I've read and listened to many, many books about both business and mindset over the last few years. Some are interesting, funny and easy to read and some less so.
So if you are a counsellor in private practice, here are a few of my favourites to help you grow your practice. Enjoy!
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Grow Your Private Practice
Jane Travis
Oh, how did this get here <cough>
Well, I couldn’t write a book recommendation list without including mine, could I?
The tagline on my book is ‘You’re qualified, you have a room. Now, how do you attract clients?’ which tells you what this book is about. It doesn’t cover getting set up, but everything you need to know about attracting clients.
It comes in 3 parts:
I want to take the pain out of marketing your practice and not only make it less stressful and time consuming, but actually enjoyable because when you enjoy something, you do it consistently and consistency is what gets results.
Fantastic book. Very easy to read; funny, honest and down to earth.
Lots of practical activities and tips to get you thinking about different aspects of running a practice.
This is a must-read book for anyone thinking about setting up, or already working in private practice.
Sarah Tinsley Amazon review
Everything is Figureoutable
Marie Forleo
I love Marie’s warm, humorous style of writing. When you read (or listen to) the book it’s like Marie is your personal coach encouraging you as you reflect, delve deeper, gain insights and challenge your thinking.
If you have a tendency to get stuck at ‘I can’t do this’, then I urge you to take a read.
Get Rich, Lucky Bitch
Denise Duffield Thomas
Firstly, please don’t judge this book by its title.
This book started my journey into changing my money mindset. My life (and business) have vastly improved as a result.
Attitudes towards money are rarely talked about. Consider, when was the last time you explored money with your clients?
I love that this book really opens up a very interesting conversation about women and money.
As a counsellor, I’m confident that you’ll find it fascinating and as a business owner, it will impact on your bottom line. It’s about self-love, self-care and boundaries, and I highly recommend reading or listening to it.
This is a classic business book but is also useful outside of the business too.
Many people sabotage themselves because of their fear of either failure or success. Gay says we all have a belief of how much we deserve, and if we think we may get more than that we tend to sabotage ourselves. Why?
Well as you know, us humans are pretty complex creatures. Often we resist happiness, self-imposing imaginary limits to how happy life should be. And once we come close to our imaginary limits we tend to sabotage ourselves.
This is also connected to the fear of realising your dreams and achieving your full potential, or what the author calls the upper limit mindset which makes us complicate our lives and create unnecessary problems.
If you’re noticing self-sabotaging behaviour like perfectionism, procrastination, shiny object syndrome or telling yourself you don’t have time, then this is for you.
Chillpreneur
Denise Duffield Thomas
Yes, Denise appears twice in my list, I'm that much of a fan girl.
I love this book because it’s all about how to make running a business easy and stress-free.
We are told that to be successful it’s all about hard work, but although there is work to be done we don’t have to engage in the idea that it’s all hard slog and blood sweat and tears.
What if you simplified your practice and worked with grace and ease? What if you work the hours you want with the clients you want and in the way you want?
If being in private practice all seems too hard, take a look at this.
Building A StoryBrand
Donald Miller
Not sure what to write on your social media or blogs? This book will help.
It talks about the importance of the message you put out there about your practice and if that message isn’t clear, no one will listen.
Humans are designed to respond to simple and straightforward messages that have something in it for them and stories and storytelling is how you can do this.
Stories have a way to spark a person's imagination and help them resonate with you, what you stand for, what you have to offer, why they need it, and how they might transform because of it.
In the stories you tell, you aren’t the hero - your reader is which is really useful for counsellors regarding personal disclosure issues.
It’s a book I enjoyed listening to and I took a lot from.
A word about Audible
All these books (apart from my own, sadly) are available on Audible.
I very rarely sit and read a business book. The reality is that when I get the chance to sit and read, I prefer to read a novel for fun. Reading for me is pleasurable and that’s different from non-fiction.
So the way I consume my non-fiction is via Audible.
Audible makes it extremely easy to consume a book. I often listen to books when walking my dog, driving and doing housework. I can listen while doing other activities and therefore, I consume more. I have a huge amount of books on my bookshelf that I simply never read - maybe you have too.
If you haven’t tried Audible, you pay a monthly fee (currently £7.00) and get to choose a book a month. Any unused credits are carried over to the next month. You can download them to your computer, mobile and/or tablet which makes listening to them easy.
If you click the button below you get a month’s free trial and you can download and keep a book (you get 2 books if you are a Prime customer).
So there you are, a little light reading/listening for you to both help your mindset and help you more practically. Hope you enjoy - and let me know what you would add.
