Have you ever compared the relationship you have with your equine assisted business to how you built the relationship with your horse?
Here is what I mean by that metaphorical question.
When you got your horse - did you load him/her up on the trailer, drive home, pull the horse out of the trailer, throw on a saddle and ride off merrily into the sunset?
Maybe you did and if so, good for you. Not the story for most of us.
Most of us take the time to build relationship and communicate from the ground before placing the saddle on and mounting.
There is the work around de-spooking and building trust in each other.
It takes time and attention to detail.
Developing, growing and scaling your equine assisted business can easily be compared to this process.
You sign up for training in how to couple humans and horses for successful transformations. The training is fun. It stretches you. It inspires you and you come home all excited about creating this lucrative business with horses.
You call friends and others you know to come for a demo. You're nervous, but you go ahead with it. At the end of the day, it was great. Everyone enjoyed it, got something from it and encourages you.
Now what?
Maybe you put together an event...people are interested and now the conundrums begin. That ugly inner dialogue chimes in for a tyrade of mind numbing second guessing yourself.
"How long do you need to deliver the event?" This is where you begin to design an overdelivery du jour. You become so worried about bringing value to your event that you forget that over processing the client causes them to lose the value the horses really bring. Why? Over processing brings a loss of learning kind of like continuing to fill a glass with water long after it topped off.
"What do you charge? Oh, yeah...don't want to charge too much because after all, you're not that experienced or your not sure you can deliver the outcomes and results...what if they don't achieve them? " So you call your buddy or the facility across town to ask how much they charge for a full day event without any idea of your value proposition ( the value that you and the horses are bringing to the arena of your work.) You take your best guess and set the price.
Let's not forget that EVERYONE can use what you offer so you begin using language that you think appeals to a broad audience when what really happens is you are so vague and watered down in the language you use that it fails to connect with the people you really want to serve.
You begin to feel the disconnect between you and your goals.
The relationship with your equine assisted business becomes tense and you buy into the fear that sets in about growing your business. You can feel spooked or you feel your audience is spooked by your offer. You back off and never saddle to get on and ride merrily off into the sunset.
Or maybe there is a level of success, and now you are working real hard to hit goal.
Either way, brings frustration and struggle.
I remember this point in my own career with horses and once I figured a few things out, business got fun.
Things like...
1. Get crystal clear about the people you want to serve with horses and use the language they use in your communication with them. Talk about the results the horses can help them bring more than the process of how the horses get them there. People care more about results than the process of getting there. You will lose them in trying to explain the process.
2. Your pricing needs to reflect the value that you are bringing with horses. That value is bigger than you initially think.Think about how their lives change in all areas if you help them achieve results. If you are too low, people can think it isn't any good. If it's too high, they won't jump in either and in the middle of all this it is up to you to reveal that value and leave them wanting more.
3. There is a siganture process and brilliance that is unique to the program you offer with horses. Really look at EACH STEP in that process to establish how much processing time is needed there. Less is more is always my rule. They need to lick and chew like the horses do.
And ultimately - NEVER GIVE UP! Consistency in the try is key. Isn't that the way with horses?
The horses are relying on us to make the connections with the humans that need them. Stay the course.
If you would like to chat about how we can help you relate to your business...let's talk. My team and I would love to help you do it. We are HorseBusinessWhisperer.com after all.
Until next time - Keep it soleful!