Where I live in Australia, we have three mail boxes out front. It’s at the bottom of a steep driveway, so someone needs to walk the letters up to the house. One mailbox is disused, and lies neglected on it’s side. One is usually empty - that’s mine, because I check it regularly - and the one is full of letters.

Full of actual letters: bills, a Xmas card, notices of many different kinds. Maybe there’s some junk mail there too, but not the kind of junk I would risk just throwing in the bin. However, my tenants downstairs never check their mailbox.

And here's me thinking it was a quieter week! I see from all my posts - which are always in response to requests and exploration in our Facebook group - that this has been a busy week exploring concepts and ideas to get more students, and grow your business. Membership is open any time, just go to this link to sign up.

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It's the crazy season, but that does not stop my members from continuing to work on their Alexander Technique teaching success. While a lot of people are off to a party, they are here pursuing their passion to stay awake and realise a dream. It's a big purpose, and I am privileged to be learning from them all.

Alexander Technique is a difficult sell - I think we all know that.

How do you sell air? How do you sell nothing? Any words you use - as I expressed in my previous blog - end up situating you with a dozen other techniques, all available at half the price of your lesson and much easier to understand.

They give you a set of exercises!

This week, like every other, the members in my coaching group are continuing to focus on their business skills, and how those skills relate to their teaching skills. I think one of the big surprises when you start to work on your Alexander practise, comes when you realise that the service you offer is inextricably bound to the business you are creating - it's not possible to separate the two, as some of the comments I made this week illuminate…

Every week I am publishing some of the comments made in the hidden Facebook group (ATCS) with the 47 teachers and students working together on building their Alexander Technique businesses. Some of the comments are public, and the rest are in the paid area of my blog. You can join us now for less than the cost of one Alexander lesson with me a month. Note to members - some of these have been lightly edited since I first penned them inside Facebook.

Think Different.

This was a hugely successful prelaunch campaign instigated by Steve Jobs to put Apple back on the map after years in the wilderness. It also sums up my approach to Group Teaching. This is not about adding another fiddle to your concert performance, this is about re-orchestration of the entire show.

As teachers have found in my Facebook coaching group, moving your 121 (one to one) people into groups does not always work out. In some cases, it’s fabulous, but in others “I miss my hands-on” is the refrain.

Why is that?

I had a half-written blog prepared on the plane last night, but once I landed in Australia and checked our secret Facebook group (where 43 teachers share as part of the paid area of my blog) I was overwhelmed by the volume of comments to behold!

So instead of posting a blog, I decided to post answers and comments in Facebook. Then I worried that the members may not have caught my torrent of replies in the midst of a messy, scrolling Facebook page, so I decided to post them here. How original ideas are born.

During my failed attempt to launch BodyChance in Sydney, my retina detracted, my marriage ended and I lost a reasonable amount of money. Those are the highlights –if you ever get me in a room with a few hours to spare, there's a lot more to tell. I bring it up now, as I think a key factor in being unable to establish a presence was, well, I had no presence.

BodyChance never had a permanent studio presence in Sydney. No Place!

In Mejiro, near our old Tokyo studio, there was a Chinese restaurant that office workers would spend half their lunch-time queuing, then be forced to sit at a tiny tables with strangers, eat quickly and be hustled out for the next sitting.

Why would you want to eat there?