The ScaleSmart Podcast

Did you know it's more than a chatbot or mediocre content creator? If I'm being honest, I didn't really understand the true capabilities of AI within my business until I sat down with Alisa Kay for this week's episode of the ScaleSmart Podcast. Alisa Kay is a storytelling and AI strategist who has built multiple six-figure businesses using her marketing genius, and now she teac...

Hiring is one of the hardest parts of growing a private practice, and most of the advice floating around in Facebook threads isn't cutting it. If you've posted a job and gotten crickets, or gotten someone in the door and lost them to a bigger practice, this episode is going to give you a much clearer picture of why. I'm sitting down with Meredith Harold , founder of The Informed SLP...

Blogging is the most accessible and high-return thing a private practice owner can do to rank higher on Google and in AI tools like ChatGPT, and you don't have to be a great writer to do it. If you have ever wondered why clients who are actively searching for your services are not finding you online, this episode is going to give you a very clear and very doable answer. I am a huge believer i...

If you've ever sent a patient home with a worksheet and then watched it disappear into the black hole of a backpack or a car seat, you already know the problem this episode solves. I'm talking with Alyssa Antcliff, M.S., CCC-SLP, the co-founder of IndiAide, about why home programs fail so often and how a new reimbursement pathway might be sitting right under your nose. What we cover: How...

Do you ever catch yourself saying, “I don’t have time,” “I’m not ready yet,” or “I just need one more thing before I start” ? Those excuses feel real, but they’re actually protective stories your brain creates to keep you safe and small. And while they might make you feel productive, they’re often the very thing holding you back from the life and business you want. In this episode, I break down th...

10 years of patterns, all in one episode. If you've ever looked at another practice or business owner and wondered what they're doing differently, this episode is going to give you some real answers. After 10 years of coaching private practice owners and entrepreneurs at every stage of business, I've noticed patterns that have nothing to do with clinical skill or business knowledge...

What if the leap you've been waiting to take is already happening, whether you're ready or not? In this episode, I'm sitting down with Karin Hartunian Koukeyan, SLP and founder of SpeechFit . Karin spent over 28 years building her clinical career before launching her own practice, and it wasn't a clean, confident jump. It was a layoff that forced her hand, a summer with $0 comi...

What if the thing you’re avoiding is the thing you need to do? In this episode, I'm sitting down with Megan Blacksmith, speaker, NLP and hypnosis trainer, and founder of Blacksmith Training Company . Megan trains coaches, practitioners and leaders with the tools for faster (inner) transformation without fighting themselves along the way through Holistic NLP, a combining of the principles of N...

You don’t have to be fluent in a language to serve a bilingual child well. That’s the message Keila Gutierrez is on a mission to get into the hands of every SLP who has ever hesitated at the therapy room door. Keila is a bilingual SLP, private practice owner, and digital product creator who grew up 45 minutes from the Mexican border. She owns Desert Lily Bilingual Speech Therapy Clinic and recentl...

You can’t miss the boat because it’s your boat, so it will be ready and waiting for you when you arrive… on time according to your timeline.  In this solo episode, I'm talking about something I've been sitting with a lot lately: time, the timelines we create, and how often they're working against us instead of for us. Not because having goals and deadlines is bad, but because the me...

You got into private practice because you wanted freedom. Then somewhere along the way, the freedom disappeared and the 60-hour weeks moved in. If that sounds familiar, this episode is going to hit close to home. I sat down with speech therapist and private practice owner Loevy Afanador to have an honest conversation about what it actually looks and feels like to pivot out of hustle mode and into...

You keep thinking that if you could just get caught up, you'd finally feel okay. But what if catching up was never the real goal? In this episode, I sit down with Theresa Harp , SLP and certified productivity coach, for one of the most honest conversations I've had on this show. Theresa works with SLPs and related professionals who are burned out, overwhelmed, and convinced that a better...

If you’ve ever looked at your full caseload and thought, I should hire someone, this episode is going to give you a much more honest picture of what that actually means. Jamie Perez, speech therapist and owner of Thriving Joy Therapy, spent nearly a year trying to hire her first clinician, and what she learned in that process changed how she runs her entire business. Jamie specializes in infant fe...

If all of your income depends on you showing up, you already know how fragile that feels. One sick day, one insurance change, one clinician leaving your team and the whole thing wobbles. This episode is about what it actually looks like to build income that doesn't require you to be in the room. This week I'm talking about passive income and leveraged income — what they really are, what...

This episode is part of Community Chats, a special segment of the ScaleSmart Podcast where I sit down with SLPs, OTs, and PTs from our community to share the stories you don't always hear. Because growth doesn't only come from the same few voices. It comes from learning from people who are actually in it with you. Christina Beta is a speech therapist with over 25 years of experience, pri...

If you have been saying "I am overwhelmed" on repeat lately, I want you to consider something. That word itself might be part of what is keeping you stuck. Overwhelm is a powerless word. When something is overwhelming you, it has taken over. And the more you say "I am overwhelmed," the more your brain gets to work proving it true. That is not a personal failure. That is biology...

This episode is part of Community Chats, a special segment of the ScaleSmart Podcast where I sit down with members of our community to share the stories you don't always hear. Because growth doesn't only come from the same few voices... it comes from learning from people who are actually in it with you. Asia McNealey is a speech therapist specializing in autism, early language, and speec...

Some people build a business and figure it out as they go. Luba Patlakh - Kaplun, M.S. CCC-SLP, OMT is one of them. After 11 years, two locations in Philadelphia, a mobile therapy bus, a nonprofit preschool program, and a team of 20 administrative staff, Luba has a lot to say about what the figuring out actually looked like. And in this episode, she holds nothing back. This is not a conversation a...

The hardest part of running a business isn't really the marketing or the systems or the hiring. The hardest part is being the only person in charge of every single decision, upholding every boundary, taking every risk. And doing it all alone. In this episode, Hannah set out to talk about loneliness, but took the off-ramp into how to make decisions so you don't get stuck at indecision sta...

This is Part 2 of a two-part series on starting and growing a private practice. If you haven't listened to Part 1 yet, go back and start there before jumping in here. In this episode, I cover the two remaining things I'd do from day one if I were starting over: learning to think like a CEO and building a second income stream before you need one. These are the moves that separate a practi...

Whether you've been running a practice for years or are just getting started, building with intention rather than reaction is what separates a sustainable practice from one that's fast-tracked to burnout. Most of us start a business the way I did: with no plan, riding on a wing and a prayer, and figuring it out as we go. And you can certainly do that too, but at some point, running a bus...

You’re not alone if taking insurance feels overwhelming. Whether you’re currently in-network with insurance providers or you’ve considered taking insurance, this episode is for you. I sat down with speech therapist, Rebecca Rowe, who has been running a very profitable multi-location, multi-disciplinary private practice in North Carolina for the last 10 years. She’s also just opened a full service...

A few weeks ago, I was in full reaction mode. Someone said something unkind about me online. Scammers were impersonating our business. I was sitting in traffic, angry, distracted, and ready to fight people I couldn't even see. Then a fox ran across the road in front of my car. And something shifted. That moment led me straight to one of the most important truths I've learned in 10 years...

If you've ever felt guilty charging what you know you're worth, or if you've caught yourself saying your price like it's a question, this episode is going to stay with you. I sat down with Audrey Faust the Manifesting CFO and bestselling author of She Grows Rich, to talk honestly about the money mindset blocks that keep so many therapists and private practice owners stuck.  We...

What happens when traditional speech therapy approaches stop working and you start paying attention to what actually helps clients feel safe, calm, and willing to engage? For speech-language pathologist Sharlet Lee Jensen, that question led her down an unexpected path into animal assisted therapy and completely changed the way she experienced her work. After years of feeling the weight of burnout,...