Esau Mcmorris – LADC

Esau’s Story…

Esau is a licensed drug and alcohol therapist, with a master’s degree in Business. While the MBA did cover some generic aspects of marketing, this training had limited relevance for real-world daily business challenges.  

Esau joined Sian’s program to gain clarity on how to effectively market himself. There is a common misconception that drug and alcohol counsellors are former drug addicts themselves. It is not widely known this work requires the same level of rigor and training that it does to be a social worker or to work in support roles for mental health. Esau’s clients include lawyers, businessmen and general contractors who are in recovery and need a counselling service to help them deal with life challenges, without returning to drug use.

Esau wanted help creating marketing that would clearly explain to people how his therapy is on an equal level to other kinds of therapy. The aim was to avoid sounding salesy and instead get common ground to build a referral base with fellow professionals to be referrers, and to create meaningful marketing to help the right kind of clients find Esau’s service. Prior to the program, Esau was unfamiliar with the concept of an ‘ideal client’ and had instead taken any and every client, which felt exhausting.

Since working with Sian, Esau only works with those who meet the ideal client criteria. Esau has gone from 60 to 800 referrals on LinkedIn and has had a 20% increase in revenue, making it possible to quite an overnight second job. The work-life balance has also significantly improved for Esau since joining the program.

Hearing Sian’s first-hand experience regarding honest sharing about the road blocks she used to face in her business and how she has successfully overcome them, taught Esau that it is possible to build a business that operates effectively and does not lead to burn out. One of the biggest takeaways was Sian sharing that it is possible to take imperfect action towards the life of our dreams and we don’t need to hold back trying to get everything perfect before we move forwards.

 Esau would stress to anyone considering joining the program that learning about marketing in this way is just as important as any practical professional skills training to be a therapist and it brings an added dimension that is greatly needed.

 Another key takeaway was how Sian encouraged each program member to embrace different ways to market themselves that felt right for them, including organising get-togethers with fellow professionals as a way of networking. Esau appreciated being given so many different approaches to not being locked into just one way of doing it. There was enough variety that Esau could choose which parts resonated most and would work best.

 On a personal note, Esau was deeply grateful for Sian’s understanding and kindness when he was admitted to hospital at the start of the program. Esau admired how Sian puts her trust in the people she believes in, knowing that they are serious about committing to their business progression offers support through it.