Perry: In this episode of the Therapist Experience I’m speaking with Elizabeth Fox Butler from Elizabeth Fox Butler PsyD. This is the Therapist experience, episode number 40. Welcome to the Therapist Experience. The podcast where we interview successful therapists about what it’s really like starting and growing a private practice. I’m Perry Rosenbloom, the founder of Brighter Vision, and I’m so excited to introduce our guest today Elizabeth Fox Butler from Elizabeth Fox Butler PsyD. Elizabeth, are you prepared to share your therapist experience?

Elizabeth: I am, I can’t wait.

Perry: Alright. Elizabeth Fox Butler PsyD is a clinical health psychologist helping introverts and people with sensory processing sensitivity, also known as highly sensitive people heal from anxiety, eating disorders, and relationship conflict. Elizabeth is an introvert and a highly sensitive person herself. She prioritizes multicultural diversity in her personal and professional perspective and is passionate about destigmatizing mental illness. Elizabeth, I gave a little overview of you there but why don’t you take a minute, fill in the gaps from that introduction and tell us a little bit more about you personally and about your practice?

Elizabeth: Yeah. So I’ve been in private practice technically for about two and a half years and then I got my license and started practicing out on my own back in March of this year. And I specialize in seeing highly sensitive people who are struggling with accepting themselves, maybe they’re overstimulated or having problems managing their emotions and relationships. Those are some of the big themes that come up as well as introverts who have maybe been put down for their introverted nature, which can actually be a strength. So we kind of work on transforming that into something that they can see as a gift and use to better their life.

Perry: How exactly did you end up focusing on this niche?

Elizabeth: Well, I started to notice that the clients who I worked the best with tended to be quiet types, people who needed a little bit of help getting comfortable with self-acceptance. Gentle personalities for the most part. And I realized that I really related to that. That’s a lot similar to the way that I am too. And at that point I started looking into it and I realized there was a huge need for specialist in this area because it’s just a really new area of research, there’s not a ton of knowledge out there compared to maybe anxiety or some other more well-known mental health struggles.

Perry: I can see that being such a huge advantage and also I could see it being a little challenging, in terms of marketing yourself and finding effective ways to build up a referral source network. How have you found it to be with marketing yourself, focusing on the specific niche?

Elizabeth: You know, I wondered about that myself when I got started with this, and I have found that people are really drawn to someone who can relate to that experience. I’ve used the internet, it has been my greatest tool because if you can imagine, introverts and sensitive people who get overwhelmed spend some time on the internet where it’s safe and they can kind of regulate their environment and everything.

Perry: That makes sense, yeah.

Elizabeth: That’s actually where most of my referrals do come just from my website and Psychology Today networking.

Perry: Fantastic. I mean, it’s a really great niche to be focusing on and just being able to market yourself that way, and attract those types of clientele and be able to relate to them I think. Make your website able to brand you effectively and you’re able to pull them in, and work on helping them.

Elizabeth: Yeah, it’s really worked out incredibly well.

Perry: So Elizabeth, let’s go back to a point in your career as a therapist where you could have called it quits? Where you were just as low as you could be in this entrepreneurial journey and you were just ready to throw in the towel, because I know we’ve all been there as entrepreneurs. It’s always your ups and your downs, your struggles and your triumphs. Can you share with us a moment in time where you were as low as you could be in your journey in private practice, and the share with us more importantly, how you overcame and persevered through that time?

Elizabeth: It’s easy for me to think of that time because it was so recent actually. It was back when I got my license and I moved out to having my own practice. I had been seeing people on a much lower sliding scale basis at times. And I was a psychological assistant so it was a little more complicated as far as fees and so. But I started my own practice, I raised my prices quite a bit. Also there were some changes logistically with who I could see for private pay basis and that kind of thing. And about two thirds of my clients left and I had a pretty full caseload.

Perry: Oh my goodness.

Elizabeth: So that was a huge hit to my professional life, my self-esteem. It brought up a lot of doubt. I was wondering, oh, if I charge more people don’t want to come. So it must be something about me. And then at some point I figured out that there were people who were used to paying a certain rate. They either couldn’t afford to pay more, they were looking for something else, this was a good time to take a break. All kinds of different reasons. Or maybe they weren’t a good fit for something that they’re looking for on more long-term basis. There were so many different factors. And it took me a long time to come to that conclusion after a lot of feeling really shaken up.

Perry: And how did you persevere through that and build your– Say, I’m going to start going out there and start building my client load back up again?

Elizabeth: Yeah. I just started really reaching out and putting my feelers out there for resources I could tap into. So I found– I didn’t realize there was this whole world of private practice, marketing, coaching, and networking, and people who really wanted to help with this kind of thing. And that was where I kind of figured out that I needed to really get a clear picture of who I want to work with as a professional and what bested my personality. So like, this podcast has been great although this one I think came out more recently than some of the others. Practice of The Practice with Joe Sanok, Kelly and Miranda’s Zynnyme business school bootcamp. Just all of these different wonderful experienced people who were willing to share a lot of their knowledge for free or very little money. So I felt re-inspired and like, okay, look at all of these other people who are doing this. This is possible. Try it and see what happens.

Perry: So what are some of the things that you executed on the advice that you got to really help you persevere through that and get your private practice back to being full.

Elizabeth: Well, I started valuing myself as the service, figuring out the niche and then putting my personality out there openly because in school we’re taught a lot about professionalism and making sure that you don’t share too much about yourself. And it can end up feeling really isolating and closed off, and I kept hearing over and over again, especially from Kelly and Miranda from Zinnyme, that if you can put yourself out there for who you are in the public eye, people aren’t going to walk into your office and be surprised. They’ll walk in knowing that they already like what you have to say. So I kind of just embraced that and hoped for the best, that it’s really worked out wonderfully.

Perry: I completely agree with that and we’re talking more specifically about your niche. I agree with it. If there’s a way to agree with something even more than wholeheartedly, I do. So what are some things that you did, some changes you’ve made to put yourself out there more and be able to relate with your target market a little more?

Elizabeth: I started sharing my own struggles with these things more openly. Kind of letting myself be vulnerable in that way. I went ahead and I took a copy-writing course with Nicole Bonsol who’s a wonderful web designer and copy-writing coach. And she is very much that kind of warm and fuzzy embrace who you are type of person, so I got some professional feedback from her and then a group of people that were in that workshop. I went ahead and got a Brighter Vision website after feeling like I was going to pull my hair out trying to make my own. That was a wonderful investment. It took me a while to come around to the idea but I’m really glad I did.

Perry: We’re glad you did as well. So you took a copy-writing course with Nicole Bonsol, what are some things that you did there? I know you have a lot of great content on your site. And of course to everyone listening, we’ll have links to all the great resources Elizabeth has mentioned in this week’s show notes at Brightervision.com/session40 including Elizabeth’s website. So did you rewrite all the content on your website through the copy-writing course with Nicole?

Elizabeth: I didn’t have much to begin with so I did do all of it through my work with her. One thing that she really teaches is to make things concise and kind of adequately summarize stuff as quickly as possible so that people can engage with your content and she teaches you how to write in a way that’s readable, that sounds more like your own individual voice rather than kind of naming off clinical jargon or–

Perry: Which is very important. Haha.

Elizabeth: Yeah, getting too wordy, which I struggle with. You might be able to tell by just talking to me.

Perry: No, you’re great. You’re fantastic. And with copy-writing though it’s very different than speaking. You need to define your voice and writing is really just editing. You get a first draft but that’s just it, that’s just the beginning. You have to go through those revisions and edit it and really make it as concise as possible.

Elizabeth: Absolutely.

Perry: So Elizabeth, you’ve come such a long way from there, would you mind sharing with us, with our audience, what your current hourly rate is to see clients and what your journey has been to that rate?

Elizabeth: Sure. So I currently charge 160 dollars for a 50 minute session. I do offer longer sessions at that same rate on a prorated basis. But most people come in for the 50 minute time. And my supervisor as a psychological assistant for the past couple of years encouraged me to charge that rate the whole time but I had my own stuff kind of getting away of feeling comfortable really doing that. And I had this light bulb moment where I realized that even with only ‘a master’s degree’ I still had more expertise in this field than the majority of the population. And just that ‘aha’ helped me to feel more like I deserved it. And then when I started my own business, when you have to start paying your own rent and expenses and subscriptions to all these different professional resources, I realized with the amount of people I can handle seeing each week, I couldn’t really survive off of less than that and have money to pay for groceries and living in California.

Perry: So Elizabeth, you mentioned a lot of different resources here and different strategies that have helped you define your voice. Would you be able to pinpoint one marketing effort in particular that you feel has helped your private practice the most, and why do you feel like it’s worked so well for you?

Elizabeth: I actually feel like my Facebook page is the one thing that I am the most engaged with and I get the most engagement back from clients and people who are just interested in what I have to say. I like it because it offers so much variety, and big variety is the spice of life person. So you know, when I log into Facebook I have a lot of different options. Can I run an ad, do I want to post a video, link from somewhere else? It’s really easy to share other resources when I find then and want to spread the word.

Perry: So what are some of the things on Facebook you’ve shared that really helped drive in new clients for you?

Elizabeth: Well, just sharing my website through Facebook has brought a lot of people to the site I think. I don’t do a ton of Google, SEO effort. But I think that Facebook has reached enough people and it’s popular with the populations I’m speaking to. That it helps to drive traffic to my website. And then, it’s funny because on Facebook you never know what’s going to be popular and what’s going to fall flat.

Perry: I know, right?

Elizabeth: So I think the most popular thing I shared was a photo of this little kitten standing by itself looking sad, and it was just a meme and it said, when you go to a party and the one person you know is talking to someone else. And I wrote a little blurb about how it can feel awkward making small talk and how that’s harder for introverts sometimes. And it was the most popular thing I ever put up. And I felt like I input much more profound interesting things up there but I guess that was just not what the audience was looking for.

Perry: I mean if you combine kittens and memes, it’s just a recipe for success in social media, right?

Elizabeth: Apparently so.

Perry: You got to be getting more kittens out there. I feel like kittens probably get the most clicks of anything, with Youtube and any sort of social media you’re going to see kittens. People love seeing kittens, right?

Elizabeth: Yeah, yeah. Maybe I should call my business, the psychology of kitten memes or something.

Perry: So Elizabeth, you went to school to become a therapist, not to get your MBA. But you decided to open your own private practice along the way. What’s the one thing that you wish you would have learned in school about starting your own business?

Elizabeth: I wish that they would have even mentioned the word marketing. I’m not sure I heard that word once in the entire six or seven years that I was in school. Yeah, that’s a big umbrella answer but I think just realizing that having a private practice was even possible wasn’t something I had entertained of a lot. Because you heard professors who had a private practice throw it around but nobody ever got to how to do it. So I wish I would have just known that there was this whole world of, okay, we have the steps you need to take. We’re going to show you how. And I could have started looking into that and gotten started earlier, although I think there was an advantage to having some extra time to figure out exactly what I wanted to do too.

Perry: Absolutely. I couldn’t agree more. I wish it was taught more but thank goodness that there’s all these great resources out there. I like the ones that you’ve mentioned. Practice of The Practice, The Zynnyme bootcamp, the copy-writing course with Nicole Bonsol, Brighter Vision, all these things combined together really create a nice networking web of resources for people to get a marketing education in their private practice. Which seems that schools are not providing at this time, but I really hope we start seeing more and more of it, because it’s really necessary that as we hear with every single person in private practice I speak with. We hear that all the time.

Elizabeth: Yeah, yeah. I know, I’ve heard other people on this show say the same thing.

Perry: So Elizabeth, now we’re going to move into the final part of our interview, the part we like to refer to as Brighter Insights. And I really love this part because it allows us to distill down your experience and your advice into little sound bites and quick answers that our audience can use to inspire and motivate them in growing their private practice through the week. Are you ready?

Elizabeth: I am.

Perry: What or whom inspired you to become a mental health professional?

Elizabeth: When I was 15 I simultaneously started an intro to psychology class that I just fell in love with immediately. I think it was a particularly good teacher and I’m just naturally interested in this stuff. Like, I ready self-help books for fun. And I also at the same time– My parents took me to– Our family was going through some stuff and my parents took me to one of the very few therapists in the small town where I grew up. And didn’t have very many sessions with her but I just remembered feeling so much relief and validation in talking to an adult who just accepted me and didn’t have a bias. Wasn’t going to get in trouble for what I’ve said, and that honestly I think I knew from then on that I wanted to do this. I’m one of the lucky people who figures that out early.

Perry: Absolutely. And have you always just continued down that path then? Nothing really deterred you off of moving into mental health?

Elizabeth: Yeah. I think my biggest conundrum was before I went to grad school, whether to go or the masters or doctorate track, and that was about as confused as I was about it.

Perry: What do you do to clear your head and get a fresh start in your day?

Elizabeth: I love any kind of exercise that involves putting a 150% of your physical effort into it, because when you’re doing something like that, whether it’s heavy weight lifting or dancing to the max, you don’t really have any chance to worry or feel sad or anything like that. It’s just a really great way to temporarily disconnect from the minutia or the chaos of everyday life and just be in your body and be in the moment.

Perry: Absolutely. I completely agree with that. I know you mentioned a lot of tools here but what are some other tools that you’ve used to leverage the power of technology in your private practice so that technology is no longer a hurdle but instead an asset for you?

Elizabeth: Well, I love text and email. I highly recommend getting Google Apps For Work subscription to people. That provides you– If you sign a hypo agreement with them, you have a hypo secure email and cloud account. And that way you can use it for scheduling or anything that might be kind of iffy otherwise with people’s personal information. And because I’m an introvert I like to kind of have a second to think before I respond. And in a improvisational situation for the most part. So having texted email gives me that moment to pause and formulate my thoughts before I respond. I don’t do any therapy interventions through email or text because it gets too complicated, but scheduling and figuring out logistics and even getting people in for the first appointment, that kind of thing is amazing. I also use Simple Practice on my intake forms and that has streamlined the process and made it so much simpler.

Perry: And any time you can streamline your business and your processes to make it easier for you, you definitely want to take advantage of that. And just to clarify Google Apps For Work, to get the business associates agreement signed you have to reach out to them, correct?

Elizabeth: There’s a tutorial that you can just google that tells you how to access that agreement and sign it. So you don’t even need to call them, just once you have the subscription you can go into your account, your dashboard, and it tells you how to get to it.

Perry: Fantastic, that’s really helpful. We’ll try to have a link to that in this week’s show notes of course at Brightervision.com/session40. Elizabeth, what’s a quote that you hold near and dear, something that has helped formulate your perspective on life or has inspired, motivated, or provided guidance for you?

Elizabeth: I found this quote the other day actually. I was reading that book, it’s just called Quiet by Susan Kane about introverts. And she’s quoting the musical composer Alan Shawn and he’s talking about how it’s important for us to have variety in our population so that our different personalities and talents and skills can complement one another. So here it is. I kind of shortened it because it’s about page long if I read the whole thing. “A species in which everyone was general patent would not succeed any more than would a race in which everyone was Vincent Van Gogh. Indeed, the presence about standing strengths pre-supposes that energy needed another area because it’s been channeled away from them.”

Perry: That’s a great quote.

Elizabeth: It encompasses the work I do with people which is, your introversion is not a weakness, it’s just different from someone who’s more extroverted.

Perry: Do you share this quote with your clients as well?

Elizabeth: Sometimes, yeah. I have some others that are similar on my Facebook page as well.

Perry: And that’s always good to do with Facebook. Any time you can put a quote up behind just like pretty image, that will always do well for you. Especially if you throw a kitten on there, right? Haha.

Elizabeth: Right, hahaha.

Perry: Elizabeth, if you could recommend one book to our audience, what would that book be?

Elizabeth: I just read a book called Attached: The new science of relationships and love. And then there’s another book, Non-violent communication by Marshal Rosenberg. And The Non-violent communication is about talking to each other in a way that considers our own needs while holding the other persons in mind and not blaming or name calling or insulting each other.

Perry: And of course, we’ll have links to that in this week’s show notes at Brightervision.com/session40. Alright, Elizabeth. Last question for you. If you moved to a new city tomorrow and you didn’t know anybody there. And all that you had with you was your computer and 100 dollars to start a new private practice, what is it that you would do on your very first day?

Elizabeth: I would get out my computer and start googling local clinicians who are established in the area and reaching out to them. Just letting them know that I was knew and wanted to pick their brain and get to know them so that I can hopefully refer people to them once I was established as well. So it was mutually beneficial, maybe taking them out for coffee dates or sending letters.

Perry: And has that been effective for you? Have you done that with your private practice so far as well?

Elizabeth: I have, yeah. That’s kind of not on the technological side but that has been something that’s been helpful. If you make a good connection with one or two people you can get half your practice built on those referrals. Makes a difference.

Perry: Absolutely. Word of mouth referrals are the foundation of any successful business, especially in mental health. Any parting advice for our listeners Elizabeth?

Elizabeth: I just think it’s so important to be yourself, as scary as that can feel. Recently I wrote something on my website about being an empath and I thought maybe people would find that to be too cookie or woowoo and I got a new client last night and I said, what was it that made you want to see me? What are you hoping to get from our work together? And she said, well my mom said you’re an empath like her. And it was just a perfect example of putting yourself out there does pay off and it draws in the people who will want to like you for you and because they’re so much involved in the therapeutic relationship that’s so important.

Perry: Absolutely. I think it really– People do business with those that they know like and trust, and when it comes to building a private practice and putting your name out there and putting yourself out there. It’s making people like you, it’s letting people know who you are. Your clients should know who you are roughly before they actually contact you and have a sense of who you are and what kind of work you do and who you like to work with and how you like to work. And then it becomes easy, right?

Elizabeth: Yeah, I couldn’t agree more.

Perry: Elizabeth, where can our listeners find you to connect and learn more about you?

Elizabeth: So my website has about four different ways where people can reach out to me. So if they just go to www.pleasantonpsychologist.com you can call, email, message, find me on Facebook. There are links to everything on that one website so it’s a great central hub.

Perry: Perfect. And of course, we’ll have links to all this in this week’s show notes at Brightervision.com/session40. Elizabeth, thank you so much for being so generous with your time, your expertise, and your knowledge. We appreciate all the great advice you provided and the therapist experience that you have shared. Thanks again.

Elizabeth: Thank you so much for having me.

Perry: And thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have a question for us you can email it to us at [email protected] and of course, if you’d like to launch a website please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Brighter Vision is the worldwide leader in custom therapist website design. For less than two bucks a day you’ll get a website that’s as unique as your practice, unlimited tech support, and complementary SEO so people can find you online. To learn more head on over to Brightervision.com and drop us a line through one of our contact forms. That does it for today, thanks again for listening and we’ll see you next week.