Way back when I started this blog I was in the final stages of tidying up a manuscript for a practice building book. In my mind, the blog was mainly a vehicle to connect with practitioners while I wrote and eventually released the book. Well, life has a way of taking its own twists and turns and my manuscript ultimately became my online course and community, Practice Abundance.

People often ask me if I regret not getting my book published and out there and my response was always, “Kinda”. I truly feel like my book was meant to transform into Practice Abundance, but it did bum me out that there wasn’t a printed book that people could get their hands on to help them grow their practices. There is something powerful about the printed word, after all.

But there’s good news! I no longer feel “kinda” bummed out! Hoorah! Hoorah! Dan Clements and Tara Gignac N.D. have stepped in to fill the void by publishing their outstanding book, The Practitioner’s Journey. I was fortunate enough to get an advance copy of the manuscript from Dan, so I’ve read it and can honestly say that I think it’s an invaluable resource for people looking to grow their practices. Let me say it again: invaluable. I give it 5 stars, you know, if I had stars to give out…

If you’re feeling like you could stand to have a book to guide you as you grow your practice, you can check out this blog post that describes the book and all the delicious gifts that it has in store for you.

And if an online course and community seems like your thing, just a reminder that Practice Abundance will open to new students this July so if you’re interested in getting information on that, you can get on the list here.

I hope your practice building journeys continue to unfold beautifully and that you are sharing your healing goodness with the world- the world needs it!

Wowee folks. I absolutely did not anticipate falling off a cliff like that. My apologies for taking so long to post.

So here’s the story: I launched my online practice building course, Practice Abundance, and it, and several other things, have taken off like crazy. It’s funny how sometimes you don’t realize that putting one thing out there will lead to a whole host of other opportunities.

The update:

• Practice Abundance continues to move along beautifully with its first group of students. I’ve been so honored to work with them and have been totally delighted with all the fab feedback I’m getting. This first group wraps up the course in less than a month, and then I’ll be opening it up to new students in early July. If you missed it the first time and want to get more information about it the next time it opens, you can get on the list here. I only open it up a couple of times a year for brief periods (to make sure that everyone who does sign up is well taken care of) so if you think it might be of interest, hop on the list for more info.
• I launch a new website and digital magazine, Adventures in Well-Being, this summer! I’m so excited about this project! It’s a place to hear people’s stories of healing, celebrate all the goodness of eating good food, moving playfully and with passion, doing work that nourishes you and the world, and lots of other treats that help us to live the good life. I’ll send out a message when it’s up, and in the meantime if you know of an amazing practitioner who I should interview, or if you or someone you know has an amazing story of how they healed from an illness or injury, please get in touch at brooke [at] thewellpractice [dot] com. (I haven’t lost my marbles. I just write it like that so the spam bots can’t harvest my email address…)
• I just opened the new New Haven Rolfing! My dear friend, Sarah Aldrich, and I just finished a big conversion of a totally raw space in downtown New Haven. We had our giant kick off grand opening party last week and are settling into our new digs. It was a big project, but it’s been well worth it. As a side note: I took on this space so that I would have room for another Rolfer to join my practice. I am overflowing with work and can’t expand my offic hours due to the aformentioned myraid of projects. If you’re a Rolfer who thinks New Haven sounds like a charming place to be, also email me at brooke [at] thewellpractice [dot] com.
• Oh, and I auditioned for the Oprah Winfrey Network on a lark. It was mostly an exercise in getting over my camera shyness- but if you want to see the result of me facing my fear you can go here (and hey, while you’re at it, vote for me?)

So yes, things have been deliciously busy over here. And on that note, you sadly won’t see me around this blog much in the future. I’ll keep it up as a free resource of articles on practice building. While I’m sad to leave this baby behind, I’m looking forward to following my heart into the current and upcoming adventures.

 If you want to hear more from me, you’ll hear plenty on Adventures in Well-Being once it launches, and over at Practice Abundance. To stay connected to the crazy train that is my mission in the holistic health world, friend me at Facebook or follow me on Twitter.

Thank you for all your kind comments and connections through The Well Practice. It’s been an honor to e-meet you all here!

If you’re looking for the most useful posts to get your practice happening, these are the greatest hits:

How to Become a Local Rockstar

What’s Your Why?

I Am Not A Robot

Good Design. Get Some.

Kicking It Off On the Cheap

Practicing Radical Generosity

Why Does the Word “Networking” Make Us All Want to Shower with a Brillo Pad?

Non-Sensical Panic Attacks

Debbie Downer Talks Features Vs. Benefits

The Love and the Problem

The Healing Martyr Myth and the Root of All Evil

Wow time sure does fly! The Practice Abundance Course opens to students from March 17th to March 20th, er, that’s two days away!

So just a quick post to point you to the sneak peek resources in case you missed them.

You want the complete course outline? You got it. Here’s all the information about all the goodies we’ll be learning over the next three months.

And if you’re wondering how this whole online course thing works, and what kind of support it includes, well that’s right over here.

Those of you who read the blog know me pretty well by now, but for you new readers, this is where you can find out all about who I am and decide if I’m the kind of person you’d want to learn from.

If you think you might be interested get on the list to be notified when we open for enrollment. I’m only taking on a small number of students this go around, so if you think it might be for you I’d mark your calendar.

THE LOVE:

Over and over again here’s the story I always hear from wellness practitioners about why they decided to study what it is they currently practice: One day it occurred to them that if they ever truly wanted to party with Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton that they would have to A. have a job that made a TON of money and B. have a job that was sexy and flashy enough that all the VIP clubs would want to take them straight to the front of the line and comp them all the overpriced champagne they could drink.

So, with that goal in mind they sat down at a desk and made a list of all the jobs that would fulfill both requirements A and B. Turns out acupuncturist, massage therapist, naturopathic doctor, yoga teacher, therapist [enter your modality here] wound up being at the top of the list, so off they went to school and upon graduation they started partying with spoiled celebrities and lived happily ever after…

Sound familiar?

No.

Exactly. When you decided to study whatever it is you practice some part of your being- your heart, your body, your gut, your mind, your spirit, or perhaps all of the above- called out to you and said, “Yes. This.” and you dove into it not for any promise of what life would look like after graduation, but for the love.

And it was easy to bask in the love while you were in school. You were surrounded by like minded people who shared your same passion and you were all diving headlong into work that was coming straight from your heart.

But I’ve found that after graduation things change. There’s still the love, of course, but it often gets silenced by a sneaking and very unpleasant feeling that you’re now in the business of convincing people to pay you. Which sucks. It’s hard to love that feeling.

I think what happens is a version of “deer in headlights” syndrome. There you are, basking in the glow of a concentrated period of time spent with colleagues just gleefully geeking out on what you love about what you do, and then you come back to Earth. Where not everyone knows just how endlessly fascinating fascial anatomy, or Udayana Badhna, or the joys of using intersection needling points can be, and so you wind up feeling like an arm-twister.

What are you supposed to say to potential clients? “No really! This work can change your life! Just hand over some money and you’ll see- it’s amazing!” Depending on the tone you’ve become a used car salesman at best and a cult leader at worst. And so you retreat. You hope that your love for your work and the tremendous value it has to offer will shine through, but you’re not sure how to get the word out without feeling like a sleazoid.

THE PROBLEM:

Our schools, while great at teaching us how to be highly skilled practitioners, seem to be at a loss about mentioning that we need to actually know how to get clients through the door (i.e. manage to pay our bills doing this thing we love so much and are really pretty good at.)

Don’t get me wrong, I love our schools for creating places where more and more generations of practitioners can be trained to positively impact the world. I love, love love that. I adore it. Really. However, I also wish- forgive me for my bluntness- that they would take their heads out of their collective asses and find a way to give this skill set to their students before graduation (really, honesty give them what they need, not mess around with telling people useless things like, “You should have a business card.”)

And so here’s my rant. I recently received an email from an acupuncturist where she told me about how her school constantly repeated the mantra, “In 5 years, 50% of you won’t be working as acupuncturists anymore” to the students. That is all. They never followed that sentence with one that started, “so here’s how you can avoid being a part of that 50%…” Gee thanks guys, the future’s feeling pretty bright now! Here’s my tuition check- or shall I just flush it down the toilet!? To the schools I would like to respectfully say: Don’t take our money, put us through your schools, tell us how we’ll likely fail, and then send us out into the world with no attention paid at all to how we might avoid becoming the aforementioned statistic.

What is wrong with this picture? Why are they such defeatists? What do they think the awful statistics are about? That people who studied acupuncture don’t actually care about acupuncture? That acupuncture doesn’t actually have much to offer people? That they tend to have lazy or flaky graduates? Or could it maybe, just possibly, be because people who love what they do and are committed to sharing it with the world enter that whole private practice thing with little to no idea of how to do that successfully? Maybe? Ya think? Ok, rant over.

AND SO…

In general I find that complaining about what other people should be doing is an ineffective strategy for creating positive change. I can’t really think of many times that straight up complaining got anyone very far. Imagine if Rosa Parks only complained loudly and ceaselessly amongst her friends about how unjust sitting in the back of the bus was, without ever plopping herself in the front of that bus and thereby claiming her own power to make a change? The former strategy wasn’t likely to change history. The latter? Pretty effective.

Ok, so I’m no Rosa Parks. I think that’s fairly obvious. However, because of my own experience of struggling through my first three years in practice and then falling in love with practice building (no one is more surprised than me…) there does happen to be one thing I can do to make some change. I figure if I can pass on the tools and create a place for a supportive community of complementary and alternative medicine providers to gather, then maybe we’ve got a shot at changing the lame statistics. And if we change the lame statistics, then we’ll have a lot more practitioners around and a lot more people getting the help they need.

And so I built the Practice Abundance Course. It’s an online course that is the result of nearly ten years in practice, starting three practices from scratch, one ebook, one mega manuscript for a printed book, a year and a half blogging about practice building, and lots of conversations with practitioners who felt just as helpless and hopeless as I did when I was starting out. I designed it to be the FULL course that our schools left out, coupled with community warmth and support.

It will be open to new students from March 17th to March 20th (kicking it off between St. Patrick’s Day and the first day of spring seemed fortuitous enough…) and I’ll only be taking on a small number of students this first round. The soonest it would open again is this summer, so if you think this might be for you I’d get on the list to get all the delicious freebie information about it that I’ll start sending out this week.

Happy practice building!

Every once and a while I have an epiphany that I’ve had maaaaany times before, and I realize that maybe (just maybe) I should listen to it this time.So what was it? “Do the stuff you’re good at and hire others for the stuff that they’re good at, so that you don’t waste your time on learning curves that you don’t care about.”

It sounds so simple, no big deal right? Well underlying that epiphany was the more crucial, “The little part of your brain that is terrified of change- the lizard brain- will shape shift in any way it needs to in order to stop all progress and make you think you are sane for doing so.”

Let me back up a little bit. On January 14th to 15th I was in New York City to go to a Triiibes event (a two day meet up of those of us who are on Seth Godin’s social network, Triiibes), and then to grab dinner with Seth himself and the rest of the Triiibe (!), and go to his first talk about his new book, Linchpin. I read Linchpin on the train ride down and then lived and breathed the ideas in it for two very inspiring days. If you haven’t read Linchpin, first, go get a copy. Second, here’s a very brief synopsis of the ideas that I’m referring to in this post:

Here’s what Seth’s book is a call to action for: Do work that matters, solve interesting problems, connect, create, lead, give the world a gift (preferably several)- in other words, be a linchpin.

Here’s what’s holding us back: First, you don’t have to be a worker drone for the industrial era/capitalist machine anymore, but unfortunately it is what you were trained to be in school. Schools evolved to create complaint workers. (”Color inside the lines!”)

Second, your lizard brain, otherwise known as “the resistance”, is the first part of our brain that evolved millions of years ago. Its main concern is keeping you safe- so it fears ALL change like it’s a life or death issue, and takes any steps it can to stop your progress.

So I leave New York feeling full of clarity and excitement since I also happen to have this big project brewing that I want to launch in March. What perfect timing! I’m finally putting all I’ve learned from my 10 years in practice, blogging here for over a year, one mega manuscript for a printed book, one free ebook, and many conversations with my fellow CAM providers about their own triumphs and trials into one master place: an online course and community on how to grow and sustain a practice that not only pays your bills, but also feeds your spirit.

Yup, it’s a biggie (more info to follow in my next post…) and I’m feeling pretty confident that my fresh perspective on the lizard brain will keep it from interfering in my course. I’ve got your number lizard brain! This project is going to launch on the day I promised it would launch and no little internal saboteur will get in my way!

Turns out I’ve gotten very good at spotting certain signs that I’m being controlled by the lizard brain. When I spend an hour at the computer constantly cycling between checking my email, Facebook, and Twitter- the lizard is in control. When I start off working on something essential and 15 minutes later I notice that I’ve gone down some rabbit hole and am doing something pointless like cleaning out my sock drawer- yup, lizard brain. And when I keep complaining about how crazy busy I am (I’m a single mom! I have to keep my practice afloat! I need to write on my blog! I’m trying to launch this big thing!) and yet, somehow, I miraculously find time to hang out with my friends and to never miss an episode of 30 Rock? Lizard brain.

Honestly I’m in awe at how much progress I’ve made since reading Linchpin. It’s amazing how much less time things take when you separate out the pointless time wasters from the meaningful work.

This is where my lizard brain went undercover and got me.

Lizard brain (in disguise as sane brain): “Well you know Brooke, if you’re going to build this thing you might as well do it right and build the whole thing on your own from scratch this time. It’ll save you money and you’ll learn a lot about the technical details.”

Brooke (thinking this is her sane brain): “That’s a great idea! I’d feel so accomplished and proud of myself, PLUS then I’d have an excuse to waste endless hours on some crap that I don’t care about and am no good at, which will keep me from doing the important stuff. Thanks, sane brain, for helping me to find a loophole to get out of all this progress I’ve been making!”

Yeah, it didn’t go so well. At the end of all the frustrating time spent trying to understand CSS I had exactly no website, and lots of time lost on the important stuff that I actually enjoy.

Lizard brain: 1
Brooke: 1

For now it’s a tie. I’ve hired the lovely Taryn Wallis over at Phenomenoodle to set up some of the stuff I’ll need on a platform that I know and love (Wordpress). Time to keep it simple. Thanks to Taryn for seeing my distress flags on Twitter and reaching out- glad to have you on my team.

For the rest of you, dear readers, where can you get help on the stuff that’s not your strength and save yourself the angst already?

And- most importantly!- where is your lizard brain shape shifting and keeping you from doing the important work? How can you get back to it?

Parting tip one: my lizard brain and I have been talking lately as in, “Hi Lizard Brain, I know you’re scared and threatened and all, but I really don’t think I need to check my email for the 20th time this hour. I’m pretty sure nothing important has come through. But thanks.” It’s working (for now…)

Parting tip two: The single best time management technique that I’ve found is the Pomodoro technique. It’s what’s kept time wasters at near zero, and I can make progress without feeling like I’m beholden to some super complex organizational/time management protocol. It’s simple and it works like a charm.

I’m a big fan of growing your practice in a way that’s a fit with your personality. One of my core passions is that we should get rid of our imagined unpleasant practice building activities and ask ourselves to get a wee bit more creative. If you hate public speaking couldn’t you start a blog? If you hate dropping cash on some ad, couldn’t you introduce yourself to your community in other ways?That said, I got on my “you don’t have to do the practice building activities you hate” soapbox after a couple of disastrous attempts that I made very early in my first practice.

Hilarious “What the hell were you thinking” story # 1:

Enter Brooke’s deluded internal voice:
“Hey Brooke, I know you detest public speaking and you get all freaked out and deer in headlight-y even at the thought of it, but why don’t you go on down to that meeting of local chiropractors (none of whom you’ve ever met) and give a talk on just how great Rolfing is? You know, because you get nervous and shy in front of groups of people you’ve never met and you’re a new grad whose ability to talk clearly about the benefits of Rolfing is still working itself out? Doesn’t that sound great?”

And here’s how it turned out:
A group of men who’ve all been in practice for, and known one another for, eons meet up and are sharing that warm familiarity that this kind of history brings with it. Everyone is asking after everyone else’s kids, inside jokes abound, you get the idea.

I show up, the 25 year old woman who’s just moved to town and recently graduated from The Rolf Institute and I timidly (barely) introduce myself to the group.

After they all get seated and their friendly banter dies down, I clear my throat, flush bright purple, begin shaking and sweating, and squeak out a few words about Rolfing. I can’t remember for the life of me what I actually said, but I can assure you the gist went something like this, “Rolfing is really great. And it probably is beneficial alongside chiropractic. And I like it. You should too probably. I just moved here and I don’t know anyone and I don’t have any clients and I’m dyin’ out here guys so if you could please make some clients magically appear on my doorstep I’d be really grateful. They’d be sure to ask you why you sent them to this weird nervous girl, but still, it would help me to eat this month. Thanks.”

I wish I could track down one of those guys so that they could attest to the fact that I am in no way, shape, or form exaggerating here. It was that bad. But I can’t track them down because, bizarrely, none of them ever referred to me or spoke with me again.

Hilarious “What the hell were you thinking story” # 2:

Enter Brooke’s deluded internal voice:
“Hey Brooke, I know that chiropractic talk was awful, but this time one of your clients actually invited you to this gathering of local people/political fundraiser type-deal. Sure you’ve never met any of them before and you still get nervous surrounded by strangers and that whole debilitating shyness thing takes over, but I’m sure this time it’s gonna be great! These people are going to be so psyched that you showed up with so many business cards to hand out!”

And here’s how it turned out:
I do get some points for progress because at least I wasn’t giving a presentation on Rolfing. But I was there to talk it up, so I timidly mentioned to everyone that I met that I had a new Rolfing practice in town. That is, until the saucy lady with the dramatic gestures heard the word “Rolfing” from across the room and started yelling towards me, “Rolfing! Rolfing! Oh my God!” (This was not in a delighted or happy tone. Her tone skewed more towards horrified.)

You haven’t met this lovely party-goer before, so you don’t know just how commanding and over the top her gestures are. So I’ll tell you this, she now had the attention of literally everyone there, and they were all forming a circle around her. Once she had everyone’s full attention she then began telling them exactly what Rolfing was all about: “It’s like you’re a chicken being de-boned! It’s awful! It’s practically abuse. Horrible! Horrible!”

Now folks, first off, um this is not true. But Rolfing has this old school reputation for being intense (we’ve evolved, seriously) so by now I’m used to the occasional outburst like this (but no where nearing the fevered pitch of this one). These days when the Rolfing-is-so-painful storyline comes up I can laugh with them, talk about it, and soon everyone is giggling and at ease.

But back then? No. I was super sensitive and terrible at rolling with this kind of thing.

She polished me off by asking me what I was thinking moving from Boston to open a practice in Sonoma- implying with very little subtlety that Sonoma didn’t take kindly to outsiders on their turf.

I drove home crying. Good times.

Ok, so I have good reason to preach about taking on practice building activities that feel like a fit for you. That one was learned in the fire.

However, sometimes it’s worth expanding the old comfort zone a little. Sorta a good tip for life in general, I think. It’s been many, many years since those experiences and I recently found myself actually considering teaching a workshop at my favorite local yoga studio.

The problem is, when I sat down to think about what I’d be saying to all the people who would show up for it, I drew a blank. Rolfing is experiential, yet I couldn’t exactly tell a room full of 30 people that they’d each get a session in the 2 hour workshop.

I finally hit on a compromise that allowed me to get in front of a room of people again, but to do it from my strength- i.e. introducing people to my hands and my quality of touch, not some blah, blah, blah about why they should want to pay me for Rolfing.

My dear friend Ellen Lenson teaches an amazing restorative yoga class, and one bonus of restorative (among its many) is that people are in supported, passive poses for long periods of time. Just the kind of thing that’s perfect for a little touch!

I asked Ellen if I could assist her in her class by giving her students a little hands-on work in their poses and she was game. So last Wednesday I got in front of a room full of 30 people and introduced myself as the new Rolfer in town for the first time since the two California debacles (it only took 9 years, but whatever…)

And it was great! Just a short little “this is who I am and why I’m here” intro and then I got to connect with people in the best way I know how- by working on them. The result was that I gave out all the business cards that I brought (they were requested, not foisted upon people), I have one new client who has already come in, and had a lot of really lovely and thoughtful conversations about Rolfing with some of the students after the class.

I’ll be there every Wednesday now, challenging my “stand up in front of a group” fears, and easing in to some new practice building skills.

What could you do to widen the comfort zone circle a bit?

I’ve got great news! I failed! OK, so no one ever gets that excited about failure in the moment. And yes, it’s a wee bit humbling to write a blooper reel post for all of you today. But when I announced I was kicking off a new practice from scratch I promised total honesty, even with the flops. So here goes:

That whole Meet the Neighbors promotion that I dreamed up to keep my December busy? It was a total wash.

In my haste to keep momentum going through December (which I can tell you- brutal honesty remember!- didn’t work. The last 2 weeks of December and first week of January were quiet as usual) I broke one of my own most sacred rules and did the whole wide net thing. You know the one: toss out a big old net to everyone you can possibly think of and you’ll dredge up something which is better than nothing. Except it never works. It’s only a sure fire way to maximum effort and minimum return.

The sacred rule that I broke is this: do practice building outreach for who would be your ideal** clients, and forget about trying to reach and please everyone.

Seth Godin (who yes, I quote constantly, but it’s because it’s well deserved) described it best when he said, “the problem with huge markets is the same problem you’d have playing squash or racquetball on a court that’s too big. The ball doesn’t have a wall to bounce off of.” This is a great visual- imagine trying to play racquetball in an open field. Imagine whacking that ball with all your might only to send it off into empty space and you get a feeling for how exhausting and fruitless trying to target everyone is. If you can get on a proper sized court, so to speak, you can get a good game going. You also don’t waste energy sending balls out into the void.

So let’s break down the damage on the Meet the Neighbors idea.

Lost:

• About 3 hours of my time
• $60 in the cost of printing, shipping, and envelopes
• Potentially $60 in income (The only person who took advantage of my 50% off deal was the only person in the building that was already a client of mine. He may have been spurred into setting up a session because of the promotional discount- in which case I gained $60 I wouldn’t have had. Then again, he may have come in anyway and paid my full fee- in which case I lost $60. I think we’ll call this one a toss up.)

That means… drumroll please… that exactly no one who was new to my practice took advantage of the 50% off offer. No one. Nada.
For comparisons sake, I reached out to a fraction of the number of people through my Help for the Helpers promotion and it jump started my practice in no time flat. And it continues to feed my practice. That first group of people who came to see me are such generous spirits that they keep spreading the word.

So what’s the difference? In the Meet the Neighbors promotion I offered a very generous discount as a holiday gift to people based solely on the fact that they work in the same building as me. In other words, the only thing we have in common is location.

In the Help for the Helpers promotion I offered it only to the people who have been my best fans and referrers over the years: yoga teachers and other CAM practitioners.

Ok. Lesson learned. No more wasting time with those who aren’t likely to be my ideal clients.

The other experiments fared better- I got a good amount of interest from my gift certificate program, and I was right when I predicted that people find a lot of services via flyers in this town. Every time I put up flyers I seem to get between 2 and 5 new clients within 24 hours. These ivy league towns sure do love their flyers! My business is also now up on Yelp, but it’s too soon to report on that one yet. I’ll keep you posted.

So yes, there are some wins among the loss, but the thing I’m most excited about is the failure. Failures range from being a bummer (like this one) to a life altering catastrophe (trust me when I tell you I’ve had one of those). But the thing about them is that you always learn a ton. The learning is almost always more valuable than the loss. Even if the loss hurts like a bitch.

I think we spend so much time walking on eggshells terrified of making a mistake that most of us err on the side of doing nothing. Our educational system rewards those who are the best drones, and drones don’t put themselves on the line and risk failure. They color inside the lines to receive whatever tasty morsel of praise coloring inside the lines promises (hint: it’s not that tasty).

Whereas those who are willing to take a stab at something when faced with the alternative of doing nothing actually gain, well, something. Yes sometimes it’s heartbreak or embarrassment, but coupled with those is always (always) a big quantum leap in your knowledge which can get you where you want to go. All you have to do is dust yourself off and start moving again by putting that new knowledge to work.

Those who try nothing- hoping to not stand out, hoping to avoid criticism or embarrassment, hoping to coast by and that some miracle will drop into their lap what it is they’re truly yearning for- they most often get only more of the nothing.

As Seth Godin says in his newest book Linchpin (which is brilliant and addresses just how we avoid doing the work that matters out of fear so go buy 25 copies and hand them out to everyone you love) “Do the work. Fight the resistance.” In other words- keep going! Do something!

A blog post with footnotes! Hilarious!

*The title of this post is lifted from my dear friend Jonathan FitzGordon who used to own Brooklyn Yoga Center. When I first walked in and saw that he had t-shirts printed up with Brooklyn Yoga on one side and Failure is my Friend on the other, I knew I had found my dream yoga center. He’s currently doing righteous movement work at www.Fitzgordonmethod.com.

**While “ideal client” is a business-speak term that encompasses defining your ideal clients’ demographics and psychographics, I define it as “those who you’d be most delighted to see walk through your door every day, and who are likely to be vocal fans of what you do.”

Twitter is one of those things that’s blowing up in popularity, and with all the buzz (or tweets?) circulating I’ve gotten some emails from practitioners about how to use it as a practice building tool.

I’m certainly no Twitter guru (I only have 381 followers, the horror!). However, I have been using it happily for about 6 months now, and I gotta say I see its merits. And its downsides. So here’s my brief overview of where Twitter shines, where it flops, and how to get started:

The good: My favorite thing about Twitter is that it’s an amazing networking tool. If networking is too gross a word for you, allow me to replace it with, “forming lovely and interesting connections”. I’ve found some great people through Twitter, and deepened my connection to some others who I wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.

For example, I discovered Chris Guillebeau’s work through Seth Godin and quickly fell in love with his blog and Manifestos. I sent him a few @replies (when you precede someone’s Twitter name with the @ symbol, the message shows up in their @ reply inbox, so they know you either mentioned them or wrote to them), and eventually I caught a Tweet of his saying he’d be in NYC for a tweet-up (meet up of Twitterers). Off I went to the tweet-up and we hit it off.

Several months and several emails later, Chris sent a writer who was featuring him in Psychology Today my way and she included me in an article about people who are living unconventional lives (since I’m shamelessly mentioning it here I should tell you that it’s the Jan/Feb 2010 issue, the “Life Uncharted” article, I digress…) Psychology Today and I wouldn’t have connected if it weren’t for Twitter and Chris’s generosity.

I mention this story purely as a super tangible example of how Twitter can make meaningful connections. I connected with Chris, Chris connected me with Psychology Today, and blammo, I have a wee bit of press. However, in truth, the real gem in this whole story is that I’m connected to Chris at all. Media help aside, he’s just a helluva guy doing amazing work. Now that I’ve gotten my Twitter sea legs, I’ve found lots more wonderful people and follow them on Twitter- this, regardless of any other tangible perk- is what makes Twitter worthwhile.

The less good: I had a Twitter account for nearly a year before I bothered to use it. Every time I checked in it seemed like I was caught in a stream of half-conversations that I wasn’t a part of. It felt pointless and time consuming to me. However, once I found some people who I wanted to connect to, I was a part of this wacky form of communicating, and I grew to really enjoy it.

That said, focus first on finding people who you want to communicate with. The best way to find people you want to follow on Twitter is to see if the people who you already are in touch with are on Twitter (people whose books or blogs you read, or friends and family). In addition, it’s great to see if any businesses that you like have a Twitter account.

This can be especially helpful for growing a local practice if you connect to your local businesses. It can be something really direct, like a Pilates teacher deciding to follow a local massage therapist’s Twitter feed, or it can be really indirect. If you’re a local massage therapist, why not connect to the local restaurants that have Twitter accounts? That way you’re deepening your connection to your community in general, and you’ll be top of mind when anyone in town is asked for a massage referral.

Do I use it this way? Not yet. It’s one of my new experiments, since I mostly connect with people all over the world related to health and wellness. But it seems like a great way to get your name spread around town, so I’ll give it a shot and report back.

Another not so good feature is the huge potential time suck. Keep time boundaries on your Twitter use. Try your best to use it at least daily, but in small chunks of time. I find that if I can check in for 5 to 10 minutes in the am and pm, I’m good. When I find I’m clicking everyone’s links and going down too many rabbit holes, I have to cool it. I don’t need more black holes for my time to fall into.

Getting started:

How do I learn the nuts and bolts? If you want to know the basic stuff like how to respond to people or what the hell a re-tweet is, just grab something cheap and easy like Twitter for Dummies (I’d grab the edition co-written by Laura Fitton @pistachio to Twitter users). Don’t bother laying out a bunch of cash for some social media guru’s product. This isn’t rocket science.

What do I write about? Always remember that Twitter is a social medium, not a place people show up because they’re craving more spam and sales pitches in their lives. Be you, write about what you’re up to, what goodies you find, what you care about, and shine a light on other people doing good stuff, but don’t directly pitch people.

I’m glancing over my Twitter profile (where I can see recent Tweets I’ve sent) and it’s a hodgepodge of stuff: everything from talking with a fellow mom who’s home sick with one of her wee ones, to lamenting that a recipe of mine didn’t turn out, to re-tweeting someone else’s link about one cruise ship making the grotesque choice to go forward with their scheduled stop in Haiti so their passengers could frolic on a Haitian beach while armed guards stood by (seriously). On any given day I could be tweeting about a lot of different things, but they’re all things that I care about and that reflect what I’m up to.

Where can I go for phenomenal inspiration? Yes, I did say not to spend money on any social media guru’s overpriced products if all you want is to figure out the nuts and bolts of Twitter. However, thanks to the goodness of Chris Guillebeau (who is getting quite a lot of mentions in this post!) and Gwen Bell, there is an alternative to the smarmy internet marketing products that clog the “so you want to be a social media superstar” airwaves.

They put together the Unconventional Guide to the Social Web. Gwen’s contribution is the beautifully written, “Yoga for the Social Web”. If you want inspiration about what it means to communicate through social media, I highly recommend. It’s practically poetry. (And Gwen, who co-owns a yoga studio in Japan and is the most un-guru social media superstar I know of, is one of our people. She gets it.)

Some of my fave Tweeps:

If you’re looking for people to follow here are some of my faves (and if you’re looking for me I’m @brookethomas):

@chrisguillebeau
@gwenbell
@lissaboles
@vanessascotto
@melissapierce
@pamslim
@soniasimone
@worldmegan
@jonathanfields
@markheartofbiz
@reese
@havi
@ittybiz
@hellohealth
@marcjohns
@judyofthewoods

2009 has been very good to me, and before the clock strikes 12 tomorrow night I wanted to send you all a brief shout out of gratitude for all your support this year. Spot the ways you helped me (and you) to thrive this year:

1. You read Practice Building 101 and/or the blog and sent me delicious emails to let me know how much it helped you. Spectacular words like “lifesaver” and “THANK YOU” (yes, in all caps), and “joyous” were used, which made me feel like my work is worth something, and that is pretty much the best feeling ever.

2. You emailed me to tell me how delighted you were to find The Well Practice after Googling the words “HARO” and “gyrotonic” together. This may be the funniest search engine word combo to lead to my door thus far.

3. You embraced me as your Rolfer in New Haven thereby giving me good news to report on the blog from the ‘practice building in a crap economy’ front. This had the additional perk of saving me from having to report that I was a failure. Whew.

4. You shared my writing with someone you know who could benefit from it and sung The Well Practice’s praises. (Most recently big thanks to Burton Kent of Acupuncture Clinic Marketing. I finally solved the mystery of where all the new acupuncturists were coming from when one of your readers emailed me and told me you’d shared a link with your list. Thanks!)

5. You (Jenn Givler, Honora Wolfe, and Dan Clements and Tara Gignac) wrote fab guest posts!

6. You are one of the following people whose work inspired the hell out and kept me moving forward. Huge thanks to Seth Godin, Lissa Boles, Chris Guillebeau, Jonathan Fields, Havi Brooks, Naomi Dunford, Hugh MacLeod, Melissa Pierce, and Vanessa Scotto (who is amazing even if her website isn’t link-able yet).

7. You turned one year old on October 17th! (You being my blog)

8. You sat across from me over Indian food, or a latte, or in a park, or over the phone, and poured your heart out about what you really needed to be happy in your practice.

9. You gave me this nifty “thank you as a list” idea in your charming Christmas card.

10. You don’t know this, because I haven’t bared my soul to most of you in a moody cafe or anything, but you helped me climb out of the rubble of a very, very challenging 2008 by showing up here and caring about what I had to offer. Thank you.

And last but not least, here were the top posts of the year:

Feeling Grateful (and Hearing Voices)

Un-Guru

Non-Sensical Panic Attacks

Kicking it Off On the Cheap

Practicing Radical Generosity

Why Does the Word “Networking” Make Us All Want to Shower With A Brillo Pad?

Happy New Years! Sending you all lots of love and happy practice wishes for 2010!

Hi all! This is a guest post from the good people over at Alternative Health Practice- Dan Clements and Tara Gignac. Check them out since they’re also doing great work to help us all thrive in our practices!

There are a lot of names for what we do in practice – alternative, holistic, complementary, integrative. But behind the labels, we all have one thing in common: we’re trying to help others. The catch, however, is that in order to find those people who need our help, most of us have to make some effort to market our services.

Sometimes, though, the very thing that makes many practitioners so good at what they do – their ability to connect with and be sensitive to others -  also makes them very, very uncomfortable with the idea of marketing. Behind many of the questions we get from practitioners is a common theme: I’m shy/introverted/timid/reserved. How can I  promote my practice?

To answer that, let’s start with a few key truths about practice marketing for introverts:

Introverts Have an Advantage

So you’re an introvert. You’re inward-looking. You prefer the company of yourself, or a close interaction with one other person. You’re insightful, a good listener. All these things, as it turns out, make you a kick-ass practitioner, too. What no one may have told you, though, is this:

The same things that make you a great practitioner can make you a great marketer, too.

Not only is being an introvert not a flaw, you also have a unique set of advantages, well-suited for health care and health care marketing.

• You Listen Better – One of the greatest complaints about lousy salespeople and marketers is that they don’t listen. You’re telling them you want green, but they keep sticking red in your face over and over. As an introvert, odds are you’re a better listener than your extraverted counterparts. That means you stand a chance of actually hearing what it is your prospective clients want. What’s the biggest sales technique you’ll hear over and over in sales training? Listen to your prospect. It turns out that you’re a natural.

• You Get Others Talking – It may be that you don’t like to be the center of attention, or it may be those great listening skills, but whatever the reason, introverts have a knack for keeping others talking. That gives you a much better chance of hearing about a health concern or a subtle detail that might never come up otherwise. It means you learn far more about prospective clients than anyone else.

Introversion Isn’t a Character Flaw

We live in a culture that tends to value extraversion. Don’t buy in.

If you tend to be energized by time alone, and a little introspective, you’re in good company. Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Steven Spielberg? Yep – all introverts. Who says introverts can’t find a little success in business?

And remember, just about everyone feels the way you do at some point. You are neither broken nor alone.

Introversion and Extraversion Aren’t Permanent States

Introversion and extroversion are one continuum. We move around that continuum depending on our environment and experience. While there are genetic components to personality, they are, as with most things, not the whole picture:

Even a broad category such as introversion is like Silly Putty once life gets hold of it: a “genetically shy” child whose parents gently encourage her to get herself into the sandbox and mix it up with other kids is more likely to outgrow her shyness by age 12 than a shy child whose parents take her trait as a given. <source>

Instead of thinking yourself as flawed because you’re nervous about getting out there, think of yourself as inexperienced. We don’t blame kids for not being able to ride a bike, we just support them as they learn. You should cut yourself some of that same slack, and go easy on the labels.

Extraversion Isn’t Bad

For many, the idea of marketing a practice isn’t the fear of the actual act of say, networking, but a fear of becoming an icky extravert. That stems in large part from our stereotypical view of the marketer as the deceitful used-car salesman in the plaid jacket and snakeskin boots.

Just as introversion doesn’t mean “loser,” extraversion doesn’t mean “phony.” You can adopt aspects of extraversion without compromising your integrity or losing your personality.

You’re Already Marketing

Those great client skills of yours? Listening, reflecting, connecting, empathizing, assessing, diagnosing, prescribing and teaching? They’re the hallmarks of exceptional salespeople. The ability to truly connect with another person, understand their problem and provide the perfect solution? That’s all sales and marketing is. You learned it in school, and you’re doing it all the time, but no one ever told you. So I’m telling you right now: you’ve been marketing all along. You just need to get comfortable with the idea of expanding your audience a little.

But How?

Here are a few tips to ease your transition.

to read the rest of the post, hop on over here…