Scaling Therapist Podcast: More Income, More Independence, More Impact (Not More Hours)

James Marland
  • 5.0 (14)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Weekly

The Scaling Therapist Podcast exists to inspire therapists to scale their business with systems, people, community, or opportunity so they can have more income, impact, and independance without giving up more of their life.

  1. 3h ago

    The Foundations of Ethical Marketing for Therapists, Part 2: Build an Offer, Find Your People, and Share Your Work | STP 183

    The Foundations of Ethical Marketing for Therapists, Part 2: Build an Offer, Find Your People, and Share Your Work | STP 183 You want people to find your work. But you do not want to push them into buying. I get it. In Part 2, Tad Hargrave and I talk about how to explain what you do, build an offer people need, and meet people through groups they already trust. We also talk about sharing your work in a way that feels like you. Missed Part 1? Listen to STP 182. We cover trust, making time for marketing, and getting clear about who you help. Three Reasons to Listen Learn how to explain your approach so people can decide if you are a good fit. Find people who already know and serve the clients you want to help. Choose a way to market that you enjoy and can keep doing. Episode Highlights 00:00 Explain how you help before asking people to buy. 03:00 Why a clear approach makes it easier to share your offer. 04:00 Help people see a way forward when they feel stuck. 06:00 Choose how you will help, through sessions, workshops, groups, or other offers. 07:00 Build your offer around who you help and what they need. 08:00 Why an offer that tries to serve everyone can be hard to sell. 10:00 Find your “hubs,” the people and places where your future clients gather. 12:00 How someone people trust can introduce your work. 13:00 What you can offer a group, even when you are just starting. 15:00 Make a partnership helpful for you, the host, and their people. 16:00 How this changed the way I reach out to people. 17:00 Share what you offer and let people decide. 18:00 Pick a way to market that you can keep doing. 19:00 Why more ads or posts will not fix an unclear message. 22:00 Make room for people to say yes or no. 23:00 How trying too hard to help can get in the way. 24:00 Where to find Tad’s starter kit and hear about his open office hours. 25:00 Why good marketing helps people find the help they need. Links From the Show Marketing for Hippies, Tad’s website, newsletter, and Ethical Marketing Starter Kit Part 1 blog: The Foundations of Ethical Marketing for Therapists One step this week: Think of one person or group your future clients already trust. What could you share that would help their people?

    The Foundations of Ethical Marketing for Therapists, Part 2: Build an Offer, Find Your People, and Share Your Work | STP 183

  2. Sep 22

    The Foundations of Ethical Marketing for Therapists, Part 1 | STP 182

    The Foundations of Ethical Marketing for Therapists, Part 1: Ethics, Space, and Finding Your Niche Marketing can feel like the icky side of running a therapy practice. Hype. Pressure. Self-promotion. Trying to convince someone to work with you. But what if good marketing did the opposite? In this episode, I talk with Tad Hargrave, founder of Marketing for Hippies, about a different foundation for marketing. Instead of trying to get the sale, Tad believes marketing should help you and the other person discover the truth: Are we actually a good fit? In Part 1 of our conversation, we work through the first three foundations of Tad’s ethical marketing approach: ethics, space, and niche. Three Things You’ll Discover Why ethics comes before marketing tactics. Tad explains how trust, reputation, and word of mouth grow when helping the right person matters more than getting the sale. Why you may not have a marketing problem. You may have a space problem. If your calendar, inbox, and commitments are already full, another marketing strategy will not help much. You need room to actually do the work. Why finding your niche is about fit, not excluding people. Tad shares two questions that can help you get clearer about who you want to serve and why your own story may point toward the people you are best equipped to help. Highlights 00:00 – Ethical marketing starts with a different question: Is this actually a good fit? 01:15 – Why marketing feels so icky to therapists and helpers 02:20 – Why self-promotion feels uncomfortable for most of us 05:00 – Tad’s alternative to self-promotion: make it easier for other people to spread the word about your work 07:00 – Why hype, pressure, and urgency often show up when the marketing foundations are missing 08:30 – Foundation #1: Ethics and why it belongs at the bottom of the pyramid 11:00 – The honest mechanic story and why trust creates word of mouth 13:30 – Foundation #2: Space. You cannot implement good ideas when your life is already full 16:00 – Every yes also means saying no to something else 17:20 – Foundation #3: Niche and accepting that you cannot be everything to everybody 18:45 – Two questions to ask when deciding who you really want to help 19:45 – Stop going for the sale and start looking for the truth about whether you are a fit 20:15 – Why Tad believes your deepest wound can sometimes point toward your truest niche Connect With Tad Hargrave and Marketing for Hippies Marketing for Hippies Website: marketingforhippies.com Instagram: @marketingforhippies YouTube: Marketing for Hippies YouTube Channel In Part 2, Tad and I continue through the foundations and talk about point of view, your business model, hubs, and how to share your work without hype or pressure.

    The Foundations of Ethical Marketing for Therapists, Part 1 | STP 182

  3. Sep 14

    The 4 Elements of a Great Virtual Assistant Job Description | STP 181

    The 4 Elements of a Great Virtual Assistant Job Description You know you need help. The harder question is, what exactly should you hand off? In this episode, Alyssa Avant joins me to talk about how to get clear before you hire a virtual assistant. We walk through the four parts of a good VA job description: what you want done, what success looks like, what skills or tools they need, and how you will work together. If you have been putting off hiring help because you are not sure what to delegate, this episode gives you a place to start. The 4 Elements of a Great Virtual Assistant Job Description 1. Define What Success Looks Like Start with the outcome. What do you want to be different because you hired a VA? You do not have to map out every click and every step. In fact, your VA may have a better way to get there. What matters is making sure both of you know what a finished job should look like. 2. List the Tasks and Responsibilities Look at what is eating your time. What do you keep putting off? What do you dread doing? What takes you twice as long as it should? Alyssa puts it simply: just because you can do something does not mean you should keep doing it. Delegating the right work gives you more time for the things only you can do. 3. Name the Skills and Tools They Need Not every VA does the same kind of work. Some are generalists. Others focus on bookkeeping, websites, podcasts, social media, email marketing, or other specific work. If you use WordPress, ActiveCampaign, Kit, or another tool, put that in the job description. You do not want to hire someone and then find out they have never worked in the programs you depend on. 4. Decide How You Will Work Together Good delegation still needs good communication. Pick one main place where work and questions live. That might be email, Trello, Slack, or another system. Then decide how often you will check in. Alyssa recommends regular updates so you know what was finished, what is still waiting, and what your VA needs from you. Also decide whether you need help with one project or ongoing support. Timestamped Highlights 02:00 – You know you need help, but what should you actually delegate? 03:00 – A simple question to help you find tasks to hand off 03:45 – The 80/20 principle and where your time is really going 04:45 – Why a VA job description can save you frustration later 05:00 – What belongs in a virtual assistant job description 06:40 – General VA or specialist? How to know which one you need 08:00 – Why the outcome matters more than documenting every step 10:45 – Start with the work that takes too long or that you dread doing 11:45 – Communication preferences can make or break the relationship 13:00 – Why one main communication channel makes life easier 14:00 – The weekly update Alyssa’s team sends to clients 17:00 – One-time project or ongoing support? 18:20 – Alyssa’s free training on writing a VA job description Resources Mentioned Virtual Assistant Job Description Training from Alyssa Avant: https://alyssaavant.ac-page.com/job  Alyssa Avant and Company: https://alyssaavantandcompany.com/  Christian Business Advantage Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-christian-business-advantage/id1525088804  STP 38: 5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Hiring a Virtual Assistant, with Alyssa Avant: Listen to STP 38 on Apple Podcasts STP 109: How to Improve Your Virtual Assistant Results with Effective Communication: Listen to STP 109 on Apple Podcasts One More Thing You Do Not Have to Figure Out Alone Delegation is really about knowing when someone else can help carry the load. That includes HIPAA. If HIPAA compliance is one of those things sitting on your list because you are not sure what to do next, the HIPAA Compliance Workshop can help you work through it. HIPAA Compliance Workshop: https://www.coursecreationstudio.com/hipaatoolkitworkshop

    The 4 Elements of a Great Virtual Assistant Job Description | STP 181

  4. Sep 7

    How to Sell What You Know When AI Knows It Too | STP 180

    How to Sell What You Know When AI Knows It Too AI can already answer a lot of the questions people used to pay for in online courses. So what does that mean if you are a therapist trying to sell a course or teach online? In this episode, I talk with Brent Stutzman, founder of TheraSaaS CRM, about the hard truth of building courses in the age of AI. We talk about why information alone is getting harder to sell, what people still need from you that AI cannot give them, and how tools, support, community, and real experience can help your students actually get the result they came for. 3 Things You Will Discover in This Episode Why AI does not have to be better than your course. It only has to be good enough to change what people are willing to pay for. How Brent and Dr. Deb Legge changed the Private Pay Practice Program from a $3,000 coaching offer to a $300 course with custom ChatGPT tools. Why your course may need to do more than give people information. It needs to help them do the work, get a result faster, or stop wondering if they are doing it right. Highlights 03:00 – Why AI is changing marketing, content creation, and the way therapists run their businesses. 04:15 – How practice owners are already using AI for hiring, interviews, operations, and decision-making. 06:30 – The hard question for course creators: Why should someone pay for information when AI can give them a good-enough answer in minutes? 07:20 – Why AI is making frameworks and information easier to copy, and what that means if you sell what you know. 08:20 – Why the future may belong to courses that help people do the work instead of just collecting more information. 09:00 – Brent explains the Alex Hormozi value equation and how to help people get what they want faster, with less work and less guessing. 11:30 – The Private Pay Practice Program case study and why Brent and Dr. Deb Legge changed the way they sell the program. 12:30 – How they built separate custom ChatGPT tools for brand messaging, websites, SEO, and referral letters. 14:00 – Using AI to help students get the work done faster instead of simply giving them more information. 15:45 – Why James and Brent both separate custom GPTs by task instead of trying to make one GPT do everything. 16:30 – Where community still matters and why learning alongside other people can help you stop wondering if you are doing it right. 19:30 – Why some students want community while others just want the answer as fast as possible. 20:30 – How Brent’s wife used Claude to help think through a new Director of Operations role. 23:15 – The Play Therapy Toolbox case study: 21 courses, more than 1,700 students, and over $35,000 in revenue across eight years. 24:30 – How AI may answer the question before people ever click on your website. 26:00 – Why watching someone actually do the work, hearing good questions, and seeing how they respond is harder for AI to replace. 28:00 – How TheraSaaS helps therapy practices keep leads from getting lost and helps teams know what happened next. 29:15 – Using a course platform for internal staff training, onboarding, case notes, and practice procedures. HIPAA Toolkit Workshop https://www.coursecreationstudio.com/hipaatoolkitworkshop A live workshop built around The Guesswork Ends Here™ Toolkit: A 30-Day HIPAA Compliance Foundation Workbook. It is designed to help practice owners work through the foundation of HIPAA compliance with a practical toolkit and guided training. The workshop is Friday, September 18, 2026, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Eastern. Resources From Brent TheraSaaS CRM for Therapists and Practice Ownershttps://therasaas.com/?utm_source=scaling_therapist_podcast&utm_medium=scaling_therapist_podcast&utm_campaign=scaling_therapist_podcast TheraSaaS helps therapy practices keep leads organized, follow up with people, and give the intake team a clearer picture of what is happening. TheraSaaS on YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/@therasaas/videos Find videos and marketing tips for therapists and practice owners. Connect with Brent on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/brentstutzman/ Group Practice Scaling Summit Waitlisthttps://practicescalingsummit.com/waitlist AI is going to keep changing how people learn. That is the trap if your course is only information. A simple question to ask is this: What can I give my students that AI cannot? Maybe it is support. Maybe it is a tool. Maybe it is someone helping them take the next step.

    How to Sell What You Know When AI Knows It Too | STP 180

  5. Aug 31

    STP 179 | Make Hard Conversations Easier: Games for Grief, Feelings, and Connection

    Make Hard Conversations Easier: Games for Grief, Feelings, and Connection What do you do when a child, teen, or client answers every question with “fine” or “okay”? In this episode of the Scaling Therapist Podcast, James talks with Krista Smith-Larson, founder of Winning Communications, about using games to make difficult conversations feel safer. Krista shares how her own family experiences with divorce, blended families, grief, anxiety, depression, and trauma led her to create games that help people talk about feelings without making the conversation feel forced. If you work with kids, families, or clients who have a hard time finding the words for what they are feeling, this episode will give you some new ideas to try. 3 Reasons to Listen Help kids get past “fine.” Learn why games can lower the pressure and help kids start talking without feeling like they are being questioned. Make hard topics easier to approach. Hear how Krista uses games to talk about grief, divorce, anxiety, trauma, relationships, and other big feelings. Add something practical to your sessions. Discover simple game ideas therapists, parents, churches, and family ministries can use to build trust and start better conversations. Timestamps 00:00 Why games can help people open up00:23 HIPAA Compliance Toolkit Workshop with Dr. Natasha Guess01:15 Meet Krista Smith-Larson of Winning Communications02:00 Why Krista and James both love games04:00 How games take some of the pressure out of conversation05:15 Using games with kids, adults, grief groups, and DivorceCare06:00 Krista’s story of divorce, blended family life, and helping her kids communicate08:00 How her first communication game was born09:15 Turning grief and loss into a way to help others10:30 Getting past “fine” and “okay” with kids11:20 The Slippery Slope game and why Grace Cards matter14:00 Adapting games for children, teens, and adults16:00 Why parents do not always need to have the right answer17:00 Who can use these communication games?18:00 Why games can help therapists build trust faster18:45 Krista walks through several of her games20:30 Connect Blocks for divorce, grief, anxiety, trauma, and more22:45 Helping kids connect words with feelings24:00 Krista’s favorite go-to game24:40 Where to find Winning Communications25:40 Scaling Therapist Services sponsors and resources26:30 Final HIPAA workshop reminder HIPAA Compliance Toolkit Workshop If a HIPAA issue happened tomorrow, would your practice know what to do? Join Dr. Natasha Guess for The HIPAA Compliance Toolkit Workshop on Friday, September 18 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern. This is a virtual workshop designed to help you apply the toolkit to your practice, work through your questions, and turn scattered policies into a system you can actually use. Go to CourseCreationStudio.com for workshop information and registration. Resources Winning CommunicationsLearn more about Krista Smith-Larson’s communication and play therapy games at:WinningCommunicationsMN.com Scaling Therapist ServicesLooking for businesses that can help you work through a therapy practice bottleneck?ScalingTherapistServices.com Course Creation StudioCourseCreationStudio.com

    STP 179 | Make Hard Conversations Easier: Games for Grief, Feelings, and Connection

  6. Aug 27

    STP 178 | Big Dreams Need Small Steps

    The Small-Step Strategy for Achieving Big Dreams Maybe you have been thinking about a workshop, a course, or paid speaking. Then you start trying to figure out the whole thing before you even take the first step. I learned this lesson the hard way. The expensive way. I spent months building an online course before I really knew if people wanted it. The better question would have been much smaller: Can I get 10 people interested in a workshop? That is what this episode is about. Your dream can be big without your first step being big. Small steps give you evidence. You learn something. Then you know what to try next. In This Episode Why being an expert can make it hard to become a beginner again What I learned after spending six months building a course that sold only a few seats Why I needed a faster way to learn, not a bigger course How Leo Debrock and I tested an idea with one live workshop Why evidence builds confidence Small ways therapists can test workshops, speaking, and courses Timestamps 00:00 - Your first step does not need to match the size of your dream00:44 - The Friday afternoon HIPAA breach phone call01:22 - How to prepare before a HIPAA problem happens03:00 - Why becoming a beginner again feels uncomfortable05:08 - Trying to figure out all ten steps07:07 - Why I went all-in on an online course08:17 - Six months of work and about four sales10:20 - What I really needed was a faster way to learn11:03 - Make the experiment smaller, not the dream11:17 - How Leo Debrock and I tested an idea with one workshop12:49 - Why 20 registrations gave us more than sales14:21 - Evidence builds confidence16:16 - You do not need certainty before you begin18:20 - One small step you can take this week HIPAA Compliance Toolkit Workshop Friday at 3:30, you do not need a binder. You need to know what to do next. You bring the toolkit, and Dr. Natasha Guess walks you through putting it to work in your practice. Learn more here:https://www.coursecreationstudio.com/HIPAATOOLKITWORKSHOP Resources Scaling Therapist Services:https://scalingtherapistservices.com Workshop creation and paid public speaking resources:https://www.coursecreationstudio.com/workshops Your Next Step What is one small step you can take this week? Make the step smaller. See what happens. Then take the next right step. Your dream does not need to get smaller. Your next step does. Put your mission in motion.

    STP 178 | Big Dreams Need Small Steps

  7. Aug 20

    STP 177 | How to Turn What You Know Into Paid Speaking

    STP 177 | How to Turn What You Know Into Paid Speaking Therapists explain useful ideas every day. You teach clients how to understand anxiety, communicate better, set boundaries, work through conflict, and make sense of hard seasons. After years of doing this work, you may have a talk inside you already. The question is: how do you take what you teach in the therapy room and turn it into paid speaking? In this episode of the Scaling Therapist Podcast, I talk with speaker and coach Dustin Rivenbark from Built Different Speakers Academy about how to choose a message, figure out who needs to hear it, and start finding places that will pay you to speak. Dustin also shares why your reason for speaking matters, how to build a simple follow-up system, and why your first speaking gigs may already be sitting in your phone. Top 3 Reasons to Listen Learn how to turn the ideas you already teach into a clear speaking topic. Get clear on who you want to help and what problem your talk should solve. Hear a simple way to find speaking gigs, follow up, and start getting booked. What You’ll Learn If you want to get paid to speak, Dustin says you need to start by knowing why you are doing it and who you are trying to help. You also need to stop trying to talk to everybody. As Dustin says, “A speaker who speaks to everyone is a speaker who does not have an audience.” From there, you need a simple system for finding people who could hire you and following up with them. That could be HubSpot, or it could be a basic spreadsheet. Nothing fancy. You just need something you will actually use. Dustin also talks about creating a speaker one sheet, getting clearer about what you want to say, and following up instead of giving up after one email. And one of my favorite reminders from the episode is this: Your first few speaking gigs may already be sitting in your phone. Sometimes we think we need a bigger audience. Sometimes we just need to start with the people we already know. Timestamped Highlights 02:30 – Dustin shares why everyone has a story, even if it has not been refined yet. 04:30 – How loss, faith, and a hard season changed the direction of Dustin’s life. 08:07 – Where to start when you know you have something to share but do not know the first step. 08:55 – Why knowing your “why” has to come first. 10:53 – Why trying to speak to everyone can leave you without an audience. 13:00 – How to figure out where your audience already gathers and whether there is a market for your topic. 14:00 – Why copying other speakers makes it harder for people to see what makes you different. 17:24 – Why systems matter when you are tired, busy, or do not feel like doing the work. 17:44 – How to build a simple speaker pipeline. 18:56 – Why you do not need expensive tools or a fancy website to get started. 19:18 – What a speaker one sheet is and how to make one. 23:00 – How to track prospects and follow-up with a simple spreadsheet. 25:05 – Dustin’s three-week follow-up system and breakup email. 28:41 – Why most speaking gigs come from follow-up. 29:03 – Your first speaking gigs may already be in your contacts. 31:00 – How to build a talk that gets attention and keeps people listening. 32:18 – Why getting in the room and building relationships matters. 34:21 – How speakers begin thinking about pricing and getting paid. 34:44 – How to find places to speak and turn contacts into bookings. 35:06 – How Built Different Speakers Academy helps speakers narrow down their message and content. 36:47 – Dustin’s closing reminder: you already have a story and people you can help. 37:28 – Details about the upcoming live paid public speaking workshop. Resources & Mentions Built Different Speakers Academy The Science of Scaling by Benjamin Hardy American Association of Christian Counselors Live Workshop: Turn Your Experience Into Paid Public Speaking Friday, August 28 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM Eastern / 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM Central https://www.coursecreationstudio.com/Paid_Public_Speaking Take One Step If you have explained the same idea to clients dozens of times, pay attention to that. That may be the beginning of your speaking topic. Write down one problem you help people solve over and over again. Then ask yourself who else needs to hear it.

    STP 177 | How to Turn What You Know Into Paid Speaking

  8. Aug 17

    STP 176 | Ways to Stop Losing Time and Money to Insurance Billing

    If you are a therapist, you know the feeling of opening an envelope or checking a portal, only to see another claim denied. It’s exhausting, it’s frustrating, and honestly, it’s one of the biggest reasons therapists lose money and burnout in private practice.   I sat down with my friend Jeremy Zug from Practice Solutions to talk through this. We didn't want to just talk about the "what," we wanted to give you some real hope that this doesn't have to be your constant reality. We unpacked why you might be getting underpaid, how to spot the cracks in your billing process, and when it’s actually the right time to stop doing it all yourself.   The "Hidden" Money You Might Be Missing You might be leaving thousands on the table without even realizing it. We talked about one practice that found out they had been underbilled by $30 per session for twelve years straight. Twelve years. We walk through how you can check your own rates against the market so you aren't stuck in that same position.   The Real Cost of Doing It Yourself We tend to think that doing our own billing saves money, but Jeremy breaks down the "opportunity cost." If you are spending your most productive hours fighting with insurance companies, that is time you aren't spending with clients or growing your practice. It is often the most expensive hour in your week.   Fixing the Denials The number one reason for denied claims is usually the most avoidable one: duplicate claims. We go over a simple process fix for this that could save you a mountain of headaches and help you get paid faster.   Key Moments from Our Talk 6:18 – The "rate transparency" rule: Why insurance pricing was kept a secret for so long and what changed in 2020. 7:33 – The story of that practice that lost $30 per session for twelve years. 10:17 – "Noble poverty": Why we think therapists should undercharge, and why it is okay to actually make a profit. 17:23 – The honest conversation about when you should keep billing in-house versus when to outsource it. 19:23 – A simple way to look at opportunity cost that changes how you view your time. 27:31 – Stopping those duplicate claim denials for good. 31:13 – Where to find Jeremy and the tools he recommends. Resources Business Workshops for Therapists: https://www.coursecreationstudio.com/workshops Practice Solutions: https://www.practicesol.com The Claim Game Podcast: https://www.practicesol.com/podcast Scaling Therapist Services: https://www.scalingtherapistservices.com

    STP 176 | Ways to Stop Losing Time and Money to Insurance Billing
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The Scaling Therapist Podcast exists to inspire therapists to scale their business with systems, people, community, or opportunity so they can have more income, impact, and independance without giving up more of their life.

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