The Many Faces of Fear

I have just finished another Sunday running my Double Your Clients in 90 Days one day introduction workshop for health care professionals and yet again I saw the insidious, destructive and interfering power of fear. I am amazed at just how sneaky and cleaver fear can be, hiding in the most unlikely recesses of our thoughts and feelings. I have seen how fear can stop us in our tracks when moving forward could be the most exciting experience of our lives.

I remember when I was younger, I know a distant memory, although in my mind it was yesterday, it is today and maybe even tomorrow, anyway when I was younger 10 or 12 my father took my brother and I to Disneyland. At Disneyland there is a ride called Space Mountain which, is an inside roller coaster. I can remember walking down the ramp to get on the coaster and hearing all the screams coming from those already enjoying the ride. These screams highlighted an already building fear, to the point that half way through the cue I decided to run away. A little embarrassing considering my brother who is five years younger than me excitedly continued on. I waited out the front for my Dad and Brother to complete their journey into the unknown only to see the exhilaration and joy on their faces when they eventually appeared. My brother shouting lets do that again. It took me at least five of these excited greetings and lots of convincing from both my Dad and my brother before I decided to break through my fear and go on the ride.

I can still feel the fear and apprehension of walking into the area where you got onto the ride, seeing the coaster move off into the distance with the familiar sound of click clack as the coaster climbed the track to its final pinnacle where it dropped into the nothingness of darkness and surely death.

So with the fear still very present and my stomach wanting to release all of its contents, I got onto the coaster. By this stage I was trembling, nearly crying with the overwhelming fear that maybe my life would end in a sea of mangled roller coaster mess as we catapulted off the rails and into the ground below.

As the coaster jerked off into the distance, with me on it gripped by the fear, surrounded by excited patrons including my brother and Dad who by this stage are laughing at me, in the most loving way possible but seeing the silliness of my fear. (Isn't funny how everyone else can see the funny side but when your in the middle of it...IT'S NOT FUNNY!) When we got to the top of the coaster everything turned black and we disappeared into the dark recess of Space Mountain. Now I have to say the first few corners felt like I was going to die but then I began to let go and enjoy the ride. The feeling of impending death disappeared with every up, down, exciting and thrilling turn. Once it was over I wondered what the fear was all about, as I too now joined in on the harmony of my brother and I going “can we do it again…come on Dad, again, again”.

And so the fear of that scary inside roller coaster was gone for good, I had broken through.

Now most fear is not as obvious as that one, but never the less will stop you meeting the exciting and most joyful thing in life…YOU! Fear more often hides as excuses; reasons for not doing the things that deep inside we know we need to do. It will stop us meeting our destiny, of diverting the inevitable and us living the fullest life that we can. Life is a wild adventure and once we get over the fear of meeting this adventure we realise just how amazingly exciting and thrilling it really is.

So where is your fear hiding and how does it show up in your life? Remember that sometimes your thoughts and feelings will deceive you. In that I mean that the fear will show up in excuses that appear real and reasonable and understandable but its fear non-the-less. So how much longer are you going to let fear stop you meeting your most adventurous life? How much longer are you going to let it stop you from living the biggest version of whom you really are?

At some moment we realise that time is running out and that eventually the roller coaster is no longer going to be there. When you see an opportunity to get on the roller coaster take it with both hands, jump on board and push through the fear so that you can experience the overwhelming joy of it all.

Its funny but if we run towards the fear, fear tends to disappear. So what ever you fear run towards it as fast as you can and watch it eventually disappear.

Have a great week and remember, when your roller coaster opportunity appears jump on it quickly before the fear overwhelms you. Know that your thoughts and feelings are going to tell you not to. In this case you have to dig deep and connect with that knowing inside that tells you that this could be the most amazing adventure, a life changing experience, that may have you meet your wildest dreams, desires and goals for your life. Oh and go with your first thought or feeling which is usually the one that says yes lets do it. Fear generally comes after that thought and you guessed it the more your think about it the less likely you are to do it. Fear builds over time, it does not get less!

Cheers Marcus

The Power of Internal Networking

Whenever I start at a new clinic or new practitioners come into the clinic that I am working in I always book a time to see them. When I meet with them for the first time I ask them the most important question, “how can I help you to get more business?” this is quickly followed by “who is your perfect client?”

When we help others to get busier and have more clients we get busier and have more clients. When we give to others the universe ends up giving to us and practitioners will want to refer back to you. It sounds like a simple philosophy but it is what helped me build my clinic business. Remember I built a highly successful clinic business with no advertising and no discounting all through referral business. Now this is not just referrals from clients but in the beginning it mainly came from my internal networking within the clinic itself.

If you don’t work in a large clinic or you work from home why not network with other practitioners in the area who complement your modality. Make a list of practitioners in your area and give them a call with a view to meeting up to discuss how you can help them to get busier.

Before you go and meet other practitioners I would recommend that you make sure you understand three things about you and your business;

1. Who is your perfect client? This might include age, gender, psychological types etc… The perfect referral for me was a client that was not progressing as fast as they possibly could or you would expect to. I would then give them a kick-start and send them back to the referring practitioner. I was known as the trouble shooter and when all else fails send them to Marcus.

2. What is your specialty, your ‘Guru-ness’? What are the types of disease or issues you LOVE to treat? What type of client is naturally attracted to you? What other specialties have you been educated in? What are you a guru in, or what do you want to be a guru in? Some of this might come from your essence the thing that makes you, you!

3. How do you work? Is there a special way you like to work? I personally like to see clients over a 90 day period and work with them weekly for the first month, fortnightly for the next two months. I work energetically with a focus on the psychology of disease.

These are the same questions that you will want to ask the other practitioner so be prepared for them to ask the same back of you. In my experience when you go into a practitioner meeting with the energy of wanting to find out about them, with a view to getting them more clients, magic happens.

It is also important to be crystal clear about you and your business as the more precise and clear you are the easier it is to refer business to you. Anything that will help the other practitioner to remember you is going to be important. Just like being the trouble shooter and when all else fails send them to me. This is something very easy to remember and will remain front of mind when in front of clients who are not moving forward.

One of the things that I affirm in these meetings is that I always refer the client back to their original practitioner. One of the biggest fears most practitioners seem to have is if they refer to another practitioner then they will loose that client. A little funny really considering it should be all about the client. So if the client needs to see someone else, for whatever reason, then we should actively refer. It is possible to refer to a similar modality of someone who specialises in something you don’t. In this way practitioners can work together for better client outcomes.

So where can you begin to start internal networking? Make a list of practitioners in your clinic and also in the surrounding area and systematically go and see each one. Make the call, be clear and go meet some other amazing practitioners you never know you may actually learn something.

Have fun building your clinic business and may you double your clients in the next 90 days…

Cheers Marcus

Create Massive Value

Creating value is important if you want to build a successful practice. Value is the thing that will keep clients coming back time and time again. We all feel good when we believe that we have received value from a transaction. Be it a commercial transaction when we buy into something, a personal transaction when we speak to a friend, or a healing transaction when we see a practitioner.

If we are left feeling like we did not receive adequate value for the time and money that we have spent then we are less likely to go back or to refer that practitioner to our friends. So how do we create massive value?

There are three parts to creating massive value for all stakeholders. In a practice there are often three stakeholders, you, the client and the clinic. As the practitioner we need to become responsible for providing value to all three stakeholders. We can do this using the Value Matrix, which has three primary facets to it.

1. Manage expectations
2. Provide confidence
3. Create accountability

We must first manage the expectations of our stakeholders; in the case of our clients there are certain expectations that we must meet. These expectations include, time, money, treatment and in the case of building a value driven practice the healing plan.

We must make sure that we are keeping to the expected time that has been predetermined either by the clinic, the external world or ourselves. If your sessions run for an hour then they should finish on the hour not over and not under. If they run over because, for example, your client loves to talk, then we must manage the expectation by setting up the session right from the start. In some cases where I know my client loves to talk I let them know that we must finish at a certain time. This is an example of managing the time of a consult.

Next we must manage the money, in a lot of cases this is taken care of by the clinic however the practitioner often determines the establishment of fees. Managing the money starts with your charge rate. Where do you want to sit in the market? Are you charging above the market rate, same as the market rate or below the market rate? Realising that often our charge out rate is directly linked to our self worth may help you to set your fees.

Finally your treatments, including your treatment plan, needs to be managed. Discussing how you work with clients upfront can assist in meeting their expectations. What is it they want from you, how long do they expect to be seeing you and what plans do you have for future sessions are all things to consider?  I find that it is extremely beneficial to establish a clear treatment protocol and plan as quickly as possible into my sessions.

When then want to provide confidence. The underlying and most powerful thing you can do is to provide the client with confidence. This is especially important when guiding a client, asking for a re-booking and asking for money. Any hesitation at this point will have the client feel that there is a lack of confidence. As many cases of dis-ease include a lack of self worth and self-confidence it is important that the practitioner does not play into this as well. Sometimes it is a process of faking it until you make it, either way it is important to be confident.
The skills of self-confidence at the deepest level may lead us to seek professional assistance to clear blocks or issues that have contributed to our lack of confidence, however there are some traits that a confident person will show that we can copy so as to begin to build our own confidence. Confidence is just a series of positive events that build on themselves to provide the person with a feeling that the next event they face will go well and therefore the confidence to do it again. So what are the traits of a confident person?
• Speak with authority
A confident person speaks with authority as if they know exactly what they are doing, which may or may not be the case. It is not about lying but rather believing in what you are saying.
• Speak without hesitation
A confident person does not hesitate when they speak especially when they get to those issues that are a little uncomfortable, like asking for money or re-booking.
• Clear and precises direction
A confident person will give clear and precises direction and actions as to what they want the other person to do. In this case the client for example:
“In my experience these things take time to clear therefore I would suggest that I see you every week for at least a month or two then we can cut it down to fortnightly, then monthly and until you feel it is cleared”
• Just do it!
At the end of the day a confident person will just do it without thinking to much about it, as they say ‘face the fear and do it anyway’.
Understand the power of confidence in the healing process.

Create Accountability
Make sure that you make your clients accountable for their own healing, do not take it on! When we help our clients to become accountable often they will heal without us touching them. Most of the time I have found that people don’t really want to heal, there is just too much invested in them being ill. So this is the most important thing we can do, how?

Step 1: Give them home play
Step 2: Get them to do something that they have to bring back to you for the next session
Step 3: Make sure you follow it up

Have a great week and remember to provide value, your clients will thank you in referrals.

Cheers Marcus