Friday, May 9, 2014
To Strive. Or Not. An Existential Dilemma
I haven't posted much since the end of February. This has been an emotionally grueling year and I find myself questioning some fundamental attitudes towards work, business, and self.
In January, my mother's accelerating dementia led her assisted living facility to suggest we bring in hospice for a consultation. We did and they agreed Mom was a candidate.
Dementia has a perverse "gift": you get lots of time to anticipate decline and departure. I'd been anticipating her death for many months before that but the decision to join with hospice still swept my legs out from under me emotionally. I was a mess for a while.
I had a long-planned month-long trip to Australia set for mid-March. My sisters and I agreed that I should go. We had no idea how Mom's decline was going to actually progress (hint: it's never as linear as you discover you've secretly expected).
When I arrived in Australia in mid-March I found myself unwilling to stay connected to my professional life. I checked in with my sisters regularly and otherwise simply enjoyed myself. I visited friends and places I had loved while I lived there. Periodically I would stop and say to myself "I feel...happy. Just....happy." I realized I hadn't felt that for a long time.
On April 17, 2 days before I returned to DC, my mother died. Thanks be to God that she was finally liberated from a body that had ceased to be able to truly support her. I wish she'd been liberated sooner.
Again, long-anticipated but it still knocked me for a loop. I briefly considered seeing clients the next week but everyone told me that was a crazy idea so I closed my practice for a week. My primary experience of that week and her funeral was of fatigue and a marked mental slowness/fogginess.
I'm not so much missing my mom right now as finally raising my head from 20 years of increasing responsibility, with my sisters, for my parents' life and health. I find myself only just now realizing how much of myself that took and wondering what I do now.
But, of course, I re-opened my practice this week. Gotta work! Blessedly, the schedule was light because I'm still plagued by fatigue and mental swiss-cheese-y-ness.
Today I had what I consider an optimal schedule -- 4 hours of appointments, reasonably spaced. And yet, by the end of the day, I was drained and had a thumb that throbbed with pain (as in "can't hold a glass or grip a toothbrush" pain). That's extremely rare for me.
On top of all of this, I learned (one week before my mom died) that my husband's job may present me with an opportunity at the end of the year to make dramatic changes in my professional life.
Here's what I find myself pondering in the middle of the night (husband snores, might as well blog!).
Conventional wisdom is that running your own business is hard work and takes a lot of energy, focus, and commitment. There's always something more you could be doing. You are, in effect, always striving. That is the path to success / financial stability. That's certainly the way I've been running my practice for 14 years!
However, the path to emotional / spiritual / psychological health for me is the opposite. Ease, gentle application of energy, non-attachment. Not striving. Deciding what to do today, tomorrow, this month, this year by listening to my body, heart, and soul. Trusting that my life will be abundant and right by trusting the voices of my body, heart, and soul.
Which usually means doing less than conventional wisdom suggests is necessary to run a stable, full, healthy business.
I really really want to be financially stable. I want a robust practice and a beefy client base. My family and heritage believe that hard work (grunt!) is the only way to get what you want out of life. Push, struggle, head down, strive!
I also really really want to be emotionally, spiritually, and psychologically healthy. Sane. With a nervous system that isn't taut enough to be plucked like a banjo string.
On the one hand....on the other hand....
My experience is that decisions rarely come down to either / or. There is virtually always a third choice, though it may take some time to figure out what that is. I'm sure there's a third choice here. I can't see it from where I stand (OK, sit) tonight.
What does it mean to be a massage therapist? A business owner? A 53-year-old woman with no more parents? A human being?
What -- in 5, 10, 20 years -- will I be pleased that I invested my energy in?
Tonight (I think it's actually become "this morning") I don't have the answers. Given that I'm grieving, I'm not going to make any drastic changes to my life or my work. But I will ponder.
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Answering those thorny $$ questions
Do you ever ask yourself these kind of questions:
I know how much money I'm making but am I actually making a profit?
Isn't there an easier way to do my quarterly / annual taxes?
Wonder how much my practice is worth.....could I sell it?
Is my client list worth any money?
Am I going to make enough money to pay my taxes / take continuing ed / buy a new table / etc.?
How many massages do I need to do just to break even this week / month / quarter / year?
Did that new marketing campaign / online scheduling / groupon / etc. actually make me any money?
There are pretty simple ways to answer these questions and to assess the health of your practice in general (always a good idea; think of it as a wellness visit for your practice). Just last week I recorded my first webinar, with At Peace Media, to show you how.
The webinar (Taking the Temperature of Your Practice) will be available next week (March 18) as part of a package of great and useful webinars. Most are 1-3 hours, so they're easy to digest and all are eligible for CEs.
Check it out (see what I really look like!) and become just a wee bit wiser next week.
I know how much money I'm making but am I actually making a profit?
Isn't there an easier way to do my quarterly / annual taxes?
Wonder how much my practice is worth.....could I sell it?
Is my client list worth any money?
Am I going to make enough money to pay my taxes / take continuing ed / buy a new table / etc.?
How many massages do I need to do just to break even this week / month / quarter / year?
Did that new marketing campaign / online scheduling / groupon / etc. actually make me any money?
There are pretty simple ways to answer these questions and to assess the health of your practice in general (always a good idea; think of it as a wellness visit for your practice). Just last week I recorded my first webinar, with At Peace Media, to show you how.
The webinar (Taking the Temperature of Your Practice) will be available next week (March 18) as part of a package of great and useful webinars. Most are 1-3 hours, so they're easy to digest and all are eligible for CEs.
Check it out (see what I really look like!) and become just a wee bit wiser next week.
The Death of the Non-Compete Clause
Have you been an independent contractor? Did your contract include a non-compete clause (which says who you can and can't work for while you're working with them or after you leave)? It was a waste of paper.
Non-compete clauses are not enforceable in independent contracts. They're barely enforceable for standard employment contracts.
I learned this last week in a fascinating conversation with an HR professional, Angelique Andrea of HR Awakening. I'd seen them and heard of them forever. They have caused a lot of consternation, anxiety, and frustration.
And they're not enforceable.
Why? Very simply, one company cannot tell another company where, how, and when they do business. When you are brought on as an independent contractor, you are brought on as a business, not an employee. In fact, part of being a "real" independent contractor is that you are continuing to look for work, market your services, etc.
But....but....but.....you keep reading contracts with a non-compete clause in it! And they assure you the contract has been reviewed by a lawyer! Still not enforceable (not illegal, just not enforceable).
A contract can include a non-solicitation clause. This clause defines the "rules" that govern whether you can actively recruit the company's clients or employees, both while you're there and after you leave. Those are enforceable (of course, within reason).
But that pesky non-compete clause? Waste of good paper.
What do you do if faced with one? Continue to negotiate (you are negotiating, yes??) and point out that the non-compete clause isn't enforceable and you'll need it dropped from the contract before you can sign it.
Still not sure? Talk to a human resources professional, an employment lawyer, or a contract lawyer (I am none of these). Contact Angelique at HR Awakening. She's researched this specifically for the massage therapy profession, at my request.
It continues to be very important that we take ourselves seriously as businesses. A good business owner understands what is reasonable in a contract and what isn't. It's just part of being a smart business person.
Non-compete clauses are not enforceable in independent contracts. They're barely enforceable for standard employment contracts.
I learned this last week in a fascinating conversation with an HR professional, Angelique Andrea of HR Awakening. I'd seen them and heard of them forever. They have caused a lot of consternation, anxiety, and frustration.
And they're not enforceable.
Why? Very simply, one company cannot tell another company where, how, and when they do business. When you are brought on as an independent contractor, you are brought on as a business, not an employee. In fact, part of being a "real" independent contractor is that you are continuing to look for work, market your services, etc.
But....but....but.....you keep reading contracts with a non-compete clause in it! And they assure you the contract has been reviewed by a lawyer! Still not enforceable (not illegal, just not enforceable).
A contract can include a non-solicitation clause. This clause defines the "rules" that govern whether you can actively recruit the company's clients or employees, both while you're there and after you leave. Those are enforceable (of course, within reason).
But that pesky non-compete clause? Waste of good paper.
What do you do if faced with one? Continue to negotiate (you are negotiating, yes??) and point out that the non-compete clause isn't enforceable and you'll need it dropped from the contract before you can sign it.
Still not sure? Talk to a human resources professional, an employment lawyer, or a contract lawyer (I am none of these). Contact Angelique at HR Awakening. She's researched this specifically for the massage therapy profession, at my request.
It continues to be very important that we take ourselves seriously as businesses. A good business owner understands what is reasonable in a contract and what isn't. It's just part of being a smart business person.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
No One Knows What They're Doing
My alma mater, Potomac Massage Training Institute, has a Job Fair twice a year for alumnae. They invite local companies to have a table and meet the MTs. My biz partner, Kitty Southworth, and I have had a table there the last few job fairs to promote our continuing ed offerings.
Each time we offer a drawing and often a give-away. We offer things that can be used early on in beginning a practice. It's been different every time but one thing has been common: lackluster response.
I'm going again this week but I've been thinking a lot about when and how to connect with people.
The first thing I've learned is that people have to be in the right frame of mind for what you are offering. If they're busy thinking about buying a car, comparing make and model, or looking at different financing, for example, they aren't going to respond to material about massage. Sure, they're stressed. Sure, a massage would be great. But they aren't in a massage-buying frame of mind.
I'm wondering if the participants are in the wrong frame of mind at the job fair. They are all focused on where they want to work, who they can get an interview with, is their resume in order, etc. They aren't thinking about continuing education (even though we offer classes on business, including independent contracting!). They are laser focused on getting a job.
It's difficult to understand just when someone will be in the right frame of mind to hear and respond to your message. It just is. It's a lot of guesswork. I could get down about that but then I remember that Ford and Dell and Target and every other company all have the same challenge; while they've got the money to get much more sophisticated advice, they're still guessing at some level.
It's why I think one of the first things you've got to do when building a private practice is figure out who you want your client to be. Who's not just a fit but a great fit for you.
Once you know who you're trying to attract, you can begin to try to see their world as they experience it. It improves the odds of creating marketing that will work (as opposed to a scatter-shot approach where you try to appeal to everyone).
We've all only got so much time, energy, and money. Let's not waste it. And here's hoping I make a good connection with at least a few people Friday night.
Each time we offer a drawing and often a give-away. We offer things that can be used early on in beginning a practice. It's been different every time but one thing has been common: lackluster response.
I'm going again this week but I've been thinking a lot about when and how to connect with people.
The first thing I've learned is that people have to be in the right frame of mind for what you are offering. If they're busy thinking about buying a car, comparing make and model, or looking at different financing, for example, they aren't going to respond to material about massage. Sure, they're stressed. Sure, a massage would be great. But they aren't in a massage-buying frame of mind.
I'm wondering if the participants are in the wrong frame of mind at the job fair. They are all focused on where they want to work, who they can get an interview with, is their resume in order, etc. They aren't thinking about continuing education (even though we offer classes on business, including independent contracting!). They are laser focused on getting a job.
It's difficult to understand just when someone will be in the right frame of mind to hear and respond to your message. It just is. It's a lot of guesswork. I could get down about that but then I remember that Ford and Dell and Target and every other company all have the same challenge; while they've got the money to get much more sophisticated advice, they're still guessing at some level.
It's why I think one of the first things you've got to do when building a private practice is figure out who you want your client to be. Who's not just a fit but a great fit for you.
Once you know who you're trying to attract, you can begin to try to see their world as they experience it. It improves the odds of creating marketing that will work (as opposed to a scatter-shot approach where you try to appeal to everyone).
We've all only got so much time, energy, and money. Let's not waste it. And here's hoping I make a good connection with at least a few people Friday night.
Thursday, February 13, 2014
You Mean That Worked?
In one hour today I got 4 appointments from 4 new clients in the demographic I'm specifically targeting. With a random gesture.
I'm in Washington DC. We got about a foot of snow overnight. City is shut down. Everyone is at home and/or shoveling their sidewalks.
All the clients I had scheduled for today had to cancel because of the storm. Schedule: gutted.
My husband suggested I put a note out on the local listserves last night. What can it hurt? Here's what I said:
How's that for some fancy writing?
Now, I've tried this sort of thing before and gotten zero response. Today? I was full within an hour and I'm now having to turn people away (really, I told them I'd honor the same deal if they booked by the end of the month). What was different this time?
Did I write the message better?
Was the Pay What You Can more attractive than it usually is?
Did I time it just perfectly this morning?
Did I hit just the right time of the year? We've had about 6 city-is-closed days and I think everyone is getting tired of being at home; what was fun in December can get tedious by February.
I have no idea.
So, what can we learn from this?
Keep trying.
Try things again if you want. The fact that it didn't work out the first time doesn't necessarily mean it won't work out the second time. This posting cost me 15 minutes of time. That's it.
What works for someone else might not work for you. What works for you might not work for someone else.
And most important: marketing is a mystery way more than it's a science (despite the fact that you can get a college degree in it). Trial and error is necessary.
There are so many ways you can market yourself. Want a fun list? Get Laura Allen's book "One Year To A Successful Massage Practice". Or ask around. Everyone's got ideas.
Be willing to experiment. Be willing to try. Be willing to do things that don't work. Along the way you'll discover the things that do.
I'm in Washington DC. We got about a foot of snow overnight. City is shut down. Everyone is at home and/or shoveling their sidewalks.
All the clients I had scheduled for today had to cancel because of the storm. Schedule: gutted.
My husband suggested I put a note out on the local listserves last night. What can it hurt? Here's what I said:
If you can walk, you can get a professional massage tomorrow (Thursday, snow day!). I practice out of my home, all my Thursday clients have to cancel tomorrow, so I've got a table and time. And in honor of Snow Day, it's Pay What You Can all day.
Give me a call if you're interested. 17th & D NE.
How's that for some fancy writing?
Now, I've tried this sort of thing before and gotten zero response. Today? I was full within an hour and I'm now having to turn people away (really, I told them I'd honor the same deal if they booked by the end of the month). What was different this time?
Did I write the message better?
Was the Pay What You Can more attractive than it usually is?
Did I time it just perfectly this morning?
Did I hit just the right time of the year? We've had about 6 city-is-closed days and I think everyone is getting tired of being at home; what was fun in December can get tedious by February.
I have no idea.
So, what can we learn from this?
Keep trying.
Try things again if you want. The fact that it didn't work out the first time doesn't necessarily mean it won't work out the second time. This posting cost me 15 minutes of time. That's it.
What works for someone else might not work for you. What works for you might not work for someone else.
And most important: marketing is a mystery way more than it's a science (despite the fact that you can get a college degree in it). Trial and error is necessary.
There are so many ways you can market yourself. Want a fun list? Get Laura Allen's book "One Year To A Successful Massage Practice". Or ask around. Everyone's got ideas.
Be willing to experiment. Be willing to try. Be willing to do things that don't work. Along the way you'll discover the things that do.
Monday, February 10, 2014
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Alternative Pricing Options: the Gift Economy
As many of you may know, I offer Pay What You Can in my practice. I've done this since 2009. Most of my clients pay my listed price but I always have some that need the consideration.
Because of this, I'm always keeping my eyes open for other ways people get creative with pricing, especially pricing designed to give a break to those who can't afford the full price.
Adrien Hoppel went full-on with this worldview: all of his projects (he's a web developer) are done on a "pay me what you think it's worth" basis. He calls it The Gift Economy. The Huffington Post recently published an article about him. A very worthy read if you are at all interested in alternative ways to set your pricing.
Because of this, I'm always keeping my eyes open for other ways people get creative with pricing, especially pricing designed to give a break to those who can't afford the full price.
Adrien Hoppel went full-on with this worldview: all of his projects (he's a web developer) are done on a "pay me what you think it's worth" basis. He calls it The Gift Economy. The Huffington Post recently published an article about him. A very worthy read if you are at all interested in alternative ways to set your pricing.
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