How Jessica Harris Made Half a Million Dollars in One Year of Adding Coaching [Ep 22]

Welcome back to another episode of the Thriving Therapeneur podcast. I have Jessica Harris with us today. She is a client of mine, so she is a therapist turned coach and she is also a business coach for therapists, helping them grow their very own self, pay private practice, making more money, having more freedom, having more flexibility. We definitely align in this way. So we plan to talk about Jessica's incredible success in the coaching industry today, but also shed some light on some common challenges that therapists go through, whether they're building a private practice, whether they are venturing into the coaching world. What are the blocks that come up and how can we overcome them? Based on us both going through this process ourselves and coaching hundreds of clients through this process. So welcome to the show, Jessica. Please introduce yourself for everybody who is here listening today.

Hi. Yeah, I am so excited to be here. As soon as you announced that you were doing a podcast or like starting your podcast, I was like, oh, I can't wait to be on it. I hope she wants me on it. So I am so excited. Um, yeah, so I'm Jessica Harris. I'm an lcsw. I live in Utah. Single mom to the cutest little five year old girl. She's the best. And yeah, like Harley said, I, I actually grew and then ended up selling my private pay only group practice where we hired six therapists, getting five to 10 new cash pay clients a week. It was really exciting. But then I started doing coaching and started working with you, Carly, and that is where I realized how much I love coaching. And so then I ended up selling my private pay group practice to just focus on coaching other therapists to create their own cash pay practice and have success with that, which I have loved. I love doing coaching. So it's been really exciting.

How long? My concept of time is so bad. How long have we been working together now? Has it been a year?

Has it been like an exact year? Yeah. Cause I got a notification two days ago. It was the same day that I sent you that text that I made, you know, all this money. This past year is the same day that I got a notification that you started your free Facebook group a year ago. And I was like, how cool is that? So I think it's been a year and a week that we've been working.

Incredible. And we can just spoiler spoiler alert now let everyone know.

I was like, I don't know if I wanted to say right now, a.

Half a million dollars in the past year. So before you started the Therapist to coach accelerator program, you were Coaching already, therapist a little bit. Right. But you didn't have a signature program, you didn't have your marketing dialed in. You just, you had the passion and you were kind of one off helping clients. Right?

Yeah, I started the very end of August of 2023. I'm trying to figure out what year it is. Yeah, the very end of August. And I just kind of posted in a Facebook group that like, hey, if any, like I've grown this much, if anyone wants to work with me and I gotta, I'm like, I'm, I'm offering discounted rates right now. And I had a few people reach out. I think I probably had five one on one clients that I worked with, similar rate to my therapy price. And I was wanting to put together a course, but that was it. So I was still trading time for money with the one on one and repeating myself a lot. And the course felt like this daunting thing that I had to have all perfect before I could start, start selling it. And so that was what my offer was going to be then. And I'm so glad I worked with you because otherwise I would be making like a fifth of what I have made if that and trading time for money.

And you have been so successful in this space because you have busted your ass. I mean, I have seen you pull the late nights and emailing me like super late and I went through the same thing, you know, like I, I never want therapists to think that this is easy, but hard is a relative term. Right. And really whatever you put into it is whatever you're going to get out. And maybe that the tasks aren't inherently hard themselves, but there's a lot of them and I feel like you can attest to that and maybe speak to that for a second. Going from no program, literally moving one to one. The idea of coaching into having a thriving, successful, almost seven figure business in literally no time. What has that process been like for you of completing all of these steps?

Yeah, it's for sure been so much work. I feel like it's only been the past month where I'm like, I feel flowy and restful and like, oh like it's been I think three weekends in a row where I haven't worked a ton. It's been very minimal. And so I was working every single weekend for the past year almost, I would say almost every single night that I put my daughter to bed. And I'm sure I for sure had reality TV in the background and was trying to unwind as well. And yeah, whatever time I could squeeze in during the day. And, you know, I was working a ton. And so. And, yeah, like, not hanging out with friends, not going, like, just, like, I just. I just want to work on this. So it's been a lot of work because I find coaching so enjoyable. It's been enjoyable work. Some of it obviously feels like a grind, but I've enjoyed it, luckily. But, yeah, I didn't have to grow this fast. I would have still been, like, making a good amount of money if I didn't work so hard. But I just wanted to work hard because I was really excited to get this together. And then, like, people started coming my way and I wanted to make sure I could help them. And so, yeah, you definitely don't have to work this hard. But I just chose to, and I liked it. And now I'm like, great. The systems are set in place now. Like, now I don't want to work on weekends. I don't want to work when I put my daughter to bed. I want to unwind and, like, relax. And I still tried to have some balance, but there was nothing, a ton of balance the past year, which is okay, like, at the time and season. And I have been working on it, and so I'm excited to just enjoy.

And you chose that for yourself, right? If you didn't want to do that, then you didn't have to. And even if you made half of what you made and you made, you know, 250,000, then that would have been cool, too. Like, that's still incredible success in such a short period of time. So I don't want this to scare everyone, but I also don't want it, you know, paint this picture that it's rainbows and butterflies, because there is a lot that goes into it. I want to address something because I feel like I get this question all the time.

I don't.

I don't know if you do. There's this common misconception, or myth, if you will, that business coaches make more money. And they're. They have this passion that they really want to help somebody with their health or their fitness or their relationships, but they're like, well, should I help them with their private practice instead? Is that going to make me more money? Is that going to be easier? They think it's going to be the path of least resistance. And I think you could speak to this personally. Like, it's not easier. It's just as much work, honestly, if not more. And you've also seen all of the other therapists who have gone through the therapist to coach accelerator in many different niches skyrocket and make incredible money. I'm just curious your opinion on this. Do you hear this as well from therapists?

Yeah, for sure, I've heard that a little bit of like, oh, well, I want to help people with anxiety or I'd rather help people with parenting or relationships or whatever the case might be, health and fitness. And yeah, I'm like, I have paid or would pay really big money for those types of results. And so of course other people would too. So yeah, you don't just have to be a business coach. You just have to have a really needed niche and do the right marketing to attract your clients and all that stuff. So yeah, it has nothing to do with the niche as long as it's something that's needed. And people would pay big money to like conquer their anxiety, to conquer their relationships, to feel better, all the things, you know, and health, fitness, everything. So yeah, it really isn't about what you do. And yeah, sometimes people will hear like me having all the success or other business coaches having success and it's like, oh, that must be the way. And it's not, that's not it. It's like what I have done to make sure I am attracting my ideal client and really speaking to it and getting them to see the value in my program and how I can help them.

So I mean, because you don't really hear about the anxiety coaches talking about how much revenue they've made. It's not relatable to their niche. That's not going to attract their ideal client. Right. Whereas it makes sense for a business coach. And I feel like that's where this conception kind of comes in in the first place. Like you said, like they hear about it and they're like, oh, that must be the way to go. But you know, prior to me being a business coach, I was a high ticket coach helping women through Life Transitions, charging 17.50amonth for my programs. So you do not have to be a business coach. You, you have your own team now, Jessica. So I had to skip to that while it was on my mind. But I want to go back to these past few weekends you've had more free time. What does your team look like? Because I feel like a lot of people think that in order to make a lot of money, in order to grow this big so fast, like they have to have this huge, massive team. So where I have a team of, I can't even keep track sometimes, like I think like, 17 employees, you have a smaller team, but this team is everything to you, which is helping you really delegate and scale back some of your time. What does your team look like? Yeah.

And as you were talking, I was, like, trying to count in my head, like, I think there's maybe 6 or 7 ish people on my team. But, yeah, it's been so needed. And it's definitely, like, a slow process because, yeah, I can sound overwhelming to be like, oh, you have to hire 17 people, but really, it's just one at a time as soon as there was a need. And so I have. There's three other coaches that will help with some of the group coaching calls every single week. So I do, too. The three do the others. Um, another one is having someone to, like, reach out to people and message people who were. I don't want to be in my messenger app all day, every day anymore, because I could spend so much time on that. And so she messages people now, which has been incredible. Another person who will do the consult calls with therapists looking to join my program, which has been such a huge, like, weight off my shoulders, and I love doing those calls, but I just have this bigger vision now. And so she's been really helpful.

And.

And I think this is only the second week where I have completely taken off any consult calls on my schedule, which has freed up a lot of time. And then the most recent hire was a client success coach, or I guess I kind of had one in the past, but a newer one who's also going to take over a lot of the emails and messages, too, which has been so nice. And she's so incredible. She's, like, gone through the program herself. And two of the people who are on my team have gone through the program themselves, had a lot of success, and so it's so nice being able to train people to do the things that, like, I have done so that I can hold this vision and help people with two things. One, help make the program better and better and better, because I keep wanting to make it better and simpler for therapists. And then two, to get as many people into the program as possible through, like, the marketing stuff that I want to do, versus also hiring some people out for marketing, too. So I have loved having a team, and it was hard hiring, like, certain people because I'm like, I feel like I need to do this. And, like, you've helped me so much with, like, letting go of the control. It's okay. And now I can, like, hold the space for what I feel Like I do best and hire other people to what they can do even better than me, which has been really nice.

Yeah. So you can remain the visionary. So you have different teams and different departments. Like I always break it into your client fulfillment bucket and department. And that's where you have some coaches who are helping your clients and maybe it's things that they're more of an expert in than you are. Like, you have an SEO expert on your team who helps your clients. Right. Like, you'd probably rather her run those calls than you anyways. And I definitely feel that way about some of the people on my team. Let them be in their zone of genius. So you have your client fulfillment team, but you also have a sales team that is helping you. And you started off small like you said. Like, it's not like you're coming out of the gates and you're hiring all of these people. But I do think that a lot of people hire the wrong people to start. And I definitely did when I first became an entrepreneur. Like, I hired social media help because it was such a chore to me, but that wasn't driving revenue. We know social media is the very first baby step to actually getting a paying client. So that wasn't necessarily a revenue driving hire to me, but I, I thought that maybe that was the first hire that I should make. So there's definitely an order of operations into when it even makes sense to hire who you should hire first and then how you're going to train them and how you're going to delegate and how you're going to release control with confidence because you didn't just release control of all of your console calls like you said up until like a week ago, like you were still taking control half the calls or you were still taking all of the follow up calls. You're listening to all of the recordings of the calls. Like you were very much hands on in your business as you are releasing that control to ultimately get to the place where you can be like, fly, birdie, fly. And you do have that freedom. But even still, until you have like a sales manager or something, you're overseeing everything. You're always overseeing being that CEO.

Yeah, yeah, no, it's been so nice. And yeah, you've helped me to definitely do it in a way that makes sense, a way that's profitable. Who do I need to hire first? What things would be most helpful and then, yeah, so I can kind of duplicate what I'm doing and have them do it and have them do it in some cases. Even better, which has been so nice. So, yeah, I've so appreciated your support of, like, who do I even need to hire and what would be the best? And that's been really useful for me.

Let's talk about money for a second, because when I posted in the Facebook group, which inspired me to have you come on that celebrate with us, my client just made half a million dollars in a year of adding coaching. You had so many people come out of the woodworks and be like, congratulations, congratulations. I had people messaging me, like, how, like, how.

Yeah, what?

Like, how did that even happen? And I was like, it's just through coaching.

So, yeah.

What. What has this been like for you emotionally and mentally when it comes to money and. And mindset? You have done so much money mindset work. This could probably be a whole episode in and of itself. But if he were to give anybody some 2 cents on money mindset, what would that be?

Yeah, I mean, first of all, I feel like, even, like tears in my eyes of, like, hearing the word half a million. Like, just hearing the word million is like, crazy and so exciting. And yeah, I definitely feel emotional where it's like, how is that even me? Like, even when I sent that to you, I was like, that's me. It feels weird. And so, yeah, I have done a ton of money mindset work. I think that's been the biggest difference versus, I mean, obviously all the marketing stuff and like, all the, like, I think the strategies and the time that I put in. But I think the other piece of that pie is the money mindset work that I have done because I grew up not making a ton of money. Family, always being in debt, great parents, but always in debt, still are, like, just growing up poor, growing up where there's never enough. And even as a young adult, there's never enough. I'm always in debt. And money did not feel safe for me, even though, like, logically I knew I wanted to make a lot of money. Ever since I was, I feel like junior high, I, like, knew I was gonna make a lot of money somehow, even though I had no idea how. And then going into the thera world where it's like, just kidding, you're actually not going to make a lot of money. And I'm like, ah, okay, well, I want to be successful somehow. But anyways, there's a lot of times where I receive a, you know, bigger number than I'm normal, than what's used, what I'm used to, and it does not feel safe for me. And so I'VE had to like really tap into, like, am I worthy of this? And like working through that. I've done so much like breath work, meditations, journaling, reading books, listening to podcasts, talking to you, talking to, you know, therapists that I worked with or some holistic providers that I've worked with. And it's been like a daily thing. Like even today I had this two hour thing where we worked on like hypnosis, nlp, brain spotting for me and my money mindset stuff and some of the stuff that has been coming up for me. So yeah, that's made a huge difference because there's so many limiting beliefs that we have that we help people with as therapists with those things, but, but then don't do a lot of that work ourselves. So it has been really like helpful to be able to work on the money mindset. And there's so many things like, you know, I don't need this much money when it's like, yeah, but maybe I want that much money or like, yeah, the worthiness piece or money's always going to run out or like, I'm never going to make enough or people aren't willing to pay this, or there's so many things to just like let go of and to speak new truths. Like, people love paying me and I have a service that's of really high value to people and money's always flowing to me and money comes easily and like all the things that I am like shifting to having instead. And even, I guess one other thing, and I think I've joked with you in the past, even this summer when there was like two weeks of it being slow and I just moved into a new place. I just bought my pink sparkly Tesla X and I just bought all these things, just had a great month and then I just sold my therapy practice. And then it was like two weeks of it being slow all of a sudden and I was like, oh my gosh, I'm going to be homeless and broke. I'm going to have to sell this. Like, I'm going to have to move out, I'm going to have to live back with my parents. No one's ever going to join my program again. And like, I'm not going to make money and like literal fear that money would run out. And that was just mindset stuff that I worked through. And yeah, the strategy pieces were in place, so it's fine.

It's real though. And I remember, I mean, it's, it's laughable now, right? But it's very real for you in the moment. I remember getting those messages from you and, like, talking through this on some of the coaching calls. Right. And. And it comes down to, like, you said, your beliefs with money, your childhood, how you grew up with money, reprogramming it. Even when you sent me the message and you're like, I made a half a mil. And you're like, is this really me? Like, you're still fully stepping into that identity. And I feel like I constantly tell you, like, this is your new norm. This is, this is no big deal. Like, this is just what you do. You just, you make half a million. You, you make that in a year, you'll probably make that in, you know, a quarter very soon. And then you'll double it and you'll triple it and you'll quadruple it. Like, sky is the limit. It's just, it's normal. It's like frying eggs on a Tuesday morning. You just make millions. That's just what you do. End of sentence. Period. Right. Like, it's just we're, we're changing the energetic frequency with money and our relationship to money.

Yeah.

Do you see any common challenges for the therapists who are even coming into your program and starting their private practice or getting off insurance, moving to self pay, upping their rates when it comes to money?

Oh, yeah, for money. Like, big time people feeling like there's a lot of scarcity mindset, A lot of like, well, I don't know if people are going to be able to pay this. This economy, the inflation. Like, I heard in another Facebook group that cash pay practices aren't working anymore or just like a lot scarcity mindset that people are coming with some people feeling guilty about what they charge and some people just being like, no, I should be making this. Why are people not coming? Why is no one willing to pay me? And so, yeah, I feel like money for any entrepreneur is a huge block for a lot of people and really shifting the scarcity to the abundance. And even I was talking to someone the other day where it's like, oh, every time I see someone in a Facebook group or a friend tell me, like, you know, most people, you know, people can't really afford private pay. It's like, that is such a black and white thought that we as therapists tackle all the time, the black and white thinking it's like basic cbt. Like, yes, a lot of people might not be able to afford your rate and there's tons and tons of people willing to pay your cash pay. Rate or if it's coaching that are willing to work with you in your program or whatever it is. And just speaking that abundance and so, so often that, you know, the therapists that I work with in my program, I'm sure very similar to you from what I've seen. And me myself being one of those people where it's like tapping into that abundance, working through the mindset, realizing that like you're stepping into a new role as an entrepreneur, but there's abundance for everyone and you get to change your views around money and feel safe and.

Healthy for any entrepreneur. I love that you said that because it's not just therapists. It is definitely something that will come up time and time again. I always say that it's 80% of our business is definitely our mindset and not enough people continuously work on this. But as we continue to up level and up level in our business, it's going to show up in new different ways for us. So what's any advice that you would give to therapists who want to start their private practice to therapists who want to start their coaching business? You've done both, you've ran both, you've been through all of the limiting beliefs. You're still very much in the thick of it now. You have reached high levels of success. What about somebody who's fearful, they want to do it, but X, Y, Z?

Yeah, I would say lean into people who have grown the type of business that you want to. Don't talk business with people who, you know, are gonna, you know, kind of put you down and really just listen to the people that have been there and can do it and follow their footsteps. Whether you pay or you just follow people's free trainings and free content and get everything you can from those people who have been there so that you see that it is possible. And then, and so that's a huge thing, is you have to realize like it's possible that's gonna help remove a lot of the fear. And like, oh, well, they did it. Why can't I do it? All these people, like so many people have done it. And then the other thing is just realizing like, as long as you do the right marketing, like people need therapy, for instance, or people need coaching for those topics we were talking about earlier, you just have to stand out compared to other people. And I've lately been telling a lot of therapists in my program, it's not a matter of if you're going to get private pay clients, it's a matter of when Some people might grow quicker than others. I grew quicker than others in therapy and the coaching world. But people, you know, can also grow slower. And that's totally fine too. And so it's really not a matter of if, it's just when. And everyone has a different timeline. And I wish I could wave a magic wand for people in my program and just entrepreneurs in general, like, hey, you're gonna grow in this amount of time, but just trusting the process and that it works. Releasing the timeline, but it's going to work. If you have a niche that people need, it's going to work. And so as long as you're following the right steps. So, yeah, I always just say surround yourself with people who have done what you want to do, which is why I surround myself with you and other now like successful people. And it's made such a massive impact because I would have not been nearly, you know, this good of like where I'm at if it weren't for you and other people who have helped me and ignoring the voices that tell me it's not.

Same with my success. I mean, I got to where I am because I shortcut it, my success with mentors. You know, I found people who were doing what I wanted to do, who were successful in the online high ticket coaching industry. Reading books, reading podcasts, like studying. Like, I feel like I studied more and I still study. Like I'm still constantly investing more than I did in grad school. About. There's so much to learn in the online space, the entrepreneur space. It's almost just, just addicting to, to learn about it because it can be so fun. It's a creative outlet. So finding a mentor.

Yeah, yeah, I was gonna say too. It's like more fun, you know, doing this type of stuff than the grad school stuff. Like, it's exciting. That's why I was willing to work so much as I did over the past year, because I enjoyed it. Like, yeah, I could have gone out with friends more. It's not like I needed to do some of these things, but I wanted to because it was exciting and I enjoyed it. And it's, it's fun when you're like, you get to create your dream life and whatever you want and your dream business. And so agreed, just follow the steps.

It'Ll work and you get a little taste of the success and you're like, oh man, this is real. What else is possible for me? So now you're probably thinking in doubles and triples of what is possible for you now that you hit this huge milestone in such a short period of time and it is so possible for you. And you know, I'm proof that this is possible. You keep following in these steps like you are right there, girlfriend. And you have excelled a lot faster than I did because you have shortcut your success by following a proven blueprint. So I'm really excited for you. I love the impact that you're making in the industry because we need more therapists who are being rewarded for the wonderful work that we're doing. And you are helping so many therapists make good money, unapologetically, just as you're doing yourself. Where can everyone find you who is thinking about building a cash pay private practice?

Yeah, I have a free Facebook group with tons of free trainings called the Therapist Private Pay Accelerator. So many free live trainings that I have done and free resources. You can also find me@empoweringtherapist.com or empowering therapists on Instagram and I have tons of free content to help therapists make really good money.

Yes, she does. Well, thanks for being on the show, Jessica, and I'll see you on the coaching calls.

Yes. Sounds good. Thank you so much. It was so fun doing this.

Thank you.