If you’ve read the title of this post, you already know the news: I’m starting a Facebook group.
Now, with so many groups for therapists already in existence, you may be wondering why the heck I would do such a thing?
This post will be an attempt to share my heart and my vision for a Facebook group I’ve wanted to start a long time ago, but was always afraid to do so.
Because It’s Not About Me, It’s About You
For the last three months, I’ve been a part of a business coaching program called The 90 Day Year.
This program culminated in a live event in San Diego with the program’s creator, Todd Herman, and a host of extremely smart and successful entrepreneurs.
At this event, I was blessed to be a part of a small-group mastermind meeting where we shared the challenges facing our businesses and brainstormed ideas to overcome them.
I talked about my products and services and the things I want to create and BLAH BLAH BLAH.
Someone spoke up and cautioned me about making all these products and “passive income” a shiny object to keep chasing.
As I unpacked that statement and reflected throughout my three days in San Diego, a sense of conviction continued to rise within me.
I knew he was right.
You see, I’m good at getting stuff done in my business.
Creating websites. Setting up email campaigns. Launching new products.
Give me a vision and I run with it until it’s done.
But what causes me more fear and insecurity in my business is doing the harder work of actually reaching out to individuals I claim to serve, having conversations and figuring out how I can help.
It’s less predictable. I can’t control it, and I often allow my insecurity to hold me back.
I started this business because I saw my wife’s private practice grow so much because clients loved her website and I wanted to help other therapists do the same.
But each and every person’s story and practice is different and thus, their needs are different.
If I’m not intentional about serving individuals, I end up trying to help people from a distance without first connecting on a deeper level to really understand their struggles in marketing their business online.
So, I want to focus more on that connection, rather than on just building a business.
I want to help you find answers, even if the answer is another service, not one of my own.
I want to create relationships that propel your private practice forward by bringing a group of like-minded people together who want to learn more about online marketing in a fun and vulnerable environment.
Because People Are More Important Than Money
Having my first baby has also had a profound impact on how I see the world.
It’s solidified in me the things I profess to be values in my life, but don’t always find ways to express practically.
I want my boy to know that people are more important than money or business.
That’s something I’ve always believed, but beliefs don’t matter if your actions don’t back it up.
I want the CMTW Facebook group to be a place where people can find help for their private practices.
I want it to be a place where we can all grow and face the challenges of online marketing together, where no question is stupid and new solutions are discovered.
I’ll still have my own products and services, but I want the focus to be on providing the BEST products or services for each individual’s situation, regardless on whether they are mine or someone else’s.
Because Online Marketing Can Be Fun!
Call me a geek or whatever, but I truly enjoy building websites and using technology to help people market themselves online.
It’s like one huge and fantastic puzzle to me!
I’ve seen so much fear surrounding the mental health community when it comes to using technology, and I want to help remove that fear.
When you’re having fun, solving problems becomes so much easier.
So, as I learn to be myself more in my business, I’m learning bring more of that fun to the conversation.
Facebook groups allow a bit more freedom for fun conversations and connection than mediums such as an email list or blog.
Because I’m Learning To Listen More Than I Talk
“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.” – Abe Lincoln
Do you ever feel like online marketing is just you talking AT people all the time?
I know I do.
The truth is, no one just wants to be talked AT. We want to be heard and understood.
I’m learning to do this more and more.
I often do this through surveys and some of the email exchanges I have with members of my audience.
But there’s something different and dynamic about Facebook groups that I love.
Conversations are way easier and connection happens much faster.
I don’t want to guess at the types of challenges facing you and your online marketing.
I want to hear it straight from you and enter into those challenges together and help you overcome them.
A Facebook group can be both an extension of conversations started on my blog, as well as the place where new blogs and trainings will be birthed, based on what the community actually needs help with.
Join The CMTW Community Now
I couldn’t start this Facebook community without first laying out some of what was in my heart and mind, and that’s what this post is about.
If you want to walk this online marketing journey together, in a place where we are all learning to serve our clients better and be ourselves online, please join the Facebook group.
I can’t grow alone, and neither can you.
Click here to join the free Create My Therapist Website Community.
