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There’s a particular kind of vulnerability that comes with starting something new before you know how it’s going to turn out.

It’s much easier to tell the story afterward - once the business is successful, the audience has grown, or the idea has proven itself. It’s different to say, I’m building this right now. I believe in it. And I’m still figuring parts of it out.

That’s where I am.

Over the past several months, I’ve been developing coaching services for families affected by white-collar crime while also launching my new podcast, White Collar Crime: The Other Sentence. At the same time, I’m continuing the work I’ve done for years through The Therapy Show and continuing education for mental health professionals.

🎧Listen to White Collar Crime: The Other Sentence on Apple, Spotify, and my website.

On the surface, those projects may look very different.

But the more I build them, the more I see the same thread running through all of my work: helping people navigate situations that feel complicated, unfamiliar, and overwhelming.

And right now, I’m learning what it means to build the next chapter of my professional life before I have all the answers.

Why I Created The Other Sentence

My interest in supporting families affected by white-collar crime is both professional and deeply personal.

I’m the daughter of someone who committed white-collar crime. My father was investigated, convicted, and sentenced to federal prison. My family experienced the emotional, relational, financial, and public consequences of his decisions.

This happened in the 1980s and early 1990s - long before social media made it possible for a family crisis to spread online within minutes. Even then, it was incredibly public.

We learned about the investigation through the newspaper. There were questions, whispers, shame, uncertainty, and the realization that while my father had committed the crime, the consequences extended far beyond him.

That experience eventually became the inspiration for the name The Other Sentence.

The legal system gives a sentence to the person convicted of a crime. But families can end up living through another kind of sentence.

It can include broken trust, financial instability, public judgment, disrupted relationships, difficult parenting decisions, and the loss of the life they thought they had.

And family members may be dealing with all of that despite having done nothing wrong themselves.

The People We Don’t Talk About Enough

When a white-collar crime becomes public, most of the attention understandably centers on the accused person.

There are attorneys focused on the case. There may be journalists covering the investigation. Conversations revolve around charges, evidence, restitution, sentencing, incarceration, and appeals.

But I kept coming back to another set of questions.

What happens to the spouse who suddenly discovers that the person they trusted may have been hiding something enormous?

What do parents tell their children?

What happens when a child hears about the investigation from classmates?

How do family members respond when friends, neighbors, coworkers, and extended family suddenly know intimate details about their lives?

And after the headlines fade, who helps the family figure out what comes next?

Those are the conversations I want to have through The Other Sentence and through my coaching work.

Building the Coaching Practice

My coaching services are designed to give family members a place to slow down, organize their thoughts, identify what they can and cannot control, and begin deciding what their next steps might look like.

Someone may need help preparing for a difficult conversation with their children.

Someone else may be trying to establish boundaries with friends, extended family, or even the person accused of the crime.

Another person may be struggling with shame, isolation, uncertainty, or simply the feeling that their entire life has suddenly become unrecognizable.

This coaching is not therapy, and it is not legal advice. It is focused support for people trying to find their footing during an extremely destabilizing experience.

But creating the service is only one part of building the business.

The bigger question is: How do I reach the people who need it?

Most People Aren’t Searching for a “White-Collar Crime Family Coach”

That has been one of the biggest lessons so far.

Someone in the middle of a federal investigation involving a spouse or parent probably isn’t opening Google and typing, “I need a white-collar crime family coach.”

They may not even know this kind of support exists.

So part of building this practice involves connecting with the professionals who are already encountering these families.

One of the primary groups I’ve been reaching out to is white-collar defense attorneys.

Attorneys often become involved very early in an investigation, indictment, or arrest. Their job is, of course, to represent their client- but they also see what is happening around the client.

They may hear questions about children, marriage, public attention, shame, sentencing, incarceration, and how the family is supposed to cope with everything happening around them.

Those aren’t necessarily legal questions.

And families may not know who else to ask.

My goal isn’t to become involved in the legal case. It’s to make attorneys and other professionals aware that there is another resource available for family members who are dealing with the emotional and relational fallout.

The Uncomfortable Part: Putting Myself Out There

This is where the “scary” part comes in.

I’ve been sending emails to attorneys. I’ve been reaching out to podcasts and media outlets. I’ve created a free guide called When the News Breaks. I’m writing articles, developing resources, pitching interviews, and trying different ways of explaining what I do.

And sometimes I hear nothing.

That’s part of it.

I send an email and wonder whether the message was clear enough. I rethink how I described the service. I adjust the language. I try another approach.

What I’m realizing is that outreach isn’t simply about promoting something.

Sometimes you have to educate people that the thing you created even exists.

If an attorney has never heard of coaching specifically for families affected by white-collar crime, there is no reason they would automatically think of it when a family begins struggling.

I have to introduce the idea before I can expect people to remember it.

What “Building in Public” Means to Me

Building in public doesn’t mean sharing every detail of my life.

There are things that belong to me and things I choose to keep private.

For me, building in public means being willing to say:

This is what I’m creating. This is why I think it matters. And I don’t know exactly where it will lead yet.

That vulnerability feels particularly significant because this work is connected to my personal story.

After decades, I’m learning to say, This happened to me. It shaped me. And I can use what I learned from it to help someone else - without believing I have to explain or defend every piece of the story.

What I’m Learning So Far

One of the biggest lessons has been that clarity often comes after you start, not before.

You learn what people respond to by talking about your service.

You improve your message by explaining it repeatedly.

You discover what people need by listening to the questions they ask.

And sometimes a niche emerges at the intersection of your professional knowledge, your lived experience, and a need that isn’t being adequately addressed.

I’m also realizing that starting something new doesn’t mean abandoning everything I’ve already created.

I don’t have to choose between being a therapist, educator, podcaster, business owner, or coach.

Those roles can inform one another.

Our professional identities are allowed to evolve.

I’m Still Creating Resources for Therapists, Too

While I build this new area of my work, I’m also continuing to create continuing education and professional resources for mental health clinicians.

Two new trainings offered through Berries Academy are especially relevant to therapists right now.

The first focuses on insurance credentialing and breaks down concepts such as credentialing, contracting, enrollment, CAQH, payer agreements, effective dates, and the ongoing responsibilities that come with participating with insurance companies.

It’s a topic many clinicians receive very little education about despite how important it can become in private practice.

The second course, The Promise of AI for Mental Health Professionals, looks at both the opportunities and responsibilities that come with using AI in mental health practice.

AI may be able to reduce some of the administrative burden clinicians face, particularly around documentation and repetitive tasks. But convenience cannot come at the expense of privacy, informed consent, ethics, confidentiality, or clinical judgment.

The training explores questions clinicians should be asking about HIPAA, business associate agreements, data storage, model training, human review, security, and appropriate versus inappropriate uses of AI.

Both of these topics connect back to the same idea driving so much of my work:

How can I make the next step clearer when someone is facing something complicated?

Maybe You’re Building Something, Too

Maybe you’ve been thinking about starting a private practice.

Or creating a course.

Launching a podcast.

Offering consultation or coaching.

Writing a book.

Building a resource for a population you understand particularly well.

It’s tempting to wait until everything is polished before telling anyone.

We want the perfect website, the perfect offer, the perfect language, the perfect marketing plan, and some assurance that the idea is going to work.

But sometimes you have to do the thing before you can fully understand the thing.

Your first step doesn’t have to be dramatic.

It might be writing down the idea.

Talking to one person who works in the field.

Creating one resource.

Recording one episode.

Sending one outreach email.

Then pay attention.

What do people respond to?

What questions do they ask?

Where are they confused?

What do they need that no one else seems to be providing?

Building in public doesn’t mean pretending to have all the answers.

Sometimes it simply means letting people see you developing them.

That’s what I’m doing right now.

And yes, it’s a little scary.

But I also think that might be part of how I know I’m building something that matters.

Listen to the Episode

Listen to “Building in Public: Creating a Coaching Practice, Launching a New Podcast, and Starting Before I Feel Ready” on The Therapy Show wherever you listen to podcasts.

You can also follow my new podcast, White Collar Crime: The Other Sentence, to hear more conversations about the experiences of spouses, children, parents, siblings, and loved ones navigating the fallout of white-collar crime.

Other Resources:

Need CE contact hours? Explore my NBCC-Approved Podcourses & CE Courses

Get my Coping with Political Stress Workbook that's Canva Editable For Clinicians, Coaches & Educators

Therapist Conversation Framework: Politics in SessionA printable PDF with 97 questions to navigate political talk in therapy - without taking sides.

Solution-Focused Therapy Guide 72 questions + prompts to help adult clients clarify goals and move forward using SFT.

Check out all my Counselor Resources. 

The Therapy Show with Lisa Mustard is for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered a substitute for professional advice. Always consult with your own healthcare provider regarding any personal health or medical conditions.