I’m so excited! I’ve got lots of great news to share with you, so hang onto your hats! You may have noticed a new header and a new name here on the site. It’s all part of the unfolding of my new business focus so that this website, my newsletter and all the information you get from me truly reflects more of my passion and mission in life. Heal Your Practice Now will still have great content with a sound healing flair to it and my intent is to offer my best tips, strategies and information to help you create and grow a thriving healing practice. Get ready! More changes and more exciting news coming soon…

In my last post, I talked about the three business virtues: vision, faith and gratitude. Of the three, vision is the crown because without vision, we literally will not have a reason to go forward. We need a clear vision to give us a sense of direction and purpose in our business.

Now, I know that goal setting is a hot topic of discussion at this time of year.  Many of us set goals and make resolutions with the best of intentions and then find ourselves making the same goals and resolutions the following year. We get discouraged and give up or just get distracted. Vision is different.

A vision statement is a mix between a mission statement – that details the what and why of your business, as well as who it serves – and a longer-term goal of where you’d like to see your business in the next five to 10 years.

The benefits of creating a vision statement are many, but here are just a few:

1. It gives you a clear picture of where you want to be and some tangible results you want to see when you get there. Instead of having vague results like “I want to be a millionaire,” or “I want to have a successful practice,” your vision statement gives you a clear target to aim for. And when your target is clear, it’s a lot easier to hit it.
2. Your vision statement is also meant to define your goals to your subconscious mind. When you create a powerful positive statement and work with it on a regular basis, you also put your amazing subconscious mind to work on your behalf – helping you to see previously unnoticed opportunities and inspiring you to take action and create in new ways.
3. A vision statement is meant to inspire and guide you when you run into obstacles that you may not be immediately certain how to overcome. It’s meant to be a prime directive in how you run your business and your life.

 So let me give you an example of what this might look like. The vision of XYZ Massage is to partner with other practitioners and create a healing center and spa that is state of the art and in a beautiful location but also offers its services on a sliding scale and serves as a teaching center for interns and the general public. The spa is a multi-million dollar business that is based on providing excellent service in an attractive environment. Ten years from now, I will be semi-retired and act on the Board of Advisors to help maintain the vision I have created. I’ll be traveling all over the world for business and for pleasure, and donate a large portion of my income to worthy causes.

Now, your vision may not be quite so grand or far-reaching. And if five to 10 years out seems overwhelming, go for something shorter term. The important thing is that your vision should include your “best-case scenario” for your business at least a few years from now, as well as enough practical, tangible information so that you know when you’ve arrived. This includes how much money you see your business making, where you’re located, how many employees and that sort of thing.

Action Steps

Complete the following action steps to help you get the most out of this issue’s Feature Article:

1. Write out the answers to the following questions:
   1. I’m in business because ________________.
   2. My business helps _____________ (what group of people?) do/be/have _____________ (what result?)
   3. My business makes a difference because: ________________
   4. Now imagine that it is five to 10 years in the future and answer the above questions from that vantage point. If that seems too far in the future for you to imagine clearly, try a shorter length of time. Then write out where you’d ideally like your business to be in that time frame. Make it clear, concise, positive and state it in the present tense, as though you’re already there.
   5. Write or type out the answer to question 2 and read it regularly. This is your vision statement. Put it in a place where you’ll see it every day. Make revisions to it on occasion. And as you achieve various aspects of it, be sure to celebrate and acknowledge yourself and update your vision statement again. And if you are ever tempted to doubt yourself, go back and answer question 1 again.

Questions about the Action Steps? Send them here!

So you’ve just graduated from massage school, gotten your Reiki certification, become a life or wellness coach or gotten certified as an Acutonics practitioner. You may have even gotten some basic training in marketing as part of your education. But now you’re out there in the marketplace thinking, “Now what?”

Should you put out fliers? Use social media? Put an ad in the local paper? How on earth are you going to get clients? With so many options to choose from, what’s a holistic practitioner to do?

Don’t worry. There’s hope and help out there. You just need to take a deep breath, get centered and implement these five ideas:

1)    Decide who you’d most like to help. One of the biggest hangups I see with holistic healers and practitioners is the idea that we can help everyone. We probably can, but the problem with that is that when it comes time to market ourselves, we don’t know how to reach everyone. There are just too many options. And I’ll tell you something else. Everyone isn’t looking for us! You see, like you, they are faced with so many options that they’re not sure what to choose. So it’s on you to choose a group of people who have a special need that you can address. Be as specific as you can.

For instance, I have a friend who is a massage therapist with a specialty in women’s reproductive issues. That’s specific. She knows where to find her people and how to speak their language.  And she doesn’t lack for clients because she got clear on who she wants to help.

2)    Don’t lead with your modality. Not to be redundant here, but leading with your modality means, for example, that you’re just telling people you’re a Reiki Master and hoping they want your services. Hate to break it to you, but a large percentage of the population doesn’t know and may not even care what Reiki is. If they have fibromyalgia, though, and you specialize in helping people with fibromyalgia, they may want to talk to you. And if you get in front of those people telling them you have a way to help them, they won’t necessarily care how you do what you do. They just want to feel better. Help them feel better and all of a sudden, you’ll have more clients and you won’t be spending as much time trying to educate people on why your healing method is effective.

3)    Get clear on your message. There’s a lot of marketing education out there – some of it good and some of it not-so-good. As healers and practitioners, most of us just want to help people. So the idea of trying to get someone to buy our products or services by scarcity tactics or guilt or some other form of manipulation just doesn’t sit right. It doesn’t have to be that way! When you’re clear on who you’re serving and you have what they need, you really just need to offer it to them in a way that speaks to their need.

Going back to the fibromyalgia-Reiki example, all you would need to do is to gear your product or service for fibromyalgia sufferers. You might write articles that share the benefits of Reiki in dealing with fibromyalgia. You could speak to fibromyalgia support groups. You could also create a special healing package for fibromyalgia sufferers.  There are countless ways you could speak to them and address their needs.

When you do that, they will tell their friends about you and they will become loyal customers.

4)    Don’t sell by the hour or by the session. If you do this, you’re selling yourself short. First of all, there are only so many hours in a day and if  you’re offering your services by the hour, this means there are only so many sessions you can have in a day. Instead, think about creating packages of your service; such as: Seven Weeks to Fibromyalgia Relief. When you create packages, you can charge more and also serve more people at a time.

5)    Don’t try to do everything yourself.  Imagine being on one of those big old sailing ships from the 1800s and trying to sail it by yourself. You might be able to manage in good weather, but if you run into foul weather, you could be in big trouble. You want to gear your business so that you can focus on your strengths and outsource those things that are not your strengths to others. This gives you more time doing what you love and steering the ship, instead of running around and trying to do everything.

Consider outsourcing things like scheduling appointments, correspondence and accounting. You should definitely have a support system that helps you to move forward in your business, such as a coach, a mastermind group or group of practitioners you meet with regularly. You need this in order to get ideas for growing your practice and to have a source of inspiration, support and accountability.

When you implement these ideas, you will find that it’s much easier to build a thriving practice that you love. You’ll spend less time trying to find clients and instead, they’ll be finding you! And you’ll have more energy, time and money to make a difference in the world.

If you’re feeling stuck with your healing practice and don’t have all the high-paying clients you desire or are feeling a little lost around where to even begin to fill your practice, be sure to grab your FR.EE 30-minute Bust Your Blocks Strategy Session while they’re still available. Just click here.