(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 have a networking event coming up and I am absolutely dreading it. I feel so out of my element, but know that networking is an important part of building my practice. Do you have any advice on for how to make a networking event something to look forward to? Hi, I'm Allison. Here we are at Ask Allison.
Before I answer this question, which I definitely want to answer because I want you to be comfortable, I first want to thank TherapyNotes for sponsoring Ask Allison. I have talked about their features for years. I know them by heart, but what I want you to really know is that they genuinely care about your experience. It is not just about troubleshooting.
They actively implement user-suggested features like therapy search, secure messaging, clinical outcome tracking, real-time insurance checks, and a really super smooth super bill process. Everybody at TherapyNotes believes in the product and they want you to love it too. They're independently owned, which means no venture capital and no pressure to prioritize investors over customers.
This independence allows them to keep their prices fair, to focus on innovation, and to prioritize customer experience. With over 100,000 therapists already on board, they are proving that you do not have to compromise success for quality. If you are ready to see for yourself, try TherapyNotes free for two months with the code ABUNDANT at TherapyNotes.com. Okay, so first, let's get really real. Networking is not about perfection.
It's not about dazzling somebody with your credentials or being the most charming person in the room. You just need to show up as you. That is it, and I'm going to explain why. So I went to this really fancy dinner hosted by an eating disorder treatment center back in the day. Free food, free wine, the works. I was seated across from this therapist who was not an eating disorder therapist. She scoffed at the idea of insurance covering eating disorder treatment.
She criticized the host for not having a PowerPoint. She generally made the whole entire table uncomfortable, and it's safe to say that none of us were rushing to send her referrals. So my takeaway for you with this story is that you do not need to be perfect. You just need to avoid being that person. Let's talk about how you can do networking well. Here are the basics, and the good news is, you're good at all of these. Number one, I want you to be curious.
I want you to ask about the other person, their life, their work, whatever they're willing to share. I don't want you to feel like you have to stay focused on work conversation the entire time you're networking. Usually that makes for a pretty boring experience, and you don't actually get to know one another that well. So ask real questions about their real life, not just their work life. Number two is to be real. I want you to skip that therapist voice. You are a person.
You are not a walking billboard. You do not have to sell yourself when you are networking. Selling yourself when you're networking is going to be skeezy, and it is not going to get you the referrals. Being real, being interested, and being really present in the conversation is going to get you far more referrals, even if you don't really talk about your practice very much, which leads to number three, which is listening. Really listen.
This is a big part of our job, and if you are a poor listener when you are talking to somebody and you're networking, they're going to think you're going to be a poor listener as a therapist as well. So people are going to pick up on how you're holding space for them, and that's going to speak volumes about your skills as a therapist. Don't open the conversation about your ideal client. Don't just be like, hi, I'm Allison. I'd really love to work. Don't do that. Start with them.
Ask about them, and also don't put out this desperation about not having enough clients. This is something that I see people do, sometimes consciously, sometimes not consciously, and it's a turnoff. Nobody likes desperation, right? We want to help one another, but we don't want to put a therapy client into the arms of a desperate therapist. So think about how you're presenting yourself. If you are feeling desperate, that's fair.
We've all been there, but I want you to take some time before your networking event. Really ground yourself into what you know is possible, what you're going to get to eventually. I want you to be in that abundance mindset, not in the scarcity mindset when you're talking to people about what you do. Now, some of you may say you're worried that you're maybe less likable and more prickly, and here's what I want to say.
First, I want you to make sure that that's not just low self-esteem talking, and second, even if you are a little prickly, embrace it. There are referral sources out there who will appreciate your authenticity. They are also maybe a little prickly, so find your people, the ones who'd rather network with somebody real than someone trying too hard to impress them. Ultimately, networking is about building relationships. It's not just talking business and trying to get business.
People refer to those they know, like, and trust, so focus on that connection first. If you're nervous, start small. Ask questions, listen. You don't have to talk about yourself a ton. You can wait the whole time to talk about yourself until they're asking you questions about yourself. You don't need to interject about you at all. If you want more tips, I've got you covered. You can DM me the word sheets to get this week's worksheet, How to Not Hate Networking.
It also links to all the previous ones in the series. We also have an entire course on networking in the Abundance Party, which if you send me the DM party, I will send you a link to. I hope you have a really great week. You've got this with networking. It is not as bad or scary or skeezy as you were imagining it to be. It is literally just you connecting with somebody who may be a new friend. All right. Have a great week. I'll talk to you later.
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 Allison, 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.
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