Hi all, long-time lurker but feel as though I need to get myself more involved & have been stuck for a while!
To give some background on myself, I'm currently a 28-year-old product manager for a large corporate media company. Two years before this, I returned to school for a graduate program to become an associate mental health therapist in my state (I do not have full licensure, as I would have to complete many more hours). This is after working in IT for about 4 years. I've gone through all the therapist schooling, worked part-time as an unpaid intern for just over a year while working part-time in the auto body business (family biz), and became stressed out from not making good money. I was living with my family at the time, so I wasn't spending much, but I became frustrated with the mental health world shortly after I completed my schooling. The burnout was high and I figured I should re-enter the tech field while I'm working part-time as an associate therapist to complete my licensure. From there, I kickstarted myself back into the tech industry, cleaned up my resume, interviewed for months, and landed this job making low six figures.
This whole shift over the past couple of years has been really surprising, even for me, and I'm struggling to see what my next move should be. I've been a wantrepreneur for too long. My initial goal in getting into mental health was to open my own practice and do something that's meaningful to me but always could bring in a scaleable income. I understand that it may not be the most scaleable if it's not diversified (courses, high-ticket coaching, content creation), but I feel it could have potential if done right.
The biggest blocker for me over the past year, since I left my therapist internship and began working in a corporate job again, has been that I haven't completed my full license, which disallows you from being able to market yourself as a therapist in my state. I still intend to get full licensure, but it would be a part-time grind of unpaid labor for the next year and a half, which doesn't sound the most attractive to me.
I've been spending way too much time mentally bouncing between possibilities and action-faking. I started up with web design for both therapists & auto body shops last year, which allowed me to leverage experience in both fields to connect with clients. I had two successful jobs, but it fizzled out after I stopped reaching out to clients & began the corporate job. I don't have one clear reason why I stopped doing this, besides that I got lazy after work and felt it was a bigger headache than it was worth. However, I recently engaged in some action-faking for SaaS ideas I had for the auto body business. I planned to do some market research with business owners I've been in touch with, but never actually went out to lay the groundwork. This has been nurturing that "chasing the shiny object" mentality of shifting to another idea as soon as the going gets tough.
The most recent consideration has been starting a niched-down coaching business (potentially executive coaching), or something that I can leverage my existing skills (both tech and mental health) that doesn't require excessive licensure requirements. I've never loved the idea of becoming a coach over a therapist, but I think it would be the best path (and lowest-hanging fruit) to kickstart this journey and build my own business. What does this group think about this type of coaching? Would it be worth pursuing given my experiences?
My primary objective is to begin building something that could allow me to replace the corporate salary over time. I understand that six figures absolutely would not happen overnight and require a ton of hard work, but I think my biggest fear has been barking up the wrong tree and being risk averse. I want to get over these blockers and just start something! I don't think I'm necessarily trying to find the "perfect business" before I make my move, but at this point, I just had my corporate FTE and I'm ready to get started.
To give some background on myself, I'm currently a 28-year-old product manager for a large corporate media company. Two years before this, I returned to school for a graduate program to become an associate mental health therapist in my state (I do not have full licensure, as I would have to complete many more hours). This is after working in IT for about 4 years. I've gone through all the therapist schooling, worked part-time as an unpaid intern for just over a year while working part-time in the auto body business (family biz), and became stressed out from not making good money. I was living with my family at the time, so I wasn't spending much, but I became frustrated with the mental health world shortly after I completed my schooling. The burnout was high and I figured I should re-enter the tech field while I'm working part-time as an associate therapist to complete my licensure. From there, I kickstarted myself back into the tech industry, cleaned up my resume, interviewed for months, and landed this job making low six figures.
This whole shift over the past couple of years has been really surprising, even for me, and I'm struggling to see what my next move should be. I've been a wantrepreneur for too long. My initial goal in getting into mental health was to open my own practice and do something that's meaningful to me but always could bring in a scaleable income. I understand that it may not be the most scaleable if it's not diversified (courses, high-ticket coaching, content creation), but I feel it could have potential if done right.
The biggest blocker for me over the past year, since I left my therapist internship and began working in a corporate job again, has been that I haven't completed my full license, which disallows you from being able to market yourself as a therapist in my state. I still intend to get full licensure, but it would be a part-time grind of unpaid labor for the next year and a half, which doesn't sound the most attractive to me.
I've been spending way too much time mentally bouncing between possibilities and action-faking. I started up with web design for both therapists & auto body shops last year, which allowed me to leverage experience in both fields to connect with clients. I had two successful jobs, but it fizzled out after I stopped reaching out to clients & began the corporate job. I don't have one clear reason why I stopped doing this, besides that I got lazy after work and felt it was a bigger headache than it was worth. However, I recently engaged in some action-faking for SaaS ideas I had for the auto body business. I planned to do some market research with business owners I've been in touch with, but never actually went out to lay the groundwork. This has been nurturing that "chasing the shiny object" mentality of shifting to another idea as soon as the going gets tough.
The most recent consideration has been starting a niched-down coaching business (potentially executive coaching), or something that I can leverage my existing skills (both tech and mental health) that doesn't require excessive licensure requirements. I've never loved the idea of becoming a coach over a therapist, but I think it would be the best path (and lowest-hanging fruit) to kickstart this journey and build my own business. What does this group think about this type of coaching? Would it be worth pursuing given my experiences?
My primary objective is to begin building something that could allow me to replace the corporate salary over time. I understand that six figures absolutely would not happen overnight and require a ton of hard work, but I think my biggest fear has been barking up the wrong tree and being risk averse. I want to get over these blockers and just start something! I don't think I'm necessarily trying to find the "perfect business" before I make my move, but at this point, I just had my corporate FTE and I'm ready to get started.
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