(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 keep getting stopped by fear. I'm not usually a fearful person, maybe anxious, but starting a private practice terrifies me. So before I dive into this, I want to thank Therapy Notes for sponsoring Ask Allison. I've talked about them for years. You probably know their features by heart now too, but here's what really sets them apart.
They genuinely care about your experience. They take the user suggestions and they make sure that you get what you want. It's not just troubleshooting. They really do implement these suggestions. So lately that's been their new AI option, secure messaging, clinical outcome tracking, a smooth super bill process, these kinds of things. Everyone at Therapy Notes believes in the product and they want you to love it too.
Plus they're independently owned, which means no venture capital, no pressure to prioritize investors over customers. And this independence allows them to keep their prices fair, to focus on innovation and to prioritize their customer experience. With over 100,000 therapists already on board, they've proven that you don't have to compromise success for quality. If you're ready to see for yourself, go to therapynotes.com, use the coupon code ABUNDANT and you'll get two months free. All right.
So we all know that feeling, right? That surge of fear that comes up when you're about to do something new in your business. It might pop up when you have to cold email a potential referral source, or when you realize you have to have a conversation with a client about money. Maybe it's even that overwhelming sense of dread when you think about public speaking or trying out a new piece of tech. Fear has a really funny way of stopping us in our tracks, but here is the thing.
That fear is exactly what you need to lean into if you want to grow your business. So today I want to answer this question that's been kind of floating around of how do we push through the fear and keep moving forward? So let me take you back a little bit to when I was 19, a little bit, a lot of it. I was in a really difficult place. I'd been hospitalized twice for an eating disorder, anxiety and depression. And it really felt like my world was just a series of overwhelming challenges.
I remember thinking, this is who I am. This is what my life is going to look like forever. And that fear, it led me to avoid everything that made me uncomfortable, whether it was stepping out of my comfort zone socially, challenging myself at work or school, or even just eating what was on my plate. It was all really scary. But here's the breakthrough I had. I realized that avoiding that fear was keeping me stuck. That instinct to avoid and shrink back was not helping me move forward in my life.
In fact, it was the opposite. And the same principle applies to your business. We're in a field where you're helping people push through their fear, whether that's clients who have agoraphobia, couples who need help being vulnerable, anyone else who's just facing big emotional hurdles. We don't tell our clients to avoid their fears. We don't say, just stay home, stay in bed, don't challenge yourself. We challenge them to lean into the discomfort and grow, right?
And yet, when it comes to our businesses or starting our businesses, we often let fear stop us in our tracks. I know I have. Things like emailing strangers for networking, calling potential clients, even just pricing your services. These things can feel like huge roadblocks, right? But I want to challenge you. What if you decided to do the opposite of what feels comfortable? What if instead of shrinking back in fear, you leaned into it? So here's the thing.
Private practice is not for the faint of heart. If you are looking for a business that doesn't challenge you, where everything is smooth sailing, then private practice isn't the right fit for you. There is, I'd say, a misconception that entrepreneurship is about avoiding risk or discomfort, but I'm here to tell you that is absolutely not true. Building a private practice is about constant growth, both professionally and personally.
And if you're not willing to be uncomfortable, you're not going to grow. You have to embrace the discomfort if you want to create a thriving business. I've learned over the years that being comfortable in your business all the time isn't the goal. The goal is growth. You'll have to face uncomfortable conversations, push yourself out of your comfort zone repeatedly, and try new things that make you nervous. And that's okay. That's not about being fearless.
It's about growing a tolerance to fear and pushing forward anyway. I think it's really important to recognize that fear doesn't go away. For me, fear is something I face every day. I'm scared of something almost daily, and that's the reality. It doesn't matter how much you grow or how far along you get in your business, fear will always be there. So here's the difference. I've built up a tolerance to fear.
I've gotten better at noticing when the fear arises, acknowledging it, and then moving forward anyway. I am not running away from it anymore. So instead of letting fear stop me, I've learned to use it as a signal to take action. Fear, in my experience, is a marker for growth. When I feel that surge, I know that it means I'm about to level up. So for example, when I first started podcasting, I was terrified. Seriously.
The idea of putting my voice out there for the world to hear made me want to crawl into bed and never come out. But guess what? I pushed through it. Within a few months, my podcast hit 20 ,000 downloads. It was a huge milestone. We have over 2 million listens at this point. I still get message from listeners telling me how much it's helped them grow their business. So how do you push past fear? How do you actually move forward when you feel that uncomfortable pull to avoid it? Here's the key.
Run towards it. Embrace it. Let it be your guide to personal and professional growth. For me, webinars were another huge fear. I don't know why I was terrified of hosting live webinars, but the idea of presenting in front of a live audience and answering questions on the spot at the time sounded so scary. I pushed myself to learn everything I could about webinars, and I did it anyway. Now, webinars don't phase me at all, and they've helped me grow my business in ways I didn't expect.
So when you lean into fear, you're opening yourself up to new possibilities, and that's the really cool part. So fear is not something to avoid. It is not a sign that you're on the wrong path. In fact, it's a sign that you're on the verge of something big. It's a signal that you're about to experience growth, and you can't grow unless you push through fear. So here's my challenge to you. What scary thing are you willing to do today to move your business forward?
Maybe it's reaching out to potential referral partners, or it's raising your rates for the first time. Maybe it's making that call or finally sending that email to a potential client who reached out that you haven't responded to. Whatever it is, I want you to take one step today, no matter how small, towards that fear.
And if you want to get a little extra support in moving past your fear and building your practice with more confidence, then the Abundance Party is a great option for you because we have this amazing community of people who really genuinely care about your progress. We also have a free worksheet today, Common Fears and My Responses. This will give you access. If you DM the word sheets, it will give you access to that and all of our other worksheets in that series.
So yeah, thanks for hanging out with me today. And remember, fear is a sign that you're on the right track. So let's lean in and let's grow together. I'll see you next time. 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.