Super Simple Strategy: Create Support

It’s a super simple strategy episode this week! Which means I am headed straight into something you can do to develop your business into one that works well for you. 

This week, my super simple strategy is… get support! 

I talk with healing arts practitioners all the time, and they often say the same, true, thing: that being self employed can be a tad lonely. 

Yes you get to do work where you are interacting with your clients all the time, but because you are in the role of the practitioner- the one who is being paid for their skill set- it’s obviously not the same as a friendship, or a colleague, or a partner in your business. 

To be solo self-employed (meaning you don’t have a partner who is your co-pilot), means that you are serving your clients most of the time, and trying to figure out how to keep the ship afloat the rest of the time. 

You might do this by reading books, or listening to podcasts like this one, or taking courses to improve your skillset around what you need to know to be successfully self employed. 

And all of those things are great! But, it’s again still you finding and digesting the resources. 

Which means that, if you are human like I am, you will sometimes engage with them, and sometimes wander away from them. Or sometimes understand how to implement what you learn, and sometimes get confused or overwhelmed, or just busy with something else, and making progress on the business side of your life will fall by the wayside. 

So- here’s a super simple strategy you can use to help you both not feel so alone in your self-employment, and can also help you to make real progress instead of treading water. 

Get real support. 

If you have listened to me before, you may have caught on that I am a big, giant, huge fan of relationships with actual people in the real world. No exception here! 

So here are a few suggestions for how you can set up more support for yourself. 

I’ll start with the shameless plug: I now offer a coaching sprint in which I work with people 1:1 over 6 sessions to focus on getting what you need for your business created and in place. You can read all about it at simpleprospering.com/bloom

But- there are plenty of free ways to get support too! 

Find a colleague who works in a similar way to you- whether it’s someone who practices the same modality but in a different city, or someone in your local area who has a similar private practice structure, etc, etc. or just a friend who happens to be self employed

Set up a regular date with them to meet and talk shop. And at the end of each date, you can both announce what you will work on before your next meet up, and then mutually ask the other how they did with that at the next meeting. 

I have such cherished memories of doing this with a dear friend of mine, Sarah Aldrich. When I moved to New Haven to start up my Rolfing practice here, she had just opened the doors of her Pilates studio. We had regular business buddy dates at Ashley’s Ice Cream. Chatting about where we were at, what was working well, what was frustrating, what we needed more, or less of, and brainstorming together about how we could make things happen while polishing off an ice cream sundae. 

This is so much more valuable than just sitting at home alone and reading books about being a business owner! And not just because of the bonus ice cream, but that didn’t hurt. So the more fun you can make the meeting, I salute you!

We also at one point set up a few “wellness women of New Haven” dinners with other providers in our area. Those wound up being more informal and friendly, but I made some of my dearest lifelong friends that way! One of whom, Ginger Nash, is the first person I go to whenever I’m at a fork in the road with my work, or am debating launching a new service or really anything else related to my work. 

If this feels too time consuming to you or a friend and colleague who you might invite in to this kind of support relationship, consider making them a bookending partner. 

Bookending is when you choose someone to announce you will do something to, then let them know when you have started, and notify them again when you have finished. 

It looks like this: 

Let’s say you need to re-write the home page of your website and that makes you want to stick a fork in your eye. So you keep putting it off. 

If Ginger were my bookending buddy, I would announce to her: Ginger, “Next Tuesday I have cleared my entire day to re-write my home page of my website”. 

Then when Tuesday comes, I’d shoot Ginger a text when I was sitting down to start. All she needs to do is send an emoji of acknowledgment, or words of encouragement back. 

Then, say at 5pm when I’ve written a good enough draft, I would text her back and say: “I’m finished for the day. I have my first draft woot woot! I will change it on the actual site this coming Sunday”

And on it goes from there. 

I think sometimes we get so into the habit of being on our own, that we forget to think creatively about how to bring friends and colleagues into our work lives in a supportive way. But there are definitely plenty of options- and I can tell you from experience, you are not the only one wanting more support and to feel less lonely in your self-employment! They will be glad for the connection too- so reach out and set up some support! 

So start brainstorming. Some people who you could reach out to, and  reach out,  pitch some support ideas, see where it goes. It can be  completely invaluable, not just in how your practice unfolds, but also just in how you feel being a self employed person, and that's really huge.