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…

Thanksgiving has come and gone and we’re entering what is, for many of us, a slow season in our practices. Yes, the tumbleweeds are about to start blowing across the prairie my friends.

Every year since the beginning of my practice I’ve written off that barren stretch of time between Thanksgiving and New Years as a time when everyone is too busy and cash strapped to schedule with me. I had caved to the defeatist in me by consoling myself with the knowledge that the New Year’s Resolution boom always followed.

Eh, I think it’s time for a change. This year I’m just saying “no!” to the inner defeatist! No more tumbleweeds in December!

Ok, ok, to be fair my first couple of weeks of the month are looking as full as usual. But I know that we’re in that lull where people haven’t quite realized just how many commitments they have this month, and just how surprising the cost of holiday shopping is. I figure the time is now to grab people while they’re in their lull and try to keep a little momentum going. After all, we private practice people have gifts to buy and travel to pay for too!

So here are my Operation Thriving December brainstorms that I’m working on. Feel free to steal whatever feels like a fit for you, and to leave your own December practice building ideas in the comments. The more we can share with eachother, the more we can all rock it this holiday season.

• Get to know the neighbors: The wellness center I have my office in happens to be one bright spot o’wellness in a large office building filled mostly with lawyers and mortgage brokers. It’s a bit odd, but it works for us. The thing is, our dear neighbors don’t really know we exist (the center is a year old, and did I mention it’s a big building?). Turns out the holiday season is the perfect time to introduce ourselves to our neighbors with a little ethical bribe gift to inspire them to come on down and get some work. I’m thinking we’ll get some holiday cards or postcards printed up with “Happy Holidays from your neighbors! Hope this gift can bring you some holiday cheer and help you to kick off your New Year’s Resolutions. Bring this card in for 50% off one session if you book between now and January 15th.” with a link to our websites, etc. Yes, 50% is a big heap off a session- but it’s only for one session and we didn’t want it to seem too self-serving. Yes the goal is to juice up our practices, but it is also a gift. In my mind a gift requires a certain level of generosity. If you decide to use this idea- remember the crucial cut-off date. You don’t want to be honoring these things come spring when the whole idea is to keep your winter busy. For printing, I’m looking at Zazzle’s holiday postcards. This design is my favorite so far. Overnight Prints has some custom card and postcard options as well. What neighbors- whether they’re near your office or not- need to know you exist?
• Give thanks: There are always a few people who grow our practices for us like crazy by spreading the good word. You know who they are- they’re your true fans. Methinks tis the season to express our gratitude with a dollar amount off of a session. You decide just how generous you’re feeling- $10 off? $20 off? 50% off? (gasp!) free? Send them this discount thank you in a cheery holiday card and your true fans will be spreading the word about just how fab you are with even more vigor.
• Rock the gift certificates with a little something extra: If you offer gift certificates, don’t sit around waiting for someone to request one. Remind your clients of this wonderful gift idea by sending out an email to your client list. I’m thinking I’ll up the ante a little with a perk for the purchaser: anyone who buys a gift certificate gets $10 (or $20?) off their next session with me. That way they get a gift for themselves at the same time that they’re gifting another, and it insures that they’ll be more inclined to schedule with you sooner than later.

These projects ought to keep me busy through the New Year. However, I usually report on practice building experiments after the fact to let you know how they went, so this time I’ll do a follow up to know what flew and what bombed.

Very Happy Holidays to all of you! And again, I’m just ridiculously honored to be able to be of service to all of you. Thanks for reading.