Have you stopped moving because you’re frozen in fear? Do you feel like you hit a brick wall and don’t know what to do next?

This happens to many of us, particularly when we are walking down a new path or starting on a journey that leads us into unfamiliar territory. You are moving along, often at a fairly swift pace, and you suddenly stop frozen in your tracks. It’s as if there is a wall in front of you blocking your way. Upon closer examination you see a door. You slowly reach your hand out and turn the knob, timidly, because you aren’t sure what’s on the other side of the door.

However, almost to your relief, the door is locked. You drop your hand, perhaps stand there in thought for a moment, and then turn and walk back where you came from. The door’s locked, you can’t go any further.

The locked door represents an obstacle on the road to achieving your goals. For healthcare marketers this could be frustration that you don’t have any new clients this month, or that you didn’t achieve the financial goal you had set for yourself. That wall, in fact, has brought you to an absolute stand still. After all, you can’t walk through walls can you? Obviously wherever you were headed was not the right direction. Right? Wrong!

You may be stopped, standing in front of your own closed door right now. The thing is you don’t know what’s behind that door. It could be opportunity. More money. More clients. You won’t know until you get it open.

But the door is locked you whine… (My business suddenly stopped, no one is spending money, I don’t have time, I don’t know where to find leads, my advertising isn’t working…) So what? Break that fricken’ door down and see what’s there!

I’ve seen a pattern emerge over the years I’ve been coaching – people walk up to their door (a large, looming obstacle), find out it’s locked and not easy to open (overcoming obstacles are not usually easy because it makes them uncomfortable) and they quit.

You make a decision, say to increase your client/patient base by 20 a week or to earn 30K a year more, and you start moving in the direction to make that dream a reality.

Once you make that decision the Universe will bring things into alignment to make your vision a reality. In order for you to become a person that makes their vision a reality and you have to change as well. Things around you have to change – this can be incredibly uncomfortable and incredibly scary.

It’s often right when you give up that your vision is at the tipping point of becoming reality. I see people give up right when they are about to break through their door – their fear and panic takes over and they stop looking for opportunities to move through the obstacle rather than opportunities to move through it. Panic sets in and they stop, turn around, and walk the other way instead of stepping into their true self.

If you truly desire to see your dream come true you must have a dogged determination to accomplish your goal and see the change to completion.

You have to take that pent-up fear energy and use it to propel yourself in the direction you want to go. Because the energy is new it can feel extremely uncomfortable and your instinct may be to walk away from it rather than embrace it. Embracing the fear requires a change in behavior from what you’ve done in the past. It will require you to do something you have never done before.

I recently saw an interview with Lady Gaga talking about how she steps into growth and discovers the next path for herself. Gaga said she visually sees a door in front of her. It’s closed and bolted shut. She gets whatever she needs to break the door down – in the interview she described visually grabbing an axe and a sledgehammer – and she literally tears the door down. She beats at it and goes and gets more tools and comes back and attacks it some more until she finally demolishes that door. Once she breaks it down she knows the next thing she needs to step into. There is a fanaticism to her determination to break through that door; nothing is going to stop her.

You must also have that same fanaticism to break down the closed doors in your way. The key may be recognizing you’ve actually hit a locked door rather than a brick wall.

Your closed doors may resemble:

• Low self-esteem
• Choosing a niche or specialty
• Lack of self-confidence
• Hiring a coach or mentor
• Not following through
• Learning a new skill
• Fear
• Accepting you don’t have all the answers
• Lack of energy or focus
• Not working on your whole self – i.e. dealing with past issues/traumas
• Not being open (thinking you know it all)
• Picking up the phone

What door(s) do you need to demolish to break through to your goals today? If you are uncertain what to do next or don’t feel you have the tools you need to break down the doors, contact us to see how we can help. Kelly@AMarketingConnection.com

About the author

Founder of A Marketing Connection and The Copywriting Institute, Kelly Robbins, MA, is a marketing coach, award winning author and copywriter. Kelly is a blogger for both Chiropractic Economics and Massage Magazine and is the author of Marketing 101: Why Successful Alternative Healthcare Practitioners Specialize as well as co-author of The Practice Evolution Success Kit. She also publishes The Healthcare Marketing Connection, a free e-zine on healthcare marketing tips. Contact Kelly to receive her free report, “5 Critical Mistakes Healthcare Marketers Make that Lose Sales and Plummet Profits” at www.AMarketingConnection.com or 303-460-0285.

Social media is all the buzz in healthcare marketing today. In the last two weeks I have read at least 12 articles on pinterest (a Facebook or Twitter application) alone. Before that Google+ was a must-have for anybody who wanted to be anybody. It’s as easy to see how healthcare marketers can feel obligated to participate in social media as it is to quickly become overwhelmed with the variety of choices and maintenance required to achieve results. The enormity of creating a simple presence on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn in addition to creating and maintaining a website, blog, e-zine and all the other mediums available today is daunting.

With all the social media hoopla anyone could easily jump on the bandwagon and add one (or several) more things to their to-do list in the rush to keep up with the newest trends. Today’s advice is look before you leap. You don’t have to be everywhere to make money!

Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Squidoo, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+… the list is endless. How do you choose? How much time should a marketer actually spend on social media?

The cold, hard facts are that you don’t absolutely NEED to have a Facebook account or 10,000 followers on Twitter to make a living as a healer.  Just because it’s free doesn’t mean it necessitates your presence.

There are some instances where it is vitally important to have a strong social media presence. For example:

1. If you have a younger clientele. Odds are these young folks will respond favorably and interact with you on social media.
2. If your clients are strong social media users, either personally or professionally, it makes sense to connect with them there.
3. You love Facebook and Twitter (or whichever medium), you are already there and expanding into a business presence is natural and easy for you. It makes sense to continue.

Many marketers leap into social media marketing because it’s easy and inexpensive, however, it can also be a huge time suck and, if not done strategically, can lead to a lot of effort with no results. It’s important to evaluate your niche and the needs of your clients as well as their online habits and balance that with how much time you have.

Thinking about stepping into a new social media medium? Here are a few questions to ask yourself to see which, if any, social media outlet is right for your business:

• Does the medium complement your other marketing efforts? It is one more way to connect and engage with consumers – just because you are there doesn’t mean clients or prospects are there.
• If you currently gain most of your business through another avenue, such as speaking or referrals, will social media help or hinder your sales flow? If direct selling works for you then stick with it!
• How much time do you have to dedicate to updating social media? Is this something that can be outsourced?
• What do you already have in place, such as a blog or e-zine, which can be leveraged with social media?
• Social media is a personal, direct way to engage with prospects. You must have a personality – you can’t just post sentences from your blog. Can you do this?

I am leery of anyone who says you HAVE to do anything where marketing is concerned. The only HAVE to is selling. You can be as creative as you want when it comes to bringing the leads in, but you must know how to sell.

Social media is attractive to many healthcare businesses because it is free and easy to do. My experience is it’s also an easy way to distract yourself from selling, which you HAVE to do to make money and grow your business.

Marketers, be smart about social media usage. Remember it is just one of many tools available to get in front of your target market. It’s not for everyone and it is definitely not a requirement to building a highly profitable business.

Announcement: We are putting the finishing touches on our first free training of 2012 - Why You’re Not Getting the Clients You Want and What to do About it. This free training teleseminar will be held Wednesday, April 4th at 1:00pm MT (3pm ET). Reserve your spot and register here now. Everyone that registers will also receive a complementary 20 minute private coaching consultation with Kelly Robbins, MA.

About the author

Founder of A Marketing Connection and The Copywriting Institute, Kelly Robbins, MA, is a marketing coach, award winning author and copywriter. Kelly is a blogger for both Chiropractic Economics and Massage Magazine and is the author of Marketing 101: Why Successful Alternative Healthcare Practitioners Specialize as well as co-author of The Practice Evolution Success Kit. She also publishes The Healthcare Marketing Connection, a free e-zine on healthcare marketing tips. Contact Kelly to receive her free report, “5 Critical Mistakes Healthcare Marketers Make that Lose Sales and Plummet Profits” at www.AMarketingConnection.com or 303-460-0285.

If you’ve been having trouble reaching your goals and creating the business and life you desire, odds are you can find several self-sabotaging behaviors ruining your success. Self-sabotage, by definition, is thoughts, feelings and actions that block your success by working against your own self-interests. Only a crazy person would consciously sabotage their own success, right? The thing is you are probably not sabotaging yourself consciously. All of this is happening underneath your radar in your subconscious. In order to stop these unwanted acts the first thing we need to work through is recognizing those self-sabotaging behaviors.

How can you recognize something you are not conscious of? You must first acknowledge that you have self-sabotaging behaviors, recognize which behaviors they are and then have the strength and stamina to look at them and work through them. This is how a strong person and a successful business are built.

Let’s take a look at the seven most common self-sabotaging behaviors healthcare marketers exhibit when struggling with their business.

1.   Feeling you have no value. This feeling often comes from low self-esteem and comparing yourself to others. It’s easy to compare ourselves to others – oftentimes the grass is greener on the other side. Our insecurities tell us that others are doing “it” better because “it’s” different than what we are doing. Remember that each of us is created with something different and special to give the world. We are here to serve others. Each of our talents will connect with different people in different ways and you have to trust and know that. Healing can be a very personal event – you will connect with some people on a deep level and not at all with others. Don’t look at what others are doing, do your own thing. March to the beat of your own drum. That’s how you become a success!

2.    Focusing on what is not working or not right. This is a common problem for not only healthcare marketers and other business owners, but also people that are generally unhappy with their life. What can you do to change things around? Start by writing down what IS working and what IS going right in your life and business right now. Then make a conscious decision that every time you catch yourself thinking a negative thought you switch it with a “what’s going right” thought. Pay particular attention to what you are thinking the 10 minutes before you fall asleep and the 10 minutes when you first wake up. This time frame sets the tone for your entire day. Come up with 3 or 4 positive statements you repeat to yourself daily or write down 30 statements – one for each day of the month.

3.    Procrastinating. A big one for many business owners and marketers, procrastination is the number one reason people don’t move forward. They are stuck in a place they don’t want to be and procrastinate when it comes to tasks to work their way out. Stopping procrastinating is not just about discipline. It’s also about understanding why you are procrastinating. If there is a specific part of your business, such as marketing, that you keep putting off but know you need to do, look at why you don’t want to do it. Does hearing “no thanks” make you feel less worthy? Do you feel insecure about marketing because you are not clear on best practices? Are you afraid to be seen and play big because some people won’t like you? Here are a few exercises to work through procrastination behaviors:

• Try doing the task you are avoiding first thing in the morning.
• Take baby steps – make your first steps easy, such as writing 50 words a day and working your way up to 1500.
• Form your own mastermind or support group. Having others that you can either do the projects with or hold each other accountable can be helpful.

It’s important to recognize where you are stopping!! If you look I bet you’ll find you are stopping at the same places every time you come to them.

4.    Not doing anything because you are stuck in fear. This self-sabotaging behavior can be hard to recognize and even more challenging to work through. First, closely examine what it is you are afraid of. If you look closely you’ll probably find your fears are based on things that haven’t even happened yet. The truth is you can’t control the future or what might happen. This is wasted time and energy worrying about what “might” or “could” happen rather than focusing on the conditions at right this very second in time. Oftentimes fear leaves us paralyzed and we take no action because of what might occur. Put your focus on the NOW –Eckert Tolle has written some phenomenal books about being present in the NOW.

5.    Having no purpose. Feeling lost or purposeless is not a healthy way to start a profitable business. Know that everyone has a purpose in this lifetime. Everyone – Especially you. The key is to bring to your consciousness what that purpose is. A life without purpose is often a life without passion and that lack of passion will come through loud and clear to your clients and prospects. People are attracted to passionate people. If you feel unsure of your purpose know that you have one, you just may not be aware of it. Journaling, meditation, and giving/serving others are an effortless way to discover your purpose and how healthcare fits into that. Sometimes bringing spirituality to your life can also help you have a feeling of purpose. If we don’t see our lives and business as having a higher purpose we tend to self-sabotage. Feeling as if we have no purpose is the root cause of the self-sabotaging behavior.

6.    Getting distracted or losing focus. First things first with this one. Check your diet – are you drinking too much caffeine in the mornings and losing focus in the afternoons? Not eating enough or eating poorly? Not getting enough sleep? Need to break up your day and workout or take a lunch break half-way through? These are the physical areas to examine when you realize you are getting distracted easily. My Starbucks addiction affected my work a few years ago and I had to wean myself off coffee for a year. If it’s not physical then take a look at a few other things…Look at how you are feeeeling as you are having trouble focusing. Is there a specific incident, say an argument with your child or spouse that has you distracted? Is fear taking over? Lack of discipline? Sometimes there are days you just have to plow through your work and not get much done. We all have those days. There is a difference when this happens on a frequent or daily basis or occasionally. It’s when you see a consistent pattern that you need to start looking at a deeper reason for the lack of momentum.

7.   Not finishing what you start. Another very common self-sabotaging technique is starting things (such as marketing!) and not finishing them. Look at what you are telling yourself or even other people about why you aren’t finishing – these are your excuses. Again look for patterns. Even important items such as kids, fights with your spouse or dramas that occur in your life are self-sabotaging behaviors which YOU create that detract from your goal. You are the creator of your world and what you manifest. You must own that.
Changing destructive patterns of self-sabotaging behaviors requires you to get curious about why you do (or don’t do) certain tasks. Particularly note how you are feeling when these tasks come up and look inward, dig deep into why. Awareness of your actions and then WHY you are doing them is how you stop the repetitive self-sabotaging behaviors that are preventing your businesses natural success and growth.

Growth is a natural state — everything in nature is either growing or dying. If you’re not growing you have to examine why.

If you don’t recognize your own self-sabotaging behaviors or can’t seem to work past them, a business coach can help. Contact us at 303-460-0285 or Kelly@AMarketingConnection.com to explore how we can help today!

An easy way to add thousands to your monthly income and serve your clients more fully!

Adding health coaching to your healthcare practice is a simple and fun way to increase revenues and serve your clients more fully.

Coaching your patients is something you are probably already doing…talking to them about their health, teaching them specific things they can/should do to live healthier lives, offering advice on supplements and exercises.

Do you find there are some patients that would like to spend more time with you than you have? Are there some patients that could use more guidance but don’t know how to get it? Adding coaching to the services you offer is just another way you can help them in a more personal, in-depth way.

How difficult is it to add coaching to your portfolio of services?

Adding coaching is easy. There’s a good chance you are already coaching clients and just aren’t calling it that. Rather than offering the service without charging for it, you need to name it and charge a price for it. For example, say a patient comes in repeatedly for a sports injury – do you not help them by offering techniques to avoid the injury? You may even find yourself recommending vitamins or even shoes that can help them do their sport more safely or efficiently.

This is simply coaching – you are just not calling it that nor charging for it.

Ideas for types of coaching

Are there questions your patients consistently ask about? Opportunities for learning you see that aren’t being met? Using coaching to meet these needs is a great opportunity for you to expand your practice, make more money, and more fully meet the needs of your patients.

Let’s look at an example of how a massage therapist could add coaching to their practice:

• Offer health coaching packages individually and coach clients with specific issues: For example coaching for stress endurance. Coaching for insomnia.
• Offer weight loss coaching or physical fitness coaching.
• Rotate offering specific coaching on different topics that complement your practice such as meditation, increasing energy, relaxation.

Coaches traditionally charge anywhere from $100 up to $1,000 an hour or more. Depending on your practice and niche, I recommend starting off on the lower end and raising your rates as your coaching time fills.

Integrating coaching into your packages will allow you to set a price that doesn’t necessarily spell out an hourly rate. Many practitioners package their coaching with existing services to increase the value.

For example, a massage therapist could put together a package of 10 massages that normally costs $100 each. A $1000 value. For the package, they may discount the services because the patient is purchasing in bulk. Rather than discounting the price, the LMT could offer 30 minutes of one-on-one coaching, or free access to workshops or classes you do. You want to offer services that are easy to do, but add value for the patient and ultimately help them achieve their health goals.

Here’s what it ultimately looks like:

Ultimate massage therapy health package:

• 10 massages
• Five 30 minute one-on-one coaching sessions
• Develop personal health plan
• Free admittance to monthly health seminar held in office for 6 months
  Total cost: $2800

Coming up with several different packages with different price points for clients can quickly, and easily, add several thousands of dollars to your revenues and strengthen your relationship with patients.

Do you offer coaching services with in your business? Tells us about it!

About the author

Founder of A Marketing Connection and The Copywriting Institute, Kelly Robbins, MA, is a marketing coaching, award winning author, copywriter and intuitive consultant. Kelly is a blogger for both Chiropractic Economics and Massage Magazine and is the author of Marketing 101: Why Successful Alternative Healthcare Practitioners Specialize as well as co-author of The Practice Evolution Success Kit. She also publishes The Healthcare Marketing Connection, a free e-zine on healthcare marketing tips. Contact Kelly to receive her free report, “5 Critical Mistakes Healthcare Marketers Make that Lose Sales and Plummet Profits” at www.AMarketingConnection.com or 303-460-0285.

It’s very important for any business owner, particularly those in the healing arts, to have a vision of success and prosperity. Success and prosperity can be different things for different people.

Your vision of prosperity

The prosperity mentality will naturally guide you so that you are extremely clear in your intention and purpose. I’d like you to take a few minutes and write down what prosperity means to you. Be descriptive in your answers. How much is “enough money”. How many patients do you see a month? How much time away from your practice do you have? Does your income come from a variety of sources or from your patient base?

Does striving for prosperity mean you are not sincere in your work?

Just because you are making money (which is an even exchange of energy for the work you do) does not in any way compromise the healing you do, or make you selfish and greedy.

Nothing can be further from the truth.

When it comes to our financial motivations, it’s helpful to get very clear about what we believe to be true about money. Why do some of us believe that money should be shunned, that it is somehow unethical to make a lot of money and help people heal? Why do others believe that money is the end all be all – that making money is the top priority in life?

As a massage therapist, your belief system around money will determine your success as much as anything you “do”. We live in a society that fears not having enough. Most of us have bought into the mentality that money is in limited supply and that we must do what we can, however we can, to get our fair share.

When we live from a place of scarcity, fear will dictate that unfolding of our lives, acting like a clamp that shuts us off from the magic and abundance of the Universe.

Recognizing your Prosperity Mindset

Understanding your beliefs about money and prosperity are an important component to changing them. I am now going to go through a few personal exercises to help you recognize your beliefs.

1. Write down the main qualities that come to mind when you contemplate how your parents relate to money. What did they teach you through their actions? Can you identify any harmful themes that have been passed down to you? Feel free to write this in a personal journal over several days and weeks.
2. Write down, by decade, your experiences about money throughout your life. What was your family life like when you were a child? A teen? In your 20s, 30s etc.
3. Read the following statement:

“As a bodyworker, I deserve to make a healthy six figure income. There is no cap to my earning potential. I value making money just as I value the service I offer to my clients.”

How do you feel after reading that statement? Do you embrace this statement wholeheartedly? Is there a part of you that resists it? What is the belief that causes you to resist it?

Understanding your beliefs about prosperity and money are an important factor for your growth and development, both personally and professionally. Uncovering deeply seeded beliefs can require much more internal work and analysis than I provide in this blog but is worth exploring on your end. As a business owner in the healing arts it’s imperative you explore your internal as well as external actions and beliefs. Business coaching can help you discover unsupportive beliefs that are preventing the growth of your practice. To schedule coaching with Kelly Robbins call 303-460-0285.

About the author

Founder of www.AMarketingConnection.com and www.TheCopywritingInstitute.com, Kelly Robbins, MA, is an award winning author, copywriter, energy worker and healthcare marketing coach/consultant. Kelly is a blogger for both Chiropractic Economics and Massage Magazine and is the author of Marketing 101: Why Successful Alternative Healthcare Practitioners. She also publishes The Healthcare Marketing Connection, a free e-zine on healthcare marketing tips. Contact Kelly to receive her free report, “5 Critical Mistakes Healthcare Marketers Make that Lose Sales and Plummet Profits” at www.AMarketingConnection.com or 303-460-0285.

In order to achieve prosperity in your life and your business, you must first know what prosperity means to you. Prosperity to you may be much different than what prosperity means to me. Understand that developing a prosperity mentality is the foundation of success for your practice.

In this week’s podcast we share some tips on expanding your prosperity mindset. Marketing from the inside out.

www.AMarketingConnection.com

Ultimately creating healthy changes is the patients responsibility. As their healer there are some inexpensive and easy communication pieces you can incorporate into your practice that will support and maintain a motivational energy long after the patients visit.

Listen to this weeks podcast to learn how to make your practice motivationally friendly.

www.AMarketingConnetion.com
Kelly@AMarketingConnection.com
303-460-0285

To your success!
Kelly Robbins
www.AMarketingConnection.com

 To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.AMarketingConnection.com

To your success! Kelly Robbins www.AMarketingConnection.com