W04.05 Case Studies: Eleni Vosniadou in São Paulo, Brazil. Part One

This is the third in my series of case studies of Alexander Technique teachers around the world. Today is Part One of Eleni Vosniadou in São Paulo, Brazil...

 

Eleni has the passion-for-the-work part, but money didn’t come up when she wrote about her Success Drivers. It doesn’t for most Alexander Technique teachers. Passion is not our problem - focus is the problem. Focus on doing what is necessary to make money from teaching Alexander Technique. Why? Because when you make money, it means you have pupils, and when you have pupils the work is finally, finally spreading.  I have to keep this alive every day - it is not a one time thought, it is my daily obsession. Only when you get to this point will you have the focus necessary to create an income that indicates that the world is listening and following your leadership.

 

Eleni is a musician who suffered from “chronic tendinitis” and she presents her niche choice as being between working with musicians or pain sufferers. She writes about musicians: “I don’t have as strong a passion for this area and [that] I was choosing that niche just because I was afraid to address the pain sufferers.”

 

Don’t musicians suffer from pain? After all, Eleni did. Pain sufferers by itself is a niche, but there is no community connected to it, and community is a key to building a sustainable Alexander business model. However, the niche musicians-in-pain does havea community attached to it. So it seems an obvious place to start. Eleni doesn’t mention her instrument, but I would recommend she starts with people who play her instrument, then she can leverage her personal story to gain empathy and attract people. If helping people in pain and suffering holds a stronger attraction, she can use her experience to roll out this strategy repeatably in other instrument niches. Carry on with this approach until the entire Brazilian classical music world knows about the amazing Eleni Vosniadou in São Paulo. There’s money in that.

 

This needs research - if Eleni goes for the combined niche “Musicians In Pain” she needs to be situated where musicians can easily fit her into their busy schedules. In São Paulo, that may be near other music schools, music teachers and/or instrument shops. Economics may dictate starting off in relationship to a music school - but they may not be convinced to give her space until she has created the reputation that merits them taking the risk. Still, musicians as a niche are habituated to going to a teacher’s home - in this case, I don’t think it matters too much, as long as it is conveniently located.

 

Eleni writes: “I want to work with people who suffer from pain or discomfort.”

 

Solving pain and discomfort issues as your Service Product is full of complications and difficulties, as I have already commented on above. But there’s more… Firstly, there are all the legal issues: what you can and can not claim to be able to do. In that regard, Professor Little’s paper published in the British Medical Journal gets around a lot of those issues. You can claim an 86% success rate simply by quoting from his paper. No consumer watchdog can contest that.

 

Secondly, as this niche grows in recognition, so will the bureaucracy associated with it. In Britain, people can now receive lessons as part of the British National Health service – but talk to some teachers and you will hear that this benefit comes along with a paperwork job – and no-one pays you for that.

 

Thirdly, there’s a deeper problem: these are one issue people. There’s no natural back-end business. Once you solve their problem - what is there to keep them? So you build a front-end business that ensures a constant flow of new students: by seeking referrals, connecting with other practitioners, building a personal reputation and staying in one place so you can leverage the momentum of that reputation to keep the students flowing in. This can be tiring over a lifetime, and it still doesn’t create the ease of wealth that a back-end business can bring you. There’s no comfortable retirement plan. Fourthly: a good Alexander Technique teacher will not generate much repeat business!

 

A physical therapist has similar problems, but they have a huge advantage: a consumer already recognizes them as the go-to person for solving their pain issue. A Doctor may have referred them, or they knew to look for them on the internet or through asking a friend. Although a physical therapist may not be as effective in eliminating chronic back pain as an Alexander Technique teacher, this is not an issue for the consumer. It is not something they even realize. One more point: a physical therapist is more likely to get repeat business!

 

In Britain this situation is slowly changing, with Alexander Technique gaining a firm and friendly presence in the medical/para-medical world, but in São Paulo?  You have to push the reset button, and get started with that all over again. It’s missionary stuff, and “missions” have a habit of taking money, not making money. On top of that, you are open to all kinds of institutional interference in how you practise and use touch in teaching.

 

A better approach, which we have started to explore in Japan, goes along these lines: “Back pain is a mental problem” From the word go you introduce the idea of personal growth to pre-qualify the people who come. This gives you an opening to explore other aspects of a person’s life - they know in coming that this is not all about “physical” problems, but also about how they think. In turn there’s a possibility to invite them into your back-end business, so you nurture a long-term relationship. You will lose people with this approach, but that is one of the points about niching: you are not trying to get all of the people all of the time, just one kind of people all of the time.

 

Eleni currently offers lessons in the same place as another teacher with whom she “can’t agree on anything regarding AT, so it is difficult to create some sort of partnership and joint marketing.” Well, before you lose the friendship, go your own way, go where your ideas are supported, or you can support your ideas. I have a lot to say about finding mentors and building your team, but I will leave that till the week we explore this subject.

 

TOMORROW: Concluding Eleni Vosniadou’s case study with Steps 6 ~ 12.

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