Why I Happily Woke Up At 3am Last Sunday...National Interview

I love sleep. I need sleep. Very few things can get me to happily wake up at 3:00am, especially on a Sunday morning. The only one I can think of right now is going to the hospital to have a baby. But last week, I added another reason I'd sacrifice my precious sleep---the invitation to interview live on the national Fox News Channel.

Last Wednesday I received an email from Fox and Friends Weekend inviting me to interview live on Sunday morning at 7:20am to give tips on how to stop whining. They'd seen my interview in The Wall Street Journal a week ago in the article "A Nation of Whining: Therapists Try Tough Love." I called the show booker to discuss the interview details and confirm my availability.

I quickly realized that the 7:20am interview was Eastern Time, and would be 5:20am Mountain Time, and that I would need to arrive at 4:50am. That meant I'd need to leave my home at 4:15. So, I set my clock for 3:00am to give me plenty of time to get ready. Unfortunately, I didn't get to fly to New York City for the interview, but I they did send a car to transport me to and from my house to a local studio in Salt Lake City.

After working out the logistics, I talked with the show producer about the content. I offered a few talking points and followed up with an email listing four practical tips to help viewers stop whining.

While I've done many news interviews locally, they've all been done sitting next to the interviewer. This was the first remote interview I've done. Basically, it's like a conference call while looking into a camera and responding...on live national television. It was odd to not be able to see the faces and body language of the anchors who are interviewing me. While it was out of my comfort zone, it was definitely an opportunity I didn't want to pass up!

I watched the segment when I got home on the DVR and I didn't totally cringe. It went pretty well...and I napped all afternoon.

Private Practice Marketing Made Easy

Last week I spoke to group of local therapists on "Marketing Your Private Practice" and a record number of people attended the presentation. Why? Because therapists in private practice feel ill-equipped and uncomfortable with the business aspects of private practice. It's rare that a marketing course is included in a mental health graduate school curriculum, and few internships and practicums offer marketing mentorship. In my graduate program in social work, just the words "private practice" were treated as "bad words," as if making money while helping people was somehow morally wrong.

For some therapists  the word marketing brings up feelings of anxiety, even dread. "I am not comfortable with self-promoting," I've heard many therapists say.  "I'm not in this for the money so I hate to think that I have to market my services."

Over nearly 10 years in private practice I've learned that marketing isn't as difficult or scary as it sounds. Most therapists already have the relationship skills that make marketing effective. You're already good at building relationships and communicating. You just need to apply your skills differently.

 Build relationships of trust

You already know how to market, because marketing is simply building relationships of trust in a different way. Marketing requires reaching outside of your therapy office, and often beyond your comfort zone. Whatever strategy you use: talking to strangers, talking to friends and colleagues, meeting with physicians or schools, or finally getting a website, it's all about building relationships of trust.

Let 2 simple questions guide all of your marketing

• Who is your ideal client? Identifying your ideal client is  not just getting clear on the demographic and diagnoses that you like to work with, but also the characteristics, values, and traits that you look for in a client.
• What is your basic practice message? This is a simple message that focuses on one aspect of your work and emphasizes the benefits of your services in layman's terms.

Talk to everyone and anyone about what you do

In graduate school you learned how to communicate, build rapport, and put people at ease. Building relationships of trust isn't just limited to talking with your clients. Effective marketing is simply applying all of the skills you know to a broader group of people. Talk about who you want to work with what you do with strangers in the grocery store, neighbors, extended family members, or online communities, media contacts, or other professionals.

Remember you're promoting your passions, not yourself

Effective marketing isn't about pushing yourself on others, but about letting the things that you're passionate about shine through in every conversation, every blog post, every interview, an every page of your website.

It only takes three

According to private practice guru Lynn Grodski, it only takes a few "practice angels" to have a full practice-three people who will consistently refer your ideal clients to you. You probably already have three referral sources ready to refer to you. All you need to do is warm the connections you already have.

How do you feel about marketing your practice? What works and what doesn't? Share your comments below

photo credit: Hen3k Hen3k