I feel a bit naked revealing all of this, but I want to be upfront with you so that you don’t have to struggle as I did over a decade ago when I was starting out as a wellness practitioner.

You ready for this? Let’s do it. Here are the 7 things I wish I’d done sooner…

1. Guarded My Time

When I look back at how I used my time five years ago, I cringe. I did a lot of faffing and told myself, and others, that I was busy. Whilst I was doing a lot, was it getting me the results I knew in my heart were possible for me? Nope.

But now my working week is structured so that I focus on what’s important for my business. I block out (and even colour code!) every hour of my working week so that everything is planned. That means I prioritise what matters most – writing and The Flow Collective – and everything else has to fit around, and come after, those two things.

Sidenote: Busy is a word that I’ve banned from my vocabulary because it’s a mental state, not a description of how we use our time. I am not busy, I invest my time and energy in what matters to me.

2. Invested in My Business

Sure, I spent loads of money (over £50K) training as a practitioner, but I wish I’d taken some of that money and invested it in my actual business because I would have got further a helluva lot quicker. And not have spent so much time worrying about making rent. 

Whilst learning new skills is important and it’s tempting to think that training in #allthetherapies will lead to an increase in reputation and profit, it doesn’t. In fact, without thoughtful marketing, it can confuse your prospective clients and leave you in the red.

These days I invest heavily in all aspects of my business because that’s what brings me joy AND profit.

3. Played a Bigger Game

I was scared to stick my head above the parapet – to write a blog post, to charge enough to pay my bills, to show up in my business consistently and to be authentically Maisie in all her glory. Imposter syndrome kept me small for a long time and still rears its head once in a while, but I don’t allow it to set in and hold me back. 

I’m in a healthy relationship with my inner critic which means that imposter syndrome doesn’t limit what I’m capable of.

4. Hired a Business Coach

Okay, truth be told I did work with a business coach fairly early on in my business and I’ll share that story with you soon, but I wish I’d done it earlier because here’s the thing: Training institutions do not prepare you for running a successful business, in fact, they usually set you up to fail (you can read my thoughts on that here).

5. Hired an Assistant

My amazing assistant Bek came on board last year and whilst I’m delighted that the timing meant that it’s her that I get to work with every day, I can’t believe I didn’t do this sooner. Yes, it was scary to pay someone else but it’s given me so much freedom to focus on doing what I do best – creating great content and helping my clients. You might not be thinking that this is possible for you right now, but hiring someone for an hour or two a week to take care of your emails, social media, or whatever else you’d love help with will create money.

6. Paid Attention to My Numbers

Oh how I wish I had tracked more in my business from the get-go! Spreadsheets? You couldn’t get me near one until three days before the deadline to file my taxes.

These days I pay attention to my numbers and use spreadsheets on a daily basis to track my time, income, profit, expenses, email list, and social media metrics. That way I know what’s working well and what needs to be rethought or scrapped.

7. Raised My Rates

Oh the stories that I could tell you about discounting my services, bartering, and even giving my time away for free. This is extremely common amongst wellness practitioners and is perhaps a situation that you’ve found yourself in too. I would routinely charge less when I should have been charging more. But during those first years of business, I had no idea how to decided on a price that felt good, let alone feel comfortable actually saying it out loud to someone!

Over the years I’ve done a lot of work on my money mindset and have a system in place to decide how to price my services, and because I feel solid about my rates, that means I can communicate them with confidence. 

Want to ask me a question about running a successful business?

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