â Âś Empowering Business Growth in Private Practice
You're listening to Ideal Practice , episode number 89 , and I've got a treat for you . Today , my friends , you get to meet an amazing woman whose approach to private practice beats anything I've run across yet , and even though her practice revenues are already at 2.5 million and growing , I think she'd tell you that she is just getting started .
Today you get to meet Soribel Martinez . So stay tuned . Hi . I'm Wendy Pitts Reeves and with over two decades of experience in the private practice world , I've built my six-figure business while learning a lot of lessons the hard way .
This is the first podcast that shows you how to apply the principles of energy alignment and strategy to build a practice that is profit-centered , but people forward . This is the Ideal Practice Podcast . Hey everybody , thank you so much for tuning in . Welcome back to another episode of the Ideal Practice Podcast . This is your host , wendy .
Wendy Pitts Reeves , and I am thrilled to be hanging out with you guys today , because it's been a week , my friends . I don't know about you , but it's been kind of crazy . If , like me , you've ever worked in a hospital , many of you will recognize this and you will know exactly what I'm talking about here .
I had one of those days a couple of days ago where I found myself asking what the heck is going on , because all around me there were crises of one kind or another , some serious , not some , some not as serious , but affecting lots of people that are in my world in lots of different settings .
And enough so that I found myself warning people by the end of the day to be kind of careful when they were driving that day , cause I kept telling everyone the energy is wonky today , y'all I don't know what's going on .
And then when I got home that evening after dark and pulled into my driveway and noticed the moon , I was like oh yeah , that's right , it's a full moon week . Well , no wonder .
So it's been a full moon week , and let me just say that when it's like that , it makes me really happy to come here and hang out with you guys , where things feel a little bit more you know , normal . Anyway , I hope you're doing all right . I hope you're having a great week . I hope life is good for you . I have got a treat for you today .
My friends , oh my Lord , let me tell you about our guest today . Today , I told you you get to meet Sorri Belle Martinez . Sorri Belle is a licensed clinical social worker in Connecticut . She's an influential leader in the mental health sector there . She's the CEO of a huge counseling practice called SMP psychotherapy and counseling .
She was born in the Dominican Republic and she was a US immigrant at age 12 . Her journey from a school social worker to a visionary business consultant showcases her resilience and her strategic acumen , and when you learn , when you meet her , you'll see what that's all about . She innovated the MDPP framework , which propelled her practice to over 11,000 clients .
There's a story there that you're going to want to hear . She is an adjunct professor at post university and a member of its management advisory board . She's also an accomplished author . Her memoir is called Unbreakable . She's got quite a powerful personal story as well , and she has a new book that's coming out that you'll also be hearing about in this interview .
Sorri Belle epitomizes transformative leadership and empathic mentorship , and I would also add to that that she is an incredibly creative business founder . She truly is a visionary who has a remarkable way of meeting problems that turn into opportunities , finding how that works . So you're really going to love this . It's a very high energy interview .
It's very different than a lot of what I typically do . I found her delightful in every possible way and I think you will as well . So with that , let's get into the interview . All right , hello everyone and welcome back to Ideal Practice . You are in for a treat today , y'all . You're going to hear a story that you have never heard before .
I guarantee you this is going to be unlike anything we have covered yet on this program , and I think you're going to love it . It's going to be great . You've already heard a little bit in the intro about how outstanding and unusual my guest is today , so let me bring her on and let you say hello to her . Say hello , sorri Belle , say hi to everybody .
Hello everyone .
Welcome to the program . I'm so glad that you are willing to take time out to do this with me today . I know you've got a lot going on . You're a busy woman .
I'm a busy woman , you are , yeah .
I don't know about that . So , sorri Belle , start us off by telling us a little bit about . Well , let's just start with the simple stuff when are you , who do you serve , who do you help and how do you help them ? Let's start with that . So , sorri Belle , how do you set the stage ?
Yes , so my name is Sorri Belle Martinez . I'm a licensed clinical social worker . I am also a business coach for other private practice owners who want to build a million dollars and beyond in their private practice so they can have more impact , more revenue and profits . I am in Connecticut .
I am originally from the Dominican Republic , but I live in Connecticut since I was 12 .
And you have a very , very active and large and growing group practice right now . So tell us a little bit . I really want to dive into the juicy stuff about your practice , because you are crafting , building , teaching people how to build a multi-million dollar practice , which is just the Right . That's not language we're used to hearing .
Tell me a little bit about . Let's just start with what got you into social . Why social work For a woman who thinks the way you do ? Why did you go into social work instead of some other kind of industry or business ? I'm kind of curious about that .
Yes . So since I was seven years old , I knew that I wanted to help people . I knew I wanted to write books . I knew I wanted to become a philanthropist . I wanted to help people . That's always been since I was a little kid . However , I also wanted to be a businesswoman and I think I got that from my dad .
He had his master's in business administration back in DR and I don't know . I used to admire what he was doing and I just wanted to do that . So early on in life I decided that I was going to become a psychiatrist and I went to medical school for two years . But the truth is that I didn't like medical school . I really didn't like it . I quit .
I'm not a quitter , but I quit medical school because I don't know . Medicine was not for me . I wanted to learn about behavior and how to change people's lives and how to empower people . And they were taking too long to allow me to do that .
That was too long , so I came back home and I got a master's in psychology , and the reason why I went into psychology specifically was because I needed to understand my own family dysfunctions .
Isn't that where so many people start ? That is a common thing , yeah .
So I was like I need to understand why my father is a womanizer . I want to understand why my mom takes a shit oh sorry , that's fine . I wanted to understand all of it , right ? And because I know that behavior is inherited . I wanted to make sure that I was not diving into the same generational trauma .
And I wanted to make a change in my life and I wanted to help others to make a change in their lives . So after that I went for my master's in business administration and then , finally , I got my master's in social work from USC .
Three master's in psychology , mba , social work . When you told me this before , I thought so you are obviously an overachiever .
Let's clear that A little bit , a little bit , I have two undergrads biology and psychology and I decided that I was going to work helping people change their lives and so they don't have to also repeat the mistakes of their family , of their parents , of their great grandparents .
Right that we can make a difference , and I think that we were created to make a difference , to change our generation , so the future generations can really benefit from something else . So that's how I decided to be in therapy . I knew at some point I wanted to be a business owner .
However , I have some challenges along the way with my health to bring unknown reasons and brain surgery my son was young At the time came .
Wow , so you have been through a lot .
I've been through a few things .
You've been through a lot , yeah , and you said you came from the Dominican Republic at 12 , I think is when you came to this country .
So all the issues that go around immigration which is not a small thing either Illness , family difficulties , lots of tough stuff and , being the kind of person that you are , you're like , yeah , we're not going to keep this going , we're going to fix this and figure out why this happens and I want to solve it for myself and I want to solve it for other people
, which I love and can totally relate to . A lot of people who go into mental health in particular , that's the backstory . Often that's the case . So you told me that when you decided to become to go into private practice , you were a school social worker in Connecticut .
Yeah , yeah .
And we're going to tell me . Tell me about that decision , like I'm just going to do a little work on the side , is what I remember you saying , yeah , yeah .
Yeah , because my son was young . I was like you know I want to go to school to be a school social worker . You know the 10 months of employment . You know summers off . Every time my son was off I was able to be at home . So , as a single mom , that was something that helped me .
Yeah .
However , as a school social worker although I was making great money , I'm not the typical social worker . That started like a $42,000 . I wanted six figures and they gave me six figure when I started Wow , and it was good work , I was helping people .
But the thing is like , as a single parent , of the taxes and all the things and the life that I wanted for my son , $100,000 was not cutting it anymore . I wanted my son to go to private school . He was going to private school .
He was eating a lot of my funds , right , because I was expensive and my son was playing the violin and I wanted him to have opportunities and to travel and things like that . So I was like you know what , I'm going to go part-time into private practice so I can , you know , fuel some income into my regular income . I can do that part-time after school .
You know I used to work from seven to three and I can go , like you know , on the weekends and then in the summer I can do some of that . Well , it didn't turn out that way because when .
I identified the strategy , the marketing strategy that I want to implement and the marketing tactic that I want to implement , and I did it before I even opened the doors to my private practice . I had 150 people on the wait list .
Good Lord , hold on , let's catch that . So the several things you just said that are going to people are going to be going . What so ? First of all , you were a school social worker making six figures in Connecticut , which would not happen in Tennessee . So we talked , I remember telling you right . It is a huge like there's , and I want this is .
This is one of the things I love about the podcast is that it gives people a chance to get a window into what life is like in different parts of the country and how the numbers are different in parts of the country , and what sounds awesome in one place sounds terrible in another place , in vice versa .
â Âś Starting a Successful Private Practice
So you were making 100,000 plus as a school social worker , which is crazy in my mind , but in Connecticut I'm guessing that's not that unusual and that even on that salary , it still wasn't enough to meet what you wanted for your kid , for your family , right ? And so you're like schools are easy , I've got my , hours are great , I got my , my summer is up .
I can do a little bit of this on the side , sure , so a little practice to get a little money on the side . But because you have a marketing , you have a business background which is extremely unusual . You knew things the rest of us don't know starting off . So did you just say that you had 150 people waiting for you like referrals , like clients ?
waiting , yes , waiting , and the door weren't even open , because the truth is that I didn't even have an office space because I didn't have the funds to rent an office space . And at that time I was driving my little white on white Mercedes Benz and I was like you know what ?
I'm going to start with what I have , and what I have is my car , and I'm going to turn this car into an office and I'm just going to offer in-home services . I had done in-home services before with ICAPS . You know different programs in the community .
I'm going to do this , and when I saw the 150 people on the waitlist , I knew that I was not going to be able to do that . Of course , and I said you know what ? This is going to be a solo practice . We got to go into group practice and that's what I did . I never was like a solo .
I went from like solo to group , Like all happening like this way .
So this is brilliant . So you're saying that when you started your practice on the side around your full-time job , you couldn't afford to rent an office . I'm sure , like y'all , when you hear about salaries in Connecticut not only are salaries higher , so is the cost of living , everything's a lot higher , right ? Everything's like gas is higher , everything's higher .
You couldn't afford to rent a space . So you're like , fine , I'll just take my car , will be my office , I will go to them . Which is incredibly unusual and smart , and I can see why that would automatically make you stand out right from the beginning , because nobody does that . In-home services are .
I've done some in-home work early in my career , but it is a very rare thing because it's very time intensive and it can be a little scary sometimes . Depending upon this , you know what you're going to , but you took it to them , so did you ? Can we dive into that a little bit and tell me how ? And so you said that you had 150 people .
There's no way you can serve that many . So you immediately started hiring people to meet the demand right off the bat .
So I never was solo , I was like I before I started to open the doors I had the people waiting . Then I was like , oh my God , here are the possibilities . Like why would I even start this job when there's a possibility of situations ? So what I did was I left my job .
I gave my four week notice and I said I'm leaving and people were like you crazy , how are you going to leave a school job ? Like people died to be in the schools . You know , my situation was very different because in Connecticut social workers begin like around $43,000 . 42 , 43,000 .
Okay .
That's the start , but I negotiated and I was willing to walk away from it if they didn't give me what I want .
I asked you a little bit when we met the first time . I asked you a little bit about your background , and I know that you've done all kinds of things . You've worked inpatient , outpatient , IOP , intensive ERs . Like you weren't new at this , you came with a wealth of experience and background already . But you know . So .
The average salary for a school counselor is not or not counselor , a school social worker is not $100,000 . It's $40,000 , $50,000 . Okay , but you negotiated all right off the bat , so you are something else Okay .
Wow .
Yeah , so I can see why people would look at you and like , why would you leave this ? That's a pretty cushy job , then . Okay .
So so I gave my notice and I went into a full time . I hire people to go into into people's home .
Three months later I found a woman that was renting me like her office , like $20 per session and I was growing so fast that one month I paid her $1,100 for rent and I was like hell , no , I'm not gonna pay you $1,000 when I can go find a place Like this is going to be the last month that I'm going to do that .
And .
I remember in that March I went and got me an office and I furnished the office and we continued to do in-home and I used to go to my office only two days a week because then the in-home became a thing , right yeah .
Yeah .
And it was growing and we were doing wonderful work in the community and then the pandemic hit and that's when we turned into telehealth .
Oh wow , yeah , An in-home service wouldn't work very well with the pandemic .
No , it didn't work at all .
Wow . So when you were , did you buy a building to start an office or did you ? You were renting in that space ?
I rented a space and I used to go to my office on January two times per week and the rest of the week I used to do home services in-home meet other therapists .
Okay , were you in the beginning ? Were you serving a particular population or a particular problem ? What was your focus ? What was your client focus ?
My marketing focus is women and families . Okay , we do serve men , but when I my knowledge tells me , since I graduated high school , all I done is human service , mental health , social service . I never done any other job but this work , so I that women are the one that usually look for these type of services .
That's true .
It could be for their son , for their daughters , for themselves , for their husband , for their grandpa , for the grandma , for the niece , for the nephew . So I was like you know what ? This is a great strategy for me to position myself , and it has worked and I'm not going to change it , it's just working quickly .
Yeah , yeah , yeah , you're right , mamas are the ones who go get the help for everybody , right ? You're absolutely right about that , that's true . So when you , I'd love to know I think everybody's going to be asking this question how the heck did you have 150 people waiting for you before you ever opened your doors ? Like literally , how did you do that ?
Because that's such a crazy story .
It is because what people think that may not work has worked very well for me , and I think that one of the things that we need to keep in mind about our businesses is not just about tactics and strategies , it's about our mindset .
We have to develop a business mindset , because what I find with therapists , with us , is that we were not taught business in school . We were taught that we are here , created just to help people . There is an understanding out there that therapists are poor , that we are offering our client services that we should be getting ourselves .
That's what I hear all the time Like , oh man , I don't make that much . I should be applying for these things , not just like my clients , right ? And I wanted to break with that stigma , and what I did was I created a marketing strategy .
My strategy was to break the stigma of social services and mental health services in the community , that people can have access to these services , right , no matter what , and so I decided that I was going to have a website , and I decided that I was going to use psychology today and that I was going to do some traditional marketing .
Those were the three things that I used initially . A website that I got a pre , you know , one of those pre-made websites .
Like Squarespace , something like that .
I used to play monthly . And then psychology today and traditional marketing .
So when you say traditional marketing , what do you mean ? What was included in that ?
So and that included for me developing relationships in the community , with the doctors' offices , with local communities right , and people bringing material , letting them know what I was up to connecting with the people that I knew already in my network that I was going to be doing private practice and , honestly , I really didn't think I was going to have as many
people on that wait list .
I was thinking yeah , so did you . Well , I'm thinking a lot of people have a website and a site today profile , but that doesn't bring in 150 people . But this , what you just now said so casually , is not a casual thing .
You marketed to doctors' offices , to community organizations , I'm guessing to people that you knew , and were you taking them brochures or business cards ? Were you taking gifts to people ? Did you have lunch and coffee with folks ? Were you just saying , hey , this is coming , I'm going to be opening . It's not , I'm not there yet , but I'm going to be .
Is this like you were sort of like the pre-sale in a way ? Is that what you were doing ?
So what I did ? The first step that I think we need to do is we have to have an intention , we need to understand and we need to identify what we really want .
A lot of times we are too vague in what it is that we desire and our goals and the things that we want to accomplish , and one of the things that I'm good at is when I want something , I want something , and I'm going to be very specific in what I want . After that , I picked my strategy .
The strategy that I was going to use was to allow people to know these services are available to everyone . There's no stigma . I can go to your home or I can do this for you . You don't have to leave your house . You have 20 kids and you can't leave because you don't have transportation .
I'm there , and then I created a very intentional , not just one psychology to the profile . I have various of psychologists today profiles .
Oh , that's interesting . Okay , tell me about that .
I have a few psychology to the profiles and even for the people that are higher , they don't only have one psychology to the profile , they have one or two or three psychology to the profile and they're bringing in very intentional ways to trigger Google Google , because that's where it shows up in Google . So we do that .
We just don't write genetic copy , we write specific copy to the ideal kind of that particular independent contract or employee , and that's what I did for mine . And then after that I created a brochure and introduction letter that I will send to people or bring to people , and then I presented myself the first time .
Or we send it by email , by mail , and then we will follow up Like back then , go ahead .
Yeah , I want to ask a little clarification . Two things you know you're not just having one side profile , you're having more than one side . Today profiles a new idea which means you're paying for two or three profiles . Right , you're paying two or three times a monthly amount , but what was the difference ?
Were you creating a profile with a different zip code , with a different target audience ? Three profiles that you had .
One profile always goes with the person's name where the picture and the name , and the other profile goes with the person identifiable ideal clients . They're a credential but it goes under the practice name .
Got it .
What I do is the SIP codes that I utilize for the that one profile . I don't utilize it for the practice . I use different SIP codes . So we have a broader reach of audiences and the copy has to be created as specific to the ideal client that that person serves . Yep , I guess it's true that we pay one , two , but how much ?
$60 for two profiles one client . One client would pay for that . Right right session Right absolutely One client would pay for that and I have one profile since I started that . Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of course , hundreds of course .
Yeah , yeah .
That profile is like on fire . Thousands , like hundreds of thousands of people has looked at that profile .
So that would be a good thing for people to go look at as an example for sure . Right Cause I will tell you like one of my pet peeves is psychology today , profiles , because they are , and
â Âś Building a Business and Shifting Mindsets
no judgment . Not trying to judge anybody , but we are not taught this , so nobody knows how to do it another way . But they are all incredibly vanilla . They are all . They all say the same thing , they all sound the same . You can't tell anything about the person who's doing the providing the service and you can't tell who they serve .
It drives me a little nuts , but so in the very- .
You'll have to go take my out then .
Yeah , I'm going to . You got it . I should tell everybody we should put a link to your site today profile . But when you start , you were just getting started . I mean again , you had a full-time job , this was a side gig . Did you from the beginning have a brand or a practice name , a business name , plus your individual personal name ?
And so you , right from the beginning , you were profiling the practice quote and yourself . Okay , that's really smart .
I'm just from the get go , the first thing I did was register my name . I , from the get go , I have my logo . I had my identifiable ideal . Clients were families that I was serving and I presented that to the doctor's office . I presented that to the people and then I would go back if they wanted to meet me so they can ask me a question .
I would come back and answer those questions and to these days , the doctor the first doctor office that I can still remember where they're located they still send referrals every single month , not one month . They don't send referrals .
Love it . So that was my second question . When you went around to doctor's offices , for example , were those cold calls ? Did you just walk in the door and talk to the receptionist , or did you call them in advance ? Did you know somebody in that practice Like were , how did you do that part ?
Because that I also try to encourage people to do that , but it's scary for people to have a hard time with that .
So , yeah , so some of them will send material in advance in the mail and then we will follow up with them , yeah , With the phone . And then my secretary was doing like five hours a week . You know that's very little , like three , four hours , like that .
Then she will follow up and then she will schedule an appointment if they want to meet me and I will go and see the staff and explain my mama services .
So I want to show some . You just did something there that's brilliant that I don't know that people will catch . So did you have an assistant right off the bat ? When you , even before you had an office , before you opened your practice , did you have an assistant ? He was making calls for you .
That was helping me .
yes , Was it somebody local that you knew , or was it like an online VA , something like that ?
No , it was somebody local that I knew I was paying her . You know those small hours until we started and as I grew I continued to hours and then you know the rest of history . So from the get go , I have never done anything in my practice , like not . But be the genius that I am , do therapy and being a business owner , I don't do anything .
I've never done building , credentialing , answering phones , none of that stuff .
You have somebody else . So that is also unusual , that you were in building mode and you said I didn't feel like I couldn't afford , couldn't quote , afford , unquote to rent an office space . So you were going to people and all that stuff .
But yeah , you , by golly , you made it a point to quote , afford , to bring on a team member from the very beginning who helped you get the word out and what I there's , I'm going somewhere with this .
You had this person call the doctor's mail something , call them , follow up and ask them if they would like to meet you , and if they would , then she or he would set that up for you . So there's a little psychological bit to this that most people are not gonna know that I wanna highlight .
When somebody which is an unusual thing and it's brilliant when someone else introduces you , it automatically elevates you , it automatically makes you , it heightens your credibility and it elevates your importance , in a way , your perceived value .
So when you have an assistant who sends out the letter and the brochure or whatever , and an assistant who calls and follows up and goes , she's awesome , she's going to be launching her practice soon , she's about ready to start seeing people . Would you like to meet her . Sure , I'd like to . Who is this person ? Right it automatically .
And I'll tell you where I learned that was running for office . I learned that running for office . If I had someone go with me knocking on doors and they introduced me to people as a candidate , it automatically did . It automatically elevated me in a certain way and that's that's one of my goals ?
yeah , and one of my goals from the get go was to establish myself as a leader in the community , and one of the things that I find that therapists struggle with a lot is they don't want to talk about themselves , or they feel uncomfortable , or the people talking about them , who they are , we feel uncomfortable .
Quote unquote bragging about who we are and all these things . And what I found is that we need to position ourselves . We need to be in a position of leadership right . We need to be in a position where people say I want to go to her because she's a leader , she's doing something . Even your clients will look at you differently .
When you are engaging in certain type of behaviors to attract them to be your clients , and from the get go , from the get go , my purpose was to establish myself as a leader in the community , as the go to practice in the community . That's my goal and that's still the goal , and we still practice in some of the things that I practice .
Day number one Because of what ?
Sorry Belle , this is so cool . You , from the beginning , wanted your practice to be the go to resource in your community . From the beginning , you wanted to be the place . So that . I love that , because that's exactly how I started my practice as well .
Back in the day , when I started a group practice , I wanted it to be the place that everybody thought of first . But I wasn't coming at it from a bragging point of view . I wanted it . It was like I want to help , I want to , no matter what you need , I want our place to be the place that does that and that has served you well , hasn't it ?
That leadership has served you well .
And I think that we need to build a mindset that we I hear a lot of therapists . I'm just a therapist and I'm like what does that even mean ? You are just a therapist . Double vocabulary doesn't highlight .
You are a business owner , you are a leader , you have knowledge , you are an expert , you are a person that has the potential to change somebody's life just with one word , and you think you're just a therapist because we were made beliefs . This is what we have to change the mindset .
We have to shift , switch that little chip there that says I'm just a therapist , I'm just here to serve . I'm supposed to save everybody else , but yeah , also I supposed to be poor and if I don't have a husband who gives me insurance , then I can't . You know what I mean . Like those type of conversation and the mindset .
It will keep people away from really building a business . I have a business , I'm building a company , I'm building a kingdom , I'm building a legacy , I'm building something humongous that will impact the life of a lot of people . So when you say that to yourself , you go from I'm just a therapist to I am a leader . I am here to change people's lives .
I'm here to provide job opportunities to others . So we need to shift the mindset that we are just a therapist . Being a therapist is one important duty in this society . It's not just a therapist . We change lives , we change mindsets . We save marriages . We should save kids . We do so much and we are just therapists . And we need to shift the mindset .
Because when we shift our mindset from this idea that we are just therapists to a business owner make different decisions , you no longer gonna allow yourself to be answering those phone calls .
There's no need .
I use someone to do one hour per week . If that's what you can afford , Two hours per week , it's okay . Then you can add more hours as you continue to grow . So I think that what has helped me is that I am not your typical therapist .
That's an understatement .
Yeah , but in regards to mindset , I am a business owner , I am a CEO and I position myself as such .
Yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , and you feel really strongly about this . I think we need to take the word just out of our vocabulary . I'm not just anything , I love that and I 100% agree with you , 100% . So you have a multi . Are you in the multi ? Are you in seven figures in your practice at this point yeah , over 2.5, .
we made it here 2.5 , awesome , y'all listen to this . So today I know that you're doing all kinds of things You've got you're still doing the in-home person , you're doing telehealth and you've got like 40 something people working for you .
At this point , Well , since you and I met , we hired , you've hired some more .
so what ? You are like a rocket taking off . So how many ? What's your staffing look like today ?
Yeah , A clinical like 45 .
45 .
Total , total .
Yeah .
We are about like 65 .
Because you have . What administrative help ? What kind of team do you have ? No , what ?
kind of team I have . So I have two IT guys . They're the part-time , the young people . I have my service coordinator , slash office manager . She's soon gonna transition to just office manager because I'm hiring a phone person that can answer the phone's life now , from May 30 in the morning to 7pm . We're gonna have two people doing that work .
Wow , that's huge , we do have a billing department .
I never done billing . I don't know how to do billing and I'm not interested in learning either . That's why I hire people that are competent , that they're genius in that we have a credentialing department that takes care of all the credentialing from all the therapists , that we hire .
I have a writer , a professional writer , that writes every single profile for our website and for psychology today , because it's very intentional , very intentional of the work that we do . We have our payroll department and we have an HR department .
Goodness gracious , that's a lot . Are your staff ? Are they W2 employees or are they 1099 contractors , or do you have both ?
I have both . I have independent contractors are the fully licensed people . So I have psychiatric APRNs . I also have people who do just immigration evaluations and psychological evaluations .
Oh , wow .
So each person in my practice works with the people that they want to work with . I don't assign just clients to anyone People hear . The first question is who is your ideal client ? And you will believe that therapists have a hard time .
Every therapist that does an interview with me .
They're like will you be my ideal client ?
I don't know , I just wanna help Everybody .
I wanna be everybody . I said well , I know we were taught to work with everybody , but who do you love working with ?
Yes , yes , yes , yes .
Smile in your face when you do the work . So we have I have my accountant . I have one part-time assistant , I have a full-time assistant , slash social media manager . I have my graphic designer .
All of these are in-house . These are not people outside that you contract with .
These are in-house . I have independent contractors . Those are in others .
Yeah , yeah , yeah . So you mentioned APRNs , which is psychiatric nurse practitioners , right ? So you've got prescribers in-house , you've got people in-house who specialize in immigration , psychological values and so forth . That's fantastic and that's a niche . That's a really unique niche and probably well-served in your area .
And then you had I love , so I was curious about the level of individual among your providers
â Âś Building a Successful Therapy Practice
. Do you set the rates for the practice as a whole or do they ? Is it a front door that everybody walks through , a digital front door , or a real front door that everybody your clients come to and then it goes from in there , right ? So you have a system for how people pay you that kind of thing , right ? Okay ?
And your insurance you take insurance and self-pay . Is it both ?
We take all the insurance , including state insurance . Here is Medicaid . Also , remember that I have office space in New York and we do have APRNs in New York and we have therapists you're not many . I'm still like breaking in New York . It's a really hard state to break through , but not giving up . As you already know , that's not an option .
So , yes , so everybody comes through one door and that door they get assigned to different therapists depending on the therapist specialist and who they're working with . We don't assign clients that therapists are not . They're not . It's not part of the ideal client . So it has to be part of the ideal clients , especially what they want to work with .
We have a monthly team meeting for independent contractors . It is voluntary because they're not my employees but the W2 , which are usually the pre-licensed people they are meant to come . I have two part-time clinical directors .
Wow , I love this . I love this .
I have two part-time clinical directors . I have one director for the In-Home program that's called the FIF the FIF .
F-I-H-T-H . English is your second language . Let's point that out . Yeah , I know , Sometimes I have a hard time .
So that is to provide services . I do have now a marketing shift officer . He's going to be overseeing all the marketing , all the marketing efforts and everything , both online and traditional , including advertisement . So we're going to scale up to more refined marketing strategies like TV , radio billboards .
Oh , you're going all out . Yeah , all of that stuff .
And I just hire a market manager . She's going to be our own foot person . I'm testing that here in Hartford County where she's going to go and build relationship . Remember that work that I used to do back then .
Yeah .
Now I have someone that she's going to go do build those relationships .
It should be like your ambassador . It should be your ambassador . And you have people you've got like two or three locations at this point , or four , something like that .
Right , so we have yeah , we have office space in Denver , connecticut , hartford , connecticut . I'm about to open an office in Bloomfield , connecticut . We have office in New York . We still have office in Massachusetts , by Massachusetts . It's another state that you have to like breathe a couple of times .
While crossing state lines . Instantly , you're in a whole new set of rules and a whole new set of complications . I'm sure . But we're not giving up . No , it's not in your nature , I don't think ever . You're smart enough to know when you need to pivot and you will do that . But I don't giving up is not in your vocabulary . I got that , yeah .
Yeah , it's super impressive to hear all this and very unusual , but what drives ? I think what's so significant about you is , number one , that you have this business background , so you already were thinking like that . But number two , you are so unapologetic about what you're building .
Can I ask you a question ? Yeah , yeah , sure . Who do we need to apologize to ?
Yeah , who is it For real ?
Who do we need to apologize to ? So we just need to show up as who we are , what we want , what we desire , what we believe that we deserve , and we deserve to fulfill a purpose period . So for me , it's like , actually , I don't even look at my , I only look at my competition . When I want to see what my competition is not offering , so I can offer it .
That's right . We are working on creating a program called actually a program , and we're going to write a book as a practice called Beyond the Therapeutic Share .
Oh , cool , okay , Because I believe that the missing link , the missing in mental health , is personal development , and I want to be able to give my clients the therapeutic part and the personal development part where we can do like online courses . We're going to write a . Our practice is going to write an anthology .
Every one is going to write a chapter of the book .
I love that .
Groups , yeah , or shops , seminars . Let's get people from the share to a journey of personal development .
That's not much . We're not just healing , we're not just solving problems . We're not just fixing something that's already that's broken . We are growing human beings here who are going to have a full and lovely life . I love that . Sorry , bella , I love that Such a big thinker you are .
What are the things that not everyone who hears this wants to have an empire like you're building , but everyone who's listening to this wants to be successful in some way ? What do you think are the key ?
What are the drivers for any therapist who have , maybe not a million dollar practice maybe I have a million dollar practice , maybe a $200,000 practice , but a still a financially sound practice ? What do you think people need ? What makes that work for folks ?
I think I'm going to disagree with you . Okay , hear me out . Okay , I believe that we all want to build an empire but , there's different sizes of empires . Maybe your empire looks like two therapists and yourself , and that is success for you .
That's your empire , that's your legacy .
That's how you feel comfortable . That's where you feel comfortable .
â Âś Branding and Marketing in Private Practice
If you want to have a half a million part of practice .
You can do that A million , multimillion , 20 million , 30 million , whatever , whatever billions , If it's a matter you can have whatever size of success that you desire , and every success is good success . Even the woman that decides to stay home and take care of their children , she's successful .
Yeah .
Right , yeah , I mean , it's not about how big the goal is or the dream is For me .
It's me helping you understand that your vision is important and if you , if for people , your vision is supposedly called a small , that is a huge vision , because your vision is important to the world , your mission is important to the world , your purpose is important , because that potential that we have inside of us needs to be brought to the world right , Right
yep . More concise , smaller , whatever you want .
Right , concentrate it , your ideal practice .
Yeah or whatever . This is my ideal dream .
Yeah .
This is my ideal dream . Maybe your ideal dream is different , but it is your ideal dream and I think that , and I believe that everyone deserves to have exactly what is ideal to them .
Right , whatever that looks like . Yeah , yes , and you're really hammering home the importance of mindset , how you think about success , how you think about what you bring to the table . But you're also you talk about marketing a lot and you have a completely different approach to marketing . It's very creative and it's very and it's multi-level , multi-faceted , right .
What do you think is what's the mistake that people that too many therapists make in private practice when it comes to marketing ? What do you think ? Where are they tripping themselves up ?
Thinking that they don't need marketing .
Ah , that they don't need it at all . What brand ?
Yeah , even the dollar store has a brand . Every clothing that you wear has a brand . Everything that you use , from the headphone , from everything , the hair color , everything has a brand . So , therapists , we believe that we don't need a brand , that we don't need to market , and that is something that hinders us .
I get people applying all the time that have their own private practice and they want to work and supplement their private practice . We work that I will provide to them . Why ? Because they don't think that they need to market . They think that word of mouth is sufficient and it's not because it's not predictable .
Nothing that is predictable is going to get you the success that you want . Now , there's different levels of marketing , of course .
If you want a more like chic , like a smaller beauty kind of thing going on , well , you create a marketing strategy and a tool and a tactic that will feed that that you're trying to accomplish , but everything that you have is because somebody marketed and somebody said I have something that you need .
But , we are no different , but we think that we're different . We think that we shouldn't market because we shouldn't have a brand . You need a brand . You need to market it , because even that small practice that you are building , you must have an exit plan for it to sell it . Don't just close it . No , no , no , sell it .
Sell it . Listen to that . Okay , I want to put a pin in that . That's practice . That you've got , whatever size it is , you need to have a plan to sell it . I wish someone had told me that when I started my practice , because I did not know that Until it was almost too late . That's a powerful bit of advice right there , from the beginning .
Be thinking about your practice as something you're not just going to close when you retire or you move into something else . You sell it , yeah .
You sell it If you made $100,000 from that practice this is the price If you sold it and they give you $20 million . That's also successful . You want it , that's what you desire From the get go . Have an exit plan . I know what my exit plan is . I have two exit plans . One exit plan is my son wants to go to medical school .
He wants to become a psychiatrist . One exit plan for me is to pass it on to him . If he chooses not to go on that path , then I'm going to sell it . You need to have an exit plan , you can't just shut down or close down something that you work so hard for .
Sell it .
If you make $25,000 from that . If you don't want the $25,000 , then do it to me . I know what to do with it .
If you don't want the $25,000 , then do it to me . I know what to do , I know what to do with it . So what does a brand mean for private practice ? Because , you're right , dollar General , I can see that , mcdonald's , I can see that . But what's a brand when I am a solo provider , renting an office space in a big building in some city , somewhere ?
What does a brand look like for me ?
A brand is about your messaging . What problems do you solve ? How do you help people ? How do you help them ? What do you help with ? What do you help with and how do you help them ?
It's creating that message that , for example , the messaging of our practice is that we empower women suffering from depression and anxiety to build meaningful relationships with their loved ones . So we want to have them reconnect with their purpose , find who they are if they're depressed , to help them out if they have a sexual relationship problem , whatever that is .
We empower women . And even when people come because they apply to my practice and you ask them what do you think about sort of a practice ? She's empowering Because I'm not just empowering the people that we serve , but I'm empowering the people that come and work for us . I want them to be the best that they can be .
So a brand is about your messaging who you are . It's not about building . It's not about building . I mean , remember where Amazon started their business . Remember where they started I actually don't know yeah . They just had a message and how they were going to solve a particular problem and they were the solution to that problem .
Become the solution to somebody's problem . Stop serving everybody . You cannot serve everyone . Pick your people , call it niche , but I call it your specialty . What do you specialize on ? What is your genius ? Right ? I'm a genius inspiring motivating people , writing books , getting people out of their heads and getting into movement . Right .
So I want to only do the things that I am a genius .
I don't want to do it .
I don't want to do billing , I don't want to do the marketing . I don't want to do it . There's people out there that the universe gave them the purpose to be the person that's going to help you grow your brand .
Yeah , you're saying stay in your lane , do the things that you're good at and bring on other people to do the things that you're not focused on what you're good at . And I really want to highlight what you just said you can't serve everybody . Oh , you can't so be the solution to someone's problem . But which problem do you want to be the solution to ?
And I agree with you , it is hard . I have so much trouble . That's not the right language . It is one of the biggest obstacles or challenges that my coaching clients have is identifying their specialty , what they want to be known for , who they really want to serve , who they love and their clients . Absolutely , yeah , yeah .
So your brand is .
What you're known for is how .
I think of it . Yeah , yeah , think about this .
Yeah .
When I was diagnosed with two brain aneurysms back in 2009 , I was like my doctor called me and said sorry , belle , my primary doctor , the MRI came back , you have to bring aneurysms and we need to plan for treatment . When I went to his office , he told me well , I'm a general doctor , I don't do , I don't do brain surgeries , he's a general doctor .
He's stating his lane . He was like I can't help you . We need to find someone that specializes in this and after seeing doctors in New York , ohio , florida , connecticut and Boston , Wow . I found Dr Karushi and you know what I liked about Dr Karushi , what Dr Karushi lived and fed his family by repairing brain aneurysms .
So should I go to a general neurosurgeon or should I go to Dr Karushi ? That , in and out , that's what he does every day of his life .
Yeah , yeah Right .
Well , let's be realistic . The general neurosurgeon would have charged me $25,000 for the surgery . Dr Karushi , it was a million dollars . My surgery was a total of $1 million . Goodness gracious , you know what Specializing something . He knows things that that other surgeon don't know .
He utilized machinery and all this stuff that the average person didn't know about , and that he is part of the reason why I'm here .
So what's that ? What did ?
I mean , sure , I'm paying a million dollars to this man and they're insuring and they're hospital and all the things . Of course was worth it , but Dr Karushi was not walking out there saying I fixed every single brain issue that there is under the sun .
He said , no , I only repair bring back the reasons and when he said that and he started explaining himself .
I was like this is my man .
He knows what he's doing . He knows what he's doing .
Yeah , what he's doing so we therapists need to think about that way . You can even be a generalist and charge $100 per session , or you can specialize in something very specific and earn more money .
And what I love about this is that you have found a way because you are clear about how to make money from the beginning to provide services for people who can't afford as much . You take Medicaid . Oh yeah , Is that right ? So it's not that you only serve the Uber wealthy .
Oh no , actually you serve everybody , yeah , and actually we have a grant that serves undocumented folks .
A grant that serves undocumented folks . That's great . So , which is what I always come back to , when you make good money and you run a business that operates like a business , you can find lots of ways to help people , lots of ways to make a difference .
This is what we bring to the table when we allow ourselves to be as successful as we are meant to be .
Sorry .
Bill , I love the way that you just called that out and are like no , everybody wants to build some kind of an empire , even if it's just you or you and two people , somebody .
you want something , it's an empire .
Yeah , it's still an empire . I love
â Âś Building a Mental Health Practice
that . So tell people first of all what's the name of your practice . I know that you are doing lots of things , but what's the name of your actual practice ?
SM Psychotherapy and Counseling Services .
S as in . Sorry Bill .
No .
As in Martinez , no no .
Samuel Martinez , my son's last name . Samuel Martinez Psychotherapy and Counseling Services . Most people think it's Sorry , bill Martinez .
Yeah , okay , this is different .
I just told you that's different .
No , it's out there Awesome , because I think people might want to go look that up and I want to make sure we link to your practice in our show notes . You've also written a couple of books . You've got a new one coming out and you were just now talking about a third one you've got planned .
Tell us about the books that you've got out there and where people can learn more about you .
So my first book is a book about resiliency , and I told my stories of how I overcame challenges .
Unbreakable .
It's called Unbreakable and it's still my stories of how I overcame I can send you a copy , wendy . You know how I overcame immigration , brain surgery , the loss of my unborn child at 36 weeks of gestation . I talk about the women around me .
I talk about overcoming religious trauma and then I talk about how I open Essence Psychotherapy Counseling Services some of the challenges . And then in that book I wrote a chapter about business and this other book is the answer to that chapter Unbreakable .
It's called Multi-Million Dollar Private Practice how to build a mental health practice that creates a massive impact , support your dreams and generate millions of dollars consistently every single year .
Love it , love it . She's got and is that out or is it available for pre-sale ?
That is on pre-sale . If you go to mndppbookcom , I am gifting a thousand dollars of bonuses to those that pre-order . It's a pre-order on bars and novels right now .
Okay , great , we'll make sure we link to all that too . It looks really cool . Both of those books look really cool . You are a phenomenal creator . You're really good at recognizing a problem and coming up with not just one , but many solutions , many ways to address that problem .
You're really good at finding new ways to serve people and new ways to create income as well , and I just I adore this . Sorry , baila , you also have a wicked sense of humor and it's just . It's really really , really , really fun . So where would you want people to go who want to like I want a little bit of what she's got ?
Where do you want them to go ?
First , before I say that , I want to say that remember when I told you in the beginning , when I was a little girl , I wanted to become a philanthropist . So , I added this it's not just for me . A lot of this is also to help other people .
We have a nonprofit organization called JC Precious Mind Foundation , in the honor of the baby that I lost at 36 weeks of gestation , and what we do is we offer all services financial , school , education , therapy , everything to children in the Dominican Republic suffering from especially services Down syndrome , autism , et cetera , et cetera .
So this is that just for me . This is so much bigger than me . I'm just the vehicle that the universe has selected to bring it into fruition . And now how can you find me ? I'm everywhere . You can go to wwwSoriBelMartinescom . That's where you're going to find all the services that I offer . I offer courses , I have online courses , I do seminars .
I do the things right To help other private practice owners to become who they want to become . A million dollars is just a number . It's a number of how many people do we impact every single year ? Two million , three million , 20 million . It's just a symbol of how many people we are impacting in the community . And you can find me on social media .
Sorry about Martinez , I'm on YouTube . I have YouTube videos teaching different aspects of what I teach about resiliency how to become resilient in your business , all of that stuff . You can find me on YouTube at Sorry about Martinez . Linkedin Sorry about Martinez . Instagram is therapist underscore . Sorry about Martinez .
I've been featured . We'll be sure and drop all that in the show notes .
I know that you have a framework around how to build a multi-million dollar practice and that's what's your new book that's coming out is going to be addressing , and I know you've got coaching around that as well , and I hope people will take you up on it , because the world needs more of what you are bringing and I love that .
The foundation I didn't know about your foundation . That's beautiful .
Yes , really beautiful . Yeah , and it's growing . Now what we're going to do is we're going to start helping women , the moms of the kids , open their own home-based businesses so they can become sustained and they can help their kids .
Super cool . Yay for you . You are really something that's fantastic . So talk about a ripple effect , and I will just . I want to say this is what I think happens when women are successful , and I'm going to show . You can accuse me of being biased if you want to , but I think when mom is happy , everybody's happy . That's true .
I really do think that when we do well , we tend to make sure that people around us are doing well in big and small ways , and you are the epitome of that , the epitome of life . That's really great . This has been such a fascinating conversation and so so much more than I think a lot of people are used to hearing about .
So thank you so much for sharing your vision , your big dream and the reality that this dream is with us . It's really awesome . Is there anything , as I bring this to a close , is there anything I have not asked you ? Is there anything we haven't covered ? Is there anything that you feel called to share that you feel like would make this conversation complete ?
What I want to say is this I know that my dream are humongous and I also know that I am a successful person , but also I want you to know that we're all successful and , whatever my need to or miniature it , that we want to bring that success into the world . You have every single potential inside of you to bring it .
Don't let anyone to tell you any other way , any other way , you have everything that it takes . Go do it , find the tools , read the books , read about how can you become a real entrepreneur ? It's not telling people I have a little practice . No , you have a business . You have a business that has the potential to change the world . You know why ?
Because one person has the seeds of five generations . And that could be the whole world in itself .
Whoa , that's a writer downer . One person has the seed of five generations and that can change the world . Wow , that's beautiful . What a powerful way to close this . That's great , and you are so right , so stop saying I'm just anything . I'm saying you already have what you need inside .
You're smart , you're beautiful , you're great , you're amazing . You are everything that you need . You are . You just need to allow it to just come out .
Show it Nobody to apologize .
There's nobody to apologize to Love it .
Thank you sorry , belle . You are such a treat . I'm so glad I've got to meet you . I hope I'm gonna be following you . I wanna keep up with how you're doing and I know that my audience is going to just like soak this up . Thank you so much for being here today . This is just really fantastic .
It was a wonderful conversation . Thank you so much .
So , y'all , I hope that you have gotten something out of this . I hope that she has got you thinking and some really new ways about what's possible for you . I hope she is stirring you up because she's right , you do have this already inside , whether you know it or not . So quit dimming your light . Let it shine , people , let it shine . All right , everyone .
Have an awesome week and I will see you next time right here on Ideal Practice . Bye everybody . If this program has come to be important to you , it would mean so much to me if you'd be willing to take just a minute to do one or two things . First , would you follow or subscribe to the show Right here at Ideal Practice ?
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â Âś Request for Five-Star Rating and Review
. It would be extra special if you'd be willing to give me a five-star rating and a review and share your favorite episode with a friend , a colleague , someone you think could use this information . Could you do that ? I promise if you do , I will love you forever .
The truth is , you matter a lot to me and I value your support more than words will ever convey . So if you do that or any of those things , that would just be beautiful . Thank you , sweet friend . I appreciate you more than you know and I will see you back here again soon .
Wow , wow , wow , wow , wow , wow , wow , wow , wow , wow , Wow , wow , wow , wow , wow . Thank you .