Episode 24: Are You Celebrating Your Successes? (+GIVEAWAY)

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Hello there, and welcome back to the Mountain Practice Journeys podcast! I’m your host, Cindy Norton. Here in Episode 24 I’m going to talk about the importance of celebrating your successes. I’ll also be announcing a giveaway during the episode to celebrate Mountain Practice Journey’s 4th birthday.

Let’s get started.

Have you been wanting to start your private practice, but you can’t seem to take that first step? Maybe you’re afraid of failure or lack confidence, or maybe the idea of running your own practice is overwhelming. I’m Cindy Norton, owner of Mountain Practice Journeys and I help therapists and counselors to love the business side of private practice. I’ll share with you practical skills and advice along with a healthy dose of inspiration so that you can be on your way to the practice of your dreams. Put on your hiking boots, and let’s get going.

If you haven’t yet listened to Episode 23, I urge you to do that. In that episode I chat with Patrick Casale about how to make time for vacation in your private practice.

Now let’s get on to today’s episode.

I’ve been noticing a disturbing trend in our field, and it’s that private practice owners are not celebrating near enough. Starting a private practice is a big deal, and there are so many milestones that we reach just within the first few months, not to mention the first few years that we are in business.

Where we struggle is making time to celebrate our many successes, both big and small. This happens because we are always on to the next thing. And there’s no blame here because we have to keep moving, especially in the beginning, so that we can keep the momentum of getting our new business off the ground.

But there’s always going to be a next thing, isn’t there? It never ends. I see so many private practice owners get caught up in the trap of saying, “When I meet ‘X’, then I’ll do ‘Y’.” For example, “When I have $5,000 in savings, then I’ll decrease my caseload”, “When I get this training, then I’ll raise my fees”, “When I have 20 clients, then I’ll celebrate.” But what happens when they get 20 clients? Nothing, because now they decide that they need to see 25 clients and are so focused on finding those additional 5 clients, they forget how far they have come.

News Flash: There’s ALWAYS going to be something else. If you don’t take time to celebrate the small things, you’ll forget to celebrate the big things. And even worse, you will forget to be grateful and you’ll be unable to see all that you have achieved.

What is something that you can celebrate now?

If you’re coming up empty, here are a few examples of some milestones that you can celebrate:
-Filing the paperwork for your Sole Proprietorship or LLC
-Launching your website
-Publishing your first blog post
-Activating your business instagram account
-Booking your first client
-Reaching your first full week of clients (And I’m going to add something to this one – celebrate your first full week of clients even if your next week is only half full, as this is an example of another trap we get into when we talk ourselves out of deserving celebration. Be in the moment and celebrate NOW.)

I also don’t want to just focus on those physical or tangible milestones. Becoming a business owner is fertile ground for a lot of personal growth. We can heal our trauma responses, and enrich our mindsets.

Here are a few personal growth milestones you can celebrate:
-Making the decision to open your private practice
-Overcoming your money story and setting a rate that truly feels good to you
-Realizing your own unique talents and gifts and no longer comparing yourself to other therapists
-Releasing yourself from being a martyr and realizing that you can’t be everything to everyone

I hope these examples are helpful in allowing you to identify all the ways that you can be celebrating, and I hope that you will make celebration more commonplace in your business and your life.

One last way that you can celebrate is to acknowledge your private practice’s birthday!

Speaking of birthdays, Mountain Practice Journeys turns 4 tomorrow (7/27/21), so I’m going to celebrate by doing a giveaway during this podcast episode.

I’ll be giving one lucky winner access to three of my private practice tools. The first is access to my online course called The Introvert’s Guide To A Simplified Private Practice. In this course you will learn how to set up a system for managing inquiries from potential clients without having to answer your phone. It’s perfect for the phone averse like me. I get to keep my phone on silent and still book ideal clients. The course is originally $297.

The second item is an online course called Email Marketing Basics For Therapists. In this course I’ll introduce opt ins (and how to create them), help you set up your email marketing planning calendar, recommend an email marketing platform, as well as share special considerations that keep you operating ethically and legally. And finally you’ll receive a copy of my Old School Financial Spreadsheet. It is great for those of us who like to keep a close eye on our finances.

In order to enter the giveaway you will need to rate and review the Mountain Practice Journeys podcast on Apple podcasts. I’m assuming if you’re here on Episode 24 that you’ve been with me for quite a while and actually enjoy listening to the podcast. If you’re still with me on Episode 24 and don’t enjoy the podcast – what are you doing? – stop listening and find one that you really like. It won’t hurt my feelings, I promise. There are many great private practice podcasts out there to choose from.

Now back to the entry instructions. You’ll need to take a screenshot of your review on Apple podcasts just before you submit it (as it can sometimes take a few days to be published and show up), and send the screenshot to me in an email with PODCAST GIVEAWAY written in the subject line. My email is mountainpracticejourneys@gmail.com.

And that’s it. The deadline for entry is this Sunday, August 1 at midnight Eastern Time. A winner will be selected at random and notified shortly thereafter.

Good Luck!

During each episode I’ll be giving you one small take away, action step, or mindset shift. I call these acorns. Listen to episode 0 to get the scoop on what the acorns are all about.

The acorn from this episode is to celebrate something this week. I don’t care what it is. But schedule a celebration this week that relates to a milestone in your private practice.

Earlier in the episode I gave you several examples of things to celebrate, so I’m not going to believe you if you say you have nothing. If that’s the case, let’s chat and we’ll find something.

And I don’t want to hear the excuse that you don’t have the time or money to celebrate. Everyone has 5 minutes, right? Set aside 5 minutes, go to a quiet space and reflect on what you’ve achieved. If that’s not your style, turn on your favorite dance song and dance in celebration of what you’ve achieved. I don’t care how you do it. Just take a minute to acknowledge your hard work and dedication.

Now, off to planning your celebration.

As I outlined in episode 0, I’ll be alternating between a fun fact and ‘what I’m digging’ segment with each new episode.

The fun fact for this episode is that I am a Harry Potter nerd and I’m a Hufflepuff. Hufflepuff’s value hard work, dedication, patience, loyalty, and fair play. If you are curious about your Harry Potter house you can visit wizardingworld.com and take the sorting hat quiz.

Thank you so much for joining me today on your private practice journey.

For episode 25 I’m going to chat with Jane Carter about how to get unstuck in your decision making in private practice.

In the meantime, join me over on instagram @mountainpracticejourneys

There’s no way you can know how much it means to me that you choose to join me here as I share all things related to private practice. Please subscribe so you don’t miss a step. For more information about this episode, please visit the show notes page at mountainpracticejourneys.com/podcast I truly appreciate you Trailblazers. Your mountain is within reach. Journey on.