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60 | The Power of Showing Up
Why bother to show up when you can watch the recording?
Today, I'm sharing a simple yet often overlooked strategy for building your visibility and relationships within your community.
Finding clients and getting the word out about your practice can be a real challenge, especially when you're just starting out. It's easy to find yourself stressing over sending cold outreach emails to other practitioners or spending lots of time on social media in the hopes of building your referral network.
But there's another option that can make a huge difference: just show up for programs and classes that you're already interested in or signed up for.
What do I mean by "just show up"?
Here's an example:
If you sign up for a training or a webinar, don't just watch the recording later on at 2x speed. (Yes, I am guilty of this sometimes myself 😂).
Show up to the live sessions and participate actively in the chat or forum. Turn your camera on if you can. Engage with the presenter and/or the other attendees. Ask questions, share your thoughts and ideas, and be visible.
Instead of thinking of this merely as a way to obtain information or knowledge, understand that it is also an opportunity to build community.
When you are actively present at these kinds of events, you start to become known as an individual. People can get a sense for who you are, how you engage with people, and what work you do. When they feel comfortable with you, they are more likely to work with you personally and to refer clients who are a good fit.
But Camille, I'm too busy! I can't show up live.
Of course. I get it. You can't show up to everything.
Here's my advice: choose wisely and don't sign up for 100 things.
Only sign up for the things you're truly interested in and know you can make time for. Put them in your calendar and make them a priority. And when you do show up, be present and engaged.
Here's something you can do even if you can't attend live (or when there isn't a live option):
This is an easy one that surprisingly few people do: follow-up.
After the session or training, send a thank-you email to the presenter or other attendees you connected with. Take the initiative to stay in touch periodically.
This same idea applies for non-event situations. If someone's newsletter is a bright spot in your day, hit reply and let them know. Podcast episode blew you away? Leave a 5-star review. Cool YouTube video that answered your question perfectly? Give it a thumbs up and leave a kind comment. Using what you learned from a specific teacher every day? Email them to say hi and thank them, even if it's been 15 years.
You can easily make someone's day by doing these things, and it really does go a long way toward building relationships and community, which are at the core of a thriving practice.
The short version
Your presence matters. Signing up for classes, events, newsletters, videos, etc is not only about extracting information but also presents an opportunity to build relationships. Use it.
-- Leave a message for Camille: https://intheclinic.com
Thanks for listening.
I'd love to hear from you. Leave me a voicemail with feedback or submit a question (click the pink "Send Camille a Message" button on the side of the page) 💚
Camille's Helpful Links for Practitioners
Transcript
Camille (00:00)
Well, hi there. Welcome to In the Clinic with Camille. My name is Camille Freeman. I am a licensed nutritionist and registered herbalist. In this podcast, I share little tips and tidbits that might be interesting or helpful for other practitioners. Today, I want to share with you an idea for how you can become more visible in your community that's relatively easy and also that a lot of people just don't do. I feel really passionately about this. You might be able to hear it in my voice. When we are trying to find clients and we are trying to get the word out about our practice and we're trying to be available to serve the people who could really use our help, a lot of times it's a struggle in the beginning. And we're asking ourselves all these questions about how can I find more clients? How can I meet other practitioners? How can I be somebody who people think about when it's time to refer somebody or when it's time to make that appointment when they really want to take control of their health or they really want some support in a particular area of their lives?
Camille (01:11)
And we do a lot of thinking about, Oh, social media. I can be on social media, or I can send letters out to therapists, or I can all this, that, and the other. It's hard. A lot of times it's like, Oh, the visibility piece of it is challenging for people, and so forth. But there's another option that goes such a long way in terms of building your relationships, both within people who are also practitioners and also for people who may want to be your clients. That is the simple practice of just showing up to the things that you're already part of. What do I mean by this? What do I mean when I say just show up? Let me give you an example. Let's say you sign up for a generic business class of some sort. It's an entrepreneur startup group, or you sign up, maybe even it's a training. It's a continuing education program about IBS for practitioners. You sign up for this thing. Let's say maybe there's Zoom classes once a week and then there's a forum. Most of us were busy. Maybe we can come to the live classes, maybe we can't, and maybe we can participate in the forum, maybe we can't, that thing.
Camille (02:32)
A lot of us are like, Oh, I'm there for the content. I want to watch the training video, or I want to get the workbook, or whatever it is. A lot of people don't participate in the real time session or the forum. The simple strategy that I'm recommending here is do participate in those things. Do show up. Do be visible in that way. The same type of thing. If you sign up for, let's say, a free webinar or something, it's just a one time thing. You sign up for it and then you're like, yeah, I'll watch the recording. I can watch it on 2 X while I'm cooking dinner. That'd be great. There's a difference between doing that and showing up to the real thing and participating in the chat and asking a question and really setting aside the time and being there. That difference is that when you show up, it makes a difference in building your relationship, both with the person who is presenting and with the other people who also bothered to show up. Now, I'm not saying that we do this every single time, all this thing. I know there are times when we really can't show up and we really do just give me the information.
Camille (03:45)
But when you do show up and you ask questions and you send a thank you note or a thank you email, Hey, that made a big difference for me, whatever it is, when you do those things, it stands out because not that many people do them. And if you have, let's say, a teacher you really love and whose work you really admire, and you sign up for their program because you want that information, and then you show up to the live sessions and you ask some really great questions and you send them a follow up thank you email after that, you do that two or three times, that person is going to start remembering you positively, fondly. They may think of you when they want to refer somebody or when they're doing another program that is a little bit more selective. You just don't know what's going to come, but it's because you put in the time and the effort to build the relationship. Same thing if there's a forum of some sort and you show up there, not in a promotional way, not like, Let me just tell you about my new program I'm running, but in a way where you're legitimately engaging, you're supporting other people.
Camille (04:46)
You're saying, Oh, my gosh, I loved what you said here. This is something else I thought of. Or you're sharing this article you found that you thought might be interesting to other people in the class. You're really making an effort to engage actively with the people, they will start to know your name. They will start to think of you, especially if you have a theme or a focus and you're like, Okay, IBS is my thing and I just filter everything through that lens and I show up and I talk about it. People will start to know you and think like, Oh, who is that person that I know that works on IBS? Oh, yeah, that person. They will know where to find you. They can look you up in that forum and find out your contact information. It really, really, really does make a difference when you show up, when you turn your video on in a meeting. Again, we can't always all do that, but when you do, it makes a difference. I'll give you one more example, which I was just talking about in another podcast, but I thought I would highlight it here as well, which is that last fall, I ran a program called New Practitioner Week.
Camille (05:50)
The whole point of it was to help people who are brand new to being a practitioner and to share some information about getting started. It was free or $25. I can't remember off the top of my head, but somewhere close to 200 people signed up for it. We had four live sessions during the week at lunchtime, Eastern time. Of course, not everybody is going to be able to take 30 minutes at 12 PM Eastern Time any or all of those days. The expectation was not that people would show up live, but it was an option for them. There was an area to introduce yourself and so forth. Of the 200 people, maybe 30 or 40 would show up to each live session. No different confirmation of people every day. But of those people that were there, a small handful asked questions and chimed in during the session. And then another small handful reached out afterwards to say thank you or to share a comment or with some communication. And a small handful introduced themselves in the chat area. And guess what? It's been six months and I still remember the names of several of those people.
Camille (07:07)
I've been in contact with them. We have developed a relationship, a working relationship. And it really wasn't that hard to show up to a free thing and make some comments, reach out, that thing. Now, again, I'm not saying everyone should do that. I'm not saying that I'm mad at people who weren't able to do that. That's certainly not the takeaway point because we all have different lives and things like that. But what I am saying is that when you sign up for a program, especially a paid program, where there are other practitioners there, you will get the most value in the long term from that program when you show up, when you are visible, either during the live sessions, in the forum, or just visible to the instructor and the faculty by reaching out afterwards or during to say thank you or do whatever. Please think about that when you're thinking, How do I build people's awareness? How do I develop this Rhizomatic network of people that I'm a part of and that who are a part of my practice or my work in some way? Just start showing up to these things instead of just taking what you need and never really showing your face metaphorically or physically.
Camille (08:24)
And if you are super busy and you're like, Oh, there's just so many things, and I'm busy and I've got to cook dinner and I've got this and that and that and that. I would also suggest maybe only sign up for the things where you actually can show up. Don't keep signing up for things where you're like, Oh, I just want to have that, but I don't actually have the time to do it. Sign up for things where you can put it in your calendar. This is when the live session is, I'm coming to it. Or I'm scheduling in 15 minutes a day while I'm in this program to engage on the forum. Make it a priority to not just extract the information from the training or session or whatever, but also to show up and be part of it for the sake of your own community building. Because when people get to know you, when they know your style, when they know what you care about, when they know what questions you're asking, the more visible you are in these ways, the easier it is for people to know your work and to know who might be appropriate to come in and work with you.
Camille (09:36)
That's just a little tip from me to you. I need to take that advice myself about the importance of showing up and the relationships that can be built that way. Anyway, that's something that I am working on in my own life as well. I hope that is helpful for you. And if you have any questions or thoughts, please don't hesitate to reach out. All right, take care. Thanks for listening to In the Clinic with Camille. Hey, did you know that I write a weekly practitioner note for herbalists and nutritionists? If you would like to get that in your inbox, you can sign up at camillefreeman. Com newsletter. I'd love to have you join us there.
Well, hi there. Welcome to In the Clinic with Camille. My name is Camille Freeman. I am a licensed nutritionist and registered herbalist. In this podcast, I share little tips and tidbits that might be interesting or helpful for other practitioners. Today, I want to share with you an idea for how you can become more visible in your community that's relatively easy and also that a lot of people just don't do. I feel really passionately about this. You might be able to hear it in my voice. When we are trying to find clients and we are trying to get the word out about our practice and we're trying to be available to serve the people who could really use our help, a lot of times it's a struggle in the beginning. And we're asking ourselves all these questions about how can I find more clients? How can I meet other practitioners? How can I be somebody who people think about when it's time to refer somebody or when it's time to make that appointment when they really want to take control of their health or they really want some support in a particular area of their lives?
Camille (01:11)
And we do a lot of thinking about, Oh, social media. I can be on social media, or I can send letters out to therapists, or I can all this, that, and the other. It's hard. A lot of times it's like, Oh, the visibility piece of it is challenging for people, and so forth. But there's another option that goes such a long way in terms of building your relationships, both within people who are also practitioners and also for people who may want to be your clients. That is the simple practice of just showing up to the things that you're already part of. What do I mean by this? What do I mean when I say just show up? Let me give you an example. Let's say you sign up for a generic business class of some sort. It's an entrepreneur startup group, or you sign up, maybe even it's a training. It's a continuing education program about IBS for practitioners. You sign up for this thing. Let's say maybe there's Zoom classes once a week and then there's a forum. Most of us were busy. Maybe we can come to the live classes, maybe we can't, and maybe we can participate in the forum, maybe we can't, that thing.
Camille (02:32)
A lot of us are like, Oh, I'm there for the content. I want to watch the training video, or I want to get the workbook, or whatever it is. A lot of people don't participate in the real time session or the forum. The simple strategy that I'm recommending here is do participate in those things. Do show up. Do be visible in that way. The same type of thing. If you sign up for, let's say, a free webinar or something, it's just a one time thing. You sign up for it and then you're like, yeah, I'll watch the recording. I can watch it on 2 X while I'm cooking dinner. That'd be great. There's a difference between doing that and showing up to the real thing and participating in the chat and asking a question and really setting aside the time and being there. That difference is that when you show up, it makes a difference in building your relationship, both with the person who is presenting and with the other people who also bothered to show up. Now, I'm not saying that we do this every single time, all this thing. I know there are times when we really can't show up and we really do just give me the information.
Camille (03:45)
But when you do show up and you ask questions and you send a thank you note or a thank you email, Hey, that made a big difference for me, whatever it is, when you do those things, it stands out because not that many people do them. And if you have, let's say, a teacher you really love and whose work you really admire, and you sign up for their program because you want that information, and then you show up to the live sessions and you ask some really great questions and you send them a follow up thank you email after that, you do that two or three times, that person is going to start remembering you positively, fondly. They may think of you when they want to refer somebody or when they're doing another program that is a little bit more selective. You just don't know what's going to come, but it's because you put in the time and the effort to build the relationship. Same thing if there's a forum of some sort and you show up there, not in a promotional way, not like, Let me just tell you about my new program I'm running, but in a way where you're legitimately engaging, you're supporting other people.
Camille (04:46)
You're saying, Oh, my gosh, I loved what you said here. This is something else I thought of. Or you're sharing this article you found that you thought might be interesting to other people in the class. You're really making an effort to engage actively with the people, they will start to know your name. They will start to think of you, especially if you have a theme or a focus and you're like, Okay, IBS is my thing and I just filter everything through that lens and I show up and I talk about it. People will start to know you and think like, Oh, who is that person that I know that works on IBS? Oh, yeah, that person. They will know where to find you. They can look you up in that forum and find out your contact information. It really, really, really does make a difference when you show up, when you turn your video on in a meeting. Again, we can't always all do that, but when you do, it makes a difference. I'll give you one more example, which I was just talking about in another podcast, but I thought I would highlight it here as well, which is that last fall, I ran a program called New Practitioner Week.
Camille (05:50)
The whole point of it was to help people who are brand new to being a practitioner and to share some information about getting started. It was free or $25. I can't remember off the top of my head, but somewhere close to 200 people signed up for it. We had four live sessions during the week at lunchtime, Eastern time. Of course, not everybody is going to be able to take 30 minutes at 12 PM Eastern Time any or all of those days. The expectation was not that people would show up live, but it was an option for them. There was an area to introduce yourself and so forth. Of the 200 people, maybe 30 or 40 would show up to each live session. No different confirmation of people every day. But of those people that were there, a small handful asked questions and chimed in during the session. And then another small handful reached out afterwards to say thank you or to share a comment or with some communication. And a small handful introduced themselves in the chat area. And guess what? It's been six months and I still remember the names of several of those people.
Camille (07:07)
I've been in contact with them. We have developed a relationship, a working relationship. And it really wasn't that hard to show up to a free thing and make some comments, reach out, that thing. Now, again, I'm not saying everyone should do that. I'm not saying that I'm mad at people who weren't able to do that. That's certainly not the takeaway point because we all have different lives and things like that. But what I am saying is that when you sign up for a program, especially a paid program, where there are other practitioners there, you will get the most value in the long term from that program when you show up, when you are visible, either during the live sessions, in the forum, or just visible to the instructor and the faculty by reaching out afterwards or during to say thank you or do whatever. Please think about that when you're thinking, How do I build people's awareness? How do I develop this Rhizomatic network of people that I'm a part of and that who are a part of my practice or my work in some way? Just start showing up to these things instead of just taking what you need and never really showing your face metaphorically or physically.
Camille (08:24)
And if you are super busy and you're like, Oh, there's just so many things, and I'm busy and I've got to cook dinner and I've got this and that and that and that. I would also suggest maybe only sign up for the things where you actually can show up. Don't keep signing up for things where you're like, Oh, I just want to have that, but I don't actually have the time to do it. Sign up for things where you can put it in your calendar. This is when the live session is, I'm coming to it. Or I'm scheduling in 15 minutes a day while I'm in this program to engage on the forum. Make it a priority to not just extract the information from the training or session or whatever, but also to show up and be part of it for the sake of your own community building. Because when people get to know you, when they know your style, when they know what you care about, when they know what questions you're asking, the more visible you are in these ways, the easier it is for people to know your work and to know who might be appropriate to come in and work with you.
Camille (09:36)
That's just a little tip from me to you. I need to take that advice myself about the importance of showing up and the relationships that can be built that way. Anyway, that's something that I am working on in my own life as well. I hope that is helpful for you. And if you have any questions or thoughts, please don't hesitate to reach out. All right, take care. Thanks for listening to In the Clinic with Camille. Hey, did you know that I write a weekly practitioner note for herbalists and nutritionists? If you would like to get that in your inbox, you can sign up at camillefreeman. Com newsletter. I'd love to have you join us there.
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