Brave and Well: Conversations helping mental health professionals build a sustainable, profitable, and values-aligned business
Brave and Well: Conversations helping mental health professionals build a sustainable, profitable, and values-aligned business
End of Year Reflections for Private Practice Owners & Entrepreneurs
In this final week of the year, I’m checking in to share my reflections on 2022 and to look forward to 2023 together.
Tune in to hear what’s happened in my world this year, and to learn my 4-step reflection process—
- Start with Joy
- Things I’ve Learned
- Things I’m Letting Go Of
- Things I’m Calling In More Of
Thank you so much for listening to the podcast this year. I’ve got big plans for what’s to come here in 2023, so make sure to subscribe wherever you like to listen!
Links
[0:00] Hi everyone, welcome to the Brave and Well podcast. I'm your host, Vanessa Newton. I'm a group practice owner and social worker.
I'm also a Latina, entrepreneur, mom, and recovering perfectionist.
On this podcast, we teach mental health professionals how to build sustainable, profitable, and values aligned businesses. Here, you'll hear all about decolonizing the business side.
[0:24] Music.
[0:30] To share their stories. Our time together will be raw, honest, vulnerable, and held together by joy.
If you like what you hear, subscribe to our newsletter at bravenwell.com slash newsletter dash sign up.
Thank you for listening.
[0:45] Music.
[0:54] Hi everyone, welcome back to the Brave and Well podcast. I'm your host, Vanessa Newton. So I thought it might be fun to kind of do end of year reflections.
[1:05] Around this time of the year, I start to reflect on how things have gone and what went well, what didn't, and what am I hoping to have more of in the next year.
And in thinking about this and in my practice going through so many transitions and so many firsts, as I mentioned before in an earlier episode,
I'm in a big transition in my life right now where I'm taking a step out of my business.
[1:37] And so I thought it might be fun to kind of share what I've learned. So let's start out with joy.
What has been so exciting and so joyful this year?
Well, I released my first book, workbook, ever in January of this year.
And it's been really cool to kind of see how many people have purchased it, how many people have shared what it's meant to them, people all over the country and...
[2:10] Just how powerful the exercise is and the beauty of the workbook you know the person illustrator who who illustrated it korey carbo she's incredible and. You know i really feel like her art and her design of it just made it that much more special so it's really sweet to kind of see it out in the world.
I launched a podcast that you're currently listening to and couldn't have done it without Amelia who. is my podcast editor and coach and Maggie who has supported me this whole time and so.
You know doing this podcast truly truly truly is and has been a dream project for me and I just feel really excited that I finally made it happen this year and that.
We're in this together you know and that you're here and I'm really excited to continue on this path and and continue to deliver just incredible content that you can access on your own time and when you need it.
[3:16] I found out I was pregnant with my second girl. I everyone in my family thought that I was going to have a boy and so she's kind of funny that we're having another girl but it's like hey I'm not mad at it okay because we have all,
of the gear all of the things we need to have a second girl and so,
Goodness, thank goodness that I saved everything because I like saved every piece of clothing, every piece of gear.
So yeah, I'm pumped to have another girl. I grew up with two sisters, so I'm the youngest of three.
And I don't know what I would do without them. Literally they are my lifelines, my everything. And so I'm excited for my daughter to have a sister.
I'm brave and well you know is growing and.
[4:08] It's it's headed in the direction that I envisage it to go you know I really manifested this company this consultation business this community years ago and. At the time didn't have the time and energy and resources to pour into it like I have been able to do.
This past year and I remember, you know, last year kind of sitting with Maggie and telling her,
like I want to pour into Brave and Well, I want to grow it, I want to do more with it and just saying like that is my intention and you know, end of 2022, like I did that.
I didn't do everything I hoped I would do, but I've done a lot with Brave and Well this year And it just feels, it feels really special to be in this place where...
I like I feel like the vision that I had for myself in this business is actually coming to fruition. And so I'm pretty proud of that. You know, social note the business that I own with my husband,
which is really his baby. I mean, he's a software engineer, he built it from scratch.
[5:20] You know, it's had its best year ever. And we even got an investment offer this year, which was, was, I mean, blew our minds.
So social note really is a documentation system for school-based professionals. And how it works is that we're selling to school districts.
School districts are paying to use our platform. However, there's a lot of challenges that come with that, right? School districts don't have budgets for systems like this.
Mental health is not prioritized in many school districts.
Therefore, resources are not provided for mental health professionals in school districts.
[5:58] And so there's a lot of work that needs to happen on that end, which makes it challenging to sell a product you have because you have to,
you know, work with a district who believes in it enough or has the understanding of how important it is to have this type of system on your campus.
And so it's been a lot of growing pains. I mean, we launched that business in 2016 and this is the first year that we've made a profit,
The first year where we have multiple contracts in multiple districts all over the US using this platform.
We went to the national conference and we applied to be a part of this kind accelerator program and they
posed us with an investment offer for equity in our business and we didn't take it because we ultimately felt like it was not. The best decision for our family and for the business right now but it just feels really good to know that.
[6:54] That we have this business that has so much potential that people see the potential that people want it that they care about it and that they're willing to invest in it and you know that in and of itself the willingness to take a chance on us it just makes us feel really good because we worked really hard on this and i feel so confident that twenty twenty three will be another big year for us and that will continue to grow and so.
I just feel really proud of these two baby businesses that better still in their growth face you know they're launched there here there alive but. they're still growing.
And so just really proud of that.
[7:37] I traveled a little bit and that feels really exciting.
I didn't travel as much as I wanted to, but I traveled way more than I have in the past couple of years, I'll tell you that.
And so that's exciting. I got to work with some incredible clients through Raven Well and old clients and new clients.
And that always just fills me up to see the progress and to see the growth
and to see how much potential people have and to hear about their vision and their goals and to see them actually take that first step and take the risk to do what they wanna do.
And so it's been such an honor to just work with these folks and support in whatever way I can.
And I think the last piece that feels really good and I feel probably most proud of is that every year, you know, I'm always growing and I'm always evolving and.
[8:43] I think this year I feel really confident that I'm learning to step into my role as the CEO of my business and I know that about myself,
But I think stepping into it and owning it and embodying it is such a different process,
And that I get to be the designer of my life, you know, and and and and more times than not I've said this before I don't say no to things,
and that has put me in a really tough place and has compromised a lot of my personal self in that process.
And so I think this year I really learned to step into that CEO role in order to be the designer of my life and to really build a life that I want to have, not that I am,
building kind of on the back end and prioritizing everyone and everything before that. So that,
That feels really, really special and really good.
[9:43] Things I've learned. I've learned a lot, but what I will say is that accountability is crucial.
It's crucial to building a team, it's crucial to building a business that functions at its highest integrity and potential.
I think so often, I'm often afraid to hurt people's feelings feelings or afraid that sometimes the way that I frame things or my personality can be too much because I am an intense person and I'm very direct and I'm very honest and,
when I feel passionately about something I'm going all in, you know, and I think not everybody,
can appreciate that about me and it can be intimidating or it can come off as harsh and there are times where I hold back on what I really want to say or what I really feel,
for fear of hurting other people.
[10:42] And at the same time, I've learned that that does such a disservice to others and myself because then I'm not being honest and I'm not standing in my integrity. And so I think that this piece around holding people accountable has really invited me to to appreciate those parts of myself that are able to be direct and be honest, even if what if it's not always what others want to hear.
And so, and it's crucial.
It's a crucial part of running a business and you have to hold systems accountable, you have to hold yourself accountable and you have to hold your team accountable, regardless of the roles that they play.
[11:23] And so I've learned that there were a lot of mistakes. I've learned that making hard decisions is just a necessary part of not just business, but a necessary part of life.
You know, you were not gonna be for everyone, everyone is not for us.
I can like you, I can love you, and it can still be true that we're not aligned for each other, right?
And so sometimes we have to make hard decisions even if it's not, it's not, it doesn't end in a happy ending, right?
And so I'm trying to make peace with that and trying to just really understand that sometimes those decisions are necessary in order to take that next step forward.
[12:15] Another thing I've learned is that people don't owe you anything just because you invest in them fully, be prepared to give and not receive.
You know, I am someone who if you come into my world, then I'm gonna give you everything that I have.
And I'm going to, especially in my group practice, folks who join our team, folks who come into our team,
I really embrace people and I really try to give them the best experience possible,
by providing you with continued learning, support, infrastructure, leadership, snacks, affirmations.
You know, I like to invest in people because I want to believe that that is.
[13:06] That i mean if you're gonna choose to work in a group practice there's a reason for that right. I'm so in that process so it's a risk you invest in people to the fullest you invest money time and energy.
And at the end of the day they may choose that you're not the place where they wanna land or you're not what they need and.
And you have to sit with that you have to sit with the fact that you've given them everything you have and it didn't work out anyway. And that's a hard thing to sit with and it's a hard thing to accept.
And the other thing is that people don't owe you anything, right, just because I choose to give you everything that I have and invest in you and just because I see the potential in you doesn't mean that you necessarily ask for that,
or that you owe me anything because of that.
I'm choosing to do that for you. And so, you know, that is the heartache piece about being a group practice owner and a business owner. And, you know, but I wouldn't do it differently.
I would still choose to invest anyway, because the alternative is that I don't,
and that we are out of our integrity because we're making a promise for something that we're not delivering.
So people don't owe you anything and choose to give anyway.
[14:35] I've learned that trust is built over time in small moments and that is possible to trust others and allow them to share the load with you.
You know, I think I trust very easily and I'm always skeptical,
but I feel grateful that I have a team that I can trust a leadership team that I can trust people that that I can count on people that I know will say, Hey, I'm here for you, or how can I support you or what can I do?
And that, you know, they will do what they say they're going to do. And so it's taken a long time for us to get to a place
where we trust each other. But I know that where we've been able to get to has been worth all the work and the progress to get here.
So, and the last thing that I've learned, well, it's not the last thing, because I've learned so much, but what I can share now is that my family will always come first, and that's not up for discussion.
You know, I have spent my whole career, I'm 37, about to be 38 years old,
And I have spent my whole life always doing, doing, performing, pleasing, and working, and hustling.
[16:05] And i wouldn't change it because i think it's gotten to me where i am today and at the same time i'm in a season in my life where. My family is where i choose to invest my time in my family is the people who need me and no matter what day or time or season i'm in there always gonna come first and.
Nobody gets to have an opinion about that except for me. And I think that having that clarity is the reason why I feel so at peace with taking a step out of my business,
choosing to refocus my energy, reevaluating the work that I want to be doing in the future, and having that be the thing that grounds me.
It feels good to just feel so clear about that and to know that and to not question myself or guilt myself or, you know,
feel like I'm being a failure or disappointing other people because my family is my everything and they are my why.
And this is why I even do what I do. And so.
[17:20] Yeah, I feel really clear about that. And so feels good to say that out loud. Things I'm letting go of,
I'm letting go of the idea that I'm the only person responsible for my success. I think because I run businesses that require
other people to be a part of it. I know that that's not true. I know that as a collective, we are responsible for where we are
headed together. And I I'm not in this alone. And I'm, it's not on me to shoulder every responsibility, every weight, every stress piece that as a collective, we are responsible for how
we move forward. I'm letting go of the need to do everything at 150%. That is how I'm used to operating that is how I've always operated in my life.
And I don't need to do that anymore.
[18:27] I'm letting go of the need to rush this season of my life. You know, having very small children requires a different part of you.
And there are times when I get a little bit impatient or there are times when I wish I had more time to do other things or I wish I could just get up and go and not have anything else or anyone else to worry about.
I wish that there was more flexibility and freedom.
And I'm always reminded that my kids are gonna grow up and they're gonna leave one day.
And this season in my life is going to come and it's gonna go.
And if I don't pay attention to slow down and appreciate it and be with what it is, I'm gonna miss it.
And I don't wanna miss it. And so.
[19:25] I'm letting go of this need to rush this season to appreciate what's in front of me to appreciate the time that I have and really embrace being in this in the season of my life and in feeling honored that I get to do this as someone who struggled with infertility for so many years you know this is what I dreamed of this is what I wanted and
I've been given the gift to be a parent, to be a mom.
[19:57] And I don't wanna miss out on that because I was so busy focusing on the other things that I had to do or must do or feeling like I need to keep up with other people's expectations.
So I'm gonna be present, and that's my goal.
I'm letting go of the armor as a way to self-protect. I protect myself a lot.
I have a lot of armor that I wear. If you are a Brene Brown reader or follower, she talks a lot about armor and the ways that we self-protect, the ways that we try to avoid vulnerability,
try to avoid shame, try to avoid failure, disappointment.
[20:44] And I definitely armor up a lot. And I'm learning to let go of that. learning to shed some of that armor and to.
[20:57] Just kind of accept the armor that I don't need to carry with me anymore the armor that's too heavy to carry in the armor that I that I can let go of because a lot of that armor you know I've carried with me since I was a child. And as a child who's experienced trauma you learn to carry that with you it becomes.
Your survival vest, right? That's how you learned to move through the world and I don't need it anymore in the way that I did and it has served a purpose for me, but I don't need it anymore.
And so I'm learning to let go of some of that armor.
And I'm letting go of everything else my body is ready to release right now that I don't know yet.
There's a lot that I don't know, but I trust that my body will tell me and I trust that it will come.
[21:57] And finally, the things that I'm calling in more of. I'm calling in more stillness.
I'm calling in the ability to receive help from others.
[22:13] I'm calling in more love. calling in more togetherness, more joy, more embodied motherhood,
calling in more intentionality, more slowness, more patience, more one-on-one time with my husband, more creativity, more travel.
I'm calling in the desire to come back to my body and have a relationship with my body and calling in.
[22:51] The ability to come back to my full self. So, as we wrap up, I ask you the same.
What are your end of year reflections? What are the things you've learned? What are the things you're letting go of? What are the things that you are calling in more of?
[23:12] I appreciate you being here. I'm grateful for each and every one of you. I'm wishing all of you a wonderful end to 2022 and a really sweet new year.
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[23:40] Thank you so much for listening to the Brave and Well podcast. You can find links and resources resources from this episode in the show notes at www.bravenwell.com.
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[24:06] Music.