Uriah: Hi this is Uriah with Productive Therapist and this is “10 Questions with Katie K. May”, Enjoy!
The first question is:
#1 What is your name and job title or license title?
My name is Katie K. May, I am a licensed professional counselor. I own a group practice of 13 amazing therapists, and we specialize in working with teens and really highlight the group process as a part of working with adolescence. I also own a consulting business “Become a Group Guru”, where I help therapists market, fill, and run groups in private practice.
#2 What do you love about your job or your business?
What I love the most about my job is helping people change their lives in impactful ways. It is fulfilling and rewarding when I’m able to join with a person and help him learn the skills, give them the support to help them become the best version of themselves. And this happens with my clients in the therapy room, it happens with the therapists I support, but when I can help them see who they are and who they were meant to be, and scaffold the skills with them to become that person it’s really a joy to watch and it fills my heart.
#3 What are 1-2 things that you always do in the first 60-90 minutes of your day?
Okay, so some things I do in the first 60-90 minutes of my day. Well, there’s coffee! I try not to get out of bed in the morning until the coffee has already been made if I can help it. But what I really do is I like to sit with my thoughts in the morning. I’ll drink my coffee, I have my journal next to me where I’m writing down ideas, whether it’ll be lists, or offers, new things that I’m learning. So what I’m really doing in the first part of my day is allowing myself to generate thoughts and process my own ideas, before I’m consuming anything from anyone else.
#4 What is your go-to drink or snack for productive energy.
So I actually have a very rigid system of 3 cups of coffee in the morning and some kind of tea around 3:00 o’clock in the afternoon. My go-to is chai, but I’ve been really into zen green tea recently. I am on a fixed caffeine schedule to manage my energy throughout the day.
#5 What does a very productive day look for you?
It’s interesting, what a really productive day looks like for me is really being in flow with my own tasks and staying out of everyone’s tasks. For example, staying out of the inbox of my intake coordinator, and letting her do her job without me looking into what’s happening. Trusting that my team is providing really good work so I don’t have to micro-manage all of those details. So at the end of the day if I have had some great sessions or I have had some done some awesome interactive coaching sessions and I feel like I’m in my zone of genius than that feels like a productive day to me. When I start to take on tasks that I’ve delegated to other people already and take them back on as my own than I get overwhelmed and I feel like the day goes haywire.
#6 What is your favorite way to rest and recover?
My favorite way to rest and recover is actually just hanging out with my family at the end of the day. I have a heating pad I turn on I like to sit on my heating pad and get under my blankets, snuggle with my dog and watch Netflix with my family, laugh, we play games, like Jackbox.tv games or we’ll play charades. But really just being together and enjoying the company of the people I love most and consuming media that’s entertaining allows me to shut down my brain a little bit and enjoy the fruits of my labor and everything I’ve built to be able to relax at the end of the day.
#7 Are you a Mac or PC person and why?
I am definitely a Mac person. It’s interesting I have never owned an iPhone or Mac computer before I met my husband, and he had never had anything else. So when we moved in together I just kind of assimilated to Mac and I’ve never looked back. It’s what I use.
#8 What is one of the best business books you have read?
If I’m thinking about the best business books I’ve ever read I would probably say going back to the classic book “Book Yourself Solid”, by Michael Port. It really has all of the foundational building blocks of a successful business, in terms of building relationships, giving value, and showing yourself as the authority through your work. It is one of the first books I read when I went into private practice, and I’d say that those concepts are still really strong being seasoned in business this point.
#9 If you were a hot sauce, what would your spice level be? (1-10 with 10 being the hottest).
If I were a hot sauce I’d be super spicy. I put cayenne pepper in everything. I actually don’t enjoy much if it’s not spicy. So I would have to say that if I were a hot sauce I would also be spicy. I tend to do things all in and to the extreme. And half-in or lukewarm is not my style, so gotta spice it up.
#10. Where can people find out more about you and what you do?
Where people can find me and learn more about me, if you are a therapist and you’re wanting help marketing, filling, running groups in private practice, you can find me at becomeagroupguru.com I have free training and Facebook marketing in growing your group, there are tons of podcasts and free offers. And the “5 Day Free Jumpstart Guide” which helps you get your group up, running, and growing in no time flat.
And we have a bonus question here: Bonus Question: What is one of your best tips for success and happiness?
One of my best tips for success and happiness is if you don’t enjoy doing it, and it’s not bringing you money or happiness, don’t do it. Delegate what you can, stay in the areas that make you feel fill fulfilled, that bring you joy. I tend to error on the side of if I’m not making money or finding joy in it, I’m not going to do it if I don’t have to. Obviously that looks different when you’re still starting your business, vs a few years when you have money delegate vs the time, but that’s where I’m at this point of my life and it truly does bring me joy.
Thanks so much for listening and I hope you really enjoy this podcast series. Have a great day!
