Webring & newsletter

Well, the webring is helping my hit count! Yea! This weekend I'm going to take some time and visit some of the other sites on the ring. Spreading the love, that sort of thing. ;)

I haven't had anyone sign up for the newsletter yet, though, so in light of that (and the fact that finals are approaching at an alarming rate) I'm going to postpone that until next month. I've got some ideas about doing a series of stretches for before and after all those fun outdoor activities going on right now. Now if I could just find someone who would model the stretch for me, I could include pictures...or even start a youtube channel. Hmmmm....

It's not a diamond...

...but it is a ring! Ok, so it's a webring, not a piece of jewelry. (I really want to make some sort of pun about "my precious" here, but I just can't quite think of something that would make sense. darn.)

anyway, I submitted my website to an alternative health webring today. It's still in the pending stage, but I've got the code on the home page for all to see. Keep your fingers crossed. :)

Where's Merry?

ok, so maybe that title would work better if my name started with a W. But, it's the best I could come up with at the moment. ;)

I've got a couple of events coming up in May. On the 3rd, I'll be giving parafin dips and hand massages at a "healthy spa day" type thing hosted by New Directions Chiropractic. I'm not quite sure where it is being held (I should know these things if I'm gonna be there, huh?) but I'll post them here as soon as I find out. Or you can e-mail Dr. Neidrich for all the gory, er um, fun details through her website NewDirectionsChiropractic.com.

Also, on the 19th, I'll be doing free, yes I said FREE chair massage at a Dallas MetroMoms event, "Getting Strong! Hop, Skip, and Jump to Family Fun!" It's at the Wiggly Play center in Frisco. If you're interested, you'll need to register through MetroMoms at this website: http://www.metroplexbaby.com/MetroMoms/2008/20080518_GettingStrong.htm According to the site, one lucky family will win an orbit baby stroller.

So, anyway, hope to see you there. (oh, btw, be on the look out for my new newsletter, Take A Moment, coming out on the 15th of every month. I'll post it here, but you can sign up for the HTML e-mail version on the left hand side of the blog, or at the contacts page of my website.)

Family business. Sort of.

Today I did a bit of networking. A bit. A little bit. Like meeting two new people worth of networking. My mother, who is an energy worker and all around spiritual person, has started a women's spiritual activism circle. Today was the second monthly meeting and I went. I knew all but two of the people there, but it got me thinking. I didn't even think about networking when I made out my list of ways to advertise. Duh!

Also, I looked into advertising in the Holistic Networker, a free alternative health magazine. It's free to place a listing in their online directory, but it's just an alphabetized listing with no way to search by location. Unless my name was Allison or Abby, I don't know what good it will do. I took a look at their print advertising, and it's less than $100 for a directory listing there. And those are location-specific, so I would be advertising in a publication that is distributed in the Dallas area. So, something to think about.

I also updated the meta tags on my website the other day. I didn't realize that I could change the ones that were automatically generated by the site builder tool thingy. Man, they were awful. So, ya, now they actually have the words "massage therapy" in them. And guess what? There was a jump in my hits! Yea for descriptive meta tags!

Getting the ball rolling...

...or, rather, "Researching what kind of ball I want to roll."

The business plan. Every entrepreneur should have one. I don't. So, today I decided it's high time to remedy this problem. I went rooting around in my old massage school books, looking for the one for that came with the business class. Do I have it? Nope. (But, I did find the one with the SOAP notes templates...SOAP notes are the charts used to keep track of clients' progress.) I remember from class that a business plan starts with an outline, though. So, instead of typing one out, I decided to put mine on index cards.

Index card one: The Goal.
Here's where I define what I want, and how long I want it to take to achieve it. Right now, I'm taking appointments two days a week, and working another part time job three days. I would like to reverse that. Also, I banged out some numbers on how many clients I need to achieve my monetary goal. Because I share expenses at my apartment and because I'm enrolled in college, I gave myself a modest goal. In four months, I want two to three clients a day, three days a week. That's assuming that these clients are all hour table sessions.

Index card two: How to Achieve the Goal (or: Getting My Name Out There)
Here I came up with some advertising ideas. Some I'm already doing: website, blogging. But, there's so much more I can do. There's internal advertising. I'll be setting out brochures and displaying a poster about massage in the chiropractor's office where I work. I'm also going to ask her about including a "Massage Fact" (or something along those lines) in her monthly mail out. For external advertising, I'm going to do some research on the different holistic medicine journals in the Dallas area. I'll also look into doing chair massage at the various spring festivals and health fairs in the Allen and Plano area. And last, but not least, when I've got my website perfected I'll look into sponsored Google and Yahoo listings.

So, it's not much, but at least it'll serve as a guide post for the next few months.

Free Advertising!

I heard back from the person who manages Moonlady today. She e-mailed me saying that since this was my first ad, and it was formatted correctly that she'll give it to me free! Cha-ching! (omg, did I just type "cha-ching"?)

Who knew I would be so excited over five bucks? But, hey every little bit helps. It's really more of the spirit of the gesture than the money, anyway. Other than that, I really haven't done much business-wise today. I'm planning to add a services menu to my web site and add a paypal button for gift certificates. But, I need to check with the chiropractor I'm working with about pricing for services other than a standard hour. I haven't been there long enough for someone to request a half hour or a two hour session. Today, though was about studying for history class and some kick-back time with a knitting needle or two in my hands.

Oh, shoot, I meant to call the Spiritual Fitness Center. I'm hoping to get the chair out for some fresh air at their psychic fair this March. (How many word with the letters "air" can I use in one sentence?") Well, the fair isn't for a few weeks yet. If they have room for a chair massage booth, it would be a great way to get my name out there. But, the Center is in a completely different city from where I take appointments. Hmm...maybe I can find a place for chair closer to the office.

The journey begins...

...with a single post.

I've taken the plunge and started a daily blog. Something to record my journey of building a reiki and massage way of life here in Plano, TX. I'll try to keep the focus on energy and body work, and what I'm doing with my business, but I'm sure other bits and pieces of my life will end up here, like my knitting obsession or my pursuit of an English degree. So, on with the show...

Today I'm dipping my toes in the advertising world. Not at a multi-million dollar level or anything. In fact, all of five bucks will be spent. I am placing an ad on Moonlady, a yahoo group that sends out info on ecological and spiritual events around the Dallas area. I'm hoping for a few eyeballs on my webpage once it runs.

I also got my first chiropractic adjustment in quite some time today. I'm working out of her office, and she agreed to trade services. Yea! I'll be working on her family mostly and she'll adjust me. I got surprising news from her. Apparently the range of motion in my neck is equivalent to someone in their seventies...and I haven't even (quite) hit thirty yet! Ah, well, I guess four years of highschool marching band is catching up with me. Time to be a little more vigilant about daily stretching. I'm seeing her again next Thursday. Hopefully I'll have gotten my scalenes (neck muscles) to relax a bit by then...I think I'll go heat up a moist towel in the microwave.