Melvin Varghese, PhD's Linkedin Analytics

In 2012, I became a licensed psychologist and imagined a career doing therapy, testing, and supervision But life threw two curve balls... •In 2015, a massive blizzard dumped 31 inches of snow and forced me to cancel 22 fee for service therapy clients as we saved up for the 20% downpayment on our first home. •In 2018, our daughter was born 7.5 weeks early (barely the size of a football) and needed 1.5 years of grueling physical therapy due to low muscle tone. So, I slowly walked away from stable, high-paying clinical work (therapy and testing) to build on a tiny dream. It was driven by 3 simple ideas that a wise supervisor shared with me eight years before: ➡️ Have your hand in multiple pots when it comes to income. ➡️ Build a career around your family, health, and hobbies vs. fitting those around a career ➡️ See your clinical training as a skill set that could be deployed in other realms besides “what a psychologist is supposed to do.” I had a hunch that attention was the new currency and building a personal brand would be vital in the internet age. So, I stacked a bunch of old grad psych books on a tv dinner stand from Walmart and recorded the first episode of the Selling The Couch podcast. I had no idea what I was doing. I recorded the first episode 7 times because I had no idea how to edit the “umms” and “ahhhs” on Garage Band. The podcast had 9 downloads on day 1, 87 on day 2, and 326 on day 3. Before I knew it, it hit the New and Noteworthy section of Apple Podcasts, hanging out with Snoop Dogg's new podcast (fo shizzle =P). We recently passed 1.5 million downloads. In those early days, my colleagues started reaching out for paid consults, asking how to do this podcasting thing. I knew I had my first-course idea: a podcasting course for therapists with a big message to share. I know we’re supposed to share our highlight reels here on LinkedIn. But, to be honest, I made many mistakes. •Recording videos wearing a Batman t-shirt •Undercharging •Being scared to niche deep. But the course has exceeded my wildest dreams with 275+ students and $300k in revenue. And I have several more courses in the works. I now run an online course mastermind for therapists who want to transition from clinical to online course income (link in bio). Here on LinkedIn, I share tips, lessons, and my epic failures as an online course creator since 2015. All of us have a message to share and a people to serve. Thank you for taking the time to connect. I'm so honored to hear your story ❤️ .