Ever wonder what a day in the life of a private practice content creator looks like?
Since I am a therapist and a content creator, I thought it would be interesting to bring you along for a day in my life.
I have two businesses. One of my businesses is my private practice where I see therapy clients. The other is content creation for Private Practice Skills.
Currently, I spend each Wednesday seeing therapy clients, and then the rest of the week is available to work on Private Practice Skills.
A huge part of Private Practice Skills is creating content for my YouTube channel. Typically, Mondays are the one day a week I really hit content creation hard. On Mondays I usually script, film, and start to edit my weekly video.
In this article, I want to bring you along on a typical Monday for me as a private practice content creator.
Beginning My Morning at Home
Let’s hop into the day! Usually, I wake up before 6:40 am to help my girls get ready for the day. My husband then leaves the house around 7 am to drop them off at preschool.
I usually do some chores around the house before I start my work day. Mondays are trash day, so I take out the trash. I also like to tidy up from the weekend.
Once I complete a few house chores, I like to spend a bit of time emptying my brain as a way of transitioning from weekend/mom mode into Monday Marie/work mode. I find that if I take a bit of time to take care of myself, I am a less anxious person and more ready to take on my work for the day.
If the weather is nice, I like to spend a little bit of time outside.
My family moved into our house in summer 2022 and the yard was all astroturf and rocks. I’ve spent 10+ hours a week stripping it back to a dirt lot and planting plants native to my area.
If you’re curious, this type of gardening is called backyard restoration gardening. I don’t want to nerd out on that too long here, but let’s just say that advocating for restoring our gardens to their native state ranks as one of my highest passions.
When I have time and it’s nice out, I like to spend a little time sitting with my coffee and hanging out with my dog. I often feel completely renewed by the time I step back inside, even though I may only go outside for 15 minutes.
Working From Home
Around 8 am I start to transition into work mode. I’m always surprised that it’s only 8 am when I sit down at my desk because I feel like I’ve already done so much that morning.
I have a desk set up in our guest room. That’s my work-from-home spot where I’ll check my emails and my to-do list for the day, and start scripting my weekly video.
Depending on the video that I’m making that week, I may take a couple of weeks to put together a script. But, often I write the script in the morning for the video I’ll be filming later in the day.
I use a giant running list of researched video titles to pick an idea for a video. That way I don’t get hung up on trying to decide what video I want to make that day.
Once my video is all scripted, I put on a favorite podcast or music and begin straightening my hair.
This is a pattern in my work life. I’ll spend some time working, and then I’ll do a task that pulls me out of work mode, like doing my hair. And then I go back into work mode. For me, I find that being able to move back and forth between work and nonwork helps me focus more when I am in work mode.
Starting To Film
At this point, it’s usually mid-morning and I drive to my office. Once I get there I like to get things set up so it feels more cozy and inviting. I also take time to water my indoor office plants.
Then, I begin the process of setting up to film. This can take 30 minutes or so, because I have so much gear to set up!
In the earlier days of my YouTube channel, I would film videos once or twice a month. I would batch videos and film anywhere from 3-6 videos on the same day.
My approach as a private practice content creator has really shifted over the last couple of years. I used to put more focus on pushing out a lot of content to feed the YouTube algorithm. Now, I am more focused on honing in on a craft. That completely changes how much time I spend on each video.
For the most part, I record a video on Monday that I then post that coming Friday.
After all the gear is set up, I sit down at my desk and do my makeup. I use my computer camera as my mirror. 🙃
Filming
And then, it’s finally time to film! In the early days, I would spend 10-20 minutes filming each video and then I would edit it down. Now, I spend closer to an hour, and sometimes much longer than that filming a video.
I’ve come to value repeating the same lines over and over again so that I can use the best take in the final edit. Sometimes doing this helps me shape my own thoughts better as I repeat a similar concept a few different ways.
More recently, I have also started releasing the podcast version of the video which includes a lot more of what I film. I’ve enjoyed thinking of what I’ll include in the extended podcast of each episode and what deserves to land in the shorter, snappier version of each episode while I’m scripting my episodes now.
Once I finish filming, I start importing everything into my hard drive. I then tear down my gear. Often I feel a huge sigh of relief at this moment in the day because I’ve locked and loaded my video for the week. Even though I still have 10-15 hours of editing to do, I feel like I can do that at my leisure.
Editing
After the gear is put away, I dive into the editing. Sometimes folks ask why I haven’t hired out help for editing my videos. There are a few reasons for that choice:
- I enjoy it! I understand that because I edit my own videos, the finished product is going to be slightly more amateur than if I hired a professional video editor to do the job. But, it’s a part of my work week that I look forward to. So I keep it.
- I’ve come to value the sense of personal touch that says: “It’s me! It’s me running this business. It’s me making the content. It’s me answering your emails.” Although that means that I can only do so much, at least you know that it’s me and not AI or a ghost-writer. (Though, shoutout to Annika for converting my scripts into blog posts like the one you’re reading now. Thanks Annika 😉
After I get a bit of editing done, I try to find something small and fun to do. Maybe I go out for lunch, or walk through a local plant nursery. Or I just walk around outside.
Wrapping up the Day
My girl’s preschool is 20 miles away. This isn’t by choice. It just happened to be the closest preschool that would take both of our girls when we first moved to San Diego. It can take up to an hour to drive to their school in the evening. (update: since I recorded this episode, my girls now both go to school in the neighborhood we live in. Thank goodness for that change!)
By this point, it’s usually about 5 pm. I pick my girls up a little later on Mondays and Wednesdays because those are my full work days. On the other days of the week, I pick them up earlier so I can spend some time with them in the afternoon.
So, that’s a typical day in my life as a private practice content creator! This is the schedule that I wanted when I started Private Practice Skills. I feel incredibly fortunate that it’s worked out this way that I can do what I enjoy for my career while having so much flexibility built in.
I’m so grateful for how my schedule is currently setup, and I sure hope I never take it for granted.
Interested in YouTube Content Creation?
Maybe you too are interested in utilizing YouTube to create content. If you are also a therapist, I have an article about how to start a therapist YouTube channel.
Want some more behind-the-scenes footage of how I set up for filming? Check out this video:
And, finally, it has been 14 years since I started YouTubing (!!) and I made a video sharing my reflections on my experience:
Until next time, from one therapist to another: I wish you well!
-Marie
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