10 Things Nobody Tells You About Running a Business in Grad School
I'm not going to tell you it's easy. It's not. But I'm also not going to tell you it's impossible, because I'm doing it, and so are other people, and the fact that it's hard doesn't mean it's the wrong call.
Why Your Therapist Website Isn't Showing Up on Google (And What to Do About It)
Here's the thing about SEO (search engine optimization, aka how Google decides who to show and who to ignore): it's not magic. It's a set of factors, most of which you can actually do something about. Here's what's most likely going on.
Your Psychology Today Profile Is Probably Losing You Clients. Here's What to Fix.
Okay, real talk: almost every therapist on Psychology Today says they work with anxiety and depression. Cool, a lot of them do. But if your bio reads like a clinical intake form with your credentials stapled to the top, you look exactly like everyone else.
Your Program Expects You to Stop Working. Here's One Alternative.
Tuition. Supervision fees. Exam costs. And now your program is sending signals, subtle or not, that it's time to scale back your hours at work. Maybe quit entirely. Just... stop. As if your student loans got the memo. As if rent decided to be flexible.
A Bad Boss Makes One Hell of an Entrepreneur
…But here's what I've noticed: the people who've had genuinely bad leadership don't forget it. And when they start building something of their own, that memory does something useful.
It makes them think.
The Part of Private Practice Nobody Prepares You For
…And if you've ever found yourself at 11pm wondering why your Psychology Today profile is getting views but your website isn't, or whether you even need a website, or what you're supposed to say on it — you're not behind. You're just doing something you were never actually taught to do.
A Pretty Website Won't Fill Your Caseload. Here's What Will.
…So when I left that world to start building for therapists, I knew exactly what NOT to bring with me. And I knew something else too: the tactics that fill a caseload sustainably look nothing like what most marketing "gurus" are selling you.
What a Great Therapist Website Actually Looks Like (Two Real Examples)
If you've ever Googled "therapist website examples" hoping to find something that felt genuinely useful — not just a gallery of pretty pages with no context — this post is for you.
Tough Love About How to Fill Your Caseload (From an Ex Marketing Leader Turned Therapist-in-Training)
I'm a former corporate marketing leader, currently a grad student in a counseling program — not a therapist, not pre-licensed, just someone with one foot in each world — and I've seen enough therapist websites and social media profiles to say this with some confidence: a lot of what you've been told about marketing your practice is either outdated, oversimplified, or just flat out wrong.
Therapist Branding Can Feel Gross. Let's Talk About Why — And What To Do Instead.
You don't have to advertise how you quantify the success of your clients. You don't have to perform vulnerability or manufacture a personal narrative. You just have to be specific enough that the right person recognizes themselves in your words.
You Didn't Become a Therapist to Also Become a Brand. But Here We Are.
Let's just say it: nobody goes through years of grad school, supervised hours, and licensure exams thinking "and then I'll spend my weekends figuring out why my website isn't converting.” You became a therapist to help people. That's it. That's the whole thing.