The 3 Sneaky Ways Fear Is Sabotaging Your Progress (Episode 008)
Have you been endlessly tweaking your website, signing up for every marketing webinar, or telling yourself you just need the right words before you can share your work? If so, you might be marketing from a place of fear—and you’re definitely not alone.
In this episode, I introduce you to three familiar therapist archetypes I often see in this pattern: Paralyzed Paige, Tweaking Taylor, and Researching Riley. Each of them is trying hard—but spinning their wheels. We’ll unpack how fear can quietly shape your marketing habits and, most importantly, how to shift toward grounded, intentional action that builds confidence and momentum.
You’ll walk away feeling seen, supported, and equipped with a new way forward that doesn’t require perfection—just a single, self-trusting step.
Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:
1️⃣ How perfectionism, hesitation, and over-researching are sneaky signs that fear is steering your marketing
2️⃣ The difference between motion and momentum—and why one keeps you stuck while the other moves you forward
3️⃣ A powerful mindset shift to help you market like the thriving, full-fee therapist you’re becoming (not the unsure one you feel like today)
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Hey there. Welcome back to Marketing Therapy, episode eight. I'm so happy you're here. In this episode, you're gonna meet three different therapists, and I wonder if one of them feels a little like you. Today's episode is all about the therapists who are working really hard behind the scenes, but aren't necessarily seeing the results that they're looking for yet.
So if you've been staring at your website. Rewriting the same paragraph over and over and over. Signed up for three different marketing webinars in the past month. Anyone, anyone, or maybe you've been telling yourself, you just need to find the right strategy, the right words before you can start putting yourself out there.
If you're any of these, please know you're not lazy, you're not disorganized, and this is the right episode for you. Because the fact is, if you're doing one or all of those things, you're actually trying really hard. But here's the thing I wanna explore today. What if all of that effort isn't coming from a truly grounded place?
What if it's coming from fear? Now, I know that word might feel a little strong. Most therapists don't think of themselves as quote unquote fearful marketers, but fear can be really sneaky. It can sound like perfectionism or hesitation or I just need to be ready. Thoughts like that. So in this episode, I'm gonna introduce you, like I said, to three different therapists who I often meet in some shape or fashion all the time.
The one who freezes, who stuck in analysis paralysis, the one who tweaks. Endlessly, but never really moves forward, or the one who researches everything, hoping to find the perfect formula before they can do anything else. We're gonna look at the fear that shows up in each of these patterns, and more importantly, how to step back into your power and to take the steering wheel back from fear when it comes to growing your practice.
All right, let's dive in. Let me introduce you to the first fear-based marketer. Welcome, paralyzed Paige. Paige is the therapist who is stuck in analysis paralysis. Paige isn't taking action and not because she doesn't care, but because she cares so much that she is frozen. She's not out there winging it.
She's actually thinking really, really, really hard. About what to say and how to say it and when to share it, but the result is the same for Paige. No real movement. Maybe you have spent hours researching how to write your about page, but haven't written a single sentence yet. Or maybe you've been quote unquote, thinking about blogging for six months and you have all these ideas bouncing around in your mind, but haven't published a single post.
Maybe you've had a half finished website sitting in the unpublished section of your Squarespace account, but you keep telling yourself that it's not ready. This is what fear can look like. It's not loud and obvious, but quiet and oh, so consuming.
If you're resonating here a bit with Paralyzed Page, here are a few questions you can ask yourself. One, do I tell myself I need to feel more ready before I can begin? Two, do I keep researching or planning instead of taking action? Three, do I wait until something feels perfect before putting it out there for.
Do I assume that once I know what to do, I'll suddenly feel motivated. And five, do I feel overwhelmed every time I try to start something new? Do those questions resonate with you? Are you nodding along? If so, you're not alone. This is something I see all the time. And again, it doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong, it just means that fear is in the driver's seat right now.
But the good news is that you can take the wheel back. And it also doesn't have to take a full rebrand or a marketing overhaul to do that, but it will take one small likely imperfect step. We'll talk more about how to reconnect with that intention later in the episode. But for now, notice if paralyzed Paige and her pattern feels familiar and give yourself a little bit of grace
because so often the clarity you are waiting for comes after you move. Not before, all right, let's meet the second fear-based marketer. Say hello to tweaking Taylor. Tweaking. Taylor is the therapist who is technically taking action. The girlfriend is doing stuff, but she's never really doing stuff. She's never really moving forward.
She's writing, she's editing, she's updating her website, her profile, but it's always in a loop. Maybe you are familiar with changing a sentence on your homepage and then changing it back. Updating your site today, profile every week, just in case rewriting Instagram captions 10 times and still not posting it, writing and rewriting the intro email to reach out to a new referral source and then deleting it.
You're in motion, absolutely, but you are not in momentum. And that is a big difference. Now, tweaking isn't bad in and of itself, right? Refining is a normal and natural and important part of marketing, but when tweaking becomes the main thing you do, it's usually not about strategy anymore. It's about fear.
Fear of getting it wrong, fear of missing the perfect phrasing, or the fact that one slightly off sentence is gonna cost you a client. It convinces you to stay in editing mode forever. Because editing feels productive. It feels safe because you are doing something, but you're not really being seen if you're resonating with tweaking.
Taylor here. Here are a few questions to ask yourself. One, am I making updates because I have a specific goal in mind, or because I feel uncomfortable sitting still? Two. Do I constantly seek feedback, but struggle to actually implement it? Three. Am I stuck in a cycle of almost ready, nearly there? Four. Do I worry that what I've written doesn't sound smart or professional enough, or that I don't appear legitimate enough?
Five. Do I hesitate to share anything unless it feels completely dialed in?
You might not be frozen. You might not be para paralyzed page here, but fear is still leading. And again, this often happens when you do know what you're doing clinically. You are good at your job. You're used to being very precise and very thoughtful. You're used to being right about things, but marketing isn't about that kind of perfection.
It's about connection. It's about momentum. And those things don't come from the 47th revision of your about page. Those things come from letting people see you, even when it's not flawless, even when you might still be a work in progress. So if you're tweaking Taylor, if you are resonating with her, take a breath.
You don't need to rewrite everything. You probably just need to hit publish. And we'll talk more about that as we end the episode. But before we do that, let's may meet our third fear-based marketer. Please welcome researching RI to the show. Researching Riley is not frozen and not necessarily tweaking.
Researching, Riley is learning and absorbing and getting their ducks in a row over and over. Lots and lots of ducks. Taking the courses, watching the webinars, listening to the podcast, downloading the opt-ins, reading the blog posts. You've probably heard some version of this advice before, maybe even from me.
But still, something's not quite clicking. You're seeking out hearing something new in a different way. So you go searching for the next strategy, the next fill in the blank template, the next formula that's going to finally make this all feel doable. Here's what I want to gently offer to you. At a certain point, research becomes a hiding place.
And this is coming from someone who loves when people join. You know my courses because they absolutely can help, but at some point, learning feels like progress. But is actually a hidden delay tactic, and for a lot of therapists, it's not just a strategy problem. This is fundamentally a self-trust problem.
Chances are you don't need a whole lot more information. You need to start implementing the information you already have. Now, I deeply personally resonate with researching ri. This is what I do when I'm marketing from fear. I go seek out information. I get comfortable in data. I look at numbers. I enroll in a course, because those things do feel a lot safer than actually implementing, actually pivoting, actually taking action.
So if that's you, if you're researching Riley, here's some questions to ask yourself. One, am I using research to avoid the discomfort of taking action? Two. Am I hoping that if I just learned the right way, I won't have to feel uncertain because uncertainty is really uncomfortable. Do I tell myself I'm not ready yet?
Even though I've been preparing for weeks or months, I have. I signed up for how many courses without actually finishing or applying what I learned. Sometimes therapists stay in research mode because they want to be really good stewards of their practice, right? They want to be thoughtful and ethical and authentic and strategic, and that's admirable.
Those are all good things to be, but a cer at a certain point, it becomes fear dressed up as responsibility. You don't need to be perfect to begin. You don't have to have every single answer. You just need to start where you are and commit to showing up. Commit to implementing because the truth is the only thing that builds clarity and confidence is doing okay.
So whether you are tweaking Taylor paralyzed, Paige, researching Riley, here's the shift I wanna leave you with today. At some point you have to decide to run your practice. As the fully booked full fee practice owner, you want to be not the not yet full, still questioning one that you are right now. Let me say that again.
At some point you have to decide to run your practice as the fully booked full fee thriving practice owner. You want to be not the not yet full, still questioning one you are right now, that version of you. The one with a full caseload. The marketing that actually works, the confidence in your voice, the pep in your step.
She's not waiting around hoping she feels ready. She's making intentional strategic decisions from a place of groundedness and from a place of belief, belief that she can do this, that she is capable, that she will figure it out. The more you can act from that place. The faster everything can start to shift in your marketing.
This doesn't mean of course, that you will never feel fear. You will probably feel those uncomfortable feelings at some point. It doesn't mean you're not gonna second guess. It doesn't need, you're not gonna stumble. It doesn't mean you don't need support, but when you start making decisions from intention rather than insecurity, you can start building a business that actually feels like yours.
So if you've been frozen or you've been tweaking endlessly or researching your way right back into paralysis, I want you to come back to this question. What would the thriving full fee version of you do next? What would she decide today that is where your next step lives?
So if any of this resonated with you. If you saw yourself in paralyzed Page or tweaking Taylor or researching Riley, I want you to know you're not alone. This isn't about shame or blame, but it is about noticing and naming and then gently choosing a different way forward because fear-based marketing will absolutely keep you stuck, and I see some incredible clinicians in this place and unable to get out until they start making these kinds of shifts.
Intention based marketing, self-trust based marketing, that is where your momentum can start to build. It doesn't require that you are perfect, but it does require that you are in motion and moving forward. If you want a small next step here to ground you in that intention, ask yourself this. What is one decision I've been avoiding because I'm afraid it won't be perfect.
And then make it, make that decision, make it with clarity, make it with belief in what's possible and with belief in yourself
now if you need a resource. To start moving forward, if that is what's going to help you get out of one of these personas, please know we have so many different resources to help, whether that's the Magnetic Niche Method, to really clarify who you help and how you do it. One of our templates to finally launch that website that you've been putting off Confident Copy to really get clear on the words that you're using.
Check out the show notes and get all of that information. But maybe you don't need any of those things. Maybe you just need to shift how you're thinking about and showing up to your marketing.
Maybe that's the biggest thing you can do right now to keep yourself moving forward, decide what needs to happen, be kind and gracious to yourself, but then. Start moving forward, start making those decisions and keep going. You my friend. You have got this. You've got this. I'm cheering you on. Thanks for being here.
Resources & Links Mentioned:
Magnetic Niche Method: walkerstrategyco.com/mnm
Squarespace Templates: walkerstrategyco.com/templates
Confident Copy: walkerstrategyco.com/cc
The Walker Strategy Co website: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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