I hope you are well and had a good summer.
Today is the first day of September, and back-to-school is just around the corner.
With this in mind, if you are a new graduate, hopefully you have already completed the New Graduates Survey and received an email inviting you to your free webinar for new graduates on September 14th. 🎓
If you are new here, welcome! I’m Tracy, a homeopath in east London. I’ve been in practice for 16 years and have been writing this newsletter since 2015.
Every month I share some practice reflections, together with tips and links to inspire you.
Autumn dates for your diary 🍁
Thursday 14th September 2023
Free New Graduate Webinar - complete the New Graduates Survey to receive your invitation. There is no ‘pitch’ on this webinar - just helpful tips and ideas for new homeopathy graduates. 🎓
Friday 29th September 2023
Skills and Checklists for a Thriving Practice 💡
I’m so excited to be offering this webinar at the end of the month!
(scroll down for more details)
Wednesday 18th October 2023
Homeopathy for Chronic Stress and Adrenal Fatigue 🌿
Open for registration
Friday 10th November
Homeopathy for Menopause
Save the date
September reflection 🍂
September is one of my favourite months of the year and I look forward to it as a time for a fresh start.
In my first career as a primary school teacher, I used to spend the last week of August and the first few days of September setting up my classroom and planning the new term ahead.
Ever since then I’ve kept some form of on-going notebook, and over the last decade I’ve developed a simple way of planning using a dotted journal.
This is my basic structure:
Free-writing in my journal most mornings.
Monthly reflection where I go back through my calendar to make a list of activities and accomplishments, large or small.
Monthly planning where I make a timeline for the new month, together with a list of goals and to-dos.
Weekly planning where I refer back to my timeline and to-do list.
September is a special time though, with the end of the year in sight.
Here’s a simple list of questions I hope will help to get you thinking and motivate you for the last few months of the year.
1. What was one of the best decisions I made so far this year?
Have you had a chance to implement it yet? If not, how can you do that?
2. What were my goals at the start of 2023?
If you wrote them down, have a look back to remind yourself. Did you have a ‘word’ for the year?
3. Is there anything I need to stop doing?
Something that’s not feeling ‘right’ anymore? Do I need to keep doing it? What would happen if I just stopped?
4. Is there something I need to start doing?
Something I’ve been procrastinating over. What is the smallest step I can take to get started? When can I do that?
5. Is there anything I want to create or achieve before the end of this year?
Is it manageable? How much time do I need? What is my deadline?
Maybe you’ll want to answer those questions in your journal.
Or by chatting with a friend over coffee.
Taking time for reflection is always insightful and often leads to positive actions.
My reflections
One of the best decisions I made this year was to stop offering Discovery Calls every week, and only to do them for a block every 2-3 weeks instead. It’s been a tremendous feeling of relief.
My word of the year is Focus, and my goals - to work through a lot of things I’ve been putting off. I’m ticking things off my list, just a few more to go!
Something I want to stop doing - working on different days of the week because of the school holidays. I can’t wait to be back in my regular routine.
Something I want to start doing - get back to regular yoga. 🧘🏼♀️
Something I want to complete before the end of this year - the first draft of my book about being in practice. I am not sure this is manageable, but I am going to try!
What about you?
What have you discovered by taking time to do some September Reflection? 🍂
Skills + Checklists for a Thriving Practice 💡
£40 early bird (until Monday 18th September)
Friday 29th September, 2023
10 am - 2 pm
NOTE: Join live or watch on replay - no expiry date
As homeopaths we can find it hard to set boundaries because we want to help people.
We also have a tendency to undervalue our time and energy, and undermine our own well-being and peace of mind through our work.
Does this sound familiar?
When I started training as a homeopath I thought that everyone I worked with was going to feel the same way about homeopathy as me.
I thought that all I had to do was share how it had helped me, and that would be enough to 'convert' people and soon I would have a thriving practice.
I took it for granted that my clients would trust me, respect my boundaries, and see their homeopathy treatment as an on-going process.
I found the reality of my practice to be quite different.
Client management issues when I started out:
it was hard to get a steady stream of people through the door
late rearrangements and cancellations were stressful
I wasn't earning as much as I hoped from my new career
Client management issues when I got busier:
increasing demands on my time and attention
work-life balance is an on-going challenge
I needed to learn to protect my time and energy
Client management or client retention, or both?
As my practice has evolved, my client management has been through three distinct phases, each building on the other.
Initially, I focused on avoiding cancellations, and keeping people coming back.
Later, I focused on streamlining payments and communication to support my work-life balance.
Now, I focus on attracting and retaining ideal clients, and letting go of the rest.
Some of the things I've learned on my journey:
6 client archetypes
what to share with a prospective new client
questions to ask during a Discovery Call
what to say to clients who are new to homeopathy
what to say to clients who have tried homeopathy before
how to structure a first appointment
how to structure a follow up
what to do when there is a 'plateau'
how to handle rearrangements and cancellations
how to handle late payments
how to handle clients who send lots of emails
I'm excited to teach on this topic as I believe it is important for homeopaths to develop systems to grow a thriving practice while protecting their own time and energy.
We offer and give a valuable service and we deserve to work with people who trust us and value homeopathy.
Friday 29th September, 2023
10am - 2pm
Early bird – £40 until Monday 18th September, 2023
£50 thereafter
Join live, or watch on replay.
Click on the button for more details and registration.
Brain food ✨
Zoom alternatives – why you should care about Zoom’s intentions to harvest data - in case you didn’t know they claimed the right to harvest all your call content in perpetuity
A simple digital filing method - a way to make your own searchable library
Forget passion, focus on process - instead of working with a thing you love, think about how to work in a way you love
Book notes - full of admiration for this web page with notes on every book you might want to read on business and personal development
The surprising truth about antibiotics - I found this podcast from Zoe super interesting (with a transcript option to read if you prefer)
Homeopathy Conference in London with Plant the Seed - a new event and a great line up of speakers!
Pretty white moms in their pretty white houses - a compelling interview with Sara Peterson on her book ‘Momfluenced’.
As always, thank you for reading.
If you found it useful, please forward it to a friend if you think they would like to see it.
Tracy 👩🏼💻