Private Practice Success Newsletter

September 2005, by Lynn Grodzki, LCSW, PCC (Professional Certified Coach)
www.privatepracticesuccess.com

One minute summary: As summer ends, it's time to refocus on your business. Here are some ways to shift your energy and thoughts back to your work. Also, see information about the upcoming Strong Start Teleclass beginning in October.

Refocusing

Summer months can translate into a slow-down for a small business. If this has happened to you this year, nothing is wrong: it’s natural for a small business to have ebbs and flows during any given year. But now, as we head into the next season, it’s time to refocus on building your business.

Take a look at your working space and get it better organized, so that it feels welcoming and ready for action. De-clutter your office, whittle down a long to-do list, or file and sort through piles of paper, so that your physical environment supports your goals.

If you have let go of your daily structure and working routine, open your calendar and set aside time in the next month for marketing, networking, and the operational aspects of your business.

Revisit your list of core values (the passions that are inherent to who you are as a persona and a professional). By placing your core values at the heart of your business, they provide a fuel and purpose for your work. Review your business vision and business plan to help get back on track.

Seventy percent of success in life is showing up.~ Woody Allen

Sometimes, refocusing just comes down to willingness.

A coaching client decided to take a six-month sabbatical, a much needed-break, from her small consulting business. She had been working at top capacity for five years, and was burnt out.

But life happens. Three months into her sabbatical, her adult son got suddenly ill. She wanted to be able to financially help him and his family. That would take more money than she had budgeted for. Her solution? Get back to work.

Getting back to business proved more of a challenge than she expected. “I feel like I am starting over, even though I was just away from work for 3 months. I get so distracted and disorganized when I think about calling old clients and restarting my business. What do you think I should tackle first?” she asked.

We talked about the stress of transition. She felt sad and resistant to cutting her sabbatical short, but told me that getting back to work was the right course of action for her, at this time. Her resolve reminded me of a poem about change by Og Mandino:

How Do I Change?

If I feel depressed I will sing.
If I feel sad I will laugh.
If I feel ill I will double my labor.
If I feel fear I will plunge ahead.
If I feel inferior I will wear new garments.
If I feel uncertain I will raise my voice.
If I feel poverty I will think of wealth to come.
If I feel incompetent I will think of past success.
If I feel insignificant I will remember my goals.
Today I will be the master of my emotions.

When solving problems, dig at the roots instead of just hacking at the leaves.~ Anthony J. D'Angelo,

Owning and operating a business feels similar to a marriage. The relationship with your business can be both love and hate. Sometimes our resistance to refocusing on work is because we are having a rocky relationship with our business.

Sondra Ray, personal growth guru from the 㣪s and author of Loving Relationships, noted a difficult paradox about love. Although most people have an idealistic view of how love should be, she found that when one is actually in an intimate, loving relationship, the day-to-day process of love feels pretty muddled. Love brings up everything unlike itself, for the purpose of healing, she explained.

That same paradox occurs regarding business. The day-to-day process of closely relating to your business brings up everything, including irrational thoughts, deeply held negative beliefs, areas of vulnerability, for the purpose of growing us up, as the seeds of our business maturity.

The emotional process that small business ownership elicits is one of purification: like a boiling pot of water, a small business stirs up aspects of your personality that are unresolved, bringing them up to the surface of your conscious awareness. Over and over you will find that either you learn how to identify and accept the difficult feelings and transform them, like steam, for purification or renewal, or they sink under the surface, creating ambiguity inside me and clogging the daily workings of your business.

The process of refocusing on your business after a time away can feel like going back to square one. Negative beliefs arise. We feel insecure. We are tired. We don’t seem ready for action. Let the business work on you, let it help you to change, move forward, confront your own willingness, and mature.

Upcoming Teleclasses

The Strong Start Teleclass for Therapists, Coaches, Healers, and other Professionals begins
Monday, October 3, 2005 at 2:00 - 3:00 PM EST

Starting a private practice or renovating a stalled one can be daunting. It takes time and energy to turn a small practice that is just surviving into one that is profitable thriving. Going it alone can be tough, especially when you have a full and demanding life.

It helps to have the right kind of support when you are building your practice. The right kind of support is a coaching group, filled with your peers, who will celebrate with you when you succeed, commiserate (but not indulge you) when you have a tough time, help you stay consistently motivated, encourage you, and hold you accountable for your goals.

Our teleclass coaching group meets by "bridgeline" -- an easy to access conference line, that you dial just like a long-distance phone number at the given time, to be connected to everyone on the call.

The "Strong Start" Teleclass meets for four months, for a total of 12 hours (three weeks per month) starting Monday, October 3, 2005 through January, 2006. We meet the first three Mondays of each month at 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST. Your teleclass leaders are Lynn Grodzki and Wendy Allen.

The "Strong Start" Teleclass uses the Lynn's workbook: "12 Months to Your Ideal Private Practice" as a manual, and is designed for those who are new to, or renewing, their private practices. It's a brief, yet intense, way to jumpstart your practice. The cost is $475 total (only $40 per hour!!) and CE's are available for an extra fee. We will keep the group size small, under twenty members (often less.) For complete information, logistics, fees, and to register go to:

www.privatepracticesuccess.com/groups.html

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Books by Lynn Grodzki, published by WW Norton. To order, click on each book.

	The Business and Practice of Coaching By Lynn Grodzki and Wendy Allen (2005) An estimated 30,000 coaches have entered the coaching profession in the past five years, but unfortunately, the majority report they are unable to earn a living wage from their coaching services. This book shows you how, using a coaching approach to the business of coaching.
	Building Your Ideal Private Practice By Lynn Grodzki (2000) The best-selling guide to what you need to do and who you need to be in order to have a highly profitable, personally satisfying private practice. Often called the "private practice bible" this book has become a resource for tens of thousands of your colleagues.
	The New Private Practice:Therapist-Coaches Share Stories, Strategies and Advice Edited by Lynn Grodzki (2002) A groundbreaking look at the profession of coaching through the eyes of 16 successful therapist-coaches who tell you how to become a coach, what to charge, and show you how they coach their clients.
	12 Months to Your Ideal Private Practice: A Workbook By Lynn Grodzki (2003) This planned, motivational workbook will help you build the practice you desire. The workbook incorporates fresh ideas, new exercises, further skill sets and much more to give you a direct experience of being carefully coached by Lynn, month-by-month, for a full year.

More next time,

lynn@privatepracticesuccess.com
See the website for additional articles, information about individual coaching, and upcoming classes.