A word from the Editor – Building Practice 2

Dear Readers,

Question:

How do you measure success?

What makes you a successful individual or practitioner?

Is success measured by the amount of wage that you have in your bank account at the end of the month?

I think, excuse me if I permit myself to generalize a bit here, I think we homeopaths are in a way idealists. Success for us is not necessarily first and foremost measured by the cash in the bank.

Our intensive contact with our patients, the depth of our interrogation / case-taking, and therefore our engagement with the patient makes us, in a way, see success in concluding a case satisfactorily, with the recovery of a patient.

The patient that expresses happiness over his health improvement, is grateful for the time he or she spent in the consultation with us, appreciates our effort to assist, and is satisfied with his choice of having come to seek our service, is probably the first factor that allows us to experience the feeling of success.

Right there in the consultation room, when we can dismiss our patient, success may mean that word of mouth of the achieved treatment brings new patients through our door. Those are first perceptions of success, perhaps…

Yet, success can also measure out from being at ease and happy with what one does. Not having to commit to that ‘boring’ office job, somewhere in an anonymous company environment. Success can therefore also mean to be able to schedule and plan ones own time, and being appreciated for what one does, much like Maya Angelou; when all comes together:

But of course, in order to be able to make a living, our job requires us to succeed at building a client-base, ahead of the monetary influx that comes into our bank-account. Managing to amount a client-base that allows one to make an income that permits a comfortable living is a huge factor, and yes, is a measure of success, and paramount to our practice.

Without a clientele, a practicing homeopath, cannot generate the income he or she needs, and  I suppose we all know that acquiring enough patients is not a self-runner and requires much input in the form of promotion, marketing and spreading the word. This is what some of us are very good at, and others are struggling with.

Following an earlier issue featuring the topic of ‘Building Practice’, this issue takes a further look at what efforts some homeopaths are making to build their practices. In this issue again, some fab authors have shared their thoughts, ideas, stories and experiences. I hope you find the articles of interest and can extrapolate some ideas for yourself, to promote what you do, and to reach out and spread the word.

Kate Codrington tells us: How to create video to promote your practice

Dr. Mansoor Ali gives hints on: How to promote your clinic/hospital for getting more patients?

Rebecca Liston has ideas on: What to do When Business Isn’t All Champagne and Roses

I myself took a look at: Seeing patients via VoIP – a way of building practice?

We also have a great case being shared, giving insight into: A violent and fearful child restored to calm through homeopathy by Tracy Karkut-Law

On another note: The Winter issue, due to go live in December, will look at ‘Learning Homeopathy’. This issue is aimed at throwing some light on aspects of learning the homeopathic art, the topic itself, the art of learning, the experiences doing so and the institutions teaching homeopathy. Therefore, if you would like to share your story, would like to introduce your school, course or workshop, please do get in touch. Deadline is November 1^st.

Happy reading, and have a lovely autumn!

Uta