So, About That Recession...

So, fellow Spirits, fellow therapists, fellow businessmen and women, fellow Americans (how Presidential it feels to type that) - I want you to know I live in the real world with you. I can see and hear the news. The overall economy is having problems. The average therapist's business is down. But one thing I know is that overall numbers and averages are made up of individual cases, each of these varying WIDELY. You are an individual case.

We could ponder what the overall decline in counseling sessions will be in 2009 vs. 2008.  10%? 20%? More? We could imagine we will experience that same decline, or worse. But I tell you with full faith there will be people who have less of a drop in business than the average. There will be people who will have no drop in business. And there will be people who will actually build their business during this time.

You can believe in the Law of Averages, and it will deliver for you accordingly. Or you can focus on faith, delivering value, communicating value, helping people, gratitude, and finding creative ways to do all of it. We call it the Law of Grace. I'll pick the latter, thank you.

I was going to tackle the issues of fees in a separate post, but why not just do it here - as it seems relevant. Someone asked me my opinion about lowering fees in this economy. I said I thought it depended on the intention behind it. My opinion is that helping people is what we do. And if you want to offer lower-fee or pro-bono services for people who are out-of-work, or underemployed, or in foreclosure, so that they receive the help they need - I think it's a good thing. Fill the more fallow daytime slots with these clients. Run groups. Offer your help and your value to the people around you. Keep the faith that times will get better overall. Do it from an attitude of service, and compassion, and growth, and the future, and Abundance. Know that your referral engine will be running strong when your client's personal economies bounce back.

So yes, I think you truly can offer lower-fee services from an attitude of Abundance. Or, you may not feel moved to do so. That's OK too.

This is my two cents. Opinions may vary. I certainly wish you all the best in your individual journey.

Sincerely, from late-night babyland, your always Grateful Guy

Where Do Your Clients Really Come From?

So I just got back from the kick-off of our church's annual giving campaign. I pledged a tithe for 2009. This is my third year of tithing, and it was quite easy and unremarkable this time - no hand-wringing or second thoughts at all. Since I've begun tithing, my monthly income has roughly doubled. But I'll stop - this post wasn't meant to be about tithing.

I'm going to go right at this one. Direct and uncensored. So hold onto your hats.

I believe Consciousness is cause. That Spirit is the source of all Good. That the results we see in the world (we'd also call them "effects") start from Intention, and from the field of Possibility. They start in, and are made from the field we call..........God.

God is everywhere, and in everything.

So, guess where your clients come from? They come from God.

Where does your good come from? God.

And your abundance? Your personal economy? Also from God.

I've proven this to myself over and over again - changing nothing in my marketing, changing only my attention and intention and watching the phone ring and ring, or stop ringing.

I know that right now there is a lot of fear in the air. Great anxiety, and belief in scarcity. I know it will be bad for a lot of people. I know it doesn't have to be bad for you. I have faith in this. What should you do?

Turn your attention to Spirit. To Truth. To the Goodness of God. To your connection with Source. Turn inward and focus attention on the ultimate Goodness and Abundance of God. It's infinite. It's all around you. There is no scarcity here. That's just an illusion. Scarcity only comes in the believed separation from God. Instead, envision your thriving practice helping people. Open up to & accept your Good. Open up to this experience - it may be quite different from those around you. Have more faith in Spirit than in the economy.

You see, you might think your clients come from referrers, or from the web, or from your Yellow Pages ad. But I know your clients come from God.

I give great thanks for all the blessings of life. Namaste, Your Grateful Guy

Are You Planting Weeds or Flowers?

Keeping with the spring/garden theme, my question for today is "are you planting weeds or flowers?"

On a psychological or spiritual level, our thoughts, word and actions are continually influencing our lives, not only for this moment, but in continuing ripples that reverberate over time. As I wrote in my last post, sometimes seeds take a long time to germinate, and then more time to bear fruit.

So, what are you planting? Weeds or flowers?

For me, weed seeds would be ideas, words and actions that reflect judgment, scarcity, criticism, doubt, struggle and other negativity, such as:

• Speaking ill of other therapists
  
• Constant complaining about how bad things are
  
• Keeping clients that you aren't a good fit for (because you want the $)
  
• Trying to cheat someone financially, or be cheap with them (not pay their fee, etc)
  
• Being critical of others efforts at growth or expansion
  

For me, flower seeds would be ideas, words and actions that show gratitude, creativity, abundance, flow, compassion and faith. That would include doing things such as:

• Referring out to other therapists when it's right to
  
• Speaking confidently and open-heartedly about your work
  
• Open-heartedly helping others around you
  
• Brain-storming new business ideas
  
• Doing Self-care
  
• Giving back financially to where you are spiritually fed
  

Remember, if you plant weeds, you're going to need to pull them at some point! And one characteristic of real-life weeds is that if you let them grow and turn to seed, they turn out a prodigious amount of new seed!

Best, Your Grateful Guy

Affirmations of Scarcity or Abundance in Time, Money & Energy

In my therapy marketing business, I interact with a lot of therapists. It's always interesting to see their responses to my fees - especially when I think of these responses as affirmations.

"I can't afford it."
"I don't have the money for that."

While I understand the impulse here, from a spiritual standpoint this is re-affirming the situation as true. So I'd suggest a change of languaging (and thus a different affirmation) to something more along the lines of:

"I choose not to spend my money on that."
"This isn't important enough to spend money on right now."
"I am saving up for this."

This topic is pertinent for me right now because I am running into these same issues around time and energy. I keep affirming that I don't have time for this, or the energy to do that. Or that I am overwhelmed. And so that truth continues, and reinforces itself.

One last reason to highlight this is that I don't think these are just spiritual lies we are telling when we affirm these scarcities, I believe they are literal lies. An old teacher of mine, Kathleen Carie used to say "Honey, you've got all the time, money and energy for that which is most important to you." I've never found that to be wrong.

Until next time, Your Grateful Guy

Abundance, Scarcity and Group Consciousness

Before I was a therapist, I worked in high-tech, and I made pretty good money. In fact, I was a bit of a Yuppie.

When I graduated with my Masters degree in counseling and began to launch my practice, I noted that there was a very common belief that you cannot make money as a counselor. It seemed pretty pervasive. They backed it up with facts - I'm sure you know the ones, about insurance, sliding scales, competition, saturation, the hourly wage at agencies, the statistics.

I tried hard to not buy this rhetoric. This group consciousness, a scarcity consciousness, was something that I think does have an impact - unless you work to screen it out.

Instead I tried hard to surround myself with people who had an abundance consciousness - who were pro-business, and believed they could make a living as a therapist, in fact many of them *had* to. This was a good help, but I will always remember the day I was at my marriage counselor. My wife was a couple of minutes late, and he knew well I was starting out in practice so he'd give me little tips (turned me on to Office Ally - thanks Ed!). One day I asked him - can I make good money? Can I make $100,000 a year? He looked me square in the eye and said "of course you can". I cannot tell you how much this helped me.

So let me tell you - YOU can make $100,000 a year as a therapist. You CAN. It might not be your first year, or your second. But let's do some math for a second:

Assumptions:

• $100/session
  
• 25 sessions/week
  
• work 50 weeks/year
  
• $100*25*50=$125,000!
  

Now I know, this is revenue, it's pre-expense, and pre-tax. But there it is in front of you. Play with some of those numbers. Move your fee down to $80 and you're at $100,000 revenue. Keep the fee at $100 and move the sessions down to 20/week and you're still at $100,000 revenue.

It can be done. And there is a quote from a movie that feels applicable to close this post - "What one man can do, another can do."

'Til next time, Your Grateful Guy

Setting Intentions for 2008

A new year is about to begin! Time to set new intentions. I've been a believer in setting intentions because several years of experience has shown me that they work!

For me, an intention is a direction I set in my mind. It is the vision of the creation. It includes the destination but is not limited by it, nor does it necessarily show the path I will take to get there. If need be, I will include concrete goals to help measure my manifestation, taking good care to not let them limit me (for instance, I intend to earn $100,000 or more in revenues in 2008 - and I may revise that upward in the next few days). But the goals reflect a feeling, an experience, the financial goals representing Abundance, and Success.

A goal feels like something I "try to do". Just as a resolution is something I "try to keep". It smacks of work. It reeks of effort. It sounds difficult. My experience with intentions has been that when I set them I usually have no idea how I will create them, but I figure it will be exciting to do so. And often afterwards I find that I enjoyed the manifestation process, and I grew and was enriched by it.

Your intentions can simply be written, like a list or a word-story. Or they can be done via collage, especially if you are a more visual thinker. I strongly suggest keeping them somewhere where you will see them on a daily basis (mine go in the front page of my schedule book).

I'll share with you my intentions that intersect with this blog:
- I express and share my spiritual side
- I create and write whatever I am passionate about
- I experience Abundance by being of service to others

There are more, but I'm going to keep those for myself and my support network.

Happy New Year! Your Grateful Guy

One of Many Reasons I Know You Can Make a Living At Psychotherapy: Look at the Mall

So I have long fought the scarcity mentality that seems to be alive in the mental health field. That attitude that we can't make a good living being a therapist, or that it's getting worse, etc. etc. Phooey. That's a crock.

One way I know this is by going to the mall. Have you been to a mall lately? It's amazing how much stuff there is for sale. Stuff that no one really needs. Malls are not about needs, they are about wants and about stuff, and when I see blue jeans that cost more than a session with me, I know there is money out there to be spent. If I can provide value, there is money out there to be made.

The other side of the mall issue for me is this: being consumers - being shallow, stuff-minded, appearance-oriented, instant-gratification people - will at some point wear off for each human. At some point they will realize this is a dead-end that does not make them happy. At some point, they will realize that they want and need help in understanding what it means to be human and how to live a fulfilling life. And therapists will be there to help.

I've got other reasons why therapy is a growth industry, but that's for another day.

Best, A Grateful Man.