The "I don't want to bother" My Email List Syndrome

Karin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 16:58:07 +0000

If you are afraid of bothering your email list by writing too frequently, chances are you may be focused on "what will they think of me" instead of how your tip or article may positively impact your reader.

That's pretty normal in the beginning stages of sending out a newsletter. Certainly, there are other reasons that may be holding you back from keeping in touch, but mostly, I find the core issue is about the "OMG! What will they think!?"

However, this is pattern of thinking dosn't serve anyone.

It doesn't serve you because it doesn't create results. Which means you don't get to help the people you say you want to help. And it focuses your attention on your fears and worries. It's actually a very self-oriented way of thinking.

It dosen't serve your client base because if you communicate to them infrequently, they get the sense that you only reach out to them when you have something to sell. The exact opposite of what you want to do! (Most people think if they communicate to their list now and again, they'll avoid bothering their audience, but the exact opposite is true.)

When you communicate and keep in touch regularly, say weekly or twice per month with a short and sweet, helpful message, it says; "I'm here for you when you're ready. In the meantime, please accept this quick tip to help you address X challenge I know you're facing. My treat. It's on me. Glad to be of service! I'm thinking of you and I'll be in touch in a week or two with another valuable tip."

(Replace "tip" with insight, video, audio message, article, resource… you get the idea. There are so many ways to deliver your know-how. You get to choose what works for you. Use the language that suits you.)

The greater truth is this…

1 - If you write once in a while, you and your services will be forgotten.

2 - If you write once in a while, you actually end up bothering people (contrary to popular belief!). It makes your company seem like you only reach out when you have something to promote, instead of staying in communication like a good, reliable, trusty-worthy advisor that you are.

3 - If you're very worried about what people think, try this: shift your focus on how just one of your tips could positively impact your reader. Make your "keep in touch" efforts all about them. See yourself as a "messenger" instead of a "sage on the stage." That's more authentic and attractive anyways.

To your continued success,

Karin

Like this quick tip? Then don't miss my weekly marketing material insights and resources for wellness pros here: http://mmmaven.com/newsletter

About the Author: Karin Witzig Rozell has been teaching health and wellness professionals how to grow their business since 2003. She started as a nutrition counselor who knew a lot about nutrition, but not a whole lot about business and marketing. After learning some tough lessons she cracked the code and now her passion is transforming practitioners into profitable business owners using the power of authentic marketing strategies.

In 2009, she expanded her private practice and launched The Wellness Professional Network as the go-to place for practitioners to learn about making more money doing what they love. Karin lives in Upstate New York and works from home with her husband, Drew Rozell, who also runs a successful coaching business.

An Advocacy Letter That's Also Good Marketing

Karin — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 12:22:38 +0000

One of the best teachers I've learned from, Joshua Rosenthal of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, once said that you can make more progress when you aim for the middle ground with your actions and words.

He was referring to the die-hard, my-way-or-the-highway, food police type wellness pros that tend to alienate rather than welcome people to their way of thinking.

This can be off putting and often leaves the public thinking, "there goes another weird health nut ranting and raving about the doom and gloom of another evil food."

So what's a wellness pro to do when you have a undeniable passion and strong opinion about health and wellness?

It's all in how you say things.

It's all in how you present yourself.

And mostly, it's all in the energy that's behind the words and actions you choose.

Take for example Alexandra Jamieson of NutritionforEmpoweredWomen.com, of the hit documentary fame, Super Size Me.

She's clearly passionate and a strong proponent of the vegan lifestyle. She takes a stand, talks about what she thinks and is able to speak with anyone about veganism. All without being abrasive, combative or sounding like another health food nut. I suspect this is a big reason she's a sought out speaker.

For example, when she recently went to her new pediatrician's office for her son's check-up, she was dismayed by seeing a bowl of fructose-laden, artificially dyed candy being offered to kids.

She could have handled this in many different ways. She could have made a comment to the receptionist (that might have only served to make him/her feel dumb for not knowing what was in that candy).

She could have right then and there stomped out of the doctor's office and wrote a nasty blog about them, or demanded to speak with the doctor in-between appointments (probably catching the physican in a less than optimal moment).

Nope. Instead, she wrote a warm, thoughtful letter about the possibility of upgrading that candy bowl and hand delivered it with a package of the natural, vegan friendly candy that could replace the junky kind in the office.

You can see a copy of this letter, and the doctor's remarkable reply, on Alexandra's blog here.

Not only is this letter clearly taking a stand, but it's presented in such a way that was most likely to get through to her pediatrician, and delivered with a good dollop of kindness (read: not assuming this person is a ninny), patience and appreciation.

I suspect Alex will get a whole lot back from this interaction, beyond a vegan friendly bowl of candy in the office. It may even help to grow her business in referrals, partnerships and more.

The next time you're ready to fire off a comment about what's right and what's wrong about health and nutrition, consider that there may be a way to communicate what you do that not only will ensure it gets heard, but in a way that may be great for your business too.

Here's that link again to see what Alex wrote to her pediatrician.

To your continued success,

Karin

In 2009, she expanded her private practice and launched The Wellness Professional Network as the go-to place for practitioners to learn about marketing, messaging and making more money doing what they love. Karin lives in Upstate New York and works from home with her husband, Drew Rozell, who also runs a successful coaching business.

Getting Your Website Design Done FAST

Karin — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 22:18:02 +0000

It’s not unusual for my new clients to share with me that they’ve been working on their website for 6-18 months.

It’s so easy to over think things, to get caught up in trying to make it perfect and to get confused and enamored with all the design options and pretty design features you see on other people's website.

But what if you had to get your website up in two weeks?

What if your business and the vision you hold for your practice depended on it?

What if your very future and security depended on it!?!?

What would you do?

You would get it done really fast.

You would put an end to second guessing yourself.

You would give up trying to make it perfect.

You might even embrace the mantra “good enough is really good enough.”

You would realize it’s impossible to communicate every nuance of your gifts and go for communicating the “essence” of what you do and move on.

You would keep the site super simple, knowing you could always add more pages and bells and whistles later.

Maybe you would get on Elance.com and place your project bid.

And your would receive bids within 20 minutes from people all over the world.

You would find someone reliable, with a good portfolio and fast turn around and get yourself a wordpress site and custom header designed and set up integration of all the techy-pieces (social media links, ezine set up, etc) for you for under $300.

And once you made your website live, you would realize, an essential secret to success.

That good enough, truly is good enough.

And you would finally come out of hiding and get down to the business of doing what you say you want to do with your gifts instead of fussing with your website.

Here's to getting your website good enough and getting out there.

To your success,

Karin

Like this quick tip? Then don't miss my weekly marketing material insights and resources for wellness pros here: http://mmmaven.com/newsletter

About the Author: Karin Witzig Rozell has been teaching health and wellness professionals how to grow their business since 2003. She started as a nutrition counselor who knew a lot about nutrition, but not a whole lot about business and marketing. After learning some tough lessons she cracked the code and now her passion is transforming practitioners into profitable business owners using the power of authentic marketing strategies.

Be Flexible About How Your Expertise is Expressed

Karin — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 19:01:03 +0000

Are you flexible about how your expertise is expressed?

Or are you gripping tightly to a business model that may not be the best fit for you?

An essential skill set in the wellness field is to be flexible in HOW your work shows up in the world.

When you keep an open mind, you’ll be able to see hidden opportunities in perhaps serving a specific tribe of people or under a different message that appeals to a more engaged audience.

Another way to think about this is to imagine what it's like to get a book published. The publishing people know a lot about what sells and what doesn't. And let's say they want to put a different book cover design and title than you do. A great book cover will grab people's attention and sell your book for you. A poorly designed book cover will get ignored. What’s inside the book is what you know, and that doesn't change. Would you be willing to change your book cover if it got into more people's hands? Or would you fight to make sure it fit your idea of what your book cover looked like?

One version of your book cover moves you and your work forward. Another doesn't. And it's the same with your practice: Holding on to one idea of your work may be making you blind to what’s right under your nose.

Take my client Annette Varoli, who is a great example of staying flexible about how her gifts are expressed.

When she came to me, she had a lot of marketable skills and talents to leverage.

She arrived as a talented health and wellness coach with a unique background of leadership experience in a variety environments– from her formative school years, to college, to her cross-cultural family life and even in the competitive corporate world.

After getting to know her, we realized she could go in a few different directions.

She could become a fantastic relationship coach. She knows A LOT about making marriage, love and family life work.

She also could have refined her wellness message and decide to serve a specific audience who could relate to her. She knows A LOT about food, nutrition and making healthy choices.

We considered these options and what possible target markets would match up with her preferences, personality and which ones would easily see her as an expert.

The one thing she knew for sure is that she wanted to work with leaders.

So we ran through a variety of different tribes of leaders that she could serve as a wellness coach or relationship coach.

None of them were floating her boat and I felt something was still off. She has a signature, hip, youthful look that an older target audience might find intimidating or as a reason to dismiss her.

After some careful consideration of what the marketplace is asking for and what she could see herself doing long term, we decided to take off in a completely new direction.

Something that would allow to her express ALL of her passion and know-how, and for a specific tribe of people that would easily see her as a mentor, expert and go-to person.

Something that would allow her to shine, be herself and not have to “fit in” in order to succeed.

In order to do this, she would have to be flexible in how her expertise would be expressed.

So what did Annette do?

We redesigned her business to focus on youth motivational speaking to teens.

As a speaker, she’ll be able to speak to teen leadership groups that will relate to her hip, fun, down-to-earth presentation style. (No stuffy corporate types here!)

As a speaker, she’ll be able to present on a variety of topics she’s passionate about under ONE message of “inspiring teens to become leaders of their lives.” (We packaged all that she knows into one amazing "Bridge to Success System")

As a speaker, she’ll be able to leverage her performance art training that she acquired over the years. Speakers need to engage an audience and Annette’s got charisma coming out her pores.

As a speaker, she’ll attract a small number of private clients, satisfying her desire to work closely with a select number of clients each year.

It helped immensely that Annette was willing to “try on new ideas” for her business.

And it also helped outlining a year’s worth of financial projections based on what she’ll launch first and in what order that will, in time, make her vision a reality.

See for yourself what Annette created at AnnetteVaroli.com.

And consider asking yourself this question: Could your vision for your private practice come to fruition in a way different way?

It may look differently than what you imagined (it did for me and Annette, and many other clients).

Your willingness to be flexible in how your work gets expressed in the world is one of the keys to success.

Here's to you,

Karin

Like this quick tip? Then don't miss my weekly marketing material insights and resources for wellness pros here: http://mmmaven.com/newsletter

In 2009, she expanded her private practice and launched The Wellness Professional Network as the go-to place for practitioners to learn about making more money doing what they love. Karin lives in Upstate New York and works from home with her husband, Drew Rozell, who also runs a successful coaching business.

How Private Practice Policies Helps Your Wellness Biz Grow

Karin — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 15:03:00 +0000

This summer I'm working with a small group of wellness pros to show them how to brand and launch their wellness business the right way.

After getting clear on their brand, message, niche market and service offerings, the first thing I asked them to do was set up their private practice systems that help their wellness biz grow, and make them look and feel like a total pro.

And one of those systems is getting clear on your private practice policies.

Things like:

cancellation and no-show policiy
make-up for missed session policy
payment plan
business hours and in-between appointment availability
how to book appointments with you
pre-framing testimonial and referral requests
session time frame and what happens when clients show up late (hint - you end on time no matter what time they show up)
and whatever else is relevant for your modality (IE - if you're a massage therapist, let people know if they are supposed to tip you or not, it can be really uncomfortable for your client if they're not sure)

This should NOT be pages and pages of do's and don'ts, but should fit neatly onto one page and languaged in client supportive verbage. IE - "I want the very best for you. Please try not to cancel your appointment. If you do need to cancel your appointment… ENTER POLICY HERE."

Very often, policies are non-existant or entirely way too loose in the wellness profession.This gives the client too much wiggle room to well, wiggle out of their committment to themselves and to you, and subjects your practice to the whims of your client. Not a great way to ensure you'll be in business years from now.

No matter what you put in your policies, the first thing to understand is that they are designed not to create strict rules and regulation, but to be in service of your client AND your business. It's not unusual for a wellness pro to make sure everyone gets what they need, no matter the cost to their own personal and professional well-being. Consider policies as another way of setting empowering boundaries and making sure you as the wellness pro is well taken care of too. Anything less than that makes your practice unsustainable and does not support you doing what you love in any dedicated way.

Your policies (or "details of working together" as I like to call it) are designed to help your clients succeed. And they are designed to protect your business from the very nature of the the business that you are in. In any transformational work, where your client base is attempting to heal, transform or achieve something they have not been able to do so on their own, it's natural for them to get scared and want to bail, even as they enroll in one of your programs and plunk down some money.

To ignore this is simply bad business. To acknowledge this is to create policies that gives them the nudge they need to follow through and honor their word. IE - If you offer a payment plan, consider shortening your clients' payment plan to complete BEFORE the end of your program . Your client is more likely to finish their program and continue showing up for their sessions, and therefore create success for themselves, when they've already paid.

Another example: If you know that a certain percentage of your clients will not show up or follow through with your recommendations, no matter what you do, then plan for it and create a supportive policy. This is a GIVEN in the wellness industry. If you ignore this, you would be taking a serious financial risk every time you took on a new client. Fitness centers know this and that's why they have automatic monthly billing. If they left it up to their clients to pay them when they showed up to work out, they would be out of business fast.

Bottom line: Clear private practice policies help your and your clients thrive. And who doesn't want that?

To your continued success,

Karin

Like this quick tip? Then don't miss my weekly marketing material insights and resources for wellness pros here: http://mmmaven.com/newsletter

About the Author: Karin Witzig Rozell has been teaching health and wellness professionals how to grow their business since 2003. She started as a nutrition counselor who knew a lot about nutrition, but not a whole lot about business and marketing. After learning some tough lessons she cracked the code and now her passion is transforming practitioners into profitable business owners using the power of authentic marketing strategies. In 2009, she expanded her private practice and launched The Wellness Professional Network as the go-to place for practitioners to learn about making more money doing what they love. Karin lives in Upstate New York and works from home with her husband, Drew Rozell, who also runs a successful coaching business.