Dr. Susan Giurleo

Behind the Curtain: My Business Plan for 2012

January 24, 2012
by Susan Giurleo
8 Comments

Today I spent the entire day meeting with my coach and mentor, Sandy, planning out my business for 2012. We got out the big sticky note pages, put them on the wall and detailed the work I need to do to meet my goals for the next 11 months.

Let me say this: it’s a lot of work.

To make a lot of work into a reasonable blog post I’ll tell you that the goals are these:

Increase my email list significantly
Write a comprehensive course on practice development/multiple income streams
Host a live in-person workshop and networking event in the Fall of 2012
Continue to offer exceptional value to the Biz Savvy Success Circle and increase membership there
Increase my public speaking events.

How will I do all of this? I will:

Develop and implement an off-line/direct mail campaign
Build a new video/webinar freebie to offer you and new prospects to build my list
Carve out lots of time to write
Get some articles and short e-books on Kindle
Continue to write this blog, my newsletter (weekly) and use social media (daily)
Research event locations
Market my workshop event starting in July
Host more free teleseminars/webinars

Yeah, did I mention it will be a lot of work?

But I am motivated, excited and taking action starting TODAY to make all of the above a reality.

Commitment and Putting in the Work

I invest in my business financially and time-wise. Ultimately, I know that to do otherwise is to fail.

But like everyone, I get stuck and overwhelmed and can feel like I am spinning in circles. This is why I hire Sandy to get me going in the right direction. This is why I block out 5-10 hours a week in my schedule to write. This is why I make hard decisions about where to focus my energy and what to let go. [Trust me, I just made some very hard decisions in this regard.]

Some business building experts who sell “easy” money work even harder than I do. They put in the time, money and resources necessary to get others to buy their stuff. Unfortunately, the stuff they sell isn’t 100% honest. They sell what people want to hear, not the reality of what it takes to really build a business.

Reality is reality

I can’t sell half-truths. Building any business is work. I am writing this blog post at 9:30pm. I have clients from 9am – 8pm, with an hour off for lunch on Friday of this week.

I work hard.

Do I make good money? Yes, it’s good enough.

Do I have flexibility? Yes, more so than if I worked for someone else. But, no, I do not have a 4 hour work week, nor can I jet off at any time.

Am I home with my son when I need to be? Yes, most of the time and, again, more than if I worked for an employer.

Do I have to be self-motivated? Oh yeah.

Do I have to make sacrifices? Sometimes. Don’t we all?

Anyone who has their own business lives these realities.

It comes down to deciding:

Do I want to work hard for someone else, or do I want to work hard for myself?

Because in today’s ever changing economy and health care framework, even a job with an agency, hospital, or school isn’t a sure thing.

So knowing that nothing is guaranteed, how to you answer the question above? How do you want to invest your hard work? Who do you want to answer to at the end of the day?

And those answers aren’t easy. But once you do decide, I urge you to commit. Do the work. You owe that to yourself and the people out there who will benefit from your expertise.

Looking for ways to establish an innovative practice based on sound business strategy and online service delivery approaches? Sign up below for my 7 part e-course, “7 Essential Steps to Grow Your Practice.” The first step will come straight to your email box today!

Skiing and Business Advice: “Go Faster if You Want to Make the Jump!”

January 17, 2012
by Susan Giurleo
3 Comments

This past weekend I went skiing with my son, AJ. He’s 8 and a daredevil sort, but he has a cautious side which I really appreciate.

The mountain we were skiing had a very well appointed “terrain park.” For those of you not familiar with skiing jargon, a terrain park is where there are ramps, rails and big jumps set up for skiers so inclined to jump, skid and aerial trick down the trail. Needless to say my son was thrilled!

So, we went down the trail and he tried little jumps first and did fine. He was being safe and smart and didn’t fall.

The next time he went down, AJ wanted to try the bigger jumps. They looked safe enough to me, so I agreed he could try. However, he approached them cautiously and didn’t have enough speed to get up the ramp, leading him to ski backwards down the ramp which is probably more dangerous than actually going over the jump.

So I yelled to him as he headed down the hill, “Go faster if you want to make the jump!”

Mom’s usually don’t say those things. But I wanted him to be successful and I knew he’d be careful and not go careening off of the slope at top speed, but he needed more speed to do what he wanted to do.

My Business Advice

This is the same advice I give coaching clients who want to build their practice business. “Go faster if you want to make the jump!”

If you want to jump from clinic work to your own practice, go faster.

If you want to jump from $50,000 income to $100,000 in income, go faster.

If you want to jump from 5 clients a week to 20 clients a week, go faster.

If you want to make passive income, go faster.

Just like AJ needed more speed and momentum to safely clear his ski jump, you need more speed and momentum to leap from where you are now to where you want to be.

No Crazy Risks Required

I’m not saying take crazy risks (AJ was not taking crazy risks), but I am saying you will need to take actions quickly and decisively to make good things happen. Otherwise, you get ahead a little bit and then slide backwards (just like AJ) which is a real motivation killer and leaves you right back where you started.

But you need to take initiative and move. Sitting in a perpetual state of “deciding” and “thinking about it” won’t make change happen.

Often we want to know with certainty what’s next. What will happen if we have a blog, develop a teleclass, offer a free video.

But just like AJ and I couldn’t know with certainty what would happen after he took the ski jump (would he land safely, would he fall?) often you need to take the leap with confidence, and see what happens. AJ landed safely (many times) and my guess is you will, too.

photo credit: phunnyfotos (and not my son)

If you Want Referrals from Physicians, Watch This

January 12, 2012
by Susan Giurleo
3 Comments

We know mental health care and physical health care are intimately entwined. Most doctors know this too, but often tell me they can’t easily find mental health professionals online.

This video was developed for pharma reps BUT the statistics are compelling for anyone who wants to connect with physicians and nurses and develop a referral and collaborative relationship.

How can you make your website one that other health care providers refer to their patients?

How to Cope with Technology Overwhelm

January 9, 2012
by Susan Giurleo
15 Comments

I work with some coaching clients who are filling up their face-to-face practices and read to begin offering online courses and programs. They’re smart, dedicated and hard working, willing to do what it takes to move their practice to the next level.

But even with all of their energy and enthusiasm, they often get stuck in feeling overwhelmed by the technology they need to understand to get a practice up and running online.

If that sounds like you, please keep reading.

Offering online services is a great, new way to make a living. But it’s not as simple as having a website and using social media. You need to have an online marketing system using an autoresponder (such as Aweber or MailChimp), a way for people to pay you (via PayPal and a shopping cart) and you need to utilize blogging platforms and social media. If you want to use online audio and video, you need to learn how to leverage those as well.

I imagine just reading that sentence is making some folks nervous.

Let’s pause for a moment and try to simplify things

Before you dive in to learning a whole new way of using online tools, consider what you want your practice to look like and how you want to work.

Do you want to work from home?

Are you interested in creating passive income streams (such as selling a book or workbook or workshop)?

Are you thinking of using audio or video in your work this year?

Does it make sense for you to market online using social media and an email newsletter?

Sketch out your plans. Then look at the technology that will help you meet your goals.

Start here

I always recommend therapists start an email list of interested clients and prospective clients. This is done via an autoresponder. If you know what that is, great, go forth and start building that list. If you don’t know what that is, you can now go ahead and do some research on how to set up and use an autoresponder.

The learning is ongoing

When I started out in this work 7 years ago, I was just like you. I had NO IDEA how to work online and was utterly confused by all the technology and terminology.

So, I set a goal to make sense of it all.

I took several courses on building online businesses, hired a personal business coach and spent my evenings reading websites and gathering information on how to use all of this new technology.

This process repeats itself over and over and over again. New technology emerges daily. The platforms shift and change and update on a regular basis. There is no such thing as “set it and forget it” when you are working online. Mastery of technology is a misnomer and a moving target for everyone.

It’s ok to not know

We are used to a traditional education model where a professor teaches and we essentially reflect back what s/he told us in the form of tests or papers. It’s a closed loop without a lot of guessing involved in terms of what the outcome should be.

Using technology to build a business is nothing like graduate school because everything is new all of the time. There is no “expert” who has studied all of the possibilities and knows the “right” answer.

In many ways this is freeing because we all start in the same place (clueless) and can grow based on our interests and drive. In other ways this is anxiety-producing because we are conditioned to look for the “right” answer and there is none. With this anxiety we can stall out and produce nothing new because we are waiting for someone to tell us if we are right or wrong. Here’s a little secret: no one can tell you what is right or wrong for your business because they don’t know your needs and goals and are kind of making it up as they go along, too.

Which is ok if you see yourself as an explorer and an innovator. And inherent in that identity is the understanding that you will be learning new techy things all of the time. And it’s ok to ask questions! I ask questions all the time. In fact, I’m going to a half day retreat with my coach this month with 2 pages worth of questions : ).

How to manage the overwhelm

If you are just starting out in this technological journey, you are hearing a lot of information and probably feeling like you need to jump in and master it all.

But I’m encouraging you to resist that temptation.

Take one thing. Maybe it’s figuring out the autoresponder. Do that one thing and master it to the best of your ability. It make take a few days of study and experimentation. Keep in mind that none of this technology is rocket science. With some study and focus, you will figure it out. Ask questions when you get stuck. You can do that with peers or use the help service for any of these online platforms. Most have very helpful customer support.

Once you feel comfortable with one technology, integrate it into your business and start to learn another. Maybe your next choice is sending an email newsletter (which is directly related to the autoresponder that you now understand). Focus on feeling competent in the next thing before moving on.

Continue learning and widening your tech competence one step at a time.

While I do encourage you to use social media and have a robust online presence, there is no need to rush in all at once and feel scared and anxious.

And now I am off to learn how to integrate Google Plus into my business. Always something new to learn : ).

What are you focused on learning this week?

Want to Grow Your Practice? Go. Now.

January 4, 2012
by Susan Giurleo
9 Comments

Folks, I see a disturbing trend in private practice marketing. The rest of the world is moving ahead at lightening speed and private practitioners are not. We, I am afraid, are going to get left behind. And once you are behind, it can be nearly impossible to catch up.

This is the time of year when people talk about trends in small business (you are a small business). The trends are toward mobile marketing on smart phones and tablets (i.e iPad). In fact, most families in my practice invested in an iPad or other tablet device this past holiday season. Are you ready to talk about mobile marketing?

My guess is the answer is, “No Way!” and, while I respect that sentiment and all that comes behind it, the cold, hard facts are these: the world is moving on with or without your participation.

Someone else will get there first, and your clients, too

The practitioner, coach, guru, or self-proclaimed ‘expert’ who gets online, moves to mobile, puts themselves where the public is will get the clients. This is plain, simple human economics and marketing.

The shift is happening as mental health providers debate the pros and cons of whether all of this online stuff is good for us or not. Guess what? Those pros and cons don’t matter because it is happening, like it or not.

I applaud those of you who are starting the process to get online, put up a free goodie to start an email list, are exploring Facebook and Twitter. But are you doing these things, or just thinking about them? Because, honestly, people are moving away from giving their email address for a freebie and looking on Facebook and YouTube for information now.

I’m not saying to give up your plans. You still need a website/blog and email list, but you need them NOW. Especially those of you who want to grow an online portion of your business or are looking to develop additional income streams.

Predictions, for what they are worth

I predict, if you want to have a private practice and are not online and have some established brand credibility with a small community in 2012, the opportunity to stand out in the crowd will disappear. This is the year when EVERYONE finally gets the memo that being online isn’t optional. And as everyone jumps on board, competition, noise, distractions will multiply to such a degree that unless you really stand out, no one will take much notice of you or what you are doing. This is true for all small businesses, not just health care.

The early adopter gets the worm

I’ve been observing trends in marketing and social media for about 4 years now and I notice that those who get in the game early reap huge rewards. They are recognized as leaders and ultimately get a lot of attention and buzz because there just isn’t that much competition out there. But once the masses jump into the fray,it is hard for them to get as much positive return because they are in a crowded field.

For now, many mental health folks are on the sidelines and even those who are dipping their toe in online marketing are doing so with caution. This leaves room for the uncredentialed to talk to, and ultimately work with, your potential clients.

But what about Ethics??

We health care providers get stuck on ethics. You can talk to people about what you do ethically in the mall, at a conference or as you mingle at a cocktail party ,right? OK, then do THAT online. Don’t talk about clients, if a client contacts you in social media, take it off line. Simple. Ethics don’t prevent you from talking about mental health in public. There have been many fewer ethics violations for social media than there ever have been for therapists sleeping with clients. The whole ethics fear-factor conversation is just that, fear.

Opportunity Knocks

I haven’t seen any mental health leaders really emerge online, yet. This is a great opportunity for you. Here is how you can make a splash in your online marketing and really grow your community and client base:

1. Get your website, blog and freebie up and running ASAP. Don’t wait for conditions to be ideal, just get something live. You can always tweak it later.

2. Use social media. Don’t just be present. Use social media. Get a Facebook page functional. Tweet and converse with others on Twitter several times a day. I have a Mental Health Innovators list on Twitter and I want to see LOTS of activity there. Update your LinkedIn profile and share there, too. And, yes, you need to explore Google Plus (I’ll talk more about that in another post).

3. Market your expertise to grow your email list and online community. Offer free webinars/teleseminars to grow your list, start a weekly podcast, use video. Get out there and strut your stuff. No one hires someone they can’t see.

4. Send an email newsletter faithfully. The business and client attraction growth is in that newsletter. Make it valuable, send it often enough so people don’t forget who you are or what you do to help them.

5. Keep going. You will not get instant results from one tweet, a few Facebook updates and a teleseminar. You have to be present consistently.

Work toward Your Goals

This is work, I won’t lie. But you need to consider if the means justify the ends. Do you want to work online, make passive income, sell a book? Those 5 steps above are what you have to do. Everyone who wants to get ahead has to do it. I’m watching some of my friends releasing books who are “big names,” have 100,000 followers on Twitter, Facebook pages with 5000 fans and they are doing the 5 steps above.

Some people say when I write posts like this I am ‘fear mongering.’ I see it as just sharing the reality as I see it. Of course you can have your own opinion. But technology, and how we are social and learn about the world is changing daily. Do you want to grow your business or wait and see what happens?

If you’re looking to increase your income in 2012, I encourage you to join me in my Private Practice and Wealth Creation Video Series. More of these videos will arrive in your email box after the New Year. Click here for details.

photo credit: qtfeather2000