My New Year’s Resolution is “No More FOMO”. In other words, I’m committed to loosening the influence that Fear of Missing Out has on me. I’m reminding myself that the moment I’m in right now is the most important one.
I thought it was just about my personal growth, but after living with this message for a few weeks, I discovered that it is also about my business. “No More FOMO” is a good rule to live by for therapists in private practice. As an entrepreneur, you must be willing to take risks and try different things to market your practice. You see almost infinite possibilities for ways to position yourself and market your practice. Every week there’s a new idea, app or online service you could try. You often see colleagues trying things you haven’t tried yet.
You’re running your practice in addition to marketing it, so you don’t have a lot of extra time. It is easy to fall prey to FOMO. As a local and solo practitioner, FOMO can be a real drain.
How does FOMO hurt your practice?
When you’re under the influence of fear of missing out, you feel scattered and unproductive.
One place FOMO comes up often is with social media. When you choose to engage in a new social media platform do it because you’re already using your current social media platforms to the fullest, you believe you’ll reach more of your local ideal clients AND you don’t think your time could be better spent. Don’t engage with a new platform just because you’re afraid of missing out.
Even when you know you’re doing the right thing, FOMO can make you feel like you should be doing something else. You’re finally sitting down to write that blog post, but you feel distracted, thinking of some other thing you should be doing.
Perhaps you are having an important and connecting conversation with a colleague, but as they talk about their work, you start feeling anxiety because you’re not doing everything your colleague is doing. Those are opportunities to come back to the moment you’re in and let go of the rest. Breathe!
Find the balance
You do need to try new things, while also knowing when to let things go. Therapists in private practice who find that balance are much more likely to succeed in building and maintaining full practices.
When a new marketing activity comes along, use these questions to let you know what to try without the influence of FOMO:
Is this new activity likely to help you reach YOUR ideal clients?
Are you already on top of your other marketing activities?
Does this new activity fit into your schedule?
Is this new activity either drawing on your strengths or helping you grow into the entrepreneur you want to be?
Does this activity fit into your overall strategy?
If the answer is no to any of those questions, don’t give in to FOMO.
If the answer is yes, try it.
Need help creating a great strategy to build your practice? Apply for a free consultation with me.