Side Hustle Spotlight - A Chat with Tia Wilcek
This is your chance to get the REAL scoop on Side Hustle Support Group.
Another special guest joined in on the podcast: Side Hustle Alum Tia Wilcek.
She revealed tons of background information, including how she found Side Hustle and what the tipping point was that made her decide to jump in.
Plus she shared what she thought of the program before she enrolled and how that changed after she’d actually been through it.
This is the perfect opportunity for you to get someone’s real-life perspective and experience in Side Hustle.
CLICK BELOW TO LISTEN!
Show Notes:
Hey, Risers. Welcome to episode 131 of Empathy Rising. Today we're back with another Side Hustle alum, Tia, who just finished the program. Our graduation is tomorrow, so we are done with our lessons and our classes, but we have our closing event where we get to love on each other and say goodbye to each other tomorrow.
So technically I guess she's an alum. But Tia is somebody who is just the most giving kind person I think I've ever connected with. She really brought a gentle, calming, grounding energy to our cohort this round. And it is so fun to get to meet these students and to spend almost a whole year with them and just really watch them bloom and shine and the unique energy that every single person brings to our side hustle family is really cool.
And Tia is no exception. What you'll hear today about Tia's journey through Side Hustle and I thought was really fascinating was she learned how to monetize a natural part of her personality. This is a skill set, a personality trait that she... it's just all it's inherent in her. It's natural to her. And she realizes that not everybody has that same skill set, not everybody has that same ability. And she learned how to turn it into a program.
So when you guys are thinking about your own side hustles, it's not always having to stretch yourself super duper far out of your comfort zone. In fact, part that can be maybe a little uncomfortable is acknowledging what you already have inside of you and what you already do naturally, and how that is incredibly valuable.
And I think that Tia shows a little bit of that growth in this episode, how she came to really see the innate value of some of the things that she was bringing to the team. So I hope that you get something out of this episode. And of course, if you are interested in joining the 2022 round of Side Hustle and joining our family, forming these bonds, getting to know people who are in the same path as you and who have a shared common goal, as you go.
Applications are open now. You can definitely apply over at marissalawton.com/side-hustle. Alright, without further ado, here is Tia.
Marissa (M): Hey risers. We are back this week with another Side Hustle graduate. Depending on when this goes live, it'll be either a current Side Hustle student or a Side Hustle alum, but it's going to be right at that graduation period. So I'll just call you a graduate. And her name is Tia, and I'm really excited to have her share her story.
These people that I've been bringing on to share their Side Hustle experiences with you, I want them to be completely transparent sharing the good, the bad, the wins, the struggles, all of that. So Tia was so gracious to volunteer, to share her story with us today. Tia, why don't you introduce yourself?
Tell us a little bit about, like, where you are, what you do clinically. Tell us maybe a little of why you wanted to do Side Hustle and then what your side hustle has turned out to be over our work together.
Tia (T): Sounds good. I'm really excited to be here. My name is Tia, and I am in Minnesota where I practice in private practice, serving both adolescents and teens treating significant trauma, complex trauma. And I've been doing that for a couple of years now and really enjoy doing that.
One of the things that had me pursuing Side Hustle was that I really like to invest in my clients really deeply and not have a high caseload. And so one of the ways that I want to do that is by having a side hustle to be able to have the finances each year and still being able to enjoy my clients and digging deep and doing those really big trainings to invest in them. So that is me, and a quick picture.
M: Yeah. So was it financial motivation mainly? Or was there like, oh, I want something new and different or I want to try a different use of my skill?
T: Yeah. Good point. Yeah, totally. I am somebody who doesn't like to sit still too much, I like to stay busy. And one of the things I've been doing for a long time, it's helping my other colleagues organize things.
And I thought, how can I use that in a way that I could benefit as well? So I knew that I needed something more to do then. Just seeing my max of 13 clients a week, but I didn't want to add more clinical work. And so this was my creative way of going around that.
M: So there was a creative element and a financial element, which I think is awesome because sometimes people are like, oh, I'm just in it for the cash, which is fine. But then they're going to spin their wheels and they're going to burn out if there's not something that fulfills them, but I've also worked with people on the other end where it's oh, I want something creative, but then they're not necessarily viewing it as a business.
And it's okay, we need to get some revenue in here too. We need to make sure we're not doing a hobby. And so you had both come in.
T: The other thing was to be able to sustain my business. So in the long run, having 13 clients a week, not probably gonna last me forever.
M: And you needed a way, not only to sustain your business, but to sustain yourself while you pursued a deeper, maybe not heavy, but more serious, let's say caseload then. So this not only allows you to keep the low amount of clients from the financial standpoint but allows you to have something that pours back into your cup, that the intellectual stimulation, the challenge, all of these other pieces of it. So you're giving something to yourself, and nurturing yourself as well.
T: Yes, very well-worded. Thank you.
M: And so you glossed over this a little bit, but I want to dive in here cause you recognized a secret sauce, or you recognize something that you were good at outside of clinically that you were already kind of helping people with or offering suggestions on. And then this light bulb turned on. I was like, oh, maybe I could monetize this. Maybe this could be an income stream.
What was that process like for you? Was it something you realized that you could monetize or was it other people telling, oh, you should charge money for this? Or how did you arrive at that?
T: I'd like to say it was just me, but I certainly had a lot of help from Marissa. So I had this idea, but I didn't know how to make it pretty. I guess like I knew that organizing putting systems in place is something that I really enjoy. It's silly, but it's something that makes me light up.
And I help a lot of people do that. And I thought I don't have time to be offering all of this free time for everybody, but I love doing it. So I had this idea of here's where I want to go, but what does it look like? Certainly, all of your help was driving me into creating more of a package for it, something pretty and sellable and what people want.
M: And this organization, is this something that you do in all areas? Are you just talking about practice organization...
T: For me in my life, I organize everything... a little bit bizarre or maybe a little bit... It drives my husband crazy. That's for sure. I organize everything in my personal life and my kitchen.
M: Awesome. And so the skill has then come over into the idea of running a business and running your practice. So you realize that you were organizing all kinds of areas in your life and then took this over into your practice and then realized you could help other therapists do the same.
T: Right. Well, I think there's just something, like, deeply ingrained in me. I don't know where I was born with it, learned it along the way, it's... who knows, but this idea of being efficient and touching things once and not having to go back and do it again is something that I just I'm so passionate about doing that because I feel like you can do so many more things with your life if you aren't going back and forth.
So maybe organization is just like the outcome of that, but really the driving factor is being efficient and that good stuff.
M: Yeah. I really resonate with that because I feel like there's... I have that natural propensity of getting and keeping things organized and linear thinking and, like, step-by-step processes.
But for me, it's that follow through. Like I can set up a system really fast and a family calendar or a family routine or whatever, like coming up with that is easy for me. It's maintaining it over time is where the breakdown starts to fall for me, I find.
T: I agree. And I've done that. I've done that many times where I can... I was just talking to someone earlier this week about how I will go purchase all of these planners and make it all pretty and exciting. And I'm like super geeked out about it. Can't wait. And a month in and it's like where did that calendar go? What am I doing? And then I go buy another one because I'm like, I need to start fresh.
That doesn't work. But I find that if you have these systems, in my experience, working with others and for myself, if you have the systems in place where it's efficient, you're touching it once. It feels so good. It's like this reward and you keep doing it. I don't know.
M: So there's a little bit of a difference in my mind between like setting up the system and then getting in the habit of where that system becomes second nature.
T: Right. Creating the habit takes some time. But what I do think is like I said, that reward because once the system is in place, and it is something that you don't have to do a lot of investment on, so it's like a one-time touch. There's just like this jolt that you get when you stay in that habit, right? It does take that... what do they say takes seven times to make a habit or seven weeks to make a habit?
M: So it's not, it's that repetition that you use. Awesome. Okay, so your systematic brain, your efficient brain, how was it for you to step into Side Hustle, which is a giant program and I try to make it as systematic and simplified and step-by-step as possible, but what was it like for you to go through the program?
Just overall and then maybe we'll break your experience down into different pieces, but just your overall experience.
T: Yeah. Overall, the initial thought was like: I can't believe I'm investing nine months and I don't need nine months. Like I can organize anything and figure it out. But I, for whatever reason, I decided to do it and much needed. But the overall experiences, yes, you definitely gave me all of those fun, exciting organization pieces.
Everything is easy to follow. The trackers that you offer to make sure that I can check things off because that is another reward system for me. So all of those things really helped this big gigantic project feel doable. So sometimes I was like, this is so easy. Not that the whole time, for sure.
M: Did you find yourself, like, building any structures of your own or any like supplemental systems to the program?
T: A couple of times I did, like creating like an org chart or not an org chat but a flow chart for a few things. That really helps me take what you were doing and put it in visual for me. So a couple of times, but mostly, everything that you have, especially the trackers have been really helpful.
But there are so many pieces, to the tech piece, the automation systems that I had to wrap my head around it.
M: And sometimes it depends on different situations, right? We're right at the point where everybody is getting close to launching and it's like if you launch with a webinar, then you do this process. If you launch with a challenge, then you need to do this process. So sometimes there's even pieces that are different depending on the path that you choose.
T: Right, for sure. And then, everybody learns so differently too, so visual versus auditory and I think that makes it really challenging to be able to deliver care to all people. But I think you did a phenomenal job because everybody was figuring it out and moving along and doing really awesome things and creating really awesome programs.
M: Well thank you for that. Yeah, I really do try and have a mixed media approach right? Between the slides and then the replays. And you can be in real-time, you can go in your own time, like all of that to make it so that adult learner, that person who needs to fit this in their life on top of their practice on top of raising kids on top of caring for parents on top of whatever else they're doing, that this can still work for them.
And so thank you. I appreciate it. Let's take it back to before you decided to join. So like this time last year and what was going through your mind in terms of, were you searching for a program. Did you just... did Side Hustle just hit you at the right time? Like right place, right time? Or what was the decision to join like for you?
T: Yeah, last year before finding Side Hustle, I had been thinking about how do I sustain my smaller caseload and still be able to invest my time into things that I enjoy. And so I was looking, thinking about this idea of creating this program, but I have no experience doing that.
So yes, I was looking. But I came across yours, you were highly recommended. And then I had wanted to test the waters and tried your Side Hustle Schedule. And I knew that by doing that little program with you that I could sit with you for nine months. It was like a little bit of a taste of do I want to have this person every day or every week in my life?
I did search for you. And because you came recommended and I had a little bit of experience with you I was, like, all in after that. And then even then it was like, oh, I signed up like a couple months... I don't remember, say, this time last year. And then I had to wait a couple of months before the program started and I was like, let's get this going. I can't wait to work with you.
M: Yeah. And you mentioned, like, the idea of oh, nine months. And I feel like I could do this faster or I could do this. That seems like a long time or a long time commitment. What were you thinking before? And now that you've been through the nine months has that changed for you? Or do you still think oh, this could have been a faster process?
T: Oh my gosh. Ignorance is bliss. I'm sure. That is for sure. I'm like, yeah, I could totally just, this is my idea and I can get out there and get people interested. And I thought, I would just need a couple of coaching calls or something, but I don't... obviously I didn't know when I was doing.
And even when I signed up though, I thought, okay, I do maybe need some coaching. And maybe more of a structured program. I love structure. But even then nine months was like can't we do this faster? And maybe, at that time, it wasn't that this is possible to be done quicker, but I wanted it done quicker.
And I had to keep reminding myself and maybe you can remember this, especially at the beginning of, you know I need the solid foundation to make this successful versus what I'm really can be good at in the past of just making something happen and who knows if it's sustainable, right? Like those two, again, my core of really appreciating effectiveness and efficiency where I touch it once and move forward.
And with building the program, I wanted to be able to do that versus going my old way of throwing it out there and then having to fix it going back right back. So the nine months is needed. Even as you know we're here, I'm like, I don't want to look up.
M: Yeah. I know we're right at graduation, and it's I can't believe this is almost over. So the nine months is geared to have your big launch at the end, but we do have cash injection strategies that we teach along the way. Give people who are like chomping at the bit, a little bit who want to go a little faster, they give people a chance to bring in a little bit of revenue or to try to experiment with their program. Now tell me, did you... you did a one-on-one right?
T: I have one-on-one coaching, yes, I do. And so that is something that I was able to create based on this program as well. A lot of opportunities peak in as well that are a result of this program. And so that's been a lot of exciting... the cash injections throughout the year. So I thought I would do way more, but other things happened.
M: Well, you would have ended up growing a group practice and you're like: I'm doing this now.
T: Like, why not?
M: How did that one-on-one come about? Was it organic or was it orchestrated through the program? How did you book that one-on-one client and then... aren't you doing something else with, like, your state association or something like that turned into a cash injection as well? Can you talk about that?
T: Yup. Yup. So I have a couple of things that have come out of not directly related to the program that I have created with you but directly connected to the fact that I have a system that I know how to market myself, that I know the things that I need to offer and say, and all of the logistics of it are all connected, but like my one-on-one was kind of an organic connection, someone in my state.
And then yeah, I'm also connected with my national social work for my state. And that also happened organic, but also as a result of me saying, hey, I have this really cool program I can offer to folks. And then we developed a backward opportunity, something like the step before.
M: So you're like here's what I offer in my work, but your people are a little before that. So let me come up with a curriculum that will meet your audience where it is. And how much of that do you think... How helpful was Side Hustle in that?
I guess in the sense of maybe, like, confidence like oh, I can come up with a program, or in the sense of putting yourself out there as I have something that I could do, or how do you think Side Hustle helped with that?
T: Yes. Before Side Hustle, I had been doing a little bit of pulling in different Facebook groups with other clinicians. What did you wish you'd learned in grad school, but didn't. And this was like the, like the baby of where I'm at with this program. But I left out that first initial component of how to build a private practice.
So many people have that. I didn't want to go into that. But yeah, oh, where am I going with this? What did you say? Oh yeah. So I had these ideas, but I was like, frozen is my point. And then, I didn't know how to take it and make it be something. And even then, I didn't know how to propose it to people or explore it.
So Side Hustle has given me all of the foundation of how to pitch to people, how to even know what I want to offer. How to price it so that it's fair without just random numbers. Everything from all of that bottom foundation logistics to the excitement that I can have about it.And what does it look like in that creative piece as well?
M: Yeah. What I remember you just saying was like that sustainability piece, because I do remember those conversations where you were like, oh, here's an opportunity, here's an opportunity. And I was like, we can absolutely sell. And that was one of the things we worked on a little bit was like your selling language.
Cause you were if you're interested in those and I was like, no, let's just take the, if out of that sentence and then rewrite it like this. And so I was helping you maybe with a little bit more assertive language. And then I was like, but let's have a bigger conversation here too.
Like you can absolutely sell. There's no doubt that there's interest in what you're doing, and B that you can enroll, people are coming to you. Like you're not even having to go look for people. People are coming to you, but what do you want in terms of a sustainable program that you can sell over and over again and that, you'll have 3, 5, 7 rounds of it if that's what you want.
And that's where we shifted a little bit I remember from a lot of different cash injection possibilities to: Do you want to have a bigger launch? What was that decision like for you?
T: It was something that I needed to remind myself of frequently. But it was a no-brainer as far as the decision that I needed it to be sustainable and I wanted it to be sustainable. Again, I wanted it to be efficient where it was like, this works move on to the next and not have to keep going and revising and revising.
Of course, we all have to make adjustments, but I mean just jumping and doing something versus really being thoughtful. And that was, for me, something different where I can just take something and run with it. And, I'm really... like my strength finders, one of my top is being adaptable or flexible, right?
Like just being willing to modify things on the go. But that has a detriment, but being able to have that reminder from you regularly was really important and helps me stay grounded. And this is why I'm here. I don't need to just have this one-time overnight program. I want it to be sustainable.
M: Yeah. So in phase one, that's what we build out is this audience machine where you bring people into your audience and then they go through a funnel, and then that funnel has them ending up on your waitlist so that when it's time to open the doors for your program, there's a group of people waiting for you.
So how was that build, that build-out in phase one? A lot of people talk about it going from conceptual to real. And it's the first time there's like living web pages. Did you have that experience or how did you feel about the whole building out process?
T: I could never have done it without you and the other group members. Like even piecing things together, if you did your own research and pieced it all together, it's just so time-consuming. So having the whole process was... I don't want to say easy, but if you simplified it so much because you said, here's the steps, here's what we need to do with this next app, and all of these... it's like an all-inclusive package that you offered.
So it makes it so much easier to be able to do these things that otherwise are certainly possible. It's certainly doable and that, we're researching and finding all these things. But it's a lot to do, so without being able to brainstorm or to bounce ideas off of other members or to check in with you, like what the heck am I doing here?
Do I need to be doing X, Y, and Z? So in hindsight, I think that there's no way I could have done it without the group. In the moment because it was the... partly there's a lot of excitement. And so it felt like it was going and this is exactly what you said like this is making it real and I'm so super excited. This is possible. I think even at one point I was like, it feels so real. And I just wanted the program, again, to start. I'm ready now.
M: Yes. That's a really good point to bring up because I think there's certain, like, points of the program that are not intentionally designed this way, but it does. This is, it's a huge, like, dopamine rush, right?
Like my website's done. Oh, wait. Now I've got to wait until I launch. And there's... it's almost like there's this low, but what's happening in that lull is phase two, which is audience building. So we are driving the traffic to your opt-in, and then the opt-in is taking them to your waitlist through the funnel that we've built.
And it feels like we just had this energy peak, and then now we were in this energy valley a little bit, but there's a reason for that. And the reason for that is we're allowing that mechanism, we're testing that mechanism, right? The machine that we just built, does it need oil? Does it need to be adjusted here? Is it completely aligned? Is it functioning?
And without that testing process, we could go straight to a launch. However, we have no way to predict those launch results because we haven't seen what's happened in what we call these micro-conversion, in the micro-conversions that we've set up in that funnel along.
I refer to this on the podcast a lot is, like, dominoes, right. And we just built this glorious, like, mandala design of dominoes. And all we want to do is go knock it over or whatever, but we need to make sure that each domino is going to fall because then we could get halfway through the design and one is off like off-kilter and then the rest of the thing isn't going to go.
So did you experience that? It sounds like you've experienced that. This rush and then oh wait, now it's hurry up and wait, almost.
T: Yeah. Like my husband can be in here he'd say patience is not my strong suit, so he might be overwhelmed by my organization, but I have a lack of patience as well. I definitely had a lot of those opportunities, which, in the moment it was like, I want to get this started. I'm super excited. And people are expressing interest. Let’s just do this.
And then, like moving forward to the next step, it's like oh yeah, this is why we're still slowing down. There's more to it than just creating the presence out there in the world. There's a lot of behind-the-scenes steps to make this solid.
M: So tell us a little bit about the opt-in that you built because yours is pretty cool and creative. So tell us a little bit about that freebie piece that kicks off your funnel, and then from there how people get on your waitlist.
T: Sure. So my programming is all for clinicians. And so my opt-in is a client tracker. There's a lot of documentation that we need to do to be able to maintain our client folders and make sure that if they were ever to be audited, all that good stuff, the things like what did I do about the treatment plan, or when is it due?
And so my opt-in helps track all of those things in a Google sheet where it has the fun reminders, the formulas to pop up and say, hey, this is due. Don't forget. So it will help track all of the annual paperwork, all of the clinical docs that are required.
M: And I remember when we were in month three talking about opt-ins and we were, like, crowdsourcing it, like what do you wish you remember? And I was like, oh what about if they have a release of information and that needs to be updated, like these things that you just don't always think of, or you forget.
And so everybody was oh yeah, and this, and this, and we kind of crowdsourced the stuff. And then you built this beautiful spreadsheet. Changes colors based on inputs. And it lets you know that like red, yellow, green... and like you even helped us in the program, do that with one of our trackers and set up the color-coding system and stuff, because it was so helpful.
So talk a little bit about that piece, cause it's not just like a spreadsheet where you just type stuff in.
T: Yeah. I'm a bit of an Excel nerd. I can't say... I know a lot more than most, but there's a lot more to know always. A little backstory, I used to be an Engineer student. I love math and science and exploring and one of my favorite courses was actually coding.
Anyway, this is my little passion, and being able to do that. So yeah, in my spreadsheets, you enter information, but there's a lot of automatic reminders that pop up. And it's something I love to do. And so it makes it nice and easy, but it makes it pretty and it's very usable.
M: Yes. And it takes every element that sometimes we're using three and four different softwares to do like our EHR or our this or that. It takes every element and just puts it in one place. And not only that, but it's a spreadsheet, like a place that's user-friendly and easy to use.
It's not that we won't still need an EHR or anything, but it cuts out some of the back and forth between multiple softwares of trying to track stuff. I think it's really cool.
T: Yeah. I don't know about everybody else's EHR's. I've definitely done some soliciting them for: How does it work for you? But my EHR does not track those things. It has recently started tracking like when the treatment planner is due, but even then it doesn't give you this like big warning.
So yes, all of it in one place so that you don't have to be running a ton of reports or trying to do this scan for your clients after they're gone, they're like, oh crap, I needed this. So it's a nice one, like a dashboard visual for your client.
M: Yeah. So moving, let's move into phase two, which is the phase where we have audience building and audience nurturing at the same time, right? The point of phase two is to move people towards your waitlist, whether they get there automatically through the funnel that we built, or whether they go into your audience and need more warming up, we then also move them to the waitlist in that warming up process.
So how was that for you? And you have some pretty cool results. I forget the percent. We just did the percent on either Wednesday's or Friday's call. But you have a pretty high percent of your audience that has ended up on your waitlist.
T: Yeah, I wish I knew the percentage too. I don't remember.
M: I could do it real fast. If the numbers haven't changed.
T: Nope.
M: It was like 14 out of 82.
T: Yeah. It's 14 out of 82, I think.
M: Yeah. So 17%. Yeah. 17% of your audience is ending up on your waitlist.
T: Yes. So it's awesome. And just really a testament to that this program is really wanted which feels so good because there's a lot of imposter syndrome that comes up. This was my great idea and lots of people like it, but is it really worth building? So it feels good to have those reminders come up.
M: Yeah. And this is something that people are always like, wait, you don't build your program first? And I'm like, no we build interest and we sell the program first and this is what we're doing.
It's proof in the pudding or proof in the market, so to speak. There is a demand for this. Then you feel the confidence to go out and build it. So it's doing two things. It's building, you're not only just building your audience, but you're building your audience of buyers, which is very different than just collecting people who read your emails or collecting people who want to see what you ate for breakfast, like your avocado toast or whatever.
So building an audience of buyers and we have them express interest early in the process. So we know that we're on the right track.
T: Yup. So this is a time where so much was coming up for me. And I remember you sharing this car analogy, like where there's these other options out there. But that red car is always needed or whatever, like we do it so well. But this reminder that even though there's a lot of opportunities out there.
For one thing, there's something different about all of them. And so that was one thing that I had to keep reminding myself of as like people were expressing interest, but, so it freaked me out oh, what am I doing?
The other thing is I did end up building out a little bit and doing like a beta run with one I'm one of the other group members because I needed to know that I had what I said I had. I started to freak out, like, people are expressing interest. What if I don't really have this? So I did do a little bit extra to ease my mind which went really well.
M: Yeah, I remember that like you and one of the other students you were like, why would anybody want to do beta? And this person was like, I need that. I need my practice organized, like right now. And so you guys like... what I love about this is I consider myself a facilitator.
Like I don't make this stuff happen. You guys make this stuff happen. I can facilitate that. I can create a room for the two of you to be virtual together in, but you guys still made that happen. You still said, hey, is there anybody who wants this and that person was like, I need this. And you guys went out and did a test run.
And so the other student got the experience to be in a program. Cause that's another thing we talk about is sometimes it's oh, I want to start a membership site, but I don't want to know what they look like. Are you in any memberships? Would you be willing to join a membership site for a couple of months, just to see what it's like to be in one?
And so in this case, it was the ability of you to test beta test your program, but that student also experienced what it's like to be in a program.
T: Yes. Yeah, for sure. And it was such a good thing because there was so much validation along the way of she's oh, this is great. This has changed my practice so much. And so that was really good for me to do for sure.
M: Yeah, and the way to get testimonials, because when one of the things we talked about at first is we don't necessarily have testimonials from students and depending on your license, using a testimonial from a client is either not allowed or frowned upon.
So we talk about getting character testimonials from colleagues or whatever, but it is different than getting a quote or a recommendation from Sydney who has been through your program. So this also allowed you to collect a bonafide testimonial from somebody who has worked with you. Not only worked with you as a colleague but worked with you in the thing that you're delivering results on.
T: Yeah, that was nice. Very nice.
M: Yeah. So phase three is launch and that's right what you're gearing up for. So you already have a really healthy waitlist. And you told me before we started recording that you emailed the waitlist kind of the first time letting them know doors are opening soon, and you had some responses back from that.
So we're starting to see some good engagement. And then you're also moving towards your launch event or your hype event. Can you tell us a little bit about that? A little bit about what the event is, but also about what the process is to start gearing up for lunch?
T: Yeah, the process. The process is like almost building a little tiny program. So it's really interesting and takes a lot of work. Like I'm over here, just scrambling, trying to put it all together. Just due to my own stuff. One of the things that I really appreciate about being nine months long is that I had things come up that kind of set me back, but I have time to catch up.
So a little side note, but yeah, so it's a lot of things and it's really exciting to pull these things together, sending emails and creating a page for people to be interested in all of those components. And yeah, I just sent out my first "hey, come experience this opportunity".
And I'm doing a five-day challenge from my hype event. And the five-day challenge is to help you declutter your inbox. It's so funny because as I'm exploring this idea, people are sharing their inbox of like 30,000 emails. I panic a little.
M: I have 800 and I thought I had a lot. And then we were in Voxer and all screenshotting our phones. And I was like, yeah, here's mine 800. And then somebody put in 2000 and somebody put in 30,000 and I was like, Ooh, I thought I was bad.
T: Yeah, that's a lot. Like how can you even figure anything out what's happening?
M: I would just delete it all. I would just really start from scratch.
T: Yeah. Like when like getting house mail, right? Like the junk mail just goes into a drawer a lot of times eventually it's so full, you just dump it. You don't even dig through it. And you're like what was I saving this for?
M: How's that a detriment to people's practices when their inbox is building up?
T: Yeah. And you might lose like these really phenomenal opportunities or miss out on some really big reminders or whatever. Like what I think about that I get in my inbox, if it was buried among 30,000 or even 800, my inbox is less than 50 at all times.
M: The thing I think of is what if you have a cancel or a no-show policy, a client emails, but you miss it. And then so you end up charging them or something like that. And they're like, no, I emailed you. And then it goes back and forth.
T: Yeah. So for sure that I've been, I was thinking about not only the financial piece, but if I don't touch the client's cancellation, I'm sitting here waiting for them. When my time is... they've done their due diligence, but here I am feeling like, where are they? And I could be doing other things.
Certainly, we get lots of reminders for paying taxes and all that good stuff that, like, you don't want to miss out on. So all of those really big things, but the one that I think about often because it's so big in growing your business and feeling connected is networking.
People will send working on requests and then you miss out. And in private practice or in small practices, like that is really important because we're just in our silo and we need those connections.
M: So for business growth, but also for clinical growth and personal growth.
T: Oh yeah. Yeah. And this is just something like, once you get familiar with it, like the person who shared 30,000, that was for their partner, and they're like can my partner come? Yeah, there's a therapist, but come on, they need to clean that inbox. And so by cleaning that inbox, piece of having an organized practice.
M: So let's talk about your program. Let's talk about it a little bit. Cause you've gone through you've outlined it you've constructed it. You've got interest in it. You've built the funnel for it. You've got people on the waitlist for it. You're about to launch it. So what is it? Let's talk a little bit about it.
T: Oh, it's been an adventure creating it, really narrowing it down, finding those important pieces because there's so much sometimes I can get lost in here's another thing, here's another thing. So really bringing it down to bite-size level opportunity versus the 500 million things.
So anyway it's called Practice Simply. Yes, I had a little help creating that name. That's the other beauty of being in the group. I think I'm pretty sure that you helped me create that based on all my brainstorming dialogue with the group members and saying, here's my 500 things I'm thinking about for a name, what clicks, what resonates, so those are really great things.
So Practice Simply is an eight-week group coaching program where we dig deep into the entire practice organization, creating all these systems, not just from the clinical perspective from your mindset of organizing and creating systems to the end of like finances in business management of your practice with a nice solid package in between of that clinical stuff, because that's so frustrating for all of us.
So in each of the weeks, we talk about what are the requirements of things? What are the requirements of budgets and what am I able to deduct what's allowed? And then how do I create a system to manage that? Or like the clinical stuff, what's required in a diagnostic assessment and how do I create a system to be able to use that?
And so not only do we talk about what's required and then create that system. There's a lot of templates for every single week. All of these cheat sheets and templates that I use in my own practice I've made all nice and pretty, and I'm sharing them with everybody else.
M: Yeah. So whether somebody who's like just starting in practice and they want to start off on the, I don't want to say right foot, let's say best foot or somebody who's been in practice for a while and knows the struggle of looking for documents, looking for things.
One of our alumni was like, I have three different Google drives and I can never remember where it ended up, so having that feedback from people. So getting to the point of like your practice being... like one word that you use a lot is ease, right? Like sitting down and the mental clutter is gone.
So you can sit and be fully present with that client and know that your business, you can scale. You can add more clients and take on more of your own caseload. You can add in clinicians under you if that's what you want to do because things are organized. If you had another clinician, come on, you could literally say here's the process that we run this practice.
And then they're set up and organized. And so it not only sets you up for clinical success, it sets you up for business success and practice success as well.
T: Yeah, absolutely. Whether you want to just enjoy your practice as it sits, being able to go off and live your life. And I think so often, like when I was in the deep parts of trying to figure out how to organize all of this, it seemed every weekend I was on the couch catching up on clinical paperwork.
No, I'm sorry. I can't go hang out. I got to do my paperwork, and so whether the goal is to just enjoy your life and enjoy your practice to be able to expand it or whatever it is, this is just going to give you that ease to be able to free up your time to explore what matters most to you. And that's what I'm just really excited about offering.
M: Yeah. And I know our listeners, sometimes people talk to me and they're like, I want a side hustle, but my practice is a mess. And I was like now I have somewhere to send you. So where should people go if they want to learn more about you, about Practice Simply about getting this ease, full feeling about their practice?
T: You can find me right on my website. I'm at tiawilseck.com. That's T I A W I L C E K dot com.
M: Yep. And we'll have that in the show notes too. Cool. So if you could sum up your experience with Side Hustle and then just say a quick summary, how would you summarize the whole thing?
And then do you have a piece of advice for listeners who are thinking like, is this the year that I'm going to join Side Hustle?
T: I think if I were to summarize it up, it's hard, but it's a must. It isn't as easy as I dreamed it to be, or, like I said at the beginning, ignorance was bliss. I thought, like, I could do this.
But it's a must. If you want to grow or expand anything. Even if it's I want to extend part of my private practice into something bigger, like groups or whatever this is for that as well. And so my encouragement to anybody who's considering it just to do it. Don't think anymore, just jump in because investing in yourself, whether you're ready to build a Side Hustle or ready to expand your private practice into something greater with confidence.
It's worth that investment. This program has taught me how to create Practice Simply, but it's also given me all the skills to do it over and over again. So how can I not like that value? It's worth it.
M: Yeah. That's really cool. Awesome. Tia, thank you so much for your time. We'll have your website in the show notes. So everybody who wants to think about organizing their practice can go and check you out. Practice Simply opens for enrollment in November, but you're starting in January.
So if you're listening to this anytime between now and then, and know that you want to get things under control once and for all, have a system that works with you and grows with you, you can always check out Tia's website and head over there.
T: Yes. Thank you so much. It was so fun to be here with you.
M: Yes. Thank you. And I'll see you Wednesday, then Friday. Bye.
Alright, So we obviously recorded this episode a few weeks ago and I do have some updates. Tia is in the middle of her waitlist launch and has already enrolled members in her Practice Simply program. If you're listening right now, you can always hop on Tia's waitlist. If you need some organization and that is not your strong suit, work with somebody who it is, and that is a natural talent of Tias.
So we have all of her links in the show notes here. Also, if you know that you are ready to start your side hustle and you want to have results like Tia, monetizing a natural strength of yours, natural skill set of yours, and you want to have people joining your program by the end of our nine months together, you want to get in Side Hustle.
It is the program that takes you from idea to income and sets you up for a legitimate, sustainable business. So head on over to marissalawton.com/side-hustle and apply. Let's get together. Let's work together in 2022 and let's make your side hustle dreams a reality. Alright, guys, I will talk to you next week and until then keep on rising.
