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August 19, 2025

Angela Skurtu: The Therapist that Gets Business

Episode 56
“You jump and you learn along the way.”
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Angela Skurtu: The Therapist that Gets Business

Episode 56

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"So I took some deep breaths. I walked out, and I was like, okay, meet a wallflower. Cause your best bet at a networking event is meet another person who's just as terrified as you. Talk to them on the wall and just start chatting."

Marriage and family therapist Angela Skurtu joins host Cynthia Kirkpatrick for an incredibly honest conversation about building multiple businesses from scratch. Angela is a successful therapist, author of three books, speaker, and entrepreneur who has built her empire by relying on process efficiency. This episode dives deep into the real challenges of entrepreneurship, from overcoming networking anxiety to managing the red zones of business stress that can destroy your decision-making.

This episode is perfect for solopreneurs, therapists, and anyone building a business while feeling overwhelmed or burned out. Listeners will learn practical strategies for networking authentically, managing business stress zones, and turning awkwardness into confidence through deliberate practice. After listening, they’ll be able to identify their own stress zones, develop better resilience practices, and approach networking as relationship-building rather than selling.

Guest Contact Information

Angela Skurtu

President
St. Louis Marriage Therapy

Links from the Episode

Show Notes

Introduction & Background (00:00 – 02:41)

  • Angela Skurtu, marriage and family therapist and sex therapist with almost 20 years of experience, started her private practice in 2012.
  • Faced financial challenges early on – making $34,000/year while paying off student loans for herself and disabled husband, later divorced.
  • Struggled to find business guidance from other therapists who relied on working spouses, forcing her to seek help outside her field.

Networking Strategies & Early Business Development (03:53 – 08:27)

  • Joined West County Chamber of Commerce and learned business skills from accountants, lawyers, and financial planners through regular meetings.
  • Overcame initial social anxiety at first networking event by finding other nervous attendees and treating networking like dating – building familiarity through repeated attendance.
  • Developed strategy of meeting people outside her field to avoid competing for same client pool, following ‘Blue Ocean Strategy’ principles.

Advanced Networking Techniques (10:47 – 13:20)

  • Uses ‘pitch brainstorm’ method – testing business ideas on networking contacts to gauge market response and refine concepts.
  • Spent a year testing book title ‘From F No to F Yes: Sex’ through networking conversations, observing facial reactions and energy.
  • Leverages networking for validation and feedback rather than just client acquisition.

Business Resilience & Self-Care (15:57 – 18:19)

  • Defines resilience as ‘how you treat yourself while learning along the way’ rather than just bouncing back.
  • Uses anxiety as a motivator when kept in ‘green zone’ – provides energy and drive for business activities.
  • Maintains self-support mechanisms including exercise, phone boundaries, positive inner dialogue, and permission to ‘stop caring’ temporarily.

Confidence Building Process (31:18 – 34:50)

  • Describes path to confidence: Awkward → Familiar → Competent → Confident, emphasizing that confidence comes at the end, not beginning.
  • Applies this process to both business ventures and personal relationships, noting everything starts uncomfortable.
  • Encourages embracing awkwardness as key to success rather than avoiding it.

️ Stress Management Framework (40:36 – 43:03)

  • Introduces Green/Yellow/Red stress zones concept – need to flow between stress, calm, and joy daily.
  • Red zone stress causes tunnel vision, poor decision-making, and more mistakes (like 9/11 firefighters example).
  • Companies promoting play (like Google with ping pong tables) generate more money and higher-level thinking.

Burnout Management & Recovery (50:27 – 55:20)

  • Experienced major burnout in 2020 when pandemic reduced therapy clients by half, then overwhelming demand afterward.
  • Developed ‘relationship with burnout’ approach – treating it as information rather than failure.
  • Created star system for clients – marking which ones provided energy to identify ideal client patterns.

️ Business Process Development (57:38 – 01:04:02)

  • Uses quarterly ‘Love/Hate/Neutral’ lists to systematically delegate or eliminate draining tasks while focusing on energizing work.
  • Faced industry disruption in 2024 from BetterHelp (‘Walmart of therapy’) affecting private practice therapists.
  • Responds to market changes through curiosity, process development, seeking support, and calculated risk-taking.

️ Book Writing & Product Development Process (01:11:35 – 01:16:00)

  • Sold first book to Routledge publisher through networking at ASEC conference using pitch brainstorm technique.
  • Created systematic writing process: study bestsellers’ formats → create templates → write 15 minutes daily → complete book.
  • Always sells products before creating them – announced couples retreats before planning, allowing market feedback to guide development.

Current Business Portfolio (01:24:41 – 01:24:41)

  • Operates multiple revenue streams: couples therapy, sex therapy, VIP days, couples retreats, speaking engagements, and book series.
  • Upcoming ‘Sensual Bites and Bedroom Secrets’ event September 13 at Adventure Unknown.
  • Launching ‘Open Bedroom Doors’ podcast with systematic backend processes for guest management and content creation.

Content Notice

This podcast and all She Lift Project content represents the opinions of Cynthia Kirkpatrick and her guests. The content here is for informational purposes only, and should not be taken as professional advice – financial, legal, medical, or otherwise.

Views and opinions expressed in the podcast and across all She Lift Project media channels are our own and do not represent that of our places of work. While we make every effort to ensure that the information we are sharing is accurate, we welcome any comments, suggestions, or correction of errors.

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