Should I specialize? (June, Craniosacral Therapist.)

Mike's Reply:
by: Mike

OK - let's assume a couple of things first.

I assume that you live and work in an area with a "high enough" population (not a village of 100 people with no other town for 100 miles!)

I also assume that you are "drawn" to working in this area of specialisation i.e. you both enjoy working with infants/children and are getting great results.

OK - with those assumptions in place, your dilemma is one - in my experience - that most business people face when it comes to moving their business up a couple of gears.

Here is the logic. You may think that, well, there is a limited market for people who are looking for Craniosacral Therapy. And now, inside that limited market, I am looking to go after only a particular segment.

If you are thinking this way, you are right to be concerned.

But, let's look at it another way.

Lets say that you are living in an area with a population of 300,000 people within a 50 mile radius. If you are only concentrating on the people looking for CST withing that catchment area - well, that probably is a very small number.

On the other hand, think about the Mum in your area who is awake for the 5th night running with her baby who has colic. She loves her baby(and would love to throttle her!). The thing is - SHE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT CST - SHE JUST CARES ABOUT HER BABY getting better so that they can start sleeping and being civil to each other again.

Within your catchment area - there are probably 50.000 parents of infants and young toddlers all of whom need the sort of help and relief that CST can provide from time to time.

So - here is my suggestion.

As long as you have the catchment area - DO SPECIALISE!

However, don't promote yourself as a craniosacral therapist - promote yourself as a solver of problems. Problems such as post-birth difficulties, sleeping difficulties, breastfeeding challenges, constipation and so on.

Let the parents, midwives, doulas, district nurses, nurseries, playgroups know about the sorts of conditions you treat - and are successful with.

Promote yourself on your cards, posters, website as being a solver of these sorts of problems. Put your promotional materials up where the parents (Mums especially) congregate. That's the beauty of specialising - it becomes clear which audience you are targeting and then you can advertise where that audience congregates.

If you are as drawn to this area as you say you are - your reputation will get out there - and you will have a clear message to your audience - you are a solver of problems.

Oh - and by the way - you help people with these difficulties using CST (but thats just a by-the-way!).

Good Luck, Mike.

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Submitted by: Mike

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OK - let's assume a couple of things first. <ol><li>I assume that you live and work in an area with a "high enough" population (not a village of 100 people with no other town for 100 miles!)</li> <li>I also assume that you are "drawn" to working in this area of specialisation i.e. you both enjoy working with infants/children and are getting great results.</li></ol> OK - with those assumptions in place, your dilemma is one - in my experience - that most business people face when it comes to moving their business up a couple of gears. <b>Here is the logic.</b> You may think that, well, there is a limited market for people who are looking for Craniosacral Therapy. And now, inside that limited market, I am looking to go after only a particular segment. If you are thinking this way, you are right to be concerned. <b>But, let's look at it another way.</b> Lets say that you are living in an area with a population of 300,000 people within a 50 mile radius. If you are only concentrating on the people looking for CST withing that catchment area - well, that probably is a very small number. On the other hand, think about the Mum in your area who is awake for the 5th night running with her baby who has colic. She loves her baby(and would love to throttle her!). The thing is - SHE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT CST - SHE JUST CARES ABOUT HER BABY getting better so that they can start sleeping and being civil to each other again. Within your catchment area - there are probably 50.000 parents of infants and young toddlers all of whom need the sort of help and relief that CST can provide from time to time. So - here is my suggestion. As long as you have the catchment area - DO SPECIALISE! However, don't promote yourself as a craniosacral therapist - promote yourself as a solver of problems. Problems such as post-birth difficulties, sleeping difficulties, breastfeeding challenges, constipation and so on. Let the parents, midwives, doulas, district nurses, nurseries, playgroups know about the sorts of conditions you treat - and are successful with. Promote yourself on your cards, posters, website as being a solver of these sorts of problems. Put your promotional materials up where the parents (Mums especially) congregate. That's the beauty of specialising - it becomes clear which audience you are targeting and then you can advertise where that audience congregates. If you are as drawn to this area as you say you are - your reputation will get out there - and you will have a clear message to your audience - you are a solver of problems. Oh - and by the way - you help people with these difficulties using CST (but thats just a by-the-way!). Good Luck, Mike.

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Should I specialize? (June, Craniosacral Therapist.)

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Should I specialize? (June, Craniosacral Therapist.)