WP176 | How to Build a Specialty Practice That Attracts the Right Clients with David Sanchez
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Have you ever asked yourself, Should I niche down… or am I going to lose clients if I do?
I hear this question all the time from practice owners. We’re trained to treat a wide range of issues, so choosing a specialty can feel risky. But what if clarity is actually the thing that creates momentum in your practice?
In this episode, I sit down with David Sanchez, founder of Charlotte Counseling Associates, to talk about how he built a highly specialized, faith-based group practice focused on sex addiction, betrayal trauma, and couples healing. What began as a general solo practice slowly evolved into a clear niche — and that decision transformed his referrals, marketing, and long-term vision.
Inside this conversation, we talk about:
• How David discovered his niche and knew it was the right fit
• What changed in his caseload once he specialized
• How to research whether your niche is needed in your city
• Hiring and training associates within a specialty model
• Why clarity in your messaging makes marketing easier, not harder
We also discuss the deeper layer behind niching — passion. When you care deeply about the work, it fuels your energy, your leadership, and your sustainability as a business owner.
If you’ve been wondering whether it’s time to specialize your solo or group practice, this episode will help you think strategically and confidently about your next steps.
Listen in and start building a practice that attracts the right clients — on purpose.
Should You Niche Down or Stay General?
This is one of the most common questions I hear from practice owners.
You’re trained to treat anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship issues, and more. So choosing one focus can feel limiting. What if you lose clients? What if referrals slow down? What if you choose the “wrong” niche?
But what I’ve seen over and over again is this: clarity creates momentum. When your message is clear, your marketing gets easier. When your marketing gets easier, your referrals get more consistent.
And consistency is what most practice owners are actually craving.
How a Niche Naturally Develops
Most therapists don’t wake up one day with a perfectly defined specialty. It develops over time.
That’s exactly what happened with David. He began as a generalist. He worked with addictions broadly. Over time, more and more clients began reaching out around sex addiction and betrayal trauma. He noticed the shame. He noticed the complexity. He noticed how deeply it impacted entire family systems.
And instead of backing away from that intensity, he leaned in.
That’s often how a niche reveals itself. You pay attention to what keeps showing up. You notice what energizes you. You ask yourself what kind of work you feel called to do, even when it’s hard.
Passion Is the Foundation of a Sustainable Practice
You cannot build a specialty practice on strategy alone.
It has to be rooted in genuine interest and conviction. The work David does is complex and emotionally heavy. But because he feels deeply aligned with it, he’s able to lead a team in that specialty without burning out.
When you care deeply about the population you serve, marketing feels less like selling and more like advocacy. Training your team feels meaningful. Leadership feels purposeful.
Without passion, a niche feels restrictive. With passion, it feels clarifying.
Research the Need Before You Commit
Passion alone isn’t enough. There also needs to be demand.
One of the smartest things you can do before niching down is research your city. How many clinicians specialize in that area? How large is the population? What are referral sources saying?
In David’s case, he discovered there were very few certified sex addiction therapists serving a population of over a million people. That gap created opportunity.
If you are going to specialize, make sure the need exists. If it’s already saturated, then your differentiation has to be incredibly strong.
Clarity plus demand is powerful.
Marketing Becomes Simpler When You’re Specific
When your homepage clearly states who you serve, people know immediately whether they belong there.
David’s practice markets clearly around sex addiction, pornography addiction, betrayal trauma, and couples healing. That specificity does two important things.
It attracts the right clients.
It repels the wrong ones.
And repelling the wrong clients is not a bad thing. It protects your team’s focus and keeps your messaging consistent. Instead of trying to speak to everyone, you speak directly to the people you are uniquely equipped to help.
Specificity builds authority.
Hiring Inside a Specialty Practice
One of the biggest fears I hear from group practice owners is this: “If I niche down, will I even be able to find clinicians trained in that area?”
The answer is yes — but you may need to slow down your hiring process.
David hires for alignment first. Passion for the work matters. Willingness to be trained matters. Cultural fit matters. Then he invests in training and supervision to maintain consistency across the team.
Specialty practices require intentional onboarding and clear expectations. You cannot assume clinicians will “figure it out.”
But when you build the right infrastructure, the quality of care strengthens across the entire organization.
You Don’t Have to Stay 1099 Forever
Part of building a sustainable specialty practice is making sure your business structure supports your values.
David eventually transitioned from a 1099 model to W2 employees. That shift brought more clarity, stronger systems, and deeper alignment with his long-term vision.
Niching isn’t just clinical. It often forces you to revisit your business model, your compensation structure, and your leadership style.
Clarity in your specialty often reveals where your operations need to mature.
Community Prevents Isolation
Group practice ownership can be lonely.
Even when you lead a team, you cannot process every decision with your employees. You carry the financial responsibility. You hold the vision. You make the final call.
Being surrounded by other owners who understand that weight changes everything.
Community gives perspective. It provides accountability. It helps you make hard decisions with more confidence.
When you combine faith, business strategy, and shared experience, you stop feeling like you have to build your practice alone.
Clarity Changes Everything
When you know who you serve, why you serve them, and how you train your team to serve them well, your practice gains traction.
Your referrals become more consistent. Your marketing becomes clearer. Your hiring becomes more strategic. Your leadership becomes steadier.
Niching is not about shrinking your practice.
It’s about refining it.
And sometimes the very thing you’re afraid will limit you is the thing that unlocks your next level of growth.
Free Webinar March 24th @ 12:00 PM
If you’ve ever looked at your calendar and thought, “I know I’m a good therapist… so why isn’t my caseload fuller?” — you’re not alone.
Many of us were trained to provide excellent clinical care, but we were never taught how to consistently generate referrals or build a steady financial foundation. And when your caseload is inconsistent, it’s not just frustrating — it can create real stress around income and stability.
I’m Whitney Owens — private practice consultant and owner of a thriving private-pay group practice — and I’m hosting a free live training called “Why Your Caseload Isn’t Full (Even Though You’re a Great Therapist)” on Tuesday, March 24th at 12:00 PM Eastern.
In this webinar, I’ll walk you through the five key areas that determine whether your practice feels steady or unpredictable — and what you can begin adjusting immediately to create a more consistent, sustainable caseload.
If you’re a solo or group practice owner ready to stop guessing and start building with confidence, I’d love for you to join me.
Go to wisepracticeconsulting.com/events to register.
I’ll see you on March 24th at noon Eastern.
Meet David Sanchez, MS, LCMHCS, CSATS, Brainspotting Certified, EMDR Trained, DARTT Trauma Trained
In October 2014, David Sanchez started his solo practice, Charlotte Counseling Associates, out of a strong desire to serve others dealing with mental health and addictions.
In 2017, Charlotte Counseling Associates PLLC moved to a larger location in beautiful South Park on Fairview Rd. By 2018, he remembered his vision to create a group practice as there was a deep need in the community, and he wanted to work alongside intelligent and talented therapist professionals.
As of January 2026, David is grateful to have five therapist professional associates (specialized in sex and porn addiction and betrayal trauma), a payroll specialist, and a new client coordinator and office admin as part of his staff. David is planning to hire at least two more therapists in 2026.
CCA’s mission is to help individuals, couples, and families heal, recover, and move forward from affairs, sex addiction, betrayal, trauma, and more in Charlotte, North Carolina, and surrounding areas. The ultimate goal is not only stopping the acting out behavior, but improving trust, connection, communication, vulnerability, empathy, and overall intimacy in the relationship and family system.
David’s Resources
Charlotte Counseling Associates on Facebook
Charlotte Counseling Associates on Instagram
Links and Resources
Join the Wise Practice Membership Community (Doors close March 27th)
Learn More about Wise Practice Consulting
Connect with Wise Practice on Instagram
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How to Build a Specialty Practice That Attracts the Right Clients with David Sanchez _ WP 176
[00:00:00] Whitney Owens: If you've ever looked at your calendar and thought, I know I'm a good therapist, so why isn't my caseload fuller? You are not alone. Many of us were trained to provide excellent clinical care, but we never learned how to consistently generate referrals or build a steady financial foundation. So when your caseload is inconsistent, it's not just frustrating, it creates a lot of stress around income instability.
As a private practice consultant and the owner of a thriving multi-location private group practice, I am here to help you. I am hosting a free training called Why Your Caseload Isn't Full, even though you're a great therapist on Tuesday, March 24th at 12 o'clock Eastern. In this webinar, I'm gonna walk you through five key areas that determine whether your practice feels steady.
Or unpredictable and what you can begin to adjust immediately to create a more consistent caseload. You will walk away with at least three action steps that you can take. If you're a solo or group owner. This is gonna help you build your practice with confidence in growing your case. Load to register for this event, head to wise practice consulting.com/events and I look forward to seeing you on March 24th.
And don't worry if for some reason you miss it or can't attend live, we will send out the recording as long as you register. So head to wise practice consulting.com/events.
[00:01:24] Jingle: Hi Whitney Owens. I'm a group practice
[00:01:26] Whitney Owens: owner and faith-based practice consultant and I'm here to tell you that you can have it all. Wanna grow your practice, wanna grow your faith? Wanna enjoy your life outside of work, you've come to the right place. Each week on the Wise Practice Podcast, I will give you the action steps to have a successful faith-based practice while also having a good time.
Now let's get started.
[00:01:50] Jingle: Where she grows your practice and she don't play. She does business with a twist of faith. It's Whitney Owen and Wise Practice Podcast. Whitney Owen and Wise Practice Podcast.
[00:02:08] Whitney Owens: Welcome back to the Wise Practice Podcast. I'm so glad that you were here. You are with Whitney Owens, your host, and I'm excited about introducing you to my friend David Sanchez today.
He is one of our members of the Wise Practice Community and has a really cool niched faith-based practice. You're gonna hear all about it. We are doing a series with members of the Wise Practice community doing really cool stuff within their practice. So make sure that you check out all the episodes the month of March that you can learn about unique and cool ways that people are bringing business and faith together.
So as someone who's led a group practice for years, I have learned that clarity creates momentum, right? And we've gotta know where we're going and what we're doing. And I think that really comes back to our niche, right? Should I niche down? This is one of the most common questions that I hear from practice owners, and how do I niche without losing clients along the way or making my business ever complicated?
And I certainly think that this is a step further when you're thinking about group practice, like should I. Niche, my group practice or just my solo practice? What would that look like? So in today's conversation, David is gonna talk about how to make that sustainable. He's had his practice for quite some time and went from a solo to a group practice, continuing to stay niched with a very specific population.
He's gonna talk about how to market that, how to grow that, and how to train within that. So if this conversation with these people in the Wise Practice community resonate with you. I wanna encourage you to consider joining. We meet online every single week throughout the year to just help each other grow.
We provide. Consulting from the consultants and teachings, we bring in experts within the field, so it could be a marketing expert, a website expert, maybe a legal expert to be able to answer your questions. We also have a book club that we meet at the end of the month and we read really cool books related to faith and business.
There is something for everyone within the community, even people that are starting their practice, maybe people who haven't even started yet are just getting their toes wet, trying to figure it out all the way to large. Scaling group practices, so you will find people that are like-minded in a similar phase of practice.
We will make sure that y'all connect and grow together. Some people have said they have met some of their closest friends in this community. It is so special. So the doors are open right now. They will be closing on March 27th. We want to make sure that you join before then, 'cause it'll be months before you can join.
For only $89 a month, you will have access to accountability groups every other week. Live weekly teachings every week, the recording teachings, resources for your practice. A place to ask your questions, share your wins. Y'all, $89 is not even one client session for the amount of return that you're gonna get on being a part of the community.
So if you are interested, please go and join the community. And again, I only want people doing things within the wise practice community that greatly benefit them. So if you jump in here and you decide a few months down the road, this isn't for you. No problem. You just let us know when we stop the subscription.
You're not signing up for a year or six months or anything like that. But I do hope that you will join 'cause I do think you're gonna benefit a lot from it. And I personally look forward to meeting you. So if you, um, have been wondering about niching, let's talk about this episode. We are gonna talk with David Sanchez all about what it means to niche within your practice.
So thanks for joining me and let's dive in.
Hello friends and welcome back to The Last Practice Podcast. I've got my friend David Sanchez with me today. Lemme tell you a little bit about David before we jump in. In October of 2014, he started his solo practice, Charlotte Counseling Associates, out of a strong desire to serve others, dealing with mental health and addictions in 2017.
He moved to a larger location in a beautiful South Park on Fairview Road, and by 2018 he remembered his vision to create a group practice as there was a deep need in the community, and he wanted to work alongside other intelligent and talented therapists. So as of January, 2026, David's grateful for five therapists practice, a payroll specialist, a care coordinator, and an office manager.
He's planning to hire at least two more therapists in the coming year. CCAs mission is to help individuals, couples, and families heal, recover, and move forward from affairs, sex addiction, betrayal, trauma, and more in Charlotte, North Carolina and the surrounding areas. The ultimate goal is not only to stop the acting out behaviors, but improve trust, connection, communication, vulnerability, empathy, and overall intimacy in the relationship and family system.
David, thank you for coming on the show.
[00:06:58] David Sanchez: Hey, Whitney, so grateful to be here. Thank you.
[00:07:01] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Yeah. Well, today I really wanna focus on this idea of creating a niched practice and how that helps meet the needs in your community. And that's something I've always known about you is your niche within sex addiction.
And I know it, addiction really extends beyond that. So can we kind of first go back to when did you first decide this was gonna be your personal niche?
[00:07:23] David Sanchez: Yes, that's a great question and I will give you the Reader's Digest version. So basically when I started my career, I was doing in-home family therapy, and it was amazing.
I learned so much about being a new therapist that later on got into some addictions work and then when I started to do private practice by myself in 2014, I kind of became the. Addiction counselor, so to speak, mainly for teen boys. So all the moms would bring 'em to me and say, here, please fix them. So I got my real fast education there, but I started to get people calling me just to slow it down a little bit and it would be different.
They would be very kind of quiet on the phone when I asked them what they wanted to work with and work on and, and they would say, I have a porn addiction, or. I'm struggling with sex addiction, and I was like, wow, this seems a little different. You know, there's a lot more shame for this one. So, kind of fast forwarding, I, I went and spoke to this colleague that was a certified sex addiction therapist or csat, and he got trained by the International Institute of Trauma Addiction Professionals, or I Tap and I, I interviewed him, I bought him lunch and I said, uh, you know, I'm an addiction specialist.
I have a license, but what do you think about becoming a csat? He goes, oh, it's wonderful. It's really up my game, and I think you should definitely, um, consider it. So I did. I went and did the training. It was five days in Florida and it was like drinking from a, a fire hose. I was like, whoa, my gosh. I realized how much I didn't know.
So at first I wasn't sure if I wanted to pursue this. I said this, this is a lot, this is the best training I've ever received. 40 hours from some of the best people and just really great therapists all around me. Um, and then I decided, uh, one day, you know, I'm gonna go for the second training. So I did, and it really helped to talk about the partners that are betrayed, uh, how it really hurts the couples.
You know, really kinda destroys the marriage here temporarily, and then mm-hmm. It hurts the family and it's like, wow. The whole system. And I, and I fell in love with this. I go, wow, this is more than just helping one person, this is helping the whole family. So after that I'm like, I'm gonna do this. I'm committed.
And I finished the last two modules. It took me about. Close to two years flying around the country. This was before COVID, pre COVID. And I got to meet amazing people, people that I would never have been able to meet, perhaps. And, you know, I, I, the rest is history. You know, I decided this is, this is my passion.
This is what I wanna work with, work with, and I want associates to work alongside me because, you know, we gotta help the whole system.
[00:10:04] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Oh, this is so interesting. So when you first started your private practice, it was not so niched and it became more niched over time. Is that right?
[00:10:13] David Sanchez: That's correct. I, I was a generalist for sure.
Um, I, I took insurance, so I had all different types of variety and it was great to get that mix. Uh, but I would say probably around 2017 I started to work primarily with sex addiction.
[00:10:28] Whitney Owens: Okay. Can you talk about that transition? How did your practice change through that? Are, are you glad you did and, and I think the question a lot of people ask is, should I niche down or not?
[00:10:40] David Sanchez: That's a great question. So let's slow that down because it depends. If you have a passion, and you might learn this in your master's program or you may learn it in the first few years, you know, of kind of your career, you might learn it in a, in a training, maybe like in a podcast like this, something will happen.
It will open your eyes. I believe God will definitely make it obvious at some point that there's maybe something you really wanna work with more. And so for me, since I was really working with lots of addictions, you know, and I felt pretty comfortable with substance use disorders and things like that, this one again, was something that was so different.
And you know, I had to sit, sit down, you know, really kind of consider, you know, I. This is a very, uh, like I said, it's the one that most people do not want. No one wants a sex addiction or a porn addiction. You know, do I really have a passion to help these folks? And after kind of working with them for a while and just getting that supervision and training, I said I do.
So to go back to your question, you know, for me, I feel like it's a calling. You know, it's, it's hard for me to think of something else that I can do. And because of that, I've, because of sex addiction, I've learned about trauma more. And I've learned about systems theory more so I also kind of branch out to that.
I can talk to you more about that later. You know, we do a lot of trauma work as well because it's underneath the addiction a lot of times. Sure. If you're the type of therapist that you don't want to just work on one thing or you don't know what you wanna work on, then I'd say be a generous. But start to figure out what gives you the most energy, what gives you the most passion?
Those are the things that I think if you go after those things, it doesn't feel so much like work and you know, it feels like a joy to do that type of work, even though it could be challenging sometimes.
[00:12:25] Whitney Owens: Yeah, I, I love that answer. And kind of taking it back a little bit and letting your passion, you know, be your focus.
So then you started hiring people, and can you talk a little bit about how did you know who to hire and keeping them within the niche? I mean, you still have a niche to practice, I understand.
[00:12:42] David Sanchez: Yes, I do. I started to hire people in 2018. I moved to this suite that I'm in now, actually, that you're seeing me in, it's a five office suite here in a beautiful suburb called South Park, and that's in Charlotte, North Carolina.
And uh, you know, I was working with another colleague, you know, we were both renting this suite and trying to, you know. Either rent out some of these offices eventually I said, you know, I really wanna start having associates. So I did in 2018. And uh, what I would say is I was looking for people that were strong on addictions at the very least, and that wanted to get trained, you know, in sex addiction.
That's what I was really looking for. A little bit later, I started to realize, again, the need for trauma work. So anyone that had one of those two things, or both addictions and trauma experience and wanted to get trained more. Um, or were the people I was looking for. I will tell you this, um, Whitney, I took a lot of time to, after the first couple of associates, I took a lot of time to slow things down, just to let them know really what this was about.
You know, working at a niche practices could be different than, you know, a generalist practice. So most of our clients, I would say 85 to 90% are porn or sex addiction, infidelity, betrayed trauma partners.
[00:13:59] Whitney Owens: Yeah,
[00:14:00] David Sanchez: it's what, uh, mostly who comes, who calls us at three o'clock in the morning. So if the associate, um, doesn't have a passion for this or they're not like, you know, yeah, I really wanna learn about this, I really want to be trained.
Yeah. I can see myself doing this for most of my clients after I really explain to them what it's like, um, then that's not a person that I think will do their, do the best here. That might not be a person I hire. So it takes a long time for me to hire someone. 'cause I'm really looking for those special people that have the passion to do this.
[00:14:31] Whitney Owens: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And so, Hmm, how do you go about the training aspect? I think a lot of people want to niche down, but they're worried they're not gonna find someone trained enough. Or like, do you train them after you hire them? How does that work?
[00:14:48] David Sanchez: That's a great question. So I'm actually a certified sex addiction therapist supervisor.
[00:14:54] Whitney Owens: Mm-hmm.
[00:14:54] David Sanchez: That takes actually about, uh, five years after you become a certified sex addiction therapist and you have to have, you know, a supervision, uh, a supervision license and training. So with that, I can actually supervise them. And part of that supervising is me training them, of course. Right. On the model, the models that we use.
And they do need to get training from iap, which I mentioned earlier, Uhhuh. So if they're gonna work for me before they get hired, that's already, uh, a non-negotiable. We already know the date of when they're gonna do that. Um, I will pay for that first training, that first module and, um, you know, before they, they say they're coming in and before they sign the paperwork, you know, we're, we're ready to kind of get ready to do that.
So it's kind of a two things, me training them and also they're getting that professional training outside of what I can give them.
[00:15:44] Whitney Owens: Great. So if people are listening right now and maybe they have a passion, something they wanna do, they're thinking about niching either solo or group practice, what kind of advice would you have for them?
[00:15:55] David Sanchez: So if they're thinking about niching, you know, one of the things that in any business that's really important is, is there a need? You know, you gotta look at your particular city and town, you know, and ask, you know, kind of do some Google searches. Now we can use ai. How many people, uh, how many therapists are actually working with this specific, uh, modality, right?
So that's one thing I did, and believe it or not. There's about 1.5 million people in this city and surrounding, uh, there's about 150 to 200 people coming here every day, which is amazing, right? But there's only about 25, 26 therapists that are actually certified as sex addiction therapists or in training for that for with a hundred, uh, 1.5 million people.
Wow. That's a very small number. So I knew that being in a big city. Where there's so much, uh, competition, right? There's so many therapists. This was my passion, this was my training. I knew I was gonna be able to really get clients to come see me, you know, 'cause I do a lot of marketing. But if I was doing something that was very general, like anxiety or depression and that was my main specialty, I think it would've been a lot harder for me to really build my practice uhhuh.
So I think what people need to do, they need to do the research. Is there a need? And if there isn't a need for that or, or should say if there, uh, if there's too many people doing that, they're gonna have to figure out how are they gonna be different than the rest? How are they gonna stand out? So that's gonna be the marketing and consulting that they should receive.
[00:17:24] Whitney Owens: Yeah. I was curious about the marketing piece. Um, do you specifically market as a sex addiction practice? Do you ever market as anything else? What are your tips about marketing.
[00:17:34] David Sanchez: Yeah, so I'll say it like this 'cause people often ask me, you know, wherever I go, the type of work I do, and I say, you know, we do have a passion and a specialization working with that sex addiction, porn addiction and fidelity, and helping out with the trade partner as well to feel safe.
And then, um, when the time comes to help them come together and heal and reconcile if they still do, uh, choose so. Right. So, um. As far as marketing is, that's what our marketing is all about. It's, it's on our website. It's very clear on our homepage that that is who we serve. You know, that's our passion and specialization.
Right. And that's all in our, uh, social media marketing. That's all in our blogs. You know, I've hired a professional SEO, uh, through some of your guidance and others as well. So they're helping us as well with the blogs, right. In Google. So, yes, I think, um, most people in this city know that I do this work.
Most therapists, because I'm constantly posting about it as well on therapist pages. They all know this is what I mainly do and what we mainly do.
[00:18:39] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Oh, this has been great. I mean, my biggest takeaway is that passion piece. If it's something that you love so much, you could not do it right. I mean, you're, David, you're getting your hands dirty in some of the most difficult clinical situations, right?
You and your team, but your passion is there, and so it's like God's empowering you to do it.
[00:18:59] David Sanchez: Right, right. I, I, I don't shame clients, you know, I don't sit wonder, why would they do these things? You know? I really am so curious. It kind of goes back to my grounding, like, I became a therapist, really. 'cause of my mom, she was always so curious about people, you know, and she took the time to get to know people.
So I'm was watching her and I learned that. So I'm always just so curious, like, wow, how did this person get to this place where, you know, there's so much chaos and crisis. You know, they're, they're in so much pain. You know, kind of, that's where the trauma kind of lens comes in. Like, you know, what happened in their family of origin.
So that's what helps me to do this work and to really support these folks is because I'm just curious, uh, about people that are in pain. I'm, I'm really, you know, I really want, if I can help 'em, I really want to do that. And if I can, I want to get 'em to a place where they, when they can go to get that out.
[00:19:49] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's a way that we bring that love and acceptance of Christ into the room.
[00:19:54] David Sanchez: Yeah.
[00:19:54] Whitney Owens: You know, I believe that we're all one step away from, from, you know, any kind of mistake really.
[00:20:00] David Sanchez: Right?
[00:20:01] Whitney Owens: Mm-hmm.
[00:20:02] David Sanchez: Sure.
[00:20:02] Whitney Owens: Well, um, let's talk a little bit about how we met and, uh, why don't you share a little bit about how you met me and then when you decided to start working with me.
[00:20:13] David Sanchez: Sure, I'll be happy to. So, you know, help me out with the dates if I get this incorrect. I think the first time I saw you, and I know the first time I saw you, I believe it was, it was after the pandemic, I think it was 2021. Correct me if I'm wrong, it was another, uh, group mastermind that you were a part of with Allison Pigeon, and that's where I got to, to meet you.
And, you know, you, you kind of specialize in group practices and faith-based and I was really impressed with you. You know, you're, you're very. You know, put together, you're very, uh, structured. A lot of the things that I, I struggled with. You're very organized, and I was like, oh, I like this. This is exactly what I need.
You know, and you know, a lot of you, you guys shared so many wonderful things, but the thing that kept on coming to me was, should I have this 10 99 practice long term, or should I convert it to W2? So I remember back then. I was even thinking about that back then and we can talk about that later if need be.
Uh, but then I kind of got out of that group mastermind and took a little break. Um, I had thought actually about, uh, working with you. I had reached out to you and it didn't work out at that time. I needed some more time, but then, you know, I felt like God calling me to do a group mastermind and you want, wanna know something Whitney?
And this is the absolute truth. I did research on group masterminds, literally. And they were either like, had dates from like, you know, a year ago or, um, you know, they just weren't running anymore. Something was going on where I just couldn't really find a good, a group mastermind, but I found yours. It was actually I think on the first page and I said, oh, Whitney Whitney's there.
And I was so excited. And so then I got in touch with you, you know, and the rest is history. I decided to work with you in a SM small group mastermind, uh, with Wise practice, and then became part, you know, of the community. Got to know so many amazing, wonderful people that have supported me. So I'm so grateful that I've, you know, I've, I re I guess I, I found you again.
[00:22:06] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Well, I, I'm grateful as well, and we have several CSAT therapists around the country that are in WISE practice, which is really cool. I don't know if you knew, did you know that?
[00:22:16] David Sanchez: I actually did not know that.
[00:22:18] Whitney Owens: Okay. I'll later, when we're offline, I'll have to introduce you to them, but, um, yeah, several. So that's really cool.
Well, um, David, what would you say while you were in the mastermind group, was it, was it worth the investment? Did you grow your practice? Are you where you wanna be? What was that like?
[00:22:33] David Sanchez: Yes. You know, what I would say is depending on what you're working on, you know, and, and, and a lot of it. It had to do also kind of with me where I was at, you know, where was I emotionally, where was I as far as stress level.
You know, where was I spiritually, you know, and I feel like that's what I loved about the Mastermind. It wasn't just, you know, business focus, but it was focus on, you know, helping you feel like you're not alone. Building that community, you know, bringing in spirituality. You know, we can't all do this by ourselves.
You know, we need something bigger than us, you know, we need to group. So that was so helpful for me just to be able to get help from all those different, you know, sides. I would say that, you know, the, the goals that I came up with. I was able to achieve, you know, the biggest one was, you know, really to change my whole, I guess, the way I did things as far as, you know, kind of converting from a 10 99 system to a a W2 system.
So really changing the business model, so to speak. And, you know, that really helped really with clarity. So things were really clear now. You know, things are written down in a employee handbook and policies and procedures. You know, I feel more at ease. I feel so at peace, you know that I'm doing things.
You know, ethically I'm doing things legally, I'm doing things according to my values. Integrity, you know, all of that's there now. Right. The other thing was, I, I didn't want all this additional money to be given just to, for me, I. I wanted to grow the business. I wanted the business to continue to cease even maybe after me.
And the only way I was gonna really do that was to get in touch of my numbers. I really needed to know my numbers and my profit and all those things. And I was able to, with your help, connect to people that helped me with my numbers. I was able to then. Uh, start to make more of a profit. And with some of that profit, I want to, you know, I wanna bless the employees when they do good work, right?
Yeah. When they're reaching guidelines, I even have these systems that you, you and others have sh shown with me. That kind of helps me to see on a glance really quickly, are they reaching their numbers And now I can, you know, have conversations with them and, and kind of partner with them on how to help them if they are struggling with reaching their numbers.
And by the way. A lot of those people you and I talked about that weren't reaching their numbers, they're starting to reach their numbers now or are reaching their numbers, you know? That's
[00:24:58] Whitney Owens: great.
[00:24:59] David Sanchez: So I'll tell you, it was, it was the best investment. It is. It is going to kind of bring out your strengths, but also your, you know, your weaknesses.
But I think at the end it's all worth it, you know, because you're just gonna become that much better, you know, at not just being a therapist, but running the business. One more thing, and I'll add with that is it's also gonna teach you how to live a life that's healthy outside of your business. Hmm. Which is something that was really important, is I wouldn't want my life to be just the business.
So now that it's a lot more clear and more clear now, right. And it's going in a positive direction, it gives me more time to spend with my family, to have self care, to do the things I love outside of the business.
[00:25:39] Whitney Owens: Hmm. Ah, that's, that's so important. I mean, even on the intro to the podcast, it's like I say something about, you know, it's about having the life you love, not just doing the work.
Um, so I'm really glad that you're experiencing that. So, as we kind of start wrapping up here, um, I am talking about the Wise practice, the membership community too. Um, and so could you say maybe what's your favorite part about the Wise Practice Membership community?
[00:26:03] David Sanchez: It's very hard to tell you. Just one favorite part.
So let, I might have to cheat and maybe give you two, but I, like I said, you know, I think a lot of therapists, maybe even some group therapists can relate to this. You know, this could be a very isolating, a very lonely profession. It doesn't matter if you have a group, if you're a group practice owner, a lot of times, you know, you can't share all these things, you know, with your staff, all of it.
Right. So, you know, and maybe your spouse might say, you need to go get somebody else to talk to. Right. You need someone else. So that bit, that whole thing of being with people that are like-minded, and then especially in this case, you know, faith, have a faith, strong faith like yours is so, is priceless.
[00:26:47] Jingle: Yeah.
[00:26:47] David Sanchez: Knowing that you're not alone, knowing that people can relate to you. That people can encourage you and support you, even give you like, you know, insight and advice or resources. And one of the things I love that, you know, that you do specifically is you're constantly having yourself or experts come in and train, you know, do these trainings, you know, like that are, you know, in bite sites chunks, one hour at a time on, you know, topics that are relevant to us, you know, and things that are gonna help us with the business, right?
So to be able to have all that support is priceless. You know, if you don't have that, you know, I feel like you're gonna make more mistakes. You know, you're probably going to be more stressed out and burnt out. And so now, now that I have that, I'm starting to feel like you said that, that my life feels a lot more full.
And a big part of that is, you know, the wise practice community, including, you know, the summit, which last year was the first, you know, year I went to, and now I can't wait to go to this year.
[00:27:44] Whitney Owens: Oh yeah, me too. Me too. Well, I appreciate all your kind words, and that's the reason I do what I do. So as we kind of close up here, if somebody's listening and they wanna get in touch with you, maybe they have questions about niching down in their practice, what's the best way for them to get in touch with you?
[00:28:00] David Sanchez: Excellent question. So what I would say is I do have a gatekeeper. Uh, she's amazing. She's my new client coordinator and, and admin. Her name is Heather and she's very personal. You love her. I would give her a call at, let me give you the right number 'cause we have two numbers here. I would call her at nine eight zero two two four three two.
Three three or you can email her at admin@charlottecounselors.com. But the easiest way is just to go to our website, www do charlotte counselors.com, and her information's right on the top, and you can reach out to her and she'll get back to you as soon as possible.
[00:28:42] Whitney Owens: Great. Well, David, this has been my pleasure.
Thank you so much.
[00:28:46] David Sanchez: Yeah, my pleasure as well.
[00:28:47] Whitney Owens: Aw,
[00:28:47] David Sanchez: thank you so much. It's so, I'm so happy to, to talk with you again.
[00:28:54] Jingle: So click on follow and leave a review and keep on loving this work we do with Whitney Owens and The Wise Practice Podcast, Whitney Owens and Wise Practice Podcast.
[00:29:12] Whitney Owens: Special thanks to Marty Altman for the music in this podcast. The Wise Practice Podcast is part of the Site Craft Podcast Network. A collaboration of independent podcasters focused on helping people live more meaningful and productive lives.
To learn more about the other amazing podcasts in the network, head on over to site craft network.com. The Wise Practice podcast represents the opinions of Whitney Owens and her guests. This podcast is for educational purposes only, and the content should not be taken as legal advice. If you have legal questions, please consult an attorney.
