New Graduates Webinar ✨
Free webinar
Today 12 pm - 2pm BST
Replay available
I graduated from CHE in 2007 and the world looked quite different.
The internet was up and running, and email was common, but there wasn’t any social media yet.
I had been keeping a ‘practice notebook’ all through college, where I collected ideas from all my lecturers.
There were many gems of wisdom from each and every one of them, and I regularly read through my notebook for inspiration.
No roadmap
In 2007, I still had my part-time teaching job and my husband was in full-time work at a university.
My daughter was in primary school and I was pregnant with my son.
But there wasn’t any real pressure, except that I wanted to succeed as a homeopath.
The next few years our life went through a lot of changes but through it all, I stayed focused on my practice.
There was no roadmap to grow a practice and over the years I have tried pretty much everything:
a website and pretty branding
leaflets, posters, fliers
homeopathy for childbirth workshops
homeopathy for common ailments - a 3 part course
two talks for my local Women’s Institute
adverts in my local NCT magazine
working at different clinics
therapy swaps with other therapists
a 2 year membership of a networking group
Facebook page
blog articles
newsletters
giveaways
stalls at NCT fairs
stalls at Christmas fairs
Google business page
collecting Google reviews
rebranding
I also read LOTS of books and invested a lot of money in:
one to one business coaching
four online marketing courses
one full day workshop on branding
one full day workshop on newsletters
Good basics
Everything I tried worked to some degree, but there wasn’t really one strategy that I felt was hugely successful by itself.
Working with the business coach I did learn some good ‘basics’ though.
I still do all of these things:
Be strategic about how you spend your time.
Be clear in all your written communication
Keep an ongoing list of ‘prospects’
Always follow up with people
Send a regular newsletter
Share your own content
My top 2
Somehow I came across David Hyatt who has a jeans factory in Wales.
He used to have an organic outdoor clothing company called Howies, with the best branding and catalogue I ever saw.
After I went to his workshops on branding and newsletters I decided to put all my energies into those two things.
Social media is tiring and distracting, and I don’t like how it makes me feel.
Taking care of the details in my packaging and writing a newsletter every two weeks is something I enjoy and my clients appreciate it too.
Making use of Google
A few years back, the clinic where I have worked for the last 10 years invested in an SEO consultant.
The clinic owners doubled down on obtaining Google reviews for the clinic and I decided to do the same.
Reviews don’t happen overnight, but if you start collecting them and keep it on your to-do list, that makes a big difference to ‘local search’.
Some people choose a paid review platform such as Doctify or TrustPilot, but I prefer to use Google as it works, it’s widely used and it’s free.
My way is not the only way
I know, you trained to be a homeopath and not a marketing person and probably all of this sounds unappealing and also quite slow.
There are other people out there with different experiences and strategies to share.
Some homeopaths have grown their practice by being part of Facebook groups and offering advice.
There are others who share great content on Instagram and have built their practices that way.
Anyway, if you’d like to hear more on what I have to say, it’s my free New Graduates 2 hour webinar today at 12 pm BST.
If you are a new or recent graduate I hope to see you there.
If you register through this link you can also watch the replay.
While I’m here, Sarah Hyatt and I are doing Part 2 of Homeopathy for Pregnancy tomorrow and it’s not too late to join.
You can watch Part 1 on replay, or both on replay if you can’t join live tomorrow.
Supporting Pregnancy with Homeopathy
As always, thank you for reading.
I’ll be back with the monthly newsletter next week.
Tracy 👩🏼💻