HEART-BASED BUSINESS | My Journey to Winning 'Tutor of the Year'
In November 2021 I was awarded ‘Tutor of the Year’ by the Federation of Holistic Therapists (FHT). I was commended in the same category in 2012 and after a decade of discovery, I was given the top award. Why? I’ve learned over the years that creating an award-winning academy is not only about offering the best courses I can, but equally important, is the context within which the courses are taught. In other words, it is about the heart that goes into everything done and working with an awareness that love wins.
Similar to our health being a holistic endeavour - including mind, body and soul - I believe the success of anything we do can benefit massively from also being treated in a similarly holistic way. For example, when I received news from the FHT that I had won the award, their reasons stemmed beyond my teaching abilities.
One of their first comments was about how touched they were that I had delivered online workshops and donated all of the revenues to buy food for struggling local families in Mexico (while I was stuck there for several months when the COVID lockdowns first kicked-in).
People Can ‘Smell the Sell’
In recent times, I had the opportunity to witness the inner workings of an organisation losing its way. Working within the organisation, I got to see first-hand what can happen when pride or profit becomes more important than people, and the dire consequences of focusing more on ‘saving the business’ than on ‘serving the community’.
Yes, we are in unprecedented times; people are feeling the financial pinch of apparently power-hungry politicians and a world on perpetual ‘lockdown’ and ‘restrictions’. I also get that we all need to make some money - so that everyone gets paid and everything stays afloat. However, and especially in the mind-body-soul field, when making money becomes more important than making a positive difference, it is usually the fast-track to failure. The universe stops supporting it, and it’s like potential clients can ‘smell the sell’ and stop trusting that the people in the business are operating from the purest of intentions.
Since I founded the Mind Detox Academy in 2008, I’ve seen lots of talented coaches and trainers come and go back to their day jobs. Obviously, there’s several reasons for this, and I’m not going to suggest I know what was going on in the inner workings of their minds, lives or businesses. Nevertheless, allow me to share some of my ‘strategies’ for creating a sustainable business that makes a genuine impact:
1) People Buy People
I know this may sound like a rather ugly thing to say, at first glance, but I am still waiting to be proven wrong. Especially in the mind-body-soul industry, you can have the best product and you can be great at what you do, however, if your potential (or current) clients do not witness you as doing your best to walk your talk, then they usually won’t be inspired to invest, or stick around. The good news is you also don’t need to pretend to be perfect. When I first became a ‘life coach’ in 2005, I had no clients because I believed I needed to be positive all of the time. It wasn’t until I started being ‘real’ and sharing honestly, could people relate to me, and see that if I could ‘do it’, so could they.
2) Give Give Give
I know this goes against the grain of some ‘high performance coaches’ who are telling everyone to ‘triple their prices’ and do ‘nothing for free’, I remain a firm believer in giving as much as I can, for free or at minimal cost. On the average week, I will spend a full day working with one:one clients free-of-charge. What most people don’t know, as I haven’t promoted it, is that by them paying a fair price for my services, it enables me to work for free with people who genuinely cannot afford it.
A few years ago I also realised that keeping my best resources to myself - by having them saved in a file on my computer - wasn’t helping anyone. I’m here to make a difference. I want to improve lives. It’s what lights me up, gets me out of bed in the morning, and keeps me out of bed late at night when working on a project. The moment I started sharing my stuff, for free or next to nothing, people started choosing to invest in me - to build upon the value they had already gained.
The famous phrase: ‘What goes around comes around’ has been proven true to me, time after time. Give, give and give some more. On top of the multiple free one:one sessions I do each month, my online club is the price of a trip to Starbucks, I have a pile of free meditations on my website, and I share a free podcast too. I want to help people and so with that focus, I give whatever I need to give for people to be helped. If they want to then dive deeper by buying something, it all contributes to me continuing to offer my services on a full-time basis. Making money is far from my focus on a daily basis.
WARNING: Don’t give stuff to get stuff back. It’s like the universe knows when you are trying to manipulate it. Just give. Get up every day with the intention of finding new ways to give, to serve, and to make a difference. And you know the funny thing, if you play honestly with this, then the financial benefits do tend to flow back, but often from the most unexpected sources. You may be working on one part of your business, and then someone buys something from a completely different part. It’s as if you just need to genuinely be ‘in the giving game’ and it sends a ripple out that eventually comes back. It also feels great to give, so you can’t lose!
3) Wing It More Often
Again, I know this is contrary to the common advice of having a detailed business plan. I guess it’s not my intention to share what you may already know here. If I were to give my business strategy a name it would be: ‘Winging It With Inspiration’. Yep, I wing it. I’ve never had a business plan and I don’t sit down to strategise about how I was going to ‘get more clients’, generate a passive income from an online club, or create an award-winning academy. The best of what I’ve created, and incidentally what’s also had the biggest positive impact, has come from pure inspiration; fuelled by the intention make a difference.
I describe inspiration as a ‘creative thought’ that comes with its own ‘built in energy’ to bring it into creation. Acting upon inspiration is playing your part in moving pure un-manifest potential into physical form. It’s pure magic, if you think about it. But, anyway, let’s get back to winging it…
One day, back in 2016, I woke up one morning and felt inspired to start an online club. The idea came from wanting to solve the problem of doing events around the world and then having to leave people without the support they needed (to fully live what I’d taught them, in the limited time we had together). And so the online club was started with the intention of providing a low cost way to give on-going advice and support. I had the idea on a Tuesday morning and the virtual doors opened a week later - despite having to learn how to build the website myself. Little did I know that I was setting myself up to offer weekly webinars ever since - that’s around 270 club webinars and counting!
I also didn’t know that so many awesome folk would join my club and then naturally want to progress on to take an academy course or have some one:one session with me. Looking back it looks like a great business strategy, but it all came from one inspired thought, and the willingness to act upon it. I urge you to employ inspiration as your primary business coach. And as an added bonus, by letting inspiration guide your strategy, you automatically create a business that’s aligned with your life purpose. You get to have a business that reflects what you were born to be and do.
I hope something in all that is helpful for you. Let’s get back to my recent award win. Would you like to see my nomination entry? By this, I mean the exact info shared with the FHT that led to them choosing me as ‘Tutor of the Year’? Here it is…
My Nomination Submission
Here’s the exact, unedited, information provided in the award nomination online form, submitted to the FHT. There was a strict word count and the FHT provided the 3 questions asking about my therapeutic background, why I was being nominated, and why I should win. The information was compiled by one of the main Academy Supervisors and a recent graduate, who then passed it on to me for a final edit/check before submission:
1) BREIF BACKGROUND OF THERAPY BACKGROUND & EXPERIENCE
* Created the Mind Detox Method in 2007 - for discovering and resolving the possible mind-based root-causes of physical, emotional and life issues. * Delivered hundreds of one:one consultations with clients from around the world * Author of 12 books including Mind Detox, Mind Calm & Body Calm - published by Hay House and Findhorn Press. * Qualified as a meditation teacher in 2009 and has meditated for thousands of hours. * Created the Mind Calm and Body Calm meditation techniques - used internationally. * Founded Mind Detox Academy in 2008 and taught practitioners from over 25 countries. * Created the Mind Detox Online Club in 2016 - offering weekly webinars, expert interviews, masterclasses and meditations * Spoken on stages in-front of audiences of 1000+. * Sandy has appeared on 3 television series demonstrating the power of his methods - aired in over 30 countries.
Sandy is committed to his one:one clinic and works daily with clients. During these sessions, he helps people to make the shift from treating surface-level symptoms to discover and resolve the unconscious root causes. With his meditation background, he also helps people to live with less mental and emotional stress, struggle and suffering. He aims to share new ways to think, feel and live - by providing a multitude of practical ways to 'change the mind' (beliefs, attitudes, perceptions) and heal a person’s relationship with their mind, emotions, body and life - so inner peace and freedom from chronic issues is possible.
2) WHY ARE YOU NOMINATING SANDY?
* During the pandemic Sandy immediately responded by offering extra support for his academy students and graduates. He offered twice-weekly webinars and ran a free online masterclass on how to host webinars - so graduates could offer uninterrupted support to their personal clients and sustain their own businesses. He also invited graduates to co-deliver webinars for his online club - to help them overcome any fears and confidently share online. He also created a Telegram group so members could connect, share, ask questions and get immediate support from Sandy and the community. Rarely a day goes by without someone commenting how grateful they are to be part of the online community. He also reduced his prices to keep his online resources and courses accessible. He did this, despite himself being stuck in Mexico for 7 months, with multiple cancelled flights, unable to get home. While in Mexico, he ran online courses and donated all of the revenue to buy food for struggling local families.
* Sandy has created 4 primary methods (Mind Detox, Mind Calm, Body Calm, Calm Cure) and over 100 protocols to help people to apply the principles he shares - in real life. He has a unique way of supporting others to heal and transform. Having extensively researched the mind-body connection, he created directories that map the common mind-based causes of issues relating to the different body parts, organs, 12 systems of the body, and over 100 chronic conditions. These directories are consistently shown to be an accurate and reliable resource for gaining insight on the unconscious causes of wellbeing issues. Having overcome anxiety and found inner peace himself, he has also helped many others to do the same. His meditations have made meditating accessible to many worldwide.
* Since starting the academy in 2008, Sandy has remained committed to only graduating practitioners who have proven they can safely and effectively work with others. He is known for saying he cares more about the 'quality' of graduates, rather than the 'quantity'. Every student is given their own dedicated Supervisor to meet with multiple times during their course. All students are required to practice together in 'Co-Coaching Sessions' and once they have demonstrated they are ready, are then required to do Case Studies with people outside the academy. Sandy hosts monthly Supervision Session webinars - for students and graduates - so they can ask questions, learn the latest research and developments, and get feedback on their co-coaching, case studies and paying clients. All students are required to complete a Business and Marketing module - to ensure professional standards and support profitable practices that are making a positive difference in the world. The majority of graduates opt to become Alumni members - to access special resources and support for graduates. On top of the comprehensive academy course materials, students and alumni get access to Sandy's Mind Detox Club - with online masterclasses, meditations, expert interviews and weekly webinars - to benefit personally and support their continued professional development.
3) SANDY SHOULD WIN BECAUSE…
* Sandy should win because of the significant difference he is making to people's lives. He goes above and beyond and been there for us during such challenging times. He's genuinely committed to bringing more healing and peace to the planet.
* Sandy has created a wonderfully supportive community - who he interacts with daily offering encouragement, insight and inspiration.
* Sandy is an excellent communicator - able to teach complex concepts in understandable ways.
* Sandy has created comprehensive courses that are professional delivered and truly transformational. He encourages us to 'walk the talk' - by using the methods and meditating every day.
* Sandy has created an international team of super talented practitioners who are having excellent results with their clients. Our achievements are a testimony and reflection of the superior standards of the training he provides and the tailored advice and inspiration he gives to us.
* A graduate recently shared how Sandy had worked with her depressed and anxious daughter and was convinced that he had 'saved her life'. This is just one of many times I've heard such comments about Sandy's impact. His work helps people cope, be more resilient, become happier and healthier, experience less stress and anxiety, and more peace and empowerment.
* Sandy is a genuine, authentic, accessible, teacher-by-example. One of the characteristics of being a truly great teacher/tutor is not being on a pedestal, but living it and being one of us. Sandy is humble, honest, encouraging, engaging and funny!
“At the heart of any successful organisation is heart.”
The Heart of Business
Based upon my observations, at the heart of any successful business is ‘heart’ - consisting of kindness, love, service and genuine giving. You can have the best product or service, but without heart, the business leaders can become too focused on profits rather than providing real value. When it comes to ‘value’ in an academy like mine, again, it is about so much more than quality course content or professional manuals. A huge part of the value comes from people feeling cared for, receiving consistent teaching (beyond what they’ve officially paid for), and the nurturing of a community that everyone involved in can feel safe, connected to, and proud to be an important part of. It’s about heart.
The heartbeat of my academy has become stronger through nurturing an intangible, yet palpable bond with the students and alumni. It’s not about trying to create ‘customers for life’, but about giving all you possibly can to empower others to live their best life. I am genuinely happy when someone doesn’t ‘need’ me anymore. I want them to take the best of what I have to offer, and fly. It’s about making people more important than profit. It’s about living and working from the heart - with integrity - and with the deep knowing that ‘LOVE WINS’. I’ve always enjoyed the rewarding process of creating life-changing methods and courses, but one of my greatest joys comes from creating a holistic learning experience that touches hearts and improves lives.
