5 Tips For New Practitioners

Sep 15, 10

Posted by Katie in Blog, News (Business/Practitioner)

There are few things as thrilling as the decision to take your future into your own hands and work for yourself.  Its a leap of faith that is not for the faint of heart.  For many people, a holistic profession was not their first choice coming out of high school.  In fact, the majority of holistic practitioners come to the industry well after their 30’s (many even after their 50’s!).  This means these new entrepreneurs must balance letting go of a reliable paycheque in order to risk their dream.  After meeting so many practitioners at different phases of their journey, I’ve compiled some tips that I think are important for people to consider as they abandon the safety nets to fly solo. 1.  Know How Much Money You Need Figure how much money you NEED to make each month.  How many clients is that?  This will help you gauge how much you need to charge and many people you need to be seeing each month.  Keep in mind, that as you get going its common to want to give away a few discounts and freebies.  Make sure that you account for this reduction in income. Keep in mind that probably 80% of your clients will come from word-of-mouth referrals, and this takes time.  If your modality takes a few weeks before people experience a change or improvement, it will lengthen your sales ‘pipeline’ so a Life Coach’s client list will tend to grow slower than for example, a massage therapists.  Keep this in mind when you are forecasting your potential income. 2. Discover and Commit To What Makes You Unique There are lots of yoga instructors and reiki healers out there, but competition isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  Take yoga for example.  Some clients want the big, trendy, hot yoga classes, while others prefer an intimate class in a private studio – and everyone wants something close to home or work.  So to some extent, there is room for everyone.  Just make sure that...