How to Leverage Story To Attract Your Ideal Client ft. Brent Stutzman

Hello! Welcome back to the Productive Therapist podcast. Thanks so much for joining me today. I had a chance to talk to my good friend, my new friend, Brent Stutzman. He's the owner of Brand Your Practice, which is a media company that helps therapists become smarter practice owners. After helping his wife launch her counseling practice in 2016, he saw a need to help other therapists launch, market, and scale their practices. Since then, he's launched over 12 private pay practices across the country, an intake software for therapists called Therasas, and an e-course called Private Pay Practice Program. That's a lot of P's. He's a certified story brand guide and lives in Chicagoland with his wife of 19 years and their three beautiful children. Brent is an awesome guy, and he's got a message for you today that I think you will really benefit from. It reminded me of some things that I already know from reading and studying story brand that I want to go back and use to reassess my marketing, my homepage on my Counseling Practices website, and just put it through that filter and see if it's really communicating clearly to clients, telling a compelling story, and really helping us to help people at the end of the day. There you go. Enjoy my conversation with Brent Stutzman! Brent, welcome to the podcast!

Brent
Thank you for having me. It's good to be here.

Uriah
Absolutely. Every time we talk, I enjoy our conversation. I feel like we could go for about another 2-3 hours.

Brent
Yeah. There's a lot of overlap, a lot of things that we're always thinking about as business owners. I always enjoy our conversations.

Uriah
We for sure have some synchronicity and some similar nerdy passions, which is good.

Brent
Yes. They might even come up a little bit in my examples today in our conversation.

Uriah
Good, good, good. That's awesome. Well, I'm excited to get into this topic today, but it would be awesome for you to share a little bit about yourself and your company brand, your practice, and tell the audience who you are and why we should listen to you, Brent. Why should we listen to you?

Brent
Yeah, well, okay. Well, I can share a little bit. So about seven years ago, my wife came home from the agency she was working at. She was getting her hours in. And when she came home one day, she said, You know what, Brent, I want I wanted to start my own private practice, and I want it to be private pay, but I need your help figuring out the marketing side, and I'm not going to do this without you. So I was like, Okay, well, I don't have a marketing degree. I've never started a business before. I don't know Google Ads or SEO or how to build a sales funnel, or I didn't even know what a sales funnel was then. We didn't have any savings to pay somebody to do it. We had twin girls who were two years old. My wife was, at that time, was seven months with our son. My current job couldn't really support our growing family because those who live in the Chicagoland area, the cost of living is high. We were quickly outgrowing our two-bedroom rental that we had. We wanted to stay in Chicago because we wanted to be close to family and some other reasons why, but we had to make this business work. We had to make this work. Now, how about this? Now, I'm going to ask you because we're going to be talking about storytelling today. So, Uriah, what are you my feeling right now in your body as I'm just sharing a little bit about my origin story here as I'm setting that up.

Uriah
I can relate a little bit, and it takes me back to my growing family and starting my private practice. So a little bit of a different role, but yeah, for sure. I feel that pressure and anxiety a little bit, for sure.

Brent
Right, yeah. And so what happens was, as I was sharing, this is a little meta now as I'm jumping in a little bit, but I was like, I'm starting to share about the problem. I'm setting the stage. A lot of practice owners, when they start their own practice, they remember. You're getting triggered right now. But for you, you're like, Well, I wonder how this is going to turn out for Brent. I'm setting the stage for a story, and it is a little bit of a meta example. Right.

Uriah
I get it. A little conflict.

Brent
Yeah. But I'm opening up a story loop, and our brains are going to want to close that. But I'm going to close it for you real quick. What happened was we're seven years into this now. My wife now has a group, Private Practice. It's private paid. She just focuses on kids. It was really from that experience, I helped launch another friend. I said, Hey, I think you have a great brand as a therapist. If you ever wanted to start a practice, I'd love to partner with you and scale it up and do all the marketing. He was like, Sure. Well, we did that. I've done that 12 other times now since then. So across the country, I've helped launch practices with other practice owners. So that's how I got into this. But all of the The foundation of it has really been storytelling. I'm a certified story brand guide. And the reason why I am one is because I just saw it work. Story is so powerful. I'm really looking forward to sharing how practice owners can be able to think like, How can I become a better storyteller? To, let's talk about getting more filling your clinician's books up with more clients. Maybe it's even recruiting more clinicians to your practice and really position yourself as this trusted private practice in your community. Story is really powerful, and I'm going to hope to unpack that all the way to how it can benefit your practice. That's a little bit of my urgent story.

Uriah
That's fantastic. Now you got me thinking about how I'm going to do my future intros and open story loops.

Brent
I saw that from Donald Miller.

Uriah
Oh, that's great.

Brent
Yeah. He's like, just launch. When he does conferences, he's like, just launch right into the problem. And I'll explain why, because our brains get hooked. And storytellers in movies do this all the time. So I'm going to show how screenwriters and storytellers use story to just hook you in and draw you into the narrative.

Uriah
Let's get into it. I'm ready.

Brent
Okay, good. All right, so here's really a lot of practice owners, this is the problem that many are facing today, and it's really it's confusion. So confusion is the enemy of your marketing. Confusion is the enemy of your website. Confusion is the enemy of your social media posts. Confusion is the enemy of recruiting qualified clients to your practice. Confusion is often the villain of your practice. As Donald Miller says, If you confuse, you lose. Here's the reason why. This is why he says this. Our brains are really designed to do two things. The first thing is to help us survive and thrive. The second thing is to conserve calories. I mean, that is your brain's dominant jobs to do those two things. What this means for you is that you need to communicate something about your practice or your clinical skills that will help potential clients survive and thrive. I want you to think about if you go to a party or maybe after church, you're talking to somebody and you ask them, So what did you do this week? They start off talking about how they went to the grocery store. They went out to eat with a friend. Their son, Jimmy, had a college application that he had to finish, and he was totally stressed out. But then they ran out of broccoli at the grocery store, and that's Jimmy's favorite food. They just kept going on and on about that. You could probably hang in there for about 30 seconds before your brain starts thinking about that unfinished house project or that thing that you need to fix for dinner or that unresolved work project or that thing that's going on. The same goes when you talk about your business. If you're at a block party and somebody asks, What do you do? And you start using cycle babble like, I'm a therapist and I love using sensory motor integration to help people expand their self-regulatory capacity to enhance their executive function skills.

Uriah
Checked out now.

Brent
Yeah, right? That person you're talking to, their brain is actively scanning all that information that you're giving them, and their brain is going to say, This is pretty confusing. This isn't going to help you survive and thrive. Time to move on, right? Their brain is going to turn off, and it's going to begin to think about those other things that will help them survive and thrive. Now, the second thing that your brain is going to do is conserve calories. The average adult brain burns about 350 to 450 calories a day. And if you're doing a lot of cognitive work or deep work, creative writing, critical thinking, those things, you're going to burn even more calories. So a grandmaster chess champion or a chess player will burn about 500 calories playing just two hours of chess, and they're sitting down the whole time. And many of us have experienced this feeling. You feel exhausted after attending a training or a conference call, or you're just sitting in the therapist's chair for 5 or 6 hours and you're really focused on the clients. Although you did no physical exercise at all, your brains are engaged and you're processing that information and you just are feeling left exhausted. I want to go back to this idea of our brains conserving calories. Our brains have a mechanism that will say to us, Hey, this information that you're reading or listening to right now isn't helpful. We need to stop burning calories, and we need to go focus on something that will help you survive and thrive, or maybe you Why don't you consider daydreaming about that vacation by the beach. Well, either way, I'm going to put us into hibernation mode because you are burning way too many calories. I saw my camera went off for a second, so I'm going to bring it back. All right. I want you to imagine your potential client's brain running on a treadmill. Now, how long do you think you can confuse them before they stop being interested in you or your website? I want you to Now, what do you think about your website right now. Are you communicating the things to help your client survive and thrive, or are you making them burn too many calories? This is even more critical for people seeking mental health. We know this. Their life is in crisis. They are grieving. Their brain is more distressed and tired, and their ability to focus and engage is already at a disadvantage. You don't want to be clever, you don't want to be cute, and you don't want to be vague when it comes to your marketing. But it's an opportunity for you because the therapist who simply and clearly communicate how they can help them, the potential client's brain is going to latch onto that message like Velcro because it will help them survive and thrive, and you will win more clients. All that to say. Just remember, if you can Confuse, you lose. You don't want confusion to be the enemy to scaling your practice. The way you need to do that is only communicate about something that will help your ideal client survive and thrive or your ideal clinician that you want to hire. You must be so clear and so simple that they don't have to burn any calories to understand you. This is why storytelling is so important. Everybody pays attention when a story starts. That's why you can sit in a movie theater for 2 hours or binge watch Netflix for 5 hours and just all you have to do is go to the bathroom. Your brain will not daydream once. It's as though a story hijacks your brain. But here's the shift. If you want to book more clients or hire amazing clinicians or transform your community, don't tell your story. Invite clients into a story where your client is the hero and you are the guide. So if there's one new superpower at the end of this podcast today, it's like, I want you to become better storytellers. Before I share two storytelling tips on this and how you can scale your practice, I want to throw it back over to you, Uri, if you have any questions or comments on it.

Uriah
Yes, I do. I have a question and a reflection. When When you started your intro, you talked about the challenges and the conflict that your young family, that your therapist's wife was going through. You started with the problem, like you said, right? Yeah. I'm wondering if as an industry, as professionals, as therapists, if we love to be so solution-focused and solution-oriented that we fail to really set up the conflict and the problem and really push a little bit on those pain points. Do you think we're missing that sometimes in our storytelling, whether it's a social media post or a homepage of a website? Yeah. Think about that.

Brent
Yeah, absolutely. Almost all the time. For example, I look at therapy websites all the time. Don't even forget to mention that they're counselors. Or a therapist. They won't mention that they help with a specific population or things like that. A lot of times, therapists will talk about themselves in ways like their favorite Netflix shows that they're watching. They'll talk about themselves in ways that aren't actually helping somebody survive and thrive. And it's a really easy thing to fix. Now, I don't know all the reasons behind that. Maybe they feel self-conscient, but people come to your website because they have a problem. So if you're not going to talk If you're not going to think about how you can help them solve that problem, they're going to bounce off and leave, and then you just missed an opportunity there. Same thing with your social media post. I have lots of feelings around social media, but if I was to do social media, I'm just talking about people's problems all day and how they can solve it.

Uriah
Sure.

Brent
Especially because you have to interrupt attention on social media. They're not even looking to solve a problem. They're looking to just get lost. Their brain is wanting to daydream, right? So you have to interrupt their attention. But if you're going to interrupt that attention, you better start talking about a problem pretty fast.

Uriah
It better be interesting and personal. Also, if you tell a compelling story, the clients who are not ideal for your practice should also know relatively quickly, This is not my story, or, This is not a story that relates to me. Is that also a function of telling a compelling story in your marketing? Yeah.

Brent
I think, I mean, this is a whole other podcast, really. It's about storing your marketing. But a lot of times, if you're talking about yourself in a way that the person visiting your website is going to be like, Hey, it sounds like you are on a journey of transformation. It sounds like you are a hero. I'm looking for a guide at the end of the day.

Uriah
Definitely.

Brent
So if you're not positioning yourself as a guide, and we can talk a little bit about that. They're not going to be interested.

Uriah
Absolutely. What's next, Brent? What do you got next?

Brent
I'm going to talk about two tips on how to apply story. Like I talked about here, when I gave my intro, I shared a problem, but then I was amplifying the problem a little bit because I was talking about the problem. And this is why talking about problems is so important. So a story begins when a character wants something pain, but there's an obstacle in the way of preventing the character from getting what they want. So now we have a problem. It's like ambition and obstacles. So when there's a problem, it opens up a story loop, and the brain desperately wants that to close. So others call this the curiosity gap. So a problem opens up a curiosity gap that the brain wants to narrow, it wants to close it. So if there's a story without a problem, There's no story. Once you solve the problem, the story is over. So here's the one thing. If you want your client's attention, you have to state the problem clearly and immediately. It opens up a story loop, that curiosity gap, and the brain will stay engaged until it's closed. And movies do this all the time. And they have to do this so we don't leave our seats. So I'm going to talk a little bit of Harry Potter here. I'm listening. We've just finished Book 4 with the kids. So But we're going to go back to the first book. In the very first in the movie, and books have to do this, too, but let's talk about the movie. So in the first four minutes of the movie, they open up just an insane amount of story loops. So Professor McGonigal ask Dumbledore in the darkness of Night. So after Dumbledore uses that thing and takes all the light out of the light posts, McGonigal is saying, Are the rumors true? The boy will be famous. There won't be a child in our world who doesn't know his name. And then they drop the baby Harry Potter off on the doorsteps of number 4 Privet Drive. That's in the first four minutes. So what story loops have been opened here in just the first four minutes? Well, why doesn't this boy have a mom and dad anymore? Why is he in danger? And why is there a scar on his head? And why is this boy so special? And who are these magical Wizards that can do this stuff? In the first four minutes, you're like, I'm in. I'm engaged in this story. Tell me more. Yeah. So let's talk about the Sound of Music. So one of my favorite musicals. The problem starts to be defined in the second song of the musical when the nun is singing, How do you solve a problem like Maria? Sure. Sure. So let's give another example. What I just said is, Brent, how did you get into helping therapists launch and scale their practices? Well, I was like, Well, shoot, I'm just going to tell it in a story format and hook them in in hopes that I'm going to I'm going to engage them in a story, and I'm going to create a story loop so they stay engaged until I close that story loop and then their brain can relax a little bit. In your marketing and on your website, in your community presentations, your social media, in your recruiting of new hires, with your initial intakes with new clients, you want to open up a story loop by clearly identifying the problems or the problems that need to be solved. But you also want to work in closing those loops. When you solve a the story loop is closed and the story is over. So what happens at the end of Harry Potter in that first movie? At the end of the first movie, we understand why he's so special. We understand what happens to his mother and father. We understand the significance of the scar. We understand Harry Potter, he has an initial victory over evil with Baltimore. But what happens at the very end of this movie? A new story loop is opened up. Baltimore is back. He's still alive, and he's out there in the wild. If you ever like watch Lost. They were incredible at opening story loops. Wait till next week when at the very last 30 seconds of the show, massive story loops. Why is there a polar bear? They're on an island and all this stuff. As far as, and I already talked about my wife's practice and what I'm doing now. So I would say that that's the number one tip to capture your ideal client's attention or that ideal hire is clearly identifying the problem that they're looking to solve. Okay? So any questions before I move on to tip number two?

Uriah
Yeah, no, that's fantastic. I think I just want to highlight the part where you frame the story so that the potential client or the client is the hero, and you and or your practice is the guide. I think that alone, well, it tells a more interesting story, right? Yeah.

Brent
And also- Yeah, I'm going to literally jump into that.

Uriah
Be the guide in this next- Perfect. Let's go. It's so simple when you hear it, or at least when I first heard that, I was like, Oh, yeah. Why would you do it any other way? But I think we have a challenge with that as licensed therapists who put in tons of years, time and energy to become licensed. We are very proud of our experience and our training. We very much want to say, Look, here's my resume. Look how qualified I am. That's one of the least relevant things for people who are just looking for a solution to their problem. Yes, they want you to licensed and qualified and the ideal therapist, but they also just want to know, Is this the person that's going to help me get where I want to go?

Brent
Yeah. Let's just talk a little bit about... I'm reading some books now, and the way Because I'm writing a book as well. But the way the cadence goes is typically that each chapter opens up with a story, and then it goes into framework and then application or something. So there are usually stories attached. Now that we're in the campaign trail, you're going to see candidates like, We're going to do this, do this. You know what? I just met a single mom in Iowa. You know what I mean? That's the power story. They're opening up a problem. I And then the candidate who's going to position themselves as the best guide is going to win because people are going to be like, He can solve those problems for me. This whole election season is going to be fascinating with storytelling all over the place. Okay, but here's Let's talk about the second tip here is to be the guide, not the hero. Now, if the hero can solve their own problem, the audience checks out because heroes of stories can't. Typically, they often don't solve their own problem. Many stories and movies have a character that plays the role of a guide. That's Dumbledore and Harry Potter, Gandalf and Lord of the Rings, obi-Wan, Kenobi, and Yoda, and Star Wars. That's Hamish in the Hunger Games. To establish the trustworthy this of a guide, because at the end of the day, people are looking for someone they trust to guide them. The writers will often have the guides do two things. The first thing it will do is show empathy. So on movies and even books and storytelling, the guide shows empathy, typically by an empathetic look or an empathetic statement, something like, I'm so sorry, you have to carry this burden. I understand the trouble you are in, but I can help you. If you remember how many times Dumbledore gives Harry the look. I'm so sorry, you have to carry this. You are so young to have to be experiencing this. And so does Gandalf. And when he looks at Frodo and he sees the burden that he will be carrying the one ring, like E. Mcclane just plays that part so well. He just looks at him. But they will also say empathetic statements. Now, that's empathy. Now, the guide also, they have to establish the guide as an authority as well. So storytellers will have guides explain to the hero the context of their problem, or they will help the hero win smaller battles or go through a training sequence so that the hero can eventually win the big battle. Okay. So let Let me put some flesh on this. Yoda from Star Wars. Yoda mentors Luke Skywalker. He teaches him the ways of the Force in guiding him on becoming a Jedi. When we first meet Yoda, he's very small. We're unsure about him. But how does How does George Lucas, how does he establish Yoda as a powerful Jedi? Well, the two-foot Yoda lifts an X-wing spaceship out of the swamp water. All right? So you're like, All right, there we go. Done. Guide.

Uriah
Hard for a little dude.

Brent
Yeah. Gandalf from Lord of the Rings, right? So he's this wizard. He offers guidance and wisdom and support to Frodo in the fellowship in their quest to destroy the one ring. Gandalf gives them a plan to follow and guides them through the Minds of Moria. He fights Goblins with him and it defeats the Balrog, right? Mr. Miyagi in Karate Kid, we talked about Dumbledore and Harry Potter. The Professor Dr. Emmet Brown guides Martin McFly in Back to the in the future. Morpheus guides Nero in the Matrix. Remember that dojo scene? That just blew our minds as he's training Nio how to fight and then jumping over skyscrapers. You have Genie from Aladdin. You have Rafeeki in the Lion King. We just go on and on and on. Everywhere. Yeah. These guides are showing the storytellers are introducing them as guides by showing empathy and also authority. And these guides are there to help them, this hero, through a transformational journey. So that is your role as the practice owner, as the therapist, is to be the guide. Those are my two tips. And then we could get into application. But if you have any questions on the guide-ness.

Uriah
The guide-ness, yeah. So How does a practice or a therapist demonstrate themselves as an authority without making it too much about themselves or the practice itself? It's a little bit nuanced, but how do you do that? Maybe what are the mistakes to avoid in that area?

Brent
You don't need to overdo it. I think all marketing works together. So your website, it's almost like a recipe. You don't want to add too much salt or anything to it. You can tip your head at and like, Yeah, I've been helping couples work through these communication issues for over 10 years. Or if you're an intake coordinator, you could say something like, I have someone in mind I think would be a perfect match. They've been working with kids for five years with this anxiety that you're telling me. I would love to get them an appointment with you or something. We set up an appointment.

Uriah
It doesn't take much, right?

Brent
It does not take much. Now, When they're scanning your website, sometimes a certification helps. It just all depends. But it doesn't take much. I like to show authority and be like, I've helped hundreds of clients, or I've had 10 years helping families work through these things, whatever it might be. It doesn't take much because they're looking for a guide. Now, this is where... Actually, no, I'll leave that for another podcast. We can talk about all the different marketing things for it. But that's how you can establish yourself as a guide. That's good. Very quickly and easily. And some people are looking for degrees. I went to Yale, right? Right. That's important for them.

Uriah
Different people look for different things. And it seems to me that it's good to put somewhere on the website or on a therapist bio page more information, probably at the bottom, if people really want to dig and look for, Okay, so where did this person go to school or what certifications and trainings do they have? I think that's helpful. Certainly not at the top. I definitely cringe when I see profiles, psychology Today profiles or websites where it's like, Clearly, this is a long page about you and your journey.

Brent
Favorite Netflix.

Uriah
This is your hero story. This is your hero story. But what about, Where do I find myself in this?

Brent
I have a whole article blog post on how to optimize your psychology day because you literally have three lines. If you're on mobile or something, you have three lines to hook somebody. That, to me, is a really fun exercise as a copywriter and marketer to do that because how do you hook them without saying, I enjoy long walks on the beach. It helps me. Whatever.

Uriah
I'm thinking about... I've been scheming about potentially a future third business, but I'm holding myself back. This business idea is to open a coaching practice that is just for coaching parents of teenagers. They have incredible pain points. I'm a parent of two teenagers, so I know this very Very, very well. The copy would just be so fun to write in a sense. I'm writing it in my head as you're talking. You know how raising teenagers makes you want to pull your hair out? It's just like- What's left of it.

Brent
Right, exactly. But I just think that would be really compelling to write.

Uriah
I would be really just telling my story, but as if somebody else is the hero, right? Anyways.

Brent
Yeah, but you're identifying. That's an empathetic statement in some ways. It's like, I see a parent of teenagers. You're pulling out your hair. I know you do, too.

Uriah
Definitely. And if you haven't been in their position, because the therapist is not always someone who's been through the things that their clients have been through, but you can definitely put yourself in their shoes and empathetically understand them and then let them know that you see and hear them.

Brent
That's right. I forget that cancer doctors, I can't remember what their official name is. Oncologists? Oncologists, right. They don't have to have cancer themselves or survive cancer in order to help somebody. It will make them way more empathetic. They can really embody that, what that feels like for a cancer, someone going through cancer because they went through it themselves. It doesn't mean they can't help them.

Uriah
Definitely. Let me ask you one or two more questions before we wrap things up. What if someone listening to this podcast says, That sounds nice, but I don't have 10 years of experience. I have 10 months of experience. Let's say they're a pre-licensed therapist, or maybe they're a brand new licensed therapist. How do they convey some sense of experience and authority when they can't write some of those sentences?

Brent
You could talk about ours. You could also say, I specialize in helping people. Because people are specialists. You don't have to say, I've helped hundreds of thousands of people. You can say, I specialize in helping kids in anxiety or helping couples communicate more clearly. You could just simply do that. You're like, Well, I just came out of school. I don't know what I want to specialize in. We'll try it. You could always change. But that's one way I help with the copywriting side of things.

Uriah
That makes sense.

Brent
For new people. Because honestly- You still keep it in simple. Even if you're an intern, you went to graduate school for this, you spent hundreds of hours learning this craft, you can offer them something. It's like, They're not coming to nobody. There's always varying degrees of competency, but what you have to offer could be really life-changing for them.

Uriah
Definitely. That makes sense. If people want to learn more about Storybrand and how you apply that to therapy practices, where would you send them? What resources do you have to offer?

Brent
I have a couple more tips I want to share, but let's break in. You can go to brandyourpractice. Com, and there's a Resource tab. I think everyone should read Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller because basically, he takes the hero's journey and turns it into a business framework. And just like every therapist has a framework for how people change, like the modalities or whatever, that you need a framework for your marketing and branding and how you talk about the problems you solve. And it's totally fun. I have my DAs going through it right now. We were talking about DAs. I want you to understand my brain and mind and how I do everything. That's awesome. It's your story. Great. But I can share some more in a few minutes here once I get through. Sure. I want to be able to apply this really well for your listeners.

Uriah
Definitely. For some reason, I thought we were done it, too, but I'm so happy to hear there's a third.

Brent
Tell me more. Yeah, right. So, yeah, those are tips. Now we're getting to the application side of things.

Uriah
Oh, perfect.

Brent
All right. So the first one is becoming a better storyteller will compel clients to choose you over the competition. So a potential client has to It's a potential client has to want something. Let's say they want to save their marriage or they don't want to be anxious anymore. But the problem is there's something that's preventing them to get that healing or to not feel anxious or to save their marriage. If your website and marketing collateral can speak to that problem, you can position yourself as a guide. We talked about, you're showing empathy, you're showing authority. You're going to win the day all the time because people are looking for a guide to solve their problems. You may have, like we talked about, you may have years of experience or a particular certification. Those are all little important signposts that you are a trusted guide. Invite your potential clients into a journey of transformation and position yourself as a trusted guide, and you'll grow quicker than you can imagine. Tip number two, becoming a better storyteller will make recruiting great talent easier. So believe it or not, many clinicians are looking for a trusted guide or a community of guides to do good work with. So you want to get clarity around what do therapists want in a boss and compensation and work environment, all those things, right? Maybe they want more. They just want more clinical hours to be able to get licensed, or maybe they want supervision, or they want play therapy supervision, or they want more compensation, or be a part of a practice that doesn't require them to have a caseload that's 30 plus clients a week. Or maybe they don't want to have work in a toxic workplace. Or maybe they want to work in a practice that just focuses on couples or It's not for the kids. You want to be able to define what is it that they want as you're looking to hire. What is it that that person wants? To see if you can actually fit in or your practice can fit in as a trusted guide to get them where they want to go. That's a good perspective. I like that. The other one is becoming a better storyteller will transform the communities that you serve. I know one of the greatest joys that a therapist receives from their work is when their clients have integrated the therapy so much that they're not only helping themselves, but they actually start to help other people. They take the lessons that they've learned and they start sharing them with friends and family to help them get just a little more healthy. This is where the hero becomes the guide. Remember, with Harry Potter, he forms Dumbledore's Army. At the beginning, that's the beginning. Dumbledore Army, for those who don't know, that's where Harry is training other students how to defend themselves against the bad guys. That's really the evolution of Harry becoming a guide as he organizes that Dumbledore's Army. When Frodo, when his friends, after the defeats are on and they destroy the one ring, they are fundamentally changed. So they travel back to the Shire, and then they discover it's overrun by orcs. Will they drive out the orcs who are terrorizing their friends and families back in the Shire? So that's a transformation to go through. The other one I've really enjoyed seeing was Tom Cruise, when he transforms from the hero to the guide in the movie Top Gun Maverick, where he trains younger pilots to defeat the enemy. But we could go on. I'll say one thing about what they did with Tom Cruise's character is within the first, oh, I say five minutes, what has Tom Cruise been up to? What's he been doing? Is he still like Maverick? Within five minutes, they not only established that, he's like, he's gone. He's driving flying planes for skunkworks. He's doing experiment. Yeah, he is the boss. But now he has to do something. He has to be the guide and train other pilots now. So I love that. I love that story. That's such a good movie. Yeah. Oh, man. Oh, that was so good. All right. So here's the thing. I believe communities are strengthened and are a more loving place to live when individuals and families receive competent and compassionate mental health care. Your practice will begin to transform the community when you invite others into a story of transformation. In turn, those who are transformed by your great counseling services, these three things will probably happen. That client will share the story of how you've helped them, and they're going to point people back to you as a trusted guide in your practice, or that client is going to start helping others and sharing what they've learned in counseling, and those people will get healthy, or—this is what happened to my wife and probably a lot of your listeners, they received really great help from a counselor, and they went on in turn and went and got trained as a therapist to go and help others. That's when the hero becomes the guide.

Uriah
That's so funny you mentioned that. I was just talking to a friend this morning, and she got a job application from someone who used to be a client at her practice. That's a full circle moment. Of course, that's a challenge for us. We may or may not want to or feel comfortable hiring that person, but still, that client took their experience and their transformation, and then they decided they wanted to do something similar. It's very, very rewarding.

Brent
Yeah, and that's the power of a good guide, right? You've helped them on this transformational journey of healing, and now they want to go do that for others. How amazing is that? Definitely. There it is. That's how practice owners can become better storytellers to scale up their practice in the ways of getting more clients, hiring great people, and transforming their communities. I can share a few more resources, but yeah, that's any questions on that. How does that sound?

Uriah
Just a reflection. I'm thinking about how I started my practice, my solo practice, and then how I transitioned into a group practice, and how I think for a long time, the story that I was telling was very compelling. I actually think that it lost some of its power over the years. I'm going to actually take, after this conversation, I'm feeling inspired because you're reminding me of things that I know, but I may not have applied very well. I'm I'm actually going to go review our homepage and look at it through the eyes of the tips that you've shared and think about reworking it to be more compelling and more of a story, more of a follow the framework a little bit better. So thank you for that.

Brent
Yeah. I got resources for therapists who want to explore that on their website, too. If you just go to brandyourpractice. Com, click on the free resource. I got... No, one of the ways I like to establish myself as a trusted guide is to give away a lot of free checklisting guides. I have guides like how to convert calls into clients in just seven days, the ultimate guide to growing a private pay practice. Also, I'm putting on a summit in Chicago here. I want to invite There are group practice owners to it. It's called the Group Practice Scaling Summit in Chicago. It's a day and a half event where you can learn from me and other experts how to really solve the problems that are preventing you from scaling your practice. I'm limiting it to just 50 people, practice owners, and if they want to bring their practice admin with them or whoever they can, too. But tickets are on sale. They're getting bought up. If you're interested, just Google Group Practice Scaling Summit and look for the Event Bright page, and you can find out more about it there.

Uriah
That's amazing. Genuine, I want to thank you, Brent, for bringing all of your skills and knowledge and experience to the mental health community. It's really important, the messages that you're sharing, and I just appreciate it.

Brent
Yeah. Well, thank you. Thanks for having me on the podcast, and let me share some time with your listeners.

Uriah
Definitely. This is fun. Hope you have a good one.

Brent
All right. You, too. Thanks.