Episode 118: Carly Hill has outgrown the office

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Podcast and this is your host, Julia Napini. I am a clinical and forensic social worker who owns a counseling practice and a consulting business. In this show we discuss the challenges of being successful in business while maintaining your integrity and staying true to yourself. Join me while I interview other professionals and share insights from life and experience. Let's talk about RingRx, our latest sponsor. RingRx is a high quality, HIPAA compliant telephone, text and fax communications platform. They provide seamless, cost effective communications for behavioral therapists, medical practices, hospitals and other healthcare providers. RingRx is designed for modern healthcare environments. They offer customizable features like a phone app, automated patient outreach, voicemail after hours call routing, and top quality desk phones. Try RingRx for free today@ringrx.com and if you sign up using the code climb, you'll get 15% off your monthly bill.

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Hello and welcome to another episode of the Compassionate Climb podcast. We are back with a vengeance. We have been on a little bit of a hiatus and we have somebody here that is definitely worth the wait. So our topic today is going to be making the transition from therapist to coach and the ways that you can increase not only the money that you're making, but the impact that you're having. So, so, Carly Hill, welcome to the show.

Yeah, thanks for having me. I've been looking forward to this all day.

I appreciate you being here. Longtime listener, really enjoy what it is that you do. So I'm hoping to put maybe a little bit of a creative spin on a topic that you know well. So we'd love to hear your career climb and how you outgrew the office. What did that look like on your end?

Yeah, career climb. I just love how you even phrase it in that way because it really is an ever evolving journey. I started in community mental health. I did the brick and mortar nine to five therapy jobs. I did the telehealth jobs. I had my own successful private practice. Long story short, I realized I was coaching the whole entire time. And my quote unquote private practice. I mean, you're a therapist, you open up a private practice and you're like, all right, yeah, I'm doing therapy. But nobody really teaches us the difference between therapy and coaching. And so once I started studying the online coaching industry and I'm like, what the hell do these therapists or these coaches know that we don't know? How are they so successful? I went to years of school for this and then really started studying like, well, what is the difference between therapy and coaching. Holy cow. I'm actually coaching already in my, quote unquote, private practice. So then I started really speaking to attorneys. How can I ethically and legally add coaching? I always valued my freedom. How can I stop trading dollars for hours? How can I get paid when I'm on vacation? How can I get paid not only when I'm sitting there in front of a client, but when I'm out doing whatever it is that I want to do? I'm running errands, I'm at the gym. How can I get paid while I'm doing that? How can I leverage my time? How can I work smarter, not harder? These were all the questions that I was asking myself. I used to Google, how can therapists make passive income? It was just for me to crack the code and figure this out. I am a natural teacher at heart. So when I started creating courses and doing all of this on my own, all my therapist friends were asking me, carly, teach me. What did you figure out? How did you crack this code? How did you figure out your niche? How can I protect my license? And that's when I started creating courses on business coaching for a therapist. So that's my climb. This is very close to my heart. This is my lived experience. I never planned to be a business coach for wellness professionals. And I've since expanded to help any service provider and business coach grow and scale in the online coaching space because the same concepts apply. But it's so freaking fun. It is so rewarding. It is hard. Hard as a relative term, though. But compared to a private practice, there's a time and a space and a place for both. But the reward is much higher in the coaching business, in my opinion.

Well, what a foundation. There are so many points that we could jump off from there. The first thing that I really honed in on is was there a specific turning point? You were saying that you realized that as a therapist you were doing coaching. Was there anything specific that led you to start researching coaching and doing those Google searches and comparing the two?

So many things. I mean, I remember Google searching in my 9 to 5 therapy job. How can therapists make passive income? I actually got certified in animal assisted therapy at the site at the time. So I was doing emotional support animal letters as like a side gig for, you know, some of my clients. And I've always been curious about how therapists can make more money. What we're told, I feel like, is private practice is the end goal, and we just don't really know all of the opportunities that are available to us. We can be podcasters, we can be authors, we can be speakers, we can be course creators. We can do so much and just leverage our clinical knowledge. Private practice is not the end game. But I feel like in school that's kind of what we're. We're taught. You know, it's like this big, scary end game of one day when I'm old and grown, I'm going to have a private practice. Yeah. So I've always been curious, but in my private practice, I remember vividly a few moments. One time I got back from a run and I was just sitting on the floor and I had therapy clients that day. And I was just sitting there up against the wall, and I was like, holy, I don't want to be a therapist today. I just, I don't want to be a therapist. And it wasn't that I didn't want to be a therapist. It was. I was burnt out. I wasn't seeing my dream aligned clients. Everybody has their favorite clients that just light you up and you do a happy dance when you walk out of the room. I had some of those. But I was also saying yes to the clients that weren't my ideal clients because I wanted to make more money. And then I was capped and I had a full caseload. And I was still wondering, well, how can I make more money? If I want to make more money, I have to take more clients. Like this. This isn't cool. And then there was another vivid moment where I was talking to my mom on the phone. She's a social worker. And I was like, this isn't working. Something has to give. There has to be another way. Like, what is it? And there was actually another vivid moment where I sat in the driveway in my car crying. And I was like, I'm done. And I. I wrote a poem about it. I love poetry. And it was just about how in that moment, I decided, I. I decided I'm gonna be seen. I'm going to expand, I'm gonna grow, I'm gonna make more money. I'm gonna leverage my clinical knowledge. I here, I figure it out. And I just decided right there in that moment. So that was my experience.

We definitely share the same message. And you're a great example of leveraging all of those skills. But you're also bringing me back to. I never really thought of it like that. But if I go back to graduate school, you're absolutely right. That private practice was portrayed to be that end goal. And we've just found Ways to break through that glass ceiling and do so much more. But for those listening, there really is a mindset shift that has to happen. So in making that transition from therapist to coach, what are some of the biggest things that you see come up for people and what's helpful for them to be successful in making that?

They're afraid of what other therapists are going to think of them. They're afraid of claiming that they want to make more money unapologetically. We've kind of been brainwashed in a way to give for free and just be of service and, oh, we're capitalizing on somebody's pain if we want to make more money. And it can be both. You can be a bomb therapist and transform people's lives and just be this killer agent of change and unapologetically make bank. It can be both, and it doesn't have to be either or. And when people are good people and they have money, they do good things. So people are afraid of, well, this is. Coaching is going to be a downgrade. What are. What are my colleagues going to think of me? What are my friends and family going to think of me when I start posting on social media? There's visibility wounds. They're afraid to be seen. They're afraid to pick a niche. They think it's going to be their niche forever. They're. I always say they're afraid that ethical gods are going to come after them. That's just my way of saying it's not an excuse to not add coaching if you're afraid of protecting your license. It's actually the easiest step. As long as you have the pieces, you can add coaching ethically, legally. You have your paperwork, you can figure out your niche. We can work past your visibility wounds. As Marie Forleo would say. It's all figureoutable, right?

Yeah, absolutely. And I can see how having someone like you kind of being a trendsetter in all of this and showing that it's possible can really help because so much of it is just getting over that hump. And then once you start doing work that is alignment, and once you do start making money, that is conveying the value that you bring. And when everyone that you're seeing is lighting you up, becomes a lot easier to keep putting that one foot in front of the other and care a lot less what everybody else thinks.

Would you agree?

I totally agree. And that's such a great point. Giving yourself proof that this is possible is one of the best things that you can do. Find yourself a mentor or just even following people on social media that have done it, instead of just scrolling in fear of, oh, there's no room for me. This industry is saturated. No, you should scroll and be like, wow, if they can do it, I can do it too. And just provide yourself proof and just climb that. I call it like the ladder of believability. Like, just dare yourself to try, see what happens. Prove it to yourself. Other people are not any more special than you are. You can absolutely do it too.

Right. I think that's probably one of the biggest myths that we can buy into when we are comparing and seeing what else other people are doing. But really, I love that you just kind of move forward, take some imperfect action, try it out. What's the worst that could happen? And then you can be proud of yourself because you did.

Yeah. Everybody asks, well, what if it doesn't work? Like, you're asking the wrong question because what if it does work?

I love it.

What if it works? It will. If you want it to work, it will work. If you don't give up, it will work. If you have a proven plan, it will work. Not everybody is afraid of the failure. They're actually afraid of the success because they know deep down it will blow up and it will work.

Well. And if we are coming from the training that we did or the master's programs that maybe gave different messages, or surrounding us with people, surrounding ourselves with people that are limiting their own possibilities, then we can be really scared of what that would look like sometimes even in our own families. Right. Like, if we were to so far surpass what we ever envisioned for ourselves, how are other people going to be able to adjust to that? How does that shift our identity? What does that mean for all those relationships?

Yeah, it runs deep. It runs deep. I had to go through that myself. What was my family going to think of me? I was actually afraid to publicly talk about my success because I was afraid it was going to dim other people's light, especially in my family. I didn't want them to feel less than because I was more successful than them. And yeah, you're right. In school we're taught not to be seen, don't self disclose, stay small. And we carry that over when we're trying to climb, as you call it in our career.

Yeah, so true. So, therapreneur, I love the term that you have coined and really merges these two incredible identities, but they can very much be at odds with each other sometimes. So what was the inspiration behind that term and what does that mean to you on like a deep soul level?

Therapist and entrepreneur, right? We are therapreneurs. We can do so much as I alluded to earlier, we can be podcasters, we can be authors, we can be course creators, we can be entrepreneurs of all sorts. Right? We're not just limited to this box of I'm a therapist, I work for someone else. I'm a therapist, I see one to one clients in my practice. That's why I like the word agent of change too, because I feel like we're tied. When we're a therapist, we, we think about something so specific. But when you're an agent of change, options are endless. You transform lives. And how you choose to transform lives is up to you. Whether that's through a course or you're speaking on stages, or you do have a podcast or you're writing books about it, your avenue, the vehicle that you provide the transformation, it doesn't really matter. That's personal preference. Whether you like to write blogs or you like to speak or you like creating courses, you like creating digital products or E courses, many courses, ebooks, options are endless for you to impact more lives and make more money doing it. It's entrepreneurship, it's freedom. Yes.

And when you're increasing the impact and you're increasing what you're making, but you're also fully in alignment, the inspiration that can come to the future people around you that you don't even realize when they're seeing you really go for it and exceeding your own expectations for yourself. So when you're seeing someone, in some cases triple their revenue through making this coaching transition. What is one common denominator that you see time and time again for people who actually make that leap and get.

To that point, they don't give up. When we think about the successful entrepreneurs in this space, they study, they're. They know that I always say a wise woman knows, she knows nothing. They are a student again and they allow themselves to fail forward and make those mistakes, knowing that that's where they're going to learn. That's where their growth edge is. And it is a roller coaster. Entrepreneurship is a roller coaster. And you do have imposter syndrome and you do have high revenue months. And then it can go down. Especially when you're at the beginning before you hit that sustainability level and you do want to give up sometimes and you do cry in your office and it gets tough. It's not all rainbows and butterflies, but if you can have the mindset to roll up your sleeves, do the dirty work. Get in there, set up your firm foundations, and you just don't give up because you know your why and it is deeply ingrained in you. You have this vision, you have this mission. It's non negotiable. Your success is written in the stars. You go for it, you keep failing forward and you figure it the out. You just do.

So how do you preserve your values and your sanity in the midst of all of it?

I could answer this question in so many ways. Tell me, tell me more, what you're looking for.

So staying grounded. I think if you really are challenging a lot of the mindset piece, if you have people in your life that might not get it, if maybe you're changing some of your community and who you spend, surround yourself with, it can really be a mind fuck. So maintaining your sanity and your values throughout all of it, you might have to reevaluate some of those things. What really matters to you, your definition of success can change. So what has that shift looked like for you when you not only have achieved it yourself, but you're now helping others do it? They must hit some barriers.

Yeah, always. I think it just goes back to mindset, right? And really just activating yourself and holding that vision strong. So you first have to figure out, well, what is your vision? What do you. Why are you working so hard? What do you want? What do you want your life to look like? Oh, I want to be happy. I want to have freedom. Okay, well, what does that mean to you? What I ask people, what's your revenue goals? I don't really know. More the merrier. Like, give me a number. Let, let's claim it, let's say it, let's write it down, let's put it on a sticky note, let's put on your forehead and we're gonna walk down the road with it. We are gonna be a walking billboard for what it is that we want. Make a vision board. Look at it. I. I wrote myself a check for a million dollars and I stared at it every single day until I hit it. My reticular activation system was on point. I keep a vision board on my desk. It's not pretty. I'll write something with Sharpie on it, or I'll just print something off and I'll tape it on there. But I'm constantly staying focused on what it is that I want, what is my vision for my life. So that when you do hit those blocks that just come up in business, you can revert and you can stay focused. I think self Care is a huge part of it, too. It's very easy to not work out or not meditate because you have to do XYZ in your business. But the reality is those things are going to make you feel better and it's actually going to help you propel forward in your business. So taking care of yourself, taking care of your mind, being healthy and your body, your mind, your soul, your spirit, it all plays a huge role in your success. Being an entrepreneur, for sure, and promotes.

Longevity, enables you to avoid burnout.

Yeah. So journaling, exercising. I used to go on rants with myself when I was driving in the car, and I would just pretend like I'm talking to somebody so if somebody saw me through the window, they wouldn't think I was crazy. But I was like, it's happening. I made this much money. I got this many clients that signed up. Wow. It worked even better than I thought it would. Here I go again. I'm launching again. Like, I was just rambling, rambling, rambling instead of journaling. That's what worked for me. But it helped me get in the vibe. I was quite literally climbing up the scale of consciousness so I could attract. Everything works through resonance, right? So I could attract in what it is that I so desired that was on my vision board. I was an energetic match for that because I raised my vibration. I raised my emotional home to match what it is that I wanted. Even today, when I go on a walk, every single time I go on a walk, I'm listening to a podcast. I am raising my vibration. I'm trying to get in that vibe. I'm. That's what I mean by activating. I'm activating myself. So it's part energy, part universal law, part strategy.

Yeah. That's such a helpful reminder because this is something that has worked for me. It's something that I believe in, but we can sometimes get out of sync with it. And it's really helpful to hear that you've manifested and really put a lot of this out there, but then also use strategy to ensure that it happens. Really weren't willing to take no for an answer?

No, absolutely not. I. I used to create hypnosis recordings. I mean, that's where I started in the coaching space. Obviously, it wasn't business coaching. I was doing mindset coaching and manifestation. And I created this course called Woo World, and it was like introductory into spiritual world. And I was teaching tarot card readings and how to use pendulums and all the Woo cool that I love. But I use that in My own life. And I do think that it is my unfair advantage. Secret sauce, like the strategy actually becomes the easy part. It. It's the mindset and it's having that emotional home and vibration that is just up here that makes all the difference. And that's really when you can collapse timelines and just miracles happen. And you almost can't even keep up with yourself because the synchronicities are just off the charts.

That's so helpful and timely with a lot that's going on in the world, that's very discouraging when we come back to what really is within our control. But then also it's belief in ourselves and just belief in the universe and, you know, just our own capability. So that's incredibly inspiring. So you've mentioned the word impact a few times, and I'm curious how you define that. And has your definition evolved as your income has grown and you've achieved different levels of success?

Yeah, Impact to me means making a difference. It's making an impact in someone's life. And when we sign up to be therapists, like, not everybody gets that calling. Right? And we don't sign up to therapists. Sign up to be a therapist to make money. We. We care so deeply in our heart, it's almost like we care too much sometimes and it can hinder us. But you're here to make an impact. You're here to change lives. Not just one life at a time. I know whoever is listening. You're good at what you do. I always say, I'm in a room full of people. Raise your hand if you know you're good at what you do. Everybody raises their hand. Just imagine that you could impact so many more lives and it really would make the world a better place. It's like this crazy ripple effect in the best way possible. If you were to close your eyes and actually think about all the lives that you've changed, like, tears would probably come to your eyes. Incredible.

Yeah.

And just imagine how many more lives you actually could impact if you just had the right strategy. It's insane. Like, Google what a hundred people in a room look like. You've probably impacted, you know, multiple hundreds and thousands of lives. And it is a ripple effect because every one of your clients that you have, they're probably going and sharing things with their friends and family and. And you're making transformations across the globe. And that's really what tapping into the one to many model does. That's how I've shifted, and that's how I'm Helping my clients shift is you're not just trading dollars for hours. You're not just helping one person at a time. You're not just impacting one life at a time. You're impacting hundreds and thousands nationwide, worldwide, all at the same time.

Yes. I think that is so important for everyone to hear that ripple effect. And so you are now at a stage in your life where I'm sure impact has reached a whole new level. So becoming a mom and preparing for motherhood, I would love to hear how that has contributed to all of this. What are some of the things that you did to set yourself up for this phase, to really be the type of mom that you want to be? And I'm sure that also contributes to level of impact too.

Yeah, thanks for asking. I love motherhood. The second I filed my llc, I've always wanted to be a mom. So the second I filed my LLC and became an entrepreneur, this was the goal, to be a present mom and have a thriving business and be able to be at home. How did I prepare? Well, the preparation started way back when. I was always very proactive in my business and making decisions. Even before I got pregnant, I hired somebody. I was like, you're going to be me when I get pregnant and I go on maternity leave. Like, I was very strategically planning from the get go. And that's just kind of maybe the type a planner in me. When I was getting ready to go on maternity leave, I of course made sure all of my systems were set up. My team was set up to run the shows, batching my content, making sure everybody had the right training and everybody knew who to go to when I was out. I made half a million dollars on maternity leave and I was, I was out. I was doing my thing. It actually shifted how I run my business today and even coming back, because when I was on maternity leave, I'm like, damn. Like, I can make half a mil and I'm not even. I haven't take one coaching call. My clients are getting killer results. My team is running the show. This is incredible. I don't know if I want to come back, but I, I got over that because I love what I do. It's just my obsession. And I can't help my ideas. They just come to me constantly. One of my clients told me, she's like, you are a machine, Carly. I just don't understand how you crank out all this stuff, but I just can't help my ideas. So I'm back, but I'm back in a different way. I respect and value my time so much more. I don't know what the heck I did with my time prior. I am much more efficient with my time. If I. When I sit down at the desk, if I sit down on the desk, I am laser focused. I'm planning what I'm going to do. When I sit down on the desk, I. My time management is totally different.

Yeah, I can see that. Totally understand what an incredible feeling for you to have had that experience, being on maternity leave, seeing the revenue that was generated and having that shift when you returned. And really, when I think of success, I mean, you mentioned this, it's freeing up your time, it's not having to be tied to a seat. And what you're describing is what so many people would love to get to, which is that we don't necessarily have to be trading our time, necessarily. And when you build that team and when you have those systems and. And everything is in place. So clearly what you did worked very well. So I'm glad to hear that.

Thank you.

Yeah. So what do you hope that the next generation, and I say this because there's just such a shift going on from what I see in the mental health landscape. And even just in the short time that I have been in solo practice and grown to group and been consulting with other therapists, there've been so many changes. So what do you hope this next generation of therapreneurs will do differently than maybe we did?

Yeah, I think it's about the stigma going down, which I do feel has happened. People aren't afraid to get help anymore because it's more well known being in the online space as therapeneurs, we're talking about things a lot more. We're sharing our story. It's helping people be vulnerable themselves and know that they're not alone and they can reach out for help. It's almost like the cool thing to do for the younger generation to go get a therapist or go get a coach. So I think that just showing up ourselves, being vulnerable and letting people know, hey, we've been through this because I think 90% of us are our own ideal client. That's not always the case, but we walked ourselves through it and we can help other people do it too. And it's just giving them a permission slip to get help. And we, we all need help. We're. I always just say we're not supposed to do this together and we're all just walking each other home.

It's beautiful.

Yeah.

What a great message. So, so many valuable takeaways for the audience. I appreciate everything that that you shared, so I will definitely include links. But what is the best way for people to follow you? Find you anything that you have going on that you'd like to promote?

Yeah, I don't know when this will come out, so I don't really know. But I have so much to promote all the time because I am a machine. Come find me on Instagram @Carly Hillcoaching. That's where all of my updates are. And then check out my website, carlyhillcoaching.com I do have a boatload of free resources. I have my book that you can read, Therapeneur. So wherever you are on your journey, whether you're just starting off, you're thinking about it, you're in the growth phase, or maybe you're scaling your business, I got you covered.

Thank you so much for all that you've shared and for being such a trendsetter and what a positive message you left all of us with. So hopefully everybody listening takes some action. I appreciate your time.

Yeah, thanks for having me.

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