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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7 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
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