An interview with Alison Fussell, LMFT, Co-Founder of Advekit, about making her dream of stronger, more accurate referrals a reality through the responsive algorithm on her online platform. Looking at the platform, the vision, and the ups and downs of being a startup. It’s time to reimagine therapy and what it means to be a therapist. We are human beings who can now present ourselves as whole people, with authenticity, purpose, and connection. Especially now, when therapists must develop a personal brand to market their practices. To support you as a whole person and a therapist, your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy talk about how to approach the role of therapist in the modern age. Interview with Alison Fussell, LMFT Alison Fussell is a LMFT and Co-Founder of Advekit - the modern marketing platform for therapists in Southern California. Alison was born and raised in Los Angeles and attended UCLA (Bachelors) and Pepperdine University (Masters). She practiced in a clinical setting for 6 years before starting her company, Advekit. The impetus for Advekit was to bridge the gap between therapists seeking new clients, and clients seeking the right suited therapists per their needs. Alison and her co-founder, Arielle, realized that there was a strong need for an effective platform for both groups to connect, as this concept was lacking in the space. In addition to their matching platform, the Advekit team plans to enhance the therapist and client experience from end to end, with the goal of implementing new tools on the platform and scaling into major cities within the US. In this episode we talk about: Alison’s story Identifying the gap in saturated markets, to help people narrow down and find the right therapist Shifting from your clinical practice to a “side” business The struggles of starting a business Increasing accuracy of referrals Creating an algorithm to improve matches within Advekit Accurately portraying yourself to get better referrals, being specific How you can shoot yourself in the foot when you check off too many boxes on online profiles Leveraging your clinical skills in other areas in business Creating a business partnership with complimentary skillsets Moving from vision to reality Finding the right steps to move forward What you need to know about business to move a big idea forward Reading books and learning on your own Taking risks Finding opportunities beyond clinical work Resources mentioned: We’ve pulled together any resources mentioned in this episode and put together some handy-dandy links. Advekit Special Advekit promo code for our listeners: “summer2018” – This will give you 10% off the annual package (normally $270, but for you it will be $243). Enter this code in as you fill out your profile on Advekit.   Relevant MTSG Podcast Episodes: Referrals Done Right The Brand Called You Our Next Event: The Therapy Reimagined Conference in Los Angeles in October 2018!! Our new consultation services: The Fifty-Minute Hour Who we are: Curt Widhalm is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist in private practice in the Los Angeles area. He is a Board Member at Large for the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, a Subject Matter Expert for the California Board of Behavioral Sciences, Adjunct Faculty at Pepperdine University, and a loving husband and father. He is 1/2 great person, 1/2 provocateur, and 1/2 geek, in that order. He dabbles in the dark art of making "dad jokes" and usually has a half-empty cup of coffee somewhere nearby. Learn more about Curt at www.curtwidhalm.com. Katie Vernoy is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, coach, and consultant. As a helping professional for two decades, she’s navigated the ups and downs of our unique line of work. She’s run her own solo therapy practice, designed innovative clinical programs, built and managed large, thriving teams of service providers, and consulted hundreds of helping professionals on how to build meaningful AND sustainable p