Texas Counselors Creating Badass Businesses

14. My Favorite Cheap Apps for Therapists

January 05, 2023 Season 1 Episode 14
Texas Counselors Creating Badass Businesses
14. My Favorite Cheap Apps for Therapists
Show Notes Transcript

There's a huge problem that we have to figure out. If we don't, the time and money we are wasting on software and apps that over-promise and under deliver can sink our practices. 

In this episode, I want to share my thoughts on apps, software, and websites that have stood the test of time in MY practice and in my Kate Walker Training company. This is not about the 'chase the next shiny object' that has practice owners running from product to product without ever committing to any of them. What I'm talking about today is an alternative to settling for expensive or no-longer-useful software out of habit or because we just don't have the time to sit and do the research.

Even if you decide to never use these platforms, the time we have at our disposal to try out new software or experiment with new apps is shorter than ever. I know you only have a limited amount of to spend on this today. So how about sticking around for about 25 minutes for these new software ideas?

I'm learning a lot as I go through my apps and software and remember why I landed on them, and why I stuck with them. I want to share some of my findings with you in this episode. These tips apply to everything from scheduling clients to operating your side hustle and are vital for any practice owner.

There's more to come, but join me today for a discussion about the apps and software I use to adapt and keep my businesses running!

Get your step by step guide to private practice. Because you are too important to lose to not knowing the rules, going broke, burning out, and giving up. #counselorsdontquit.

[00:00:00]

[Intro]

Kate Walker: Hey, it’s Dr. Kate Walker, welcome to the podcast. When I ask folks in Texas Counselors Creating Badass Businesses Facebook page what an ideal app would be, I got some great answers. I got everything from, “I need an app to clear off my desk,” or “I need an app to clear out my mind,” or “An app to automatically take the notes from a session out of my head onto the page,” and I was like yes, yes, yes, we need all of those apps! Unfortunately, those are none of the ones I’m going to talk about today. But what you will hear today are apps for lots of different things. I tried to include apps that are cheap, free, affordable, but I also do pay for some really important apps that make my business operate just perfectly. I really like them, so I’m going to mention them too.

I’m going to keep it around three areas: apps that have to do with private practice; apps that might help your side gig if you’re like me and you’re an author or you publish classes; and apps for your mental health, for your self-care, because you know what badass? You’ve got to take care of the moneymaker – that’s the thing between your ears. So hang tight, get ready, grab a pencil and paper or whatever it is you like to take notes with because I’m going to talk fast and we’re going to go fast and I’m going to give you all of the things to hopefully do everything except I can’t invent an app to wash and fold your clothes. But I would be open to buying one. So let’s get to work!

I love this time of year. I love combing the internet and looking for productivity hacks and new food plans and exercise regimens. I mean, I don’t want to brag, but I’ve already tried and failed at a major food detox. It’s only January 5th, I’m kind of proud of myself. Literally, my fridge is full of celery, cucumbers, lemons, and kale. It’s just going to turn into a stinky mess soon because I couldn’t do it.

But I love apps. I love finding new apps for my phone, finding new computer software that increases and improves my productivity. I’m kind of one of those morning routine junkies and life hack junkies. If it pops up on Facebook or Instagram, I’m going to click it. I just want to know. I want to find out how so and so gets up at three in the morning and plays golf at seven and takes a nap at ten, then has 15 million meetings until five and goes to bed at six and somehow has time for his family. This is not that.

I’m going to talk to you about apps and computer software that will help you, as a private practice owner, improve your productivity as your life. As a business owner, as an entrepreneur, your business is your life. I know we try not to do that, we try to have a nice separation, but you kind of love your practice. It’s your dream, it’s your baby. So taking care of your practice means taking care of you.

The hallmark of a great app or computer software for me is very few touches, or the least amount of touches. So I consider a touch to be okay, I set the thing up; that’s one touch. If I have to go back and adjust something, that’s two touches. If I have to go back in and duplicate the work that the computer software should have done, that’s three touches. So the more touches, the more I’m wanting to give it up like the cauliflower in the back of my fridge. And the apps I’m going to talk about are not just for me. Total transparency, I am a solo practitioner, I’m cash-based, I don’t file insurance. My practice is a Monday-Tuesday back to back to back practice where I get in there and get my sessions done so that the rest of the week I can spend on Kate Walker Training or traveling to see my kids. 

So when I talk about these apps, I have used them either as a big practice owner, which at one time I had two locations and seven offices, so I guess that could be considered medium-sized or large, I had lots of associates, I had lots of LPCs working with me and for me. These apps, several of them, I used at that time as well. Now, many have changed, but not for the reasons you might think. I did a blog a few months ago called When Good Software Goes Bad. So, a lot of times – and honestly, this seems to happen to me a lot – I will fall in love with a software or an app and then it disappears. It’s like when I fall in love with something at Trader Joes and then it is discontinued, like the personal pepperoni pizzas, and they were the only thing my kids would eat, and then I go there one day and Trader Joes says, nope, we’re not carrying them anymore. 

So with good software that goes bad, you have to transition to software that is hopefully better because we’re creatures of habit. A lot of times, we just stick with things for too long because it’s easier than going out and finding new stuff. So that’s what I’m here for. I’m here to make sure that at this new year, new you, new practice time, you are getting at least a Reader’s Digest version of some great apps that you can download and take on today and learn how to use. And it’s funny, since I created the material for this podcast, I actually worked with my Step It Up membership and we came up with a bunch more. It’s a great list; I can’t wait for you to hear it.

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So let’s talk private practice software first. My go to – and if you’ve listened to me, you know this is my absolute favorite software, is Full Slate. Now, what’s funny is when you go to the Full Slate website, you don’t see a counselor. You see someone doing someone’s hair. This software was designed for hair stylists, massage therapists, other folks who rely on clients who can self-schedule. I remember when I finally converted to a self-scheduling system. I found this software, Full Slate, and the price was right, and it was HIPAA compliant; I couldn’t believe it. They had amazing support staff. I was able to onboard all of my staff – all of my therapists, all of my associates, they could all create their own accounts. And that has been, oh my gosh, so many years ago, I think almost ten years ago when I first got Full Slate. And people have tried to talk me out of it, but nobody can match what Full Slate does.

Now, remember what I said at the beginning. I don’t submit billing for insurance. So if you need that super robust software so you can send it to billing or you can have someone else submit that, or so you can submit it to insurance to get paid, you may need something a little bit bigger with more bells and whistles. I’ve done that. I’ve bought the big software and I’ve paid thousands of dollars and then I had to pay a licensing fee for each one of my therapists, and then when I found this, I was like, ah, okay, this is wonderful!

So here’s what the game changer is for me with Full Slate: it’s not just the ability to put a widget on my website so folks can self-schedule, it’s the ability to communicate with clients and potential clients, give them reminder emails, that’s wonderful, and the ability to edit those emails and even edit the timing of when they go out. So I can send five reminder emails if I want. I can send four follow-up emails if I want. But what’s really special is if I can send a client an email a year after their last appointment, that annual email, sometimes my clients are so grateful. They say, oh my gosh, I saw your email come through and I realized I was starting to feel bad. I’m so glad you reached out, and here I am. So the ability to edit and send emails on timed bases, so based on, perhaps, their last appointment with me, or you know how I love the ten-minute consultation, it’s a gamechanger. You’re able to send a HIPAA compliant email to a client. Now, if you know me, you know I don’t answer emails. I don’t email clients, I don’t text message clients – that’s another podcast, you can go check it out. When I send these emails out, they are no reply, so these folks aren’t able to reply to those emails. 

The price is right, I think. For my Full Slate, it’s a license for up to five people and it’s $49.95 a month. That, to me, is worth the ability to do all of the things that it does. It can allow clients to self-schedule. I can edit emails, follow-up emails, reminder emails, I can send an email out with all of my information for the informed consent. I can send an email when someone no-shows a session that says hey, you know what, I get it, you missed a session today, but understand we will be charging your credit card. I can send emails a year from the last appointment, I can send an email to a client three months after the last appointment, two days after the last appointment. It gives me so much control over the content of that messaging that goes to clients. So check it out, check out Full Slate.

Notability. I loved Notability. I used Notability with my iPad for years and it was the app that I used with Su Casa. So Su Casa is the software that went bad last year. It’s a HIPAA compliant cloud storage for records and I used it forever and it worked so well with my iPad and with Notability and I was writing my notes, it was seamlessly uploading, so wonderful. And then Su Casa comes along and says, we’re going out of business. So I decided there really wasn’t a practical way for me to use Notability anymore, but it’s free, it’s wonderful, I still sing its praises because there is a way to upload – you can upload it to several things. It may have changed; you may be able to upload it to something that is HIPAA compliant. I think the last time I checked, it was asking for a small fee, but it wasn’t much. It’s one of those free or nearly free apps that I recommend.

So when Su Casa went out of business, I went hunting for the perfect HIPAA compliant notetaking software and I found Jot Forms. Jot Forms is the bomb. It’s so nice because you can actually create your own template. So I created a template for my notes and I created a template for my clients’ informed consent. Both of those things I can use in the office. I can take notes and I just made it so nice with dropdown menus and easy to fill out buttons. The link to my clients’ informed consent goes into one of the automated Full Slate emails so when a new client happens to sign up for a session, they get the email with the link to the Jot Forms. Boom. It’s wonderful, everyone is happy, client signs with their finger, it goes into a HIPAA compliant storage on Jot Forms and we’re good to go. It’s funny because Jot Forms says upgrade, but I’m super happy with what I have, and as a solo practitioner, it’s $375 a year, so to me, that’s not bad. 

Here’s the one that nobody believes. I actually posted a screenshot of my billing on my Instagram. I have a HIPAA compliant Zoom subscription that’s $15 a month. When I give my webinars, it does limit me to a hundred people, but that’s okay. With my clients, that’s all I need it for. If you have a big practice and you have to get licenses and things, that might be a different issue for you. But as a big practice owner, why don’t you just have everybody get their own Zoom subscription? I mean, for $15, it’s wonderful, it’s so reliable. I remember when COVID hit, I don’t remember the software I was using, but it was terrible. It wasn’t the software’s fault, I mean, it was, but here we were, we were all getting online at the same time, so I was literally conducting sessions to pixelated images. I couldn’t see the person at all, but they could see me. I didn’t want to drop the call because it was COVID, we were trying our very best and our clients were too. Zoom isn’t like that. Zoom has been a champ, it’s been a workhorse, I highly recommend.

Google Workspace. Now, I found this kind of late in the game and I think if I had found it sooner, I would have used the email function. So I don’t use the Google Workspace email function, I use something called NeoCertified – that’s for my HIPAA email, not the email I send out for reminders to my clients. This is for sending out encrypted emails that have client receipts. So anything that contains PHI, protected health information must be HIPAA compliant, so that company has to sign a BAA, a business associate agreement. With Google Workspaces, you can find their HIPAA compliant version. I pay about $14 a month, so to me, that’s super cheap. I think if I had found it before I had found Jot Forms, I might have kept Notability if I could have figured out a way to sync it all together, but I was running and gunning because Su Casa was closing down and I had to find a secure place for my old files because I have to keep the files for a certain amount of time. It was very stressful. So I didn’t fully investigate Google Workspaces beyond the fact that they would sign a business associate agreement, the price was great, they could host my encrypted client files, and they could send emails – but like I said, I don’t use that function; I use NeoCertified.

Those are my practice apps and software that I love.

Now, let’s move onto the side gig apps and software. And I’m actually going to start with something that is neither. It’s not an app and it’s not software, it’s actually a website. It’s called Upwork. I’m putting this out here for a couple of reasons. Number one, it has saved my bacon in more ways than one because I have found some fabulous, fabulous people out there who have helped my business tremendously. Upwork is where you find contractors, people who do specific things, like maybe graphic designers or virtual assistants or SEO optimizers. It’s also a place where you can spend a lot of money. So I use Upwork for all of my transcriptions. I have a wonderful transcriptionist, I send her my videos, I send her these podcast recordings, she creates the transcript, and she does a fabulous job. That was not always the case. See, back in the day, I was like a lot of you. I would say, hm, I need an SEO optimizer, boom, boom, boom, oh that looks like a good person, they’re very reasonably priced. Hi, would you like to come optimize my website? Sure! I had no idea what SEO optimization was, I had no idea if it worked, if it didn’t work. I was like, yay, check that box, I have just hired someone to optimize my website! Bad, bad, bad. 

You will sink so much money into contracting work, especially on sites like these and Fiver and there are lots of them out there, if you don’t know what it is that you’re hiring, number one, and number two, if you don’t know what successful looks like. I know that my transcriptionist does a fabulous job. I read what she writes, it’s impeccable. I know she’s going to be reading this compliment. So hey, you’re doing a fabulous job, thank you! My SEO person, I had no idea if they were doing what needed to be done. I can go into my website and say oh yeah, I can tell they added these words, or I can tell that they have these key phrases, but I had no idea if they were actually, number one, improving engagement with my website, number two, increasing the number of phone calls to my website, and most importantly, number three, increasing my profit. Did it actually result in more paying clients or more sold books or sold courses? 

So be very careful when you’re going out to these places and you’re hiring folks that you know what success looks like, you’re able to measure it. And then don’t get mad at the people you hire if it doesn’t just result in a million Instagram following. If you didn’t give specific instructions and you didn’t tell them what your goal was, that’s kind of what you can expect. So I love Upwork, I love the people that you can find on Upwork but do your homework first before you dive in there and start hiring people.

Okay, if you listen to me, you know about Trello. The Trello board is my brain. I have used a free version of Trello for years. Just this year I bumped it up to a paid version because I’m using it for more things and I’m using it with more team members. So I’ve got us communicating through Trello, I’ve got folks moving things around in Trello; it’s wonderful. I have several boards and I just can’t sing its praises enough. I know there are probably similar things out there, but it can connect to Zappier, it can connect to Slack, Google Drive, DropBox, so many things. At least check it out and see if it might ork for your productivity for your side gig; maybe even for your practice. Check it out.

Bonjoro. Oh my gosh, I hope I’m saying that right; I sound like such a Texan. It’s a very cool app for those of you who sell things to people because what you can do is when a sale happens, it integrates, or it can integrate with your texting software, your email software, and a little ding happens, you go to your Bonjoro app, and you can create a little mini video. Some of you have gotten videos from me. You see me say, hey, thanks for buying the whatever it is, thanks for buying the 40-hour training, thanks for joining the Step It Up membership. I love doing that. I love sending those little videos. And for those of you who do sell courses, it’s a great way to give an orientation. So you’re telling people, hey, this is what you need to do. Don’t forget to do this. And oh, by the way, the course closes in 90 days. Bing, send. I love Bonjoro. I just learned about that last summer; I think. I was listening to some Pat Flynn podcasts. If you have not listened to Pat Flynn and you have a side gig, go listen to him.

Okay, the next ones aren’t really new to anybody but I’m going to talk about them anyway. DropBox, Google Drive, and Survey Monkey. I love them. DropBox, I have the very expensive, $100 a year, version. For my Google Drive, it’s all free. And for Survey Monkey, that’s probably what I spend the most money on because I have so many courses, I constantly have people filling out surveys, did you love the course, and I haven’t found anything that can really beat Survey Monkey when it comes to analyzing the data and helping me present it in a really pretty way. I’d love to hear from you guys if there’s anything out there other than Survey Monkey that’s maybe a little bit more affordable. But right now for me and my courses, I love it. It’s good; I’m keeping it for now.

Alright, I’m going to keep moving: mental health, otherwise known as self-care. What is it that makes you happy? What is it that makes you feel like you’re unplugging? I’m going to share my apps with you. The first one, it’s kind of a trick, I’m not really unplugging. I do it for my business, it’s called Headway. No, it’s not the app that gets you the therapist. Headway is an app that gives you book summaries. So I can go to Headway, I can read a book in nine minutes and be done with it. Or I can say, oh, I like this book, I want to go buy it, and then I can head over to Amazon. The Headway app is free, so every morning when I’m doing my quiet time, my meditation, my praying, I read a business book. It’s wonderful. It’s a great way to kind of stir up new thoughts, I always learn something new, but I don’t have to commit to a book where halfway through I’m like oh my goodness, why did I buy this book? It’s so boring! Headway, I’m like oh, this is a terrible book, I’m not going to buy it. Or, hey, I love this book! And did I mention? Headway is free.

The next one is the Skimble workout app. I am basically a lazy person. I think one time someone referred to me as a disciplined half-ass, which I own that; I can accept that. I need a little pushing when it comes to exercise. With exercise and working out, if I was just going to go to the gym and fumble around on the weights, that wouldn’t be a successful day. So I signed up for Skimble and I did choose to pay the extra money and get a personal trainer. So I have this lovely personal trainer and she texts me through the app and reminds me to go workout, and as far as I can tell, she’s a real person. I follow her on Instagram, so I see pictures of her and her baby, so she’s out there, and she’s super cool and she’s so enthusiastic and encouraging, and I need that. I recommend Skimble Workouts free version. They have tons of workouts in there, but if you want that little of accountability and that relationship with the personal trainer, you can pay a little bit of money and they will connect you with a personal trainer who can fit you kind of where you are as far as your fitness level.

Tile. Okay, do you guys know what Tile is? This is the standing Christmas gift that my kids get, and will get forever, amen. This will save you time because if you are like me and you’re walking out of the house like, where are my keys? Where’s my phone? Where’s my purse? Tile has a tile for that. Wait for it to go on sale, there are some amazing sales happening now. Before the holidays every year, they usually go on a deep, deep sale. But get it. Get the Tile, put it on your keys, put it in your wallet, put it in your purse, put it in your pocket, put it wherever you are worried about losing the thing.

Spotify anyone? Spotify is wonderful. My kids were all asking each other on the family text, hey, share your wrap, share your wrap! So Spotify Wraps basically tell you at the end of the year where you’ve been doing your listening. I tend to get stuck on things. Apparently, I’m in the top five percent of Greta Van Fleet listeners in the country. Who would’ve thunk? I don’t think I even shared that with my kids. Oh well, now I am. But I love Spotify. Spotify hosts podcasts, they host great music. It’s easy to just take with you in the car, everywhere you do Spotify.

Other things I do for my mental health, I am a Whirly Word fantic, I love Crosstic Puzzles, yes, I do Wordle, I don’t share my score. And Audible – let’s talk audible for a second because I know people out there either love it or hate it. They’re like, oh no, I spend too much money! I use Audible for my business because it’s part of my Headway expense. If I find a book in Headway, I purchase it either for my Kindle or my Audible, and then when I go on my walks, if I’m in a safe location, I put my earbuds in and I am listening and listening and listening to these amazing books as I’m walking in the sunshine. And, honestly, there aren’t a whole lot of things that are better than that. I mean, that’s my happy place.

So that’s it for today. I wanted to make sure you got apps for your practice, apps for your side gig, and apps for your mental health because badass, you know the drill. You are too important to lose because there wasn’t an app for that. No, I don’t have an app to wash and fold your clothes. No, I don’t have an app to clear off your desk or clean your closet. But at least there’s no celery living in your fridge that’s probably going to melt eventually, because I’ve got a ton of that. This is your change for the new year. This is the new year, new you, new practice change that you can make. It’s low stakes; just challenge yourself to change one thing, download one app, try something new. Try Trello. Try the Skimble workout app. Try Bonjoro. Try something new and see what it does for your practice, for your peace of mind. And if it’s something that’s too hard to figure out, let it go. I have a rule: if it takes longer than 30 minutes to figure out, it’s above my paygrade. 

There are some other apps like I mentioned. When I was with the Step It Up group today for our weekly training, we talked about Zappier. I love Zappier. It’s wonderful but sometimes it can be a little wonky, it can be a little bit glitchy, so you have to be kind of dedicated to it. I am because a lot of my business runs on those Zaps. So that’s one to check out. Another one that they mentioned this morning and they were really trying to sell me on was Simple Practice. I don’t know a lot about Simple Practice, but they were telling me it’s worth checking out. So if you like these apps but you really kind of want an all-in-one, check it out.

Bottom line is do this for you. Try it out. Do it to make your life easier because you’re too important to lose to going broke, giving up, and burning out. Alright, badass? Go do amazing work. Keep saving the world with excellent therapy. And I will see you next time.