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Top 7 Signs Your Private Practice Business Needs Help!

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Is your private practice struggling?

Practitioners spend so much time taking care of others. We know when our clients are unwell or sick, and strive to make them whole again. But in our efforts to help others, we often overlook our business and ourselves. Our practice is great, but our business and business strategy is suffering and
needs tending and care. So how do you recognize the telltale signs that your
private practice is struggling?

1.      Avoidance, Fear & Resentment: You know there are things you should
be doing to help your business thrive, but you avoid them because they make
you uncomfortable or don’t seem interesting or naturally compelling you believe in “following your joy”. You feel less confident about your business tasks and put them on the back burner. You choose the path of least resistance, least risk and least learning or effort until it is a crisis. With the added pressure and stress of a crisis, it is hard to do anything effectively or authentically when driven by fear. It’s a vicious cycle and waste of time, money and peace of mind.

2.      Head-in-the-Sand Finances: Your financial income from your practice is unpredictable and wearing thin. You don’t have a clear sense of what you are making and spending each month/year. You love what you are doing, but at
times you put your head in the sand when it comes to really knowing where things are at financially. You don’t have the money to build your business.
You have more than your share of clients who don’t pay at all or are on a sliding scale. The ego loves ambiguity and uses it to create stress and worry, robbing you of joy in your business.

3.      Faith or Life Philosophy Absent from Your Business: When our most
important faith or life philosophy is not acting as the fuel that guides our daily intentions, it creates a compartmentalized life. Cut off from the source of our inspiration, our business can start to feel devoid of inspiration and purpose, resulting in depressed daily functions.   This is often when practitioners say they feel alone in their practice, with heavy burdens on their shoulders, contributing to burnout.

4.      Walking the Line of Burnout: This is when work feels like work, and not a life spent living your purpose. Your clients and/or staff can feel like a whole lot of effort. Building rapport feels less than easy and you feel like it takes huge effort just to get the smallest thing done. You can taste resentment when considering how much effort, time and money your business requires. If you secretly wish you could cancel your client load or if client, staff, or team problems overshadow the positive aspects of what you once loved to do, you already have your toes on the wrong side of the burnout fence.

5.      You Feel Abandoned by the  New Client Fairy : You don’t know where or how to get more clients and you feel frustrated at putting effort into this, or efforts you are making are not yielding results. You feel discomfort, concern or fear when your clients abruptly stop their sessions. In the absence of a thriving practice, any client can feel like a match for you, indicating you have lost track of your true target audience/ideal client. You secretly hope that the “new client fairy” will have new clients contact you and sign up, because being good at what you do should be enough — right? Sadly, we know that is not the case.

6.      Current Business Tools Suck: You are suspicious that your business tools (e.g. website, contact manager, branding, ads, policies) are not fulfilling your needs and don’t reflect your true business. You don’t even know or care if your website is phone or tablet compatible. You experience more than your share of “no shows”; clients are either rescheduling, not paying full rates, not following your policies or are needing a lot of your time between sessions. Your client sign up and retention percentages boarder are poor. You feel like you can’t quite get on top of your growing inbox, mail, emails or to do list. You occasionally miss replying to emails and phone messages or at times are late for meetings or even sessions. You find yourself rushing, doing things twice, or constantly revamping your business in an effort to get organized hoping “it will work this time”. If any of these things are happening, chances are your current business tools, policies and boundaries are working against you more than they are working for you. Good news is, this is a pretty easy fix!

7.      Poor or “Wing It” Marketing Efforts: You tend to leave marketing for when you realize you are running low on clients or money.  You have no clear goals and have decided that your best plan to build your business is to “take it as it comes.” Your marketing budget is more of a “pay as you go” or “pay as you are able” sort of deal. There are not clearly established marketing priorities or a business strategy. You have an unrealistic expectation that when you complete a few marketing tasks (e.g. placing an ad or circulating a flyer), it should somehow result in flooding your welcome mat with a long line of new clients. You feel frustrated at the reality that marketing is actually an ongoing process of building relationship and rapport. It will need constant nurturing and revamping for most of the life of your business. Still, you are left wondering if other practitioners
somehow know things you don’t about business or marketing, and you are likely right. But you can change that!

As fellow practitioners, we have all had times in our lives when we pause long enough to recognize when we are not in balance.  On a daily basis, clients come to us for support to regain wellness and balance. But do we as practitioners seek support to create wellness in our business? If your practice is the spirit of what you do, you private practice business is the body. We need wellness in BOTH to create a thriving practice.

At Global Alignment Coaching, we specialize in helping Practitioners in the Mental Health and Wellness Industry start, upgrade and run a thriving Private Practice. Please contact us at info@globalalignmentcoaching for a free 30 minute business consultation and find out how to boost the vitality of you private practice. Isn’t now the perfect time to nurture your business like you would your clients?

A Prescription from the Dying that will Revitalize your Life & Private Practice Business

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Balancing your intentional life and your intentional holistic business…

As practitioners, we all care deeply about our clients and running a thriving, holistic business. But are you letting your business and client needs erode your own wellbeing, leaving your fuel tank on empty? Left unchecked over time, this is the recipe that practitioner burnout is made of. But we often don’t notice the signs indicating our lack of balance or our growing need for revitalization. Our busy practice has us looking in many directions, failing to notice that our own “out of fuel  light that has been flashing for months or years.

People naturally change over time, but we don’t necessarily change our vision accordingly. If we don’t regularly check out our internal compass, we can find ourselves asking how we ended up where we are – out of gas on the side of the road, living on overdrive or just plain burned out with no SPARK in our daily lives and our holistic business suffering.

Want a Prescription that will give you fresh perspective? Listen to the dying!

Bonnie Ware is an Australian nurse who spent several years working in palliative care, caring for patients in the last 12 weeks of their lives. She recorded their dying epiphanies in a blog called Inspiration and Chai, which gathered so much attention that she put her observations into a book called The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. Excerpts below.

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

“This was the most common regret of all. When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honored even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made. Health brings a freedom very few realize, until they no longer have it.”

2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.

“This came from EVERY male patient that I nursed. They missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companionship. Women also spoke of this regret, but as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.”

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.

“Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.”

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

“Often they would not truly realize the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.”

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

“This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realize until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content, when deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.”

We find that many practitioners are both inspired and tired. They are on purpose and yet overwhelmed. They are sometimes ashamed to find themselves too burned out to love their work or small business, even when they feel it is their life purpose.

We provide on line programs and coaching, specifically for practitioners that are about creating an intentional life balanced with an intentional private practice business. We recognize that as much as momentum and traction are important in business and life, that process is best balanced with quiet perspective, self audit, rest, extreme self-care and clarity before and while forging forward.

If you find yourself unsure about how to balance your intentional life and your intentional holistic business, or if you have lost that vital spark of vibrant purpose, heed the wisdom of the dying. It’s never too late to self prescribe a life or business “revamp”. It´s never too late to, find your balance and bliss, and create a life and business with renewed vitality!

For a FRESH perspective and some hands on help, just ask us for a free 30 minute consultation by emailinginfo@globalalignmentcoaching.com .

Social Media and Your Private Practice Business: Keeping It Professional

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Top tips for your small business on social media

Social media allows us to connect with our clients like never before. With just a click on Facebook, Twitter, G+, or Youtube, we are able to speak directly to our market, chat with clients, and hear feedback almost about our business instantly.

But the quick and fast connections can definitely have a dark side. Unprofessional, hurtful, and even derogatory tweets, or lack of professional boundaries/conduct can negatively impact your clients and business, greatly influencing your reputation and your liability online and off. And it s not just small businesses that feel the online backlash of unfortunate social media actions. Many large companies, like Kitchen Aid and StubHub, have made major public and embarrassing social
media snafus. We recommend you get you “Standards of Practice Guidelines” from your licensing body and get clear before even setting up your accounts to better understand your limitations.

Fortunately, with a good social media plan, industry consideration and conscious minded business foresight, it is easy to keep your social media activity professionally appropriate and respectful to both your clients and your industry. We’ve gathered a few social media tips to help make your
Private Practice online networking a breeze!

1. Don’t be too promotional or too sales oriented. We are NOT selling, we are helping. Social media isn’t the place to do a hard sell, and in authentic marketing, you likely wont have to do a “hard sell” at all. The goal of connecting online through social media is to do just that: connect! Engage, and share relevant information with your audience (aim for about 70% to 30% promotional content). These posts can include infographic charts, retweets, and other people’s content. You can do this with your business goal in mind, and without your professional boundaries as spelled out in your unique Standards of Practice guidelines.

2. Accept criticism with grace and humility. People are likely to say something negative about you or your business at some point along your social media career. Treat these complains like you would face-to-face and be gracious, professional, and kind. It’s easy to forget that real people are behind the screen, especially when you are facing criticism for your work or Private Practice. It’s also a good place to practice your own leadership and be accountable as appropriate. This is how we achieve self mastery and learn!

3. Separate the personal from the professional. This may seem obvious as a practitioner, but many practitioners fail to properly divide their accounts. You may be the face of your Private Practice business, but that doesn’t mean the business is YOU. Be professional and remain a Practitioner at all times. Fans and followers for your business don’t need to hear about your hangover, your new relationship, your child’s toilet training, or what you had for breakfast. But they do want to hear your opinion on important events in the industry or world, and advice or personal experience you have on pertinent topics that relate to your areas of expertise, philosophy, products and services or niches. Before you post, ask yourself if it is related to your business or target audience. Ask yourself if you are acting in your “practitioner” role when you post and if not, don’t post it.

4. Have a goal to be CURIOUS, SUPPORT, ENGAGE, INFORM and RELATE as the first step and doorway to building rapport. There is no value in talking just to talk or posting just to fill up blank space. 93% of communication is non-verbal. Clients or fans will know when your posts are “hollow,” if you are motivated to just “SELL, SELL, SELL.” They want to know if you are authentically interested in their life and their problems. You want to relate in a way that shows that your services may actually be a bridge to helping their current life issues. Your entire practice is about improving quality of life, and letting people know how your services may be uniquely positioned to do assist them, should they desire help and if it is an authentic fit.

5. But, it’s critical you start with recognizing that social media should be only one spoke within the wheel of a larger marketing plan, and can’t function properly if it doesn’t actually carry out your larger networking and marketing goals. If you as a practitioner and business owner are not
clear on what your specific goals are, you are likely wasting your time. Additionally, if you are leaning too hard on your social media, as a safe and somewhat indirect means of reaching your target audience, often at the cost of other marketing or networking efforts, you may very well be avoiding the larger marketing picture and crucial need to diversify your efforts.

6. If your business is more than just you, designate one TRAINED person to operate your social media, under your guidance. Take time to create criteria for your social media activity and conduct. Ultimately you are responsible and it is your creditability, rapport and reputation that will be impacted if there is inappropriate conduct on your social media platforms. Too many chefs in the kitchen can spell disaster, and the same thing goes for your social media accounts.

Social media for Private Practice small business can truly be a great way to meet your target audience or alliances as well as strengthen these relationships. By following these guidelines and MANY others tips that our programs teach to Mental Health and Wellness Practitioners, you’ll be
engaging and networking like a pro!

Learn more conscious minded Social Media and Marketing ideas for your Private Practice Business byvisiting our website or email our team of Private Practice Business experts for a free consult atinfo@globalalignmentcoaching.com

The 5 Best Tax Tips: An Ethical and Mindful Approach to Taxes & Money

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Getting ready for tax season

Yup, its TAX time!

We find that this season typically creates one of two responses: “absolute dread” and a desire to put our heads in the sand, or “excitement” in knowing a check is coming and you can preplan where that money will be spent.

If you find your normal approach isn’t helping you to get the tax results you want, and if learning and navigating through ever changing tax rules and deductions isn’t your cup of tea, let us get you started. Here are a few great tax tips to point you in the right direction this tax season, especially if you are a small business owner looking to embrace a mindful relationship with money and taxes.

1. Keep track of ALL your business expenses, even the little ones because they all add up. Be aware that it’s critical to keep every receipt, even if it doesn’t occur to you that it could even be an expense. There are a variety of expenses that you could be using that you likely don’t know about. So ask for and keep ALL receipts- ALL THE TIME!

2. If you are collecting GST/HST on sales, make sure you have copies of expense receipts that show the GST/HST . . . not just the transaction slip that shows money was taken out of your account.

3. If it is not really obvious what the receipt is for, write clearly on the top or back so that it isn’t a guessing game when it’s time to tally up your expenses.  If the printer ink has run dry, ask the establishment to print your receipt again. Keep receipts in the best condition as possible because if they are not readable, they are not usable.

4. If you take a client or team member to lunch, write their name on the back of the receipt.  It is easy to do that when you are waiting for the server to bring the payment machine.  The reality is, no name means it’s not a legitimate expense. Additionally, there are different expense rates based on what that person’s relationship is to your business.

5. Find out about more the legitimate and often overlooked expenses you can claim and use that to your advantage.  Consider keeping last year’s tax return to review with someone knowledgeable, to determine if there are potentially overlooked deductions that you can carry forward and use this year. Every business has very unique (and often overlooked) expense related to it. Every expense you can claim reduces your business net income. This total is what you are taxed on so, more expenses means paying less tax remittance. Having a ethical and mindful approach to Taxes and Monday isn’t at all about paying more!

Doing your own taxes may seem like in industrious way to save money, right? Not likely! The reality is that times change, practices change and deductions are constantly changing. Unless you are keeping on top of these ongoing changes, you are very likely missing crucial opportunities.

Like in all business dealings, you may not even realize where you are short changing yourself and letting money slip right through your fingers. Using the appropriate professional services will actually save you time and money. Additionally, we can teach you how to create and use a basic system throughout the year, making your taxes preparation a breeze.

It’s empowering to get involved in tax season, so that you can learn more about your money the tax process. Every year is a chance to start fresh, gain knowledge and become more conscious about your money and business dealings. In fact, even though we may need to pay money in our tax remittance, in some way we are keeping the healthy flow of money moving in and out, rather than it becoming stagnant. Pause and consider, that you would not even have to pay out if you didn’t receive income in the first place. When considering the big picture, isn’t that something we can in part, feel grateful for? So when doing your taxes, we feel knowledgeable prevention is the best cure while gratitude is the best energy.

Let Global Alignment’s “Tax Guru” services help you take the stress out of tax time. Equally important, she will approach your personal or business taxes from a place of integrity, helping you to cultivate a “mindful money” mentality. For more information, MANY more tax tips and a great tax experience, contact us atinfo@globalalignmentcoaching.com

Is “Business” A Four Letter Word to Practitioners?

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How to stop neglecting a vital part of our success…

Somewhere along my journey as a practitioner, I felt an internal calling to heal myself and others. The idea of becoming healthy and happy fascinated me, and still does. This internal calling or gravitational pull is something many practitioners experience in the mental health and wellness industry. We answer this call by rolling up our sleeves and investing our heart, time, soul, and money into learning our wellness craft. We invest in our goal and envision ourselves as practioners who help others.

But how many of us spend any time being excited about learning the ins and outs of being a small business owner? I understand – I don´t get an adrenaline rush thinking about policies, spreadsheets, budgets, and other aspects of small business management, either. Because of this lack of calling, so much more of our time, attention, and financial investments are spent on preparation to be a practitioner, rather than on preparation for becoming a business owner.
Many pracitioners tend to look over the important details of running a small business, minimizing its importance and believing it´s somehow a less meaningful part of their practice. Frankly, most practitioners would rather eat gun powder for breakfast than think about small business management!

We practitioners find ourselves frustrated and even annoyed that our business actually requires ongoing financial resources and our time to stay alive and grow. Knowing that success requires that we wear both the “business” and “practitioner” hats, why do we get stuck in these extreme polarities, and neglect a vital part of our success? Is business really a four letter word to practitioners in the wellness world?

I always say, if your practice is the spirit of what you do, then your business is the body that houses it. It´s a structure that supports the function of your practice. We often can´t see how detaching from our business manifests our own disease within our private practice.  It may be partly because we naturally dislike the discomfort and vulnerability of learning something new in an area where we feel less confident. Like anyone else, we would rather focus our time and energy on what we do best.

When I talk about business, the images that often come to the minds of practitioners are: Corporate America, Walmart, excess consumerism, disregard for community, capitalism, profit at any cost, and a snake-oil slick “all mighty dollar” mentality. Fair enough, these things unfortunately exist. But why imagine that your business could or would somehow be clumped in with the Walmarts of the world? It´s as though we are somehow more “enlightened” as a practitioner and “less enlightened” in our role of a small business owner. Where on earth did we get those judgments? Is that really who we are as leaders in the wellness world? In our view, business itself is a blank slate that is neither negative or positive. What drives the energy of any business (whether it is big or small, profit or not-for-profit) are the purpose, values and intention of those running the business. This is what makes a small business what it is, and what it isn´t. The power lies with you!

Between charity work/martyred poverty and greed there are many options that equal a healthy financial balance in a private practice. If you don´t want to be a slick snake oil business person when you are marketing – DON´T DO IT! Find an authentic voice in how you speak of the services you offer, or the work you do, or wellness itself as a goal. If you don´t want to have a business that completely disregards community impact and your ethics, find a way to extend good will through your small business. If you are not invested in or engaged with your business, then who else will be? Instead, ask yourself if there is a way you can come to understand what you and your business stand for. Be proud of your business and share your practice through it boldly!

Is it possible to LOVE your private practice business? My answer is yes – absolutely! And if you do embrace all the parts of your private practice in balance, you will see how it loves you back.

If you are a practitioner and want to love your business as much as your practice, fasten your seat belt because we can help! Contact us at info@globalalignmentcoaching.com to begin the journey.

VitalityLink: Find Wellness, Share Wellness

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Mental Health and Wellness Practitioners now have optionsA Free Service to help connect Wellness Practitioners with the people who need their services!

You went to school or took a course, you became a Wellness Practitioner, and now you are not only ready, but also excited to help people. The problem? No one is beating down your door asking for your services. As a small business owner, how do you regularly bring in clients without costing an arm and a leg? At Global Alignment, we help all kinds of practitioners learn about the many things that Practitioners can do to turn that around!

Mental Health and Wellness Practitioners now have options

There is advertising but Practitioners often feel it can be expensive. Without some clear understanding of how to properly market your business, some practitioners find advertising to be a wasted effort that entirely missed their mark, and yet they do not understand why. It is frustrating, disheartening, and hard to justify if it is not bringing in the desired results.

Websites are a must have marketing tool these days but a site is only as good as the number of people that visit it. Or, in other words, traffic is what makes a site successful. At Global Alignment, we teach wellness practitioners how to create and improve their websites along side all of the pivotal parts of developing their private practice business. Part of this is learning how to get your name out there while building relationships and exposure so that your website can become a better tool that supports the vitality of your business.

So how do you get your name out there to the people that need your services the right way without costing you a fortune? One way that Global Alignment supports is by participating in virtual communities and by posting your information on directories that aim to support both the client and the Practitioner, to connect!

A cost effective way to drive traffic to your site and your door

VitalityLink is an online tool developed to actually bridge that gap between the community of helping industries and the people that need their expertise. It is intuitive, easy to navigate, and content rich to provide the required information quickly and concisely.

In its simplest of uses, Wellness Practitioners of all modalities can register their businesses so that potential clients can find them. To drive more traffic to their online business profile, practitioners are encouraged to write and post articles on any subject under their modality.

Connecting Practitioners with Clients

Whether you are a Registered Professional Counsellor, acupuncturist, addiction therapist, a hypnotherapist, a Reiki master, a kinesiologist, a message therapist, or any other member of the wellness community, VitalityLink.com can help you connect to potential clients in a quick and effortless manor.

Looking for a Wellness Practitioner within a specific discipline? VitalityLink.com can help you find a professional in your area.

Mental health and wellness practitioners can fine more information at VitalityLink.com or Global Alignment Coaching. See how VitLink and GAC are aligning to help Wellness Practitioners everywhere develop abundant and balanced businesses!

At Global Alignment Group, we give VitalityLynk a thumbs UP!