In this post, I’d like to talk about business mindset for private practitioners. Having the right mindset is key to getting your business going and succeeding. Let’s begin.
Do you sit sometimes and think things like:
“I know a lot about this topic, I could offer some services around that”
“Ah that’s a great idea, but how can I get that idea to help others and bring me income in the process?”
“I want to do A, B, C ….. Z, but just thinking of all the work it requires, and all the ideas I have, I’m already overwhelmed”
I have had these thoughts, and some of them have required a mindset change on my part.
Patience and perseverance have also played their part.
I still have many ideas that haven’t come to fruition. I’m working on them.
If you’re like me, you have lots of things to do on the side of your self-employment / entrepreneurial life. Sometimes these things help, other times they make us stop, take stock, regroup and figure out how we’re going to move forward.
Development of a new product or service means we might have to start learning new skills, how to use new tech, do some research on the things already on offer, as well as plan, plan, plan!
If you’ve got life stuff going on – health issues, physical or mental, people to look after, another part time job to help pay the bills – it might mean that it will take longer to develop this idea.
I know I sometimes struggle and need to regroup and pace a bit more, as well as realising that my time is limited and I need to look after myself.
This takes time and effort.
My priority as ever are my clients – counselling, supervision, tutoring, coaching and content. My energies are invested in them on the days I offer these sessions.
The rest of my time is for admin and rest. Depending on how I’m feeling, rest might take precedent over admin. I might do the bare minimum some weeks.
When we have limited time, but a willingness to support more people than we can in our one-to-one sessions, it feels like everything is urgent.
It is proposed by business authors that we need to have realistic propositions, which includes having an idea and then thinking “finance”.
Now I’ve grown my one-to-one service in a very frugal way. I’ve tried the Facebook Ads and Wordads, but I did those at a time where I didn’t have an audience and it flopped. I might give them a go in the near future, when I have courses and other products on offer and have the capital to spend on them.
Social media is a great way to market yourself for free, and I’ve taken advantage of that possibility. It’s meant that I can put content out there and support the general public and colleagues with great content.
So, the authors suggest we consider whether we need a lot or a little capital, or maybe we don’t need much to start with.
Consider what you need. For example, counsellors might want to pay to be a member of BACP or UKCP, NCS, or any of the others out there. Also being a part of directories will help them get clients. Networking events might cost some money as well.
Start with what you can afford without getting into money worries, and grow your capital for these activities as you grow your business.
Finding out what’s already out there and what will make your products or services different is key.
I say this to people attending my Practical Steps to Blogging Online Workshops and private sessions:
Nobody knows what you know, how you know it or present it to them. It will be valuable to the people that need to hear your message.
You will already have an edge because of that.
How else can you make yourself stand out?
There is lots of advice out there from business coaches and it can get confusing and daunting as some will say do A B C and others will say definitely don’t do A B C, it doesn’t work!
My best advice on this is, read what they have to say, and do what feels congruent for you.
What works for them might work for you too, or something else might come up that really helps you build your offering reach.
The authors suggest that, once you’ve established yourself and your product or service, it’s time to maintain sales and figure out how you’re going to grow your business in the short and long term.
Don’t allow your business to get stale. Keep innovating, finding new ways to do things.
The authors also talk about hiring people.
Now, I got into private practice to work by myself, be my own boss. But I’ve become so busy that I couldn’t do something that I enjoyed any longer, but needed to keep doing in order to keep “top of mind” on social media.
It might be a good idea to hire a virtual assistant to help you schedule posts or do other tasks that take up a lot of time.
A final note on all I’ve said above.
Self-Care should be key when building and developing your business.
If we don’t look after ourselves, we won’t be able to do any of the work we are dreaming of.
If you want to find out more, I’ve got a very practical book called 20 Self-Care Habits, which comes together with a free Facebook Group, coaching sessions (paid), and in the future some new products and services.
