A Time to Give

I have for the better part of 4 years now been self employed.  And of that time I have spent a large portion worrying about finances, wondering how to attract clientele, stressing because nothing seemed to be going my way and struggling with the responsibilities that come with networking and marketing myself as a healer.


Over the past 2 months I have come to realize something very, very important.  That my "business" is not going to flourish just because I have a website, or kick ass brochures or pretty, eye catching business cards.

My "business" is going to flourish because I put my heart and soul into it.

This seems obvious right?

It wasn't to me.

When I look around at the business industry, I see exactly what they want me to see.  The businesses with the big ads on tv, the best marketing campaigns and the ones that spend the most money on advertising seem to do the best.  Therefore, I felt the need to spend every penny I had (which wasn't much) on promoting my "business".  There is a business mentality that you feel you need to follow when you are self employed.  You know the sayings "you need to spend money to make money", "you gotta be one step ahead of the competition".  Those types of things.

side note:  I am putting the word "business" in quotations because I'm not seeing what I do as a "business" anymore.  I am seeing it as a lifestyle choice. 

When I placed emphasis on making money and bringing in business I was miserable and unproductive, constantly feeling like a failure if there was no response.  Which, (no matter how much self promoting I did) sent the wrong energetic message to potential clients and sent them away from me instead of towards me.


Now, when I think of myself as a healer by choice, not by necessity there is a lighter feeling.  And the ideas flow much more freely now that I'm not putting added stress on myself to maintain an unfair standard.

I have recently been guided to give away much of what I have to offer.

As you may have read in another post, this week was Reiki Awareness Week and I treated people to Reiki in exchange for a free will donation (meaning they were free to give a donation or not give a donation).

I have also been guided to offer complimentary Reiki treatments to cancer patients for the month of November.  I wish I would have thought of this last month during cancer awareness month, I suppose it's better to be late than never to offer it at all.

I have created my own calendars, filled with artwork and famous quotes that I will be selling, a quarter of the proceeds will go to the Canadian Mental Health Association.

And I recently held a Reiki awareness evening for free so that I could bring much needed education to my community.


I guess what I am saying is, if you're like me and you've tried everything to build your business, you've spent large amounts of money getting started and haven't seen any progress.  You might want to consider a different approach, if your calendar has holes in it where appointments could be booked, and you lack the clients to fill that space, offer your services for a discounted price or for free.  Or book in a free information seminar to get the word out about what you can offer to your community.

It feels way better to do this than to sit around wondering what on earth your doing wrong and in the end those good feelings are way more beneficial to the rest of the world than the negative ones.