The Red Herrings and Rabbit Holes of AI When Building Your Business as a Complementary Therapist

AI is everywhere at the moment, and if you’re building a business as a complementary therapist, it can feel like the answer to everything.

Need a logo? Ask AI. Need some social media ideas? Ask AI. Need an expenses spreadsheet? Ask AI. Not sure how something works in your accounts? Ask AI.

And actually, there’s nothing wrong with that. AI can be an incredibly useful tool when you’re building a business. The trick is knowing what to use it for, and what not to hand over to it.

Use AI for this…

Ideas and brainstorming. If you’re staring at a blank page, AI can help you come up with ideas for blogs, social media posts, workshops, offers or ways to explain what you do.

The boring stuff. Expenses spreadsheets, checklists, organising information, creating simple processes and helping you understand accounting terminology or processes can all be great uses of AI.

Getting started. If you’re struggling to write your first website, email or piece of content, ask AI for a starting point. It’s much easier to edit something than stare at a completely blank page.

Repurposing your own content. Written a blog? AI can help turn it into a newsletter, social post or some ideas for your next article. You’re using AI to make more of what you’ve already created, rather than asking it to invent your expertise.

Your logo and basic branding ideas. AI can be useful for creating initial concepts and helping you visualise an idea. Just don't spend three weeks perfecting your logo before you've even told anyone you're open for bookings!

Don't use AI for this…

Your voice.

This is the big one.

AI is very good at making things sound polished and professional. It can also make everything sound exactly the same.

You might tell AI you help stressed women feel calmer, more relaxed and more like themselves, and it can very quickly turn that into something along the lines of providing personalised holistic wellbeing experiences to support physical and emotional health.

Technically, it sounds great.

But it doesn't sound like you.

Your clients aren't buying an AI-generated therapy business. They're choosing a person. They want to know who you are, how you work, what you believe in and why they should trust you.

So use AI to help you communicate, but don't let it take over your voice.

Your experience.

AI doesn't know what your client said to you yesterday. It doesn't know the question three different clients have asked you this month. It doesn't know the moment when something clicked for a client or the experience you've gained from years of learning and working with people.

That's your gold.

Use AI to help shape your ideas, but don't ask it to replace the experiences that make your content interesting in the first place.

And watch out for the biggest rabbit hole…

Using AI to avoid doing the uncomfortable stuff.

You can spend hours asking AI what your niche should be, what you should charge, what your Instagram bio should say, what your website should look like and what you should post next.

And suddenly you've spent the whole day “working on your business” without actually doing, probably any of those things, or anything that puts your business in front of another human being.

You haven't spoken to the person who might become a client. You haven't followed up the enquiry. You haven’t posted, built out the website, or finalised the bio. You haven't told your network you're taking bookings.

You've just found a very sophisticated way of procrastinating.

So yes, use AI.

Use it to save time, get ideas, organise your business and take some of the boring jobs off your plate.

But don't let it become another rabbit hole.

And most importantly, don't lose your voice.

AI can help you build the business.

But the human behind the business is what people are actually choosing.

Want a bit more support?

AI can give you ideas, but sometimes what you really need is to talk things through with people who have actually built a therapy business.

If you’d like some in-the-room support, practical ideas and real-world experience to help you grow your client base, our Grow Your Business – Marketing, Messaging & Momentum workshop is designed for exactly that. It’s an interactive session for newly qualified therapists and those looking to build their client base, covering everything from identifying your ideal clients and finding them, to marketing, referrals, repeat bookings and building confidence in promoting yourself.

No complicated marketing theory. Just practical ideas, discussion and a clear plan you can actually put into action.

Find out more about Grow Your Business →