35+ Resources To Guide Your Practice And Online Business Journey
Mel’s top recommended resources, software, and tools for private practitioners and therapists moving from clinical to online income. Please consider bookmarking this page or linking back to it on your website as I will continue to update it.
Affiliate Disclosure: Please Read Before Proceeding
We’re proud affiliates for some of these tools. This means that, if you click a link for a tool and make a purchase, we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We created this page because we know how hard it is to find solid advice. I only recommend products and services that I actually use or have built a relationship with their team vs. someone paying me to put something on this page. Please do not spend any money on these products unless you believe they will help you achieve your practice and online income goals.
Mel’s Top Recommended resources
Kartra (Mel’s Top All-In-One Platform)
At some point in your transition from private practitioner to online creator, you’ll need to think about whether you want to piece meal your online business or have one piece of software that does everything. My recommendation: Use an all-in-one if you can as it will save lots of headaches later (e.g., transferring content over). Kartra is what we use for STC. Deal For STC Family: 7 Day Free Trial
Easy Webinar (Mel’s #1 Recommendation For Webinars)
91% of our podcasting course sales have come through our live and pre-recorded webinars. Easy Webinar is what we use for the latter (Zoom for live). You record your webinar, setup before and after emails, and participants can sign up anytime. Translation: Course sales without you having to be present. Also, I’m planning on setting up a webinar for my private practice so stay tuned. =)
Divi by Elegant Themes (#1 WordPress Website Builder)
The WordPress website builder we use for Selling The Couch and my private practice. Also, the most popular WordPress builder in the world. I bought the life-time option (very reasonably priced) because I didn’t want to keep paying year after year.
Circle (#1 Premium Community Building Platform)
There’s a phrase that “people come for the content, but they stay for the community.” This is true more than ever especially in a post-pandemic world. Circle is a modern community platform and is a great option if you’re thinking about having a community for your course or coaching group. This is what we use for our main online course mastermind.
notion (#1 all in one team workspace)
As STC has grown, I’ve had to bring on a small team and manage multiple products and services. We use Notion to stay organized.
Podcasting resources
Using Podcasting To Grow Your Business (Free Workshop)
This free workshop is designed for therapists who want to grow their impact and income with podcasting. I wanted to make it genuinely valuable. So you’ll find lots of tips and easy to understand advice that I’ve learned as STC has become an Apple Top Career podcast with over 1.8 million downloads since 2015 and as we’ve slowly built a 6-figure business around my family and health.
Captivate
The post hosting service we use. We used a larger company for the first few years, but there was some reports of shady behavior so we switched to Captivate. They include a ton of features that has really help grow STC (e.g., being able to swap in/out ads on the podcast, easy to share links, etc.)
My Podcasting Gear Kit
This is a list of every piece of gear that I use for the STC podcast.
Flocksy
The design and editing team we use to edit our podcasts for YouTube. Basically, we put the audio on the internet using Captivate and the video on YouTube using Flocksy.
Online Course resources
Course Creator Starter Kit
A free 7 day email course we created to validate your online course idea as a therapist. This way, you create a course that makes money. I think you’re going to be blown away by the quality of this free course.
Kartra
This is the all in one platform that STC runs on. We use Kartra to send our weekly emails and to host our online course and videos. No platform is perfect, but we’ve been really happy with them.
Easy Webinar
The platform we use for our podcasting workshop. It’s an evergreen webinar meaning that people can sign up for it at any time (i.e., it’s pre-recorded). We’ve used Easy Webinar since 2018 and have been happy.
ConvertKit
I have not personally used ConverKit (since we use Kartra), but I’ve met with their team multiple teams and have several friends who I trust who use it. This is a great option if you don’t want to start with an all-in-one platform. They have a super low cost plan to build our your email list.
Teachable
This is the online course platform that I would recommend looking into if you’re not sold on an all-in-one platform. It integrates with ConvertKit.
SENJA
The tool that we use to gather testimonials from course students. Great testimonials drive future sales. But it can be hard to get them efficiently. Senja solves this big time. You simply send a link (or put it within your course) and your course students can write you glowing reviews.
start your Mastermind resources
Zoom
Honestly, we just use Zoom for our weekly calls. Everyone knows what Zoom is, and it integrates well with Fathom Video (see below).
Fathom.video
HIPAA-compliant, AI-powered notes for your Zoom calls. We use this for our mastermind minds and send our a link afterward. The links gives participants the transcript, video and a summary sheet with notes, takeaways, and next steps.
Circle
The platform that we use to host our online course mastermind community. It’s a way more beautiful and less distracted experience compared to something like a Facebook Group.
Voxer
This has become the most popular tool for our mastermind members to stay in touch with me and with fellow members. I think it’s the connivence. You simply download the app and can send a voice-memo to others while you’re taking a walk, cooking, etc. Highly recommend.
Private Practice resources
Heard
The bookkeeping software that I use for my private practice. This way, come tax time (and even before), everything is categorized (e.g., my talks have brought in this much, my individual therapy this much, etc) and I can get a snapshot of my business.
TherapyNotes
The EHR I’m using for my private practice. They’re a local company, and I’ve gotten to know the team. This way, I can also make recommendations on behalf on our field to improve an already great product.
Upheal
Case notes are the nightmare for nearly every therapist. Wait too long and you either forget what was talked about in session or you end up with a pile of case notes. These are AI-powered, HIPPA-compliant case notes that I use for my private practice. They work for both tele-health and in-person session. Upheal generates the notes according to how you want it (e.g., SOAP, DAP, etc).
CPH
The liability insurance I use for my private practice.
TheraSaaS
Whether you’re a solo practitioner or a group process, the initial consult drives revenue for you private practice. But many therapists struggle with converting those free consults. TheraSaaS was developed by Brent Stutzman, a friend who’s partner owns a successful group practice, to make the intake process much more streamlined.
Divi
The WordPress website builder I use for my private practice website at melvinvarghesephd.com (I’m using the Josefin theme if you’re curious).
SiteGround
Where I host my private practice website. We’ve used them for STC as well and have been really happy.
Thrizer
What I use when clients want to use out of network benefits. Thrizer takes care of submitting claims so I or clients can avoid going back and forth with insurance companies. STC Deal: First $2500 in waived fees
LinkedIn resources
Taplio
Every therapist should start writing on LinkedIn. Why? Simply because it has over 1 billion users, and companies from all over the world are there. The real game changer? In 2024, LinkedIn started indexing content on Google. This means the stuff you write on LinkedIn can be found Google search results. But, honestly, who has the time to hang out on LinkedIn all day between client session, family time, etc? We use Taplio to schedule out LinkedIn posts, and study what’s working for others. It’s one of the main reasons that my own LinkedIn account has grown from 600 to 3000+ followers in 16 months.
YouTube And Live Streaming resources
VidIQ
Most therapists that start creating on YouTube simply start creating videos. While it’s definitely a good call just to get going, long term, you want to be strategic. We use VidIQ, a tool certified by YouTube and used by over 20 million YouTubers, to research keywords and make the whole process of uploading to YouTube easier. This way, we’re creating assets that increase in views over years. Deal For STC family: 7 Day Free Trial
Flocksy
The team we use to edit our YouTube videos. I simply record the rough video using Ecamm Live (see below) and tell the team where I want B-roll (graphics and videos that pop up when I’m talking so it’s just not a talking head the whole time). The team goes to work and usually gets things back to me in 48 hours. My Head Of Ops goes in and uploads to YouTube. We also use them for graphic design, animations, etc.
Ecamm Live (Mac Only)
The software I use to record my YouTube videos (I use the Local Record feature). I’ve noticed that the quality is way better vs. simply recording on Zoom. I also use ECamm Live for any live streams that we’re doing. If you have a guest on your live stream, simply send them a link to sign on. You’ll also be able to see comments from YouTube, FB, etc pop up on ECamm. This avoids the annoying thing of having to look on these platforms in the middle of your live stream.
Website, Analytics, and SEO resources
Divi
This is the WordPress website builder that we’ve used since 2015. It’s the most popular WordPress theme in the world. Practically, this means there are lots of website experts that know how to use it in case you want to update your website later.
SiteGround
When I started STC, money was tight. So I used a cheap website host. As the saying goes, “You get what you pay for.” The website was down a ton and I would get random errors. We switched to SiteGround in 2018 and couldn’t be happier.
DIY Website Guide
It’s intimidating and overwhelming to put together a website. But having a website is essential especially as you go from clinical to online income. In this free in depth guide, you’ll learn step-by step how to get your website up.
Rank Math
The WordPress SEO plugin that I use for STC and my private practice website. I went with it after reading a whole bunch of Reddit threads from developers who kept recommending it.
Fathom Analytics
I don’t know about you but I find Google Analytics really hard to understand. So I don’t even bother checking it most of the time. But this is a huge missed opportunity. I switched to Fathom Analytics because I love the simple yet powerful layout. This way, I can tell what pages on my private practice and STC websites are getting the most traffic and optimize those vs. guessing.
Credit Cards and Retirement resources
Chase Ink Business Preferred
This is the main credit card that I use for Selling The Couch. We have Chase cards for our personal expenses so we combine the points to book trips, etc. With this setup, most of our plane tickets each year end up being paid with points. Finally, just a gentle reminder to only get a credit card if you can responsibly steward it (e.g., pay off the balance in full each month). Otherwise, you won’t get the full benefit of the points because you’ll be paying interest.
Vanguard
I have separate solo member LLC’s for Selling The Couch and Private Practice. Vanguard is where I have my solo regular and Roth 401k open.
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