Lisa Cummings of LiveWellByDesign.net, WellProNet Member

Meet Lisa Cummings.

Lisa joined WellProNet when she was ready to transition out of her art director career and leverage her passion for health and healing into a new exciting business. Now she’s traded her daily commute and high-powered meetings for writing helpful newsletters, articles and giving presentations on the power of nutrition.

Here’s what she has to say about being a member of the Wellness Professional Network:

Health and Nutrition Coach

LiveWellByDesign.net

Karin

About the Author and WellProNet.org: Karin Witzig Rozell has been teaching health and wellness professionals how to grow their business since 2003. She started as a nutrition counselor who knew a lot about nutrition, but not a whole lot about business and marketing. After learning some tough lessons she cracked the code and now her passion is transforming practitioners into profitable business owners using the power of authentic marketing strategies.

In 2009, she expanded her private practice and launched The Wellness Professional Network as the go-to place for practitioners to learn about making more money doing what they love.  Karin lives in Upstate New York and works from home with her husband who also runs a successful coaching business.

What makes one wellness pro successful and another not so much?

In my opinion, there are a variety of variables to making more and creating an impact while helping people for a living.

In this short blog post, I share some things I learned from my life as a nutrition pro turned marketing wiz.  

This may be especially helpful for those of you facing a challenge in your practice or simply experiencing some growing pains.

1. There are so many variables to success.

Marketing, mindset, money, organization, self motivation, how you use your time and more.

In time, and with deliberate focused attention, anyone can learn to master them all.

But it does take time and the willingness to experiment.

So try to be gentle with yourself.

This is true for your own business as well as for your clients’ success in your programs.

2. That’s why it’s impossible to take responsiblity for your clients’ results.

There are too many variables that are out of your control.

Just like I can’t give presentations and “close the deal” for my clients, you can’t eat the broccoli and go exercise for your clients.

What you can only guarantee and be responsible for is what you say you’re going to deliver.

Get clear on what aspects of your programs you are in control of delivering and what parts of the process are determined by your client’s rhythm of progress (see variables to success in #1). And be willing to articulate that at the beginning of the work with your clients. That way, everyone’s clear and no “pie-in-the-sky” promises are made. Good for you, good for your clients, and good for your biz.

3. It’s inevitable that your “stuff” will come up as you grow your business.

That’s why being in business for yourself in the holistic health and wellness field is like personal growth on steriods.

Whoever said making money in the life transformation field wasn’t spiritual never took their business seriously.

4. How you respond to your “stuff” makes all the difference.

You will be tested.

Do you really want this? Or do you like the idea of it?

Do you view the “no’s” you receive as rejection or valuable information and an opportunity to tweak your efforts?

The trick is to not make a big deal out of every speed bump you come across.

Everyone self-sabotages, everyone spins their wheels at times, everyone trys things that don’t work.

Try to lighten up about it as best you can.

It’s just part of the process.

5. Some people try to do more when things aren’t working.

But that’s not always the answer. Sometimes it’s the inner work that’s calling.

6. Some people try to meditate more when things aren’t working.

While valuable, these situations often require more consistent outer work and less thinking about it.

IE – Get into action.

You can’t have all action and no inner work.

You can’t have all inner work and no action.

The laws of nature requires relative balance.

7. It’s essential to do all the steps and everyone has their own rhythm to completing them.

You can’t skip learning the business side of your passion and getting out there.

Learning the business side includes choosing a niche, getting in front of people, building an email list, sending your newsletter regularly, and getting to know your target market (or tribe) so well you know them better than they do.

And despite this learning curve, at some point you have to say to yourself, you may never feel like you know enough and that’s okay, let’s get out there anyway.

Some practitioners as they near the phase of getting out there, sign up for more training, more coaching, in an effort to avoid the vulnerability of getting in front of their tribe, facing their fear of rejection and the temporary discomfort of asking to be paid for what they love to do.

And others get out there right away and have to circle back to figure out the marketing know-how.

My preference is to do both at the same time.

Whatever path you’re on, it’s okay. Everyone has their own rhythm for getting there.

The only way you won’t get there is by skipping the steps or trying to get everything perfect.

Just know that you can’t avoid the inevitable.

To your continued success,

Karin

About the Author and WellProNet.org: Karin Witzig Rozell has been teaching health and wellness professionals how to grow their business since 2003. She started as a nutrition counselor who knew a lot about nutrition, but not a whole lot about business and marketing. After learning some tough lessons she cracked the code and now her passion is transforming practitioners into profitable business owners using the power of authentic marketing strategies.

In 2009, she expanded her private practice and launched The Wellness Professional Network as the go-to place for practitioners to learn about making more money doing what they love.  Karin lives in Upstate New York and works from home with her husband who also runs a successful coaching business

Each week I send a 1-2 minute audio tip to members of the Wellness Professional Network.

Since I just hosted an entire 75-minute tele-training on “Avoiding Networking Turnoffs”, I thought to share one of the key concepts that I covered for making ALL of your networking activities really effective and totally authentic.

Listen to this 2-minute audio tip on the secret to getting people to help you grow your own business, by FIRST contributing to THEIR success, before making a request. (Thanks to speaker Jabez LaBret for coining this approach to networking!)

Here it is!

Having trouble with the audio player? Try this link.

To your success,
Karin

About the Author and WellProNet.org: Karin Witzig Rozell has been teaching health and wellness professionals how to grow their business since 2003. She started as a nutrition counselor who knew a lot about nutrition, but not a whole lot about business and marketing. After learning some tough lessons she cracked the code and now her passion is transforming practitioners into profitable business owners using the power of authentic marketing strategies.

In 2009, she expanded her private practice and launched The Wellness Professional Network as the go-to place for practitioners to learn about making more money doing what they love.  Karin lives in Upstate New York and works from home with her husband who also runs a successful coaching business

1) When you need to get more information before you make a decision.

2) You need a few days (not weeks or months!) to let yourself process some feelings about a decision instead of making an impulse choice (great if you have a habit of not thinking and feeling through your decisions)

Waiting is the number one way I see wellness pros sabotage their success. Be it waiting on someone else, waiting for their fears to go away, waiting for the perfect sign from the universe, waiting until they look the part, waiting until they feel certain and more.

I’m not talking about forcing outcomes and pushing hard to make things happen. I’m referring to using your creative skills and talents to consciously create the solutions you want. And solutions do not reside in the energy of waiting on something outside of yourself to do things for you.

A local business in my neighborhood, a fantastic fitness center, recently closed it’s doors for good. The note on the door said “The bank won’t lend us any more money. Let us know if you have any ideas.”

Read between the lines and you get a sense of someone waiting on external factors, in this case the bank, to solve their business challenges. And not having enough income (clients, customers) coming in isn’t a bank issue, it’s a marketing issue. This note also highlights that waiting to ask your customers what they think until you’re about to go out of business is way too late.

Waiting will make you go out of business.

So when does waiting make your wellness biz go broke?

Here are a few situations that are common to wellness pros to consider…

- when you are waiting on staff to get things done for you

If you’re making excuses for your assistant it’s time to seriously consider upgrading your support team.

It’s a horrible feeling to be paying somone to do something for you and ultimately, take ownership of some aspect of your business, and you can’t quite entrust the task to them when you know they aren’t getting it done right. So you end up in this viscious cycle of having to jump in there and take over the task, fueling your belief that no one can do anything but yourself.

It’s something I’ve done many times and it was costly – both in my finances,  in my energy and my business profitability and growth.  And truthfully, it was a way for me to hide out from my next step in my business. I kept hiring assistant who just didn’t do a good job and I kept putting up with it.  Not good.

No more! I can not tell you what a relief it is to have an assistant who is whip smart and on top of everything I give her. It allows me to relax, feel truly supported and divert new energy to serving more clients or creating new products.

Certain qualities, in my opinion, are not trainable and you need to find them in people BEFORE you hire them. Things like thinking ahead, anticiapting your challenges, good work ethic, reliability, having no drama in their life, a sense of being of service to you and your clients and doing an excellent job.

- when you find yourself waiting, and waiting, on your website design team

If your website designer dissappears early on in the project or seems to have a recurring drama in their life that takes them offline for days/weeks,  it’s worth it to change your design team FAST and start over with someone else. Yes, read that again. It’s worth it to start over with someone else!

It’s not unsual for a client to be waiting on their website for months when they make the wrong design team choice.

You need someone who takes their their projects seriously, runs it like a business (not a side business – don’t hire friends in this regard!). Be willing to pay more for this.

- when you wait until you feel you know enough

The greater truth is, you never feel like you know enough. There’s always more to learn. It’s part of being someone who loves learning new things. But staying in learning mode without application and implementation is nothing else but a delay tactic and where many wellness pros hide out through endless certifications and trainings.

- when you put off making decisions

It’s not the decision making process that is painful, it’s staying in the in indecision that feels really uncomfortable. Better to make a decision, make a mistake and learn from it (I’ll admit, I’ve made my fair share!!)  than to avoid this essential skill to becoming successful.

- when you find yourself waiting until you “feel ready” for the next step

If you wait until you feel ready to give a presentation or whatever your next step is, it will take you a year or more to get there. One of the secrets of success in private practice is the willingness to be able to be with your fear and uncertainty and to not let it stop you.

For example, in regards to presentations, all my clients book seminars, with a general idea of what they’ll cover, but get to work on the curriculum AFTER the presentation is scheduled and people are signing up. It definitely feels edgy, but the other way around doesn’t seem to work.

Confidence comes through experience, not through mental preparation alone.

- when someone tells you can’t have what you want

There’s always a way to get what you want. You are only limited by your imagination.

- waiting on someone who can’t or won’t serve you right now

Sometimes, people just don’t want your business. It’s not personal, maybe they are making a change in their focus, have a full practice, are extremely busy, etc…

The flip side of that is that really good experts are usually busy, hard to get to and will make you jump through a few hoops before they consider working with you.

If you get a sense, in your early conversation with someone that you want to work with in some capacity, that they will not be able to serve you in the way that you want, then move on. There’s lots of fish in the pond.

- when someone is working on some aspect of your business and you want to wait until they are done before you move forward

You don’t need marketing materials, websites, business cards or anything to go get your next client. Yes all of that makes it easier, but truthfully, you can make progress right now.

Here’s to letting go of the habit of waiting and to embracing a new, more supportive habit of using your creative thinking to actively leading your wellness biz to the results you want.

To your continous success,

Karin

Tired of waiting on something to happen in your wellness biz? Let me work my magic on your practice in my new Brand and Launch Your Wellness Biz RIGHT program beginning June 3rd, 2010. Only 3 spots left. Get the details here: http://wellpronet.org/branding

About the Author and WellProNet.org: Karin Witzig Rozell has been teaching health and wellness professionals how to grow their business since 2003. She started as a nutrition counselor who knew a lot about nutrition, but not a whole lot about business and marketing. After learning some tough lessons she cracked the code and now her passion is transforming practitioners into profitable business owners using the power of authentic marketing strategies.

In 2009, she expanded her private practice and launched The Wellness Professional Network http://wellpronet.org as the go-to place for practitioners to learn about making more money doing what they love.  Karin lives in Upstate New York and works from home with her husband who also runs a successful coaching business.

Wendy Down of ConsciousnessPlayground.com

Meet WellProNet Member, Wendy Down. Life coach extraordinaire, energy clearing wizardress and Founder of The Consciousness Playground – an online coaching club for those interested in exploring the power of quantum physics in their everyday life.

She is masterful in helping healers and other life transformation experts clear the inner barriers to fully stepping into doing the work they love and making the difference they feel called to do.

Here’s one way Wendy has benefited from her membership at WellProNet.org. Wendy decided to model the WellProNet membership site functionality for her own coaching club and here’s what she had to say about it:

To learn more about joining WellProNet and learning more about authentic private practice marketing for wellness pros, visit http://wellpronet.org/whyjoin

To learn more about WellProNet member Wendy Down, please visit http://consciousnessplayground.com

To your success,

Karin

About the Author and WellProNet.org: Karin Witzig Rozell has been teaching health and wellness professionals how to grow their business since 2003. She started as a nutrition counselor who knew a lot about nutrition, but not a whole lot about business and marketing. After learning some tough lessons she cracked the code and now her passion is transforming practitioners into profitable business owners using the power of authentic marketing strategies.

In 2009, she expanded her private practice and launched The Wellness Professional Network as the go-to place for practitioners to learn about making more money doing what they love.  Karin lives in Upstate New York and works from home with her husband who also runs a successful coaching business.

I also introduced a special, small group, business coaching program for Wellness Pros that begins June 3, 2010 in Saratoga Springs, NY.

To get the complete details, and the extra special annoucement on this call on why I’m doing this program, click here to get the replay (and don’t forget to listen to the end to hear everyone’s questions and reactions to my annoucement).

Here’s that link again: http://wellpronet.org/branding

To your success,

Karin

About the Author and WellProNet.org: Karin Witzig Rozell has been teaching health and wellness professionals how to grow their business since 2003. She started as a nutrition counselor who knew a lot about nutrition, but not a whole lot about business and marketing. After learning some tough lessons she cracked the code and now her passion is transforming practitioners into profitable business owners using the power of authentic marketing strategies.

In 2009, she expanded her private practice and launched The Wellness Professional Network as the go-to place for practitioners to learn about making more money doing what they love.  Karin lives in Upstate New York and works from home with her husband who also runs a successful coaching business.

It’s totally free and I’ll be covering what wellness pros need to put in place to launch (or re-launch) your wellness biz without all the costly mistakes, frustrations and time-consuming guess-work I went through in the first three years of my wellness biz.

This call is especially designed for wellness pros who are in one of these two positions…

1) You’re in the first 3 years of your practice and you have yet to put your brand, message, and marketing into a cohesive, compelling message that makes you stand out from a sea of similar professionals. You know you’re here to make a difference, you’ve taken risks to transition into a wellness career but you haven’t put all the business pieces together yet. And you know you need to, or else you’ll have to go back to your corporate life. You’ve got a lot at stake and you’re ready to take passion for wellness seriously.

2) You’ve been doing your modality for a long time now, maybe 10+ years, and doing well enough, but your marketing and business systems pretty much stink. You’ve been surviving on referrals and word-of-mouth. And since the recesssion hit, your biz may have taken a hit too because of this. You know you’re good at what you do, now you just need to build the business engine to fuel your vision.

In addition to sharing some branding and marketing wisdom you on the call, I’ll also be making two very special, very big, and very personal announcements about me and my own biz and how I can help wellness pros like you, blow past their branding and marketing barriers and re-launch your biz RIGHT.

I hope you can make it.

Details are below:

Karin

TO GET THE REPLAY OF THIS CALL CLICK HERE

Please call in from a quiet location to ensure a good quality sound on the call or press *6 to mute your line if you experience some unexpected background noise. Thanks!
PS – Please get there early, as there are limited spots on the phone line and I don’t want you to be locked out.

About the Author and WellProNet.org: Karin Witzig Rozell has been teaching health and wellness professionals how to grow their business since 2003. She started as a nutrition counselor who knew a lot about nutrition, but not a whole lot about business and marketing. After learning some tough lessons she cracked the code and now her passion is transforming practitioners into profitable business owners using the power of authentic marketing strategies. In 2009, she expanded her private practice and launched The Wellness Professional Network as the go-to place for practitioners to learn about making more money doing what they love.  Karin lives in Upstate New York and works from home with her husband who also runs a successful coaching business.

Make you rich?

Unfortunately, not usually.

Make you an expert? You betcha.

And when you’ve positioned yourself as an expert witha book or two, just like WellProNet Member Alexandra Jamieson of NutritionforEmpoweredWomen.com has, then you get companies like Kashi asking you to do a little video on what you know.

Learn more about Alexandra Jamieon here and click here to see her feature video on food and mood on MSN.

It’s a great example of how to use video to share your expertise.

Karin

Like what you read? Then don’t miss another issue of WellProNet’s Wellness Business Trends and get business savvy about your passion for wellness fast. Sign up for free on the homepage of http://wellpronet.org.

About the Author and WellProNet.org: Karin Witzig Rozell has been teaching health and wellness professionals how to grow their business since 2003. She started as a nutrition counselor who knew a lot about nutrition, but not a whole lot about business and marketing. After learning some tough lessons she cracked the code and now her passion is transforming practitioners into profitable business owners using the power of authentic marketing strategies. In 2009, she expanded her private practice and launched The Wellness Professional Network as the go-to place for practitioners to learn about making more money doing what they love.  Karin lives in Upstate New York and works from home with her husband who also runs a successful coaching business.

So let’s give them what they want in a way that you can feel good about. (Hint – this is the art of making your services irresistbly relevant in action!)

In this members only WellProNet tele-training, I’ll go over one of the hottest trends affecting the wellness market – Get-It-Done-In-One-Day and Done-For-You Programs.

I call these 1-day programs “Wellness Retreats”.

They’re like hosting a private workshop for a client.

And what they’re essentially investing in is speed, instant results and your personalized attention in getting there.

I promise you there is a percentage of your clients RIGHT NOW, within your niche, who would really LOVE this idea.

And so will you once you understand the benefits of offering these types of 1-day Retreats and how effective they are for you and your clients.

In this Thursday, May 6th, 2010 WellProNet tele-training beginning at Noon eastern…

I’ll show you why these kind of offerings are a super fast way to boost your income…

I’ll explain why a certain percentage of your client base wants to spend more one-on-one time with you…

How you can deliver specific, high quality results in just one day… (this could be 3 hours, 4 hours or an actual full-day spent with you)

What kind of services work best in these types of one day programs…

How to creatively design a one-day program for a private client using YOUR talents (and add it to your existing offerings)…

Simple ways to deliver great results in one day…

And a little insight as to where in the world I got this idea from (I got one part from watching a popular Television show - Hint: That is another way to make your services relevant! –  and  the other inspiration from the business consulting world) and how I’ve been doing this myself for the past year.

This tele-training is for current members of WellPronet.org only.

Not a member yet? Click on the following link to find out if membership is right for you: http://wellpronet.org/whyjoin

We’d love to have you join us!

Can’t make the live call? No problem. WellProNet members receive a word-for-word transcript and audio recording of the monthly tele-trainings. So you can listen to the training on your own time. In fact, 75% of members access the membership resources on their own time, so you’re in good company.

Hope you decide to join us!

Karin

About the Author and WellProNet.org: Karin Witzig Rozell has been teaching health and wellness professionals how to grow their business since 2003. She started as a nutrition counselor who knew a lot about nutrition, but not a whole lot about business and marketing. After learning some tough lessons she cracked the code and now her passion is transforming practitioners into profitable business owners using the power of branding with archetypes. In 2009, she expanded her private practice and launched The Wellness Professional Network as the go-to place for practitioners to learn about making more money doing what they love.  Karin lives in Upstate New York and works from home with her husband, Drew Rozell, who also runs a successful coaching business.

Your fear of rejection, backlash and ‘what will they think of me?!’…

Your fear of no one signing up, showing up or people throwing tomatoes during your seminar…

Your fear of standing on your own, standing out, being a leader/guru or expert and taking a chance that not everyone will like you…

All of this is totally natural.

You’re human.

And like all humans, it’s absolutely normal to desire to stay safe and cozy within what you know and not seem too different.

But staying snug as a bug doesn’t get your great work into the hands of the people that want it.

You have to venture into the marketplace, the places where your clients hang out and are open to learning new things.

And that takes courage.

It’s not difficult to learn the biz savvy skills and best practices you need to help you navigate these waters.

It just takes courage.

Courage to send your newsletter consistently, to stand in front of a room of strangers and share what you know, to make follow-up phone calls, to offer your services to a wellness coordinator, to promote your tele-series effectively and so on.

Again, it’s not difficult. It just requires some gumption, an opinion and the willingness to go beyond what your mind says you can and can’t do.

So how do you begin to cultivate courage to share your work with the world?

It’s like working out any muscle in your body.

Over time, with consistent action in the direction you want to go, it gets stronger, more flexible and you become more confident in your ability to flex that “mindset” muscle.

And on the next WellProNet Tele-Training, on Thursday, April 1^st, at Noon eastern we’re going deep into this topic.

In this tele-class you’ll learn:

•  How to deal your fears, worries and doubts that sometimes get the best of you and stunt your progress
• You’ll be inspired by stories from my own not-so-perfect experiences and my wellness pro clients’ real-life tales that will remind you that you ARE NOT ALONE
• The mindset you’ll need to handle criticism as your wellness work impacts more and more people
• How to become aware of a BIG unconscious, unspoken dynamic that wellness pros unwittingly fall into and how to nip it in the bud (I’ve done it too!)
• Practical ways and great resources to build that muscle of courage
• And, you’ll have plenty of time to ask questions, share your thoughts and receive on-the-spot coaching

I’ve never shared so openly and deeply about this topic.

Much of what I plan to cover is the stuff I have only shared, one-on-one, with my private clients.

You’ll want to add this tele-class to your own success library to refer to time and time again. (Yep, those fears, worries and doubts don’t just pop up once!)

And this call is free for members of WellPronet.org.

Not a member yet? Click on the following link to find out if membership is right for you: http://wellpronet.org/whyjoin

Can’t make the live call? No problem. WellProNet members receive a word-for-word transcript and audio recording of the monthly tele-trainings. So you can listen to the training on your own time. In fact, 75% of members access the membership resources on their own time, so you’re in good company.

Hope you decide to join us!

Karin

About the Author and WellProNet.org: Karin Witzig Rozell has been teaching health and wellness professionals how to grow their business since 2003. She started as a nutrition counselor who knew a lot about nutrition, but not a whole lot about business and marketing. After learning some tough lessons she cracked the code and now her passion is transforming practitioners into profitable business owners using the power of branding with archetypes. In 2009, she expanded her private practice and launched The Wellness Professional Network as the go-to place for practitioners to learn about making more money doing what they love.  Karin lives in Upstate New York and works from home with her husband, Drew Rozell, who also runs a successful coaching business.