on. But you can sort in multiple ways. So, for example, for consultation services, perhaps you don’t care if that person’s in your state or not. Well, then you can sort by modality, or clientele seen, or things like that as well.

[ALISON]:
Very cool. So how do you juggle all of this stuff that you have going on? You have the group practice, and then it sounds like you’re still running the deal site for moms, and now you have this new website which is its own separate business. So, how do you manage your time and your family responsibilities and all of that kind of stuff?

[BRITTANY]:
Yeah, I think it’s really important, my brain is a brain that just keeps going. And so if I don’t actively attempt to stop the dreaming, and stop the moving forward, it’s super easy for the dreaming to kind of take over for me. So I have to be really mindful of like, how much time are you spending on work stuff right now versus how much time are you spending on home stuff? Because the goal at the end of life is to spend far more time on home stuff than on work stuff. And so I’ve had to be really mindful and actively say to myself, like, what’s going to be placed on pause? Or what needs to be hired out? Or what do we need to do to balance this so your days feel properly balanced each day? And so that’s where things come along, like, for example, the audiobook narration, it’s really just on hold. Or you heard me say, you know, I haven’t moved forward with writing any additional books, because those in my brain are actively paused and on hold, where really just… those are on a shelf in a holding container, right? Same with the Steals and Deals site; it gets to a point where you recognize that you have to hire somebody in for it.

And so there’s a lot of things that are either paused or somebody else is taking care of the majority of it to free me up and allow me to be able to work on what’s important for the right here and right now. And those things aren’t locked away in a chest anywhere they’re easy to grab when and if a time comes up where it’s like, okay, so the group practice thing is running itself right now. We have everything in place. Perhaps now’s a good time for me to start attempting to write that book, or perhaps now’s a good time for me to, you know, take on something else. But we have to actively really engage ourselves in understanding what we want that balance to look like, and really commit to ourselves, are we doing that or not? And so that’s truly an active conversation I’m having with myself and I have with my husband, who also very much keeps me centered and being able to identify, like, what are we working on now? And what really needs to be shelved right now?

[ALISON]:
Yeah, I’m glad you made that point. Because it’s like you can’t do everything so you have to be really intentional about what do I want to spend my time doing? And then also, it sounds like you’ve learned that you’re probably really good at, like, generating these ideas and getting them going and then you realize, like, okay, I can’t not sleep so I need to have somebody else do some of these things. And so it sounds like you maybe don’t have any big hang ups with delegating out or hiring people to do those tasks for you.

[BRITTANY]:
Yeah.

[ALISON]:
Or is that difficult for you?

[BRITTANY]:
No, that’s totally correct. For me, I think, like, one of my skill sets is the dreaming and the beginning things. And then also, I’m able to recognize that some people are going to do the tasks after that better than I am. And so it’s kind of my duty to delegate them out then, and allow somebody else to be able to do something where they shine in. And so I think when we recognize our strengths that way, and then we recognize that it’s not failure to delegate, or it’s not failure to kind of hand off, that that’s an opportunity for somebody else to shine as well, I think that’s when beauty meets beauty.

[ALISON]:
Yeah, for sure. And yeah, sounds like you and I are very alike in that way. I always have a million ideas, and I have to really question, okay, should I be doing this right now? Should I be starting this new thing? If I do start this new thing, who’s gonna run it for me? Because I’m not going to run it. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, I think that delegation piece is so important, especially when you’re trying to juggle being a wife, and being a mom, and being a parent in general. And also being a business owner and just recognizing, hopefully early on, that you can’t do it all. And that you need other people to help you. My office manager that runs the practice for me, she does it way better than I could. And she loves working for me and so yeah, it’s a total win-win there.

[BRITTANY]:
Yes. One other thing that I do as well, and that I’ve learned to do, because one of the things that was hard for me is I felt like if I discontinue doing something myself, then I had failed at it. And so one of the things after recognizing that I do is I put a timeline, or limit, to just about everything. So, for example, the narrating audiobooks, the thing that I had said to myself in the beginning is I’m going to do three of these, and I’m going to check in with myself if I feel like this is something I want to continue doing after three because then it kind of gives – and this is just an inside of me kind of thing – but it gives me the ability to say like, you know what, I reached my goal. This isn’t a failure. If I want to stop now, perfect. And if I really like this, I can keep going. Same with the Steals and Deals site; I said to myself, we’ll try this for six months and if after six months it doesn’t go well, then we’ll go ahead and decide what we’re going to do with it at that point or not move forward with it. But I feel like if I give myself a goal, and I reach that goal, then it doesn’t feel so hard on me to let go of it if it’s something that needs to be let go of.

[ALISON]:
Oh, yeah, that’s so important. That’s such a good point because yeah, I think that is definitely a thought that a lot of people have, like, if they start something and it doesn’t quite turn out how they thought, or maybe they just start it and realize they don’t have time for it and then they want to stop doing it, they feel like it’s automatically a failure. But it’s not that at all. It’s like, it’s good that you tried it.

[BRITTANY]:
Yes, absolutely.

[ALISON]:
Yeah. Yeah. Well, Brittany, it’s been so fun talking to you. I feel like there’s a lot of things that we have in common and I’m sure there’s a lot more that we could talk about. And maybe we’ll have you come on the podcast again, as I’m sure you’ll probably start more businesses between now and the next time. But I know you have a giveaway for the audience, correct?

[BRITTANY]:
Yes, I do. So from the date that this airs until November 1st, the website will be set up for a free year. So if you choose to list your services for either supervision or consultation services, or both, to list yourself, you’ll have a free year on that. There’s no code necessary, just make sure you go on by November 1st and you will receive that for a year.

[ALISON]:
Oh, that’s awesome. So they just go on to the website and register as a user?

[BRITTANY]:
Yep, you’re exactly right. So they’ll register as a user, and then it will prompt them automatically to create their listing. They can create their listing with their picture and kind of information about themselves and what they have to offer. And then as soon as they click to continue, it will go live and they’ll have it free for a year.

[ALISON]:
Wow. That’s an awesome giveaway. Thank you.

[BRITTANY]:
Yes.

[ALISON]:
Yeah. And so tell folks what the URL is for the website, and also how they can get in touch with you if they have any other questions.

[BRITTANY]:
Yes, it’s www.consultationandsupervision.com. And right on our website, you can click the ‘Email’ button, you can click the ‘Facebook’ button, you can click the ‘Instagram’ button to get to any of our emails or our social media sites right on there.

[ALISON]:
Awesome. So I have one more question before you go because it’s for my own curiosity. Do you have any other businesses that you’re going to start, or any other business ideas?

[BRITTANY]:
I don’t have any at this point. There’s nothing in the fire right now. But I bet as soon as kind of group practice starts calming down a little bit, it will free my brain up to dream some more. And so I bet if we did talk again in six months, there’d be something more.

[ALISON]:
Okay, sounds good. All right. Well, I’ll check back in with you then. All right, well, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today, Brittany. It was really fun talking with you.

[BRITTANY]:
Thank you. Thanks so much for having me.

________________________________________

[ALISON]:
So I had a lot of fun talking to Brittany. I got a lot of ideas actually from talking with her, and was just super impressed with everything that she’s doing. I didn’t share this at the beginning of the podcast, but we always record several weeks in advance. And so my family and I actually decided to go to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and we’re going to be having a working vacation. So we’re still doing virtual school, we’re still working, but we’re just going to do it five minutes from the beach. So by the time this airs, we will already have been there, we’re actually leaving tomorrow. So I will definitely keep you posted on how that is all going. I think, obviously, there’s going to be probably good parts and bad parts, but the good parts will outweigh the bad parts. And it’ll be nice to have a change of scenery since we’ve kind of been trapped in our house since COVID started. So I will definitely let you know about how that’s going and I’ll talk to you all next time.

Grow a Group Practice is part of the Practice of the Practice Podcast Network, a network of podcasts seeking to help you grow your group practice. To hear other podcasts like the Imperfect Thriving podcast, Bomb Mom podcast, Beta Male Revolution, or Empowered and Unapologetic, go to practiceofthepractice.com/network. If you love this podcast, will you please rate and review on iTunes or your favorite podcast player.

This podcast is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regards to the subject matter covered. This is given with the understanding that neither the host, Practice of the Practice, or the guests are providing legal, mental health, or other professional information. If you need a professional, you should find one.