Podcasting for Entrepreneurs - Joe Sanok

Joe Sanok is the founder of Practice of the Practice Podcast the #1 podcast for counselors. 

He is also a keynote and TEDx speaker as well as a business consultant and writer. He has been featured on Huffington Post, Forbes, GOOD Magazine, Reader’s Digest, entrepreneur on Fire, and Yahoo News. 

He has published 5 books and has been named the Therapist Resource’s top podcast, consultant, and blogger. 

How did Joe get to where he is now? (0:44)

 

•  Joe was trained as a traditional therapist. After getting his Masters in counseling and psychology he first worked at non-profits and community mental health. 

 

• He tried out counseling private practice as a contractor to help pay off his student debt and found that he liked it. 
• He started his own practice when he moved back to Northern Michigan and saw it as his ‘side-gig’ until one of his interns mentioned that they would love to work at his practice. 
• He was hired at the community college in Traverse City and it was during that time he started listening to more and more podcasts.
• Listening to people like Pat Flynn and Lee Dumas inspired him and he ended up starting his own podcast in 2012 called Practice of the Practice. 
• In 2014 he was reevaluating his job at the community college and decided to quit and rather do his counseling and podcast full time. 
• Once his podcast really gained momentum, Joe sold his practice and is now completely location independent, they live in a camper house and travel the nation while podcasting on the road. 

How did Joe’s podcast start out? (5:57)

•  Joe did not have a clear plan when he started his podcast.
• When new podcasters ask Joe for tips on starting their podcasts, he will tell them that having a clear place and clear arc for your p[odcast is important. 
• Joe’s first few episodes were really just him reading a book and then telling his audience what he learned from it. 
• He also gave his audience thoughts on how to apply what he learned from the book to private practice. 
• Sometimes he would reach out to someone to be a guest on his podcast but mostly he said it was him just trying out different things with zero plan, trying to see what worked. 
• Listening back on his first episodes now, he admits they are pretty terrible but he learned by doing. 

Who does Joe primarily work with? (20:51)

• Joe says about 80% of their audience are counselors, therapists, psychologists and coaches are increasing in number every day too. 
• A lot of their audience wants to do better at digital marketing. 
• Membership communities, eCourses, and some fitness people are also appearing and working with Joe now. 
• Joe gives special mention to Melissa from the Bom Bom podcast. She is a fitness instructor but she tackles the topic of the mom mindset where many women put everyone else’s needs, wants, and health before their own.
• She tries to teach women that if you care about your own wants, needs, and health then you will be a better mom and person overall. 

What’s been one of the biggest challenges for Joe as a business owner and entrepreneur? (22:29)

• Thinking back to 2012 when he started Practice of the Practice that year was very difficult for him. 
• His daughter was born in 2011 and it became clear soon after that she had some serious heart conditions. 
• During the first year of her life, they didn’t sleep more than an hour at a time, having to constantly check up on her, feed her and change her diapers because her medication was to stop fluid from building up around her heart so she was going to the bathroom every hour and a half or so. 
• They struggled to get her enough calories and her growth rate was stinted. She was in an out of the hospital the first year of her life and eventually she had open-heart surgery.
• 2 weeks after his daughter’s surgery, Joe was diagnosed with Thyroid cancer. His wife had a miscarriage, his grandmother passed away and his best friend’s wife got breast cancer sometime in the months of Joe going through his own treatments.
• Despite how difficult the year was, it acted as a clarifier for Joe and made him realize that he did not want to sit in a community college doing counseling for the rest of his life.

The Practice of the Practice Podcast

Practice of the Practice covers everything it takes to make your service-based private practice successful. Learn amazing ways to grow your referral count, save tons of money, and have a lot of fun in the process.

Resources

Connect with Joe: LinkedIn

Practice of the Practice: Website

Connect with Eric: LinkedIn