Miranda Palmer has come a long way since launching her first free Yahoo Group in 2005.

Back then she was an aspiring therapist who had just failed her licensing exam by one point, and she wasn’t alone. Many of her grad school classmates were in the same boat.

So, when a handful of her students at a local university showed her how they were using a Yahoo Group to study together, a lightbulb went off.

What if I created a study group for aspiring therapists for us to pass our exams together?

That’s exactly what she did and ZynnyMe was born.

A few months after starting her exam study group, Miranda got quite a shock. The licensing board told her they had made a mistake. She had actually passed!

She no longer personally needed her study group, but she was hooked. She’d seen how the group sparked valuable conversations well beyond the exam itself–from grad school to licensure:

Miranda went on to consult with other therapists, sharing what she had learned about running a profitable private practice, and in 2010, she connected with fellow therapist Kelly Higdon. Together they shifted from coaching to launching online courses and programs that help therapists run successful businesses.

These were early days for online courses, and they tried a range of platforms, from various learning management systems to WordPress and Facebook groups.

As their business grew, Kelly and Miranda realized that the conventional online course combo recommended by successful instructors–Wordpress plus a Facebook group–was failing them. The breaking point came after developing a custom WordPress site:

As they looked around at available course platforms, only one seemed to make community and native mobile apps core to its offering. That’s when they got serious about Mighty Networks.

In August 2019, Miranda and Kelly began moving their online courses and Facebook groups to a new Mighty Network.

To start the move, they invited a set of existing members over to try their new setup and give them feedback. They wanted their members to love it, and they did. Kelly and Miranda tweaked all the customizable options available on a Mighty Network–the design, the course set up, and messaging–based on what they heard and were ready to go wider.

Next, they announced the move to Mighty in their Facebook groups and via email, sharing that their courses and additional resources would now be found on their new Mighty Network.

That opened the floodgates. Today, they are at 14,000 members and growing.

To help onboard new folks who continue to join daily, Miranda and Kelly set up a drip email campaign that goes out on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The same guidance is also available in their Mighty Network’s topics dedicated to support. Course members get onboarding emails specific to their course on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They feature a welcome video in their Welcome section and they recently offered an orientation webinar that was recorded and shared.

ZynnyMe is a public Mighty Network with private and paid spaces. They renamed Courses to “Private Communities” and leverage the Mighty Course functionality to organize and structure their many resources.

Here are a few highlights of their offering:

• Free PreLicensed Clinician Group (Private)

• Free Practice Community (Private)

• Premium Business School Bootcamp (Paid)

• Groups for private coaching clients (Secret)

The biggest surprise for Miranda and Kelly in bringing their courses, programs, and community together on one platform is just how much easier it is for them to manage and how much more their members are getting out of their offering:

This has proven especially valuable since ZynnyMe has amassed a rich library of free resources (i.e. lead magnets) over their decade in business. Says Miranda:

In Miranda and Kelly’s experience, giving resources away has led to course sales, and with everything in one place, the path to purchase is even clearer:

Soon after launching their Mighty Network, Miranda and Kelly confirmed their instincts: making ZynnyMe accessible via the native Mighty Networks mobile apps were getting their clients better results (and making their own lives easier too):

Miranda and Kelly are strong believers in the power of a dedicated space for their community that isn’t part of a larger social network. Says Miranda:

They’ve already seen the results in the quality of people’s interactions inside the community:

Another benefit of a platform offering more structure and a better search function? Members easily find what they’re looking for. Miranda explains:

ZynnyMe members can also tailor what they see in their main Activity Feed that serves as the home base of their Mighty Network experience:

There’s a clear theme that runs through everything that Miranda and Kelly create with ZynnyMe. While they’re running a successful business, they also want to help their fellow therapists’ businesses thrive and make their lives easier, before they even pay for a thing:

1. Be cautious with custom development. “I can’t say it enough. If you really like working with people and you want to do great work, choose hosted software. There’s no reason to go and cobble something together.”

2. Put free valuable content inside your community. “Start creating content that is really powerful, put it in the community, and let people know about it via your email list,” says Kelly. “Tell them, ‘Here’s amazing information: download this worksheet, check out our challenge, come in here, and also meet great people.’”

3. Don’t underestimate the power of mobile apps to keep both you and your members engaged. “Our clients say, ‘Wow, I didn’t realize how responsive you would be. This is fantastic.’ They feel so engaged and we don’t feel locked in. As soon as I’m done with a yoga class, I’m sitting down answering questions, getting responses, and moving on to something else,” says Miranda.

started her journey by failing a licensing exam by 1 point. This moment was the catalyst for helping thousands of therapists around the world, and today she inspires and teaches therapists in private practice to build profitable, happy businesses. Miranda is a co-founder at ZynnyMe, a co-creator and business coach of the Business School Bootcamp for Therapists, a guide and educator for pre-licensed therapists at MFTGuide.com, and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist.

is a former private-practice psychotherapist, current business and lifestyle coach, and a recovering workaholic. When burnout landed her in the ER, she recognized the wake-up call. Now it’s her mission to help other business owners find alignment with who they are and break through the barriers that keep them from creating the life they want. Kelly co-founded ZynnyMe and the Business School Bootcamp for Therapists, provides clinical consultation and coaching for private practice owners, runs webinars for therapists, and spends lots of time with her family.