I hope that you have had a good week and that you and your loved ones are well.
If you are new to this newsletter, a warm welcome.
If you are a long-time reader, thank you for being here also.
As of today, I’m going to try an experiment, and send this weekly for a while.
Let’s see how it goes.
Emergent Practice
I have put a great deal of emotional energy into my practice during lockdown and it’s been hard at times.
Maybe for you too?
The YRB membership group has been a great source of mutual support and a space to connect and share our experiences.
My family have also been supportive, allowing me to occupy the living room space for my consultations without ever complaining, and by bringing me cups of tea and preparing meals.
One of my clinics is re-opening next week and I have decided to go there for my online consultations so that at least I get out of the house.
I used to see people across two afternoons and evenings, but these last few months I’ve been changing my schedule every few weeks and still not really managing to find my sweet spot.
I’ve tried to be gentle with myself about this and found myself coming back to a book I’ve been reading called Emergent Strategy by Adrienne Maree Brown.
Published in 2017, it was truly ahead of its time.
Adrienne explores the human relationship to change and encourages us to find new ways of adapting.
So, instead of being resistant to change, she suggests we allow ourselves to map, feel, assess and learn from the swirling patterns around us.
Her writing inspires me to let go of guilt and feeling like I can never do enough.
Care for yourself and everything else
She reminds me that it’s ok to take more time for myself, and the reality of this has meant waking at 5am to have quiet time before I have to be with my family or with clients.
Adrienne Maree Brown’s most recent blog post really blew me away. I hadn’t realised, but she’d been away on sabbatical until very recently.
“I am learning how to protect my happiness from those who can’t find theirs, and cultivate mutual happiness by sharing it when it seems to be in limited supply.”
Hard to know what to say
Writing my practice newsletter last Sunday was not easy.
Here’s what I finally wrote:
It's hard to know what to write this week.
When I was studying for my first degree, I was one of a small handful of white students and also the youngest in my year.
I trained to be a primary school teacher at North London Polytechnic, an institution known for its strong commitment to providing access to higher education for under-represented groups. Many courses were designed with mature students in mind, including mine.
Our curriculum was based around new anti-racist and anti-sexist education policies. We studied literature by African American authors including Alice Walker and Toni Morrison.
Having grown up in a white suburb of Birmingham, I had a lot of unlearning to do.
In the last ten years, as I've been learning African American blues dance, I've taken part in the discussion around cultural appropriation inside the dance community.
Last night my daughter and I decided to watch Native Son, a film released last year, based on a novel by Richard Wright. It was really well-acted and directed but didn't make comfortable watching.
It gave us a lot to think about.
I continue to be aware of how privileged I am, how much unconscious bias I have, and to always strive for being better.
Practice reflections
Being available to see clients every day doesn’t work for me. I can see clients on three days a week, max, or I feel drained and fragmented.
Seeing people on Fridays especially doesn’t work for me. Preparing parcels and taking them to the post office on a Friday afternoon is not a good way to end my week.
Free 15-minute catch-ups and 30-minute acute calls have been very popular. I’ve been happy to be able to offer support in this way, alongside regular follow-ups. Promoting this in my newsletter has helped to keep my income steady.
Writing my weekly practice newsletter has resulted in many replies and new bookings from past clients that I haven’t seen for a while.
When preparing packages, it helps me to have a set order in which to do things. Being more efficient helps me save small chunks of time and it all adds up.
All new Radiant Business School
Starts Monday July 6th
I’ve almost finished re-writing the Radiant Business School course, and it’s running for the first time this July.
In case you are wondering what this is, Radiant Business School began as a 3-day seminar series in 2016.
I was lucky to teach it seven times in different locations through 2016 and 2017, with many wonderful homeopaths.
Summer of 2017 I wrote it into a 30-day e-course, which evolved into a 6-week e-course during 2018.
Each time I run the course I send out a survey so that I can improve it.
This is why the new version of the course will run over 4 weeks, with two webinars every week, on Mondays and Thursdays at 9am.
The essence of the course is everything I’ve learned through business coaching, multiple marketing courses and 13 years of being in practice (5 of them while my husband was working on his PhD and not earning).
The original material on systems and structure is all there.
This is the base for everything.
Clarity, connection and consistency are still the core values of the course.
This is how we build trust with our clients.
The new course also includes:
money wisdom
practice boundaries
how to be organised + productive
client-centred marketing
downloadable workbook
pre-recorded training
2 live webinars every week
£120 (early bird) until midnight June 19th
£150 (late bird)
Doors close midnight July 3rd
Course begins: Monday July 6th
If you’ve already completed Radiant Business School, either in person or online, expect an invitation from me to join the new course free of charge in July.
If you haven’t taken it yet, I would love you to join.
“Invaluable, and just what I needed to move forward.”
“Exceeded my expectations. Actionable, usable content.”
“It’s made a wealth of difference to my focus and self-belief.”
“A fantastic, life-changing course.”
“The guidance and attention to detail is exceptional.”
If you have any questions, please just reply to this email.
This week’s links
This week I’ve finished reading The 5am Club by Robin Sharma. I resisted it for a long time as it’s a self-help book presented as a novel. It’s kind of cheesy but also very inspiring. Waking up early is not fun, but having 2 hours to myself when everyone else is asleep is amazing.
Almost every Friday for the last few years I’ve done a Weekly Review. There are lots of different ways to do it, but Tiago Forte has the best one.
My daughter is addicted to Vogue and I very much enjoy reading it too. This edition is the annual ‘Well-being’ edition and the covers feature key workers which is really lovely.
It’s nearly mid-summer and did you know Stonehenge has a web-cam? I took my son there last October half-term and we both loved it.
This newsletter is built on Sub-stack. Here are their recommended black writers and creatives and their best resources.
This is all for this week.
A big thank you to Claire, Priscille and Simone for being the first three homeopaths to support this newsletter by becoming paid subscribers.
Another big thank you to Natalie Weekes and other friends who have been sharing about me on Facebook.
If you are into Instagram, you might like to follow me on @radiantbusiness.
The comments thread is open, so please feel free to start or join the conversation.
Thanks so much for reading, and as always, please feel free to forward to a friend.
Tracy
xx