Episode 86: Setting A Growth Mindset & Budget For Your Biz with Hallie Bulkin

Quick disclaimer all information, content and material of this podcast are the opinions of the speakers and is for the informational purpose only and not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and or medical treatment of a qualified healthcare provider. Hi, and welcome to episode 86 of the Untouched Podcast. I'm your host, Hallie Balkan, and we're going to talk about setting a growth budget for your private practice by diving into fixed versus growth mindsets today. So hold on tight and let's dig deep. All right, so let's jump in and start talking about what it means to have either a fixed mindset versus a growth mindset, what that looks like, right? So people who have a fixed mindset believe that qualities are inborn, they are fixed, they are unchangeable. Right. Versus someone with a growth mindset believes that they have the ability or can develop abilities, and that those abilities can be, you know, further developed and strengthened by engaging in hard work and being committed. And I'm gonna. I'm actually. I don't love the definition of a growth mindset, to be completely honest with you, because I've done a lot of work here, especially surrounding the whole narrative of the American dream and the fact that Americans, you know, whether you were born here or not, you know, Americans who live here or people who come for that American dream of, you know, work hard, make money, that to me is not the dream. That is the opposite of the dream. I want to work less and make more money. And I don't know about you, but that's just not the narrative that is typically sold. Right. To both Americans and. Or people who come to the US for that American dream. And it's funny because it's laughable to other countries out in the world. They really. They look at us as Americans and they feel. And I know that I've got people who listen globally. So if this doesn't apply to you, we'll get to stuff that is relevant to you shortly. But really, they laugh at us because we literally work ourselves to the bone, and there are people out there who work very hard and make very little money to show for it. So, you know, that whole concept of work hard, make money and a lot of money equaling success is. It is really not true. Right? So can you see how, like, working hard doesn't actually guarantee a high income, Right? Like, let's break this down. Hard work is not our goal. Right? Commitment and consistency are the goal. And figuring out what lights you up and figuring out what is that thing that's going to get you out of bed every morning and drive you. And really, you know, you're here to serve a purpose. What is that purpose? Right. And that's not really what we're diving into right now. But start from there and figure that out and that will make your work much more enjoyable. But the bottom line, what we do want to talk about in regards to hard work not being the goal is, you know, for me, for my colleagues that are doing well financially, like we have invested financially into ourselves and into our businesses. And that's what we're going to talk about today. Because let's look at these three truths. Okay? Hard work does not equal large income. We already talked about that. It is possible to work less and make more money. Right? And here's the third one. You are in control of your beliefs, including those around money and growth. So let's break that down a bit. Right? You are in control of your beliefs. You are able to change them at a subconscious level. And I know that I might be going a little science y or woo woo for some of you, but this is all backed by research. We are not going to get too deep into that today. We can definitely talk about that more on another episode. But this is what I help my students, students in my feeding myo and business coaching programs do I help them step into owning an identity before they have what they dream to have. Because we can't work from an identity that doesn't match what we're going after. We cannot work from lack either. That will keep you stuck and poor and miserable. To be completely honest, and I've seen it happen over and over and over again, we really need to embody abundance and work from abundance. And that's where that growth mindset starts to come in and will serve you really well. If you look at it in the way that I've defined it here, we do have the ability to develop and strengthen. We believe that we have abilities and we do have the ability to strengthen those abilities, develop those abilities. But it doesn't have to be done by hard work. Commitment and consistency are really what is going to drive that. So that is where the growth mindset comes in. That is what will serve you well. So let's talk about that a little bit further. So growth mindset, you know, I encourage you to challenge yourself with something new and basically your brain, when you do that will form newer and stronger connections. And you know, I'll caution you not to hyper focus on hard work like I've mentioned before and like working yourself to the Bone, because that's not healthy. That's ineffective. I've been there. I've done that. It is not the way to grow, right? And I've had. I paid people a lot of money to really helped me understand that and come to know that, because, you know, I thought I could do it all. And it's interesting to me because a lot of people say to me, well, how do you get it all done? And, you know, you're like superwoman and super mom and super this and super that. And no, guys, I'm not. I am the same as you. I have the same hours in the day. I have just learned how to grow a team and how to, you know, focus on the things that I need to focus on and keep my hands out of the things that I do not need to touch. Right? And that's another again, another conversation, another day. But that's the kind of thing that I also really help my coaching clients with. The thing that I'll say is, you know, at times, like I said, I'm not perfect. There's no such thing as perfect. Run far away from anybody who tells you they are perfect. Perfect doesn't exist. And it's also subjective. How we define perfect from one person to the next is totally subjective. Anywho, old thoughts still will creep in at times, right? Like your old subconscious thoughts or habits do pop up occasionally, right? And we have to kind of just. We start to recognize, like, oh, like, where'd that come from? Like, oh, nope, that's not gonna serve me well. And those are your thoughts of that fixed mindset that I mentioned at the very beginning of this episode. And so when that creeps in, it's just. It's important to stop it in its tracks and reframe that thought into that of a growth, you know, mindset or something that's gonna serve you. And I know again, that could be another whole podcast episode. But the bottom line is this is something that I've done over time and that I've worked on a lot myself, both personally and business wise. But it all starts with just allowing yourself to step into the ability to grow, Allowing yourself to grow, allowing yourself to open new doors and close others. That can be. That is probably one of the hardest things that I have ever done is closing doors in certain places, which has allowed me to successfully step in to new things I want to do. Right? Which has opened new doors for me. I've allowed myself to do that. And so there's this allowing yourself to be who you truly are. What you desire what you know, serving your purpose, right? Really stepping into your element and serving with your heart while also accepting money in exchange for your energetic output. And there's that concept of money that I know so many of us, you know, really struggle with a bit. And that's something that I personally do not struggle with myself. But I know that there are a lot of us out there who might still struggle with that. And if you do, go back and listen to episode 70 where I talk about making money in a helping profession, because ultimately we are all in business. Whether we are in business making money for someone else, making money for ourselves, everything we do can arguably be defined as a business. So just kind of keep that in the back of your mind. But when I say serve with your heart while also accepting money in exchange for your energetic output, what I mean by energetic output is your therapy. Like your online business offers or courses or whatever, like your in person or online courses, your boom cards. I don't know, whatever it is that you're selling that you know, you are giving your time and expertise for in exchange for something, right? It can be something other than money, but most typically a lot of us know it to be money, so that's why I use that example. But how do we actually apply this beyond that to our patients and our businesses? Like, what are like maybe some non financial ways to apply this? Well, for our patients? It's simple. We can dig a bit deeper into helping them figure out like the root of the problem, which I talk about a lot on this podcast. Rather than being yet another medical provider who kind of just slaps a band aid on some symptoms and sends them on their way, really figuring out like, what is causing this, what is the root, and helping them put together that team that's going to really help them embody that approach so we can really give them the best opportunity to thrive and experience life optimally. You can also do research, read materials and take courses, things that will teach you more about any of the given patients on your caseload, which I know so many of you already do, which is just amazing. But I don't know that you all look at this as an energetic exchange, that you're doing this and this is considered an energetic exchange. You're giving your time, your energy, and in some cases your money or other forms of energy to grow and to expand and to learn so that you can then in exchange be the best therapist that you want to embody and that you desire to be for your patient so that your patient can get the Best therapy and the best outcomes and graduate and go on to thrive, right? That really is. That's the whole purpose here for many of us. So, you know, when you do the research and you read the materials before you see the patient or during your therapy, before you treat them on something that you're researching on, you know, this is an example of putting in the effort up front, but knowing more about a patient's diagnosis or better understanding your medical history, you know, like I've alluded to, it might help shorten their course of treatment in the long run, which makes for a very happy patient or family unit. We then also have some space to help more people. If we can graduate people, we can help more. Right? Because you only have that one hour with that one person or that 30 minutes with that 31st. And however long your sessions are. And happy patients and families lead to happy referrals, right? More word of mouth referrals. And this all leads to growth, which is the overarching discussion today, right? Both clinically and financially for our businesses. We should be constantly challenging ourselves to dig a bit deeper as well, right? So we can dig deeper with our patients, but how do we apply this to business? Well, if we're constantly challenging ourselves to dig a bit deeper into who we are helping, right? And how we can reach them, and then actually providing the best therapy possible when they're sitting in front of us for our session, I mean, that really helps us to grow our business, as I mentioned, because happy people lead to happy referrals. You know, this could also, business wise look like hiring a new therapist or an admin to take work off of your plate that you don't have time for. And that might allow you to step into a growth role where you can see more patients. Because now you've opened up more hours in your day during your working time to treat versus doing admin stuff or research or, you know, or, well, hey, we can actually serve more patients if we have more therapists on the team. So, you know, these are the types of things that I mean when I say, like, how do we apply this to our patients and to our businesses? These are just some examples, right? The list of the list can go on and on, but those are some examples to start with. But how do we even begin with all of this? Like, where do we even start? Like, okay, Hallie, these are great ideas. I want to break this down like more theoretically for you guys for a second because there's this concept called ayni and I am. You can Google it ayni I am not an expert on it. I will not even try to define it, but it embodies the concept of reciprocity. We live in a time where so many expect things for free, or people expect a deal, and heck, like, come on, I love a deal. Everybody loves their feeling. They want to feel like they're getting a good deal, right? That's just kind of the culture that we are living in. And that's the message that has been kind of indoctrinated into our brains. But, and like I said, I love a deal, too, so I'm not knocking it. What I don't love is the concept of always expecting things for free. Right? There needs to be some form of energetic exchange. And I learned this from one of my mentors, Jim Fortin, who really, you know, he. This really hit home for me because he used the example of, like, can I pick your brain? When someone says, hey, can I pick the slide into your inbox? And they go, hey, can I pick your brain? And you're like, ooh, like, I cringe, no joke, when I hear that. It takes a lot to make me cringe, because I really am not someone who is impacted that much by other people's actions or words. Like, I very much so in control of myself when it comes to that. But when someone says, can I pick your brain? I'm like, and this is why. Okay, we're going to talk about why and why you might want to find a different way to ask for that type of help, because in my opinion, that verbiage needs to be striked from the English language completely. But really, just imagine what that even looks like. Do you really want to pick a piece of someone's brain out of their head? And I mean, it just. I don't know. I think the imagery associated with it is just gross. But whatever. I know I'm making this a little bit more literal than it's meant to be, but just really think about that. What people are asking when they ask, can I pick your brain? Is can I have your time, expertise, and all of the investments that you've ever made for free? Well, why do you think you deserve that? And I know that that might, like, be a sucker punch to the gut, like me even saying that, but honestly, why do you think I should give you something for free without anything in exchange? Right? And look, I've done it before. I'm not saying I'm not perfect. I told you that. And a long time ago, I was that person, right? In terms of, like, I've asked people to give me things, give me things for free. I haven't done that in a very long time. Definitely not in the past 10 years. But I also used to be the person within the last 10 years that when someone did ask me, I felt like it meant I should give it to them. And I used to do that. I used to like get on the phone with people for free six years ago and it drained me by the time I would get off the phone after helping them for free. I mean, it really honestly took me having a baby five years ago to be like, if somebody wants my time, like my energy is so limited, my time is limited. I. If they want my expertise and everything that I have invested and learned and all my trials and tribulations and they want it condensed down into like a one hour call or a 90 minute intensive, like I'm going to charge for that. And that's where I don't let anyone pick my brain anymore. Right. There needs to be some sort of energetic exchange. It could be money, but it could be something else. It could be a service for a service even. You know. The point is that asking for and taking without giving something in exchange is not beneficial for both parties. So let's just keep that in mind in terms of that concept of I need I mentioned and reciprocity. And when we ask someone for something, we need to be sure to offer them something in return. I mean, that seems fair, right? Right. Okay, so now that we agree that we need to offer something in exchange for someone else's advice, time and experience and all that fun stuff, let's talk about the concept of worth as it applies to growth. Can we grow without investing money? Honestly, I don't believe so. My answer is no, we cannot. Hear me out on this one. Let's say you want to start a business. Does it not cost money to get a license, liability insurance, your EMR, HIPAA compliant email, even if it's just $5 a month, like with Gmail gas for your car, if you're traveling the family's homes in place of like brick and mortar materials, that pen you write with, the paper you might be writing on, the toys that you might be using in therapy, I mean everything costs something and that is good. What Hallie? What you talking about? Guys, that is good. There needs to be some sort of energetic exchange. We need to shift our belief that this is a problem or a barrier. And we need to open our mind to the fact that this is an energetic exchange. I give money, they give me what I need to open this business and to grow it. Right? I mean, that's the. That's what makes the world go round. So the same goes for business coaching. And I want to share this with you because at one point, I tried to go it alone in terms of launching something online. Many of you probably don't know this because it was like, 10 years ago already, but I had an online business. I created a product. It was actually a course to take parents through the IEP process because I was very successful with helping families in my practice get what they wanted, almost like an advocate would. But, you know, I had worked for the school county. I was very familiar with, you know, what public schools expect, how hard they make it for families to sometimes get the services that the child deserves and all that and really needs. And I also knew what was in the legal rights of the family so that child and the parents and what they were asking. And so I created a course. And, guys, it flopped. It flopped hardcore. I put so much energy into creating that course. And I had an email list, I had people who are opting into all my freebies. They were eating it up. I grew a following of like 60,000 plus people on Facebook, and it flopped. Literally, one person bought my course. One. One single person. And I tried to promote it some more, and it just wasn't going anywhere. And you know what? I felt like I failed. And so I just stopped. I was like, I'm not putting any more energy into this because it's not giving me back what I put into it. And so, you know, this was 10 years ago. And I will honestly say that it probably stopped me in my track for a very long time. I always knew that I wanted to have an online business. And that's where I decided, you know, towards the end, the middle of last year, that I was going to create this podcast and then launch the course and all that fun stuff. I started with all of. I started this podcast over a year and a half ago now. Almost a year. Yeah, year and a half ago, about. And then I decided, okay, we're going to launch a course. And we ended up launching the first one March 2020 of this year. And you guys, it's just been amazing. But let me tell you, I invested into that lot of money because I knew that I trusted the people I was investing it with. I knew what I was going after. I had, you know, done my research. I had my plan, and I knew that if I wanted to treat this like a business and make the kind of money that I wanted to make that, I needed to step up my game and make a very large investment. And so it was a very different experience this time around. And you know, look, the same thing can go for a private practice, right? So here's what I've done since that point. I grew a private practice to six figures in eight months and multiple six figures each year following with no paid advertising, that launched in June 2014 and this business has grossed over seven figures, you know, total over, you know, all time. I consider myself a small practice with part time contractors. So that to me is pretty incredible because in the past, oh, three, no, four years. Past four and a half years. So basically after I returned to work after having my five year old, my oldest daughter, I only worked two days a week, two to three maybe, like treating patients. Okay. So to have a practice that grew like that and a team and it allowed me to step into doing exactly what I desired to do, but also get paid for that and be able to live off the money that I was making. And that's okay. And I know that's uncomfortable for a lot of people to talk about, but it's okay to make money. Go Back to episode 70 and listen to that business series I did in August. So there's that. Right? I've also mentored one to one clients and help them launch and grow their private practices to six figures and beyond. I've now launched the online business that I mentioned this year and we've had, we have over 35,000 speech pathologists, OTs, RDHs on our email list who have downloaded our feeding and our MYO screeners. We've had over 577 people go through the feed the PEDS feeding course. We have 215 members or so in our MYO membership which by the time this airs it will be more because we are doing a Black Friday to Cyber Monday deal which by the way, if you're listening to this on Cyber Monday, you have until midnight to join the MYO membership and you'll get the MYO Math library for free. Free if you join by midnight tonight. So go, go, go. And because so many of you are asking about Mastermind or a business type of, you know, training, I am launching what I'm calling the real Business Mastermind, the Real biz mastermind in 2020. And so we will start to let you guys know about that if you were, if you're one of my students who already got info on it and were able to apply if interested. And those of you who are on our Email list, but who are, who are not currently students. You guys will be finding about that, you know, in December. So I just, I share all of this with you all because I want you to realize that I have had to stretch my mindset, my comfort levels, all kinds of things, right. I've had to make stretches in terms of investing into myself and my business, which has in turn forced me to rise to the occasion. Right. And I realized that the small investment, and when I say small, I mean $10,000, $15,000, $20,000 or even $35,000 working with one person or buying into a coaching program, a group coaching program, or a group mastermind has been because, you know, I've done it because I fully trusted the individual would guide me to the results that I was desiring based on their success and experience. But I did it because I knew that I needed to stretch myself in order to really kind of push myself and rise to. Right. Like I mentioned. And so the way I look at it is if we're investing, let's say 20k, right. And that in turn leads to a 100k year in our business, that growth is 100% worth it compared to maybe the 30k year you would have had on your own. Right. Or that I may have had on my own. So these are all just hypothetical numbers. I'm not sharing, you know, results and all that. I'm not one to toot my own horn in that way. I happily will share things with my coaching clients or people who are curious. But that's not what it's about to me. I lead with my heart. I feel that I am very genuine in what I do. I would never sell you something or train you on something or teach you something that I don't fully embody myself. And so that's how I lead. And that is why I believe that when I've had one on one coaching clients, they have invested what I consider a very small investment with me for a very large growth financially in that following year, whether they were starting or growing a private practice. So one of the things I want to do for you guys actually before we wrap up today is I want to tell you that one of the tasks that I do every year from a business standpoint is I really look at the upcoming year and I set some goals for myself and I call it biz planning on a napkin. And you've probably heard me talk about that before. That's not a new concept. Especially if you've gone through any of my free business trainings that you get as a bonus, like in Feed the Peds or any of the business trainings that you get in the MYO membership. And so, you know, I literally will get a napkin. I will write down my goals for the upcoming year on it, I will stick it in my desk drawer and I forget about it. And then later that year, I will like open my drawer and pull it out and be like, oh my gosh, I actually achieved what's on this napkin. And usually I far exceed what I had even written down, which I think is funny too. So that's how I biz plan. And I would love to help you guys do that for 2021. 2020 has been quite the year. And I know 2021, you know, I have to say, I've actually really had a very successful 2020. There's definitely been some ups and downs. My private practice took a major financial hit. But I look at it as everything happened the way it was supposed to happen. And it's up to me to move forward, push forward, and put into play what I need to put into play to keep moving forward. And that's what I help my coaching clients do as well. So what I want to do for you guys is because I am so grateful, honestly, for you all, for the community here at the Untethered podcast and everybody who's gone through my courses and the membership. I would love to have you all join me for free for a one hour training on December 10th at 1pm Eastern Time. If you can't make it live, it will be recorded. We will put it up for you all to access the recording. I don't have all the details on how we're doing that yet, so don't ask me yet. But we will spend an hour together and we'll take a deep dive into business planning, biz planning, as I like to call it. You will walk away with your own little biz plan on a napkin for 2021 to help set you up for your best year yet. And if you're curious to learn more about it, just, you know, there's only a few details there or to add yourself to the waitlist so you get a reminder of when this is happening and you also can get the recording after. If you're unable to join us live, go to bizplanonnandapkin.com you'll be able to to get that there and that is that. So I just want to wrap up today and say that I, you know, following Thanksgiving and everything, like I said, I am so thankful for you all. That's why I want to give back and help set you all up for a really amazing 2021 with our biz plan on a napkin. Little freebie that we're throwing out there too. It's a little masterclass, if you will. And this is stuff that I could charge a lot of money for because it's clearly very beneficial to me and it's been very beneficial to some of my coaching clients who've done the same thing. And so I want to give this to you GU guys for free, just in exchange for listening as a thank you. Like, this is another form of I need. It's another form of energetic exchange, you know? Yes. I put out these episodes and you guys come and listen. And so that's us exchanging energy, right? I create it, you come, you listen to it. We both have this energetic exchange here. But you know, as a thank you to you all, I really want to step even further into that and give you all something that can really help kick off the upcoming year on a very positive note. So bizplan on a napkin.com I cannot wait to see you guys there live. For anybody who wants to join us live, but again, it will be recorded. I hope this episode's helpful. You know, as always, I welcome feedback. You're welcome to hit reply when you get this in your inbox and let me know what your thoughts are on it. The last thing I'll say is if you are looking to join the Mayo membership, it's open till tonight at midnight, so make sure you hop on in there real quick before it closes at midnight Eastern time. So you can also get the Myo Mouth Exercise and library for free when you join. That's our little our little giveaway. Our little energetic exchanges of thank you for joining the membership. We're also going to throw in this little bonus for you, so hope everyone's having a great day. I will chat with you guys soon. Thanks for listening to this podcast. If you want to hear more of these Myo Tots, Airway and Feeding related episodes, be sure to leave a review on Alex Podcasts or pledge a small amount on patreon.com theuntetheredpodcast if you found value, others you know in this space will too. So be sure to share this episode on your social media platforms and join us over on Facebook on my Facebook page @HALLIEBLCAN BIZ on Instagram at Alibulcan and you can head over to theuntetheredpodcast.com to grab a copy of the show Notes, where you can also subscribe to be kept up to date on the latest podcast episodes.