The 7 Keys to a Sustainable Private Practice (Most People Skip #1) | IP 192

There may be more than one reason your practice feels harder than it should.

And no — it’s probably not because you need better marketing, a new niche, or another certification.

In this conversation (from my appearance as a guest on The Practice of Therapy with Gordon Brewer), we stepped back and looked at the whole picture — what it actually takes to build a practice that works.

Not just one piece of it. All of it.

Because the truth is, there’s no single fix.

There are seven key areas that every successful practice has to navigate — and most clinicians are either skipping critical steps or trying to fix things out of order.

This is a faster-paced conversation than what you usually hear from me — but it’s packed with the big ideas that shape everything else.

If your practice feels scattered, stalled, or just heavier than it should…this is a powerful place to reset.

WHAT YOU’LL HEAR IN THIS EPISODE

• Why your purpose has to come first (and what happens when it doesn’t).
• How to identify the people you actually want to serve (not just who shows up).
• What it means to create an offer that truly works — beyond the therapy hour.
• How to promote your practice without feeling salesy or scattered.
• And the one pillar that truly drives all the rest (and can sabotage everything if ignored)

This episode gives you a clean, big-picture framework to assess what’s actually working in your practice — and what’s not — so you can stop guessing and start making intentional changes that create real momentum.

And the cool part? When you’re operating at a healthy place in all or most of these, your practice becomes something you genuinely enjoy showing up to — for the long haul.

Precisely what I want for you. 💟

~Wendy

P.S. Which one of these key areas are you feeling the best about? Shoot me an email (wendy@wendypittsreeves.com) and share. I’d love to know! 

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MENTIONED 

Episode 160: How do you serve clients when you’re barely surviving yourself? 

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For this episode, use the Promo Code “Gordon” to get $50 off. (Sweet!)
Learn more at www.WendyPittsReeves.com/mind.

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FREE RESOURCES

Take a big picture snapshot of what's working in your practice with the IP360 Scorecard:  https://www.wendypittsreeves.com/360

Transcript

Intro

Wendy Pitts Reeves 0:00

You're listening to Ideal Practice, episode number 192. Today, guys, I thought I would share something with you that's a little bit different. This is an interview that I was on, where I was interviewed by another podcaster. Today I'm going to share with you the conversation that I have with Gordon Brewer on his podcast, which is called The Practice of Therapy, where we went over kind of my big picture view of what it really takes to run a successful practice. I hope you enjoy it. 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-finger 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.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 1:10

Hey folks, welcome back to another episode of the Ideal Practice Podcast. This is Wendy, Wendy Pitts Reeves, your host. And as always, I'm excited to be hanging out with you today.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 1:22

One of the things that's happening behind the scenes that you don't necessarily see or hear as much about is that I am being interviewed more often these days on the programs and podcasts of other folks. And as I'm doing that as a podcaster, I also am trying to learn how to share that with you. It's a whole new skill, y'all. Like there are so many different little things about this that sound easy until you start to do it. And it's like, how do I do that? So as part of that progress and process on my part, I wanted to share with you today a conversation that I had with Gordon Brewer.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 1:57

Now you may remember Gordon, I had him on my podcast on ideal practice back in the fall. He was on episode 160, I think, where we were talking about how to keep your practice running when life is really, really hard in the background, because he had gone through some really tough stuff and managed to keep a group practice running in spite of it. And that's what I wanted to hear from him about. That was a great conversation.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 2:20

T oday, what I'm going to share with you is that he invited me to come on his show, which is called The Practice of Therapy. And he wanted to hear about my framework, my big picture view of what it takes to run a successful, sustainable, profitable, enjoyable practice that you're going to want to stick with for the long haul. So that's what we're going to do today. Gordon is more focused and more efficient than I am, which means it's a quicker conversation than the kind I tend to have. And that's to your benefit, right? So we move fairly quickly through some big concepts, but I think we had a really great conversation about some of the sort of the sticking points where so many of us trip up over time. So without further ado, let's get in to the interview.

Gordon Brewer 3:08

Well, hello everyone, and welcome again to the podcast. And I'm really pleased and happy to have Wendy Pitts Reeves on the show today with me. So, Wendy, as I start with everyone, tell folks a little more about yourself and how you've landed where you've landed.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 3:23

Thank you, Gordon. What a treat it is to be here with you. I really like us meeting like this frequently. This is a good idea.

Gordon Brewer 3:29

Yeah, yeah.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 3:30

Yeah. So thank you. I am, yes, I'm a licensed clinical social worker. I've been in private practice for, I don't know, a hundred years or so, it seems like at this point. And I have a podcast called Ideal Practice, which you were kind enough to join me for a few weeks ago. I've been running that podcast now for three and a half years or so with weekly episodes, just like you, trying to do my best to encourage and inspire folks out there who are either starting a private practice or have been in it for a while and have either kind of lost a little bit of the excitement or like they're doing fine, but they know they could do better. I want to do whatever I can to kind of help them raise the bar a little bit and have more fun with what they're doing.

Gordon Brewer 4:10

Yeah. And I know one of the things that you and I have in common, we're both in Tennessee and not too far from each other, but uh go balls. Go balls, yeah. They're called as we're recording this like Kentucky tomorrow. So I'm gonna be having some friends over for that. So I digress. But Wendy, I know one of the things that you and I both are are are passionate about, and that is just helping people get started in private practice, and really, as I like to say about myself, I don't I've learned a lot of stuff the hard way, and I don't like other people to do the same. But you've developed this seven, the seven pillars and and just really kind of the basics, most essential things about starting a practice that you wish everybody knew, and stuff that you help them with. So let's jump into that and just go for it.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 5:03

Okay, okay, thank you. Yeah, I so I've been coaching... I ran, I started, grew, and ran a group practice in Maryville, Tennessee, which we pronounce Marival, just outside of Knoxville near the Smokies, and ran that practice for 25 or so years. And unofficially, I had been coaching all along, teaching people how to get their practice started when they joined my group. And when I began coaching officially, and I was thinking, like, what is it exactly that has made this work? Because we're our practice was the go-to practice in our town for all of that period of time. And what I eventually kind of settled on was that there's no one thing that's going to make your practice work. You really need this to manage several bits of it well. And what it all kind of settles into for me when I really, really thought about what had brought my success and those of so many people I've worked with, is that there are seven key areas that I feel like you need to nail, not all at once and over and over in different ways through the course of your practice, but you're gonna be bumping into these one way or another. And so I thought what I would do today is just give you an introduction to that concept. Right. So does that sound good?

Gordon Brewer 6:10

Sounds good.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 6:10

Okay, okay. So those seven pillars, I'll say them first, and then I'm gonna tell you essentially what each of them means because it's not always as obvious as you think. They are number one is purpose, number two are the people, number three is the product that you serve, number four, process, number five, payment. That's a fun one. Number six, promotion, and number seven, perspective. And let me tell you what I mean by each one of those. And and Gordon, I'm gonna you just interrupt me if you want to ask a question or or share some thoughts about one of these.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 6:47

So I start with purpose for a reason. This is a because when you tap into your why, why you started a business at all, that's gonna help pull you through the tough times, which you are gonna have. And and when this is nailed down and you are super crystal clear about what your purpose is, you will be able to say that you know what you why you do what you do, and you have a potent and powerful vision for the business that you are building. When you don't have that, you can be a little, you will find yourself a little detached or confused or sort of scrambled, sort of all over the place, as opposed to feeling energized and excited. And I don't just mean about the people you're serving, I also mean about why do you want to be a business owner at all? Because that's important. This is not for the faint of heart. That's the first one. We start with our why.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 7:36

Number two, people. And that is, I want you to serve the people that you love. Okay. Period. To serve the ones you love. When you've got this nailed down, you will know your ideal client in and out. You will know them better than they know themselves. You'll know what drives them, you'll know what worries them, and you will know how to serve them. And this is important because often we know what our clients know need more than they do, but how to train how to sort of cross that gap from what they think they need to what we know they need, that takes skill, right? Right. And when you are working with your client that you absolutely you wake up in the morning and you look at your calendar for the day and you're like, oh yay, I get to see them today. That's the best feeling in the world. And and when you've got this figured out, you are going to go from you'll move away from being sort of anxious, like, oh no, can I work with this person? Do I know what I'm doing here? To excited about the person in the waiting room that you're going out to say hi to.

Gordon Brewer 8:36

Right.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 8:37

Right. Yeah. Yeah. I love that.

Gordon Brewer 8:39

Absolutely. Yeah.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 8:40

The third pillar that we we no one talks about, which I'm I'm using the word product. Now, in our word, in our world, we tend to think our product is us, right? The service that we provide. But essentially what I want you to do is I want you to do you. And and that means think of creative ways that you can serve your people at deeper, richer, wider levels. And there's so many ways to do this. When you've got this figured out, or you are you are sort of tweaking it over time, you will have an irresistible offer. An irresistible offer that that provides your clients with the resources they need to get the results they most want through a service that it just works. It just works.

Gordon Brewer 9:24

Right. It's really, really about communicating the the transformation that people can go through.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 9:30

Yes, and and there's lots of ways to deliver that, other than sitting in a room for an hour a week and talking. Right. Yeah, right. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. And you, you're, you're, you've got all kinds of examples of that, I know.

Gordon Brewer 9:42

Yeah. Oh, sure. Oh, sure. Yeah. Yeah.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 9:45

So the fourth pillar, and we can go back through any of these, but is I I use the word process, and that is basically your systems. How do you run what you run? How do you do what you do? I have a I'm always saying there's a system for that because I sort of think that way. Um, I have a very strong one-wing on the Enneagram. When you run a business, guys, like you will find yourself sort of creating things over and over and over. And in the beginning, you sort of scramble to figure out how to do what you're doing. But as your practice matures, what I want to see over time is I want you to develop habits, systems, and boundaries that make life easier for your team, if you have a team, for yourself as a business owner, and for your clients. And when you do that and you get, and as that, as that improves and matures over time, you will find that your practice is more profitable because you're not wasting as much time and energy and resources reinventing the wheel. And it's more enjoyable. You won't be exhausted all the time. You'll be more organized. Yeah.

Gordon Brewer 10:48

Mm-hmm. Right, right. Yeah, that's a that's an important piece, I think, for uh, like you said, in the very beginning, to really be clear on okay, what's what's the client's journey through your practice? Yes. And also what's your how you're collecting the money, which I know you're gonna get to that, but all of those things.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 11:10

You the the the your client's journey is so important. That's that is a great way to sort of organize your systems. Like how do you how do they find out about you in the beginning? Once they reach out for an inquiry, how do you process that? Once you get them in the door, how do you onboard them as a client? This during the work itself, how do you stay in touch with them? How do you maintain it? And when it comes time to wrap up, how do you do that? And if you do this over and over and over with hundreds of clients, thousands over the years, the more systematic you can make that, the easier everything is for everybody. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I I tend to harp on that a little bit.

Gordon Brewer 11:46

Yeah, sure, sure. I do too. Yeah.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 11:49

So the uh is there do you want to is there anything you want to say about any of the rest of those before I go on?

Gordon Brewer 11:55

Uh yeah, just keep going. Okay, okay.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 11:57

Good. I don't want to go too fast.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 11:59

The fifth pillar, and I and y'all I know I have arranged all of these in this order on purpose because I kind of think you need to get one of these fixed before you do the next, and one of these before like they they build on each other.

Gordon Brewer 12:09

Right, right.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 12:09

So the fifth, which is a lot of it's this is where we tend to start, but I really think you need to get the other stuff figured out first. But that is payment or profit, if you like that word. Right. And essentially, like you have to do well to do any good at all. So when your payment systems, and I mean all the things around that, your policies, your pricing, all of that, when that is tight and effective, you will have a healthy pricing structure and a payment system that accurately reflects, this is important, the value of what you do, the results that you deliver. It's easy for your clients to manage, and it it will bring you the desired salary. You do have a salary you want, right? Right. You do have it. Yes, yes. Uh-huh. So when you do this well, like the money will be there, and it comes in a way that works for your clients as well as you. Like there's no angst about it. We're all on board, we're all in agreement. The energy works because it is comes from a place of integrity and alignment, uh, and it builds on the other things I've already said, your purpose, who you serve, how you do it.

Gordon Brewer 13:16

Right. And we could and and I know we talked about this before we started recording, but yeah, we could go down a whole rabbit, rabbit trail about money mindset and some of the some of the things that I know therapists in particular struggle with, but that's for another time. So yeah, it is.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 13:33

I really could talk about that all day. I harp on that a lot on the ideal practice. And I do have a little offer for your your listeners today, Gordon, that might can help them with that if they're interested. Okay. Because you're right, the mindset is everything. Um and when I have taught about this in my own masterminds and courses, I like I will teach people the strategies behind it, but it's funny, that in the end isn't really what matters. It is the mindset and the way you think about all of this that is more important than anything.

Gordon Brewer 13:58

So Right, right.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 14:00

The sixth pillar of these seven is promotion because your people need you. And if they don't know you exist and they don't know how to find you, they're not going to be able to get the help that they need. So you have to find a way to get yourself out there. When you do this well, you will have a clear and compelling brand message, which I know is not something we talk about all the time. You will have identified specific marketing strategies that work for you, not 15 of them, one or two that really kind of work with who you are. They will be online and in real life, okay? And they will be strategies that work with your particular strengths, and you are doing them. You are like implementing them. You're not sitting behind your desk waiting for the phone to ring or for someone to knock on your door.

Gordon Brewer 14:47

Right. Right.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 14:48

So promotion, like it or not. And if you don't learn how to find your way into this and get comfortable with this, the people you can really help are never going to find you. And that's that's that's sad for everybody.

Gordon Brewer 14:57

So right, right. It's you know, I'm I'm always reminded of the movie Field of Dreams, build it and they will come. But you have to build it and then tell them about it, then they will come.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 15:07

And you know this. Yeah. There's a thousand like there's a thousand therapists in Knoxville, right? Like, how do you if someone's looking for you? How do they know you sound just like everybody else? How do I know who to call? Right.

Gordon Brewer 15:19

So it really is important. And I I will say for folks that may might not be familiar with this, really one of my go-to strategies around all of this or or a framework really is the story brand framework by Donald Miller. Yeah. And you can look it up and it's the story brand. He's got a book, Story Brand Marketing. And yeah, it's a it's a good way to think about it. And I think it's yeah, I think for us that don't like the hard sell kind of stuff, yes, really thinking about his framework really helps with that.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 15:53

And he's another Tennessee guy. I think he lives in Nashville now. Nashville, yes. Everybody's moving to Nashville. Yeah. That's such a great point, Gordon. I actually had someone on my show recently that the whole our whole conversation was about how to use story. And we actually did not reference him, but you're right, that is a really good resource.

Gordon Brewer 16:09

Right.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 16:09

And even your personal story done well and done appropriately can really help connect with your ideal clients. Right, right. So that's huge and important.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 16:18

And then the last pillar, the last pillar that it wraps all of it, it's a cherry on top, is your perspective. And by that I mean your mindset, because you can do all the right strategies and all the right tactics in the world. But if your mindset is wonky, you will self-sabotage every time, every time. So when you are owning this and you are stepping into this fully with your own power, you will have this healthy, abundance mindset, a success-oriented perspective. And you will you will move through your business being at cause. I used to have a coach who talked about being at cause. That means that you are claiming the your power to be the creator of your own life and your business, which means if it's going great, it's because you're doing something great. And if it's not going great, it's because you've got an opportunity to fix something. Right. But you are at cause. Matt, that's all of it comes down to that. Sure.

Gordon Brewer 17:09

There you go. Sure. Yeah, those are those are great. I really love the way that you've kind of put that into almost like steps, but really just kind of a good framework to think about the different elements of running a private practice. Yeah. You know, one thing I would say, Wendy, and I'm sure you address this under kind of the the money pillar or whatever, a payment pillar. But in a in addition to pay paying yourself, is creating a safety net for yourself in terms of having money in reserve for those times when, you know, your client load might go down or things might happen. You know, I was talking with someone earlier today, for those of us that are in the have insurance-based practices, and that's a whole that's a whole other decision people need to make is whether they want to accept insurance or not. Yeah. There's no right answer to that, and it depends on a lot of different things. But back when the the change health care um thing happened with with with the clearing houses, those of us that are insurance based really took a big hit and really struggled during those periods. And the way my practice made it through was was the fact that I had had money in reserve. You were really good at that. Yeah. And so I think that's that's something to just have in mind and really think also just you know, all of these things don't have to be done all at once. Absolutely. And so just thinking about doing it in small bites and just one builds on the other, and as you grow, things are gonna things are gonna change, and you're gonna, you know, the processes will change and all of those things.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 18:51

Absolutely. When we learn as we go, right? And we mostly learn when things go wrong, we figure stuff out, right?

Gordon Brewer 18:56

Right.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 18:57

You and I both have been at this for a while. And when you came on my program and you were telling your backstory, like I was really impressed with the way you did that in terms of putting setting money aside to have that safety net. You did better than I'm used to hearing, actually. I wish I had known that when I started my practice. My what I what I see as a coach all the time is people will tell me, Oh, I've got great pricing and I'm fine with money, I'm good with it. And then when I start really digging in, like, so really? So tell me like how many clients do you have at what rate and how many, what in even if you've got an insurance-based practice, whatever. And what I find is their pricing is all over the map, and that the the energy that they approach it is so uncomfortable. So I uh to me, money is a therapeutic issue every bit as much as anything else we talk about in in the therapy world, right? Right. And because we like we are either underpricing and feeling guilty, or we're fine, our pricing is good, but we we are apologetic when we talk about it, like, oh, I'm so sorry, but you know, I'm my my rates are this, you know. Yeah, which is completely undermining and undervaluing the importance of the work that that client is doing. Yeah, or we avoid the hard conversations like they owe you and they haven't paid, which is making my discomfort their discomfort, because I guarantee you they're thinking about it.

Gordon Brewer 20:12

Yeah.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 20:12

So learning how to bring that into the room, just like you do anything else in that relationship, I feel like that's one of the hardest things for people to learn and one of the most important.

Gordon Brewer 20:22

Right, right. And and the truth is that people, the majority of our clients want to pay us. They they yeah, and and kind of to your point, Wendy, I think it's important to recognize your value and the fact that you're offering something that in in many cases is unique, but also people are struggling and they're willing to willing to pay for that to get the help that they need. And it's a and it's an expectation. I don't go to my doctor without expecting to pay them in some form or fashion, either by insurance or what whatever, and and also pay them on the front end. They they want to know where their money's coming from before even walk in the office. So I mean, it's just it's uh so people are used to that, and I don't think we need to put a lot of judgment on that.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 21:11

Absolutely not. I actually think it's something to celebrate because when a client chooses to come to you and to invest in themselves and their the results of their work with you, they're not only saying they trust you or they're willing to put their trust in you, but they're also honoring themselves and the need that they have. They don't always see it that way, but I look at like, yay, for you, look at what you're doing for yourself. That's fantastic.

Gordon Brewer 21:36

Right.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 21:36

So let's let's just claim that and not shrink from it. Because I it really is it's kind of amazing, yeah, and worth celebrating.

Gordon Brewer 21:44

Yeah. So I we've kind of we've kind of talked around this a little bit, but which pillar do you think most people struggle with? Would you say with the money?

Wendy Pitts Reeves 21:55

Yeah, it's very much so. Because I see people who are great at coming over. The ideas about how to serve their clients, and they I mean the all of it is I've I've seen people get fuzzy about all of it, like in terms of process. That's like boundaries around your time, how you manage phone calls, how you manage the administrative side of your business. I've I've coached people who were seeing clients at 8 o'clock in the morning and nine o'clock at night, and on Sunday afternoons and like all over the place. I've seen I've worked with people who had were charging one client $50, somebody else $85, somebody else $150, somebody else $200. It's crazy and scattered. So that's sort of a systemic issue, but it always comes back to our belief system about ourselves and the value of the work we do and just trusting, like if I don't believe in myself, if I don't think I'm worth paying this, then why should you? So I just like there's so many ways we trip ourselves up around this. Right. So many ways.

Gordon Brewer 22:51

Yeah, and I think I think about a lot of it too is we are we are afraid people won't like us if we ask for money. Yeah.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 23:00

It's it undervalues the work. And when and when and I, you know, I don't care if you have an insurance-based practice or self-pay or a blend. Like to me, the whole point of an ideal practice is that you are doing your practice is it's ideal for you, whatever that looks like. But even if you've got insurance, so I don't do that. I have a self-pay practice now, but I ran a full crazy over-the-tops insurance-based practice for 20 plus years. And I was terrible at it because there were so many games to play around the insurance. But even if you're gonna do that, do it well. Collect your copies up front, stay on top of it, or hire somebody like Jeremy that you and I both know, right to find somebody to do the work for you and make even if you delegate that work to somebody, it's still your duty as the owner of this company. You are the CEO of your own show. You have to know what your numbers are and you have to know what your clients owe you. I I had a I had a therapist colleague of mine once that was working, her practice was brand new, and she was trying to learn all this stuff and figuring it out. And she told me once, I don't really want to know what people owe me because I'm afraid I will resent them and it will impact my work with them. So she was kind of doing the whole, I don't see it, I don't know this, I don't hear that she's gotten better. She didn't do that anymore. But for those first couple of years, and I'm like, do you not think they're thinking about it?

Gordon Brewer 24:21

Right.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 24:22

They are. So treat them with respect and say, let's talk about let's talk about money.

Gordon Brewer 24:27

Yeah.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 24:27

Let's have that conversation.

Gordon Brewer 24:28

And I think too, with if you when you move into group practice is having conversations with your clinicians about that issue as well. Because a lot of uh, you know, depending on how you've got your your processes set up, I know in my practice, a lot of times our intake coordinate coordinator is not there in the building. And she uses usually collects, you know, when people come in. But if they're not there, then the then the therapist needs to collect. And so coaching them through that process about how to do it in a way that they're comfortable with. And you know, I tell I I tell people all the time that, you know, when you're asking for money, a simple way to do this is just simply say to the client, your bill is this amount. How would you like to take care of this? How would you like to take care of this? And then just be quiet. Yeah, and don't say anything else. And and they will usually offer something, and then you can kind of work your way through that at that point.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 25:31

Yes, yes. That's great, Gordon. I I I also have suggested that to people, like that just that question. How would you like to take care of your copay today? Yeah, how would you like to take care of your payment today? Because you there's an assumed answer in there that you are going to take care of it.

Gordon Brewer 25:47

Right. Okay. There's an assumed yes. Exactly.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 25:50

And do it at the beginning of the session, not at the end. Because by the end, you're into the all the emotional stuff and it's you've you've already got other things to deal with at that point. So get it out. And I used to say, let's get the red tape out of the way first. How would you like to pay today? I would do that as soon as they walked in and sat down. Yeah. You also brought, you said, so it's sometimes your in-take coordinator collects payment, but sometimes your clinicians do. Do you find that that's hard for them to actually handle money, whether it's digital or whether it's somebody handing them a check, do they struggle with that at all?

Gordon Brewer 26:20

Well, it's it what what again, one of the things too, you're going back to the systems and processes that you have in place, yeah, is the majority of our clients, we have a credit card on file. So I mean that that makes it easy for the clinician. And all they, you know, all you have to say is I'll add your copay to the card you have on file.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 26:41

Yep. Yep. Yeah. And somewhere along the way, that card won't work anymore. Yeah. Or something goes wrong. And you have to have you have to have that conversation as well. Right.

Gordon Brewer 26:52

But yeah. But it's I'll tell you a funny.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 26:54

Let me tell you a funny story about this. The reason I asked that question is because when I started my practice back in the day, I l I had come from a residential treatment center where I was the director of family therapy, and somebody else dealt with that business stuff, and I didn't care about any of that. I just wanted to help those kids, right?

Gordon Brewer 27:10

Right.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 27:10

So I took that attitude with me into private practice. And it was just me in the beginning. And when people would say to me, like, How do I pay you today? They would ask me, How do I pay you? And I'd be like, you know, just drop it in that box at the end of the hall. Like I had a little wooden box nailed to the wall with a slit in the top. And I would say, on your way out, just drop what you and they was, well, what do I owe you? I don't, you know, I don't really know. I haven't got that figured out yet. Just whatever you think is best. I literally did not want to touch a check or cash. And you know what I did at the end of the day? I ran into that box and opened the lid to see how much money I had there. Terrible, terrible way to start a business. But I mean, that was a very long time ago. I'm not that person today, but it it it hurts my heart and also cracks me up to think about that, which is why I'm so tuned into this with people today. Because it's sure there's lots of ways we do that same thing. Yeah, yeah.

Gordon Brewer 28:05

Oh, wow. Well, Wendy, I I guess we need to be respectful of each other's time. And I know we could sp spend all day talking about all these things, and I'm really grateful to you for the work that you're doing. So tell folks how they can get in touch with you. And you said you had a freebie for people that if they're interested in it.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 28:25

If it's okay with I actually, it's not a freebie, it's actually a little, a little paid course, but it's okay. But it's little. Good. So sort of modeling what I teach here. So because the because mindset is such a big deal. I actually have a little, it's a sweet little mindset course. It's called Mind Over Money. And it is what it is, is every day you get a little bit of inspiration, a little lesson in your inbox. Takes five minutes to either read it or I've got it on audio if you want to hear it. It's great to do while you're walking the dog in the morning. Five minutes worth of just a shift in perspective about how to think about abundance. And it's a little, it's like a daily drop of that. Okay. Normally it's $97, but for your listeners in particular, if they go to that when they when they register and use the promo code Gordon, okay, they will get fifty dollars off of that. So it's just $47.

Gordon Brewer 29:14

Okay.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 29:15

The way you get that is go to my website, wendypittsreeves.com forward slash mind, because it's mind over money, forward slash mind, and use the promo code Gordon to get it basically half price, 47 bucks.

Gordon Brewer 29:28

Awesome.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 29:28

And people like it. I have people tell me they hate it when it ends because it becomes kind of like a daily meditation almost in a way.

Gordon Brewer 29:34

Right. Right. Yeah, that sounds great. And we'll have links in the show notes and the show summary for people to access it. Thank you. Thank you for that. Yeah. So check it out, folks. And uh, Wendy, I'm sure we will be having more conversations in the future and sharing with all the listeners.

Wendy Pitts Reeves 29:53

Absolutely. Thank you, Gordon. I appreciate it so much. Thank you. Hey, y'all, if this program has become important to you, if ideal practice matters, it would mean so much to me if you'd be willing to take just a minute to do one or two of the following things. First of all, would you follow or subscribe to the show here at Ideal Practice? Following me helps you because you'll never miss an episode. But it helps me as well for all kinds of reasons. To do that, all you have to do is go to the show page for Ideal Practice on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. There, just click on the plus sign that you'll usually find in the top right hand corner, or click on the word follow that you're going to find somewhere there on that page. But of all the things, this really is the most important thing you can do for the podcast itself. While you're there, it would be extra special if you would be willing to give me a five-star rating. And even better than that, a review with your own words. Your words matter. And when you write what you feel, what you think, you uplift and encourage others. And I love that. If you want to go a step further than that, take your favorite episode or two, one of the ones that has meant a lot to you, and share it with a friend. Could you do one or two of those things for me? I promise I will love you forever. You guys matter to me, and I value your support more than I can possibly say. Thank you, sweet friend, for anything you can do to help me out and support the show. I'll see you again soon.