Every therapist, no matter how strong their marketing is, will experience slow seasons. The consults drop off. The inbox quiets down. And your brain? It starts to spiral: "Did I mess something up?" "Do I need to change everything?" This episode is here to remind you—those dips aren’t failures. They’re part of the rhythm of running a private practice.

In this grounded and timely episode, I walk you through the real reasons your practice might slow down (hint: they’re often not your fault) and how to respond with confidence instead of panic. We’ll explore how to interpret these quieter seasons, what not to do, and how to re-engage with your marketing in a way that’s strategic, not frantic.

Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:

1️⃣ The top four causes of slow seasons—and why they usually aren’t about your marketing, fees, or niche.

2️⃣ The biggest marketing mistakes therapists make during a dry spell (and what to do instead).

3️⃣ How to trust what you’ve already built while making intentional tweaks that actually move the needle.

Resources & Links Mentioned:

• Confident Copy: walkerstrategyco.com/cc
• The Walker Strategy Co website: walkerstrategyco.com

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Explore more marketing support for therapists: The Walker Strategy Co website: walkerstrategyco.com

About Marketing Therapy

Marketing Therapy is the podcast where therapists learn how to market their private practices without burnout, self-doubt, or sleazy tactics. Hosted by Anna Walker—marketing coach, strategist, and founder of Walker Strategy Co—each episode brings you clear, grounded advice to help you attract the right-fit, full-fee clients and grow a practice you feel proud of.

Hey, hey, welcome back to Marketing Therapy, episode six.

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Today we're talking about something

every single therapist will eventually

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face, even the ones with amazing

websites and great marketing systems

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and full caseloads, A slow down, a

dry spell, a season where the consults

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stop coming in like they used to, and

your brain, it starts doing the thing.

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Did I mess something up?

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Should I lower my fees?

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Do I need to change my niche, my

website, absolutely everything?

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Do I need to burn it down

and work at Starbucks?

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I can only state these thoughts

because I know I've had them myself.

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When you're in these times,

it feels like a problem.

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It feels quite honestly like failure.

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But here's the truth.

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This is not a glitch in your business.

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This is part of it.

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Even with great marketing,

slow seasons happen.

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The question is not, if you'll hit

one, the idea that we see out there,

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oh, just get your marketing perfect

and you'll never have a slump again.

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That's not real.

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Every single clinician will face this.

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So it isn't if it'll happen, it's

how you'll respond when you do.

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So today, I think you'll find

this episode very timely.

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I want to help you reframe what

slowdowns actually mean and

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what to do when they show up.

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Now, here's what I see

happen all the time.

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A therapist builds a beautiful

foundation for their marketing.

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They get referrals.

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Hopefully they launch a website.

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Things pick up their

caseload, starts to fill.

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Life is good,

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and then it slows down.

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The inquiries get quieter.

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The inbox is crickets.

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Fewer inquiries, even fewer consults.

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People not following up after you

send them an email, empty spots

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that weren't there a few months

ago, and their immediate reaction.

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Something must be wrong with me.

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Something must be wrong with my business.

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I've had so many clients and

students reach out in this exact

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moment, especially the ones who

were doing really, really well for

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a stretch because it is unnerving.

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I remember one therapist we worked

with, we wrote and designed her website.

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We got it live.

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She received an influx of clients.

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I'm talking at least a

couple a week for a while.

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She was fully booked in

the first few months.

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Then about six months later, I signed onto

my email and I had a message from her.

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She was in a panic.

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She said, it's dried up.

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I haven't gotten a referral.

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In weeks, can we meet something

like something must be broken.

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So we did.

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We hopped on a call.

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We looked at the data.

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We looked at her website analytics.

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We looked at what, what was going on.

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We reviewed her marketing and

the actions she was taking.

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And here's what I told her.

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Ultimately, nothing here's broken.

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Everything is as it should be.

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Ultimately, this is just a dip.

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She hadn't changed anything

about her marketing.

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Her messaging was still on point.

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Her visibility was still very consistent.

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And sure enough, a month later,

I had another email from her.

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You were right.

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Things are picking back up.

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I just needed to ride it out.

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This is the part that's so hard for

therapists and understandably so,

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because when you're not doing anything

differently and your consults slow

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down, it has to mean something, right?

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We make it mean things.

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It must be your fee.

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It must be your marketing.

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It must be your niche.

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It must be you because the truth

is marketing, your practice

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is very, very personal, right?

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You are the business, so when it feels

like it's not working, it can feel

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like you are not working, and that's

really when the fear creeps in and

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that old voice starts to say, maybe

you're actually not cut out for this.

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Maybe this can't work anymore.

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Maybe things really were

too good to be true.

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But just because the inquiry slowed

down doesn't mean you did anything

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wrong or are doing anything wrong.

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That's what I really wanna unpack today.

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To do that, let's talk about what's

actually behind a slow season.

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'cause there are a couple different

things that influence this because

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while your first instinct might be

to blow up your niche or redo your

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website, or run back to grad school for

another certification, drop your fee.

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There's a good chance that

nothing is actually that wrong.

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There are plenty of reasons your

referrals might dip, and none of them

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have to do with your personal failure.

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One of those is seasonality.

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I mean, we talk about

the summer slump, right?

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The summer holidays.

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These are the times of year that tend to

come with just slower traffic in general.

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Not just for therapy practices

actually, but for many industries.

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Clients are traveling, they're distracted.

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They might be intentionally pausing

therapy for whatever reason.

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This doesn't mean they're

not gonna come back.

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It just means they're

in a different rhythm.

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They're in a different season,

and your practice will be too.

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Another cause of slowdowns can

be those client transitions.

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Where it's not about fewer inquiries,

it's just about more graduations

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because you're so good at your work.

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So your current clients are wrapping

up, they're making big moves, they

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might be deciding to discharge,

and suddenly you've got a bunch

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of those open spots all at once.

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That can be very, very unnerving

because you're glad to see them

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go because they're doing well.

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But who's gonna fill those spots?

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Right?

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Another common cause, and I know many of

us are feeling this recently, are economic

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or more kind of collective shifts,

like more global higher level shifts.

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Because sometimes, all of the time, quite

frankly, there are larger forces at play.

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There's the economy, social

shifts, global events.

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Even, natural disasters

and things like that.

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Certainly the flooding in North Carolina

impacted so many clinicians over there.

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The fires we had in California, there

are so many forces at play that are 100%

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out of your control, and these things

really affect how people invest in care.

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This doesn't stop the need for

therapy, but it does usually shift

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their decision making timelines.

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No doubt about that.

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I can actually think of a clinician

we served in Colorado who you may

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remember a number of years ago, a

large wildfire came through right

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around New Year's Eve, I think it was.

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And she just now, I think we're three or

four years removed from that, continues

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to see folks coming in, seeking out trauma

work with her because of that disaster.

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So while there was certainly an

immediate slowdown, if we're looking

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at just this individual event due

to people being displaced, the need.

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Was also displaced.

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It was just later.

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Okay.

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So it shifts things.

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The other, and this is just kind of

the catchall cause for slowdowns are

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just those natural fluctuation cut

are just those natural fluctuations.

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Sometimes the slowdown is just a slowdown,

a dip in the wave, and it doesn't

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always have to be a dramatic cause.

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It's would be so nice if

referrals were linear.

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You did this, you got this

many, you did this, you got this

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many up and up and up we go.

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But it's not, we treat our

businesses often, like they

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should be linear, they should be

formulaic, booked out every month.

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Same number of inquiries, same number of

conversions, very predictable patterns.

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But you know, as well as I do that, that

is just not how human behavior works.

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So your slowdown that you're in right

now, that you'll face in the future,

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it could be due to one, two, maybe.

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All of these factors, and so

often therapists return to

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their marketing as the cause.

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Well, clearly my marketing wasn't good

enough to save me from this slowdown.

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Here's the reframe.

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Even really strong marketing

doesn't eliminate the ups and downs.

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It helps you ride them.

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Okay?

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It's not about making you immune to

this, but it's about shortening the dip.

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It's about giving you traction

and confidence in the midst

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of it, but not immunity.

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And honestly, you wouldn't want it to.

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I really do think eventually

you'd probably get tired of the

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robotic business that you built.

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Business is meant to be responsive.

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And that really means having to

learn to lead yourself through

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seasons that feel uncertain.

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This is so much about what you

decide to do with this time,

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because all four of those things

we just went through the different

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causes of slowdowns, you can't

control a single one of them.

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So what can you do?

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Let's say you've hit a slow season,

you're seeing fewer inquiries.

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Your calendar has more

white space than you'd like.

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And your brain is screaming, fix it.

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Fix it.

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The urge to do something, to do

absolutely anything to control.

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This is real.

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But so often when I see therapists

act from a place of panic, they

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almost always create more chaos

and usually not many more clients.

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There's a couple common reactions.

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I tend to see one of those,

I've sort of teased it.

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They discount their rates.

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This one happens fast.

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If fewer people are reaching out,

then I must be charging too much.

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So drop the rate if your rates

were aligned before the dip,

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if you were booking clients at

your current rate before this.

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The slowdown is not a

pricing problem, my friend.

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This is a season not a signal to

undercut your value or to start cutting

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corners on what you pay yourself.

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Dropping your fee out of fear only

erodes the confidence you've worked

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so hard to build in yourself and

ultimately in your clients as well.

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The second thing I so often see just

blowing up your niche, like dropping

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a stick of dynamite into your niche

into your website, that kind of thing.

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This can look like I've been way

too specific, or I should start

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working with more kinds of clients,

or I should change who I say I help.

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I'll see people post in Facebook

groups, what niche is getting

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the most clients right now?

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That's not the right

question to be asking.

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This response is not strategy.

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It is scarcity.

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If your niche was working before, the

answer is not to water it down right now.

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In fact, vagueness in a slow

season usually backfires because

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you stop being memorable.

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And you start sounding like

everyone else in the time when

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you most need to be standing out.

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The next really common thing

I see clinicians do, they

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start trying everything.

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We're talking 10 new marketing

strategies added to the docket.

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This is the therapist version

of just flailing in the water.

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You sign up for all the new directories,

you start a blog, dust off your Instagram,

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you've been meaning to come back to.

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You start maybe running ads.

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Boosting your Facebook posts, Googling

how to start a group or become a speaker,

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and then you wonder why none of it sticks.

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The metaphor, I always come back

to around this when someone's

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drowning, and I don't wanna say

you're drowning, but stay with me.

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When someone's drowning.

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They don't need to flail.

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In fact, that's going to hurt more.

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They need to float and eventually they

need to make calm and purposeful strokes

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to start swimming again.

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So your job in a slow season is not to

panic, it's to pull the right levers.

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I am not saying you sit

around and let this slow down.

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Be passive.

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There are likely things you can do.

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But what you shouldn't do is start

pulling absolutely all of them and doing

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all of them halfheartedly, and then

wonder why you're not getting results.

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So if you're feeling that internal

pressure to do more or try

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everything, I wanna encourage you

to take a breath and ask yourself,

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is this a focused stroke right now?

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Or a frantic splash?

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If the latter, here's what

I want you to do instead.

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Because when panic creates chaos,

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cut because panic so often creates

chaos both in your marketing

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but also just in your mind.

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Whereas strategy, purposeful strokes,

that's what creates momentum.

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And the best thing you can do in a slower

season is to get honest, to stay calm,

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and to start pulling the right levers.

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Here's what I want you to do instead.

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One, I want you to trust

what you've already built.

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If you've been in my world for a

while, you have heard me say this,

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marketing doesn't just stop working

overnight and thank goodness, hear me.

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If it has worked before, there's a

very good chance it can work again.

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You have spent months.

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Or even years planting seeds with

your marketing, building referral

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relationships, showing up in your

community, getting found on Google,

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establishing credibility in your niche.

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Those seeds don't just vanish.

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They're still there.

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They're still growing.

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They're still working behind the scenes.

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Your job right now is to

trust that foundation.

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Trust those seeds, trust the

work you've already done and

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build on it with intention.

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The next thing I want you to do is I

want you to revisit what you currently

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have out there in your marketing.

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Ask yourself, is my website

still reflecting what I do best?

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Is my site today profile still aligned

with the clients I want to attract?

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Sometimes small but intentional updates

can make a really, really big difference.

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I'm talking a clearer headline,

a better niche statement, a

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more confident call to action.

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Not necessarily starting over, but

sharpening, looking at them, improving.

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Optimizing

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the next thing to do.

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Re-engage the people around you.

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If you have been in practice for a

while, there are people in your world you

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already know and who already trust you.

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Colleagues, former clients, past

referral partners use this quieter

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season to reconnect with them.

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This is not to pitch to them, this is

not to hustle and you know, get your

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name out there in that kind of slimy way.

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It's to genuinely check in.

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It's about making use of this

quiet time in a fruitful way.

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Your work is relationship based

and relationships take tending.

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So what have you been letting wither

and how could you return to that?

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I've seen so many therapists book

new consults simply by showing up

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again in their existing network.

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Number four, explore pivots,

not full reinventions.

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Maybe you try out a

new awareness strategy.

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Maybe that's your purposeful stroke.

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Maybe you decide to invest

in a low risk ad campaign.

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Maybe you put together a couple of

blog posts for the next few months.

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Maybe you reshare older content

that performed well in the past, but

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you haven't thought of in a while.

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Maybe you finally start the

project you've been putting off.

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If nothing else, maybe you use this time

to refresh your message to get support.

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So many of our students and clients

join our program, sign on with us during

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their slow seasons, and then they end

up coming out the other side of the

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dip with more clarity, more momentum.

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Yeah.

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Not because they needed to overhaul,

but because they needed to optimize.

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What levers can you pull?

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What is within your control that you

could change, build upon improve?

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What I want you to see here is that you

have more control than it feels like

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you do right now, and that's really what

the fear and anxiety comes from, right?

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Is this feeling of not being able

to control the inquiries coming in.

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And while you can't force clients

to show up, you can create the

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conditions that make it easier

for the right ones to say yes.

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I think one of the most important mindset

shifts you can make in times like this

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is that marketing is not a project.

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It is a relationship.

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And just like any relationship, it needs

tending and attention and reconnection,

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especially when things feel quiet.

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Like I mentioned, that can mean

reconnecting with your network, showing

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up, staying visible, staying top of mind.

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It might be nurturing connection

with potential clients even if

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they're not ready to reach out yet,

with past clients who you haven't

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touched base with in a while,

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the thing to remember is that

the action you take now is

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not about today's consults.

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It's about tomorrow's.

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It's about three months from now.

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Someone might see your blog post,

your website, your profile update

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today and reach out next month.

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That's still working.

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That's still movement, even

if you can't see it yet.

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I remember one therapist, okay

an alumni of ours from Confident

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Copy who told me she re-listened

to a training I gave during.

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A slow summer about the summer

slump, and she said it completely

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shifted the way she approached those

quieter months instead of spiraling.

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She told me that she got intentional.

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She reconnected with old contacts, she

revisited the curriculum and confident

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copy to refresh her homepage, and she

focused on getting seen in some new ways.

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And by the time fall rolled around,

she was actually full with better

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fit clients than previously.

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That's what staying in relationship

with your marketing looks like.

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Marketing is not a project.

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It's not something that is one and done.

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It is a relationship.

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So how can you be tending

to that relationship?

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Now, I wanna close this episode

by letting you know that what I'm

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sharing with you here is the same

advice I've had to take myself.

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This isn't just something that I

teach, it's something that I have

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had to walk through and I'm currently

walking through in many ways that

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relationship to my marketing.

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For much of the time that I've run Walker

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been really consistent, almost eerily.

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So I did this and got this output.

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I did this and I got this output.

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It kind of had that robotic

nature I was mentioning earlier.

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We had really strong foundations.

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We delivered great work.

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We are well known in our industry.

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The marketing systems we

built, they just worked.

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It was awesome until they didn't, and

I'm not talking about a like came to

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a screeching halt, falling apart way,

but I do mean this slow, creeping way.

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That left me thinking, huh,

this feels a little different.

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And at first, please know, I resisted

the living daylights out of it.

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I told myself, no way this worked before.

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We've been successful

doing this for years.

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Why should I have to change anything?

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I had a sense of entitlement

that I reflect back now on and

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can see very, very clearly.

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But the voice that said I shouldn't have

to evolve was also the same voice that

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was keeping me stuck there, and I really

realized I needed to take my own advice.

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So you know what I did?

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I got back in touch with my business.

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I stopped kind of phoning it in.

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I looked at the data.

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I got my hands dirty.

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I reengaged with strategy.

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I started testing, and I'm not

talking big, dramatic pivots.

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If you've been in my world for

a while, you probably haven't

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noticed a whole lot of changes.

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These were thoughtful tweaks,

clarifications, optimizations, that

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sharpening I'm talking about, and

the results came and are coming.

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But even more than the results.

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What's been really cool for me is, the

other thing that came back was energy.

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I have this excitement,

momentum, clarity in my business

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I haven't had in a long time.

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I am more connected and engaged and

excited about it than I've been in

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years, and I want that for you too.

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Whether you are a few years in or just

getting started in this process, whether

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this is your first dip, whether this is

your first dip or your fifth, you can

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weather this not by overhauling, not by

chasing or hustling or throwing spaghetti

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at the wall, but by staying present and

letting your marketing evolve with you.

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Being open to evolution, being willing.

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To move away from a sense of

entitlement in your marketing.

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If you take one thing from

today's episode, let it be this.

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Slow seasons are not a

sign that you're failing.

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They're a signal to pause, to

get curious, and to evolve.

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You don't need to burn it all

down and work at Starbucks.

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You don't need to start over.

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You just need to stay grounded.

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And trusting in what you've already

done, and then take strategic

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and thoughtful action from there.

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This is really ultimately why we don't

teach one size fits all marketing at

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Walker Strategy Co, because sustainable

growth doesn't come from chasing the

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trendy tactics or constantly reinventing

yourself or doing the thing that someone

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just said is actually working for them.

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It comes from clarity, from intention,

and from that willingness to evolve

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without spiraling, without panicking.

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You're not alone here.

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This is part of the process.

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It's uncomfortable, but it's

part of it, and now you get

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to decide what you do with it.

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You're more than capable,

you're resourceful, and you're

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more resilient than you think.

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Thanks for tuning in.

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I will see you next time.