I just discovered a free source for professional development (no CEU’s) at

"Podcast Subscribe" by Derrickkwa

CounselorAudioSource.net .  This website offers free weekly podcasts on topics primarily of clinical interest to counselors.

Additionally, if you would like to expand your resume to include your own podcasts on topics relevant to counselors, you can check out their guidelines and suggestions for contributing here.

Do you know of other free resources for the professional development of counselors and allied health professionals?  If so, please let us know!

Tags: Free, Podcast, Resume

This is the third part of an 11 part series on How To Build A Great Marketing Kit.

Before you read further, you may want to read the introduction here.

For those of us who have spent half of our lives in academia, our stories about our professional lives can become monotonous and predictable rather quickly. That can present a problem when you get to the second essential item in your marketing kit, your professional biography. The purpose of your bio is to highlight your expertise in and interesting and engaging fashion. It is not to regurgitate your resume ad nausea. At a later date, I will share with you a recipe for your professional bio.

For now, put down in writing the story of how you came to do the thing that you do best in your professional life. What is that? Is it using your sense of humor? Is it your intuition or your ability to motivate your clients? Think about your mentors and role models. Consider the traits and skills that come effortlessly to you. And, finally, note the bumps in the road along your path that resulted in you being the person you are and the therapist you have become.

Now, tie those all together in an interesting and engaging story about who you are. This is the basis for your professional bio.

(If you would like additional help constructing your professional bio, consider working with me as your brainstorming coach to help you find those engaging nuggets. Or, consider hiring a professional copywriter like Kathryn Bass at Kadroodle.com to simply do the work for you!)

Tags: Resume, Stories

This is the introduction to an 11 part series to help you
build a great marketing kit.

What do you need to take with you when you are marketing your practice to other professionals?

• A business card
• Your professional bio (NOT a resume) – to highlight your expertise
• A menu / description of your services
• Article reprints about you
• Article reprints that you have written
• Press releases
• A brochure / fact sheet
• Client testimonials
• A personalized cover letter
• A portfolio

Take a few minutes right now to gather the items that you already have from the list above.  For now,  just take an inventory to see which ones are missing from your marketing kit.  Over the next few weeks, I’ll be talking to you in detail about the specifics of these 10 essential items – helping you create the ones you don’t have and, hopefully, helping you improve on the ones that are not presenting the professional image that you desire.

I hope you will drop me a note (by adding a comment below) to let me know if you have your marketing kit in order.

Tags: Biography, Cover Letter, Fact Sheet, Menu of Services, Portfolio, Press Release, Professional Image, Resume, Testimonial

Working on your business is not the same as working in your business.   That came as news to me when I first read Lynn Grodski’s primer, Building Your Ideal Private Practice.  I used to think that if I was seeing my clients or charting notes on my clients that I was working on my business.  After all, this is why I went to graduate school — to learn the clinical piece.

It’s Not Enough

Unfortunately, the clinical knowledge and skills of psychotherapy did not begin to prepare me for the business end of private practice.   As long as I wanted to work in an agency or hospital for someone else, that would have been good enough.  However, for those of us who have the entrepreneurial bug and yearn to be in business for ourselves . . . the clinical knowledge and skills are only half of the private practice package.  In fact, you can easily and quickly starve to death if you know nothing or do nothing to work on the business end of your practice.

Working On Your Business

To paraphrase Lynn Grodski, “working on your business is at least as important as working in your business.”  And, working on the business means spending time, money, and resources to create and sustain a healthy flow of clients coming into your business.  Some of these tasks include:

• Developing ideas for new services;
• Learning about new marketing strategies;
• Re-working packaging for your services;
• Branding for your business;
• Designing business cards, letterhead, postcards, and advertising;
• Networking with other professionals to educate them about your business;
• Creating (and using) a marketing kit;
• Writing articles / books for publication;
• Drafting informational brochures for client education; and,
• Updating your professional vita;

To work on your business means recognizing that your work in private practice extends far beyond just the skills of counseling and psychotherapy.

What I’m Doing

Today, I have met with my graphic designer, Jennifer Gunther of Nudge Creative, to rework my business card and letterhead.  I have vetted a potential printer for my print needs. I have collaborated with my blog designer, Beth Hayden of Basics of Blogging.  I met another colleague for lunch to brainstorm about my marketing needs. I’m writing this post for my blog.  These are the things that I am doing to work on my business today.

What about you? What are the ways that you are working on your business today?

Tags: Articles, Brand, Brochure, Business Card, Packaging, Resume