ep 66 - 5 things all successful nature-based business owners do
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[00:00:00] Welcome to Therapy in the Great Outdoors, the podcast where we explore the business and practice of nature based pediatric therapy of all kinds. If you're an outdoor loving pediatric practitioner in the fields of occupational, physical, or speech therapy, social work, or mental health, this podcast will help you start and grow a successful nature based practice or program.
I am the ever honest, always a hundred percent real. You'll hear it all on this podcast. Dr. Laura Park Figueroa. I'm a pediatric OT with over 20 years of experience and I run a thriving nature based practice with profitable locations in two different states and multi six figures in revenue. I also host the free online community at therapyinthegreatoutdoors.
com to help you pursue your nature based therapy dreams too. Are you ready to take action on those dreams? Let's jump in.
[00:01:00] Hi, welcome to Therapy in the Great Outdoors. This week we are going to talk about Five things that I have noticed all successful nature based business owners do. I have worked with hundreds at this point in my career of people who are running nature based practices and I noticed that there are some patterns.
There are some patterns that the most successful practices all do. And I want to share those with you so that you can be successful as well. You can do it. And I hope this episode will give you that encouragement or maybe that little kick in the pants you need to get off the fence and actually start doing Nature based practice with children.
So let's dive in.
The number one thing that I have noticed is that people who are very successful in running their nature based [00:02:00] businesses. actually take imperfect action. They don't wait until they have all their ducks in a row and everything perfect in order to just get started doing the work. So this could look differently for you depending on where you are at in your nature based therapy journey, so if you are currently running a practice, you might need to take imperfect action to start a new service or to hire your first employee, something like that, that could be something scary,?
That makes you feel how you did when you first started your business. That's probably the next imperfect action thing that you need to do. So entrepreneurship is really a process of going through these peaks and valleys of things feeling very easy and light. And we're on these mountaintop experiences and things are great.
And the valleys of feeling like, what the heck are we [00:03:00] doing? What do we do next? So, in those moments, taking imperfect action actually will Usually get you started down the right direction. Now, I guess you could take imperfect action and it could lead you the wrong way, but if we really believe that failure is an opportunity for learning, then you really can't go wrong by taking some kind of action.
Even when you don't feel like you have all of the answers, the more that you do this as a business owner. the more you will actually move yourself towards being successful. So don't wait to have all the ducks in a row, okay? Don't wait until you have the entire 10 weeks of a treatment plan planned out to start even working with a child or 10 weeks of sessions lined up for groups to start working with a group.
So you can run a group with just a couple of kids. You don't have to have a full group, right? There's lots of things you can do depending on where you are at to take imperfect action. So that's number one number two, the therapist that I have [00:04:00] interacted with who run very successful nature based practices have committed to their business for the long haul and they don't give up when things get hard. I am not someone to sugarcoat things. I will tell you straight, it is going to be hard to run any business and nature based practice has its own challenges that I think make it a little bit harder in some ways than other areas of practice.
It's also easier in some ways as well. Maybe that would be a good episode to do the Pros and cons of running a nature based business but running any business is hard in the beginning, and you have to be prepared for that. You also have to be prepared that nine years in to running your business, things might still be hard because maybe you're in a period of growth or something like that.
So there are always going to be these hard moments and you have to learn how not to give up, how to problem solve and how [00:05:00] to get the resources you need to solve the problems that come up as you run your business. It is going to be hard, but you can do it. This is a strategy that I use a lot when I am afraid in my business.
My business says I run multiple businesses now. Often when something is very overwhelming and scary to me, I will just remind myself that millions, literally millions of people have done this before me. It is not an uns most problems are solvable. There are very few unsolvable problems, especially when we're running a nature based business.
It's a very simple kind of business structure to run in most cases. So I think if you remind yourself when things get hard that many, many humans have gone before you and have done hard things to start businesses and to run businesses. You can remind yourself that you can do this as well. A little.
Mindset tip that I have there that I always use when I feel overwhelmed, reminding myself that I can solve problems and that other people have gone [00:06:00] before me and done this and done much harder things than we are doing as nature based business owners okay, so that's number two, commit for the long haul and don't give up.
Number three is to Start small and slowly build multiple revenue streams. So I feel like my glasses are crooked here, correcting my glasses. If you're watching on YouTube, you can see that they are now probably much straighter than they were before. Start small and slowly build multiple revenue streams.
One thing that I see a lot of nature based business owners do wrong is that when they start out, they offer 10 different types of services. So, you know, there might be on a website, if I'm thinking about a nature based pediatric therapy practice, there might be infant parent groups and groups for teenagers and a Mom's day out hike and a nature connections circle for community in the neighborhood that [00:07:00] they live in.
There's like so many different services listed on the website that when a customer lands on that website, they really have no clue what you do or what you specialize in. And you don't look like an expert when your website has a million different services on it, honestly. I always recommend to nature-based business owners that you decide who your favorite client is to work with, and that you start small and offer services only for that specific client.
So many, many, many people that I work with have chosen to only offer individual services to start because it is much simpler than offering nature-based therapy groups. Groups are their own ball of wax. And again, that may be another good podcast episode. It's funny. Sometimes when I'm recording, I think, oh, that's, that's a whole nother rabbit hole I could go down and I have to control myself to stay on topic with what I have told you all I will be talking about today.
The idea is that you want to [00:08:00] really establish yourself and your business as an expert in providing services in one specific area for one specific group of people. And when you do that, you can very quickly establish yourself as an expert in your community and you will get referrals going.
And then from that, You will notice where there are other needs in your community and you can create services from the original kind of model that you had. So for my business, it was almost the opposite of what most pediatric therapists are doing nowadays, which is starting with individual and then moving to groups.
I started with groups and so we became very well known in our community for offering these nature based therapy groups. And only when. I had enough people asking about individual services. Did I then start to in the business offer individual nature based occupational therapy services. So [00:09:00] I highly recommend that you start small.
You start with one specific service or maybe two, but make it very clear to any customer who is landing on your website or who is talking to you about your services. Exactly what you do and who you serve, and that is going to serve you so well in your business. It actually is a faster path to growth than offering a million different things and thinking that you're gonna gather a bunch of different clients because you'll have something for everyone.
That is, it's, it's, it's Very counterintuitive. I think as therapists, we want to serve everyone. We always want to serve everyone. And when you are a nature based business owner and you're thinking like an entrepreneur, you need to really think about the serving an ideal client and meeting a very specific need and being more niched than that.
So start small and slowly build multiple revenue streams as your reach in the community grows. And as you really start to see what people need and are asking for [00:10:00] in the community. Okay. Oh, I'm going to kind of go down a rabbit hole here. So I want to add one more thing about the multiple revenue streams.
I do think that it is very useful for nature based business owners to have online revenue streams. As you are growing your practice, as you are building your business, I think it is a good thing for you to think about Are there things that you could offer as digital or online products? Like one, one idea that I had in my practice was I thought it would be really cool to do a parent book club where we choose a book that the parents are going to read.
They can join the book club and maybe you don't charge a lot for this, right? But it really is a way. for a therapist to facilitate a conversation with families about things that are relevant to their child's development. So you would charge a fee for the parent or the families to join this book club and then you would host a book club on zoom that would meet weekly for a period of weeks or [00:11:00] monthly maybe, I don't know, however you would structure it.
It's just a random idea I had a while back that I thought would be fun. We have not executed that in my business, but that's an example of An online revenue stream that would not require you to be in person with children or families. And you would be able to build that as a, as a separate revenue stream in your business.
And again, it would have to meet a need that people have and be something that people would be willing to give you money for. But that's an example of something that I thought of that came up in my mind as an example of a way that you could build a revenue stream outside of services that you're providing in your practice.
Alrighty. That was a quick rabbit hole. Okay. So number one, take imperfect action. Number two, commit for the long haul and don't give up when things get hard. Number three, start small and slowly build multiple revenue streams over time. Number four is to develop systems for every single repeatable process in your business.
Too often as nature based business [00:12:00] owners, we are flying by the seat of our pants and I get it because I do that too. We all do. There, there's almost always more to do in a day than you possibly have time for when you are running a business. So I think too often though we get in flow of those processes and we're just doing the work so much that we don't stop and write down what we're doing in order to make it so much faster in the future.
So the next time that you are doing something in your nature based business that you do all the time and every time that you do it, you're reinventing the wheel. Stop and actually, I mean literally just get a piece of paper and a pen and write down the steps. First do this, second do this, and write down the steps to that process.
One book that I highly recommend for developing systems, actually just a chapter in a book. It's called Beyond Booked Solid by Michael Port. There is a chapter in there on systems that is an excellent resource. It is the [00:13:00] chapter that I had kind of a light bulb moment while I was reading. Like, wait a second, I have to develop systems in my business.
This was like in 2016, my first you know, right after for the first year of running my business. And I started just quickly writing down all of these things in the business that I needed systems for. In my business coaching program, I actually used that process in order to provide the business owners that are in my program with a list of systems that they might need to consider creating in their business.
And then I provide support around creating those systems for them because The, the worth of a business, when you are, when you are creating a business, I think we should always be thinking of the value that we are creating in the actual business itself as a saleable asset in the future. If you create a business that revolves just around you as the business owner providing services, then that's not really a saleable asset , I'm saying saleable, but maybe I mean sellable.
I don't know. You guys get what I mean. If [00:14:00] I leave the business and I'm the sole provider, then the business ceases to exist, right? Unless maybe, I guess, one therapist can take it over and then run it. But, if you develop these systems for every single process that is repeated in your business, Then you have an asset.
Your business systems are actually an asset that is very, very valuable to a potential buyer of your business down the road when you want to retire. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is for you to be writing down those systems from the very beginning. and bringing a team around you who can help you refine those systems and make them even better as the business grows.
So this past year was my ninth year of business. We realized just this year my nature based therapy practice is now like a well oiled machine. Like we have people in place that are running the processes.
We have people in place that are creating new processes as the business grows. [00:15:00] And the only thing that is going to enable your business to grow is if you have these systems written down and in place and being utilized by the entire team. If you have questions on that, feel free to reach out to me in the therapy and the great outdoors community.
I love to talk about systems. And this is something we focus on a lot in my business coaching program as well, the business hive. Okay. And The final thing that all successful nature based business owners do is that they are not afraid to invest in their business.
When I think about investing in my business, I primarily am thinking about investing my time and energy and money into developing myself as a business owner, as an entrepreneur, as a leader. And I think something that a lot of us are hesitant to do is to spend money. I, my experience working with therapists in general, but nature based business owners, [00:16:00] especially has been that we're frugal, right?
And we want to be sure that if we are spending our money, that we are spending our money wisely. And I think that says a lot about the quality of the people in our nature based therapist or nature based practice community, because we're being smart about how we're investing our time, energy, and resources into our business, right?
We don't want to spend money that it isn't necessary to spend. We're very much DIYers. We want to do it ourselves, right? And I'm here to tell you that you cannot grow a successful business by yourself. You can't do it. No one has ever grown a successful business that has grown beyond themselves, solely on their own, by themselves, DIYing everything.
Everybody needs everybody else. Like that is the reality. The more business books I read, the more I realize there's nothing that's been said in a business book that hasn't already been said before. And so, I want to encourage you to get yourself in community with [00:17:00] other nature based business owners who are really going to support you and who are there with a spirit of camaraderie to share and to invest in one another.
And one way that you can do that is by investing in a program, paying to join a program. And I actually think that you, I'm hesitating because I know that there are going to be people out there who probably disagree with this, but I actually think that you. You almost can't get the same value that you get in a paid program in a community that is just a let's all get together and, hold each other accountable about our businesses or whatever.
Like something that is, everybody's just kind of like together, but they're not really bought in financially. I think there really is something about putting money down that holds you accountable. I know there is for me. That has been so true for myself. I get so much more done in the paid programs that I have been in than in any kind of peer support business networking kind of group that i've been in over the [00:18:00] past nine years, so I just want to share with you.
It doesn't mean that nobody, that everybody doesn't have to have my same experience, but i'm just sharing with you I think that if you really want to be successful as a nature based business owner, you should be investing in some sort of business coaching or leadership development for yourself as the business owner.
That being said, the five things are take imperfect action, commit for the long haul and don't give up when things get hard. Start small and slowly build multiple revenue streams. Develop systems for every single repeatable process in the business and invest in your business and get coaching when you need it.
So if you are at a place where you feel like you need business coaching to help you run your nature based business, you should join us inside of The Business Hive. This is my six month long business coaching program for nature based business owners and it is a fabulous community of people. We are open now for enrollment.
You can get all the [00:19:00] details at therapyinthegreatoutdoors.com/hive. I will say. Briefly here because I really don't like to sell on the podcast, honestly, because I want the podcast to be here to help a wide variety of people. I know not all of you are nature based business owners. However, I feel like I really need to say what is in this program because Some people have told me that they had no idea everything that it included.
So the website does have everything on it, but I know a lot of times websites can be overwhelming too, and maybe you don't see everything. So this program includes weekly group coaching calls with me and the group, which we do to walk you through the business bedrocks curriculum, which is my curriculum that I wrote way back in 2020 and has been Added to and refined since then that will help you set up automated systems in your business So that you can work less and earn more money as the owner as the [00:20:00] business grows to serve more people in your community That is the whole point of the hive is to help you grow your business while also working less and making more money. I have done this myself and I know I can help you do it I pour everything I've learned from the last nine years of running my business into this program.
There are loads of resources in this program access to me and my coaching, of course, but also any template or form or resource that I have created and used in my own business, I provide you a template to edit and use in your own business inside of the business hive. I also give access to everyone inside of the business hive, gets access to all of the resources for therapy services that are inside of the therapy in the great outdoors community as well.
We are running a cohort that will start in June and go through December, and then after that, if you want to stay inside of the Hive, you will pay a reduced [00:21:00] alumni rate where you can stay in as long as you want, to
and we also have mentors that are inside of the Hive to help support you who are people who have been through the program and are staying in to support new members as well. It is a truly fabulous community. I don't think there is probably any other community out there that is like it where Everyone is there to help support one another in growing our businesses and getting more kids out into nature and serving more families.
So if you're interested, you can go to that website therapyinthegreatoutdoors.com/hive. Enrollment is open until June 1st at 5 p. m central standard time. All right, I'll see you next week. Bye!
Thanks for joining me today for Therapy in the Great Outdoors. If you want valuable advice as you start or grow your nature based pediatric practice, get my free ebook, The Nature Based Practice Roadmap. It is a guide to help you focus and avoid costly mistakes.[00:22:00]
I share the four stages of nature based practice, what you need to focus on and common mistakes to avoid in each stage, plus a checklist of specific action steps for you to take at each stage in the process. Get it at therapyinthegreatoutdoors. com. roadmap. So until next time, get outside, connect, reflect, and enjoy therapy in the great outdoors.
