by Tim Brunson, PhD

The one area in which most people consistently fail involves setting and achieving goals. Whether this involves projects around the house, education, or changing bad habits, en vogue methods of goal setting and achievement rarely help us achieve the intended results. Even though I agree that it is essential to consciously select, write down, and proclaim objectives to others, from that point forward many find insurmountable difficulties causing delays or total abandonment of their dreams.

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by Coach Cary Bayer

If your bodywork client has suffered an injury--to her back in a car crash, for example--you probably have no problem recommending to her that she come back to see you in two days after the massage that you just gave her. If you do psychological counseling you wouldn't think twice about recommending to your client in a marital crisis to see you more than once a week until the crisis is settled. This is despite the fact that she might not have insurance to cover the cost of your treatment. You also don't think twice about how she might arrange her appointments to see you within 48 hours of stepping off your table--gingerly, of course, if her back is bad--or soberly if she's depressed.

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by Joyce-Anne Locking

This is the time of year to consider all the blessings and gifts we have. Blessings, also know as spiritual gifts, are like flowers. They need to be picked up, and placed on an open space to be admired and enjoyed. As they are, seeds are planted and more production takes place. If gifts such as these are left unused, we soon stop practising them and lose our ability to keep them in shape. Spiritual gifts, like blessings, need to be maintained daily. To do this, we must learn to hear our own creative voice. Listen to what your heart is telling you. What are the things you like most and enjoy spending time on.

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by Coach Cary Bayer

A day barely goes by that I don't receive an invitation, often by one massage therapist or alternative healer or another from Maine to California, to become a fan of this professional group or that. To which I say to these healers: I'm glad that you're a fan of John Doe or the XYZ Healing Business. Now let me ask you a question: Are you also a fan of your healing arts business? If not, I suggest that you first become a fan of your business before giving up your time to follow the pursuits of Mr. Doe. You'd be far better off using that time to market and network your own business. It's far more profitable for you to take some time to empower yourself and your business than to give over your power to someone else.

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by Coach Cary Bayer

Many giants of the 20th Century have had more adventures with the mirror than Lewis Carroll's Alice. Foster Hibbard, an inspired teacher I've worked with, said that Napoleon Hill, his teacher of 13 years, claimed many of the great inventors, business magnates, and political leaders whom he met through his 20-year mentor relationship with billionaire Andrew Carnegie, derived great results in front of the glass. Hill studied with Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, Winston Churchill, Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, among others.

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by Coach Cary Bayer

A dog is a man's best friend, and may be a healer's best teacher. A dog embodies so many qualities of the Enlightenment described by the world's spiritual teachers that it's hardly coincidental that dog is god spelled backwards. Speaking colloquially...doggonit--a canine can help inspire business growth.

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by Coach Cary Bayer

At the end of the 1980's, futurist John Naisbitt wrote a book that envisioned, among other things, a more sensitive world emerging as a response to the high tech revolution. His Megatrends camped out at the top of the New York Times best-seller list for nearly two years, selling eight million copies in 57 countries. Naisbitt's polished crystal ball saw the forthcoming trend, "High Tech/High Touch" that has much to teach healers, whether they work in traditional modalities or their more alternative counterparts.

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Unless you are one of very few lucky people, most likely the only way that you will ever be successful is to commit to taking the massive action required to achieve a goal. Star athletes, successful business people, and even those who have found the love of their lives realize that without commitment, nothing will ever be achieved. So, if this is such as well-established fact, why isn't everyone a total success.

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by Coach Cary Bayer

A couple of years ago, I was in New York City and happened to catch the opening night of previews on Broadway of the revival of my favorite play, Cyrano de Bergerac, written by Edmond Rostand, in 1897. For those of you unfamiliar with this tragic story, it's set in Paris in 1640, and centers around the eponymous Cyrano, who's as much of a hero with the sword as he is a coward with expressing his love. He's great at swordplay and wordplay, but tragically pathetic at romance. That's because he has a grotesque nose, virtually the size of a cuckoo clock.

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By Coach Cary Bayer

In a previous column, I discussed how a cat's liveliness can help you expand your business as a healer. In today's column I'll discuss how a cat's dying can help you grow your business, as well. But first things first; the following were the main points from that earlier article:

1. Think highly of yourself and others will be attracted to you.
2. Let others support you.
3. Let others touch you. Cuddling against them isn't bad either.
4. Exercise keeps you young in body and heart.
5. Nap when you feel like it; it's good for your soul and your body.
6. It's innocent to be the center of attention.
7. Curiosity thrills the cat.
8. The more playful you are, the more you're loved and prospered.
9. If you're happy and you know it, purr away--you'll be feline groovy.

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by Joyce-Anne Locking

What greater pleasure can be experienced than to feel the warmth of the sun in winter or the cool refreshing breeze of summer? The beauty of a bush or a flower can only be reproduced as an imitation. The original nature of the fresh flower is available to us for such a short time. Life is full of so many stimulating colours and sights. We want to see the beauty around us and absorb its lasting benefits.

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By Coach Cary Bayer

I've met countless alternative healers whose office files belong more in the 20th century than in the 21st. I'm not suggesting that therapists should have paperless offices. I am suggesting, however, that electronic data be incorporated, as well.

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by Tim Brunson, PhD

When a person or organization becomes dissatisfied with the current condition of their heath, happiness, or detect that they are not reaching their potential – provided that there is sufficient motivation – then transformation is pursued. However, the probability of achieving rapid, substantial, and lasting change is not always assured. The lure of returning to the old status quo is often too great – despite the often extremely negative consequences. However, both throughout history and in contemporary times there have been and are countless examples of those who have mastered the art of change. Over the past 30 years I have been a student of this topic. As a result I have concluded that those who achieve change to the point of realizing mastery have three requirements in common. These involve effective modeling, following efficient methods, and pursuing change with a sense of purpose.

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By Coach Cary Bayer

Some business development experts encourage you to create an elevator speech of 30 to 60 seconds so that you can tell anyone in a short descent or ascent what you do, so that you can elevate your business by adding your fellow passenger to your client roster. Such advice is wise indeed.

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By Coach Cary Bayer

The medium is the message. Marshall McCluhan

One of the first things that a journalist writing for a newspaper learns is to ask and get answers for the five key questions. These are who, what, when, where, and how. In a previous column, you learned what to say in an ad; in another one, you learned how to say what you want to say in an ad; and in this one, you'll learn where to say what you want to say in an ad.

The ad that I'm referring to is one of two types: either the retail-oriented ad (the half-price special for new clients, or its buy one, get one free cousin), or the image ad that positioned you uniquely in the marketplace. While there's an art to how to communicate in an ad, there's not a precise science to where to communicate--even though media specialists in advertising agencies ply their sophisticated computers and demographic and psychographic analyses trying to make it as scientific as possible. For an alternative healer promoting a discount-pricing ad to attract new clients, there's a bit of trial and error that will probably be necessary.

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by Joyce-Anne Locking

If you had to name the most valuable thing in your life at this moment, you may come up with all sorts of different answers. You may name loved ones, friendships or material things such as cars, houses or bank accounts. Perhaps you might think of objects of art, private yachts, or summer get aways. Some may name pets, pianos or possessions.

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by Tim Brunson, PhD

Altering the space/time encoding related to a person's performance of a specific task may accelerate the unlearning of poor behavior and thought patterns and facilitate the rapid re-programming of new ones. My approach to space and time elements of encoding serves as a significantly different approach regarding how coaching and psychotherapeutic interventions can be employed.

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by Joyce-Anne Locking

Are your true values being expressed through your present lifestyle? Thoughts, like magnets, attract the life path chosen daily by decisions we make on how to spend our time. When we trust ourselves to follow our dreams and dare to do what really matters to us most, we begin a brickroad type of journey. Step by step we start to build a significant way to the future.

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By Coach Cary Bayer

Let me start this column by saying that, as a business coach for massage therapists and a wide range of alternative healers, I'm going to provide an enlightened approach to your business card. But, contrary to your possible expectation, I'm not going to tell you what to put on it. I'll let designers who are far more capable of layout and graphics than I am do that for you. Instead, I'm going to tell you a way of using this little piece of ID, you're not yet familiar with.

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Massage, hypnotherapy, and many other forms of alternative healing enhances creativity. There are no ifs, and, or buts about it. The relaxation that occurs stimulates inspiration, because a relaxed mind in a relaxed body are more receptive to the impulses of creativity than their tense counterparts. Is there any surprise that so many of the world's great scientific insights and artistic conceptions occur in a restful state rather than a restless one? The famed "a ha" experience of eureka that can make you laugh in delightful "ha-ha," happens when you're most relaxed, not when you're most worried or irritable. While receiving an Indonesian massage on a luxury yacht off the coast of Thailand (I know...that sounds good to me while I read it, too, even a year after the fact), I gained inspiration for this column, as well as for one on tuning in to what your healing clients experience from your treatments. During other massages and coaching sessions that I've received in the past, I've gained ideas for other columns, for new workshops that I would eventually give, and for new books and mini-books that I would write.

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By Coach Cary Bayer

Recently, while doing a Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle, I was stumped by a clue for a four-letter word. The clue was "Grant." I ran through the Rolodex in my mind and came up with answers like award, prize, and so forth. None of them were four letters. Finally, I got the first letter; it was a "C." But that didn't help me either.

Eventually, the light bulb went off in my mind--Eureka. (No, not that endearing term of excitement--it's got six letters.) The answer wasn't a grant of money, it was a Grant of Cary. The irony in this story is that there were only two men who ever made my mother's heart race, and they were Cary Grant, and my father, Sam Bayer. And that's why she named me Cary Bayer.

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by Mark Gorkin, LICSW

Keys to Strengthening Buy-in, Trust and Team Coordination in a Generationally-Culturally Diverse (Military) Workforce -- Part II

Part I of this two-part series has delineated five of the "Top Ten Tools and Strategies for Strengthening Buy-in, Trust and Team Coordination among a Generationally-Culturally Diverse (Military) Workforce," including building communication bridges and fostering a team/systems concept that has application for both military and non-military work settings.

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by Mark Gorkin, LICSW

Full Title: Keys to Strengthening Buy-in, Trust and Team Coordination in a Generationally-Culturally Diverse (Military) Workforce - Part I

I'm preparing for a major offsite event with the Command Teams of the 1st Cavalry/Ft. Hood, TX. I've been asked to explore new (for me) conceptual territory -- Generational Diversity. More specifically, the Army wants me to provide some fresh ideas and exercises for "Communicating with the Younger Soldier." To oversimplify matters: how can the predominant generations in authority -- the Traditionals and Boomers -- connect with GenXers and Millennials. And in today's 24/7 always on world, rapidly cycling between constant upgrading and "doing more with less," creating communication and team coordination bridges among the military (and civilian) generations -- and among all its culturally diverse components -- is mission and morale critical.

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By Coach Cary Bayer

Norman Vincent Peale, one of the 20th century's great positive thinking gurus, once said: "Change your thoughts and you change your world." To that I would add the following idea; namely, that it's just as wise to change your speech. If you want to lose weight, it's obvious that you have to watch what you eat and change how you exercise. A veritable fortune has been made by Weight Watchers with such a formula. If you want to prosper as an alternative healer, then it's also important that you watch what you say. I call this article Word Watchers.

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by Lorraine Pirihi

What are you focussing on achieving in your business in the next 90 days?

Do you have any idea? If you don't then you better come up with a goal or outcome otherwise you may find that another 3 months has passed you by and you're no further ahead than where you are right now.

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by Michael Licenblat

When people produce their best results, they talk about being in a state known as 'the zone'.

Put simply, this is a highly productive state of mind and body where you are simultaneously intense and calm, able to focus on the specific whilst monitoring the big picture, all whilst appearing natural and effortless.

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By Coach Cary Bayer

My cat is a 10-pound Buddha named Ananda (Sanskrit for bliss) because she's the fastest purrer in the West. This calico has taught me volumes about how to succeed in the healing arts business. They can teach you, too.

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by Lorraine Pirihi

Many business owners try something once and if it doesn't work, they don't usually bother again. A great example of this is sending out a newsletter to your database.

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by Sam Slay

1. Stakeholder Surveys - You must determine a base line for your employees. You should conduct a series of surveys designed to find out what your employees know, what they don't know and what they think they know. First, do they understand the true mission of your organization? If you think so then think again, because making money is not the mission.

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By Coach Cary Bayer

"If you build it, he'll come."--The Voice, in A Field of Dreams

Recently, while communicating on my Facebook for massage therapists, an LMT in New York State asked me how to get more clients. I asked her how many more sessions she wanted to do each week, and how much time she had for them. She said she wanted 10 more weekly clients. A business coach for massage therapists and alternative healers, I proceeded to teach her a secret for manifesting that I teach in some of my continuing education courses that wasn't mentioned in The Secret, the best-selling video and book. In other words, you heard it here first.

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by Lorraine Pirihi

How are you progressing with the goals you set yourself this year? Have you made a start? Or are you still procrastinating or caught the very popular "I'm too busy" epidemic?

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by Louise LeBrun

Our world is not about to change, it already has changed! We can no longer simply presume that what was, still is; and that what we once held to be true can still be relied upon to continue to be true. From the more obvious effects in our physical world of global climate change to the more subtle changes in our thoughts - our beliefs about ourselves, our world and our ability to move effectively through that world - we know intuitively that something is moving and we're right in the middle of it all!

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by Coach Cary Bayer

Earlier this year, I was teaching a series of classes in our nation's capital and, wanting to get some fresh fruit for a post-seminar snack, I went into a Giant grocery store in Silver Spring, Maryland. Unlike just about every other supermarket and retail outlet that I've ever walked through throughout this vast nation of ours, it, surprisingly, did not have a customer relations department. But don't be shocked. That's because this Giant had already awakened its own inner giant: it has a Solutions Center. The difference is quite palpable. Customer relations is what stores offer; solutions are what customers desire. Going into a store that sports its own department for solving your problems is a fresh breeze that would make anyone a loyal and devoted customer.

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by Mark Gorkin, LICSW

Expanding the Stress Response through an Organic/Poetic Mindset: "Fight and Flight" and "Freeze and Flow"

According to the leaders of a two day conference on "alternative health," language frames the essence of health and illness. For example, the workshop leaders were uncomfortable with the use of the word "stress" regarding the human condition. Stress, of course, was first defined as a property of metals, specifically an ability to withstand tension. For the instructors, stress terminology turns the body into a machine, something that can then be operated upon and repaired. With a mechanical mindset, however, the essence of the individual (also from my perspective, the team) as a living and evolving (also devolving) organism is easily lost. The human capacity for natural growth and innate healing when mind-body-spirit and the relationship with nature are in harmony can too easily be bypassed or undervalued. Before the mid-20th century takeover by "stress" terminology, the much more human notion of "grief" captured the tensions, trials, and tribulations and "sadder yet wiser" triumphs or, at least, "growing pains" of everyday life.

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by Mark Gorkin, LICSW

Over lunch, my agent posed a provocative challenge: "Write an article on chutzpah." He believes the timing is right. In this difficult economy and uncertain times it's certainly tempting to withdraw into a shell. But a better strategy might be a contrary one, throwing off the shell and putting yourself out there. One "chutzpah" source involves productively tapping into what I call the "RAGE" in "Out-RAGE-ous." (And these days, there's plenty to be enraged about!) Try harnessing some aggressive energy and attitude – develop an "out of the box" presence if not an edgy essence. (Remember, if you're not living on the edge you are taking up way too much space!)

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by Coach Cary Bayer

There's nothing quite like getting a new client who looks like he might come in for a healing session once every month. It's the kind of good news that qualifies for the proverbial, "Something to write home about." With this in mind, let me ask you a simple question: Do you tell your husband/partner/significant other each time a monthly client decides to book a session in two weeks instead of the usual four? I didn't think so. And yet, the once-a-month client who shifts to twice a month is equivalent to getting a new client who comes in once a month. As far as the bottom line is concerned, it's an identical situation. But you probably don't relate to it that way.

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by Mark Gorkin, LICSW

One Man's Restless Journey into Creative and Cohesive Space-Time

Recently, an Internet colleague asked me to share how my mind works when it's in creative gear. The question has motivated this essay: an examination of how a second colleague's brainstorming request initially stirred those creative juices and, then, how a sci-fi cinema classic and a current mega-movie really got the electricity flowing...or jolted me over the creative edge. (I'll let you decide.)

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by Coach Cary Bayer

Restaurants, shoe stores, athletic stores, bookstores, you name it...these days it's hard not to find an ad for a "Buy one, get one free" offer. I can hardly walk down an aisle in my local Public supermarket in south Florida without seeing the word "FREE" in huge bold letters, while the "Buy one, get one..." piece of copy is in smaller font and without bold face. Oh, sure, you don't see it in the ads for medical practices, auto dealers, and healers. It's understandable why businesses that sell big-ticket items like cars aren't going to give away something as expensive as a $20,000 item just for purchasing another one. And it's understandable why MDs, uncomfortable about advertising in the first place, aren't running such specials. But massage therapists, hypnotherapists, chiropractors? There's no really good reason why they're not doing it.

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by Coach Cary Bayer

Whenever I teach my 6-CE workshop, "Build a $100,000 a Year Healing Arts Business in Just 1 Hour a Day," I take two hours to awaken prosperity and success thinking in the facilitators in my classroom. I do that because the overwhelming majority of healers I've come across-now numbering in the thousands-do not think this way naturally. I often say that a slowed down economy is not a problem for such therapists. The problem is how a healer thinks, speaks, and acts about it.

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by Coach Cary Bayer

More than half a century ago, Broadway's Tin Pan Alley offered the above advice to Americans who wanted to succeed in love and business. It's also true today for those today who want to succeed in life and the healing arts of massage, chiropractic, hypnotherapy, psychological counseling, medicine, energy medicine, nursing, social work, and other integrative healing modalities.

Most such healers think of their massage work as a "practice." If you want to "practice" massage, say, call me, and I'll be glad to let you practice on my back. If you want a massage business-or a business in any of the professions above--call me, but for a different reason: I'll show you how to change the attitudes about money and business kicking around in the cellar of your subconscious mind that hold you back from success in your chosen field.

A powerful way to accomplish this transformation is by rewiring your mind through affirmations. It's critical to release the negative thoughts preventing your success. In coaching more than150 licensed massage therapists, as well as dozens of healers in a variety of other fields, I've discovered four such common thoughts.

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