From $18/hr Social Worker to 7 Figure Coach

Welcome back to the show, my friends. I'm your host Carly Hill, and today we're getting personal. I'm going to talk about my story, how I went from a broke, burnt-out social worker making $18 an hour to a very successful multi-seven-figure online coach. And that's the highlight reel. I think most people know that story. Carly's an LCSW, build a private practice, and then scaled to a multi-seven-figure coach. But what people don't always see and realize is the messy middle in between, the emotions that were behind all the decisions that I made, and how close all of this work is to my heart. I never thought I'd be sitting here having a podcast, writing a book, having taught thousands and thousands of clinicians how to successfully outgrow the office and impact more lives and make more money. I just was on a mission to crack the code for myself. I wanted more freedom, flexibility, and security in my life. But when I did crack the code, I'm a natural teacher at heart, and I knew that I had to get my knowledge and what I had created into the hands of every single therapist that felt burnt out, that was craving more, that had that itch for more. Because I did have times where I was sitting on my office floor saying, I don't want to be a therapist today. I just didn't feel aligned anymore. I paid my dues in community mental health. I was burnt out there. I mean, if you know, you know, I was banging on windows and you better wake up for your session cuz if they didn't, I wasn't gonna get paid cuz I wasn't gonna get my hours. I was driving all over the county. I had 30+ clients. It was just not healthy, right? I would cram and front load all of my clients. So like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, so I could just have an extra 2 days for the weekend. Again, not healthy. Not healthy, eating lunch in front of my steering wheel. Then I worked in 9-to-5 therapy job, brick and mortar, which was so fun. I worked at a Brain Performance Center. I used to do QEEGs, neurofeedback, biofeedback. To be able to see the brain while also doing therapy was just next level. And plus, I didn't have to eat my lunch in front of the steering wheel anymore. I got to eat my lunch at a long oval table with other co-workers, so that felt normal. I had a small commute to work. I wasn't driving all over the county. And then I also had my private practice. And in between that, I even worked at BetterHelp for a little bit of time. I got certified in animal-assisted therapy. I used to write emotional support animal letters. I mean, I used to do all the things that we do to just survive as a therapist trying to get by. I was making $18 an hour in community mental health, and I think $50 an hour as a licensed clinician at my 9-to-5 job. Then when I started my private practice, I had all the imposter syndrome of charging, and I climbed what I called the ladder of believability, going from $80 a session to then, you know, $100 a session and $150 a session, etc. But I was still capped, and I was still trading dollars for hours, and I still didn't have the freedom that I so desired. I remember thinking that private practice was the end goal, and it was the thing that everybody wished and dreamed about, especially in grad school. And then once you have your private practice, it's great, it's successful, especially on paper, but you want more money, you have to see more clients. And so you are seeing back-to-back clients. And I was having hardly any time to pee between sessions and shoving trail mix in my mouth in between sessions. And I'm, if I'm being honest, the moment that changed everything was the moment where I was sitting in my car. I wrote a poem. I was in a reflection moment, and I just felt stuck. I was like, I don't want to do this anymore. I maybe don't want to be a therapist anymore. Wouldn't it be easier to just be like a photographer or a hairdresser? I was looking at my other friends. I was like, their jobs are just so much easier. I have so much responsibility, and I don't have the freedom that I'm craving. I was grateful, but I was craving more. I was fulfilled, but I was exhausted. I was very successful, but I was still stuck. And if you felt any of that, then this episode is for you, and let's keep talking. Okay, really quick, if you're listening to this and thinking, this all makes sense, but I don't trust myself to navigate this alone, I have something for you. I'm hosting a live 90-minute workshop called How to Protect Your License When Adding Coaching. It's happening April 21st. Grab your ticket it. It's in the show notes. If this episode is hitting for you, this is gonna be your next step. We're covering legal structure, what to say, what not to say, how to set up your offers, how to separate everything properly so you can stop guessing. I'm walking you through the exact framework I created with my attorney, same framework I've used to help well over 400 clinicians add coaching, build their coaching business safely, ethically, legally. I can't wait to see you there. It's all happening April 21st. All right, let's get back into it. Maybe you did everything right like I did. You got the degree, you got licensed, you paid your quote-unquote dues, you built the private practice, you had the full caseload, and from the outside it looks like you made it. But internally it felt different because what no one tells you is you can love being a therapist and still feel completely trapped. I don't think enough of us talk about this. Maybe it's trapped by your schedule or your income ceiling, or possibly just the emotional of holding so many people and sitting with their pain. And the hardest part is, at the same time you feel trapped, you feel guilty for also wanting more. You love helping people. You're great at what you do. You're doing great meaningful work. I was doing great meaningful work. So who was I to say this just isn't enough anymore? Part of me felt guilty for that, and also part of me felt confused of Where do I even go from here? But there was this quiet voice that kept getting louder, and it wasn't saying, you hate being a therapist, although maybe I would say that sometimes, like, I just don't want to be a therapist anymore. Really what I meant by that was, there's more waiting for me. There's more freedom, there's more impact, there's more income, there's more creativity. Something else is waiting for me. I just don't know exactly what it is. And I started to realize something that completely shifted everything for me. And that's when I started studying the online coaching industry. And that shift was, holy shit, I've been coaching all along. And it seems like such a silly holy shit moment because maybe we should know that difference between coaching and therapy as a therapist, but nobody really teaches us that in school, just like they don't teach us business in school. And there is so many nuances, and I recorded another episode on all of the differences between therapy and coaching, so I won't go into that now. But the reality was I had a private practice and I was coaching all along, but I was limiting myself by the lives I could impact. I could only see clients within my state, the fees that I was charging, the creativity that I could infuse into the work that I was doing. And so when I really started to study the online industry, speaking with attorneys, how can I do this ethically? How can I do this legally? How can I create courses so I don't have to repeat myself? How can I leverage my clinical knowledge and my time and technology to be this ultimate win-win? Especially because I saw other coaches doing this who had no clinical background. They didn't have nearly as many certifications as we do. I always say we have certifications, every letter of the alphabet, and they were getting paid double, triple what I was when I went to years and years and years of school for this, right? Not to be cocky, but I was good at what I was doing, and I know you're good at what you're doing too, right? So I just didn't know the business model behind how to monetize my clinical skills, how to make this reality of having a thriving, successful coaching business come true. And that's where I went on a mission, a mission to crack the code. And it was just for myself. Again, it was never the intention to sit here and teach that to you today, but I'm so glad that I had to walk through those trenches myself because it does allow me to sit here and speak with integrity about the shift that I had to go through. And things got really uncomfortable with this identity shift. It wasn't just about starting a new offer, it was an identity going from therapist to coach. If you're thinking about launching a podcast or taking yours to the next level, Juliana and her team are the experts you need. They take care of everything from episode from episode funnel design to production and marketing, so you can focus on creating content that connects with your audience. Check out the show notes on how to get access to their team and just mention that I sent you. Happy podcasting! I did have lots of pushback from other therapists. I was becoming a new version of myself. I wasn't just a therapist anymore, I was a coach. I was a next level entrepreneur. I was evolving into a new type of leader and elevating my leadership skills as I was paving the way for this movement that is happening where therapists are adding coaching. And it came with so many fears. And this is what I'm talking about, the messy middle that nobody really sees in my story. There's been many moments where I have been, you know, crying in my car or in my office or going to therapy or doing breakthrough sessions to get through all of these identity shifts that I had to go through throughout my whole entire time as an entrepreneur, as we keep upleveling. And I had to question, you know, is this allowed? Can I add coaching ethically and legally? What will people think of me? Am I leaving something really important behind? What if this doesn't work and I waste all of my time and energy and money into trying to get this to work? All of the questions that maybe you have. And that's why I spoke with attorneys. They taught me how I could do it ethically and legally. I had to go to therapy so I could throw away what other people were going to think of me. I had to realize that I wasn't leaving something important behind and I was building something even bigger and better that was going to impact more lives. And what if this doesn't work? I started asking myself a different question. What if it does? What if it does work? I don't think I was afraid of failure. I think I was afraid of success. There's two sides to every coin, and maybe that's what it is for you too. Maybe deep down in your bones, you know it's gonna work, it's gonna blow up. And can you hold it if and when it does? I didn't just jump into coaching blindly. I didn't just wing it. I built intentionally, slowly, with the right contracts and the right structure and the right boundaries. I wasn't willing to risk my license that I worked hard for. I wasn't willing to build something that didn't feel solid. However, I did allow myself to rebuild and rebuild over and over again until I felt at home with what I was building, until I found my voice, until I found my creative process. Here's something that a lot of people don't know about me too, which is all of the different iterations and niches that I had. Oh my gosh, I mean, I started off doing women empowerment coaching. I did weight loss hypnosis. I did bridal coaching. I published a bridal journey. I was, you know, also getting certified in neuro-linguistic programming and Reiki and tarot cards. So I infused all of that into the work that I was doing. I even had a course called Woo World, which was introductory into the spiritual world. I did private I practiced coaching for a while, and then I moved on to helping therapists add coaching. So I had many, many, many different niches. So while I wasn't willing to build something that didn't feel solid, I was willing to reinvent myself over and over again until it felt right. And that actually gave me the confidence to go all in over and over and over again. And once I had that foundation, everything started to move. I could create offers effortlessly and easily. It was the same concept that applied to every single niche. I really started showing up online in a brave way where my identity wounds started to fade away, especially as I was going to therapy for those. One of the biggest ones that I had to get over was the fear of talking about my success and money that I was making. I had to go to many sessions for that to release the fear of what other people would think, but I wanted to share the money that I was making because I wanted to show people that this was possible for them. Back when I was a full-time therapist, there was nothing I dreaded more than facing a giant stack of paperwork by the end of the day. If you feel the same way, you're gonna wanna check out TherapyNotes. It's a complete practice management system with everything you need to manage patient records, schedule appointments, meet with patients remotely, create rich documentation, bill insurance right at your fingertips. My favorite part is their new AI tool, TherapyFuel, and it can also simplify client histories, document client communications, streamline insurance entry, and there's still more to come. It's no wonder TherapyNotes is the leading behavioral health EHR. Find out yourself why thousands of therapists nationwide love it. Visit therapynotes.com and use code Carly to try it for free. I realized the amount of people that I was reaching across the country, across the world, and it was happening so fast. And within months I built my first 6-figure offer. Within 11 months, I had hit 7 figures. And here's the part that matters more than the numbers. I got my life back, my time, my energy, my freedom. And this is what I want therapists to understand. You don't have to choose between helping people and building wealth. You don't have to choose between impact and freedom. You don't have to abandon your identity. It's an expansion. It's a bonus identity. Therapists can do so much. And coaching didn't take anything away from me. It gave me more reach, more income, more sustainability. And honestly, it made me better at what I do. And that's exactly why I built the program that I did today, because I see so many therapists sitting exactly where I was. They want more, but they feel stuck between fear and ethics and uncertainty, and they don't know the business blueprint of how to monetize their clinical skills. They want to build something scalable, and they want to do it ethically, and they want to enjoy their life again while doing the work that they love to do. They just don't know how to put the floating pieces together. And I do, because I've built it. I deeply know the worlds of therapy, I deeply know the worlds of coaching, and I deeply know the worlds of business. So if you're listening to this and something in you is like, this is me, holy shit, Carly gets me, I want you to hear this. You're on the precipice of something great. You're not ungrateful, you're not broken, you're just evolving, and something else is waiting for you. The life that you want, it is not on the other side of more clients. It is on the other side of a different business model. We have to change something. If you want your life to change, we gotta change something. So if you're ready to explore what this could look like for you, how you could add additional revenue streams without having to get more certifications, using the knowledge that you already have, whether it's adding coaching, maybe becoming an author, doing a podcast, speaking on stages, somehow, some way outgrowing the office. Maybe it's not transitioning fully, maybe it's just understanding your options. That's exactly what I help people do. So you don't have to figure this out alone. I'm here, my team is here to guide you, and you don't have to stay where you are. That version of you who wants more, she's ready, and I want you to trust her. So reach out, check out ways that we can work together. You can always book a free consult call with my wingwoman. That link is in the show notes. It's no pressure. Let's just discover what your options are. My love is with you, and I will see you in the next episode.