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Welcome back, everybody, to another episode of Between Sessions with Berries.
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We have a really interesting guest today who is super important to what we do as therapists.
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We have Nikki, and I should have practiced your name before, Nikki, because now I'm seeing it's hyphenated.
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Nikki, can you say your name for me?
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Well, it's a lacurza.
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Nikki and Lucurza Drew.
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Psy D is the founder of Couchside Coordinators, a virtual administrative support company that helps therapists and wellness providers streamline the operational side of their practices.
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As a licensed psychologist herself, Nikki understands firsthand how administrative overwhelm, documentation demands, and marketing responsibilities can pull clinicians away from the work that they care about most, supporting their clients.
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Through Couchside, Nikki and her team help practices implement efficient systems, optimize EHR workflows, strengthen online visibility, and reduce the administrative burden that contributes to burnout for therapists.
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Nikki, we need you.
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I needed me.
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It's so funny that you say, I mean, I feel like all of us that have other businesses like therapists, it always comes from a need of like something we struggled with ourselves, you know?
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Even therapists, like our niches.
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You can almost always tell, like, oh, okay.
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I see why you specialize in that.
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Exactly.
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So tell us, could you tell us a little bit about your story and how you got to have this amazing service that you offered to clinicians?
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Yeah.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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So, like many therapists, I was feeling the burnout in private practice.
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I was wearing so many hats.
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I loved the clinical side.
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And I'm also like that weird person that loves the admin side.
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I love filling out a form.
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It's fine.
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So I was feeling the burnout and was like, I want to take a step back clinically, but how do I supplement my income in doing that?
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Which I feel like is a conversation that so many therapists have.
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Yeah.
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And I realized that I'm kind of an outlier that I did like the admin side of things.
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A lot of my colleagues didn't.
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So I started this side hustle of being a virtual administrative assistant.
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So some of my colleagues hired me.
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They were like, we know that you know HIPAA.
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We know that you know the fields.
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Can you do the admin support for me?
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And so I started doing that.
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Fast forward six months into it.
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I had a full caseload in what was supposed to just be a side muscle.
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Wow, that's amazing.
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It was, it was a great problem to have.
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It wasn't anything I planned.
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So I was at this fork in the road of like, okay, like what do I do?
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Do I continue just this one woman show or do I grow it?
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And I was like, I'm gonna try to grow it.
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So I grew it and it grew into what is now couchside coordinators, and we went from just offering admin support and social media management to a bunch of other services like SEO support, website design, copywriting, and here we are.
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Amazing! Oh my gosh.
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So we're like, I've got to leave the field.
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It was just kind of like I'm gonna do this on the side, and then it just blew up and now Yes.
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Yeah, yes, I didn't want to leave the field, I just wanted to cut back while not cutting back my income.
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And it was kind of like, okay, how how am I gonna do that?
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I totally, totally get that.
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Oh my gosh, yeah.
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My story too.
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It's like, okay, I like seeing clients kind of, but not this many clients.
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Like exactly too much.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, I totally get that.
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So, what are some of the most common operational mistakes that you're seeing therapists making when they're building or scaling their private practices?
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Like maybe we could talk about building in the beginning and then later maybe they want to scale.
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Like, maybe you can walk us through some what are some of the mistakes?
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Yeah, I think first and foremost, most therapists are trained clinically, not operationally.
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I was never taught in either my master's program or my doctorate program.
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I wasn't taught how to run a private practice.
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I was taught how to do therapy and do assessments and evals and was pushed into doing private practice, but was never taught, hey, this is what you need to do.
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So I feel like many of us we get into it and we're wearing too many hats.
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We're the biller, we're the admin, we're returning phone calls and emails, we're doing the notes, we're doing the things that we have to do as a therapist and everything else.
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And it can get overwhelming.
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And I think in the beginning, most of us do wear all of those hats, but then at some point you have to take some of the hats off and start delegating it because at that point you're not working smarter, you're working harder.
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And that contributes to the burnout.
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And you know, a lot of people say, I don't know if I have the financial means to like bring somebody on, which totally get.
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And I try to rephrase it as like, don't just think about it in like dollars and cents, think about it in like time and energy instead of logging in an hour before you see clients to answer emails.
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You could have somebody doing that while you're in session, right?
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And making the money.
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Like, let's say you make$150 an hour, like pay somebody$25 for five hours and like free yourself from the whatever you want to call it, like free yourself from that burden of just having to do it all.
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Yeah, because I remember at the beginning you think you've got it.
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It's like, okay, I could file a claim and then see the clients, and but then it just snowballs.
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The more clients you get, the busier you get all of that, and stuff starts to fall behind.
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Like for me, I mean, there was one point where I had, I don't know, probably three weeks' worth of notes that I hadn't done.
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And I remember I've shared this in here before, but like driving for vacation from Virginia to Florida, and I like literally my laptop the entire time, like trying to just catch up on notes, like a 12-hour ride, you know what I mean?
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Like, and you could have been like sightseeing out the window and bonding with your family and I don't know, doing silly car games.
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Exactly.
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Exactly.
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So, I mean, gosh, it's so important to reframe that mindset, I think, because I think a lot of people get stuck in that.
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Like, I just can't afford it.
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Yeah, exactly.
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And I think going back to the mental toll it takes on you, I know a lot of therapists will have certain days reserved for admin, certain days reserved for client, which is great, but there's always something that pops up in the day that you have reserved for one that has to be dealt with, and it's the other category, and now your brain is switching tabs, and that's exhausting.
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Yeah.
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Or if it's like, oh my gosh, I have three hours free.
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This is what I'm supposed to write my notes.
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I'm not doing that.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, I'm not doing that right now.
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Well, notes is a bad example because we do have to write our own notes, you know, unless we're using theries or AI or whatever, but anything, any of the other stuff, the marketing, the social media, the SEO, like I've got to ramp up my website, all that stuff.
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I mean, that totally can be outsourced, yeah, by an expert that already knows how to do it.
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Yeah.
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Exactly.
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By an expert that, again, going back to like the dollars and cents, so many of us are like, I went to grad school, I can do it.
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You can do it.
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It doesn't mean you should do it because it takes you two hours, but the person who's an expert and does this full time, it's gonna take them 15 minutes.
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So you're not paying for their time necessarily, you're paying for their skill set so you can do what you were trained to do.
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Exactly.
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Like if somebody comes to you for like an initial assessment or appointment with you, how do you decide like what we should do first, what we should delegate first to somebody like you?
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Is it like, take everything from me?
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Or, you know, is it like, okay, I've got this much money, this many hours, I need you to do my SEO for me.
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Like, I just want you to do that.
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Like, how do you help somebody that's already overwhelmed on the brink of burnout, decide that maybe doesn't have a lot of money or something, decide like what's the first thing to start outsourcing to somebody?
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I'm laughing because I feel on our forms when people are reaching out for us to work with, then they'll list like everything.
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And I'm like, okay, let's take a deep breath.
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I'll usually say, okay, what is more important right now for you?
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Like if finances are an issue, then we obviously need to look at something that is more cost efficient for you.
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Or like if finances, obviously, like finances are usually something you're thinking about, but if they're not the most important thing, what is the most important thing?
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What is that needle mover that we can get off your plate right now so you can breathe a little bit?
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And sometimes for some people, it's starting off with a very small package, a very small service, because they've never delegated out before.
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And it's like you need to build that rapport, you need to build that trust of like, it's okay, we got this.
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Let us do this, let us build that trust.
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And then you can take a step back and say, okay, like I'm comfortable now.
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Here's more stuff for us to take off your plate, which usually happens.
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Yeah, I'm sure.
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I'm sure it's like, oh, you can do that too.
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Okay, well, let's do that now.
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Yeah, I'm sure once they get a taste of that freedom or able to breathe a little bit, it's like, okay, this is exactly what I needed to get out of this burnout and just be able to see my clients and relax and not be so stressed out.
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Yeah.
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And it's different for everybody.
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Some people will say, you know what, like emails are fairly easy, but they take up a lot of my time.
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I want to delegate that.
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Whereas other people are just like, this doesn't take up that much time, but it's something I really don't want to do.
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So can you do this for me?
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So it's really finding like us tailoring, like, let us help you and you tell us where you would like us to start.
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We can have an open and honest conversation, and then we check in what's working, what's not working, and we also say, Hey, you don't need to pay us to do this stuff.
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Prime example, automations are huge.
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Yeah.
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I love automations to a fault.
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So, like, sometimes it's like, could you pay us to do this?
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Yeah, or we'll help you set up the automation and then like set it and forget it and don't worry about it.
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Yeah, I was just thinking that.
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Are you doing it for people or are you like actually just setting it up so it could run by itself a lot, especially in the day of AI and automations and that sort of thing, being able to like set things up so they just fire without anybody needing to be present for it.
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Exactly.
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That's amazing.
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It goes back again to what our clients want at couch side.
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Some of them are still like, I don't trust technology, there's always issues, of course, there's human error too.
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But we can set up the automation for you and be done with it.
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Yeah, yeah.
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If the automation breaks, and I hope you guys are right there and help.
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Because it always breaks.
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Like emails of like this was working and now it's not.
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And it's like, oh, like it's not syncing or something.
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Yeah, yeah, totally.
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Oh my gosh, that happens to me all the time.
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Like, why is this not working?
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I love that.
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So we were kind of talking about some of the mistakes people make.
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Are there differences in like maybe somebody that's just starting out in private practice versus somebody that's maybe wanting to scale out?
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Are the mistakes the same?
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They just wait to hire too long, or is it a different problem depending on where you are in the process, if that makes sense?
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That's a really good question.
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I feel like in the beginning, there's this I don't want to delegate out, or I don't think I can yet, whether it's like financially speaking, or just like I'm like physically not ready.
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And then like with expanding, it's I want to expand for whatever reason.
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Usually it's generate revenue and income.
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I am completely ready to expand.
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Let's do this.
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So I feel like it's a matter of yeah, that preparation phase or like the okay, I'm ready, let's go.
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Yeah, that makes total sense.
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Yep.
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Oh my gosh.
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Yeah.
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This is the Berry's podcast.
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We love talking about AI, technology, automation, scaling, all of that stuff.
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So, what are some themes or even ways that you're using in your business to help therapists with the automation specifically?
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All of that stuff.
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Is there like technology you're using or that you would recommend that somebody use if they want to try to get more automations going to kind of like run their business behind the scenes?
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Absolutely.
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I feel like when it comes to technology automations, AI, there's like a very love-hate relationship with it.
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There's very few people in that middle ground.
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There's people who completely embrace it and then other people who are absolutely not.
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And I always phrase it as it's like junk food.
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You're not gonna eat junk food every day, but like you're also not gonna eat broccoli every day either, because that's boring.
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So, like it's balancing it out of where do you feel comfortable with technology coming in?
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Because if you're accepting insurance, most of us are using an EHR technology to submit those claims.
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So, like, where is your comfort level there?
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Maybe we do start out with automations, setting up your EHR.
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Do you have online scheduling happening?
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If not, that's a really easy thing for us to set up and start to see what happens.
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I think people just get nervous because you don't know what you don't know.
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So they're not sure how to set it up or that it's it's even an option.
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Yeah, right.
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Yeah, not knowing.
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So having an expert like you that's probably been there, done that, seen all the EHRs out there, you're probably like, Well, did you know like simple practice could actually but?
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And they're like, Oh my gosh, really.
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Yeah, I mean, that's a big deal.
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That that really is a big deal.
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Like automated scheduling where you're not having to like manually manage your calendar and scheduling people, clients.
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Exactly.
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And I feel like it's funny you brought up the calendar.
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That is one of the biggest areas we see where clinicians are like, I don't want to give up that control.
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I don't want to see this person as the last one of the day, or like I tend to go over with this person.
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So, like, I need a little bit of a buffer.
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We can do that.
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Again, it doesn't have to be this black and white, you have it or you don't.
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Let's find the gray area and what works for you to take this off your plate.
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And then as you get comfortable with it, we slowly start adding in a little bit more technology.
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I love that.
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Yeah, I mean, that's my biggest problem is the micromanaging.
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Even when I was asking you about the scaling, to me, it's like the thought of like having to hand the SOP or the system over to somebody else can be super overwhelming.
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Yes.
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I would imagine you get that people saying that when they come to you, they're like, Yeah, it's all in my brain, like I know how I do it.
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Yes.
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They don't even say that sometimes.
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They're like, I don't have SOPs.
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And I'm like, you do, they're just up here.
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We need to put them on paper because that's what's going to help us figure out what's working and what's not working.
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If you can't explain this to an admin, that's not working then, and we need to fix it.
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Exactly.
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And we probably should say SOP stands for standard operating procedure.
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In case somebody's listening and they're like, what are y'all even talking about?
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That's okay.
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Standard operating procedure.
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I had to learn that the hard way when I started hiring.
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It was like, I do it this way, but it makes no sense to anybody else.
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So I imagine y'all help with getting that straight and getting an actual like systemized how things are happening.
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And we say, like, our job is not to come in and completely revamp everything.
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Our job is to say, okay, what do you have in place?
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We're gonna build on that.
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And if we see areas of I just keep going back to automations because I feel like that's the biggest thing we see of like, hey, you can automate this, hey, you can do that.
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We're gonna tell you and recommend it, but we're never gonna force you to do it because at the end of the day, you're paying us and it's your baby, it's your practice.
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Yeah, exactly.
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Yeah, I love that.
00:15:54.279 --> 00:16:03.240
Yeah, and then once you get the systems in place, it delegate to you and have you guys do it or hire a VA or whatever to do the rest of that stuff in has admin or something like that.
00:16:03.320 --> 00:16:07.720
But probably your company comes in and implements the SOPs, I would imagine.
00:16:08.120 --> 00:16:08.519
Yeah.
00:16:08.840 --> 00:16:15.159
Some of them like don't have them written down, so it's like, okay, let's get on a phone call, let's start shotting them down, let's get a Google Doc going.
00:16:15.320 --> 00:16:19.879
Like, let's just start brainstorming and we'll get everything out and ready to go for you.
00:16:20.120 --> 00:16:20.680
Yeah, yeah.
00:16:20.840 --> 00:16:21.480
I love that.
00:16:21.639 --> 00:16:22.840
What about like marketing?
00:16:22.919 --> 00:16:24.120
Like, how do you help with marketing?
00:16:24.279 --> 00:16:27.240
Because that's like a really hard thing for therapists.
00:16:27.399 --> 00:16:31.480
Is there an automation that you guys use to help therapists make it easier?
00:16:31.720 --> 00:16:32.919
I wish it was easier.
00:16:33.240 --> 00:16:33.560
Okay.
00:16:34.680 --> 00:16:36.360
You're like, okay, you're from Mail Spot.
00:16:36.680 --> 00:16:41.399
I'm like, like full transparency, I always tell people, we're not a marketing agency.
00:16:41.560 --> 00:16:45.080
We can help with social media management, we can help with SEO.
00:16:45.240 --> 00:16:49.240
But if your thing is like marketing, we're not the right fit.
00:16:49.320 --> 00:16:50.440
And I have no problem saying that.
00:16:50.600 --> 00:16:51.480
Okay, gotcha.
00:16:51.639 --> 00:16:57.960
I think for most therapists, a lot of the marketing comes in from like the online directories, which is where we can help with copywriting.
00:16:58.120 --> 00:17:03.240
And also just saying, have you been tracking the KPIs with your online directories?
00:17:03.320 --> 00:17:05.399
Like, how many did you get from this directory?
00:17:05.639 --> 00:17:06.680
Did they convert?
00:17:06.839 --> 00:17:07.960
What are you paying?
00:17:08.119 --> 00:17:10.279
Let's start looking at it that way.
00:17:10.440 --> 00:17:12.119
What's your social media presence?
00:17:12.279 --> 00:17:15.399
A lot of people are on social media for better or worse.
00:17:15.639 --> 00:17:23.720
And let's be real, if clients, prospective clients are looking for a service, looking for a therapist, they're looking at their online presence.
00:17:23.799 --> 00:17:27.960
And if they have social media, they're probably popping over to their Instagram page.
00:17:28.200 --> 00:17:29.079
Yeah, for sure.
00:17:29.240 --> 00:17:30.839
Like, I'm gonna check this person off.
00:17:31.159 --> 00:17:31.799
Exactly.
00:17:32.120 --> 00:17:39.880
So, like, how do we build up your social media, website, online presence, SEOs, marketing it that way?
00:17:40.120 --> 00:17:44.279
Again, going back to like, let's do this for a couple of months and let's start tracking what's working.
00:17:44.359 --> 00:17:47.720
For some people, social media works great, other people, it doesn't.
00:17:47.880 --> 00:17:50.759
And it depends on so many factors.
00:17:51.079 --> 00:18:00.839
So when clients are coming to Couchside, I always say, just because your friend did it and blew up on Instagram and went viral doesn't mean that's gonna happen to you.
00:18:00.920 --> 00:18:03.960
And it doesn't mean that's where your marketing should be.
00:18:04.920 --> 00:18:06.519
Yeah, that's really good advice.
00:18:06.759 --> 00:18:12.519
And I like that about tracking the KPIs and that you're giving that advice and helping with that because and maybe we should explain that.
00:18:12.599 --> 00:18:13.799
What is a KPI?
00:18:14.039 --> 00:18:18.039
I mean, we kind of said that a little bit, but maybe no, I know.
00:18:18.200 --> 00:18:32.680
I mean, I know what it is, but I don't know if everybody does, and it might be helpful because even if you can't maybe hire somebody like Mickey right now, but this is really gold stuff because you don't want to be making Instagram reels 10 hours a week if it's not converting.
00:18:33.079 --> 00:18:33.480
Exactly.
00:18:33.960 --> 00:18:36.440
Like don't put your energy there, it doesn't make any sense.
00:18:36.680 --> 00:18:40.039
Yeah, so KPI is key performance indicators.
00:18:40.200 --> 00:18:45.079
So if we stay on the topic of Instagram and you're looking at a reel, how many people viewed it?
00:18:45.319 --> 00:18:46.920
How many people liked it?
00:18:47.240 --> 00:18:55.799
Nifty thing on Instagram, like figure out your demographics, what time of the day, what days of the week people are active and actively looking at your stuff.
00:18:55.960 --> 00:18:59.720
Because if nobody's looking at your stuff on Fridays, why are you gonna post on Friday?
00:18:59.880 --> 00:19:03.640
Post it on Monday at noon when most people look at your stuff.
00:19:03.960 --> 00:19:04.680
Exactly.
00:19:04.920 --> 00:19:07.319
Yes, that's smarter, not harder kind of stuff.
00:19:07.559 --> 00:19:08.120
Exactly.
00:19:08.359 --> 00:19:24.200
So going back to the dollars and cents and your time, if on a directory you're spending X amount of money a month or X amount of money a year to be on a directory and you're not getting phone calls or the phone calls you are getting, they're not converting, you're wasting money then.
00:19:24.359 --> 00:19:29.559
That can go to something else that is bringing in clients to you.
00:19:30.120 --> 00:19:30.920
Exactly.
00:19:31.079 --> 00:19:32.839
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
00:19:33.240 --> 00:19:39.640
Practical ways that therapists can reclaim their time in their day without sacrificing the quality care they provide, like right now.
00:19:39.720 --> 00:19:44.680
Like if somebody's listening, like we were saying, I can't hire Nikki right now, like this would be great down the road.
00:19:44.839 --> 00:19:47.799
Is there any practical things you could say right now?
00:19:47.880 --> 00:19:53.880
Like today, after listening to this, you could go do this, and it's probably gonna improve your workflow or make your life a little bit easier.
00:19:54.279 --> 00:20:04.680
I would say take a few minutes and sit down each day or for like a week or for a month and really document how you are spending your time.
00:20:04.920 --> 00:20:09.720
Because I think a lot of us don't realize how much time we're spending on little things.
00:20:09.799 --> 00:20:12.359
Like we'll say, oh, like I'm only answering emails for 10 minutes.
00:20:12.519 --> 00:20:16.279
I'm only on my phone for 10 minutes, and then you look up and it was an hour.
00:20:16.519 --> 00:20:20.359
So, like, how are you actually spending your time?
00:20:20.599 --> 00:20:23.799
And is that matching your expectation and what you want?
00:20:24.039 --> 00:20:29.400
Because if not, a very simple start could be, I only want to spend 10 minutes on emails.
00:20:29.559 --> 00:20:32.680
Okay, well, let's set an alarm on your phone after 10 minutes.
00:20:32.759 --> 00:20:34.279
Like, you're done with those emails.
00:20:34.440 --> 00:20:38.279
So it's nothing that you need to necessarily outsource or pay money for.
00:20:38.440 --> 00:20:42.279
You're putting a boundary in place for your time and for that task.
00:20:43.400 --> 00:20:48.519
Do you have any like time study tools or anything like that you recommend or even like a spreadsheet?
00:20:48.680 --> 00:20:50.039
What's a good way to track that?
00:20:50.519 --> 00:20:51.559
If you're just kind of new.
00:20:52.120 --> 00:21:09.319
I am big on a spreadsheet of like put out there like every task that you have going on, whether you want to do it or not, and just start documenting it of how much time did you spend, what was your energy level like before you started and after you started?
00:21:09.400 --> 00:21:23.000
Because if you're like fully depleted, that could be a really good point to say this is something I need to delegate out sooner rather than later, or I need to try to set some more boundaries around this.
00:21:23.240 --> 00:21:30.359
Maybe this is something I have to do first thing in the morning so that I'm not doing it at eight o'clock at night when I'm already exhausted.
00:21:31.079 --> 00:21:32.279
That's so smart.
00:21:32.359 --> 00:21:33.079
Oh my gosh.
00:21:33.240 --> 00:21:34.920
Because there's so many things I could do.
00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:37.400
I could even do it watching TV, but I hate it.
00:21:37.640 --> 00:21:38.440
You know what I mean?
00:21:38.519 --> 00:21:40.039
It's like this is terrible.
00:21:40.120 --> 00:21:40.920
I don't want to do this.
00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:42.519
I want to outsource it to somebody else.
00:21:42.680 --> 00:21:42.920
Yeah.
00:21:43.079 --> 00:21:43.400
Exactly.
00:21:43.640 --> 00:21:49.720
And I think just finding what works for everybody individually, because some people, I always mess up the name of it.
00:21:49.799 --> 00:21:51.079
It's the name of a tomato.
00:21:51.240 --> 00:21:52.599
The pomado.
00:21:53.240 --> 00:21:55.160
Oh, the pomodoro method.
00:21:55.400 --> 00:21:56.039
Is that it?
00:21:56.200 --> 00:21:56.680
Is that it?
00:21:57.319 --> 00:21:57.559
Okay.
00:21:58.120 --> 00:21:58.839
How did I remember that?
00:21:58.920 --> 00:22:00.200
Yeah, the pomodoro method.
00:22:00.279 --> 00:22:00.359
Yeah.
00:22:02.440 --> 00:22:05.880
Some people swear by it, and other people it doesn't work.
00:22:06.039 --> 00:22:13.480
Just because it's working for somebody else, just because social media is saying it works, doesn't mean that you have to do it or it's gonna work for you.
00:22:13.720 --> 00:22:15.480
Figure out what works for you.
00:22:15.640 --> 00:22:24.920
If it's doing your notes right after the session or waiting till Friday, and Friday is your note only day, that's what you need to do then.
00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:27.000
So it's checking in with yourself.
00:22:27.799 --> 00:22:30.680
Which is what most of us are saying to our clients.
00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:32.519
So, like practicing what we preach.
00:22:36.680 --> 00:22:37.000
Really?
00:22:37.160 --> 00:22:38.039
I should be doing that.
00:22:38.440 --> 00:22:39.079
Yeah.
00:22:40.039 --> 00:22:41.319
That's so funny.
00:22:41.640 --> 00:22:46.120
So on this podcast, we do like to talk a lot about like technology and AI and that sort of thing.
00:22:46.279 --> 00:22:52.680
So is there any AI out there that you're using or you're seeing therapists use that you think is super helpful?
00:22:52.839 --> 00:22:57.319
Like you would recommend for like time savers or just to make your life a little bit easier?
00:22:57.640 --> 00:22:57.880
Yeah.
00:22:58.039 --> 00:23:03.000
A lot of our clients are using AI with automations within Airtable.
00:23:03.160 --> 00:23:06.440
Airtable's a big one that I love Airtable.
00:23:06.519 --> 00:23:07.640
I like swear by it.
00:23:07.880 --> 00:23:09.160
They're using that a lot.
00:23:09.319 --> 00:23:11.559
I'm not big, not knocking it.
00:23:11.640 --> 00:23:14.039
It's just not a software system I use.
00:23:14.200 --> 00:23:21.319
Microsoft Outlook apparently has new AI called Copilot, which a lot of our clients have brought up too.
00:23:21.480 --> 00:23:29.720
I have not personally used it, but within our clients, it has come up a couple of times over the last few weeks that they've been using it.
00:23:29.960 --> 00:23:49.000
You got the age-old chat GPT, which um which I think a lot of people are using when it comes to like blog writing or social media, helping you build up their SEO, which is great, but you also want to make sure that you are speaking to your ideal clients.
00:23:49.319 --> 00:24:03.319
So I think in using AI, going back to that like broccoli versus junk food, using it but using it correctly for you and making sure like it's your tone, it's spitting out what you want.
00:24:03.880 --> 00:24:14.200
And the biggest thing now, too, which I think is pretty controversial in our field, is using AI for documentation purposes with sessions, which I have personally used.
00:24:14.359 --> 00:24:22.039
I've gotten all the approval from my clients to use it, and it's actually really great.
00:24:22.920 --> 00:24:24.440
It actually really is.
00:24:25.160 --> 00:24:39.400
It's really great, and it's not that you are relying on you're using it as a added support, as a second set of eyes, second set of ears for your sessions, because there's already so much that you're doing in the session.
00:24:39.720 --> 00:24:48.359
And to have whatever system that you're using, because there's plenty of them out there, yeah, to have it come back and say, Hey, like here's a recap.
00:24:48.440 --> 00:24:51.960
It's like, oh wow, like I actually forgot that that was brought up.
00:24:52.120 --> 00:24:56.680
Like I wrote something else down because I was focused on that, but like that was brought up too.
00:24:56.920 --> 00:24:57.480
Yeah.
00:24:57.799 --> 00:24:59.000
Yeah, absolutely.
00:24:59.079 --> 00:24:59.319
Yeah.
00:24:59.400 --> 00:25:18.599
I mean, we talk about that a lot on this podcast, just that cognitive load that it takes off to even have to put the energy into listening to it or to thinking about like what I'm gonna document later while you're listening to the client, you know, it's like you don't really have to do that as much anymore because the note-taker is picking up on all those details, you don't have to track it as much.
00:25:18.920 --> 00:25:19.240
Exactly.
00:25:19.319 --> 00:25:19.640
Yeah.
00:25:20.039 --> 00:25:21.319
And that second set of ears.
00:25:21.400 --> 00:25:26.440
And again, like technology can be used the wrong way, but it can also be used the right way.
00:25:26.599 --> 00:25:36.279
And if you have the right security measures in place, there's no reason that you can't use something like this to help you become a better clinician.
00:25:36.599 --> 00:25:38.440
Yes, yes, I love it.
00:25:38.680 --> 00:25:40.680
Yes, such great advice.
00:25:41.400 --> 00:25:46.839
So if somebody wants to work with you, like what are all the different things that you offer?
00:25:46.920 --> 00:25:55.000
And then how do they find you and work with you if they want to hire someone like you that can help them get out of this admin burden that we all get stuck in?
00:25:55.400 --> 00:25:58.839
This admin burnout, this wheel, this ever-ending wheel.
00:25:59.079 --> 00:25:59.400
Yeah.
00:25:59.640 --> 00:26:02.359
So CloudFide helps with administrative support.
00:26:02.519 --> 00:26:11.000
We can do blog writing, returning phone calls, returning emails, scheduling, all of the general admin stuff that typically comes to mind for people.
00:26:11.240 --> 00:26:13.559
We also do social media management.
00:26:13.880 --> 00:26:15.880
We do SEO services.
00:26:15.960 --> 00:26:17.640
I feel like that comes up a lot.
00:26:17.799 --> 00:26:20.120
And I personally don't know the first thing about SEO.
00:26:20.200 --> 00:26:21.799
That's why I'm not the one doing the SEO service.
00:26:22.039 --> 00:26:23.079
Yeah, smart, smart.
00:26:23.559 --> 00:26:25.079
My team is amazing.
00:26:25.240 --> 00:26:29.559
All of the services that we provide, they do for me.
00:26:29.960 --> 00:26:35.160
So I am my own customer and my own client and can attest to their work.
00:26:35.880 --> 00:26:39.000
Outside of SEO, we also do graphic design.
00:26:39.319 --> 00:26:45.240
So, like flyers, brand new social media templates, we do website creation and design.
00:26:45.559 --> 00:26:49.559
And we just started offering copywriting within the last three months.
00:26:49.799 --> 00:26:50.759
Oh, nice.
00:26:51.240 --> 00:26:56.039
That's amazing for just for blogs or e yeah, I guess blogs or whatever they need.
00:26:56.359 --> 00:26:58.279
Yeah, pretty much whatever you need, website.
00:26:59.960 --> 00:27:00.359
Nice.
00:27:00.680 --> 00:27:05.160
Certain directory bios, bios on social media.
00:27:05.400 --> 00:27:06.039
Yes.
00:27:06.359 --> 00:27:07.000
Nice.
00:27:07.559 --> 00:27:09.079
Well, how do they find you?
00:27:09.319 --> 00:27:10.680
So you can go to our website.
00:27:10.759 --> 00:27:12.039
It's kind of a long name.
00:27:12.279 --> 00:27:12.599
Okay.
00:27:12.839 --> 00:27:17.799
It's couchsidecoordinators.com, which I'm sure it's probably gonna be in like the session notes for.
00:27:18.279 --> 00:27:19.799
Yeah, we'll put it under the show notes.
00:27:19.880 --> 00:27:20.200
Yeah.
00:27:20.440 --> 00:27:21.319
The show notes.
00:27:21.400 --> 00:27:22.359
I said session notes.
00:27:22.440 --> 00:27:23.079
Oh my gosh.
00:27:23.319 --> 00:27:25.160
If that's not a clinician brain, I don't know what it is.
00:27:25.400 --> 00:27:26.519
Really, seriously.
00:27:27.079 --> 00:27:28.759
You can go over to our website.
00:27:28.839 --> 00:27:32.920
We are fully transparent with our services, our packages, our pricing.
00:27:33.160 --> 00:27:42.440
On there, you just fill out an interest form, and then a member of the team reaches out within two business days, and we get you on a free discovery call.
00:27:42.519 --> 00:27:50.839
We figure out where you want to go, where we think might be helpful if you're super overwhelmed, where would be a good starting point, and then we start you off there.
00:27:51.000 --> 00:28:01.480
I'll give us a little shameless plug of one thing that I'm really proud of that not many other companies offer is we don't do long-term contracts.
00:28:01.640 --> 00:28:08.680
We because me, the psychologist, I know the ebbs and flows of private practice and group practice and all of that.
00:28:08.920 --> 00:28:11.480
So we just do month-to-month packages.
00:28:11.720 --> 00:28:15.799
So you don't have to worry about getting trapped into like six months or a year.
00:28:16.039 --> 00:28:17.400
We do it month to month.
00:28:17.480 --> 00:28:19.960
If there's ever an issue, we have an open door policy.
00:28:20.039 --> 00:28:22.599
But that is something that I pride ourselves on.
00:28:22.759 --> 00:28:23.799
We're not locking you in.
00:28:24.120 --> 00:28:24.839
That's really cool.
00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:25.559
That that's good.
00:28:25.640 --> 00:28:26.599
I mean, it's peace of mind.
00:28:26.680 --> 00:28:29.480
It's like I can try for a month and see if it works and if I can afford it.
00:28:29.559 --> 00:28:33.160
And I'm sure once most people, I mean it was this way for me.
00:28:33.240 --> 00:28:39.000
Once I finally like let go of total control and hired somebody, I was like, oh my God, why didn't I do this sooner?
00:28:39.079 --> 00:28:39.240
Yeah.
00:28:39.480 --> 00:28:40.759
What else can I delegate?
00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:43.079
Yeah, it's like, who else can I hire?
00:28:43.240 --> 00:28:45.079
Please save me.
00:28:45.480 --> 00:28:46.839
Save me for myself.
00:28:47.000 --> 00:28:47.640
Yeah.
00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:50.279
Well, thank you so much.
00:28:50.440 --> 00:29:02.359
Thanks for taking the time today to talk with us and just bring that into everyone's awareness around working smarter, not harder, delegating, hiring, letting people help you during this process.
00:29:02.519 --> 00:29:02.759
Yeah.
00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:03.160
Yeah.
00:29:03.319 --> 00:29:03.799
You're welcome.
00:29:03.960 --> 00:29:04.680
Thanks for having me.
00:29:04.920 --> 00:29:06.039
You're welcome.
00:29:10.120 --> 00:29:15.319
Between sessions is brought to you by Berries because clinicians deserve support too.
00:29:15.640 --> 00:29:23.000
To learn how berries can help you streamline your notes, if you're stressed, and make space for what matters most, visit hayberries.com.