When you picture your dream private practice—full caseload, stable income, predictable schedule—what do you actually hope to feel? Safety? Confidence? Freedom? In this episode, we dig into the emotional disconnect many therapists experience after reaching their big goals, and why those milestone moments don’t always feel the way you expected.

If you've been hustling toward "maintenance season" only to still feel anxious, flat, or unsatisfied, you're not alone. I’m sharing what I’ve learned (in my own business and with thousands of therapists) about why the numbers alone don’t deliver lasting security—and how you can start accessing the feelings of success today, not someday.

This conversation will help you reframe what you're really chasing, and give you practical tools to start showing up more grounded, confident, and steady in your practice and your marketing.

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

1️⃣ Why hitting milestones like a full caseload or revenue goal might not bring the emotional relief you expect

2️⃣ The deeper desires that often hide beneath therapists’ goals—and how to start honoring them now

3️⃣ Specific practices to help you access confidence, stability, freedom, or contribution—without waiting to “arrive”

Resources & Links Mentioned:

• The Walker Strategy Co website: walkerstrategyco.com
• Confident Copy: walkerstrategyco.com/cc
• Magnetic Niche Method: walkerstrategyco.com/mnm
• Today’s Full Caseload private podcast: walkerstrategyco.com/tfc

Connect + Subscribe

Enjoying the podcast? Subscribe so you never miss an episode—and feel free to share it with a fellow therapist who’s building their private practice.

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

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 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 y'all.

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Welcome back to Marketing Therapy,

episode 31 last week's episode,

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talking about the seasons of private

practice and the seasons of you as

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a clinician, has brought up some

interesting conversations and concepts.

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Now, as I mentioned in that episode, I've

worked with thousands of therapists over

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the last six years, and one of the cool

parts about that is I've been able to

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see clinicians go through the seasons and

reach the one that is so often the goal.

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And that's what we called

the maintenance season.

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Now, if you didn't catch last week's

episode, we talked about how the

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maintenance season is that place

where things start to click, they

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start to feel a little bit easier.

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You feel like your caseload is consistent,

the referrals are coming in, and for

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that reason, it's usually the place

that most clinicians are striving for.

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It becomes the big goal.

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You have the steady caseload,

you have the consistent income.

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Things feel predictable and sustainable.

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But what is really interesting about

watching therapists arrive at maintenance

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season is that so often they don't

feel the way they thought they would.

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Some therapists expected to reach this

place and feel relief or stability, but

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find themselves still feeling anxious.

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Some expected pride in themselves,

but instead they feel kind of flat

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or even strangely disappointed.

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Pointed others, and this is interesting.

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They feel like it cost them

more freedom than it gave them.

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And I think this is a concept we

should spend a little bit more time

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looking at, not just for the clinicians

who are sitting here listening in

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the maintenance season, but for

those who are striving toward it.

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Now, I've experienced this so many times

in my own business, especially early

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on when I would hit milestones that I

thought, I, man, I thought I wanted them.

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I thought they would make

a huge difference for me.

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Time and time again, they didn't deliver

the feeling I thought they would.

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I hit an income goal, but

things didn't really change.

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I filled confident copy the first time

I launched it and I was terrified.

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Instead of feeling like I

made it, I felt more pressure.

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I felt like the bar had just moved higher

and over the last handful of years as

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I started to run into the same tension.

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I've done a lot of coaching and

mindset work to realize that the

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external milestones I'm hitting in my

business, the quote unquote success,

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whatever I'm seeing on paper, doesn't

automatically create my internal state,

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and that I'm in charge of that piece.

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And so in this episode, I wanna talk

about helping you connect to the feeling

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of success, whether or not you've

reached the state that you want to be in.

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Yeah, because the real driver

here is not just the goal itself.

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The real driver behind what you're

wanting to do in your practice isn't

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just having a full caseload or reaching

a certain revenue number per month.

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It's about the feeling that you

believe that goal is going to unlock.

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And if we don't connect to those feelings

along the way, that's when we hit the

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milestones and we still feel empty.

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But if we do connect to them now,

because there are ways to feel the way

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you want to feel right now, then you can

avoid the burnout and the scarcity and

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chasing goals that never truly satisfy.

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So that's where I really want to go.

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In today's episode, I wanna talk about

the trap that I see a lot of therapists

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fall into chasing numbers and instead

dig into the deeper desires underneath.

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Your desire for a full practice.

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And then as always, I'd love for you to be

able to walk away with something tangible.

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And so we will give you some

very practical ways to connect to

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those feelings right now along the

journey, regardless of if you've

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quote unquote hit the goal yet.

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So let's start by talking about this

trap that I see a lot of clinicians

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fall into because many therapists

believe success equals one thing.

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More clients, the full caseload, and

everything they do in their practice

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gets measured against that single metric.

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I am successful if my caseload is full.

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I am not.

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If it isn't, and once I get there,

then I will feel safe and stable

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and confident and successful.

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But the thing that if you've

reached it, you know, and if you

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haven't yet, let me tell you.

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Numbers will not automatically

shift how you feel inside.

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We talk all the time about the fact

that caseloads naturally ebb and flow

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clients, graduate seasons change.

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If you are tying your stability, your

competence, your freedom, your safety

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to numbers, then let me tell you,

you are always going to be on edge.

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I have realized in my own personal

therapy work over the last couple of

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years that stability and security are

my top personal values at the root of

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every decision I make in my life, it's

guided by my desire to feel those things.

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And so when I would hit these

milestones in my business and didn't

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feel stable, I still felt unsafe.

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I couldn't trust it.

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I couldn't enjoy it.

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I spoke last week about a clinician

I just recently talked to who

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only has 15 clinical hours in

her caseload, and yet she keeps

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overbooking it because she's terrified

that it's all just gonna go away.

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So the scarcity thinking

it can look like that.

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Hair on fire, panic.

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When a few clients graduate at once,

oh my goodness, what am I gonna do?

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Everything's wrong.

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Can I survive?

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The absolute spiral of anxiety that I

see lots of therapists get caught in.

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Sometimes it shows up more In comparison.

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What you see other clinicians doing

versus what you are doing, what they

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seem to be achieving that you are

not, or just this general feeling like

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success is always just over there.

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Not right here.

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One of the most detrimental ways I see

this scarcity trap show up though is

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in this kind of pick me energy that

clinicians show up to consultations

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and relationship building, networking

with, there is a sense of desperation

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and constant second guessing, feeling

like they need this next client, they

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need this networking relationship.

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And let me tell you, that

shows up in your marketing.

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But if we look at all of these examples

of this scarcity trap, what we see is

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that this happens when you outsource your

feelings of success to external numbers.

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So if you're like me and stability

is your deepest desire, but you only

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let yourself feel stable, when your

caseload is 100% maxed out, then you

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will always be at risk of losing it.

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It.

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So whatever deeper desires are underneath

your goals, please know that they

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can't be supplied only by numbers.

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They need internal

practices to back them up.

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And when you get stuck in this

trap, scarcity thinking ends

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up negating all the other ways

that you are already successful.

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Right here, right now, every client.

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You've helped experience transformational

breakthroughs, every skill you've

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built, every step you've taken to launch

and market and grow your practice.

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It keeps you chasing instead of

appreciating where you are right now.

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And I'll see therapists who

are in those earlier seasons.

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They're not used to the ebb and flow.

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They haven't realized that they're

gonna be on these ups and downs, and

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so they panic at every single ebb.

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But when we look at that clinician

a couple years later, they've

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learned to ground, hopefully, in

the deeper desires and connect to

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feelings of success regardless.

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Of what their calendar might say

this week, and those ebbs and flows,

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they don't shake them nearly as much.

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So if chasing numbers isn't enough,

then what do you actually want?

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When you say you want a full

caseload, that's where we need to

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get under the surface and talk about

the desires beneath the desire.

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Okay.

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Like I said, when I sit down

with a clinician and I say, what

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is your hope for your practice?

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I want a full caseload.

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I wanna make this much money a year.

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I wanna see this many clients

a week, whatever that might be.

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But what you're really saying

is, I want the feelings.

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I think those circumstances will give me,

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sometimes it's competence.

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It's a desire to feel capable

and confident in your skills.

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When my caseload is full,

then I will feel capable and

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confident in what I've done here.

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Sometimes it's contribution, knowing

you're making a difference in people's

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lives, and while you might feel

like you're contributing in those

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earlier stages, you're not doing

as much contribution as you could

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be unless that caseload is full.

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Maybe you're like me and it is stability.

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It's steady income, a

predictable schedule, a sense

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of safety that you're wanting.

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Maybe it's confidence, knowing that you

are being chosen and trusted and valued

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by your clients and your referral sources.

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Maybe, and this is a very common one I

see for many clinicians, it's freedom.

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You got out of agency or community

mental health or group practice

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work in order to create something

that allows you margin in your life.

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That could be financial margin,

time margin, emotional space,

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being able to sign off at 5:00

PM and not feel bad about it.

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To chaperone a field trip for your

kids to take a vacation, to buy a home.

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Maybe what you really want is freedom.

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I'm curious which of those resonates most.

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I find that contribution is what

often brings therapists into this

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profession, the desire to make a

difference in people's lives, but

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often as they start to grow their

practices, stability and freedom

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usually become the bigger drivers as

they're growing, and then the competence

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and the confidence those naturally

build through the process of growing

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their business and serving clients.

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It's an interesting byproduct as I watch

our Confident Copy students graduate.

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Of course, they're leaving the program

with great website copy and a really

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clear sense of their niche, but so often

I hear about them leaving with a greater

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sense of confidence in who they are.

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I just spoke with a student yesterday

who said, I've learned so much

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more not just about marketing,

but about who I am as a clinician.

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I feel more confident in what I do in

the room, not just in my marketing.

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She was connecting to those

feelings of confidence already.

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Now, here's why I think naming

the deeper desire matters here.

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If you don't, then you risk continuing

to chase the numbers and never

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feel that sense of satisfaction

when you do name them though.

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You can actually find ways to experience

those things right now to experience

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freedom, to experience stability, to

experience confidence or competence

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or contribution, regardless of whether

your practice is technically full.

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Remember, we're trying to stop

outsourcing the way you feel to what

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your calendar says or your bank account.

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Okay?

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So let me ask you, when you imagine

your practice being full reaching

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maintenance, what's the deeper

feeling that you're chasing?

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Is it competence, stability, freedom,

or maybe it's something else.

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But once you know what you're actually

chasing, then the next question is, how

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can we connect to those feelings now?

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Instead of waiting for the

quote unquote finish line,

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I don't want you to have to wait

until your caseload is full to

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feel the way you want to feel.

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And I'm not telling you this as

some pie in the sky woowoo thing.

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I'm telling you this because

I've learned how to do it myself.

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And the freedom and the stability

that doing that unlocks is something

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that, quite frankly, no level of full

caseload or revenue can do for you.

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Success is not just something

at the end of the road.

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It's something you can

practice in small ways today.

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So, like I said, I do wanna give

you a couple practical ways to begin

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implementing this in your life and start

connecting to the feelings of success

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regardless of your caseload status.

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If you find that competence is

one of those deep, deep desires

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for you, then make a list of

client wins or breakthroughs.

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Spend some time journaling on those

incredible light bulb moments that you

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have supported in your clients . If

you've been through our magnetic niche

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method, you know that the program

starts by you reflecting on what it

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is that you do well in the room and

what you might have brought into the

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room with a really successful session.

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Remind yourself that these are the

receipts of your skill and your impact.

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This is proof right here, right now.

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That you are incredibly talented and

skilled at what it is that you do.

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If you realize that you're very, very

motivated by this sense of contribution,

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then consider revisiting thank

you notes or comments from clients

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you've jotted down over the years,

the feedback they've given you about

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what you've helped them experience.

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Recall moments where someone

reflected the difference you made?

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Remember the way that you've

contributed to your client's lives.

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If stability is the deeper desire for

you, I really encourage you to create some

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grounding rituals that you can engage in.

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That can be budget check-ins or monthly

revenue reviews, weekly scheduling.

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Setting boundaries and

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setting goals for your practice

that don't require you to be quote

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unquote full in order to be safe.

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So that means that you can pay

your bills and be okay even if

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you've got a couple empty spots.

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This sometimes means you need to

revisit things like your fees.

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In order to be able to structure your

life in such a way that you can be stable

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and you can be safe even when things

aren't full, but build some scaffolding

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around how your practice runs that

allows you to experience safety even

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if that caseload isn't full right now

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and in whatever way makes sense for you.

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Track progress over time.

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Rather than panicking over one slow

week or one slow month, because again,

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the ebbs and flows are normal, how

can you start to remind yourself of

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the long-term progress or stability

that you've created for yourself?

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Like I mentioned, stability is my number

one goal, and because of that, I love

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to return to the data because sometimes

things can feel a certain way, but

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the data can actually say otherwise.

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So I have some monthly practices where

I look at the data, I look at what we've

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completed this month and what's ahead in

order to remind myself that we're good

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and to also trust that if for whatever

reason we are not, I am capable of making

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changes to get where we need to go.

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If you are motivated by a sense of

confidence, a desire to feel confident

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when your caseload is full, then

please take some time to remember the

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training you invested in, the risks

you've taken, the steps you've already

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shown up for how far you've come from

your internship years, from your time

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in the agency, whatever it might be.

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Take a minute and appreciate

where you are today.

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Acknowledge that you have done hard

things before and you can do them again.

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You can feel confident right here,

right now in your ability to grow

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your caseload and serve your clients

even if you're still growing, even

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in the middle of that process.

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And what a beautiful gift to yourself

if you're here because you're motivated

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by freedom, the ability to create

margin and freedom in your life.

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Then please let me encourage

you to practice the freedom

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you already have right now.

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That could be big or small.

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That might be taking a sick day

without guilt because you can,

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that could be going for a walk and

building in rest to your schedule.

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Being mindful that that is

freedom, but look at your life.

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Look at what you're creating.

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Where have you already created

opportunities for freedom?

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Practice those.

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Be mindful of them.

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Realize that freedom is not going

to come when the caseload is full,

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but instead is just going to grow.

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You have it here right now.

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You can connect to it right now, and

that freedom will only grow as you do.

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You know, at Walker Strategy Code, we

have a client wins folder Every month

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we collect feedback and client wins.

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So sometimes that's testimonials from you

guys about how your practice is growing.

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Your template finally launched

and you feel so excited about it.

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You feel so much better about your niche.

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You've got five clients from

networking, whatever that might be.

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Sometimes it's that, but sometimes

it's feedback we've gotten.

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About the team, how responsive we

are, how helpful we've been, the

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service people have gotten from us.

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And every month in our all hands

call, which is how we start our

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month together as a team, we

review these and we celebrate them.

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And this has become a built in

way to stay connected to our

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impact and to our contribution

as a team at Walker Strategy Co.

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Remember, you don't have to wait

for the huge milestone here.

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You can build reminders

into your regular rhythm.

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And what's so cool here is that therapists

who do this, they start showing up

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differently instead of the anxious,

scarcity driven energy where they're

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always striving, striving, striving.

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They have this kind of grounded,

confident presence about them.

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Can you think of a clinician like that?

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I know I can.

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And what's powerful here is that

that shift is huge for them and how

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they show up to their work, but it's

also absolutely magnetic to clients.

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That pick me energy, that scarcity

trap we talked about earlier,

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that is repelling to clients.

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They can sense that and whether or

not it's actually something they can

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name, it can lead them to feel like

they aren't connecting with you.

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Clients are looking for

someone steady, not panicked.

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If you can show up to your practice

as steady, not panicked, then

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you're aligning with what it is

that those clients are looking for.

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I can think of a student

who used to panic.

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Every time clients graduated.

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She sent me an email just about every

single time she hit one of those ebbs.

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In her practice, it would be

like, Anna, what do I need to do?

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Can we meet?

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What do we have to do?

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And often we would, especially in the

early days, but I've watched her mature

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as a practice owner, and now she's learned

to stay grounded in her own skills.

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And in what she's seen be true

over time, kind of that long-term

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progress I was mentioning.

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And she's not shaken in the same way

by them, those ebbs and those flows.

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It's not to say that they don't

make her feel anything, right?

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She's not a robot, but they don't throw

her off course the way they used to.

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So I encourage you to think

about this for yourself.

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What's one small practice you could

add this week to start connecting to

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the feeling you're actually after.

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How could you start feeling

that wave right now?

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Because remember, the way you

feel doesn't just impact you.

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It shows up in your marketing

and clients can sense it too.

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The way you feel about your practice

doesn't just live inside you.

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You are not a vacuum.

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It comes through in the way you

market and network and write how

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you show up in consult calls.

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If you show up to those consult calls

with that pick me energy and that

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sense of desperation, it can lead

them to wonder if this therapist

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isn't confident in themselves,

can they really hold space for me?

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And again, these aren't

necessarily conscious.

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By your client.

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They might not get off the consult call

and have that question, but it can be the

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underlying effect of showing up this way.

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But if your grounded confidence

could reassure your clients, then

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they can feel steadier just by being

around you and what a gift to them.

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How does scarcity sound in marketing?

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I am still building my caseload,

so I have openings right now.

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It's okay to say that, but

there's a certain energy

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behind a statement like that.

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Please reach out.

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I really need new clients over

apologizing or over explaining

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your fees or your schedule or your

availability, not holding boundaries.

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A client wants a 5:00 PM session

and you're usually off at

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four, but sure you'll do it.

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A website that's generic or hesitant or

overly focused on your needing clients

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rather than them getting support.

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Now, here's some shifts.

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I mentioned the first example

for scarcity sounding.

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I'm still building my caseload,

so I have openings right now.

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What if instead, I specialize

in working with this niche and I

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currently have space for new clients.

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Can you hear the

difference in energy there?

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Language that reflects clarity.

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Here's who I help, here's how I help them.

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Here's what to do next.

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Confidently.

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Stating your fees and your

availability without apology.

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Holding the boundaries, holding

the cancellation policies.

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Marketing that communicates your

expertise and reassurance, that grounded

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presence you offer to your clients.

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Okay.

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Now what's interesting to see here is

that marketing isn't just words on a page.

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It's not what you write on your website.

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It's not how pretty it is.

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It's not the networking

conversation you have.

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It's not what you post on Instagram.

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Marketing is an energy transfer, and when

you're in an energy of scarcity, clients

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feel that anxiety and they hesitate.

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If you are in the grounded energy, clients

feel your steadiness and they trust you.

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00:23:29,838 --> 00:23:32,898

That therapist I mentioned who used to

panic during the ebbs and the flows.

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Once she became grounded in her deeper

desires, her marketing became more

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confident and the results they followed,

and she remains fully booked, private

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00:23:43,458 --> 00:23:47,568

pay, fully booked here and there

with ebbs and flows in New York City.

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So when you practice connecting

to those deeper feelings now.

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The stability, the contribution,

the freedom, whatever that

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is, it's not just for you.

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It's gonna change how you show

up to your marketing as well.

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And that is what ultimately

attracts the right clients and

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gets you closer to the goal.

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So as we end our episode

today, here's the takeaway.

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When you say you want a full

caseload, it's rarely just

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about the number of clients.

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It's about what you think

that number will bring you.

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But if you only let yourself feel those

things, once you hit the milestone,

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you will stay stuck in scarcity.

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And even when you do hit the number,

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it may not feel the way

you thought it would.

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00:24:31,933 --> 00:24:34,483

But when you start connecting to

those feelings right here, right now,

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you free yourself from that trap.

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00:24:37,543 --> 00:24:40,603

You show up more grounded and

more confident, and you make

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this entire journey of private

practice a whole lot lighter.

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And a whole lot more enjoyable.

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So I wanna leave you with the question,

what is the deeper feeling underneath

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your desire for a full practice?

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And what is one way you can connect to

that this week, right here, right now?

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Now, if you want some extra

support in thinking about these

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00:25:01,933 --> 00:25:05,383

kinds of shifts, I encourage you

to jump into our private podcast.

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00:25:05,413 --> 00:25:06,463

Today's full caseload.

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00:25:06,943 --> 00:25:10,094

It's where I really dig deep into

the modern tactics that I'm seeing

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00:25:10,094 --> 00:25:15,134

fill caseloads, including both

mindset and strategy, helping you get

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00:25:15,134 --> 00:25:19,604

out of outdated advice or scarcity

thinking, and into the mindset of

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00:25:19,604 --> 00:25:21,644

what it takes to be successful today.

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00:25:22,664 --> 00:25:26,174

If you haven't jumped in there, you can

get instant [email protected]

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00:25:26,174 --> 00:25:27,374

slash tfc.

396

00:25:28,484 --> 00:25:31,724

And if you're really ready to

go deeper, not just to connect

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to your why, but to actually put

it into words in your marketing.

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00:25:35,279 --> 00:25:39,779

That is exactly what we do inside of

Confident Copy in CC, you come away not

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00:25:39,779 --> 00:25:43,799

only with the Stronger to marketing, but

like I mentioned earlier, a whole new

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00:25:43,799 --> 00:25:47,969

level of confidence in yourself in how

you show up and in the work that you do.

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00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:50,099

The incredible life-changing work.

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00:25:51,799 --> 00:25:54,589

Now, remember, you do not have

to wait until you've arrived

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00:25:54,679 --> 00:25:56,359

to feel successful, okay?

404

00:25:56,959 --> 00:26:01,819

You can choose to access and feel

those things right now and that.

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Is actually what's gonna help you build

the practice you're working toward.

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00:26:06,589 --> 00:26:07,519

Thanks for being here today.

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00:26:07,669 --> 00:26:08,599

I'll see you in the next episode.