It is an all too frequent problem when I am coaching clinicians in private practice.  They have been so busy fulfilling someone else’s version of who they are, that they have forgotten who they actually are.

Then they become so terrified of transference that they have forgotten how to tap into their uniqueness so that all we are left with a beige, same same website. A LinkedIn profile that is bland, boring and to be honest – does NOT reflect the person behind the website and the therapy.  (Put your hand up if you are Beige, Bland and Boring?)

Rachel was another clinician who like so many before her, was stuck.  Stuck in trying to work out why she wasn’t getting clients coming to her.  She had a website, an up to date psychology today profile, she was spending money on Google adwords, she was posting to Facebook all while she was working in two agency jobs because there were no  inquires to follow up, no phone calls to return.

Rightly so, Rachel was asking why on earth she had invested so heavily in all her years of training, then in all the trappings of a private practice (aka an electronic health records subscription, a VA,  Google AdWords, a website designer and copywriter, a business coach, conference, podcasts and YouTube channels) when still after 2 years she had very few people coming directly to her.

When I met Rachel she was burnt out, despondent and asking herself, “why can’t I make this work?”.  She was harshly criticizing herself, a common rumination in her self-talk was “why can’t I do this when everyone else can?”, “WHAT’S WRONG WITH ME?”.

I had spent about 3 hours 1:1 with Rachel by this stage, and I had undertaken an audit of her online presence, and my immediate question was… why is the person I am seeing online so different to the person I have spoken too – I’m so confused, this feels weird.

I was so sad for Rachel (and all the other Rachels) but then also so relieved – because this fixable.  It’s a fun fix, its an exciting and empowering fix – but its HARD work, and it requires thought, persistence and letting go of how things SHOULD BE.

Rachel had lost her Rachelness.  Somehow in her translations from who she was to how she was being presented got lost.  The passion to engage with clients to make transformational change was lost. All I read was she knows a lot of modalities; that I didn’t understand, and that she treats people with anxiety.  Is that enough for people like me to ask Rachel to help me? Am I even anxious, I don’t think so – maybe I am? Maybe Rachel isn’t for me? What the heck is EFT and EMDR, does that mean I’m going to get electrocuted?

I was confused.

If I was confused, then prospective client’s will be confused.

And confused people do not purchase our services.

So Dear Clinician, please don’t give up on your Youness.  Many of us have taken the leap of faith to Private Practice and be our own boss because we knew we could “it” better, differently, and make more of the type of difference that we wanted to make.  Please don’t give up on this by trying to squeeze yourself into some version of you that you think will be pleasing to others.

BEFORE any person will buy from you, they want to know you.  Why would someone in pain, who is anxious, hurting, confused and scared simply turn up and give you their money, share with you their darkest secrets and ask you to help them?  BEFORE they do any of this, they want to know YOU. The real you – because let’s face it, we call all smell fake and authentic a mile away.

Here is a simple exercise for you to get started (YES started, not done)

• What are 10 words that people use to describe you?
• Are any of these words you don’t want?
• If so, where are these words turning up for you online or in-person?
• Are there descriptions that people aren’t using, that you would like to be known for?
• How can you SHOW more of who you are and what you would like to be known for?  

This might take a couple of sittings, and it might require you to get real and vulnerable, but that’s OK.  Knowing who you are is the most important step in your marketing (yeah I know everyone else wants to tell you its about your ideal client).  However you can’t create or market to your ideal client until you know who you are! Otherwise we are going to create really poor versions of what our ideal is, and then get frustrated and swear that marketing doesn’t work.  Or worse, like Rachel, you start to think that there is something wrong with you.

Would you like to see more of me, the real me including Yoga Pants Monday, very little, sleep I’m  freaking out about cashflow again me? Then you are welcome to join me for my This is Private Practice Live Videos most days on Facebook, you can find the  LIVE events here.

And you can catch the whole series of This Is Private Practice on You Tube, here.

If you have any questions, or would like to know how I can help you build a marketing message that will work, then all you need to do is book in a consultation with me where we can talk about how to get YOU to be seen and attracting the people you want to be working with – to make that happen, you can click here.

Until next Blog – Here’s to your success!