There's a place in time in your wellness biz when waiting is absolutely appropriate.
1) When you need to get more information before you make a decision.
2) You need a few days (not weeks or months!) to let yourself process some feelings about a decision instead of making an impulse choice (great if you have a habit of not thinking and feeling through your decisions)
Waiting is the number one way I see wellness pros sabotage their success. Be it waiting on someone else, waiting for their fears to go away, waiting for the perfect sign from the universe, waiting until they look the part, waiting until they feel certain and more.
I'm not talking about forcing outcomes and pushing hard to make things happen. I'm referring to using your creative skills and talents to consciously create the solutions you want. And solutions do not reside in the energy of waiting on something outside of yourself to do things for you.
A local business in my neighborhood, a fantastic fitness center, recently closed it's doors for good. The note on the door said "The bank won't lend us any more money. Let us know if you have any ideas."
Read between the lines and you get a sense of someone waiting on external factors, in this case the bank, to solve their business challenges. And not having enough income (clients, customers) coming in isn't a bank issue, it's a marketing issue. This note also highlights that waiting to ask your customers what they think until you're about to go out of business is way too late.
Waiting will make you go out of business.
So when does waiting make your wellness biz go broke?
Here are a few situations that are common to wellness pros to consider...
- when you are waiting on staff to get things done for you
If you're making excuses for your assistant it's time to seriously consider upgrading your support team.
It's a horrible feeling to be paying somone to do something for you and ultimately, take ownership of some aspect of your business, and you can't quite entrust the task to them when you know they aren't getting it done right. So you end up in this viscious cycle of having to jump in there and take over the task, fueling your belief that no one can do anything but yourself.
It's something I've done many times and it was costly - both in my finances, in my energy and my business profitability and growth. And truthfully, it was a way for me to hide out from my next step in my business. I kept hiring assistant who just didn't do a good job and I kept putting up with it. Not good.
No more! I can not tell you what a relief it is to have an assistant who is whip smart and on top of everything I give her. It allows me to relax, feel truly supported and divert new energy to serving more clients or creating new products.
Certain qualities, in my opinion, are not trainable and you need to find them in people BEFORE you hire them. Things like thinking ahead, anticiapting your challenges, good work ethic, reliability, having no drama in their life, a sense of being of service to you and your clients and doing an excellent job.
- when you find yourself waiting, and waiting, on your website design team
If your website designer dissappears early on in the project or seems to have a recurring drama in their life that takes them offline for days/weeks, it's worth it to change your design team FAST and start over with someone else. Yes, read that again. It's worth it to start over with someone else!
It's not unsual for a client to be waiting on their website for months when they make the wrong design team choice.
You need someone who takes their their projects seriously, runs it like a business (not a side business - don't hire friends in this regard!). Be willing to pay more for this.
- when you wait until you feel you know enough
The greater truth is, you never feel like you know enough. There's always more to learn. It's part of being someone who loves learning new things. But staying in learning mode without application and implementation is nothing else but a delay tactic and where many wellness pros hide out through endless certifications and trainings.
- when you put off making decisions
It's not the decision making process that is painful, it's staying in the in indecision that feels really uncomfortable. Better to make a decision, make a mistake and learn from it (I'll admit, I've made my fair share!!) than to avoid this essential skill to becoming successful.
- when you find yourself waiting until you "feel ready" for the next step
If you wait until you feel ready to give a presentation or whatever your next step is, it will take you a year or more to get there. One of the secrets of success in private practice is the willingness to be able to be with your fear and uncertainty and to not let it stop you.
For example, in regards to presentations, all my clients book seminars, with a general idea of what they'll cover, but get to work on the curriculum AFTER the presentation is scheduled and people are signing up. It definitely feels edgy, but the other way around doesn't seem to work.
Confidence comes through experience, not through mental preparation alone.
- when someone tells you can't have what you want
There's always a way to get what you want. You are only limited by your imagination.
- waiting on someone who can't or won't serve you right now
Sometimes, people just don't want your business. It's not personal, maybe they are making a change in their focus, have a full practice, are extremely busy, etc...
The flip side of that is that really good experts are usually busy, hard to get to and will make you jump through a few hoops before they consider working with you.
If you get a sense, in your early conversation with someone that you want to work with in some capacity, that they will not be able to serve you in the way that you want, then move on. There's lots of fish in the pond.
- when someone is working on some aspect of your business and you want to wait until they are done before you move forward
You don't need marketing materials, websites, business cards or anything to go get your next client. Yes all of that makes it easier, but truthfully, you can make progress right now.
Here's to letting go of the habit of waiting and to embracing a new, more supportive habit of using your creative thinking to actively leading your wellness biz to the results you want.
To your continous success,
Karin
Tired of waiting on something to happen in your wellness biz? Let me work my magic on your practice in my new Brand and Launch Your Wellness Biz RIGHT program beginning June 3rd, 2010. Only 3 spots left. Get the details here: http://wellpronet.org/branding
About the Author and WellProNet.org: 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 http://wellpronet.org 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.
