If you’ve been circling a decision, second-guessing your copy, or feeling stuck in your practice—not dramatically frozen, but caught in that loop of “I’ll get to it later”—this episode is your lifeline. I’m digging into what it really means to “remember your why,” beyond the usual inspirational fluff. This isn’t about finding a fleeting spark of motivation. It’s about building a compass you can actually use when fear or overthinking try to take the wheel.

Together, we’ll unpack the moments therapists most often lose sight of their why—like marketing, networking, or making big investments—and how you can start using yours as a clear, confident filter for every next step. If you’re craving more clarity and less spinout, this is your grounding reset.

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

1️⃣ Why “remember your why” can feel hollow—and how to turn it into a usable tool instead 

2️⃣ The simple filter I use in my business to make aligned decisions (especially when fear shows up) 

3️⃣ How to refine your why so it actually supports your marketing, not just your mission

Resources & Links Mentioned:

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

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: 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.

Welcome back to Marketing Therapy.

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Today's episode is one, I think every

therapist and maybe honestly every person

3

needs in their back pocket, especially

when the doubts start creeping in.

4

Not if they start creeping in, but when,

because they're such a normal experience

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for anyone who runs a business or really

puts themself out there in any way.

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Now, you've probably heard

the phrase, remember your why.

7

It gets thrown around a lot and

depending on the head space you're

8

in, it can feel really grounding.

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Like, oh yeah, I'm gonna remember my why.

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I'm operating from my why, or

it can feel kind of hollow.

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Yeah, yeah.

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Remember my why, whatever.

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Today I wanna offer you a bit of a

different take on this idea because

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I don't believe your why is something

you feel, I believe your why.

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Is something you use, not a mood, not

a moment of inspiration, but a filter

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in internal compass really a tool for

making decisions in your practice.

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And that becomes especially important when

you hit the moments that feel unclear,

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uncomfortable, or just straight up scary.

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Like when you're trying to write about

yourself on your website or when you're

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debating whether or not to reach out

to someone to establish some sort of

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networking relationship, or when you're

staring down a program or a service, that

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could probably really help your practice.

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But the price tag makes your stomach flip.

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Those are the moments when

you need your why the most.

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Not because it's gonna magically

make everything feel easy.

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Unfortunately, I don't have that

magic bullet, but because it can

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help you figure out what to do next.

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So here's the question I

want to offer you today.

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It's where this whole episode is grounded.

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It's when I use in my own

business over and over again.

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Are you ready for it?

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Does this help the people I most

want to help find me faster?

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Feel safer or say yes again.

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Does this help the people

I most want to help find me

35

faster, feel safer, or say yes?

36

If the answer to that question is yes,

and the only thing standing in the

37

way is your fear or your discomfort,

then that fear probably doesn't

38

deserve to make the final call here.

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So in this episode, we're gonna talk about

what it really means to remember your why.

40

Not in a fluffy, woowoo way, but in

a really strategic and grounded way.

41

I'm gonna walk you through the moments

where therapists often tend to lose

42

sight of their why, and I bet you can

identify with at least one or two of

43

them why it matters to reconnect with it.

44

And how you can start using your

own why as a decision making filter

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starting now, starting this week.

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So let's start with the moments when

it's easiest to forget your why.

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Because in my experience, it doesn't

usually just disappear all at once.

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It kind of gets buried under tasks,

under fear or discomfort under,

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I'll figure that part out later.

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It's really easy to push it aside,

and usually that happens in really

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vulnerable parts of running a business.

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One of the biggest ones that I see, and

in many of these students that I coach

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in Confident Copy, is writing about

yourself and putting yourself out there.

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So whether it's your website or

your Psychology Today profile,

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or your little elevator pitch

for your Next networking event.

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It's where therapists freeze and not

because they don't know what to say, but

57

because it feels personal, vulnerable

a little bit, or a lot cringe, right?

58

And it becomes really easy to overthink

here because you're trying to sound

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credible, but not sound robotic.

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Sound warm, but not too

casual, but not too buttoned

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up confident, but not bragging.

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So instead of leading with your why, you

start editing and second guessing and

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looking at what everyone else is doing.

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And just like that, the core of what

you do, who you do it for, why you

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are the incredible clinician that

you are, gets lost in translation.

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I've talked about this before, but

when you are marketing your practice

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specifically as a solo clinician.

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You're not marketing a practice,

you're marketing you, and so anytime

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you're having to put you out there

or put words to what you do, it's

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really easy to let that vulnerability

keep you from getting clear.

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Another big one here is

networking or outreach.

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We did a recent episode

talking about networking.

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If you haven't caught it, we'll

include it in the show notes.

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Networking is huge.

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It reigns supreme when it comes to

getting clients right now, but it is the

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hands down number one marketing strategy

I get the most pushback about from the

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students and clinicians that I work with.

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Reaching out to a colleague,

attending an event, introducing

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yourself to a new provider.

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It feels like a lot, especially if you

identify as an introvert or it just

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really feels out of your comfort zone,

and I get it for so many therapists,

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it's bringing up those thoughts,

like, what if I say the wrong thing?

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Or what if I come across as salesy?

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What if they don't like me?

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So again, visibility here is

becoming a trigger for fear, and

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instead of marketing and making

decisions and taking action from your

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mission, you just start avoiding it.

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Can you resonate with that one other

category where I see clinicians lose

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sight of their why is when it comes

time to invest in their practice.

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So that might be a course, a

coach, a service, a resource.

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It's one of the fastest

places where fear gets loud.

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Because unlike grad school where you

complete the courses and know what's

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gonna happen or licensure where

you pass the test and do the hours,

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there's no guarantee attached to it.

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It's just you, your resources, your

goals, and a really big decision.

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And if you don't have a strong

internal compass in place.

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When it comes time to make

these decisions, it's really

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easy to just stay stuck.

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Now, I wanna be clear

here, fear is normal.

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What we're talking about right now is

not mitigating fear or removing it.

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In fact, it's almost always

underneath these stuck points.

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Fear of failure, fear of success,

fear of being seen, fear that you'll

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spend time or money and it won't work.

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But here's something I want

you to remember, especially if

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you're finding yourself in one

of those stuck places right now.

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I know you tell your clients all the

time, the answers are already within you.

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As a clinician, you probably see

yourself as a guide for your clients.

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Back to those answers.

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You're not giving them the

answers they already have them.

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Therapy is about uncovering what

those are and helping them discover

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them for themselves, right?

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In this case, your why.

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Is also already within you.

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You do not have to wait for someone

else to give you permission.

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You do not have to wait to feel

perfectly ready, but you do need to

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reconnect to the thing that made you

want to do this work in the first place.

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And when you bring that back to

the center, it gets a whole lot

118

easier to figure out your next move.

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So let's talk about how to actually use

your, why not just remember it, okay.

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Remember your why.

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Yeah.

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How about use your why?

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Because like I said earlier, I don't

think of your why as a feeling.

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You don't need to feel inspired

or fired up every single day.

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That's not realistic.

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You don't have to have perfect

clarity before you make a move.

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That's also unrealistic.

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Your why isn't something you feel into.

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It's something you can filter through.

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It's a tool.

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And when you're trying to decide what

to say, what to invest in, what to show

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up for your why gives you something

to measure that decision against.

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So you're not out there

floating without an anchor.

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You can actually bring

yourself back to something.

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So here's that question again.

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The one I posed at the beginning.

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Does this help the people

I most want to help?

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Find me faster, feel safer,

or say yes, that's the filter.

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So let's say you are staring at

your Psychology Today profile and

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thinking about rewriting that hook,

the thing that's gonna jump off the

141

page to the right fit client, okay?

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This is one very small exercise,

although as we know it's a powerful one.

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This isn't about overthinking it.

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It's not about impressing your peers.

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It's about helping your ideal

client recognize themselves, feel

146

understood, or take a next step.

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If it does that, great, if not, make a

change, or maybe you're thinking about

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joining a consultation group or signing

up for a training, the question becomes,

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will this help me serve my clients more

deeply, more confidently with more ease?

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If the answer is yes.

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But the only thing holding you back

is the fear or discomfort, then you

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probably already know what to do.

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That is what I mean by

using your why as a filter.

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It doesn't erase the fear, but it

definitely clarifies the path forward.

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I now, sometimes things can get in

the way of being clear on your why.

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I see a lot of therapists get stuck, not

because they don't have a why, but because

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the version of it they're working with.

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That internal compass isn't actually

specific enough to guide them.

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An example of that is, I

just want to help people.

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Okay, that's beautiful, but it

is way too vague to actually

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make decisions with help Who?

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With what?

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Toward what kind of change.

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You can't write a homepage,

market yourself, build a referral

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network, invest in your next step

with a why That is that broad.

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Or probably the most common why that I

see clinicians operating from is some

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variation of, I want to build a full

practice, or I want a full caseload.

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Also a totally valid goal.

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I share that goal with you, but that's

a business need my friend, not a why.

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If you're only focused on being full,

you'll say yes to whatever comes your way.

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Which is often a very fast path

to burnout or misaligned clients.

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Or maybe you've sat with your why and you

have something like, I want to do deep

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work with people who are ready to heal.

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Okay, that's closer and it sounds like

a why, but it's still centered around

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you and the kind of work you want to do.

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It doesn't yet connect to what your

clients are actively looking for

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or how they would describe what it

is that they're struggling with.

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So try flipping it.

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Ask yourself, what does this

kind of work actually help my

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clients feel or experience?

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What do they want, even if they

don't have the language for it yet?

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That's the beginning of a why.

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That can guide your marketing.

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Not just your choice of modality.

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So that could look like not doing deep

trauma work with people who are ready

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to heal, but helping women reclaim their

power and step into their full self.

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Or maybe your why is empowering

parents to see and believe.

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That they are the perfect parent

for their child and giving them the

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skills they need to practice that.

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Maybe your why is helping couples.

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Come back to one another and remember

why they fell in love to begin with.

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Your why is the deeper goal here.

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It's the transformation that you

want your clients to experience.

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It's that deep seated desire that maybe

you felt as a teen when you engaged in

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therapy yourself and realized what was

possible with good, solid, real support.

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It is why you do this work?

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What are you wanting to make happen?

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What are you wanting people to experience?

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That is your why.

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So if you're listening to this and

realizing your why feels a little fuzzy

201

or maybe is more of a business need

than a deeper motivation, that's okay.

202

This is your invitation to zoom

back out and to reconnect with

203

what actually led you here.

204

And not just because it's emotionally

grounding, although it absolutely is,

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but because it has the potential to make

everything else in your business clearer.

206

Your copy, your content, your

investments, your visibility.

207

When you know your why and your

using it as a filter, marketing

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stops feeling like guesswork and

starts feeling like alignment.

209

Imagine how freeing that could be

if marketing felt like alignment.

210

Not guesswork, so let's bring

this down to earth, okay?

211

Because maybe you're not frozen

in the dramatic, overwhelmed

212

sense of the word right now.

213

You're not panicking, you're not flailing.

214

But maybe you're sitting here

right now with a decision or a

215

task that you keep circling around.

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You know it matters.

217

You want to do it well.

218

You've maybe even drafted the email

or outlined the update or open to the

219

tab to enroll, but something keeps

you from actually following through.

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That's the version of stuck I wanna

talk about the kind that shows up

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as overthinking or rewriting or

waiting for just quote unquote, a

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little more clarity before you move.

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This is where your why becomes

more than just that grounding idea.

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This is where it starts to become a tool.

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So again, start with the filter.

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Does this help the people

I most want to help?

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Find me faster, feel safer, or say yes?

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If the answer is yes, but

you're still hesitating, it's

229

probably not about strategy.

230

It's probably fear.

231

Fear of doing it wrong or wasting your

time or money being seen in a new way.

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But that doesn't make you

unprepared, and it doesn't mean

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the next step is the wrong one.

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It just means you're human.

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These are natural feelings.

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So what I wanna offer you is

this one, define your why.

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Remember why you chose to do this work.

238

Keep it simple and clear.

239

Again, not a business need, not too broad.

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But that strong internal compass

that led you to do this work to begin

241

with, and then run the next step

you're considering through the filter.

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And if the only thing standing between you

and action is fear, not real misalignment

243

with your why, but just fear, then that's

your sign to go ahead and move forward.

244

Because the most powerful

decisions you make in your business

245

won't always feel comfortable.

246

I can attest to this.

247

Over the last six years, the best

decisions I've made have been

248

when I have been the most afraid.

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But despite the fear,

they did feel aligned.

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You're never gonna feel a hundred

percent ready and you don't need

251

to wait for total clarity because

it will probably never come.

252

Clarity tends to come after the action.

253

Clarity comes from commitment.

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Confidence comes from commitment.

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So whether you're reworking your copy,

defining your niche, investing in support,

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trying something new in your marketing or

your practice, don't wait for it to feel

257

easy because that day may never come.

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Instead, let your why lead you.

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I think there's one area where this

conversation around your why gets

260

especially real, and I don't see

enough therapists talking about this.

261

And that is investing in your practice.

262

It is, as I mentioned earlier,

one of the biggest fear triggering

263

decisions a therapist can make.

264

And no wonder anytime our money's on the

line, fear is a really natural response.

265

Because there's likely no guarantee that

the investment you make is going to turn

266

into exactly what you're hoping for.

267

There's no client on the calendar yet.

268

Right, and I wanna hold space for the

nuance here because sometimes the answer

269

really is, I can't afford this right now.

270

And that's okay.

271

That's valid.

272

It is never a good idea to put

your financial wellbeing at risk.

273

I do really believe that.

274

There are certainly people that

put their neck on the line to make

275

investments and I believe there's a time

and a place, but it's not that every

276

single investment is one worth making.

277

But I wanna say this part plainly because

I think it really needs to be said.

278

The most successful therapists I

know, the ones that I'm, are coming

279

to mind as I sit here today, the ones

with the strong referral streams,

280

who are actually considering having

to tone down their marketing.

281

Because their caseload and referrals

are so strong, the full fee, premium

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fee clients that they see on a

regular basis, the sustainable

283

practices that support the lives they

want, they've invested in support.

284

They don't just white knuckle it alone.

285

They don't stay stuck in research mode.

286

They don't try to bootstrap

every single thing.

287

They know when something is

beyond their zone of genius.

288

And they bring in help to fill that gap.

289

They spend money to make better

decisions, to stop spinning,

290

to move faster, to go further.

291

And I know how hard that can feel, and

I know you're hearing this from someone

292

who is paid to help therapists, but I

mean this, regardless of who you work

293

with, regardless of what it is that

you're paying for, anytime fear comes up

294

around spending money on your business.

295

I want to remind you that this is

investment, that it's possible to

296

spend money to get better outcomes

297

every year, my business

coach raises her rates as she

298

should , just like you should.

299

And every year I sit with that decision.

300

It happens in October.

301

This is about to be our fourth

renewal, so it'll be our fourth

302

consecutive year working together.

303

And I know she's gonna hit me with her

increased rate, I'm prepared for it,

304

but every time she sends it over, woo.

305

I do.

306

I have to sit with it.

307

It is not a small decision.

308

It's not a small investment.

309

It brings up absolutely everything for me.

310

Scarcity, doubt, the voice that

says, maybe I can just figure this

311

out on my own this time, but every

year I come back to the filter.

312

Is this gonna help me do my work more

clearly, more powerfully, with more ease?

313

Will it help the people I'm here to serve?

314

Find me faster?

315

Or say Yes with more confidence.

316

And every year, at least so far, the

answer's been yes, and I know what to do.

317

Here's the thing, even if that investment

doesn't unfold exactly the way I expect,

318

even if I don't use every single piece

of the resource or the support, I

319

don't view this as betting on my coach.

320

I view this as betting on myself.

321

And you know what?

322

I trust myself.

323

To act on what I learn.

324

I trust myself to make it worthwhile.

325

I trust myself to get a return

on my investment because I'm

326

the one in control of that.

327

And that is the mindset I see

in the therapist who succeed.

328

A level of ownership over their results,

a willingness to bet on themselves, not

329

looking for certainty, not necessarily

looking for guarantees, but betting

330

on what they know they are capable of.

331

So if you've been hesitating to

invest, whether it's in your marketing,

332

something else related to your practice,

this is the moment to pause and ask.

333

Is the resistance coming from misalignment

because this isn't the right choice?

334

Or is it coming from fear?

335

If the answer is fear, but the

investment still aligns with your

336

mission, with your why, with your

values, with your goals, then fear.

337

It doesn't get to make the call here.

338

Hear me.

339

Spending money on your

practice is a good thing.

340

It's not irresponsible.

341

It's not indulgent.

342

I think I see some therapists believe

that, whether they know it or not,

343

that this is indulgent to spend money

or to hire someone or to get support.

344

It's how you grow and staying stuck,

spending months spinning, tweaking,

345

guessing, waiting often costs more in

time, money, and impact than a clear

346

and aligned investment ever will.

347

So as we wrap up today, I want to remind

you that your why isn't just a mission

348

statement on a sticky note, okay?

349

It's not a paragraph in your notes

app or something you slapped into

350

the about page of your website.

351

It's a filter.

352

It's a compass for you.

353

It's a tool you can

return to, even when fear.

354

Or uncertainty or second guessing,

try to hijack your decision making.

355

So the next time you are hesitating

in your practice or in your

356

marketing, ask yourself this.

357

Does this help the people

I most want to help find me

358

faster, feel safer, or say yes?

359

If the answer is yes, then

the next step is clear.

360

Not always easy, but clear.

361

And that's what I hope you take from

this episode because you don't need to

362

feel 100% confident to move forward.

363

You just need a reason and a direction.

364

You already have that.

365

So let your why lead today, this

week, and as you move into the

366

next seasons of your practice.

367

Thanks for being here today.

368

I'll see you next time.