I have been living in or passing through many spiritual, holistic and alternative communities over the past 10 years or so.
I’ve met many amazing healers and holistic practitioners, who have been learning, practicing and sharing their healing abilities for years, sometimes for most of their lives. People with a good heart, who genuinely wanted to help others.
I have received numerous sessions of different modalities from some of these people.
But most of these people, and I believe most of the talented healers out there, struggle with the business side of their offering and various aspects related to it.
If you are a healer, you might have some of these problems (or challenge as us healers call them…):
1. You don’t have enough clients
2. You have too many clients, which means you don’t have enough free time to rest, have fun, spend time with friends and family, and keep growing professionally
3. You make “just enough” money, which perhaps means you can’t afford many things you actually need; You probably can’t take a 3 month vacation without working, and/or you don’t have a proper health insurance and pension fund.
4. You are working in environments and conditions that are not optimal, and that affects how well you can help afterwards and how you feel afterwards ie drained of energy.
5. You struggle with the business side of your offering – promotion, marketing, sales, taxes, accounting, etc. You probably refer to it as “necessary evil”, or “that business stuff”.
You might be telling yourself that it’s ok because you’re helping others. But deep inside, do you secretly yearn to have more financial security and more free time?
Why are you having these problems ? (Yes! Problems!)
If you are like most healers I meet, you’ve probably been offering your gift for a few years, had solid months or even years of training, attended workshops, and read/watched/listened to tons of material about this and related subjects.
You probably have many healer/alternative/hippie friends.
And I assume you LOVE what you do.
However… (drum roll)…
How much time have you spent studying business, sales, marketing, finances, economics?
How many workshops did you take? How many books, videos etc did you consume to educate yourself about business?
How many of your closest friends are professionals in these fields?
How much do you LOVE doing business?
If you are like most healers and holistic practitioners, you probably hardly spent any time improving your business skills, studying about money and wealth, learning how to market yourself and mastering the fine art of selling your holistic service to the right client for a rate that corresponds to the value you bring them.
You probably don’t have many friends who work directly with business, money and marketing.
You probably have a combination of judgment, criticism, and cynicism around the financial system, rich people, and business.
Guess what?
If you don’t know much about business, don’t like it very much, and have judgment and criticism around it, is there any surprise that you are merely surviving but not really THRIVING?
How is this affecting you, your clients and the people around you?
How long can you keep doing this?
How is it hurting your ability to grow, to express your higher and deeper gifts, and to help more people?
I have spent years living at a spiritual community on a tropical island in Thailand and dedicated a lot of time to yoga classes, workshops, lectures, seminars, trainings, retreats, books, videos, and audio lectures, as well as professional tutoring and discussions with other practitioners in the community.
But after I moved to Australia and started holding workshops and sessions there, I found out I didn’t know much about business and marketing, and kept hitting glass walls and ceilings.
I discovered that i was carrying limiting beliefs and negative views about charging money and making money, about selling and marketing, about the financial system and and about rich people.
Stuff like “I can’t be both spiritual and rich”, “the financial system is evil”, and “I need to charge a rate that anyone can afford”.
I realized that I’m not just a Tantra teacher and a practitioner.
I understood that if I really wanted to share my knowledge and experience, to reach more people and really help them, I would have to be a business man.
I realized I would have to change my beliefs and mindset about money, business and wealth.
So I started getting business coaching, and learning about business, marketing, branding, and wealth through blogs, books, audio lectures and videos.
I received coaching from a guy that helped me change my limiting beliefs and remove emotional blockages around money (Thanks, Dane!).
I also worked on my self-value and self-worth, which are crucial if you want to succeed in anything.
I literally spent thousands of hours and tens of thousands of dollars over the past 3 years figuring out this stuff, and it’s not going to stop. As I grow in my gift and my business, I need to find better coaches and mentors to guide me.
All this allowed me to offer more services and to double and triple my rates.
I got so inspired by this transformation that I started offering business coaching for healers, sexuality professionals and artists.
I had a client in the Netherlands whom I was coaching for a while using my “integrated coaching” approach, which means we were working on her sexuality, creativity, business, social contribution, spiritual practice and other aspects of her life.
She was a healer and practitioner who was offering many different services, and she was fully booked. So much so that she hardly had a moment to dedicate to her sexuality, relationship, friends and to other creative expressions besides her work.
On top of that she was charging very low rates that haven’t changed in many years. Because of that she needed to work full time and couldn’t afford to take a vacation.
I spent 3 sessions with her just discussing her business, services and rates. When I suggested she raise her rates, she literally panicked and had a serious resistance on various levels. She thought that was un-spiritual, un-ethical and that her clients will criticize her, hate her or leave her.
But she was brave enough to face her financial demons and within a month she doubled her rates and even tripled the rate of one of her services.
She shared with me that it felt great, she was bringing more value to her clients, and enjoying free time for rest, dating and social activities.
Her clients actually appreciated her more than before.
To conclude, here are a few things that you should do if you want to help people but also make a decent living:
1. Dissolving your limiting beliefs and cultivating a wealth mindset
2. Improving your self-worth and self-value.
3. Embracing structure, authority, commitment, and learning to leverage your time, resource and services
4. Seeking knowledge and education about business
5. Receiving guidance and coaching
6. Consistently taking action, changing how you run your business and trying new things.
How would it feel if you were able to double your rates, help more people and have more free time, all at once?
Get started with the advices I shared above, and if you need any help, I’m offering a few free discovery sessions every month. We will discuss the challenges you’re facing and explore some possible actions to take. If there’s a “fit”, I might take you on as a coaching client.
Schedule a free discovery session below – I’ll be happy to guide you.
Questions? Feedback? Love letters? Contact me