We recently connected with Rachel Needle and have shared our conversation below.

Rachel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

This is such a great question. And my answer is based on not being A business owner, but as an owner or multiple businesses. I love being a business owner and cannot imagine being anything other than that. My mind is constantly going with exciting new ideas and I enjoy implementing them and watching as they develop and come to fruition. I like the flexibility of being able to take a few hours off in the morning to go out on my boat if I want to or to see a friend who is in town visiting. However…there are definitely times when I think to myself, how nice would it be to go home at night and not have to worry and manage unexpected issues that inevitably arise…often. While some of my businesses operate much more fluidly and without needing as much time and energy, others require ME…and quite often. Remember my comment about being on the boat? Well, my phone is attached to me while I am out on the water. When you are a business owner, you are almost always on. That being said, for some of my businesses, I have a great team who make it possible for me to detach at times. This is key in owning a business. Having people who care and are good at their jobs, makes your life as a business owner easier. So to go back to the original question–Yes, I am a very happy and proud business owner!

Rachel, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am proud of the different businesses I have built. I am a Licensed Psychologist and an entrepreneur. I have started and run many businesses. Currently my four main businesses are Whole Health Psychological Center, Modern Sex Therapy Institutes, Rachel Needle LLC, and My Private Practice Collective. The Whole Health Psychological Center is an outpatient psychological group practice. We provide psychotherapy, testing, and assessments for children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families. Each member of our team brings a unique specialty to our services combined with exceptional skills and experience along with a caring and committed approach to each of our clients. We have the flexibility to individually tailor our services to meet each individual and family’s emotional and behavioral needs. WHPC is an affordable, family-friendly practice. Because we understand that therapy can be costly, we have a flexible fee schedule and are able to adjust our fee based on a client’s need, and participate on many insurance panels. The goal is to have all family members’ needs met under one roof and provide access to quality and affordable mental health services. Modern Sex Therapy Institutes (MSTI) is a continuing education provider company and a Licensed school for mental health and healthcare professionals. We train professionals around the world and provide a number of certifications such as but not limited to Sex Therapy Certification, Transgender Affirmative Mental Health Care Certification, LGBTQIA Affirmative Certification, Sexual Trauma Certification, Neurodiversity Sexuality Professional Certification and more. MSTI is also Licensed as a School to provide a Ph.D. in Clinical Sexology. MSTI is the most comprehensive, affordable, flexible, and informational program for those looking for specialized trainings.

Through Rachel Needle LLC I provide individual and couples psychotherapy. I specialize in sex, relationships, trauma, and substance use disorder. I am also a professional consultant to facilities specializing in treatment of substance use disorders. I assist them in expanding, growing, operating ethically, and enhancing clinical programming.
My Private Practice Collective help therapists connect, build successful practices and additional streams of income, and create the life of their dreams through our online social media community, consulting, coaching, and courses.

I care tremendously about people. It is important to me that people know they are valued and cared for. We spend a lot of time comparing ourselves to others, especially with how much time most spend on social media these days. Doing so often makes us feel badly about ourselves. Our feelings about ourself and our happiness is often influenced by our tendency to compare. I encourage people not to compare themselves to their past selves or to others and to instead work on being present, focusing on your present self, appreciating, and being the best version of yourself that you want to be.

I also care deeply about ensuring everyone has access to comprehensive and quality mental health services. This is something that is significantly lacking in this country. Part of this is due to the private insurance companies not reimbursing at a rate that is fair for therapists, thus leaving many therapists to choose not to be in network. This creates a barrier to treatment for many who need it. I am a fierce advocate, and will never stop speaking up for those in need.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

While I have several businesses, the one I currently spend the most time on started as a side hustle. I started the Advanced Mental Health Training Institute (AMHTI) in 2010 to provide continuing education to mental health professionals around the world. Through the AMHTI I train therapists on topics such as substance use disorder, trauma, behavioral issues, sex and sexuality, and providing online therapy. I provided only in person trainings at the time. A few years later I started to live stream the trainings so people all over the world could attend, and record them all for future sale and viewing. This was a game changer for my business. I was able to reach people anywhere and at any time before doing this was a common practice. Then, in 2015, my good friend Ricky Siegel and I merged our sex therapy programs and created the Modern Sex Therapy Institutes as a part of AMHTI. We quickly grew to providing live trainings and certification in one to eight states, still offering live streaming via zoom (yes, we used zoom way before covid!), and continuing to record all trainings as well. After noticing that there was a great need for more training in specific areas, we started other specialty certifications in order to provide quality trainings to people in a variety of professions including mental health, medical and other healthcare, education, clergy, and even businesses. Some of the specialty trainings include LGBTQIA Affirmative therapy and professionals, Transgender Affirmative care, Sex Education, Sexual Trauma, Medical Sexology, Neurodiversity Sexuality, Somatic Sex Therapy, Kink Conscious Professionals, Problematic Sexual Behavior and more! We pivoted to using the name Modern Sexuality Training Institute for the CEs and certifications, because in 2020, Modern Sex Therapy Institutes was licensed as a school and approved to offer a Ph.D. in Clinical Sexology. This is something that took a lot of time, energy, and work and that I am incredibly proud of. We have some of the biggest names in the field as faculty.

So, I am thrilled to say that what started as a side hustle has become so much more! Today, my Advanced Mental Health Training Institute still provides diverse training to mental health professionals and Modern Sex Therapy Institutes has become one of the largest sex and sexuality training programs in the world, for all professionals.

I have also met so many incredible people through the work that I have done with MSTI. I am grateful for the support, mentorship, and relationships that have grown as a result of creating quality educational trainings.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I do a lot of business consulting today and I tell people there are different ways to fund the start of a business. Much of this will depend on the type of business. I chose to not get external funding and instead put what I was personally making in to launching my businesses and to have them grow as I was financially able. For me, this was the best decision. Whole Health Psychological Center was started in one office in an executive suite building. I quickly grew to two offices. Soon after, three. Once I grew in to a fourth, I realized this was the time to look for my own space. I did just that and rented a beautiful office space close by so that the change was not too much for our clients. Four years later, I was able to buy my own office suite.

This is the route I have taken for all of my businesses. At the beginning, I lived frugally and put much of the money I made hustling (yes I called myself a hustler—clients, adjunct faculty at three Universities, per diem work at a local women’s clinic, and more) in to the group practice. As an expert in working with mental health and substance use disorder treatment centers, I was lucky my name became known in the field, so that I was able to grow my consulting business quickly which was helpful in my being able to be financially stable without needing the income from the other businesses. This was most important to me because my goal for Whole Health Psychological Center was to provide comprehensive and quality mental health treatment to people and to never turn anyone away based on their ability to pay. Making this dream a reality was helped by knowing I was financially secure through my other work and businesses.

Then, once the educational trainings side hustle was launched and growing, I started new programs with great faculty and all the businesses were able to support their own growth from that point on. Most importantly I absolutely LOVE what I do! I enjoy the content, the variety, the clients, the students, the travel, and above all helping people!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.drrachel.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drrachelneedle/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drrachelneedle
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-needle-950b183/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrRachelNeedle
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiii0jUgiPDbwKGW3PPKOow