Having a Practice at Home

Question

What are your thoughts on woking from home in your practice?

Answer

This question is asked a lot and there is no real clear answer because it depends on each individual therapist. Some therapists prefer the safety of a clinic and like that it provides a steady stream of client leads and often other therapists within the clinic refer their clients. There is nothing to stop therapists working from home creating a similar network of therapists who work from home so you can mutually refer others; it just takes a little more effort to maintain the links.

Some also see the clinic option as more professional. Again how you view this is up to you but often in clinics your reputation is only as good as the weakest link in the clinic set up. That could be its procedures; it could be other therapists, position of the clinic etc. You have less control in a clinic unless you own it.

I think working from home takes a little more effort and focus. It is all too easy to be dragged off purpose when you are working from home. The neighbours pop in, the washing needs to done and over the course of a day many things can get in the way. If you are easily distracted it may be best to be in a clinic. However, as a Gemini I’m VERY easily distracted and am the classic flitter between projects but I have been able to train myself to be consistently in my office for long period of time working on the things I’m meant to be doing (well most days anyway!)

The benefits of working from home are many including flexibility to see people at times outside set hours. You can do your odd jobs if there is a gap in your diary or you can easily pop into your home office and work on projects in downtime. You have the ability to create an environment that you love and have control over.

The main advantage I see is from a profitability point of view. You need to see less people working at home to make the same profit you would have made paying rent at a clinic. You probably have to do more work initially to secure those clients though.

I believe as times goes on working from home will be a more popular option particularly with women with school age children. It means less travel and less stress in the day. I believe if you have a quiet place at home that is able to be shut off from the main house and you are the sort of person who can get out and do what it takes to fill a practice (which means a lot of worn down shoe leather and shaking a lot of strangers hands) then you will be successful at home. A clinic is not a guarantee of a steady client base and initially you will still need to do the hard yards to get your practice full.

To determine whether working at home is for you is really just a matter of heading up a page with plus and minus columns and going to work on all the wins and challenges both options would bring up for you.

Australian Unity Changes Focus to become a "Wellbeing" Business

Australain Unity recently announced they have been reshaping to become a "Wellbeing" Business


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An article appearing on MoneyManagement.com.au this week quoted the group managing director of Australian Unity, Rohan Mead on the future direction of Australian Unity, one of the major health fund providers in Australia.

“This was the year of reshaping the company into a ‘wellbeing’ business. We will be better placed to provide high quality and well targeted services that will contribute to our members being healthy, happy, secure and prosperous,” he said.

You can read the full article here

My question to you

Wellbeing and Natural Therapies are fast becoming the hot topic of the moment.

How many of you are ready to knock on Australian Unity's door with products and services that will help them achieve their goal of becoming a "wellbeing business"?

Big corporations have the same needs and wants as our smaller customers, as always it's about clearly articulating the features and benefits of your offerings.

My health insurance is with Australian Unity and all I can say WELL DONE on WELLBEING!!

For a long time I've never understood why health funds reward people for being sick not for being well. I'm looking forward to all the new ways I can be more healthy under my policy. Who knows maybe they will give bonuses if I never claim on my hospital cover they make me take out but have never needed.

Recent survey shows Women asking about non-medicinal options for relieving menopausal symptoms

A recent survey in the United States sponsored by Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) has found that women want their doctors to inform them about non-medicinal options for relieving menopausal symptoms.

The survey indicated that women turn to health professionals more than any other source for guidance about menopause. Forty-eight percent of the respondents said they talk to their obstetrician or gynecologist as their menopause treatment advisor, while 38 percent look to their family physician or general physician, and another 19 percent consult a nurse practitioner, nurse or pharmacist.

My question to natural therapists is - how are you going to tap into this market and educate the women to start talking to natural therapists about alternative methods to treat the numbers of women in the baby boomer market who are experiencing challenges with "power surges" and wanting to use natural methods to control them.

You can read the full article here.

Maintaining Work Life Balance in a Small Business

Question

My main focus is to get experience and immediate income by offering massage and life coaching from various areas, ie gym, healing centre and day spa. Eventually I want a spiritual healing centre. Am I doing too many things?

Answer

This is the classic catch-cry of people in their own small business. It comes down to being able to maintain a healthy worklife balance. I don’t believe there is such a thing as “too much” when starting out to grow your practice, so long as you look after your own health and don’t burn out!

The more you are in action getting clients, the quicker you will fill your practice.

The beauty of my system is that even if you end up in the wrong place initially you will learn and understand how the system works under any conditions. So the experience you gain now will set you up for future projects. When it comes to having your own centre you will know how to fill it quickly by simply returning to what you have learnt in this set up phase. Use this time to get out there and test the market and learn.

A word of caution is to stay focused and not spread yourself to thinly and be trying to work out of too many different places at once. Even if there are no bookings, it is important to be on the spot ready for non-booking walk in clients. If you are in too many places you often miss the opportunity to fill with walkins. For instance if you are at the gym and have no clients, put a sign at the desk in a plastic holder that says “free 15 minute neck and shoulder massage”. That will give you the chance to persuade the recipient of the neck and shoulder massage (who just happens to be in your target market and niche) to take up a 2-4-1 offer with you.

Any news is good news when setting up a new practice – the worst case scenario from giving away those 15 minutes is that the member now knows there is a good massage therapist at her gym! Obviously when you have bookings you bring the sign in.

A-boards at the front of the building also work well with these types of offers but just make sure you find out the rules from the local council – don’t get fined for illegally placing an A-board!

Choosing the Right Business Name

Question

I am looking for a name for my business and all I can come up with is names that are already taken or are very corny. Is it important that the name of my business communicates clearly what niche I am aimed at (so that my target market knows I'm the one for them) or can I go for something either a bit more subtle (just because I like the name) or a bit more generic (in order to keep my options open)?

Answer

The Abundant Private Practices system really encourages you to make your practice all about you and be coming from your heart, this is key to your success in that your integrity and passion for your work come through your business. However, that is only true of the vision, mission and values of the business.

The next thing you need to understand is that your practice then becomes all about the client! In other words you need to let go of things you like, anything quirky, inside jokes or things you understand but the rest of the world doesn’t because you are going to confuse people. The name of your business is really important on two levels

1. Your business name needs to describe clearly what you do or at least describes it in conjunction with a tagline.

2. When people type a search string into a search engine like Google, the closer your name fits with words in that search string, the more chance you have of coming up near the top. This is invaluable if you have a website and these days a website is pretty much a given.

The clearer your business describes what you do, the easier it is going to be to get clients. Sadly this means that sometimes the name could be very boring or you could get very clever like the door company did that named itself “Well Hung Doors”. I love this business name because it totally describes what they do with lashings of humour. With a name like that though you better not get some boring person to come to hang doors that doesn’t have an ounce of humour. Your name needs to match the vision, mission and values of the company.

Therapists love to come up with exotic sounding names from Sanskrit messages or terminology from their modality or names like “Flowing River Sunset Rhythms” but unless you take river cruises with live music, this is probably not going to identify you as a natural therapy business that can sort out someone’s sore back – Julies’ Back Massage Service, although a bit boring, will work better to attract clients. If you can give your card to a 15 year old stranger and have them understand what you do, then your business name has hope of being understood by the general population. There is elegance in simplicity so keep it simple and obvious.

Anther key thing to consider is names that rank alphabetically in advertising etc – it’s always good to be at the top of an alpha listing, hence one of the reasons why I called my business Abundant Private Practices :-)

Getting Clarity on your Niche and Target Markets (the WHO & the WHAT)

Hi Mz Margz

I’ve been working through the 90 Day Challenge and the question raised about the choosing a niche or target market (WHO and WHAT) brought me to a question of my own, which I have been thinking about for some time.

Question

Currently I have narrowed my niche down to women in transition and I think that's still pretty broad.

Answer

Yes, I think you would find it easier if you defined which group of women or what their transition is. Perhaps both, for instance women transitioning to a new career or working women transitioning to motherhood – it just makes it a little clearer who you work with.

Always remember that you are only going to market to this group, you will still see women outside the group but your marketing dollars will only go on one specific area. The concept around having a specific niche is that when you say what you do, the person you are speaking to will be in three categories:

1. Is interested in what you do because they are in your target market and need and want what you are offer and therefore they will ask for more information



2. Has no interest in what you do but knows someone who would be (can refer others)



3. Has no interest in what you do or doesn’t know anyone who does – so stop wasting your time and start talking about the weather!

In your preferred niche for instance if you were talking to a man don't automatically assume they won’t be interested because even though they won’t personally use your services they have wives, mothers, sisters, friends who could need what your service offers.

A short talk by Mz Margz on the benefits of choosing a strong WHO & WHAT



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