If You're Doing All the "Right" Things to Get Clients…and Still Feeling Stuck (Episode 46)
You can be doing a lot in your marketing and still feel stuck. Posting. Tweaking. Learning. Trying. And wondering why none of it seems to add up.
In this episode, I’m unpacking why effort alone isn’t what creates results in private practice anymore. Most therapists I work with are already showing up and putting energy into their marketing—but that energy isn’t compounding. Instead, it’s leaking out through unclear direction and high resistance.
We’re talking about momentum: what actually creates it, why pushing harder often makes things worse, and how small shifts in direction can make your marketing feel steadier, lighter, and far more effective this year. If you want 2026 to feel less exhausting and more predictable, this episode will help you see exactly where to focus.
Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:
1️⃣ Why doing more isn’t creating results—and how energy “leaks” out of unclear systems
2️⃣ How direction and resistance determine whether your marketing compounds or drains you
3️⃣ What to prioritize early in the year if you want the rest of 2026 to feel calmer and more predictable
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Hey everyone. Happy New Year. Happy 2026. Welcome back to Marketing Therapy, episode 46 to get us started for the new year. I mentioned in our previous episodes that I was taking some time off for the holiday.
I took about 10 days away from work, which outside of my maternity leave is the most I've ever been offline, and I am returning to the office so restored, so energized, so clearheaded, and I hope you're getting a little bit of that same feeling too, whether you took a day off. Maybe a couple of weeks, whatever that was for you.
I hope you're entering into the season feeling that January renewal.
I'm super excited about this episode. I prepared the outline for it before leaving the office in December, but it is now informed by some additional insights I've been able to gather since our state of the industry survey. Ended and I've started analyzing that data. So I'm just extra excited about this one.
I can almost guarantee, regardless of where you find yourself in your practice today, that you can get something from today's episode. Okay, now, our last episode, if you ended 2025 with us, was all about intentions and how intentions are a good thing. But they're not good enough. They're not good enough on their own.
We talked about how planting the seed is the most powerful thing you can do, and then what you do after determines whether or not you bear the fruit. So this episode is a follow up to that one. This episode is for the people who say, okay, Anna, I set the intention and I'm doing the thing. This episode is for people who say, Anna, I'm already trying.
I'm already doing the things I feel like I should be, but I'm not getting the results that I want. If that is you, buckle up. This is going to be a good one. Okay? If you listen to that episode and you thought, I'm doing the things, but why is it still so hard? That's why I've put together this episode. This one is for you.
Now, this is the frustration, right? You've set the intentions. Maybe you set your resolution last year in 2025. Maybe you've been at this private practice thing for a long time. You know what you wanna do and you're someone who's gonna do it. You've taken the steps. You haven't just sat around passively and expected clients to come find you.
You recognize that's not realistic, and that's because most therapists that I work with, they're not lazy in order to be successful today. They recognize effort is required. They recognize they need to prioritize marketing. They are thoughtful and they are putting in effort, but that effort just isn't resulting in what they're hoping for.
Now, if effort alone worked, most therapists would already be full, right? If all it took was trying, you would all have a full caseload at the perfect premium fee that you want. That's not reality. So that means something else is at play here beyond just effort, right? So this episode today is not about motivation, it's not about commitment.
It's not really about mindset. That's more last episode. Go back and listen to that one if you need some support in those areas. This episode is about direction. It's about resistance and it's about where your energy is actually going as you move into the new year. All right? Now most therapists are already expending energy on their marketing, right?
That's what we're talking about. You're trying things. You purchased a website template, you sign up for site Today, maybe you are paneled with a service like Alma or Grow. You might have a social media presence. You take trainings, both CEUs and trainings on marketing. You listen to podcasts like this one.
You download free guides, you talk to chat GBT, you're doing things. This is costing you energy in some regard, right? But that energy isn't compounding, it's not going anywhere. It's not building on itself. So I wanna introduce you to this idea of energy leakage. Could the energy you're putting in actually not really be going anywhere?
That's work that doesn't actually reduce future effort. Is what you're doing right now reducing future effort for you? It's actions that make the next step easier. Is what you've been doing, making what you do next, simpler, more efficient, more effective? Are you jumping in and tweaking your website without fundamentally knowing who it is that you're trying to talk to?
What it is that you need to be doing or sharing about yourself or your niche? Are you focusing on just increasing visibility? Everyone knowing you exist, but then not really having a follow-up plan When they do learn who you are and why you're good at what you do, are you just consuming and consuming and consuming more and more information instead of simplifying the decisions in front of you?
If you're doing a lot and you still feel stuck, then it's often because energy is leaving the system. Instead of building momentum within it. A few episodes back, I'll link it in the show notes. We talked about this idea of the client conversion engine. How if you don't have that engine, you're not gonna go anywhere in your practice.
And so when we think about fueling that engine, which is the ongoing part of growing a private practice, we have to think about the energy used to do that. So I want to help you in this episode, focus on building momentum. This isn't a failure. This isn't you doing things wrong, it's just a systems issue.
Okay? So I wanna talk a little bit about physics here, which is hilarious because physics is not my cup of tea. I took AP physics my junior year of high school. Shout out to you, Mr. Kent. And I was a good school girl. I got good grades and I did okay in AP physics, but man, it took everything out of me.
My brain just didn't quite get there in some of those more complex. Concepts, but this one I'm gonna walk you through today. You do not need to be a physics expert, but I do think it's going to land. Okay. So in physics, movement of something, movement depends on force. Okay? Whether or not anything's being applied.
To that object direction, the direction in which that force is applied and resistance. What is fighting against that object? Okay. If we think about pushing a ball along a surface, we need force. We need to actually apply something. We need direction to move in the direction that we want, and we have to think about the resistance.
It's gonna go A lot smoother over a wood surface than a carpet one. Right? Okay. You've got that right. Simple physics here, but powerful if we apply it to this concept we're talking about here today. 'cause the thing is you can apply a lot of force. Force. Your effort force is the things you've been doing and doing and doing in your marketing.
You can apply a lot of force against friction against gravity against the wrong surface. And not actually get anywhere. So it doesn't mean you're not doing anything. It means that your energy has been misplaced. So I wanna think about that. If you are applying force in your marketing, okay, put on your physics hat, you're applying force.
I wanna talk about direction and I wanna talk about resistance. Okay? Direction. Direction determines whether your effort compounds. Gets bigger, stronger, more efficient over time, or dissipates just leaves that system. Alright, so here's an example. A therapist spends hours tweaking the wording and the colors and the images on their website homepage, they're doing things.
If they had to look themselves in the mirror at the end of the day, they would say yes. I spent five and a half hours on Squarespace today, tinkering. Energy was spent, but the site still doesn't clearly say who they help, why they're different. It doesn't connect with the reasons that their client would ultimately choose them over the 10 other therapists we know that they're considering.
So the result, each tweak, each tinker that they did is living in isolation. Nothing's compounding. They're gonna have to get back on and do it all over again tomorrow.
On the flip side, if they knew who they were talking to, why they were different, how to empathize with their clients, then every future page of their website, every bio they had to write, every directory profile, every social media post would build on that same clarity. It would be simpler, it would be easier, it'd be more cohesive, and it'd probably be more effective.
So effort compounds when it's building on something stable. Here's another example, and one I see happen a lot.
A therapist thinks they need to be on Instagram, which if you wanna be on Instagram, you can be very, very successful there. You don't have to, that's beside the point. A therapist thinks that they need to be on Instagram, so they say, all right, I'm going to be there consistently, which is critical to being successful on social media.
So they get on there and they post consistently. They're making reels, they're making carousels. They're making. Static posts, whatever they get likes. They love the likes. They love when the likes come in. Maybe they even get some comments, but the inquiries aren't increasing. There's no tangible ROI on all the effort they've been putting in.
Now going viral, getting results from social media. There's lots of factors at play, but often one of the things that I see happen is the content isn't pointing toward anything clear. Every single time they sit down to post, they're asking people to do something different.
They're talking about a different specialty. There's nothing consistent about what it is that they're putting out there. They essentially show up as a brand new therapist every single time, and so the effort they're putting into their Instagram while meaningful.
And well-intentioned is dissipating. 'cause it's not actually funneling anywhere. People might see the reel and think, oh, that's cool, but it sends them somewhere different than yesterday's post and different than tomorrow's post. And nothing ever happens. It's not compounding.
So even looking at the idea of visibility in your marketing, making sure people know you exist, it's only gonna compound when it's pointed in a direction and consistently so. All right, here's another one. Maybe you're guilty of this. It's one of the mistakes of some of the best intentioned therapists out there, especially those who are early on in their practice and that know they wanna do it right?
Then maybe this is you, you're attending the webinars and the free workshops, you're listening to the podcast just like this one. You're downloading the guides, you're consuming all the helpful information, but all you do is consume. So it feels like you're doing something, Anna. I'm downloading the things.
I'm reading the guides. I'm asking chat, GT I'm asking the questions, but you haven't chosen a direction. And so every single new idea that you're introduced to the one where one person tells you you should do Google ads, and another says you have to post on Instagram, and another says, if you're not doing CEO, you're not living.
Every single new idea just competes with the last one. So learning. If learning is your thing, if that's where your effort has been, it's only going to compound when it actually narrows your path clarifies it straightens the path. That effort is dissipating when it only adds options. 'cause then you just stay stuck in analysis paralysis, right?
Okay, so that's the idea of direction. When direction is right. When you are applying force in the correct direction, everything gets simpler, your language gets reused, and it becomes consistent in your marketing. Your decisions stop reopening every single time. The systems compound, they build on themselves.
That's what we wanna see happen When your direction is clear. Now let's talk about the idea of resistance. That's the other thing, right? Resistance determines whether the effort you're putting in feels sustainable or flat out exhausting, because sometimes our effort does feel that way, doesn't it? It answers a different question than direction.
How much energy does this take to maintain over time? So we got started, we're going in the right direction. Can we do it forever? That's what resistance tells us. So here's an example. You find yourself explaining yourself on every single consult, so you hop on a consult, really happy that you got there, right?
You have a client who's interested and then you spend the whole time trying to land that plane. You're explaining your approach, who you're best for, you're justifying your fee. It feels like every single consult starts from scratch. That's high resistance because there's not a system supporting you.
People aren't coming in pre-qualified. It's all on you every single time. If we contrast that with a website that did some of that heavy lifting for you, people are showing up, knowing your specialties, knowing and acknowledging your fees, you're getting fewer objections. There's less emotional labor on those consults, so resistance is that invisible tax on your energy, which is so precious.
Another one. That person posting on Instagram, they're posting and posting and posting. It feels draining because every single post requires new thinking. They feel like they have to reinvent the wheel and reinvent who they are and reinvent what it is that they're saying over and over and over, and nothing's carrying over.
That's an incredibly high resistance system. And a lot less fun. But if you know exactly what it is that you do, if you're clear on your specialties, your focus areas, what it is that you bring to the table, content's so easy to write. You know exactly what to say and who to say it to. It gives you a filter for what to say yes to, who to say yes to, who to turn away, and it lowers the ongoing effort.
So sustainable effort, whether or not you can do something over time is rarely about doing less. It's not that you're gonna never have to market again because spoiler alert you will, but it's about removing friction, making it simpler, more effective, more efficient as you move forward.
Another super high resistance example, having a website that doesn't do anything for you. I see it all the time. I opened up one today. I received an application from a clinician who's interested in working together, and if you submit an application on our website, walker strategy code.com/apply, I'll review your site, review what you tell us about your practice, then make some recommendations on whether one of our programs or services could be a good fit.
Maybe something else if you're better served by another professional of some kind. But I opened up her website and it was this exact thing. It's a website that's just there. But wasn't doing anything for her. Maybe your site looks fine, but you don't get clients from it. This is one of the most shocking insights from our SOI data, our state of the industry survey data that I mentioned earlier, the conversion gap that has opened up in 2025.
The absolute spotlight on the requirement to get right fit clients from your website as. An indicator of whether or not your practice is going to be full is wild. To me. There's always been a correlation there, but it's stronger than ever. If you have a website out there that doesn't actually do anything for you, it requires you to do more outreach, more explaining, more follow-up, more hoping and praying.
That is also a high resistance system because here's the thing, when one part of that client conversion engine underperforms. It could be the confident identity, the confident presence, the confident connection. When one of those parts underperforms, then the rest has to work over time and over time ain't sustainable.
Right. Alright, so we've talked about force and how that's what you're applying right now. You've got force. But what do you do with the direction and what do you do with the resistance? Direction determines whether your effort is stacking right? Whether we're compounding resistance determines how heavy that effort feels over time.
Now, when efforts compounding and resistance is dropping, guess what happens. And Mr. Kent, correct me if I'm wrong, on the physics side, momentum, momentum happens. When you apply force in the correct direction and you lower resistance, momentum builds, and momentum is what I want for you in your practice, momentum is when things are working, so it isn't necessarily about pushing harder.
Are you seeing that this isn't just about more force, it's about pushing in the direction where resistance is lowest.
Now, when this happens, when your effort is aligned correctly, small actions actually create visible movement in your practice. Like I mentioned, decisions stop reopening themselves. Every single time you sit down to quote unquote work on your marketing. You're not starting from scratch.
It changes how often you second guess yourself, how much explaining you have to do, how heavy your marketing feels. And again, this isn't because we're not applying force. This is one of the biggest wake up calls I had to deliver to my audience in the last, I would say three years. We came outta the pandemic, and the pandemic was obviously horrible in many ways.
It was quote unquote, easy marketing wise. It was simpler to market yourself during the pandemic. If you opened your practice in the pandemic or you were open through it, you can probably attest to that. Then we came into the post pandemic times and all of a sudden I had to be the deliverer of bad news to say, Hey, what was working then doesn't necessarily work now, and in order to be successful, because success is still out there, I have gobs of evidence and proof.
You have to be more involved in your marketing than you've ever been. So again, this is not the fact that your effort is going away. It's not that you stop applying force, but it does mean that you get to apply force that you know is gonna work, that you trust is gonna work. That does, in many ways, become easier and simpler over time.
This is the reason why I want momentum for you. It's the reason why when you have momentum in your marketing, it feels so dang calming, not because it's easy. Not because you're getting to Coast, but because it's efficient, because it's working. The feeling of being able to sign off on a Friday and know your marketing is doing what it needs to do and jump back into your clinical work on Monday is a beautiful gift to yourself.
And that comes from the momentum. I love when I get to hear from people that that is what is happening for them. They say things like. Oh, things finally feel like they're working and sometimes they can't even pinpoint what it is, but I'll often hear from confident copy students, something's just working.
That wasn't before. Or I'm not necessarily doing more, but it does feel easier. My marketing feels easier. Now, if we contrast that with the hustle of high, high, high output, high force, high resistance. Persistent fatigue. No one wants that. I don't want that for you. I don't want that for you in 2026 and beyond.
Now we find ourselves here in January, starting a new year, and I wanna offer a little bit of a reframe on how we generally think about resolutions and getting started with the new year. It's really easy to jump in and to just be intense about your goals. You've set your intentions, you know what you wanna do this year.
The number of you planning to depa this year compared to last year from a state of the industry survey mind blowing. So maybe this is the year you depa, you're gonna do the dang thing. So you show up in January, you're intense about it, you're excited. That's great. I wanna offer that January is less about intensity and more about trajectory one aligned move this month.
Can change your entire year's effort profile. So rather than just jumping in intensely with your intentions, what if you jump in looking for alignment, looking for trajectory in the correct direction first.
So many January goals are focusing on output. More content, more visibility, more clients, more X, y, Z. But momentum building wins. They're focusing on reducing friction, clarifying direction, strengthening the foundation for that long term sustainable growth. It's about a website that clearly communicates who you help, why you're different, what working with you feels like language that is helping those right fit clients recognize themselves faster.
We know they're shopping around, we know they're looking at other therapists. How can they resonate with you more deeply? Systems that reduce ongoing effort, getting on those consults where people already know you're the therapist they wanna work with, they understand your specialties, they value the work that you do.
I wanna offer that the best January wins are the ones that are making February easier, not harder. How could you be doing that? As you start this month,
remember, effort isn't the issue. That's the point of this episode effort force. You've got it. You're gold there. You recognize it's needed. It's about direction and resistance if you're not getting the results that you want. I hate seeing talented clinicians exhausting themselves with their marketing feeling so wildly discouraged, not because they're doing nothing.
But because they're pushing in all of the wrong places,
I want to invite you into marketing that doesn't have the goal of just adding more to your plate for the sake of it, but instead of helping you identify where resistance is highest and what effort could actually create the momentum you need to do this for the long haul. To get premium fee clients for years to come, to be fulfilled in the work that you do and to be able to enjoy the life outside of it.
Now, you likely know if you've been hanging around here that we reopen the doors to confident copy twice every year at a reduced price and with some incredible extra bonuses, and the next one is weeks away, two weeks from Thursday. In fact,
confident copy is the number one place I would recommend for you if you're someone realizing, holy cow, I am applying all this force and I'm not getting the results that I want. We have a wait list, and by joining that wait list, you're not committing to anything. There's no obligation, but you do qualify for an extra discount on top of what we're offering publicly as well as early access to the program, so you can dive in even sooner.
But if we think about this idea of force of direction of resistance, jump on the wait list. Let's start you in the right direction. This is a way to aim your first push this year in a place that's going to make February and March and April and beyond easier. Is there work involved?
Of course there is. There's work involved no matter what. But if you could be doing work that you know is going to compound that you know, has the ability to translate into momentum for years to come, wouldn't you do it? That's what I wanna leave you with. If that sounds like something that you need, again, there's no obligation by signing up.
I encourage you to jump onto our confident copy waitlist walker strategy code.com/waitlist. Again, there's no obligation, but it is a step in the correct direction and it does set you up for some extra savings. If you do decide that you're ready to jump in later this month. Later this week, we're also gonna be announcing the details for our free workshop, clear website, full caseload. This is one of our most popular live workshops we've ever offered, and I have completely overhauled it for 2026.
That's where I'm gonna be sharing a lot of the state of the industry survey data and our learnings on what's changed between 2025 and 2026 in order to equip you with the clarity and the action plan. To start doing something, creating a momentum in your practice moving forward. So do keep an eye on your inbox if you are a member of our email list, and certainly on this podcast as well as I'll be sharing the details there.
But remember that if starting is the hardest part, you've already done that, you've already started, the smartest thing you can do now is to make sure you're aimed in the right direction. That's what this podcast is here for. That's what Confident Copy can equip you to do, and it's what I want to see happen for you in 2026.
All right. Thanks for being here today, y'all. I will see you in our next episode.
Resources & Links Mentioned:
Join the Confident Copy waitlist for early access and additional savings:
https://walkerstrategyco.com/waitlistApply to work with us: walkerstrategyco.com/apply
Episode 45 show notes: Your Intentions Aren’t Enough: What Actually Leads to Practice Growth
https://walkerstrategyco.com/show-notes/45Episode 43 show notes: The Unsexy Work That Actually Fills a Therapy Caseload
https://walkerstrategyco.com/show-notes/43
The Walker Strategy Co website:
https://walkerstrategyco.com
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About Marketing Therapy
Marketing Therapy is the podcast where therapists learn how to market their private practices without burnout, self-doubt, or sleazy tactics. Hosted by Anna Walker—marketing coach, strategist, and founder of Walker Strategy Co—each episode brings you clear, grounded advice to help you attract the right-fit, full-fee clients and grow a practice you feel proud of.
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