hey there qt ers..couple quick questions...i have 2 hrs left for certification..

1) do you need a special zoning to work out of your place (i currently live in a building with 33 other units)...not sure how others will react if they hear i am doing this out of my unit etc.

2) how does one market themselves as a practioner..i.e.- newspaper/flier (obviously word of mouth).....any tips out there?

thx a bunch!

jim

Congratulations on having so many hours! I wish you good luck in your business.

In the QT workshop I attended the instructors recommended having business cards and/or brochures printed up.(You can even print them out on your own printer, if you like.) There are lots of places you can leave them, like health food shops. They also recommended doing "cafe sessions" which will let people know what you do. Buying air time and such cost more money than it brought in for our instructors.

I don't know about zoning for working out of your home but it's almost always free to ask!

Anita

hi them are good ideas on getting your self out there yes you need good cards to pass out and photo shop program will do nicely on broachers but i suggest you spend the $$ on good quality papers simi gloss on it if you go that route also word of mouth is great for you local 33 ppl in your building? leave a few broachers or cards around the landry mat?ask the super what you can and can do in your building alot of traffic may get you the boot if there are older folks about food for thought your work is a good place to start also as far as looking to ask ppl if they would be interseted in some healing work it has worked for me and bonnie

You should really look up some local practitioners and ask them about the zoning issue. It probably won't be a problem if you just have a couple of people a day and don't bring any attention to yourself. My understanding is that ordinarily, to practice anywhere legally, you need a certificate of occuplancy (which would clarify the zoning issue). Have you noticed if there are any businesses operating out of your building? I doubt it would be an apartment by apartment consideration. If there are any businesses or practices in your building, I'm sure it's ok for you, too. If it's not allowed, and you want to grow, though, you'd better save toward renting a space. One alternative if you need a separate office space - chiropractors will often rent out to massage therapists and the like for a percentage, which you could do until you had enough of a clientele to rent a space (which is much cheaper if you have a fair amount of clients). Also, you could check into any alternative bookstores/other establishments. Sometimes they will rent out space on the same basis, or perhaps a fixed price by the day, if you start out with a day or two a week.

Although I'm a NY State-lic. massage therapist, I haven't lived in NY for a long time so I don't remember if the massage laws there extend out to energy workers. You should check - maybe look up AMTA-NY chapter on the AMTA website and give the president or whoever a call and check. I don't think they do in NY, but, even though it doesn't make sense (it's a turf issue), I know massage laws extend to Reiki practitioners in FL, and some massage therapists can get very aggressive in reporting violators. Just to be on the safe side! I think the massage laws in NY just cover actual manipulative bodywork.

Zoning laws are passed & regulated at the municipal level, and they vary all over the map. Check with your city, town or township, or get a copy of local zoning laws. Be prepared to do some reading/clarifying, because the language is obtuse in most cases.

I live in a condominium (I own it) and I see people here with no problem. One person comes at a time, they park in my driveway, and there has never been any problem whatsoever. I don't see clients every day, so it's not like there's a parade of people coming and going. I travel to clients a fair amount of the time, especially if they are animal clients. Most of the people here work during the day anyway, so they could care less if I have guests now and then. It is a residence and there are no signs posted anywhere, and all clients come by private arrangement. It works for me.

Reiki is exempt from massage licensure in NY, so I would think that QT would fall in the same category...as long as you are not claiming to diagnose, treat or cure illnesses.

Cassandra

Hi, Andalu - also, regarding the second part of your question - a website is a great way to give people the opportunity to get to know you in a non-threatening way. Although it's good to have a brochure, so many people have computers and really use them nowadays that you'd probably do well to make a website (very cheap!) and print up business cards with your website address on it. You can give much more detail about yourself and what you do than in a brochre. There are even various free and low-cost websites with pre-done design templates that you can use to begin with while you're getting a feel for the possibilities. (I'm currently using freewebs.com - I don't love the templates, but so far, it's the best, most professional truly free website/webhost I've come across. Like any free site, of course, they make their money through their "premium" services, and if you want a real domain name, you need to sign up for them. They're $42/year for their premium package of services, and another $20/year for your own domain name - and $62 a year, without having to pay other people to update your site, is an excellent bargain! And their tutorials and live support are both very good.

And when you're ready to really try to start marketing yourself through your website, I would highly suggest you go to actionplan.com and purchase Robert Middleton's $49 Website Toolkit, which gives you a structure for developing your website which incorporates sound marketing principles for one-person practice service professionals. And if you're really serious about marketing, you might be interested in his $99 manual, Infoguru Marketing. (I haven't gotten that yet because all my time is taken up right now with working on my two websites, but I will be getting it soon - it was highly recommended, though, by the people teaching the marketing workshop, who are familiar with lots of products.) And in the meantime, you should visit his site, which has lots of freebies to get you going.
(Don't look at my website as an example - I still have a long way to go! I've just started on a website with my partner for promoting our Q-T classes. I did change my homepage to make it express some things I just learned in a marketing class I'm taking (namely, don't talk about what you do - talk about the client's problems and how you can help them!)

And of course, getting out and giving free talks and demos is suggested by EVERYBODY as the #1 thing you need to do. I have to admit I'm just really starting on this aspect, since I'm not the extroverted type and approaching groups for talks fills me with all sorts of negative self-talk. Workshops are filled with people who have already paid to be there so I don't feel shy about presenting in that situation. But approaching people who may not be interested fills me with dread, as stupid as I know that is. I will be giving my first free talk, though, in January, so that should help to break the ice for me. (Although I got that because someone approached me because of my Q-T Instructor posting - I guess I'll still have to break the ice as far as approaching people who I feel may not be interested!)

Good luck!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Jocelyn,

thx a bunch everyone! jim