WP 68 | The People in Your Practice: Understanding the Role of a Marketing Director with Sarah Labrot

Written By James Marland

Building an Effective Marketing Strategy:

One of the biggest advantages of having a Marketing Director in your practice is their ability to develop and execute a comprehensive marketing strategy. They understand the nuances of the therapy industry and can tailor your marketing efforts to reach your target audience effectively. From social media campaigns to website optimization, a Marketing Director can ensure that your practice has a strong online presence, making it easier for potential clients to find and connect with you.

Expanding Your Reach:

A Marketing Director can also help you expand your reach beyond your immediate location. With the ability to see clients in your state of licensure, regardless of where you work from, you have the freedom to travel for conferences or spend time with family without sacrificing client care. Your Marketing Director can capitalize on this flexibility by creating targeted marketing campaigns to reach potential clients in different geographical areas, ultimately expanding your client base.

Creating a Personal Connection:

Marketing is not only about online presence – it's also about building meaningful connections locally. A Marketing Director can take charge of community outreach initiatives, forging relationships with referral sources, and promoting your practice within the community. By attending events, participating in school programs, and connecting with other professionals in your area, your Marketing Director can elevate your practice's visibility and reputation.

Conclusion:

The role of a Marketing Director is undoubtedly valuable for therapists in private practice. From developing a comprehensive marketing strategy to navigating the complex world of insurance, their expertise can transform your practice and help you achieve your goals. By investing in a Marketing Director, you can focus on providing exceptional care to your clients while leaving the marketing tasks in the hands of a professional. Embrace the power of a Marketing Director and witness the positive impact it has on your practice.

What is Alma, and How Can It Help You?

  • Alma - Your private practice support system. Alma offers clinicians the opportunity to join their insurance program, providing benefits such as getting credentialed within 45 days and enhanced reimbursement rates with major payers. 

Links and Resources

Podcast Production and Show Notes by Course Creation Studio.

  • WP 68 | The People in your Practice: Understanding the Role of a Marketing Director with Sarah Labrot

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    [00:00:00] Whitney Owens:

    [00:00:04] Whitney Owens: Going in network with insurance can be tough, such as benefits checks, catering to the insurance company's needs rather than your client needs, late payments, and at times making less than you deserve. Filling all the right paperwork is time consuming and tedious, and even when you're done. It could take months to get credentialed and start seeing clients.

    [00:00:23] Whitney Owens: That's why Alma makes it easy and financially rewarding to accept insurance. When you join their insurance program, you can get credentialed within 45 days and access to enhanced reimbursement rates with major payers. They also handle all the paperwork from eligibility checks to claim submissions and guaranteed payment within two weeks of each appointment.

    [00:00:43] Whitney Owens: Once you've joined Alma's insurance program, you can see clients in your state of licensure, regardless of where you work from. This is particularly great when you're traveling for amazing conferences or with your family. Learn more about building a thriving private pay practice with Alma at helloalma.

    [00:00:59] Whitney Owens: com slash wise practice. That's hello, a L M a. com slash wise practice.

    [00:01:55] Whitney Owens: Hello, and thank you for being with me today on the last practice podcast. You are in for a treat because I interviewed. The amazing Sarah on the show today, she is all things marketing and getting things done really. And she works for both practices, uh, the group practice water, such counseling and my consulting business.

    [00:02:17] Whitney Owens: So she's going to talk about what it's like to be a marketing director and all the things she does and all the hats that she wears at both organizations. Many of you met Sarah in person at the wise practice summit. So. Woo hoo. So you get to actually hear someone that you met in person. Of course you met me too, but, uh, yeah.

    [00:02:36] Whitney Owens: Um, so looking forward to that. I have a couple of really fun things to tell you about today is Fat Tuesday. So Lent starts tomorrow. I don't know if you're a Lent kind of person. I like it. I like, well, I don't really like it cause you have to give up something, but I like it in the sense of it's a time of reflection, a time to slow down.

    [00:02:53] Whitney Owens: Time to really think about things and uh, to give something up so that you can gain more. Um, so during this Linton series I, or season I should say, I created a devotional series for you guys. So if you haven't already, go to whitney owens.com or check the show notes here, or go to Whitney Owens Consulting and get my bio.

    [00:03:12] Whitney Owens: Whatever you have to do. Grab that Lent series, a pop up will come up, or you'll see the link in the bio site or on the show notes. Make sure that you join that email list because every day you will get a Lent devotional straight to your inbox, about two to three minutes of reading with a Bible verse and a concept related to Lent and being a business owner.

    [00:03:32] Whitney Owens: There'll be some questions of reflection for you to journal on and pray through. And I am looking forward to it. As you read those, if anything sticks out to you, you want to share it with me, just click. And email me right back, let me know what you learned. This is totally free. You don't have to pay for it.

    [00:03:47] Whitney Owens: You can't beat that. Okay. Looking forward to you having that experience with me and I will be getting those too. I'll be reading through them as well. It's kind of weird to say, but I forget what I wrote. And so I start reading it again and it speaks to me again. That's really fun. And then the other thing I want to make sure you know is the last practice summer for 2024.

    [00:04:06] Whitney Owens: I know October seems far away, but the early bird special ends on March 1st. Okay. So, if you want to save a 100 dollars off your ticket, make sure you purchase that ticket before the end of February, whitneyowns. com slash. I think it's summit dash 2024 or something like that. If you just go to my website, you'll see someone at the top.

    [00:04:27] Whitney Owens: You can purchase your ticket. Make sure that you share it with others. Um, so the summit is. Where we all get together as faith based practice centers. Um, I can't guarantee the CES yet, but I feel very certain they will come once I get the MVCC approval. So I'll be waiting on that. I'm really actually the recording of this episode.

    [00:04:45] Whitney Owens: I'm going through speaker applications this week. So I am thrilled about the speaker lineup that we have. It is a great group. Last year summit was awesome and so you're going to be able to connect with other people get great ideas and have tons of fun. Um, so this year we're going to be in Charlotte at the grand bohemian hotel and it is October.

    [00:05:05] Whitney Owens: I should have these dates memorized, but I think it's the 2nd through the 4th or the 3rd through the 5th. So you'll, you'll see it on the website. I think it's the 3rd through the 5th, but you want to arrive on the 2nd. Um, we'll have great food. We'll have fun. We'll have, um, appetizers out on the lawn. And Charlotte is a beautiful city, so easy to get to the hotel, super close to the airport.

    [00:05:24] Whitney Owens: I've gone there. I've stayed there and it's a lot of fun. So make sure you grab your summit ticket before the end of the month. And then make sure today, if you're listening to this on fat Tuesday, even if it's after fat Tuesday, it's okay. Go get your Lent devotional series. So you can be part of this journey with us.

    [00:05:41] Whitney Owens: So now we are going to jump in the episode. Sarah gives tons of great information and she honestly shares her heart at the end and it's the most beautiful thing. And I just love vulnerability. I love connecting with people and she gives some great insight for practice owners about the logistics, but also about what we're really doing here.

    [00:06:01] Whitney Owens: So the heart of the matter. So I appreciate that about her. And so let's jump into the interview with the marketing director, Sarah LaPro.

    [00:06:12] Whitney Owens: Hello, and thank you for hanging out with me today on the last practice podcast. If you've been following the show, we are doing a 4 part series. Interviewing different members of the Water's Edge counseling team, which is my group practice to kind of share about what their role is, what they do within the business.

    [00:06:28] Whitney Owens: So if you missed last week's episode, make sure to go back and listen to that. I interviewed Lisa Gardner, who is. Basically all things Water's Edge Counseling really runs the business, takes all the calls, does all the things. So you'll also learn kind of about hiring an administrative assistant, what they do in your business.

    [00:06:45] Whitney Owens: And then today I have the honor of hanging out with and talking to Sarah Lebrow, who is our Marketing Director for Water's Edge Counseling. How are you, Sarah? I'm doing great. Awesome. So really excited to have her on the podcast today. So why don't we just start out with you sharing about yourself, your background, a little bit about your family, whatever you'd like to share with the audience.

    [00:07:05] Sarah Labrot: Yeah, sure. Uh, so I started my career in advertising. I was in Chicago for about 10 years and I worked for a lot of big brands. I, I feel like from that experience, I learned how to work with a lot of different personality types and also writing a lot of different voices. Um, I definitely honed in on my writing skills at that time.

    [00:07:33] Sarah Labrot: I am now working for WaterSedge Counseling and Whitney Owens Consulting. I got a full stack development certificate from Georgia, from Georgia Tech. I'm a little nervous. I'm really

    [00:07:52] Whitney Owens: nervous actually. I'm just feeling,

    [00:07:55] Sarah Labrot: I'm just feeling like, whoa, this is way more nerve wracking than I thought it would be.

    [00:08:02] Whitney Owens: Whoa. You can get up and lead a summit, but then you got to get on a mic and it's like, what just happened?

    [00:08:06] Sarah Labrot: Um. Yeah. Um, so I love building websites. I love figuring out how to fix problems with websites, and I built a website for Whitney a couple of years ago, and we worked together on other projects after that, and then I came on full time here at Waters Edge Counseling and continued to do stuff for the consulting business.

    [00:08:31] Sarah Labrot: So I wear a lot of hats, and it's kind of hard to compartmentalize that into one of Succinct thought. Um, so I am struggling here. Yeah, I do a lot of different things. It's multifaceted.

    [00:08:47] Whitney Owens: Well, you're doing awesome. Um, yeah. So Sarah and I actually met through a mutual connection at church. Um, you know, I always tell you not to hire your friends or people, you know, and, and Sarah and I technically weren't friends then.

    [00:09:00] Whitney Owens: Um, but now. She's kind of become a friend. So, um, so anyway, we had a mutual connection at church. I had posted on social media, something about, um, needing some help with the consulting business and needing someone to help me with some of the marketing. And things like that, and someone responded, so you got to connect with Sarah.

    [00:09:17] Whitney Owens: And so we had. Oh, we had a few phone calls 1st and she sounded so knowledgeable understanding about the situation and I was totally lost in a lot of ways and lonely and needing help and didn't really know, especially the technology side. Um, and so she really stepped in as a contractor at 1st and helped me really just with the consulting business.

    [00:09:39] Whitney Owens: Um, and then after that. That went on for about a year to a year. Okay. While she was doing a full time, another full time job. And, um, and then we had some changes within water's edge counseling. And Sarah was always someone I really admired for her. For lots of reasons, but she does great work and I was like, oh, I'd love to have her at both businesses.

    [00:10:03] Whitney Owens: And so that began a conversation with my accountant, like, how can I, like, make. A position for her and so she technically is full time through water's edge counseling and this is. As y'all are kind of thinking about, how does this work? So she's halftime, water's edge, halftime with you and consulting and the consulting business pays water's edge counseling to hire her basically, which is great.

    [00:10:23] Whitney Owens: Because then she's off has a salary and benefits and all those good things that come along with the job. So that's kind of a little bit about her position. But, um, I know there's a lot to say here, Sarah, but for people who are thinking about, you know, Marketing position in their in their business. Like, what would you advise?

    [00:10:40] Whitney Owens: What would you say to them? If they're thinking, should I have someone do marketing or should I hire it out for a 3rd party? Or what would be the best situation? Um,

    [00:10:48] Sarah Labrot: well, I think that having consistency with your marketing is really important. So if you decide to do contract work, um, go ahead and. Set the goals that you want them to achieve.

    [00:11:04] Sarah Labrot: So if you want to have a weekly blog, make sure that you have that in your job description. Make sure that they know how to write. Um, I would also make sure to hire someone that's a people person. Marketing is all about communication, not only when you're. Um, writing something down, but if you're going to have them do community outreach, they're going to be the face of your company.

    [00:11:31] Sarah Labrot: So make sure that they're comfortable talking to strangers and talking about your company to strangers. Um, I think hiring people is really hard, so it's it's difficult to advise. Entirely on that, but they, they also need to have some understanding of technology. I think that that's a huge plus that I bring to the table.

    [00:11:54] Sarah Labrot: The fact that I can problem solve situations on our website really easily. I can fix the printer. I can fix just about anything. If the coffee maker's not working, I fix it. I mean, yesterday, our contact form wasn't working and I was so excited because I could fix it. You did so. Yeah, I think having a background in coding to some extent and SEO is really important.

    [00:12:21] Sarah Labrot: The stay in age. That's how we're communicating with the world.

    [00:12:25] Whitney Owens: Those are all great things. I think you spoke so clearly to the idea of a go getter, like, someone who's really going to take the initiative in doing the marketing, because you can't, you can't possibly do the therapy, run your practice and then sit down with someone and tell them how to market, like, having someone come in and do that.

    [00:12:41] Whitney Owens: Um, I do think 3rd parties are helpful. In some situations, and I think every business center is different and how they want to run their business. I also think it's really great to have someone in house who really knows the practice. Like, you know, the area of Savannah, you personally have met all the therapists, you know, how to best talk about them in the community.

    [00:13:02] Whitney Owens: And you've done a lot of community outreach. Like, we did a. A school event last month, where we met with, um, school counselors, um, you helped us with the risk assessment training that we did here with school counselors. And at Christmas time, you were the 1, creating the amazing logo cookies and passing them out to everyone in town.

    [00:13:23] Whitney Owens: Um, and so, you know, Sarah, you always just go above and beyond what's required of your job. And that's such a great thing. And it means a lot. And I think that having someone who's not just a 3rd party person, but you're actually a part of the team. I really like that about

    [00:13:37] Sarah Labrot: the position. I do, too. I agree.

    [00:13:40] Sarah Labrot: Yeah, I don't know how to advise on if you can bring someone on full time. I agree. That's the way to go. Um, how would I don't know how people start doing that, though, where the baby steps. To

    [00:13:56] Whitney Owens: yeah, yeah, well, I had a marketing director before you. That was very part time. Um, and that actually just started as a conversation by the pool where she was like, oh, yeah, I do I do marketing.

    [00:14:06] Whitney Owens: And I was like, you do marketing. Like, I need someone to do marketing. So it just kind of started a little similar to how you did. It was, hey, here's these 2 or 3 things. And I think that's a good start for anyone you hire to see. Can they do these 2 or 3 things? You know, are they going to are they going to show off or are they going to back down?

    [00:14:22] Whitney Owens: You know. Yeah. Which you showed off by far. Um, so I think seeing those few things and just a little bit of money investment, um, can go a long way. I mean, the other great thing about doing it in house is it's typically cheaper a lot of times when you're hiring out a 3rd party. The rates are higher, you know, and so that's that's a good part, but not everyone can find someone who's able to do 5 hours a week of something.

    [00:14:46] Whitney Owens: Um, so I think that's the ideal situation is 5 hours a week. They do a few things. Um, all right. So, let's, let's say that somebody is listening right now and they're thinking. Okay. I think I could handle hiring someone for 5, 10 hours a week. What would you say are the most important things of a marketing job or of your current job marketing that they need to spend their time on?

    [00:15:07] Whitney Owens: Because. We know it can fill up a 40 hour a week job. So what would be the most important things?

    [00:15:13] Sarah Labrot: Um, I would start with your social media presence. Make sure that those people know how to use Canva, and they can get on Canva, and they can create some graphics to promote your therapist. We do therapist spotlights, and we also do Reels weekly.

    [00:15:32] Sarah Labrot: We do a weekly blog, so they would need to Update your website so that Google Analytics sees that your website is present and it's active and it's updating regularly. So if they could create a blog and a couple of social posts a week, that would be really beneficial to your practice.

    [00:15:53] Whitney Owens: I totally agree. Um, yeah, you said 1 thing to be looking for someone who can write so important.

    [00:16:00] Whitney Owens: Um, and, you know, I feel like if for you, you've really taken on the branding really well of writing in the way that is our brand and I think that's important that the person understands. They're not talking as themselves. They're talking as the company. Um, but I agree with what you just said. Having someone blog every week is 1 of the best investments you can make.

    [00:16:18] Whitney Owens: Um, and then getting those newsletters pushed out for people as well. Um, what are some of the other tasks that you do at water stage? Counseling?

    [00:16:27] Sarah Labrot: Well, as you mentioned, I have. The honor of doing the community outreach, and we do talk a lot about technology and how important it is. And I love technology.

    [00:16:39] Sarah Labrot: However, community outreach, just going to your church and talking to your pastor is so important. And that's actually how we met is because we were involved in that church community. So if you're not involved in your church community, ask yourself why and maybe think about doing that because meeting people in person is very valuable and it makes a very big impact.

    [00:17:08] Sarah Labrot: So something that I do is like Christmas time. I went to all of our top referrals with cookies. I introduced myself personally. I introduced myself as a member of the water's edge community. I mean, the water such counseling team and someone in the community that really cares about the work they're doing and is thankful for it.

    [00:17:31] Sarah Labrot: And they were so appreciative. They were very surprised and taken aback. And I think that going places in person and making that. Little gesture, whether it's just bringing a business card and saying, thank you, or bringing a little gift is huge.

    [00:17:51] Whitney Owens: Yeah, definitely, you know, and another really important part of your job is like, you were talking about the website, like, you manage the website.

    [00:17:58] Whitney Owens: And so, yes, I got fortunate enough to get a full stack developer. That has lots of amazing experience and ability. Not everyone's going to get that, but getting someone who can make updates to your website is really important. So, when we hire somebody. Sarah's the 1 getting that picture, putting it on the website, getting the bio.

    [00:18:17] Whitney Owens: Sometimes you're getting that, I think, from the therapist, right? Editing it.

    [00:18:20] Sarah Labrot: Yeah. Yeah. I like, I like to get just a base. You know, everyone. Anyone we hire, they know themselves better than I know them and. I haven't had a whole lot of conversations with them when they're 1st hired. So if they can give me just the bones of what they're all about, then I can.

    [00:18:38] Sarah Labrot: Tweak that to make it our voice and I put it on the website. I optimize the image guys start optimizing your images. If you don't know what that means, Google it, it doesn't going to hurt your SEO if you don't and I put it on the website and then I go a step farther. So, for instance, with emdr. Um, we just hired an EMDR therapist shout out to Allie and I put her profile on, but I'm also going to add an, uh, EMDR to the website because.

    [00:19:14] Sarah Labrot: We have a whole section on what all the therapists do. So, for instance, we have a marriage counseling section. We have a, an anxiety section. We need now an EMDR section. So those are the kind of things to think about when you're hiring. You want to show people that you're adding value. On the site, like an

    [00:19:36] Whitney Owens: EMDR service page, by the way, you should let Allie write that.

    [00:19:41] Whitney Owens: I'm just saying let her write it and then you optimize it. I love that. Yeah. Yeah. That is so important what you're talking about there and the stuff with the website is something that as a business owner, I could do, but boy, I'm not good at it. I wouldn't do it nearly as well. And it's exhausting and I would be wasting a lot of time.

    [00:19:59] Whitney Owens: So I'm really grateful that you go in and do that. I mean, you're also managing, you know, managing the referrals, like, you're managing the referral database that we have. Yeah. And making new contacts, you know, and I think as a practice owner. We, you know, I was expected to make those contacts for a really long time, but now I just can't, you know, and so having you make those extra connections, like, we even got an email the other day.

    [00:20:22] Whitney Owens: Somebody wants to bring lunch. So it's like, you're able to help communicate, set that up so that I'm not having to go in

    [00:20:28] Sarah Labrot: and do that. Yeah, and think about which therapist would be appropriate for that because not all the therapists that email was about eating disorders. Not everyone deals with eating disorders, but I knew just the people who would benefit from that.

    [00:20:42] Sarah Labrot: That lunch. So, um,

    [00:20:45] Whitney Owens: yeah, I also want to say here, all practices need to market. Definitely, but I think if you're going to be a private pay practice, having this person on your team is even more important because we have to put more time and energy into marketing so that we can get clients because we don't have that natural insurance as a marketing tactic.

    [00:21:06] Whitney Owens: So, is there anything else with Water's Edge counseling that we missed?

    [00:21:10] Sarah Labrot: Um, let's see. Let me look at my notes. Um, just touch on the, the newsletter, making sure that you have an ESP and we're using a Weber, but if you're going out and you're doing that community outreach. Get email addresses, update the contacts.

    [00:21:33] Sarah Labrot: So when I went and delivered cookies, some of the people were no longer at the practices. And so I updated those contacts, um, especially at schools. There's a lot of turnover in schools. So the counselors are changing. At some schools, very frequently, um, the best schools, usually not so much. Um, but yeah, that position changes.

    [00:22:01] Sarah Labrot: And so making sure that you update not just their names, but their, their emails and then putting the emails on your professionals list so that you can just touch base with them once a month, letting them know what therapist you've hired. What's going on in your practice? Hey, here are the latest blog posts.

    [00:22:19] Sarah Labrot: That's another thing that I would have somebody if you're hiring do make sure that they do a monthly email specifically for the professionals in the community, not just the clients. That's

    [00:22:31] Whitney Owens: great. Yeah, wonderful. And, you know, another thing that you're going to be doing next month is the cure event. So we partner with an organization called cure and it's to help.

    [00:22:41] Whitney Owens: Pure childhood cancer, um, all over the state of Georgia. And so it's, it's great because this, this organization works with people that are in the hospital, out of the hospital and their families. And then they refer clients here to waters, which counts, and we offer discounted therapy services. They pay for the 1st, 10 sessions.

    [00:22:58] Whitney Owens: The client generally pays about 25 dollars because they want them to have some buy in. Um, so every year, as part of the partnership, we attend the fundraiser dinner. And it is a fantastic event and so part of that that Sarah will be doing is putting together the information for that, um, helping with the table decorations, helping with the theme for the therapist.

    [00:23:19] Whitney Owens: We all dress it as something different. 1 year. We did snow white and the 7 dwarfs. It was wonderful. Um, and, uh, and then we also do a basket and so we put together items and we raffle off a basket 1 year. Our basket got over a 1000 dollars. It was really awesome. And so. So it's, it's great to have Sarah, because I don't know who else would be doing that.

    [00:23:38] Whitney Owens: Someone else would be overwhelmed and she's going to do a really great job at it. So,

    [00:23:41] Sarah Labrot: yeah, we're excited. Um, we're going to try to get some very big ticket items this year, but I feel like I'll jinx it if I say anything else.

    [00:23:52] Whitney Owens: That's good. I'm excited. Maybe I'll get on it. Um, all right. So, I want to spend a little bit of time talking about the consulting business, because there are probably people that are listening that are thinking about.

    [00:24:02] Whitney Owens: Their side business, or maybe they do consulting and so share a little bit about I know it's similar in some ways, but a little bit about your role with the consulting business.

    [00:24:12] Sarah Labrot: So, what my role with the consulting business is primarily online, um, the community that we have for the wise practice community.

    [00:24:21] Sarah Labrot: I have been a part of it since. Day 1, you

    [00:24:25] Whitney Owens: helped me launch the 1st 1 contractor. Yeah,

    [00:24:28] Sarah Labrot: and I'm very passionate about the platform that we use for the membership community. And when we're referring to this, we're not talking about just the Facebook group. The Facebook group is great, but the membership community has so much more to offer.

    [00:24:43] Sarah Labrot: We do more than just share wins and introduce ourselves. We meet weekly and we have events. You can watch the events if you can't attend them at any point. We have a whole course catalog, but the events are always really informative and great ways to improve your business and help you grow. So I love uploading the videos, um, managing the resources, making sure we have the paperwork updated based on whatever needs are out there.

    [00:25:15] Sarah Labrot: Specifically, recently we updated it with the Medicare opt in. Or opt out policy and how we are handling it, um, making sure that all the videos, the course catalog are updated with our, with our expert guests as well as our wise teachings. And we have a wise questions, which is an event where you can come and ask questions to Whitney, or just the group and figure out some kinks figure out how to.

    [00:25:47] Sarah Labrot: Get through those in your practice. So, um, I'm really passionate about that part of my job with the wise practice community. It's the platform, the membership. I love it. And I also help Whitney with her consulting. I think that if you're starting a business, and you're thinking about hiring a marketing director, definitely consider consulting because it is daunting hiring.

    [00:26:13] Sarah Labrot: It's a lot like dating. Whitney said that before and. Yeah, I don't know. I think my motto for 2024 is just to do it. Just do it. But if you're going to just do it, don't do it alone. You're going to make mistakes. Things are not going to be perfect. But, um, the worst thing you could do is to do nothing. Love it Sarah.

    [00:26:39] Sarah Labrot: But yeah, back to what I do for the, um, community, I just help with all the consulting, the mastermind groups, and the wise practice community and we are planning a summit and we might be planning. Something else it's a

    [00:26:55] Whitney Owens: secret, but yeah, a lot of you that are listening probably were at the summit last year.

    [00:27:02] Whitney Owens: So you got to meet Sarah in person. I love that. You probably just could catch on the fact that she. Talk Doug, she basically just sold the membership to community if you're not in the membership community, just by her passion behind it. And so I think having people that have your vision, have your mission are excited about it.

    [00:27:18] Whitney Owens: Even the other day, she had gotten on a call with someone to talk about the mastermind group. And typically, I do those calls, but I wasn't available at that moment. So she did it and she was just excited and thrilled and like, voice messaged me this person signing off her practice is going to grow. This is so awesome.

    [00:27:34] Whitney Owens: And it was just like, really cool to to have someone on your team. That's excited the way that you are for the work that you're doing and has that vision to help faith based practice owners along with all that. You also do the newsletter. Social media, so I know y'all see my social media on the instead.

    [00:27:52] Whitney Owens: And if you don't, it's Whitney Owens consulting. You should follow me because Sarah makes fantastic reels and she does beautiful images. Even yesterday. The image was so pretty. I was texting her. Oh, my gosh, this is gorgeous. Like, brought tears to my eyes. So anyway, um. So she does that and she really does a lot of the website stuff and, um, all the stuff with payments.

    [00:28:16] Whitney Owens: I, I, we, we do that through stripe. I find it all very complicated and so just to set up those links. And so she takes care of all that. So she's really doing all the behind the scenes. I'm really just doing the consulting part. And so it's really great to kind of have her in both roles. Both roles feed each other in a beautiful way.

    [00:28:33] Whitney Owens: And, um, it's just been. I couldn't say enough about having a marketing director. You should definitely do it. If it's something that you can make happen. Absolutely. Yeah. Is there anything I've missed? I know you do everything, but

    [00:28:47] Sarah Labrot: is there are there more questions

    [00:28:49] Whitney Owens: after this? No, we're good. I don't have any more questions.

    [00:28:53] Sarah Labrot: Um, I have I have something I want to add and I'm going to try not to get emotional. Uh, I, I. I went through a tough time prior to meeting Whitney, and I went through a divorce, and, um, it was really bad, and I never wanted to get divorced, and so it was just a bad situation, and so I have always been part of the church, but at that time, I really didn't feel like being part of the church, just, like, I didn't feel like Um, I don't know if I was just projecting my own shame, but I just felt like I really didn't want to be part of the congregation.

    [00:29:41] Sarah Labrot: And there were some times when, um, things were said to me by, um, my in laws about, you know, who I was as a person in regards to the Bible. And it was just, I guess where I'm going is religion was negative in my life at that point. I still prayed to God on my own, but organized religion just felt. Wrong, and it wasn't on my side because, um, the terms of my divorce, my, um, mother in law said we're just not in the Bible.

    [00:30:19] Sarah Labrot: So, um, it was just hard for me to, to feel like I was still part of the church and I was really active in the church prior to my divorce. I was part of a mother's Bible study group and, um, really active and I still am really active. However, in the last couple of years, I usually. During the services. Just volunteer with the children because I think I felt so uncomfortable around the adults.

    [00:30:50] Sarah Labrot: Um, but then meeting Whitney, I realized how accepting she is of everybody and she has such a strong faith in God. And she has such a commitment to the church that it's just

    [00:31:07] Whitney Owens: been

    [00:31:08] Sarah Labrot: huge for me because I for a while was seeing things a bit black and white that people of faith, um, are are pious and provincial and just really don't see that there can be some very extenuating circumstances that could lead to certain situations and that.

    [00:31:30] Sarah Labrot: Sometimes people feel like they have no other choice, and, you know, nobody wants to, um, get a divorce, or sometimes people just don't live by the rules that, um, a very conservative Christian person has, and, um, I think being accepting and Just all rejoicing in God is wonderful. And Whitney emulates that. So, um, that's been a big deal for me.

    [00:32:10] Sarah Labrot: It was really cool to see at the summit, everybody come together. I mean, I think if you saw me at the summit, I'm like, we don't have time to pray, we need to keep going, but deep down, I think that, um, being vulnerable is. It's tough for me. So that's a vulnerable place to go to pray with a bunch of people.

    [00:32:33] Sarah Labrot: I don't know, but I think I'm slowly becoming more vulnerable even talking about this right now. Um, and trusting that. We can all love God together without me feeling like my love for God is somehow not enough for or somehow different, you know, which is great. And, um, I think while we, we like to focus on business.

    [00:33:02] Sarah Labrot: Um, having a twist of faith is huge because God is in every aspect of our lives. And so bringing that into work, bringing that into the community that we have is. It's wonderful. It's just been really life changing for me and a big deal just to see Christians in a different light. So

    [00:33:30] Whitney Owens: that's what I wanted to add.

    [00:33:32] Whitney Owens: It was wonderful. Thank you. Yeah, really special. And I appreciate you saying the kind words that you did, um, and fill a lot of mutual experiences with you being a sounding board and a healing presence in my life as well. And you're right. It's not just about the work we do. It's about the transformation that happens within us.

    [00:33:51] Whitney Owens: Right? And then within the community, and I, and I love how you have been a part of the community. Like, you, you have a place and that you feel that, you know, and that's so important in what we're creating with the membership community and beyond that, you know. So thank you for sharing that. And I think a lot of people probably can resonate with what you shared, either from their own experience or people that they've known, you know, and seeing the pain in their own lives.

    [00:34:16] Whitney Owens: And we're going to change that. Yeah, we're going to change that and change the way people think about Christianity and the way people think about community and life and all those things. So I'm glad to have you, uh, on the ship with me.

    [00:34:29] Sarah Labrot: Yeah, it's, it's incredible. I'm on this ship based on where I was at a couple of years ago.

    [00:34:36] Whitney Owens: I would, if

    [00:34:39] Sarah Labrot: someone told me this, I'd say,

    [00:34:41] Whitney Owens: I

    [00:34:44] Sarah Labrot: love it just because I did have such a strange, not strange, difficult situation there and had formed opinions. So I guess for anyone listening May have a similar situation where not that they were necessarily divorced or anything like that, but just feel that they don't have that Christian community.

    [00:35:06] Sarah Labrot: Um, you could find it with us, because it's not a judgmental space

    [00:35:13] Whitney Owens: at all. Thank you. Yeah, we've been reading through the, uh, feedback forms we got from the last practice members most recently, and 1 of them brought tears to my eyes yesterday when I was reading it. Just, you know, feeling like. They were scared to join the community.

    [00:35:31] Whitney Owens: They would be judged for their decisions in their life and realizing that it was a place to be loved and accepted and that they experienced that. And that's what Christ is all about is yeah. Yeah,

    [00:35:42] Sarah Labrot: I really do. Like I said, I've always felt close to God, but, um, I, I know he brought you into my life for a reason.

    [00:35:55] Sarah Labrot: And I wasn't, I wasn't praying for it, but he knew. He knew what was happening with me. And so he's like, no, no, this community is still good for you.

    [00:36:10] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Well, I feel the same way. God brings people at the right moments into my life and I'm grateful for it. Well, thank you. Thank you for being vulnerable on the show.

    [00:36:21] Whitney Owens: You know, us therapists, we love it. So it was really wonderful. And I appreciate your honesty and, uh, I appreciate everyone for listening to the episode and look forward to that. We're going to continue this series with other people within the practice and what kind of roles they play within the business.

    [00:36:37] Whitney Owens: If you are trying to figure that out, if you're not really sure, or you want some consulting to talk about hiring for your practice, maybe you're a solo practice center, wanting to grow your practice, then make sure you head to the website. There you can fill out an application and then actually, I think usually it's Sarah that gets on a call with you.

    [00:36:55] Whitney Owens: Um, so if she's available so that you'll get to talk to Sarah and we'd love to work with you. So thank you for listening to the show.

    ​

    [00:37:23] Whitney Owens: Special thanks to Marty Altman for the music in this podcast. The Wise Practice Podcast is part of the Sitecraft Podcast Network, a collaboration of independent podcasters focused on helping people live more meaningful and productive lives. To learn more about the other amazing podcasts in the network, head on over to sitecraftnetwork.

    [00:37:43] Whitney Owens: com. The Wise Practice Podcast represents the opinions of Whitney Owens and her guests. This podcast is for educational purposes only, and the content should not be taken as legal advice. If you have legal questions, please consult an attorney.

    ​



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