Building a successful business requires a mind-set of business owner

Today’s musings on marketing and magic are about moving from “having a practice” to running a business. As coaches, healing professionals, and creative entrepreneurs, we often become self-employed because we love our work and are excited about the transformation that we offer our clients. And, as empaths and highly sensitives, we also have a natural tendency to be introspective, which makes us amazing practitioners. However, building a successful business requires an additional mind-set – that of a business owner. If we don’t develop that mind-set, marketing is typically an after-thought when the practice isn’t financially successful.

What I have found for both myself and with my clients is that making the shift to the role of business owner is a process of increased inner leadership. There are three key components to it:

Commitment to your business and marketing action

The first one is the willingness to commit. We typically don’t go into business to do marketing, and yet, in order to actually build a sustainable business, marketing is a foundational part of it. Being committed is demonstrated by our daily devotion to our business. It means that we show up for it, taking some marketing action, even on those days where it’s really difficult. This can be especially challenging as an empath or highly sensitive, because when we are in a state of overwhelm, showing up like this takes a lot. This is the reason why I believe that self-care as an empath or highly sensitive entrepreneur is non-negotiable.

Inner strength to stay the course

Self-care also supports the second inner leadership trait necessary to claim our practice as a business, which is inner strength. This strength can show up in different ways. It takes a lot of courage to create something truly original despite any self-doubt, expectation of perfection, or judgment by others. This process of service creation oftentimes takes much longer than we initially think it will at the outset. Staying the course despite any set-backs and self-doubts takes strength. And, of course there is the aspect of marketing itself – creating visibility can be extremely uncomfortable for us and requires of us to get step out of our comfort zone in order to grow our business.

Clarity of your vision and your value

The third characteristic of inner leadership needed to turn our practice into a business is clarity. With clarity we are deeply rooted in our “for the sake of what” of building our business. It means that we are connected to our soul’s essence, our soul’s vision, and the stronger we are connected to it, the easier it is to develop a marketing message that resonates with our ideal clients. There’s also another part to this, which is getting clear about the value that we offer; both the value of our services as well as the value that sets us apart from anyone else in our niche, our own personal value. When we are connected to that inner value, we can become comfortable charging for our services what they are worth. I have often found that this is also where we often have to look at our money mindset as part of the process.

Are you still running a practice or have you claimed your business?

Until next time – be magical!