“Why do we need a business plan?”

This is a common question among holistic entrepreneurs and business owners who do not understand the creative power of the written word in their business manifestation process.

Entrepreneurs too often give little attention to writing or updating their business plans let alone addressing potential pitfalls. Consequently, this lack of risk awareness turns out to be the most important reason for many a small businesses downfall. Nearly all failures can be attributed to not having a written business plan to follow.

Anyone who has ever been in charge of a successful major event knows that were it not for their careful, methodical, strategic planning — and hard work — success would not have followed. The same could be said of most business successes. On any major endeavor, having a roadmap to your destination is imperative; the lack of one often leads down the road to ruin or worse.

Many small businesses fail because of fundamental shortcomings in their business planning. It must be realistic and based on accurate, current information and educated projections for the future. Holistic practitioners need to have their feet firmly planted on the path to performance, especially in today’s marketplace. You need a good map that combines your design with quality help you can trust.

Southwest Institute of Healing Arts now offers holistic practitioners a roadmap to turn their passions and purpose into actionable plans with their new online class – Developing a Written Business Plan. This is a 10-week program that includes a step-by-step workbook and activities designed to help your dreams come alive and thrive in the marketplace today.

Self-employment is the All-American Dream, and a dream without a plan remains a dream. This class is specifically designed to help all Holistic Health Care practitioners design their business plan and take it step by step through to implementation; an opportunity to achieve the dream.

~ Wellness Wednesday ~ Under Fire For Promoting Alternative Healthcare?

Dr. Oz

Has anyone heard about the debate surrounding  Oprah Winfrey ?

A comment was made suggesting that viewers try incorporating  holistic healthcare into their lives on Oprah’s show, by her ‘medical guru’ Dr. Oz…The result?  Many people raised more than an eyebrow, they began throwing around words like “fraud” and “quack.” If this isn’t a cry for the importance of educating the public, I don’t know what is.

Apparently the well respected talk-show host is coming under fire for a series of statement’s her “medical guru” and frequent contributer to the show,  Dr. Mehmet Oz, made regarding alternative medical treatments.

The statement that raised a few eyebrows by his more conservative counterparts came about when he encouraged viewers to ’cure what ails them’ by trying out ‘energy medicine’.

Surprisingly enough, this was enough to stir up a sea of controversy.

Dr. Oz is a cardiothoracic surgeon and according to Oprah.com, he is also vice-chair and professor of surgery at Columbia University.  With all these impressive titles and years of medical experience behind him, this apparent expert is being questioned and being labeled as a “quack.”

According to an online article by People magazine , “Stephen Barrett, a vice-president of the National Council Against Health Fraud, told a US tabloid, ‘One part of Dr Oz is highly rational and scientific, but I think he’s also loaded with near-delusional ideas and gives some very bad advice. The bottom line for me is that he does more harm than good for American health.’”

To me this seems in stark contrast to his bio on Oprah.com which states…

“His research interests include heart replacement surgery, minimally invasive cardiac surgery, complementary medicine and healthcare policy. He has authored more than 400 original publications, book chapters and medical books and has received several patents.”

So is this abrasive title of “quack” being assigned unnecessarily simply because many people are uninformed and in some cases even scared of anything that is not on the same level of the current mainstream ‘sickness industry‘?

My thought is yes, but hopefully this will all change – and think that it starts with places like Southwest Institute of Healing Arts that teach people not only the amazing benefits of living a holistic lifestyle, but also how to go out and spread this knowledge with the community in a loving and profitable way.

Another amazing influence is also at work.

If you believe that holistic and alternative healthcare should be recognized more readily by the US government, check out Dr. Gladys McGarey‘s, “the Mother of Holistic Medicine,” online petition site, to show that you support holistic health. Dr. Gladys has worked miracles throughout her lifetime and still continues to work them today.

With awareness comes understanding – and you know what? I think we will get there soon.

~Emily M

Tags: Holistic Health, Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, SWIHA