01285 885 122 … Basket

Shopping Basket

Basket is empty -
Checkout

The 2 vital steps you need to take to drive success in your business

Go back to the blog index

Success is the ultimate target. No one starts a business setting out to fail or give up, so what do you need to do to create a successful business?

Are you in a place where you've taken that jump and trained in something brand new. Chances are this is also a new industry for you. Have you ever been self-employed before? How will you take this from classroom to clients? At the Academy we have a huge passion for supporting our community of newly trained therapists beyond the classroom and into the industry.


There are two fundamental aspects you need to establish which will drive every aspect of you pushing your business forward. Once you've established these two things you can use them as your drive and maximise your motivation to create and keep momentum in building your business. These two things are your 'Why' and your 'How'.

The 'Why?'

There has been something that set a fire within you. It's that driving force that we want to capture and keep as your 'why'. It's that essence that we want to bottle and use to drive you forward when things get a little hard or you fall behind in plans. So it's important to really understand why you've started your journey into this industry. Why did you train to launch your own business? 

  • What made you spend money on becoming qualified and spending hours of your time studying and practicing your skills? 
  • Do you have a very personal story that set you on this journey or is it the outcome of becoming a holistic therapist and having your own business?

If you can get to the driving force of why you are creating and growing a complementary health and sport business, then you can use this to check in, when you are having a tough day, working to deadlines, managing your time or making decisions in your business. 

Write this down somewhere really prominently that you will see regularly and refer back to see if it still lights that fire.  

If it doesn’t and life has changed, then change your ‘why’, to keep it as your carrot to push you on, rather than it becoming a stick to beat yourself with.

If you know why you’re doing what you’re doing then you’ll have much greater clarity about what success will look like for you and be able to celebrate success in your business. 


So, what are the markers for measuring your success:

·        Earning a specific income 

·        Working less in your day job

·        More flexibility or family time 

·        Better sense of fulfilment and wellbeing

·        Supporting a specific client group 

·        Escaping a career you no longer wish to work within

·        Setting & meeting specific outcomes for people

It could be something really super specific. For example, new windows for your house, a holiday for the family in the summer or working with teenagers suffering from exam stress.

The more specific ‘it’ is, the more likely you are to mentally connect and it really mean something to you rather than some random, unmeasurable abstract desire. It turns from a moving target to a fixed and achievable target. 

Being specific is the difference between, 'I want to go on holiday' and 'I want to go to New York with my partner to go Christmas shopping'. You can actually visualise it in full technicolour. 

This will be very personal to you and ties back directly to your ‘why’. Every complementary therapist I speak to, has a reason for becoming a massage therapist or reflexologist and it’s tapping into using this rocket fuel of reason and energy to keep you moving forward and progress. 

There is no quick click of your fingers magic formula to creating your perfect successful business, only a drive and passion to push you on and keep you engaged. It's a marathon not a sprint as they say. The key is to sustain momentum to make everything run much more smoothly. Growing your business will take time, energy, resources and commitment in playing the long term game to achieve your personal success. You have to have a strong desire to succeed otherwise why bother? 

Having targets and benchmarks helps you to see your growth and celebrate the successes. Is it a small little leap for man or more like a giant leap for mankind? 

How does the gap between where you were and where you have reached make you feel? Do you have some ideas for making some tweaks that will make all the difference or does it seem a bit overwhelming and the unknown and the perceived enormity of the leap is keeping you stuck?

The 'How?'

The old adage 'failing to plan is planning to fail' is so true when starting a brand new business. Especially when you are transitioning from one career to a new one. Time can be short and resources stretched. Time to problem solve and make a plan, putting some achievable stepping stones between you and the end success. 

The best way I use for this with individuals that I work with, is to work backwards from the end destination. Working backwards keeps you focussed on outcomes and the end goal rather than getting stuck on the next step. 

Think about what you need to do or achieve first, then add in the how. The ‘how’ is always achievable once you know the ‘what’. 

For example if you want to reduce your 9-5 working days from 5 days to 4 days, working backwards might look something like this:

Working 4 days 

  • ·        Tell the boss that you want to reduce your hours 
  • ·        Regularly treating 3-5 clients weekly to replace income 
  • ·        Keep working consistently with marketing 
  • ·        Monitor numbers monthly against goal and timeframe
  • ·        Get more testimonials and reviews to attract new clients 
  • ·        Focus on one marketing strategy to attract new client’s e.g. social media, blogging, email marketing 
  • ·        Follow up and add value to current client to encourage rebooking
  • ·        Set yourself a time target to work to 
  • ·        Identify how often clients are rebooking e.g. monthly to work out how many clients you need in your business to meet the target
  • ·        Schedule these appointments into your diary every month to fill as a target
  • ·        Identify how many of these clients you need to see monthly to meet income replacement 
  • ·        Identify current regular ideal clients to add value to and follow up with 

Working 5 days

Once you have the what, then you can start adding the how and break the steps down in to smaller steps for example;

  1. Follow up and add value to current clients to encourage rebooking
  2. Make sure you ask every client for their telephone number or email and permission to contact them after their treatment 
  3. Make notes about them, any personable information, self-care strategies and desired outcomes 
  4. Put in a diary check in 2 days after treatment, then 2 weeks and 4 weeks recurring if not rebooked 
  5. Use notes to send personalised follow up messages, check on progress, links to further self-care

Before you know it, you’ll have a step by step plan to follow and the key is to follow it consistently and get help if you need it. Don’t let one particular step hold you back from achieving. If you have the ‘what’ sorted, someone else will definitely know the ‘how’. You just need to find them to unlock the next step.

Don’t leave yourself stranded, the right person is probably just a few clicks away and what daunts you, lights them up and is their zone of genius. 


So to summarise at every step in growing your business the 'Why' can be used to drive you and the 'How' is the step by step plan to keep your momentum. Growth can be measured in many ways so chose the most meaningful way and celebrate those milestones!

At the Academy we run regular workshops and courses to support you throughout your journey into this industry and beyond.

Thursday Evenings - Free Weekly Drop-in Session

Our Thursday Evenings are designed to give you practical hands on guidance and discuss any issues that have you stumped in your clinic.

Building your Business in Complementary Health & Sport - Free Workshop via Zoom

This workshop is focused on working out what your target market will be, but more importantly, how you will get yourself in front of those groups of people. Throughout the workshop there are opportunities to share ideas with other therapists and hear from Chris Phillips, Principal of the Academy about his journey into the industry and the tips and tricks of marketing yourself to drive success.

BRAND NEW: Kickstart Your Therapy Business - Two Day Course

This two day immersive experience is for holistic and sports therapists alike looking to give their business the kickstart it needs to go from classroom to clients. Equally for anyone working within the health and sport industry in a place where they feel their marketing needs a refresh this will enable you to hit the reset button.


By Sally Lorimer, Tutor at Cotswold Academy and Business Mentor at Wellbeing Business Academy.

Connect with Sally via Wellbeing Business Academy on Instagram

Connect with Sally via Wellbeing Business Academy on Facebook

Member Login

Reset Password

Member Registration


Join the Waitlist...