(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Welcome to Ask Allison. Y'all ask the questions about having a fun and thriving practice and I answer them. We have a worksheet for you today so you can bring this answer into your life. You can access that at abundancepracticebuilding.com slash links, where you'll also be able to ask any questions you have for Ask Allison. If you want more support, we've got some free trainings in there too.
If you can't get enough Ask Allison, check out our YouTube channel for our entire Ask Allison library. Welcome back to Ask Allison. Here's today's question. I hear you talk about an ideal client, but I don't know what all goes into that. I have a niche, but not an ideal client yet. We're going to answer this, but first I want to thank Therapy Notes for sponsoring Ask Allison. They are the number one rated electronic health record system available today.
With live telephone support seven days a week, it's clear why Therapy Notes is rated 4 .9 out of five stars on Trustpilot and has a five-star rating on Google. Therapy Notes makes billing, scheduling, note-taking, and telehealth incredibly easy, and you prescribers out there, yes, they offer e-prescribe. If you're coming from another EHR, Therapy Notes makes that transition incredibly easy, importing your demographic data free of charge so you can get going right away.
Find out what more than 100,000 mental health professionals already know. Use promo code ABUNDANT at therapynotes.com for two free months. All right. Basically, how do I figure out my ideal client? The good thing is that it is not as complicated as we think. In fact, for about 85% of therapists I've worked with, their ideal client ends up being a version of themselves. Let's unpack why that's not just okay, but actually a really major strength in your practice. Think about it.
As therapists, we spend years honing our skills through school, internships, and agency work. Along the way, we start to notice which clients light us up, challenge us in really meaningful ways, and benefit most from what we're bringing to the table. For me, my ideal clients are versions of myself at different stages of my life. My ideal therapy client is a slightly tweaked version of what I struggled with when I was 19, but an older person.
My ideal practice-building client is a slightly tweaked version of my 31-year-old self. It is not just familiarity that makes these clients a good fit. It's the fact that we deeply understand their struggles on a complex level. For example, I do my best work with people who over-function, workaholics who find it really hard to unplug. This is because I've been there.
I know how hard it is to sit with the discomfort of slowing down and stepping away from achievement when so much of your identity is rooted in it. Here's the thing. That doesn't mean I can't work with people who struggle with motivation instead. I can, and I do really good work with them. It just takes a little more effort because it's not something I personally connect with as easily. You'll do your best work with clients you understand deeply, and that's not only okay, it's awesome.
Knowing where your ideal client is coming from doesn't just make therapy sessions more effective. It also gives you a massive advantage when it comes to marketing because you already know the language that they use to describe their struggles, the pain points that keep them up at night, the emotions they're feeling before they pick up the phone to call you.
When you can speak to these things directly on your website, social media, directory listing, what have you, you're going to resonate with your ideal clients like no one else can. And it is not weird if your ideal client feels like you have. Many of us got into this field because of our own struggles, so it is natural to feel a connection with clients who mirror our past experiences. That being said, it's important to do the work.
Make sure that you have addressed your own healing, make sure you're staying on top of your training to provide competent care, keep an eye on counter-transference so that it doesn't interfere with your work. And when you do that, having this connection with your client, it isn't just okay, it's a huge asset. How much you share about what you have experienced that your client is also going through, that's really going to depend on your client population and your own comfort level as a therapist.
We all need to have a certain level of boundaries, right? There's a certain level of boundaries and you can have stronger boundaries than that, but we don't want to have fewer boundaries than our profession has to have, right? So here's the bottom line. It's okay, more than okay, really, if your ideal client feels like a version of you. Lean into that connection, use it to deepen your understanding and amplify your impact.
And if you're ready to dig deeper into identifying and marketing your ideal client, I have a free worksheet to help you out. You can DM me the word sheets to get this week's worksheet. It's our ideal client exercise. And you'll also get access to all our other free worksheets when you send us the word sheet. So let's make your practice as incredible as the work you're doing. I will see you next time on Ask Alison. If you have questions for me, please hit the link in my bio.
I would love to answer them. Take care. If you're ready for a much easier practice, TherapyNotes is the way to go. Go to TherapyNotes.com and use the promo code Abundant for two months free. I hope that helped. If you have questions for Ask Alison, or you want to get your hands on the worksheet for this episode, go to AbundancePracticeBuilding.com slash links. If you're listening, you probably need some support building your practice.
If you're a super newbie, grab our free checklist using the link in the show notes. I'd love for you to follow, rate, and review, but I really want you to share this episode with a therapist friend. Let's help all our colleagues build what they want.