Start Thinking Like a Business Owner

I want to talk about structuring in a fast track and how to succeed with the programs. I'll get a bit into some of the basics of having your own business and thinking like a business professional, and then ways to be reaching out to others to start spreading the word about your business. So that's what I want to get a bit into now about the basics of being in business for yourself. You are now a business owner. You're an entrepreneur. Whether you do this work full time, part time, whether you counsel corporate clients or groups clients, individual clients or perhaps you want to write a book about health, or even open your own wellness center. Your business, of course, is yours to design. But you have to start out somewhere and take some first steps. So some of you may not be so familiar with building your business. Maybe some of you have never done this before. Others of you, perhaps, have had your own business before, and that's great. Wherever you are, the Fast Track program will definitely support you to being successful. I want you to take a moment right now and commit yourself to 100% being fully in action with Fast Track program. Take a moment now, just take a breath, and let that breath out, and commit yourself to trying this out, be open to what you're about to learn, and knowing that you have our support to make it happen. So again, use this school in whatever way works for you. We have a wide range of people of different backgrounds from different areas of the country and different income levels, different gender, different race. You know, it's obvious, and that's great, because we have such a wonderful and diverse community that shares and grows together. In addition to all the diversity, there's differences in the terms of the amount of time you have available to dedicate to the program. Some of you perhaps are single, unemployed, or lightly employed and you've got a lot of time to devote to this. In the middle there, those of you are fairly busy, but do have some time to put into this, and then there are others of you who are raising families, working, really being commiting to other things in your life, and that's okay. Maybe you only have, you know, part time to devote to this. Wherever you are is okay. Again, don't compare yourself to other people in the program. Find a way to use this school in whatever way works for you. So in terms of setting up your business, I think what's important to consider is just having some organizational things in place. So first of all, this may seem obvious, but it's important just to have a few things in place. For example, a telephone that you use to call potential clients and work with clients. You know, a computer with email. It's important to be up with the times, and with that, it's important to have a professional email address. My email, for example, is [email protected] You know, that kind of thing. I have my own domain name. I use my email address. It sounds professional. So you, for example, instead of having [email protected], perhaps you want to have [email protected] Perhaps it could be [email protected] or [email protected] It's important to start having a little organizational office structure. For example, having some pen and paper, having a printer for your computer, having some filing folders in a filing cabinet. What I've found is very helpful in structuring my business was to be organized. I have files for my marketing, I have files for each of my individual clients, I have a file with notes and separate pages for all of my prospects in terms of potential clients. We will be giving you different organizational forms you'll be able to use in terms of client tracking and budgeting, checking your marketing projects, so for now, think about setting up your organizational structure. A first step could be going out and buying some file folders and marking those with separate categories. For example, marketing, contacts, clients, forms from school. Just having things organized so your brain begins to create more structure, and of course having a solid structure when you start helps you be more successful later. Something else that's very important is to start organizing your email addresses and all of your contacts. For example, when I first started in class, what I did was I found all those business cards I had lying around. I took all of the people's names on my computer, all of my emails addresses, and I put those into an organized Excel spreadsheet on my computer, because what I did later was I sent an email to all of my contacts letting them know what I was up to. And the most important part about building your business is building your relationships and building your contacts and putting the word out there, so I encourage you as a follow-up from this call to organize all of your email addresses and all of your contacts. You could use an Excel spreadsheet, you could have it organized very simply, like first name, last name, phone number, email address, and how you know the person. Very simple to do. You could also track it on paper, but I do encourage you to do it on your computer, because that way you'll be able to use those email addresses in terms of your newsletter later on in the year and in terms of your emails for reaching out. So create a contact list of all of your potential contacts on your computer. And again, start to structure your time. Figure out which days or which day of the week you can devote to building your business, organizing your practice, and doing your marketing. It could be that you have an hour to spare on Thursday evenings from 6 to 7, so put that in your planner consistently every Thursday 6 to 7 business building. Every Saturday, 10 to 11, do practice Health History with classmate. Start putting time in your calendar, stick with it, and commit to it. Something else I'd like to encourage you to do in terms of your organizational structure is start keeping your receipts, because now that you're starting your own business, things that you do for your business—like supplies and paper and supplies for clients and file folders and printers— whatever it is you may buy for your business, those things will be available to you as a tax deduction that you'll be able to do with your accountant later on in the year. So have one file folder in your cabinet which says Accounting and put all your receipts that are related to your business in that file. Now again, I don't say that you need to go out right now and buy a brand new printer or go buy an expensive computer. If you have things that work well, go ahead and stick with those. It's important to make sure that you have a system in place for being organized. Next thing I'd like for you to consider is to start cultivating your business mind. Start to think like a business professional. When you're out there and about talking to people, be professional and concise in your conversations, be courteous. When you send out your emails in terms of letting everyone know what you're up to, be sure to use a professional yet friendly conversational tone. Again, realize that being in business for yourself is being professional. You know, having your organization structure in tact. Having a professional email address. Really thinking like a business person. What I often do is I ask myself when I'm writing an email or when I'm planning my marketing efforts, or perhaps when I'm out at a networking event meeting people and shaking hands, I try to be certainly always myself. It's important to be yourself, but I also try to be professional and courteous. I certainly want to be respectful and try to think about how I can handle myself in a consistently professional yet friendly and welcoming manner. So start to think about how you can shift your mind towards realizing you are a business owner, and how can I start being that way in terms of when I reach out to my friends and contacts and potential clients. I realize that trying out being in business is simply that. Trying it out. You don't have to be perfect. But you have to realize that you are and you will continue to take steps to financially independent and be in charge of your time and be in charge of your business while making a huge difference in the world. So now I want to talk a bit about reaching out to people, because as I mentioned, relationships make a difference. It's important to realize that people you meet can become contacts for you and potential clients. So that's what I want you to start thinking about. Collecting those contacts as I mentioned and start being in touch, because again, it's your acquaintances, your friends, your coworkers, your friend from the yoga class, the woman in your woman's book club, your buddy at the gym that you work out with, perhaps even someone you keep running into at the dry cleaner. Whatever it may be, realize those relationships will make a difference, because you never know what someone can do for you in terms of how you can help each other and connect later, and/or you don't know who people know. For example, you might meet someone at the gym who's a chiropractor who actually has many, many patients who would love to learn about your work. So the first step in that is to try not to be too shy and find a way that's comfortable to you while still perhaps getting a little out of your comfort zone to start reaching out to people. So how could you do that? Well, you could actually pick up the phone and call some of your friends and contacts. Check in, see how they're doing, what's new and good, and tell them with excitement about what you're up to in terms of learning to be a certified health counselor and building your own practice. For those of you who are perhaps a little more introverted, your first step could be sending out an email to all of your contacts— telling them what you're up to and telling them how excited you are to begin your training as a health counselor. So you look in the Fast Track workbook and you'll find an example of an email that you can send out to all of your contacts. You can also start reaching out in person. You know, going up to your friends at the Pilates class or going up to someone in Whole Foods that you keep running into and just saying, "Hey, how are you? How are you doing? What's new with your family? Guess what I'm up to?" So talk with people and start getting their business cards and saying, "Can I keep in touch with you? I'll be sending out a newsletter later this year and I'd love to include you on my list. It will have a lot of healthy tips on feeding your family, etc." So start reaching out, collecting your contacts, sharing with excitement what you're up to, being genuinely interested in what others are up to, and letting people know that you want to stay in touch. So I'd like you to actually take out your pen and paper now if you haven't already done so, and make a list of two things you can do in terms of staying in touch. Will you look in the Fast Track workbook and use that email to send out to your contacts, or will your first step be to call up an acquaintance and check in and see how they're doing? Or will your first step be to go out and about in your community and start shaking some hands and meeting and greeting people? What are one or two things that you can do to start reaching out? Please write that down now. All right, so some of you are wondering. You want to reach out in person or on the phone. What is it that you can say to people to know what they're up to and for them to know what you're up to? And a lot of times we feel sometimes a little intimidated first reaching out. We have fears of speaking and connecting, so I want you to think about first of all, this is not a scary process. There are no mistakes, people aren't going to be judging you. In fact, they'll be really excited to talk and connect. I find that a lot of people actually are so busy with their jobs and their familes and all the other commitments, that they don't get to do a lot of connecting with others. So for you to say hello to someone at the gym or the class that you go to at your meditation group, they'll be excited to make a connection and you'll be excited to reach out and start practicing and building the muscles of reaching out to others. So what are some things you can say? Well first of all, you always want to be sure to ask people what they're up to, what's new and good. People love talking about themselves, and when they talk about themselves, they will feel that you're genuinely interested in connecting with them and they'll see you as a valuable source of information. So ask people, "What are you up to? What's new and good with you?" Then they're of course going to ask you what you're up to. So again, first of all, speak with excitement about what you're doing. You started on a really exciting journey this year. So first of all, what you can say is, "I'm really excited to tell you," and please write this down, "I'm very excited to tell you I'm enrolled at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition." Now again, my words may not be your exact words, but something along this line is always very helpful. You can also say, "Well, I"m learning how food and lifestyle affect our health, happiness, and overall well-being. I'm learning how food and lifestyle affect our health, happiness, and overall well-being." You can also mention that you'll be working with clients. So for example, "I'm being trained as a health counselor and will soon be working with clients to support them to improve their health and reach their goals." Now again, I encourage you to adapt this to your own particular style. What you'll find is when you're having conversations with people and talking about what you're up to, the conversation will evolve. So you might get into the things that you're learning about. You're learning about how to have more energy by eating better foods, about how to have healthier families, how to make a difference in your community, how to help people with particular health concerns like losing weight, reducing stress, better sleep— all those kinds of things, and keep in mind when you talk about the benefits of what you're learning, people will be interested in hearing more. And when you're out and about talking with people, it's important to let them know you're wanting to stay in touch. You'd like to certainly keep them informed of what you're up to, as well as hear how things are going in their lives, and you can remind them that you'll be having a newsletter coming out in a couple of months, where you'll be sending out helpful and healthy, informative topics each month on how to be happier and healthier. And again, just let them know you're going to have a newsletter that's free, it'll be coming out later this year. You'd love to include them on the email newsletter list and share tips with them on how to live a happier and healthier life. That's one really simple thing to do, you know. "Could I get your card? I'm actually going to be sending out a newsletter later this year, it'll have some great tips on healthier living and healthier eating. I'd love to include you on that list. Can I have your card?" It's as simple as that. And for those of you who feel a little intimidated with the reaching out in person part, again, do it step-by-step. Perhaps for you, for now, as I mentioned, you can just simply send out an email and talk with excitement in that email about what you're doing in terms of your training at Integrative Nutrition. So everyone take a deep breath let that go, and just think for a moment about what process you've begun here. You're learning how to reach out, how to be in touch, and realize what this will be like in terms of when you start seeing clients. Think about how great it will feel to know that you're making a difference in your own life, in the lives of your friends and family, in the lives of people that you maybe don't know too well, or people that you haven't even met yet at all. You will be making a difference, so please think with excitement and speak with excitement around your intentions for this work. And again, it's important to start reaching out in terms of potentially finding clients. It's important to really stick with this and don't miss the boat, and really just create a life and business that is something that perhaps you hadn't have dreamed possible before.