From Therapist to Business Owner: Building the Right Foundations

When we build something we have to start somewhere.

The very first part of what we build is the foundation that everything else sits upon. If we don’t create the right foundation then anything we put on top will eventually fall and crumble.

Creating a business is no different. We need the right foundation to start with and this is where I see so many businesses fail.

So many therapists stuck, scared, unsure of what they need to do. They get bogged down with all the practical stuff, spend a fortune on branding, websites, tech but have no idea of the foundations of their business.

It’s not their fault, they’ve done the training, qualified, and want to get on with their job. The crossover between therapist and business mindset can be huge! But it doesn’t have to be.

Luckily, when I qualified as a hypnotherapist, I’d already had previous businesses. I had done a lot of training (free and paid) to learn about business.

What you need, websites, marketing, etc., but there was so much information, so much noise about what you should do, what tech or platform you need, what you should and shouldn’t be doing on social media. It was overwhelming!

I couldn’t find anyone or anything that made things simple. That made the whole process simple. Step by step, do it yourself (without a business mind) process. So I made a lot of mistakes and tried to follow every bit of advice.

That’s why now I’m so passionate about helping people realise they don’t need to listen to all the noise. They CAN follow a simple process (it’s still hard work) and create their ideal business, develop their business mind, and boss it with confidence!

Now I'm going to share how to go from Therapist to business owner mindset with the foundations you need.

So the foundations, what are they?

Your WHY 

You may have heard this, you probably have with all the noise about business. But have you actually worked through this?

Thought about it and worked it out?

Probably not, it’s not easy. But think about why you are doing what you do.

Why do you want to do your job?

Money is usually a factor, after all, we all need it and who wants to work without getting paid?

But go deeper.

What does that mean?

What does your work and the money you make mean for you and your life?

Maybe there’s a WHO that you are doing it for.

Maybe it’s for yourself, to leave a legacy.

Whatever the WHY, you need to know what it is, it’s the starting point, the reason you do everything else.

Mission & Vision 

Once you know why you’re doing what you do you need to think about what this means for your clients.

You need to think about your mission, what’s the purpose of what you do, who is it for, what you hope to give people, the world?

And what does that look like?

What’s the vision you have for your business?

Again, without a vision how do you know what you’re aiming for?

Your Ideal Client 

And thinking about WHO, who are you going to help?

You might be thinking that you can help everyone. Or certainly everyone who has the problem you solve. But when you talk to all you talk to no one.

It took me a long time to really believe this, but it’s so true!

When you focus on an ideal client, the person you really want to work with, the person you enjoy working with, the person who you think you can help the most, you gain more business.

I have finally taken the leap and niched (another business term for it) and now focus on helping newly qualified and struggling therapists and practitioners.

Why?

Well not because I can’t help others the principles are mostly the same for any business and I have worked with other businesses of course.

BUT I know more about therapy, coaching and the holistic world in general so why wouldn’t I choose to be comfortable helping the people I know the most.

When you’re newly qualified you of course might not know who you want to work with the most. You can still pick an ideal client and speak directly to them, just leave it a little broader.

And don’t forget this is not all set in stone. You can change your mind, change your why, mission, vision and ideal client. But it’s the basis of everything else you do so it’s good to take your time to really think about this part.

What You Actually Need 

You also need to think about what you actually ‘need’ for your business.

Again, the overwhelm is real for this with so many people telling you that you need this and this and this. The list seems endless. But of course that’s because they want you to buy what they have.

I can tell you that what you actually ‘need’ is not that much and you can do it all yourself (if you want to) with a little education and training so you’re very clear on what you’re doing.

I can tell you now that these 7 things are all you need:

• Legality & professionalism – Check what legally you need and put in place for your business.

• Website – I cannot recommend WIX enough and it’s not just a website; it’s a whole platform that you can use for so much more including emails.

• Social media accounts – you’ve probably already got them but if not you need them.

• Photos – you can create professional-looking photos yourself if you can’t afford a photographer. But you do need some! People buy people and they need to see the face behind the business.

• Marketing materials – whether you work online or not, you need digital & physical branded assets like business cards etc.

• Banners & posts – You need to display on your social media who you are and what you do.

• A bio – this can go on your social media etc but it’s also what you say when someone asks you what you do.

That’s it! That’s the foundations. Once this is strong you can start to build…

Don't hesitate to get in touch if you need some help building your foundations clare@thehiveholistichub.com