5 Tips To Thrive As A Therapist

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ft. Megan Gunnell of Thriving Well Institute 

Do you struggle to know what to do next to grow your therapy practice or brand?

In this episode, I chat with Megan Gunnell, who shares her 5 top tips for helping you to thrive as a therapist.

Click to listen now!

In This Episode, You'll Discover:

  • How to thrive as a therapist
  • How to identify what you should focus on next

Helpful Resources:

⬇️ Click for full episode transcript ⬇️

Uriah
Hello, and welcome to the Productive Therapist Podcast! Today I'm super stoked to have Megan Gunnell on the podcast. Welcome to the show.

Megan
Thank you so much for having me.

Uriah
Yeah, I'm legitimately excited. I know a lot of people say that, but I'm very excited to talk to you. We are just getting to know each other. And as I've learned more about you and been able to interact with you, I'm super impressed with everything that you've done, and even more so with just who you are as a person. So I'm stoked to talk to you.

Megan
Oh, my gosh. Well, thanks so much. I feel the same about you.

Uriah
That's great. I love it. So I don't know - do you like it or not like it when people read all your accomplishments and all the things you're working on?

Megan
It's a little weird. Sometimes you just sit there and you're like, Wait, what? Who are you talking about?!

Uriah
Yeah, I know.

Megan
Right.

Uriah
Well, you've accomplished a lot, and I know you've been doing this in various stages for at least 24 years and maybe more now, right. You've started three successful businesses. You've been a national keynote speaker, sold out six retreats to Costa Rica thriving group practice, massive Facebook group, online courses, membership sites. My question was like, what have you not done?! And we decided that you haven't done a podcast yet, right?

Megan
I have not done a podcast, so I'm getting very inspired by all these amazing podcasts. I'm always listening to them while I'm doing my laundry and my dishes. And, yeah, I'm thinking to myself, maybe that's the next step.

Uriah
It would tie in nicely to some of the things you have going on. So I genuinely want to hear some of your story and how you got to where you are now. But I'm going to put a selfish question in front of that. And that is, can you tell me why my next vacation should be to Costa Rica?

Megan
Oh, my gosh. Okay. So I love hosting retreats there, because for me, it's a full sensory mindfulness sort of gratitude experience. I feel very alive and awake there, and I don't know if it's because it's just like, gorgeous tropical climate. Is it because it's a blue zone? Is it because it's just sunny and warm? And I'm from Michigan, and I need that. Is it because you wake up to the sound of Howler Monkeys, like, outside your room? What is it exactly? I'm not sure, but I know that whenever I go there, I feel alive and awake and I leave feeling like super inspired and transformed.
So yes, I think your next adventure should be Costa Rica, for sure. And I wish you could come with us. Yeah.

Uriah
That sounds so fantastic. Most people don't think about how much the physical space around them, including the lighting and everything that's the plants and everything that's around you contribute to your wellbeing and your productivity, but also where you live, like where you are on the planet. And so that's interesting to hear you say that when you go there, you feel alive and then you brought up the therapist there. And I'm assuming that they felt a similar experience. That is so fantastic.

Megan
So actually, the funny part is for years and years, I was hosting wellness retreats there for my clientele, for all my psychotherapy clients and my people kind of in my circle there. But then this year, I decided with the thriving therapist community getting kind of big. And also after everything we've gone through as therapists, with Covid and all the stress we've experienced, personally, I thought, why not design and kind of build a retreat experience that is really exclusively for therapists? Because I think we have a very special set of needs after everything we've been through, and it was very well received. In fact, we sold that out in about a day. So that was very quick. So yeah, I'm excited. I'm really excited. And I'll be honest, a little nervous to host this for therapists because I'm usually doing it in a different kind of realm. So this will be a really great learning opportunity for me as well.

Uriah
That's going to be stellar. I mean, so much of what we do when we travel for work as therapists is usually conferences, CEUs, major brain burnout. Inspiring stuff, but it's also not relaxing. It's not recharging and getting us back to our client work or whatever else we're doing with recharge batteries. And I know that's part of the Thrive Summit that we'll talk about later, which is giving people good information and education, but also relaxation, right?

Megan
Very true.

Uriah
Fantastic.

Megan
I know personally, I don't like the whole back-to-back conference model. I'm a Highly Sensitive Person, and I get a little fried out with that. So I thought maybe I need to design something where you don't leave feeling exhausted and you leave feeling like you had part of a retreat. But part of it is that learning opportunity. So I kind of wanted to make that marriage happen, and I'm excited about that opportunity.

Uriah
I'm excited. I want to tell you about something real quick off script. So this is last month, two months ago, I went down to Universal City, so it's Southern California and went to the Therapy Reimagined conference, which was mostly virtual, but some folks were on site, mostly speakers, sponsors, and then a couple of other attendees. It was a great conference and got to see some of my longtime friends and then meet some new people there. And one day, several of us kind of cut out early and went across the street to Universal Studios. Did you see the pictures? We had, like, a legitimate adult play date. And we went like, I think most of us were like, business owners, consultants. And so we went and rode, like, the Harry Potter Ride and the Jurassic World. It was such a blast. And I was like, wait a minute. This is my favorite part of this conference. We should do this kind of stuff in our life.

Megan
Yeah, it's the play, right? It's the fun and the play. It's like, when do we have a chance to do that? So I love that. I remember that picture. Katie Reid put it on her Facebook page, I think. And I was just dying laughing because you guys were all, like, in line for rides. And I'm like, you're getting drinks. And it was so fun.

Uriah
It was great. None of our kids were there, too, which is even better.

Megan
Which is sometimes the best way to Tracel.

Uriah
Right. I know. So Megan, please tell me and tell the audience a little bit about how you got your start and then how you started thriving therapists. I would love to hear about that.

Megan
So I was originally a music therapist. So I started out with a bachelors in music therapy, and I worked at hospitals for a long time. And then I got to the point after about ten years where I thought, you know, maybe it's time to make a change. And I wanted to take my work further. So I ended up getting an MSW, and I lived in Europe for a little while and kind of had a little spin around a little bit of love for travel over there with that. And then I got this MSW, built a psychotherapy practice pretty much fresh out of grad school and did it in a very clumsy kind of building the plane, flying-it-while-I'm-building-it kind of experience of just like, I don't know what I was doing at all. And there were no coaches at the time that was back early 2000s. Yeah. I was, like, kind of scared and overwhelmed, but I thought, I really want to do this. I had this vision that I would make this private practice happen. And I really worked hard to build a very successful, thriving practice on my own. It didn't take me too long to do it because I was really super eager to make it happen. And then from there, I just kept thinking, what is next? I filled all these slots every week with my clients. But what else can I do? And I kept thinking, I really miss my creative music therapy world. And I thought, maybe I need to do, like, a one day retreat. And maybe I need to do a workshop. Or maybe I need to do something with, like, mindfulness and heart music and meditation. Or maybe I should offer a drum circle. So I kind of kept folding in, bringing back, yeah, all the creativity, all the music, all the fun. And I loved it. And so did the people that I was working with because it was a great blend of sort of therapy, but also talk therapy, but also sort of this creative and artistic element, too. And then as I moved along, I just kept doing that and they got bigger and bigger offerings. So it was kind of like a one day retreat would lead to a weekend retreat. And then that was like enough courage for me to say, maybe I could do a week long thing. Maybe I should do this Costa Rica thing. So that kind of just grew and grew and grew. And then I was getting more engaged on some of these therapist Facebook groups in 2019, I would say, is when I kind of started to just, like, chat in those a little bit more. And I remember distinctly it was December 2019 when someone in one of the other therapy groups was like, I've been watching what you're commenting on, and I'm noticing that you're always sharing some really good ideas and information. You should start a Facebook group. And I was like, what, why would I do that? And then I thought maybe I should. And just one day I decided to do it. And I built thriving therapist. And in two years time, we have 12,000 back under the house.

Uriah
Amazing.

Megan
So kind of crazy.

Uriah
I thought for sure that group had been around longer than that. That's astounding.

Megan
Funny, yeah! And I love it. And I thought it was originally just going to be this little tiny community. And I loved it when it was a tiny community because I really got to know some of the early adapter members that we had, some of the founding members, and I still reach out to them today, and some of them actually are moderators for our group now. But it's been really fun to kind of see that grow. And I've learned a lot to be honest about listening to your audience and growing an audience and understanding what that audience really wants from me and what to build for them and how to serve them. And they've kind of invited me to show up in a different way as a coach and a consultant. And I'm loving that role as much as I love being a therapist.

Uriah
Oh, that's so cool. I love it when the things that you create and the things that you build are more spontaneous and in response to a need that you see or even better when somebody taps you on the shoulder or a whole group of people tap you on the shoulder and say, hey, you're the person that should do this, right. And we need you to show up, right? Yeah.

Megan
And it's kind of crazy. I think when I talk about it with some of my clients that are therapists, I always say, Listen to those nudges, listen to those opportunities and listen for those whispers because those are so important and they lead us into sort of the next right step. And sometimes I have to be honest, I'm doing things a lot of times before I feel really ready for them. And before I know all the answers. But I have learned how to have enough courage, I guess, to just say I'm ready to just step in because this feels like the next yes, that I should lean into.

Uriah
That's so cool. I know a lot of therapists in my community and my audience are very smart, ambitious, driven people who are trying to figure out what else they can do. Like you said with your journey of like, okay, well, what's next? I have this great solo practice or a great group practice, but they feel like they've got more to give and they're not sure where to go. So hopefully they're listening to this will inspire them to kind of I mean, I think you're kind of saying, follow your intuition and pay attention to what the needs are out there, right? That's part of it for sure.

Megan
Always listen for the opportunity. So I'll tell you, like when I started doing something beyond the one on one model of care, I was hearing the Echo in my own audience of clients. I had a lot of busy working moms that were dealing with anxiety. They were high functioning, little situational depression sometimes, like transition stuff. And they were saying to me over and over again, when is it my turn? When is it my turn? When is it my opportunity to do something for me and so self-care for them fell at the bottom of the list. And as I was listening to this being echoed, like, session after session, I was like, I hear you, I hear you. And I'm going to build this. And that's when that kind of organic process of creating something more for my clients really started. And for me, it's also leaning into the joy of that. If you're not as a therapist, feeling really excited about your work and what you're offering, then I don't know. I don't know if it's going to be successful for you.

Uriah
I think you have to follow that right somewhere you've taken not a wrong turn, but maybe not the best turn. I remember seeing this diagram, and I can't remember where it came from, but it was along the lines of how do you figure out a career path or what you should do? And it was like a Venn diagram with three circles and on the one circle, it was like, okay, put all the things that you're actually good at. And then in the other circle, put the things that you actually enjoy because some things that I'm good at I don't actually love doing, right. What's an example of that? And lots of things. And then the third circle you put what things will people actually pay you for? And then if you find what's in the middle of those three circles, you find things you love doing, you're actually good at them, and then people will value it enough to pay you. I was like, oh, that's great. Right there.

Megan
That's where we should invest our time.

Uriah
That's where you should live. Genius. Whatever you want to call that. Yeah, right.

Megan
Yes.

Uriah
So hearing your story, I can see how things kind of developed, and it makes sense. And you responded to the call, so to speak. But you seem to really have a consistent passion to help therapists thrive. Like, Where does that come from? Because that's some other, deep down thing for you. Where does that come from?

Megan
Well, I think my initial desire in building the driving therapist community was not only to help therapist, but I have a real passion for supporting people with mental health issues. And so I felt like if I could create a community where I could give a little bit of knowledge and wisdom, if I was just one step ahead of some of these people, and I might be able to say, hey, here's what I did. I'll save you some time. I'll save you some energy, like, try and do it this way. This might be a faster, easier approach for you in either building a dragging practice or learning how to scale. And if I were able to do that, my initial desire was wouldn't it be amazing if we created this ripple effect where if more and more therapists were able to create successful driving practices, then more clients in those communities would also be served. And so that kind of almost makes me tear up a little bit because I feel really moved by the idea that if I'm able to inspire someone else out there to do this and to take the leap and to get a little more information, or have a little more of a map, a roadmap to build this correctly or easily, then they're going to be able to serve their audience and their clients and their customers and their patients out there, too. So that's so important to me. And I feel like that I have to remember the why sometimes because driving therapists grew so quickly, and I was like, Whoa, what happened? And where are we now? And what are we really doing? But every once in a while, there'll be a comment or a post on there that will bring me back to that. And it is really a humbling experience for me. And I feel super grateful that I can host this community with tons of support of our moderator team and our admins and stuff. But it's been really a learning opportunity for me. And I do have a ton of passion for helping therapists. And I try to give away as much information as I can, because if they can serve their clients in an easier way than all of us benefit.

Uriah
I love that so much. And I feel very aligned with that, too, with productive therapist. Like, if I can provide an amazing world class virtual assistant to a therapist that helps them get more done so they can have more fun and serve their clients better. That's just a win for the mental health community, the global community at large, right?

Megan
For sure.

Uriah
And that's enough to get you and I out of bed every morning. Right.

Megan
Right. And it does. I feel that way very much. So I get excited in the morning. I'm usually up with my coffee before six like getting right in looking at whether it's emails or computation stuff or notes, and it's really exciting. And I'm feeling very grateful that I get to do this work. I serve my own client population and my solo and group practice. But I also have this great opportunity to also kind of try to inspire therapists to do the same or scale beyond that. And I'm learning along with this community.

Megan
They're always bringing things to my attention that I'm wondering more about, too. So it's also stimulating to have a larger community of peers that you can lean into when you need more intellectual kind of stimulation, and you want to stretch your own reach beyond maybe what you're doing, too. So I do appreciate that.

Uriah
I would love to hear your five tips to Thrive for therapist because I know a lot of us through the last almost two years are struggling with taking care of all the people in our lives, including our clients, significant burnout, all kinds of other struggle and stress. But it doesn't have to be as hard as it is for some of us. So I'd love to hear some of your tips as many as you want to share about what it takes for us to really do more than survive and actually thrive.

Megan
Yes. Oh, that's my tagline. You got it. I love that.

Uriah
Perfect.

Megan
So I would say if I'm going to go through quick kind of five tips to thrive as a therapist. Number one is you really want to have the right mindset and vision, because if you don't understand the why of what you're creating or who you are and what you're offering and who you serve and why you're making what you're making happen, then it's going to be very hard for you to communicate that with the people who want to help you fill your case load. So what I always try to do is and this kind of folds into the second point on my list here.

Megan
But I always try to help the clients that are therapists that I'm working with understand that first, because if you don't have clear vision, then it's going to be very hard for you to execute something spectacular or successful.

Uriah
Right. Let me take just a quick pause and tell you a bit about our sponsor.


Megan
The second point that I always try to make very clear is you should really understand who your ideal client is and use their language as much as possible when you are in online real estate spaces. So if that's a directory or if it is your website, personally or your business, social media pages or your LinkedIn account, for example, people need to understand instantly what you do and who you serve. And if you're using language that resonates with your ideal client and you really understand your audience and what they want from you, you'll always be full. You'll always have plenty of work because people will get that message right away. The third thing I think we can do to thrive as therapist is to really understand that we can move beyond the one on one model of care. I try to emphasize this as much as possible, especially to therapists that are new to the field because they're thinking like, okay, I just want to think about filling my caseload. I got to fill my caseload. I have all these slots and I want them all filled, but that will happen, and it will happen faster than you think. If you follow sort of a certain plan for that, there is kind of a way to successfully make that happen. But then what is my question? So once you fill every slot every week and you will get there and you'll do that, then what do you do beyond that? Because nobody asked me that question when I was a new therapist. Never, right. I mean, your goal was just to have a full case phone, right. And then beyond that, it's like, what do you do? But there are lots of ways that you can maximize your education, skill set and training and monetize opportunities for yourself. So you can scale that business and eventually maybe you scale it to a very large point and you have a sellable asset. So there could be something that you're doing as a passive source of income that you put a lot of time and energy into. Once, for example, like creating an online course or making a group therapy group or designing some type of training or webinar. And you do that one time and you put the energy into designing that and creating it and then that passive income can generate another income stream for you. As a therapist, there are just tons and tons of ways that we can utilize all of our education and training. And many times we're not doing that not very effectively. The fourth thing is treat your business like a business. So again, I wish somebody would have really schooled me in this when I was just starting out as a business owner. And I want to remind therapist, when you're going into solo private practice, you are an entrepreneur and you are your own business CEO. You're designing your own company, which means you have to really think carefully about business decisions. And you should think. And this ties right into your offerings around. Think carefully about who you hire to support you, because if you don't have an accountant or legal support or a bookkeeper or you don't have an admin or a VA to support you as you scale, it's going to become very difficult to really achieve the level of success that you're hoping to achieve without doing those pieces correctly. So I think too many times therapists are like, kind of throwing spaghetti at the wall, and we need a better approach because I don't think an attorney would ever kind of just be like, Well, I hope this works. I think most therapists kind of are like, I don't know, we have a lot of faith. We've got a lot of brave acts of courage here inside of ourselves, and we definitely have passion and desire about what we want to do to make change. But I really, really love it when I get a therapist in front of me for coaching or consulting thing or in a course that I'm teaching, and I'm able to inspire them to really change their thinking just a little bit about how to be more of a savvy business owner and entrepreneur as you run your business.

Megan
And then the fifth thing is my favorite. And that is start before you're ready. So you definitely want to make sure that as you're building things, not to wait until something is perfect because perfect will never come. And so if you feel like you have some great idea, I can give you an example of this. I was working with a wonderful therapist doing some coaching around scaling her business. So she already had a successful practice. But she wanted to do something more. And she has this wonderful twelve week program all mapped out for a small group that she wanted to offer to a small population inside of her caseload, some of her clients. And she built this amazing design. And we went through and roughed out each week. And we were building the landing page together and talking about the pricing and discussing what the results were of the people who are going to be in this. And we talked about the ideal client and who would it be for? And like, all of this was ready to go. And right before she was going to launch it, she started to have one of those moments that we all have around. Oh, my gosh. I don't feel ready. This isn't quite perfect.

Uriah
Where you're going with this one, right.

Megan
You can just feel it coming.

Uriah
But what if so?

Megan
Here's me Megan Gunnell, Thriving Well Institute coach - I will push you off the deep end. And I'm not afraid to do that. I think I even did that as a kid. I will push you into the deep end of the pool. And I love being able to do that because I'm also there. I'll swim with you. I've got the lifestyle like, we can do this together, but I always try and encourage people. Listen, you can do it even before you feel perfect and totally ready. I encourage you to try it. And she did. She's going to launch it. And I'm so excited for her because it's going to be very successful. And we will never really know until we try. Right. So it's like, even when we launch things and they don't go as planned, we're still learning. So it's like, Brave not perfect is the philosophy here.

Uriah
Oh, 'brave not perfect.' That's a good one! And it's so true, because if you feel like the thing that you're putting out into the world is perfect. And it's like, absolutely everything you wanted it to be, you waited too long.

Megan
That's so true.

Uriah
And you deprive people of taking advantage of the thing that you wanted to put out there. And that's exactly done is better than perfect, for sure.

Megan
Exactly. And I think showing up to serve an audience, even if it's small at first, is a good learning opportunity for yourself. So even when I started with driving therapist, I thought, I don't really know exactly how I'm going to do coaching with this community. But I'm just going to start by doing something very small in the beginning. And it was a good learning opportunity for me to understand exactly how I could serve my audience. So don't wait until you feel like it's perfect. I just want to encourage people to start before you're ready.

Uriah
That's great. And I'm guessing you build on these things and you're building a thriving practice course. Is that sort of integrated into that course?

Megan
Yes. So in the online course, we really focused on how to build a driving practice. And part of it is the mindset work. And part of it is the vision that we talked about. So part of it is really the nuts and bolts of marketing and building your referral network. But it has a lot to do with that piece of getting the courage and the excitement and the enthusiasm to just continue the momentum so that you can really get something off the ground. So the five week course is a self guided opportunity that people can kind of move along at their own pace. So that's nice because some people don't want live coaching. They want to work from a recording of a course that they can take at their own pace and do it on their own time. A lot of people want to work super independently that way. So that's a great option for a lot of people. And I've had a lot of success with that course. I had one student who took the course and said she went from $4,000 a month to $20,000 a month.

Uriah
Oh, my goodness.

Megan
She took the course. So she got her money back on that investment for sure.

Uriah
That's amazing. Yeah. And then you also have the Elevate membership to support therapists along this journey as well. Right. Can you tell us about that?

Megan
Right. So the Elevate membership is kind of my little secret favorite place to hang out. It's a very small group of therapists, and it's a wonderful community. They are so supportive of one another. And each month we pick one theme and we take a deep dive on that theme. And there are weekly deliverables. So, for example, one month we looked at how to build an online course. And in that month, you got a 20 page PDF handout from me on how to build a course like, from zero to 100. How do you start this process and do it? And then I also have guest expert interviews and hot seat interviews with members and coworking spaces and office hours available. And I really enjoy this community because they support each other in a really beautiful way. And I'm there to say, let's take our focus from a thousand different ideas and bring it into just one idea this month only. And so we just take one theme a month. And it's mostly around scaling your practice and business. So it's really designed for therapists who maybe already have a private practice at a point where they're happy with that. But they'd like to do something more, and I really enjoy that. So if anybody wants to check that out, they're welcome to join us. We still have the founding member price open for the remainder of 2021.

Uriah
We'll put the link in the show notes. You know what, Megan? I often feel so envious of therapists that are coming up now into private practice because I started my practice in 2008 and similar to when you started, maybe not the same year, but similar to when you started there just there weren't resources, there weren't coaches, there weren't all these amazing memberships and online courses. Like, if I would have been able to take your course and been part of your membership, I would have, like, Skyrocketed even faster than I did.

Megan
I'm telling you, I didn't know any of this stuff. I remember asking an older therapist that I worked with in my group practice when I first started out, I was asking her, kind of like, Could you just do, like, a lunch and learn with me and maybe a couple of other newbies here. And she was like, in her 70s, but I was like, I don't even know anything about business bank account. I mean, I was so cold and green. I mean, I had no idea what I was doing. So she was like, sure, honey, bring your lunch. And we'll just do, like, a little chat. So I've never heard distinctly, like, sitting us down and helping us just understand kind of the business of doing business. And that was very helpful. But you're right. There was nothing. I mean, I was just, like, shooting in the dark. I had no idea what I was doing back then.

Uriah
So true. The first book that I bought was Becoming a Wealthy Therapist by Casey Truffo. I'm guessing you remember her. Maybe. Maybe not.

Megan
I don't know if I've read that.

Uriah
Yeah. She was one of the first sort of business coaches for therapists. I don't know her personally, but Leningradsky was one of them, right? Old school, not old school. I don't mean that in a negative way, but they've been around, and they were sort of pioneers. There you go. That's a better word. And her book is revolutionary because it talked about how not only you can be a wealthy therapist, not just in money, but in all kinds of ways. And she taught people how to market as a therapist. And even if you're an introvert, so she had these different ways that you could market one of them was, of course, digital marketing. And I grab onto that. And I was like, okay, I can do this as an introverted therapist with tech skills. Huge thanks to Casey Truffo, and I'm still connected with her now, but she's amazing.

Megan
So great.

Uriah
So I have to ask you this as we wrap up. I'm curious with all the things that you have accomplished, all the things you're currently working on, like what helps you stay productive and focused on a consistent basis Besides coffee? How do you work?

Megan
I love this question. Okay. You know, I'm a coffee lover, but I am all about mindfulness and practicing, like staying present. And I do it all day long. And I'm starting to think about documenting this a little more carefully for my audience because I just feel like it would be maybe helpful to kind of see what that looks like in real time. But it's truly like opening the back door to let the dog out in the early morning hours and looking for stars and, like, taking a deep breath of cold air and being in the moment of being here now kind of is my practice. And I can easily drift because I have too many kind of plates spinning at all times, so I can easily feel a little bit overwhelmed. But when I come back to either movement, slow cooking, yoga, meditation, mindfulness practices, walking in my community, touch point with nature using sort of the whole sensory experience, much like what I teach when I take people to Costa Rica to kind of like, be here now I'm doing it in my own little neck of the Woods just outside Detroit, Michigan. It's not as beautiful as Costa Rica, of course, at times, but there's beauty everywhere. So I'm looking for light. I'm looking for nature. I'm looking for food and experiences with my married chef. So I'm always thinking about, like, great culinary experience.

Uriah
You are.

Megan
Does that change things a little bit?

Uriah
It's fantastic.

Megan
It's great. I love it. I love it. But yeah. So even today, we both had an opportunity to have lunch together, and we had a nice little potato leak soup that we made the little avocado toast. And we were just both kind of admiring how beautiful this little plant based lunch was. It's beauty, it's mindfulness it's staying present and grateful. That helps me tremendously. And then I have, of course, my own little business system for staying organized. But yeah, I think if I don't have that in my own life, I feel a little bit like the well gets kind of dry. And I always want to be sure that I have a full cup to give from. And if I don't balance my offerings with a chance to replenish, then I can get in trouble quickly. With that.

Uriah
I love that answer so much. And I think the one that I need to focus on more that I love, but it's not as easily accessible is nature. I remember back in 2019, I made a goal of visiting every single regional park in my area, and there's 56. Yeah, that combined, like experiencing nature with a massive checklist, which is probably good for me.

Megan
Right.

Uriah
But it was so great because I got a lot of miles in got to see new places, and I thrive there, too. So I need to get back out there and away from my computer.

Megan
Yes. Right. And then that can happen, especially after what we've all been through and with a lot of meetings and stuff. It's just important. I think that we get off of the screen and back to the sky and we just have to kind of look to make sure that inspiration for sure.

Uriah
That's fantastic. Thanks for sharing that. So I'm going to put all the links to all the things that you have if I can fit them in the show notes. Just kidding. And including the Thrive Summit, which I'm excited to be a sponsor for next year. And it kind of was really close to another conference that I'm going to in Nashville. But I love Utah so much. And now that I feel connected with you, I'm like, got to make it happen to that one. And if you're a therapist listening to this and you want to have a fantastic experience of learning, but also slowing down and experiencing some relaxation and rejuvenation that's the place, right?

Megan
For sure. I designed this to be kind of part retreat and part inspirational learning summit because I want people to get a lot of great information and leave with a plan of how they can scale their business and be even more successful in increasing their impact and income. But I also really am committed to the idea that therapists need to know how to replenish and recharge, and it doesn't have to be boring. It's not about being in quiet meditation. We can dance, we have a lot of fun. We have kind of a party atmosphere, and there's a lot of joking around and laughter, too. But it's a really fun balance there because you're surrounded by just amazing red Rocks to go hiking in. And the resort has these beautiful amenities. They have a spa, full spa on campus and fitness classes and sound bath classes and drum circles and really cool. They have an outdoor labyrinth that I love hiking on right in the Red Rocks. And it's just really an inspirational place. And my feeling was after Costa Rica sold out so fast, I had a lot of people messaging me, saying how disappointed they were that they didn't have a chance to enroll in that or that it was too expensive or too long to go to the Costa Rica offering. So then I thought, okay, I need to make something else that's a little bit less expensive and a little bit shorter. And again, listening to my audience for an opportunity to create something else. And I designed that because I love Red Mountain Resort, and I'm excited to be back there hosting another program. And this time I'm going to be joined by a lot of great inspirational speakers who have successfully scaled beyond the one one model of care, and they're going to share their stories on how they did it, too. So I cannot wait. And I would love to see you there.

Uriah
That's amazing. My family and I took a road trip. I guess this is 2019. I think it was 2020 through Uriah, and we visited all five national parks, did the long route through Moab, and we got to see the Canyon lands. And Zion is incredible.

Megan
Oh, my gosh.

Uriah
Like bucket list if you don't know, go to Utah. I didn't think much of Utah, honestly - I didn't know how it was and talk about a spiritual experience in nature. You can find that all throughout Utah. It's amazing.

Megan
Oh, my God.

Uriah
I have employees in Utah too, so I have reasons to visit there.

Megan
Wonderful. Oh, my gosh for sure. Then you've got to come for sure.

Uriah
Great. Well, thanks so much for talking today. Megan, I appreciate you having you on the podcast, and I just think everybody needs to know about you and all your resources. So we'll spread read the word.

Megan
Thank you so much, Uriah. It's been my pleasure.

Uriah
Absolutely. Have a great day.

Megan
You too. Bye.


 

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