Why you should specialise - old gold that is still important

Why you should specialise - old gold that is still importantWelcome to this week's episode of the Business of Psychology Podcast. This week, we are doing a bit of a cheeky rerun of one of my favourite episodes, which is episode number 38 on why every psychologist and therapist should have a specialism. I recorded this episode almost two years ago, but my passion for specialising has only grown since then, and that's because since I recorded this episode, I've supported over 100 Psychologists and therapists in Psychology Business School, and the thing that has changed the game for pretty much everybody that I've worked with closely has been getting clear on their specialism. I can literally see the overwhelm lifting off people's shoulders, when they get this clear in their mind. I also see their marketing skyrocket, and their ability to control their practice. By that I mean working with the people that they want to work with, saying yes to referrals that they want to take, and getting other projects off the ground (if that's what they want to do as well, like online courses and books); their ability to do all of those things and to take that control of how their business looks, really takes off once that specialism is clear. That's my story as well; I share a bit of that in this episode. But I couldn't believe in it more strongly having seen it work for so many other people since I recorded this episode. So I wanted to bring it back to your attention and to bring it back round. I also wanted to let you know that we are running our specialising workshop again. This has been our most popular training. I've put on a few free workshops on different topics over the past couple of years, but the specialism workshop where we help you to nail down your specialism and plan what your practice might look like for the next year, off the back of that, has always been our most popular training. I've been on maternity leave for the past six months or so, but I am really excited to come back with a bang and put on another free workshop on specialising for you guys. There will be a couple of dates and times to choose from, so if you head to the link in the show notes, you'll be able to register for that. I'll make sure that that's there for you by the time this goes out. So that's very exciting! But for now, here is episode number 38 of the Business of Psychology…Why every psychologist and therapist needs a specialismThis week in the DMTT membership we are looking at business planning and specifically planning out what projects we are all going to be working on in 2021. In writing the materials for the course I realised how crucial it is to be clear on your specialism, the projects you want to work on and the ideal clients for each project before you start to even consider creating products or services or marketing. In this episode I’m going to talk to you about:Why you need a specialism and why you might not know what it is yet.How a specialism is different from your ICA but how it helps you find themWhy thinking in “projects” will help you to plan a private practice that feels more professionally fulfilling.PP makes it easy NOT to have a specialism as insurance referrals can be broad and we often want to take EVERYONE because we are scared of not having enough work. There is also the imposter syndrome… In the early stage so of my practice my imposter syndrome was so huge that I literally told people that I had no specialist skills and actually refused to see anyone who might require any kind of specialist. Even now when I get an email from a prospective client who says they have chosen me because I am “an expert” in birth trauma I feel like replying saying “oh no you got it wrong, here are the contact...