Joe Sanok is the author of Thursday is the New Friday: How to work fewer hours, make more money, and spend time doing what you want.
It examines how the four-day workweek boosts creativity and productivity. Joe has been featured on Forbes, GOOD Magazine, and The Smart Passive Income Podcast. He is the host of the popular The Practice of the Practice Podcast, which is recognized as one of the Top 50 Podcasts worldwide with over 100,000 downloads each month. Bestselling authors, experts, scholars, and business leaders and innovators are featured and interviewed in the 550 plus podcasts he has done over the last six years.
Andrew Burdette is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor located near Asheville, North Carolina. In 2019 he started the private practice journey in founding Mindful Counseling PLLC and soon after in 2022 he hired his first additional therapist. Heading into his second anniversary as a group practice, he has transitioned a once 1099 contractor team over to W2 employees.
Along the way, Andrew continues to learn about different software and systems that simplify and streamline the process of running a business delivering mental health services. To better support his growing team members, he has invested in trainings centered on clinical supervision, human resources, and in 2024, coaching.
You’re likely to find Andrew parked in a coffee shop sipping a latte and nerding out about coffee beans, roasting, and favorites or exploring the existential with a friend. If the weather is nice, he’s likely out to find a quiet piece of water to wet a fly line.
Nicole is the owner of Mental Wellness Counseling, A Northern Michigan Counseling Practice. Her practice has three locations throughout the Northern Michigan region.
She is a Licensed Clinical Master Social Worker in the state of Michigan, Member of the National Association of Social Workers, and is on the board of directors for the National Alliance for Mental Illness in Traverse City. She is also a full time professor at Ferris State University where she teaches undergraduate social work courses, as well as mentors the MSW graduate level students for their capstone research.
Nicole Fix owns Eastern Door Counseling, LLC, in Grand Rapids, MI, located within Moonrise Sanctuary, a future integrative mental health collective. She empowers mental health practice owners to build authentic, sustainable businesses, offering intuitive and practical consulting rooted in aligning values and purpose.
Beyond her clinical work, Nicole is a Reiki Master, author, and lecturer, focusing on the sacred feminine and ancestral healing, integrating these principles into her practice. She believes in holistic wellness, incorporating nutritional and integrative health. Nicole helps clients reconnect with their lineage, heal generational trauma, and reclaim personal power.
In her personal life, she values time with loved ones, travel, and embracing life’s simple joys.
Ashley Mielke is a Registered Psychologist, PsyD Candidate, and Founder of The Grief and Trauma Healing Centre; a multi-location, seven-figure group practice based in Alberta, Canada. After 11 years of leadership and serving over 6300 clients, Ashley sold the practice in 2024 to devote her career to coaching women worldwide who have lost loved ones to suicide — work she considers both her calling and her ministry.
In addition to her coaching work, Ashley draws on her experience as a heart-centered group practice owner to help therapists grow their own businesses. Through 1:1 consulting and community-based webinars, she empowers clinicians to start, scale, and eventually exit their practices in ways that are both profitable and deeply meaningful.
When Ashley is not working, she can be found soaking in time with her husband and two sons, playing hockey at the rink, or exploring the places that hold her heart: Hawaii, Arizona, and Michigan.
Doug Polster, PhD, is the COO and Co-Owner of Thriving Center of Psychology, where he specializes in building scalable operations, leadership systems, and EOS-driven infrastructure in mental healthcare. Before stepping fully into executive leadership, Doug founded his own private practice, specialized in performance psychology working with high-performing individuals, and helped launch a cognitive fitness app focused on optimizing brain+body performance. Over the past five years at Thriving Center, he has built company infrastructure from the ground up, developed departments from scratch, expanded the internal team from 4 to 30, and helped grow the organization from 12 to more than 120 providers.
Doug holds a bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University, where he captained the basketball team, earned his PhD in Clinical Psychology from Nova Southeastern University, and completed his sports neuropsychology postdoctoral fellowship at the UCLA Steve Tisch BrainSPORT Program. Known for his energetic, execution focused style, Doug is passionate about helping leaders get out of their own way, push past self-imposed limits, and succeed at a high level without losing fulfillment or meaning along the way. Outside of work, he’s a husband, father of three, and avid golfer (if he gets the time!).
Melissa Schneider, LCSW is a therapist, practice owner, and consultant. In 2019, she opened Resolution Counseling Center in New Jersey, an in-network practice that now has 3 locations and 60+ therapists. In 2023, she launched Cultivate Therapy, an out-of-network practice that extends the career path for her therapists.
Melissa is a consultant with Practice of the Practice and specializes in group practice owners who want to scale and change our industry for the better. She earned her masters in Social Work from Columbia University in 2006 and lives in Jersey City with her husband and twin second graders.
Brandon Shurn is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor in Maryland and a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Florida. He is the founder of EmPower Me Holistic Counseling a Maryland practice that is completely virtual. He is also a full-time professor at Seattle University where he teaches in the online clinical mental health counseling program.
Brandon is a proponent of personal growth and development and continues to seek ways to improve his ability to work effectively with his consulting clients. He loves helping individuals design and launch practices that gives them the ability to make an impact in the mental health space while making an income.
In his free time, you will likely find Brandon in his home gym exercising, practicing yoga, or Wing Chun, reading a good book, hanging with his family, working on his golf swing, or taking a walk through his neighborhood with his dogs.
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