Companion guide
Standing out in the age of AI
Use this guide alongside the episode where I share the one thing I would tell every woman about to open a private practice, and every woman already in one who needs clients. Each section holds one idea, so you can take them in whatever order you like.
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1
Section 01
AI can only recommend a practice it can see
Your wisdom is what people are looking for now.
You, easy to tell apart
Same template, same message, same generic freebie. Then one practice that looks different.
- Information used to carry weight because it came from a health professional, so a generic three page freebie was enough to build trust.
- Now every man and his dog can make mental health resources with AI, so your knowledge alone no longer sets you apart.
- Your wisdom is what people are looking for now, and I think that is how your business needs to adapt for 2026 and 2027.
- For AI to recommend your practice it needs to see it, and to see it you need to stand out from the crowd.
- Some of the women I work with had websites built entirely by AI on the same template, and they are struggling to get clients.
Takeaway
AI can only recommend the practice it can tell apart, so standing out is now the first job of your marketing.
2
Section 02
Your niche is wider than an age group and a problem
Choose the umbrella you want to be known under.
Your niche
A modality you love
A personal philosophy
Something you stand against
A lived experience
Age, gender or problem
Many doors, one umbrella.
- A woman I work with had not had a consistent booking in about three years, and she was fully booked within six months of niching down.
- Niching alone is no longer enough, yet it does not have to mean one age group, one gender or one problem.
- Your niche can be a modality you feel passionate about, a personal philosophy, or something you stand against.
- A generalist can do well where there is no competition, such as a rural town with no other therapist, but in suburbia with three therapists on every side the only way to win a client is on price.
- Undercharging is a path to burnout, and I still hear of women with master's degrees charging A$60 to A$80 a session.
Takeaway
Pick the umbrella you want to be known under, because trying to be everything for everyone leaves price as the only way to win a client.
3
Section 03
Decide what you want to be known for
Ten practices, one client, and a reason to choose you.
What you are known for
Your personality
Your innate skill
Your lived experience
Three ways you do it differently hold up the thing you are known for.
- If ten practices share your exact niche, your client has ten options, and they choose you because you are known for something.
- Identify three ways you deliver your service differently from the other nine, and I mean how you act in the room, which is separate from your marketing.
- Personality counts: my clients say I am honest, transparent and blunt, and it took the surveys to show me it was part of why they chose me.
- An innate skill counts too, and mine is pattern matching and spotting gaps, which is why I love doing website audits.
- A shared lived experience counts, like working with women who have been through postpartum depression when you have too, and if you are unsure what yours is, ask people why they chose your practice.
Takeaway
Three ways you do it differently give a client with ten options a reason to choose you.
4
Section 04
Turn it into a two sentence anchor
One summary that tells you what fits and what does not.
Your two sentences
✓Blog on your niche
✓Podcast episode on your niche
✓Freebie built on your niche
IIRandom topic: pin it for a week
Every idea gets checked against the anchor.
- Summarise your niche and your two or three differences in two sentences, three at a pinch, and put that summary everywhere so your business gets found.
- Use it as the anchor for services, workshops, programs, digital products, your podcast, your blog and your YouTube channel, without deviation.
- Before every blog, podcast, video or post, ask whether it matches your summary, and if you want to post something outside it, put a pin in it and give yourself a week before you act.
- Blogging about grief and loss when your business is for single busy working mums with late diagnosed ADHD will not build your business.
- Everything feels possible and big when you are scattered, and the anchor simplifies it by telling you this fits and this does not.
Takeaway
A two sentence summary turns every content decision into a simple yes or no.
5
Section 05
What gets seen gets paid
Give your positioning 90 days of regular visibility.
The 90 days it takes to build trust
One post-it note for every day I marketed my practice.
- We are in an attention economy, so the more visible you are the more profitable you are, as long as you are known for the thing and you share content based only on your positioning.
- I keep a poster sized note beside my computer with 21 post-it notes on it, one for every day I marketed, whether that was an email, a Facebook post, a podcast, a freebie or an article.
- Your website is where people convert, and your marketing is what gets them there.
- Building trust with a vulnerable audience takes about 90 days on average, so track more than bookings, because no bookings after two months does not mean it is not working.
- Your marketing plan comes from your business plan, and your marketing strategy comes from both.
Takeaway
Give your positioning 90 days of regular visibility, because what gets seen gets paid.