This document provides 5 key solutions to challenges faced by solo professionals running their own practices. It begins by introducing Kate Sanner, the author and coach, and her experience building a successful private practice. The main section then outlines 5 common challenges and proposes solutions: 1) Recognizing one's primary role is marketer, not just practitioner; 2) Overcoming isolation through networking and mastermind groups; 3) Getting outside perspectives to improve ideas; 4) Creating clear short and long-term plans with guidance; and 5) Developing a sense of urgency to accomplish goals. Sanner argues working with a business coach can help solo professionals overcome these challenges and create a breakthrough in their practice.

1. 5 Key Solutions for Creating a Breakthrough in
Your Practice
Special Report by Kate Sanner
Creator of and Coach and Consultant with KateSanner.Com
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2. 5 Key Solutions for Creating a Breakthrough in
Your Practice
A Special Report by Kate Sanner of KateSanner.com
©2012 Vivacity Publishing
KateSanner.com and Vivacity Publishing are divisions of
Vivacity®
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3. About the Author
Kate Sanner combines her skills as a coach, teacher and clinician and her
marketing and practice building know-how with her passion for empowering
women to help women solo professionals create successful, satisfying and
profitable practices.
My Story
When I first became a therapist over 22 years ago and
started working in a family service agency, I dreamed of
one day being a private practice psychotherapist with
children and adult women. I saw private practice as an
opportunity to have fulfilling work and help others as well
as become my own boss, make my own hours and earn a
great income. Within five years I had a small private
practice in addition to my job and by my seventh year was
completely in private practice. I had reached my goal!
And though I kept growing in my clinical knowledge and in
my skills as a psychotherapist, I knew next to nothing
about running a business. Quite frankly, for a long time, I
didn’t even realize my practice was a business! What a
costly oversight that was!
Soon I became minority owner of a large group practice and became the administrative
director in addition to being a clinician. Now I had even more responsibility – but still no
real training in how to run or market a business.
After a couple years of doing this, I started reading and listening to personal and
business development programs. The more I learned, the more I wanted to learn. I hired
a coach to help me become more successful and build a more viable business. That
made a big difference!
I then went on to learn from new coaches and mentors. Probably the biggest
breakthrough came when I began to learn about marketing. I began to apply all that I
learned about it to marketing the practice and I found that I truly enjoyed this aspect of
running a business. And it was exciting to see what real marketing could do to
exponentially increase referrals. What a long way I had come from just thinking that an
ad in the phone book would do the trick! Once I struck out on my own to an individual
practice, I was able to fill my solo practice because I had learned the secrets to effective
marketing.
In addition to learning about marketing, I also learned about the importance of creating
multiple streams of income in a business. Though I had a full practice, I realized that my
income would always be limited by how many clients I could realistically see in a week
without getting burnt out. So, I studied different ways to create additional income
streams that fit my talents and strengths and went on to develop clinical and non-clinical
trainings and non-clinical coaching programs. Then I made the next big leap…
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4. I began to be asked by other solo professionals and practitioners about how to best build
their practices and incomes and I added individual and group coaching for solo
professionals to my income streams.
Coaching other women solo professionals to fill their practices, create additional income
streams and leverage their expertise is my passion and joy. I love to see these talented
women take their message out to a wider audience and increase their incomes in the
process. And I can help you to do the same.
Please check out my coaching programs. I also invite you to take advantage of the free
offer I have on my site and to access the practice and income building posts on my blog.
You can also get more valuable information by liking my Facebook page and by
following me on Twitter at @KateSanner.
I wish you great success!
More about Kate Sanner
Kate holds a BA in French with a minor in Secondary Education from the State
University of New York at Buffalo. She attended Wright State University where she
worked on a Masters in Education. Kate received her MSW degree from the University
of Maryland at Baltimore School of Social Work and certification in Infancy and Early
Childhood (0-4) Mental Health from the Washington (D.C.) School of Psychiatry.
Kate is also the CEO and Founder of Vivacity®, a company that empowers, honors and
celebrates women and whose mission is to help women worldwide discover their
possibilities and take their ideas and dreams out into the world, achieve personal and
professional success and make a difference in the world.
Kate lives with her husband in the beautiful countryside of Carroll County, Maryland. In
addition to running KateSanner.com and Vivacity®, Kate enjoys keeping a regular
exercise routine, organic and gourmet cooking and baking, organic gardening and
raising Araucana chickens. She is a lifelong learner and continues to be a student of
marketing and business development.
Because of her commitment to empowering women, Kate is also a contributor to causes
and organizations that support women and children, including Kiva.org, a non-profit
organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty
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5. It’s Time for a Breakthrough in Your Practice
Being a solo professional in your own practice undoubtedly brings you great satisfaction
and accomplishment. But being a solo professional also has its challenges –
challenges which can keep you stuck at the same level in your business and not growing
as fast as you would like.
What are some of these challenges that a woman in her own solo practice can face?
Challenge # 1
You may be a real expert in your field but that does not
automatically translate into being a successful business
owner. Being successful in your business requires a
certain mindset and a certain set of skills.
To deal with this challenge, you’ll need to know::
• the most important role you have to play in your
practice and
• what actions and strategies help your practice become and remain the leading
solution to your target market’s problems and challenges
Challenge # 2
You love the freedom and independence that being in business for
yourself brings but you often feel isolated. But being in business for
yourself doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be in business by
yourself.
To deal with this challenge, you’ll need to know::
• why success is not a solitary pursuit
• what’s the powerful resource that’s behind thousand of
business owners’ success and how you can harness it for your
practice
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6. Challenge # 3
You have lots of ideas but no one you can bounce
them off of. Or you may not be sure what steps to
take to grow your practice and when you should
take them. Though you love what you do and are
so good at it, being on the inside of your business
without an outside perspective can keep you at a
disadvantage.
. To deal with this challenge, you’ll need to know:
• what is the most valuable investment you
can make in yourself and in your business
• why and where you could be missing out on potential income
Challenge # 4
You’re so busy with the day to day running of your business that
you don’t have time to formulate clear short-term and long-term
plans. You may feel a bit lost at times and need a sense of
direction.
To deal with this challenge, you’ll need to know:
• why getting clear and deciding what you want to accomplish
is crucial to the success of your business
• how to achieve this clarity and set yourself up for success
Challenge # 5 - You find that it takes you longer
than you want to complete projects. Or you start but
don’t finish projects. You know what you want but
never seem to get there. Having a sense of urgency
about all you do to build your practice is vital.
To deal with this challenge, you’ll need to know:
• why you might not be crossing the “finish
line”
• the # 1 way to accomplish everything you desire in your business
This Special Report will give the five key solutions to these five challenges so you
can experience the breakthrough in your practice you’ve been looking for.
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7. Key Solutions
Key Solution to Challenge # 1 - You may be a real expert in your field but that does not
automatically translate into being a successful business owner. In all our years of
training and preparing for our professions, a large majority of us NEVER received
training in how to go into business for ourselves and be successful at it.
Being successful in your business does require a certain mindset and a certain set of
skills.
Let’s address the mindset issue first and the shift in thinking you are going to have to
make.
One of the key solutions to Challenge # 1 is recognizing that your primary role in your
practice should be that of marketer rather than practitioner. I know that this is a little
hard to hear at first. Let’s face it, a lot of people think of marketing as sales
It may feel incongruous to think of yourself as a marketer when you perceive yourself as
a helper.
You may feel it would not be professional to market yourself – after all you have all this
training, all these degrees, certifications and specializations.
But marketing is NOT sales and it’s NOT about being pushy or getting people to buy.
Marketing is about building relationships.
Marketing is the best vehicle you have to take your voice out
into a crowded marketplace.
If you don’t market, then there will never be enough people who
will know about your services and who will benefit from the
expert services you provide.
One of the things I often hear from women I coach and consult
with when they want to grow their practice is “Maybe I should
go get additional training in_____( their area of expertise or an adjunct skill).”
Now, I am not saying you shouldn’t continue to grow professionally – that is very
important and one of the benefits of attending continuing education courses.
It’s important to learn and keep up to date with marketing strategies. Everything
changes and everything evolves – and that includes the field of marketing – what may
have worked last year may not be as effective this year.
You have to have a credible source of information to give you all you need to know
about effectively keeping your practice out in the forefront.
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8. Now let’s talk about the second part of the key solution to Challenge # 1 – the actions
and strategies that can help your practice become and remain the leading solution to
your target market’s problems and challenges.
You will have to be building relationships with two groups of people: people who would
be your ideal clients and people who would be your centers of influence.
So, the very first action step is to identify your ideal client.
If you could choose the type of client you would love to work with all the time, who would
she or he be? .
There is a famous expert in the field of marketing by the name of Dan Kennedy who
once said “The Who is more important than the What.” Knowing who that ideal client is
so important!
Your relationship building/marketing efforts have to be focused on those people who
would be a natural fit for your practice.
The next step is to identify your centers of influence– those groups of people whose
businesses have a natural affinity with yours and who can help grow your business
through their referrals to your practice. You have to become “top of mind” for your
referral sources so that if someone asks them if they know someone who does what you
do, you immediately come to mind.
The next step is to identify the best ways in which to reach these ideal clients and
referral sources. There are many low cost and no cost strategies for doing this; here are
a few: an email newsletter, social media posts, blogging, direct mail letters to referral
sources, live speaking engagements, networking, having a free offer to make to
prospective clients so they can get to know you (and then a way to follow up with them),
webinars and teleclasses.
And the final step is to create a schedule for staying in touch with these two groups.
Whatever strategies you choose, you have to be consistent. It takes at least 12 times of
people hearing your name before they recognize and remember it…many more times
before they purchase your services or products.
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9. Key Solution to Challenge # 2 - You love the freedom and independence that being in
business for yourself brings but you often feel isolated.
For those of you who were employees before starting your own practice, you probably
had co-workers and colleagues with whom to interact. Some of this interaction was
professional, some social. When you go into business for yourself – especially as a solo
professional – you don’t have the opportunities to interact, brainstorm or just schmooze.
I once heard Bill Glazer, a very successful entrepreneur, say “Being an entrepreneur is
the loneliest job in the world.” He joked that as a business owner can’t talk to people
when times are bad in your business, because people will think you’re complaining,
everyone will think the worst and vendors, employees, etc. might jump ship. And you
can’t talk to people when times are good in your business because people will think you
are bragging, employees will want raises, and vendors will raise prices.
But success is not a solitary pursuit. We need
others to help stimulate ideas, give us
feedback, people we can ask for help or who
will give us support.
And just as we need friends in our personal
life, we need business friends. It’s hard to
talk to spouses, significant others, family or
friends about our businesses. Not everyone
gets us and how we operate.
They don’t understand the heartaches and the triumphs of being in business for yourself.
Have you ever expressed frustration to a friend or family member about your business
and then been told “Why don’t you just get a regular job? It would be so much simpler.
You could have paid vacations, sick and personal leave.”
Those who are also in business for themselves can understand the challenges you face.
It’s good to just hang out with like minded people and commiserate with them.
Here are 3 ways to help you get those needs met and then one that I believe to be the
most powerful resource for solo professionals.
First - network. Go to networking events in your industry, but also go to networking
events for business owners. Network online and in person. Yes, you should also
network to find ideal clients and get together with centers of influence to help increase
referrals. But also network to get your affiliation needs met. AND be sure to also attend
live events where you can not only learn business building strategies but also have lots
of opportunity to network and be around highly motivated, successful business owners.
Second - get an accountability partner. Find someone – but not a friend or a family
member - with whom you can check in on a regular basis - at least once a week. Set
goals and hold each other accountable for achieving what you say you want to achieve.
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10. Third – Organize brainstorming groups whenever you need to get clear about a
challenge in your business, a new project or a plan of action. Once again, invite only
other business owners (not family and friends) and make it an informal gathering with
refreshments. Have a white board or a flip chart at the ready to capture ideas.
The fourth is the one I believe is the most powerful and that is become a member of a
master mind group. Master Mind Groups are made up of like-minded individuals
who brainstorm ideas, challenge each other to set goals, hold each other
accountable for the implementation of these goals and provide support to each other.
You can do an online search for groups in your area or you could form your own. Put it
out on social media that you are looking for this kind of group and ask for suggestions of
where to find them or to find others who may be interested in forming one with you.
Master Mind groups can be done in person and by phone or Skype.
I had the great opportunity to be in a Master Mind group for 4 years and I consider the
groups members to not only be friends but also major contributors to my success. The
three of us met at an event in Los Angeles and really hit it off. Because we all lived in
different parts of the country, we met by phone – we did this on a monthly basis for 4
years.
I also had the honor of being the leader and coach for a Master Mind group for nearly 3
years. Helping these women achieve success was a very gratifying experience.
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11. Key Solution to Challenge # 3 - You have lots of ideas but no one you can bounce
them off of or to help you make sense of how to proceed with them. Or you may not be
sure what steps to take to grow your practice and when you should take them. You may
just have a question about your practice building strategies, but there is no one to ask.
Sometimes you need direction and quite frankly sometimes you just need someone to
give you a nudge to get you going.
Though you love what you do and are so good at it, being on the inside of your
business without an outside perspective can really keep you at a disadvantage. Being
wrapped up in the day to day operations of your business doesn’t afford you time to think
about your business or dream a bigger dream for your business.
And, the truth is – we only know what we know or as I heard a well-known coach say
recently “We don’t know what we don’t know.” So, if a new technique or strategy comes
on the horizon, we may completely miss it because we are stuck in the same bandwidth
of awareness about our businesses.
Being stuck in the minutiae of your practice and
being your only source of input and feedback is
why you may be missing out on potential income
sources. It can keep you from trying things a
different way or tweaking existing services and
products, adding new services or products or letting
go of things that just aren’t working that well any
more.
Where could you be missing out on potential income? Here are some examples:
1. You have no way of getting people on your list – no opt-in box on your website to
capture leads
2. You have no follow-up system – whether you go to a networking event and
connect with someone or get a lead of someone interested in your services in a
timely way
3. You don’t nurture referral sources
4. You only have limited price point entries for people to work with you
5. You offer one off services and don’t have a next step to offer people
6. You don’t have keep in touch strategies
7. You continue offer products or services that don’t sell well
8. Your website isn’t search engine optimized
9. You don’t offer people a call to action
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12. 10. Your marketing messages aren’t clear
11. Your marketing isn’t consistent
12. You haven’t identified your ideal client – so in essence you are guessing what
their needs and wants are
There are MANY more and these are the kind of things that can go unrecognized. You
need someone on the outside of your business who can help you discover the missed
opportunities and help you create strategies for capitalizing on these opportunities.
The key solution to this challenge is to hire a coach. Having a
coach is the most valuable investment you can make in
yourself and in your business. A coach can see the potential
in your business that you are overlooking. She can help you
brainstorm new strategies, prioritize and set goals and keep
you on track in realizing your goals.
And most importantly, she can offer you solutions than can
close the gap between where you are now in your practice and
where you would like to be. You may be thinking you don’t
have the money to get coaching or that you don’t have the
time. But what you have to ask yourself what is the price you
are paying now (and will continue to pay) for not having the
success you so desire!
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13. Key Solution to Challenge # 4 - You’re so busy with the day to day running of your
business that you don’t have time to formulate clear short-term and long-term plans.
You may feel a bit lost at times and need a sense of direction.
Clarity is absolutely crucial to the success of
your business. And is one part of the key
solution to this challenge.
I heard a great quote by entrepreneur mentor
and philanthropist Ali Brown who has been a
coach, teacher and mentor to me since 2006,
while attending her SHINE 2011 Event last
November; she said “Clarity attracts money.”
In other words, if you become clear about:
• your vision and mission in your practice
• your niche – that specialized area that sets you apart
• whom you serve (identify your target market and your ideal client)
• what products and services will best address your ideal client’s wants and needs
(for example, do you have multiple streams of income in your practice; have you
surveyed your ideal clients to find out what they need)
• a plan to consistently bring these products and services to your target market (for
example, do you have a product/service launch calendar)
• the marketing messages you craft to bring your message to them on a consistent
basis (for example, do you have multiple “telling” strategies – i.e. avenues to get
the word out about your practice)
• the systems you have in place to support your practice (not only
marketing, administrative and financial systems but also systems that are
motivational and that create accountability like coaching and belonging to a
Master Mind group)
…then you will get more clients, make more money, have a bigger impact and make a
greater contribution in and through your practice.
To achieve this clarity, it’s important to write all these out – your mission statement, your
ideal client profile, your marketing strategy etc. Don’t try to keep it all in your head –
you’ll explode! This will become the operations manual for your practice. Then review
your ideas, your vision and your plans with a coach and/or a Master Mind group.
Remember, we only know what we know. There may be things you are overlooking. Be
open to feedback. Be willing to course correct.
The second part of the key solution to this challenge is setting goals.
You’ve all probably heard the acronym SMART when it comes to setting goals. SMART
stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time Sensitive
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14. It is an important concept to apply to setting your goals. “I want to make more money in
my practice” does not fulfill any of these parameters. How much money? What are you
bringing in now and how much of an increase do you want to achieve in a business
quarter or in a year? How are you going to go about making this happen? What steps
are you going to take to increase your income? In what time frame will you accomplish
each of the steps?
For example, let’s say you provide direct services one on one. Your goal might be “I
want to earn a six-figure income through my business in this year”. The first step, of
course, would be to see where you are now in terms of earnings. Once you identify the
gap between where you are now and six-figures, then you will have to review what you
are already offering and see how much more of this you will have to do in order to
achieve the goal. When you determine this, you will know if this is realistic. Can you
reasonably add those additional clients? If it is, then how will you go about getting these
clients? If it’s not realistic and you can’t add that amount of clients, you will either have
to scale back your expectations or look for other ways to earn more income rather than
just providing direct service one-on-one. Then you will have to determine a strategy to
earn additional income.
A second way to look at goal setting is to set goals that are short-term and long-term.
Your long term goal over the next 18 months to 2 years may be to double your income,
have your systems all in place so that the business runs smoothly and shows consistent
growth and you have time to take vacations and lead the lifestyle you want.
You will have to once again assess the gap between where you are now and where you
want to be and then determine the strategies for getting there. Each strategy becomes a
short term goal and the goal is broken down into projects and then tasks. Then apply all
the SMART criteria to all your short term goals.
One of the mistakes solo professionals can make is to see things as tasks and not as
projects. Redoing your website is a project which encompasses many tasks. Publishing
a book is a project made up of many tasks. Projects take time and we have to be
realistic about our time frame for accomplishing them. If you don’t, you are setting
yourself up for frustration and at some point, may give up on the goal when you see
yourself not making progress.
That’s why getting reality checks from other professionals is so crucial. If you are
aligned with a coach or consultant and or a Master Mind, the coach, consultant or the
MM members will more than likely have experience in these areas. They can help you
plan more realistically and efficiently.
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15. Key Solution Challenge # 5 - You find that it takes you longer than you want to
complete projects. Or you start but don’t finish projects. You know what you want but
never seem to get there. You just don’t seem to cross the finish line or your finishing
time is too slow.
First, here are some reasons why you my not be crossing the finish line:
• Perfectionism
• Too many competing demands or overcommitment
• Lack of belief in yourself – You just don’t think that what you have to offer is that
important – the “Who would want what I have to offer anyway” syndrome.
• Lack of focus – You let yourself get distracted (maybe because the work is
challenging) or you hyper -focus on details to the point that it gets and keeps you
off track.
• Belief that you have to be in the mood to complete things – You actually believe
that you have to really feel like doing a thing and so you wait until that mood
strikes you (which could be never!).
• Unrealistic expectations for how long it will take you to finish a project – You think
that a project will take less time then is really reasonable and when it lands up
taking longer, you get discouraged and stop.
• Lack of a burning desire – You want to do something but really, it’s just a wish –
kind of a “wouldn’t it be nice to…” thing. Only a burning desire gets you to the
finish line.
• Treating obstacles as if they were permanent – You run into an obstacle and
rather than think “There’s got to be a way around (through, under, over) it, I just
haven’t found it yet”, you wave the white flag and give up – temporarily or
permanently. I call this being a “serial quitter”: a) either you quit several times on
a project which causes you to lose ground and you have to build momentum
again or, b) you quit the project completely, start another, hit an obstacle and quit
this new project.
• You feel like a fake – Though you may have a lot of knowledge and experience,
you have a lingering belief that you don’t have anything valuable to contribute
and that if you put your work out there, others will view you as a fraud or an
imposter – they’ll find you out.
• Fear of criticism – You believe that your work defines you and your worth – if
others criticize your work, they are criticizing you and your worth as a person.
Having a sense of urgency about all you do to build your practice is vital. Getting things
done is the key to earning the income you desire. The key solution to this challenge is to
build in accountability. Being held accountable is the # 1 way to accomplish everything
you desire in your business. Sure, there are some people who are self-motivated and
have self-discipline. But most of us – especially busy solo professionals – need this –
it’s just too easy to let things slide.
Get yourself an accountability partner – someone who can remain objective, will hold
your feet to the fire and won’t take excuses. Set goals and time limits for yourself, write
them down and keep track of them with your partner or with members of a Master Mind
group.
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16. Postscript
Thanks for taking the time to read this free report - it was an honor presenting you this
information.
I’d like to invite you to get a copy of my FREE eBook “Get All the Clients You Need to Fill
Your Practice: Five Key Strategies for Women Solo Professionals”. To get your copy, go
to http://www.katesanner.com/getclientsebook/. As a bonus for signing up for the
eBook, you’ll receive a complimentary subscription to my email newsletter “Success
Notes”. Success Notes offers tips to grow your practice, strategies to create more
income and gain the exposure and recognition you deserve as well as mindset boosters
to focus you on success!
I wish you great success!
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