Most of you reading this are either currently trying to run a business or have given that a red hot crack in the past- it’s full of challenges isn’t it? In most cases, the bulk of the hard work that has to happen to keep the doors open, is the stuff ‘unseen’ by others.
It’s the ‘non-billable’ hours
It’s the mountains of ‘administrivia’
It’s all the favours and things you share for free stuff, because that’s just how you roll
It’s the millions of little things that it’s quicker for you to do than explain to someone else so you can delegate
It’s the fact that because it’s your business you think about it always, work on it on your weekends, never truly take time-out
And the money you make today doesn’t reflect your labour today but all your efforts over all the years, from when you first undertook your training to every bit of money and time you’ve invested into it since. Me too. #passiveincomeisamyth I am so proud & feel so privileged to have built this business, employed the people I have (mostly naturopaths), and guided the hard work we’ve collectively put in to produce all our training and educational offerings, over all these years. I chose this path, of really investing in people, and being indulgent with my own time to research things until I knew they were right. Work and rework all our teaching tools, until I was certain that they really were the best way to, ‘tell the story and make it stick’. It has been my choice not to take short-cuts and find ‘cheats’ to increase our bottom line. And if I had my time over I would do just the same because of all the incredibly amazingly awesome people in our profession who constantly remind me (just spontaneously 🤗), why I do what I do.
There are so many passionate, incredibly motivated, ethical practitioners in our profession that it honestly, gives me goosebumps & keeps me going
And often it’s these same people who alert me to the ‘ugly’. They tell me about a range of transgressions and sometimes those are against me and my business. Like sharing log-in details for a product you purchased for individual-use only. Yep, I routinely receive tip-offs from individuals working in all different domains: academia, retail, large companies providing products & services, multi-practitioner practices. Sharing your log-in details for training is as old as the hills, but the impact of this act is not quite on par with putting something exotic on the self-checkout scale & indicating it’s onions. I am not a multi-national. For almost 20 years I’ve actually never had a salary or paid sick leave. Education is not the icing on my income… it is our whole team’s ‘everything’.
There are way more good people in our profession than there are others.
But for those outliers – please – business owner to business owner – think about your actions and how your business would fare in the face of people not paying what you are owed