ATSuccess 2nd Fortnight - June 2014 • Congress Scuttlebutt NOT.

The last fortnight of June 2014 witnessed the birth of our new, and I am sure enduring name - ATSuccess Village. Yes, welcome to our Village. Unfortunately, unless you belong to the Village, you can’t read any of the comments of the Villagers. Only my replies to them… … But you can join our village right now! … Click here now to find out how to join ATSuccess. Anyway - read, discover and grow… *** Donating Your Biz Time For A Cause Catching up on this - can you bring the altruistic Toronto idea closer to home? I like the concept of using this donated time as accomplishing two goals: supporting your community, and widening your appeal. Remember, the biz purpose must be second on your list to survive long term in good financial health. Keep sight of that. What To Charge When You Are Starting Out Whatever you charge now, that is the image you will be struck with. Upgrading your price later is harder, because you attracted the audience that is used to your lower price. The idea that you can charge low to start, then increase your prices later - I don't really buy into that. I say: better to find out now who can afford you. However, I do believe in making great offers. You keep high prices, then offer a one-time-only, fill-the-room 50% off price to the first 10 people who book. I am OK with that approach. Do it that way. Get them used to the high prices, but make it palatable with some value-added extras, or early-bird discounts. Capice? Building Your List Wait for the day when you eagerly check how many new list members you attracted today. Give yourself a target. 1,000 in .... how long? AND wait for the day when you do NOT eagerly check in on how many new signups, because you already know they are rolling in! Negotiating JV or Money Contract Get clear. Go into the negotiations knowing what you want, not wondering what you can get. If they are active and clued on people, play hard ball with the money. They will respect that - and you - for putting a clear value on what you do. I also think ATSuccess Village’s advice is good. Be confident in your own marketing, pay their fixed fee option - I’d wonder for a minute why they offered it? It means later, if they want to negotiate a percentage share option, you are in a stronger position. You don't need it, they want it - nice position to be in. You use their space now, that's all. Maybe their customer base, but that’s not clear yet. Up to you of course: the subtleties of a relationship don't show up in Facebook posts I know, but don’t tend towards softness around the numbers: be sharp on that edge for effectiveness longer term. My sense of you is that you could ask for more and get it. Success of the Niching Strategy Good to read a more upbeat account of your niching strategy - I know it feels slow, it is, but slow is fast in fact. In 5 years you will be in an unbelievably different position compared to previous 5 years you spent without niching. Keep the faith and let the opportunities keep rolling in! On Using Touch Nice. Just to set the record straight, I am all for touch too. When I say we don't teach "hands-on" at BodyChance, it doesn't mean we don't use touch! It's integrated with actual teaching, rather than treated separately. I like to get my hands on every one of my students in every group session I run. I usually always do, and more than once. Not using touch would be like throwing the baby out with the bathwater! On Why I Write Against Tablework Despite all the nefarious projections a person puts on what I wrote, my intention was to express why I don't do what is so common to other teachers. I get that others don't want to do what I do, I get that others have their own preferences, different from mine. I respect that. My vision comes with it's own agenda. Some are interested, others are not, but articulating it is part of the clarity to know how it is different. To think I must be "against" another way simply because I express "my way" as being radically different - this is a projection that was not explicitly expressed. If you love what you do, what does it matter if I don't? I hate eating apples - am I attacking you when I declare that, because you do love eating apples? Visiting teachers come to BodyChance and teach table work, give lots of individual lessons and teach "hands-on" - it's not banned! One of the strong values of BodyChance is respecting diversity, respecting other ways of teaching the work. Having that respect does not preclude me from being definitive in expressing why certain common and widely spread elements of modern day AT teaching are not part of BodyChance's Education Mission. When I was a young teacher, I wish someone had been around to write some of the things I am saying now. It would have helped me a lot. On Integrating Coordination Activity Plans I would add to Lucy's example a 20% dash of Coordination plan to her 80% activity plan of how to use your fingers and hand to play the piano: "…and remember as you lead with your fingers to hit the keyboard, that the only thing going down right now is your finger - give your head a holiday as your finger moves down towards the keyboard." This makes sense to people, and moves away from elaborately separating out the "primary control" by giving it more integration into activity movement in a way that makes sense to your niche audience. On Constructive Rest Struck by the clarity of your vision with Constructive Rest Imogen - hard to argue with that! Of course I will, but what I realized, as I thought through each of your points (“Is it possible I can do that without a table?” I wondered) is that many of your steps use individualized feedback loops to a degree that suits 121 work best. My overall argument is that this approach abstracts and objectifies movement in a way that classic "hands on" practise does in training schools - which is why you will almost never find us doing "hands on" work or "CR" at BodyChance. Visiting teachers will do it, because I value diversity of approach. However, individual lessons - in the absence of any other observer - no longer fit into my personal EMS, nor BodyChance's evolving EMS, and this is not impairing our ability to give support (as far as I know) while opening up the scalability of the work. That said, for individual work your plan accomplishes a lot and impresses me. I love that you have a different vision, and are pursuing it with such clarity! The List Keep building your list. That's the key, your primary asset, and the source of all attendees to your sessions in the future. On Sudden Disappearing Students!!! Use this as an opportunity to revise both your booking and payment procedures. If you have already communicated a clear plan then when this kind of event happens, you have a playbook to follow. And (s)he knows you do. A piece of paper at the first lesson handles this, even a signed consent form. People may think that is "too much" but clarity makes for a better relationship. Anyone who joins BodyChance gets a contact - not sure if they sign anything, but we do give a comprehensive explanation of the booking/cancellation guides: both verbally and in written form. And they pay in advance, not at the lesson. On Liking My Essay "A Tale of Two Paradigms" Thanks - you prefer this one to my "Teaching Technology" essay? I see them both as about the same thing, TT being a further evolution of the Tale. These days it is still ongoing as I am now defining BodyChance's Education Mission Statement as part of our switch from Alexander Technique to BodyChance Method. Testing Ideas on Students Test it with your current students - tell them you are planning on writing three different articles: 1) Free Posture/ Back Care Tips 2) Can you think of two other ideas that would excite your current students? Then ask if they had to choose only one of those three titles, which one would they choose? Jeremy's Tablework Rant Bravo Victoria! That's the most constructive and active plan I've read about (not that I am widely read on the subject) concerning the use of tablework as part of a lesson plan. The thing with table work - and I did it for 10 years which that qualifies me to critique it I believe - is that the whole process of 1. Gathering information 2. Analyzing conditions of use present 3. Selecting a means whereby to 4. Bring about a behavioural redirect - all as a communicative dialogue with the student - is not present within the vast majority of table work lessons I have witnessed over my 40+ years in the work. I am not per se against it, I just struggle to understand to how it can be classified as part of the work in the way I have seen it taught. This whole thing about the client loving it - WE TRAIN THEM TO LOVE IT!!! AT BodyChance, where there is not even a table in sight, students don't miss anything, because they never knew there was anything to miss. There, rant over! Charging for A Facebook Group To charge a fee, I think they need to be part of a program they are ALREADY IN - this would restrict it to current clients. There must be some clear YES YOU'RE IN/NO YOU'RE NOT definition if you want people to feel comfortable and not "cast out". It's tricky, and needs to be part of an overall strategy. On the other hand, if you want to encourage ex-clients to come back, then the Facebook group could serve as a "non-pushy" way to encourage old students to return to the fold. In which case, charging for it defeats the purpose. In the end - what's your intention with this group? Posting To Other People's Pages Cecile - I can only respond to what you wrote in your post. i.e. "...I have been cruising creating classes and workshops and advertising them on Yoga FB pages where postings seemed allowed." Quit the advertising part in their newsfeed (or pay for it to be put there - she can't kick that off I think), and you'll be fine. If they are curious, make sure there's an ad for you hovering on the right. Or tell them about something they can do that isn't about reading how they can join your workshops. Members please click below and post comments in our Facebook Village. Others please write your welcomed comment below… https://www.facebook.com/groups/ATCSProMembers/