What if business skills don’t come ‘naturally’…

You ever hear someone say “just give a good massage and you’ll get clients” or “I did just fine without a business plan” or “you don’t really need to market…just follow your gut.”

Those kind of things can honestly be pretty frustrating to hear, especially if you’re a therapist who has struggled with building a clientele. And it can give a lot of false hope to those starting out who think building a business and getting a full schedule is going to be some super easy thing. Because here’s the thing, those people aren’t necessarily lying to you…their experience is their experience, but it isn’t the whole truth either.

Take a second and think back to math classes back in school. Don’t jump ship yet, we’re not doing math today, but those classes are a good analogy for what’s going on here. You see, I was always good at math…excelled at it. I did logic problems and math worksheets for fun. Always been a nerd…always going to be one. One of my biggest frustrations in math classes throughout all of my schooling, was when they demanded I showed my work. I hated that part. You know why? Because it made me stop and break down every single step of what was going on in my head…a lot of which I didn’t even realize I was doing in my head until I was made to break it down – often times in a different way than they wanted, which is a whole nother issue, but the point is….I was doing a lot of those steps in my head and didn’t even realize it. It came naturally to me. Whereas I had a lot of friends and classmates who it did not at all come naturally to, so they needed someone to explain it step by step, and make them work it step-by-step, and walk them through it over and over again to figure out all those pieces, and how it all fit together.

And business ownership is so much like that. Some people seem to be naturals at it. They have great communication and critical thinking skills. They can analyze a situation and come to a conclusion without some long-drawn-out detailed thought process. They see openings in the marketplace and jump at opportunities. And it’s so easy to think they were just born with all those skills and that’s how it’s “supposed” to be. But no. They have experiences, professional and personal, that shape how they think and process certain situations and business concepts. They have cultural and familial influences that shape that. They have knowledge from a variety of places that form their way of doing things. And yeah, their brain just works a certain way, and let’s face it, some people are just lucky and open up in the right place at the right time.

If you’re not that kind of person, it doesn’t mean something is wrong with you. It just means you need things broken down in clear, step-by-step systems, and processes. And that’s just fine too. In fact, I’d say that’s the absolute majority of people. This stuff doesn’t come naturally to a lot of massage therapists, it seems, at all.

So if you are struggling, please find someone, a mentor, a teacher, a coach, whatever…to break these business concepts down for you. I’ll happily be that person, but if I’m not your cup of tea, because I know not everyone likes me and my style of teaching, I’m also happy to help you find someone who fits for you. But putting together real strategies, having someone walk you through each step of a process of building specific foundational pieces to your business, to help you understand the ins and outs of it all…that’s crucial when these things don’t just come naturally to you. When you don’t see how to write up a real marketing strategy, you don’t know where to go research certain things, you don’t understand the financials, or whatever else it may be. Let someone teach you those things. It doesn’t come naturally to everybody, but that doesn’t mean everybody can’t learn them.

I’ve got all kinds of tips here in the blog, a Facebook group for more direct help, business classes, and even a 30-Day Business Transformation class series. Let me know how I can help!