simple prospering (Brooke Thomas)

Today I want to talk about the lifecycle of a healing arts business. I have been working on figuring this out for, oh… almost 24 years now… Both in navigating my own healing arts businesses (which have spanned many different business models, aka ways of delivering the service), and in helping many many other people to do the same thing.

If that sounds like a snoozefest, the reason why it’s useful to connect all the dots in one place is that once you see the patterns, you can spot where you are within them (within your own business). And from there you can do a lot of things! Things like: 

• Understanding what is “normal” ups and downs, and what is cause for recalibrating things

• Assessing current challenges and knowing what will actually help to alleviate them rather than throwing everything at the wall and hoping something sticks. 

• Saving you from spending TONS OF TIME AND MONEY on things that will not help you because they are not oriented towards a tiny healing arts business, or because they are just not the right tool at the right time. 

• Feeling much more comfortable in your own skin, and in your own business, based on living up to the values and desires that you have for your work, rather than all the “supposed-tos” that float around. Basically, feeling less like you are “doing it wrong” in your business, and knowing that some amount of consternation is just normal when you are self-employed. 

So… hopefully this mapping of the lifecycle of a healing arts business will help you to more quickly and easily alleviate unnecessary stress!

Want some support in your business? Visit simpleprospering.com

Today’s episode kicks off a 4-part series where I will be talking about the core values of my work here at Simple Prospering.

I work with many different types of service-based businesses, and have run a few different types myself, but no matter what the business does, these 4 values describe the kind of container I would love to see all businesses existing within because they are the values that make for healthy business ecosystems, and healthy humans who operate within those ecosystems.

So regardless of what it is you do in your work, these 4 values provide great compass points for any of us who are self-employed or running a small business.

In today’s episode I will tuck into value number 1: Make progress! That might sound like, "duh", but it is the thing we often bump up against when working for ourselves.

I discuss the trap of the 3 P's (perfectionism, procrastination and paralysis), the growth mindset, the difference between being in motion vs. being in action, and the difference between interest-curiosity and deprivation-curiosity.

This episode comes with exercises you can try out yourself to get out of any of those 3 P's.

You can find more of my work here: simpleprospering.com

SHOW NOTES

Dr. Carol Dweck: https://profiles.stanford.edu/carol-dweck

James Clear on Taking Action: https://jamesclear.com/taking-action

Dr. Judson Brewer book Unwinding Anxiety: https://drjud.com/book/

Jordan A. Litman and Paul J. Silvia study on interest and deprivation curiosity dimensions: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16740115/

This episode is part 2 of 3 in a series titled You Don't Have to Be An Influencer.

Today's episode is for those of you who listened to last week’s episode and thought, sure, sure, but I know I don’t want to be an influencer, and even that I don’t have to be an influencer, so what about using social media for marketing? Many service-providing businesses, of course, do use social platforms to market their businesses.

We differentiate between content marketing and social media marketing, discuss the 4 (but really 5) cardinal rules to follow to make sure posting to social doesn't just become a new unpaid job, and discuss why you might actually just want to bail on social and focus on other things.

You can find more of my work here: simpleprospering.com

SHOW NOTES

The Future Isn't Female Anymore by Michelle Goldberg

Good reading related to this episode:

10 Reasons to Delete Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier

Stolen Focus by Johann Hari

Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff

LEARN MORE ABOUT WORKING WITH BROOKE:

Register for the Marketing Without Social Media workshop on August 3rd, 2022 at the workshops page www.simpleprospering.com.

What do you have the resources (of time, energy and money), strengths and skills for? 

This is the essential question to ask yourself when starting a business, particularly when you are branching out from private practice. 

This episode is actually pulled from a lesson in the Business Model Buffet, which is the bonus course within the Healing Arts Practice Incubator (HAPI). https://www.simpleprospering.com/hapi

In that course, I talk all about the different business models that people in the healing arts can use to deliver their expertise or service. Things like: 

• Private practice
• Group practice
• Running a studio or center
• Signature courses
• Hosting retreats or events
• Productized services
• Membership/subscription offerings
• And, of course, hybrids of any of the above

Before we get to serving ourselves something at the buffet however (aka before we can choose a business model), we first need to do some informed inquiring into what we are and aren't up for, and what the new model will ask of us. 

I got off of all social media in 2020. I didn’t miss it. I cannot tell you what a weight it was off of my shoulders.

And yet, I have recently gotten back on social media- you can follow me on Instagram at @simpleprospering winky winky…

So I figured I would use this opportunity to talk about why to be on social media and why not to be there.

I cover:

• How having a therapeutic relationship at the center your business makes a huge difference in how you should try to make it more visible
• How the main things we see marketed in our culture are products and entertainment, and why that's hugely different than a healing arts practice
• What the influencer business model is all about
• What the algorithm rewards
• The burning question: "Brooke, are you a hypocrite?"

Show notes: 

Grow Without Social Media course

Fake Famous

Michelle Warner interview on SP

Jae Gruenke is a Feldenkrais teacher who specializes in working with runners. She founded The Balanced Runner in 2004 in NYC and has helped runners from beginner to Olympian all over the world since then. 

To find more of Jae's work: https://www.balancedrunner.com/

We talk about:

• The benefits of niching (and how not to do it arbitrarily) 
• The challenges that smaller holistic health fields can come up against in getting the word out
• How Jae manages 2 different business models: working 1:1 in private practice, and running a self-study online course
• The reality of time spent marketing, and where she has spent it best
• How Jae has navigated maintaining her business across multiple international moves

Today is part 2 of 4 in my series on the core values, or compass points, that Simple Prospering orients as its True North, and values that I think can be mighty helpful for all businesses.

I talked about value 1, make progress, in the last two week’s episodes. Today we are talking about value #2: how to keep it simple!

Simple is in the name of my business, so obviously it's important to me, but “keep it simple” is often thrown around like trite advice and it’s easier said than done when you are in business for yourself.

In this episode I focus on 2 common barriers I see to effective simplicity in one’s work. Really I am sacrificing 2 sacred cows in this week’s episode:

Barrier number one/aka Sacred Cow number one (especially in service-based businesses): Workism and The Passion Principle.

Barrier number two/aka Sacred Cow number two (for nearly all entrepreneurs) Frankensteining your offerings until you’ve created, you guessed it. a monster.

You can find more of my work here: simpleprospering.com

SHOW NOTES

Derek Thompson, The Atlantic, Workism is Making Americans Miserable https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/02/religion-workism-making-americans-miserable/583441/

Erin Cech, book, The Trouble With Passion: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520303232/the-trouble-with-passion

Kelly Diels: https://www.kellydiels.com/

This is part 3 of a series about the compass points that I use as the true north for any business. In the first 2 episodes in this series we covered how to make progress and the things that can get us caught in the weeds, and in last week’s episode we discussed strategic simplicity and some of the more common things in this cultural moment that can keep us mired in needless complexity.

Which brings us to the topic of today’s episode, the one most service-based business owners, myself included, would rather put their heads in the sand over than talk about! Businesses should be financially beneficial to those who run them and work within them.

Here are the top 3 common issues around money that I want to get to today:

1) We tend to over-give and under-receive which creates Chronic insufficiency, often experienced as underearning.

2) We usually do not know how much we need to earn and therefore we do not know what we need to charge (meaning we don’t have informed pricing or financial planning for our businesses).

3) We do not set up systems so that finances are tracked and taken care of; and then we wind up short when it comes time to pay taxes, take a vacation, or take some sick or personal time off. OR we simply don’t know where all the money goes and why we don’t feel like we’re earning enough even though our revenue numbers look pretty good.

If you can relate to some or all of these, you are not alone! I see this over and over again when I work with very small business owners. And of course, I have done all of these things myself. I came to financial recovery work the hard way.

You can find more of my work here: simpleprospering.com

SHOW NOTES:

Financial Recovery Institute: https://www.financialrecovery.com/

Wealth Addiction by Phillip Slater: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/wealth-addiction_philip-slater/451973/#edition=2213787&idiq=10966918

Underearner's Anonymous: https://www.underearnersanonymous.org/

Earn What You Deserve by Jerrold Mundis: http://www.randomhousebooks.com/books/118580/

Overcoming Underearning by Barbara Stanny (Huson): https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/682878.Overcoming_Underearning

Profit First by Mike Michalowicz: https://mikemichalowicz.com/profit-first/

Profit First Professionals https://profitfirstprofessionals.com/hire-pfp-form/

Xero: https://www.xero.com/us/

In the last episode I discussed the "Jeremy Bearimy" loop de loop of one's business's evolution and maturation. Other entrepreneurial spaces would call this a pivot... 

But sometimes we think we are in a pivot, when in fact we are channeling our inner squirrel. 

I talk about an inquiry that I use to help me discern whether I am in a healthy pivot, or whether I am running around piling up acorns to deal with later. Oh and there is talk of emulating oak trees. And I generally beat the metaphor of squirrels vs. oak trees to death. Enjoy! 

You can find the article version of this podcast at simpleprospering.com

Many of us come to self-employment through a side door. Meaning, few of us choose self-employment first, and then what it is we will do as a self-employed person second. 

Instead, most people acquire some skill, and either right away or eventually, it makes the most sense to deliver that skill as a self-employed person.

This means that many people wind up working for themselves without ever consciously asking themselves the question, “Do I want to be self employed?” 

Oftentimes those of us who support self-employed or entrepreneurial types of businesses are caught up in cheerleading it as the best option for everyone. But in this episode, it's real talk time. Let's go through some of the pros and cons of choosing either self-employment or being employed by someone else. There is no one right answer, and, leveling with you here, there is no one perfect career path. So let's talk about it!

https://simpleprospering.com/hapi

Welcome back to the summer re-run series! I’m pulling out some of my older episodes that I still get the most positive feedback on. And they happen to be related to slaying ideas that keep us miserable. Sometimes we have to pop the bubbles of ideas that we are supposed to agree with or keep up with so that we can make businesses (and lives) for ourselves that are supportive and satisfying. 

So- especially if you feel a little lost, hopeless, or like you are on the road to, or already deep into, a burnout stage listen in to Workism, Frankenstein and the Passion Principle. Be prepared to let go of cherished ideas that circulate in the self-employed worlds.

simpleprospering.com/hapi

We made it to the final building block! This week I’m discussing building block number 6: how to systematize your burnout proof business. 

Building blocks 1 through 5 are all about attaining liftoff, but most of what you will be doing in your business is running your actual business! 

This is when the challenge becomes how to streamline and systematize the operations of your business so that you don’t wind up constantly in the weeds or constantly reinventing the wheel (I’m going to go ahead and mix metaphors here!).

In this episode we cover some of the key places to set up your systems, in as simple a way as possible, so that you have more wind at your back than you have wind-drag. 

*You can get the updated building blocks PDF for free here: https://simpleprospering.com/pae

Part 3 of 3 in our series titled You Don't Have to Be An Influencer.

In today’s episode I’m delighted to have a special guest: Jane Clapp. Jane is the founder of Jungian Somatics and an advanced candidate with the Ontario Association of Jungian Analysts. She has worked at the intersection of the body and psyche as a movement coach and an embodiment educator for over two decades.

Jane and I met in the embodiment space years ago, and just about one year ago we went through similar reckonings around social media and both left the platforms.

We discuss Jane's experience of finding success for her small business by marketing on social media platforms, how that effected her both for good and for ill, how platforms have changed since their early days, the broad scope of how algorithms determine the landscape of our world, her academic paper titled: Social Media and the Collective Unconscious: Archetypal Algorithms and the Colonization of the Psyche, and why she chose to leave social media platforms even though it would cost her revenue.

SHOW NOTES

You can find more of my work here: simpleprospering.com

For more of Jane's work www.janeclapp.com (subscribe to her newsletter to follow her work since she is not on social!)

My first episode with Jane on Liberated Being about why we were leaving social media https://www.liberatedbeing.community/podcast/episode/3766fa39/ep-97-how-social-media-is-changing-us-with-jane-clapp

Jaron Lanier’s website http://www.jaronlanier.com/

Jaron Lanier’s TED talk How We Need to Remake the Internet https://www.ted.com/talks/jaron_lanier_how_we_need_to_remake_the_internet?language=en

Renata Ramirez on Data Mining https://www.sandiego.edu/blogs/business/detail.php?_focus=76022

Dr Iain Micgilchrist https://channelmcgilchrist.com/

Article Jane mentioned on how hypernudges in the algorithm affect us: https://philosophicaldisquisitions.blogspot.com/2017/01/algocracy-as-hypernudging-new-way-to.html

In building block #2 I'm talking about how to build a business around BOTH your strengths and your clients' true needs. Oftentimes things are lopsided in that equation. A symptom that things have gotten out of balance is that everything starts to feel Sisyphean- you keep rolling that boulder up the hill and it keeps rolling right back down. 

In micro businesses we wear all the hats! So we have a lot less running room for a business that isn't well structured. I troubleshoot how to spot an unbalanced business, and how to weave your strengths and your clients needs into an offering that is satisfying and sustainable for both of you. 

This is the audiobook version of chapter 2 from my free ebook: You Need a Holistic Business: Learn the Six Essential Building Blocks. 

*You can get the updated building blocks PDF for free here: https://simpleprospering.com/pae

In building block #4 from You Need a Holistic Business, I'm talking about how branding (done right) puts a lot of wind at your back. 

I also talk about what branding is NOT, particularly when it comes to small service-providing businesses. You don't need an iconic logo the way mega corporations do- If you're listening to this podcast you probably aren't thinking about opening up "flagship" stores, or buying a Superbowl ad, or generally "dominating market share" like an 8-figure company. 

In our cases, branding is about the cohesive voice, vibe, and flow of how your business is presented in the world. In this episode, I go through each and walk you through how you can give yourself a brand refresh if you need one. 

*You can get the updated building blocks PDF for free here: https://simpleprospering.com/pae

 I'm your host, Brooke Thomas, and I am a self employed lifer. I help the helpers- people who have tiny, but mighty service providing businesses. 

If you're here, you might be self employed a freelancer or an entrepreneur with a small team. And the things that you do come from your heart with an earnest intent to make things better for the people that your work serves. You may also have discovered that one of the people your work life serves is also you and that for as much as you give, you too should get nourishment and support back from your work.

In Simple Prospering, we explore just how to do that.

After taking a year off from this podcast, I'm back! The reason why I took a year off is because I knew that I was deep in a transition phase with my business.

In this episode I talk about the twists and turns that any self-employed person is likely to encounter, and also (re) introduce myself by way of telling you some of my own twists and turns. 

What's Jeremy Bearimy? Listen to find out!

www.simpleprospering.com

I'm thrilled to welcome Misha Tsozik to the show. 

Misha is a bodyworker and Somatic Experiencing practitioner who runs MBDOI in Louisville, Kentucky. 

We talk about the learning curve of self-employment, how and why she brought on employees in her studio, how to create an equitable workplace for all employees, and what it's like to transition from one modality to another when clients have come to expect something from you over the years. 

You can learn more about Misha and MBODI here: mbodilouisville.com/meet-misha

To get the free Practice Abundance guide, that's here: https://simpleprospering.com/pae-web 

Recently a fellow practitioner asked me, essentially: "Do you support yourself with your practice, or is somebody else paying your bills?"

She went on to ask if it's really possible to support oneself with their healing arts practice. 

This episode is my public answer to all of you, containing full honesty financial details from my life.

Apply and inquire about Bloom, the February coaching intensive: https://simpleprospering.com/bloom

Join me for my free workshop this Thursday January 16th on how to Overcome Underearning: https://www.crowdcast.io/c/hapi-planning-2025 

When we work for ourselves, one of the things we are constantly engaged with is refinement.

In this week's episode I trace the journey of refinement for the Healing Arts Practice Incubator, complete with embarrassing tales of my early days in practice. 

"Marketing" and "sales" are much loathed words and activities in the tiny service-providing business space. Most of us got into our work to help people out while practicing something we have a deep love for. Not to feel like we're shaking people down for money. That's totally fair! 

Except... if a business is not bringing in revenue, it's not a business (call back to building block #1...). So marketing and sales become essential, but we don't have to do them in ways that are either overwhelming or which just feel gross. We truly don't!

In this episode I discuss the simplest definitions of marketing and sales for our purposes, and the simplest and most effective (and non-gross) ways to engage with them. 

*You can get the updated building blocks PDF for free here: https://simpleprospering.com/pae

Today’s episode kicks off a 3-part series all about how you don’t have to be an influencer. I decided to do this series of episodes because I work with many people who run solid service-based businesses who have expressed to me that they feel like the only way their business can remain viable is if they force themselves into the influencer mold.

In part 1 I am looking at what that mold actually is; If we examine what an influencer is through the lens of it as a business model, we can begin to tease apart if it truly does or does not benefit us and our work lives.

You can find more of my work here: simpleprospering.com

SHOW NOTES:

Taylor Lorenz in NY Times: Young Creators Are Burning Out and Breaking Down

Martina Mascali in Monster: Hustle Culture: How "Every Day I'm Hustlin;" Became a Mantra

There are certain things that make solo, self-employed private practice a great business model for quality of life.

However, I also often see practitioners unconsiously setting themselves up to fail by denying themselves the ability to get the full perks of being their own boss. 

I talk about the main perks, and how we often sabotage our ability to enjoy them. 

Want more resources for healing arts providers? Visit https://simpleprospering.com/

Just like when we are working with our clients, when something is off in our practice we need to spend a little quiet time discerning what is the symptom of the problem, and what the actual root cause is.

In today’s episode I am going to just straight up tell you what the main stumbling blocks usually are, and what you need to have in place to have a totally solid foundation for your practice. 

Consider this a Cliff’s Notes guide to the most essential things you need to put in place to have a practice that is successful and can therefore take good care of you and your clients. 

https://simpleprospering.com/full-bloom

This episode is essentially the audiobook version of the first chapter in my free ebook, You Need a Holistic Business: Learn the Six Essential Building Blocks.*You can get the updated building blocks PDF for free here: https://simpleprospering.com/pae

Building block number 1: Know what your business needs to earn.

Without understanding what your business needs to bring in in order to be sustainable, it's easy to wind up trying on tactics without having any clear direction and to wind up walking in circles. 

This is especially try for tiny (sole proprietor) service-providing businesses. We figure if we only have to worry about paying ourselves, we don't really have to think about it that much. But we very much do! 

This episode will guide you how to sort out what you actually need to bring in to make sure you can take good care of yourself as a small service-providing business. 

We are going through the 6 essential building blocks for a thriving small business. This week is number 3, about how you can craft your business model in a way that is thoughtful about your strengths, your clients' true needs, and your revenue goals. 

One the one hand, sometimes we assume that we need to tolerate a certain level of burnout, when we don't! And on the other hand, sometimes we seek self-employment nirvana to our own detriment, and jump from one business model to the next too quickly. 

In this episode we discuss how you can think through crafting your model for yourself over both the short term and the long term. 

*You can get the updated building blocks PDF for free here: https://simpleprospering.com/pae

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. 

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.

We discuss: 

• Setting up a regular (ideally fun) meeting with a colleague
• Creating a bookending agreement with a friend or colleague
• The Bloom coaching sprint: https://simpleprospering.com/bloom

This week I am delighted to be joined by Michelle Warner, a business designer and strategist and an expert on the topic of relationship marketing. 

The vast majority of what we see these days is traffic-based marketing, which is well suited to mass market brands, but not at all well suited to tiny service-providing businesses. What serves us well is strategic, generous fostering of relationships. 

In this interview, Michelle Warner talks us through some of the typical misconceptions, pitfalls, and, most importantly, winning approaches to cultivate our own relationship marketing skills for our own businesses. 

You can find more of Michelle Warner's work at themichellewarner.com

You can find more of my work at Simple Prospering 

There is always a lot of excitement and chatter around new business models- running a studio or center, creating an online course, or even developing your own modality and teacher training. 

And I am certainly as attracted to shiny objects as much as anyone (in fact, probably much, much more...)

But there truly is no business model that I know of that is as easy to start, maintain, and earn a good living at- while maintaining a really high quality of life- as a solo self-employed private practice. 

Want more resources for healing arts providers? Visit https://simpleprospering.com/

This is the final episode in the series about compass points we can use for our businesses. We’ve talked about how to make progress, how to simplify our work, and what it means to have a financially beneficial business. Today we will talk about how to create something every human being deserves: humane work lives.

You can find more of my work here: simpleprospering.com

SHOW NOTES:

Tim Kreider The Busy Trap: https://archive.nytimes.com/opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/30/the-busy-trap/

Tim Kreider It's Time to Stop Living the American Scam: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/07/opinion/work-busy-trap-millennials.html

Tara McMullin The Valuable Business of Maintenance Work: https://explorewhatworks.com/disruption-vs-maintenance/

I’m emerging from a creative cave, and so I thought I’d talk a bit about the creative cave itself. This is when you know you want to focus thoroughly on one thing, and so you deliberately stop doing other things that will drain time energy and attention away from the One Thing. 

But if you wear all the hats in your business, how do you decide what can be paused? And once you do, how do you make sure to put your creative cave time to good use?

https://simpleprospering.com/

As we go through the life cycle of our business, we're going to come to all these different forks in the road. That's very normal. We usually wind up asking ourselves some version of the question, "Should I be branching out?" at different stages of our business. 

People wonder if they should be trying out different marketing tactics, or create a new offerings, or deliver their services differently. And there is plenty of noise about what the current golden ticket is (podcasts! online courses! membership sites!) as we cycle through new trendy options.

Rather than falling for other people's hype, this episode helps to navigate how to answer the branching out question for yourself through a process I call the Assumption Busting Question Tree. It's not a catchy name, sure, but it will help you surface the assumptions you might be making and get you to a clearer, more true-to-you answer about what your right next steps are. 

https://www.simpleprospering.com/hapi

Welcome to another edition of summer re-runs! We’re going to keep the tough love coming. I mean, it’s not really that tough, but it is honest! I want small healing arts businesses to thrive. I want all of us good people who got into our careers because we, first and foremost, really wanted to help people to also be well taken care of. And that means we’re talking about money and earning. 

When I work with clients 1:1, guess what always comes up? Earning. It’s the easiest thing to ignore because it is both stressful and MATH. But it is also the thing that determines if we can take good care of ourselves, and if we are living in constant stress or feel supported. So let’s talk about it!

PS- shameless self promotion- the Healing Arts Practice Incubator is open and there is an entire course on practice finances- with spreadsheets that do the math for you. You can check it out if you need more support in this area at simpleprospering.com/hapi

Last week began a 4-part series on the core orientations that I believe provide a solid true north compass point for small businesses.

In the last episode I talked about how to make progress. After publishing that episode, I realized that I had left out the approach that I actually use THE MOST to make progress. I’m using it constantly, it's my go-to. So I decided a brief addendum episode was warranted.

Here's how I actually make sure I do "the thing".

You can find more of my work here: simpleprospering.com

SHOW NOTES

Last week's episode: https://www.simpleprospering.com/podcast/how-to-make-progress

Simple Business Incubator and Simple Business Accelerator: https://www.simpleprospering.com/work-with-me

Tom Hanson at KNVP Studios https://www.knvpstudios.com

It’s a summer re-run episode which pertains directly to why I still believe everyone should not hop on the social media bandwagon. And that, if you are a healing arts provider in private practice. It just plain will not grow your practice.

So if you love it and posting is a fun hobby for you- enjoy! If you hate it and are only posting on social media because you need to bring in more clients- I release you from this labor! Go be free! It won’t grow your practice. Fostering relationships will.

This rerun is actually my first episode of Simple Prospering- titled What is the Influencer Business Model? It goes deep into all the reasons, which I still heartily agree with, about why small healing arts providers don’t need to bother. 

simpleprospering.com/hapi

I am always advocating for the simplest possible solution. So in addition to my longer form episodes, I will sprinkle in these brief and actionable Super Simple Strategies episodes that will hopefully spark some inspiration and support for you and your practice. 

Today we are talking about the technically easy, but sometimes psychologically hard, act of reaching out. Who can you get in touch with today!?

Want some help? Check out the Simple Outreach Templates.