Episode 67

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Published on:

8th Jan 2023

Episode 67: What Therapists Should Know When Creating Online Courses [featuring Melvin Varghese]

Even though you may love being a therapist, do you ever feel burnt out and tired of trading 60-minute increments of time for money?

Have you ever thought it would be nice to have some passive income or just another revenue stream, in general, to take some of the pressure off of always wondering if you’ll have enough clients this month to foot the bills?

Do you want a way to scale your income and stop trading dollars for hours?

Well, this episode is for you!

In this episode, I talk with Melvin Varghese, psychologist, founder and host of the Selling The Couch podcast, and online course creator.

Top 3 reasons to listen to the entire episode:

  1. Learn how to take your existing knowledge and skills and create a scalable online course.
  2. Understand what common pitfalls and obstacles arise in course creation and how to overcome them.
  3. Learn different ways to set up your courses for monetization and how these worked (or didn’t) for 2 successful online course creators sharing their personal experiences.

So, if you are starting to feel like just doing therapy is starting to lead to burnout and you need another source of income to help you relax and invest in more self-care, or if you just feel like you have the drive to put your knowledge and skills out into the world on a larger scale and help tons of people at the same time, online course creation might be the way to go.

Check out this episode packed full of some of the most helpful tips and perspectives about online course creation.

More about Melvin:

Melvin Varghese, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist in Philadelphia, PA.

In 2015, Dr. Varghese also founded Selling The Couch, a podcast to help private practitioners grow their impact and income in and beyond the therapy room.

On the podcast, he interviews successful practitioners about how they've built their businesses, and social media/marketing experts to help us learn the lessons we didn't in grad school.

Mel also shares lessons as he uses our clinical skillset to create an online business powered by podcasting + online courses.

The podcast is one of the top Career podcasts in Apple Podcasts, has been downloaded over 1.4 million times, and is heard in over 125 countries.

Mel also founded several resources for therapists transitioning from the therapist chair to online income including:

The Healthcasters-A podcasting community for therapists (https://sellingthecouch.com/jointhehealthcasters)

STC Elite- A mastermind for therapist course creators (https://sellingthecouch.com/mastermind)

Selling The Couch: sellingthecouch.com

DOWNLOAD THE FREE ONLINE COURSE GUIDE FOR THERAPISTS: sellingthecouch.com/onlinecourseguide

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Thanks to Our Sponsors: The Receptionist for iPad!

The Receptionist for iPad

Thanks to The Receptionist for iPad for sponsoring this episode.

The Receptionist for iPad is a HIPAA-ready digital check-in system that eliminates the need to walk back and forth from your office to the waiting room to see if your next appointment has arrived. Clients or patients can check in for their appointments, and you'll be immediately notified by text, email, or your preferred channel. Break free from interruptions and make the most of your time, because it is valuable. Start a free 14-day trial of the Receptionist for iPad by going to thereceptionist.com/privatepractice. Make sure to start your trial with that link to get your first month free if you decide to sign up.

Free Gifts for Our Listeners

Free Podcasting Workbook

Get a practical podcasting workbook for therapists considering starting a podcast, created by Patrick Casale, host of the podcasts All Things Private Practice and Divergent Conversations.

You'll get a practical structure for therapists who want to start a podcast but don’t want to rush, perform, or build something they can’t sustain.

Grab your free copy of the Podcasting Workbook: https://ndpod.org/Free-Podcasting-Workbook

Move Beyond Private Practice As A Neurodivergent Entrepreneur

Move Beyond Private Practice As A Neurodivergent Entrepreneur is a FREE 5-part mini-course designed for therapists who want sustainable financial independence beyond one-on-one work.

Access your free mini-course here: https://ndpod.org/Neurodivergent-Entrepreneur

Mentioned in this episode:

The Receptionist for iPad

 The Receptionist for iPad is a HIPAA-ready digital check-in system that eliminates the need to walk back and forth from your office to the waiting room to see if your next appointment has arrived. Clients or patients can check in for their appointments, and you'll be immediately notified by text, email, or your preferred channel. Break free from interruptions and make the most of your time, because it is valuable. Start a free 14-day trial of the Receptionist for iPad by going to https://thereceptionist.com/privatepractice. Make sure to start your trial with that link to get your first month free if you decide to sign up.

Show artwork for The Neurodivergent Entrepreneur

About the Podcast

The Neurodivergent Entrepreneur
Honest conversations about building a business while Neurodivergent, the self-doubt, the chaos, and everything in between.
The Neurodivergent Entrepreneur is a podcast for ADHD, Autistic, and all other neurodivergent entrepreneurs who are building businesses, creative work, and lives that actually fit how their brains work. Hosted by Patrick Casale, LCMHC, this show is for people who
want to create meaningful work, create outside of the box, grow their impact, and build something sustainable without losing themselves in the process.

Being a neurodivergent entrepreneur can feel like holding a lot of contradictions at once. You may have big ideas, deep passion, creative energy, and a strong desire to do things differently. You may also be navigating burnout, masking, self-doubt, perfectionism, rejection sensitivity, executive dysfunction, inconsistent energy, and the pressure to keep showing up when your capacity is already stretched. This podcast speaks to that reality honestly, because building a business around your brain, your values, and your lived experience can be powerful, complicated, messy, and deeply personal.

Patrick Casale is a chronically ill, AuDHD, mental health therapist, entrepreneur, TEDx speaker, event host, group practice owner, and neurodivergent business owner who has built, grown, burned out, pivoted, and kept going. His work brings together clinical insight, lived experience, business perspective, and real conversation about what it actually takes to create something that feels values aligned. His conversations are direct, compassionate, unfiltered, and practical, with room for both the emotional reality of entrepreneurship and the concrete decisions that shape a sustainable business.

New episodes drop every Wednesday and feature honest conversations with neurodivergent entrepreneurs, creators, therapists, business owners, and leaders. Together, Patrick and his guests explore entrepreneurship, identity, mental health, chronic health,
creativity, leadership, systems, money mindset, visibility, community, sustainable growth, and the behind-the-scenes reality of creating work that matters.

Build your dream business. Protect your capacity. Work with your brain instead of against it.