Blogs, etc.

The Internet, "Web 2.0," and whatever the next iteration will be -- all are becoming increasingly interactive. "Interactive" is the modern word for "people talk to each other." Above all, the Internet is a place for conversations to take place. If we want the knowledge of the Feldenkrais Method to spread, we have to have conversations. Best of all, we need to stimulate other people to have conversations about us.

If you are shy, a wallflower, or otherwise uncomfortable with socializing, blogs and other media sites are a great way to ease into using this new tool. Let's be frank, the Internet has gone beyond being a tool -- it is a reality, it is useful, it is mainstream.

The earlier post, Introduction to Blogging, discussed the value of leaving comments on other people's blogs. You can also leave comments about photos you like on Flickr.com, about videos you enjoy on YouTube.com; even about posted items and links on your friends' Facebook pages. The point is, YOU must participate in conversations. You don't have to hi-jack the conversation and only talk about Feldenkrais: in fact, that would be rude and tacky. However: by "showing up" on these sites, and having something of value (interesting, funny, another related site or topic) to SHARE WITH OTHERS -- that will cause others to pay attention to what you have to say, and even look forward to your comments. You begin to cultivate a reputation, a presence, as an interesting person, a resource -- an authority in your field.

So -- what do you think? Leave your comments. Better yet: what can you do?

Introduction to Blogging

Have been away from this blog for a few days? How's it going?

My operating principle for this blog is to help provide you with easy, fun, and do-able activities that you can implement immediately that will get your practice growing. This article about blogging may seem a bit indirect, but please bear with me. Blogs are important, because they are the new "town square" in the digital age. Blogs are a place to meet neighbors, people of like mind, and they are also places to go for entertainment, education, and to check out what the whackos are doing. All of this can be done from the comfort and privacy of your own home, right in front of your computer.

A "Blog" is shorthand for "Web Log." A blog is a web page that serves as an online journal. Some people use their blog to keep a diary, to share recipes or family history, and some use blogs to promote their businesses by providing valuable and interesting information. If you're not familiar with blogs (or even if you are), take a moment to get acquainted. Think of something you are interested in (besides the Feldenkrais Method and building your practice). Cooking? Running? Pilates? Antiques? Politics? What do you like to do for fun?

Open up another window on your computer and go to Google.com. In the search box, enter "cooking blogs," or "Math blogs" or "technology blogs" or "pet blogs." Let your imagination run wild! Whatever you can think of, SOMEONE is probably sharing their passion for it via a blog. Celebrities have blogs, television shows have blogs, everybody has a blog. WHY? Because blogs are the new place where you can talk to people that are interested in the same things you are!

You'll find blogs that you think are terrible. Blogs reflect the personality of the person (or group) who is writing it. If you don't like the looks of it, or don't like the writing or the opinions expressed, keep looking until you find some blogs you like.

Become a reader, or a follower of a blog. You can do this anonymously (just bookmark the page and check back with it every so often). The next level of commitment is to click on the RSS feed symbol. You'll get updates when the blog has a new entry. Some blogs also allow you to receive updates via email. The top level of commitment (and it's not that hard!) is to actually sign up to be a "follower" of the blog. Frequently, the blog will then post your picture, with a link to your website or profile. A little photo gallery begins to form, and you can see a bunch of people who also follow this blog.

The real magic of blogs comes in the "Comments" section. If you read something you like, leave a comment! You don't even need to mention your work. Leave a POSITIVE comment -- "This is the BEST recipe for Thai peanut sauce I've found. Served it to my family tonight with shrimp and rice, and there was none left! Looking forward to more recipes!" Be sincere, be specific in acknowledging the value of what you read, and you'll be asked to come over and play again. Many blogs allow you to post a link to your website along with your signature. If you sound like a nice, positive, interesting person, who wouldn't want to find out more about you?

Comments on blogs are golden, because they are a link back to your website. Chances are, you don't have a link to the blog on your site. Incoming links are valued more highly by search engines and web crawlers, and so will boost the rankings of your web site.

Reading and commenting on blogs are a great way to stay informed, expand your world, and come into contact with new people. It costs nothing, just a little of your time. Be part of conversations that are already going on, and bide your time until you are asked for information. When more people start talking about Feldenkrais, more people will hear about Feldenkrais!
Coming soon-- writing a blog!

Promoting Your Classes

One of the most significant benefits we receive as Guild members is our listing in the FGNA practitioner directory. It's not just something for us to use: it's also available online so that the general public can find YOU. I get at least one phone call per month from someone who found me via the FGNA website, www.feldenkrais.com.

I hadn't checked in recently with the Members' area on the website, and am pleased to see that once again, it is possible to list ATM schedules, workshops, and public events online. The requirement is to copy and paste the form provided into an email, and send it off. (In other words, follow the directions.) I'm ashamed to say I don't have my classes listed there, so it might not be a big logical leap to imagine that yours aren't either. My goal: submit my classes for publication on the website, TODAY. If you want to do it, too, here's the link: http://www.feldenkrais.com/events/promote

It's true: submitting your listings will take time. However, I remember reading in Miriam Levinson's book (You Can Make A Living As A Feldenkrais Practitioner) that you should plan for marketing activities to take up about 30% of your time. I've found that this is a totally realitic figure, even though it shocked me initially. This means that if your work week is 36 hours, you are spending 12 hours a week on developing future business. Marketing activities certainly include submissions to online directories, printing fliers for your next workshop (oh, I need to do some of that today, too), following up with students, or having coffee with someone to talk about business. When I don't invest time regularly in developing new business, my client load gets a lot thinner for awhile. It then takes 2 solid weeks of work to get things up and running again. When I DO invest the time in these activities, I am booked as tightly as I want to be. For me, that's 15-20 clients a week, steady.

Any website is valuable, or not, because of one thing: CONTENT. There has to be stuff up there, and new stuff on a regular basis, to draw visitors to it. When you post your classes on the Guild website, you make the site more valuable for the public, for all of us, and for YOU.

Your comments are welcome! What else do you do to promote your classes?

Promote your classes and events on the Guild website here:
http://www.feldenkrais.com/events/promote

Service, Part II

The idea of being in service to others is a foundational principle of my Feldenkrais practice. Being in service extends beyond volunteerism. To build your practice, have the attitude of being in service to everyone you meet -- especially in business or networking settings.

Being in service means finding out what someone wants, and helping them to get it. The first step to being in service is that you listen more than you talk. Listen to the people you meet, be curious about them. Care about them as human beings, whether or not they ever come into one of your classes or lie down on your table. As you get to know them, you'll find out what they are interested in, or working on, or care about. Most of the conversations you have with people will NEVER be about the Feldenkrais Method. How in the world will that build your practice? Who has time to waste on frivolous small talk?

Think about this: isn't it the "frivolous," silly, tiny, gentle movements of an ATM or FI which have a profound effect on someone's nervous system? Many people think you have to strain, stretch, and subject yourself to a rigorous "no pain/no gain" regime, or to the medical system, to reach their goals for physical improvement. And we know better, right? Some of those tiny movements are the equivalent of small talk with business prospects and colleagues. Small talk builds trust. When someone trusts you with small things, they will gradually trust you with bigger things -- like referring their friend to you, or giving you money to work with them.

In the course of small talk, the secret is: LISTEN. Someone will mention that they are looking for a housekeeper, or a veterinarian, hairdresser, date movie, web designer. You know one. You make a recommendation, send a link, a phone number, or any additional information. You've just been in service to another person. You found out what she wanted, and helped her to get it. She will remember you. She will return the favor.

As people get to know you as a generally helpful, cheerful, nice person (and of course they will, since you are one of the few who actually listens to them), they'll get curious about you. As they ask, you can then and only then begin to tell them a little bit about what you do. And, because now you know something about them, you can relate what you do to what THEY are interested in. It's impossible to do this if you don't know what makes them tick.

If you like the person and are ready to know them better, invite them over for a demo lesson or class. Send them a link to your website, or the Guild website, and call them a few days later to see if they have questions. Take it easy, don't panic, don't push. Keep it friendly, conversational, useful, and about them. This is "building it." They will come.

Service

It's MLK day, and the day before Inauguration Day, when Barack Obama will become the 44th President of the United States of America. The President-Elect has urged everyone to rededicate themselves to the ideal of community service, both as way of honoring Dr. King and his message, and as a way of revitalizing one of our core values.

Community service is the "grease for the wheels" of our whole enterprise in this country. All sorts of wonderful things happen through volunteerism that wouldn't happen otherwise. Altruism is admirable in and of itself. The reality is that volunteering and community service are at the heart of bringing people together in cooperation. Without community service, even businesses would grind to a halt.

Community service is about "enlightened self-interest." If you volunteer for something that you care about, the world changes for the better, and that benefits you. There is nothing wrong with having this attitude. In fact, balance your altruism with the reality of limits on what you can take on and give your attention. When you keep your own self-interest in mind, and in balance, you prevent burnout and martyr syndrome.

When people in our profession think about a community service project, they usually think in terms of a free clinic of some sort, or a way of providing Feldenkrais lessons pro bono to a needy and deserving population. These projects are certainly worthy, and needed. However, starting a free clinic is probably not something you can do by yourself, nor would you want to! A free clinic would also increase the visibility of your work in the community, but not necessarily increase your client load. Think outside of your constraints -- where are other opportunities to volunteer?

If you want to leverage your time and energy so that both your practice and your community benefit, get involved with a project that has nothing to do with Feldenkrais. Yeah. Why? Because other Feldenkrais teachers are probably not going to become your clients. You don't need to spend practice-building time with other Feldies! You want to spend time with, and have access to, people who have never heard of the Feldenkrais Method. If you are a member of a church or temple, get involved with a project there. Hunger, peace, the thrift shop, even ushering -- any and all are ways to meet people from all walks of life. You already have something in common with them. Let the relationship grow, let them get to know you before you start beating them over the head about your business. Political organizations, charities, community gardens, museums -- anywhere there is a need, you will meet new people.

The fact is that people do business with the people that they know, like, and trust. Let people get to know you. Keep your mind on the project, be a good committee member, be friendly and reliable. Your practice will grow in ways you never imagined.

More on service in the next post.

Professional E-mail Etiquette

Email is a must-have for effective business communication. Although younger users prefer text messages via SMS over their cellphones, or communicating on Twitter or Facebook, email remains the old stand-by, tried and true.

If you're still uncomfortable with email, yet feel forced to use it to communicate, fret no more. There are some "rules of the road" for successful business communication via email.
Business Email Etiquette , the website and brainchild of Judith Kallos, will have you feeling comfortable with business emails in a jiffy.
http://www.businessemailetiquette.com/business-e-mail-etiquette-basics/

Expand Your Practice by Martin Weiner, Ph.D. '77

KWDY is pleased to present this article from Marty Weiner's newsletter. Used by permission.

Question: I would like to expand my practice and have more clients. Would you share your thoughts about how to do this?

Answer: There has been much written about this topic recently on the Feldyforum. Usually people talk about networking, advertising, giving talks and free lessons and a host of other marketing ideas. I think this is all fine and you ought to use whichever of these suggestions work for you. I have a different approach that I'd like to explore with you.

I think it is fundamental to realize that the people who need our services are dealing with a personal problem that is affecting their lives--aches, pains, limited movement, paralysis, potential surgeries or past botched surgeries, and many, many more. Imagine yourself in a similar situation and ask yourself who or what kind of person you would want to show up in your life to help you through a difficult time.

When it is me in that situation, I am less interested in what method someone practices and more sensitive to who the practitioner is. Hippocrates said as a practitioner about patients, "Don't tell me what someone has--tell me who has it." I would suggest the same is true for clients looking for a practitioner. They might say, "Don't tell me what they practice--tell me who (what kind of person) the practitioner is".

My point is that YOU are the method as far as your clients are concerned. Name recognition of a system/method is not as important as people recognizing your qualities.

Wouldn't you want someone caring, interested, sensitive to your needs, someone who listens deeply to you and your particular situation? In other words, wouldn't you want first a person skilled in being human and secondarily good at what they do? To paraphrase something Moshe said, "If you touch a client with a loving hand, like a mother touches her child, they will come back to you. They will think, 'They may not have gotten rid of the problem yet, but if anyone can do it, this person can. Because they are focused on me.'"

Share yourself as the evolving human being you are with others. Allow the environment that you create when you are present touch people in the subtle ways that it does. Who you are draws people to you much more powerfully than any advertising you might do. (People came to Moshe because he was who he was--not because he did the Feldenkrais Method.)

Let me give you an example. Most everybody has something that they would like to improve or get rid of. When you are in a social situation, say a party, engaging with people, someone usually asks, "What do you do?" If you tell them you are a Feldenkrais Practitioner they usually ask, "What's that?" That puts you into an explanatory mode about some system that they may or may not be able to see as relevant to them. You have shifted the focus to something and someone who isn't even in the room.

My response is to tell people I am a healer or words to that effect. They usually ask, "What do you do?" Great, now we are talking about what I do or who I am, that may be of value to them. I tell them that I work with a variety of problems and as quickly as possible turn the conversation around to be about them and ask, "Is there something going on for you that is troubling you?" (or, again, words to that effect). Invariably they will start to talk about something bothering them. I then simply engage with them as a curious interested being who wants to find out more about their problem. I may even touch them (always only after I have asked their permission). Often, they want my number to call me for an appointment.

The key thing is that I am living with them what I practice. I bring myself and my consciousness to be of service to them right there in the moment. I am not advertising something--I am living the hope I might be for them in their lives.

Another thing: When a person calls me on the phone to make an initial appointment, I try to "touch them" through the phone. I am responsive and encouraging and begin to create the environment that they will walk into when they come to my office. By the way, always return calls promptly. Ever had the experience of waiting all day for a doctor's secretary to call you back to make an appointment? No one wants to feel like they got lost in the shuffle. Particularly when you are hurting and worried about what's going on in you.

When a person comes I always treat them as if they were the center of the world. This is fundamental to the mode of consciousness I bring to my clients and how I work.

The best thing you can ever to do to develop your practice is treat the person you are with as if they were your whole practice and this their only session. Sounds simple but many practitioners don't get that. They are often more concerned about what the client will think of them and whether they will come back. If you are totally present they will come back even if you are not successful immediately with them. They know that if anyone can help them it is you--someone who is skilled AND there for them. They will tell their friends about YOU (even if they don't know the name Feldenkrais) and you are on your way.

It is not as hard as you may think. Just be the healing presence with people all the time that you are when you are in your office and realize YOU ARE YOUR WORK.

You can sign up for Marty's free e-newsletter, Transform your Practice, by contacting Judy Killeen at judykilleen@cox.net.