This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Well, here's one I have never heard about. In, I don't know how many years it's been, 25 years of doing silence in school. It hasn't been 25 years, actually. It's been, I guess, five years, six years. But I have been working in the world of entrepreneurship, microentrepreneurship, starting little businesses for more than 20 years.
And so from time to time, you know, you hear like this new thing that's come along, some new technology. That's kind of what we're getting to today. But it can also just be something that nobody's ever really thought of before, not necessarily a new technology, but they just have a new twist on something. So it's really fun to just kind of stay current through your feedback and through the ideas of our community. Thanks for being awesome, by the way.
In today's caller, specifically, they are exploring the intersection of psychology and technology. They want to bring virtual reality to the world of therapy. So, I mean, interesting, right? With advancements in tech, the potential for VR to revolutionize mental health treatment is immense, or at least that is one view. I mean, there could be an opposing view, but I like to always kind of explore different things or at least keep an open mind.
So how might you get started with a VR therapy business or a practice, I guess you should say, but VR therapy in general, assuming you are a licensed therapist and such, which I'll talk about briefly in my answer, but how could this actually work? All right, stay tuned, detailed question and my answer coming up in 30 seconds. [Music]
Hello, my name is Jack and I'm calling from Chicago. I've got a degree in psychology and I believe virtual reality technology can be a game changer for therapy. It's like exposure therapy on steroids, except no actual drugs are involved.
I'm curious to know your thoughts on this idea. And if you have any tips for starting a virtual reality therapy business, including the necessary equipment and target market. I'm already working on licensing. So for the purposes of your advice, I'm mostly interested in the marketing side. Thanks.
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All right, Jack, definitely an interesting idea. I've been doing therapy for a while and I've done some stuff with virtual reality, not a whole lot, but definitely have never merged the two. So, you know, just the obvious disclaimer here, you know, you can't just go and do therapy like randomly, at least you shouldn't. I mean, most places you really can't, but even if you're in a place where there aren't any laws about that, it probably isn't something you should just kind of make up. But let's assume that Jack or anybody interested in this is in fact a licensed therapist.
You know, virtual reality technology has definitely come a long way. Doing some sort of virtual reality therapy is unique for sure. So let's talk about what you might need to know. Again, with that disclaimer in mind. So first of all, it's, well, second of all, let's say it is important to research the market and determine your target audience.
People looking for mental health support, they come from all walks of life. So got to figure out who's going to benefit from this particular form or method of it. I guess one thing is people are a lot more comfortable doing, you know, mental health counseling and all kinds of other appointments by Zoom or Google meeting or other technologies these days. So nevertheless, you know, who is your target audience? And then of course, what is the necessary equipment?
Like how does it, how does this actually work? Does everybody need to have like an Oculus? You know, is it something that you provide? Is it actually done in a space that you facilitate? You know, I don't know.
But I guess you're gonna have to figure that out, consider the costs involved and how you'll be able to do it. And then of course you want to focus on building awareness and trust. So that's going to be pretty big. If you do therapy already, then you probably have a Psychology Today profile. That's where many therapists are discovered and you have to pay Psychology Today for this, of course.
But from what I know, it seems to work. So who knows, perhaps in the future, there'll be a, you know, an option to tick, you know, if you're offering virtual reality therapy, just as there is for remote sessions. But maybe until then you can be one of the first. Who knows? Well, I'm curious anyway.
Jack, let us know how it goes. And listeners, if you have a question, an idea of your own, one that you are licensed for, at least qualified for, let's say, sidehustleschool.com/questions. We'll continue to feature them each week, along with updates from listeners as they launch and grow their projects. Take care of yourself out there. My name is Chris Guillebeau.
This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
from the Onward Project.
