When the personal and the professional collide

When we get deep into the running of our businesses, it's not uncommon to encounter roadblocks. Not from the outside world but from our inside world. "Stuck" places in our mind or our heart related to some aspect of running a business.

Business is often presented as a left-brain only activity. Lots of thinking, thinking, thinking but it's not personal or intimate. You just have to think a lot.

Nope.

If you were raised to serve everyone around you (take care of your younger siblings, take care of a frail parent, take care of a dominant spouse, take care of your children, take care of aging parents....) you may find it tough to set up your practice in a way that serves you. How do you set hours, rates, policies that work for you when your whole life you've been told you have to make everyone else happy?

If you were told -- subtly or not subtly -- much of your life that you're not very bright, not good with numbers, not good with details, not good in school you may find it tough to embrace your responsibility for numbers, details, continuing education (especially if it's heavily anatomy-based), etc. You know you aren't good at it before you even start so why not just do what someone "smarter" tells you to do? Put the control of your practice in someone else's hands?

If you believe that money is the only true security in the world, you may have trouble balancing service and finances.

If you believe that money is dirty or base, you may have trouble accepting payment and raising rates.

If you believe that you have to be nice at all costs, how do you tell someone that, yes, they have to pay your no-show or late-cancellation fee? How do you say "no" in general?

If it has always been important to you to be perceived as very smart (possibly even the smartest person in the room), what do you do when a client knows more about a subject (such as anatomy) or simply disagrees with you?

Who we are -- all of who we are -- affects every aspect of our lives. Sometimes that's obvious, sometimes it's subtle. Think about areas of discomfort in your practice, activities or events that routinely give you heartburn or agitation. The more often it's a problem, the more likely it's about you, not the client or the instructor or the requirements of business.

That doesn't mean you're insufficient or weak or bad. It means your personal and your professional are colliding.