(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai.

Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, welcome to the Abundant Practice Podcast.

I'm Allison from Abundance Practice Building.

I have a nearly diagnosable obsession with helping therapists build sustainable, joy-filled private practices, just like I've done for tens of thousands of therapists across the world.

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Hello.

How are you doing, Chris?

Hi, Alice.

It's so good to see your face.

You too.

How are you?

I'm good.

Yeah.

Having some crispy weather down here.

I bet y'all are too.

Uh, yeah.

Get them fall.

Pop in the sun, but cool air.

Yay.

Um, thank you for this time.

When's your heart stop?

1230.

1230 is your heart stop.

I can go right until 2029.

Let's do it.

This conversation is either going to be a niche clarifying or marketing my niche.

Okay.

I'm hoping it's not marketing my niche, but we'll see.

Um, so, uh, since we last talked, uh, so much has happened.

I have a fuller website.

Um, I'm focused on, uh, those ambitious professionals who are struggling with anxiety at work, specifically panic disorder or performance anxiety, uh, and helping them overcome that so they can feel more confident at work and thrive at work.

Stuff that you, I know, um, a lot of information is not related.

That's, that's where I feel like niche clarity might end up coming in because I'm during, I find myself during too many words when I'm networking.

Okay.

So I have a, let's talk marketing strategies.

I have a website, Jeff, um, the networking doing it, um, have part of a, um, I don't know if you remember Eric Axel from, um, the abundance group as well, but, you know, hanging out, I'll have a group of therapists we hang out with and have a group chat with.

And then he both are in a, an invite only, um, private pay full fee, uh, networking group.

Awesome.

Or city professionals.

And, uh, so networking, so I'm doing Google ads.

Um, taught myself some important stuff with that, uh, running those low effort scene kind of like with just a small dosing of, um, some keywords, just sort of seeing what goes and slowly building it.

I have psychology today and Instagram is where I need help.

Okay.

And I feel like the two are tied because when I go network and I say performance anxiety, I have too much.

I have to say about it.

Um, that it doesn't, you're in specific.

I ended up saying not the bedroom type, the board, right.

That right there means I'm not in my mind.

That right there means I'm not being clear enough.

I want to challenge that.

I want to challenge that.

Cause in my mind, I'm never going to forget who you work with.

If you say it just like that.

The border, the border and not the bedroom.

Okay.

I didn't think about it that way.

So this is the Allison honesty I needed.

I feel like I always then have to, I, this is actually, I'm not framing this differently.

I'm saying out loud that I am responding to some internal feelings that are popping up of, of clarity.

And I feel like I am speaking more because of the internal stuff that's coming up.

So here I am saying, um, I feel like I have to say that this is.

If you're speaking in front of others, fear of public speaking, um, getting in front of a meeting and having more responsibility and having to speak to the group, the heart rate pumping before you ask a question in a meeting, um, those types of performance anxiety instances.

Um, but maybe that challenge that you gave me is less about, um, it not being clear and more about my own internal stuff.

And also at the same time, it being helpful because the networking conversation probably led to tell me more.

Yeah.

Cause they're going to be like, Oh, tell me more.

I mean, like, that's just natural.

Okay.

I'm being clear then.

Yeah.

I think you're being clear, but I'm wondering what is it about your niche?

That's making you think you're not clear.

Like what, uh, what other internal stuff is going on?

When I go to Instagram, I've always heard like niche down, niche down.

Right.

And so feeling like having an Instagram that's focused on just one of those specialties feels like the smarter choice based on everything I've heard.

Rather than focusing on them all, rather than focusing on, I have like, if we go pillars, right.

If we go that, I hate that term, but if we go that route, like here's professionals, here's panic, here's performance anxiety.

I just sort of talk about them all, um, or having one.

So I think it, I think maybe we are going to come to the marketing part of the discussion rather than the niche clarity, which is great.

And in quick time, five minutes.

Yeah.

So, I mean, the way I'm thinking of it is if, if you frame it as performance anxiety for professionals and your Instagram, like you can talk about the panic because that comes up for them.

Yep.

You've given a speech and suddenly panic hits.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You've, you've got to ask a question and you need to talk to your boss about something and you're sweating.

You have a lot of opportunities to talk about how that performance anxiety and that panic coalesce in the times when you're not panicking, but it's like really uncomfortable.

You're having a hard time, like figuring out where to come in on the conversation or feeling so driven to make sure it's such a value add because you have so much insecurity underlying all of it.

Yes.

Yeah.

Okay.

So, what would be best practice?

Would it be focusing in on just one of those?

I think they all...

And bring in, sprinkle the others?

Yeah, because they're all part of it.

Like you can't talk about performance anxiety for professionals without talking about panic.

Yeah.

Because it's, it's going to be a part of it for them.

Excellent.

Do I get more specific than...

Actually, hold on.

I'm going to hold on to that thought for just one second.

For you to help me bookmark it, I'm just going to say I was going to get more specific about the person, but I want to bookmark that for one second.

Yeah.

I think one of the things about panic that is really connected for me is I had my first panic attack on a really important job interview.

Self-imposed importance of this job interview.

First job out of college before going to grad school.

I was like, oh my God, this is it.

And had a full-on panic attack that during the interview that completely meant I wasn't functional.

Wow.

Oh, poor baby Chris.

I know.

But he looks at himself so kindly now.

Good.

I don't know why he talks about it.

I didn't even know it was a panic attack at the time.

But I feel like that part of the story is just like that, that part of the niche that's like really important.

Yeah.

Why did I bring that up?

I guess just to add on to more to what we're saying now, like it's really important that you can't forget that piece.

Right.

Because I think you kind of hit the nail on the head when you said, I didn't know it was a panic attack.

Because your people might not either.

So if you frame it as performance anxiety, like they know what that means.

That's language they understand.

And then you describe the panic and maybe you name the panic, sometimes panic.

But you're describing their situation and their experience on your Instagram and they can't help but be like, yes, that's it.

Okay.

So we've got a clear niche is what I'm hearing.

What about person?

So I like to describe them as they're ambitious, driven, career driven.

I don't use all these words all the time.

These are just a few that I think are really important to them.

And competitive sometimes.

That's a little bit of a sprinkle of salt, really.

I don't want to overdo the competitive aspect.

They know they're competitive.

It's an ideal client, right?

My ideal.

Do I need to get more specific?

Like lawyers, engineers, not all of the professions, obviously.

I'm not going to have a list of 10 because I'm one.

Or is that enough?

That's like they know.

Yeah, I think I think they know who they are.

Like you could give examples.

He was like, like Josh, who's a lawyer who rarely has to litigate.

But when he does that, you know, so you could give examples of specific professions if it flows.

But they know they're professionals.

They might not know it's panic.

They know it's performance.

And I think like having your Instagram bio reflect what you say in networking, like performance anxiety therapist for the boardroom, you know, something like that.

That's catchy.

That helps them understand exactly what you do just in your bio.

Excellent.

I'm glad you're giving me that nugget because reflecting that nugget back because I.

My bio feels a little bit boring right now, and I think I'll spice it up in a good way.

Yeah, absolutely.

Oh, there we go.

Spicing it up.

Here we go.

Awesome.

OK, let's talk Instagram strategy.

I hate trends.

I think my people hate trends.

I can't stand hearing the same audio more than twice.

Sometimes it's done really well.

And for those people that are doing it well, I follow and will like them.

Most of the content, though, I just see us all sort of repeating the same thing over and over again and not actually adding anything to it.

And it gets really frustrating.

And I also have made those and I feel fine making them.

They just don't feel authentic to me.

And so I'm like, really?

And also, I don't think my audience really wants to.

They want the more motivational German content.

Right.

So my self-reflection leads me to sort of like three main strengths that I have when I'm working with my audience.

And it's the empathy for their pain points.

Right.

We all have the empathy.

Right.

The relatable content, the being able to.

Acknowledge a scenario and a pain point.

Another is sort of like the mindset insight shifts and other more hopeful, optimistic content, outcome based content.

This is what you want life to look like.

So I kind of I kind of almost also think of that as problem.

Solution and the success.

Right.

It's like if you're empathizing with the problem and you're talking about the solution being sort of like some shifts, just an idea of the solution.

It's not the whole solution there being in itself.

And then the outcome sort of being more like hopeful content.

I think they probably really connect with that.

Yeah.

What am I missing?

I think it depends on how it's delivered.

Like, is it education?

Is it all educational?

Is it sometimes entertaining?

Is it like how are you grabbing their attention and keeping it?

Do your people want somebody who's like like talking head videos all the time or do they want some goofiness in there?

Yeah.

Just figuring out the delivery piece.

OK, I think that's going to have to come through action and figuring out what they like.

I can reflect on what I like to follow.

And some of that is it's a it's a mix, really, of like some good B -roll reels that have a really emotional, poignant point.

And then some podcasts.

I don't really want to do the podcast.

I mean, just like this.

Obviously, you wouldn't be on the other end, but it would just be me talking to the camera like this.

Right.

They do.

Some of the people I like following, they do the podcast style motivational content.

And so you could also remix if there's like a business leader or somebody like that put their stuff on at the end, say a little something like it doesn't it could even just be a look like.

But with remixes, you have to change something.

And that could also just be words.

You could put some words on it, like a title or something like that.

I've seen some people do who work specifically with business owners do really well with that kind of content because it's the kind of stuff that they're already consuming.

Good point.

Yeah.

Excellent.

Yeah, so talking head rolls, B-roll and maybe some silly goofy, but also some personal mixed in there with I think also some carousels.

Just sort of at this point, carousels are being pushed.

You kind of almost have to suck it up and do some carousels.

Like the constant educational carousel.

Yes, they're useful and I want to do them, but I don't want to rely.

I don't want that to be my one bag of tricks when it comes to carousels.

Right.

I'm almost a Friday dump of photos if I went on a trip or something.

And after the trip, when I'm back and I want to share something personal, just like here's a little nugget of life.

Yeah.

And I think storytelling is a really good way to use carousels, too, so that they're less boring.

Excellent.

And then, yeah, so jumping off the storytelling, that also feeds back into the empathy and the relatability factor, the pain points that they're experiencing and telling a story that relates to that.

OK, what am I missing here or is this complete?

Because my gut's kind of telling me it feels complete.

I think it's just for me, the way we do it is like knowing what you're doing when.

So like how many days are you posting?

When is it going to be those carousels of photos with a story written on top of them?

When is it going to be educational content and basically creating a schedule for yourself that is sustainable?

Excellent.

There's my action item for today.

How about done today of a schedule?

That feels very good.

That feels complete.

We sped through that.

It was faster than you thought you'd be today.

Well, and I'll say for anybody watching or listening to you already know this, so I'm not impressing it upon you, but it needs to be content they care about.

It needs to be things that are interesting to them and not just like, here's a quote by somebody, you know, something that's already going to engage them.

I've done that pre pandemic.

Scroll back to the beginning of my Instagram and that's how it started.

And it's just yeah, it just doesn't work anymore.

Right.

Instagram is so much.

Yeah.

Yeah.

They were pretty hot back in like twenty nineteen.

But those quotes, I think that's what I'm having trouble reconciling, is is keeping up with the changes and I'm not active on Instagram.

So every time I try to go back to it, I get completely overwhelmed because it's so fast and it's hard to relearn everything.

And I know I have permission to not be on Instagram.

As to anyone listening, you don't have to be doing any marketing strategy that doesn't feel aligned.

This feels aligned.

This feels like a great opportunity for me.

I want to be there and just get completely overwhelmed every time I jump back in.

And it's not the content creation itself of the video making or the being on the camera.

It's the what the heck do I even have to say?

And how do you say it?

Because there's the business advice, right, of being specific and focusing on a specialty.

And then there's competing advice out there now that everything's becoming more relational.

So just be yourself and everything.

And that feels goosey goosey.

And then there's also the counter argument that I'm hearing of people don't care who you are.

You could be great, but that doesn't mean they're going to pay you.

Basically, I'm like, stop being so relatable.

Nobody pays relatable.

So it's like a big, ultimately, like when everything is saying the opposite from one another.

I would, I would know what you're going to post before you open up the app.

Go ahead and I batch it.

I do a whole month at a time where I like write out all of my social.

I record all my social another day or days and then I post it and like, or schedule it all out.

I don't want you to try to get ideas from social if it sucks you down a rabbit hole.

Because it's all going to say different stuff anyway.

Offer good, solid entertainment and education.

That's really helpful.

And yeah, I get sucked down the rabbit hole.

Save a bunch of videos that are inspiring some ideas and then I don't know where they are.

I'm going to save folder somewhere.

And like, you could look at your saved folder and be like, oh yeah, that's a good one.

And just stitch it instead of having to recreate it or say your own version of it.

But if you just stitch it, then boom, one's done.

That's excellent advice.

All right.

I feel like I've got a wrapped up neat package of a niche and five marketing strategies.

I'm going to go against the rules here and I have a sixth one.

Once my Instagram has enough posts, I'm also going to run some ads on Instagram.

Oh look, you can see the workers going up.

It feels neatly wrapped up.

It feels like I've got a solid plan.

So you're going to go rogue and have a number six.

Okay, let's hear it.

Yeah, that's the Instagram ads.

I'm going to run that.

I feel like it would be a really good idea to do the Instagram ads.

Once my Instagram has been consistent for a bit.

What is your plan for Instagram ads?

Have a little carousel.

First one, just sort of like a face.

I've run it before.

Back when it wasn't consistent, I tried it just to kind of see what would happen.

I actually got some good data from it.

People DMing and stuff.

Nothing turned into a consultation.

I did have one consultation, but it wasn't a fit.

But yeah, there's just a little carousel.

There's your photo, then the second one specialties, and then the third one reach out for a free consultation.

And just have it pinned up there as well.

So that when people come to the page, it's also my intro to the page of what I offer.

So I'll probably do that again.

See what happens and make new ads off of that data.

Kind of learn to implement what you learned.

Yeah, and I would recommend having it punchy.

Instead of being like, you know, professionals struggling with anxiety.

I work with professionals with performance anxiety.

And on the same slide.

The boardroom kind, not the bedroom kind.

I think that's going to get a lot more interest.

Yeah.

The people who DMed and the one that you did a consultation with.

What made them not good fits or not follow through?

Like what information did you glean from that?

They were wanting to use insurance.

They weren't looking for full fee, private pay.

I was off insurance at that time.

So that was the first big point.

And they were younger and wanted help from their parents.

And had to ask permission.

And they weren't really in the professional world at the moment.

So there were just several.

It was someone who was within the niche as far as one of the symptoms.

It was panic.

I don't want to provide too much information.

Right, of course, of course.

But they weren't a professional at the time.

And looking to sort of work on that stuff.

And so it just wasn't necessarily an ideal client.

Yeah, yeah.

So it's looking at rather than running the same one.

Looking at like what you can tweak in this one.

To call in somebody who's already in the boardroom.

And somebody who might be more easily able to do full fee.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Get that spicy content there.

I think will definitely help.

I don't think I have anything left, Allison.

It feels clear.

I came in not sure.

And I think I just needed that outside opinion.

Allison, honesty.

I'll always bring it.

So I really don't think I have anything else.

All right.

Cool.

Well, it's good to see you.

I feel good.

It's really good to see you.

And I'll be back on Instagram and see you some more.

Sounds good.

I like it.

Yeah, I'll give you.

I'll say that's the end.

That's all I got.

All right.

Well, until the next time I see you.

All right.

All right.

Have a good.

You too.

See you.

Bye.

Bye.

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