PODCAST · business
simple prospering
by Brooke Thomas
We think tiny (but mighty) service-based businesses are what makes life good for millions of people. And we want them to be supported in that. On the show we're exploring work, money, and the 21st century economy. If you’re here you might be self-employed, a freelancer, or an entrepreneur with a small team and the things you make come from your heart with an earnest intent to make things better for the people your business serves. We’re so glad you take such good care of your clients. And… we want to make sure you get taken good care of too so that you can keep helping your people instead of finding yourself under-resourced and burnt out.That’s why we make it easy for VSB’s (fun acronym for Very Small Businesses yay!) to focus on profitability without any of the “get rich quick/hustle culture” ick.
Episodes
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If your practice is slow right now
The world is... nuts. And I've talked with many people who are seeing their practices get quieter as a sign of the economic times. So in this episode I am addressing what the 2 easiest things are you can do to fan the embers of your practice building. Want more support? simpleprospering.com/hapi
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Major Additions to the Healing Arts Practice Incubator
To catch you up: The Healing Arts Practice Incubator, aka HAPI, is my signature, all-access-pass program that teaches the full ecosystem of small business skills you need to create a private practice that takes good care of you. It includes ALL of my courses, monthly co-working gatherings, and…
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How to Make Writing Your Website Easier
One of the new courses I'm creating is the Simple Communication course, which includes, among other things, Write Your Site. Today I want to talk about the most common misconceptions that people have about writing their website, which keeps them from either getting it done effectively, or just...
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Stop Doing Everything- Try These Foundational Things Instead!
Any of us who are self-employed in the healing arts need an extra skillset in addition to what we trained in: how to be a small business owner. But! You don't to get the equivalent of an MBA. You don't have to suddenly fall in love with learning whatever the next hot marketing tactic is, or geek...
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Interview with Jae Gruenke founder The Balanced Runner
Jae Gruenke is a Feldenkrais teacher who specializes in working with runners. She founded The Balanced Runner in 2004 in NYC and has helped runners from beginner to Olympian all over the world since then. To find more of Jae's work: https://www.balancedrunner.com/ We talk about: The benefits of...
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The One Where I Go On Social Media To Tell You You Don't Have To
I got off of all social media in 2020. I didn't miss it. I cannot tell you what a weight it was off of my shoulders. And yet, I have recently gotten back on social media- you can follow me on Instagram at @simpleprospering winky winky… So I figured I would use this opportunity to talk about why…
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Super Simple Strategy: Create Support
It's a super simple strategy episode this week! Which means I am headed straight into something you can do to develop your business into one that works well for you. This week, my super simple strategy is… get support! I talk with healing arts practitioners all the time, and they often say the...
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Interview with Misha Tsozik of MBODI Louisville
I'm thrilled to welcome Misha Tsozik to the show. Misha is a bodyworker and Somatic Experiencing practitioner who runs MBDOI in Louisville, Kentucky. We talk about the learning curve of self-employment, how and why she brought on employees in her studio, how to create an equitable workplace for…
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Breadwinner
Recently a fellow practitioner asked me, essentially: "Do you support yourself with your practice, or is somebody else paying your bills?" She went on to ask if it's really possible to support oneself with their healing arts practice. This episode is my public answer to all of you, containing…
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The Most Essential Things
Just like when we are working with our clients, when something is off in our practice we need to spend a little quiet time discerning what is the symptom of the problem, and what the actual root cause is. In today's episode I am going to just straight up tell you what the main stumbling blocks...
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Reach Out! [Super Simple Strategies]
I am always advocating for the simplest possible solution. So in addition to my longer form episodes, I will sprinkle in these brief and actionable Super Simple Strategies episodes that will hopefully spark some inspiration and support for you and your practice. Today we are talking about the...
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Don't Deprive Yourself of the Good Stuff
There are certain things that make solo, self-employed private practice a great business model for quality of life. However, I also often see practitioners unconsiously setting themselves up to fail by denying themselves the ability to get the full perks of being their own boss. I talk about the...
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Ode to Private Practice
There is always a lot of excitement and chatter around new business models- running a studio or center, creating an online course, or even developing your own modality and teacher training. And I am certainly as attracted to shiny objects as much as anyone (in fact, probably much, much more...)…
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Earning in Your Practice [Re-run episode]
Welcome to another edition of summer re-runs! We're going to keep the tough love coming. I mean, it's not really that tough, but it is honest! I want small healing arts businesses to thrive. I want all of us good people who got into our careers because we, first and foremost, really wanted to…
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Workism, Frankenstein, and the Passion Principle [re-run episode]
Welcome back to the summer re-run series! I'm pulling out some of my older episodes that I still get the most positive feedback on. And they happen to be related to slaying ideas that keep us miserable. Sometimes we have to pop the bubbles of ideas that we are supposed to agree with or keep up…
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You Don't Have to Be An Influencer [re-run episode]
It's a summer re-run episode which pertains directly to why I still believe everyone should not hop on the social media bandwagon. And that, if you are a healing arts provider in private practice. It just plain will not grow your practice. So if you love it and posting is a fun hobby for you-...
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EP 24: Heavier Lift vs. Lighter Lift
What do you have the resources (of time, energy and money), strengths and skills for? This is the essential question to ask yourself when starting a business, particularly when you are branching out from private practice. This episode is actually pulled from a lesson in the Business Model Buffet,...
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EP 23: Should I Be Branching Out?
As we go through the life cycle of our business, we're going to come to all these different forks in the road. That's very normal. We usually wind up asking ourselves some version of the question, "Should I be branching out?" at different stages of our business. People wonder if they should be...
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EP 22: The Lifecycle of a Healing Arts Business
Today I want to talk about the lifecycle of a healing arts business. I have been working on figuring this out for, oh… almost 24 years now… Both in navigating my own healing arts businesses (which have spanned many different business models, aka ways of delivering the service), and in helping…
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EP 21: Creative Cave
I'm emerging from a creative cave, and so I thought I'd talk a bit about the creative cave itself. This is when you know you want to focus thoroughly on one thing, and so you deliberately stop doing other things that will drain time energy and attention away from the One Thing. But if you wear…
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EP 20: Refinement
When we work for ourselves, one of the things we are constantly engaged with is refinement. In this week's episode I trace the journey of refinement for the Healing Arts Practice Incubator, complete with embarrassing tales of my early days in practice.
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EP 19: Do You Want to Be Self-Employed?
Many of us come to self-employment through a side door. Meaning, few of us choose self-employment first, and then what it is we will do as a self-employed person second. Instead, most people acquire some skill, and either right away or eventually, it makes the most sense to deliver that skill as…
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EP 18: Building Block #6: Systematize Your Burnout-Proof Business
We made it to the final building block! This week I'm discussing building block number 6: how to systematize your burnout proof business. Building blocks 1 through 5 are all about attaining liftoff, but most of what you will be doing in your business is running your actual business! This is when...
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EP 17: Michelle Warner on Relationship Marketing
This week I am delighted to be joined by Michelle Warner, a business designer and strategist and an expert on the topic of relationship marketing. The vast majority of what we see these days is traffic-based marketing, which is well suited to mass market brands, but not at all well suited to tiny...
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EP 16: Building Block #5: Non-Gross Marketing and Sales
"Marketing" and "sales" are much loathed words and activities in the tiny service-providing business space. Most of us got into our work to help people out while practicing something we have a deep love for. Not to feel like we're shaking people down for money. That's totally fair! Except... if a...
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EP 15: Building Block #4: How Branding Puts Wind at Your Back
In building block #4 from You Need a Holistic Business, I'm talking about how branding (done right) puts a lot of wind at your back. I also talk about what branding is NOT, particularly when it comes to small service-providing businesses. You don't need an iconic logo the way mega corporations…
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EP 14: Building Block #3: Craft Your Model
We are going through the 6 essential building blocks for a thriving small business. This week is number 3, about how you can craft your business model in a way that is thoughtful about your strengths, your clients' true needs, and your revenue goals. One the one hand, sometimes we assume that we...
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EP 13: Building Block #2: Strengths and Needs
In building block #2 I'm talking about how to build a business around BOTH your strengths and your clients' true needs. Oftentimes things are lopsided in that equation. A symptom that things have gotten out of balance is that everything starts to feel Sisyphean- you keep rolling that boulder up…
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EP 12: Building Block #1: Know What You Need to Earn
This episode is essentially the audiobook version of the first chapter in my free ebook, You Need a Holistic Business: Learn the Six Essential Building Blocks.*You can get the updated building blocks PDF for free here: https://simpleprospering.com/pae Building block number 1: Know what your...
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EP 11: Squirrel or Oak Tree?
In the last episode I discussed the "Jeremy Bearimy" loop de loop of one's business's evolution and maturation. Other entrepreneurial spaces would call this a pivot... But sometimes we think we are in a pivot, when in fact we are channeling our inner squirrel. I talk about an inquiry that I use…
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EP 10: Jeremy Bearimy
I'm your host, Brooke Thomas, and I am a self employed lifer. I help the helpers- people who have tiny, but mighty service providing businesses. If you're here, you might be self employed a freelancer or an entrepreneur with a small team. And the things that you do come from your heart with an...
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EP 8: Humane Work Lives
This is the final episode in the series about compass points we can use for our businesses. We've talked about how to make progress, how to simplify our work, and what it means to have a financially beneficial business. Today we will talk about how to create something every human being deserves:...
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EP 7: Financially Beneficial Businesses
This is part 3 of a series about the compass points that I use as the true north for any business. In the first 2 episodes in this series we covered how to make progress and the things that can get us caught in the weeds, and in last week's episode we discussed strategic simplicity and some of…
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EP 6: Workism, The Passion Principle, and Frankenstein
Today is part 2 of 4 in my series on the core values, or compass points, that Simple Prospering orients as its True North, and values that I think can be mighty helpful for all businesses. I talked about value 1, make progress, in the last two week's episodes. Today we are talking about value #2:...
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EP 5: How to Do The Thing
Last week began a 4-part series on the core orientations that I believe provide a solid true north compass point for small businesses. In the last episode I talked about how to make progress. After publishing that episode, I realized that I had left out the approach that I actually use THE MOST…
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EP 4: How To Make Progress
Today's episode kicks off a 4-part series where I will be talking about the core values of my work here at Simple Prospering. I work with many different types of service-based businesses, and have run a few different types myself, but no matter what the business does, these 4 values describe the...
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EP 3: Social Media and the Colonization of the Psyche with Jane Clapp
Part 3 of 3 in our series titled You Don't Have to Be An Influencer. In today's episode I'm delighted to have a special guest: Jane Clapp. Jane is the founder of Jungian Somatics and an advanced candidate with the Ontario Association of Jungian Analysts. She has worked at the intersection of the...
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EP 2: What About Social Media for Marketing?
This episode is part 2 of 3 in a series titled You Don't Have to Be An Influencer. Today's episode is for those of you who listened to last week's episode and thought, sure, sure, but I know I don't want to be an influencer, and even that I don't have to be an influencer, so what about using…
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EP 1: What Is the Influencer Business Model Exactly?
Today's episode kicks off a 3-part series all about how you don't have to be an influencer. I decided to do this series of episodes because I work with many people who run solid service-based businesses who have expressed to me that they feel like the only way their business can remain viable is…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
We think tiny (but mighty) service-based businesses are what makes life good for millions of people. And we want them to be supported in that. On the show we're exploring work, money, and the 21st century economy. If you’re here you might be self-employed, a freelancer, or an entrepreneur with a small team and the things you make come from your heart with an earnest intent to make things better for the people your business serves. We’re so glad you take such good care of your clients. And… we want to make sure you get taken good care of too so that you can keep helping your people instead of finding yourself under-resourced and burnt out.That’s why we make it easy for VSB’s (fun acronym for Very Small Businesses yay!) to focus on profitability without any of the “get rich quick/hustle culture” ick.
HOSTED BY
Brooke Thomas
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does simple prospering have?
simple prospering currently has 39 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is simple prospering about?
We think tiny (but mighty) service-based businesses are what makes life good for millions of people. And we want them to be supported in that. On the show we're exploring work, money, and the 21st century economy. If you’re here you might be self-employed, a freelancer, or an entrepreneur with a...
How often does simple prospering release new episodes?
simple prospering has 39 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to simple prospering?
You can listen to simple prospering on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts simple prospering?
simple prospering is created and hosted by Brooke Thomas.
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