Private Practice Success Newsletter

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

Avenues of Professional Support

At the beginning of this year I asked you, my readers, to suggest topics for the year’s newsletters. You responded with emails and offered a list of challenges and obstacles that you faced, and I have used that list as a guide for each monthly newsletter I wrote this year. This last newsletter of 2005 speaks to a topic that was important to many of you: How to develop sufficient avenues of professional support.

It’s ironic that we are in the business of helping others, and yet so many of us operate our businesses alone, without professional support.

For small business owners, professional support is often the difference that makes the difference between business success or failure. It is rare to find a successful entrepreneur who operates without advisors, mentors, peers, or staff. Yet I know, from your emails and the workshops I lead, that many of you are missing business encouragement and backing.

This month, I review the 3 areas of professional support available to all of us, and then give you a chance to assess whether or not you are making use of those people and opportunities that can help you to meet and exceed your business goals.

You must be at the end of your rope...I felt a tug. (Author Unknown)

Being a small business owner means that you carry the emotional weight of your practice on your shoulders. Having support can make the burden lighter. During the last decade with all of the economic downturn, a top survival strategy for all types of business was connection—finding ways to link, affiliate, collaborate, partner, share, network, or merge with like-minded concerns.

Let’s look at how you can bring this strategy into your small business by increasing and solidifying your professional support system. Professional support falls into 3 categories.

1) People you hire:

Hiring others is an easy way to feel supported when you feel overwhelmed, overworked, or under pressure. Most small business owners delegate some aspects of billing, administration, public relations, website design, accounting, or promotion. A full- or part-time bookkeeper, secretary, receptionist, or others can ease the pressure of operating a practice.

You may also find support by hiring outside consultants—business coaches, financial planners, marketing experts—to assist with operational planning, goal setting, or future development. Whatever business problem you have, chances are you can find staff, consultants, or experts to help you resolve it. You will need to manage your staff, but it may be a workable trade-off for having additional support. (I personally love hiring people who know more than I do, or can do simple tasks more easily than I can. It makes me feel supported on a daily basis to know that help is just a phone call or email away.)

I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much. (Mother Teresa)

2) People you attract:

Support can also come from your peers, colleagues, friends, or family members with whom you may or may not actually do business, but who offer support, advice, mentoring, commiseration, and brainstorming.

Collegial support generates business opportunities and referrals for a practice, increases your connections in your community, and can give you emotional support as well. As you attract others based on a similarity of goals or shared enthusiasm, you build a circle of encouragement for yourself. You may decide to pursue business endeavors with this circle of peers, or just use the time with them to mutually share support and ideas.

There is no point at which you can say, "Well, I'm successful now. I might as well take a nap." (Carrie Fisher)

3) People you are attracted to:

Mentors can help you shift to a higher level of accomplishment or awareness. Rub shoulders with others who are much further along the path than you are.

There are many ways to do this: go to workshops and conferences to have direct experience with experts. Read books and listen to tapes of those who you admire. Join organizations where you will be in the same room with those whose business skills are beyond yours. Even when the contact is from a distance, you can open yourself to feeling supported.

Now take a moment to list your current support system in each of the three areas. Is your support system sufficient for your current needs?

People I hire and why:

People I attract and why:

People I am attracted to and why:

Want to stretch? Increase your professional support by adding additional people into your life in at least two out of the above three areas. (The above exercise is from: "12 Months to Your Ideal Private Practice: A Workbook”)

The Next Teleclass Starts Wednesday, January 4, 2006!

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 can be 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.

We meet 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 Wednesday, January 4, 2006 through April 2006. We meet the first three Wednesdays 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 re-newing, 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 fifteen members (often less.) For complete information, logistics, fees, and to register go to:

Teleclass Registration

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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.