Lessons from my First Year

It sounds cliché, but this year has flown by and now my business is one year old!

Being the kind of person who forever needs reminding to slow down and be present, I took some time to sit with a cup of tea, my favourite aromatherapy blend (lavender, ylang ylang and bergamot) and reflected on some things I’ve learnt this past year.   

1         Don’t underestimate the support you will receive

I have to be honest here.  The wellness sphere is ever growing and I’ve sometimes wondered what I could possibly add or whether other therapists would shun another person joining in.  How wrong I was!  From the very beginning I have received so much support and kindness from other holistic therapists.  Turns out therapists need a therapist too so there have been many a treatment swaps and moments of cheerleading.  Being self employed can be a lonely business, but I now think of other therapist as fellow colleagues 😊

2         It’s OK not to have everything ready at the beginning

You can wait forever for the perfect moment to launch your business.  But we all know there is no such thing as the perfect moment, don’t we?  At the beginning I wanted to have all my branding sorted, a bullet proof business plan, a financial safety net and a beautiful website ready.  These things took longer than I thought to pull together, so I tentatively launched anyway.  And I’m so glad I didn’t wait!  Once I got going, my areas of interest became clearer and so did my client base, which in turn influenced my branding and website.  My advice to anyone starting a new venture or project is to just start.  You can always change things done the line!

3.       Be flexible and be prepared to pivot  

This leads on from above.  Sometimes what you think people want, isn’t actually what people need.  I first started seeing clients on Saturdays whilst I continued to work my other job in the wine industry.  But it turns out a lot of you are busy on Saturdays especially if you have kids to ferry from clubs and birthday parties.  I negotiated with my boss and I began to also treat clients on Thursday mornings. A much more convenient time for clients it appeared.  Going forward I also plan to carve out time to treat clients on Friday afternoon and evenings (April 2023 onwards), for all of you who need that space to unwind at the end of the week.

4.       Practice what you preach

Recently I have found myself personally using aromatherapy less and less, and instead saving my special oils for clients.  After the Christmas break, I noticed a lot of my regular clients were expressing that they were feeling energetically depleted and I realised that I was too.  As the saying goes, you cannot pour from an empty cup, and so I got to making myself a new aromatherapy facial oil and now consistency make time in the week to do what ever feels nourishing in that moment.  I want to share advice with my clients from an honest place, and so practicing what I preach feels more important than ever.

Thank you to all of you who have booked treatments, joined workshops, purchased vouchers and supported me over the last year.  It means the world!

Let me know if any of this resonates with you by getting on touch over on Instagram.

With love,

Kit x