How to Combine Multiple Interests into One Business…

…So that You Can Be Seen as an Expert (and Not a Flake). 

Many wellness professionals have an inner artist. We like to create new programs, create transformation in our clients’ lives, and embark on new adventures of personal development and self expression. We see things beyond the ordinary and it’s thrilling. 

While being creative is a gift, unless you harness and give direction to this gift, it can destroy your business by continually diluting your focus, energy and momentum. Breaking past the beginner level of your business is nearly impossible when you’re controlled by your inner artist, creating one off-topic idea or project after another, and thus never presenting yourself with any real clarity and power.

I know this first hand. My business has continually evolved since the early days of holistic nutrition counseling in 1999. I added business coaching for wellness practitioners, to working as an education director of a nutrition school, to designing business building programs for nutrition counselors, to re-opening my nutrition practice, to now, my latest creation, coaching and developing marketing materials for wellness professionals. I don’t regret any of it, but it was frustrating to feel like I was starting over all the time.

And if I had to be honest, the minute I figured how to do something well, I found it boring. It seems the adventure of creating something new and learning new things is what turned me on the most. It wasn’t until I developed an understanding of my creative nature and claimed this influence in my life, did I learn how to harness this strength for my benefit, rather than for my distraction. (For example, it never occurred to me the different ways creativity and artistry could show up, such as in my case, through new program creations and marketing my different interests. I always thought creative people painted, composed music, wrote novels and were in theatre. Ha! )

As the saying goes, I wish I knew then, what I know now.  

So when I was recently asked how I would advise someone desiring to combine three different interests of work into one small business, I felt compelled to take this opportunity to share what I’ve learned, in hopes that it shortens your own learning curve and expedites your professional expansion.

The answer is simple: Make everything you do revolve around one, very specific topic.

While the answer may be simple, it’s one of the more challenging things to do for those with a creative nature. It may feel limiting to pick one expertise and become known for. But consider that it does quite the opposite: When you are known for one clear topic, it opens a universe of opportunities. When it’s easy to say “she writes, coaches and teaches about nutrition and menopause” then it becomes easy to say, “Hey, I’ve got an opportunity that would be just perfect for you.” If you want to learn more about why choosing an expertise is critical to your success, listen in to my Be THE Expert tele-seminar here.

Having said this, if you’re just starting out, it’s okay to take the first year or two of your business to let your expertise or niche find you. In the meantime, narrow your focus as best as you can with your personality, likes and dislikes, what you know for sure flames your interest. Be on the look out. Look for patterns in the types of people that you attract. Look at what you wish you could do. However, once you pass the first year or two, you must pick a niche or be doomed to blend in with the other generalists in your field who don’t charge enough, don’t have enough clients and sound like everyone else.

Once you’ve decided on your topic (and you can decide to become expert in any topic, by the way) Then set aside time to decide the percentage each of the three areas of interest of your business will bring in the next 12 months. Let’s say nutrition counseling brings you 60%, freelance nutrition writing brings you 10% and freelance corporate health communications work brings in another 30%.

If you’re just starting out, you might wonder how would you know what percentage to give each income stream. You take your best guess based on your rates and your ability to attract work in each area. Then you go about making that come true. Be realistic but you must do this otherwise you won’t have a foundation to keep you focused.

Now here’s where we go about harnessing your creative nature. It’s inevitable that once you get your three income streams outlined, implemented and working well, your inner artist will want to break free. You’ll want to cancel appointments, start making impromptu travel plans, or sign up for a new program that will feed on the energy you need to sustain your business.

Rather than throw away all your good work, here’s what I suggest you do. Create a new offering within one of your income streams rather than take off in a new direction. This will satisfy your inner artist and your bank balance.

Going back to my example of the three nutrition income streams:

1)     private nutrition counseling

2)     freelance nutrition writing (articles)

3)     freelance corporate health communications writing

Pick one income stream and let your creative nature go to town. Perhaps you could create a new group counseling program or membership club for your counseling stream. Perhaps you could work on a nutrition book that would help feed your article writing stream of income by making you a “published author” and therefore much more sought out. Or perhaps you could offer a monthly nutrition newsletter service for your corporate communication clients.

See where I’m going with this? You allow yourself to be totally creative but in a way that builds success by focusing on one topic of expertise and adding to an already existing income stream.

Hope you found this helpful!

To your success,

Karin

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