5 Unfortunate Reasons Health Pros Fail (Based On An Analytical Approach)

What Brain Are You Using In Your Business?

Are you reaping the benefits of both right brain and left-brain perspectives in your business?

Many of the talks we give, classes we teach and even my books, including, Indestructible Success, give you tools for the inner and outer game of success.

Lately, we have noticed that most of our health professional clients are really lacking in basic business strategy. And although we love teaching a lot about mindset and spirituality and emotional IQ, we think it is time you heard some solid left-brain details.

Therefore, to make up any deficiencies or disinformation in the field, here is a left brain, strategic look at how you can have your business work and meet your goals.

How You Can Get Better Results

I read Forbes, Fortune, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal and many other magazines on technology, business and entrepreneurship. (Of course, I also read health, sustainability and fitness as well.)

I noticed a trend; the income distribution among professionals in America is 1% of working professionals are exceptionally wealthy, 4% very wealthy, 15% doing well, and 80% struggling.

As I did more outside research beyond the WSJ, I found that incomes are skewed nearly the same in the health and wellness professions. I guess this is not too much of a surprise, but the disconcerting part is that the myriad of articles talk about the state of the situation and totally neglect the reason.

So, rather than focusing on the “what” of the situation, I would like to dive more into the “WHY.” Why do some people make more money than they know what do to with while others struggle to make ends meet and put food on the table? Why do some practitioners have lines out their doors and around the block while others fight tooth and nail to get one customer?

We have coached thousands of entrepreneurs in health and wellness professions, so we have some insight as to why some businesses fail while others prosper, even in bad economic times. I have distilled my findings into what I think are the five most powerful and compelling reasons that businesses fail.

If you can make these corrections to your business and think more divergently, you will have a distinct advantage over your competition. You will make more money, work fewer hours, enjoy your work more and help more people.

The 5 Researched Reasons Health Pros Fail (somebody has to tell you):

Reason #1: Working In Your Business, Not On Your Business

Reason #2: Not Having A Focused Target Market

Reason #3: No Strategic Plan

Reason #4: Waiting To Take Action Until 100% Ready

Reason #5: Thinking You Have To Figure It All Out On Your Own(Not Having A Coach)

Reason #1: Working In Your Business, Not On Your Business

Do you get lost in the day to day activities of your business; posting on Facebook, sending newsletters, seeing clients, reading new health books, studying the latest acupuncture technique or adjustment method? Or, are you more focused on the growth of the business? Too often professionals aren’t spending enough time on:

1. Developing a long-term strategy

2. Getting clients now

3. Continuing to get clients

4. Having the “money” conversation

5. Pricing services

Do you believe that if you get the new certification or learn the newest technique people will come knocking down your door? There is an old adage that says, “not seeing the forest for the trees.” Essentially this means you are paying too close attention to the minute details that you cannot see the bigger picture.

You need to focus more on your business. This will take more work, time and energy then you may like, but the dividends will pay off enormously. The sooner you get this under control, the more time you can spend helping people in your business.

There are many ways to do this. You can read books, attend seminars, or enroll in business classes at your local university. But the quickest and most painless way that we know of is to hire a business coach that specializes in your industry.

Reason #2: Not Having A Focused Target Market

In the classic business book Good to Great, business expert Jim Collins states unequivocally that successful businesses have three qualities:

1. You must be passionate about your business.

2. You’ve got to be really, really GREAT at what you do.

3. The business has to offer a product or service that has income potential.

There are two ways to get focused on your target market.

1. You can determine what your target market wants and needs and then deliver it to them in a way and with language that they can understand and relate to. The whole focus of the business is “provide the exact service that the marketplace wants.”

2. You have a vision for a product or service that you are so passionate about and convinced about that you can build a platform, like Steve Jobs did with Apple, which anticipates what the market wants.

Just because you’ve built the business doesn’t guarantee you will have business. The “build it and they will come” model only works in Disney movies. In fact, it’s nearly a sure failure in the business world if don’t have a clear plan for your passion, your skill and haven’t analyzed your target market.

If you haven’t started your business yet, you need to start with analysis. Brandon and I  always start with a proven process; the Pre-Niche Assessment, Ideal Client Attraction Process and the Value Proposition Vending Machine. We have taught this to hundreds of clients in our VIP and group coaching programs. It works!

Now, if you have already started your business, that’s ok. It’s never too late to analyze. Take a step back and listen to what the market is demanding. Be ready to adapt. Meet the marketplace. Don’t worry if it’s not the way you “planned”, because it never is. Some of the greatest business success stories are the result of a change in direction based on market response or product surprise. If you don’t know how to do this, then hire a coach who does.

Reason #3: No Strategic Plan

An overall solid business strategy includes a thorough multi-dimensional marketing plan, a financial analysis and a growth plan.

My 12 year old is more organized than most of our holistic health business clients when we start working with them. Let me explain.

My daughter, Paloma, plays 7th grade volleyball. She has never played volleyball before. But she goes out with a strategy. Her coach guides her in what to do, where to go, and how to do it. Paloma practices the muscle memory exercises necessary to develop the ability to bump, serve and set. Step-by-step, she has improved her outcomes and the success of her team.

How about you?

Are you taking small steps towards big results in your practice?

90% of the clients that come into our programs are just taking random actions and hoping they work out.

This is marketing or promoting without knowing how it will contribute to your overall plan. I’ll give you an example. Jim’s sales are low this month, so he decides to have a super sale for 50% off all his products and services, thinking that is will attract more customers. Or maybe he is in a conversation trying to close the deal when the conversation comes to a halt. He panics and immediately discounts his product or service. The problem with this is it will have long-term effects on his business.

With this super sale he has now (unintentionally) trained his customers to only buy from him when he is having a sale.  Although he thought it was the right thing to do because he got the immediate cash, he has now decreased the value of each customer, which means he will now have to get twice as many customers and work twice as hard!

That’s why it’s so important to have your sales and marketing activity part of a strategy. Everything that you do needs to fit into your plan and contribute to your overall long-term growth. It’s called being strategic vs. tactical.

When we started our current business, we took 3 full days to brainstorm and map out our plan. It may not take you 3 days and an office wall of diagrams, scribbled notes, Word docs and plenty of organic, fair-trade chocolate, but you must start with a plan.

All of our clients start with business plan. All of our clients have a strategy to replicate and repeat in their businesses. All of our clients know what to do and how to do it first thing out of the gate. We train people to be strategic.

Reason #4: Waiting To Take Action Until 100% Ready

It is so hard for us to watch this. The pain of seeing a client with plenty of raw talent hold back and suffer, while also keeping gifts from the many people that could benefit from her gifts.

Ultimately, this comes down to fear of failure. People think that if you fail, it’s the end. However, it’s quite the opposite. If you look at the most successful people in history, from entrepreneurship to music to sports, they have had exceedingly more failures than successes.

Michael Jordan, the most prolific basketball player of all time, didn’t make the varsity basketball team until he was a junior in high school.   What if he had quit when, as a sophomore, a taller sophomore was placed on the varsity team, but not Jordan? Jordan says, “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life, and that’s why I succeed.” Learn to accept failure. Everyone fails at some point.

Way too many people focus on the little things that don’t matter and fail to focus on the thing that leads to results, which is action! Action beats meditation. Recently, I was talking to someone who told me she couldn’t publish her website because the colors in the logo were not right. Her entire online presence came to a screeching halt while she spent days perfecting her logo. This is so agonizing to witness.

Successful people have the habit of taking actions before they are ready. If you wait until the stars are aligned with everything that you do, you will be waiting for eternity. That is moving at the speed of a snail. But if you want to move like a cheetah, spring into action right away. You can always course-correct. The more times you do it, the better you will become. You learn by doing. You become who you need to be when you step into the next greatest version of life.

I know, it’s easier said than done. One of the most helpful things I have seen work for taking action is a support group. If you have a group of like-minded individuals who are in the same boat as you, going through the same things as you, you are 7 times more likely to act, and 10 times more likely to succeed!

That’s exactly why we created the Inner Circle for Health and Wellness Professionals. It’s one of the most supportive group environments I have ever seen. Twenty minds working together are exponentially greater than one!

Reason #5: Thinking You Have To Figure It All Out On Your Own (Not Having A Coach)

Hiring a coach can be one of the most beneficial investments you can ever make, whether it comes to education, religion, sports or even business. If you look at the top athletes in the world, they all have coaches. Serena Williams has several coaches, a technique coach, nutrition coach, strength and conditioning coach, and even credits Tony Robbins for help with her peak performance. It’s not because there is something wrong with Serena. She demands greatness to reach peak performance and needs the support and outside knowledge to make sure she gets there and stays there. As a result of her hard work and the support of her coaches, she will go down as one of the best tennis player of all time. And now she is still as relevant as ever at an age when most players are washed up.

Like high-achieving athletes, successful holistic health professionals hire business coaches for strategic growth. The big problem is that holistic health pros think it is a sign of weakness to ask for help. “If I am supposed to be the expert, I should be able to figure this out.” It is heartbreaking to see this.

Running a business is a life changing choice. You’ll not only be able to set your own hours, do work you love, and help people but you’ll also be responsible for scheduling your days, doing your financial planning, creating marketing strategy, meeting with clients, and all of your family and self-care activities.

Having a coach’s guidance will also help you avoid burning out, side-step feeling embarrassed that your parents or friends were right about “getting a real job,” and steer clear from giving up on your dreams.

Having a business coach is the key to achieving the success in your health and wellness practice in order to get the results you want and need in the shortest time and with the lowest losses.

A cheap coach can be costly and an expensive coach can be a real bargain.

Let me explain. If you hire the cheapest coach you can find, she may lead you astray. Your marketing and business efforts could result in small gains, and she could even give you bad advice that results in paying more to fix the problem. However, an expensive coach can be the best deal. Your coach saves you time, money, headache, and frustration. Your coach opens you to wide new vistas that you couldn’t have imagined otherwise. Why? Because you can’t know what you don’t know that you don’t know. (Make sense?)

I’m not saying go out and sign a contract with a $1,200.00/session coach. But I am saying don’t go price shopping for the cheapest coach.

Your Recap:

5 Analyzed Reasons Your Are Stuck

Although we often talk about attitude and the inner game of success, sometimes you need to get specific and practical about the business strategies that get results.

Reason #1: Working In Your Business, Not On Your Business

Reason #2: Not Having A Focused Target Market

Reason #3: No Strategic Plan

Reason #4: Waiting To Take Action Until 100% Ready

Reason #5: Thinking You Have To Figure It All Out (Not Having A Coach)

Copy and print these out where you can keep them forefront of your mind so you can take steps to avoid these traps.
In Conclusion:
When you are shining your light, when you are giving your gifts, when you are earning a great living and enjoying a meaningful career, then you benefit, your family benefits, your community benefits… the state, the nation and the world.
Your success is part of the great wave of transformation occurring on the planet. And while our mission is to help you to evolve consciousness on the planet (by introducing your clients to holistic solutions to their health, which then opens them to a whole new way of seeing the world) we know that you MUST have honest, reliable and accurate systems for real success in your business.