"Embracing Your Sensitivity: Thriving as a Highly Sensitive Entrepreneur in a Brick and Mortar Business"

Brick and Mortar service based businesses are just different than online businesses. The overhead is usually a lot higher, you are trying to find great places to lease, looking to see what communities in your area has to offer, and if you will fit in nicely with the demographic. When picking a location these take high priority. You do not want to have a physical business location in a retirement community if you are a prenatal Chiropractor. A lot of planning has to go into this.

Along with the planning, as Holistic Service Providers, a lot of us utilize our bodies and our hands as tools. This requires us to have physical contact with the client or patient. We have to be in the same room as people, touching them, working with them in a hands on approach. A lot of times we may be working back to back with clients all day.

From an energetic standpoint, this will quickly deplete an introvert, empath, or highly sensitive person (usually if you are one, you are all). We are having to give a lot of our emotional and physical currency everyday to provide amazing results for people. For anyone this can be exhausting, but for us it takes a little longer for our tanks to fill back up.

So how do we thrive with these beautiful gifts we have without reaching business burnout at exponential speeds? The big answer comes with having very detailed organization of your business. For some small business owners, getting started is a challenge. We may be slower than we wanted to be, have to do more marketing than planned, or being more extroverted than we prefer. To make up for some of these additional energy suckers, you need to have a plan. A strong plan.

Foundations are everything. If you are a holistic health provider you should understand how vital a strong foundation is for any client you are working with. You have to also think of this for your business. Basics can be boring, they can feel like a waste of time, but the more you have laid out, the more our future self will thank you.

Use me as an example, when I opened my Chiropractic business at 27, my now husband and I were already feeling the stresses of business life. From getting a business loan, finding a space and community, to being completely broke. We knew we had to hit the ground running hard, even though our personalities did not resonate well with traditional growth of a business. We had more time in the beginning but because of these stressors we neglected to put good foundational processes into place. We didn't have a good system for day-to-day operations and when we were able to get to the point to hire someone, we barely had any guidelines for ourselves let alone training someone else.

If I could go back, I would start by asking myself those really basic and foundational questions. Like, core values, what kind of personality do I have? Does certain marketing ideas make my stomach hurt? What do I love so far about my business and what are things I am putting to the side because A. I don't know how to do it or B. I don't want to do it C. A combination of the both. I also would ask myself, if I were to hire someone tomorrow would they understand what I do, what I represent, and value as a business? Or is it just a giant hot mess express in here?

As a highly sensitive person, putting foundations in place will put you one step ahead of the game and you will be able to spend more our your currency on what really matters, serving your ideal client.

If you have more questions or would additional help, email me at info@drarielblackburn.com

You got this!

-Dr. Ariel Blackburn

Chiropractor and business mentor guiding other highly sensitive, introverted female holistic health care providers. I help you find your true potential by pulling them away from conventional methods of business ownership