From OT to Copywriter: Redefining Success with Krista Frahm

22 hours ago13 min read

Join us during our latest DPT to CEO interview where I sit down with Krista Frahm, OT, owner of Krista Frahm Agency where she helps other healthcare businesses as a Marketing Strategist and Copywriter. Krista's journey is such a great example of how you can take the skills you have as a therapist and apply them in ways you might not have even thought of.

During this episode, we talk about what it was like for Krista to leave the clinical world behind, the mindset shifts she had to make, and the lessons she learned along the way. Krista also shares why marketing therapy services can feel so hard (and how to make it easier), the sales skills therapists don’t realize they already have, and why investing in yourself—whether it’s through coaching or something else—is a total game-changer.

If you’ve ever thought about stepping out of the traditional therapy role, this episode is for you!

What we're covering:

*Tell us about your background and what you’re doing now.

*What was it like transitioning from OT to marketing and copywriting?

*What was it like jumping into a field that you hadn’t had any “formal education" in?

*How can a business owner make introducing themselves to others more productive?

*Do you think there’s a niche of therapy that’s most difficult to market?

*What are your thoughts on practice owners that don’t want to do sales or marketing?

*Can you tell us about your experience investing in coaching and your mindset around investing in yourself?

*If a therapist is thinking about entering the non-clinical route, share with us some examples of how someone could freelance or go into business for themselves?

*How to contact Krista.

Tell us about your background and what you’re doing now.

Krista: I am actually an occupational therapist by trade, and I've been in OT for probably about 15 years or so. I practiced clinically for a solid 10 years, working between maternity leaves, moves, and all that kind of stuff. But then we moved to a really rural area, and it just wasn’t a fit anymore. I tried to keep going where I was, but things just weren’t working out. Eventually, I found my way into copywriting and marketing, which was not even remotely on my radar when I first started looking for non-clinical jobs or alternative ways to earn money.

Now, I own and operate a marketing agency that primarily focuses on copywriting and marketing strategy for clinician-owned businesses, as well as MedTech companies targeting clinicians. It’s honestly astounding how these companies can know so much about the market but completely miss the mark when it comes to actually talking to us or relating to us in any meaningful way. I can always tell when someone has never been a therapist or dealt with the things we face in clinical care.

So, that’s my business now. I write for other people, set up marketing funnels, and create launch plans—and I absolutely love it. I love what I do, and I use my OT background every single day on every project.

What was it like transitioning from OT to marketing and copywriting?

Krista: I get asked that a lot—people are always like, “How did you even find this?” The truth is, I didn’t know what copywriting was when I was already doing it in a volunteer role. Our school here in this small, rural area of Washington was just starting up, and they needed someone to write blogs for their website, send emails to our little email list of 20 people, post on social media, and eventually start an Instagram account. It just snowballed from there—I was writing everything for them.

One day, another parent came along and said, “Oh, you write great copy.” I had no idea what she was talking about. Coming from an academic and clinical background as a therapist, the word “copy” doesn’t exactly have positive connotations. I was like, “I didn’t copy anything!” She laughed and explained what copywriting was, which sent me down a Google rabbit hole to figure it out.

Once I learned what copywriting actually meant, I started getting targeted with all the ads—because, of course, everyone has great marketing. That’s when it clicked for me: I could get paid to do what I was already doing. I found a coach and took a copywriting course to get started, and that’s when I built my business.

I don’t have any formal education in copywriting or marketing—it’s all been self-taught through programs, coaching, and mentorship. That’s the path I chose instead of going back for another degree to become a marketer or copywriter.

Morgan: Yeah, I think that’s such a great point to bring up, Krista. Like we were just talking about before we got on, sometimes we therapists deal with this little thing called imposter syndrome. You know, that not-so-little feeling where we think we’re not good enough or don’t have the right skill set yet—like there’s just something missing that holds us back from jumping into the unknown. Whether it’s starting a business or learning a completely new non-clinical skill set, it’s that nagging doubt that can really get in the way.

*Learn how to crush imposter syndrome as a business owner at the blog post here.

What was it like jumping into a field that you hadn’t had any “formal education" in?

Krista: It was terrifying. Once I figured it out, though, I realized that we come from such a highly regulated industry. As therapists, you can’t call yourself an OT unless some governing body says you can. You can’t use the “L” or the “R” or the “D” after your name unless someone else gives you permission. Even saying, “I’m a therapist,” requires external validation. So, stepping into a completely unregulated field, where it was entirely up to me to decide, “I can call myself this,” was a huge mental hurdle. I had to wrap my head around the idea that I could just show up on the internet, call myself a copywriter, and no one was there to say yes or no to that.

In the group I joined, there were people with no college degrees, people with PhDs, and everything in between. It was eye-opening to see that range and realize I needed to embrace this and own the title, or I’d never get anywhere with my business. It was really hard. I do have a few certifications now that I’ve earned through different programs, but honestly, it’s mostly been an internal process—working through it myself and saying, “Okay, I’ve learned the thing, and I’ve done the thing, so now I just need to own that title.”

At the end of the day, you just have to keep stepping forward, even though there’s nobody there to give you approval to take the next step.

Morgan: Yeah, absolutely. It’s a totally new experience, like you said, especially coming from our field, which is so highly regulated. There are licensing exams, continuing education requirements, and all that. Even in school, it’s so rigid and structured—it was such a difficult time in my life, going through all of that. We work so hard to hit these specific benchmarks and checkpoints just to feel like, “Okay, it’s good enough,” and to get that external validation, like, “This other person said I am, so I must be.”

But when you’re getting into all these other skills, it’s really interesting—especially when you’re on the internet. Out here, anyone can call themselves anything, and that’s such a big shift to wrap your mind around.

How can a business owner make introducing themselves to others more productive?

Krista: When you say, “I’m a physical therapist,” people already have a picture in their minds, and they’re like, “Oh, okay.” That’s all the information they need—or even want. But if you own your own business, especially a niche one that’s very specific, just saying, “I’m a physical therapist” gives you no chance of connecting with someone or pulling in your ideal clients.

I’m constantly telling the OTs I work with or coach in different programs—and every now and then we get a PT in there too, and it’s the same issue—you have to stop selling OT. Nobody is buying “OT.” Very rarely are they actually buying occupational therapy itself. What they’re buying, what they’re looking for, is the outcome.

Like you said, you have to lead with something like, “I help people achieve this outcome through physical therapy” or, “I help people get this result by working with them as a physical therapist.” It all comes back to your title, but you have to hook them with the outcome they want—especially on your website, in your emails, and even on your flyers. That’s what really draws people in.

*Learn more on why selling PT or OT will get you zero clients at the blog post here.

Do you think there’s a niche of therapy that’s most difficult to market?

Krista: From the OT perspective, it’s all about aging in place, but nobody wants to buy that. It’s the thing everyone needs—planning for their eventual decline—but it’s also the thing no one wants to look at or admit will happen. All those home modifications, like putting a grab bar in the bathroom or getting a taller toilet, are tiny changes that can set someone up for success. Yet, most adults just want to ignore it. There’s this huge tension trying to reach those people because they’re in denial. They think, “No, I’m fine. It’ll all work out.” But it won’t—that’s the problem. It’s a nightmare the moment something happens, and suddenly their house isn’t even remotely prepared for an injury or change in mobility.

I think that’s one of the hardest things in OT to get through to people. With pediatrics, it’s pretty easy to connect with families. Pelvic health is gaining traction, and people are starting to understand it more. Even with Alzheimer’s and dementia care, there’s growing awareness, and people are realizing, “Oh, maybe this isn’t normal, and I can get help.” But aging in place? People just don’t want anything to do with it.

I’m curious from the PT perspective, though. I don’t work with many PT private practices, so I probably have a blind spot there. From what I’ve seen, the hardest thing might be how generic sports PT clinics often look in their marketing. They all seem to have that same outpatient ortho vibe with the same storyline: “I was an athlete in college, I got injured, I went to PT, and now I work with athletes.” It’s such an overdone narrative.

I even told my cousin this when he was applying to PT school. He said, “I played elite-level rugby, then I got hurt, and I did therapy, so now I want to be a PT.” And I told him, “You and every other person applying to PT school.” He was so astounded. I had to explain, “It’s a good story, and it’s a great reason to get into PT, but it’s the same story as everyone else. There’s got to be something more to stand out.”

Morgan: Right, yes! We need a megaphone to blast this podcast everywhere for every aspiring PT student out there. If you’re listening—dig a little deeper. Go one layer deeper. Why do you care?

What are your thoughts on practice owners that don’t want to do sales or marketing?

Krista: If we’re not prioritizing those things on a regular basis while we’re still building a caseload, it’s going to take a while to get where we want to go. Word of mouth is amazing, but you’ve got to get it started, and it’s unpredictable. You don’t have control over that faucet. At any point, your favorite advocates might move away or just go silent for reasons completely unrelated—maybe they had an uncle die or something, and they just stop talking to everybody. If you don’t have that word-of-mouth flow, then you’ve got to do it yourself.

I think we can also reframe sales a lot for therapists because we don’t always have the best mindset around it. It can seem sleazy and pushy, but the truth is, I don’t know about PT, but every time an OT walks into a room, we’re selling our services. Nobody knows what OT is, why they want it, or why they need it. If they say, “Are you my physical therapist?” and you respond, “No, I’m an occupational therapist,” there’s immediate resistance. So, we’re always in sales. We’re already doing it—we get clients to agree to work with us even when they’d rather stay in bed, or if we’re in home health, we might show up at their door and they’re pretending to be asleep. We’re selling our services every day.

That’s what you can do in a private practice too—figure out what people want and need, pitch them on that, share the big why, and get them excited about it. Therapists already have sales skills, they just don’t realize it.

Morgan: Yeah, that’s why I always tell people, “Number one, have you ever evaluated a patient?” And if the answer is yes, then, “Did you get them to come back?” Because if you did, you’ve made a sale. You marketed your services, and you made the sale.

*Learn more about how to know if you're a good salesperson at the blog post here.

Can you tell us about your experience investing in coaching and your mindset around investing in yourself?

Krista: What just crossed my mind when you said that is that I was talking to a PT student, and I realized—we’ve actually already invested in coaching by the time we become professionals. We’ve been paying tuition the entire time we were learning, and someone was mentoring, guiding, and teaching us. It just hit me—I was like, "Oh, we’ve already invested in coaching; we just called it degrees." We didn’t think of it as coaching, but it’s totally the same thing.

I think when I first got started, I was the same way. I thought I could just find free resources and figure it all out on my own because I didn’t want to spend any money. It was actually my husband who said, “Who starts a business without investing anything? That’s just absurd.” And I was like, “Uh, you’re right. I don’t know. I thought maybe I could be extra special and do this without help.” Ridiculous, I know. I mean, maybe you could piece everything together from YouTube and free stuff online, but it’s going to take so much time, and you’ll get so much conflicting advice coming at you. The risk of inaction in that situation is huge compared to getting the right guidance.

I always tell people to definitely vet all the programs. Talk to as many coaches as you can, or at least the ones you’re interested in. Get a feel for who they are, the outcomes they get, and their former students. Then just go with your gut on what feels like the right direction.

I invested in an initial program, which was a couple thousand dollars, thinking that would be the one and only. I was still in complete denial about the fact that starting and growing a business requires investment. But it kickstarted my business, and I started earning money, which was great. Then, as I wanted to specialize, I took a sales page program and an email marketing program just to continue refining. It’s really the same as getting any other specialty certification in therapy. There are so many parallels.

We get continuing education credits in one lane, so we feel like it’s legit to spend on that, but when it comes to business coaching, templates, and support, we don’t get credit for it. We fight it a little more. I don’t know, we were all raised on sticker charts apparently, and we need marks on our charts for everything we do. But since then, I’ve done more programs—general business coaching, masterminds, in-person events—and every time I invest in my business, it pays back, both mindset-wise and financially.

Morgan: Yeah, 100%. I feel like that was all really, really well said. There are so many pros to investing in a coaching program or finding a mentor, and being in spaces with other people who are doing the things you want to do. Even though, like you said, it’s possible to do it yourself—because all the information is out there on the internet—besides the fact that it would be super inconvenient to try and figure it all out on your own, there’s just so much value that comes from investing in something. It accelerates your progress, gives you support, and helps you avoid a lot of unnecessary problems along the way.

If a therapist is thinking about entering the non-clinical route, share with us some examples of how someone could freelance or go into business for themselves?

Krista: The freelancing route can really be anything that you can do for someone to save them time. I know therapists who work as virtual assistants, graphic designers, copywriters, even executive assistants or tech experts. If you’re tech-savvy and can learn a few different software programs, you can definitely market those skills and sell them to business owners who don’t want to figure it out themselves. There’s a lot of tech I could probably learn, but I don’t want to. It would take me three hours to do a 20-minute task, so I’d rather hire someone to handle it for me.

Any task that you can figure out and do for people is a great way to start a freelancing business, especially if it’s in your zone of genius. Like, I could never be a graphic designer because shapes and colors just don’t work for me—no one would ever pay me to design anything. But words? I love words. I could do that all day. I also know there are more traditional non-clinical jobs, like reviews and utilization roles, and there are programs to help people get into those positions. I didn’t go down that route, so I’m not too familiar with them, but I know of a pharmacist who became a winemaker. I was surprised, but when I thought about it, it made perfect sense. She’s using the same skill set—precisely measuring, looking at the chemistry, testing levels, etc. I would have never guessed it, but it was a perfect fit.

Home organization is another route, along with coaching and consulting. You just have to market yourself as the solution, not as a therapist. For example, if you say, “I’m a physical therapist and I’m going to organize your home,” people will be like, “Weird,” and probably turn you down. But there’s an OT who has a super successful home organization business because it fits with her skill set. She understands why people are disorganized and how they’ve gotten to that point, so she’s addressing mental health through home organization, but she’s not selling mental health services—it’s just an undercurrent.

There are a million different ways people can use our skill sets. It’s important to realize that just because you have letters behind your name doesn’t mean you’re locked into a box and can’t do anything else. It’s totally okay to change careers, and it’s also totally okay to come back to your original field. That’s the beauty of having a license. I’m keeping mine for that reason. I got a call from the hospital a couple of months ago because someone had passed away unexpectedly, and they needed short-term coverage. I really considered stepping in, but I had too many clients at the time to handle it. I had to say no, but it reminded me why I keep my license—because maybe next time something like that happens, I’ll be able to say yes and return to inpatient work if I want to. I can do that because I still have my license.

Morgan: Yeah, exactly. It ends up giving you a lot of flexibility. Even if right now you feel like you’re really caged in, if you look at it differently, there’s actually a ton you can do. It’s incredibly empowering to have the degree that we have. It opens up so many doors, and once you realize that, it can completely shift how you view your career options.