It’s a new year, and you know what that means: it’s time for a year-end review. Each year, I sit down and do my best to be transparent with you about how my business did. From the outside, it might seem like my business is huge and thriving – and it is doing well, but I learned some hard lessons too. 

So in today’s episode, I’m breaking down how I reorganized my businesses, how and why I spent some much money in the businesses this year, and my big goals for next year. Even if some of my numbers feel a little embarrassing, sitting down to reflect on the year helped me to appreciate the small and big wins and get clarity on my plans for next year, and I encourage you to take time to do the same.

Today, I’m chatting with fellow nature-based OT, Kim Wilson, about how she answered those questions for herself, and how that led her to keep her business small to align with her vision and lifestyle. She shares how her business evolved, why it’s her mission to empower families to be equipped with tools and knowledge, and how she’s made a cash-based business work in multiple locations.

As you’ll learn in today’s episode, the most important thing is to be intentional with your decisions and make them from a place of honoring your interests, your passion, your current season of life, and your personal business goals. You get to chart your own path, and there are so many ways to make a nature-based therapy practice work for you.

In this episode, I’m talking about why I think that nature-based therapy practices have longevity and sustainability. Not only can it renew your passion for the work that you do, but we aren’t healthy when we’re detached from the earth (and vice versa). 

Whether you’re starting a new practice or thinking of ways to reinvigorate an existing one, the benefits of nature-based therapy are many, and they will continue to benefit children and adults alike for decades to come.

Running a nature-based therapy practice is about more than the therapy itself. From knowing what’s needed to get started to how to market your business to making sure you’re taking time for yourself, there’s a lot that goes into running a business.

In this episode, I answer your listener questions about the behind-the-scenes aspect of business. I share what work/life balance looks like both in early and later stages of a business, why I love what I do, and the importance of not letting yourself get burnt out. I also talk about strategies and decisions around whether or not to open an LLC and marketing strategies that I recommend if you’re just starting out in your business.

Your business has a lot of moving parts, and it’s easy to let things spin out of control. But with the right systems in place, you can free up your time as the business owner to do MORE of what you love in the business, all while the business grows to impact more people and bring in more revenue.

In this episode, you'll learn the four systems every nature-based business needs: mindset, operations, marketing, and finances. These are the bedrock foundations of every single successful nature-based business...or ANY business, really!

Running a nature-based therapy practice is more complicated than just taking your patients outdoors. There’s a lot that has to happen behind-the-scenes – from payroll to insurance to business strategy – and you’re bound to have questions along the way. I’m answering some of those questions today!

In this episode, I answer a few listener questions about starting and growing a nature-based therapy practice. I explain how you can work towards your goals, even when you’re not in a place to scale your business. I explain the purpose of liability insurance and why you need it. Plus, I share my experience finding outdoor spaces where I could legally conduct my practice.

Email marketing was a big contributor to the early success of my business. Unfortunately, it’s not something that a lot of nature-based therapists make a priority. It might seem overwhelming, but there are tools that help to make it easy for you to establish your email list. And the benefits are worth it.

In today’s episode, you'll learn how email marketing is an easy and effective way to connect with your potential customers. We’ll discuss my favorite (and least favorite) platforms, why automation is so important, and how to write emails that keep your audience engaged so that they will want to work with your practice.

As you grow your nature-based practice, you’ll find that there are 4 main stages of business that you encounter. There is no endpoint and your journey will take you from stage to stage, and as you evolve you will face new challenges and opportunities.

In this episode, I’m sharing what you should focus on and the mistakes to avoid as you go through each stage of your business, You’ll hear insight from my own business as a nature-based pediatric therapist as well as the knowledge that I’ve accumulated over my years of group coaching and observing other practices and how they manage their companies. 

Are you a pediatric therapist who wants to take your work with children outdoors into nature? As a nature-based pediatric therapist & entrepreneur, I’ve spent years finding the balance between the practice of nature-based therapy and improving my business.

There’s so much to learn–from groundbreaking research on the therapy side to new marketing strategies on the business side–and I’m here to help you make sense of all of it, all while staying true to the core of your work.

In this first episode, I’m sharing my journey to becoming a nature-based pediatric therapist and what led me to help other professionals expand and improve their own businesses. I’m explaining why I pivoted from my old show to this one and what you can expect from upcoming episodes.