Mental Health Matters: Unveiling Crush Club's Vision for Wellness | 106

"I'm a psychologist. I know the things to do.
I'm preaching the things to do, but yet I'm letting myself just kind of hanging by a thread in order to continue the mission, in order to continue pushing forward when I really needed to just take a minute and just address my own needs so that I could be a better provider, so I can be a better mother, to be a better person. "

- Dr. Gressard

Show Notes:

It's hard for us to shift our minds. That's to ok to put ourselves first. [00:15:09]
And you're and you're looking at this idea of preventative mental health, which is something that I think, you know, having done criminal law for years, I recognize that so many of my clients could have used mental health help while going through their cases [00:15:56]
Colorado does not have mental health treatment for indigent people and it definitely does not provide opportunities. From what I've observed, two young children, kids who are struggling within their family, [00:16:47]
We definitely have to break the cycle. [00:17:22]
Shift where we're at and shift the mindset and start focusing on positivity and kindness and self-worth and self-care.  [00:18:30]
How did your kids motivate you?  [00:20:15]
Starting an LLC and using those online tools, of course. Right. [00:32:23]
So, like, in the end, I could have just called up my business advisor, my lawyer, and then I could have just knocked everything out. I could have done it correctly because when I finally connected with you, [00:33:23]
Let's talk about that a little bit, because I think that there's a good lesson in the use of online forms,  [00:33:35]

Did you really understand what it meant, what everything that you were creating and getting yourself into through the creation of your LLC in these documents?  [00:34:23]
Did you create an operating agreement?  [00:38:50]
What about the other piece of this, which is trying to find guests for your podcast where I mean, what type of professionals are you looking for here?  [00:55:07]

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Transcript

00;00;01;13 - 00;00;33;07
Andrew J. Contiguglia
I'm Andy Contiguglia, your corporate casual Denver-based business attorney bringing you the Don't Skip the Legal podcast where you can listen in on the real stories, the real stakes, and the real legal lessons from real business owners just like you. These behind-the-door conversations about business are instrumental to your success. This is where the deals are made, negotiations are discussed, and company problems are identified, leading you to overcome the challenges we all face in our business.

00;00;33;07 - 00;01;07;12
Andrew J. Contiguglia
This podcast is your invitation to where the real business happens and also where the best ideas take place. So let's get behind the doors and business and break down these legal lessons, and overall, remember, don't skip the legal. All right. Welcome to the Don't Skip the Legal podcast. I am Andy Contiguglia. And today I have with me Dr. Tabitha Gressard a licensed clinical therapist who owns and operates and started the company called Crush Club LLC, which is a mental health training and education business for youth and their families.

00;01;07;22 - 00;01;27;24
Andrew J. Contiguglia
She started off as a psychologist in the United States Army, where she spent a substantial round of time in the United States Army doing her psychology work and helping people from upper management, high level, I don't know, in the Army, they don't call them executives. They call them white officers. All right.

00;01;28;14 - 00;01;29;22
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Yes, yes, leadership.

00;01;30;02 - 00;01;44;27
Andrew J. Contiguglia
And in leadership. And she has transitioned into owning and operating Krush Club, LLC. So I'd like to welcome Dr. Tabitha Gressard welcome to the Don't Skip the Legal Podcast once you introduce yourself to our listeners.

00;01;45;03 - 00;01;52;10
Dr. Gressard
Thank you. Well, first of all, you made me sound way better and my job way better than it actually was. Yeah, I'm back.

00;01;52;10 - 00;01;52;26
Andrew J. Contiguglia
In the army days.

00;01;52;27 - 00;02;00;29
Dr. Gressard
Back in the Army days. Tabitha and I did enjoy my time in the military, but I started off as a cook.

00;02;01;18 - 00;02;02;21
Andrew J. Contiguglia
That sounds delicious.

00;02;02;23 - 00;02;06;20
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Mm hmm. And. And then moved on to being a career.

00;02;06;20 - 00;02;09;00
Dr. Gressard
Counselor before I was a psychologist in the Army.

00;02;09;15 - 00;02;20;05
Andrew J. Contiguglia
So tell me a little bit about the type of work that you did while in the Army and how you were able to then ultimately transition that kind of work into what you're doing today.

00;02;20;10 - 00;02;41;28
Dr. Gressard
Yeah. So a big part of my job was being a consultant to commanders and for sergeants. And one of my favorite positions was as an embedded psychologist. So it's my job to eat, sleep, breathe with the unit and get to know them so that they felt comfortable talking to me and addressing their needs.

00;02;42;02 - 00;03;05;15
Andrew J. Contiguglia
So when you're saying when you're with the unit or we're talking like a combat unit and officer unit, I don't know exactly how all that is set up. That's sort of my naivete and sort of upper executives and officers over at the Army. But being embedded with the unit means you were there and available for everybody in the unit from the low level people all the way up to the high level people.

00;03;05;16 - 00;03;09;28
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Was this like a combat space? Was this overseas? What was what was all that about?

00;03;10;00 - 00;03;46;06
Dr. Gressard
Yeah. So it was both. When I was a resident in grad school, my residency director created a program, a pilot program, and I led that where we had a handful psychologists integrate into a combat aviation unit and this has already been done in regular combat brigades, but not with aviation specifically. It was so successful in garrison. So before we deployed that the commander asked that I deploy with them when they go to Afghanistan.

00;03;46;17 - 00;04;04;02
Dr. Gressard
And I did. And so I was also allowed to bring a psych tech with me and was able to choose who I wanted to do that. He was absolutely fantastic. And we traveled with the brigade and he and I were the mental health support for the 3000 servicemembers.

00;04;04;11 - 00;04;14;12
Andrew J. Contiguglia
So when you were overseas, this was during the Afghan war and you were embedded with a garrison over in Afghanistan on one of the military bases over there. So this was all organized.

00;04;14;13 - 00;04;27;16
Dr. Gressard
Yes. Well, the way aviation's a little bit different because they're spread out across different areas, different regions. And so we had so there are 13 forward operating bases that he and I covered.

00;04;28;00 - 00;04;31;04
Andrew J. Contiguglia
And so how many military personnel were you directly supporting?

00;04;31;04 - 00;04;32;10
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Yes, that's about three.

00;04;32;10 - 00;04;34;12
Dr. Gressard
About 3000 in that brigade.

00;04;34;18 - 00;04;37;17
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Oh, good gracious. And how long did you end up spending over in Afghanistan?

00;04;37;21 - 00;05;00;27
Dr. Gressard
It was a 12 month deployment, but he and I were the last to go out. So we saw every flight and we said goodbye to everybody and helped see everybody off. And then we came home early. One fact I got to escort somebody who was actively psychotic home from combat. Okay. But we were on the first flight, and then we received and did risk assessments for every flight coming home afterwards.

00;05;00;27 - 00;05;03;09
Dr. Gressard
So my total time was only about 11 months.

00;05;03;18 - 00;05;08;19
Andrew J. Contiguglia
And what was the timeline that you were there? So, I mean, it was 11 months, but what were the what was the year that you were there?

00;05;08;22 - 00;05;10;05
Dr. Gressard
I was about 2011.

00;05;10;24 - 00;05;11;06
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Yeah.

00;05;11;08 - 00;05;28;18
Andrew J. Contiguglia
And when you were over there, tell me about the types of items that you dealt with with the people in the field. What was it like working with these military personnel and being in a combat zone? Did these people get deployed into battle and then come back? What were the types of issues that you were dealing with during that time you were overseas?

00;05;28;19 - 00;05;29;04
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Yeah.

00;05;29;04 - 00;05;59;13
Dr. Gressard
So with aviation is little different because it's not really we're not on the ground so much. Right. We're mostly just hovering over. And we supported special operations. We support a medevac. So there was a lot of different VIP. So folks were flying around needing to get from base to base. They handled all of that. My job was to handle everything and anything that came through my door and then do risk assessments, safety assessments, and also hand off to a higher level of care when needed.

00;05;59;13 - 00;06;10;23
Dr. Gressard
But we tried to keep everything as much as possible in-house. So within the unit we saw everything from just marital stress, family stress, occupational stress.

00;06;11;04 - 00;06;11;29
Andrew J. Contiguglia
To.

00;06;12;04 - 00;06;17;22
Dr. Gressard
Serious suicidal and homicidal ideation and also psychosis and mania.

00;06;17;27 - 00;06;42;26
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Hence the escorting the individual back home from overseas during that time of his life. But I expecting that he was probably recovered. Okay, everything's okay with this? I hope so. You hope so? You don't know. So you're there in 2011. How much longer after your events in Afghanistan did you stay in the Army before deciding to leave and sort of go into business on your own?

00;06;42;26 - 00;06;44;09
Andrew J. Contiguglia
How did that transition take place?

00;06;44;22 - 00;07;03;21
Dr. Gressard
That's a good question. That's a big part of my story, too. I was already having a lot of medical issues and just the stress alone. So when you're the only game in town, you work day shift, you work night shift, you work whenever when somebody walked off the FOB, you know, it was called for that. And there's catastrophic events.

00;07;03;21 - 00;07;10;10
Dr. Gressard
I was called for that. And so the stress was as high for everyone. Right? And I ended up with shingles twice while I was there.

00;07;11;00 - 00;07;12;06
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Just to prove.

00;07;12;06 - 00;07;38;23
Dr. Gressard
How stressful it was. But I was already I think I had my first child right before deploying. She was nine months old when I left. I think I just wasn't. My body was still kind of recovering from that and a lot of ways and balancing out. So it was becoming clear that I definitely had some things I needed to take care of but was still carrying on.

00;07;38;23 - 00;07;42;06
Dr. Gressard
As we deal. Yes, as we do, pick yourself up by the bootstraps, don't.

00;07;42;06 - 00;07;42;18
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Really have much.

00;07;42;19 - 00;07;59;06
Dr. Gressard
Make it work. Do what you got to make it work. And it's and it's important, right. So you want to make sure you're there and you want make sure you're president. I was shortly after that that after returning when it started to become more and more clear that medically I needed to start handling what I was going through.

00;07;59;07 - 00;07;59;27
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Your own personal.

00;07;59;27 - 00;08;24;03
Dr. Gressard
Experience? My own personal experience. And it was then that I opted to go into the National Guard. So I eat out of active duty so that I can maintain on a part time status because I absolutely loved being in the military. There's so many opportunities. It was something I was very invested in. So when I transitioned to the National Guard, that was my last ditch effort to maintain.

00;08;24;03 - 00;08;26;00
Dr. Gressard
But just more on a part time status.

00;08;26;11 - 00;08;28;19
Andrew J. Contiguglia
So how long were you then in the National Guard after that?

00;08;28;23 - 00;08;40;28
Dr. Gressard
Not too long. I was for a while. So I also had twins during that process, too. So part of it I was out of like not working so much just because I was on maternity leave.

00;08;41;00 - 00;08;41;07
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Right.

00;08;41;21 - 00;08;49;29
Dr. Gressard
So I would say it was about 2014 when it was becoming clear that it was difficult to continue working.

00;08;50;10 - 00;08;51;04
Andrew J. Contiguglia
In the military.

00;08;51;11 - 00;08;51;19
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Mm hmm.

00;08;52;03 - 00;08;56;06
Andrew J. Contiguglia
And how much longer did you stay until you finally ended up calling it quits?

00;08;56;14 - 00;08;57;09
Dr. Gressard
Touch on all the.

00;08;57;09 - 00;09;00;09
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Difficult points here, because it shouldn't.

00;09;00;09 - 00;09;09;03
Dr. Gressard
Take that long. But administratively, it did take a while. So, I mean, I did not actually retire until 2018.

00;09;09;11 - 00;09;11;03
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Oh, wow. You stayed in. But I was.

00;09;11;04 - 00;09;11;26
Andrew J. Contiguglia
There for a while.

00;09;11;26 - 00;09;36;13
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Yeah, for years. Continuing with what you were doing previously? Not clearly. Not at this point overseas. You're back now, stateside. Now you have your family that you're you're managing as well. And hence the reserve status with the National Guard and building that. But you still managed to continue doing what you were doing and offering similar services, but on a reserve basis, right.

00;09;36;23 - 00;09;37;04
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Oh yeah.

00;09;37;04 - 00;09;48;04
Andrew J. Contiguglia
So what does that what is that? It's like a little bit. You're still managing officers. You're still helping with the high stress and the high and the difficulties of everybody dealing with, you know, as a military officer.

00;09;48;12 - 00;10;09;29
Dr. Gressard
Yeah. You know, so the National Guard's a little different of an animal and you can't provide care, direct care. I can only refer. So a big part of my job when I was in the National Guard was more doing that command consultation. And then also getting to know folks and having them feel comfortable enough to reach out to me.

00;10;09;29 - 00;10;24;00
Dr. Gressard
And then that was challenging for me because I was used to also being the one to do the care. But in the national Guard I had to refer out if needed. I worked with a special population at that time, though, and with Special Forces. None of them need any help, but they're more.

00;10;24;00 - 00;10;26;15
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Than happy to do some.

00;10;26;15 - 00;10;29;00
Dr. Gressard
Curbside consultation and get their jump.

00;10;29;00 - 00;10;33;00
Andrew J. Contiguglia
In and help when they're at high stress combat zones and none of them needed.

00;10;33;00 - 00;10;35;01
Andrew J. Contiguglia
So it takes a little bit more work.

00;10;35;01 - 00;10;41;03
Dr. Gressard
To get them to feel comfortable to get help. But they were more than happy to kind of do some just sideline stuff.

00;10;41;13 - 00;11;02;12
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Well, that's good. And so you finally ended up leaving the military, U.S. Army, and you said 2018. Mm hmm. And is that when you get the idea for Crush Club or how does that what happens between 2018 or after 2018, after you leave the the U.S. Army? That sort of helps point you in the direction as to where you really want to go.

00;11;02;13 - 00;11;02;25
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Yeah.

00;11;03;00 - 00;11;25;09
Dr. Gressard
Well I didn't voluntarily take off. My military had is kind of got taken off for me but I put on my mom hat and I just threw myself into being a mom and I was actually, you know, in hindsight, super, super fortunate to have that opportunity to really invest in my children and my family. And that's what I did.

00;11;25;09 - 00;11;48;12
Dr. Gressard
So a lot of I went from being a provider to being a patient, and I was forced to really kind of address what was going on with me medically and even psychologically. Right inside. That was a huge transition for me to go from working to not working. And there's only so many closet you can organize. Like after a while I had to start trying to be productive.

00;11;48;12 - 00;11;58;13
Dr. Gressard
So as I was taking care of myself and starting to get myself to a better place, I started volunteering more, mostly with the kids school, just because that was the sort of fun.

00;11;58;16 - 00;12;17;13
Andrew J. Contiguglia
That was the easy. That's the low hanging fruit. When it comes to volunteering, I'm sure your background in psychology also sort of helped in that. I mean, when you were doing your volunteering with your kids school at all, did you see opportunities available to you? How did that sort of help you catalyze what you wanted to do in moving ultimately toward Cross Club?

00;12;17;19 - 00;12;40;26
Dr. Gressard
Yeah, I think there definitely could have been opportunities. I was running from them because I, I knew that I just needed to kind of take a knee for a while. So I really just kind of got comfortable in my role. But it was the kids then that started wanting to do something different. And maybe because they have a psychologist for a mom, they're kind of they're brainwashed a bit.

00;12;40;26 - 00;12;44;02
Andrew J. Contiguglia
When you when you say, yeah, you're talking about your kids.

00;12;44;02 - 00;12;44;15
Dr. Gressard
My.

00;12;44;15 - 00;12;53;17
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Kids, your kids. Yeah, I get the same kind of thing with having children who are kids of lawyers. That's always an interest or one. Do you like to argue somebody exaggerates?

00;12;53;25 - 00;12;55;09
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Yeah, exactly. You know.

00;12;55;29 - 00;13;29;15
Andrew J. Contiguglia
So at what point in time in all of your volunteer work in transitioning out of the Army, in being a mom and washing only so many loads of laundry, what do you decide or what gives you this idea of there's an opportunity for me here. There's an opportunity for me to really help kids and help family with. I don't know if mental health training is the proper verbiage for this, but, you know, opportunities to help kids with leadership, to help families with stability and help in that.

00;13;29;15 - 00;13;32;00
Andrew J. Contiguglia
What happens in your story to help get us to that point?

00;13;32;00 - 00;13;39;24
Dr. Gressard
Oh, well, in between those loads of laundry, I also found myself at coffee shops with some of my girlfriends. And oftentimes.

00;13;40;13 - 00;13;42;02
Andrew J. Contiguglia
We would.

00;13;42;02 - 00;14;06;26
Dr. Gressard
You know, commiserate on how mental health is just so difficult to access. It's in when you do access it, oftentimes you're not finding the right person for you. It's not the best fit in. That relationship is key. And then you go through so much red tape to finally find somebody that didn't quite resonate with you, only to realize that, you know, this is not it's not going to work for me.

00;14;06;27 - 00;14;28;12
Dr. Gressard
Right. And so it's costly, it's time consuming. It's difficult to access. And we just found ourselves really kind of I'm very passionate about those issues. And I have some lovely girlfriends in my life that are also very passionate about that. And maybe I'm jaded or maybe I'm cynical, but I just, you know, feel like we're.

00;14;28;12 - 00;14;28;21
Andrew J. Contiguglia
A little.

00;14;28;21 - 00;14;53;27
Dr. Gressard
Too far gone with our healthy habits. Like, here I am, I'm a psychologist. I know the things to do. I'm preaching the things to do, but yet I'm letting myself just kind of hanging by a thread in order to continue the mission, in order to continue pushing forward, when I really needed to just take a minute and just address my own needs so that I could be a better provider or so I can be be a better mother and be a better person.

00;14;54;06 - 00;15;34;04
Dr. Gressard
And I still didn't do it, even though I knew better. And the jaded side of me feels like that's how we are, that's how we're raised. That's it's hard for us to shift our mindset to putting ourselves first. And so naturally then my kids became my next victim, where they are still pliable and they're still moldable. And why aren't we teaching them those healthy habits now while they're growing and learning so that they can be preventatively helpful when they get older rather than, you know, like we do something catastrophic happens in our lives and then we decide we need to make all these changes.

00;15;34;16 - 00;15;37;05
Dr. Gressard
They're hard, then it's hard to make those changes then. Yeah, and.

00;15;37;05 - 00;16;01;17
Andrew J. Contiguglia
You're and you're looking at this idea of preventative mental health, which is something that I think, you know, having done criminal law for years, I recognize that so many of my clients could have used mental health help while going through their cases, not only from a, you know, just a complete, like stress attitude, like, oh, my God, I can't deal with this.

00;16;01;17 - 00;16;25;01
Andrew J. Contiguglia
But the events that led them to it or events that led them to drug abuse or alcohol abuse or domestic violence or anything like that, being unable to recognize the mental health components, because here in Colorado, we have I believe we have like the resources available to people who are indigent. I mean, if you have money, you can go find your, you know, your therapist anywhere you want.

00;16;25;03 - 00;16;27;25
Dr. Gressard
But you need the time to, right? Yeah. It's hard work, but.

00;16;27;25 - 00;16;28;02
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Yeah.

00;16;28;11 - 00;17;02;16
Andrew J. Contiguglia
So but you get Colorado does not have mental health treatment for indigent people and it definitely does not provide opportunities, from what I've observed, to young children, kids who are struggling within their family don't know how to communicate with their parents, don't know how to communicate with their siblings or their friends. And that just sort of starts them off on this path of, you know, depression and anxiety, you know, all of these things not having the right way.

00;17;02;16 - 00;17;19;06
Andrew J. Contiguglia
And I think you can certainly train a parent to how how to manage a child. And that's helpful. But I'm really interested about how you sort of see this, you know, being able to provide mental health services to children and transitioning into that. How does that come about?

00;17;19;13 - 00;17;42;02
Dr. Gressard
Yeah, well, we definitely have to break the cycle. And there's, you know, generation upon generation we pass not just our genetics down right, but we also pass that junkie stuff that kind of continues within families. And I think had you asked me ten years ago when I was like really into my career, which would I have said the same thing?

00;17;42;02 - 00;17;59;18
Dr. Gressard
Probably not. I don't think I saw the value in like how we can help impact change through use and moving forward. But there needs to be that huge shift. So my kids, like many kids, want to like post YouTube videos, right? Right. You know, they all do right now. Right.

00;17;59;26 - 00;18;01;15
Andrew J. Contiguglia
And it doesn't.

00;18;01;15 - 00;18;03;04
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Everybody does it. Everybody.

00;18;03;04 - 00;18;31;17
Dr. Gressard
Exactly. That's true. So on trend right now. But my argument to them was, you know, keep sending me your pictures, but it has to have added value to society. So I think they also saw an opportunity mostly my oldest daughter, but, you know, my younger two are on board, too, where there's an opportunity to kind of shift where we're at and shift the mindset and start focusing on positivity and kindness and self-worth and self-care.

00;18;31;29 - 00;18;47;23
Andrew J. Contiguglia
I think you hit a really solid note here. I mean, in looking at some of your content, I noticed you try really hard to get your children involved and you posted something on Instagram a couple of weeks ago is I think you and your daughter in a car. Oh, yeah.

00;18;47;24 - 00;18;49;11
Andrew J. Contiguglia
And we had the update.

00;18;49;11 - 00;19;07;23
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Yeah. You know, like here's the update on something. And it was one of these things where she's got the camera, she's talking to it and, you know, there is this idea that you need to be able to provide something valuable to your community, to the people you're speaking with. What is it that you're bringing to them where they look at this?

00;19;07;23 - 00;19;27;10
Andrew J. Contiguglia
And it's not just another cute kid with a camera online who is doing something silly and people are laughing, which I get in entertainment. There is a component of value to that. But that's not your mission here. Your mission is to promote mental health and leadership, you know, in that respect. And it's really neat seeing you get your kids involved.

00;19;27;10 - 00;19;46;01
Dr. Gressard
Well, it's funny, though, because I didn't get them involved. They're the ones that compelled me to get back to work. And so I got a I got to hand it to them because when you see youth wanting to do good things and wanting to help make the world a better place, like who am I to stop them from that?

00;19;46;01 - 00;19;49;27
Dr. Gressard
So they actually motivated me to get my butt back in gear.

00;19;49;27 - 00;19;51;11
Andrew J. Contiguglia
And how did that work out there?

00;19;51;20 - 00;19;53;28
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Tell us about that. That sounds like a good story.

00;19;54;10 - 00;19;55;09
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Yeah. Well, it's just.

00;19;55;17 - 00;19;58;09
Dr. Gressard
You know, having that interest of wanting to make a difference.

00;19;58;11 - 00;20;00;04
Andrew J. Contiguglia
In the laundry six times.

00;20;00;04 - 00;20;01;29
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Today, you're not there.

00;20;02;18 - 00;20;03;27
Andrew J. Contiguglia
To do something else.

00;20;04;13 - 00;20;04;22
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Yeah.

00;20;05;06 - 00;20;12;18
Dr. Gressard
So it actually and they're the ones that inspired me to kind of get back at it. But you're asking like, how can you know, what were you asking? I don't.

00;20;12;18 - 00;20;36;18
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Know. I was asking, how did your kids motivate you? Oh, I mean, it sounds like they were a huge catalyst in your development of Crush Club. I remember when we first met you sort of identified Crush Club as being about your kids. They are the delivery mechanism for your message, which I think is fantastic. But I'm curious, sounds like they were the ones who sort of started up this whole idea.

00;20;36;25 - 00;20;46;25
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Yeah. And that they were the ones who kicked your button line, as you like to say. And how did they do that? What was the conversation they had with you besides? Hey, Mom, get off the couch.

00;20;47;16 - 00;21;07;26
Dr. Gressard
Get back to work. Mom. No, it was. They wanted to start doing some challenges around the neighborhood where they're promoting, like, doing good things for yourself. Like, what do you do? And we posted a short video on that too, like, what are you doing for yourself today? So they wanted to start doing that stuff and then it just kind of spiraled into, Oh gosh, they're so right.

00;21;07;26 - 00;21;30;05
Dr. Gressard
Like, why are we not trying to shift where we're at? And there's so much negativity on social media, and that's where I mean, we're all on social media, whether we want to be or not. We take breaks. Sometimes we don't look out as much, but we're all on it. And it's essential. Oftentimes for business. But what we're exposed to is not healthy.

00;21;30;05 - 00;21;55;10
Dr. Gressard
Right. And so they motivated me to start seeing things like, you know what, this is an opportunity and it needs to be a little bit deeper than just some fun videos, right? So why not start a podcast? Why not allow a space where folks can on demand access information? Nothing crazy. It's not therapy, but the trend is shifting where it's becoming cooler to be mindful and healthy.

00;21;55;10 - 00;22;17;28
Dr. Gressard
Psychologically, it's becoming cooler. It's not yet cool, you know. Why are we watching Dangerous or stupid? Tiktoks, you know, I mean, like, why are we not watching a short snippet or listening to a podcast that is addressing our self-care, which is just short little things that we can do to take care of ourselves. So that's kind of where like my mindset went with it.

00;22;18;06 - 00;22;37;15
Dr. Gressard
You have you can meet people where they're at, you can provide information that's helpful with the intent of families working together as a cohesive unit. So if you have a child in therapy, traditionally, you know that parent or that caregiver.

00;22;37;23 - 00;22;38;15
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Or whoever.

00;22;38;15 - 00;22;59;07
Dr. Gressard
Happened to take them to the appointment that day, they go in to the beginning of the session and they provide updates and then they leave. They're excused for like the meaty, juicy information. That's where all that education and training is. Then they come back to kind of recap and plan for later. But that's the critical stuff right there.

00;22;59;07 - 00;23;20;11
Dr. Gressard
And how can a family I mean, don't get me wrong, it's helpful and it's useful and it's definitely needed. But the more preventative stuff, the stuff before you feel that you need to go into an office, you know, it would be nice that family is practice in those skills together and they're cohesive and as a team with it, that's kind of where we're at with it.

00;23;20;16 - 00;23;28;27
Andrew J. Contiguglia
And so how exactly then does the creation of Crush Club fit into this vision that you have?

00;23;29;11 - 00;23;31;26
Dr. Gressard
Yeah, so I guess that's essentially it.

00;23;31;29 - 00;23;32;27
Andrew J. Contiguglia
I would be.

00;23;33;00 - 00;23;57;27
Dr. Gressard
Super passionate about having access to care. I'm super passionate about providing resources, and I would love nothing more than to see us as a whole healthier and more in tune with ourselves so that we know what we need. I think that if we all focus on our own self-worth and our own value, then we would make better decisions in life.

00;23;58;02 - 00;24;03;25
Dr. Gressard
We would make different decisions. And why not start with the family unit?

00;24;03;25 - 00;24;08;00
Andrew J. Contiguglia
And podcasts are kind of easy right now, so I might as well just go about that. There you.

00;24;08;00 - 00;24;25;22
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Go. How does that idea transition into your business? I mean, tell me your business model. We've talked about this, but tell me how you envision I mean, here you are. Your the easy path for you is go down the street and hang the proverbial shingle on the door.

00;24;26;09 - 00;24;27;06
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Put like five sense.

00;24;27;06 - 00;24;47;05
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Exactly, exactly. You know, like psychological help. $0.05. You can be the Lucy in your neighborhood. But going through it, doing that, that's an easy path. And I think many people in your position do that and they get a lot of value out of communicating with people 1 to 1. But you're not going down that path. Why do it this way?

00;24;47;05 - 00;24;57;11
Andrew J. Contiguglia
And exactly what does it look like? How do you see your business as an opportunity to promote your message? But what is the methodology behind doing that exactly?

00;24;57;18 - 00;25;24;24
Dr. Gressard
So I definitely see the value in traditional direct care like that, where you walk in a patient, in walk patient and I, I got so much out of it right it you get to have a very personal relationship with somebody and oftentimes through the worst or hardest times of their life. And it is extremely satisfying. There's a lot of satisfaction from that.

00;25;25;08 - 00;25;35;17
Dr. Gressard
But I also struggled with it because I could only fit so many people into one day right. And I tried, especially in theater.

00;25;36;00 - 00;25;39;04
Andrew J. Contiguglia
How, you know, brief. Can we make these so.

00;25;39;04 - 00;25;46;17
Dr. Gressard
That I can fit in as many people as want to be here? But I don't know. I kind of I want to.

00;25;46;26 - 00;25;47;02
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Be.

00;25;47;02 - 00;25;49;19
Dr. Gressard
Your access more. I want to provide more.

00;25;49;20 - 00;26;14;21
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Well, you're sort of at this crossroads of being able to provide group therapy to a group of unlimited people, provided you can manage and create and distribute your message in the nice bite sized chunks that we want you to be able to consume it over short periods of time and be able to say, Hey, this little nugget of information is great.

00;26;14;21 - 00;26;33;23
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Oh my God, I should start meditating or I should, you know, start trying to create more of a work life balance and how to do those things. And you're delivering your message from licensed doctor who can convey that information. So how does Crush Club, how do you how are you using your kids to send that message out to people?

00;26;33;29 - 00;26;34;27
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Yeah, well.

00;26;35;07 - 00;26;40;12
Dr. Gressard
Hopefully they'll be engaging enough to where they can help capture some sort of audience.

00;26;40;15 - 00;26;41;11
Andrew J. Contiguglia
So that.

00;26;41;11 - 00;26;41;29
Dr. Gressard
Will be their.

00;26;41;29 - 00;26;43;10
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Role in that.

00;26;43;21 - 00;27;02;05
Dr. Gressard
But also they can help me kind of know what's the word on the street, right? Right. It was different when I was embedded in the military, like I was on the street. I was literally walking the street with them. And so I could see and I did know what was going on with, you know, the different units within the brigade.

00;27;02;05 - 00;27;27;24
Dr. Gressard
But I don't have that same access as an adult when I want to reach out to kids. So hopefully they can help just keep their hand on the pulse and give that information to me. And then I can help find the right people to bring on and the right resources to provide. You know, another thing is I kind of touched on a little bit earlier where there's about fit in a lot of the informed consent process.

00;27;27;24 - 00;27;36;03
Dr. Gressard
When you do meet with somebody individually for example, is I like to let them know that sometimes you have a t shirt, you know, this.

00;27;36;03 - 00;27;36;19
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Is this.

00;27;36;19 - 00;27;45;21
Dr. Gressard
The typical t shirt analogy here? Sometimes you have a t shirt and it's it's okay. This I it's all right, right. And it's fine.

00;27;45;29 - 00;27;46;11
Andrew J. Contiguglia
It's fine.

00;27;47;02 - 00;28;02;25
Dr. Gressard
Other times there's that shirt, yours like my mine, and it just sits there, you know, in the drawer. You don't ever pull it out because it just doesn't it just doesn't work for you. But then sometimes you have you we all have that shirt that's just like this is my shirt. Like, this is what I this is my go to shirt.

00;28;02;26 - 00;28;25;21
Dr. Gressard
This feels right for me. I would want that to be the same relationship with any medical provider. But you can go to a medical doctor, you know, a primary care doctor and not all of them and that it's okay, right? It's not a huge deal. I would I'd much prefer it if you had a great relationship. But it's different when you're talking about the innermost darkest secrets of our life.

00;28;25;22 - 00;28;48;23
Dr. Gressard
You want to have that good fit and I don't remember why I got on this topic, but even just kind of educating folks on what to look for and who to ask for and what theories might fit them better before they're making those phone calls in there, hitting dead end, dead end, dead end, only to show up at an office and be like, that's not really my person.

00;28;48;24 - 00;28;58;28
Andrew J. Contiguglia
But why do you think that this avenue of delivering your information is the best course for you to do it? Why this method over the other method?

00;28;59;02 - 00;29;25;11
Dr. Gressard
Yeah, I think it's just access, you know, you can get your word out more. I really love education and training. That is something that is not for everybody, but I enjoy it. So that's my selfish side of it that I, I like that piece. But rather than getting trapped behind closed doors where I can only help X amount of people a day providing training and education to anybody who wants.

00;29;25;11 - 00;29;25;25
Andrew J. Contiguglia
It.

00;29;26;00 - 00;29;26;10
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Right.

00;29;26;19 - 00;29;28;14
Dr. Gressard
Then that's speaks to me more.

00;29;28;24 - 00;29;42;28
Andrew J. Contiguglia
So I'm going to go back to the question I originally asked, which was How do you plan on monetizing this business? What is the business model for generating income for you?

00;29;43;01 - 00;29;43;20
Dr. Gressard
The money.

00;29;43;20 - 00;29;45;25
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Part that's.

00;29;46;01 - 00;29;53;16
Dr. Gressard
You know, shrinks aren't very good at asking for things. But no, I think we have folks that want help.

00;29;53;23 - 00;29;54;02
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Right?

00;29;54;11 - 00;30;01;29
Dr. Gressard
We have folks that need help. And again, might just need to know where to go or a book to read. It may not be that they need.

00;30;02;04 - 00;30;02;10
Andrew J. Contiguglia
A.

00;30;02;24 - 00;30;04;17
Dr. Gressard
Like a therapist, for example.

00;30;04;18 - 00;30;04;26
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Right.

00;30;05;21 - 00;30;33;17
Dr. Gressard
But they can't afford it. They you know, and there are plenty of people out there that if it's a drop in the bucket to provide a little bit of money in order to fund a podcast so that this content can go out to other people. And so that's that's how we're hoping to monetize it is just finding some sponsors that are willing to help promote getting content that available into the hands of anybody who wants.

00;30;33;17 - 00;30;38;24
Andrew J. Contiguglia
It via podcast, via videos. Yeah, sort of branded type of content.

00;30;39;10 - 00;30;42;09
Dr. Gressard
Sponsoring events and workshops and stuff like that.

00;30;42;21 - 00;30;59;17
Andrew J. Contiguglia
So it's all really sort of focusing in on your brand and developing your message, throwing your message out there into the world, hopefully with a very targeted approach. So you can get, you know, as many people as you can within that industry to listen to your material and learn from you.

00;30;59;21 - 00;31;08;09
Dr. Gressard
I mean, what's the worst that could happen right now? You might just become worse and you might feel a bit better. But other than that, just turn it off. If you don't like it.

00;31;08;14 - 00;31;12;03
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Yeah, you go to the sarcasm. Better person. I'm like, yeah, you'll fail. And they.

00;31;12;03 - 00;31;12;14
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Know.

00;31;12;16 - 00;31;14;10
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Oh, welcome to my world that will.

00;31;14;13 - 00;31;16;08
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Fulfill me. We all need it.

00;31;16;08 - 00;31;20;14
Dr. Gressard
Just like pick it ourselves up by the bootstraps, you know, but it can't be better.

00;31;20;28 - 00;31;35;21
Andrew J. Contiguglia
So sort of hedging on that, what do you think at this point? What are you afraid of most in starting your business? How mean, how far? Let me ask you this first. Let's back up one step. How far are you in the process? Not far of creating your your company?

00;31;35;21 - 00;31;42;03
Dr. Gressard
I got to a certain level of failure and then it's slowed down a lot. But I know what I'm most afraid of.

00;31;42;03 - 00;31;49;06
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Tell me what the far part we'll get to the what you're afraid of next. But tell me tell me what the how far you are part is at this point.

00;31;49;16 - 00;32;10;16
Dr. Gressard
I started with the business stuff, right, because I'm a big fan of one thing I was taught in grad school was spread the liability around. Right. They don't operate in isolation. Right. So make sure you're doing all the right things. Your crossing your t's and dot in your eyes. So that's where I started. That's the easy part, right?

00;32;10;25 - 00;32;11;29
Dr. Gressard
Turns out I'm not too good.

00;32;11;29 - 00;32;14;12
Andrew J. Contiguglia
At that either. But going to conversations.

00;32;14;12 - 00;32;17;00
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Going out and starting your LLC.

00;32;17;00 - 00;32;18;09
Dr. Gressard
Starting an LLC.

00;32;18;19 - 00;32;19;17
Andrew J. Contiguglia
And using.

00;32;19;17 - 00;32;21;25
Dr. Gressard
Those online tools, of course.

00;32;21;25 - 00;32;22;05
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Right.

00;32;22;22 - 00;32;23;21
Dr. Gressard
And, and I have.

00;32;23;21 - 00;32;24;07
Andrew J. Contiguglia
To.

00;32;24;07 - 00;32;25;19
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Have online tools.

00;32;25;19 - 00;32;35;26
Dr. Gressard
You know, and I. You have. Because they're so easy, right. And totally, totally legit. Totally good. But then I got one sort of paying them the monthly fee.

00;32;35;27 - 00;32;41;00
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Yeah. Let, let's just sort of put it in some context. I don't want to mention the company that you used.

00;32;41;00 - 00;32;41;27
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Oh, I know you will.

00;32;42;01 - 00;32;45;24
Andrew J. Contiguglia
I know you won't. But what I'm. But you used it online service.

00;32;45;24 - 00;32;46;18
Andrew J. Contiguglia
I use to.

00;32;46;19 - 00;32;47;07
Andrew J. Contiguglia
You. Okay.

00;32;47;10 - 00;33;09;04
Dr. Gressard
So because I use one and I was like, yeah, I'm going to use this other one instead. I liked it better and this is how they get here, where I used one as good as fine and then I canceled it and I got another one that I thought I'd like more, but then I didn't cancel it, right? So like the last like several months, I'm still paying for something that I only, like, printed one form off of, but I'm still paying for.

00;33;09;05 - 00;33;09;27
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Interesting.

00;33;09;28 - 00;33;14;19
Dr. Gressard
So, like, in the end, I could have just called up my.

00;33;14;19 - 00;33;17;13
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Business advisor, my.

00;33;17;13 - 00;33;28;19
Dr. Gressard
Lawyer, and then I could have just knocked everything out. I could have done it correctly because when I finally connected with you, I learned that I was totally just checking boxes and they're not even appropriate for Colorado.

00;33;28;20 - 00;33;41;15
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Well, let's talk about that a little bit, because I think that there's a good lesson in the use of online forms, which I think are incredibly convenient. Absolutely. They are inexpensive.

00;33;41;15 - 00;33;43;24
Dr. Gressard
Typically, I didn't have to leave my house.

00;33;43;26 - 00;33;58;22
Andrew J. Contiguglia
To exactly log in and you show up in your pajamas, you go, oh, today I'm going to go and I'm going to do this. I'm going to download this, I'm going to download this, and you sort of click these boxes and you identify, I am in Colorado and you click a box for Colorado. Okay, so let me ask, yes, you're smart person.

00;33;58;22 - 00;34;24;15
Andrew J. Contiguglia
You're not your doctor. You're not clearly you are. But what I find in the use of these online forms is people, as you said, they check the proverbial box, they get this information in. But did you really understand what it meant, what everything that you were creating and getting yourself into through the creation of your LLC, these documents, what happened in that respect?

00;34;24;16 - 00;34;46;21
Dr. Gressard
No. And I guess and what I also learned as I was just getting it done right, I didn't really understand I mean, understood enough. Right. But what I also found myself doing is creating my own, like, word documents, because it wasn't I wasn't finding the form that I specifically wanted to see these things to. So I ended up just kind of creating stuff on my own, which is also time consuming, right?

00;34;47;01 - 00;34;48;13
Dr. Gressard
And probably not correct.

00;34;48;25 - 00;34;49;21
Andrew J. Contiguglia
So I.

00;34;50;05 - 00;34;50;10
Andrew J. Contiguglia
You.

00;34;50;15 - 00;34;51;17
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Have of itself the.

00;34;51;17 - 00;34;54;01
Dr. Gressard
Trouble it just reached, not skipped the legal.

00;34;54;01 - 00;35;12;29
Andrew J. Contiguglia
You would have to have hired a lawyer to review it for you in doing it. And I've done that. I've done that work. I've had people present it documents to me and I've reviewed them and said, yes, this is good or No, this isn't. Or, you know, we need to make these changes. And here's why, because you're not that one on one advice.

00;35;12;29 - 00;35;39;27
Andrew J. Contiguglia
You're getting a form without an opportunity to discuss it with somebody. And what's really interesting is if you go and you I wrote a blog on this, it's on our it's on our website. But with these online services, if you read their terms and conditions, what's interesting is they are not guaranteeing that what they are providing you is accurate or legal or compliant with whatever it is that you're putting out.

00;35;39;27 - 00;35;46;15
Andrew J. Contiguglia
They are disclaiming their interest. They're providing you a sample and it's sort of on you to put it all together and decide.

00;35;46;15 - 00;35;48;01
Dr. Gressard
And know legally if it's correct or.

00;35;48;01 - 00;36;12;13
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Not. Exactly, because they're not providing legal advice. They're not providing a legal service. They are doing everything that they can to disclaim their interest in what you are producing. And they're basically putting it all in your shoulders. And I think that is something that most people who are starting a business and using these online services fail to really recognize is what I put together.

00;36;12;13 - 00;36;20;29
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Right. I'm curious of you. I mean, what point did you sort of the light go off in your head to say, I think I need to get this stuff reviewed?

00;36;21;02 - 00;36;21;14
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Yeah.

00;36;21;24 - 00;36;50;28
Dr. Gressard
I think, you know, as I'm creating my own documents myself and I'm just whipping something together that it was. Yeah, it became it was ended up being more time consuming when a quick conversation with somebody who knows what they're talking about who also would be liable for providing accurate information, it would have been way faster, it would have been way cheaper and would protect me for the future.

00;36;51;04 - 00;36;52;18
Andrew J. Contiguglia
I'm being honest. Well, you.

00;36;52;19 - 00;37;14;04
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Know, but you've you've managed to put it into place. You are moving forward. And there's a long and maybe this is a good place for us to sort of go into this discussion, but making sure that you have protected your LLC properly so, tell me what you have in place. Tell me what you've got done. You've got your LLC formed.

00;37;14;05 - 00;37;14;19
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Yeah.

00;37;14;28 - 00;37;19;05
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Yeah. So you've filed your articles of organization with the Colorado Secretary of State's Office.

00;37;19;12 - 00;37;20;00
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Boom.

00;37;20;00 - 00;37;22;01
Andrew J. Contiguglia
And what else?

00;37;22;10 - 00;37;24;09
Dr. Gressard
And that's their business plan.

00;37;24;15 - 00;37;31;21
Andrew J. Contiguglia
You have a business plan ready? All going. Good. Have you sat down and taken the time? Actually go through it and build it out.

00;37;31;29 - 00;37;32;29
Dr. Gressard
I don't know what built it out.

00;37;33;02 - 00;37;53;25
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Like sources of income, breaking it down into different sub areas of how you're going to make you know, when you say we're going to monetize our podcast. All right. Well, what do you need to do to get it to a point where you can monetize it? How many people do you need to have sponsor your podcast in order to make a certain amount of revenue?

00;37;53;26 - 00;38;02;09
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Have you gone through those little KPIs and everything? How many listeners do you need? How many downloads do you need? If I'm going to advertise.

00;38;02;09 - 00;38;03;04
Andrew J. Contiguglia
On, there was no.

00;38;03;04 - 00;38;04;25
Dr. Gressard
Checkbox on the form for.

00;38;04;25 - 00;38;04;29
Andrew J. Contiguglia
That.

00;38;06;16 - 00;38;13;27
Andrew J. Contiguglia
But this is your your business plan. And I mean, I think these generic business plans, while helpful, don't really take you over the finish line.

00;38;14;16 - 00;38;23;19
Dr. Gressard
It's sorry. I mean, there was there was a part of the form where you can start talking about like money and percentages. Like there was.

00;38;24;11 - 00;38;25;15
Andrew J. Contiguglia
I was just I don't know.

00;38;26;26 - 00;38;28;02
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Sure, I'd like money.

00;38;28;03 - 00;38;29;01
Dr. Gressard
Nobody was asking.

00;38;29;01 - 00;38;32;16
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Me questions on how many and what they know.

00;38;32;16 - 00;38;34;01
Dr. Gressard
And it was really just kind.

00;38;34;01 - 00;38;34;29
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Of just.

00;38;35;10 - 00;38;48;18
Dr. Gressard
Getting it done. So you can say you have it done. And it became abundantly clear that that's I like to be more legit than that, right? I can sleep better at night when I know that what I have on paper is I mean, I check the box, but, you know, it's done.

00;38;48;19 - 00;38;51;03
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Did you create an operating agreement?

00;38;51;04 - 00;38;51;20
Andrew J. Contiguglia
It said.

00;38;51;22 - 00;38;52;06
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Okay, so.

00;38;52;06 - 00;38;53;17
Dr. Gressard
Yeah, I'm an overachiever.

00;38;53;17 - 00;38;54;05
Andrew J. Contiguglia
So you.

00;38;54;06 - 00;38;57;21
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Have that. Did you apply and get your in?

00;38;57;21 - 00;38;58;05
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Yes.

00;38;58;14 - 00;39;04;12
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Okay. Could you open a separate bank account? Yes. All right. So you've done a lot of really good things.

00;39;04;12 - 00;39;25;11
Dr. Gressard
Because I'm an overachiever, but I don't know if that's intuitive to me. It's just not I don't know if you're just kind of bumbling through it, right. Figuring out the process through looking online, like, had I sat down and just had a quick conversation, it would have been too easy. I would have left with like my marching orders.

00;39;25;11 - 00;39;30;29
Dr. Gressard
I could have been like, boom, boom, boom. I think it would have been a lot easier and a lot faster.

00;39;31;06 - 00;39;33;08
Andrew J. Contiguglia
So why did you not choose that path?

00;39;33;19 - 00;39;38;27
Dr. Gressard
Because I wanted to sit in my pajamas with my cup of coffee at home.

00;39;39;05 - 00;39;40;24
Andrew J. Contiguglia
And just be done with it.

00;39;41;13 - 00;39;47;29
Dr. Gressard
But then look in the I'm redoing it anyway. Right. They're going to redo everything just because it turns out it wasn't.

00;39;47;29 - 00;39;50;00
Andrew J. Contiguglia
What do you even need to. You don't know if it was that.

00;39;50;28 - 00;39;51;09
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Yeah.

00;39;51;10 - 00;39;52;06
Andrew J. Contiguglia
You think it was not.

00;39;52;14 - 00;39;52;28
Dr. Gressard
Just right.

00;39;52;28 - 00;40;01;27
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Here because it really clearly didn't look. How many people do I need to watch the show in order to actually get paid? Oh, that's that's different.

00;40;01;27 - 00;40;07;09
Andrew J. Contiguglia
That's a business plan issue. That's business strategy. That's business planning. Is that necessarily legal stuff?

00;40;07;09 - 00;40;07;14
Andrew J. Contiguglia
I mean.

00;40;07;15 - 00;40;25;07
Andrew J. Contiguglia
It is a component of what we help with. But every time that you engage with somebody, I mean, just the other day as I was going through your draft podcast and you were helping me with my draft podcast and you were like, Oh shit, there's a disclaimer I should put it here, but can I.

00;40;25;16 - 00;40;27;04
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Do your disclaimer?

00;40;27;04 - 00;40;34;17
Dr. Gressard
I'm like, There's got to be some kind of disclaimer because it is there's a lot of folks in the mental health field that are starting to reach out into this area.

00;40;34;17 - 00;40;35;04
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Right, right.

00;40;35;11 - 00;40;45;29
Dr. Gressard
But then ethics, they just started like swimming through my head. And I want to make sure, like, this is ethical. And I'm not coming off, as anybody say, calling or treating provider like there's ethics behind it right?

00;40;45;29 - 00;40;48;10
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Yeah, ethics. So I know that you shared.

00;40;48;10 - 00;40;51;21
Dr. Gressard
Your disclaimer and I was like, That's it. Could I have that? Like I did.

00;40;51;21 - 00;40;53;27
Andrew J. Contiguglia
That I was going to try to create something.

00;40;54;13 - 00;41;04;14
Dr. Gressard
But I think it would be very easy to get started and be like 50 episodes in. And I never put like it's I totally forgot about that piece. So thank you again for that.

00;41;04;29 - 00;41;37;22
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Well, you need it because what I have found over the years is it's not about what you think your relationship is with the people who are listening. Yeah, it is what they think their relationship with you is. Yeah, yeah, they're listening. Yeah. And so it's important that, you know, even in the, in all the coaching agreements that we put together in any of these online courses, anything that we put together, we always put in a provision that we are not creating a doctor patient relationship here.

00;41;37;22 - 00;42;00;18
Andrew J. Contiguglia
There is no confidentiality. I am not your therapist for me. I'm not your lawyer. There is that idea of really being clear and transparent in the nature of our relationship because there are people out there who are going to listen. They may take action of the advice you give. They may not get the result that they want. And who do you think they're going to come after?

00;42;00;20 - 00;42;02;24
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Yeah, they're going to come after Crush Club LLC.

00;42;02;24 - 00;42;03;11
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Saying.

00;42;03;17 - 00;42;10;00
Dr. Gressard
That's going back to the whole like, what are some of your fears as well? But that's one of them, right? Like here I am, I just.

00;42;10;00 - 00;42;11;05
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Want to do good things.

00;42;11;14 - 00;42;34;00
Dr. Gressard
So I do good things, but it can get super hairy if ethically, legally, somebody decides or just interprets it to be in a way that's going to fall into some difficulties. Right. And yeah, so that's a huge fear because you just I just want to do I just want to put out helpful information and yet might get myself into a legal bind right?

00;42;34;00 - 00;42;45;02
Dr. Gressard
So these are the things I want to think about ahead of time. Rather than get 50 episodes in and just decide what you and I should have a disclaimer and I should have had these provisions in place.

00;42;45;05 - 00;43;23;27
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Yeah. And another another thing that I have frequently told people who collaborate, you know, on, on whether it's videos on Instagram, on YouTube, having people on podcasts, making sure that your guest signs a media release. What is the scope of what we're going to be using this information for? And interesting story. I just heard this over the weekend when I was out in Baltimore at a conference, but there was an issue with a media release and a woman showed up for a photography shoot and she signed a media release which is appropriate for the photographer.

00;43;23;27 - 00;43;42;12
Andrew J. Contiguglia
And a you know, the release is one of those broad general releases that, you know, you see everywhere, hey, we can use your image. We can sell your image, we can do whatever we want. And you know, she is there getting this photoshoot done, thinking it's like a modeling. It's a modeling type of relationship, taking pictures and boom, there you go.

00;43;42;15 - 00;44;17;06
Andrew J. Contiguglia
About six months later, she finds that her image is being used in a ad for an HIV drug. And now her face is all over this advertisement for this HIV drug. And she is like, Whoa, wait a minute. Then that I didn't agree to. And of course, she sued. Not a case I'm handling, but a case that a friend of mine in New York is handling and suing the photographer and the photographer defending this, going like, yeah, but you gave me this, you know, forever release for whatever I wanted to do.

00;44;17;06 - 00;44;36;04
Andrew J. Contiguglia
And it's like, yeah, this is a little bit beyond the scope of what you kind of led me to believe we were going to be doing with this. And so it's important in these, you know, contracts that you're drafting with people that there is an understanding, like, listen, this podcast interview we're going to throw on the podcast, we use it for marketing and, you know, bits and pieces here and there.

00;44;36;04 - 00;44;54;08
Andrew J. Contiguglia
But we're not going to take your voice for hacking to superimpose it on to a video for something else or into a, you know, a commercial for a drug that you don't necessarily being included in. So those are the types of things that I think are really important. Are you actively doing that right now with the guest that you're starting to build out your podcast with?

00;44;54;12 - 00;45;09;02
Dr. Gressard
I am because, you know, there's also different considerations. I have a couple releases, so one because I can't film as a psychologist, right? As a medical provider, I can't film without permission. So I need to I need a release I need an authorization for that specifically.

00;45;09;08 - 00;45;13;23
Andrew J. Contiguglia
But you're not counseling people. You bring young guests to talk about certain things.

00;45;13;23 - 00;45;17;12
Dr. Gressard
I could be wrong, but I'm like, I don't want to, like, not have it.

00;45;17;12 - 00;45;19;03
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Right, you know? But you're right. It doesn't.

00;45;19;03 - 00;45;20;04
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Hurt you to have it.

00;45;20;04 - 00;45;20;14
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Right.

00;45;20;25 - 00;45;37;16
Dr. Gressard
But also, would I have thought of doing a media release if I were recording, you know, in my basement or something? Probably not. And I'm pretty sure there are a lot of people out there with podcasts that are not doing that. I also know my.

00;45;37;16 - 00;45;38;13
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Limitations.

00;45;38;13 - 00;46;03;02
Dr. Gressard
In software is not one of them, actually, so that touches on the other fear. Huge fear is it's almost paralyzing to think about all that actually goes into it. If you want to put out a decent quality of a production. So I hired a producer and he's the one that kind of made sure that we're also doing media releases, but are other people doing that about it?

00;46;03;11 - 00;46;04;08
Dr. Gressard
I think there's plenty.

00;46;04;18 - 00;46;05;02
Andrew J. Contiguglia
There.

00;46;05;07 - 00;46;07;07
Andrew J. Contiguglia
That might benefit from hearing those.

00;46;07;17 - 00;46;29;28
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Who are not doing those things. Even I represent a number of online influencers and you know, I'm always approached by them like, Oh hey, we just did this collab and blah blah blah. Like you get a release like, Oh no, I didn't even think about doing that. And now you run into intellectual property issues, which are really the biggest problem I think that you run into.

00;46;29;28 - 00;46;43;05
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Then you have privacy issues, use of that materials later on down the line. What happens if you put a video together that gets 5 million views and you're raking in the cash over that video? Who do you think was in that video that might want their cut of that?

00;46;43;06 - 00;46;44;05
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Of course, all of a sudden.

00;46;44;07 - 00;47;05;16
Andrew J. Contiguglia
So all of a sudden now you're successful and everybody's going to want a piece of that. Whether the person you were with was successful or not, those types of things are real, are important to consider as you grow and you develop your online presence as, you grow and develop your media presence. And in that respect too. Yeah. So what else what other fears are you tackling right now?

00;47;05;17 - 00;47;25;07
Dr. Gressard
Well, I'd say those are huge, right. The legal parts. And not having what I need to is pretty scary, not knowing what I don't know. And I think that's the other thing. You can very easily just plow down a path and not realize how many traps you're getting yourself into and you just don't even know it. Right? So the legal piece is huge.

00;47;25;15 - 00;47;27;24
Dr. Gressard
So personally I am.

00;47;28;03 - 00;47;29;00
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Awful at.

00;47;29;00 - 00;47;29;26
Dr. Gressard
Social media.

00;47;30;21 - 00;47;35;09
Andrew J. Contiguglia
I mean people for you to post so like videos and pictures you're going to get.

00;47;35;09 - 00;47;40;06
Andrew J. Contiguglia
After this podcast that you're going to get inundated with like, oh, I'll do your social media, a bunch.

00;47;40;06 - 00;47;42;28
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Of people just, oh yeah.

00;47;43;16 - 00;48;03;00
Dr. Gressard
But like seriously, I just did a little challenge with my kids, not because I really thought, like, we really need to just do this challenge. And it was like super awesome and epic. So we had to do it now. It was this last weekend we had a birthday party to go to. I did not get my act together to get like a gift ahead of time.

00;48;03;00 - 00;48;20;24
Dr. Gressard
Right. And then I also didn't get my act together to allow for enough time to get a gift and then get to the party on time. Right. So brought the kids to a store and I'm like, I had bribe the kids at this point, too, right? So I'm like, I need all of you. I have four kids with me right now.

00;48;20;24 - 00;48;25;18
Andrew J. Contiguglia
I need to all of you to be so fast and get gifts, right.

00;48;25;18 - 00;48;31;29
Dr. Gressard
So they we did a five minute challenge where they literally ran into a store and grab something for themselves.

00;48;31;29 - 00;48;34;00
Andrew J. Contiguglia
And gift options.

00;48;34;04 - 00;48;40;21
Dr. Gressard
And I could not figure out I'm like recording my this video and I don't know. I don't know or look, I am the.

00;48;40;21 - 00;48;42;13
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Worst with social media.

00;48;42;22 - 00;49;03;25
Dr. Gressard
I my eyes are all over the place. I'm just trying to figure out where to look so I don't look funny. And also, like, I literally just changed my Facebook profile for the first time in five years, about five years. So it's not that I am not like somebody who's on social media who is just this is just another way to kind of collab and be out there.

00;49;03;25 - 00;49;04;25
Dr. Gressard
It is a.

00;49;05;02 - 00;49;05;20
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Far.

00;49;05;20 - 00;49;13;22
Dr. Gressard
Reach for me. I don't post very often. I don't even know which direction to look for a selfie. So that's a huge fear. I just.

00;49;13;22 - 00;49;14;28
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Want to get a.

00;49;14;28 - 00;49;16;14
Dr. Gressard
Good message out there. And even.

00;49;16;14 - 00;49;18;13
Andrew J. Contiguglia
If I have to look, you know, kind of funny when I do.

00;49;18;13 - 00;49;39;20
Andrew J. Contiguglia
It, well, it's at the end of the day, it's all about the message. Yeah, but your message going to fall on deaf ears if you can't deliver your message somehow. So, you know, obviously, I mean, I've introduced you some people who I'm hopeful will be able to help you build, you know, an online strategy for the growth of your business.

00;49;40;01 - 00;50;02;28
Andrew J. Contiguglia
You know, people who have helped not only me, but other you know, people grow and build online businesses, you know, and you're in a really unique and difficult spot because, you know, the nature of the material that you're trying to provide to people and the nature of you sort of stepping into this new way of life, new way of marketing, new way of advertising.

00;50;02;28 - 00;50;14;14
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Yeah, you know, new way of of growing your business. Have you read the article we have online on Ten Ways to Grow Your Online Business. Now, all well, you need to start in the website a little bit deeper.

00;50;14;29 - 00;50;22;18
Dr. Gressard
Well, that also that in and of itself has been so beneficial. A couple like me like saying like, hey, I need.

00;50;22;18 - 00;50;24;20
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Some help my need some legal help.

00;50;25;00 - 00;50;28;02
Dr. Gressard
Stat that has you've provided me with.

00;50;28;02 - 00;50;28;28
Andrew J. Contiguglia
So.

00;50;28;29 - 00;50;33;17
Dr. Gressard
Many resources. I didn't get that from online forms. I'm just saying.

00;50;33;18 - 00;50;37;20
Andrew J. Contiguglia
There was no connections, right? There's no required forms.

00;50;37;20 - 00;50;39;10
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Don't typically help out.

00;50;39;11 - 00;50;40;27
Andrew J. Contiguglia
That respect that are what they are.

00;50;40;28 - 00;50;42;26
Dr. Gressard
At all. That is that was.

00;50;42;26 - 00;50;44;05
Andrew J. Contiguglia
A huge.

00;50;44;05 - 00;50;53;15
Dr. Gressard
Benefit to actually reaching out and talking to somebody who is credentialed and knows what they're talking about because yeah, I spy she rolled in the right direction.

00;50;53;21 - 00;50;56;24
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Thanks to you. I stumbled.

00;50;56;24 - 00;50;57;21
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Into the answer.

00;50;58;13 - 00;51;02;05
Andrew J. Contiguglia
To what you're telling me. Thanks for telling me these things. I figured it out.

00;51;03;13 - 00;51;25;28
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Well, tell me what you have found to be. You know, aside from the social media and the creation of the content, what has been the biggest obstacle that you've had to overcome? I mean, really, what where have you felt? And you may not even be there yet and you may not have experienced yet, but there is this idea of the trough of sorrow that entrepreneurs and people who start businesses go through.

00;51;26;07 - 00;51;33;10
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Have you hit that yet? Have you woken up in the middle of the night or woken up in the morning and gone? What the heck am I doing? This is never going to work.

00;51;33;10 - 00;51;34;16
Dr. Gressard
And want to quit before I even start?

00;51;34;16 - 00;51;35;07
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Yes, absolutely.

00;51;35;07 - 00;51;36;13
Dr. Gressard
Absolutely.

00;51;36;22 - 00;51;39;16
Andrew J. Contiguglia
I think it's more work.

00;51;39;27 - 00;52;01;22
Dr. Gressard
Now, don't get me wrong. Can I turn on my computer or talk through my phone and just start publishing content? Absolutely. I can do that. I want to do it right. I want to do it legit. I want it to actually be useful and beneficial. So and I want to be prepared that I'm not going to get myself into a legal bind or an ethical battle.

00;52;02;07 - 00;52;09;12
Dr. Gressard
So it has definitely been eye opening and that is how much work it is. If you want to actually do it correctly.

00;52;10;01 - 00;52;11;23
Andrew J. Contiguglia
You're still working on it. You're still trying.

00;52;11;23 - 00;52;14;26
Andrew J. Contiguglia
To. Yeah. Those paralyzing those kinks is paralyzed.

00;52;14;26 - 00;52;16;29
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Why? Why are you paralyzed?

00;52;17;05 - 00;52;38;14
Dr. Gressard
Well, because it's a lot, you know, that you want to make sure you're doing the steps to make sure that you are best prepared right in there. There are. It's not. Don't get me wrong, but there are steps that need to happen. There are legal pieces that need to come into place. For me, also personally finding that guests.

00;52;38;21 - 00;52;54;24
Dr. Gressard
Right that could provide added value and information and resources. So that's that's the two side of it. There's the psychological staff for also like I've been out of the game long enough to completely forget anything I've ever known.

00;52;54;24 - 00;52;56;00
Andrew J. Contiguglia
So that's a huge.

00;52;56;00 - 00;53;12;17
Dr. Gressard
Roadblock for me too. It is definitely challenging because I now am aware that I have forgotten everything. Right? I forgot it. So that's one part of it. Another part of it is finding quality folks to come on to it as well who have a story to share. All right.

00;53;12;17 - 00;53;23;09
Andrew J. Contiguglia
So let's tackle each of those individual. How are you overcoming the fear that you don't know what you're talking about because you are an incredibly.

00;53;23;09 - 00;53;26;08
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Imposter syndrome and who is my.

00;53;26;23 - 00;53;35;10
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Doctor? And I've had great discussions with you. I have spoken with others who have had great discussions with you. What are you doing to overcome that?

00;53;35;17 - 00;53;39;01
Dr. Gressard
I'm just putting one foot in front of the other because I think we.

00;53;39;01 - 00;53;39;19
Andrew J. Contiguglia
All.

00;53;40;07 - 00;53;44;23
Dr. Gressard
Struggle with that in a lot of ways. Right. Who am I to be wanting to.

00;53;44;26 - 00;53;45;20
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Make big.

00;53;45;20 - 00;53;56;20
Dr. Gressard
Changes in the world? Right. Like, who am I? I'm no expert at. And worse yet, I am not even actively relevant with information. Right.

00;53;57;05 - 00;53;59;17
Andrew J. Contiguglia
So what do you think? I mean, how much has it changed?

00;53;59;17 - 00;54;02;13
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Well, there's yeah, there's been some changes.

00;54;02;13 - 00;54;22;06
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Methodology. Methodology, maybe. But isn't what makes you unique in your business and your delivery of the message? You you don't need to be changing you other than maybe for branding purposes and things like, but you're well along the way for that at this point.

00;54;22;15 - 00;54;55;07
Dr. Gressard
Well, I don't have anything to prove either. And I think that's what helps is you like we all bring something to the table. Right? And that whole imposter syndrome is real, right? It's real thing. But there is going to be somebody out there who wants to hear your specific message. And if you don't turn it off right is so I think that's that's I'm just kind of one foot in front of the other and just winging it and going for it and just kind of keep all those little voices at bay.

00;54;55;13 - 00;55;07;15
Andrew J. Contiguglia
And what about the other piece of this, which is trying to find guests for your podcast where I mean, what type of professionals are you looking for here?

00;55;07;26 - 00;55;33;24
Dr. Gressard
I think I mean, it doesn't even have to be a professional. It can be somebody with a good story, a story of resilience, a story, a passion, overcoming any of that, but I would like to be able to point people in a direction, because maybe there is an author out there that has, you know, is particularly interesting to you and captures your attention and provides information that you find valuable and necessary.

00;55;34;08 - 00;55;41;10
Dr. Gressard
So authors, medical professionals, whether that's on the physical side or the mental health side.

00;55;42;07 - 00;55;42;16
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Yeah.

00;55;42;26 - 00;55;48;02
Andrew J. Contiguglia
So if people wanted to get in touch with you, maybe on your podcast, but how would they get in touch with you?

00;55;48;13 - 00;55;52;02
Dr. Gressard
Oh, my goodness. Reach me on my Instagram because I need all the.

00;55;52;02 - 00;55;59;11
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Practice I can get. I do. Yeah. Me. This is how it is. You slide into somebody DMS I got I got so much.

00;55;59;22 - 00;56;03;25
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Being assuming that you can accept it but yeah it pops up and you get noticed.

00;56;04;07 - 00;56;15;11
Dr. Gressard
Okay, see? So help me out. Let me practice my social media skills. I need to learn. So at Crush Dot Club, Dot LLC.

00;56;15;12 - 00;56;20;14
Andrew J. Contiguglia
All right. And what about you have a presence on Facebook in a website. How else can people get in touch with you?

00;56;20;18 - 00;56;34;05
Dr. Gressard
So same can find me on Facebook Crush Club LLC or on the website WW dot Crush Club dash love yourself dot com.

00;56;34;07 - 00;56;36;06
Andrew J. Contiguglia
That's a hyphen not a signature.

00;56;36;07 - 00;56;36;29
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Oh hyphen.

00;56;37;03 - 00;56;37;28
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Got a hyphen.

00;56;38;03 - 00;56;38;17
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Hyphen.

00;56;38;17 - 00;57;04;12
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Yourself dot com and we'll make sure that those are in the show notes for everybody to look at too. Well, listen, it has been awesome having you here. I am so glad that you joined me here today and I hope that there are opportunities for people to listen to your story and learn from your story and overall that they can sort of learn from some of the legal pitfalls and ideas that you've had to run through in the growth of your business.

00;57;04;24 - 00;57;39;27
Andrew J. Contiguglia
And I wish you nothing but success and the growth of your business. And, you know, I'm always here for you, but we're friends, we're good colleagues, and whatever you ever need from me, don't be afraid to reach out and ask me. Of course. Well, Arrow, I appreciate you. And for those of you out there listening, this is Andy Carter Golia and Dr. Tabitha Saad reminding you to don't skip the legal good luck.

00;57;39;27 - 00;57;58;11
Andrew J. Contiguglia
Thank you for listening to the Don't Skip the legal podcast. I'm your host and accountability I hope you enjoyed our time together in this great opportunity to peek behind the business door and examine the legal lessons in business. If you're keen to hear how these lessons can be applied in the real world, well join us next week for another episode where you can listen in to another business success story.

00;57;58;11 - 00;58;14;22
Andrew J. Contiguglia
As always, you can head over to Cantabile dot com forward slash podcast to sign up to our email list as well as check out all the links and resources in our show notes. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the podcast, please share it with others, post about it on social media, or leave a rating and review to catch all the latest for me.

00;58;14;22 - 00;58;40;16
Andrew J. Contiguglia
You can follow me on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok at AJC. Eskew Thanks again. This is Andy. Julia reminding you to don't skip the legal good luck. The legal information contained in this podcast is intended for general informational and entertainment purposes only. It should only be used as a starting point for addressing your specific legal issue. The legal information I talk about does not create an attorney client relationship between you and me.

00;58;40;16 - 00;59;00;25
Andrew J. Contiguglia
This podcast is not a substitute for an in-person or telephonic consultation with a lawyer whose license to practice in your jurisdiction about your specific legal issue. And you should not rely on this legal information for those purposes. You understand that questions and answers or other information contained in this podcast are not confidential and are not subject to attorney client privilege.

00;59;00;25 - 00;59;23;08
Andrew J. Contiguglia
I am not providing you a legal service every legal case is different and past performance is not indicative of future results. Please consult your own attorney.