Tom Rauch

Doing the Demographic

Read me first

Have you been to the US Cesnsus Bureau website lately?  Wow.  Talk about a boat-load of data!  I remember using census data about 10-15 years ago in conjunction with mapping software to market analysis for my clients and students.  Fascinating stuff.  Well, for a guy like me who loves turning raw data into (hopefully) useful information.

(If you want to get a really comprehensive view and definition of “demographics,” click here to see what demographic data the US Census Bureau collects.)

Gender: your first cut

When targeting a market, I like to begin here, at the “top level” of a market using the most reliable data I can find (usually census information is very accurate).  So I”ll first think about the age and gender of the people I want to serve.  For me, I like working with both men and women, but most of my clients tend to be women, probably because most of the holistic practitioners who work in private practice are women.  In corporations, when I do leadership coaching, I usually end up working with men (because — for a variety of reasons, not all of them clear or fair — men tend to be over-represented in senior management positions).

Sometimes the market is defacto skewed towards one gender or another which is something to keep in mind because marketing to women is very different than marketing to men.  (Explaining those differences is beyond the scope of this post; I’ll write another post on the subject later).  But — for now — you do need to decide which gender you are MOST comfortable working with on an on-going basis.  If the market you are trying to reach is outside your “gender comfort zone,” don’t fool yourself into thinking you’ll figure it out later.  Be honest.  If working with men in your discipline isn’t all that comfortable, than just say so, and market to women.  Bottom-line: select a market (or market to a segment of a market) to the gender you are most confident working with, based on the results you’ve gotten with them, and where you believe you add the most value.

Age range: your next cut

Age is important too.  Full-time, professional marketers have age ranges that they use to bracket a market.  One of the most lucrative markets right now is men between the ages of 18-34.  Why it cuts off at 34 is a bit of a mystery to me, but I suppose they had to have some upper-bound to make the range meaningful.  Don’t fall into the trap of saying (or believing) you can help “anyone at any age” with a specific health condition or issue. People have different needs at different ages.  They value different things, they have different self-images and goals and expectations for their lives.  They are approaching different significant life transition points; they see their past differently and are looking forward to a different future.

I would also recommend you don’t define the age-range of your target market too broadly (18-34 seems to me too broad for the kind of work holistic practitioners do) or too vaguely (“middle age” or “boomers”).  In fact, I think it makes A LOT of sense for a practitioner building their business to focus more narrowly than broadly.  Here’s why:  think of our target market in terms of their needs and expectations when defining your age range.  Answer this question:  What (not “whose”) needs and expectations have you served best in the past?

Focus on needs and expectations

For example, have you been able to help people who needed lots of information about their condition or issue to help with their healing process?  These people may have also expected you tell them exactly what they need to do throughout the engagement.  Other practitioners may have experienced just the opposite: they have been most successful with clients who don’t need much information, but they do expect to get options so they can make the final choice.

Then ask yourself: where are these needs and expectations most likely to be found? in which age group?  Teens for example are the ones most likely to need a lot of information and told exactly what to do.  People in their middle years (40 – 50) like options.  If you are someone who likes giving lots of instructions and plenty of information, you might want to consider marketing to a younger crowd.

Up next: beyond demographics

Demographics are good for a first cut of your target market, but marketing through demographics alone isn’t good enough.  You have to take those numbers and massage them further, which I’ll show you how to do it my upcoming posts.

The Business Case for Building (and Selling) Information Products

There are six  good reasons for you to build and sell information products.

• First, you can create them with little or no overhead, depending on the complexity of your product of course (more on that later).
• Second, you can distribute them at little or no coast, especially if you sell them over the Internet, where your clients can pay for the product using on-line systems (like PayPal) and download it immediately.
• Third, you can establish yourself as an authority in your field — there’s nothing like having a book, or guide or training program that YOU put together that other people find helpful.
• Fourth, when you put together a product you are most of the time “teaching back” what you know about your discipline to a less-informed audience. This process inevitably forces you to organize your ideas and knowledge in a cogent, coherent and systematic way. I’ve learned a lot about what I know by having to teach it to someone else.
• Fifth, an information product can open doors to additional opportunities for you and your business. If your clients like this product, they will inevitably ask “what’s next” or “how do I do the next step in the process?” which — guess what — can be another information product you create.
• Sixth, good information products are tough to imitate. If you and I sell the exact same product (a DVD made by someone else for example) how are you going to generate more sales than me? By doing a better job marketing, or having better strategic alliances, or more eyeballs landing on your site than on mine. But if I create a unique product that meets the need of a specific market, you are going to have a hard time getting people to switch over to yours.

So, lots of great reasons to create an information product, and obviously lots of people have started to take advantage of the enormous potential profits. But does everyone who creates and sells an information product profitable?

Information products and profitability

Well, no. Creating information products sounds easy, but harder than you think. I know. I’ve been working for months on a product — Client Centered Coaching for Holistic Practitioner — that I thought would take weeks. Wrong.

Wrong. Wrong, and wrong again.

I remember Bill Gates saying before he wrote his first book “The Road Ahead” that writing a book couldn’t be all that hard. And you know Bill — he’s a pretty smart and determined guy, so maybe he was right? How hard could it be? Well, even Bill Gates learned the hard way that writing a book is WAY harder than it looks. A humbling experience for the Richest Man in the World!

Now, you may not be writing a book, just a “simple” product that you want to sell for $19.95 on your website. Maybe its a guide, or a demonstration or a training program to help your clients (or potential clients) do something better, faster and cheaper. A product that adds value beyond its price point in the eyes of your clients — which is why people buy stuff in the first place. Maybe even a product that generates a “buzz” in your target market because happy and highly satisfied clients are raving about your product.

Sound good? It should, because if you get it right, you can make a lot of money have a lot of fun in the process. And learn a lot about your discipline, your target market, and most important (I believe) about yourself because building one of these products takes creativity, persistence, patience and persistence. Did I say persistence twice?

In upcoming posts, I’m going to breakdown the process I used to create my information product to give you insights on how to do it, and know what you are getting yourself into. My product might be more ambitious than the one you are contemplating, but I think anyone who is thinking seriously about creating an information product will learn valuable lessons from my experiences.

Stay Tuned!

Targeting Your Market

You know that “finding a niche and serving it well” is a key ingredient in making your business successful.  Wildly successful.

There are a lot of reasons why targeting a specific segment in a market makes sense:

1.  When you focus, communication is so much easier.  You can use more specific, targeted words, images,and experiences to get your story out.  If you are target middle-aged, over-stressed middle managers who work for mid/small sized technology companies, you can speak their language — directly, specifically, engagingly.

2. Serving a targeted market allows you to develop routines and processes that don’t need to be reinvented for each new client.  If, for example, you create a program that helps busy Mom’s keep track of their diet plan — and that’s the market you are focusing on — you can use that system for each new Mom you take on as a client.  But if you are trying to serve busy Mom’s AND stressed middle managers AND teens with body image issues AND people with easting disorders — well, you’re going to have re-tool your system for each of those clients, because they have very different needs and expectations.

3.  Better to be a big fish in a small pond, especially as a solo practitioner.  By focusing on a target market, you can be one of the top recognized authorities in your field.  You avoid competing with the “superstar” health experts who are doing a great job educating the public about health choices through powerful media channels, but they also tend to drown out other practitioners who lack their marketing muscle.

So a target market helps you get your message out, build efficiencies into your program, and become a recognized authority in your field.

What’s less obvious is how you find a target market in the first place.

Here’s how to get started:

Begin your first cut of  market segmentation deciding if you want to deal with  health issue or condition.  Let me explain the difference.  A “health issue” is something like stress or a lack of energy or a general feeling that health issues have been neglected.  Many times people won’t have a health condition (more on that in a second) but just feel they need to be doing more to live a healthier life.  A health condition on the other hand is very specific: metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, Type II diabetes, fybromyalgia, another autoimmune disease.  This person has been diagnosed (correctly or incorrectly) with a specific condition that you help them heal holistically.

Now, it may be that your client with the “health issue” (general, non-specific) does have a specific health condition (insulin resistance/pre-diabetes) but either they don’t know that, or they are in denial about it.  In other words, they have no accepted that condition as part of their personal identity.  Someone with a condition that has been diagnosed — and they accept that diagnosis — becomes (in varying degrees depending on their personality) part of who they are.

As you can see, deciding between a health issue and a health condition is important.  A client with a health issue is going to need a different approach than one with a health condition.  People with issues tend to need a lot of education before they buy a product or service.  People with conditions, on the other hand, tend to be more focused consumers and are more likely to compare and contrast their choices more systematically.

Both types of practices are extremely rewarding.  But its tough to both when either you are just starting out as practitioner, building your practice, and its just you alone running the business, or both.

Up next: Doing the Demographic!

Are you leading YOUR league?

Professional baseball players who can hit the ball hard and consistently well get paid a lot of money.

You’re a professional, right?  Probably not a ball player, but you do get paid to do something.

What’s your equivalent of hitting the ball hard and consistently well?  Delivering on your sales figures?  Eliminating costs?  Bringing in new business?  Creating new products and services?  For me, as a business coach, its about marketing myself and getting results for my clients.

Am I leading the league?  Definitely not.  There are coaches out there who do way better than me.  But I would someday like to lead the league in my equivalent of hitting.

What does it take to lead the league in hitting, versus being “pretty good”?  I know, it sounds like a lot.

Let’s take a look at Billy Williams who used to play for the Chicago Cubs (and Oakland A’s!).  Billy was inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1987.

Billy also led the league in hitting in 1972, when his average was .333.  The next year, he played about the same number of games (156 in 1973, 150 in 1972 ) and — more important — had about the same number of at-bats (576 in ‘73, 574 in ‘72).

But in 1973, the year after he won the batting title, he hit .288.  Don’t get me wrong, that’s a solid number.  But no one is going to lead any league hitting .288.

So how many hits separated Billy from winning the batting title in ‘72 and doing pretty well in ‘73?

Put away your calculator.  It was 25.  Twenty-five hits.  Over a 153 (on average) game season.  Over 575 (on average) at-bats.  Twenty-five lousy hits.  That’s one extra hit every 6 games. One (1) extra hit every 23 at-bats.

Wow.  When I broke it down into those numbers, I was floored!  I guess I thought to lead the league you had to get at least one extra hit every game.

And that’s exactly my point.  We psyche ourselves out of doing what it takes to be league-leading in our profession because it looks too hard, or it will take too much effort, or the people who do it are specially blessed with super-talent we don’t possess.

Right.  We don’t do what great hitters like Billy Williams do which is stay focused over the long term. Do all the little things that add up over the course of a season.  Instead, we drift.  We get distracted.  We forget the bigger picture.  We don’t stay sharp through training and coaching and learning from other players.

Try this simple exercise:

1.  What’s your equivalent of hitting the ball hard and consistently well?
2.  What’s your current batting average?
3.  What would a “league leading” average look like?

I believe you will find that its doing one or two small things consistently that gets you from a mediocre batting average to leading your league.  Don’t boil the ocean when it comes to figuring out how to take your business to the next level.  Keep it simple to perform like a league-leader.

(You can also find this article at: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tom_Rauch)

Resiliency

What it is we mostly know; “resiliency” is a familiar word.  How we acquire it and maintain it — especially during troubling, uncertain times — is another matter altogether.

Being able to bounce back from life’s adversities is one of the keys to a successful and fulfilled life.  When we can not only get up off the mat after being pummeled by one of life’s body blows, but emerge wiser, stronger, smarter, more caring and empathetic, we experience a tremendous victory.  Perhaps showing resiliency is the closest we’ll ever come in this life to being re-born.

Why are some people resilient and others not?  Some people may be resilient, but inconsistently: they recover from one set back but seem to never shake another.

Researchers are finding some evidence — far from conclusive — that the structure of a certain gene that affects serotonin levels in the brain  (5-HTT) may account for the difference in people’s ability to “bounce back” after a traumatic event. Other researchers argue that (in the case of an abused child), he or she “still needs the ingredients that promote resilience — adults she can trust, the reinforcements that make her believe in herself.”  (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/30/magazine/30abuse.html)

In other words, brain chemistry and genetics may play a role in helping people be and stay resilient.  But without the proper social support, even the people with the strongest predisposition to resiliency may have a very tough time persevering.

So, a couple of things to think about:

1.  if you are in need of some “resiliency training” because you’ve experienced a loss or a set back, reach out for help.  Get around people who you trust and can reinforce in your basic goodness, the things that make you whole and complete and valuable.  This can be particularly hard for men, who are conditioned to believe that they have to “tough it out.”  Drop the story.  Reach out and ask for the help and support you need. You might also try some specific training suggested by Karen Salmansohn who’s written on the subject of resiliency, especially as it relates to career transitions:

If you find that you are stuck in negative thoughts try this. Tell yourself you are only allowed three negativity appointments of three minutes each in a day. Space them a few hours part. So if you felt negative at noon, don’t let yourself feel negative until 3 p.m. Use procrastination on your negative thinking.

(http://shiftingcareers.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/04/training-the-mind-for-resiliency/)

2.  The other side of the coin is helping others become more resilient.  If you know someone in your community who could use a trusted friend to help them bounce back, why not let that person be you?  Don’t ignore the reality of the circumstances that brought them to a place of need.  That situation has to be looked at candidly, objectively, and with a great deal of compassion.  At the same time, help them see all their good qualities too.  Don’t  tell them that they’re great, help them show themselves how great they are.

By lending this kind of support, you will grow too, and be part of the miracle of resiliency that can grow in each and everyone of us, everyday.

Deep Survival

From the book “Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why” by Laurence Gonzales

The principles (I learned about wilderness survival) apply to any stressful, demanding situation, such as getting through a divorce, losing a job, surviving an illness, recovering from an injury, or running a business in a rapidly changing world.

Its easy to imagine that wilderness survival would involve equipment, training and experience.  It turns out, at the moment of truth (when a crisis hits), those might be good things to have but they aren’t decisive.  Those of us who go into the wilderness or seek our thrills in contact with the forces of nature soon learn, in fact, that experience training and modern equipment can betray you.  The maddening thing for someone with a Western scientific turn of mind is that it’s not what’s in your pack that seperates the quick from the dead.  Its not even what’s in your mind.  Corny as it sounds, its what’s in your heart.

Amen.

So you may not be in “deep survival” mode right now, the way Gonzales defines it (being lost in the wilderness, adrift at sea, etc.) but the lessons he learned from his experiences are applicable to the financial meltdown we are all facing today.  People are losing their jobs, their homes, their self-esteem and identity.  Worse yet, the “map of the world” for many people has changed dramatically.  Once familiar and supposedly stable institutions have failed us, and will continue fail as the economic crisis works its way through a broken financial system.

Gonzales does an excellent job describing the shared qualities survivor’s possess:

1) They recognize that their world has changed; even though they might be the world’s best mountain climber, situations can change dramatically and quickly.  Many people who don’t survive — as it turns out — try to make this new world look exactly like the old one.

2) Survivors maintain an open mind, a curiosity about what’s going on outside in the external environment, but also what’s going on inside of themselves.  They don’t panic, but they also don’t take things too casually.  They above all resist the temptation to impose old modes of operation that were successful in the past, but given the new environment will very likely get them killed.

3)  The people who survive being lost rely on these qualities: humility, commitment, empathy, imagination, and total commitment.  He also makes the case — which I know sounds weird — that the struggle to survive can be laced with joy, humor and gratitude.  He has plenty of stories of people who found themselves, at their concentrated core, when they lived through terrific ordeals.  In surviving, they began thriving.

The place you are now may be exceptionally stressful.  It is for a lot of people.  Do you want to come out of this experience the same way you went in?  Or do you want to use this as an opportunity to make you stronger?  More compassionate and empathic?  Less anxious and more calm?

If you do, be prepared to throw out some of your tried-and-true methods for managing your life.  Some mental models will still work, but others won’t.  Relying on out-dated, ineffective models may prolong your stress.  Why not take some time to figure which one’s you should keep and which you should modify or discard?

Step #3 (Program Design) — Going Virtual

The Business Case for Building a Virtual Practice

I have been receiving more and more requests from holistic practitioners about what it would take for them to build a “virtual” practice.  The advantages to having a successful virtual practice are pretty obvious: 1) cost-savings alone; you don’t have to have a fancy office in an easy-to-get to location, since your coaching (by definition) can be done from your home/office or (virtually!) anywhere you have a reliable phone and Internet connection; 2) top-line revenue generation; virtual coaches have a reach that extends way beyond their physical/geographic location; 3) less-wear-and-tear for everyone since there’s no travel involved.

I am not the smartest business guy in the world, but I do know that when you find a solution that could potentially lower costs AND raise revenues, even I know it bears further investigation!

Virtual coaching is no slam-dunk.  Since you lose the advantages that come with face-to-face meetings (reading body language, physically examining your clients) a virtual holistic practitioner has to have (or develop) outstanding listening skills.  Programs must be highly structured — even more so than face-to-face sessions — because clients are more likely to think of a virtual practice as a “package” rather than as a “person.”  Practitioners also have to be confident that they can deliver meaningful results for their clients without the benefit of seeing them eyeball to eyeball.

Why Virtual Coaching Works for Me

I am a convert to virtual coaching.  Before, I used to believe that all “real” coaching HAD to happen face-to-face.  I’ve since learned that GREAT coaching can happen over the phone and through email.  In fact, some of my BEST coaching has happened this way, and here’s why:

1.  Clients show up; they miss far fewer meetings because they don’t have to travel to see me, or me to them.  Sometimes (I think) clients don’t want to meet with me because they just don’t feel like cleaning up their office or home, or meeting me in my office, or — they just don’t feel like dealing with another human being that particular day.  Yet when its a phone-only session, they can be in their sweats or never leave their office.  When it comes to compliance, convenience matters!

2. I can take better notes as I talk with my clients over the phone; I can take notes during face-to-face meetings, but it feels (to me) a bit awkward.  On the phone, I can scribble away madly and keep scribbling after we hang up.  Taking good notes, especially at the beginning of an engagement, is critical to getting to the root cause of a client’s condition or issue.

3.  I can see more clients in a day (or week) when I coach over the phone — which is good for my practice, but also good for my health.  Here’s what I mean: it’s easier for me to “switch off” after a client phone call.  When I see someone face-to-face, their presence lingers and its harder for me to shift gears.  When I can shift gears more easily, I’m more ready and present for my next client, so they get the benefit of my full attention.

4.  Calls end more promptly.  When I’m meeting with clients face-to-face, there’s a temptation to run a bit long.  In phone meetings, I always seem to end right on time, and it feels like a whole, complete and helpful session.

Challenges Encountered

But virtual coaching has some obstacles too: Lots of information can be gleaned from facial expression and body language.  Some holistic practitioners insist that MOST of their understanding about a client and their issues comes from their intuition that relies entirely on their visual reading of their clients.  For others, especially those who do hands-on work, the physical presence of the client is an absolute requirement.

Nevertheless, if not ALL coaching happens over the phone, I would encourage you to see if maybe MORE of it could.  Some holistic practitioners will no doubt set up hybrid programs where the first 1-3 sessions happen face-to-face, the next 5-6 over the phone, then the last 2-3 in person.

Ten Lessons Learned

Here are some lessons I’ve learned about virtual coaching, or coaching at a distance:

1.  I have to be organized; keeping my notes in order and in sequence is critical.  I have to be organized with face-to-face meetings as well, but organization counts even more in my virtual practice.

2.  I have become much more conscious about my listening-without-seeing skills.  One thing I learned is that using “silence” over the phone can be very powerful.  Sometimes I just let a question “sit” out there — which can be uncomfortable, especially since I can’t see that my client is just ruminating, but I’m learning the power of a silent moment.

3.  Using a land line is a good idea.Cell phones, unless they are absolutely necessary are still (for me) too likely to lose their connection.

4.  Eliminating distractions!  Unless I have to be in front of a computer, I’m not.  I like being in an open space so I can pace (when I’m not taking notes).

5.  Be mindful of time-zone changes.  I have missed a couple of calls just because I didn’t do the math right.

6.  Email is your friend.  I use email all the time to follow up with clients.  I also ask them to email me assignments 24 hours before our session so I can review them.  But email should not become an excuse to spam your clients with a whole lot of information that YOU are SURE they will find incredibly helpful.  Especially at the beginning of the engagement, just let them focus on a couple of significant issues and assignments.  Sending them a lot of information — no matter how well intentioned — is just bound to confuse and distract them.

7.  Learn the art of the respectful “interrupt.”  Since clients can’t see you, they don’t know that you might have  a question or that you want to redirect the conversation (which can be done more easily through body language).  On the phone, you need to know when to insert yourself back into the conversation, and what to say when you want to get your client back on point.  This takes time and practice to perfect, but if you are aware that you need to build this skill, you are already half-way there.

8.  Doodle.  I don’t know if you are a doodler, but it helps you focus on the words and tone and inflection you are hearing over the phone.  Look back at your doodles before the next session and you’ll see patterns emerge that will help you get to root cause with your client.

9.  Send a “ping” via email every now and then, just to check-in and say hi.  If your client had a significant event in their life (son/daughter getting married, etc.) send a note asking them how it went.  Or just when your intuition tells you its time for them to get a “ping” from you!

10.  Structure your program — be clear about who you are, who you serve and how you do it. and what they should expect from you (and from themselves) in your program.  Remember, these folks will be at first buying a package since they don’t have a chance to get to know you as a person.  So the package you offer needs to be as clear and as personal and personalized (to them) as possible.

Need help building a virtual practice?  Let’s begin today!

Step #2 (Program Design) — Begin with The End in Mind

(If you haven’t read the first post in this series, I recommend that you click here)

Step #2 (Program Design) — Begin with The End in Mind

One of the seven habits of highly successful people (yes, the book and training program by Steven Covey) is “begin with the end in mind.”

Steven observes that most of us live life “by default” rather than “by design.” When we live by default, we end up following a path that we believe (credo!) is just the way things are supposed to be. How many times have you caught yourself saying “oh, that’s just the way life is”? The problem, he goes on to say, is that we live our lives without knowing our outcomes — what we really want in life.

When we live by design, we visualize outcomes. We can see vividly what it is we want out of life and we align our time, effort, and resources to get there. There may be plenty of zigs and zags and frustrations and obstacles, but we keep going. We’re persistent. The outcome we’re looking for gets closer and closer until one day we realize that what we are looking for has been right beside (or deep inside us) all along.

Beginning with the end in mind — for program design

Beginning with the end in mind applies to your life journey. That much is easy to see. But it also applies to designing a program for your clients.

Let me explain.

If you read the first step (“Step #1: (Program Design) — Credo et Placebo”) you know that YOU have to be clear about your beliefs and what you want yuor client to experience in your program. Because beliefs heal. We infect other people with our belief. Although “faith healing” has many connotations (not all of them positive), most “medical miracles” are attributed to the faith of the healer and the healed.

In this post — Step #2 — its time to get a bit more specific about the outcomes you believe your client will experience at the end of your engagement with them. Most practitioners (myself included) many times create vague and generic outcomes that we HOPE our clients will experience. Outcomes like “take their career to the next level” or “realize amazing energy and health forever” or “strength and fitness that helps them overcome any obstacle.”

Color me cynical, but there is SO much of this verbiage out on the web right now that people — practitioners and clients — have become a bit jaded. It’s almost as if you (the practitioner) HAVE to write those kinds of outcomes just to play the game.

Enough. Here’s my antidote to a formula that’s being used way too often these days: V + G = BS, or Vague + Generic = Bullsh*t.

1. Start with the end in mind — what you believe your client WILL experience by the end of your work with them. Don’t come up with a list. Please. Come up with ONE or TWO outcomes that you KNOW your client will receive at the end of the engagement. Make these outcomes specific (non-vague) and measurable (either by some quantity or by a quality).
2. Be able to explain to yourself (and your client) why these (or this!) outcome matters.
3. When designing your program, work your way backwards. If you know the outcome, what has to happen during the engagement to get them there? What will they need to know? To learn? To experience?

An example to illustrate the process

Here’s an example to illustrate this process:

Let’s sat I want my client (by the end of their work with me) to know how to have a critical conversation with their spouse about their relationship, and I need to build a program around that outcome.

First, I would identify that one (or two) outcomes that I believe my client will experience after working with me.  I could write something V+G = BS that might sound something like:  “Be able to conduct a critical conversation with their spouse about their shared life purpose.”  Huh?  I mean, it sounds right (because we are used to hearing that kind of slogan) but what does it really mean?  Rather, I could write something like: “Be able to clearly identify a specific issue in their relationship that keeps repeating itself and prevents them from deepening their relationship.”  A second outcome could sound like: “Be able to use a communication template that resolves the issue and strengthens the relationship.”

What did you notice about he bolded words in the re-write?  They are clear and specific.  They can be measured (either they identify the issue or they don’t), they will demonstrate facility with using a communications template (or they won’t). Both of these outcomes are directly observable.  “Conducting a critical conversation…about shared life purpose” sounds ok, but is it really observable?  For some people, a “critical conversation” may involve a lot of shouting and blame-storming.  And, at the end of the day, what is a “shared life purpose”?  Better, I think, to find a specific issue that keeps repeating itself (e.g., an inability to talk about health or money or sex).

Second, I would explain that this outcome matters for two reasons, the first being the most obvious:  A significant, specific issue that’s been “haunting” their relationship has been resolved, and their is a renewed (or new) intimacy between the partners because both have felt understood and heard.  The second reason is less obvious but even more significant:  If they can learn how to resolve this issue, then they have developed a process that will help them resolve other issues — more quickly, with less friction, with a deeper understanding.  They don’t have to be afraid of bringing up uncomfortable topics because they know how to talk about them openly and respectfully.

Third, and this gets into the nitty-gritty of program design, I would think about what my client needs to experience to get them to a place where they are now prepared to have a critical conversation with their spouse about a specific issue that keeps repeating itself.  Without getting into too much detail, I would teach them foundational skills around active listening and re-framing a message; I would encourage them to “unpack” the issue by keeping a journal and answering very specific questions.  I would roleplay with them.  I would get the more confident about actually speaking with their spouse by preparing a script and finding the right time and place to have the conversation.  I might have other people who have gone through my program share their stories.  I could have them watch videos of other couples talking about difficult issues (even clips from popular movies) and ask my client to describe what’s going on in that scene.  The list goes.

How structured program design builds your practice

Now, how I sequence that learning and those activities IS my program.  What I choose to start with (my client watching video clips), then what they experience next (reflection and self-awareness building activities), then after that (roleplaying), etc.  IS my structured program design.  This — most important– is the process that gets my clients to the ONE or TWO outcomes I believe they will experience by the end of my program.  And, of course, I really believe they are going to get there — credo et placebo.

Here’s the best part: this process becomes your brand.  Your way of reaching a targeted market that sets you apart from other practitioners.  Not that you are better or superior, but that you have an approach.  A perspective.  A point of view.  A process and program design that conveys your clients from Point A to Point B (did you know that “conveys” is an associated root word of “coach” as in horse-drawn coaches conveyed passengers back in the day?).

How much easier is to talk about your program when its unique and specific?  How much more profitable will you be when you develop a process that is repeatable — no more extra re-work or re-inventing the wheel each and every time you meet with a client?

Final words

Creating a structured program is  foundational building block in creating a profitable, thriving holistic practice.  Follow these steps and you will be on your way to differentiating yourself and creating enormous value for your clients — and, soon thereafter, their family and friends!

If you need a hand with this building block, drop me a line.

What Coaches REALLY do!

Here’s a little assignment to help you understand what coaches REALLY do for their clients:

First, find a piece of paper and a pen.  On the paper, write the phrase “I want to believe that I can” followed by whatever issue or condition YOUR clients are looking to resolve.

So, for example, your sentence might read

“I want to believe that I can lose weight and keep it off for good” or

“I want  believe that I can live a pain free life.”

Remember, this is what your clients say (or think) before they start working with you.

Got it?

Once you do, click here to watch a brief video to see what coaches REALLY do for their clients.

Step #1 (Program Design) — Credo et Placebo

“Credo” translates to: I believe

“Placebo” is from the Latin: I shall please.

Both words have deep religious origins; the Catholic Church uses “credo” as the opening of its Nicene Creed, a summary of the beliefs held by the Church faithful.  “Placebo” is a key phrase in the Church’s prayers for the dead:  Placebo Domino, or “I shall please the Lord.”

Interesting stuff, but what does this have to do with holistic practitioners, and – more to the point – to building well-structured programs?

First, here’s what I mean by a “well-structured” program: it has a beginning, a middle and an ending.  There are transition points between each phase (beginning, middle and ending), and the results our outcomes are predictable.  Moreover, the objections and frustrations that a client experiences as they pass from one phase to the next are also predictable.

Second, belief (or credo) plays an enormous role in defining your program’s structure.  I’ll explain more about that in just a minute.

Third, placebo (or the placebo effect) plays an equally significant part in your program, especially to your client’s healing process in the context of your program.

Confused?  I hope not!  Curious?  I hope so!

How to begin creating a structured program

I think the first step in creating a well-structured program is obvious.  You have been through a class or training program that moved you from “novice” to “competent” through a series of assignments and activities.  At first, you probably needed to be shown lots of examples and given plenty of directions before you “got the hang of it.”  In a well-structured program, the first (or beginning phase) usually has the participants watching and observing, then trying some new things on their own, under the teacher’s supervision.

After the student has acquired a basic competency and built their confidence, its time for them to “take over” – to begin deciding what they want to do, and how they plan on getting there.  Many mistakes will be made.  Frustration will set it.  Yet this the richest time of the class in terms of growth and development because the student is in action.  They are learning from their experiences – what works, what doesn’t, what they can do differently as situations change.  And, the teacher is there to coach them through the inevitable set backs – reminding them that they know what to do, they just have to be persistent and keep going.  Teachers (who are great coaches) have a knack for getting their students in this phase to recognize progress, if outcomes seem like they aren’t coming quickly enough.

In the third and final phase, a student is ready to set a plan for themselves after the class is over.  They need to take all that they’ve learned about the discipline – and themselves – so they can make that learning long-lasting.  With your clients, this is the phase when they are learning how to care for themselves, even after their engagement with you is completed.

Where does “credo” come into this?  Well, to put it simply:  Your program has to include everything you believe in about helping your clients move from novice to intermediate to advanced.  Put another way, from a client who comes to you full of complaints and self-limiting beliefs that drive unhealthy behaviors to a person who can manage and maintain their own self care program

Belief is the foundation

Belief is the foundation of your practice.  If you don’t REALLY believe in what you are doing or only believe because that’s what someone told you or you learned in a training program, your practice is going to continue to be “okay” – never great or exceptional, just “okay.”

The kind of belief that gets your practice from where it is to where it should and could be comes from inside.  The kind of credo that religious and spiritual teachers understood was deeper than textbook learning.  It comes from our experience – the best teacher of all – because we have seen with our own eyes, felt with our own hands, heard with our own ears.

It also comes from our intuition – that deep and abiding well-spring of knowledge that lives within each of us.  A sense that what we are doing is “right” – not in the moralistic sense – but aligned with a deeper purpose and meaning.

Final words

Finally, the belief is reinforced by our training, by research, by conversations we have with colleagues. Not everyone may agree with our beliefs.  That’s fine.  In fact, that’s the way it should be, because by entering into debate and discussion with other knowledgeable, competent and committed professional, learning in our fields of study advances.  Disciplines where there is no debate, only unchallenged dogma and  orthodoxy, is dead — morally, intellectually, spiritually.

Placebo.  I’m no expert on the “placebo effect.”  Researchers like Bruce Lipton, the author of “The Biology of Belief” do a much better job explaining it than I.  This much I do know:  that the placebo effect doesn’t just happen because your client believes that the process or product will help them get better, its because you believe (credo) as well.

The placebo effect is a relationship.  If you believe, your client experiences it.  Its almost as if “belief” is contagious, that we are so hard-wired and predisposed as a specie to be in relationship that we  infect other people with our beliefs.  For pioneers like Dr. Lipton, this contagion is literal: people can and do literally alter each other’s biology through their beliefs.

More research in that area must and will be done.  For now, suffice it to say that your belief (credo) put in service of others (placebo) within the context of a well structured holistic program (novice to intermediate to advanced) holds the key to building a successful practice.

What do you believe?  Where does that belief come from?  How is it reflected in your program’s structure?  How do your clients experience your belief in service to their healing, their health, and their wellness?

If you want to explore these questions with me, to build your practice, contact me!