Should You Hire a Mentor or Take a Course? Or both? |

Business and Marketing for Massage and Bodywork Therapists

Episode 40.

MINDY TOTTEN:

Hey, Hey there. Welcome back to the Do It With Intention podcast. As you get more and more experienced in your bodywork practice, you are going to need some support on the business side of your practice. Unless you have an MBA or some other business degree, and maybe even then, right, because being a solo bodywork practitioner has its own unique challenges and problems.

But what type of support do you need? Should you hire a mentor or should you take a course or maybe both? I'm currently accepting applications for my private mentoring program that opens just twice a year, once in July and once in January. So I've been having these conversations with some fantastic practitioners across the country.

[00:00:41] What is the difference between a course and private mentoring. And which should you choose if you need support for your business. That's what I'm going to break down for you today. First of all, it is so, so important to remember that if you need help with your business does, that does not mean that you're a failure and it doesn't mean that you've done anything wrong, especially with everything that's going on with this pandemic.

[00:01:07] Getting help for your business is actually very smart. Very wise, a really, really strong move. You didn't learn how to do all of your body work by yourself and there's no way that you can learn everything you need to learn about the business side of your practice on your own either. So that's the first thing.

[00:01:27] Be sure that you're not beating yourself up if you're not getting this business stuff on your own, no matter what you decide to do, when you reach out for help, the act of reaching out shows that you're smart, that you're realistic, and that you're humble and gracious enough to ask for and accept the help that you need.

[00:01:46] So what can that help look like? Should you take a course or should you hire a private mentor or should you do both? When you take a course, especially a business course, you are finding out information. You're finding out the what? What do you need to do to have a successful practice? What is a solid business foundation?

[00:02:06] What are you missing in your practice and what can you do to shore up that business foundation? The course gives you information to answer your questions. Now, as many of you may know, and some of you who are new may not know, I was an English and humanities teacher for 12 years, and I love a good course.

[00:02:28] Unfortunately, I've seen some not so great ones out there. So here are a few things to look for. If you're considering taking a course to sharpen the business side of your practice, first of all, a course should have a proven curriculum that gets results for the students who participate in it. Take a close look at the curriculum to see if it covers the topics that you need to learn about.

[00:02:50] If not, and even worse, if there is no curriculum, you may want to try something else. Some courses are self study and some and self paced and others take you through the material one week at a time so that you go through the curriculum sequentially, usually with a group of other people. Be honest with yourself about this.

[00:03:11] Do you work well independently or do you need more support and accountability? Me, I'm very self motivated so I can have real success with a self study course, but not everyone is wired that way. Finally, how long do you have access to the course materials and will you receive updates as the courses updated?

[00:03:32] Any coursework course worth? Its salt is updated as things change, and the current pandemic is a great example of why that's important. Be clear about how long you have access, of course, can be a terrific way to learn the what in the business side of your practice. If you're looking for the how, then you may need something more than a course.

[00:03:53] Some courses like the bodywork project offer a course and then additional coaching and supporting on top additional coaching and support on top of the course materials. This is a hybrid that works really well for my students because while they have lifetime access to the materials. We have monthly office hours calls where they can get feedback from other students and get their questions answered by me.

[00:04:18] Knowing what to do is a whole different ball game than knowing how to implement what you've learned, and that's where additional support can be really helpful. Look for a course that has a coaching component to it. If you're looking for that level of feedback. Finally, a private mentoring program is when you is where you work one on one with a coach or a mentor to tailor the support for you, specifically your specific modality, your specific practice in your specific town.

[00:04:48] You get to tap into your mentors, wisdom and experience with working with lots of, with working with lots of different people to tailor something that is unique for you. Most private mentoring programs are a minimum of three months because that's generally how long it takes to see results from your work.

[00:05:06] My program is six months long, and as I said earlier, it's only offered in July and January. Here's how mine works. To give you an idea of what this level of support is like. First of all, interested students. Complete an application@mindytotten.com slash private mentoring. You can take a look at it if you'd like.

[00:05:24] I personally read and respond to each application when I find a practitioner who qualifies for the program. I set up a call with the applicant to hear more about you and your business and to see if we might be a good fit to work together. When we decide to move forward, I send an in depth questionnaire for you to complete before our first call together.

[00:05:45] This first call is a 90 minute deep dive into all aspects of your practice, the business finances, dreams, and visions for the practice. All of it. After the call, I create a six month roadmap to guide us in our work together so that you can achieve your top three goals in the six months that we have together.

[00:06:04] Then we meet twice a month on zoom calls for coaching, feedback, support, and accountability. I answer your questions, but perhaps even more important. I asked the big questions too. And I'm here to help you make the big decisions that you need to make in your practice. Between calls, there's unlimited email support from me as well as notes from the call that I give you so that you know what you should be working on next and you get recordings of the call so you don't have to madly scramble to take notes during our calls.

[00:06:33] And you can go back to the recordings as many times as you'd like. Then at the end of the six months, we recap your progress and set goals for the future. Many therapists choose to continue for another six months, and I'm here to support that however I can. That's the level of individualized attention that you should expect from a private mentoring program.

[00:06:54] Some therapists don't need that level of support. Your business may just need a couple of tweaks and then you can learn those in a course and you'll be on your way. But if you're looking for personalized individual support, you can't be private mentoring. The deadline to apply for July's private mentoring program with me is June 29th and we only have two spots remaining there.

[00:07:16] So if this level of support is what you're looking for for you and your business, I encourage you to apply by going over to MindyTotten.com/private mentoring and completing an application. I would love to talk with you to see if this would be the next best step for you and your business. That is it for today.

[00:07:36] So whether you're looking for a course, a mentor, or a hybrid of the two, I invite you to take the steps that you need to take to get support for your practice. You do great work in the world and it's time you made a great living doing it.