Taking Care of Your Business (+Yourself!) in Uncertain Times|

Business and Marketing for Massage and Bodywork Therapists

Episode 22.

MINDY TOTTEN: Welcome to Do It With Intention, the podcast for massage and bodywork therapists. I'm your host, Mindy Totten, a mentor and coach for bodyworkers who want to turn their passion for the work that they do into successful businesses that they love, all without burning out or selling out.

For the last 15+ years, I've created a successful six figure CranioSacral Therapy practice in a small city in coastal North Carolina. Over those years, I've met so many skilled, big-hearted therapists who are struggling to make their bodywork businesses work for them, not because they weren't terrific therapists, but because they didn't know how to make the business side of their practices work.

It became my mission to help other massage and bodywork therapists build practices that support not only their souls but also their bottom lines. On the Do It With Intention podcast, we'll dive deep into what it takes to build and to sustain a profitable massage or bodywork business.

We'll have honest conversations about what really works (and what doesn't) as you create the ideal practice for you.

After all, you do great work in the world, and you deserve to make a great living doing it. But you've got to be intentional about it, not only in your modality, but in your business too. And THAT’s how bodyworkers Do It With Intention.

Hey, Hey there. Welcome back to the Do It With Intention podcast. I'm Mindy Totten and today we are going to talk about having a plan. I am the kind of person who always needs a plan.

I found out a couple months ago that I was a triple Virgo. That's Virgo star sign, sun sign and rising sign or something like that. But what it means is I like predictability. I like to have a plan. I like things done in advance.

And if you are anything like me, you know that the plan has been shot to hell in the last, well I was gonna say a couple of weeks. It's really been the last couple of days, hasn't it? Absolutely crazy and uncertain and confusing times.

So I wanted to talk today about how you can take care of your business and also yourself during some of these uncertain times.

First of all, I want you to take a breath with me.

All is going to be well, we are in this together and if you have a plan like I always do, it's so, so important to be flexible with the plan.

I've already recorded like episode 23, 24, 25, 26 of this podcast, and this week and next week was going to be all about a sale on this masterclass that's really popular called Raise Your Rates with Intention and Integrity.

And I thought, Nope, that is not what people need to be doing right now. People do not need to be raising their rates right now. People need to be taking a step back, re-evaluating and figuring out how to go forward.

So if you have a plan like me, be flexible. That's the first tip. Be flexible and be ready to throw it out the window if necessary and go on to plan B, plan C, plan D, E and F if necessary.

You’ve got this. I know that you can do this, so I'm going to give you five things today that are actionable things that you can actually do, rather than sit and watch the news and let yourself spiral.

I have found for myself and other therapists who I'm working with, that having some actionable stuff that you can do empowers you with a sense of agency. You feel like, okay, here's something that I can do.

There's so much we can't control right now.

I wanted to give you some things that you can do and the #1 thing I want you to think about is calming your central nervous system, yours and your clients.

We are so, so lucky as massage and body work therapists because we have this huge number of tools in our toolkit. We know all about the central nervous system.

We all know all about the stress response and the relaxation response, and now is the time to use your knowledge and your skills for not only your your clients, but for yourself as well.

I want you to remember that you need to come from a full cup when you are serving your clients and whether you're not actually seeing them, perhaps in the next couple of weeks you still want to be of service to them.

But you can't do that unless you are coming from a full cup. You can't do that if you're depleted, you can't do that if you're anxious, you can't do that if you're terrified.

So first and foremost we're going to calm our own central nervous systems. And I'm sure that you know how to do this. I've been on some other podcasts and some other teleconferences sharing with other business owners how they can do this.

But I know that you know how to do this. Let me just give you a couple of reminders that you can use for yourself and for your clients. Number one, turn off the news. Turn off the news. You are going to get the information, especially in a crisis like this, no matter what. So watching the news assaults, not only our vision, but also our hearing, you know?

We're getting it from two different senses. If you need to keep up with the news, I suggest getting online and reading a news source that you trust in the morning and then once again at dinner, not right before you go to bed, because that's going to make it harder for you to sleep. So check the news perhaps twice a day, once or twice a day, and you will, I promise, be kept up with the important information that you need.

Secondly, breathe. It's really, really important to breathe. If you know of any breathing techniques or exercises that you share with your clients to engage the relaxation response, use those right now. Breathing is key.

Sleeping is so, so important. Practice good, sleep hygiene. Make sure you're going to bed at the same time every night. Make yourself get up at the same time every morning. Try to get into a routine. Even if you're not going into your office, try to get into a routine that you stick to so that your body feels good and it knows that it's time for sleep when you lay down in bed.

Try some aromatherapy. I know a lot of you are really into essential oils, and almost all of us have some background in essential oils so you can create your own blends.

You can use your knowledge of essential oils because remember when we use our sense of smell, it goes straight into the limbic system — it goes straight into those deepest parts of our brain to calm and soothe the central nervous system.

Another thing that you can do right now to calm your nervous system is lean into your faith. Whatever that faith may be, whether it's an organized religion or being outside, or maybe nature is part of your faith, or whatever it is that brings you a sense of spiritual calm, knowing that you are a part of something larger than just yourself. Lean into that right now. This is so, so important as we're moving forward.

Finally, I want you to consider doing something that you would want other people to do and that is call somebody in your town who is a massage or bodywork therapist and ask if you can buy a gift certificate from them.

They'll get the income right now and you will have a bodywork session ready to go whenever you and the therapist are ready to use it. Doing something like this, reaching out to help other people in the same spot that we're in does magic — not really well, maybe magic — energetically to help move the energy in a positive direction. So think about doing that. Be the change that you want to see in the world.

So number one, first and foremost is calming your central nervous system.

Number two, during uncertain times, it is so, so, so important to be proactive. Now that doesn't mean you cannot be yourself and have what I call a pity party. I had a big one for myself the other day where I cried, I was scared. I threw around a bunch of F bombs cause I was scared and angry.

You know, anger is always about fear, right? Underneath anger is fear. And I screamed a little bit and that was my body's way of processing some of this new information, some of the new reality around us. For me, it's so, so difficult when I think of those who have so much less than I do, I go to this place of how can we help? I feel helpless. How can I help other people? And that gets me frustrated and angry and scared.

So do what you need to do to process through any emotions that are coming up for you.

And then it's time to get scrappy. Then it's time to be proactive. I want you to reach out to your people, all of your people, all of your clients on your client list, not just the people who are calling right now in canceling or rescheduling, or who you are rescheduling, reach out to all of your people.

And I'm not talking about a blanket email for everybody. That's fine if you need to get the information to them quickly that you're going to close. I'm talking about reaching out with a thoughtful email that you personalize for each person on your client list.

Let them know that you care about them as a human being, not just a source of income.

Connect with these people, connect with your people. Let them know that you are there for them. And if you're not quite sure what to write, I've got a link that I'll put into the show notes here that will take you to an email template that I created so you can use it as a jumping off point. You can change the information so that it reflects you and you can use that to reach out individually to every single person on your client list.

This will be huge for you, and for them, because we have social distancing, but we don't want to be isolated.

We don't want to constrict in on ourselves, close in on ourselves. We want to continue to be expansive and continue to be of service.

After you do that initial outreach, personalized outreach to each person. I am reaching out to my clients, my CranioSacral clients, every couple of days with a group email newsletter that suggests something that they can do to take care of themselves. Something like we've just spoken about — aromatherapy or sleeping habits or breathing exercises is something that you can do to offer value every couple of days. If you don't feel comfortable doing it every couple of days, every week or so is fine.

We're talking about actually stepping up and being of service to the people who are already a part of your world who are already connected with you.

Number three, we need to roll with the punches. Like I said earlier, I am not a particularly adept at this!

I like to have the plan in place. I always tell my husband: I am a totally flexible person and as long as I know what's going to happen. Yeah, so I know how hard this can be, but it's so, so important right now to be flexible, to improvise, to get scrappy. How can you meet the needs of your clients right now? How can you offer value?

So if you are still seeing clients, by the time you hear this, you and their kids are home from school, for example, you can offer to have the kids come in with them. If that's something that they would like.

If you're not seeing clients any longer, you could offer other ways to be of service. For example, we were talking about that aromatherapy earlier. You could offer your clients, a personalized, individualized aromatherapy scent for you that I'll deliver to your door for X amount to help you through these next couple of weeks.

You could create a playlist, you could create a playlist of music that you often play in your treatment room. People love the music we play in our treatment rooms. Why not create a playlist for all of your people and send that out to them in an email newsletter, especially if they have kids at home, especially if they're working at home, they are going to need to calm that jangled central nervous system and music can be really helpful for that.

And speaking of that, speaking of playlists, I've created a playlist for you! It's called Step Into Your Power. And I was listening to it yesterday as I was working. It's about 90 minutes long and it's got some funny songs. It's got some motivational songs. (I will give you a warning that if you've got kiddos at home, there are a couple songs that are labeled explicit. So you may want to put your headphones in. If not, crank it up, crank those speakers up. It'll be great fun for you. A playlist is a fun, easy way for you to share and to support your clients.

If you do distance healing, if that not outside of your scope of practice, that's something to consider. You can offer distance healing to your folks.

You can also be starting to think about new offerings that you can create. It could be online. I used to do a study circle. I had a theme, and we would read three books, one book each month, and then we would get together in person to discuss the books and to talk about the books and they paid for this. They paid to be a part of the study circle, but you could easily do the same thing virtually.

Remember, you're trying to help your people, even if they might have to practice social distancing. They don't have to necessarily be isolated, so think about ways that you can connect with your people through other interests. You have other ways that you can support them without actually having to be in their presence and touch them.

Number four for coping during uncertain times, make good use of your downtime.

Do not sit and fret. Well. Actually, you can sit and fret for a little bit, as I said, have your pity party. Let your body process what you’re feeling and then get down to it.

There are tons of ways that you can use your downtime. I have had so many people inside of The Bodywork Project sharing the things that they're doing during their downtime. Some are doing continuing education stuff online. Some people are working on The Bodywork Project materials, which help with creating a foundation for your business. They're working on their marketing materials, they're working on their websites, they're working on their email newsletters. You can use your time for that.

You can use your time downtime to brush up on your anatomy. I always loved doing that because I know I'm a dork, but I love going deep into the brain stuff. I can just sit and flip through Netters for hours on end, so you can use your time well without going to that scary place.

The LAST thing that you want to do to spend your time doing is scrolling through Facebook or Instagram because there's a lot of misinformation out there right now, and there's a lot of folks who I'm sure are doing their best, but they're scared. A lot of people are scared. We're all scared a little bit, so don't hook in to that negativity.

Do your best to surround yourself both virtually and in your home with people who are positive and uplifting and who you feel are supporting you. You can use your downtime for so, so many really solid, useful things. During this time, I want you to take advice from my good friend Bob Dylan. He's not really my good friend, but I love his music.

Just keep on keeping on, keep going, keep breathing, keep doing your thing. Use your downtime to brush up on things that when your client docket is filled, you don't have time to do.

Finally, the last thing that I want to talk to you about today — I want you to really hear me. You do not have to do this alone. I want you, as I said, to surround yourself with positive like-minded people who are going through the same thing that you're going through. Find yourself your pack. Find your group of smart, savvy, kind people who are lifting you up and who have your back. These are the people, whether it's a virtual community, a church community, it could be your family, find your community, the people who let you have your pity party.

They let you break down in tears and then they say, okay, we're here for you. Let's lift each other up. How are we going to go forward? That's the kind of community you need in a time like this, and I have created a couple of resources around uncertain times like this.

I'm going to continue to update those as we go along because as I said, the situation is changing by the hour, by the minute, so if you would like to go to that resource, it’s www.mindytotten.com/heart and you can go there and use all of those resources.

I want you to share them with as many people as possible. There is no opt-in, you don't have to give me your email to access these resources. But then I thought about and I thought if you want to, if you want to be a part of our community, please, you are so welcome to join us.

There's a an opt-in form at the bottom of that resources page, Mindy totten.com/heart and you can give us your email and we will welcome you gladly welcome you into our community.

I don't want you to think you have to do this alone. I don't want you to feel isolated. I don't want you to feel scared. There are other people here for you. We would love to welcome you and there are a lot of other communities that you can be a part of as well. So if you have any questions at all, if there's anything that's bothering you, reach out. hello@mindytotten.com and I would be happy to get back to you if you're feeling alone.

If you're feeling scared, reach out. There are other people out there. We're all going through this together. Download that playlist. I think that'll help you feel better and stay tuned.

I will probably be doing several bonus episodes in the next couple of days as we figure out how to navigate through this together. So please remember I am holding you in my heart. I love the work that you're doing. The work that you're doing is so, so important. You deserve to make a great living doing it. Keep the faith and keep doing your beautiful work.

Thanks for coming on this journey with me today. I know what it takes to find time to fit something like a podcast into your busy day, and I so, so appreciate that you tuned in and listened to all the way to the end. We've got all the links from today's episode in the show notes that you can find over at MindyTotten.com/podcast. That's Mindy Totten, T O T T E N.com/podcast.

If you really enjoyed today's conversation, I'd love for you to take a quick moment to leave a review on Apple podcasts. And make sure that you subscribe so that you can download each episode as soon as it comes out.

That'll help us get this podcast in front of more massage and bodyworkers like you, so that we can all work together to make the world a touch kinder.

Okay. That's it for today. It's my pleasure and my privilege to be with you on this journey. I'll see you next week, same place, same time. Until then, get out there and Do It With Intention.