I Set Out to Pursue My Passion and Wound Up Running a Small Business . . . Help!

There’s a whole universe of people who didn’t set out to start a business but who nonetheless find themselves owning and running one. Maybe you’re one of those people. You’re an expert in whatever the service is that you’re providing to people. You set out to share that expertise, and probably your passion, with the world. But services only get delivered through a business. Now what?

I’ve spent much of my recent career teaching people with businesses to be better business people. It’s frequently non-business people . . . that is people who set out to pursue their passion or expertise and only then learned that starting and running a business came with the territory. Besides working with people one-on-one, I’ve designed and taught classes to immigrants and refugees seeking to import or export products connected to their countries of origin; I’ve done a street level course for former gang members getting out of incarceration who are trying to get a fresh start by working for themselves because working for someone else feels like a stretch.

But there is one group of people who inhabit this universe for whom I have a particular fondness and who I really want to see succeed — holistic and alternative wellness practitioners. I’m a big believer in what they do . . . my primary healthcare provider is a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, massage has been instrumental in recovering from hiking and skiing injuries, I’ve had a dedicated yoga practice for over 10 years.

But here’s the thing . . . if you’re an acupuncturist or a massage therapist or an esthetician, or any one of many other such professionals, when you finished your training, there weren’t a lot of big employers waiting to hire you. There are a few existing practices that are big enough to be looking to add a practitioner, but for the most part, most of these talented people get out of school and have to open their own practice — that is, to start and run their own business.

In the best of circumstances, their training course included a few basics, mostly around licensure requirements and insurance needs. Maybe they got to hear a practitioner talk about what worked for them . . . but different businesses tell different stories and seek to attract different clients, so anecdotal stories are better than nothing but they hardly constitute a course in how to launch and run a successful practice.

How does any given business actually create value? How do they connect with the unique clients who would be happy to pay for that particular value proposition? How can a business be sure it delivers that value in a way that assures clients that they’re in fact getting what they pay for? How do I make sure I’m spending my time on the things that matter instead of today’s crisis? Why does any of this matter?

I’m going to save the answers to most of those questions for another article or two, but as for the last question, it matters because 80% of small businesses fail within five years, and that includes holistic wellness practices. And they fail mostly because the owners of those businesses don’t have the background, training, or resources to answer any of these critical business questions.

It breaks my heart when a gifted healer gives up on their practice because they just couldn’t make the business end of things work. And when someone gives up on their practice, there’s still no big employer wanting them to put their talent to work. So giving up on their practice means giving up on their passion . . . and that means that there’s just that much less healing and well being in a world that needs more, not less.

So is this a story with a happy ending? Or am I just one more bearer of bad news?

The business end of things should support your practice, not feel like an energy drain that detracts from your practice. To support you in aligning your business with your passion, I created a program that helps holistic wellness practitioners master the business end of their practices so they can find more joy and alignment in delivering healing to your clients while sustainably supporting your own wellbeing.

The course is called the Aligned Practice Accelerator. In just a few hours a week over 2 months you can learn how to create the kind of value that differentiates your practice from all the others out there, makes your practice less price sensitive, and connects you with your target clients because it emanates from your own authentic story that led you to the practice in the first place.

I have combined my passion for and experience in and teaching business and my belief in holistic wellness to create what I believe is the only course out there that applies the keys to creating and running a successful business specifically to the challenges of an alternative wellness practice. You can find more about it at wellb-ingbusiness.com.

Whether it’s with the help of my online course, or other resources that you find, I really want you to succeed. The world needs you.

(A little bit about me: I’ve been teaching business to non-businesspeople most of my career. I’ve started and ran businesses all over the world for a large global company, as well as starting several small businesses of my own. I’ve also helped many others start small business, including alternative wellness practices. I’ve taught business at several universities, and designed courses expressly for non-businesspeople, several aimed at creating economic opportunity for underserved communities.

At the same time, I’ve been a consumer of holistic wellness services for many years, including acupuncture, herbal medicine, and massage, and I maintain a regular yoga practice. I would like nothing more than to help you successfully share your healing gifts with the many people who can benefit from your practice.)