lvin Varghese:
Hey, it's Melvin. Before we jump into today's podcast session, just wanted to take a moment to thank the team over at Alma for supporting today's podcast session. If you are a solo practitioner that wants to take insurance or you've been taking insurance and you're either frustrated with the reimbursement rates or just done with all of the administrative headaches of going through insurance, definitely encourage you to check out Alma. They handle all of that. And the best part is that you actually get reimbursed within two weeks of the appointment. You can learn more about Alma and the services that they provide over at sellingthecouch.com forward slash Alma. sellingthecouch.com forward slash Alma. Hello, hello, welcome to today's session, Selling the Couch.

I hope you're doing well, having an incredible day. So if you've been thinking about starting a podcast for a while, but you're keenly aware that you have a successful and busy private practice, you may be struggling with how in the world am I going to manage starting a podcast on all of with on top of all of the other things that I'm doing. Next year for me will be my 10th year as a podcaster. We've released over 375 episodes of the STZ podcast and I've learned a ton of things along the way. And today we're diving into five unique ways that you can launch and run a successful podcast without it feeling like another thing or another job that you have to factor in, you know, running a private practice is demanding. There's the clinical side, the admin side, the marketing side of it, and just like the emotional toll that running a private practice and seeing clients takes on us as therapists. And, you know, I'm like keenly aware of the last thing that any of us want to do is like add another task unless there's like a disproportionate ROI to that task. But what if I told you that in a weird way, podcasting has actually made my life a lot easier? If someone had told me this, I would have been like, listen, I'm like, check it out in this episode. I have not listened to this because I do not believe this at all. But back in 2015, when I launched STC, I was doing five and a half days of clinical work. So I was doing some therapy, working with individuals and couples, and then i was also doing uh biopsychosocial evaluations and then bariatric surgery psyche vows it took up a lot of time and i remember in those early days i would just be like how in the world i knew that i wanted to start a podcast but how in the world am i going to balance all of this in today's episode we just really wanted to share five unexpected insights that will not only show you how to start a podcast efficiently, but also how it can be a benefit to your business and just your personal life as well.

So the five points that we're going to cover, I'll just share them here at the top just so that you can start to, you know, get a framework on things.So point one is batch record and automate. Point two is repurpose your existing content. Point three is C, podcasting as a client attraction tool. Point four is keep episodes short and impactful. And then five is outsource editing to free up time. So point one is all about batch record and automate to save time. Now, why is this important? We are all keenly aware, especially I think in this post-pandemic world, of how precious time is. Time really is our most precious asset. It's the thing that we can't get back. Time is even more prized when you're already busy and running a successful business or successful practice.

 You know, most think that podcasting requires weekly sessions, but the truth is you can actually batch record a bunch of podcast episodes in one sitting. So imagine something like this. You set aside a block of time, like a two to three hour block of time every two months and you record six to eight episodes during that time. That's enough content for two months of weekly episodes without interrupting your day-to-day schedule. I personally, I did this in the early days of STC and that's how I was able to kind of release a lot of episodes. But personally for me now is I just block off Tuesday mornings for two hours to record podcast episodes. So that structure is also helpful. But I think the underlying principle is if you can just find a block of time, I like the two to three hour block of time because I feel like you can get a lot of stuff done and dive deep into it. And then you just kind of go about your day.

So here's kind of the action tip that I would recommend, especially even before you start thinking through your podcast. Look at your schedule and block out a like a two to three hour block where you can actually work on your podcast. Then you can also, the other cool thing is once you record those episodes, all of these podcast hosts, you don't have to be physically there in order to release the episodes. So i.e. you can actually schedule out episodes. So we use Captivate for our podcast hosts. If you go through sellingthecouch.com forward slash captivate, that's an affiliate link, but there's a little discount code there as well. But this just makes it way easier because then you know at this point we have an editor as well and that'll be 0.5 but you can literally then just schedule these episodes out and it saves a ton of time and it's like and then you just kind of go about your day. Now I have a little bonus tip for you related to this. It's more of a next level tip, but you can actually stack this by creating a podcast on your live schedule. So with the STC podcast, we're currently recording live episodes six months of the year.

The other six months I'm running replay episodes of old episodes because, you know, we now have like 375 plus episodes. Now when I first started, I didn't do this, but I think as I've become a dad and as just other life kind of things, this schedule seems to really fit. It's basically designed around our daughter's school schedule. and at a pace that feels sustainable for me. So again, this will really depend on you and your pace. But what I have found is two months of doing live episodes and then one month break where we release replay episodes, and then two months, one month break, the summers, and then November and December are off. I found just that sort of pace seems to be really conducive to doing a podcast, particularly as a parent. Now, what I do is I basically get ahead on my off months. So I'm essentially always like four to six episodes ahead. This lets me get into really good stretches where I don't have to record or I can just take the time to think really deep about the types of episodes I want to release, the guests that I want to have on, all of that kind of stuff. The alternative is you feel this pressure to release an episode, oh my gosh, I gotta get an episode out in two days, let me record something, or oh man, let me just like reach out to a random guest because I just need content. So if you can really like structure it in a way that is conducive to your life schedule and also realize you can change that over time as things change, then I think it's a good stack as well. Point two is repurpose your existing content. So why is this important? You probably already have tons of valuable content through therapy sessions, or if you're in supervision, or like just in in the course of like, you know, maybe you've written blog posts, all of that kind of stuff. Now, of course, you want to be mindful to protect client privacy. You don't want to ever disclose anything. I know that all of us know this.

But one thing you can start to do in especially if you have a therapy practice is just like take 15 minutes and jot down any common themes that seem to be coming across sessions. So the benefit of this is people are coming to you for therapy to address a particular pain point. And you're now identifying these themes. And you can create then create podcast episodes around those common themes. So common client questions, challenges that you're encountering, any of that kind of stuff can be wonderful fodder for podcast sessions. Kind of a nuance of this is think about the advice that you give to clients on a regular basis. Chances are it's kind of the wisdom many people want to hear. And you can turn those into podcast sessions. Now here's kind of a little actionable tip to go along the way. One thing I found really helpful is, you know, in the early days of STC, I would sit in front of the computer and put on my mic, you know, get on the, get my mic ready, all of that stuff and be ready to record a podcast session. And then I would be like, Oh, wait a minute. I don't have any content. And what I found instead is if you can capture ideas throughout the course of your day, i.e. when you're not in front of the podcasting mic, that just makes it a lot easier. So you can create, like if you're like, just like love good old fashioned notebooks, you can just have a notebook, or you can have like a notes app or something, note taking app on your phone, just to jot down recurring topics from sessions. And I do something which is a little bit interesting, but I found it really helpful, which is I created a free slack account and I have a private slack channel for just myself. And I have different sub channels within the main channel and one of them is podcast ideas. And so as I met, you know, for example, if I'm on a hike or something and I'm listening to a book, or I'm on a conversation with a friend and we get into something and I'm like, oh, this is really interesting. I'll just go into my Slack sub-channel and just make a quick note to myself.

The magic of Slack also is that you can write a written note, or if there's like, you see a quote or something that inspires you, you can take a picture of it, or you can just do an audio recording. you know, came across this quote, and I wanted to put it here because I think this could be a good idea for a podcast episode or related to blank, blank, blank, right? So the main thing to just take away from this part of it is always think about ways that you can capture the new insights that you're learning, and capture it on a day to day or even hour to hour basis. The third point I wanted to share with you is podcasting as a client attraction tool. So I feel like the vast majority of us, right, we are creating podcasts to grow our businesses and also to enter into thought leadership. So maybe we want to do more speaking at conferences or write a book or launch an online course or create a membership site, whatever it is. And that's the way that I think about podcasting. I definitely, you know, with the STC podcast, my primary, like one of my big goals is just to be helpful and provide value. But absolutely, I'm thinking about the podcast in terms of what is a larger marketing engine for STC. So one thing I've realized is starting a podcast and it can actually reduce your marketing workload. And It can even attract organic clients, like clients organically, or customers. Your episodes basically serve as free content that highlights your expertise. There's also something really powerful about our voices. There was a recent ACAS media study that studied sort of online influencers or online thought leaders across a bunch of different platforms. And they found that podcasters, audio podcasters were the most trusted media personalities. And even just like a practical example, if you've been listening to the STC podcast for a while, you and I likely have never met, but I imagine you feel some sense of trust and connection to me. I think there's just something unique and interesting about the medium. And then I think there's also something unique when in the way that this medium is able to capture our voices. And in case you're curious, YouTubers were the second most trusted personality, which is part of the reason why we also started doing videos of these episodes. If you haven't followed us there, definitely check it out over on YouTube. You can just search for my name or search for Selling the Couch and it'll definitely pop up. Would love for you to subscribe there as well. And so just two things to remember with podcasts.

So they're evergreen, meaning that people find our podcasts hours, days, weeks, months, or even years later after it's published. The second thing to realize with podcasts is that they have binge potential. So if you're like me, you've listened when you find a new podcast, you're not listening to just one episode, you're likely downloaded multiple episodes. I know like some of my most favorite business podcasts. Once I like hear an episode for the first time, I will literally go through the playlist and then download the individual episodes on topics that are particularly interesting to me. But at a practical level, we know that from a marketing perspective, the more time someone spends with us, the more connected generally they feel to us. And so when you combine the fact that there's already a high level of trust with this medium of podcasting, combined with this binge potential, I think there's some real opportunities to really market your business and grow your business to podcasting. Now, I wanted to just share an example. So we recently wrapped up our launch of STC Elite, which is our mastermind for therapists who are creating their first online course. So this is just for therapists. We gather together and we work through live teaching to take your course from an idea to all the way to your beta group. We have 11 colleagues that are in our current cohort. And, you know, with all of these colleagues that join, I do one on one calls just because I like, I don't know, for me, it's like, you know, everything, especially with our mastermind is not just like trying to get a whole bunch of numbers. It's about getting the right type of person. And I don't know, maybe I'm just kind of old fashioned. I like the human connection. You know, I don't want, you know, hundreds of people in this mastermind, and I never actually get to know them as people. And because we do these one on one calls, I'm able to just have conversations with colleagues. And what's really interesting is 10 of the 11 mentioned that they first learned about me through like a colleague, or they like searched on Apple podcasts, and they came upon the podcast. And then They listened to the podcast. They felt the sense of trust and connection with me. And then they joined our free email newsletter, which again, if you haven't joined there, it's over at sellingthecouch.com forward slash newsletter. We send it out every Sunday night. It's now all our list is over 8,000, but the STC newsletter is now at 4,700 something around their colleagues. And so.

But they loved what was shared on the newsletter and then they decided to join the Mastermind when it became live because of the trust and connection they felt. It's not an overly complicated marketing funnel, like I don't have a background in business. But I do really feel like this medium of podcasting, there's something that's very relational about it. And it was just so interesting to get it, get also like data validation. And this has happened, this stat, this 10 of 11, there's a very consistent pattern when I've talked to colleagues in the past about this. So actionable tip for you is create episodes around questions that clients are asking related to your niches and specialties. At the end of each episode, include a call to action. So inviting listeners to reach out for a consultation if they resonate with your message. And if you're doing, if you're using the podcast to grow your therapy practice, of course, just mention the states that you're licensed in. And then that can also kind of help make sure that you're attracting the right type of ideal client. Point four is keep episodes short and impactful. So why is this important? Your podcast doesn't need to be an hour long endeavor. I don't know about you, but like, you know, like Joe Rogan's podcast, for example, are like three to four hours long. And that format works really well. But I I don't have that much bandwidth and honestly, I don't think I'm that interesting to talk for three to four hours. And in fact, what I found is that shorter episodes, so 15 to 25 minutes can be both impactful and easier for you and the listener to digest. So an example of this therapists often worry about filling like an hour of content, but you don't need to some of the best podcasts are short, they're bite sized pieces of wisdom that people can listen to between like a lunch break or on their commute to work. And the other cool part is when you have a 15 to 20 minute episode, and then we talked earlier about batching, let's say that you batch for like three hours, you can literally create anywhere from like, I don't know, like on the low end, you know, let's say, six or eight episodes all the way to, you know, 10 or 12 episodes just in that in that time, essentially, you can create three to four episodes an hour. So the actionable tip for this one is set a 20 minute timer and cover one question that your ideal client or niche is struggling with. Hey, it's Melvin. Before we continue with the rest of today's session, just wanted to take a moment to thank the team over at Alma for supporting this week's podcast session. So building and maintaining a private practice that you want can be extremely challenging. Alma offers a bunch of different tools, from administrative tools, time-saving resources, and an easy way to navigate insurance. So whether you're just starting out or you've been working independently for years, you can get the support you need to build your private practice. So creating, Alma has this online directory, so you can actually create a free directory once you join Alma, and then share what makes you unique, like your specialties or areas of expertise. People who are looking for you can filter by these details, so they're not just finding any therapist, they're finding you, and by extension, you're finding your perfect client. Alma will also help you get credentialed with all of the major insurance payers within 45 days, handle all of the administrative paperwork from eligibility checks to claim submissions.

That means you can spend less time on the details and more time on providing great care. Plus, they provide, as I mentioned, they provide guaranteed payment within two weeks of every appointment. You support your clients and Alma supports you. You can learn more about Alma over at sellingthecouch.com forward slash Alma and there's a special discount code there if you go through that link. That's over again at sellingthecouch.com forward slash Alma. We'll jump right back into today's session. format that I like to use, and you probably notice this even with STC podcasts, I always start with a question, I usually share like kind of a personal relevant story. Again, like, as a therapist, again, respecting confidentiality. In fact, I do a lot of like relating to my life, and stuff that I've had to navigate. And then I simply share three insights and then a call to action to work with you if the intent is to fill your therapy practice. Or the other thing you could also do is invite them to join your email list. I'm a big believer in building an email list. I, you know, like disproportionately, we've had a much higher ROI from and this is just like business revenue. Literally 92 to 93% of anything people have ever bought from us have come through our email list. And so that's something also to think about. Point number five is outsource editing to free up time. So editing a podcast, that whole process is usually traditionally the most time consuming thing. Now there are AI powered software now like Descript and that makes things way easier. But it doesn't, you don't have to be the person doing the editing, basically. Especially if you have a business practice, you likely have discretionary income. And just what my recommendation is, hire an editor at the onset. Or if you have like an executive assistant or something like that, have them get trained into script and let them do, let them handle that sort of editing and uploading of the episodes. That way you are just focusing on the outlining the episodes and then actually creating the content like I'm doing right now. So the other benefit of outsourcing is you can then just focus and be in your zone of genius and you don't get bogged down with the technical side because I think the technical side is also the side that I notice that a lot of therapists get overwhelmed with and yeah. So for example, so imagine recording episodes and then handing off to handing them off to a professional who edits it. This is literally what I do. So I'm recording this episode right now. And then once this is done, we have a file and I literally Dropbox it to my podcast editor. who edits the audio and uploads it through Captivate and schedules it out. And then with the video, we have a video editing team through Floxy, and I literally upload the video. I tell them I have a template that I use. It literally takes 10 minutes. And I let my editor go to work, and then they're able to just create a great episode for us. And again, if you're like, hey, I don't know that I have the bandwidth to go hire an editor, I think you'll be surprised by how reasonably priced it is, especially like, you know, $50 to $70 an episode is like totally like reasonable, right? And think about it, like even on the high end, $240 a month to outsource editing is like such a game changer. There's a bunch of different places you can find it. Upwork is one place you can look at. Or just do a quick Google search of top podcast editing services and there's just a number of them out there. Many of them afford really like affordable packages. The other sort of little secret tip is reach out to local universities and community colleges particularly that have like audio or music programs and there may be students that are looking for internships or paying work. Definitely that's another option you can consider as well. So just to recap, the five points, batch record, repurpose your existing content, use your podcast as a marketing and self-care tool, keep your episodes short and sweet, and outsource out the editing. I think these strategies will help you create a podcast without feeling overwhelmed. Now, if you've been thinking about starting a podcast, but you feel like you don't have the time, I really hope that today's session has been helpful.

Truth be told, I was terrified to start this podcast. But now looking back, this has been singularly the best career decision that I've made. It's allowed me to build out a really nice network. It's allowed me to serve our field. It's allowed me to create content at scale and distribute it at scale. And it's just been personally gratifying. I am naturally an introvert. I'm an HSP. I'm an INFJ in my Myers-Briggs. And just the thought of doing public speaking and doing all this stuff, Nine years ago, I would have cringed at this thought of doing any of this stuff. But when you release this many episodes, it's really interesting and kind of weird and kind of strange how it changes you from the inside. And it just makes you so much more courageous. We have a free podcasting workshop called Using Podcasting to Grow Your Business. This is basically, the subtitle is Lessons Learned from Nine Years of Podcasting, a Top .5 Global Podcast, and a Six-Figure Business Designed Around My Family. It's an on-demand workshop, so you can watch it at a time and a date that works for you. It's absolutely free. And you can watch it multiple times if you need. A lot of folks and a lot of colleagues do that. That's over at selling the couch.com forward slash podcasting workshop. Thank you for taking the time to listen and have a great rest of your day. And if you're starting podcasts, your podcasting journey, I'm just so excited for you and I can't wait to cheer you on. Have a great rest of your day. Bye.

Narrator: Thanks for listening to the selling the couch podcast. For more great content and to stay up to date, visit www dot selling the couch.com.

Melvin Varghese: Hey there, I hope that you enjoyed today's session. Thank you again for taking the time to listen all the way through. If you are a therapist and you're specifically in a season where you're a seasoned therapist and you are wanting to move from clinical to online course income, We actually have a specific mastermind for therapists who are doing this. So this is basically a group of really kind and supportive therapists who are also wildly successful as business owners. We meet together to build and grow and scale our online courses. you can learn more about that mastermind over at sellingthecouch.com forward slash mastermind all one word sellingthecouch.com forward slash mastermind thank you so much for taking the time to listen to today's session

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