No Need For Remote Areas To Miss Out On Natural Health

There are so many different ways we can connect with clients these days.

Many people shun technology and I often hear “I’m just not technical”, or “computers just don’t work for me”.  These limiting beliefs are often programmed in at a deep level but they really just come from a negative past experience.  Someone just told you, “you were useless at technology” or that you would “just never get it” and that limiting belief has served to stop any exploration of technology.

I have found with a patient teacher and the right knowledge, most people can master their fear of technology and once over the hump, often take it on in a big way.  Many make up for the lost time and really enjoy the experience, simply because it opens many doors.

I was interested to read this article on Springwise, showing how western medicine are using technology to serve remote areas.  

http://www.springwise.com/health_wellbeing/onemedical/

Allowing people who would normally have to travel thousands of miles to get seen and heard, to have a consult and access to information online, will make seeking professional advice a whole lot easier.

Most certainly it isn’t ideal, and yes, having someone drop in on them personally would be wonderful, but I’d like to bet that a large percentage of “non physical” issues can be helped through this medium.

So why not consider if there are parts of your business that could be done with a webcam.  Do your clients always have to travel to your office?  Could you save them and you some time in their day?

I’m not suggesting for one moment that personal interaction and human touch should be dispersed with.  But with time being the #1 thing people want more of these days, embracing technology not only allows people access to services they could not normally reach, it also saves time, energy and money when used well.

Never teach in a live environment

I was teaching a group called Meek to Geek yesterday and I was using this blog as an example to show what was possible.


Throughout the course of the day, without giving a second thought to the knock on effect, I also used this blog as a demo to prove how easy it is to post to a blog and the sorts of tools available when you write a post.

Today I received the RSS feed for that demo blog post and was reminded of the golden rule

"never use a live environment as a demonstration tool ..... unless you have a very good memory!" 

I just forgot to go back and delete the demo post.

So apologies to anyone who got a very strange looking email from me, and as always I trust it has been a lesson in what not to do, from a lesson I've learnt live.

These days we have to be so very careful because in that momentary memory loss, I will have also sent that post to Twitter and Facebook.

These days so many people are connected to you in so many ways and its important, even when you are tired and weary to be on your guard ,,,, because once something is in the public domain, you can never retrieve it.

If You Need to Talk

From my experience of being in a community hurting because they are going through an experience of nature out of balance, something I found was that those who weren’t involved needed to talk - but everyone is busy helping those in the firing line.  

I'm in another state and have a tool to bring people together so I'm organising a virtual cup of tea.

I’m opening up my bridgeline at 8pm Melbourne Time tonight to anyone who would like to form community and join me to talk about how they are feeling, participate in a short mediation and simply be with people of like mind and just be in the spirit of trust for those we love.  

If you would like to join me (of course its free) then the details are below:

Title: Community Call Time: Tuesday, January 11th at 8:00pm Melbourne Time Time: Tuesday, January 11th at 7:00pm Queensland Time Listening method: Phone + Web Simulcast Phone number: (858) 703-4094 PIN Code: 759358#  Skype number: joinconference  PIN Code: 759358# To attend, visit:  http://InstantTeleseminar.com/?eventID=17004297

Trust is not a Sometimes Food

Many parts of the world, including Australia are going through some incredibly devastating conditions at this time.

So many of the people on my database work from the heart and have a deep connection to spirit.

Even though it may appear that spirit has left us at this time, now is the time to look for the love in the situation.  It is in the hearts of the people who are making a difference, both those in uniforms and all those volunteers who may be doing simple tasks such as making sure the tea urn is full or those at the front line risking life and limb to be of service to others.  

Spirit resides in the miracles and near miss stories we always hear after the event and it also resides in the souls who may choose to leave at this time.  

As devastating as these extreme weather conditions and natural disasters are, the one tool we have in our tool box is trust.  Over the course of my journey, trust has sometimes been the only tool I have left and have come to rely on a concept called “trust with balls” when things get really tough.

2011 has shown her hand early, with several friends going through some extreme personal challenges, as well as friends and clients either in the floods or with friends and family actually in the thick of the events.  At these times it is easy to forget our spiritual base and revert to fear and worry.  We have choice in what energy we send to the people we care so much about, and when there are no other tools or practical things we can do to “help” in the situation, then trust is the only positive tool left.

But its not the trust we dish out of text books, this is the spiritual rubber that hits the human road when things are seriously pear shaped.  From my journey, this is the time, if I remembered to take a look, was when spirit was closest to me.  The tough times were when spirit most cared for me the most, but to an onlooker it may have appeared that spirit had completely forsaken me.  In the early days I thought it had too, but many miracles confirmed the unconditional support of spirit.

Whilst we are full of fear and negative thoughts, we cannot serve others.  To be a true leader in our industry we must not allow fear to dominate any of our thoughts. 

These tough times allow us to move further into our spiritual journey and strengthen our ability to hold positive energy for all concerned.  It allows us to feel what it is like to trust in bad times, not just the good times when it is easy and stand firm as someone who can be turned to when the chips are down.

It is easy to jump on the fear wagon and join in with the fear mongering.  It is much hard to swim against the rising tides of “normal opinion” and stand firm in our spiritual conviction.

Having been in a community last year that was very close to bush fires, the smell of fear in the air, overcame the smell of smoke.  As I sat for a few minutes as I implemented my GO policy, I looked at my home and the few meagre belongings in the back of the car and left the outcome with spirit as I drove myself and an elderly neighbour to safety.  Saying goodbye when you can smell smoke and knowing if it wasn’t dark you would see smoke, is the rime when your trust muscles truly develop.

In times like we are currently experiencing, we can be a pillar of strength or a cesspit of fear.  It is SO important that we do not feed negative energy to an out of balance situation.  

If you can’t immediately do something practical to help - then embrace the belief systems we have come to know.  Allow yourself to experience the concept of trust with balls and know all will be appropriate and all will be well.

If I can do anything practical to help those directly in the firing line at this time - I am available, otherwise it will be business as usual and I will be sitting in trust, knowing you are safe and well.

If You Need to Talk

From my experience of being in a community going through an experience of nature out of balance, something I found was that those who weren’t involved needed to talk.  

Those in the firing line are busy just surviving but it is very hard on those not in the firing line to stay in trust.  So I’m opening up my bridgeline at 8pm Melbourne Time tonight to anyone who would like to join me to talk about how they are feeling, participate in a short mediation and simply be with people of like mind and just be in the spirit of trust for those we love.  

If you would like to join me (of course its free) then the details are below:

Title: Community Call Time: Tuesday, January 11th at 8:00pm Melbourne Time Time: Tuesday, January 11th at 7:00pm Queensland Time Listening method: Phone + Web Simulcast Phone number: (858) 703-4094 PIN Code: 759358#  Skype number: joinconference  PIN Code: 759358# To attend, visit:  http://InstantTeleseminar.com/?eventID=17004297

Is It Time For YOU to Automate?

I am frequently asked how I manage to do so much stuff with just me in the business.
 

I always smile and say "I let machines do the work".

It was one of my pet sayings from my corporate days as well. If you embrace technology and don't run from it, there are many times when it can be your friend, saving you a lot of time and making you look really good.

You are in front of new clients all the time and if you can get the WOW effect - they will want to keep working with you too.

 

But to create a long lasting impression you need to create a miracle for them, within moments of them encountering you.

The best place to impress them is before they even come to see you.

If people get a good impression as they visit your value filled website, get drawn to click on the "book now" link and like magic find themselves booked in with you - then their first impression is good. If you WOW them in the session, it will make it incredibly easy for them to want to book with you again.

This is where technology can be your friend. Imagine how you would stand out from the crowd if you have an automated booking system that allows people to book with you anytime of the day or night. It automatically emails them a confirmation when they book. And then sends them a text to remind them of their appointment 24 hours before their treatment is due.

The lovely thing for you is, this can be going on while you are in a treatment with another client.

There is nothing more frustrating about wanting to book with someone and they have to get back to you.

This year I trialled three automated booking systems 

• Flash Appointments
  
• Clickbook
• TimeDriver 

Clickbook won because it did everything I wanted it to and I qualified for the f*r*e*e service - gotta love that price.  

Flash Appointments  also did everything and was slightly easier to use, but was $10 a month

TimeDriver  did a nice job of working in multiple time zones but wouldn't allow me to set the changeover time between sessions.

All these systems offer a free trial period and there are many other great products on the market and as always discern for self if they are right for you.

I'd have to say it took a little while for me to set it up and test it but the long term benefits have far outweighed that initial investment of time.

• No more naughty forgetful clients
  
• No to-ing and fro-ing of emails to get times set up (this used to drive me nuts!)
  
• Great reports in my inbox each day to remind me what I am doing

The system will only book people in the times I specify but I can over ride anything that is set up and book people whenever I like.

The challenges I see for someone who is a bit frightened of technology

• Trusting it can work for you - you won't know unless you try

• Letting go of your old systems - you can try before you buy

• Keeping your paper diary and forgetting to update it when you get a new booking

• Managing demand!

Seriously you wouldn't think the last point would be a problem, but there is a blog post on clickbook from someone who trialled the system for free but didn't go ahead because they got too many new clients and couldn't cope.  Good problem to have I would have thought!

Automation can also stave off the need to employ someone to answer your phones and take your appointments.  One of my clients has put a message on her answering machining telling people they can either leave her a message or book online right now.  She finds most just go and book themselves in online.

Clickbook offers people the next available appointment so you can fill gaps in the day while you are working with clients, maximising your takings for the day and not letting people down because they can't get hold of you to book.

People often comment on the ease of the booking process, which means they have been impressed.

An automated system has the potential to give you a competitive advantage over people who cling to their paper diaries.

Most who do automate, report clients loving the system and they find in most instances that people prefer the online option.

So why don't you consider making use of some downtime over the holidays and create miracles in your practice, simply by letting a machine do the work.

Full disclosure: NONE of the companies mentioned in this article pay me a commission for my recommendations - I mention them because they are quality providers

We all love our modalities right?

We all know how amazing and how much difference they can make to people, animals, the planet in general …. right?

So, if you were the one and only experience a total stranger had of your modality, what would it tell them?

A friend introduced this concept to me just last week and let me tell you the question got my attention and has smartened my act up a lot.


Let’s say for instance you are out at a social event or attending one of your kid’s school functions and someone asks you what you do?

In the next thirty seconds you have the opportunity to shine yourself, what you do and what your modality is all about………..

What will people see?

A strong, clear and confident response that gives people a sense that you are really proud of what you do and have spent the time to really understand what you do for people.  Will they see someone who is basking in the glow of having made a strong, clear decision to move forward in their practice and be someone who is a shining ambassador for the work they love to do ……

OR will the person see someone who is riddled with self doubt, lacking in self confidence, oozing the “not good enough” gene and is so unsure of themselves and what they do with their modality that all they can do is waft on, espousing fluffy and hard to understand descriptions of what their modality might do for someone.

Surprisingly, the difference between the two scenarios has nothing to do with the modality and personal confidence but more to do with the practitioner’s sales and marketing knowledge.  Weird huh!

When it comes down to it, everyone loves their modality or modalities and would fight to the death to defend them ….. but in general most practitioners are actively out in the world damaging their modality with their own self doubt and inability to clearly articulate how it can help everyday people.


Most don’t even know you can learn how to be confident and courageous.  

But the truth is the people who have mastered that level of clarity have actually gone and learnt how to do it.  I’ve invested thousand of dollars to get over myself.  To be honest I still work on it all the time because I’m naturally shy.  Very few people carry a natural ability to sell themselves but it is what makes or breaks you when you encounter new people.  

Most fail to see past the end of our nose.  

My Mum used that statement a lot when I was growing up.  It means to look past yourself and see how your actions are impacting others.  We chug along pretending to be ordinary and not really looking at the ripple effect of our work.  

But who is to say that the Mum you speak to at the school event doesn’t yet realise she has a few cancer cells starting to form in her breast due to the stress she carries in her body.  Maybe a couple of treatments with you to relieve her stress could return those cells to balance and halt that process before it even gets noticed.  

If you haven’t studied sales and marketing and don’t know how to clearly articulate what you do and how you help people at a level they understand, who knows how many don’t get to experience the amazing work you do.  

If you are in the confident category and have a practice full of people who are happily paying your fee, rebook and refer others to your practice and are fully receiving the benefits of regular visits to an alternative health and wellbeing professional.  WELL DONE!  You are very likely changing and in some instances saving lives every day.

But if you are still struggling to even articulate what you do and are still filled with fear and self doubt, don’t beat up on yourself, just know it doesn’t have to be that way.  

I was in the latter category for a very long time until I realised the ripple effect of what I do.  The reason I got really serious about being able to sell myself was simply because I couldn’t deny the power of what I do anymore.  

So I invested in many different programs to help me gain confidence in myself, so I could do the work I love.  It hasn’t come without challenges but my investment in myself and my business has bought a rich layer of satisfaction to my life and work that would never have been possible if I didn’t step out of my comfort zone and educate my weaknesses.

I found five things helped me to get over myself .... I:

1. Understood this thing is bigger than me and not really about me, I’m really only a pawn in a much larger game.
   
   
2. Connected to the undeniable reality that said I wouldn’t have been given the gifts in the first place if a higher power didn’t think I was good enough to use them.
   
   
3. Knew I had to either give up completely or get on with it completely – there was no more sitting on the fence because that was making me really uncomfortable.
   
   
4. Accepted that not everybody will like me, agree with me or even want to work with me but I need to give the ones who do the opportunity to find me because when they do a massive ripple effect ocurs.
   
   
5. Realised I didn’t want to die with the dream of helping others positively locked in the vault of my “not good enough” fears.

Also, there as was a part of me that wanted to prove wrong the PE teacher who used to shout out “and here come Beetle Bomb” in front of the whole class when I ran across the finish line last EVERYTIME and the boyfriend who used to call the me the “I’m gunna gal – gunna do this, gunna do that”.  These cruel taunts hurt and we all have these type of memories.  I’m discovering too that many therapists have serious instances of abuse in their past.  We have all had people tell us things and do things that hurt us at deep levels and make us feel less than.  They win if we don’t stand in our real truth, the truth that we are amazing and that we have special gifts that help others positively and that those gifts deserve to be experienced by those who need them.

The Universe Will Never Give You More Than You Can Handle

This saying buoyed me on and I can tell you its totally true.  Sure thing they have chucked me a couple of curved balls and I dropped some of the balls thrown at me …. but eventually by accepting the help and knowledge of others I figured out how to catch those balls fair and square.  Then of course they just adjusted the machine up a notch :-)

Everyday we are ambassadors for the modalities we love so much.  

Our work can help people at a very high level but are we actively stopping people from accessing the true benefits of a healthy, balanced lifestyle simply because we cannot deliver a confident presence when in public?

Do we continue to give an audience to those drama queens in our head that keep telling us we are not good enough?

There is a miracle in our work that deserves to be experienced by many.

But the truth is – you may be the only person some people ever encounter who is a massage therapist, or a kinesiologist or a crystal healer or a reflexologist, art therapist, reiki practitioner or any of the other thousands of modalities being practised in the world today.  I believe it is our duty to ensure it is the best experience possible and not one riddled with jargon and therapy “in talk”.

We hang out with therapists all the time, so we think everyone knows about natural therapies but I can tell you all those years back when I worked on the desk at the local tourist spa to make ends meet, people turned up every week who had never had a massage in their life.  Many thanked me afterwards for telling them the therapist would hold up a sheet while they got on the table and they would have towels draped over them while the therapist worked on specific areas.  Most importantly they wouldn’t have to wander around the spa butt naked showing off their flabby bits to total strangers.

It was always a great reminder for me to be to mindful that not everyone has encountered the same things we take for granted and it still drives me to encourage therapists to speak in language a five year old would understand.  

It is also a fine time to remember that we are ambassadors for natural therapies and how we hold ourselves in public will sometimes be the only experience people have of a professional from the “alternative” side of medicine.

How are you presenting in the world?

Molly Carlile on The Circle

My dear friend and colleague Mz Molly Carlile was featured on the morning TV show The Circle recently speaking about her new book "Sometimes Life Sucks When Someone You Love Dies"

 

Molly is a grand example of someone with a congruent message.  That means that everything about her and her message fits together in one stream lined package.

Molly spent many years on the wards as a pallative care nurse.  She has helped literally thousands of people pass from this life.  Whenever you sit down for coffee with Molly you can bet the topic of conversation goes to death within 5-10 minutes.  She is passionate about the topic of death but not in a morbid way, but in a way that educates and gives people permission to feel safe about the topic.

Already she has done SO much to change the way people deal with a process we will all inevitably go through but weirdly know little about.  She is making it safe for people to talk about the topic and helps them deal with their fears and curiosity in an open and frank way.

Over time her message is morphing and she is really focusing on helping young people understand the process of death and not be fearful.  She is using the performing arts as a great way to get her message to more people.

Strong messages open your world up to new and exciting ways to market your business or your products and services.  This week the play Molly collaborated on with renowned actor and playwright, Alan Hopgood will be the feature of the International Hospice and Palliative Care Awareness Day event, Four Funerals in One Day at BMW Edge, Federation Square on September 28^th 2010 at 7pm

You can book here if you would like to attend

If you would like to hear more about what Molly does, she was my guest on a Mosh Pit call - you can listen here