Wrong Place, Wrong Time

I spent Sunday afternoon at the Pathways Expo in Rockville. Pathways is a monthly local magazine of all things alternative, including massage therapy. They host a very popular bi-annual expo.

I was there with my friend Kitty Southworth. In addition to being a full-time massage therapist and co-owner of our training company, The Healing Core, she is also the US representative for Life Essences (and yes, I wonder when she sleeps sometimes myself). Life Essences is an Australian company started by our friend, Ben Risby-Jones. It carries products “designed to awaken awareness and invite change in your life and your spirit.” 

Kitty's had a booth at the Pathways Expo for several years now. She also had a booth a few times at the AMTA national convention. The thing is, the Life Essences are an unusual product not easily explained. It makes it difficult to sell to the person wandering by in a large expo/marketplace environment. People aren't looking for it, have never heard of it, and are in a “wander and see what's here” frame of mind.

Yesterday was no exception. We didn't even break even in sales. She did add about 20 people to her mailing list – always a valuable thing – and got people interested in hearing Ben speak when he's here in DC in October. But, financially, not a great day.

We'll be sitting down next week to talk about Life Essences, the Pathway Expo, and where she wants to go in the next year or two. One of the things I want to talk about is whether it makes sense to continue to rent a booth at the Expo.

It's a lively vibrant energy-rich environment (all the woo-woo you can imagine and then some!) but I'm not sure it's the right place to sell this product. It's a product that sells better one-on-one, when we already have a connection or relationship with someone.

We think everyone can benefit from the Life Essences. It turns out, though, that our belief and enthusiasm isn't enough. The consumers of the world have recognize that it can solve a problem for them and decide that they need it.

Massage therapy is like that. I've had more than one student answer the question “who is your target market” with “I'll massage anyone!” or “Everyone can benefit from massage!”. While technically true, it's not a helpful answer.

The truth is, we need to market massage to people who also know they need it, who also recognize that it can solve a problem for them. It doesn't matter if we believe in the gift of massage therapy with all our heart, mind, and soul. If the individual consumer doesn't see the value of it for themselves, they are not going to purchase it.

Part of our marketing can (and should) help educate the marketplace about how massage can be beneficial. But we can't talk people into getting a massage if it's not something they've identified as valuable. We can't make people see its value. You'll make yourself crazy trying to. You can only show them that it could be valuable to them. They get to decide whether they believe that or not.

 

The trick is recognizing the person who also sees the benefit and helping them find you. That's marketing. That's where you need to put your time and energy.

What He Said: The 3 Parts to a Small Business Vision for Practical, Hands-on People

There's a few other business bloggers I follow. Two of my favorites are Mark Silver and Todd Hargrave.  They both speak of business through the heart but with a practical feet-on-the-ground understanding of the need to support yourself through your work; just the sort of things we massage therapists are often looking for.

Mark recently wrote a great blog about developing a robust and beautiful vision for your practice. I've asked (and received) permission to reprint it here.

Enjoy!

*

The 3 Parts to a Small Business Vision for Practical, Hands-on People

by Mark Silver
March 13, 2013

I was at tea with a friend of mine the other day who is also a business owner. He had had some struggles recently, and we were both agreeing that he needed a clear vision for his business.

He stopped and looked at me, "My partner wouldn't agree with you. She would ask, 'What do you *mean* by a vision?'"

I stopped, silent. I'm not a naturally visionary person. I have trouble thinking further than six months out and I don't dream great big dreams of world domination. My natural tendency is to tunnel into details and get'r'done.

However, the last five years of building a team and stepping into leadership has convinced me how important a vision is. It's also helped me come to my own understanding of what a vision is, especially for practical, hands-on type people that don't live with their heads at cloud level.

So I proceeded to tell my friend the three parts of a practical, actionable, profitable yet high-flying vision for a small business.

Why Is A Vision Important?

When I first approached the topic of "vision" I was really resistant to it. The two models I had seen, big, corporate visions of being "first" in some world-domination plan, or dreamy, idealistic views of complete transformation and ushering in a new age left me doubtful.

As a small business owner, there was zero chance of, let alone any interest in, any kind of "world domination." Similarly, the only way to complete large, lasting change as a small business was to count on thousands, millions of other people also doing good work. No matter how successful Heart of Business became, it was only ever going to be a small business. Yet cumulatively our work can make a tremendous impact.

I had written some early insights about vision before that had come from my studies of globally-recognized spiritual leaders. Great, useful insights, but it was missing some practical pieces about what makes the business profitable and sustainable as a business.

You can have vision, but if you're in business, you also want a business vision, one that serves your business as a business.

Without a vision it becomes really hard to make strategic decisions. It also becomes hard for anyone else to work with you as a teammate, because they don't know where you are going. They are stuck constantly asking you for direction or decision-making.

It's also really hard to diagnose what might be going wrong in your business. It's all too easy to get blown around by the latest fad, someone's crazy suggestions, or just how you're feeling on a bad day.

If you take on the work of identifying for yourself these three elements of a small business vision, it will make business-building in the coming years much easier for you.

The 3 Elements of a Small Business Vision

First: Who You Serve and What Problem You Solve

One of my earliest insights into business remains at the heart of almost everything. A business is defined not by what you do, which is a mistake many fall into. Rather, a business is defined by who you serve and what problem you are helping them solve.

Currently our Alumni Community is working on exactly this as the monthly focus, which I call your One Compelling Sentence. People struggle without this for years sometimes, but once it's identified, you can finally start to get some momentum in your business.

It's one of the key ingredients that our star practitioners Jason and Yollanause to help their individual clients double their revenue.

Second: Why It's Important to Serve Those People

Why do you care about these people and the problem they are struggling with? How do you see it contributing to a better, more vibrant world?

When you know your why, it helps you keep from getting too caught in just chasing money. It helps keep your heart buoyed when you are working on projects that are tedious but necessary. It helps you make decisions about who to work with.

It also inspires clients and team members. People can band around a larger "why." It helps your business contribute to a mission in the world.

For us here at Heart of Business, I know that if small businesses with heart can flourish, it means that the economy is being redirected, at least in part, away from businesses that aren't serving life. It means that more people are getting the healing they need. It means that more healing of the damage caused by business over the last few centuries is happening.

I talk about the three reasons for love in business in the video on this page, and it contains our why.

Third: Your Revenue Model

Simply said, a revenue model is how your business brings in money most effectively and sustainably while still serving the first two parts of your mission.

Many business owners have not worked out their revenue model beyond, "Well, I work with clients and they pay me. Sometimes I do a workshop."

A revenue model directly supports the rest of your vision. One business owner I know has a belief in herself as a catalyst. Consequently her business model does not include long-term support of clients, but more in-depth, intense, shorter offers like one-day workshops, or books.

Here at Heart of Business we have a real commitment to see people heal as well as be more effective. We take real joy in supporting people as they go through the process of both learning and healing.

Consequently our services include one-on-one individual work over months, a year-long in-depth group program, and an Alumni Community with many spiritual resources. We do offer short duration workshops and books and courses because they serve people, too, in tremendous ways.

But we make sure that we aren't leaving people in the lurch who need more support so we can truly serve our mission. We structure our profitability around that mission.

It's Taken Awhile

When I look back over the more than a decade that I've been at this, I can see how the kernels of all three elements were present, but it took me awhile to identify them and consciously develop and focus on them.

In fact, a miss-step in not identifying the third element for us caused a nearly disastrous decision that took months to recover from.

Having all three of these in place means that we've been humming along, picking up steam, and having fun. Team members can function without a lot of direction (read: interference) from me, and we're growing and developing.

Mark Silver is the founder and heads the team at Heart of Business, where they've been helping thousands of business owners since 2001 who want to make a difference and need to make a profit. Mark is a recognized Master Sufi Teacher in his spiritual lineage, as well as an acclaimed business healer and consultant. Find out more at www.heartofbusiness.com.

Whooooooooo Are You?

Is the path to a successful massage practice the same for everyone?

What are the odds that all of us even define "success" the same way?

What are the odds that all of us have access to the same resources (time, energy, money, education, space, etc.)?

What are the odds that all massage therapists have the same temperament (introvert / extrovert, planner / spontaneous, risk-comfortable / risk-averse, etc.)?

What are the odds that all of us enjoy the different aspects of business the same way (financial analysis, marketing, writing, speaking, organizing, etc.)?

We talk about a "path" to success. So let's imagine it, literally, as an array of paths all of which lead to a place called "success":

• the Appalachian Trail
• the beach at Nags Head, NC
• the National Mall from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol
• the stairway taking you to the top of the Statue of Liberty

All paths. All taking you somewhere beautiful, fun, or interesting. None of them alike. None of them requiring the same set of skills or endurance. Not all of them equally accessible or equally attractive to those of you reading this blog.

The "path" to a successful massage practice is not the same for everyone. You can't simply follow someone else's path just because it worked for them. You have to know yourself well enough to design your own path.

For example, I love to write so blogging and newsletters are a good way for me to promote my practice. My friend Kitty doesn't like to write so blogging and newsletters are not a good way to promote her practice.

On the other hand, she's an extrovert and loves to talk to new people so having a booth at an alternative health expo where she meets new people all day makes sense for her. I'm an introvert. I'd last about an hour.

Play to your strengths. Respect your weaknesses. Embrace the unique combination of stuff that is you. Build your own path to your own definition of success.

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.

A New Picture for the Photo Gallery In Your Head

A few weeks ago, I talked about how the pictures in our head can help or hinder us. Specifically, what does a “business person” look like in your head? Is it motivating you or pushing you away?
 

I want to give you an example of a “business person” that might be better than the picture in your head.

Brenda Teal is a massage therapist and the owner of The Teal Center. The Teal Center has 2 locations in Arlington VA – one in a hospital, one in a residential high-rise – and about two dozen practitioners (four of whom are acupuncturists). The practice is well-respected in the massage community and in the client community.

Brenda readily admits that she didn’t plan her way to where she is now. She simply responded to what was right in front of her.

She started as a massage therapist and a single parent working out of her home in Washington DC. She just wanted to have enough work to support herself and her kids. Her focus was pain relief, primarily through neuromuscular therapy. If she hadn’t gotten a “cease and desist” order from the city for practicing physical therapy without a license (she wasn’t but that’s what the city called it before we had MT licensure) she might still be there.

That visit by the police meant she had to move into the nearby Virginia suburbs. Though she found a space, she wasn’t entirely satisfied with it. A client who was involved in corporate real estate encouraged her to take on a space in a residential high-rise. It was 4 times bigger than what she had (or needed) but the opportunity was too good to pass up. She added massage therapists as she was able and has grown her practice to where it is today.

When she was starting out, she began attending a small business support group, where she was strongly encouraged to operate her business in a more traditional way. They told her she “wasn’t creating enough profit”. She found their worldview and their values simply “didn’t suit me”; she left the group and followed her own values.

What values have guided her? “To create a business based on the same values as my practice. Service to massage therapists and to my clients. Respect. Collaboration.”

In fact, The Teal Center has a specific list of values that governs their operations as a business:

·       Service

·       Compassion

·       Collaboration

·       Professionalism

·       Personal responsibility

Brenda says these values aren’t just something you hold in your heart; it governs the kind of behavior she expects to see in the practice.

While The Teal Center is supporting her (so she doesn’t have to do massage to be able to pay herself!) it just makes enough money to support the practice. “I earn a living for me but I don’t have a huge income.” She said her salary is less than 10% of The Teal Center’s gross when standard business wisdom is that it should be 20%.

Brenda says her “main goal is not profitability but sustainability.” Yet she’s managed to be profitable and sustainable while still being able to look at her center, look at her values, look at the satisfaction of the people who work for her and be pleased with what she’s done.

Many of her therapists have been with her for years, in no small part because Brenda is dedicated to “helping massage therapists earn a livable wage. I pay therapists as much as possible.” Because she started as a massage therapist, that dedication is deep in her bones.

Traditional business advice is that a business in the service sector (such as massage) should have no more than 55% of their expenses going to pay their employees. The Teal Center is right at 55%.

Brenda makes a distinction between a “business person” and an “entrepreneur”. Business people pay their own taxes, rent, and overhead. They pay attention to details. They can imagine their future and forecast what it will take to get there. They have a certain ability to (and may actually take pleasure in) analyzing their business. They are consistent and dependable.

Entrepreneurs, according to Brenda, are driven by “a vision to create something bigger than what they can create on their own”. While business people may be able to operate on their own, entrepreneurs work in partnership, as part of a larger community. (Though, yes, they still need to do all the things a business person does.)

While she is clearly a business person, she defines herself as an entrepreneur. When she thinks back on her business development, she cites a list of people who have been part of her journey.

Actually, she says “I was the engine for my business. Now my business is working for me. I’m now an executive. I make decisions and guide the practice.”

Even as an executive, she keeps coming back to service as her primary motivator. “I can [run The Teal Center] as a service to other massage therapists who don’t want to do this.” By “this” she means the management of a practice – laundry, scheduling, processing payments, renting space, marketing, etc. In fact, she says “service done well is the most effective marketing.”

Brenda is a great example of holding the highest values in your heart – service, compassion, professionalism, etc. -- while still be able to function as a business owner – pay the rent, set the rates, analyze your numbers, etc. She is the picture I want you all to have in your head (well, it doesn’t have to be her specifically but you get the idea) – someone who combines the heart of a healer and a head for business and doesn’t lose herself in the process.

We Change

Yesterday was another no-clients day at the gym. I got a lot of reading done but, of course, I would rather have been doing massage.

When I began my career in massage therapy in 2000, I was all about building my own practice! I wanted it to be all mine all the time. I wanted to work for myself, by golly!

13 years down the road and I have the experience of building a practice, of being fully my own boss. My energies seem to be shifting now. I'm not as interested in running the whole show. My "build it yourself!" energies are more engaged in my continuing education partnership with Kitty Southworth.

My roommate and I talked about the pros and cons of working for yourself last night. We both ponder whether we wouldn't just rather go work for another organization and let them deal with the nuts and bolts, leaving us free energetically to pursue our other passions.

I may be headed that way. 10 years ago I would have felt like I was giving up or betraying myself. I would have been silently frowning at myself for not "making a go" of it. I don't know that I need that satisfaction -- the "and I did it myself!" feeling -- as much as I did 10 or 12 years ago, at least not in my massage practice.

I've changed. That's not an "issue", it's a common and simple fact of life. I doubt any of us are the same person we were in 2000, even apart from the world events that have transpired in the intervening years. We mature, we experience, we change.

That's one of the reasons I take a yearly business retreat and update my business plan. While my mission and vision statements do not change often, they do need to change sometimes. I may have actually, by golly, achieved my earlier goals and need to set some new ones!

Don't let youself get trapped into one version of yourself forever and for all time. If you needed one thing 10 years ago, make sure you aren't still chasing a goal that doesn't motivate you any more. You, too, are allowed to change. You should expect it.

Check in with yourself and make sure you know who you still are.

4 minutes to a less painful tax time

Is there a quick and easy way to get your bookkeeping out of the way every day? (Hint: yes) Keeping up with your bookkeeping makes tax time a breeze.   It improves the odds of not losing track of business deductions.   It avoids the pain of tracking down receipts from days, weeks, or months ago.   It means you don't give yourself brain cramps trying to remember what you did when and where and how much you paid for it.   You can give yourself all these benefits in less than 4 minutes a day (trust me, I've actually timed it) (because, yes, I'm that much of a nerd). Let us show you how. Learn: The choices you have for doing your bookkeeping. How to set up your bookkeeping to save you time and aggravation (and make tax time simpler and less painful). The minimum amount of information you need to record to take care of yourself. How to use all that data you enter to be a lot smarter about your business. And, yes, we will practice, practice, practice. You will walk out of this seminar with the skills you need deep in your hands.   Make 2013 the year that you become both the best practitioner you can be and the wisest business owner you can be (and the year that you reduce the pain of tax time!).     This workshop will grant 2 CEs for massage therapists.

Registration is now open  Bookkeeping, Quick & Dirty Wednesday, March 6 Potomac Massage Training Institute 5028 Wisconsin Ave NW / Washington DC $40