4 ways to stick with your practice (even when it really sucks)

Lately, I’ve heard from some of my clients that they’re super frustrated with their practice.

Very few patients are making appointments, only one non-family member has joined their email list, and no one is visiting their website.

As I’m the one helping out with marketing, I take this seriously. What’s going on?

In our weekly marketing meetups, we’ve been discussing possible reasons why and troubleshooting solutions.

And in the midst of these conversations, I keep thinking about the WFR (wilderness first responder) training I completed in my mid-20s. (You knew this wouldn’t stay on the rails for long, right?)

Keep reading to hear about one of the dumbest decisions I’ve ever made and four ways to stick with your practice…even when things suck (plus when it might really be time to move on). 

A lesson in hard things: My WFR training

 

At 24 years old, I was living on the Big Island and working in the field for a teen wilderness therapy program. “In the field” meaning me and ten at-risk youth lived together for weeks at a time on an isolated working farm near the southern tip of Hawai’i.

There was no shower. No creature comforts. Very little contact with the outside world.

It was logical that the staff needed some medical training beyond First Aid, so we all registered to become Wilderness First Responders or WFRs (pronounced “woofers”).

One of my coworkers happened to be from Twisp, a little town in Washington State, and had the brilliant idea to attend her training in Tacoma. In December.

I’d been living in Hawai’i for close to four years at that point. And besides the balmy, warm temperatures, the state doesn’t observe daylight saving time—it’s basically light for 12 hours and dark for 12 hours all year long. I was used to living in paradise.

But I loved my friend (she taught me how to surf!) and wanted to take my training with her. So I, too, registered for WFR training in Tacoma, Washington. In December.

You might be thinking to yourself, “Victoria, it’s not that bad. Isn’t Washington temperate and green, even in the winter?”

Generally, you’d be right. Specific to the year we went, however? Very wrong.

The December we were in Tacoma was one of the coldest on record; the gauge hit 9 degrees below zero the night of our outdoor practical (yep, outside from sundown to 10 PM, rescuing fake blunt force trauma victims and triaging faux bear attacks). 

I had made a dizzyingly terrible mistake, especially if you know me. I hate the cold. HATE IT.

But I’d paid for class and the hotel room—we were living in a tiny hotel on the outskirts of Tacoma—and I wasn’t turning back.

So, what happened?

What happened is that it totally sucked but was also deeply rewarding, I made incredible friends (including some ex-military dudes who swear to this day that Bigfoot is real and lives in the forests of Washington State), learned a shit ton, and graduated with my WFR cert.

And the way it happened is because, thanks to the help of my friends, our tight-knit group that bonded over fingers so cold we weren’t just role-playing hypothermia anymore, I kept showing up.

This leads us to my first suggestion.

#1: Join a community of small business owners

 

When clients don’t flock to your new practice, or your newly written eBook doesn’t sell 100 copies the first day, you might feel like you’re doing everything wrong.

Until you talk to other entrepreneurs. 

The reality is that without my WFR buddies, who I’m pretty sure were taking advantage of my 20-something-year-old gullibility with Bigfoot stories, I might not have made it through that brutal training.

Without the support of other people climbing the psychological equivalent of Mt. Everest (an apt analogy for what you’re trying to accomplish), you might not make it through, either.

You need the company of other climbers. 

I highly recommend the Market Your Wellness Biz monthly membership as a way to connect with an authentically supportive group of wellness pros who have been where you are.

But any group that gives you the (loving) reality check of what it’s really like will increase the odds of business success.

#2: Adjust your expectations

 

The sad truth is that many coaching programs, schools, and certifications rely on marketing that makes it seem like you’ll wake up the day after graduation with 6-figures in your bank account.

That you can work on the beach and make a million.

That, if you purchase their product/course/eBook/video series, you, too, can experience financial freedom!!

Can I get an A-MEN?

????

If being a business owner were that easy, then 50% of small businesses wouldn’t fail within the first 5 years.

Even if you know the stats, it can still feel personal when things get tough, and Nancy Nutritionist on Instagram is bragging that she had a $12,000 month. 

The business-success facade is horribly detrimental to our field because it sets a false standard of what owning a practice is really like.

 

What it’s really like is a series of small, almost imperceptible wins that eventually build into a sustainable business.

The timeline is at least 2-3 years before you turn a profit and perhaps many more until you’re completely sustainable.

Side gigs, part-time employment in unrelated fields, and starts and stops on niche, strategy, and structure are 100% normal and part of the process.

It’s just that no one’s talking about it. And so we feel confused and afraid when it happens to us. 

But what if you adjusted your expectations?

If you thought of this in terms of years versus days? If you created a financially and psychologically sustainable plan for those really rough first years and reassessed in year three? If you saw 10 highly interested potential patients on your email list as the major win that it is instead of comparing yourself to the hyperbole on Instagram?

What if you celebrated these wins, adjusted as necessary, and kept showing up?

#3: Keep showing up

 

Consistency is the hardest part of being an entrepreneur.

Just like my severe (and when I say severe, believe me when I tell you I was ready to leave after day one) resistance to participate in a sub-zero outdoor training, you might feel hesitant to offer another class when only two people signed up for your first one.

Or send out another newsletter when only 8% of people opened your last one.

Or create another social post when you got zero likes on a reel that took you an hour to film.

But keep these factors in mind: 

1. Just because potential clients aren’t engaging doesn’t mean they’re not watching. They’re ALWAYS, always watching. And the more consistent you are about showing up, the more they trust you as a reliable professional. And the more they trust you as a reliable professional, the more likely they are to engage.
2. You consistently showing up teaches YOU. The process of showing up allows you to learn more about what feels right and what doesn’t, how you want your practice to evolve, how you want to speak to your audience, etc., etc., etc. To quote the now-famous internet meme: When you f*ck around, you find out. In this case, it’s a good thing.
3. A potential customer has to directly or indirectly interact with you approximately 10 times before they take action. TEN. TIMES. Emails, social posts, guest blogs, ads, collabs, etc. that get your name out there make it more likely that a potential patient will hit the “like” button or, better yet, schedule a discovery call.

When you consistently, reliably, dependably show up for your potential patients, they start to see you as the professional you are and take action.

#4: Reconnect with your why

 

How do you keep showing up when all you want to do is quit and go back to reliable corporate hell?

You reconnect with why you’re doing this in the first place.

Your “why” is so freaking crucial to your brand, marketing, mission, and story, but also to your sticktoitiveness.

Your reason for wanting to begin this venture in the first place should be so compelling and so deep that you would take some serious shit to see it through.

Because the reality of owning a small practice is you will have to take some shit, and it will totally suck, but your reason should be stronger than the suck.

It’s what gets you out of bed when you’re prepping for a class with no sign-ups, and it’s what makes you complete your seriously lacking first-year financial reports.

So why, like deep-down, really, why did you start this thing? Connect with that and see if it has the power to make it all worthwhile.

Bonus: Be open to trying something new, even if that means moving on

 

The best part of this journey is it brings you an immense amount of clarity. Hard things are like that.

So once you’ve been around other business owners, adjusted your expectations, shown up over and over, and examined your “why,” you might find that you want something different.

That something might be a different type of wellness practice—I joyously abandoned my clinical practice once I gained enough foresight and experience to realize I could be a research-based marketer.

But that something might be a different career.

And let me be the first to tell you: That’s 100% ok. It’s better than ok—it’s fantastic. Go toward what works and feels right in your bones, not what you think you’re supposed to do.

But before you decide your practice isn’t working, try these tips and see what you find. It might be that you don’t need a new career but rather patience, a part-time job, and radical perseverance for your practice to make it long-term.