Hello, how are you?
If this is your first Radiant Business newsletter welcome! ✨
Let me introduce myself. I’m Tracy Karkut-Law, a homeopath in east London. I’ve been in practice for 14 years, and for the last 7 years I’ve been writing, sharing and teaching my experience of growing my homeopathy business.
Wow, 7 years! That’s a long time, but it’s really flown by.
In this special 7th anniversary edition, I’m sharing:
The first ever Radiant Business Newsletter ☀️
10 books that helped me grow my practice 📚
Readers survey with a chance to win a free mentoring session 🫖
The free December planner 🎄
The beginning of a beautiful relationship ☀️
Date sent: Saturday 15th November, 2014, 8am
Subject: All About You
The very first newsletter was sent to 53 homeopaths.
22 opened it.
12 of that 22 are still on this list.
Maybe one of them is you?
Cathy, Grace, Penny, Sarah, Sophie, mhp, Marie, Mandy, Caroline, Machteld and Steph – a heartfelt thank you for your loyal readership. 💛
The image you see at the top of this newsletter was the header for the first newsletter.
Here’s what was inside.
When we went to college, we studied with some of the best homeopaths in the country.
What did they tell us about marketing ourselves and our practice?
Depending on when we trained, they might have suggested we have a website, but chances are that our teachers built their reputations in the good old days before the internet took over the world, through good old word-of-mouth.
They might have a business card, and a listing in the phone book or on the Society of Homeopaths website. If they teach at a college, or even at a few colleges, that’s probably all they need.
What about us? Is that enough for us? It might be.
If you live in a rural village or town, where everyone knows everyone, and you are the only homeopath for miles, you might have all the clients you need.
For the rest of us, living in a busy, urban or suburban environment, where everyone drives everywhere and there isn’t such a strong neighbourhood or community feeling, where we might be competing with a couple of other homeopaths (who might even be our friends) – how do we attract the clients we need?
Or, more importantly, how do our clients find the right homeopath for their needs?
All about you
Welcome to the first edition of Materia Marketer - a weekly blog post and email series to help you grow your homeopathy business, holistically.
This week we are starting with the most important marketing tool you have, that's you!
Your name is important. It is important to you as an individual, and also to your homeopathy business.
Have you ever tried typing your name into Google?
Try it now.
You might be surprised.
What comes up?
What is on the first page?
The second page?
Even the third?
Hopefully the first listing is your website, or blog, if you have one.
Check yourself out.If you were a client, or a prospective client, what would you learn?
Make some notes.
Are you listed in places you’d like to be listed?
(Write them all down.)
Are you listed on sites you’d rather not be associated with?
(Make a list.)
If you are listed, is your photograph professional and consistent?Are your contact details up-to-date?
(Quick, change them if not!)
As part of this process, Tracy spent an hour 'Googling' herself and found out she had some work to do…
There was then a link to the very first article I wrote, on the very first website.
But… that article is no longer there.
I wish it was, as I would love to be able to read it and to share it with you.
Reading back through what was shared in the first newsletter, everything still stands.
This week I’m taking some time away from my practice to do some digital decluttering, and one of the things I will do is Google myself to see what needs updating.
Why the logo stayed the same
As you can probably tell, the newsletter and website wasn’t called Your Radiant Business back then.
The original name was Materia Marketer.
I had the idea to change it to Your Radiant Business in 2016.
The brand fonts and colours are different, but the logo is still the same.
The logo was designed by my friend Lulu Kitololo. The image is based on a circle, like a tree trunk, with lines that increase as the tree grows. Trees need to put down roots before they can grow tall and strong.
That’s why I kept the logo. It means something.
In case you didn’t know already, Materia Marketer only came about through a conversation with Lulu, who I met at a local networking meeting.
We were talking about online marketing, and I told her that in the world of homeopathy, the topic was very new. Together we decided to start a blog and newsletter for homeopaths, on the topics of branding and marketing.
Lulu and I worked on it together for a couple of years, but then she left London to return to Nairobi, Kenya, her home city. See her work on Instagram, and I recommend you also sign up for her wonderful newsletter.
I reached out to Lulu last week, and I’m delighted that she agreed to join me ‘in conversation’ on a special Radiant Business webinar in January.
Hopefully I will have the date to share with you soon. 🗓
10 books that have inspired my business 📚
How to Not Always be Working: a toolkit for creativity and radical self-care
by Marlee GraceUnsubscribe: how to kill email anxiety, avoid distractions and get real work done
by Jocelyn K. GleiWork Clean: the life-changing power of mise-en-place to organise your life, work and mind
by Dan CharnasThe Artist’s Way: a spiritual path to higher creativity
by Julia CameronDo Open: how a simple newsletter can transform your business
by David HieattThe Big Leap: conquer your hidden fear and take life to the next level
by Gay Hendricks PhDThis is Marketing: you can’t be seen until you learn to see
by Seth GodinThe Checklist Manifesto: how to get things right
by Atul GawandeEssentialism: the disciplined pursuit of less
by Greg McKeownThe Gifts of Imperfection
by Brené Brown
The way I’ve learned about growing my practice is the same way I learn about anything, I read, take workshops, and seek out teachers and mentors.
There are only a few books on practice-building for therapists, and I’ve read some of them, but if I’m honest, I’ve not found them especially useful.
The books that have inspired me and helped me grow as a person and as a practitioner are books on creativity, psychology, productivity, systems and self-care.
I’ve been wanting to share a Top 10 book list for a while and to make it easier for you, I’ve compiled them as a booklist on Bookshop.org, so you can browse through them easily, along with some notes on what I’ve learned from each of them.
Note: this is an affiliate link, which means that I earn a small amount of commission if you place an order.
Bookshop.org is my go-to online bookstore. As a registered B-corp it supports independent bookshops and gives away most of its profit to booksellers and authors. 📚
Readers survey 🫖
I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas to help guide Radiant Business in 2022.
The main goal of Your Radiant Business is to support the growth of homeopathy in the UK (and worldwide) via a practical mission: support, educate and empower 'ordinary' homeopaths who want to grow their practice.
This survey is designed to help me choose what to offer in 2022.
I only have a few days to dedicate to Radiant Business each month, and I want to be sure I use them well.
The survey can be completed anonymously, but if you would like to have a chance to win a ✨free mentoring session✨ in January, please include your email address at the end.
I’m giving away 7 mentoring sessions, one for each of the 7 years of the newsletter.
I encourage you to make a cup of tea, sit down and take ten minutes to share your views. 🫖
Plan your December! 🎄
It wouldn’t be new month without a new practice planner.
Download your December planner here.
And, I would very much like to know if you value this offering from me.
Do you download the planner, and use it to set monthly goals?
If so, please feel free to send me a photo, maybe on Instagram. I’d love to see it!
Are you keen to continue with monthly planners for 2022?
Please share your thoughts and ideas for the planner in the comments below. ⬇️
As always, thank you for reading.
I’ll be back in your in-box again at the end of December.
In the meantime, I would like to wish you a wonderful month ahead.
If you are celebrating Christmas, I hope you have a happy one. 🎄
Love and peace,
Tracy
Congratulations Tracy! So lovely to read your first newsletter, it's very inspiring and encouraging you still have subscribers from this first edition...Thank you for sharing your book list, I've read half of them already on your recommendation and will add the rest to my ever expanding list :-)
wow congratulations on 7 years! you have been on my mind today and this popped up. I'm back in practice after 3 years off and a lot going on - suspect i may need your help as I've never been this busy xx