Business planning 101

This month I was faced with some strategic planning, but also I am happy to announce that Touchstone Natural Healing Corporation is now a 501c3 with a mission to provide financial support for qualified individuals to facilitate compassionate healing for mind, body and spirit.   This has been a dream of mine and it is becoming reality.  I am so lucky to have a group of qualified and compassionate holistic healers to bring this vision into reality.  Now that the paperwork is in order, what is the next step?

Well thankfully my coaching session this month started me off in just the direction that I needed to go.  That coaching session was overwhelming and so frustrating to me.  I knew exactly what I need to do and it was what I have been needing to do for a long time.  I need to get my business defined, up and running.  After the session, I was pretty depressed until someone told me that if you are feeling that frustrated, it is because you are on to something.  Good thing the coaching program is a full year, because I am going to need it.   

I had declared March as movement month for me and as most of you are aware, my life is changing and moving a lot right now.  After the session the kids and I flew to Florida to help my parents move and I had a solid 24 hours of driving back to ponder my business plan.  I realized that it is time for Pathways to pull ahead and get into business mode.  This was the only way for our non-profit to thrive as well. 

When I stepped into the office on Friday the first thing I did was hire the perfect person to help me to get there.  Not only does Daphane have experience with non-profits and Holistic Business, she also knows how to say NO and stay on track.  She will be running the front and helping me to create that structure.  

I have also teamed up with another amazing woman who shares my passion for the 

apothecary and oils as I am not about to let the love of my life linger in the balance.   I want all facets of this business to rise together, I just need more help.   One of the greatest realizations that I had over the last couple of weeks was that it is 100% true that at this moment I do not have the capacity to do it all or even give more that 20% in any direction right now and that is OK.

In addition I have personally invited 10 holistic practitioners to join Pathways in a new level of membership.  They will be the first practitioners that we will begin to build our program and menu of services around.  It is great to narrow the scope a bit while we are getting things started.  This month was a little haywire but I’m getting there. 

Now just one more thing to do this week and that is turning 40 in Las Vegas.  If I make it through March, April will be a breeze.  

Let’s get the story behind the story.

I have been trying to get this “branding” figured out by myself and after this month’s coaching session I thought I was stepping up to the plate with power in my corner and a perfect strike coming down the shoot.  However I swung and completely missed. 

Clearly messaging has been a little difficult for me in my business and the big question for me is why? 

2 years ago I had no idea that I would be where I am at today, both in business and in my personal life.  2 years ago I was running the office of a framing company and was desperately searching for a business that I could do of my own.  A business that would give me financial stability because that is what we needed most. 

Over the next 1.5 years I went back to school and finally saw the light of passion ahead.  Soon I had an opportunity to take over a place where I used to get my massages.   It wasn’t just a building it was a special place for many people and a big opportunity for a career change.  In order to take on this building I had to look towards another opportunity to take on a cleaning business.  So, that is what I did.  What I thought was supposed to be the beginning of my life was also the end of the life I knew.  In this time my husband left me because I was too distracted figuring out two businesses, full time in school and even still helping at the kid’s school.  How can finding my passion create so much havoc in my life?  Finding the beauty in my work was supposed to make everything else better but instead I lost everything I knew as truth over the last 10 years.  Every reason behind my story disappeared. 

There was no business plan or business for that matter in that 3000 sf building.  I hustled to fill the rooms and worked tirelessly every day, creating everything from scratch.  Just when I overcame one obstacle another arrived, probably the most challenging was trying to figure out how to run a cleaning business when I had very little experience, but it was paying the bills and required some attention.  I had no plan.  I just took over another business to help me by time till I could figure out what the hell I had done.  Probably my greatest strength in business is my ability to take risks though I knew that walking into this opportunity was a gift and giving up was the only way to fail. The only thing I knew was that I cannot give up.

The holistic field is one that asks you to go within and opens you up to your intuitive side.  This field requires self-healing and when you are confronted with a feeling you do not push it down, you ask why?  Each time I figured out one problem and how to solve it, another presented itself and required my full attention.  I created systems, memberships and finally got my website up while simultaneously my personal life as I knew it was falling away from me.  There is no surprise as to why my messaging is so confusing, because this was not just a business it was a complete life overhaul.

 

The practitioners who have been with me for the long haul always say “Jill is always changing things”, and I would go into defense mode as if I had something to prove to everyone on my path.  I did this because I was always questioning every move that I made as if I didn’t belong there in the first place.  What do I have to offer after all I am newer to this field than any practitioner that I was working with? 

This week after my coaching session, I felt was given the permission to start creating my business and that I need to be very clear on what that is to me and only me for now.  I was asked to do a few forecasts to explore business development in order to get a sense of where to put my money for the best return and what is the best return on the services that I can offer.  This is an opportunity for me to not put the cart before the horse, this is research baby.  So, that is what I will do next.  Also as I am writing I realize that when I speak about Pathways Holistic Center I always say “we” as if there is a mouse in my pocket.  As to not offend, even with all of the weight on my shoulders I never speak from my power center as a business owner the way I did in construction and I challenge myself now to see if this too can shift. 

Still moving forward Pathways has begun receiving more attention and it is time to get the message straight.  What are we selling, who is selling it and what is the value being offered.  I think this may have been the most introspective coaching session yet, because it was the most frustrating for me.  This week I am still training volunteers and getting my time management under control, however in the next 10 days, I am going to put on my big girl panties and start looking at the numbers.  I’m a numbers gal anyway, so why have I been shying away for so long.  Is it simply because we don’t talk the same way about money and numbers like we do in construction?  What are the possibilities if I shift this thinking as well?  Enough talk, it is time to get the pencil to the paper and create that dang plan.  

Time Management vs. Branding

This month for my coaching program I was challenged to write down what I do all day after I told my coach Noam Kostucki how overwhelmed I felt.   This lasted about 2 days.  The first day, I was pretty proud as I went from meeting to meeting to meeting but the next day, I went from meeting to paperwork, to emails, to lunch, to picking up a sick kid, to having a surprise meeting, to paying bills, to chatting with my mom, to selling products and then having a drink.  Whoa, that type of chaos made me feel overwhelmed just writing it down.  So yes, I stopped and thought maybe if I just knew what I wanted to do and spend my time doing that I could get help with the rest and maybe just maybe get to feel less depleted.   

In order to draw more focus, I have been seeing a marketing coach weekly at Pathways to hone in on my message.  The comedy is that each week we host a meet up group called Conscious Business Connection where I have to stand up and tell everybody what I do.  Each week, it sounds different and I can promise you that even today only about 10% of the people could convey what I do to someone else.  Am I a director/owner of Pathways Holistic Center?   A reflexologist/ Aromatherapist?   A young living distributor?  The owner of an Apothecary?  The owner of a holistic Cleaning & Construction business?  The founder of a non-profit for Holistic Wellness?  Sounds like a bit of a crazy person when you rattle it off, doesn’t it? 

Most of them see me as the director of pathways and although this is quite a title, I am not sure I even understand what this means to me.  I have been putting blood, sweat, tears and money into Pathways for so long it has become an extension of who I am like my right arm, not so much what I do.  However over the recent months, Pathways is transforming into the place that it was meant to be and again although I kept the doors open and held the space, it is becoming an entity of its own.   Pathways has become a community center for holistic health professionals to meet their clients, start their own businesses and to hold classes & workshops.  As this was my vision from the beginning, month after month I began to feel like I was a volunteer.  This moment of shift was the most profound change that Pathways has experienced yet.  When I realized that I was just a volunteer, a load was completely lifted from my shoulders as I made the decision to have more volunteers.  So it begins, finally with the release of one load, the clarity is bringing my own passions into focus.    

As an entrepreneur first, business is my love but where do I focus so that I can create the most happiness in my life, focus my marketing to achiever abundance and help people in a way that serves both of our higher selves.  So let me introduce my passion.   I am the owner and creator of a product line called A vida é boa and the owner of Healthy Home Apothecary.  We are located at Pathways Holistic center in Fort Collins. 

So with this, I am focusing on what I love and creating a place for myself to grow, expand and most of all utilized my marketing money for something that I am passionate about.  Next step is to get a new logo & sign for the Apothecary and start to building products.  Do what you love, love what you do and make money at it.