When you started your holistic business, chances are you did it because you wanted to help people.
You may be a counsellor, health coach, yoga teacher, Reiki practitioner, massage therapist, naturopath or another type of holistic practitioner. You trained in something you care deeply about, built your skills and eventually decided to turn that passion into a business.
And then you discovered there was a whole other side to running a practice. Marketing. Websites. Social media. Email lists. Offers. Pricing. Finding clients. Creating content. Working out what to focus on next.
Suddenly, you’re not only a practitioner. You’re also expected to be a marketer, content creator, salesperson, administrator and business owner.
It can feel overwhelming – particularly when business and marketing weren’t what you originally trained to do. This is where the right kind of business support can make an enormous difference.
But should you look for a business coach or a business mentor? While the terms are often used interchangeably, there can be an important difference.
What is business coaching?
Business coaching generally focuses on helping you find your own answers.
A coach might ask questions that help you clarify your goals, identify what is holding you back and decide on the actions you want to take.
It can be incredibly valuable when you already have many of the answers but need greater clarity, accountability or confidence to move forward.
Coaching may help you explore questions such as:
- What do I really want from my business?
- What is stopping me from taking the next step?
- Where should I focus my energy?
But sometimes, particularly when you’re building or growing a holistic practice, you don’t just need someone to ask you questions.
Sometimes you genuinely don’t know what to do next. And that’s where mentoring can be different.
What is business mentoring?
Business mentoring brings another element into the conversation: experience and practical guidance.
A mentor can still help you uncover your own answers, but they can also share their knowledge, experience and perspective.
Instead of only asking, “What do you think you should do?”, a mentor might also say:
“Here are three ways you could approach this. Let’s work out which one makes the most sense for you.”
That distinction is one of the reasons I particularly like business mentoring for holistic practitioners.
Most practitioners I work with don’t need another complicated business formula. They need someone who can look at the whole picture with them, help them work out what matters and offer practical guidance about what to do next.
Why holistic practitioners often need a different kind of business support
A holistic business isn’t always built in the same way as a conventional business. Your work is personal.
People often need to trust you before they are ready to book with you. They want to understand your approach, your philosophy and what it might feel like to work with you.
That means your marketing needs to feel like you.
For many holistic practitioners, traditional marketing advice can feel uncomfortable. You might have been told you need to post constantly, create complicated funnels, follow the latest Instagram strategy or push harder to make sales.
But growing your business doesn’t have to mean becoming louder. It can mean becoming clearer. Clearer about who you help. Clearer about what you offer. Clearer about how you communicate it. And clearer about the simple marketing activities that will actually help people find you.
Signs business mentoring might be what you need
You may benefit from holistic business mentoring if you find yourself thinking:
- “I have so many ideas, but I don’t know which one to focus on.”
- “I know I should be marketing myself, but I don’t know where to start.”
- “My website doesn’t really explain what I do anymore.”
- “I’m posting on Instagram, but I don’t know if it’s actually helping my business.”
- “I want to create a free resource or email list, but the technology and strategy feel overwhelming.”
- “I have an idea for a workshop, course or program, but I don’t know how to launch it.”
Or perhaps you’re simply tired of trying to figure everything out alone.
In these situations, you may not need another online course filled with more information. You may need someone beside you who can help you sort through the noise and decide what makes sense for your particular business.
My approach to business mentoring for holistic practitioners
My approach sits somewhere between mentoring, strategy and coaching.
Before moving into holistic counselling and wellbeing work, I spent many years working in communications and marketing. Today, I bring those two worlds together to support practitioners who are doing meaningful work but don’t necessarily feel confident about the business and marketing side of it.
We can look at where your business is now, where you would like it to go and what may be getting in the way. And importantly, we can get practical.
That might mean working together on your:
- business direction and priorities
- brand messaging and positioning
- website content
- social media and content strategy
- email marketing
- lead magnets and free resources
- marketing plans
- offers, workshops or programs
- client journey
- accountability and next steps
The goal isn’t to give you a generic blueprint and tell you to follow it. It’s to help you create a business and marketing approach that works for you, your clients and the way you want to work.
You don’t have to do everything
This is something I believe many holistic practitioners need to hear.
You don’t need to be everywhere. You don’t need to master every marketing platform. And you don’t need a complicated strategy simply because someone online told you that you do.
Often, one of the most useful things we can do is simplify.
- What are you offering?
- Who needs it?
- How are those people currently finding you?
- What do they need to understand before they feel ready to work with you?
- And what is the simplest way to help them take that next step?
Once those pieces become clearer, marketing can start to feel much less overwhelming.
Coaching or mentoring: which is right for you?
If you primarily want someone to help you explore your thinking, set goals and stay accountable, traditional business coaching may be exactly what you need.
If you’d also like practical ideas, marketing experience, strategic input and someone to help you work through the details, business mentoring may be a better fit.
And sometimes you need a little of both. That’s the approach I take.
There are times when I’ll ask questions and help you find your own answer.
There are also times when I’ll say, “Based on my experience, here’s what I would suggest.”
Because when you’re running a business on your own, having someone to bounce ideas off -someone who understands both marketing and the holistic space – can make moving forward feel much simpler.
Looking for business mentoring for your holistic practice?
If you’re a holistic practitioner who has been trying to work everything out alone, you don’t necessarily need to completely reinvent your business. You may simply need some clarity about your next few steps.
My Business Mentoring for Holistic Practitioners sessions are tailored to you and your business. We can focus on one specific challenge or step back and look at the bigger picture together.
The aim is simple – to help you grow your business with more clarity, more confidence and less overwhelm.
Learn more about Business Mentoring for Holistic Practitioners]
Explore my Business Coaching & Mentoring services or get in touch to arrange a connection call. Discover more about my experience HERE and book a FREE 15 minute connection call with me HERE.
Just starting out in business? Download my free Soul Aligned Message guide HERE.
