Speaking Wisdom for Soothing Nerves and Attracting Clients

Hands down, giving presentations to your chosen niche market is the FASTEST way to attract new clients - be in the form of tele-classes or in-person. There are other good ways to attract clients -- networking, article writing, video marketing, social networking and more  - but they take much longer to attract clients and frankly, nothing comes close to someone experiencing you LIVE  in a seminar to inspire someone to work with you privately. With each presentation, the key thing to remember is to plan to include a compelling offer (like a limited time free or low/cost breakthrough session with you) and can except 5% -20%  of the group to say YES (if done right) and the remaining 80% or so to join your emailing list (so you can begin connecting and marketing). 

Most wellness pros offer tons and tons of info in their talks and then wonder why no one asks to work with them. (I did this myself when I was a nutrition coach.) First, if you over teach and jam pack your talks with tons of tips, you'll turn people off by overwhelming them. And second, it's up to you to present your compelling offer effectively (HINT - Don't wait until the end!). Don't make people figure out what the next step is.

Typically, if you're just starting out, most wellness pros will give presentations where anyone will have them.

Yoga studios, gyms, doctor's offices, etc...

In one sense that's good. As it can be good practice.

However, your presentations become much more effective if you're standing in front of a new group of people that you KNOW are perfect for you. That is, they meet the four keys to a profitable wellness market. IE - if you specialize in working with entrepreneurs/business owners, then you would look for business owner groups online and take out your local business journal and find meetings and conferences and offer your presentations there. Or if you specialize in working women over 40, then you would find their networking groups, conferences, favorite hang outs and go there to speak.

And if you've never presented before, start off by doing 10 presentations for free.

However, beyond learning the right way to present your topic and make your offer, do you know what is the most commonly asked question I receive? 

"Do you get nervous?"

Well of course I do!

In fact this weekend, I'm speaking at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition at Lincoln Center in New York City. If I allow my mind to wander about getting on the big stage and presenting to nearly 1500 - 2000 people, then I want to hide under my desk.

Here is what I do to soothe my nerves...

Step 1: Know Your Topic

I could do this presentation in my sleep because I know the topic so well. It gives me comfort to know my stuff and helps a lot with the nerves. I energetically "lean into" what I know for sure versus all the "what if's" my mind can drum up.

Step 2: It's Not About Your Ego

As I prepare the presentation, I remind myself that people aren't necessarily there to see ME. They are there to learn and receive great information. And then I think about how I wish I knew this information when I first started out in private practice and this gives me courage to stand up, share what I know and not vomit.

Step 3: Be the Messenger

And finally, because I'm not a slick and smooth presenter (and few of us are!), I think about seeing myself as a messenger instead of trying to be a perfect speaker. What's most important, in my mind, is to get the information across in a memorable way and make a difference. And that means I don't have to be perfect and can focus on speaking from the heart.

Consider these steps before your next presentation to help soothe your nerves and remember, that while few us were born to be performers and have a craving forbeing on center stage (Those of you with a theatre background are lucky to have this calling!), speaking is such a powerful, effective way to reach your tribe of clients and attract new business that's it's well worth dealing with the nerves.

To your success,

Karin

Like what you just read? Then don't miss an issue of the latest wellness marketing trends and tips from the front lines of private practice. Just enter your name and email at the top right of this page:  http://wellpronet.org

Next WellProNet Member Tele-Training is March 11th: What to Say to Decision Makers to Land Paid Speaking Engagements

About the Author: Karin Witzig Rozell has been teaching health and wellness professionals how to grow their business since 2003. She started as a nutrition counselor who knew a lot about nutrition, but not a whole lot about business and marketing. After learning some tough lessons she cracked the code and now her passion is transforming practitioners into profitable business owners using the power of authentic marketing strategies. In 2009, she expanded her private practice and launched The Wellness Professional Network as the go-to place for practitioners to learn about making more money doing what they love.  Karin lives in Upstate New York and works from home with her husband who also runs a successful coaching business.

3-minute Video Lesson on Leadership and Success

I stumbled upon this video by Derek Sivers via Christian Mickelson's blog and found that it perfectly highlights the principles of summoning the courage to get out in the world, share your message, face your fears and ultimately, create a movement fueled by your passion for wellness. This came on the heels of finishing the popular leadership book, "Walk the Walk" by Alan Deutschman, which was really good. And yet, I found this fun video covered the key points of the book.in about 3 minutes. So you could read the book, or watch this quick video to see what it takes to takes to go from idea to movement. (Or you could do both!)

To your success,

Karin

Free Call: Is Success in Biz AND love possible? Feb 11

It totally is. 

And I'm living proof of it.

This Thursday, Feb 11th at 8pm Eastern Time, I'll be interviewed by Relationship Expert Michelle Conboy of Relationship Cafe.net on what I learned in love as a self-employed woman.

The reason I agreed to share pretty candidly about this topic is that it's something that comes up A LOT for my clients in private practice, and it's something I've struggled with in the past.

For me, I used to think that if I was successful, I'd be alone.

And so I would unconsciously self-sabotage my biz efforts to ensure I kept my relationship happy.

Or at other times, I would make everyone in my life play second fiddle to my real true love - my work!

Either way - the results weren't great.

If you ever wondered how you can balance love and achieving professional success, I think you'll find this interview pretty darn inspiring and rich in practical insights.

I'll be sharing what I learned, what I'm still working on, and how you can really have it all - a great love life and do meaningful work that makes you a great living.

Here's the link to join this free call:

http://tinyurl.com/successinloveandwork

To your success,

Karin

New Expert Interview: Do What You Love Without Burning Out

New Expert Interview is released to members today! WellProNet's Guest Expert is Dan Clements of AlternativeHealthPractice.com and author of Escape 101: Sabbaticals Made Easy

Interview Topic: Do What You Love without Burning Out

Meet husband and wife team Dan Clements and Tara Gignac, ND.

Together, they own and operate StoneTree Clinic, a successful naturopathic clinic in Ontario, and they are the authors of the sabbatical how-to guide Escape 101, which has appeared in such places as The Wall Street Journal, Success Magazine, and The Miami Herald, and been endorsed by best-selling authors like Timothy Ferriss (The 4-Hour Workweek).

Dan writes about health, private practice and lifestyle design in his blog called AlternativeHealthPractice.com.

I stumbled upon Dan's blog and found it rich in practical, valuable insights into being successful as a healer while still having a life.

I immediately bought his book and I'm absolutely loved it! It's superbly written, easy to digest and very inspiring.

More than that, he outlines how to take sabbaticals from your business without losing your money (or your peace of mind!).

Something I'm planning to do!

After all, what's the point of having a business for yourself if it doesn't allow you to live your life the way you want?

Yet so many wellness pros believe to be successful they have to give up quality of life and their values. Not true. And Dan and Tara are a beautiful, inspiring case study to learn from.

You're going to love this members-only interview!

To listen to this members-only interview, become a member of WellProNet today.

Here's the link to join WellProNet today and receive immediate access to this interview, as well as all the other benefits of membership: http://wellpronet.org/benefits

To your success,

Karin

Being the Best or Being Successful?

Do you have to choose between being the best at what you do or being successful? I don't think so.

Yet does being the best at what you do mean you'll be successful?

No it doesn't.

Mega-author James Patterson understands this very well.

He outsells other critically acclaimed, best-selling authors like Stephen King, Dan Brown and John Grisham . "According to Nielson BookScan, Grisham's, King's and Brown's combined U.S. sales in recent years still don't match Patterson's."

Why is that? Is he the best writer out there?

No, it's not that he's a better writer. In fact Stephen King pokes fun of him along with many other more literary focused writers. His critics highlight his simple sentence structures and heavy on the action story-telling as some kind of fault. And yet Mr. Patterson knows he's not the best prose writer.

So why is he the most successful fiction writer in his genre?

Here's what he did:

He identified a group of people that were not being served with traditional literary-styled books: those who were never big readers because they found it intimidating, elitest and hard to get through. And so he wrote engaging stories that made reading fun, captivating and real page turners (ie - short chapters). And then he set up business and marketing systems to be consistent at repeating his successes.

This strategy only came about after trying to do what every other author attempts: Write the great American novel that would win awards, prestige and recognition. He wanted to write books that mirrored his own high-brow tastes for literature, such as "To Kill a Mockingbird." The problem was, he said, "I always knew I could write a reasonable literary novel, but not a great one."

Over time, he started reading more commercially acclaimed book to see what all the fuss was about. Books like "The Day of the Jackal" and "The Exorcist." And that's when it hit him: "I can do this. I understand this. And I like it." And he started writing evenings and weekends after his day job at an ad agency. The rest is history, including a few ups and downs, until he figured out his "formula" for success, joy and realizing his passion for getting people to become readers.

His formula for success can be adapted to any industry - be it wellness, selling gadgets or publishing books.

Find a group of people who want something and is willing to pay for it, make a good solution for them (read: doesn't have to be the best), stay in touch with them and let them know you're listening, pay attention to their needs and wants and keep serving this group with more good solutions that replicate what's already worked.

What most wellness pros do is have an idea and try to sell that idea to everyone. (Oh boy! I've made that mistake myself!)

And most wellness pros are trying so hard to be their best, that they find themselves in constant "waiting" mode. Waiting to know enough, waiting to finish the next credential, waiting until they worked with 100 or 1000 clients before they write a book, waiting until their website is 'perfect' and so on.

How many times have I been out with a  wellness pro friend and they pointed to a popular health or nutrition book in the bookstore and said "I could do that." But they don't. They're still trying to write the "War and Peace" of nutrition.

You as a wellness pro must take your already good ideas (please read that again: your ideas are already good enough), find a group of people that want what you have to offer and package your good ideas and services in a way that they would inspire them to say YES. That may take reworking titles and putting a different "book cover" or "spin" on your ideas so that it appeals to people outside of the wellness field. That's okay. Be flexible. You're not trying to write "War and Peace." You're just trying to share your good ideas.

The point is: Good ideas are good enough.

Forget about critical acclaim or winning admiration in the eyes of your colleagues. I know plenty of wellness pros who are seen as  successful and really up to something and they're actually struggling to pay the rent and are seriously overworked.

What's more important is acclaim and recognition from the tribe that you serve. They are the ones that are hiring you, showing up for your presentations and buying your info products. They are the ones that count. Literally.

So consider borrowing a few ideas from James Patterson who chose to laser focus on realizing his greatest passion: getting people to become readers. Yes, continue to invest some of your time studying your modality to become better at what you do. But make no mistake, that is not what's going to get people healthier. (And very often, because you're always learning new things in your modality, it makes you feel like there is so much to learn and perpetually locks you into the "newbie" state of mind, fueling the fears of not knowing enough).

Instead, consider that mastering the formulas that create success is what builds the bridge between you and your tribe.  And this "bridge" is the key make a great living while making a difference.   

To your success,

Karin

Want to learn how to do build the bridge to your clients? Check out my NEW Fast Start to Clients Program beginning January 27th. It's a simple, easy-to-understand 8 week program to jumpstart your practice success FAST. Get the details here: http://wellpronet.org/faststartguide

Wellness Pro Tip: The Fear of "Not Knowing Enough"

Have you ever felt that you didn't know enough? I know I did for the first few years in my practice.

And so this is what would happen:

- I would spend most of my free time pursuing additional credentials and reading tons and tons of books about my modality (which was nutrition at the time)

I collected and read hundreds of health and nutrition books. In fact, in my office I have a large bookcase full of all the information I learned. Yet to my surprise, I found learning more about nutrition didn't help me grow my business.

- For example, whenever someone expressed interest in my services, be it at a networking meeting or a cocktail party,  I would feel SO EXCITED and attempt to prove to them that I actually did know a lot and would spend time answering all of their questions about nutrition.

I really thought this meant they were interested in my services and that at any moment, they would ask to book an appointment or ask for my business card.

We would talk for an extended period of time, and very often, I felt I was in convincing mode or making the case for the importance of nutrition.

Sometimes, I felt the person was just wanting me to hear THEIR opinion about nutrition and enjoy the opportunity of debating with a nutrition pro.

Other times, it seemed it was pretty clear that that person needed my help and they would asked me about how I worked, but they NEVER became a client.

So what was the problem?

It wasn't that I didn't have enough passion.

It wasn't that I wasn't putting myself out there.

I simply wasn't responding to these inquiries IN THE RIGHT WAY.

Since this recurring situation touched one of my big insecurities about my practice, I kept attracting this situation over and over and over again.

It didn't change until I realized that:

1)  answering everyone's questions wasn't turning people into clients

 2) studying more and more about my modality wasn't helping me attract clients  either and

3) falling prey to this situation was endlessly frustrating and demoralizing.  

False Premise Every Wellness Pro NEEDS TO KNOW:

Learning more and more and more about your modality DOES NOT help you attract clients.

Answering people's endless questions about what you know DOES NOT help you attract clients.

What DOES help you attract clients is learning to respond to opportunities IN THE RIGHT WAY.

And that's within the domain of marketing, not within your modality training.  Unfortunately, wellness pros aren't taught how to do this as part of their training.

Things finally changed for me when I decided to funnel some of that "continuing education" energy and invested into studying what makes people successful in very small businesses like my own practice.

And what I realized, and what few wellness pros know is this: Marketing is the bridge between you and your clients. NOT more training in your modality.

There is a BIG WIDE GAP between where you are and where your clients are and it's up to you to bridge that gap.

Solution: Next week, beginning on Wednesday, January 27th, I will teach you exactly how to respond to inquiries in your services IN THE RIGHT WAY, in my Fast Start to Clients Program. I call this learning how to design "breakthrough offers" that inspires people to book appointments with you. It's one of the secrets to success.

You'll learn what to say, what NOT to say, how to stop feeling like you're convincing people to care about your modality and how to make "works every time"  offers that puts an end to the fear of not knowing enough and the demoralizing drama of giving, giving, giving without getting clients in return.

To find out if this program is for you, visit http://wellpronet.org/faststartguide

To your success,

Karin Witzig Rozell

Founder, The Wellness Professional Network

New Video: Are you part of the 20%?

Visit http://WellProNet.org/FastStartGuide to find out how you can become part of the 20%.

Here's to your success,

Karin Witzig Rozell

Founder, The Wellness Professional Network

Wellness Pro Success Secret #1 - Charge by Value, Not by Hour

Here’s a transformational idea for your private practice that few wellness pros know about. Charge by the value of your services instead of charging by the hour.

Why does this change absolutely EVERYTHING?

Because in order for you to do this, you must first really get what your services are worth in the eyes of your clients.

Most wellness pros understand the value of their services because they understand what it means TO THEM.

That’s why they became a practitioner. They get it.

So their communication style is based on what they understand to be true and impactful.

But that’s not what works.

What works is to marry your service to a message that matters TO YOUR CLIENTS.

And you can only do that when you understand the impact of your service in your clients’ eyes and communicate about that at all times.

When you know how valueable your services are in your clients' lives, it also raises the roof on your confidence and gives you courage to get out there and share the information you have.

How do you figure out what really matters to your clients? How do you figure out what actually has them pull out their credit card and say YES to themselves, to a better life and to your services?

That’s success secret #2.

If you would like to learn more charging by value instead of by the hour, I’ll be going over it in detail this Friday, Jan 8^th at Noon eastern on my free tele-class on "The 8 Money and Marketing Secrets to Jumpstart Your Private Practice Success in 2010."

Get the call recording here.

Karin

How to Make Biz Growing Decisions (And stop the self-doubt!) - Jan 14, 2010

 Successful people are decisive.

The good news: You can learn this skill.

One of the biggest barriers to creating forward momentum I see with wellness pros is churning, churning, churning over decisions.

This wastes SO much energy, creates getting stuck in a rut and leads to taking forever to finish projects.

To make decisions that grow your business you have to learn how to STOP mulling over and stressing over every decision and how to know what's best for you and your biz quickly. 

In this class I'll teach you my secret works-every-time technique for making decisions that are profitable for your biz and authentic to who you are and how you choose to lead your life. 

This strategy works to honor both your "gut sense" and your mind. You'll love it. 

Won’t you join us?

This 75 minute tele-training is free for members of The Wellness Professional Network.

When? Thursday, Jan 14th, 2010 Noon Eastern

Can’t make it? No problem. I record and transcribe each tele-training. Members can access them as often as they want.

So don’t miss out! It’s super affordable and absolutely necessary for you to learn these types of skills to make your private practice fly. (And take it into the 21st century!).

Click here (http://wellpronet.org/whyjoin) to find out if this one-of-a-kind network of progressive wellness pros is where you want to be. 

To join this call you need to become a member (http://wellpronet.org/benefits). And I would love to have you join us. 

You’re going to love learning about marketing and making more money as an authentic wellness pro.

Hope to see you there!

Karin Witzig Rozell

Founder, The Wellness Professional Network

Does Making a Difference = Giving Away Your Services?

Many health and wellness professionals struggle charging for their services because their services are about making a difference. It's not your fault, chances are, this message was a subsconsious part of your training and possibly a shared limiting belief among colleagues.

Here are few other ways to look at this:

- If you want to be making a difference in any dedicated way, you need to be paid well for your services.

- Your services are not only about making a difference, they are responsible for paying your bills, your mortgage, and funding your ability to live your mission.

- Without your ability to make money, you can not be well taken care of and therefore you can't really live your mission.

- If you're a good person, who wants to run a business the right way and contribute positively with what you do, you must be able to make money. Otherwise you'll be out of business.

- Your services and products are your intellectual property and you deserved to be paid well just like anyone else.

- Money only enhances who you are. If you're a jerk, you'll become an even bigger jerk. If you're good person, you'll use that money well to care for yourself, your family and fund your mission.

So consider this: Making a diffference does NOT mean you have to be poor. In the field of healing arts, making money is actually a sign that you're making a difference.

To your continued success,

Karin

Ready to learn the business side of health and wellness private practice? Join the Wellness Professional Network: http://WellProNet.org/benefits