Ep 182 - Starting A Course From Scratch With Dr Laura Williams

Recently I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr Laura Williams, who has such a great story to share with you.

Laura is also our first Her Empire Builder member from the UK which shows huge dedication because our live sessions are ran in the morning so she stays up late to watch them. I share this because it's the dedication and purpose that drives Laura. With the sudden passing of her husband in 2018, she's a single mum to 5 children and instead of feeling like an (understandable) victim to that, she's chosen to be victorious.

Laura is one of those fabulous humans who is so good at her job and cares so much about her impact, and I just can't wait for the world to get access to that and her new course 'Know your own Psychology'.

Here’s what Laura had to share during our time together!

You’re relatively new to the online course world, having just launched your first course this year. What has led you to this point? 

I have been self employed now for a couple of years after being employed in the health service as a clinical psychologist. After the sudden death of my husband in 2018, I had a moment of clarity that life is far too short to be working in ways that I don't necessarily want to. So I left my job, and since then I've been working on this for a couple of years.

I had also been thinking about how I can scale my work for a very long time, trying to work out what my field of psychology can look like within the online space. I wanted to find a way to keep things both professional, and relatable. 

How did you prioritize what you were going to start with when you launched your online model?

Even though my therapy was face-to-face, I had already begun building up my knowledge of social media and marketing strategies which was a great starting point. I'm also fairly confident about webinars, so it was more the content marketing and podcasting that I felt less comfortable with.

For the new and scary parts, I’m just trying to take it one step at a time and learn as I go. I do need to fight that urge of perfectionism and just dig in, get it done, and see what the results so that I can learn as I go.

You’re a busy woman with five children - how do you make the time to fit in everything that is needed to create, market and run your online course? 

I'm getting better at blocking my time, which has always been a struggle for me but is absolutely necessary now! I'm also making the most out of pockets of time where I can, and I'll work in the evenings if I need to.

But what's interesting is that I love this work so much that it never really feels like work. I feel like I'm playing!

How have you dealt with your increased visibility online now that you’re more public online now?

I started writing after the death of my husband, so my visibility started to increase when my blogs and the things I was writing about were on my personal Facebook page. A lot of people were saying, “Wow, this is really resonating with me.”

That’s when I knew I should just get the business page up and running, by talking about grief. I know it both professionally and personally, so that was the beginning. Honestly, the first few blogs and posts I put up, I'd be sitting there thinking “I want to delete it, I want to delete it.”

The vulnerability hangover was really painful. And now that that's gone now, there's only occasionally times where it feels like that. Now, I'm feeling that I'm leveling up, and that's a different space than what I was in two years ago.

What is the vision that you have for the business in a year for it to look successful to you? 

I'm definitely still growing and thinking about the vision. Next year, what I would love is to be able to see I have doubled my income. I would like to be able to say that I have impacted more women.

In the UK, the pandemic has really affected people's access to psychological support, so I want to give people this transformational, lifetime work.

And that for me is what this of success version is.

What's your favorite thing about being part of Her Empire Builder?

For me, it has been the connection and the community. What I love about it is women holding each other up, pushing boundaries, and really trying to rise together. That for me is what Her Empire Builder is.

Find all of the notes and links for todays episode at tinatower.com/182 and find Laura on insta at @drlawilliams. Join the waitlist for Her Empire Builder right here!

Dr Laura Williams is a clinical psychologist, trauma specialist, best-selling author, media contributor and mum to five. She holds specialist interests in anxiety, eating disorders and obsessional compulsive disorder. Beginning her first degree in psychology at the age of 19, Laura would continue to learn and train in the field of psychology for the next 20 years. She has a BA in Psychology, a Masters in Forensic Psychology and a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology. After clinical training, Laura worked within specialist services in prisons and hospitals with people who had experienced high levels of trauma in their lives.

After the sudden loss of her husband in 2018, Laura started working for herself for the freedom and flexibility she needed for her young family. She has since built a thriving online psychology practice and works with people to help them understand how their early and past relationships have impacted them. Laura now offers an online course KNOW YOUR OWN PSYCHOLOGY to scale her work and help more people.

Laura has written for and been featured in publications including The Telegraph, The Sunday Post and The Skinny. She has contributed to television documentaries for ITV and Channel 4 in the UK on the topic of morbid obesity. In addition to her television experience, Laura has broadcast experience often contributing to Radio Scotland programmes. Her first book, Grief Writer: A Journal, published in 2021, hit the amazon bestseller list and aims to help people grieving to process their emotions after loss.

Laura lives near Edinburgh, Scotland with her partner, their five children and a Labrador named Beau. From there, she is helping change the conversation around trauma and mental health. When she is not working, you’ll find her out running, swimming outdoors or trying to 'pop-up' on a surfboard.