As many of you have read, I’m starting from scratch again. I’ve hit my first hurdle: *Licensure. Argh! The legal minutiae! However, it’s important to have all those i’s dotted and t’s crossed. In Connecticut I have to take the NCBTMB exam. Because my two previous practices were in states that didn’t require national certification, I never took it. That’s right folks, I have to study for a test nine years post graduation and I have to fess up about it since I promised total transparency in my practice building process. Yikes, I sure hope I pass or it’ll be really embarrassing. I’ve spent the last 9 years unlearning academia terms in favor of finding words that can be easily understood by my clients (dorsiflex your foot, or flex your foot towards your head- hmmm, what’s clearer?), so I have to hit the books. It looks like the whole process will take four to six weeks, which means that I won’t be kicking off my practice for a while.

So what’s a girl in licensure limbo to do? While trying to jog my memory to recall the names of all twenty-six bones of the foot (twenty-eight with sesamoids!), I’ll be busily getting cozy with my community of fellow wellness providers here in New Haven. When you’re unable to charge for your services, it’s a great time to set up trades, give free work away, and just generally get to know those who need to know you exist.

Seek out the wellness rock stars in your community by showing up where they are (hello yoga studio!), and listening carefully to whose name keeps coming up. Likewise, if someone is telling their amazing story of their practitioner, make a mental note. Local papers can also be helpful, but I tend to look more for articles than ads. “Best of” editions usually come out annually and they can be a great way to see who is getting acknowledged for their work in your town.

Trust me, once you connect to one person, the floodgates will open and you’ll have a long list of names that will give you a pretty good idea of who’s rocking it in your town. I showed up to one yoga class, met an amazing instructor, and things have snowballed from there. I’ve already connected with some really wonderful people and I feel super enthusiastic about all the juicy wellness stuff going on here. As a result of my current trades and giveaways, I already have my go to Pilates teacher, nutritionist, personal trainer, massage therapist, and yoga studio. I’ve also just met an amazing group of midwives and Ob/Gyn’s and am soon to connect with a chiropractor, and an acupuncturist and naturopath. There are so many people doing amazing work- it’s in your best interest to find out who they are in your community and then- please!- think of them and treat them as colleagues, not as competitors. I’ll be gladly sending business to all of these people once I’m up and running.

Forming these relationships with fellow practitioners is a practice building essential. To make it a success for yourself, here’s my list of ‘Do-s’, ‘Don’t-s’ and a ‘Why Bother’ for how best to connect:

Do:

• Get to know them before you introduce yourself

We live in a digital world. This is easily done. A little Googling is all you need to get a sense of who they are, what their practice is all about, what they’re interested in and value. Once you’ve gotten input from the great Google, dive in! Read their website and bio, if they have a blog or newsletter read it and subscribe. Follow the digital breadcrumbs and really get a feel for who they are. This should be enough to get a sense of if and how you want to reach out to them.

For example, when I first found Sarah (who is an amazing Pilates teacher) her blog mentioned that she’d be heading to San Francisco to do a Pink Ribbon Program. In my first email to her, I acknowledged this and told her I thought it was a wonderful thing to be a part of. It was a simple thing to do, and I wasn’t blowing smoke up her ass. Sarah and I have since become fast friends and I’ve rediscovered my love for Pilates. Don’t miss out on great relationships by being too shy (or lazy) to make a relevant first connection.

• Ask yourself the question: “what can I do for them?”

This is my prime piece of advice in developing networking relationships. Just take this one thing to heart, and you’ll do beautifully. Because we’re out there networking we usually approach people because we hope they’ll do something for us, namely send us clients. If the true question in your mind is, “what can I do for them so they’ll do something for me?” it will turn people off and send them running. Everyone can smell an ‘I’ll scratch your back’ vibe coming a mile away and it’s, well, gross.

• Follow through with what you can do for them

The answer to that question will take a myriad of forms depending on who it is you’re approaching. This means that you have to follow rule number one and get to know them a bit before contacting them. Once you have met, you’ll surely come across other things in conversation that you can do for them. Finding these things simply requires staying tuned in.

Two quick examples: I met Sabrina, the nutritionist, and she was talking about how she recommends to her clients that they keep food journals. I happened to have discovered Gyminee recently, which is a great free tool for food and fitness logging- so I passed that on. Jason, the massage therapist, mentioned how frustrated he was with the stool he used in his office, because he couldn’t adjust the height. I happen to know about Rolfing benches that adjust to different heights, so I passed that on. Are these mind-blowing contributions to their lives? No. But doing this kind of thing demonstrates that I want to be a helpful resource, rather than a leech.

• Continually follow through on what you can do for them

Stay in touch without becoming a stalker. If they have something that is continually updated, whether it’s a blog, a Facebook profile, or they’re on Twitter, stay up to date. If three months from now they Tweet that they’re thinking about doing a renovation of their wellness center, send them the info on that great contractor you know. You get the idea…

• Let go of all attachments to getting something from them

Seriously. They don’t owe you- just be a resource out of the desire to contribute and leave it at that. Connect with wonderful people who are doing amazing work and then treat them well. That’s all. Build a relationship, and the rest will follow.

Don’t:

• Blanket your town’s healthcare offices with a form letter

Please, please, don’t send a form letter introducing yourself to every wellness provider, doctor, and physical therapist in your town and just blanket the area with the same stale letter. In a day and age when you can make a relevant connection to someone by spending a little time Googling, form letters are insulting junk mail to the person who receives it and it’s a waste of time and paper.

• Ask for anything in your first meeting

Re-read the “What can I do for them?” bullet point above.

• Ever ask for them to refer to you

Nope. Never, never, ever. If someone wants to refer to you, that will happen naturally. If someone doesn’t want to refer to you (or doesn’t have the opportunity) then they won’t and that’s ok. Really. Re-read the “let go of all attachments” bullet point above.

Why bother:

Why bother spending all your time on developing relationships with other practitioners when what you really need to be doing is developing relationships with clients!?! After all, we all have bills to pay here, right? Because, this is your connection to clients. Becoming a well regarded member of your town’s wellness community:

1. Puts you on people’s radars. Suddenly they’ll be hearing your name around town.

2. Establishes your credibility and authority.

3. Makes you the kind of person people want to refer to, without having to ask for it.

*side note: The licensure thing can be a drag if a state’s requirements are a total surprise to you. Depending on your modality, things can vary wildly from state to state. If you’re in school, be sure to sniff out what will be required in your state before you graduate. This should be talked about in class, but if they leave out this essential information, ask for it and/or approach the administration to find out where you need to look to get the info. If you’re already in practice and are moving, do your homework in advance of your move to see what will be needed. Your school’s member or alumni services office should be able to point you in the right direction. And there’s always Google.

Tags: legalities of practice, licensure, networking, practice building, referrals

This entry was posted on Friday, May 22nd, 2009 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Practice Building in the Tangible World, Starting From Scratch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.