Free advertising, again!

I've been a busy girl today, let me tell ya. Not only have I drove my car into the body shop for an estimate (someone tapped my bumper and chipped the paint) but I have set up an e-mail newsletter and done a spot of free advertising.

I looked into what it would take to set up a mailing list through my yahoo service, but they don't offer a free one, just a paid service. I'm sure it's lovely, but to get things started I thought I'd try a free one. So, I trotted on over to my favorite "free web stuff" site, bravenet. I've been using them on and off on personal sites for years, and have never had anything to complain about. And what do I find? Lo and behold, they have a free mailing list! (did I spell "lo" right?) Anyway, ya, so they have an ad-supported e-mail newsletter service. You just copy and paste a little html into you site and viola, you've got something that looks remarkable like the box on the left hand column of this blog.

So, my site design tool was a very restrictive template-based service. But, yahoo also offers Site Builder, a point and click type thingy that allows you to insert your own html. Well, it took me a few hours, but I got the website transferred over, with a brand spankin' new look. (It's really pretty, a sunset theme.) I plopped the mailing list joinup in the contact page. Hopefully, I'll get some subscribers. (fingers crossed)

I also ran an ad on craigslist. So far, free advertising hasn't sent any clients my way, but who knows? Maybe craigslist will be the lucky one. I'm still waiting to have the metro mom ad approved. I had to fax in a signed consent form for that one, so I'm assuming that it may take a little time. That's ok, I can be patient. I think. (Maybe I should break out the knitting.)

Oh, if you want to see the craigslist ad, it will be there through May 2nd (I think.) The link is: http://dallas.craigslist.org/ths/622177261.html

Self care and self promotion

I am currently house (and cat) sitting for a good friend while she is away at a month-long training conference. She's a yoga instructor at a local studio of the chain Dahn Yoga. I've discovered that when you house sit for a yoga instructor, there are tons of yoga books laying around all over the place. If you sit down in the evening to watch a little tv, they call to you from the bookshelf, "Oh, Merry...why sit there like a bump on a log when you could be stretching? Come on, you know you wanna..."

Ok, so maybe my friend's books really aren't physically talking, but they do have a bit of a siren song of their own. So, last week I broke down and started thumbing through them. She's mostly got Dahn publications, and they have some simple, easily understood instructions for stretching, qi gong, and their tai ci-like martial art, Dahn Mu Do. At least, my mind easily understands them. My body, on the other hand, keeps reminding me that since self care ceased to be a priority for me a while ago, if we are going to move and bend like we used to we're going to have to build up to it. Like allot of other people, self care just slipped to the background as life got busier and busier. But, just after about four days of taking about an hour in the morning and a half hour at night for stretching and strength training, I can see a difference in the way I move and even stand.

So, my next thought after "Hmm, I didn't realize my quads were so tight, " was, "I wonder how I can apply this to my business?" (This seems to be an increasingly common thought these days.) The answer that has bubbled to the top is, "Write a monthly newsletter about self care!" Not only will it be a self promotion, but it will keep my on target in my own journey of self care. Ya can't beat that with a stick.

So, over the next few days I'm going to be looking into how to incorporate a mailing list into my website. The design tool I'm using is pretty restrictive, so i may have to consider some other options. Wish me luck!

The technological revolution

Ok, I'm back in the 21st century again. I bought a cell phone yesterday. Yes, I hear you cry in shock, "You mean you didn't have one already?!" Well, I used to have one, but when I came to Dallas in the wake of Katrina, the cell phone bill was one of the first sacrifices to the "reducing unnecessary spending" cause. So, now I'm back in business and I've got a number I can use in advertisements. I was a little weary of sending my home phone out into the world, but I can now hand out the cell phone number with abandon. Holistic Networker, here I come!

I've also taken advantage of the website's ability to take paypal. I'm now selling gift certificates online! right now, I've just got the hour table session up for grabs, but if that takes off I'll add other services.

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.

CEU's and Service Menus

Well, it's been a couple of days since my last blog. And, yes, life has taken over. I haven't gotten nearly as much done on the website as I'd like, and I still haven't set up a formal list for the daily distance reiki meditations. I could go on and on with excuses, but I won't bore you. Besides, its all in divine order, right?

I have talked with the chiropractor about pricing for services for other than standard hour on the table, and she's flexible about me setting my own prices. There's another therapist working out of her office and i didn't want to undercut her, but I don't think that will be a problem. Our styles are so different that it's almost as if we offer two different services all together.

Speaking of different styles, it's getting to be that time again...CEU time. (cue dramatic music!) I've got to renew my state license ad my insurance by June. Also, the NCBTMC (the national licensing that Mississippi required instead of a state test) is due to be renewed this year. I'm not sure what the continuing education requirements are, and I'm not even sure if I want to renew it. The certificate looks good on the wall, and heaven knows I worked my tushie off for it, but what does it really do for me? It's something to think about, anyway.

Well, I'm off to update my service menu on the site, then it's off to work. Ta.

Reiki Service

Before I moved to Texas I belonged to a weekly meditation group. We'd get together and speak briefly about issues that we (or people who had placed requests) wanted some help with, then sit in silent meditation and send healing energy to these issues. Not only did we share our worries, but our good things, too. It was a lovely group with a lovely purpose.

I have yet to establish a meditation practice here in the Lone Star State, and I think it's high time. I've decided to make it a time to send reiki to those who have asked me to. Traditionally, there are three levels of training in reiki. When a person receives the second, they can send reiki energy to someone at a distance. It's helpful to have a focus, so I'll write a list of names on a paper and every day I'll sit in silent meditation, sending reiki to those on the list. I thought about confining this to just friends and family, but something made me reconsider. I am going to open this up to anyone.

So, as you are reading this, if you feel like you would like to receive some distance reiki, I would be happy to add your first name to the list. I'll keep your name on the list for a week, or you can request a specific time period...or even specific days, if you wish. I'm even happy to send reiki to pets. You can leave a comment here, or for a confidential e-mail you can contact me through my website, HolisticReikiAndMassage.com. Important notice: It is always my intention to honor and respect the wishes of the person receiving reiki. On that note, please request reiki only for yourself or for someone you actually know. If you are requesting for someone else, get their permission first. It's not kosher to send distance energy to someone who is unaware.

If you have questions about reiki, distance healing, or about the process, please ask me. I would be happy to answer to the best of my ability. Namaste.