Welcome to the Untangled Mind podcast, where I help you untangle life's challenges. On today's episode, we're going to talk about entrepreneurship networking in the counseling world. We're going to dive into how often misunderstood the concept of building a referral network is and debunk the myth of poaching. Stay tuned. Hey everyone, thank you so much for joining me today. So, today's podcast, we're really not diving into any mental health topic, but we are going to dive into the mental health counseling world and talk about this concept of a referral network and really debunking the myth of poaching. So just a little caveat before we get started, let's address the haters. Those who think there's not enough clients to go around. Yes, I'm talking to you. So it's very interesting. Unfortunately, I had the uh misfortune to receive a phone call regarding a referral network provider. So let me back up. I have the blessing of um partnering with Dr. Susan Balangie, um, who runs Dynamic Growth Counseling Consulting Services. So Dr. Balanji and I, we've known each other for over a decade, and she's recently retired from counseling, and she knew that I was done with school and I was needing to launch into my counseling efforts in my residency. And she sat down with me and she said, you know, listen, she's like, I really want to build my consulting business, and I know you know how to run businesses. And so why don't we do this? Um, I will be your administrator, we'll do all these things. We're gonna work as partners, which is very different in the counseling field, and we're gonna develop a new model of what it looks like for someone to work residency with someone. So basically, what that means is that oftentimes in the counseling world, someone like me goes into a residency and they continue to pay these outrageous and ridiculous rates to administrator, director, and can barely put food on the table. And you're the peon, right? You're the peon. Well, fortunately with Susan, Dr. Balangy, she's known me for over a decade. And she said, you know, I want us to be able to grow one another. I want us to be with one another, and I want us to be partners in this. So we've got this amazing model where she encourages business development for me. So I'm ready to fully launch on my own. And in the process, she and I are partnering to help grow her consulting business. It's just, I'm telling you, it is such an amazing model, and I'm so incredibly blessed to work with her like this. And she's just such a fantastic clinician, and she's so brilliant. I learn from her every single day. And she also takes the scare out, you know, of oh my gosh, this is what's going on, and she helps with the billing, and she does, I mean, she does it, you know, and so it's this wonderful partnership. So, anyway, what we did when we came together on this is that we really talked about what's missing in the counseling room. And one of the things that we said we really missed was oftentimes, you know, clients come in and they talk to us about everything that's going on in life. And they might say something like, I need a plumber, or I'm gonna start a business and I need a business attorney, or you know, do you have somebody that I can go to for medication management? And so typically within the field, you know, you might have someone that you refer to, but that's where it stops. And she and I said, What about if we vet this network? What if we make sure that these individuals have integrity, they have ethical practice, and we actually have communication with them so that we can ensure that this person is taken care of. And so we launched this um kind of our what we call our holistic um referral network. So these are providers that we have networked with. Um, and all we do is we say, we just want your picture, we want to blurb about what you do, and we're gonna highlight you. That's it. That's it. And so there's a power in building a referral network. There truly is. But again, unfortunately, I got this really not so great phone call about this individual that was in our provider network. Now, this individual worked for a large practice, and the person that called me from the large practice went for my jugular and told me that you're breaking his contract, which is kind of funny because I'm not breaking anybody's contract, by placing his name and his picture on my website and linking back to their website. Um, she was very upset. And when people are irrational like that, I said, okay, I can take him down. I think he's a fabulous provider. I think that's great, but let's not forget that I'm not in contract with you and I'm simply sending you business. But here's the problem. Here is the problem. I believe this individual thought I was poaching because in the mental health counseling world, I have run into this over and over and over again. People don't understand how wonderful building a network is, that you're building an army of advocates, that it builds community with like-minded professionals, professionals that we refer back and forth to each other. We we want each other's businesses to grow exponentially. But then you have these individuals who are like, you are poaching. How dare you? You're poaching. And I literally sat on the phone with this individual and I'm sitting there going, what happened? Did I just fall down the rabbit hole into Alice in Wonderland? Like I'm really confused because everything on my website clearly points to these are referral partners. That's it. I'm referring to you. I want to build you up in the community. But unfortunately, there are people that just don't like it. So I really want to talk about how very important it is to build a referral network. It does not matter if you're in the same field. There is enough go to go around. Y'all, there's enough people that are hurting to go around. Why are you fighting over this? I have had the immense blessing over the last 13 years in business here in the Atlanta area to create an amazing network of individuals. Yes, some of them are counselors. Yes, some of them are attorneys, some of them are realtors, so I mean, an amazing network. And not once, not once did I hold them close, and I didn't tell a client about them because God forbid if they don't stay with me. Y'all, that is the wrong way to look at things. It just is. You know, you have to get ready to conquer the world with a community, and there's nothing wrong with having a business mindset as well as being a mental health counselor. So, you know what? Build your referral squad, and that is what I'm doing. We need to debunk this poaching myth. We got to tackle the misconception of poaching in referral networks. It's just this big fat myth created by naysayers. It's created by people that have a scarcity mind pet mindset. It's created by people that are so miserly that they hold their hands so tight that if they just released and they provided referrals to individuals, they would get back tenfold if they would just open their hand and open their eyes. Because I mean, honestly, everyone out there is to steal your clients, right? Come on, that's not true. At least it's not for me. A true referral network thrives on trust and collaboration, not sneaky tactics. And so when I received this phone call, I mean, it really threw me for a loop. Now, with all honesty, I did screw up. I had been um referring to this individual for months, months. I'm talking over a dozen clients that I've referred to this individual. And I thought I was building out my website, making sure, oh, I want to make sure people know this person's trusted. Let me put them on there. So I went onto a public website, got the picture, got the blurb, put the link to their website. But I didn't ask first. First of all, there's nothing illegal with what I did. I didn't ask first because I just wanted to promote them. But shame, shame, that's what the phone, the phone call said. You didn't ask permission. You have to take it down. You're breaking this person's contract, which is insanity to me. Which is insanity to me. But you know what? Hey, I learned a lesson. Boy, you better talk to somebody first before you start promoting them. Shame on me. Shame on me for promoting somebody else and ensuring that they have success in their business. Shame on me for not being worried about providing referrals to a service that also does counseling. Shame on me. I must be a terrible individual. Listen, a true referral network thrives on trust and collaboration, not sneaky tactics. I wasn't being sneaky. I just lost sight of it and I just wanted to make sure they got referrals. But guess what? I took it down. It's not worth it. It's not worth the heartburn. Does that mean I won't refer to this individual? Nah, this is a reflection of his management. It's not a reflection of him. He's still great. But really, really listen, if you're in the mental health field, or frankly, if you're in any field, you've got to explore how collaborative connections can lead to mutual growth and how stepping back can help us see a bigger picture. You know, there's so many wonderful and inspiring success stories from entrepreneurs that build fantastic referral networks and they crushed the poaching myth. And again, it's because they took us back and said, you know what? There's enough to go around, and I'm not going to allow fear take over from me potentially helping someone else out. You know, the tangible benefits of networking is you increase your client base. You have mutually beneficial collaborations. Listen, if someone doesn't want to refer to me, okay, that's fine. But if I'm building a relationship with them, I know that it's going to be beneficial. It's supportive. We talk with one another. For example, one of my um network providers is Stand Up Family Medicine, um, Dr. Anand Meta, and it has been the most wonderful partnership I can describe. I was very nervous. Um, you know, we made a list of people that we should, you know, go talk to, and I was like, okay, I can do this, Susan. And I was nervous. And I went to him and we had this wonderful time together. I get to know his staff. I get to know why he chose to break away from the typical medical model and why he built this family practice in the way he did. I got to know his story. I got to know his staff. And it has been such a beautiful relationship. We talk once we have a release of information, we talk about our clients that we have together, we talk about how to best support them, how to bring them the most success and healing in their efforts. It is one of the best partnerships that I have ever, ever been a part of. It's been incredible. Incredible. Additionally, we had a ribbon cutting a couple weeks ago, and we invited our referral partner, uh, Mark Rapolgo from the Rapogo law firm. And I've known Mark for years. He's helped me build different businesses. He's given me very wise counsel. He's done um wills for different family members. He's just an all-around wonderful guy, and I've gotten to know him over about the last five or six years. Do you know that man showed up to my ribbon cutting? How amazing! That's what collaboration looks like. That you go and you clap your hands for somebody else, that you want to see them thrive. He didn't need to do that, but he recognized the collaborative connection that we had, and it made me feel so good for him to show up for me and Susan. It felt awesome, and that's what I want to do. You know, that's why it's so important for us to talk about collaboration into in the mental health counseling field. Currently, I have some feelers out with some different counselors to ask them, hey, how do you fit in? How can I refer to you? Y'all, I'm not looking for anything else other than let's collaborate. And hey, if you find someone that you think maybe you can't, you know, have room on your roster, I might be a better fit. Sure. Go ahead and refer me. But I don't, I'm not sitting here tick marks like you owe me this. That that's not how this works. This works. There are tangible benefits to these collaborations. You can highlight, you know, within your practice, whatever that may be, building a community. It elevates everyone. It's you're you you are rising the tide of all the boats in the harbor. It's not just your boat. And y'all, if you're only thinking about your boat, I'm sorry, it's gonna eventually sink. It's what's gonna happen. So, really, I just want to encourage you who's listening. This is a short one today, is to really branch out. Think about who you can network with. We have so many incredible individuals in the counseling field. We really do. And I've talked about a lot of them on these podcasts. Um, I've highlighted so many of them. I've I've written blogs about so many of them because I want them to thrive. There's enough to go around. Please stop with this poaching idea. Stop attacking those of us. Where is the grace that you give clients and their mental health when you with another professional? Where's the grace? What's going on there? I am so excited to be collaborating with these individuals that Susan and I have been speaking to, that we've been networking with. We are so excited because we feel so safe in referring our clients to them. And we know they will be under wonderful care with these individuals. Wonderful care. I just can't even tell you what a wonderful part of um what we're building, Susan and I are building together. What what a wonderful, wonderful part this is with it. To link arms with a myriad of individuals in um the area is just incredible. It really is. And what a wonderful model for us to show to our clients. In fact, today I wrote a blog about a beautiful client of mine. I worked with her for about a year, and it really came to a point where I was like, I don't have the tools, I don't pack the gear. I don't have them. And I told her that. I'm like, I'm really concerned that I'm just out of my depth. Um, this gal uh is battling borderline personality disorder. And she and I had a really good conversation about it, but I had to be humble enough to say, I don't pack the gear. And then what we did is we worked together to find somebody to for her to go to. And actually, she found the person and then she sent me the information so I can refer to that person. I mean, that's networking. That's networking. You want to see people be successful. You don't want to just break them down just to break them down because you're afraid of what? Of what referral networks are amazing and they ensure that we can take care of our clients in the best ways possible. You want your clients to stay, build a network. You want your clients to refer to others to you, build a network. You want clients to trust you, talk about others in your same field and refer them. Stop holding this so quite quite you know tightly to your chest. Like someone's gonna steal something from you. It is a myth. There's a sure, maybe there's people that poach. Sure. Sure there is. I'm sure. I'm sure there's people that have thought that of me. Well, you poached those clients. You poached those from me who did the work. Well, you're trying to poach by putting this person on your website and referring to us. Okay, comprehension is important. Let's read that again. Comprehension is important. So let's build excitement. Let's build excitement about creating a referral squad that you link arms with. It's incredible. And I cannot wait in the coming months to be highlighting each provider that we are bringing into our network. Why? Why would I do that? Because y'all, it takes some time. It takes time to write time to write articles about them, it takes time to add them to my website. It takes time, it's all my time. Time is money, right? Why am I doing it? Because they're incredible. And I only want incredible people I can refer to. Period. That's what makes the world go round. Just does. So let's debunk this myth that networking is a bad thing, and that there's this poaching that's going on within the field. It's a bunch of bunk. Step back. See what you can bring to the world. Sometimes it's not all about you, it's what you can do for others. Thanks so much for joining me. That brings us to the end of this episode. Thanks so much for joining me. I hope you learned some tools that can equip you to continue to untangle life's challenges. If you're curious about working with me for anxiety or stress-related disorders, head on over to my website at untangledmind.net to connect with me and schedule a counseling session. If you've enjoyed the show, please rate and review me on your podcast listening platform and share it with your friends and family. As always, thank you so much for listening to the Untangled Mind podcast. I appreciate you, and I will talk to you next time.