Words for Those Opening Their First Clinic

Today, I read a question in the beautiful Natupreneur Hub (if you’re not in that tribe, do yourself a favour and get in there! It's Tammy Guest's brainchild and it's amazing!) about someone starting their first clinic and struggling to lean into all the fear that can come with it.  She had a few questions she wanted answered by those that had been there, to reassure her of what she already knew to be true; that it would all be okay because she's freakin' got this!

So, here’s the questions, along with my answers. (PS, first I sent her a link to this blog about feeling the fear and taking the leap anyway).

Can you tell me your story? 

Although I’ve been practising for nearly five years, I’ve been all over the place doing it.  I started out in practise by leaving the security of my 9-5 job in Naturopathic Technical Support and relocating to the Sunshine Coast.  I was promised it would be soooo much better than what I was leaving, and sure in many instances it was, but financially… it was dry as a bone. 

After a few months of living off the last of my severance pay, I started working part-time in admin so I could pay my bills, and was seeing clients as they came in every other day.  Totally not inspiring.  I had no idea about marketing or business, which is why I was sub-contracting.  As I gained confidence as a practitioner, I started taking on more responsibilities of a business that wasn’t mine, and this included marketing and sales.  I remember the day I decided to quit.  I was in a meeting with the owner at 8.30PM on a Tuesday night, totally exhausted, going through some menial spreadsheet he’d done up for another business and listening to him talk at me about how it was my responsibility to get all leads and track their conversion and blah blah blah.  Why would I do this when it’s not my business?  What was I paying a generous percentage for?  I was done. 

That’s when I officially started my own business, but was still playing at such a small scale.  I rented a room in a local clinic one day a week and started building my clientele back up.  After about 6 months, I outgrew the space and relocated to a home clinic where I was living, with an awesome acupuncturist.  The space was beautiful, but the sounds of home were intrusive and it only took one client rocking up at my front door on the weekend to realise it wasn’t quite right for me.  I moved again, this time to a bigger (and naturally scarier) opportunity in North Lakes.  I had three months to build my clientele up before my rent went up, and as I started experiencing what it was like to earn 100% of my income, plus be 100% in the game, I became thirsty for more. 

At the time, I was still working part-time for that security of knowing my rent was paid, but I was spending about 70% of the time in my business.  Then, nearly three years ago, at the end of December (in hindsight, super sh*tty time to do this) I quit that part-time secure income and went full-time in my business. 

Fear and excitement shared the space in my mind and heart.  It was both fear and passion that pushed me to make sure it worked.  And then, only a few months after going full-time, I stretched even further than I ever had before, and signed my first commercial lease, committing to more money in rent per month than what my house cost.  One year later, I had outgrown the space I never thought I’d fill and moved to an even bigger (scariest to date) opportunity.  I signed a two year commercial lease, committing to more money in rent per year than my first full-time job even paid me. 

What was it like? 

Each burst of growth mirrors the same stuff; fear and excitement.  Why do fear and excitement occupy the same emotional space?  Because they are opposite sides of the same stick.  Fear is just excitement clouded in negativity and control.  Excitement is the liberation from fear, and the knowing and trust that it’ll be okay.  It’s the positive perspective of the same experience. 

So, in that regard, every burst of growth has been pretty similar; hesitation turned into action by logical reasoning, followed by deep introspective questioning and listening to my higher self, followed by fear, doubt, sadness, anger, confusion… followed by excitement, gratitude, contentment and passion... and the cycle continues.  The last two negative vs positive emotional experiences still happen to me, even when I live pretty comfortably off my full-time income as a Naturopath. 

I remember back to the times when I made all of $0 in my business because everything I earned was paying off fees and rent and equipment and courses.  I remember when my business was a hobby, and my dream was to work full-time for myself.  The fear that I had taking that seemingly small step on this journey and quitting my part-time job was the same as the fear I had when I was wondering if I’d actually thought through my plan when my first rent bill came in for close to $4,000.  The experience and trigger may change, but the fear always feels the same.  I am learning to pay less attention to fear… I find it rarely helpful, and I get sick of the same unpleasant emotional turmoil.

How did you get through the fear? 

1. I surrounded myself with people that believed in me, and I worked on my Self so that I started to believe in me too.  Clearly, I’d made these decisions because I knew somewhere deep down that I could do it.  I needed to find that bit of myself and give it all the love and attention I could muster.  That was the part of me I wanted to grow, not the part that collapses when fear kicks in. 

2. I invested in personal development consistently. 

3. I reached out to my network of fellow Naturopaths and business owners when I was encountering problems.  I sought advice and kind words of encouragement from those that had been where I was going. 

4. I stopped asking people that weren’t in business what they thought about what I was doing. 

5. I recognised that fear is an essential part of growth, and that it’s breaching and overcoming that stretch zone (the transition period between comfort zones) that not only gave me memories that I’d look back on fondly, but gave me the most important foundations of persistence, perseverance and courage.  I realised, eventually, and still slowly, that overcoming fear was part of what I craved when I thought about the success I desired.  I came to appreciate the feelings of fear as what they are… a gentle reminder from our nonconscious brain that we are entering unknown territory.  I consciously choose not to let that signal run my life.  When I feel it now, I remind myself that I am growing, and there is nothing in this life that I’m more humbled by then knowing I am expanding myself.

6. I spent more time in nature, where I felt connected to life.  I spent time looking at the stars, remembering this is all a glimpse in time.  I reminded myself if I wanted to live an extraordinary life, I had to have the courage to fight for it.

How did you prepare?  

The first office I rented, I prepared by knowing where the money would come from if it all went to sh*t.  That’s why I kept the part-time job.  I marketed the best I knew how, I paid a few people to help me, I learnt a lot of expensive lessons because I kept getting stuck in the trap of thinking that there was a “quick fix” when it came to building a business. 

As my leases got bigger, I prepared by writing big long lists of all the stuff I needed and all the things I needed to take care of like signage and new provider numbers and business cards and internet contracts.  The last lease I signed, I thought I’d prepared like a total badass Virgo.  I found I was wrong.  When you get into a bigger commercial lease, not a serviced office, there’s lots of things to think about that no one really tells you, and I found myself facing lots of unexpected bills.  Somehow though, the money was there.  It was intensely stressful, but I always know it’s going to work out.  Sometimes that belief is harder to find, but it always comes back to me.  You can only prepare so much.  There will always be something that catches you off guard, and simply knowing that helps.

Any tips or tricks or things you wish you had of known? 

• I wish I knew that electricians charge a lot more money than they’re worth. 
• I wish I knew that when you have a pylon sign up on a three story building, you have to pay an hourly fee for a cherry picker to be used to install your signage. 
• I wish I knew that hiring an employee is not a small simple task. 
• I wish I knew more about insurance and what was necessary vs not.
• I wish I knew a good accountant before I actually needed one.
• I wish I knew the power that I hold as a vibrational being.
• I wish I knew the sheer magnitude of beautiful, amazing things that were just around the corner, and how much more deeply I would learn to love myself as I expanded my identity.

My tips:

• Make sure your phone line is connected before your first day at the office.
• Get your internet sorted at least a month before your move in date.  Then check up on it again two weeks before your move in date because… remember what I said about something catching you off guard.
• Talk confidently to anyone you are dealing with in the process of moving/building.
• Be sure of what you want – don’t expect others to guess, and certainly don’t trust others to give you what you haven’t asked for.
• Understand what costs are essential vs luxuries.  Branded labels are probably luxuries.
• Ask for help from whoever will give it for free.  Buy them lunch and say thanks a lot.
• Don’t forget to eat on move day.
• Paint takes longer to dry than you think.
• Never underestimate the value of an interior designer.
• Get a big ass chair.
• Remember that the most important thing in your business is your clients.  Never ever make them feel that they aren't the biggest thing on your mind.  Put them first, even when that to-do list is freakin' massive and deadlines for other things are erring near.  
• Find joy wherever you can, even if it's only briefly in that morning coffee.  

How busy were you? 

When I went full-time, I was seeing about 6 clients per week.  I chose to go full-time when I knew that my regular income was enough to cover what I was earning in my part-time “secure” job.  I also realised at that point that the time I was spending working in someone else’s business was essential time I could be spending building my own business.  Energetically, I was still giving half my energy and time to something that wasn’t my business.  It got to a point where I knew that the time I was spending earning $25 an hour was worth less to me than the idea of security.  When I went full-time in my own business, it was not only the pressure of it having to work that ensured my success, but also the fact I was 100% present all the time.  When I committed to my business 100%, I started earning more than I ever had.  In fact, my first week in my first commercial space was and still has been my highest grossing week ever, at just under $7,000, working on a sh*tty desk with a printer on the floor and boxes in the waiting room.

The thing is, there will always be killer busy weeks and there will always be the contract of that… slow and quiet weeks.  For me, the biggest lesson has been to not freak the hell out when those quiet weeks come along.  I use that time now productively, not sulking that I’ve made a terrible mistake thinking I could make it as a business owner. 

The life of a business owner is up and down.  That’s why we do it, right?  It’s exciting, and you can’t have the ups without the downs. 

Build the resilience in yourself and the deep, core knowing that you will always be okay.

Once this is a true belief of yours, your world will unfold in accordance with it.  It’s quantum physics. 

What marketing did you find the most valuable?

At the start, Google Adwords was awesome.  It got me on the first page of Google quickly so I could be up there with my competitors straight away, instead of waiting the eight months it took to organically reach the first page. 

Now that I have a core client base and I’m more focused on building a tribe with shared values, I have found the most valuable marketing to be heart-centred and values-orientated. 

Content marketing like blogs is fantastic, and having a valuable opt-in on your website that actually gives your ideal client something that they can learn from or be inspired from is essential to keep that flow going.

Marketing needs to become a part of your day to day – a way of thinking – to build a business that can eventually be independent.

If marketing isn’t your thing, find someone who loves it – because we are way past the era of marketing being a choice.  It’s a necessity.