Episode 88: Biz Plan on a Napkin with Hallie Bulkin

Hi and welcome to episode 88 of the Untethered Podcast. Today you've got me, your host, Hallie Balkan and we are chatting all about Biz Planning on a napkin for 2021. So go ahead and go to untetheredpodcast.com if you'd like to watch this live because this is actually a recording of a live free masterclass that I did on December 10, 2020. You can again go to untetheredpodcast.com and you will get the link to the recording if you want to watch it in person. If you rather just listen to it recorded. Let's go. Quick Disclaimer all information, content and material of this podcast are the opinions of the speakers and is for the informational purpose only and not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis and or medical treatment of a qualified healthcare provider. Welcome to the Untethered Podcast. I am your host, Hallie Balkan. I'm a certified orofacial myologist, feeding specialist and mentor. This podcast is all about getting your questions answered and collaborating with colleagues to bring you the most up to date information in the orofacial myofunctional therapy, tethered oral tissue and airway space. I challenge you to keep an open mind and join my mission to get this information out to the masses. Let's get started. Welcome. Welcome everybody to Biz Plan on a Napkin. What we're going to chat about today is quite literally the process that I used without even realizing that it was a process. And so my backstory here is when I was starting a business, I remember somebody saying, well, you know, you really should just have some goals in mind. And so I whipped out a napkin and I started writing down my goals and put it in a. I wrote them down. I was like, this is where I want to be a year from now. I remember putting it in a drawer and I didn't look at it for an entire year and then I randomly found it a year later. This was not even. This was. There was no plan behind this. Found it a year later, I pulled out and I was like, oh, I actually achieved what's on this napkin. That's kind of cool. So it's now become a thing. I do this every year now, sort of as a ritual where at the end of the year I write down my goals on a napkin, I open up my desk drawer, I stick it in the drawer, I close the drawer, and occasionally if I open that drawer, I'll see it, but I don't really look at it until a year later. And I kind of now know what my goals are in my mind, but I'm not somebody who will work from a place of like, oh my gosh, I said I was going to do this, so I have to do this. So I also don't become attached to that end goal. If I don't hit a goal, I don't make it mean anything for me. It's just like, okay, well, let's just keep going. So I think a lot of us tend to attach certain meanings to the goals and the outcomes of those goals. But what I want you guys to also realize is that these are just numbers on paper. So I believe in putting them on paper. It puts it out into the universe and then it becomes more tangible for us and we tend to start to work and center our decisions around what we put on paper. And so that's why biz planning on a napkin can be super effective as a strategy. So who am I? It's me. Hi, Hallie. A lot of you either know me from the podcast or you know me from the MYO Mastermind or Feed the Peas or maybe you've now participated just in other free trainings that I've done in our groups. But for those of you who might not know me, who just kind of found me on Instagram when I was promoting this free masterclass, I am a speech pathologist by trade. I'm a feeding specialist and a certified orofaciomyologist. I have actually dialed back treating quite a bit this year because I've launched my own online programs and I'm teaching. I'm involved in teaching a feeding course online and the my own membership and now launching a business Mastermind. And so with that, I really want to serve all of you. And so I've now taken a role, a step back in my own private practice and my team is primarily seeing our patients at this moment. I'm also homeschooling my five year old. So thank you. 2020. So there's that, but that's me. I really felt hard for orofacial myofunctional therapy because I recognized that I had an OMD and a tongue tie. I recognized that my child did, and then my next baby that was born and then my husband. And so we are living walking that MYO lifestyle right now in terms of expanding our palates, growing our faces forward to the extent that we can as adults, but definitely for my little one and then also doing myofunctional therapy. And so just naturally it felt very natural to step into this in the online Space. And then with working with you all or a lot of you, a lot of you may know or may not know that for the past five and a half years I have also done business coaching, but more on the side, really more so as people approached me and asked for it. And I love it. Business is my love language. And so if you've heard me talk about this on the podcast, I can talk business all day. And it's really a passion of mine. So especially marketing, which was funny because I never considered myself a marketer until I realized that everything I was doing was marketing. So a lot of these things that I do have just come to me naturally. I haven't had. I don't have a college degree. I started in marketing or started in business school and then was like, these classes aren't for me. And I went and became a speech, actually switched to psych for a semester and then became a speech pathologist. And I always knew that I would have my own business, but he didn't really quite know what that was going to look like. So that's me in a nutshell. Here we are. I've had a private practice for six and a half years and I launched the online business this year and now we're going to be, I'm launching a business mastermind for those that are interested and we can always talk about that more later at the end. But for those of you who are interested in jumping into either starting or growing a six figure practice or taking a six figure practice to seven figures, because that's basically what I've been helping others do for the past five and a half years, but more in a one on one setting. All right, so let's get started today. What are we going to learn? Let me make sure this is also just going to hide here. Okay. All right, so today we're going to learn how to map out your goals for 2021 without really overthinking the process. I think the issue really comes when a lot of us start to get into like the, oh, I really need to understand this and that and the other. And I'm supposed to have these things in place and we just be complicate things. We make things way too complicated. So we're going to make sure that we keep it simple. I'm going to talk to you guys about the number one mistake that people make when business planning that actually costs them a ton of time and money. And it might seem, it might seem like it's not that big of a deal, but if it's Costing you a lot of time and money. That's a huge deal. And also on why perfecting your biz plan is the worst way to start or grow a business. And I share that. Simply because Stephanie said, analysis paralysis, guilty of overthinking. Yes, exactly. And hey, I've been there, you guys. Like, I feel you. Okay, I. I felt the same way I was. You know, hey, a lot of us are type A personalities. You know, if we're talking like SLPs, OTs, RDHs, dentists, like, we have. And we. We almost like have imperfectionism indoctrinated into us, right? And so that whole idea of something not being perfect and like stepping away from perfection is like, what? Like, what are you talking about? We're gonna talk about that today because that will stop you dead in your tracks every single time, Kathleen. Yep. Yep. Every time. So at the end of this, I really want you guys to just walk away feeling super confident that, you know, you are clear about what you want for yourself next year and not just knowing what it is that you want for yourself, but like, let's have some goals mapped out and right. And I'm not talking about. Because I know some of us who are SLPs or OTs, you know, we create treatment plans. I'm not talking that we need to have like a long term goal with five, you know, five little objectives underneath that long term goal. And then we need them to go to the next one, because I joke. And I was talking to some individuals who are considering joining the Business Mastermind this week, and I started calling it our IBP or Individualized Business Plan, because that really resonates with some of the therapists who make individual education plans or IEPs for their students. And so I said, you know, what we really need to do for ourselves is, look, what is it that we want? Because what we want in our business can be very different than the next person on the screen here or the next person that we talk to, you know, out in the real world. But we're not on a zoom screen. And that's not. There's no right or wrong to that. Right. What you want for yourself is what you want for yourself. Now, when you work with me, I might help you expand that because I find that a lot of us play it safe and we don't actually admit to ourselves what we want for ourselves. We tend to go, well, I think next year I can do this. I can accomplish X and I can manage Y. But what I want you to do is I want you to like, figure out what that big hairy, scary goal is for yourself. Like, if this was a perfect world. Right, there's that word, perfect that I don't love so much. But let's just pretend that you got everything you wanted under the sun between now and a year from now. What would that be? Okay, so that's where. That's the place I want you working from. So that when we map out your goals, it might feel uncomfortable and it might feel a little scary, but we're going to do it. We're going to go there anyways. And look, it's just a napkin. It doesn't commit you to anything. You can tear it up, you can burn it if you want to. Some people actually will do this activity and then go outside and burn it in a glass jar because they feel that it releases the energy out into the universe. And I know that might be way too woo woo for some of you, but they feel like if they do that, then it will all come back to them and they will achieve their goals. When I say there isn't a right way or wrong way to go about this, I want you guys to start like following your gut. And if you're feeling some resistance, that's because you're pushing up the boundaries you've set for yourself. And that's okay. Just kind of go with it, okay? And no overthinking allowed. Guys, I know that, that whole analysis, paralysis, guilty of overthinking. Stephanie, Kathleen, Abby, you know, I know some of you guys definitely are working from that place. And I told you, I feel you. I was the same exact way. And I found that that was one of the hardest things for me was to let it go. Like, I'm not joking. The theme song from Frozen became not just a theme song amongst my toddler at the time, but it was like I would walk around singing let it Go because my mentors were like, hallie, seriously, let it go. Let it be easy. Stop overthinking. This is really. You're making this way more complicated than it needs to be. And I was like, okay, sure guys, thanks. And then I'd go sit in the corner and be like, how do I make this simpler? And that was again me overthinking. And I just realized like, wow, it really doesn't have to be this hard. So if you don't walk away from this with anything else, let it be that you should. That we really need to figure out, like, how to stop overthinking. It could just be as simple as you catching yourself doing it and being like, no more, no more overthinking aloud. Like, make this simple. Let it be easy. Like, let's just get it done. I'm setting a five minute timer. Just write down what comes out and be done with it. Ok? Because sometimes we just kind of have to push ourselves into it and set a time limit so that we can actually make it happen. All right, so let's do this. Let's map out our goals. So in 2021 we are going to wash ourselves free of 2020. I know for some people it was a great year. And for some people it was really not a great year. And so in thinking about 2021, think of it as a clean slate. Like this napkin right here is clean, beautiful. There's nothing written on it yet, right? So blank slate, we're starting fresh. Even if you're somebody who's sitting here going like, hallie, I made, you know, high six figures this year for the first time. Wipe it clean. Maybe next year you'll make high seven figures. I don't know. I mean, I'm not promising you anything. But if we stay attached to whatever our current story is this year, whether that story is wow, Covid really messed things up for me, or that story is, you know, oof, like I should have made six figures, but I only got like halfway there because Covid shut me down. You know, look, those are realities, those are things that happen. But those are not your truths going forward. And there are other things that we can do in business, even within a practice that you may own now, or in addition to income that you may be getting from another employer that is brand new and fresh. And so allow that for yourself. Allow yourself to receive new ideas and opportunities. If we shut ourself off, these things don't come to us. We don't think of the ideas. If we allow ourselves to step into new and fresh and blank slate, then we will also allow ourselves to be open to have the opportunity to see things when they present themselves to us. Okay? So that's definitely something I want you to be open to as well. So let's get to the nitty gritty. There's basically two things, two main categories of what we want to include on the snapkin. The first thing is our money making activities. And our second thing is our indirect money making activities. So let's talk about what those things are and get that napkin ready. Get your pen ready. Again, you don't have to use a napkin, but if you are using a napkin, get that napkin out. Alright, so These are the big three things. Your services and your rates. Your marketing. Right. Paid versus organic, and your payment processing. And I mean, hey, I can sit here and talk to you guys about these things for an hour each, right? These are big topics that we could cover and I could give you trainings on each individual one. And I do that. I do that in some of my programs. But what I want you to realize here is that again, this is going to be very different for you than it might be for the next person. Okay. And I want you to start to think about, like, what services do you want to offer in 2021? Okay? That's number one. And it doesn't. You don't need to write a paragraph because we're trying to keep this simple, right? So we're trying to contain it to the size of a napkin. You can write small and get as much on there as you want. You can use front and back if you'd like to. I usually write pretty big and only cover one side of the napkin. Okay? So again, try to make this simple. And also keep in mind that we're not committing to all the nuances right now. We're just trying to think big picture. Okay? So like for me, for example, my services in my private practice, if I'm focusing on that could be while we have speech, we have OT, we've got myO, we've got feeding, you know, we've got habit elimination, and we have a tots, you know, a tongue tie. We do frenectomy prep, you know, pre op, post op. But really that kind of overlaps with MYO because we require everybody to go through a MYO program for that. Right? So here I am, really messy, writing on a napkin, number one, my services, okay? And then rates. So I want you guys to think about, rate wise, what do you. And you don't have to even write a rate down right now. What do you want to make? Like, what is the overall amount that you want to make next year? Because that may also drive your rates. And so if you're here going, well, Holly, I really want to make $100,000 next year, or, well, I'm good with like 25k because I have still have income from elsewhere. And so for me right now, in my first year, I just want 25k or some of you might be going, screw that. Like, I have a business and I did 110k this year, but I really want to like triple that. Like, I want to get up to like 330k next year. Write that Down. Right. And I will tell you, there are businesses out there, guys that have pivoted in the time of COVID private practices and that are thriving. And, you know, it's up to us. It's really up to us because we can become creative and we can offer different things and respond to what's going on in the world. And that might not look like the services that you're used to providing. Right. But if you're open to the opportunity of other ways that you can show up and serve your community and your patients and people within the states where you might be licensed for SLPs and OTs, I know RDHs have a wider reach than us. You know, you have to be open to that before it's going to even come to you. Okay. So it's just possibility. Be open to the possibility. Okay. So as far as, like, figuring out rates, you know, you can definitely do your own research in that realm and figure out, like, what is the going rate in your area? What can I charge? You know, what do I feel like my market will actually pay? But also, don't be confined to, well, you know, I'm new to business, so I really shouldn't charge that much because I can't tell you how many people get into business for the first time and feel like they should be charging less because they're their first year in private practice or their second year of private practice. If you've been in practice for a while or you have a niche skill set that can really benefit people, like myofunctional therapy and knowledge of tethered oral tissues, you could potentially be getting kids in and out of therapy a lot faster. Adults too, if you work with them. Right. So that's something people will pay a premium for. And I will tell you that I am amongst one of the higher charging practices in my area. And I don't take insurance. I provide a super bill, but I don't take insurance. So I want you guys to start wrapping your mind around the fact that like, your rate should be based on your skill set, what you're delivering, and not just based. It should not be attached to how many years you've been in private practice. Okay. Because I see that come through often and I want to make sure that you guys are not setting rates that way. Okay? So let's move on. Marketing, we're not going to really get into ton of marketing today because like I said, these topics could definitely take an hour each easily or longer. I could probably. Well, marketing I could talk on for an entire Week or longer. And I love marketing, so that is something that, you know, you'll definitely hear more of that from me. But you can also watch what I do online and with my marketing and see if you pay attention to the things that I post, the things that I say. Everything is done strategically. It's not always planned out. Sometimes I do it in the moment because I follow my intuition and like, if my guts like, hey, go do this, I go do that. Some of it's scheduled ahead, but not all of it. And then some of it is, you know, some of the marketing is organic and some of it is paid. So like for my online courses, for example, we do paid ads. Paid. You know, that's, that's marketing through a paid means versus organic where somebody might tag me in a group or share my course. And so it's getting that word of mouth referral, right? So that also applies to a private practice. Where my private practice has been like 98% of what we have done has been all through word of mouth. And my practice has grown to high six figures over six years count for a second purely by word of mouth and just growing a team and responding to my market, growing a team to meet the need of what our patients requested within the realm of what we could offer, you know, based on our professions, PT stuff. Well, I did have PT at one point. We do not now, but speech ot myo, those types of things. Okay, so. And you can do paid marketing as well for your business. And that's where you know, you have to figure out what feels right for you right now that might be different six months down the road, but just put on your napkin right now what feels right for you? Like where do you want to start? Do you want your marketing to start organic? Are you going to do something online? Are you going to go in person and talk to area providers that might be good referral sources for the types of patients that you want to work with. You know, what does that look like for you? Okay. And you don't have to make a whole list. You can just say, you can just write down, you know, okay, number two, marketing. Or even put like an M and say organic connect with providers. Right? So. Or maybe you have another idea coming up with you, right? Whatever that idea is for you, you can do. And here I am like chicken scratching on my own napkin. But like, this is number one and number two for me, super simple. Okay. Number three, your payment processing. This one's easy. There's only so many programs out there, of course, like more seem to be popping up every day. But this could be your electronic medical record system. It could be something like Stripe where you're just collecting credit, car payments, maybe you're only accepting checks, whatever that is for you. Again, like, that is where you want to focus on how are you going to accept money. And this may be a little woo woo for some of you guys, but there's this whole idea out there, and you've heard me talk about it in some of my podcasts probably as of late, where I talk about this concept, or at least briefly mentioned this concept of I need. And it's this whole idea that there's this relationship between energy in and energy out, right? And so I know a lot of us say, like, well, if I could do this for free, I would do this for free, because I just love what I do. Well, if you love something that much, then that means you're doing the right line of work, right? You're waking up in the morning, you're excited about who you're seeing. You know, all the other bureaucratic stuff aside, you enjoy the type of work that you do and the patients that you work with. And that is what, that's why you're still here, right? And that's why you're considering maybe creating your business around this, or if you already have one, continuing to grow your business around this. Now then we start getting to get into like the nitty gritties of like insurance and what's allowed and what's not allowed and scope of practice and blah blah, blah, blah, Right? Don't go there. Keep it simple. Keep it simple. Okay? I told you, like, I have a private practice that is 100% private pay. And look, not. It doesn't mean that I'm for everybody. And I'm not telling you that you have to be private pay. You can accept insurance if that's what feels right for you. Only you know your truth. But what we need to realize is we are not working for free. So there needs to be something on your napkin about how you're going to receive money. Because that exchange, even if you're a nonprofit, that exchange of money is super important. There's still money coming in. You're just not keeping it at the end of the year in the same way that a for profit business does. Okay? Your taxes and everything look different. So that's where we need to consider we are not working for free. And I think so often in our industry that is a narrative that I hear that, you know, for one, many of us are underpaid okay. Especially if you're working for somebody else. Now, when you get into the business side of things, you might start to understand why that is based on how somebody runs a business. But you can choose to do things differently. So this again, could be a two day training. So we're not going to really harp on this, but I want you guys to really sit with this and if collecting money feels uncomfortable for you, sit with this longer. Because it's okay to make money in a helping profession. I have a whole podcast episode on that, so we're not going to talk about that. Now go find that podcast episode. It's somewhere in the 70s. I don't remember the number off the top of my head, but go check that one out for sure because that will definitely help you figure out where your roadblocks are coming with money. Because money's a big one. Money is a big one. Okay. So for your payment processing for me, I do mine through theranest. Okay, so I'm just going to write down theranest EMR and that's that. That's where I have all of my billing is in there. You know, I also have like QuickBooks with my. My bookkeeper does stuff through QuickBooks. So that's another option. But just write down specifically like, how are you collecting money from your people? Okay. And then we're going to talk next about some of my favorite things, which is the indirect money making activities. And these are things that are not as simple as the things we just talked about, right? A little bit less tangible. Okay. So the financial goals of the end are more tangible, but the first two are a little bit less tangible. However, these indirect things will impact how much money you make or if you make money at all. So very important to pay attention to. The reason I say that is because with this whole concept of be, do have, and you guys have heard me talk about this before, Be, do have is something that is taught by one of my mentors, Jim Forten. And I've talked about this before. If you're in my feeding program, I make you guys go through like an 11 minute training before you ever start watching the modules so that you can, start to, number two, adopt the identity of being that feeding therapist before you ever even step foot into the course. And the same thing applies to business. So what you guys need to figure out is how do I operate from that business person who's making X dollars wherever it is you want to be that has X clients, Whatever your goals are for yourself year from now, how do I function as that person now, even though I'm not technically yet that person. How do I adopt that identity of the person that I will be a year from now, today? Okay, because so often what happens is we work from a have, do, be, we do it all backwards. We go, I need to have all the courses, I need to have all the clients. I need to have, you know, the clients who, that I can and the money to even do this. Right? So I can go out and do the therapy and create the business so that I can be that business owner that the money has the clientele. Right? That's how most of us operate, which is completely opposite of how we need to be operating from a subconscious standpoint we really need to step into. Who do I have to be in order to do the things I need to do in order to have the things that I want to have? Right. How do I step into being that six figure, seven figure business owner who has a full caseload and has now had to bring on employees or contractors to help me manage so that I can even step back and maybe work more on the administrative side of things? Because I don't want to treat five days a week. I only want to treat two days a week. And then I want to kind of help run some of the business stuff and hire an admin assistant. How do I function from being that person so that I can do these things that I want to do and then have the things I want to have. And the things that you want to have are things like freedom. Right? Things like the freedom to make your choices as to how many patients you see a week. The choice is to decide if you want to go to the grocery store at 2pm or at 10am that day because maybe you have time to do that in your schedule and you really don't want to go with the after work rush. Outside of COVID I know half of us are still on lockdown and depending on where we are in the world. So these are the types of things that I'm talking about. We have to step into being and working from that person that we would like to be a year from now, today. Okay, if you guys have questions about that, let me know and I will definitely go through these, these questions at the end because you guys have got some great questions. Yes, I use Thera Nest guys. Sorry. Thank you, Wendy and Kerry, for putting that in the chat. Okay. Identity. Right. So that is also. That taps into what I was just talking about. We have to own that identity and not just tell ourselves that that's who we are. We have to, like, truly, fully believe it, embody it, and live like we are that person, work from that place. So that when somebody sends you an email and there's a problem and you have to put your big girl pants on and get out of the playbox that you rather play in today, right? We have to adult. Like, sometimes that happens where I'm like, I really don't want to adult today, but I have to. I really just rather go play in the sandbox. But I can't, because I have a business, right? Some days I can, some days I can't. Well, the identity is. Well, I'm the owner, and I have to deal with things as they come up, but I also don't have to make them mean anything. I can just deal with them, let them be what they are and move forward. And, guys, I've dealt with things that involve lawyers. I've dealt with things that involve people trying to be me, like, and steal my identity with somebody who actually was working for me at the time. I mean, I've dealt with some interesting stuff, right? And what I used to do is I used to overthink it and overanalyze it and make it mean things and cause a lot of stress and. And then I started working with people who were a lot smarter than me and who were a lot more successful than me in the business world, and they really taught me how to let these things go and release them and really choose how to stand in my power and how to be that business owner that I really, truly wanted to embody and that I really, truly wanted to be. And so now working from that place, these last, like, three years or so, right? The first three years of my business, I didn't have a ton of issues. Some things came up, but I would, like, harp on them. I had a situation where I was pregnant and decided, you know what? This is causing me so much stress. I'm gonna let it go. And at that point, when I first realized that with Mia a couple years ago, I saw how easy it was to just let it go and release it back in the universe and be like, you know what? This is not for me. I'm detaching from my relationship with this person. This person no longer works for me. However, I'm also not gonna, like, I'm just ending this thing here instead of, I'm not going to go report this. I'm just going to let it be. I can't tell you how freeing that was, right? So I share this with you guys, because this all taps into how you deal with things, right? Are you dealing with things as though you are the new business owner who is scrambling to figure out how to do this, or are you dealing with this? Are you embodying the identity of somebody who's been doing this for at least a year, who is confident in the fact that they can grow the business and that the decision they're going to make, even though it feels hard today, is going to serve them better 12 months from now. Right. So that's where this all kind of comes full circle. So I know I went like down a little bit rabbit hole on this one, but identity is super, super, super important. Okay? And if you guys have questions, I'm happy to chat about that as well. All right. And then smart financial goals. A lot of us know what smart goals are. Let me see. Yeah, I put that on here. What I want you guys to do is just kind of keep this model in mind because it really helps you get clear and a lot of you are familiar with it. So I'm not going to teach it right now. You can go Google what smart goals are if you want afterwards. But the basic meaning of the acronym is here for you. What I want you to do with this is I want you to, you know, put on your napkin this year. You know, 12 months from now, I want to make X dollars. Three years from now, I want to make X dollars. You know, five years from now, I want to make X dollars. And don't overthink. Could be what you want to be making per year. It could be the culmination, like the sum total of what you make between now and five years from now. I don't care. Whatever feels good to you, right? Write that number down and get uncomfortable. Be okay with like, holy cow, a million dollars just came up for me. I want to make a million dollars. I don't know where that came from. It just dropped out of the sky. I'm going to write that on my napkin if that's what's coming up for you right now. Write it down if you are feeling very anxious over 100k. But that's what came up for you. Put that on your napkin. Don't go. Okay, 100k came up, but I think 50k is realistic. So I'm gonna put 50k down. No, no, no, no, no, no. You put down whatever just dropped into your brain. Whatever download you just had goes on your napkin. Ok? So do that for this year, then do that for three years from now and do that for five years from now. And look, none of us know where we're going to be five years from now. None of us. If you had told me three years ago that I would be teaching Feed the Peas and have a MYO membership and be launching a business mastermind, I probably would have known about the business mastermind because that's something I've wanted to do for a while. But as far as teaching a feeding course and having the MYO membership, I had zero idea that I was going to do that until some, like sometime last fall like this came to me like a year ago, maybe a year and a half ago. But two, three, four years ago, I had no idea. No idea. Okay? So we don't know what's going to show up in our life that might deliver this large sum of money to us. But be open to it, right? Because who knows, who knows what things will look like several years down the road? All right, so go ahead and make sure you've got that written down for you, for yourself. Alright? And then let's talk about one of the biggest mistakes that most people make. Okay? And this is the thing that I was telling you guys. Really costs you a lot of time and money when business planning. And it might seem small and kind of insignificant because this is not so tangible for people, but it has big consequences. Okay? So you see it right here on the screen. Fear. Fear. I can't tell you how many people I get on the phone with that from a business standpoint, are letting fear stop them in their tracks. I also see it all the time in people who want to get into the MYO space or into the feeding space. They let fear stop them. And I know this happens in other industries and other specialties too. If there is something that you feel called to do, but you just don't know quite yet how to do it, or you don't have enough information. Get some information and then get started. The only way that we can learn is by starting. So the biggest thing that fear does is it stops us in our tracks and it prevents us from achieving what it is that we would like to achieve. Right? It prevents us from making the money that you just wrote down on your napkin. It prevents us from stepping into serving. And the biggest thing that one of my mentors said to me once was, you know, Hallie, you have a passion for business, you have a passion for feeding and for myo. Containing that within you like you're doing a disservice to people in your industry. Like you have a larger purpose to serve, to go out there and to share this with them. And by not doing so, you're actually withholding this from people. And I was like, well, that's an interesting perspective. Like, I'm doing them a disservice by not actually getting out there and sharing it. And look, if you guys, again, if you follow me, you know, there's people put themselves on a pedestal in a lot of these specialties, and they make it seem like it's way more complex than it needs to be, right? And my whole goal is to get out there and give you guys the information you need, but also create a sense of community and create a place where people feel safe to learn and safe to ask questions and safe to grow in that space. And so if I hadn't done that, would that even be a thing? Would people still be kind of squandering around trying to figure out, like, how do I get into feeding? How do I get into myo? Like, where are these MYO friends and these feeding world friends that, that I would like to meet and link arms with going forward? If I let fear stop me? Because initially it was like, well, who am I? I've only been in practice for 10 years. Who am I to teach people about feeding or myo? And so I could have let that stop me, but I chose not to. I decided that I had a bigger. I had to serve my industry in a way that was much larger than myself, right? And I didn't really know what that looked like at the time. And it just kind of. I allowed it and I was open to it. And so it came to me through Feed the peds and through the MYO membership, right? And so that's what I want to encourage you guys to do. Whatever your business is, whether it's a private practice, something online, creating a course, you know, creating materials, whatever, whatever. A nonprofit, a for profit, an online, you know, therapy practice, an in person therapy practice, or a hybrid of the two, whatever it is, this four letter word, fear, right? This is the real thing. Like, this is the killer of pretty much all businesses. So I really wanted you guys to realize that, especially because I think a lot of us hide behind the need for a business plan. And I will be the first one to tell you that you do not need a formal business plan unless you are going for a large bank loan, which I know many of us are not interested in doing. You don't need a formal business plan. That's just something that people have told you you need, but you actually don't so keeping that all in mind, I want you to know that the difference between the people who are very successful and the people who are not, or that the people who are very successful, they just start. They just start and they figure it out as they go. And a lot of the people who are not as successful allow fear to. They don't trust themselves and they allow fear to stand in their way. And really, they never get started. And if you never get started, you can't make mistakes, you can't fall down, you can't pick yourself back up and move forward, right? You kind of just stay where you are. And the reason why I say this costs you a lot of time and money is because. And if you guys have done my other trainings with me, you've heard me say this, right? 12 months from now, if you don't start today, right? Or let's say January, February, whenever you want to start, whenever you are planning to start your business, if you don't start it, where will you be 12 months from now? And most people just think they'll be in the same place. And the reality is that allowing yourself to stay in that comfort will not actually keep you in the same place. You're going to have lost a year of your time where you could have been out there helping the people that you desire to help. And you're literally leaving money on the table. There is more money in business for yourself than there is for working for somebody else. Okay? And this is coming from somebody who has people working for me. But you guys are not here because you want to work for somebody else. The people specifically on this training, you guys are here because you want to learn about this plan. And on napkin, right? And so there's probably some inkling in you that wants to create a business or grow your business if you already have one, right? And so I want you guys to just think about that. Also, in case this is not like hitting home yet, compare it to having a patient. We cannot treatment plan for our patients before our patients are sitting in front of us, before we review their intake and we do their assessment and fully understand what it is that they need. So why are we wasting our time business planning on what we think we're going to need in our business before we've actually started our business. Like, we need to jump in. We need to meet our business. We need to assess our business as we go and then create our individualized business plan, as I said before, our IBP for ourselves, like, so you can create one as you go and you can put processes in place. Right? That's going to be much more beneficial to you than. Than trying to biz plan and create this big formal biz plan ahead of time. Right? So put some things on napkin. On a napkin. So you have a tangible place to start, right? We need to have, like, something written down, something to go off of. Keep it simple. Like, this is super simple. Okay? So, all right, let's move on to the next thing because I know that you guys are all going to, you know, a year from now. And what I want you to do in the chat is I want you to type into the chat, if you do not currently have a business, I want you to put down the date that you are going to launch your business. And that could be a private practice. And again, you guys, I know that you're not committing to anything. Okay? You're just writing something down. But put it out to the universe and then put that date on your napkin. So that way we can kind of have an idea of where you will be a year from now. All right, so. And I will come back, you guys, to your questions towards the end. Yay. I love all these dates being written down. All right, Caitlin. So, okay, so that's great. So for those of you who already have a business but are only going part time and desire to go full time, want you guys to write down your date. When. When do you commit to going full time in your own private practice or your own business? If it's not a practice, what is that date? Write that down and make sure you're also writing this down on your napkin. Okay. And if you don't have a business at all, or I'm sorry, no, we did. If we don't have a business, we've got. If we've got. We're part time at our business. So is there anybody else on here that has either started a business or. Okay, awesome, awesome, awesome. Anybody who has opened but hasn't seen any patients yet. You have a business, but there's nobody on your caseload. If you do, I want you guys to also, I want you to commit to when you're going to have your first. Caitlin, I'm giving you a nervous stomach. I know. Because I'm making you do things that are uncomfortable. I was going to say you wouldn't be getting your money's worth if I wasn't, but this was free today, so there you go, Carla. I love that. All right, Megan. So that's definitely a interesting conversation, but especially in a pandemic, you might have the opportunity to do telepractice, if that's of interest to you, but you'd have to look and see what that looks like. Depends on their laws there. All right, so we'll talk more about some of these questions and things at the end. All right, cool. So everybody should have a date down. Now, the last set of people, I want to write down a date. If you are somebody who has a thriving practice and you're happy with where it's at, but you're here because you're like, hey, I want to figure out how to biz plan for next year, and maybe you've had some thoughts about bringing on some help, bringing on a therapist, whether it's a contractor or an employee. You don't really know what that looks like yet. But you want to grow, and maybe you want to grow exponentially, right? And you've written down where you want to be a year from now. You've already committed by doing that. Like, you already basically said, okay, like, here's where I'm at. Here's where I want to be a year from now. So next to that, one year from now, write down that date, right? So today is What? Today is December 10th. You're going to write down 12, 10, 21, right? And you guys can do this, too, for the goals that you wrote down for one year from now, right? And three years from now and five years from now, you can go right down 12, 10, 20 21, 12, 10, 20, 23. Like, what year are we in? 12, 10, 20, 25. Okay, so write that on your napkin so that we're really solidifying this, okay. And putting this into the universe. All right, so. Because that's where you're going to be a year from now, because everybody's going to start, right? All right, so let's talk about the last piece here. Perfecting your business plan, right? Because that's not going to grow your business. We've already talked about that. And this quote here is something that was shared by one of my mentors, and I actually believe it was Jim Fortin, who I referenced before. He's the one who said to me he was like, 70% perfectionist success and 100% perfectionist failure. And I had to sit with that for quite some time, and I was like, huh? But, like, I'm a type a slide. Like, perfect is what I do. Like, my. You know, everything has to be a certain way, because if it's not, then what are people gonna think about me? Like, I'm gonna be judged and how can I run a business if I don't have my stuff together? And let me tell you guys, and I was actually sharing this with somebody, I think one or two people that I spoke to this week who I was doing a discovery call with for the Mastermind. And I said, look, guys, I have sent emails out this year that were meant for my online business that went to my entire private practice. And I had, like, some patients email me back and be like, I think we didn't mean. This wasn't meant for us. And I was like, oh, shoot. I mean, I'm not perfect. Things happen. And that wasn't even me. That was one of my team members. And I could have chosen to be upset about it and to have festered over it. And what would that have changed? Absolutely nothing. So I quickly said to my team, hey, can you just send an email and be like, hey, guys, Oops, you got an email that wasn't meant for you. So sorry, please leave. Like, that's it. Move on. Or I had a sales page for Feed the Peas and literally launched the course twice. And then on the third launch, I realized there were some serious typos on that page, but it didn't stop people from joining the program. Nobody came here and went like, oh, my gosh, they misspelled three words. And this doesn't make any sense. So I can't join this program. That didn't happen. Right. And have we read it over? Have we proved it? Yeah. And there are still errors. Errors will happen, right? Errors are going to happen. So allow it. Allow yourself to be imperfect or to only be perfect 70% of the time. Okay? Because trying to be perfect all the time is what really stops us in our tracks. It really prevents us from being successful. And I know we have a lot of Type A personalities on this zoom today, so I'm speaking to all of you because I am you. I was you. I feel you. I found it's much more freer to not be that person. So let yourself release that. And for all of you who are sitting here going, type B. Who are you? Type B. You're like, no, I'm already like that. I'm good. I don't need to be perfect. That is power. That is power right there. You bottle that up and you hold on to that because that is a amazing place to be. Starting from. It can be very hard for people, and that's really a story people tell themselves. But it can be hard for people to move out of perfection and to allow themselves to make mistakes and to be okay with making mistakes and to make it mean nothing about you. And it doesn't make you any less of a person just because you made a mistake. So this is the one thing that is not going to grow your business. Literally, being perfect will not grow your business, okay? There are plenty of 6 and 7 figure earners out there who make all kinds of typos and errors, and guess what? They're still successful and nobody's making fun of them for it. So, yeah, okay, So I learned to embrace the message. I learned to embrace the mistakes. And being in business can be a roller coaster, right? This is true for any business owner. So I'm not going to sit here and tell you that business is easy or that we get to play all day, right? I told you before, sometimes we have to adult when we don't feel like adulting because it's our business. And that's just what we have to do. We got to get out of the sandbox, put on our big girl pants. And adults, such as life, right? But when you're actually living and doing what you want to do, and you're allowing yourself not to have to be perfect all the time, and you're allowing yourself to make money, and you're allowing yourself to dream big, and you're allowing yourself to just get out there and serve the people that you feel called to serve, things fall into alignment and it feels good, and you really enjoy getting out of bed in the morning. And so that's where I really want to encourage you guys. If you are somebody who's like, nope, can't give up this perfectionism thing, you better give it up right now. Otherwise we're going to be having the same conversation 12 months from now. And I don't want that for you. And I know you don't want that for yourself. So a little tough love there, right? But if you're really, truly stepping into your passion, the biggest thing that you can do is lead with your heart and just show up for your people. And no one's going to care if you make a mistake. Like, they really won't. So I want you guys to choose and write down on your napkin, do you choose 70% biz growth, like 70% perfection in biz growth, or 100% perfection and remaining in fear? And if you guys better be writing down 70% perfection in biz growth, which means that 30% of the time, we might fail and fall on our face. And that's okay, because that's how you learn and that's how you succeed and that's how you make six and seven figures. Like, expect to have days that suck. Expect to have things come up in your business that are just like, ugh, I don't want to deal with this right now. Expect that, like, you're going to make mistakes and expect that things are not always going to work the way that you planned. But if you get up and you learn from that and you keep moving forward, you'll be very successful. I promise you that. Okay. I've lived it firsthand, both online, offline, in different types of businesses. I even did network market, multilevel marketing, like way back when. That's how I got out of working in the schools, right? So I did that to replace my income to get out of the schools because I didn't want to be in schools anymore. And then I quit being an SLP for eight months. I don't know, people, you guys might not know that about me. I was like, done burnt out, don't want to be an SLP anymore. And then I really missed it. And so then I became an SLP again. I didn't really give up my license or anything. You know, it was only eight months, but I was so burnt out and I was like, don't do this. And a year after that is when I launched my own private practice. Right? And it's just been uphill from there. So want to make sure you guys have that on your napkin before we move forward. Right? Everyone is picking a 70% success. Alright, so I'm going to pop out of this because I want to see what you guys have written down here. So go ahead and hold up to the screen if you've got your cameras on. And if you want to open your cameras and share, feel free to open up the camera and share. Show us what you've got written down, you guys. This is awesome. I know some of you are still writing. Yay. Oh my gosh. I love this, you guys. This makes me so happy. You have no idea. No idea. I love it. I love it. Love it. All right, so you've quite literally written out what you need for a business plan. You've got a beautiful little plan here. And I'm just scrolling to see anybody who's not on the front screen. You've got here a nice plan in place, right? We know what you're going to offer. We know from a marketing standpoint at least where to start, right? You have an idea of where you want to start. You know how you're going to collect money. You know how much money you want to make this year in the next 12 months, and then in three years from now and five years from now. We don't know how that's going to happen. We don't really need to know how that's going to happen. That's not important. But what we do know is that we've got a simple little plan right here to put in place. I'm going to take mine and put it in my drawer, literally, and not look at it for a year. But you guys do whatever you want with it. Okay? So the whole idea here is that that was pretty easy. I mean, I know I made some of you a little uncomfortable and I stretched your thinking and having to write some of these things down. And I'm going to go look at the chat. But I saw some of you saying, like, my stomach's not feeling so easy right now. And that's good, that's good. Because if you are starting to feel like, oh my God, I'm going to vomit, you're pushing up against what your truth is for yourself. Like, this is what you actually want for yourself. You've just never really allowed yourself to get there before. And we're allowing you to step into that and tell you that's okay. And in our industry, people don't really ever say that. People usually say like, oh, no, we don't make money in this profession. No, we're here to help people, not to make money. I call bs. Like, that is not okay. This is a business. Every business is in business to make money. And it's okay to want to make money. And if there's people who want to stay not making money, that's fine, let them. That's up to them. And if that's one of you, that's okay. I pass no judgment. But if you want to make money and you want to help people, allow it for yourself, okay? Just allow can be that easy. If you're someone looking to start or grow your mastermind. We are. I've created this for 2021. This is a investment. It's a five figure investment and it's all. And it's limited to 20 people. So I share that. Because obviously it's not going to be for everybody. And if it's for you, great. And if it's not for you, that's fine too. But if you are interested in learning more about what it entails, just either send Jess an email or fill out the application and we will follow up with you after you fill out the application, which is probably the easiest way to go about doing it and then we can chat further. I will tell you that I have two people who have joined already just from the six calls that I've had between Monday and Wednesday this week from our current members who are, you know, either members of the course or the Mastermind or on the email list. So, you know, I, I don't know if we're gonna get 20 people, but I'm gonna be picking people based on your application and based on the right fit for the program. I'm not taking you just because you're willing to spend the money and make the investment. I want to make sure that you're a good fit and that I can actually help you. So, you know, that's why the application part of it is really important. So if you have questions about that, I'm happy to explain that further. But part of it, filling out the application is that like we can get on the phone and I can tell you specifically, you know, what this would look like for you. Alright, so let's jump over to the question. I do do one on one mentoring as well as the Biz Mastermind is new. That is a new thing that I'm going to be doing. That's what I sent the link to you guys for. But I do one on one coaching. So if you guys are interested in that, you can definitely send an email to people clientcareadthepedes.com and we can share details on that with you. What exactly does the Mastermind Real Biz entail before doing the application? Sure. I mean I can definitely give an overview so what that looks like. There's a lot of pieces to it. So that's why I didn't go into it because it could take me 10 minutes to like literally list everything out. But if you guys, do you guys want to hear more about it? Yeah. Okay. Got some head nods. So. All right, so I will share with you. So one of the things that we do is everything basically falls into my method. My real method, right? So it's called the Real Biz Mastermind and real stands for review, edit, apply, lean in. And so we're going to review every month, like what's working, what's not working, what do we keep doing, what do we need to stop doing? Like what are we wasting time on? Like what's actually making us money and what's serving our patients and ourselves and what's not right. Then the E is we edit that stuff out. That doesn't need to be there. The A is apply so your monthly trainings that you're going to get from me, we're going to be applying those, but we're also going to be applying. And I'm looking over here because I have it all written out here. So don't forget anything. You're going to be applying what I teach you. I will also be bringing in guests as a bonus every month to talk on different topics of interest to those in the Mastermind. And I don't know all of the guests yet. I have a couple lines up, but I'm going to wait until I see the who's actually in the Mastermind to find out what the needs of the group are. Because the needs of the group is going to shape who I invite in and then actually what I teach as well in terms of my topics that I teach on each month. Because I could try and plan ahead for you guys, but it's not going to be beneficial to you all if you don't need to learn some of the things I'm teaching. So I'm going to really mold it around what the needs of the group are and I'll share more about that in a second. And the L is lean in. So a lot of what we talked about here today was some of the things that hold us back, right? Some of that subconscious mind crap that like we need to release and we need to kind of work from a different identity. Okay, like really easily said, great, whatever. But to actually do it, like there is a process and that is something that I help a lot of my one on one clients do. But that's something we're going to spend time with in the Mastermind on a monthly basis. Because I might see something that's holding you back that you don't recognize is holding you back because it's just a part of you. And so it's hard to recognize that. And so that's why I've hired business mentors at times to literally call me out on the things that are standing in my way that I'm not even recognized as standing in my way. So that's that we're going to help to like remove those roadblocks. Okay. From there, well, that's the real method. Beyond that, beyond the monthly trainings and the guests that I mentioned that I'll bring in, we're also going to have two times a month, master, what do we call them? Hot seats. And the hot seats are opportunities to submit ahead your questions, like what's coming up for you that week ahead of the call? And I will Divide up the call by everybody in the group so that you guys get one on one coaching with me, but in a group setting. And it's really powerful to have that opportunity to watch other people be coached because it brings up things for you and it helps you work through things that you may not even have realized were coming up for you. Sometimes it also helps you realize like, oh, hey, I already worked through that. Or it gives you other. Helps generate other business ideas. Even so Mastermind hot seat calls are like one of my favorite things when I participate in my Masterminds that I take part in. And there'll be other touch points like in terms of resources and things that I provide. Again based on the needs of the group. What am I leaving out? Leaving out a bunch of things. We will have a two day virtual retreat and that's going to be more of like a workshop type of thing. Normally it would be in person, a one day, a one day in person retreat. But because of COVID we're going to do it virtually for 2021, unless things magically change and then we'll shift, who knows? But you'll have that. You'll also get access to Vox. So for those of you who are not familiar, Boxer is a. It's just an app that you can use. It's similar to some of the other like worldwide apps. Doesn't matter where you are in the world and anybody can get on this app for free. And it's like a chat kind of app. And so it'll be a group Boxer for everybody in the group. You'll also have Facebook, but I want people to have a means other than Facebook to access me when you're in this biz, Mastermind, because I know things just kind of can get lost in the mix of Facebook these days. And what am I forgetting? Oh, we're going to do rotating accountability groups. So in these groups you guys will have the opportunity to be paired with depending on how many other people join. Well, I'm only taking 20 max, but there could be, I don't know, 5, 10, 15. I have no idea yet what the numbers will look like because again it's going to be based on application and who is really the best fit and who I feel like I can really truly help. And then we will pair you up with, I want to do at least two other people. So it's at least three or four people per accountability group and then we'll rotate them so you have the opportunity to be with everybody over the course of our 10 months together. Because this is a 10 month program. My goal for you guys, my hope for you guys is that you find somebody you really click with and that you can like link arms with, that can be like your best business buddy going forward even beyond the Mastermind. Because that's just an absolutely invaluable tool to have that kind of a relationship with somebody who's doing something similar to you and who's going through the same things that you're going through and who really embodies and understands these things. Right, so there's that piece and what else? Oh my gosh, I forgot, like the biggest, most important thing. So everyone's gonna start with a 90 minute one on one intensive with me. And that's truly one on one, like not with a group. Right. And so with that I'm going to put you through the same process that I do with my one on one clients and you guys are going to fill out a application. Sorry, not an application, an intake. The business intake. With the business intake. This is something I've been using for the past five years and it gives me a really good look into what is your business all about. Where are you currently? Where do you want to go? So the things we talked about today, but like even diving deeper and then figuring out, okay great, what can you start putting into place right now, today to start getting the wheels in motion so that, you know, month one, you already have your individualized business plan from me and you can start, start getting, you know, getting things into gear. Because five months beyond that it might look very different. Right. But we need to know what the plan is right now and we want to start implementing. I'm very like action based, like let's go, let's start doing the things that are going to make us some money so we can get the wheels turned in here. So anybody who ends up signing up with me before the end of the year, I will schedule that with you in January if you want so that you can get going soon, sooner you don't have to wait till February. And those who join the Mastermind in February, since we're not starting till February 1, I will do the 90 minute intensives with them in February. So that is basically it in a nutshell. The process is. Oh well, I guess one other bonus is if you are a member of the MYO Mastermind, the MYO membership or you're interested in, in that you will get a year of free access to the MYO membership. So you'll get that. That's two hours of monthly CEUS and so on and so forth. I can tell you more about that later. You will also get access to any programs that I create under $2,000. So. $2,000 or under. So for example, let's say I do create a business program at the end of next year and you know, you're in the Mastermind with me, you'll get access to that course. Let's decide. Let's say, you know, I am going to create an intro to my own course next year. So when I do create that, that's probably going to be priced about $2,000, you guys will get that like you'll get access to that for free. If you haven't taken Feed the Peas and you'd rather have access to that over the MYO course, you can have access to that one, you know, so there are definitely bonuses and benefits to doing this program because I don't want you guys to feel like you have to pay for the additional things that I'm offering. I really want you to be focused in the Mastermind. And then if you want access to my other programs, you know, you'll get, you'll get access to those. And then anything else I create, if I do like a master class or some other type of training, you know, you guys will just automatically get access to that in your Kajabi portal where everything is housed. So that is that. And that's pretty much the biz Mastermind in a nutshell. If you guys have questions, let me know. But I'd love, if you're interested, definitely fill out the application. It's not a long application. It's pretty, pretty quick and straightforward. And then we'll send you an email if we feel like it might be a good idea to hop on like a discovery call together and see, you know, chat. You'll chat with me directly about whether or not this would be a good next step for you based on your application. Yeah. Thank you guys. Happy Hanukkah to any of those who are celebrating Happy holidays. To all others who are in the in the spirit and getting ready to celebrate the holidays. I will be in the in, you know, in and out of the groups and everything. But if you guys have specific questions about the Mastermind, feel free to DM me about that. I'm happy to answer. Otherwise, the link is. The link was dropped here, but we'll email it out to you guys. If you do want to apply, the application will be there. And again, it is a five figure investment. It is an investment, but it's just over five figures, but it is one where the goal is to help you go from where you are to growing yourself another six figures while we are spending our 10 months together. So this is like a very, you know, get down and dirty. What is Tate like? What do you all need? Like, tailored to you all and really make sure that we are delivering on what you set out to create for yourself. So it's going to be very specific. And that's why I'm limiting it to, to 20 people, because I really need to be able to give the time to the people who are in the group. And I know not everybody wants to make six figures in our 10 months together. Some people may have goals that are less than that, some people may have more, and that's fine too. So that's where the application process is really important. So we can just make sure that it's a good fit for you and for me and energetically with the group, I want to make sure that everybody is going to be a good fit for each other as well. So there is that. We've got two that have joined so far since Monday and 18 spot still open, but I do have four people who are getting back to me by Friday with their decision as to whether or not they're gonna join. So we may possibly have six spots full, but we'll find out. So yeah, guys. Thank you guys so much for joining me. This has been a blast. I know we spent a lot of time answering questions, but I wanted to just like hang with you guys for a bit since this was the first masterclass that I did in a business format. Hope everyone has a great day and I will see you guys in all of our Facebook groups. Thanks for listening to this podcast. 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