[00:00:00] Linzy: Hello and welcome back to another Feelings and Finances episode of the Money Skills for Therapist podcast. These are our short and sweet Friday episodes where I answer questions from you, the lovely folks who listen to the Money Skills for Therapist podcast, the therapists, health practitioners of all kinds, and I wanted to share a review today.

[00:00:23] Linzy: I went down to Podfest in Orlando a few weeks ago and realized that this podcast thing is real, eh? This thing that I’m doing is real. And one of the tools that I got from that podcast is helping me see all these beautiful reviews that people have written that were actually not very easy for me to see before.

[00:00:40] Linzy: So I wanted to share a review today before we jump into today’s question. This review on Apple Podcasts is a five star review titled Helpful, Actionable, Comforting. They say, “I run a private practice as a non-insurance based chiropractor and I love these insights to help get the solid skills and more importantly a healthy mindset around money in private practice and my worth as a practitioner. Highly recommend.” So thank you so much to our lovely chiropractor who left that review.

[00:01:11] Linzy: I did not know that chiropractors are listening to this podcast. So that’s also really lovely for me to know. And if you are enjoying this podcast and you’re able to jump over to Apple podcasts and leave a review and share what you enjoy about the podcast, it is a great way for other folks to find us.

[00:01:26] Linzy: So onto our question for the day. Today’s question comes from Stef, who is a current student in the Money Skills for Therapists course. And here is Stef’s question. 

[00:01:36] Stefanie: Hey, Linzy, Stefanie Grush here, current therapist in your MySkills4Therapist course, and I have a question about how to prevent myself from, the shiny new object syndrome along with the impulsiveness to, you know, doing the certification now. Because I have ADHD. And so, one of the things that happens is that I will see all of these exciting trainings, because one of the things that I like is being able to keep up with my learning and, again, learning new information helps me focus, and kind of keeps me engaged, right?

[00:02:18] Stefanie: However, I already have a stack of training to complete, in addition to not just buying things on impulse when it comes to the skills that I’m learning within the course. I really, really would like to know how to, again, kind of pause before purchasing something.

[00:02:39] Stefanie: Literally I am sitting here on my computer looking at this ADHD certification course and “Act now! It’s $129 dollars and you get certified!” and all of the tactics. But I’m pausing and doing this recording with you because I want to have a strategic way to invest in these, and you know really focus on narrowing down what I do as a therapist.

[00:03:07] Stefanie: I don’t need to do everything. There are things, of course, that I have interest in. A lot of my work is done with trauma individuals and group work. So I really am trying, trying, trying to be mindful of the progress I’ve had during the course, and watching those profit first accounts continue to grow.

[00:03:29] Stefanie: So that is my question to you. How do I continue to be successful and not fall for these” buy now, you’re going to miss out on the deals?” And I think that’s really the biggest one is that missing out, like, “Oh, I should have done it this day” or whatever. But also like I’ve known is that I waited and watched for a sale with your course.

[00:03:51] Stefanie: And I’m very glad that I did it because I’ve learned so much. And again, I really do want to continue on this upward trajectory where there’s money in accounts, and I can make decisions that are based on strategy rather than that fear of missing out. 

[00:04:09] Stefanie: Thank you. Bye. 

[00:04:10] Linzy: Thank you so much for this question, Stef. And I know it’s a question many, many folks share, and you’ve already named so many of the key factors that are, you know, both the challenges, but also the solutions in this problem. So, first of all, as you mentioned, there’s zooming out on your bigger goals in your practice.

[00:04:29] Linzy: Just taking us out of these moments of making decisions. If we just pause now and have you think about your practice, It’s really helpful always for all of us, to be oriented into what are my actual priorities right now, right? Coming into this year, or this quarter, thinking about where I want to be.

[00:04:49] Linzy: What is actually important right now? Cause there’s always going to be so many amazing opportunities and they are, many of them are great. You know, so many online courses are great, and you will learn so much, but is it what you actually need to be learning? Does it actually align with your bigger goals for your practice?

[00:05:05] Linzy: Does it help you serve your niche better? Or as you say, is it a shiny object, right? Is it something that’s exciting and new,but actually doesn’t strategically make sense for you. So for instance, if your niche is, you know, helping women in the perinatal phase of life, right?

[00:05:21] Linzy: A training that helps you to help women with postpartum insomnia, which is a problem that many of your clients have that you haven’t really been able to like figure out how to help people really effectively, is a strategic training to take, right? It’s helping the folks that you already serve, solving a problem that you haven’t been able to solve in other ways, and it’s going to help you retain those clients.

[00:05:42] Linzy: So both from the perspective of being a therapist, helping your clients more effectively, that’s a good investment, and from the perspective of a business owner of being able to retain clients because you’re able to help them, and they stick around, because they’re getting what they need from you, that is a good investment, right?

[00:05:56] Linzy:  So just in terms of the theme and the topic of that training, that would be a good investment. If you do perinatal therapy and there is a training on psychedelics, and your clients aren’t really folks who are going to be using psychedelics in the perinatal phase of life, then that’s probably not a great fit.

[00:06:16] Linzy: It’s exciting. It’s interesting. It’s new. It’s shiny. It’s hot. It’s all of those things. But for you as a clinician and a business owner, in that example, that would not be a great investment, but maybe it’s like something you want to watch some documentaries about psychedelics or read a book about psychedelics, but it doesn’t mean you need to go and get a certification, right?

[00:06:33] Linzy: So there’s an important distinction to make there in terms of what are the trainings that are actually strategic? And that’s the word you used, Stef, which is a word I love, as you know. What are the strategic trainings for you to take that actually makes sense for where you are in terms of your niche, where you are right now in your career growth,

[00:06:51] Linzy: and your capacity? So let’s move on to that second piece then. Cause there’s the question of the right thing. I’m going to talk about “right thing, right time.” That’s the right thing. It has to be something that actually makes strategic sense for your business. But then the second piece of making a successful investment that will actually pay off is it has to be the right time, right?

[00:07:09] Linzy: So is this an opportunity that’s coming along at a time where you have bandwidth? Do you have space to learn this new thing? Have you not done any other trainings for a little while? Do you have room in your plate? Is everything okay in your home life? You know, if you’re going through a terrible time with your teenager, and nobody’s sleeping at night, and there’s a lot of stress, then it’s probably not a good time to take on a big course, right?

[00:07:28] Linzy: Or even to buy a low cost course, because if you don’t have the bandwidth to be even managing your daily life, adding something on top of that, again, just probably not strategic. It’s not the right thing, right time. So:  right thing, right time, I find is a very handy way to pause and assess any potential investment.

[00:07:46] Linzy: In this case, we’re talking about courses, professional development. Is it the right thing? Is it what you actually need? And is it the right time? Because as you named, there are sales tactics happening in all of these course launches, right? I use sales tactics. Everybody uses sales tactics. The reason people use sales tactics is because they work.

[00:08:03] Linzy: They help people make a decision, but having the literacy on marketing, and understanding what are those sales tactics being used, can also help you to stop and slow down. So you mentioned the FOMO. FOMO is a weak point for you… fOMO is a vulnerability that you do have that fear of missing out, knowing that about yourself and being able to stop and name either when the way that a course is being sold is actively trying to elicit FOMO from people.

[00:08:30] Linzy: Like, don’t miss out! Everybody’s doing it but you! You know, then you can stop and name. Oh, okay, okay, okay. This is where they’re trying to elicit FOMO, or this is the thing that’s eliciting FOMO in me. Hello, FOMO, my old friend. And then you can pause and notice that FOMO is there, but that doesn’t mean it has to make you make a decision.

[00:08:48] Linzy: Right? You can be with that part of yourself. Notice that reaction is present. Decide how you want to attend to it without necessarily having to follow that impulse to buy, right? So FOMO is one of the things that is used to sell courses to you, but also urgency, you know, deadlines are used to sell courses.

[00:09:05] Linzy: I frankly have to use a deadline to sell my course because otherwise folks will procrastinate forever, and avoid forever. But deadlines, you know, if you notice that you are really vulnerable to deadlines, just noticing and naming when a deadline is being used. Be like, oh, okay, there’s that urgency tactic that’s being used.

[00:09:22] Linzy: Okay. That can sometimes really get me activated. I’m going to slow down. Notice that urgency is being used here. That, again, doesn’t mean this is the right thing at the right time. Silver bullet, you know, are they making promises that this is going to change your whole life? You’re going to be a whole new person.

[00:09:35] Linzy: Everything’s going to be amazing. Noticing that that is there, and if you are prone to kind of magical thinking, noticing like, okay, they’re making silver bullet promises. This elicits my magical thinking that everything’s going to be wonderful. Just noticing that’s there. All of this is taking the time to notice what is happening, slowing down, and allowing yourself to make a grounded decision.

[00:09:58] Linzy: So the third part here that I’m going to suggest to you, Stef, with this then, is having a rule for yourself around how much time you give yourself to make a decision about a course, right? When you are making a financial decision, you’re mentioning the 129 course. If there’s a 129 course and you see that, rather than buying it right away, having a rule for yourself of like, “Okay, when I’m making a decision that is less than $200 I give myself two days before I pull the trigger on that,” right?

[00:10:27] Linzy: So you see it on Monday morning. Wait till Wednesday morning to decide if you actually want to purchase it. And in that time, you have the opportunity to think about these questions that we’re talking about. Is this actually the right thing for your practice? Is this the right time? Are you actually going to be able to get benefit from it?

[00:10:40] Linzy: Do you have bandwidth right now to take on another thing? That rule can then be adjusted for larger purchases. So if it’s a two or three thousand dollar course, maybe you make sure you give yourself five days or you always talk with a certain friend who’s a really good sounding board and can help you reflect like, hey Stef, you know I’m hearing you want to do this But did you do the last course that you did?

[00:10:59] Linzy: You know bringing in those outside folks who love us, and know us, and see us, can also be a good way to slow ourselves down get out of that impulse loop of like I want it I buy it So, slowing yourself down and setting simple rules can be a nice way to do that, right? So again, as I’m suggesting and mentioning here, these like rules around money and, and this comes from a conversation I had with Robin Valadares, who is a physiotherapist who helps physiotherapists with money.

[00:11:25] Linzy: So you’ll hear this in my recording that I did with him, giving yourself just an easy, simple rule that allows you to slow down to make these decisions. Because ultimately, as you mentioned, when you take on too many trainings, you just don’t absorb them. You just don’t learn them. You know, that money almost might as well go in the garbage, if we want to be a little bit hyperbolic about it, because you’ve turned it into something that you got no value out of. And I have totally been in this space myself. I remember one year, Stef, that I was so jazzed about going to trauma trainings and there were like some big names coming through Toronto. And I signed up for three trauma trainings like full day workshops or two day workshops over the course of like three or four months. And after I attended the first one I realized I can’t actually absorb what’s going to happen at these next two workshops.

[00:12:15] Linzy: Like I’m still stopping and implementing what I learned at this first one. I’m not going to get my money’s worth by going to see these names. Even though they’re cool people and they’re big names, I was at capacity for my learning. So that’s the other thing for you to sit with is like, how many courses can you actually take in the course of a year?

[00:12:30] Linzy: Right? Is it like two small courses and one big course? Is it one small course, one big course, you know? So again, you’re pacing yourself so you actually get the value. Because otherwise you are not actually getting the value out of what you’re spending money on. Again, you’re kind of throwing the money away with the best of intentions, with the like, I’m going to learn this, this is going to be amazing.

[00:12:48] Linzy: But if you don’t learn it, the money has not served you and it could have served you somewhere else instead. So those are my thoughts on this piece, Stef. You know, give yourself the chance to zoom out. Is this the right thing at the right time? Is this strategic for my business? Do I actually have the capacity to absorb this or do I have a bunch of other trainings that I am taking right now, or that are piled up on my desk that I should really just focus in on instead? Noticing those marketing tactics that are being used, and giving yourself some sort of rule that allows you to pause to do all of this rather than following that FOMO impulse that is going to lead you to take fast action. Also, FOMO could be something really helpful to explore in therapy. You know, when we have those really strong urges, there’s also always opportunity there to explore and be curious, and see what is at play there that is driving us to spend money in ways that don’t serve us.

[00:13:37] Linzy: So thank you so much for this question, Stef. Since you are in the course right now, I’m excited to be able to chat with you about this, and see what you end up implementing to allow you to make more strategic decisions around your professional development.

[00:13:52] Linzy: If you, like Stef, also have a question for me, you can click on the link in the show notes or just head over to our podcast page, moneynutsandbolts.com/podcast. Just push the record button. You’ll see a little widget box situation, saying, do you have a question for Linzy? You can press record, and just like Stef, you can introduce yourself, give a little bit of context and share your question.

[00:14:13] Linzy: I would be happy to answer it on an upcoming episode of Feelings and Finances. Thanks for joining me today.