Inner factors for creating a successful holistic health practice

The first key to having a successful holistic health practice is to have an inner vision of what you want to create.

by Dawn Fleming — 

Becoming successful in any field or endeavor does not happen by luck. Hard work and determination might be where some people would begin. However, several key inner factors set apart those who become successful in creating a holistic health practice or any small business.

Statistics show that four out of five small businesses fail within the first two years of operation. When you look at someone with a successful small business, his or her secrets to success are not always evident. Success factors cannot always be seen because the winning combination starts within.

The first key to having a successful holistic health practice is to have an inner vision of what you want to create. A business without a vision is like a ship sailing without a compass. Meditate on your vision and watch it expand. Write it down in detail and list what needs to be done to make this vision happen. List five to 10 goals. Prioritize the goals and make a strategy for addressing them.

This is where hard work, determination and focus come into play. Keep a copy of your vision with you, so if you get off course you can realign your focus with your vision and goals. Revisit these monthly. A Harvard study showed that only three percent of the population writes down their goals. This same three percent controls 97 percent of the world’s wealth. Anyone can set goals, so why not get started?

The success of your business is also determined by your inner motivator. What language does your inner motivator speak? Does it talk in positive and realistic terms about life, business and your success? Does your inner motivator speak positively about others in the field? The inner voice that motivates you to success is your main supporter and cheerleader. Consciously take time and listen to the messages you are receiving. Successful people are self-motivated and see the glass filled to the top with plenty for everyone in the field. If you are speaking negatively, turn it around or pick another direction.

Another key to success is your intuition. Make sure you take time to sit in silence, empty your head, and just listen for ideas or insights. Intuition plays a very important role in creating and maintaining a successful business. Women are naturally intuitive, but socialization has taught us to downplay our intuitive strengths.

Napoleon Hill, in his 1960s best-selling book, Think and Grow Rich, dedicated a whole chapter to intuition. Hill spent 20 years studying the habits of the highly successful businessmen of his time, such as Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. What he found was that these men trusted their intuition and listened to the intuition of the people they trusted.

You are tapped in. Spend time outside the noise and receive fresh insight about the issues you might be trying to resolve.

Next, examine your views about money and success. Some people, on a subconscious level, have taken an oath of poverty. Other people who have money believe that many are doing without. Then there are those self-defeating attitudes about money and success, that financial goals are out of reach or that they will never be successful.

Money is a form of energy, an exchange for a service. We work using our energy and receive money as a form of exchange. If you have something worthwhile to offer, then money is the proper form of exchange. Stop blocking the flow of energy (money) into your life. Look within at your attitude about money and success.

Many of us are carrying around our parents’ views about money and success. Growing up with parents who lived through or during the Great Depression or a related experience may have impressed our psyches with some degree of lack and poverty consciousness. The inner work we need to do here is to listen for the attitudes and voices inside our heads that do not support, and actually sabotage, our success and abundance. We need to weed these out and cultivate an inner garden that supports positive thoughts — I am abundant, I am successful, I am skilled and serving the people I can assist, and I am unlimited potential expressing as an abundant practitioner.

You might call these statements affirmations. They support how we want to be. However, the real transformation is turning these affirmations into what we truly think and who we really are. Affirmations become part of our inner motivating team, influencing and energizing the foundation of our holistic health practice. As we transform our attitudes to support our success and abundance, we align with the energy that magnetizes and draws the right clients and situations to us. By listening to our inner attitude about money and success, we can create from within and around us an energy that supports our success.

The last key inner factor is activating your awareness. Day to day, we often fill each moment with a lot of busyness that does not relate to our vision or goals. Old habits of talking excessively on the phone or running other people’s errands because it is what we are used to doing, will not create success. Eliciting your inner awareness will help you watch your day-to-day activities and ensure they are directed toward completing your vision, goals and strategies. This will ensure that you stay on track for success.

Do not criticize yourself. This is a learning process that will make you more aware of how you are spending your time and energy. You are learning to make better choices. Allow your inner awareness to guide you to release the activities and people who do not serve your vision. You will experience more energy for reaching your potential success as you invest it in marketing, networking and sharing your visions with others.

Gandhi said, “That which you cultivate, you become.” We cultivate from within. So if you want to create a successful holistic health practice, cultivate success from within.

Dawn Fleming, holistic health educator, consultant/mentor and author of Creating a Successful Holistic Health Practice, teaches classes to energyworkers, acupuncturists, massage therapists, and nurses on how to create and build a successful practice. 480-456-8904, [email protected] or www.energytransformations.org/workshops.html.

Reprinted from AzNetNews, Volume 27, Number 2, April/May 2008.