Jan 25, 2017
We are in a very creative, but also very clinical field. Marrying the creative and clinical sides together can get tricky, especially when we spend time around other professionals doing the same job. It’s so easy for Rachel and I to both lose our sense of validity both within our professional practice and as music therapists. Today, we are talking about how we find validation in our daily work and own our legitimacy as business owners.
Music therapy looks so different for each setting and with each individual music therapist. Though we all have the same background, initial training, and competencies we have to meet, our individual skills sets differ as we continue our training/work and develop a unique set of personal assets. It is easy to get caught in a comparison trap or set up unrealistic expectations by trying to emulate our heroes and can feel frustrating when those ideals aren’t achieved.
Instead of letting our selves feel caught in the trap of comparison or looking to outside sources for validation, we are actively working to build ourselves up in what we do every day and finding what works for us. Here are some of the ideas we shared that could be helpful for you in your business and practice.
- Realizing your specialty – It is perfectly fine to say no to certain work. You do not have to work with every person or take on every project. Realize what you love doing and what you don’t.
- Embrace what you are best at – Take stock of what you are and are not good at so you can play to your strengths and ask for help when needed. What are you an expert in?What would someone else say are your strengths?
- Instead of getting caught up in the “I should be doing” or “why am I not doing”, have a personal pep talk and recognize what you have been doing or are doing!
- Save pieces of positive feedback to go back to (ex. emails, voicemails, notes, etc.)
- Write it down – Keep a running list of the positive things you are doing, have done, and want to do. Write down the positive things in your day. What is your big or small win for the day?
- Mindset is everything!! Your mindset makes all the difference in your success and growth. What attitude do you want to have? How can you achieve that?
- Share the burden – If you don’t have an awesome business partner like I do, find someone you can talk to, openly, about everything! You can solve so many problems by just talking out loud and sharing what’s on your mind.
- Track your goals – Find a way to actually track where you are and where you have been. Seeing your progress is inspiring and helps you to keep progressing.
No matter where you are in life or in business, there is a way to celebrate your success and find validation. Celebrate your little victories and find ways to build yourself up every day! If you are still looking for some answers or ideas, check out our new course, Setting Yourself Up for Success.
Until next time,
Katey & Rachel
Jan 17, 2017
Today, we are going a little more in-depth on one of the parts of our new motto for the year, “Waste Less, Share More, Live Your Why”. We specifically want to talk about all of the waste in this episode and get really specific about the ways we are cutting some of the financial waste from our business.
We know for a fact that we have wasted a lot of time and energy on things in the past, but we’ve also probably wasted a lot of money as well. We’ve been scattering our precious resources in too many places and spreading ourselves far too thin by being involved in “so many” things and using “so many” incredible but unnecessary tools.
We know just how tempting it can be to subscribe to all of the amazing services out there, opt-in to all the courses, and buy all of the tools that will “help your business run more smoothly”. In this segment, we challenge you to take a closer look at your business, your purchases, and your decisions and see where you can cut the waste.
There are so many incredible products, services, and subscriptions out there that could probably enhance our business in some way or another, but we are saying no to most of them right now and trying to evaluate what the best tools are for our business RIGHT NOW. Here are some of the main points we covered in our latest episode:
- Weigh the pros/cons of each tool against the financial commitment and what you will actually be gaining. The $5.99 subscriptions seem tempting but add up quickly.
- Investing in and using too many tools can create a sense of overwhelm and can get in your way within your business by being more of a distraction or stressor.
- Easy to get excited in your new business and want to buy all the things. Create a Wish List of things you want. You may go back and find you don’t need those things after all.
- You don’t need “stuff” to do good work or be profitable. Do the work and be your best. Use what you have for now and know that you can add more tools with time and without putting yourself in financial turmoil. You can operate without debt. There is a time and a place, a rhyme and a reason, for every tool but that doesn’t mean you need them right now.
- Do not fall into the comparison trap. It’s so easy to compare your business to others’ in regards to size, tools, and where you are spending and how much money you are spending within your business. You need to do what is best for your business in your own time.
- Occasionally, Take stock of the tools you are using to see if they are still valuable for you. We’ve been taking stock recently and realized there are some tools we haven’t been using.
- There is No Magic Bullet. Your success isn’t so much in the tools you purchase but more in the work that you do and making what you have work for you.
Let us know what your essential tools are!
Until next time,
Katey & Rachel
Jan 10, 2017
Cleaning up from the holidays is almost like starting the year over with a clean slate. We take stock of what we have, put all of the old stuff away, clean up everything from the holidays and start fresh. In our business, we use the start of the year to hit the refresh button on everything.
We sat down for a long series of meetings the other day to review some of our goals from last year and hash out some of our goals and ideas for the new year (using two of our favorite tools, Trello & Google Drive). We’ve experienced so many changes over the past couple years and added so much to our business that we have been feeling scattered. We are working to find a better, more sustainable way to proceed with everything we are doing this year and in doing so we want to be really intentional with this year so we can find our flow.
We’ve heard the words “you do so much” repeatedly over the past year and, for a while, interpreted that phrase in a positive light. We’ve been so excited about all of our ideas that we’ve lost sight of some of our priorities and lost focus on what we really want/need. As we’ve taken a step back, we’ve seen that we are definitely doing too much and that we need to be taking a different approach and implementing new strategies.
Our motto for 2016 was “simplify, streamline, selfcare”. Due, in part, to this motto, we have achieved so much over the past year and took the time to first write out all of those accomplished at the start of our business meeting. We excelled in so many areas (even achieving a 5-year goals several years early), but also completely ignored parts of our business in it’s application. We’ve swept some big issues under the rug that need to be dealt with in a more hands on manner. We’ve already made some huge decisions this year and you’ll be able to see a few of those changes over the next few months on our website, in our products, and even in some of our physical services.
Even though we are taking a new approach, nothing big we are working on, none of our services, and none of our projects are technically going away. We are simply moving some things around, editing/streamlining some processes, and making things more succinct and sustainable so we can continue to move forward in our business in the best way possible. With that, comes our motto for 2017.
Waste less. Share more. Live our why.
Waste Less – Time, energy, resources. We only have so much time in a single day and are limited on physical resources as well, so we are working to be more effective with what we do have. That will mean making some serious changes and being truly intentional with what we are doing.
Share More – We are so excited about everything we have to offer that want to be better at sharing those things with you!! We don’t want to share an overwhelming amount of material with you but do want to share our best content, conversations, and more in a way that makes the most sense. We want to embody our true selves in all we do and break down barriers by sharing more of our personal story/selves along the way.
Live Your Why – What is the intent and purpose behind what we are doing? Busy seems to be the new, hip trend. If you need to be busy, be busy for a purpose. We want to do what aligns most with our why. That means asking the hard questions up front, determining the why behind what we are working on, and letting everything flow in the way it is meant to instead of forcing pieces to fit into place.
This motto is one we are trying to live in every aspect of our lives but also believe it can be a good fit for almost everyone. Please feel free to share our message, adopt our motto, and tell us your thoughts on the new year! Most importantly, determine the best motto for you and your business.
We’ve got so many exciting new things headed your way! Stay tuned for our new course coming out 1/17/17!! In the meantime, sign up for mailing list so you can get our secret episode, work through our free course, and get updates on new courses and free secret episodes as they come out!
Until next time,
Katey & Rachel
