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294: 5 Business Lessons Learned In 2021
28th October 2021 • Selling the Couch • Melvin Varghese, PhD
00:00:00 00:31:38

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This is the last podcast episode for this year as I take some extra time off to refresh, recharge, and get new episodes ready for 2022. In this solo episode, I’m reflecting and sharing the top five business lessons I have learned this year and what I’ll be focusing on for the upcoming year.

You’ll Learn:

● How I was intentional about taking an indefinite sabbatical from clinical work to focus fully on STC (See Episode 210 for the full story.)

● Why humbling realizations came to me about the difficulties in running two businesses, delivering clarity about my calling, and my desire to build a life around my family

● How this decision has significantly improved my mental health and sleep quality

● Five Business Lessons I’ve Learned this Year:

○ #1--”I don’t want to keep swapping Corelle plates.”

■ I’m focusing now on four things: the STC podcast, The Healthcasters course and community, Online Course School, and a high-level Mastermind group--and this feels right to me.

○ #2--What is ENOUGH?

■ Success and personal worth are not solely measured in finances, and there are other aspects of life that are higher priorities.

○ #3--I love teaching and want to create more space for that.

■ Creating exercises to help students learn brings me great satisfaction and happiness.

○ #4--I value a few deep and authentic relationships with fellow creators.

■ I love these friendships and the connection we have to do life and our business journeys together.

○ #5--Slow and steady growth is fine.

■ This pace of life makes sense to me and suits me, and I couldn’t ask for anything more than this meaningful and purposeful life.

● My primary goals for 2022:

○ Work intentionally on my money stuff.

○ Focus on making Online Course School an amazing experience for therapists.

One of the questions I get asked all the time as a podcaster is “what podcasts do you listen or subscribe to?” This might surprise you, but there's really only one show that I absolutely have to listen to . . . every week. Actually, every day. Like, I'll literally drop what I'm doing (unless I'm with the family of course) and listen to each episode when it drops.

The show is Tesla Daily, which is why I couldn't be more thrilled to have its host Rob Maurer on the show today!

If you want a behind-the-curtain peek at how someone with over 100,000 YouTube subscribers produces a hard-hitting podcast every day, you're in the right place. Rob built this show from the ground up and incredibly, launched his first episode from concept to publish in just 48 – 72 hours. Even more impressive is how Rob's built a trust-worthy brand in such a crowded space.

What does it take to keep up production with a daily show like this? Why does Rob do what he does and how did he get started? How do you combine an audio-first podcast with the power of YouTube? And what does Rob do when Elon Musk posts a controversial tweet? All that and more today — press play, y'all!

Our Featured Guest


Rob Maurer

Rob Maurer has been a Tesla retail investor since 2013 and started the Tesla Daily podcast in 2017 to help people understand the company and contextualize the flurry of news surrounding Tesla. In 2019, Rob expanded the podcast to YouTube, amassing 100,000 subscribers in less than a year.

YouTube

Twitter


You'll Learn:

  • How a gap in mainstream reporting and the pursuit of neuroplasticity led to Tesla Daily
  • Why producing his podcast on top of a full-time job led Rob to a critical decision point
  • How Rob 10X'd his audience by taking Tesla Daily to YouTube
  • Rob's workflow, end-to-end, for producing a podcast episode for podcast platforms and YouTube
  • What Rob focuses on when researching material for his podcast
  • How Rob handles stress and pressure from the growth of his show
  • Why naming his podcast Tesla Daily became a source of motivation for Rob
  • Where Rob's revenue comes from and why he chose not to sell adspots when his show started
  • How Rob pivots his show based on breaking news (or Elon Musk's Twitter feed)
  • Rob's top advice for new content creators


Today’s Sponsor: Zynnyme

Zynnyme was founded in 2010 by therapists and private practice owners, Kelly Higdon and Miranda Palmer. Kelly and Miranda have become good friends of mine who have helped me immensely on my business journey + they've helped over 50k of our colleagues.

I credit their Business School Boot Camp for helping build the business and life that I imagined. Their values align with mine in helping clients build valuable and gratifying businesses while living healthy, happy, and sustainable lives.

Check out their website for a wealth of resources and services + sign up for a free 4 day, live private practice marketing masterclass they're putting together to help us establish a private practice with the best outcomes and income at sellingthecouch.com/zynnyme

RESOURCES TO GUIDE YOUR BUSINESS JOURNEY


Disclosures: Please note that all opinions are my own and based on my personal experience. Sponsors are acknowledged. Some links in the description are affiliate links where if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a commission at no additional cost to you. I use these funds to continue to create helpful content to serve our field. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.


MY FREE ONLINE WORKSHOPS (These can be watched at a date/time that works for you):


🎙️ Using Podcasting To Grow Your Business (Lessons Learned From 9 Downloads On Day 1 To 1.2 Million And a 7 Income Stream Business)


💻 How To Launch And Grow A Successful Online Course (Lessons Learned From A $297 First Sale To $150k Online Course)


MY FREE GUIDES:


🎤 Start your Podcast: The QuickStart Guide

🖥️ The A To Z Online Course


MY COURSES:


🎧 The Healthcasters (A podcasting course + community for helpers/healers):

💻 Online Course School (A course to create, sell, and grow a successful online course): COMING IN 2022 (please feel free to download the online guide course above and I can keep you updated as I'm trying to build this with ample input and care including a chance to work 1 on 1 with me!): 


MY FAVORITE SOFTWARE:


🧳 My Podcast Hosting Platform (Captivate-Includes 7 Day Free Trial):

🚀 My All In One Online Business Platform (Kartra-Includes 14 Day Free Trial):

🤖 What I Use For Evergreen Webinars (Easy Webinar)

🌐 My Website Host (SiteGround-Includes Discount)

🎨 My WebSite Theme (Divi)


MY FAVORITE GEAR:


🎙️ My Podcasting Gear

📔 My Online Counseling + Coaching Gear

🎥 My YouTube + Live Streaming Gear

❤️ STC Home Office Tour!

SUBSCRIBE TO THE STC PODCAST:


Since 2015, I've hosted a weekly podcast for aspiring and current mental health private practitioners who think differently.

On the podcast, I interview successful therapists in private practice and other business owners to help us grow our impact + income in and beyond the therapy room.

The podcast has been downloaded over 1.2 million times and is heard in over 140 countries.

You can find also it by searching “Selling The Couch” on any podcast app (eg: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify etc) or simply saying "Alexa, listen to Selling The Couch" on your Amazon device. 

Or simply click below for ease =).

SUBSCRIBE HERE


LET'S BE FRIENDS:


💌 Sign up to receive the free A To Z Online Course Guide + receive the weekly STC email newsletter (trusted by over 7k colleagues)

🌍 My website / blog

📸 Instagram (I mainly post "behind the scenes" stuff about my life and business)

🐦 Twitter (I mainly tweet on overcoming mental hurdles to starting a podcast for your business )

WHO'S THIS GUY? 


Hi. I'm Melvin. I'm a psychologist (PhD), entrepreneur, and online creator living in Philadelphia, PA.

In 2014, I began to think about how to use the therapy skills we learn in grad school, and in our clinical work into different realms (e.g., podcasting, consulting, online course creation, etc).

This allows us to serve others on larger scales while diversifying our income beyond 1 to 1 work.

I make podcasts and videos about business, tech, productivity, and lessons I'm learning from becoming the CEO of a lean, mean 5 person 100% remote team (we're not really mean..it just rhymed =P).


Mentioned in this episode:

Thrizer

Thrizer is a payment platform designed for private pay therapists, built to help clients automatically tap into their out-of-network benefits and save on therapy upfront. Thrizer can help instantly verify clients’ out-of-network benefits ahead of a client’s first session, so they get the transparency upfront on their out-of-pocket costs. When therapists charge their clients via Thrizer, an out-of-network claim is automatically submitted for them, so no need to deal with superbills. Best part? After meeting their deductible, clients have the option to just pay their co-insurance portion for sessions while Thrizer floats the rest of the therapist’s fee and waits for reimbursement on the client’s behalf, helping clients afford therapy upfront. Please visit sellingthecouch.com/thrizerand enter the promo code “STC” and receive waived fees for your first $2500 in charges.

Sign up for the new online course workshop of a small launch to a $300K course at https://sellingthecouch.com/onlinecourseworkshop

We'd LOVE To Partner With You!

➡️ Want to launch your online course? Please check out our free 7-Day Course Creator Starter Kit For Therapists: https://sellingthecouch.com/coursekit  ➡️ Looking to launch a successful podcast? Please check out our free "Using Podcasting To Grow Your Business" workshop for therapists: https://sellingthecouch.com/podcastingworkshop

Sign up for the new online course workshop of a small launch to a $300K course at https://sellingthecouch.com/onlinecourseworkshop

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