Steven Shaw is a living example of the power of the niche approach in spreading Alexander's work. Steven has managed to build a million dollar business around the activity of swimming. Yesterday, his work was featured in The Guardian's Swimming Blog…

Except when you don't feel jolly, what do you do about that?

The single, biggest obstacle facing you as an entrepreneur is your emotional condition. Energy doesn't arise out of a mind that is defeated - without hope, there's little action. We have CEOs and CFOs and CMOs but who is the CHO, your Chief Happiness Officer?

That would be you.

Except it comes without a title, salary or any training. You are expected to know how to find the energy and gusto to get everything done, while inspiring those around you to join in.

How do you manage that?

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.

Some mornings I wake up feeling low and wonder: why do I do this?

The worry, the constant need to stay ahead, the relationships that need time, attention and care - it feels simply exhausting and I wonder if there is really any benefit for me in all this…

Ever had a morning like that?

I get them occasionally, and each time I ask myself the question:

Why?

Why do I this instead of anything else I could be doing?

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.

Alexander’s four books tell the tale of FM's own thinking about the work. What strikes me most about this, after 35 years of my own experience, is how I came to his same conclusion: it’s all about the relationship of the head/spinal complex. This is the Universal Constant that Alexander named in his final book The Universal Constant in Living.

She complained about her whole arm.

So I questioned here more.

"When do you feel this tension most?"

I discovered it had to do when fingering her flute at certain pitches. I thought, hmmm. Funny she mentioned fingering. I asked:

"So how about your fingers? Are they OK?"

"No!" she replied, "This one always hurts." And she held up one of her pinkies.

Luckily there was another flautist in the group so I asked her:

"Hey - do you have problems with this finger too?"

What do I know about playing the flute?

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?

Susannah Keebler is an Alexander Technique teacher living in Mallacoota, Australia - a small town in Victoria whose population fluctuates between 972 and 8,000, depending on the time of year. Where she lives is odd enough, but the life and work she is creating makes that seem mundane. Her story has the potential to challenge your own idea of what you can do with the work. Are you interested in people who climb out of the box in order to change the world? Then you must be interested in Susannah's story…

***