The new recruit at Osteobiz HQ
Last Sunday an unexpected text arrived from my sister, ‘Going to Mexico for a fortnight on Thursday – please could you look after our dog China? She’s sweet and no trouble. Can I bring her over later?’ which was quickly followed by, ‘PS: She only has 3 legs!’
Now, despite being brought up on a livestock farm with all kinds of animals, I’ve never been very confident around bouncy, barking, bonkers dogs!
I’m a cat person really. I love and easily tolerate their fickle moods and their superior haughtiness. Give them a cat flap, food and water and they will come and go at their leisure. And if they don’t come home some nights, they expect us to get over it. Their nocturnal naughtiness is none of our business.
So a few hours later Su whizzes from East to West London. In she comes with a tiny wobbly creature which resembles a vacuum packed fox. Being Pomeranian, China has more of a snout than a nose and her pom pom tail sits neatly atop her back. Indeed she looks more like a Ginger Tom than a Ginger Pom!
Today we have glorious sunshine. I tried to get some work done in my office but I soon ended up with a canine personal assistant on my lap craving attention. so I decided we would decant to the garden and instead do some planning and writing. But soon I start noticing how some of her behaviour could be translated into business lessons:
Business lesson 1 – Don’t chase wasps!
China is hurtling around the garden like a demented ball of candyfloss! There are lots of wasps feasting on the decaying pears beneath the tree. They become drunken and dozy and she snaps madly trying to catch them. I worry for her tiny mouth if she’s successful and the wasp takes his revenge.
It reminds me that not all people are a good fit for what we do. Some people ask me why I don’t diversify my target audience to all small businesses but my answer is always this: if they want to work with me that’s wonderful (and I do have a variety of clients) but my priority is to seek out Osteopaths who want to strengthen and grow their businesses. I can’t think of a nicer group of honest, caring, ethical people who act with such integrity. So why would I chase wasps?
Business lesson 2 – Maintain balance
China’s story is a tragic one. She went to the local dog kennels with four legs and returned with only three. They said that a large dog had ‘stood on her’ breaking her spindly front leg. Hence why it was preferable to deliver her into my very amateur care!
However, the thing is that China has learnt to live with her devastating disability. She keeps her remaining leg in a slightly more central position to maintain her balance better. Although I do worry about the stress on her structure and joints. And of course I’ve already bored my sister senseless with my recommendations of canine osteopaths in her area. You know me and my megaphone!
As I watch my new best friend in the sunny garden, I notice that she takes good care of herself. She eats little and often. She has an occasional drink of water. Then she scampers around with Toby, spinning impossibly fast before rolling over for a tummy tickle. Most importantly, she takes frequent rests, sometimes in the sun and sometimes in the convenient shade of the pear tree. That balance of activity, rest and self care seems to be the reason behind her placid and content persona.
In business, this also can be applied. Mixing up the day’s activities means that overwhelm is never reached. Factoring in a couple of breaks a day to concentrate on other aspects of running a business means that things like marketing and accounts are not neglected plus you get to have a well deserved sit down.
Business lesson 3 – Persistence leads to success
I cannot imagine the psychological and physical distress caused to any creature after losing a leg. How you learn to walk again but in a completely different fashion. How it feels to be unstable and prone to falling must be incredibly challenging.
Somehow this little doggie learnt how to get up, walk, run, spin in circles, jump in and out of the backdoor, scoot upstairs and carefully come down again.
I’d say that requires huge persistence on her part. She must have fallen over many times in the early days but now she’s highly mobile and agile.
Powerful business lessons can be learned here. We can sometimes feel like giving up; it can feel like we’re not getting through to people how we can help them. Bookings may be a bit slow as a result.
But it’s the same with many things; some people will hear about something new and will jump right in. Some people will think it’s rubbish and won’t touch it. The vast majority will watch from the sidelines, see what others have to say about it, mull over whether or not it’s the right thing for them, think about the pros and cons and wonder if things are really bad enough to warrant getting the help that they’re beginning to think might benefit them.
This can be a long process and that’s why you have to keep going and keep talking about what you do everywhere and all the time. So double your marketing efforts and always be consistent and persistent. Indeed I have done just that in recent weeks and the results have been astounding!
I’ve been receiving emails from new contacts and regular subscribers alike telling me that it really is time to get my help. Further, I’ve been getting phone calls from Osteopaths who say that my name just keeps on cropping up in front of them online and offline and even colleagues are suggesting they ring me! There comes a point when they take that action to find out exactly how I can help them to build a thriving Practice.
As China will testify, nothing succeeds like dogged determination.
