Business start-up progress

Having made it through the first few months of running the business, things have been looking up in April.

Although I’ve been finding it harder to manage the work-life balance, it’s exciting to be busier and getting exposure for the business. This month, some of the COVID lockdown restrictions have eased in England, so I’ve been un-furloughed from my job at the local golf club and am now working in the golf pro-shop. This has meant juggling between the responsibilities of both jobs and has been a bit stressful, but getting into a routine has helped too.

It has been beneficial to be working at the golf club though, because regular members and staff at the club are aware of my chiropractic qualification and that I run my own business, so conversations do crop up from time to time regarding their own aches and pains, or a friend they know who’s suffering from a back problem. It’s actually led to a few consultations with staff/club members and I’ve given out business cards too, which is only a positive thing! The management at the golf club has been really understanding that I am doing two jobs and have given me consistent shifts so that I can ensure I honour the time slots I have given to my existing clients. I am excited for the next few weeks to see if these consultations turn into programmes with clients, and potentially spreading a good word about my work!

This month has also seen me running a weekly class as part of a 6-week online course about back pain. I put together the plans for this during February and March, so launched the course at the start of April. It has been a learning curve so far! I put out advertisements for this course via Instagram/Facebook, posting on local Facebook groups and a few local gyms that I have good connections with, but I found this quite draining as there was no real tangible benefit of this advertisement. Although I am sure it is increasing awareness about my business and what I do as a chiropractor and rehabilitator, it was not effective for getting people interested in the course. In the end, I only had three sign-ups (one of which was a family member), which I was initially disappointed in.

Running the online back pain course every week has been a great learning experience

However, looking at the bigger picture, it was great that I got three people signed up at all and it isn’t a reflection of the quality of my work, just that the awareness is not there yet. This is definitely a steep learning curve for me as one of the sign-ups actually came through a conversation with a lady while I was meeting a friend outdoors at the local gym. This really pushed home the point to me that people invest in people, not in advertising. I think this will help focus my efforts on really connecting with people rather than spending lots of money on advertising, which doesn’t seem to have much of a concrete benefit at the moment.

The course, despite the low numbers, has been going well and the feedback I’ve had so far has been really positive. I’ve tried to get the participants to connect with each other and support each other through the course as well as sending them videos to watch and learning more about moving (of course!). Even if the course doesn’t go well, I am interested to see what I learn from the experience and how I can improve things if I re-run the course.

“One sign-up actually came through a conversation while I meeting a friend outdoors at the local gym. This really pushed home the point to me that people invest in people, not in advertising”

As lockdown restrictions were eased a bit this month, the local gym where I have been running my mobility and stretching class had an outdoor open morning. This was a chance for me to offer a free taster for my class to hopefully get some new joiners as well as speak with local people about my services as a chiropractor. The personal trainers at the gym have been really welcoming to me as a clinician and respect my knowledge in relation to aches and pains, some of them asked their PT clients to speak with me regarding an injury or pain problem which was really interesting. I had about eight people in my taster session, a few of the regular attendees on Zoom came along and it was great fun.

On a personal note, it was nice to speak with actual humans in person rather than over Zoom, but on a professional and business level, it was also really enjoyable to speak about my work, which I’m so passionate about, and listen to people’s stories about their aches and pains, and see if they were interested in having a consultation. There were lots of different taster classes and free food from the local businesses next to the gym, so it was an enjoyable morning. I also found that the local community was really supportive of people with small businesses which was really nice and many people took my business card. Again, the exposure for my work was great to have, even though it doesn’t necessarily lead to business in the short term.

“It seems that nothing happens for ages and then everything all happens at once! ”

With the lockdown restrictions finally easing, it feels like there is light at the end of the tunnel so that I can get some more visibility for the business. Throughout lockdown, it felt like I was working alone in my garage and nobody really knew that I existed, apart from my existing clients, so I have some hope that people in the local area can become more aware of what I do. It seems that nothing happens for ages and then everything all happens at once! I am definitely afraid of missing out on opportunities, as I don’t know which ones may lead to something positive so I’m currently saying yes to pretty much everything. I know this is not sustainable for the longer term, but I’m definitely learning from all the positives and negatives that are happening at the moment. Once the indoor restrictions are eased in May (fingers crossed!) I am hoping to go back to my class in person and see more clients potentially at the gym too!