ENCORE: Where Should I Focus My Online Course Marketing?
Our Featured Guest for today’s call: Heather McKenzie, LCMHCSHeather McKenzie came through Online Course School as a beta student back in the fall of 2021. Online Course School is a live, eight-week experience that takes your online course from a simple idea all the way through the development stages so that you are ready to record. Heather created a course specifically focused on anxiety that can be found at Dial Down Anxiety. Like most of us who create an online course, she faced a common struggle about how to handle marketing time and costs to promote her course. Join us to hear the coaching call!McKenzie Counseling You’ll Learn:How to handle logistical challenges in the online presentation of your courseWhy Heather’s course is an eight-week course to help people understand anxiety and DBT emotion regulation skillsHow marketing options for an online course can be overwhelming for most people How to pinpoint your own superpowers in teaching and the style that works best for youHow to structure the content levels for promoting your course in six-month blocks:Start with webinars, both free and paid.Offer a downloadable guide or cheat sheet.Use a core blog post as a stand-alone feature that blows people away.Tips from Melvin about content levels:Offering too many things can confuse people, so stick with one core webinar.Less is more!Be thoughtful about using the words “webinar” and “workshop” so as not to intimidate people.Link your blog post videos to YouTube to drive more traffic back to your webinar.Consider that high-quality offerings through webinars, guides, and blog posts help to establish your authority as an expert and give people value that keeps them returning.How podcasting can help with future promotion by giving a call-to-action to your webinarWhy you need to take notes during the first offering of your course with beta students to know what content resonates the most; that content can be used for future free webinarsIn summary, five tools to market an online course that have evergreen potential:Webinar (start with live ones and then transition to evergreen ones)Downloadable guides or cheat sheetsCore blog postSelect podcast episodesMini-podcast Resources:Learn more at sellingthecouch.com/alma and get 2 months FREE–an exclusive offer for STC listeners. Want to launch your online course?Join our Free 90-Minute Workshop happening on December 10th: Will AI Make My Course Irrelevant? Save your spot at sellingthecouch.com/aiwebinarCheck out our new membership site that’s launching in January! Find out more and join the interest list for Haven.
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ENCORE: 7 Questions to Ask Before Launching an Online Course
Today’s episode takes a closer look at a major passion of mine: online courses. Let’s talk about the important questions to ask–and answer–before launching an online course. Join me!You’ll Learn:How online courses can help fill in the gap for those who need mental health services7 Questions to Ask Before Launching an Online Course:Have people paid me one-on-one for this course idea?Can I see myself being in this space for 10+ years?Is this course idea confronting a “massive pain” vs. an “annoying inconvenience” for my audience?Can this population afford the course I’m selling? Do they have purchasing power?Is this a population that is easy to target and find online?Is my course idea a growing concern/need for my audience?Are there others out there creating information products for this niche?Resources:Learn more at sellingthecouch.com/alma and get 2 months FREE–an exclusive offer for STC listeners. Want to launch your online course?Please check out our free 7-Day Course Creator Starter Kit for Therapists at https://sellingthecouch.com/coursekit.Check out our new membership site that’s launching in January! Find out more and join the interest list for Haven. Mentioned in this episode:Try Alma!Building and managing the practice you truly want can feel overwhelming. That’s why Alma is here—to help you create not just any practice, but your private practice.
With Alma, you’ll get the tools and resources you need to navigate insurance with ease, connect with referrals that are the right fit for your style, and streamline those time-consuming administrative tasks. That means less time buried in the details and more time focused on delivering exceptional care to your clients.
You support your clients. Alma supports you.
Learn more at sellingthecouch.com/alma and get 2 months FREE—an exclusive offer for STC listeners.
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ENCORE: Burnout in High-Achieving Mental Health Professionals
The perfect recipe for burnout is to work in a caring profession, be a slave to perfectionism, and neglect your needs. As clinicians, we realize that we work in a flawed healthcare system in the US, but how do we exist in this environment to do good work and sustain ourselves from a holistic perspective that goes way beyond basic self-care? We are diving into this topic with today’s guest. Join us!Our Featured GuestDr. Jessi GoldDr. Jessi Gold is the first Chief Wellness Officer for the University of Tennessee System, which comprises five campuses and more than 60,000 students. Also serving as an associate professor of psychiatry, Dr. Gold is a speaker, media advocate, author, and mental health consultant. She recently wrote How Do You Feel? One Doctor's Search for the Humanity in Medicine. In today’s session, Jessi shares her experience in teetering on the edge of burnout and what she learned about herself. Dr. Jessi GoldYou’ll Learn:The basics of Dr. Jessi’s role with the University of Tennessee and what it means to be a Chief Wellness OfficerThe differences and barriers from campus to campus in a university system“Silo-breaking” as it relates to mental healthThe difficulty in caring for ourselves while caring for othersPerfectionism, burnout, and why “it’s OK not to be OK”The pandemic’s part in training us to wear a “badge of honor” for not caring for ourselves and our mental healthWe are human—and we forget that very often.The event that was the impetus for Dr. Jessi’s book—and why it left her feeling horribleSigns of early burnout that Dr. Jessi only noticed in hindsightMaking the shift to navigate perfectionist tendencies to prevent burnoutThe importance of having self-compassion and reframing the mean things we say to ourselvesThe value of timeout for MEResources:Learn more at sellingthecouch.com/alma and get 2 months FREE–an exclusive offer for STC listeners. Want to launch your online course?Please check out our free 7-Day Course Creator Starter Kit for Therapists at https://sellingthecouch.com/coursekit.Check out our new membership site that’s launching in January! Find out more and join the interest list for Haven. Mentioned in this episode:Try Alma!Building and managing the practice you truly want can feel overwhelming. That’s why Alma is here—to help you create not just any practice, but your private practice.
With Alma, you’ll get the tools and resources you need to navigate insurance with ease, connect with referrals that are the right fit for your style, and streamline those time-consuming administrative tasks. That means less time buried in the details and more time focused on delivering exceptional care to your clients.
You support your clients. Alma supports you.
Learn more at sellingthecouch.com/alma and get 2 months FREE—an exclusive offer for STC listeners.
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405: I’m Shutting Down Our $9K Mastermind. Here’s Why.
Here we are at the last episode of 2025, our 10th year of the podcast. For the last episode of the year, I usually try to focus on reflections about lessons learned, tough decisions, and pivots that are happening. My intent today is to be transparent and share in a “fireside chat” format. Take a pause with me, sit back, and think about your business as we approach the end of 2025.You’ll Learn:The underlying question to ask: “How do I build something that lasts without losing myself in the process?”Announcement about closing STC Elite, our mastermind that has lasted for 4 yearsClosing the mastermind, all related to my stress level, focus, and mental clarity“Sometimes, the highest ROI decision we can make in our businesses is subtraction.”Feedback about concerns over the $9K investmentHighlights of a new membership site, Haven, launching in January 2026 (A much more affordable option!) Find out more and join the interest list. The Quiet Builder Newsletter: How this movement resonates with so many peopleWhat’s coming up for me in the form of courses, books, and new platforms to create space for my clinical skillsMy tip: Create your first course to support your enduring identity.Factors in life that go beyond businessChoosing clarity over complexityLegacy, stewardship, and charitable givingMy passion to help those who’ve been rescued from sex tradesThank you for your support over these past 10 years!Resources:Learn more at sellingthecouch.com/alma and get 2 months FREE–an exclusive offer for STC listeners. Want to launch your online course?Please check out our free 7-Day Course Creator Starter Kit for Therapists at https://sellingthecouch.com/coursekit.If you are a seasoned therapist looking to transition from clinical to online course income, we have a specialized mastermind for you. We meet together to build, grow, and scale our online courses. You can learn more at https://sellingthecouch.com/mastermind.Check out our new membership site that’s launching in January! Find out more and join the interest list for Haven. Mentioned in this episode:Try Alma!Building and managing the practice you truly want can feel overwhelming. That’s why Alma is here—to help you create not just any practice, but your private practice.
With Alma, you’ll get the tools and resources you need to navigate insurance with ease, connect with referrals that are the right fit for your style, and streamline those time-consuming administrative tasks. That means less time buried in the details and more time focused on delivering exceptional care to your clients.
You support your clients. Alma supports you.
Learn more at sellingthecouch.com/alma and get 2 months FREE—an exclusive offer for STC listeners.
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404: Building an Anti-Racist Practice in Times Like These
What does it mean to have an “anti-racist practice”? With all the changes taking place regarding DEI and the current US political climate, this is a challenging endeavor for clinicians. Join us for a closer look at this important topic in today’s session. Our Featured GuestKenya CrawfordKenya Crawford is a licensed therapist and trained facilitator who works with individuals, companies, and therapists to create healing spaces for our collective liberation. In today’s conversation, Kenya provides a behind-the-scenes look at the current state of DEI programs and discusses how to balance DEI and anti-racist work with running a sustainable business. This is a practical conversation around building and designing practices and businesses with strategic intentionality. Kenya's WebsiteCultivated Healers CommunityYou’ll Learn:The current state of DEI work: It’s not dead, but it has shifted.Our companies reflect our communities.Kenya’s focus from 2020-2025, aiming for overall sustainability in her practiceKenya’s personal example of navigating life with an “All money is not good money” philosophy“Is it really worth it to do work that doesn’t align with my values?” Considerations in a fee structure that make therapy more accessibleActions to cultivate space, community, and gratitudeFirst steps in starting an anti-racist practiceAn anti-racist practice is intentional in every touch point in your business. Finding your community (and accountability partners) with a shared visionBalancing anti-racist work with running a sustainable business Challenges in the differing language used to describe “psychological safety”Kenya’s perspectives on the removal of DEI language from websites, publications, etc. Resources:Interested in becoming part of our affiliate program? Learn more!Want to launch your online course?Please check out our free 7-Day Course Creator Starter Kit for Therapists at https://sellingthecouch.com/coursekit.If you are a seasoned therapist who wants to move from clinical to online course income, we have a specific mastermind for you. We meet together to build, grow, and scale our online courses. You can learn more at https://sellingthecouch.com/mastermind.Mentioned in this episode:Try Alma!Building and managing the practice you truly want can feel overwhelming. That’s why Alma is here—to help you create not just any practice, but your private practice.
With Alma, you’ll get the tools and resources you need to navigate insurance with ease, connect with referrals that are the right fit for your style, and streamline those time-consuming administrative tasks. That means less time buried in the details and more time focused on delivering exceptional care to your clients.
You support your clients. Alma supports you.
Learn more at sellingthecouch.com/alma and get 2 months FREE—an exclusive offer for STC listeners.
With 1.81 million+ downloads, Selling the Couch is an Apple Top Career podcast for current and future mental health private practitioners who think differently. Psychologist Melvin Varghese interviews successful therapists in private practice about how they built their businesses as well as top entrepreneurs, business/marketing, and social media experts.*
You'll learn how therapists get referrals, grow their practices, work through fears, find their enough, and stop "trading time for income." Melvin also shares the lessons as he grows his impact + income beyond the therapy room (podcasting, YouTube, writing, online courses, masterminds, investing, etc) and the tips and tools he uses to grow STC from a single-person business to the CEO of a 6-figure business.*
Featured in Psychology Today, Good Therapy, and Psych Central
****Get show notes and even more good stuff at sellingthecouch.com/stcpodcast*
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