My biggest success as a business owner came during a lightbulb moment that shone through me as bright as a carnival spot light. “Mom, I think I know what I was born for,” I spoke the words on the phone and barely sputtered out the last of them before I broke down. I had to apologize and quickly explain that they were tears of joy before Mom did her usual, overly-dramatic my-baby-must-have-just-crashed-her-car response. I’ve had an alternative twist to entrepreneurial success and it has to do with knowing my purpose.
I’ve spent a few decades redefining what it means to succeed, and the last ten as an entrepreneur reinforcing those beliefs over and over again, despite what the income numbers have been. Because even in my highest income months, I wasn’t as happy and free and totally me as I am now; now that I’m doing what I know I’m meant for, and serving the people I was born to serve.
I’ve always been a healer, that was the easy part. I was great with my hands from the start of physical therapy school and my classmates let me know it. I went on to excel at every job I had, achieve manager status at some and then co-own and finally own my own clinics. Success back then meant bigger, better, faster, more and perfect. Until I burned out. Then I began to question everything, and everyone who had taught me what I believed.
My career path became my healing journey and I had to redefine healing for myself so that I could teach my clients what it meant to achieve true health, wellness and success. If someone had told me back then what that journey would require, I may have said, “No thanks.” Transforming my fear, rediscovering my worth and learning to be out loud in the world wasn’t the path of healing or success I thought I signed up for. I just knew I wanted to help people with their injuries.
What started out as a high school interest in athletic bodies and anatomy became a fierce enthusiasm to understand healing and how that included the integration of mind, body and soul. I quickly noticed that every word I had memorized for the last six and half years of my Western medicine education was a waste if I didn’t understand how they related to my client’s thoughts and deepest desires. Desires? What did that have to do with healing? A lot it turns out.
What they don’t teach you in school is that healing is much more than fixing something that’s broken. They don’t touch on how the mind and thoughts effect physiology. And emotions? What are those? If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn’t have chosen a traditional Western medicine education.
However I now truly believe that my path, and every choice I’ve made along the way has brought me to this point, this day, with this knowledge and experience; to truly heal you must peel off the layers of dirt that smother your soul. And that healing is just as much about what you think as how you feel. That your most powerful healer lies just beneath your skin; your inner healer holds the key to everything you desire.
Success it turns out has more to do with how you do what you do rather than what you do, or how much you make doing it. Success for me has meant standing in the acknowledgment of my worthiness, expressing myself out loud, and stepping into the power and confidence that allow me to serve others with my gifts. Only after doing these things did I feel the true success of freedom, ease and joy.
Most people define business success by financial measurements only. And while a great bottom line is wonderful, it doesn’t help if you’re exhausted, miserable or trapped in a job you don’t enjoy. What if we began to measure success on our own terms? What if we were each allowed to define it for ourselves, without anyone else’s opinion or gauge of right or wrong? What if we started defining business success by how much that business gave back to the community, or by how “green” they were? What if a successful business meant that it’s owners and employees were healthy, happy and filled with purpose on a daily basis?
Being a brave healer has helped me feel successful. Stepping into my purpose as a healer and truly feeling the moments of my day as they feed my soul, and my bank account, is the ultimate success. When the exchange of money for my services not only fills me up but begins to overflow in the form of energy and creativity, then I know I can really serve. That feeling; the one of pure inspiration, enthusiasm, and joy inside my “work” day is how I know I’m successful, no matter how long it’s taken me to get there.
The first step to true success is to start to question what you were taught it means, and then make your own rules. Your journey to success includes redefining it and transforming the way you do what you do to create a business that feeds your soul and your wallet.
I have something to help you with your healing blog success! Make sure to check out my list of 50 blog ideas for your healing business! That’s weekly content for almost a year!
Click Here to Subscribe
Laura Probert, MPT is a brave healer, badass writer and holistic physical therapist with a mission to help you create a healing business that feeds your soul and saves the world. Her inspirational writing can be found in places like The Huffington Post, MindBodyGreen, The Elephant Journal, and on her blog at www.LauraProbert.com
