I Was Spinning, Not Marketing: Katie Gilbertson on Mental Hustle, Sliding Scales & Financial Wake-Up Calls.
Release Date: 10/13/2025
This Is How AI Replaces You in 2026
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Ready to set your fee? You choose the dream, weāll do the math. Download our FREE Fun with Fees Calculator šš½ leaninmakebank.com/free If your marketing stopped workingā¦ If your phone stopped ringingā¦ If youāre on insurance panels and still canāt fill your practiceā¦ You are not imagining it. And you are not doing anything wrong. The ground has shifted under our industry ā and almost no one is telling therapists the truth about whatās actually happening. In this episode, Tiffany names the uncomfortable reality: what worked in 2019ā2022 will not save your practice in 2026....
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From the System to Sovereignty ā Emma Summerās Leap into Premium Private Practice
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Ready to set your fee? You choose the dream, weāll do the math. š Download our FREE Fun with Fees Calculator šš½ https://www.leaninmakebank.com/free When Emma Summer realized the system was never going to reward her for overgiving, she stopped waiting for permission and built a premium-fee, cash-pay practice on her own terms. Emma shares what it took to confront the fears around leaving agency work, raise her fees, and redefine what āhelping peopleā actually means. In this episode, Emma shares: How she went from burnout to balance by charging her true worth The moment she...
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The Myth of the Black Box ā The Exclusive Marketing Cabal (and How to Get Access)
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Ready to set your fee? You choose the dream, weāll do the math. Download our FREE Fun with Fees Calculator šš½ Youāve seen the posts. Therapists charging $300, $350, $400 per sessionābooked out, spacious schedules, fully off insuranceāand youāre wondering: āWhat the hell are they doing that Iām not?ā It feels like thereās a secret marketing cabal that no one told you aboutāsome hidden door that only the elite therapists get to walk through. In this episode, Tiffany is pulling back the curtain. She exposes the myth of the āblack boxā and shows you exactly why your...
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From Agency Leadership to $320 Freedom ā Amanda Starfield on Leaving the System to Serve with Integrity
The Money Sessions
Ready to set your fee? You choose the dream, weāll do the math. š Download our FREE Fun with Fees Calculator šš½ https://www.leaninmakebank.com/free In this episode, Tiffany sits down with Amanda Starfield, a Massachusetts-based therapist and former clinical director who walked away from 15 years in agency leadership to build a sustainable, premium-fee private practice. Amanda gets real about the internal war between wanting to serve others and realizing she couldnāt keep doing it from a system built on exploitation. When she left her āsecureā job, she didnāt take insurance...
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Scammed?! How Do I Know If a Business Program Is Legit? ā Stop Asking About Success Rates (Youāre Not Average)
The Money Sessions
Ready to set your fee? You choose the dream, weāll do the math. Download our FREE Fun with Fees Calculator šš½ Youāve seen the posts. The ads. The āsix-figure coachā promises. And youāre thinking: āIs this legitā¦ or am I about to get scammed?ā Youāre not alone. Every week, Tiffany talks to therapists who are terrified of wasting money on a business program that doesnāt deliver. But hereās the truth: youāre asking the wrong question. In this episode, Tiffany flips the script on how to evaluate whether a business program is worth your investmentāand she calls out...
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Breaking the Chains ā How Sara Champie Went from 24 Clients on Medi-Cal to $250 Sessions and Peace
The Money Sessions
Ready to set your fee? You choose the dream, weāll do the math. š Download our FREE Fun with Fees Calculator šš½ https://www.leaninmakebank.com/free From seeing 24 clients a week on Medi-Cal to working 12-14 hours at $250 per session ā Sara Champieās story is the revolution therapists need to hear. As a primary breadwinner, Sara used to believe she had to grind herself to dust to prove she cared. But when resentment, exhaustion, and rage began to spill into her marriage and motherhood, she realized: staying small wasnāt noble ā it was self-betrayal. Through her LIMB journey,...
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Why You Keep Yourself Broke ā Being Broke Is Not Your Problem (Itās Your Solution)
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Committing to $185 ā Peer Counselor Jessica Scalzo is Creating a Movement
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Ready to set your fee? You choose the dream, weāll do the math. š Download our FREE Fun with Fees Calculator šš½ https://www.leaninmakebank.com/free What happens when someone without a therapy license decides to build a premium-fee practice anyway? Meet Jessica Scalzo, a professional Peer Counselor and retired competitive runner who turned her lived experience with overtraining and eating disorders into a thriving private practice charging $185 per session. Jessica was charging $45 when she joined LIMB. Today, sheās a pioneer ā redefining whatās possible for peer counselors,...
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Your Low Fees Are Out of Integrity ā Why You Canāt Build an Honest Practice on a Lie
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Ready to set your fee? You choose the dream, weāll do the math. Download our FREE Fun with Fees Calculator šš½ This is your unpopular opinion alertābut someone needs to say it. If youāre taking insurance or charging low fees that donāt allow you to pay your bills, take care of your kids, and save for retirement, your practice is out of integrity. Youāre modeling a lieāboth to your clients and to yourself. In this fiery, no-fluff episode, Tiffany dismantles the illusion that therapists can do high-quality, transformative work while chronically undercharging. She shows you...
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From Nonprofit Burnout to $275 Sessions ā Angelina Miceli on Finally Choosing Herself
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Ready to set your fee? You choose the dream, weāll do the math. š Download our FREE Fun with Fees Calculator šš½ After helping build a 12-clinician nonprofit from the ground up, Angelina Miceli, LCSW, realized sheād built everything ā except her own joy. She was burnt out, resentful, and quietly crumbling. In 2024, she joined LIMB, left her director role, and went all in on private practice. Today, sheās charging $275 per session and $300 per intake ā and loving every minute of it. If youāre scared to leave your āsecureā job, Angelinaās story is your...
info_outlineReady to set your fee? You choose the dream, we'll do the math. Download our FREE Fun with Fees Calculator here šš½ https://www.leaninmakebank.com/free
In this episode, weāre speaking with Katie Gilbertson, a Washington-based therapist who was working three days a weekābut still couldnāt take a vacation or contribute to retirement.
She thought she had created a dream schedule.
What she hadnāt created was financial freedom.
Katie walks us through what it took to finally stop tweaking her website at 10PM and start building a premium-fee practice rooted in clarity, ownership, and ease.
In this episode, Katie shares:
How charging $150ā$160āwith half her caseload on sliding scaleāleft her spinning and anxious;
Why āhaving timeā didnāt mean having freedom;
The guilt and fear she carried about raising fees on long-term clients;
The moment she stopped waiting for a second job and invested in her own business;
What changed when she stopped managing clientsā financesāand started managing her own.
Resources mentioned:
More about Katie:
Katie Gilbertson is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Washington State. She helps anxious women who people-please & over accommodate, heal attachment wounds, set guilt-free boundaries, and prioritize their needs.