Here’s a couple things I collected this month. It’s pretty light. We’ve been getting our winter flyer together and taking turns going on vacation.
Websites:
Fran is a regular commenter on this blog and she has an insanely beautiful website. You need to take a look. FusionTherapySpa.com
Alternative Growth Streams, Inc. is fairly recent company founded by Randi Drinkwater (”Drinkwater” is such a cool name). Randi is a business and marketing smartypants who came to alternative therapies as so many do; she had a health challenge that usual Western medicine couldn’t provide a solution to. She has gathered a lot of other business smartypantses to help develop the site and products. I haven’t seen samples of the newsletters yet, but It looks like they walk you through things like marketing your blog and how to do the most effective mailings you can. This is not your usual massage marketing site. It’s rather left brained and without a whiff of essential oils. Has anyone used them? Report!
Blogs/Newsletters stumbled upon:
I’ve been reading the AlternativeHealthPractice.com blog every week. I just like their attitude and ideas. There’s a great list that came out this past Monday called 7 Books Every Practitioner Should Read. It’s a good and varied list. None of the books are specific to CAM therapies, which is great and leads me to my favorite tri-weeklyish email …
Get to the Point (Invest 60 seconds in your small business) is a very quick read about three times a week. It is not about massage, it’s about business. Maybe 45-75% of the emails are relevant to you but it will only take seconds out of your day. They have a little sly humour and a lot of good advice. Take it, twist it, make it your own. The link I gave you is for their archives. I strongly recommend signing up for their email to be sent to you. They DO NOT spam you or share your information.
For Fun:
A couple years ago, we ran a fun little special for taking a mini-vacation to beat the winter blahs. Along with an appropriate postcard, I suggested one of my favorite Hawi’ian slack key guitarists Keola Beamer for atmosphere. We still get asked about him, so I’m listing his site here. Mauna Kea is my very favorite to have playing when I get work done but they’re all good.
The busier you are, the more vital it is that you eat right. And the busier you are, the less you want to have to think about doing something new. I love my Wednesday email from The Splendid Table. It’s supposed to be a “fast” mid-week meal. Hah! on the “fast” part. Nevertheless, this time of year she sends out some great, no-cook or hardly-any-cook recipes. Many of them have become my family’s favorites. There are many healthy, fresh recipes you may want to share with your clients. Again, they don’t spam or share your information with anyone
Well, that’s it for this month. Anything you’d like to add? Drop me a line.
All my best,
Eileen
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12 users commented in " July’s Bits & Pieces: Websites, blogs and random thoughts "
Hi Eileen,
Thanks for the mention, and for following along!
Glad you enjoyed the reading list…
I love Alternative Heath Streams. I have spent so much money in the past on things that gave me no return or I didn’t get what I was told. As a practioner I have all the therapeutic and good smelling stuff I need. My right brain is always going. It’s the left brain we practiioners have issues with. I see the wonderful beautiful artwork that Randi has provided me with and I know that is something that would have cost me a bundle to do; she has provided me with it. The website was the easiest thing I’ve done on a computer. Her peeps are there for me whenever I need them. I with Alternative Growth Streams was around when I first opened my practice…….
As a customer of Randi Drinkwater and Alternative Growth Streams, Inc., as well as being a natural health practitioner, my question to you: Is the judgmental nature of your blog response in alignment with natural health care, a field you profess to know so well and actively support? Am I in fact witnessing a “blog bashing” of Randi and her site due to the fact that she has made available a composite of advertising expertise exclusively for the integrative and holistic community? This expertise when combined equates to over 200 years of experience and hundreds of thousands of dollars of knowledge and experience made available to a small practitioner like myself for a mere $29.95 per month. If you are looking for a report…Randi does all of my marketing for me…all I have to do is choose a plan that works for me, download the products that go with it, and I am marketing and growing my practice with little time or financial output. As if that is not enough she also makes her team available should I ever need a helping hand. It’s the REAL DEAL offered by someone operating FROM HEART. Is that not truly what the healing industry is about??? I leave you with one thought to ponder…Competition in the real world is healthy as long as it is honest, respected and valued. Would you not agree?
In Universal Love and Respect,
Lazer Lady
Hm.
I appreciate your strength of feeling. Perhaps I should clarify a few things:
1. Drinkwater IS a cool name.
2. Being a smartypants IS a good thing.
3. Having other smartypantses working with you is a good AND smart thing.
4. It is NOT a usual marketing site OR service … especially for the people who are OUR regular customers/visitors. I find it a potential breath of fresh air, but I’d rather people who have used Randi’s service — really USED it — review it.
As for pondering the question of competition, YES! Competition keeps us all honest and everybody’s business moving forward.
I don’t think our two companies are in parallel competition. Clearly, we have two different target client bases and marketing approaches. Yes, there is overlap. Good. Everyone should have a choice. I WANT everyone to have a choice … or six.
Just as I choose a therapist that is right for me, I would hope that my therapist would seek assistance with a company that is right for her.
There is no room for disrespect in this arena. Perhaps my glibness comes across as such and I apologize for any misperception.
If I did not address all your concerns, please let me know.
Sincerely,
Eileen
Wow, I certainly didn’t expect to stumble into this blog while looking for my AGS client login page, but it seems there is some passion flying around here.
As a client of AGS, or Alternative Growth Streams, depending on how much you want to type {wink}, I find the service indispensable.
While I do not believe the blogger on this site meant any disrespect, I do challenge her to investigate the industry space for alternative practitioners.
This is an industry that has very limited resources for reliable and effective marketing. There is such a small segment of the population, when compared to traditional health care, that is aware and/or even interested in becoming aware, of holistic practices.
AGS brings Marketing experience to the table for us with ideas, promotional templates and advertising strategies that would typically cost thousands - and quite honestly - are far above reach for most of us making our way in this current landscape.
I appreciate this forum - I am glad that I had a moment to express how I feel, as I am very pleased to have something, anything, that is actually focused on me and my business.
Thank you,
Cynthia Ware
Madison, WI
Fusion Therapy Spa *is* insanely beautiful. But this style of webdesign has accessibility issues galore. Anyone with less than youthful eyesight is going to have tremendous trouble reading the miniscule fonts. Anyone without the fastest internet connection is going to give up and go elsewhere long before the page finishes loading. It is also going to be a problem for search engine spiders trying to read the site to index it.
Just some thoughts to other MTs thinking about designing their own sites with this as an example.
Hello Lelandra–
You are right. There are a lot of little things that can add up to one big problem: maybe no one will stay around long enough to become a client.
I frequently forget how speedy my internet is.
The reason I like Fran’s site is, of course, the great reflection of Fran’s personality and also the appearance of simplicity. There’s more, but those are the core.
I would LOVE it if you had any suggestions from your experience (I visited your site) or places/books you could refer therapists to for guidance. (Wanna write an entry?
)
Thank you for your comment and I hope to hear from you again.
Eileen
After reading this article I thought I would go check Alternative Growth Experts Streams. After much deliberation I decided to purchase the premium package because I thought it would help my business grow. After being on the site just a few minutes I realized that the site contains article and information that I have either paid very little for or have received free. I have since asked for a refund.
I think marketing sites for those in the alternative fields are a wonderful addition because so many massage therapists do not have the marketing skills to make their business grow. Even I, coming from a BA in marketing/public relations can always use a refresher course in marketing specially doing it on a shoe string budget.
My issue with theses sites is that they charge an arm and a leg for you to get there information making the average therapist or newbie unlikely to pay the fee because that is taking money out of the budget to actually market to clients. I have found a couple of great sites that offer free weekly marketing tips that cover what the bigger companies are charging for. More therapists should take advantage of these sites before taking the leap with no real RIO from the bigger companies. One great site, which I just recently found is createathrivingbusiness.com. She offers free tips and for a very small fee you can purchase e-books on certain marketing subjects, highly recommend the newsletter book.
Plus we must not forget that just reading our trade magazines and websites there is always great marketing tips, especially lately with the so called economy slump. A wise person once told me “You can read all the marketing and business books in the world but if you don’t put into use what they say your business will never go anywhere”
P.S. I thought the blog posting regarding this subject was not at all jealous, rude or slanderous. I though her information was in support of these sites.
Is the client always right? What is your policy regarding returns and customer confidentiality? Is it right to blog about such things?
I first just wanted to say that although I didn’t stay with Alternative Growth Experts they were really nice about the refund I asked for, no questions or hassle. I would recommend them on just the short experience I had with them. There is something to be said about a company that truly stands by what they say, no hassle refund.
However I take back my referral for Create a Thriving business.com. I just found out today that the owner (Jenn) has gone on and written a whole article on her blog about how customers aren’t always right and reciting her half of my experience with her asking for a refund. I am very sorry if anyone has gone to her because of my referral.
This just brings up a couple of issues as business people we face. How should a blog be used in a business? Is it right to post client issues like the one above on it? Should the “client always right” model still be used in today’s business?
On a personal note, was I right to ask for a return? I purchased two e-books one day, liked them so much that I went on the next day to purchase two more e-books . After reading the last book I purchased I realized that the first two books were just edited down (seriously cut and pasted) versions of the last book I purchased. I asked for a “hassle back return” as stated on site. After an exchange of a couple emails where I was asked why I wanted a return only to receive an email of justification on her behalf, I reluctantly received a refund. Only today I read that she has posted my experience with her on her business blog, of course leaving out my personal info. The blog even goes as far as to tell me never to purchase or go to her site again. Was I right to ask for a refund or should I have done nothing and lost $45? I do want to mention that I did receive a discount code from her which I used to purchase the other books. Also I do want to say that there was a server error on her end and I wasn’t charged for the last book I purchased, which if she would of asked for me to pay I would have. Is it the customer’s responsibility to make sure that the server is charging correctly?
Pleas respond, I am totally confused on if I did the right thing and if I am right to be upset? I feel deep down that I did the right thing, for finally sticking up for myself and asking for a return for something I was not satisfied with.
Okay, there’s two totally different things going on here so I’ll comment on them both separately. This is for Lizabeth’s Aug 23rd comment:
I’m glad you found AGS through my blog and gave them a try. And thanks for reporting back!
Yes, you can find a healthy chunk of the information you’re ever going to need for free. For a lot of people it’s too time consuming or they come down with Information Overload or, like you, need a little refresher.
So it is good to have a one-stop-shop and also someone to bounce ideas off of or to clarify your plans — which is what places like AGS do for you. The money you’re paying is for their experience. You could look at it like insurance.
And thanks for your remark on the posting. I’m still a little confused about the reaction myself, but there you go.
Eileen
And this is in reply to Lizabeth’s Aug 24th comment:
Oh, honey, you had a crummy experience and I’m sorry. I’m sure you have that hot, tight scalp, heavy, sick feeling.
And feeling unable to respond with your side of the story must feel worse than anything.
Should you have returned the book? Sure. If you already had the information in her other eBooks you bought. And no hassle means no hassle. It’s a bit of a stinker when there is an eBook involved though. Hm. How do you “return” it?
In this blog, I see it as my job/goal/aim to observe and comment and let the Healing Arts Universe (that’s you) judge and decide. Good business blogs are generally for informing and building goodwill with your customer base.
Is the customer always right? Yes. They are to me. If there was an error in communication, it was my fault. A mistake is my chance to learn and make it better for the next person who comes along.
But we’ve all been the bad guy at some point. We’ve all messed up and put ourselves in a bad place. (Boy, do I have some stories.) I try to remember that as I deal with our customers. I try to remember I am human, too.
I am proud of the business I work for. I am proud of how we respect our customers and how we treat them even when we are not on the phone with them.
In keeping this attitude, we have found that “wrong customers” are, quite often, due to our complete misunderstanding of what the customer was asking for or because our server was down and ate an email or a transaction. We blew it. We feel dumb. We try to fix it and hope they forgive us.
So I know you feel lower than a snake’s navel right now (if snakes had navels). I know you really want to write one hell of a comment on her blog or send her an email that defines “vituperative.” I know your friends have been telling you to forgive and let it go.
Do let it go. Give an extra treat to a deserving client. Brush your dog. Buy coffee for the guy in line behind you. Clean out the fridge. Take each positive action and use it to wipe out the bad stuff.
And if you want to finish each good act by mentally sticking out your tongue and saying, “So there!” who am I to stop you?
Let me know how you’re doing. I’ll be sending you good thoughts.
Eileen
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for your support and encouragement. I do have to confess that after reading her blog I did write back about how you need to tell both sides of a story when telling a case for education. Of course she chose not to post it but came back with an “I’m still right” post. I had to laugh today when I received her weekly marketing email about how to start selling products online, I thought it was quit ironic.
I’m trying to shake this whole experience off and by doing nice things for people and clients. I know who I am and what I stand for and I would never take anyone or anything for advantage, “Treat others the way you want to be treated” is my personal/business motto. Everything is a learning experience and what I am taking away from this whole thing is pride. I am proud that I stood up for myself and for something that I felt was unethical. To leave this experience knowing that I would never run my business taking advantage of someone trying to learn nor would I ever try to sell the same thing put into different packaging. We need more ethic classes!
As for the marketing, I guess I never looked at Alternative Growth as a consultation firm, one to bounce ideas off of, which no looking back at the site is truly what is, thank you for pointing it out. Blessings To All
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