Congratulations! I wanted to take a minute before we dive in to congratulate you. It took a lot of grit and determination to get where you are today– everything you’ve sacrificed to become a holistic health practitioner, a life or health coach. The hours of study, the time away from family and friends, and the money you’ve invested to obtain your dreams. The work you’ve put in and the drive to build a practice of your dreams. My hat is off to you!! And a heartfelt CONGRATULATIONS!!
You’ve jumped that first hurdle with gusto and passion. And, you deserve to have a practice and business that you work in and not constantly working on. Let’s not sugar coat this– building a successful business is hard work. It can be lonely. Frustrating. There will be a lot of highs but a lot of lows as well. You end up wearing a lot of different hats. Hats you never even thought of— but don’t worry. I’m here to walk you through the basic steps of launching your successful holistic health practice!
Let’s get you started– on building the business you deserve.
1.Getting Clear on an unshakeable vision
Do you have a strong unshakeable plan and vision for your business? What do I mean by this? You need to be crystal clear on who you want to serve, what does your ideal customer look like, what are their dreams, fears, what keeps them up at night, and what products/services do you want to sell. Do you want a brick and mortar location, are you going to offer your programs online? Or my suggestion— a mix of both. That way you have a steady revenue stream as we adjust to our futures. Do you want a team, contract support to help you or are you going to be a solo entrepreneur? If you are like most people- you have a lot of ideas and thoughts. Narrow them down and do the research to ensure that there is a strong market for your ideas–cuz no one that I know of what’s to create a program that sits on a shelf and collects dust because no one needs it. And remember, you don’t have to have it all up and running tomorrow. Have a vision on how you want to scale your business– and grow it over time as you gain confidence and momentum.
2. Defining who you are going to serve– your NICHE
So how do you do the research to see if there is a need? You do this by solving a key problem your clients suffer from. Sounds simple– right. It’s the part of defining who you are going to be, how you are going to show up, and the community you want to attract. It’s also your passion. Cuz, your passion is going to create your energy.
Most people refer to this as your niche. And, a lot of people refuse to narrow their focus on who they want to help. I mean stubbornly refuse. One reason, they don’t believe there is enough of a market. And two, they are afraid it will limit their potential. Challenge yourself if you have one of these beliefs. Do the research to see how many people would be in your target market– think demographics– age, gender, financial, married/single– the basic demographics. Then dive deeper– let’s say you want to specialize and help women who are going through menopause. We know the market for this is huge and there are plenty of women that are transitioning through this stage in their life. But, what exactly do you want to help them with— weight gain, empty nest, hot flashes– there are a ton of things as a coach and as a holistic health practitioner you can help them with– find that one thing. Cuz, the saying is true– the riches are in the niches. And, you need to focus on solving that one problem that your customer has been relentlessly searching for– solving their pain, their fears, and their aspirations for a better future.
3. Creating your Signature Product or Service
Once you know who you are going to serve you need to have an awesome idea for your product or service. This should be a little easier as you have already done the hard work in defining your niche. You know your market, you know their pains, fears, aspirations, and dreams. The key here is to create a product that solves one of their major problems so they can obtain their biggest dreams. What you don’t want to do is create a product/service that everybody and I mean everybody has already created. Think about your life skills, your schooling, your passions and put your unique stamp on your product. This may take a little time to get it right. And remember you don’t have to start with your biggest product. You can test the market. But always, you want to put your uniqueness on the product/service. That’s how you are going to stand out in a crowded market.
4. Set a plan and launch— as quickly as possible.
Once you know what product or service you want to bring it to the market. Build and launch. Yeah, I know. You are probably like me and want it to be perfect. But I’m learning and if I can give you piece of advice- make it good enough. Good enough so that you can teach your students exactly what you promised but you don’t need all the bells and whistles to start. If you can’t afford a teaching platform- think about sending your materials via your email provider. It might be a little more work but you will also be really nimble to change as you get input from your students/clients. You want to be nimble and just good enough—good enough is the perfect place to launch. You can finalize your course as you go and make needed changes based on feedback you get from your students. Ask yourself before you start arguing with me– do I really need all the snazzy videos in order to teach my students? Is that what will help them learn? Or can I make Facebook lives that help them but is a lot cheaper and flexible? See good enough. 🙂
5. Don’t forget your marketing plan!
It’s one of those things either you won’t spend enough time creating or you will go overboard and spend countless hours in developing the most thoughtful plan there is. The honest truth? Start simple. Pick one platform, especially if you are new to social media. Even with just one social media platform you still need a website, sales funnels, email campaigns to create but once you know your audience and create a basic plan you will be well on your way to creating the business you’ve been dreaming about. And the thing to remember, you don’t have to create all the content yourself. You can either write original content, curate content from other influencers, complementary fields, and my favorite— repurposing content you’ve already created. Just be purposeful, consistent, and concentrate on solving that pain point for your clients/customers.
6. Know your numbers
You need to know some of the basics of your business. You need to keep track of your finances. You’ve already spent a lot of money on your education. For a lot of us, money may be tight. That’s why I want you to setup basic key performance indicators for your business- for your projected sales revenue, your marketing, and your expenses. You don’t need to go overboard but you do need to set your objectives, goals and track to see how you are performing and adjust quickly when you need to.
You’re all set. Well you still need to create a name, logo and other minor things that are fun but you can hold off on those things. Wishing you the greatest of successes. Let me know if you have questions in the comments below– I will get back to you personally.