Figure out your Niche

Does this resonate?

You are so excited and passionate about the healing benefits of your techniques that you often describe your practice by listing all of them to anyone who will listen. You are certain in your heart that anyone and everyone will get amazing results if they would just come for a session, so you make sure your marketing materials are inclusive for everyone.

How is that working for you?

It's probably not working super well, and that's because it is one of the marketing mistakes that practitioners make from the heart. The truth is that we (myself included as someone who has done this) want to advertise the benefits of our modalities as a panacea (cure-all) for everyone because in our hearts we know our services can help others, and we want to help as many people as possible feel better as fast as possible. We really do. We sincerely care about everyone feeling well, and it's hard to wrap our minds around the idea that this kind of marketing does not help us attract the clients that we need to make our practice financially viable.

This is a really crucial step, so I want you to stay with me here. Please pause for a moment and take a deep breath and allow yourself to be open to this information I am going to share. If resistance comes up, don't judge yourself or this information. Keep breathing, and keep an open mind. Ok, ready? Put down your sincere passions (but it really can help anyone!) for a few minutes and come with me to explore the kind of heart-centered marketing that will attract the clients that your practice needs to float financially.

Bring to mind a product or a service that you purchased recently and think about what motivated you to invest your money in this way. It was either because you needed it to help you feel better in some way or because you wanted it to treat yourself in some way. In addition to your reason, I'm supposing that the product or service that you chose over other products and services resonated in your heart as the right product or service for you. It was right for you - that's why you purchased it. It spoke to you and you recognized that it would fulfill your need or desire. Let that sink in for a minute.

The marketing and advertising that gets the sale is the marketing and advertising that speaks to people so clearly that they easily recognize that it will solve their problem, meet their need or fulfill their desire.

Now how does that apply to you? Well, it's not your job to solve everyone's problems, meet everyone's needs or fulfill everyone's desires. It's your job to do what you do best, and do it for the people whose needs and problems are resolved through your best work. When you look at it that way, it's actually a relief not to have to be everything to everyone. You can just be the best you can be for the people who will appreciate it the most. Talk about fulfilling and satisfying work!

So how do you do this?

Last week's step in identifying your special skills, talents and gifts brought you part of the way to this type of resonant marketing. It helped you figure out what you do best. So now all you have to figure out is who your best work serves in the most successful way. This is called identifying your ideal client. It's honing in on the type of person who will resonate with the results you produce when you do your best work. These are the people who will become your best clients and biggest fans who rave about you to others because you give them what they need or desire so well that they can hardly believe their luck in finding you.

Once you know who you serve with your best work, you combine it with your special gifts, talents and skills to craft marketing materials that make it easy for your ideal client to recognize and resonate with how your services solve their problems, meets their needs, or fulfills their self-care desires.

Your Transformational Homework this week:
Honestly assess your current marketing materials and the way you describe your practice to others. Have a good friend go over these with you to let you know, gently, if what you're saying hones in on a specific group of people or tries to be a panacea to everyone. Take some time to do a walk through of a session with you. Identify what you do that's special and what results you produce that are exceptional.With a picture of your best work in mind, spend some time envisioning the type of person who will benefit the most from it. Really jot down some specifics that include what she needs & how she feels when she chooses a session with you, what she values, how your exceptional results resonate for her, and how she wants to feel when she leaves.Write up some marketing content that speaks to your ideal client directly, and then run it by one of your current clients who fits the profile. Get an honest opinion about whether your words speak to her from the heart or not and tweak until they do.

PS. If you find these steps valuable, and you're an emerging practitioner who needs so support in working through the steps so that you can transform your practice into an authentic, heart-centered, profitable practice, there's a workshop for you on January 10th. If you'd like to know more about how to apply these steps to transform your own emerging practice, join me at Learn the Ropes: Transforming your practice so it's profitable! here in Beverly, MA. Start off 2010 with all the keys you need for your practice to thrive

Identify your Talents, Gifts and Skills.

How do you answer when someone asks "what do you do?" Do you say something boring like "I'm a massage therapist" or "I'm a yoga teacher" or "I'm a practitioner"? If you answer that way, you're not alone. Many many holistic health and wellness professionals respond in conversation this way. It's a very easy and convenient way to label yourself.

But, it really doesn't leave room for you to shine as the superstar "stress buster", diva of "deep relaxation and peace of mind" or yogi of "flowing body and spirit", does it? It doesn't tell anyone what you really do with your clients.

Here's a secret that new practitioners don't always realize at first. Clients come to see you to spend time with you. I'll say it again - clients come to see you to spend time with you. They really do. They don't come for what you were trained to do in the consultation room or on the treatment table.

Oh sure, a potential client might decide tonight that she is going to try Reiki, so she Googles "Reiki" and emails the first practitioner that pops up in the search engine. Which might be you. The truth is, though, this is not how you are going to connect with most of your clients. And it's certainly not how you are going to keep your clients coming back.

I mean it. Clients will book with you again and again because they like to spend time with you. They like how they feel when they are with you. They enjoy the subtle, magical, superstar healing or growth you facilitate for them when they are there. There are thousands, perhaps millions of holistic health and wellness professionals. But it's you they want. They really do. They want you.

So what you have to do is figure out how to make it easy for your clients and potential clients to know who you really are and what it's like to spend time with you. When you are able to answer the question "What do you do?" with an authentic, heart-centered answer about the real you, the people you're talking with will know right away if they (or someone they know) resonates with your message and wants to spend more time with you.

Let's use me as an example. When I answer the question "What do you do?" with "I mentor other practitioners", it's pretty dull, right? You might scratch your head and wonder what that means. I am nowhere close to perfect, and the truth is that this is sometimes the answer that comes out when I am networking or talking to potential clients. However, I do try to remember to turn on the superstar and answer with something more like "What I do is help practitioners find the courage, determination, and tools they need to live the authentic lives they dream about."

Ooh, that sounds a lot snappier doesn't it? It catches your attention. If you have a secret dream in your heart of hearts about the life you really want to live and the difference you want to make in the world and in the lives of others but you're too scared, worried, or unsure about how to make it happen, your heart takes notice. You resonate with what I've said. You want to find out more.

It's time for you to figure out how your talents, skills and gifts translate into a sizzling answer to "What do you do?" and to start telling your clients and everyone you meet about it.


Your Transformational Homework this week:

Carve out some time alone with your hot chocolate and journal and answer the following questions to get some clarity about what you really do:

• What are my special gifts in working with clients?
• What stands out about how I work with clients?
• What are some adjectives that describe what it feels like in the consultation or treatment room?
• What emotional state are your clients in when they arrive? How has that changed by the time they leave?

What compliments or feedback do your clients give you?

Ask a trusted client, colleague or friend about what they think your special kind of mojo is like?

Start answering "What do you do?" differently. Try out a variety of responses until you come across the one that sizzles.

PS. If you find these steps valuable, and you're an emerging practitioner looking for the keys to transform your practice into an authentic, heart-centered, profitable practice, there's a workshop for you on January 10th. If you'd like to know more about how to apply these steps to transform your own emerging practice, join me at Learn the Ropes: Transforming your practice so it's profitable! here in Beverly, MA. Start off 2010 with all the keys you need for your practice to thrive!

Joanna Scaparotti helps wellness professionals thrive in life and business. She can be reached at www.joannascaparotti.com. Be yourself and change the world!

Make space to grow your practice.

Your practice is like a garden. It needs certain ingredients and tending in order to grow, blossom and yield a harvest. The very first thing you need to do, just like with a garden, is make space for your practice. Not only do you need to designate a physical space for your client work to take place, you also need to make space in your schedule to tend to it.

One mistake emerging practitioners make is to do other non-practice related things with their time when they don't have a client booked. While the occasional "mental health", self-care day at the beach, or coffee with friends are very important, you need to work on (and in) your practice on a regular basis in order for it to grow.

The average practitioner - who relies on word of mouth advertising and generic marketing methods like putting up flyers in a coffee shop - is lucky if she ends up with 6 regular clients by the end of her first year. (By regular clients, I mean those clients that come back week after week or on some other set schedule and become the backbone revenue of your practice.) In fact, I heard a statistic from a massage school teacher that the average new massage therapist makes less than $8,000 in their first year. Pretty scary, huh?

It doesn't have to be that way, though. Let me give you an example. One of the practitioners that I mentor has yielded much better results in the practice she is launching on the side of her full-time job. She made a decision to be profitable and fulfilled by her practice, made a commitment to show up and work on it, designated a space for her practice, and picked regular office hours to work in her practice each week. In less than four months, she has cultivated 4 regular clients despite the economic recession.

That's a significant improvement over the results an average practitioner can expect without a strategy that involves making space for your practice to grow and tending to the seeds you plant.

I'm going to leave the physical space of your practice up to you, since it's pretty obvious you can't have a practice unless you have a space to see clients. There are many options out there including a private room in your home, renting space or paying commission in a wellness center, spa, gym, salon, etc... or working in a collaborative or private office. If you are looking for a space with support system built in, you may want to check out the On-Site Apprenticeship program that I have at my office in Beverly.

Now, there's no magic formula for tending to your practice. In fact, the magic formula for you is going to be what works in your life. If you're launching on the side, it might just be a few hours a week. If you're in a position to work at it full time, then you may want to put in many more hours per week. It's the regular showing up for your practice that's important.

Ok so let's get down to the really crucial stuff that many emerging practitioners don't realize. First of all, you need to set aside self-care time for yourself. Think about it - as a wellness practitioner you are a role model for your clients. So it's essential, pretty much non-negotiable, to have fantastic habits so that you are feeling great whenever your clients spend time with you. Besides, you can't care for others in an effective and optimal way if you're depleted. So build however much self-care time you need to feel nourished and energized into your schedule first.

Then it's time to choose how much time you want to work IN your practice, and how much time you want to work ON your practice. Working in your practice is the fun part - this is where you work with clients. We all want to spend 100% of our time working with clients, but that's only possible if you find someone to hire you to do just that. Most likely, you are launching this practice on your own in this economy, so you'll actually need less hours for working IN your practice. Even so, it is important to designate certain hours to show up in the office, booked clients or not, to make it clear to yourself and others that you are available to see clients during this time.

It's crucial to look at making time to work ON your practice. The reality is that in the first year most of the time you devote to your practice is working ON building and growing it. Client attraction experts actually recommend that you spend as much as 90% of your time working ON attracting clients.

When you're working ON your practice, you're doing all the things that help bring new clients through the door. So these are things like learning strategies and techniques for attracting clients, designing business cards & brochures, writing a newsletter, using social media, working on your website, networking, promotional events, free consultations, referral alliances with more established practitioners & businesses etc... We'll get more into some of this in a later step.

So let's review: you need to make space for your practice and tend to it for it to grow, blossom and yield results. First you need to decide where you are going to see clients. Then you need to sit down with your calendar and block off some time to tend to your practice. First, block off all the self-care you need. Then, with the remaining hours you have to dedicate to your practice, pick 10-50% of them to be office hours where you are going to be seeing clients (even if you aren't booking clients regularly yet). Last, block off the remaining 50-90% of hours for working exclusively ON attracting clients and building your business.

Your Transformational Homework this week:

· Re-read this article a couple of times and really let it sink in that you have to dedicate more time to tending to your practice and attracting clients than you probably want.

· You might want to take a few minutes to figure out your scheduling style. If you're more of a go-with-the-flow type, you might want to give yourself the freedom of blocking off time for your practice at the beginning of each week so you don't feel trapped by a rigid schedule. This is what I do, and it works really well. If you're a real planner though, go right ahead and decide how you're allocating your time this month, this quarter, or even for the year!

· Once you've accepted that you have to work ON your business, pull out your calendar and block off self-care time, office hours, and a lot of working ON the practice hours.

· Do your self-care.

· Show up for your office hours even if nobody has booked a session yet. However, don't spend the time working ON the business. This is a bad habit that can make it hard later for you to balance seeing clients with projects, so keep them separate. If nobody's coming in during your office hours, spend the time meditating and envisioning your ideal client.

· Use your hours working ON the business to start thinking about your niche and ideal client, as well as planning some promotional activities.

PS. If you find these steps valuable, and you're an emerging practitioner looking for the keys to transform your practice into an authentic, heart-centered, profitable practice, there's a workshop for you on January 10th. If you'd like to know more about how to apply these steps to transform your own emerging practice, join me at Learn the Ropes: Transforming your practice so it's profitable! here in Beverly, MA. Start off 2010 with all the keys you need for your practice to thrive!

Joanna Scaparotti helps wellness professionals thrive in life and business. She can be reached at joannascaparotti.com. Be yourself and change the world!

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Transform your practice into a profitable one.

With the new year just around the corner and many of us with high hopes for a better 2010, I'm inspired to share with you the important steps every practitioner needs to take to shift from being a student or volunteer into a professional, profitable practitioner.
As I've mentioned before, there's a transformation process that needs to happen after you finish your training and begin to step into the role of professional practitioner. You need to become someone who not only feels assured of your therapeutic skills but also has confidence that your practice can be filled with clients who pay what your time and expertise is worth.

Some schools are getting better at incorporating business concepts into their curriculums, but it's not enough. Any practitioner who steps out on his or her own into private practice has to learn the ropes of being an entrepreneur as well as a healer. I've seen too many practitioners struggle to start a practice, only to give up in frustration with a belief that it's not possible to earn a living doing this heart-centered, important work.

It is possible though, and over the next six weeks we'll take a look in depth at the key steps every emerging practitioner needs to take to avoid the frustrating pitfalls and roadblocks that keep them from success!

Transform your Practice - Step 1
Make a Decision

I reached a crossroads in 2007 where I had to make a choice - there simply was not enough time in the day to balance marriage & family, full-time volunteering and full-time work. The balance between how much I was giving and how much I was receiving was just not working out. Something had to give. I had been dabbling at having a private practice, for free, for a very long time, and it was time for me to take the leap to really become a profitable, professional practitioner. I had to make a serious Decision to stop dabbling and start doing this for real.

Making a Decision meant that I was making a commitment to doing what it takes to make it happen. A Decision like this is so important because hanging out a shingle as a practitioner opens you up to face all of your fears, limiting beliefs, doubts, and self-worth issues you didn't know you have. The only thing that's going to get you through the yucky and scary stuff is a commitment to see it through to the other side.

Making a Decision also meant that I had faith in myself and that things could and would work out. The Decision meant adopting an optimistic frame of mind that allowed me to perceive the inevitable roadblocks as temporary challenges and opportunities for growth instead of feeling frustrated and helpless about the things I didn't know yet.

Making a Decision motivated me to learn as much as possible about how the business aspect of my practice needed to work in order to be profitable. It gave me the drive to seek out experts and mentors who could show me the ropes and guide me through the things I didn't know.

Making a Decision helped me create momentum around my practice because I had come out of the closet about it. What I mean is that since I wanted to find clients to work with, I had to start talking about it! Nobody's going to know you're available and willing to help unless you tell them. It can be really scary at first to own what you're doing and proudly say to friends, family and the general public: "I'm a Practitioner".

Making a Decision also forced me to work out my issues around asking for payment for my services. If I was going to have a profitable practice, I had to learn how to get comfortable asking for and receiving payment. Hiding behind volunteer work doesn't truly serve anyone, least not you and your bank account!

Making a Decision to be a profitable practitioner is the most important step you need to take. It's essential to make this commitment to do what it takes, face your fears, come out of the closet (or wear the T-shirt ,as one of my Clearing your Path for Success clients joked about this week), adopt a positive, optimistic attitude and be open to learning new things about yourself and how to manage your practice.

Your Transformational Homework this week:

Write in your journal 100 times "I am a profitable practitioner" or some other affirmation that speaks to you. Well, ok you don't have to write it 100 times, but spend some time writing in your journal about how important it is to you to be a practitioner and make a living at it.

Say your affirmation out loud. Invite a friend who doesn't know yet about your intention out for coffee and tell her all about it.

Talk about it as if it were already happening. There's nothing wrong with "faking it till you make it", which really means pretending you have confidence until you do have confidence.

Cultivate an optimistic attitude that sees roadblocks as opportunities and be open to learning new things. Pick one thing you know you need to learn more about and take a step towards learning it like signing up for a free class at the Enterprise Center or checking a book out of the library.

Decide that your dreams are important enough to do what it takes to make it happen. Write your decision in your journal or keep it in your wallet as a reminder.

Do you know an emerging practitioner who needs to know these steps? Invite her to register here so she won't miss any of the articles: http://tinyurl.com/joinjoannaslist