Keeping Track of Your Bodywork Business
In my last post, I shared a simple 3-step process for seeing results in your bodywork business:
Know where you are.
Know where you want to go.
Keep taking baby steps, every day, toward that vision.
And like my student I told you about, you may be wondering how in the heck you’re supposed to “know where you are” in your business.
The answer is simple: tracking.
But like most worthwhile things, there is more to this than meets the eye.
Let’s back up a second, and I’ll take you down Memory Lane to the time that I was struggling with my own practice…
I couldn’t quite figure out what I was doing wrong. I was seeing several clients each week, and they loved my work, but in my mind I wasn’t bringing in enough income to really make it. I tried lots of ideas I read about on the internet (Go to networking events! Advertise on social media!) but either I was doing the wrong things, or I was doing the right things in the wrong way.
Either way, I was muddled and unclear about how to break out of my stuck place.
Sound familiar?
I finally found the courage to reach out and ask for some help. I contacted a business coach, and he asked me how much money I was currently making. I answered, “Not enough.” When he pressed further, I realized that while I had a ballpark figure of what I was currently bringing in, it wasn’t exact, and I had no idea what my business expenses were.
Worse still, I didn’t know what I needed or wanted to earn. My only response to the question was, “More. I want to make more money.”
Sound familiar?
So here’s the thing: you MUST know where you are RIGHT NOW to have a sense of how you’re going to get to your dream practice. Whether it’s income, the types of clients you’re seeing, or the number of clients you’re seeing, you need to be absolutely clear on what your practice looks like now.
Which brings us back to tracking.
To see exactly where you are right now, ideally, you’ll go back 6-12 months. That can be daunting, especially if you haven’t been keeping track, so for now, go back 3 months. (If you don’t have any records or any idea of income and expenses, that’s OK, too! Just start where you are.) Start today.
You’re going to make an Easy-Peasy Lemon Squeezy Tracking Chart.
At the end of each week, simply write down on a piece of paper how many sessions you worked, and how much income you earned:
10/15 - 10/21: 3 sessions, $180.
Great. Now, on the back of the chart, write down your business expenses for the week. (You can look at your credit card statement, if that helps):
10/15 - 10/21: Jojoba oil, $20
We’re not doing a P&L (Profit and Loss) and we’re not majoring in accounting here. We’re simply getting a snapshot of your business.
At the end of the month, total things up. How does it look?
You may be in better shape than you thought. If so, Get it, Girl!
Ideally, you’ll be earning more than your expenses, but that doesn’t always happen. If not, don’t panic, and don’t lose faith — you may need to make some changes in your business. That’s OK. Now you know, and you can get the support that you need.
Like I said before, just start where you are.
It takes courage and commitment to be honest about your business. And knowing where you are is the starting point. Next week, we’ll get really clear about the next point — knowing where you want to go.
Take a deep breath. Have some chocolate. And begin to keep track.
I know you can do it!