Mastery Emerges From the Details

Do you know what a CTA is?

How about a USP? or the why biz consultants say “The riches are in the niches”? Have you heard the Prince of Print’s story about the hungry crowd?

I’d wager that 80% of those biz owners – whose businesses have lasted longer than 5 years, have seen growth of 20% or greater, and are heading for another stellar year – could easily answer my questions.

Can you?

I know all the participants in ATSuccess annual Pro Coaching Program can – although they may not all know that the Prince of Print was Gary Halbert (deceased), and his story is ubiquitous amongst marketers. It goes like this…

If you could have ANY ONE THING to start up a hamburger joint, what would that be?

People usually answer – a busy location, the best beef in town, fabulous service, pretty waitresses. Gary’s answer was:

“I want a hungry crowd.”

The point is – you could have crummy joint, an obscure location and low quality beef – but if you had somehow engineered it to be close to an exclusive hungry crowd, you’d be successful. Life appears not to be fair: the best actors don’t always get work, and the best AT teachers don’t always succeed.

Great teaching will get you some of the way, no question.

Word of mouth, great results, an insightful reading of people: all of these will slowly filter through – provided you stay in one location for a long time – until eventually your practise can cover all your bills, plus some.

And that will take awhile. (Too long if you don’t have any savings.)

Well, I say to that: if you use a shovel with your bare hands to plant trees for long enough, eventually the blisters will form calluses and it gets easier. But boy oh boy – wouldn't wearing gloves have been a better choice?

UPSs, CTAs and understanding riches are in niches are details that any successful small biz – which every self-employed AT teacher is – must learn about and use. Even if you’re successful now, that’s no guarantee you will stay successful.

In Australia, 70 small mom-and-pop businesses Fail. Every. Day. Knowing how to conceive, build and sustain a successful practise is a skill set that any small business owner – like you – needs to know.

Without it, you are running around married to your newest idea, missing it’s holistic integration. You are like your own students, obsessing about one part of their body.

In your case, you may be obsessing about one part of your business…

“I must get a website”

OR

“I have to find a place to teach”

OR

“Who can I talk to locally about my work?”

All good moves IF THEY ARE INTREGATED INTO A HOLISTIC PLAN.

Do you have a unified concept about your Alexander practise?

Do you understand it’s many moving parts? I sometimes liken an Alexander practise to an airline business – you get one of many elements wrong, your business will crash.

The statistics bear me out.

According to several surveys of AT teachers over the years, barely 10% of teachers ever succeed to make it as a full-time professional. Of course, maybe 20-30% never wanted that in the first place. But what about the other 60%?

I did my own survey of Alexander teachers and here’s what I found:

34% want a full-time AT job
55% want a part-time AT job
11% are doing OK.

For the 89% – for you – I started ATSuccess.

When you join one of my programs, you will learn about Call To Action (CTA – every flyer, website and radio interview needs one), and USP (Unique Sales Point – why would someone go to you, and not another teacher nearby?) and niches (strong communities can sustain your practise over the long term.)

If you live in or near London, you are in luck. The first of what we plan to make an annual event will start there on January 29th. Click here to see what is on offer.

If you are reading this in another part of the world, then jump on my mailing list by filling out this form. You will join a free email seminar on the 12 moving parts of a successful practice business.

These moving parts are as true of British Airways, as they are true of you.

These are universal principles of business technology, not the newest fad.

To be a master of anything, it behooves you to first master the details. Not just the details, but how details relate to your whole biz. A successful practice business has many moving parts – do you know what yours are?

Do you truly understand your own Alexander practice business?

If not – quickly book yourself into one (if not all) of the many workshops on offer at our ATSuccess London Symposium on Building a Successful Practise.

And if you can't come to that – fill out this form and start mastering the details. Hey – why not do both?

There’s nothing to lose, because the worst you can end up with, is what you already have.

It’s time. Thank you, God bless you and good night.