Category: Uncategorized

We expect the feeling of ‘wow, I’m making a difference’, ‘I’m so happy to help people improve their lives’, and ‘this is why I’m here’, and they are great feelings. The job satisfaction is astounding. However, unfortunately the more common feelings are ‘I’m worried I’ll have to stop because I’m not earning a living’, ‘I can’t afford my CPD’, ‘I’m going to have to get a job that doesn’t help people so I can pay my mortgage’, ‘My skills are being wasted, why did I spend so much time and money on this when it’s not wanted?’ These are the sad reality, day to day for too many therapists. Thoughts are being merely punctuated by the positives, while the crushing reality of a struggling business dominates. How common is this?…

Most therapists I know have been at this for years and are still a long way from full. I know physical therapists with over a decade in practice, who are struggling. I know hypnotherapists of 15 years experience who are nearly empty, I know counsellors and psychotherapists with years in business but few clients and the list goes on. Here's the honest truth – being busy can be accomplished in a few months. So, why are most self employed therapists and coaches struggling? It's simple. How to reach, connect with, and encourage a client to act, is a completely different skill-set from the help we give them. If you were a jeweler, would you expect that fact to also make you an expert jewelry salesperson? If you were a gardener…

I had a question last week about getting help out, and I was asked: what level of Therapist or Coach do you need to be? It brought into sharp focus an issue that happens a lot. When we start out having just trained, we have a lot of learning, but a limited amount of experience. That's where so much doubt and uncertainty can begin. 'Am I good enough to help?' 'Can I offer enough?' 'Should I do more training before I put myself out there?' Sound familiar? Nearly all of us have these thoughts at the start. Especially if we're not busy. The bad feelings of worry about seeing enough clients to make a difference, and can we afford to keep going as a therapist or coach, can funnel into…

We really seem to be conditioned to be uncomfortable around the money side of what we do. I certainly was when I began. Some of it is obvious – we love helping people and that's more important than money. Sure, I get that. We're carers, helpers, and givers. But for some reason we seem to be out of balance on that particular issue. We give, give, give, and so often end up struggling at the end of it. It's really odd, as most coaches and therapists are very clear when giving help to clients, that those clients need to balance their time/energy or they will burn-out and not be able to take care of the people who matter in life. So why are we so poor at allowing ourselves a…

Perhaps the most important question for a therapist or coach, but one we rarely ask ourselves. If we let this question help us, we can end up making a huge difference in peoples lives. By and large we seems to be a species that wants the feeling of doing something useful. We need to feel this even if it is temporary, rather than a more solid action that builds success for real. It would certainly sum up a lot of my early efforts to get busy :) Most therapists I talk to have a litany of things they have tried that were more blind hope than part of a plan. 'I put up a website', 'I put up a sign', 'I worked on a brochure, but didn't get it printed…