We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Buck Dodson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Buck thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

A pivotal experience in my career was coming full circle and re-igniting my psychotherapy and coaching business after burning out. I’d hit the ground running as a young, ambitious and driven psychotherapist in Los Angeles and spent the first 10 years of my career in full hustle mode. In a relatively short period of time, I’d created a thriving business, but it came at a cost. I was seeing too many clients and not charging what I was worth all while maintaining a demanding teaching schedule as an adjunct faculty member at my social work alma mater, USC. In my drive to succeed, I’d created a business that owned me rather than the other way around. Rather than make adjustments and create a more sustainable business, I called it quits. I convinced myself I wasn’t meant to be a therapist, that I’d never be able to make the income I wanted without working myself into the ground and that this career had run its course. Flash forward three years, and I was in the middle of my own therapy session lamenting how uncertain I felt in my professional life. Since leaving my therapy and coaching business, I’d explored a variety of other roles like interior designer, home stager, nonprofit executive, and even retail shop owner. While fulfilling and enjoyable, none of those roles felt like they captured and expressed the truest version of me. My therapist said to me “Why not start your therapy practice again?” “Really?? That’s your suggestion?” I annoyingly responded. A seasoned therapist and experienced mentor, he went onto explain that he suspected I’d prematurely left the field and that I could quite possibly have a very different experience if I started my practice again. We discussed this for well over a year before deciding to pull the trigger and re-launch my business. Through our conversations and my reflections on what had gone awry in my first 10 years, I realized I wasn’t getting enough help. My drive and ambition to succeed based on a limited number of financial metrics were overshadowing my needs for more connection with my colleagues, more training from experienced therapists and business owners, more support around healthy boundary-setting, and more help charging higher fees. From day one in my ‘therapy and coach 2.0’ business, I was committed to making my business work for me so that I could do the work I truly love and what I feel I’m meant to be doing in the world. Learning to ask for help and creating support systems, as simple as they sound, have been game changers in my career and business.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m a psychotherapist and life coach specializing in leading-edge personal and relationship growth for LGBTQIA+ people with a special focus on midlife reinvention. I’m also the host of Gay Men’s Life Lab, which is a podcast for and by gay, bi and queer men/people and allies that centers on queer-superpowered living, leading and loving.

The organizing principle in my therapy, coaching and podcasting is that relationship is everything. There’s a saying in my biz that goes “we get wounded in relationship and we heal in relationship.” At the root of every problem I help my clients solve is an interpersonal challenge – unresolved conflict, a need for more intimacy, a desire to be seen – it’s all about relationship at the end of the day.

An achievement I’m currently most proud of is publishing my 50th podcast episode. success of my podcast. Over the last two years, I’ve had the opportunity to feature a range of healers, visionaries and creatives who are elevating the conversation about what it means to live as a gay, bi and queer man/person in today’s world. I hear from listeners all the time that the conversations and content are affirming and empower them to live their truth.
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I’d say the thing that sets me apart most is my willingness to share my vulnerability, to get a little messy and to be authentic. I’m not the “expert” type of coach and therapist or the “here are the five easy steps to success.” I talk openly on my podcast and my blog about my own challenges and how I’m moving through them. I’m all about creating a genuine connection with people I work with and who follow my work. Being open, honest and real is where it’s at since that’s what we’re all looking for at the end of the day.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

This isn’t groundbreaking, but it can be challenging to identify especially for new business owners. The most effective growth strategy for me has been clearly defining my target demographic. I market my practice to gay/bi/queer men, couples and people in midlife. That’s it. Granted, that covers a lot of bases, and I do have clients who aren’t in any of those categories, but when people think of my work, they think mostly of relationships, gay men and midlife issues.

Are there other types of clients I’m interested in seeing? For sure. Are there are other aspects of my business like team coaching that I’d like more time to expand? 100%. I may choose down the road to work on growing more of these clients, but the risk of diluting my pipeline of clients is too high for me right now in my business. Plus, I like focusing on becoming highly skilled with the kinds of clients I serve now.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

There are several books that have and continue to influence how I manage and grow my business: Building a Storybrand by David Miller
The 12 Week Year by Brian P Moran
Indistractable by Nir Eyal
The Firestarter Sessions by Danielle Laporte
The Millionaire Messenger by Brendon Burchard
The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks
The Prosperous Coach by Rich Litvin and Steve Chandler
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

Contact Info:

• Website: www.buckdodson.com
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/gaymenslifelab
• Other: https://podcasts.apple,com/gaymenslifelab

Image Credits
Photography credit: Nicole Mlakar