Ask Jenn: starting a second career as a healer

By Jenn Givler, The Reiki Digest advice columnist

Dear Jenn,

My name is rajan. I am from Mumbai city, India. I was working as an accountant for more then 28 years and now I have a voluntarily retired person.

Some years back I had done diploma in Naturopathy, Acupressure, Swedish Massage, Reiki, Pranic healing, Pyramid Therapy, Tarot, Sujok, Magnet Therapy, etc.

Now I am practising treatment services to keep myself busy. I can treat people suffering from Neck Stiffness, Frozen shoulder, Lumbar pain, Arthritis, etc.

In spite of my talent and publicity I am [un]able to draw patients.

Please give your advice as to what am I supposed to do, to get success in therapeutic services.

Regards,
Rajan

Dear Rajan,

Without knowing everything you’re doing currently to market your new practice, let me start by saying that you’ll need a good mix of active and passive marketing activities to really get your name out there and build a steady client flow.

Passive activities are things like advertising, putting fliers around town, dropping business cards at like-businesses, etc. . . . Passive activities are things that are fairly hands off.

On the other hand, active marketing activities are things that heavily involve you – things that get you out in the community and out in front of people. These are things like attending networking events, attending lectures and seminars, giving free talks, etc. . . .

You must have a good balance of active and passive strategies to get your name out there in front of enough people so that your clientele begins to build and become steady.

Active activities are very important and they are sometimes overlooked by practitioners.

People want to get to know you before they rely on you for your service. With any healing practitioner, there is a level of trust and safety that potential clients need from us – a level of trust and safety that can’t be achieved through advertising, fliering and word-of-mouth alone.

It’s wonderful that you have so many credentials, and I have no doubt you’re a talented practitioner. But nothing beats getting out in front of people face-to-face so that they can meet you, get a sense of who you are, and feel a physical resonance with you.

Other things that will help you build a steady practice:

-- Choosing a dedicated niche of ideal clients. Who is it that you love to work with, and what specific challenges do you help them with? Deciding on this will help your marketing efforts tremendously.

-- Once you’ve chosen a niche, it’s easy to determine where groups of those people might congregate. Get involved with those groups, get to know people. For example, if you love to work with people going through a recovery program, call local groups and see if you can volunteer your services.

-- Speaking of volunteering, check out local shelters, holistic centers, or even senior centers or hospitals and see if they could use you on a volunteer basis. This is a great way to get your work out in the world and start creating a network of people who have experienced your service.

-- Have a web presence. These days, it’s essential to have an online presence. People use the internet to search for practitioners in their local area. Having a web site allows people to easily find you.

Rajan, I wish you the best of luck, and I hope that if you have any follow-up questions, you’ll post them here – I’m happy to help!

Jenn

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