An interview with Kelly Higdon, LMFT of ZynnyMe – Curt and Katie talk with Kelly Higdon about taking ownership as a business owner, creating space and time for play and creativity, defining your own pace, and your own voice – all with the goal of becoming stronger clinicians and increasing mental health access. 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 Kelly Higdon, LMFT Kelly Higdon is a Licensed Marriage Family Therapist and the other half of ZynnyMe with Miranda Palmer. Together they created the Business School Bootcamp, a lifetime access business program just for therapists who want to start, grow or retool their practices. She operates from the belief that eradicating mental health stigma and improving access to mental wellness starts with each of us. The better we are at business, the better we can be at serving our communities.  When Kelly isn't hanging out with bootcampers or coaching clients, you can find her spending time with husband and daughter or rolling on her skates with her roller derby family. In this episode we talk about: The reasons that Kelly joined together with Miranda Palmer, LMFT to create Zynnyme, Business School Bootcamp How the way you live your life is the way you do business How avoiding and “just trusting that everything will work out” can hurt your progress in private practice How therapists recognizing patterns can help us be better business owners The way that therapists have improved how they approach business over the last few years How to choose who you spend time with – people who have a business mindset The importance of accountability and being with people who challenge you Looking at how the business decisions impact your clinical work and training Deciding to grow or maintain your same level Celebrating success rather than constantly looking to grow Choices about eliminating, delegating, automating, prioritizing, and delaying You get to define your success and your pace Kelly’s parking lot method The fears and doubts, grief that can come up when you don’t take action in your business The plague of comparisonitis Finding your own uniqueness, how to avoid being influenced by someone else and entering your own heart space How business development is like childhood development How to be more creative and improve your business How to find your best coach to help you further your business development The integrity of referring out The changes in the profession over the last few years How you can be in private practice and innovate for the whole profession Breaking down barriers and increasing mental health access   Resources mentioned: We’ve pulled together any resources mentioned in this episode and put together some handy-dandy links. Business School Bootcamp ZynnyMe ZynnyMe Coaching and My Awesome Year Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne Our Generous Sponsor: Thanks again to our sponsor, Ben Caldwell Labs. They offer a whole suite of tools to help all of us be more successful therapists throughout our careers, including continuing education, California license exam prep, and the updated and essential reference book, Basics of California Law for LMFTs, LPCCs, and LCSWs. Visit www.BenCaldwellLabs.com/Modern to get 20% off of Basics of California Law when you order by the end of 2018.  Our Next Event: The Therapy Reimagined Conference in Los Angeles in October 2018!! Our 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 As