{CBB 27} A Look Back at 2017 + Our Mantra for 2018

Jan 20, 2018

I know we’re already a few weeks into 2018, but I don’t think it’s ever too late to wish you all a Happy New Year! We are so excited for everything 2018 has in store and to share more with you throughout this awesome adventure!

Most years, I feel like we have a lot of unfinished business when we are transitioning from December into January. But this year feels like a fresh start, and we couldn’t be more thrilled! We wrapped up 2017 really nicely and would love to share a little with you about our 2017 journey and goals before moving on to what 2018 has in store.

For the past few years, we’ve created a mantra where we highlight a few keywords that we want to use as our focus throughout the year. You can check out more about our 2016 and 2017 mantras and goals in previous blog posts.

Our mantra for 2017 was waste less, share more, and live our why. We knew that our mantra was absolutely perfect from the first moment we said it out loud. We ran with that mantra throughout all of 2017 and have a lot to show for our efforts. It wasn’t easy, but it definitely helped us focus on the bigger picture throughout the year and helped us to grow our business and ourselves.

Taking that mantra seriously meant taking a step back from the podcasts to really look at our business and our priorities. It meant taking time for self-reflection and briefly giving up one of the things we have loved doing in order to reassess our overall goals and figure out how to improve our business.

At the start of 2017, we were simply doing too much! We had our hands in everything, and it overwhelming. We were both feeling exhausted and torn in a million directions all of the time. We felt the need to reassess every part of our business. To give you a little more insight into the work that we did, let’s break down our mantra for 2017 and share with you a few of the ways that we changed our business.

Waste less.

Wasting less means so many things, but one of the biggest changes we made regarding waste was creating fewer physical products. We moved from creating CDs and binders every month for our classes to sharing MP3s and online downloads instead. We brought fewer physical products to our national conference and created a more cohesive product catalog.

On top of that, we did away with one of our websites and moved all of our products into one location. We also stopped making several products and moved toward creating resources that we felt better fit our business and helped move the needle forward. By making just a few changes, we have saved a lot of time, money, and energy.

Share more.

One of the biggest changes that we made was being more transparent with both our team and the families to whom we provide services. We’ve worked to be more honest, up front, and real about everything that is and was happening within the business. When we returned to the podcast, we also got more real with all of our listeners by sharing personal stories and providing insight about the hardships we’ve experienced in our business. Even though we didn’t share more physical products, we shared more throughout our community both online and in person by engaging in conversations and presenting to groups.

Live our why.

Over the past few years of working together, Rachel and I have had the opportunity to learn about our strengths and our weaknesses and really hone in on the things that we like to do, and have definitely learned about the things that we don’t like to do. We’ve grown our company and continued to strive to each do what we love. Finding balance and focus has often been a struggle, though. In growing our business, it’s been easy to lose track of the why behind what were are doing.

Through “living our why”, we wanted to bring intention back to everything we are doing. We have been in hustle and go mode for so long that we made it a priority to step back and figure out what was really important to each of us. We took time to figure out our whys and our passions and share them with each other so that we could start making changes in our business that align with our values. We have started to question absolutely everything that we do now, even down to the most trivial tasks in order to determine if they are really necessary to help us move the needle forward.

We have been searching for the why behind everything that we’re doing, and really trying to focus in on the things that will help us be our best, live our best lives, and go home happy.

Throughout our “assessment” we found that we really needed to give up a little bit of control. So that we could start living more of our why, we delegated some of the administrative tasks in our business and some of the smaller things to other people on our team. We created new roles and gained perspective from other people. We started taking a step back from the direct service aspect of the company and instead focused on what we both really want for ourselves and our company.

One of the big things that Rachel did in 2017 was gave up teaching lessons. She felt like she was spending too much time away from her children and wanted to be more family focused. I also started taking a step back from direct service so that I can find more balance and spend time with the people that I love.

2017 was a HUGE year of accomplishments. If we took time to list them all, it would take hours. Here are just a few of the highlights from 2017 that were due in huge part to our goals.

• We received a steady paycheck every month of the year for the first time!
• We saw explosive growth of our early childhood classes
• We brought on one of our team members in an administrative role and expanded their position (She is a systems and spreadsheet goddess <3)
• We did a little remodel on our second waiting room
• We presented at both local and national events.
• We launched new courses

As we moved into 2018, we definitely wanted to have a new mantra. This year’s mantra is:

Expansion, Flow, and Joy

I won’t go into too much detail for now, but we are so excited about this year’s mantra. In 2017, We got a taste of what it means to be truly joyful as business owners. We are looking to find more joy throughout 2018 and in all of the little things that we do. We definitely know that we are striving for expansion and growth in 2018, but we want to make it a more natural process and find flow in all we are doing. Muscle-ing our way through 2018 is the last thing either of us wants. We want to let it flow naturally and joyously as we strive for expansion throughout the year.

(Post-recording update: During the episode, we talked about interviewing possible candidates for a new position with MTC. Laura Tam has officially accept the position and we are excited to have her join our music therapy team at the start of February! Welcome Laura!)

We’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment, find us on Instagram, or even send us an email. Let us know what your goals are in 2018 so we can support you throughout the year. We want to cheer you on!

Until next time,
Katey & Rachel

{CBB 26} Biz Chat with Jaime Lawrence

Jan 6, 2018

Episode 26 is especially exciting because for the first time ever, we have a guest on the podcast! During our recording a few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to chat with Jaime Lawrence of Harmony Garden Music Therapy Services!

We are so grateful we had the opportunity to talk with Jaime, and enjoyed getting to know her more. We feel like our businesses are kindred spirits in that they offer such a diverse set of services to a community of people, and our businesses have experienced similar journeys.

We definitely encourage you to take a listen to the whole episode, but here are some of the highlights.

Fun Facts About Harmony Garden

• Jaime opened Harmony Garden Music Therapy Services in 2006 and has been in business for herself for almost 12 years.
• Unlike MTC, Harmony Garden has always had a storefront, physical location for the business. They are currently in their fourth location and loving it!!
• One of the coolest things about their current location is that it is in the same plaza as other therapists. They gain visibility and foot traffic simply by being in the same location as those other businesses.
• Harmony Garden offers a variety of services and now has a team of three music therapists!
• The business offers a “cradle to grave” style set of services including everything from early childhood groups to older adult and hospice care.

Throughout the podcast, Jaime talked about her business goals and philosophy. She is always striving for growth and told us that she never wants to say “no”. She’s always been open to working with new populations and clientele and loves exploring the new opportunities that come her way.

We discussed how her business has been able to grow even through her two maternity leaves by bringing on team members to cover her absences and by growing contracts after her return. Though Jaime’s main focus is growth, she agreed with us that as a business owner, her goals are ever-changing and evolving.

I feel like we could have talked with Jaime forever! We have so many things in common, especially as business owners. One of the biggest points we agreed on is that owning a business (especially one where you are providing a service) is a delicate balancing act.

We always want to be involved in the clinical aspect of music therapy while also running the practice and juggling all of the administrative tasks at the same time. With all of those balls in the air, we asked Jaime how she’s finding balance and how she handles all of the craziness.

Jaime told us that she has taken a few things off of her plate by bringing in an additional team member to take on some of the administrative tasks and paperwork. We’ve been on the same journey at MTC and bonded over the fact that while it’s incredible to assign those tasks to someone else, it’s also struggle finding someone who knows your business the way that you do. It’s exciting to bring on additional people to take on administrative tasks, but navigating those waters can be tedious and sometimes expensive.

Unfortunately, there is no roadmap or how-to book to help us along the way. A lot of business owners struggle with the same things we do: wanting to do all of the things all of the time. What we have learned is that we have to reign ourselves in and make the big decisions based on what we know will move us forward and in the right direction. We know that, at the end of the day, making those really big decisions is hard but we have to do what’s right for ourselves, our families, and the future of our company.

We agreed that we all have to put extra focus on balancing the people-pleasing sides of ourselves with our personal needs and self-care. When we asked Jaime what she does for self-care and to find balance, she told us that her self-care includes going home and shutting everything off or engaging in the fun business tasks that help her celebrate her accomplishments.

Jaime also listed a few ways she likes to stay inspired in her work and practice, including:

• Listening to podcasts (ex. Being Boss)
• Having fun with her team and socializing
• Connecting with people both in person and on social media
• Participating in gatherings locally and online.

Before we ended our interview, we asked Jaime to share a piece of advice for other music therapy business owners. I summed up her amazing thoughts/tips with the following:

Don’t ever assume that you can’t do something. Always push and try for what you want. You will always surprise yourself! Be open to and strive for growth, whatever that looks like!

Be sure to follow Jaime and Harmony Garden Music Therapy Services across social media using the handle @hgmusictherapy. You can also check out her website or find her on YouTube.