Peaceful Profits Podcast Ep. 66 - Organic Traffic Not Enough? Try This…
Synopsis:
In this inspiring episode of the Peaceful Profits Podcast, Chanelle interviews Uriah Guilford—licensed marriage and family therapist, founder of Productive Therapist, and Peaceful Profits client—about how he broke through a plateau in his business using the Peaceful Profits system.
Uriah shares his journey from relying solely on organic marketing to launching a profitable book funnel that’s now generating daily sales—even before running paid ads. He opens up about moving away from trading hours for dollars, designing a coaching program not centered on him, and leveraging his book as a front-end lead-generation tool.
You'll hear how Peaceful Profits helped him create his best piece of writing yet, turn overwhelmed doubt into clarity, and set up a scalable backend for his VA business. For therapists, service providers, and online entrepreneurs, this is a masterclass in building smarter, not harder—with purpose and peace.
Transcript:
Peaceful Profits Review: Organic Traffic Not Enough? Try This…
[00:00:00] Chanelle: Hello, Peaceful Profits nation. Chanelle here with an exciting client spotlight episode for you today. So today we are talking to our client Uriah Guilford. Uriah is a licensed marriage and family therapist, a group practice owner, and the creator of Productive Therapist, a virtual assistant company that serves therapists in private practice.
[00:00:20] Chanelle: He's a technology nerd, self proclaimed a minimalist travel packer, a rock drummer, and a business development enthusiast. Uriah, thank you for being [00:00:30] here.
[00:00:30] Uriah: Absolutely. Thanks for having me.
[00:00:32] Chanelle: Yeah, we are going to have a great conversation today. As I prepared for this episode and interview, I really was drawn to the idea of before and after.
[00:00:43] Chanelle: I love a good before and after. I think most of us do. I think that's why there are lots of reality TV shows and things like that. And I think being in the therapy space, that's probably something that you're drawn to. As well, seeing that before and after. But today, what I'd love to talk with [00:01:00] you about is your personal before and after.
[00:01:02] Chanelle: So your business before and after your business, pre joining Peaceful Profits. I would love for you to start us off there. What did your business look like about a year ago? Just talk us through where you were as far as generating money, your strategies, marketing, all of those kinds of things.
[00:01:22] Uriah: Yeah. Who doesn't love a good transformation story?
[00:01:25] Uriah: I think this like my story right now, at least it feels like this is a a [00:01:30] mid transformation story and Peaceful Profits has made a huge difference. And I'm super happy to talk about that today because I'm very grateful for you and for the whole team and for the peaceful profit system. It's amazing.
[00:01:41] Uriah: So I have a group practice and then my second business that I started five years ago is Productive Therapists, which is essentially a virtual assistant business that provides admin support to other therapy practices around the country. And we've been growing steadily for about four or five years. And I think around the time when I got introduced to Peaceful [00:02:00] Profits, we hit a point where we plateaued in terms of our organic growth.
[00:02:04] Uriah: And to this day We never invested a dollar in paid advertising. So it was truly all organic growth, mostly through content marketing, email marketing, podcasts, some social media, and some networking with Facebook groups. And so that was fantastic. But we just, we felt like we didn't have a consistent way to scale qualified leads.
[00:02:26] Uriah: And so that's when I got introduced to Peaceful Profits and I had [00:02:30] been thinking about writing a book for a while. So it was like this perfect, perfect moment of serendipity where I was scrolling on Facebook and saw the ad, of course, for the one book millions method. And so that's how that journey started. And in addition to the virtual assistant services, we've been offering, we've been selling courses and also offering some coaching myself offering coaching services. I retired from being a about two years ago, actually. Which was an interesting transition in itself, but very cool and fun.
[00:02:55] Uriah: But I came to this point where I realized that I didn't want to sell my time [00:03:00] anymore. And so when I started listening to Mike and everything that all of you share, it just resonated so much because I didn't want to go back to just getting paid more for an hour of my time.
[00:03:12] Chanelle: Yeah.
[00:03:13] Uriah: So it all started to click and come together.
[00:03:14] Uriah: Yeah.
[00:03:15] Chanelle: Okay. That's something that we hear a lot, this idea of not wanting to have to put in a certain number of hours to trade, hours for dollars. And so I think that's something that a lot of us can really resonate with. Now, I want to talk a [00:03:30] little bit more about, you were building this successful business and helping other therapists with, so you call it a VA business, right?
[00:03:39] Chanelle: Helping other therapists to run their business. Therapy business. And you said something really interesting. You never invested a dollar in paid ads. So talk to us a little bit about what that strategy looked like that allowed you to be able to be successful without having any ad spend.
[00:03:58] Uriah: Yeah, that's interesting.
[00:03:59] Uriah: It [00:04:00] probably lines up to some degree with some of peaceful profit strategies around, generating business without ad spend before, before I really knew it. And it was really just, honestly, it was networking and Facebook groups with therapists, cause there's. For anybody who doesn't know, there's obviously industry specific groups on Facebook and other places for all kinds of folks.
[00:04:20] Uriah: And I just showed up and was always being helpful and interested in other people and contributing to the conversation and all of that. And so that kind of just naturally led to [00:04:30] business coming our way. Some, some strategic friendships and partnerships and those kinds of things.
[00:04:35] Uriah: And I also, to be honest, I had been previously unsuccessful in my therapy practice with using social media advertising, more successful with Google AdWords and those kind of things. So I was like, I don't really want to do that or go there. And I think, to be honest, too, I didn't have a really properly built sales funnel.
[00:04:52] Uriah: So it didn't work, partially because of that, right?
[00:04:56] Chanelle: Okay, that makes sense, definitely. And why you would be a little leery [00:05:00] to just jump into the advertising. Now, a lot of people attempt to do what you just explained that you did, this idea of networking on Facebook. Can you give us some examples?
[00:05:12] Chanelle: Of what that may, might've looked like for you and maybe even a specific example of a connection you made or just how you did that. You said it was you naturally, you showed up and you were helpful. And I think that sounds so good. And yet most of us, when we sit at the computer to [00:05:30] do it, are like how do I actually do this?
[00:05:32] Chanelle: So we'd love to hear how you actually did that.
[00:05:36] Uriah: Yeah, that's a good question. I think from the beginning of my sort of career as a therapist I discovered an interest in business and an interest in technology, specifically from a young age. And so from the beginning, I was just leveraging that sort of naturally, I would talk to my colleagues, my therapist friends, and then at some point, I was building them a website, with my very like new WordPress skills or I was helping them get a Google My Business listing up or [00:06:00] something like that.
[00:06:00] Uriah: So I've always been just in that place of Oh, I can help you with that. In fact, I did it two weeks ago with a therapist friend. We sat down and had coffee and I helped him set up his Google My Business listing, so that kind of thing. And then that translates nicely to, to online communities where if you know something and you've, or you've experienced something and you can show up and just share your experience, offer some help, just generosity in general.
[00:06:23] Uriah: Has worked out really well and specifically for me, I actually productive therapist was born out of, so to speak a [00:06:30] mastermind group that was just a group of four people and I pitched them sort of this idea to start a blog and with a VA sort of component on the side and they said, no that's the business, that's the idea, you should do that and Fortunately, one of the people in the, in that mastermind group ended up starting a business that was, became very successful, that served therapists.
[00:06:50] Uriah: And she sent me a lot of business just because we were friends and we were in a mastermind group together. So those kinds of things can be really helpful too.
[00:06:59] Chanelle: Yeah, I [00:07:00] love that. I love that came from a place of truly being helpful of connecting of being in this mastermind. And then that, like you said, it did naturally lead to other opportunities.
[00:07:11] Chanelle: And it's like Mike always says, if you want to show someone you can help them and going into a mastermind with the Attitude that you've just shared of generosity, of wanting to serve, of wanting to help shows that you can help them. And then for you translated to referrals and a way [00:07:30] to grow your business.
[00:07:30] Chanelle: So that's super cool.
[00:07:32] Uriah: And also not doing it because it's a strategy, but doing it because You actually care and you want to show up.
[00:07:37] Chanelle: Yes. Yeah.
[00:07:38] Uriah: That matters.
[00:07:39] Chanelle: It does matter. And I think it's huge because I think I'm so glad you pointed that out. I think for people listening, it often can get translated as, okay, go in there with a strategy of being generous.
[00:07:54] Chanelle: But if we know deep down, we have this ulterior motive of, It what's [00:08:00] in it for me and how is this going to build my business? It shows and it translates, but to truly have that generous heart and that generous nature of giving also translates, that's good. Yeah. So you came to Peaceful Profits then wanting to write a book.
[00:08:18] Chanelle: And wanting to have this other method of bringing leads into your business and getting out of that plateau that you mentioned. So talk to us a little about what the process of writing the book was like for you. [00:08:30]
[00:08:30] Uriah: Can I tell you one piece of information right before we get to that? Of course. This is an important one.
[00:08:35] Uriah: It was actually on my discovery call with Peaceful Profits with Tim actually, great guy. And he was suggesting to me that I could build a coaching program that wasn't dependent on me alone. And I had been moving away from coaching and thinking, I just want to build the VA services.
[00:08:50] Uriah: I just want to, build courses and sell courses and not really be a coach to be honest. And so he planted a seed that started to grow. And then I eventually, [00:09:00] Decided to write the book to feed people into our new coaching program. That was not just about me as well as the VA services.
[00:09:08] Uriah: And that has started to work out nicely. So that, I think that's a kind of interesting part of the story. Cause I was like, Oh, maybe we can do this in a way. Where it's not maxing out my calendar, right? Cause that's not something I'm interested in being just super busy. Even if it makes a lot of money, that's not what I'm going for.
[00:09:25] Chanelle: Yeah.
[00:09:25] Uriah: Yeah. Thank
[00:09:26] Chanelle: you for pointing that out. And one piece I love the addition to [00:09:30] your story and. One other piece that I want to point out that I hope listeners hear is that came on a discovery call like these opportunities for insights to our business can come from all over. And I will say a Peaceful Profits discovery call really is that and does give those insights.
[00:09:48] Chanelle: And I love that was a piece of the puzzle for you to be able to learn that. In this call that sometimes we go into a preconceived notions of Oh, they're just going to try to sell something to [00:10:00] me. And it's not going to be this valuable call where actually it shaped the future of your business.
[00:10:05] Chanelle: So that's super cool.
[00:10:07] Uriah: Absolutely. Very grateful for that. So that's exciting. Yeah. As far as the book writing process, I've been writing online for many years. Hundreds of blog posts and quite a few ebooks as lead magnets and those kinds of things. And never published anything, never self published something that was more than just a small ebook and never traditionally published anything.
[00:10:27] Uriah: So I just liked the idea of writing a book [00:10:30] and definitely had things to have things to share. And the idea of using that book as the front end offer, I was already on board with that. And what happened actually was I purchased the eight week offer accelerator and thought that I was just going to use that.
[00:10:45] Uriah: It was fantastic. Piece of the full program. And then I went away on a work retreat, wrote the first draft of the book and it was okay, it was pretty good with what I had, and then what I didn't know, unfortunately I ended up buying, the full implementation program is so glad I [00:11:00] did because it made all the difference in the world, specifically working with Tina and being on those calls with her and getting the feedback to actually craft this book to be incredibly effective and incredibly intentional.
[00:11:11] Uriah: And Every single chapter leading people to providing value and then leading people to make a, make it take an action. So it came out so much better than it would have otherwise. And I think honestly, it's the best thing that I've ever written. And hopefully the most effective thing that I've ever written for my business.
[00:11:27] Chanelle: Oh, that's so exciting. So I'm really curious, [00:11:30] the difference between version one and that you did on your own and version two that you did with help. If you could sum that up, what would you say is the difference between those two?
[00:11:43] Uriah: Yeah, the difference between those two, I think version one, I got a little bit too much into my story and try, I didn't really know how to weave that in a way that was interesting or helpful to the reader.
[00:11:54] Uriah: Maybe that's part of it. When I got into working with Tina and actually getting more [00:12:00] resources on how to lay out each and every chapter it just made so much sense to me. And there's small changes. I think we did change the book hook, which I think made it a hundred percent better. And what else did we change?
[00:12:14] Uriah: Just, I think a lot of little things and, cause when you write or you create anything, it's hard to look at it objectively. And so just having somebody else do that, who knows what they're doing automatically makes it better. And then. Yeah, there was just a number. [00:12:30] There's a whole bunch of changes, honestly, that we made that made it better.
[00:12:32] Uriah: Yeah.
[00:12:33] Chanelle: Awesome. That's just gotta be such a good feeling to be able to say it's the best thing I've ever written. That's amazing. So congratulations on that. Now let's talk about some of your recent business successes. So what would you say is your biggest recent business win?
[00:12:50] Uriah: Without a doubt, it's definitely launching the book and the sales funnel and seeing it start to perform even before scaling ads.
[00:12:56] Uriah: That's exciting. Like literally every day, just seeing that there's new sales [00:13:00] coming in and that the specifically that the bump offer and the upsell are working and the numbers are looking good. That's exciting. And that's even Before we've sold a hundred, coaching programs or anything like that.
[00:13:11] Uriah: So I'm just enjoying that at the moment.
[00:13:14] Chanelle: Yeah, that is exciting. Okay. So you're seeing things happen on the front end. You're seeing this funnel work. What's that doing for your business for the back end?
[00:13:24] Uriah: Yeah, it's become a big part of our our overall business growth strategy. Even though some of the things that we're planning [00:13:30] for haven't happened just yet, we've made sales and we're continuing to make sales, but it's there's a lot more to come.
[00:13:35] Uriah: But up until this point, The majority of our revenue has been based on the virtual assistant services. So in order to scale that, we have to scale the team, which actually does come with a lot of challenges with hiring and, employee retention and HR stuff and all of that. And so what we're working on is using the coaching program.
[00:13:53] Uriah: And yeah, mostly the coaching program, honestly. And the book funnel to balance that out so that we make a lot more money [00:14:00] or maybe, get it to half and a half. So it's more profit and it's easily easier to scale. So that's what I'm, that's what I'm looking forward to.
[00:14:08] Chanelle: Perfect. Very
[00:14:08] Uriah: much and also it's just a lot less stress too. Because. Providing a service to any business to business service just comes with all kinds of complications. It really does. But in my experience, selling a book or a course or even a coaching program that you deliver well, there's not a lot of hassle built into that.
[00:14:28] Uriah: So it's, I enjoy [00:14:30] that.
[00:14:30] Chanelle: That's awesome.
[00:14:31] Uriah: Yeah.
[00:14:32] Chanelle: Yeah. So on a personal level, how have you changed as your business has changed and grown?
[00:14:40] Uriah: So much every year I've been in business, I've always found that my business is my best life coach and it constantly forces me to grow and change and learn and develop.
[00:14:50] Uriah: Yeah. I think right now what I'm working towards, and honestly, with Mike's example as an inspiration, working towards optimizing and [00:15:00] leveraging my business so that I can work less. So that would be the biggest thing that's happening now. And even in process of just making, helping things to run on autopilot.
[00:15:09] Uriah: And so we can grow and scale without me maxing out my time. So that's the biggest thing that I'm excited about. That's happening now and is continuing to happen. Yeah.
[00:15:19] Chanelle: That is exciting. You mentioned at the beginning of the call that you are mid transformation. Anything else as you look forward to the future?
[00:15:27] Chanelle: So working yourself out of the business a little bit [00:15:30] more, what else, as you continue this transformation, do you hope to see in your business?
[00:15:36] Uriah: That's a good question. I have lots of plans and dreams and goals. But I think I love to learn and then share what I learn. So I think the more that I can free up time for myself to, go through some of those courses I purchased and read all the books I want to read and then translate that into some of our content and our business, honestly, I'll probably write another peaceful profit style book and do the next one and the next funnel much faster.
[00:15:59] Uriah: I [00:16:00] already have an idea for the next one. So yeah, for sure.
[00:16:03] Chanelle: It's gonna be good. Yeah. Good. I love it. Now we are already to my favorite part of our client spotlight episodes, which is learning your best piece of advice. So you have done a lot of amazing things with your business and over the years done a few shifts and transitions.
[00:16:23] Chanelle: And so there's a lot that you can probably teach us. I'd love to hear your number one piece of advice that you'd share with others. [00:16:30]
[00:16:31] Uriah: It's so hard to ask a business coach to share one piece of advice, but if you sneak
[00:16:36] Chanelle: in more than one, that's okay.
[00:16:37] Uriah: Maybe. Yeah, I think I have at least two. But the first one that came to mind honestly was don't give up because That applies broadly, but specifically to going through Peaceful Profits implementation program and executing all the different steps of that.
[00:16:52] Uriah: It's a lot like from start to finish. I think I did it in six months, which actually is pretty good, but there were several, there were many times [00:17:00] I felt overwhelmed. There was a particular period of time. Starting to write the book where I felt I started to really doubt myself and like question my offers and question everything.
[00:17:10] Uriah: It was really hard. And anybody who's tried to level up their mindset and their business or their business faces those kinds of challenges. So don't give up and then get support. And accountability. So the coaches that I've worked with Peaceful Profits have helped with that so much cheering me on and helping me with strategy and all of those kinds of things and getting across the, [00:17:30] at least one finish line is so satisfying and I'm glad that I did that.
[00:17:34] Chanelle: Awesome. That's fantastic advice. I heard lots of little pieces in there encompassed in that don't give up because there's so many opportunities to want to give up. And you are such a great example of pushing through that, of doing amazing things in your business. And we're over here cheering you on and wishing you all the further success.
[00:17:55] Chanelle: So congratulations for all you've done in your business and thank you for being on the [00:18:00] podcast today.
[00:18:01] Uriah: Thank you so much.
[00:18:02] Chanelle: Yeah. Thank you everyone for listening to the Peaceful Profits podcast, and we'll see you next time. Bye.