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Copyright © 2016 by Dr. GabriellePelicci, Ph.D.All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted inany form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanicalmethods, without the prior written permission of the author.GabriellePelicci,.comCover and interior design by Annette Wood.annettewoodgraphics.com
Blissful Business A Gorgeous Guide to Creating Your Dream Career in Health & Wellness Gabrielle Pelicci, Ph.D.
ContentsIntroduction 5About the Author 8Dr. GabbyVision 11Defining Your Dream CareerCoaching 20Sessions that are Purposeful & ProfitableTeaching 36Classes that are Satisfying & SuccessfulPublishing 47Book, Blogs, Articles and MorePresenting 59Speaking to be Seen & HeardMedia 69Build Credibility & CommunityLaunch 80Your Customized Career PlanConclusion 93
IntroductionBlissful Business 5 GabriellePelicci.com
IntroductionWelcome! Dr. Gabby here.I’m excited that you are creating the nextlevel of growth for yourself and your business.I am here to help you do great work, make abig impact and achieve your career dreams.This book is the culmination of everything thingthat I’ve learned in the last 15 years about how to be successful in the wellness industry.I spent over a year designing and writing this book so that it would be super easyto understand and super effective in helping you to have more success no matterwhat stage of business that you are in. I really had to dig into all of my experiencesand extract the wisdom that allowed me to travel around the world as a massagetherapist, open a wellness center, teach yoga and meditation, become a professor ofholistic health and more. I wanted to create a blueprint because I never had one – andI wished that I had! It would have been so helpful to have a guideline instead of tryingto figure everything out by trial and error.Maybe you are just starting out, maybe you have a few classes or clients and you wantto make it grow, maybe you’ve been doing this a long time and you just feel a bitstuck or you want to take things to the next level. Wherever you are on your journey,that’s perfect. The material in this book will benefit you whether you are a novice oran expert. We all have something new to learn from each other.This book requires your PARTICIPATION. It is designed to provide a place for you torecord your reflections, set your SMART goals and map out your journey. Remember,these are just exercises – you don’t have to get them perfect. You can always go backand try them again if you need to get more clarity or better understanding. Blissful Business 6 GabriellePelicci.com
So, let’s talk about each Chapter: Chapter One is Vision: Defining Your Dream Career. In this chapter, you will be doing a guided meditation and reflection, followed by some written exercises to define your vision, mission and values. This will be the foundation of the work that we do in all of the other chapters. In Chapter Two: Coaching, we will cover private sessions that are purposeful and profitable. For some of you, this will be a massage or private yoga session, for others, it will be health coaching or therapy session. The principles are the same no matter what kind of one on one work that you are doing. In Chapter Three: Teaching, we are going to dive into your community. We will learn how to find the best places to teach and how to prepare the “Wellness Briefcase” that you will bring with you to classes. In Chapter Four: Publishing, we are going to learn how to see publishing from a new perspective, how to write so that your clients and community will recognize your expertise and seek out your services. Chapter Five is Presenting: Speaking to be Seen and Heard. We will dissect a TED talk and learn how to find your own “Idea Worth Spreading” so that you can share your own voice and unique contribution. Chapter Six is all about Media – TV, magazines, social networks and all the places where you get free advertising and press for the work that you are doing. Finally, in Chapter Seven, we wrap it all up at the end with a customized career plan where you set your annual, monthly, weekly and daily goals that best fit your business and the things that you are trying to achieve.Building a holistic business is a creative process and requires both right-brain andleft-brain thinking. In the book, we will not only be answering questions and makingplans with our left-brain, but we will also be doing art collages and daydreaming withour right-brain. Both are equally important.There are no wrong answers and no vision is too crazy. Go wild with your ideas andthen you can shape them and mold them into a format that makes sense for yourbusiness. If you start to feel overwhelmed or frustrated, get up from your desk and doa little dance, play some music, do some stretching or deep breathing – don’t forceyourself to push through things or be a perfectionist. This book is designed to be funAND educational.Best, Blissful Business 7 GabriellePelicci.com
About the Author Dr. GabbyI am going to give you a little backgroundabout my experience as a wellnesspractitioner so that you can learn a little bitmore about me!Let’s go back in time a little bit… I started myjourney into wellness back in 2001 when Ienrolled in a massage therapy program inVirginia. This was actually a detour frommy original path.I had a Bachelor’s degree in Psychologyand a Masters Degree in Education. AndI thought that I was going to completea Ph.D. in Psychology so that I couldbecome a psychologist—but the universehad different plans for me. I was havingmigraines, panic attacks and otherproblems from YEARS of being stressedout and I needed to find a way to healmyself. I had tried all the conventionalmethods of medicine and therapy butnothing was working. So I startedseeing some alternative practitioners—Reiki masters, acupuncturists andmassage therapists and it was sotransformative. I loved these sessionsSO much that I decided to enroll in Blissful Business 8 GabriellePelicci.com
training for massage and also Healing Touch Evolution of My Websiteso I could go even deeper into the experience.When I enrolled in these programs, I felt like I The top left image is energyhad found my “home” – I knew that this was the emanating from the center of a handkind of work that I wanted to do with others. like we do in Healing Touch. The top left is a lotus flower representing theDuring 2002–2006, I finished massage school, path of enlightenment in BuddhistKundalini Yoga Teacher Training, Healing Touch mediation. The bottom left is SanskritCertification, and a Ph.D. in Transformative scripture from Yoga and the bottomLearning. For my dissertation, I researched and right is massage. These were thewrote about ‘Women Healers’ —I interviewed a things that defined my businessbunch of amazing women who were practicing services and values 10 years ago.energy medicine, massage, shamanic healing They are still the foundation of theand other practices. I loved hearing their stories work that I do today.and learning from them. Many of the things that When I built this website, I didn’t havethey taught me, I am still using in the classes a business plan or marketing plan. Ithat I teach today. made the website and graphics on my own. This was before Facebook,In the next few years, some really exciting Twitter and Instagram. I just wantedthings happened. I produced two yoga DVDs: a place where people could find outHealthy Sexy Beautiful Kundalini Yoga and about me and my services and IKundalini Yoga on the Ball. I opened a wellness didn’t think much more about it thancenter and started teaching at drug and alcohol that.treatment centers and universities. As I grewin my work, my services also shifted. Current WebsiteI started blogging and publishing articlesabout alternative medicine. I even presentedat several national conferences. I didn’t reallyknow what I was doing but I worked so hardto figure it out—and I asked a ton of questionsto anyone who would listen.By 2012, I was teaching for 5 different colleges,seeing private clients for massage, doing healthcoaching over the phone and teaching a fewyoga classes a week. It was craziness! But itwas so great to work with so many differentkinds of clients—from chronic conditionslike addiction and fibromyalgia to big lifetransitions like pregnancy and divorce. It wasa very transformative period for my businessand me.Blissful Business 9 GabriellePelicci.com
I LOVE teaching! I especially love teaching others how to become successful healers!My students inspire me every day with their enthusiasm. I’ve taught more than 500students about holistic health in the past 10 years and I still enjoy doing it.I learned so much from opening a center—I had to do real accounting and managementfor the first time. Hire employees and create events and do marketing and everything.It’s so much work to have your own center but it is also really rewarding. When articleswere published in the local paper and Yogi Times about my center, I felt so proud thatI had created something that was bringing wellness to the community.Now that brings us up to 2016 – in the past year, my work has gone places that I neverexpected—I’ve been featured on MSNBC. I’ve been quoted in the New York Post,U.S. World & News, and given an expert blog column on Sheknows.com I worked ina tech start-up as a consultant. And I finally wrote and designed this book—BlissfulBusiness. This is something I’ve wanted to create for a LONG time. After teachinghundreds of students, I realized a lot of them do NOT have all the pieces that theyneed to be successful—even if they have a degree or certification, they still don’t knowhow to find clients or do marketing – and the info that is out there is so complicatedor confusing.It took me so long to grow into my confidence as a healer, teacher, practitioner andpresenter—but I feel like I have traveled this fascinating journey and I want to give backto all the people out there who are just getting started or struggling to figure things out.I have so much information that I want to share.This is one of the most exciting times in my career and I’m so happythat you are here to enjoy it with me!Thanks for joining me!Lots of love,Dr. Gabby Blissful Business 10 GabriellePelicci.com
Vision 1Defining Your Dream CareerBlissful Business 11 GabriellePelicci.com
What we will cover in this chapter: Creating a Business Vision Guided Meditation & Reflection Vision Board ExerciseVisionDefining Your Dream CareerEveryone has a unique path and purpose. No two journeys are going to look the same.Some of you already have a practice and want to find more clients and make moremoney. Others are dreaming of opening up a studio or center and are building yourbusiness from scratch. No matter where you are on the path, this is a perfect place toget more clarity, confidence and commitment to achieving your goals.In this Chapter, we will be learning about importance of creating a vision and theessential ingredients that we need to include in our vision. That will be followed bya guided meditation where we dip into your unconscious and see what dreams arestored in there. Then we will create a Vision Board. This Vision Board will be thefoundation of all the work we do in the following six chapters.First, let’s talk about the fundamentals of creating a vision…. What is a vision? It’s not as mystical or esoteric as it sounds. A vision is a picture ofwhat success will be at a particular time in the future. It answers several questions,such as: What does my business look like? Why does anyone care about what I do?How do I feel about the business? How do I serve my clients and community? When you create a vision, you get clarity about your goals —something that won’tchange every time the trends shift or your mood changes. A great vision is inspiring.It gets you and everyone that works with you excited about what you are doing. Hardly a day passes without me fantasizing about my vision—I imagine going aroundthe country giving talks on stage to groups of women and telling them about BlissfulBusiness. I imagine building a community that has hundreds of members. I visualize Blissful Business 12 GabriellePelicci.com
stories being published in magazines about my work and TV appearances where I tell the whole world why wellness is so important. I am kind of vision obsessed – and I want to convince you that you should be, too. To be clear, a vision is not a strategic plan. We are going to talk about making plans in later chapters. We will start the planning work only after we’ve created the vision. Here are some things to keep in mind about creating your vision: Vision needs to come from your heart. Go with your gut and put down what pours out, not what you think other people want to see. Often that means including what you’ve always wanted to do but have been told so many times by others that you couldn’t, a notion that you’ve long since filed away under “impossible.” Vision needs to be specific—it helps make the vision more real. Stay away from vague statements like “I have a lot of clients” or “I make a lot of money” instead, use real numbers that mean something. Spell it out. How many clients do you want? How much money do you want to make? Go for something great with your vision. The idea is to create a base of positive energy and exciting ideas on which you can build your future success. Think about Oprah starting her own TV network, Jessica Alba starting a mega- successful company of natural products, Louise Hay building massive publishing company of spiritual self-help books… things that are big but also specific, scary but also exciting. Get past the millions of reasons why it won’t work. If your vision isn’t kind of scaring you a bit, then you probably haven’t pushed yourself hard enough. Blissful Business 13 GabriellePelicci.com
Guided Meditation Sit back, relax and listen to the meditation. (Visit my website for a FREE audio copy of the Guided Meditation)Now that’s you understand how to create a vision, we are going to put all of thataside and do a meditation together. Below you will find a script for the mediation, youcan record yourself saying the meditation or have a friend read it to you. There is alsoa FREE audio copy of the Guided Mediation on my website for you.Once you are ready, I want you to put your phone on silent, dim the lights, get comfy,and let yourself be totally present for the next few minutes. Have a piece of paper anda pen close by so that you can take some notes after we finish. Like I mentioned before,the vision is going to be the foundation of the work that you do in this book so I wantyou to be really focused. Ok, settle in and settle back, close your eyes and focus your mind on the breath. Mentally say ‘inhale’ as you breathe in and ‘exhale’ as you breathe out. Feel the breath filling up your chest, your heart, your lungs. Exhale, feel all of the stale air leaving your body. Inhale feel all of the fresh clean air coming into your belly, your sides and your back, exhale, release any stress or tension in your body. Inhale, feel the breath traveling into your arms and legs, fingers and toes, relaxing all of your muscles, exhale, release any thoughts and let your mind be totally free and clear. As you connect with your breath, you may notice different sensations – just relax and allow the sensations to rise and fall – allow yourself to be fully supported by whatever you are sitting or lying on. Now that you are completely relaxed, imagine that you are traveling through a tunnel of white light. Everything is calm, peaceful and warm. You feel completely safe and supported. Imagine that as you walk along this tunnel lets you are traveling into the future – you walk for some time until you arrive at a point about a year from now when you are experiencing much joy and excitement in your business. Imagine that you are surrounded by abundance and you feel proud of your accomplishments. Let that feeling vibrate in every cell of your being. Now, in your mind’s eye, look around – this is the place where you do your work – this is the place where you share your gifts and offer your services – notice what is around you. Look around and take in what Blissful Business 14 GabriellePelicci.com
this environment is like. Is it large and expansive? Small and intimate?Is it indoors or outdoors? Is there a lot of light or dim lighting? Payattention to the details. Can you smell anything? What is the energylike? The temperature? What materials are in this environment? Whatare you surrounded by? Now in front of you, you see some sort ofdoorway or arch. Walk through it to the next place. Are the details thesame? Are there people around? Who are you working with? Do youhave co-workers or clients? What is it about this place that is givingyou so much joy? Allow yourself to take it all in, feeling totally safe andsupported. Savor this place and the happiness that it brings.After you feel that you have seen and felt all the details of this place, turnaround and go back into the white tunnel of light. Everything is calm,peaceful and warm. You feel completely safe and supported. Imaginethat as you walk along this tunnel, you are traveling further into thefuture – you walk for some time until you arrive at a point about 3 yearsfrom now when you are experiencing even more joy and excitementin your business. Imagine that you are being celebrated for a uniqueaccomplishment. Let that feeling vibrate in every cell of your being. Inyour mind’s eye, look around – notice what is around you.Where are you? Who is celebrating with you? Pay attention to the details.Can you smell anything? What is the energy like? The temperature?What legacy are you leaving through your work? Why are you being Blissful Business 15 GabriellePelicci.com
celebrated? Now in front of you, you see some sort of doorway or arch.Walk through it to the next place. Are the details the same?Are therepeople around? What do they give you? How does it make you feel?Allow yourself to take it all in feeling totally safe and supported.After you feel that you have seen and felt all the details of this place, turnaround and go back into the white tunnel of light. Everything is calm,peaceful and warm. You feel completely safe and supported. Imaginethat as you walk along this tunnel, you are traveling even further into thefuture – you walk for some time until you arrive at a point about 8 yearsfrom now when you are experiencing true abundance and satisfactionwith your work. You have achieved things that you never dreamed werepossible. Your life is overflowing with good health, good fortune andharmonious relationships. What successes and milestones have youaccomplished? What recognition have you received? What is new ordifferent about your business from 5 years ago or 8 years ago? Howhave you grown, expanded or evolved? Really allow yourself to takein the full experience of living and breathing your work. What specialdetails to you want to make sure to remember? In a few moments, wewill enter into the white tunnel of light and come back to the presentmoment. Know that any time you want, you can come back and visitthis place.Turn around and go back into the white tunnel of light. Walk in theopposite direction this time. Everything is calm, peaceful and warm. Youfeel totally safe and supported. Feel yourself coming back into your body,back into the present moment. Becoming more awake and alive. Wiggleyour fingers and toes. Feeling awake and energized. Open your eyes andpick up your pen. Blissful Business 16 GabriellePelicci.com
ExercisesNow, while your vision is fresh in your mind, take some notes about what you saw.There is a space below where you can write down your vision. Include as much detailas you can remember and don’t edit anything. Just write it as you saw it and we willwork more with this later. If you hear your inner critic making negative commentsabout your vision, take a deep breath and trust that as you take small steps forward,your vision will unfold.My VisionMeditation Reflection Questions: Where are you working? What is the environment like? Colors? Textures? Who do you work with? Alone? With others? Who are your clients and customers? What are they doing? What do they feel about working with you? What impact do you have on them? What success have you celebrated? What awards or recognition have you received? Blissful Business 17 GabriellePelicci.com
ExercisesNow that you have completed the meditation and visualization, you are ready tocreate your Vision Board. You have two options for the vision board—physical or digital.For the Physical vision board, you will Gather some paper, magazines, scissors, glueand whatever art supplies that you have. You’ll cut out the images, phrases and colorsthat represent the look and feel of your business. Use your visualization from Exercise1 for inspiration. Paste the cut-outs onto the paper in any way that you like. You canalso cut the paper into a circle, triangle or any other shape that is meaningful to you.Limit yourself to 1 hour for this exercise so that you don’t feel pressure to make itperfect. If you prefer to make a digital vision board, There are several programs that you canuse to create a vision board on your computer such as: Microsoft Word, MicrosoftPowerPoint, Evernote Adobe Photoshop. You can use Google image search to findpictures that represent the look and feel of your business. If you are really tech savvy,you may even want to add music or video to your vision to really bring it to life. Blissful Business 18 GabriellePelicci.com
Wellness CenterKrista M“I am looking to create a space for community, healing, learning, creating and sharingfor women, children and teens. A place where people can experience and learntools that may help them connect to themselves on a deeper level through yoga,mindfulness, meditation, creative projects, music and sat sang. I would like it to bemore of a comfortable, inviting, sanctuary-like feel where people feel peace, love,supported and safe. Class will be with small intimate groups so that they can buildrelationship within their community. I want to help people cope with their everydaystresses and the disconnect that may be happening even in their own homes. Healthylifestyle training and awareness will also be included such as creating their own healthysnacks, smoothies, etc. I want the space to be warm with both an indoor and outdoorspace in which we will always circle up and hold space for each other. There will alsobe events in which they can bring their families to experience the center and the worktheir children, spouses, and mothers are doing on themselves to continue growingand evolving in a positive way.” Blissful Business 19 GabriellePelicci.com
CoachingPurposeful &Profitable Sessions Blissful Business 20 GabriellePelicci.com
What we will cover in this chapter: Types of One-on-One Sessions How to Find Clients 3-Step Formula to create Sessions that are Purposeful and Profitable 5 Essential Ingredients for Successful SessionsCoachingPurposeful &Profitable SessionsCongratulations on completing Chapter One!Welcome to Chapter 2: Coaching: Sessions that are Purposeful and Profitable.At the end of the first chapter, you had a vision of your business and the type of clientsyou want to work with, the environment where you want to work, the people you wantto collaborate with. This will be the foundation for the planning that we do aroundprivate sessions, classes, presentations and publishing. We will learn step by step howyou can manifest your vision and make it a reality.As we move through this chapter and the other chapters, you will learn a holisticapproach to having a wellness career. Each of the pieces – private sessions, classes,presentations – are all parts of a larger whole which is “getting your work out into theworld,” “helping people,” “making a difference.” Some of the chapters will resonatewith you more than others. For example, you may want to focus more on classes thanprivate sessions. That’s no problem. But what I want to show you is that you can havea big impact if you allow your work to morph into different forms – sometimes it’s aone on one session, sometimes you are standing in a room full of people giving a talk.We have a lot of opportunities to share our passion with others.I am starting with private sessions for several reasons. Private sessions were thefoundation of my work 15 years ago when I got started. Private sessions are greatexperience, they pay well, they allow you to have a flexible schedule—you can dothem almost anywhere and it’s relatively easy to get clients. I also built up a lot ofconfidence and knowledge by doing private sessions. If my client was struggling withsomething, I had to go and research it, learn about the condition and it made me abetter teacher when it came time to work in a group setting. It also gave me ideas ofthings to write about – because I knew the intimate struggles of my clients. I knew Blissful Business 21 GabriellePelicci.com
their fears and their hopes. Having that understanding is priceless because it allowsyou to create services that are meaningful and valuable.Ok, so what are we talking about when we say “private sessions” or “one on one sessions.”These sessions can take many different forms from a coaching call to a hands-on therapyto a personal training session. Some practitioners even mix & match different modalities. For example, a nurse can offer nutrition advice or a Personal Trainer can add meditation to her sessions. The possibilities are endless. There has been a huge surge in “Health Coaching” in recent years, thanks to the success of Integrative Institute of Nutrition. But this also adds some confusion to the market. More than 85,000 people are claiming to be Health Coaches on LinkedIn. If you look at their profiles, some of them are self-employed, others work for health insurance companies or corporations—there is a lot of diversity in the community. Types of One-on-One SessionsCoaching Therapies• Life Coaching • Massage • Chiropractic• Health • Acupuncture Coaching • Medical • Spiritual• Career Coaching Readings • Reiki• Executive • Meditation Coaching • Nutrition Fitness • Personal Training • Yoga • Pilates • RunningBlissful Business 22 GabriellePelicci.com
What does it mean to be a health coach?Well, given that there are no national standards for Health Coaching, it means that youcan define it any way that you like. It means that you can help people reduce stress,lose weight, manage an illness like diabetes or any number of things. The importantthing is that IF you are going to call yourself a “health coach” you are going to have tospecify WHAT you mean and WHO you are trying to reach. This is going to be criticalin order for the right people to find you and use your services.You many have more than one area of expertise—which is great—and you may wantto work with more than one type of client – which is also great. But you have to buildone building at a time. First you help stressed-out moms to work less and do moreself-care, then once you have mastered your coaching and curriculum for that group,you add adolescent girls who are struggling with body image and eating disorders.Don’t try to reach all the groups at the same time. It will be too overwhelming andtoo confusing. Pick one group and stick with for at least a year and then come backand add other groups once you are ready.Now, just a reminder, the reason that we started this book with the Guided Meditationand Vision Board is because we want you to focus on your dream clients—your plansand goals for private sessions should be aligned with vision from Chapter One. Ifyou had a dream of being a private vegan chef on a yacht, then you are not goingto target the local community center with you nutrition coaching brochures. You’regoing to head out to the agencies that hire the staff for the private yachts! This mayseem like common sense but in our panic to get new clients, we often go to thewrong places and target the wrong people. So we are going to stay focused in thisbook on our original vision.Ok, now let’s talk about how specific you need to be when you define your practice. How to discover your ideal clientMassage Swedish Swedish The ideal client Massage Pre-Natal is a pregnant Massage woman who enjoys massage Blissful Business 23 GabriellePelicci.com
Let’s pretend you are a massage therapist building your business. You may think thatyou want to massage anyone, anywhere, anytime because you need the money. BUTbeing that broad will be a problem as you build your business it will be difficult tocreate marketing materials, build a brand for yourself and work with the clients thatyou really love working with.So, the more specific you can be the better. Let’s say you prefer to do Swedish massageto deep tissue massage and you prefer pre-natal clients the most. Great! Now youknow your ideal client: a pregnant woman who enjoys massage! This will make itmuch easier to find the clients that you want and have a practice that you enjoy.What matters to your client?All Clients have different goals. They generally fall into certain patterns, though. Clientswith injury or illness want to reduce pain and feel better. Clients going through lifetransitions like career change or divorce want clarity and support. Clients who aretrying to achieve a goal like losing weight want someone who can give accountabilityand guidance.How do you know what goals YOUR clients will have?You have to start with some assumptions and then build a relationship with yourclient, get to know her. We’ll talk more about formal ways to get information like anINTAKE form in a little bit. But ultimately, you need to learn her needs and wants andthen customize your services to her. Some common goals for a pre-natal client might be—reduce pain and stress, deliver a healthy baby, and stay in shape and lose weight fast after the birth. Why does this information matter? Because as you will see throughout the book, you need to speak in a way that resonates if you want to attract clients or students. They have to feel like you understand them and that you have a solution to their problem. This goes for individuals as well as groups, companies and organizations.
Now let’s talk about where clients actually come from. We know that clients are “outthere” somewhere but it may seem mysterious how we find them or connect with them.Here are 4 ways that we can find new clients: Where Clients Come FromReferral MarketingMeet Face Publicity To Face You1 You can meet them face to face—this is my favorite one because we establish immediate rapport by meeting someone face to face. WHERE do we meet people face to face? Everywhere! We meet them at the gym, the grocery store, the PTA meeting, parties. We don’t have to limit ourselves when it comes to approaching people. I had a mentor in Healing Touch who said that her goal was to hand out 5 business cards every day to people. When I met her, she was in her 60s and she had thousands of clients. I asked her when she stopped handing out the cards—and she said, “Never.” Even after a lifetime of being in business, she was still actively handing out business cards! I thought that was amazing. Now, if you want to be more strategic about who you approach, you can pick the places where you want to meet people. But the more you get in the habit of telling people what you do, the more likely that word of mouth will spread and your business will grow.2 The second way that you can find new clients is through referrals—referrals can come from family, friends, co-workers, people in your social circle—anyone who is familiar with what you do and knows someone who would benefit from your work. Referrals is the best way that I know of to grow a private practice really quickly. A close friend of mine who lives in California left her job at a Rehab—on good terms—and started a sober coaching practice. For the past 10 years, the rehab has referred the exiting clients to her and she has built a booming business from this one relationship—she has even been able to hire 6 other sober coaches to work for her and she’s helped hundreds of patients.3 The last 2 places that you will get clients from are marketing and publicity. Often, this is the first place new practitioners will go to build their business but I think this is actually the last place we should look. Marketing and publicity are great to build your credibility but it can take a big investment before you see Blissful Business 25 GabriellePelicci.com
a return. For example, the Institute Of Integrative Nutrition spends $10 milliona year on online advertising—now you may not be running an online schoolbut that gives you a sense of how much is invested in advertising to get newclients. With regards to publicity, press is an amazing way to spread the wordabout your work, but you need to get 50 to 100 press hits a year for you tosee growth in your business. I don’t say this to discourage you—I just want toencourage you to talk to people and build referral relationships BEFORE youspend a lot of money on websites, social media or advertising campaigns.So earlier, we imagined that you were a massage therapist building a business aroundpre-natal massage. Let’s look at that example again for a minute and see how youcould grow your business.First, you could visit places where pregnant ladies go like prenatal yoga, Lamazeclasses, baby clothing stores, and so on—and you could TALK to the ladies! Tell themabout your massages. Offer them a free consultation. Maybe even give out some freesamples of hand massage or foot massage. Free samples always worked like magicwhen I was growing my practice.Then you could target good referral relationships—how about OBGYNs, doulas,midwives? If you built ONE solid relationship, you may be able to grow your wholebusiness around that one person or organization.Then you work on your marketing and press. We are going to talk about this a lotmore in Chapters 4, 5 and six but for now—let’s say you could write a blog post aboutpre-natal massage or pitch an idea to pregnancy magazine. These would great waysto build credibility and visibility for your work.Make sense? Cool! Now let’s talk about the way that you create purposeful andprofitable sessions for your clients.So, there are 3 things that I always do when I am expanding some part of my business.Investigate, reflect and connect.3-Step Formula to create INVESTI Sessions that are GATE CONNECT Purposeful & Profitable EFLECT RBlissful Business 26 GabriellePelicci.com
This habit comes from doing my PhD. In graduate school, you have to read everythingthat was ever written about your topic (which is like thousands of books) and then youhave to reflect and find some gap or missing piece that you can research and writeabout. Then you have to think about the people that could benefit from this new info—and connect it to them. In my case, I wrote about women healers. But I didn’t just writeabout them in an abstract sense—I interviewed them, I listened to their advice andstories about how to be a successful healer and then I made lots of recommendationsabout how we could use this insight to change education for the better.Finally, I used this information as the foundation for my own teaching and coursedevelopment. So this whole process taught me diligence and attention to detail. Ittaught me how to think critically about my topic and find a unique contribution thatI only I could add because of my unique knowledge, insight and experience. And ittaught me how to build something that was not only meaningful for ME but alsopurposeful for others.So, this particular methodology can be applied to any part of our business. If you donot yet have a flourishing client base, NOW is the time to research the practitionerswho DO HAVE a successful practice and learn from them. We do not have to fear our‘competitors’ —they can be our greatest teachers.Let’s talk about investigate for a minute. What does it mean to investigate ourcompetitors? INVESTIGATE Who is offering a similar service? What do they charge? What are the details of their offering? Where do they get their clients? Where are they located? Etc.If someone has a successful business, they have probably discovered some secretsabout offering a particular service in a particular area for a particular price that willbenefit you. None of us are just born knowing how to be successful—it’s much easierto find an expert and use their road map as a blueprint to shortcut your success.Let’s use the prenatal massage example again, if I were building a business aroundpre-natal massage, I would look on websites, social media, local magazines and soon to find other pre-natal therapists. I would visit their office, try their service, taketheir class, or call them and talk to them. I would learn everything I could about whatwas working and not working in their business. I’ve done this repeatedly in my ownpractice—more often than not, other practitioners are flattered that you want to learnfrom them. You never know, you may even become partners or collaborators with them. Blissful Business 27 GabriellePelicci.com
Ok, after you completed your investigation, then what do you do? Time for REFLECTION.You have a unique story, a unique background, unique experience—all of this influencesyour services. The more clarity you get about who you are and what you have tooffer, the better. This ‘story’ will permeate everything that you communicate to yourclients and students. REFLECT What can you offer that is unique? What sets you apart from the competition? How do you stand out from the crowd? What is your personal contribution? Etc.To use the prenatal example, after you look at the other practitioners who areoffering pre-natal massage, it’s important to ask yourself: How am I different fromthese practitioners? What is unique about me? Some practitioners even go so far asto invent their own therapy or practice—that’s how we’ve gotten all the wonderfulmodalities that we have today. You don’t have to go that far. You just have to definewhat make you, you.Finally, you are going to CONNECT this reflection to the environment around you. CONNECT What untapped community can you serve? Who needs your service? Are they willing to pay for your service? Do they have a history of investing in similar services? Etc. Blissful Business 28 GabriellePelicci.com
If you are trying to offer prenatal massage in an area that is already saturated withtherapists, you may want to look for a different location. For example: If there are nopre-natal massage therapists in James Town but There is a yoga studio that offerspre-natal yoga nearby, that could be a good place for you to open your practice.You may not get this right the first time. I’ve made a lot of mistakes as I’ve built mybusiness. When I first started teaching yoga, I went to all the popular studios to getclasses—but since I was new and no one knew me, only 1 or 2 people would cometo my class. I decided to offer yoga in places that had less yoga instructors—placeswhere I could really make a difference—and I developed a much bigger following in ashorter amount of time. You have to keeping testing your theories and revising yourstrategy until you figure out what works. 5 Essential Ingredients for Successful Sessions 1. EASY BOOKING 2. S.M.A.R.T. INTAKE 3. GREAT SERVICE 4. REBOOKING 5. ONGOING COMMUNICATION Blissful Business 29 GabriellePelicci.com
Ok, now we are going to talk about some essential ingredients to keeping your practicealive and healthy. These may see like common sense but they are some of the mostcommon mistakes that practitioners make in their business.First, How are clients getting in touch with you?You want to make sure that you can respond to booking requests within 24 hours – atthe latest. I try to respond to all client inquiries within an hour. If you only check youremail, once a week, then that’s not the right way to take bookings. Personally, I liketo speak with people on the phone. Whenever someone inquires about my services,I immediately set up a call with them so I can start to build a relationship. I like thispersonal touch and I think it pleases my clients, too.Second, What is an intake?An intake is the information that you collect at the beginning of the session that helpsyou make a plan for working together. Doctors do a medical history form and SOAPnotes. Life Coaches do life inventory forms and goal setting. You can use templatesfor your intake or you can create your own. The important thing is that you are gettinggood information from your clients and that you are making a plan to achieve theirgoals. If a client doesn’t think that she is making progress, she won’t continue to workwith you.I call it a SMART intake because it should be specific, measurable, attainable,resonant and have a timeline.Now your intake can use a similar format or it can be different. In my experience,quantifying symptoms and goals as much as possible helps us to get clarity andkeeps everyone on the same page. The more specific, the better. Setting attainablegoals is also important—I wouldn’t tell someone that she is going to be cured ofher back pain and insomnia after one session because that’s unrealistic. Resonantmeans that the goals resonate with both of us—we ‘feel’ that these are the rightgoals at this time. And having a timeline is important because it creates commitmentand accountability. We both know we are working together for a definitive period oftime —and that lets us relax and move towards the goals without too much stress orpressure. It also helps us to stay on track and not get distracted.The Third essential ingredient is great service.In the pre-natal example, It is my job to give a safe, effective session, to support myclient and listen to her challenges, to come prepared with the equipment that I needto do my work, to show up on time, and so on. Most clients will say that they loveworking with you because they FEEL that you love working with them. Your passionis contagious and your clients will feel it if you are doing the work that you love. Thinkabout how you can offer great service. Is there anything that you can do to make it alittle bit more special? Offer some lemon water or a free gift to your clients, maybe?Give them a free service on their birthday? Whatever it is, just make sure that you doit consistently and enthusiastically. Blissful Business 30 GabriellePelicci.com
Fourth, when you do your intake and you set the goals of working together,it’s important to get the session dates on the calendar BEFORE the clientleaves her first appointment.We are all busy people. It’s super easy to get distracted or forget to put self-care onthe calendar. If you are going to work with a client for three months, every other week,then put the 6 dates on the calendar – then you can just send reminders instead oftrying to track down the client to make the additional bookings.And finally, your job is to maintain a good connection with the peoplethat you serve.Your relationships doesn’t end when they walk out the door, It continues online andoffline so that they feel constantly supported. Think of ways that you could maintainconnection – the same way that you would maintain relationships with friends orfamily. The more you give to your clients, the more you will receive. Blissful Business 31 GabriellePelicci.com
Now we are going to do three exercises. Exercise #1Who is your ideal client? What problem is your client trying to solve?Where does your client hang out? Who could refer your ideal client to you?What magazines or journals What TV shows or websites does yourdoes your ideal client read? client visit? Tip: Be as specific as possible about your ideal client because you will build your business around her. Reminder: If you like working with kids, then your ideal cli- ent is the mom or dad.Blissful Business 32 GabriellePelicci.com
Exercises Exercise #2In this exercise, we are going to learn from our competition. Pick one successfulpractitioner who is offering a service similar to yours and answer the following questions.Who is offering a similar service to you? Where does she work?How much does she charge? Where does she get her clients?ReflectionHow are you different from the competition?What can you offer that is unique?What untapped community can you serve? Blissful Business 33 GabriellePelicci.com
Exercises Exercise #3Reflect on your business and answer the following questions:My client can book easily with me by…My S.M.A.R.T. Intake includes…I measure great service by…I can maintain on-going communication with my clients by…Clients can re-book with me easily by… Super Growth Formula Reach out to the person you described in Exercise #1 who can refer your ideal client to you. Describe your unique offer to them and ask them to share the offer with someone who is a good fit for your service. Blissful Business 34 GabriellePelicci.com
Certified Health Coach Where does she get her clients? Mary Jane T. PsychologyToday.com & Referrals Exercise 1 How are you different from your competition? What can you offer that is unique? Who is your ideal client? In addition to my professional training, I have My ideal clients are busy women who want to personal experience of losing 100+ lbs. lose weight and build health What untapped community can you serve? What problem is your client trying to solve? The moms from the local high school My client is trying to reduce stress and create better eating habits Exercise 3 Where does your client hang out? My clients can book easily with me by... In their free time, my clients are hanging out Genbook.com on my website at Whole Foods, Trader Joes, gyms, yoga studios and similar places. My S.M.A.R.T. Intake includes... A Weight- Loss Assessment and a 3 month coaching Who could refer your ideal client to you? plan I believe the majority of my clientele will come by word of mouth from other clients I measure great service by... I focus on each individual as a complex multi-system being What magazines or journals does your ideal client read? who requires attention to all parts—mind, Oprah body, and spirit. What TV shows or websites does your client visit? I can maintain on-going communication Huffington Post, Well+Good, Mind-Body with my clients by... Weekly meeting, email Green communication as necessary Exercise 2 Clients can re-book me easily by… Genbook. com on my website—all meetings set up in Who is offering a service similar to you? advance for our 3 month program Gemma offers Holistic Nutrition Counseling How much does she charge? $80–100/hr Where does she work? Red Bank, NJ Blissful Business 35 GabriellePelicci.com
Teaching3Satisfying and Successful ClassesBlissful Business 36 GabriellePelicci.com
What we will cover in this chapter: Types of Classes and Workshops 3-Step Formula to create Classes that are Satisfying and Successful The Wellness BriefcaseTeaching Satisfying &Successful ClassesAt the end of Chapter two, you got clarity about your ideal clients, the problem theyare trying to solve, where they hang out and so on. You did some research about yourcompetitors and brainstormed about how you could stand out and offer somethingunique. Now we are going to explore teaching as a way to get your work out into theworld, help people, and make a good living.As I mentioned in Chapter two, each of these pieces – private sessions, classes,presentations, publishing – they are all parts of a larger whole. You can have abig impact if you allow your work to flow into different forms and look for diverseopportunities to share your passion with others.Ok, so what are we talking about when we say “teaching”? Teaching can come inmany different forms—from a university course that lasts 15 weeks to a yoga classthat lasts 50 minutes. Blissful Business 37 GabriellePelicci.com
Below are some examples of fitness classes, workshops, and trainings. Each of theseformats has different considerations such as preparation time, requirements forteaching, salary, and so on. Types of Classes or WorkshopsClasses Workshops Academic• Yoga • Mindfulness • Anatomy &• Meditation for Kids Physiology• Pilates• Massage • Reiki Training • Research Methods • Healthy Eating for Weight • Integrative Loss MedicineI have had many conversations with students who tell me that they want to get aPh.D. so that they can teach Holistic Health courses only to change their mind when Itell them that a Ph.D. costs $50,000 or more and adjunct professors only make about$3000 per class. It’s awesome if you have a dream to get a Ph.D. but it’s important toknow what to expect when you graduate. Often, a smarter way to start teaching isto create a course and offer it in a local wellness center, studio or even ONLINE. Thismay give you more freedom and a better income than aiming for university teaching.Some of you may already be teaching—and you may even be teaching so much thatyou are getting burnt out. Even though teaching is meaningful and exciting, youmay not be able to make a great living if all you do is teach. Teaching is a great way,however, to build relationships with clients who can work with you one-on-one. Privatesessions are generally much more profitable than group classes and workshops. Youcan also create trainings and certifications that cost more and use your group classesto find students to fill these trainings. Most yoga studios that are successful rely ontheir teacher trainings to pay the bills and the classes arejust a means to introduce students to the practice.One of the benefits of teaching is that you start to builda community of people that care about your work.I define a community as group of your ideal clients.These community members are loyal followers. Youcan work with them over and over again. They readyour articles, share your work with their friends, bookprivate sessions with you, and so on. Blissful Business 38 GabriellePelicci.com
The key to a successful business is to cultivate this loyalty. Think of people who reallymatter to you in your life… WHY do they matter? They probably matter becausethey are attentive, supportive, available when you need them, and understand whereyou are coming from. These are the same qualities that you need to provide to yourcommunity if you want them to trust you and keep working with you. Loyal followersare not the same as Facebook fans – they are individuals who consistently benefitfrom your services and feel connected to you. It’s much more valuable to have a smallgroup of loyal followers than thousands of Instagram friends who never show up foryour classes or book your sessions.You can build your community from scratch by offering classes in a local park or openingyour own center. This requires a lot of grass-roots effort to get the word out and maytake a couple years to build up some momentum. Another option is to teach at a placewhere some form of community already exists—a community that has members similarto your ideal clients, where members are all trying to solve a similar problem. BUT It’simportant that if students show up for you classes in a venue that doesn’t belong toyou, that you find a way to build a relationship with them that is separate from theirrelationship to the venue—we’ll talk more about this later, too.So, in the last chapter, we talked about this methodology of investigate, reflectand connect. If you remember, I told you about my dissertation and how it was soimportant to find some gap or missing piece in the research where I could contributesomething new and meaningful. The same goes for this process of creating classesthat are satisfying and successful. INVESTIGATE Which venue (studio, center, college, etc.) is offering classes or workshops to your community? What classes do they offer? What are the requirements to become a teacher at that venue?We have to figure out WHAT KIND of classes you can offer and WHERE you can offerthem so that you build up a loyal following. In the next couple of images, we are goingto return to the prenatal example from the last chapter and explore what teachingopportunities are available that could help us grow that business.Let’s start by saying that in addition to pre-natal massage, we want to introducebreathing and stretching exercises to pregnant moms. We think this is a complementaryway to reduce the pain and stress associated with pregnancy and facilitate a healthydelivery. What do we do next? Blissful Business 39 GabriellePelicci.com
This is a good opportunity to think outside the box—originally you may have thoughtthat you can only offer stretching classes at schools or studios but classes are poppingup all over the place now—in airports and retail stores, in hospitals and church recrooms. The possibilities are really endless.Let’s say that after some investigation, we learn that Children’s Hospital offers avariety of classes for pre and post-natal moms. The hospital requires an MT licenseor medical degree to teach there. Since we already have a massage license, we arequalified to teach at this location.So what do we do next?Time to do some reflection. REFLECT What can you offer that is unique and relevant? What class or workshop (that is not cur- rently offered) would benefit the students? What expertise do you have to offer?• In chapter two, we talked about what makes you unique—what makes you, you. Youidentified some ways that you are different because of your education and experience.You need to reflect again on your specialness to figure out what class you can offerthat is not currently offered that aligns with your vision, mission and values.Using our pre-natal example: The hospital already offers breathingclasses. BUT we could use the massage and yoga expertise to teachgentle stretching classes. Blissful Business 40 GabriellePelicci.com
Now we have to connect our idea to the community. CONNECT How does your class or workshop fill a gap at the venue where you want to teach? How does it add value to the studio, center, college, etc.? Why should the venue offer your class? Etc.It’s not only important that we want to teach this class, but it’s important that itmakes sense for the hospital.If you want to teach tai chi at a yoga studio because you love tai chi—that may not bea good for for the yoga studio because they have their own vision and mission whichdoesn’t include tai chi. No problem! You can find a venue that loves tai chi, or you canjust rent a rec room and teach tai chi on your own. There are lots of options.In our pre-natal example: Our gentle stretching class would be a valuable new additionto the hospital because it not only gives the patients a natural way to reduce painand stay healthy, but it also reduces hospital visits and lengths of stay because theyrecover from delivery faster and better.Now, it’s important that once we get the green light to offer our class, that we aresuper clear about the message and take-away that the class delivers. In chapter two,you answered some reflection questions about ‘what problem your client is trying tosolve’ and where your client is looking for answers already—tv, magazines, internetand so on. When you are teaching, YOU are going to be an answer to your clientsproblem. And you have to make that crystal clear by identifying the MAIN QUESTIONthat your book answers and the MAIN TAKEAWAY from your class.In the prenatal example,The main question that our book answers is:”How do I reduce pre-natal pain and discomfort on my own without medication?” And the main take-away from our class is:“Step-by-step instructions on how to reduce pregnancy pain quickly, easily andeffectively with gentle stretching” Blissful Business 41 GabriellePelicci.com
Once you’ve found your venue, created a clear ‘take-away’, and gotten sign-ups foryour class—it’s time to show up to teach! This is the place where a lot of practitionersdrop the ball. They forget to bring their WELLNESS BRIEFCASE with them. Just likeyou wouldn’t show up at the “office” without your work briefcase, you shouldn’t showup to teach a class without your essential tools.What are these essential tools?First and foremost, you need a “Script”—a“script” is a short phrase that you say at the WELLNESS BRIEFCASEbeginning and end of class to let people knowabout your private sessions and other offerings. In the pre-natal example, you might say: “I amso happy that you joined me for this pre-natalstretching class. It will help you to reduce painand increase flexibility in a natural, healthy way.If you have injuries or you need more assistance, I also offer pre-natal massage as anoutcall service so that you can get the care you need in the comfort of your own home.I will hand out some information at the end of class about my summer special.”This is short and sweet, it lets people know that you offer more than just gentle stretchingand it prepares them for the info that you are going to hand out at the end of class. Second, you need a “Clipboard”—this can be an actual clipboard with paper and pencil or it can be an iPad or other digital device. The important thing is that you capture the contact details of the people who came to your class. Earlier in the chapter, I said: It’s important that if students show up for you classes that you find a way to build a relationship with them that is separate from their relationship to the venue where you are teaching.” The patients that come to your class at the hospital may be lost to you forever if you stop teaching at that hospital—so it’s essential that you keep a personal record of them.And finally, you need to bring some sort of “Handout” with yourservices and contact details. This can be a business card, flyer,postcard or whatever handout you have. It’s not enough to just bringthe handout and not the clipboard because most handouts end up inthe trash (unfortunately). Since we mentioned in our script that wehave pre-natal massage services and a summer special, we can repeatthis info at the end of class and hand out the card or flyer with the information. youJr ubsutsliinkeesseawcihllfalolwsoeradadddusnsiqomueetvhainlugestpoetchiaelwtoeltlhneesgsainrddeuns,try. Blissful Business 42 GabriellePelicci.com
ExercisesNow we are going to do 3 exercises: Exercise #1Pick a venue (school, studio, center, etc.) where you are qualified to teach that isoffering classes to your community. Study their schedule and class descriptions. Inthe boxes below, write your reflections.Reminder: Your “community” is a group of your ideal clients gathered together.What class can you offer at that venue that is unique and relevant? How does your class add value to the venue? What is the main question that your class answers (or problem that it solves)for the community? What is the main take-away from your class? TIPAs you are doing your investigation, collect images and marketing materials from the venue. Use this as inspiration for your reflection.Super Growth Formula Submit a proposal to teach a class at the venue that you researched in Exercise #1. Blissful Business 43 GabriellePelicci.com
Exercises Exercise #2Sometimes we need a visual map before we can create the specifics of our classesand workshops. Don’t be afraid to create a flyer for your class before you write thecurriculum. Sometimes seeing is believing!What does the flyer for your class look like? If you really want to go crazy, you can grab your art supplies or the digital program that you used in Chapter One to create your vision board – and mock up a flyer. Blissful Business 44 GabriellePelicci.com
Exercises Exercise #3You may have these systems in place already. But if not, this is a good opportunity tothink about it so that when you get to class, you are well-prepared! Reflect on yourbusiness and answer the following questions. What’s in your wellness briefcase? WELLNESS BRIEFCASEWhat are the 3-4 sentences that you say at the beginning of class that describeyour private sessions and the benefit that they provide?How do you quickly and easily capture contact info from your class members?What do you hand out at the end of class with your services and contact details? Blissful Business 45 GabriellePelicci.com
Bethany Sheridan Exercise 2 Inlet Yoga Flyer for the class Exercise 1 What class can you offer at that venue that is unique and relevant? Kula Kids; this class is relevant because it is not currently offered at this yoga studio and unique because it is being offered for kids only How does your class add value to the venue? This class broadens the client population of the yoga studio Parents can become more actively involved with their children Parents can bring their child to my yoga Exercise 3 class while they are taking theirs What is the main question that your What are the 3–4 sentences that you class answers (or problem it solves) for say at the beginning of class that the community? describe your private sessions and the It solves the problem that there are no yoga classes for children and few benefit that they provide? resources for parents to become more I am so excited to do yoga with you! We actively involved with their children are all going to try our best and have fun. Remember it’s just yoga, and the most important part is a big smile! This class adds another solution for How do you quickly and easily capture the larger scale problem of child and contact info from your class members? adolescent obesity in America Parents have to sign an intake and release form that will include their contact What is the main take-away from your information and consent for their child class? to participate in the class Yoga is not only for adults; yoga has benefits for children What do you hand out at the end of Yoga can be used as a therapeutic tool class with your services and contact for kids details? Business card for the parents Blissful Business 46 GabriellePelicci.com
Publishing4Books, Blogs, Articles, and More Blissful Business 47 GabriellePelicci.com
What we will cover in this chapter: 3 Types of Publications How to use Publishing to Grow Your Business 3 Types of WritingPublishingBooks, Blogs,Articles, and MoreWriting is an important way to communicate your ideas and let people know aboutyour sessions and classes. In this chapter, you will learn how to use publishing toattract more clients and grow your business.Normally when we read, we read through the eyes of a consumer. We are taking ininformation without thinking about the structure or intent of the article. In this chapter,we are going to put on our detective glasses again and think about publishing fromthe perspective of our business. There are lots of different kinds of content—fromblogs to books to articles in print or digital publications. Each type of writing hasdifferent challenges and benefits. One of the best things that you can do if you want to write about wellness is to READ what’s being published. Read the blogs, the magazines, the journals and the books. Pay attention to what people are writing about, how they are writing, what they are promoting and what’s trending. You will notice that a lot of ideas are repeated—for example, this month, all the magazines will publish articles about non-toxic skin care or eating avocados —and then next month there will be a big shift and everyone will write about stress at work or wellness travel trips. You will learn so much by reading and paying attention to what’s out there. Blissful Business 48 GabriellePelicci.com
Below you’ll see the names of publications that I follow. This is not an exhaustivelist by any means, but it is a good place to start. In the blog category, I followMindBodyGreen, Elephant Journal, Well+Good, Huffington Post and Goop. WhenI say “follow”, I mean that I follow them on social media so that they appear in mynewsfeed. Types of PublicationsBlogs or Print AcademicOnline Mags Magazines Journals• MindBodyGreen • SHAPE • Journal of Alternative and• Elephant • SELF Complimentary Journal Medicine • Oprah• Well+Good • Journal of • Yoga Journal Complementary• Huffington Post and Integrative • Spirituality & Medicine• Goop HealthI also have an app on my phone called FEEDLY that aggregates the articles from allthe publications I choose and puts them in one convenient location for me.The print magazines that I watch are Shape,SELF, Oprah, Yoga Journal, Spirituality & Healthand a few others. These publications alsoappear in my FEEDLY app. And the academicjournals that I read are Journal of Alternativeand Complimentary Medicine and Journal ofComplimentary and Integrative Medicine.Now, when I say that I “read” or “watch” thesepublications, I mean that I skim them to seewhat’s happening, what themes are emerging,what new and exciting research has beendiscovered. I don’t spend an excessive amountof time doing this. Sometimes I spend 15minutes a day, sometimes an hour. SometimesI tweet an article that I like or refer to an articlein one of my blog posts. Blissful Business 49 GabriellePelicci.com
But what I’ve learned over the years is that: 1 I have to pay attention to what my community cares about and the one of the ways that I can do that is to read what they are reading—if my community cares about self-care then I will write about ‘using meditation and yoga for self-care’ —another practitioner might write about using fitness and nutrition for self- care —that’s great, because we both are addressing a topic that is important to our community BUT it’s based on our personal expertise and experience. 2 I have to make sure that whatever service or product I am creating has a clear and obvious place in the market—and one of the ways I can do that is to read what is being written about my topic—for example, if I am promoting the women in wellness career training and dozens of articles are being published about women owned businesses and women entrepreneurs then I know that women care about this and will most likely take my training—I can also refer to these articles in my writing to validate my training and show that I am an expert on business topics 3 I have to be able to comment on current trends if I am interviewed by the press or I am teaching a class about the topic. It would be really awkward if an editor from Yoga Journal asked me to comment on a new trend like acro-yoga and I had no idea what acro-yoga was. Or if I am teaching a yoga class and a student wanted to know my opinion about the latest yoga scandal. It’s important for me to stay current on the news, so that I can give educated and informed options to my community.Now, let’s talk a some more about writing…Why do you write?I’m sure you’ve done a lot of writing in your life—all those essays and exams for schoolor personal writing in a journal or diary. All of these kinds of writing have differentINTENTIONS and OBJECTIVES. You wrote academic essays to get a passing grade ina book. You wrote in your journal to process your emotions or get something off yourchest. Why would you write a wellness article? If you’resmart, you will write it to share your expertise, help yourideal client solve a problem and offer your services toyour community. Why do you write? To share your expertise To help your ideal client solve a problem To offer your services Blissful Business 50 GabriellePelicci.com
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