You can do it, if you believe you can!

Dr. Wayne Dyer has a book called "You'll See It When You Believe It".  This book is from 1989 and reiterates what Napoleon Hill says in his book, The Law of Success.  You must keep your thoughts on your Definite Purpose and in cooperation with others with whom you are working to achieve your goals and the cooperation between your conscious and sub-conscious minds it will be achieved.

In the book Hill talks about the Law of the Master Mind when he talks about the cooperation of people who come together for the purpose of reaching a specific goal.  When a number of people get together and focus their thoughts and resources on a given outcome they have a greater chance of success in achieving the desired end result.  So it is within each of us if we keep both our mental and physical thoughts and actions on the desired outcome.

In the body exists many systems that come together to create the harmony and balance referred to in Anatomy classes as homeostasis.  Most people know about the physical aspects of the body that we can see or that are affected by disease or misuse.  This are the bones, the muscles, skin and the internal organs.  Many people are only aware of the Nervous System when sickness or stress affect it.  What most of us do know about the Nervous System is that it is the brain, the spinal cord and all the nerves that come from the spinal cord to our muscles and organs.  These nerves control every aspect of each and every movement of our body including how our heart beats and we digest the food we eat.  Hearing, seeing and tasting are all controlled by these nerves.  We walk and talk because of nerves that process information.  When you touch something hot, it is the brain (the Nervous System) that responds and in that split second tells you to pull away.

In the book, The Law of Success, Mr. Hill spends a lot of time talking about what he refers to as the "subjective mind" and the "objective mind" and what parts of the brain and therefore the Nervous System that they belong to. He is talking about subconscious and the conscious mind respectively.  

I am not qualified to talk about the portions of the brain but I can talk about the Nervous System and the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic portions of it.  These two parts of the Nervous System are what control all of our body processes.  Every action that we take is controlled either voluntarily (we make a decision) or involuntarily (the Nervous System makes the decision).  This is the cooperation that Hill talks about in the book and what I would like to spend a little bit of time talking about here. 

What I want to explain is how the conscious (subjective) mind controls the subconscious (objective) mind.  In the medical field the subject is the patient, the person telling why they are at the doctors office, while the object is what the Doctor or Nurse writes on the chart in order to make a decision about the patient.  The same thing applies to the conscious and subconscious minds. 

The Conscious Mind

The Conscious Mind is the thinking mind.  This is where you either accept or reject an idea.  This part of your mind is conditioned or taught over your lifetime and is influenced by every aspect of your life from the day that you were born.  In my Infinite Possibilities classes it is where we hold our Beliefs.  Those things that we believe are true.  These things guide us through life, regardless if they really are true or not!  Those ideas, thoughts or beliefs that you accept become part of the subconscious mind.  THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!

The Subconscious Mind

 The Subconscious Mind is the conditioned mind. Every cell in your body functions based on what the subconscious mind is programmed to do.  This part of your mind has no ability to reject what the conscious mind has accepted.  This is the part that is the player in "The Law of Attraction"  It operates predictably in all instances.  It is expressed by our feelings and actions.  Any conscious thought is continuously impressed upon your subconscious over and over until it becomes fixed here and in your personality.  Fixed ideas then continue to express themselves without any conscious assistance until you replace them.  These fixed ideas are called Habits.

Therefore if you want to change your habits you have to change your beliefs and the way to do that is to reprogram what your Conscious Mind accepts as truth.  It is through the Cooperation of these two parts of your mind that you can achieve your Definite Purpose, that Goal that Napoleon Hill sets forth as the first thing you need to get set in your mind.

Here is a little something to think about:

Thoughts build Ideas,  Ideas stir Emotions,  Emotions are expressed through Actions,  Actions create Results

  When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.  Wayne Dyer

The Law of Attraction, The Laws of Success, The Power of Positive Thinking, The Golden Rule

What do all of these things have in common?  More of my thoughts on these things coming soon.

So I'm working on a new book to be titled 100 Massage Business Builders and I thought I would share just 5 of them here.  

1.  Network with other Health Professionals who can send you clients and to whom you can send clients. 
    I know that this sounds pretty straightforward and pretty much a DUH moment but what I am saying is to network with people that you would go to for their services.  If you want to network with a Chiropractor, then know the Doctor, have it be someone you trust to go to yourself.  Don't just call on a every Chiropractor around your location and say let's network.  I know this goes against some others who make this recommendation but that is how I feel and is how I have built my practice in the past.  My personal Chiropractor was in my network and we did share clients back and forth.  Why would you send a client to someone you wouldn't or haven't seen personally?  

    And don't forget that other Massage Therapists should be on that list also!  What?  Why would I want to send a client to another therapist?  Do you know every modality and how to treat absolutely every condition that a client may have?  I know that I certainly don't.  You need to be strong enough in your conviction to help your clients and confident enough in your own abilities (or lack thereof) to sometimes refer out!  They will come back to you for the service that you provide.

2.  Network with people outside of the Health Profession who can send you clients and to who you can send clients.
    But why would I want to work with people other that Health Professionals?  Do you want to build a client base?  And see many different clients?  Network outside of your profession.  Do you have a favorite Florist?  or Travel Agent?  or Coffee Shop?  or Craft Store?  or Hair Stylist?  Get with the owner or manager and ask if you can put some of your cards in their business and in return you will put their business's card in your location. 
    Better yet, plan a marketing campaign with them!  Mother's Day, Valentines Day, etc. are get times to buy flowers.  Get with the florist that you like who is local to your shop and set up a campaign where they buy flowers from the florist and get a $10 off (or whatever you decide) coupon for a massage or they buy a massage gift certificate from you and get a $10 off (or whatever you decide) coupon for flowers at the florist.
    Get creative and get some new clients in the process!

3.  Get your name out there!  Pound the pavement!
   Now there will be some work involved in this one, so get ready. 
    If you were to take a poll of the other businesses around where you are located, how many even know about you?  You would be surprised at the number of people who may go to work right next to you who do not even know that you exist or what your business is about!  Get out there and introduce yourself, take some rack cards, your business cards and/or discount coupons so they know who you are (this should be person to person) and what you do.  My mantra to new students in my Professional Development class is "For every hour of massage (when you are first getting started) you need to market 2 hours!"

4.  Your initial advertising does NOT have to cost you a lot of money!
   I know that we are in the age of clicks and SEOs and VistaPrint free business cards. (Remember that there is not really such a thing as totally FREE - those free business cards do come with an advertisement for the company that printed them - thus you are doing advertising for them!)  Most of you have a printer and some type of software to create the written word.  What I propose is to create some inexpensive "flyers" using colored paper and black ink and taking them around when you are doing #3 above!  And 8.5" x 11" piece of paper can be used to create 2 handouts by doing a double print and cutting them in half.
    Not high tech enough for you?  I'm an old fashioned girl but I still think it would work as an inexpensive way to introduce yourself.  Just make sure everything is spelled correctly with proper grammar and all the required information about who you are and what you do - Name, Address, Contact Info, License Number.  You could even include a $10 off coupon for the first massage.

5.  Plan your advertising/specials around Holidays/Seasons.
    You should know about Mother's Day, Father's Day, Christmas, Valentine's Day, etc. but what about Spring Cleaning, snow shoveling, gardening or sports activities?  All of these things can be opportunities to sell Gift Certificates or get people in the door for a massage session.
    Be creative and get more clients!

More to come and watch for my book on Amazon!

I have received my "Leonie" workbooks in the last week or so and I am getting ready to plan my 2016 year for my Business and my Life and the following post came up this morning about planning.  Thought I would share what someone on our group shared:

Great quote I just saw shared about planning:

'Use Plans to Focus Yourself, Not Test Yourself

Planning out your week can help you navigate life gracefully — but overplanning your day-to-day tasks can make you neurotic and stressed. The best way to reap the benefits of daily and weekly planning is to take a more relaxed approach, and to understand the role spontaneity should play in your plans. Here’s how:
Be intentional but flexible. Decide in advance where you want to end up, but accept that your route may change along the way.
Redefine a 100% score. For most people, a great day is when they accomplish 60–70% of their goals. Think about a “perfect” day as one where you made the best choices possible, not one where you finished everything.
Don’t think of your plans as a test. If your self-worth depends on how accurately you implement your plans, you’re on shaky ground. Life is meant to be lived, not just “done.”
Adapted from “How to Stop Overplanning (Even If You’re a Perfectionist),” by Elizabeth Grace Saunders

Over the years I have been a planner in my head rather than on paper, which has worked for me until now.  I am at a stage in my life where I am ready for a change.  And I'm not talking about the career changes I have made in the past but rather about a life change.  I'm ready to be "on the mountain" putzing around in my kitchen, helping others with their life challenges, doing a few massages each week, teaching a class or two each month and selling my "stuff" via Etsy or Paypal or my new website.  I think that I am finally ready to "settle down" so to speak.  Been mentally planning this for some time but now it is time to get it down on paper and make it happen.  Without stressing over the fact that there are many different directions I want to go in!

I want to be active without spending a lot of time away from my new house.  Obviously I will let you know how it goes on this blog!

Failure is simply the opportunity to being again,
this time more intelligently.      Henry Ford

Napoleon Hill begins his chapter for this lesson with that quote from Henry Ford.  Now most people know Henry Ford as the man who created Ford Motor Company and the Model T but most people don't know that his first two companies failed.  If he had admitted defeat we would not even know his name today.  Failure is just temporary defeat.  Battles may be lost but the war still won. 

I am going to fill this post with many people who we know from history because of their actions and current times because of their successes.  I will also use some quotes about failure or defeat.  Mr. Hill spends the majority of this chapter talking about his own setbacks which even though they talk about defeats that he suffered, many of them have to do with the times he was living in.  War, stock market crashes etc.  It is his perseverance through these defeats that make his name recognizable today.


There is no failure except in no longer trying.    Elbert Hubbard

I include this quote for two reasons.  Number 1 it is one of the original quotes in the book and used by Napoleon Hill and Number 2 the quote "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade", is a paraphrasing of a statement he made in an obituary that he wrote.  That quote is "He picked up the lemons that Fate had sent him and started a lemonade-stand".  I have often used this quote and I think it is very appropriate to a lesson on Failure.  A temporary defeat when you are working toward your Definite purpose is just that, temporary.  Use is as a lesson to be learned, as Ford said and then retry with the intelligence gained.

Defeat allows you to question.  "Every defeat, every reverse, usually teaches us a valuable lesson that could be learned in no other way."  This from Napoleon Hill.  When you analyze and study every setback you have you should take knowledge away from it.  Defeat should never be accepted as failure.  Take Thomas Edison.

I haven't failed.  I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.    Thomas Edison

Edison was a very prolific inventor who holds over 1000 patents.  When he was in school his teacher told him he was too stupid to learn anything!  Over 9000 experiments led to the light bulb.

And talk about failure, Milton Hershey failed many times in his attempts to make money before opening his Lancaster Caramel Company.  It was from this success that he was able to build the Hershey Chocolate Company that we know today!

Everyone knows the name of the master of horror, Stephen King.  Did you know that his first book, Carrie, was rejected 30 times?  He threw it in the trash and the only reason we know of it today is because his wife saved it and made him try again.  He now has 350 million copies of his books worldwide.

If you've never failed, you've never tried anything new.  I cannot find the definitive author of that line but it is all over the internet and is especially appropriate for this lesson.  You have to get out there and try to get to make your goals happen and if you fail at first then try something else did you finally succeed.


Today you are you! That is truer than true!
There is no one alive who is you-er than you!       Dr. Seuss

Only you can make your own dreams come true.  And I think Ralph Waldo Emerson said it best.

There is no defeat except from within.  There is really no barrier save your own inherent weakness of purpose.    Ralph Waldo Emerson

Napoleon Hill says to define your purpose, set your goals and then with determination and concentration to go after what you want.  Fear of failure is not an option.  Will there be setbacks, probably.  Will you get past them, absolutely.  What's the old quote?  What doesn't kill you, makes you strong.  You will have setbacks, the great ones almost always do.  Anyone know the name Steve Jobs?  At 30-years-old he was unceremoniously removed from the company he started, Apple, after a power struggle with the board of directors.  He later acquired the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm, which allowed him to regain the funds needed to regain control of Apple.  And we all know what that led to.

And my favorite is Einstein.  His parents thought he was mentally retarded when he was young.  His grades in school were so poor that a teacher asked him to quit, saying, “Einstein, you will never amount to anything!”  And he didn’t speak until he turned 4 and didn’t read until he was 7.  We however know him as possibly the most important scientist of the 20th century!

And of course most everyone knows the story of that author lady and the Wizard World that she created after being nearly penniless, divorced, depressed and raising a child on her own.

We all have the ability to get past our defeats and keep moving toward that definite purpose with enthusiasm, self-confidence, imagination and concentration.