So many singles asked me to be their personal Love Mentor and I have simply not had the time to do it because of my writing and TV schedule.  This is why I started a highly personalized Love Mentor coaching service where women can have coaching by phone or Skype from specially-trained Love Mentors.  And I am personally supervising them to provide highly specialized one-on-one dating coaching and love mentoring.

Details on the site.  If you try this, please check in, let us all know how it goes.

(Via proconnectnews@yourtango.com)

What’s Stopping You From Getting Clients… and What To Do About It

Learn how to overcome the challenges you are facing and get the tools to help you grow a successful and thriving practice. C.J. Hayden, best-selling author of Get Clients Now!, will teach you how to attract more clients with less effort.

Recording Teleconferences or Audios for Your Website or Blog

Audio Acrobat is the easiest and most cost effective audio recording method I have ever used. You can record via your computer or through your telephone. Once the audio files are complete you simply log into your account and access them. You can then post them to your website, blog or emails. Even technophobes will find it easy to use!

Online Appointment Scheduler

I use Appointment Quest for scheduling all my client appointments. It saves time and money while allowing your clients to book their appointments 24/7 at their convenience. Now that I am using appointment quest, I don’t know how I managed with out it. I highly recommend you consider using an online appointment scheduler like this one.

Much of the popular wisdom about how to succeed as an independent professional seems to center around saying yes…

Here are six examples of situations where you may want to consider saying no:

1. New clients who don’t fit into your niche.

2. Networking with people who have no connection to your niche.

3. Clients who take more effort to pursue than their business is worth.

4. People and organizations who ask for your time but do nothing for you.

5. Ads, promotional schemes, and exhibit space that don’t fit your budget.

6. Flavor-of-the-month marketing approaches.

Details/explanation at Get Clients Now.

Circle A is the soul of your practice: Inside this circle, list those services that you’re passionate about offering.

Circle B contains your brand: Inside this circle, list the aspects of your practice that connote your expertise, reputation and excellence.

Circle C is your economic engine: Inside this circle, list the services or products that are consistently profitable and generative.

The point where the three circles intercept — where passion, brand and profitability overlap, will become the new strategic focus of your business.

The complete article is here.

1. Relying on email and website traffic alone to promote your business.

2. Counting on your reputation and personal charisma to convince people to do business with you.

3. Promoting your own free workshops or teleclasses instead of guest speaking for others.

4. Spending unbudgeted amounts on promotional opportunities.

5. Maintaining multiple websites, ezines, blogs, or social networking identities with different themes.

Details on her site.

A few past and future WCTI contributors weighed in on the question.  Their answers below.  Your answers:  Waiting to be written and posted to comments.

Will Meek, PhD (willmeekphd.com)

Where did your first referrals come from?
My first referrals came from therapist directory websites (Psychology Today and Network Therapy).

Where do most of your referrals come from now?
My referrals continue to come from sources online. Those include online therapist directories and my website, which appears high in search engine rankings. Additionally, I have started getting people from insurance websites as well as from colleagues and friends of previous clients who had positive experiences with me.

Catherine Auman, MFT (catherineauman.com)

I started my private practice by getting on as many managed care panels as I could. This eventually turned into an average of two new referrals a week.During that time I was also building my cash business in any way I could, primarily on the Internet and through advertising. Now my practice is 2/3′s cash patients and 1/3 managed care. I love it!

Buck Black, LCSW (buckblack.com & truckertherapy.com)

Where did your first referrals come from?
In my office:  My first referrals came from people calling the group practice (which I am part of) and the secretary scheduled them with me.
Online/phone:  Google searches that directed them to my website.  I spent a lot of time increasing my Google rankings so this would happen!

Where do most of your referrals come from now?
50% from my website and my online Psychology Today ad.  Approximately 30% from face-to-face networking in my community and the remainder from referrals from the group practice and my ad on the back of the city bus.

Susan Giurleo, PhD (childdevelopmentpartners.com & susangiurleo.com)

First referrals came from colleagues–other psychotherapists, neuropsychologists.

Now: physicians, neuropsychologists, school adminstrators/guidance counselors, current or past client word-of-mouth referrals, my website/blog.

That’s them.  How about you?

• Where did your first referral come from?
• Where do most of your referrals come from now?
• What referral sources are you trying to develop for the future?

Take a second to comment–you’ll likely be helping out a rookie; you may even find yourself inspired to do some extra outreach.

Following his WTCI Interview, Buck Black, LCSW writes about doing therapy with truckers—what’s different, what’s the same, and how it works.

Truckers have their own community.  The average person probably doesn’t think about this community or even know it exists.  However, its important to remember that truckers are responsible for bring us practically everything we own, as well as making our economy move. However, there is little support for truck drivers and their families (see my recent article).

Given the nature of the life of the trucker, I see depression and family problems as the two most common issues truckers address in their coaching sessions with me.  Just think, you sit in isolation all day long (not just 8 hours, but all day long).  Then you repeat this procedure for several consecutive days, if not weeks.  Eventually, you are able to return home and spend just a few days with your family.

There are many disagreements between truckers and their spouses.  This is often caused as a result of the trucker essentially being an absent parent and doing his/her best to help parent from hundred or thousands of miles away.  Also, given that the trucker has contact with friends and family over the phone and occasionally Skype, there are often plenty of instances of miscommunication that result in arguments.  This type of long distance relationship is often prone to miscommunication because the phone and even Skype often does not convey true feelings and body language.

Truckers have a lot of time to think.  If you ask them, most will tell you that they have too much time to think.  If something at home is not going well, they have hours on end to dwell on it while driving.  This is one of the bigger dangers of the job the average person does not recognize.  I often help drivers with simple CBT techniques for thought stopping and distraction.  Given all the opportunity for rumination, there are many drivers that let their thoughts turn into worry and anger.  Again, I often help them use CBT techniques to address these issues.

How it works:  Clients typically find me via facebook, twitter, OOIDA, and word of mouth.  If you search “Therapy for Truckers,” you will find my website.  However, truckers often do not think of doing this.

The screening process is a must given that I work with clients at a distance.  I rely on the assessment form clients initially fill out.  This explains to the client that this service is not for them if they are homicidal or suicidal and that emergency services are not provided.  If there is a need for this service, then face to face therapy is required.  Of course, I will help a client if they happen to have an emergency.  However, I will not enter into a relationship with a client if I feel they will likely have emergencies.  Also, if I have the feeling that I will worry about the person’s wellbeing after I hang up, I will advise them that they need more intensive face-to-face therapy.  Ultimately, the telephone or Skype is the tool I use to screen the client to see if they are appropriate for distant services.

Amazingly, I have found that building rapport on Skype is about the same as in the office.  I think rapport happens so easily because clients come to me wanting to use the technology.  I am not trying to talk someone into using Skype.  If the person were not comfortable with the technology, then there would probably be more difficulty building rapport.  I must point out there are drivers who do not trust that I am a legitimate therapist.  I’ve had a driver call me up and say, “I don’t trust you people,” and continue to tell me his problems.  I listened to him for 20 minutes; he told me that it really helped to get his problems off his chest.  When I asked him to become a client, he said, “No offense, but I don’t believe in your profession.”  I invited him to call back and become a client if he ever felt the need.  So far, I’m still waiting!  There continues to be a great deal of stigma in the mental health field in general and even more specifically with truckers.

The successes that stand out on my mind are couples coaching sessions with a trucker.  I do this via conference call.  Other than using the telephone, it turns into a standard couples session. This is the time that issues can be addressed and I can help the couple with communication skills that will allow them to become much closer and limit their arguing.  This is often an opportunity for the couple to express feelings that they have never shared with one another.  It is this type of work that makes me feel that I really am helping.

Find Buck Black, LCSW online at TruckerTherapy.com and BuckBlack.com.

Have a practice niche you’d like to write about?  Great!  Get started with an email to WTCI.

Catherine Auman, MFT is a Los Angeles psychotherapist and managed care enthusiast.  She talked to WTCI via email about why.

What’s your background? What do you do now?

I’ve been working in our field for over 25 years in virtually all aspects of behavioral heath: private practice, psychiatric hospitals, chemical dependency treatment centers, residential treatment, and consulting nationally with mental health facilities. I guess what’s most relevant for this interview is that I worked for two years inside managed care companies, seeing them from the inside out.

I’m now in full time private practice that I built using the managed care strategies that I teach others in my seminars.

All the managed care options can seem overwhelming.  How do you advise people to get started?

The first thing is to learn more about managed care and challenging the misconceptions they’ve heard on the street. Most of these things, like the rumor that managed care companies are hard to work with or that there’s a lot of paperwork, are completely untrue.

What mistakes do people tend to make as they try to get on panels?

People often don’t know how to appear attractive to managed care panels in their applications. It’s not enough to just go to school and get licensed. To make themselves more attractive to panels, it helps to become “managed care friendly.” Neither of the managed care companies I worked for ever mentioned trying to save money or to shorten lengths of stay – both always instructed us to do what was right clinically. They don’t particularly like to work with clinicians who are hostile, or don’t understand how they work. I teach all about this in my workshop.

Some companies have a reputation of being hard to get paid by.  Do you have suggested list of good-to-work-with insurance companies?

It’s really not true that it’s hard to get paid by managed care companies if you do your homework up front. I teach people “how to get paid every time” in my workshops. That said, I’d have to give the “easiest to work with” award to United Behavioral Health (UBH). Most of the time it’s so simple: bill online and a check arrives in the mail.  Love that!

Any final words of wisdom for people trying to get happily to work via panels?

I love managed care – I wouldn’t have a full time practice without it. There’s a steady stream of referrals, an average of two new clients a week, checks keep arriving in the mail from what I bill. Most of what you’ve heard about working with managed care is a lie – there’s very little paperwork, the companies are easy to work with if you know how, and the clients are high functioning. What’s wrong with that?

Find Catherine Auman online at catherineauman.com.