Holistic Hustle: Building a Thriving Wellness Practice

There’s an old adage in business: riches are in niches — so ask yourself: what’s your niche in the wellness space? If you aren’t sure what your niche is, or it isn’t immediately obvious, there are a few steps you can take.

1. Evaluate your current market position. Who are your clients? Who are your competitors and who are they marketing to? Do a deep dive into your business in its current state. If you’re still in pre-launch mode, you can still evaluate your competitors and their clients to get a better idea of the state of the market.
2. Identify emerging trends in cannabis. Cannabis is not the start and end of the wellness industry, but it certainly is blazing a trail forward while becoming a major player in the holistic wellness space. Identify the biggest growth area — is it topicals for sports recovery? Bathbombs for self-care? Microdosed drinks for socializing? Cannabis wellness trends often point to where the rest of the industry is going.
3. Differentiate yourself from competitors. What makes your business different from the rest? What is your unique value proposition that attracts customers? If you don’t know, now is the time to dig in and figure out what exactly makes you special. If you don’t know, neither do your customers.

Once you’ve taken those steps, you should have a better idea of where you fit into the holistic wellness space. Perhaps you’re offering a quiet space for busy moms to tap into their inner quiet, or maybe you’re making it easy for parents to help their kids eat a more balanced diet. You may blend teas with hemp, adaptogens, and other plant medicines, or offer cannabis-assisted therapy sessions.

Whatever it is, don’t stop looking forward, adapting your services to meet evolving client needs. A crystal healer could expand into Reiki and massage. A co-working space with a meditation room could offer red light masks. A tea maker could sell herbal bundles for ritualistic purposes. Continue to expand your expertise into complementary areas to grow your business.

How is your audience able to find your holistic wellness practice? If your only answer is on social media, it’s time to elevate your brand and your online presence — you need a website.

Social media is a great space to have conversations and share thought leadership. You can build an audience or community across platforms by sharing client success stories and common misconceptions. But ultimately, you don’t own your social media channels or the audience you build on them.

What you do own is a website, and this is one of the first places a potential client will seek you out.

• If you have a website, what message is it sending?
• If you don’t have a website, what do you want it to look like?

Your brand messaging and design should be consistent across all channels. If you don’t like your website, it’s time for a redesign. Ensure your website copy is written in your brand voice and presents your value proposition front and center. You can hire a writer to help with this, or use an AI writing tool as a starting point – just ensure you edit it thoroughly. People can sense AI writing and may take it as a lazy approach to business.

As a hub of traffic and (hopefully) a place where people can contact you, your website must be secure. Many platforms like Squarespace and WordPress make it easy to follow cybersecurity best practices, but it’s still your responsibility to understand them to keep your info and your client’s info safe.

If you need to drive more traffic to your website, consider your advertising options. Cannabis and other plant medicine companies have to deal with advertising restrictions across all platforms, but that doesn’t mean it’s hopeless. Be willing to get creative with your ad copy and placement to make it work.

Did you know it’s more expensive for a business to attract new clients than it is to retain existing ones? According to the Harvard Business Review, it costs a business between 5x and 25x more to get a new client than to keep one — and you know how expensive it is to get a client in the first place.

All of that to say, how are you ensuring a positive customer experience? You may do your best to create a good experience, but without customer feedback, you can’t be sure you’re delivering.

A few ways you can improve your customer’s experience are:

• Have a customer feedback system. Whether it’s a link to a survey on their receipt or a follow-up email to their visit, check in with your customers and ask how you did — you may be surprised how many people want to share their feedback.
• Create a loyalty program. People like being rewarded for their loyalty. How can you use rewards to incentivize long-term customers? Maybe they get a custom blended tea for free after ordering 10, or 50% off a month of coworking when they recommend a friend. Get creative here — what do your customers want, and how can you use loyalty to give it to them?
• Offer education. The cannabis wellness space is still confusing for many to navigate, and your customers are looking to you as the expert. Perhaps you can offer monthly Q&A sessions about the plant, have free education resources in your storefront, or a quiz they can take to find the best solution for their problems.

You can personalize your rewards program in a variety of ways, thanks to customer relationship management tools and automated email funnels. Don’t assume your customer’s experience — ask them about it.

The cannabis industry is one of shifting regulations and operating a holistic wellness practice necessitates being aware of these. Federal regulations are what they are, but laws at the local and state level shift more frequently — stay informed on what’s going on in your community and get involved.

Compliance is heavily about prevention and management — maintain the proper licensing and certifications, implement rigorous quality control measures, and adopt a top-down attitude of compliance to ensure your business stays on track. The proper umbrella of insurance policies can also help you remain in compliance for regulations such as worker’s comp.

A rising tide lifts all ships. Creating community and strategically building partnerships can help you maximize your community impact and stabilize your business foundation. Don’t know where to start? Here are a few practical ideas.

• Collaborating with local cannabis producers or dispensaries. The stronger network you can build within the industry locally, the better.
• Align with medical professionals. Today more than ever, people are seeking holistic options for wellness. Make your business known to medical offices in your area — you never know who they may be able to refer, or how you may be able to help them better understand plant medicine.
• Partner with complementary businesses. Get creative and think outside the box here. If you make teas, can you partner with a gluten and dairy-free bakery? If you offer CBD massages, can you partner with a local CBD shop for discounts for customers?
• Be active in the industry. Cannabis is a thriving industry with many niches, wellness among them. Don’t isolate yourself — be an active participant in your state’s cannabis industry. Look for associations you can join, events you can attend, and other ways to get your name out there.
• Engage with research institutions. Cannabis research is a rapidly growing body of literature and you may be able to contribute to it. From helping recruit people for studies to sponsoring clinical trials, explore new and unusual ways to get your name out there.

Profitability is the goal of businesses in every industry, but achieving it as a holistic wellness practice can be challenging.

It takes a careful eye and regular monitoring of your financials to grow. You need to analyze your existing revenue streams and their profitability before adding new ones and ensure that you’re pricing your services competitively. You may think you have a $100 product, but if the closest competitor is priced at $30, you’ll need to consider if you’re priced too high or if you need to market your product better.

Ensure you’re not wastefully spending money in any area. Audits of your expenses can help you identify cost-saving measures, and investing in automation technology can save you money in the long run. Ready to expand but don’t have the cash? Explore different funding options, from angel investors to VCs.

A company is only as strong as its team. With careful, intentional growth, you can build a team that strengthens your business. How? By hiring skilled staff and training them well. Provide ongoing education and professional development, and foster a culture of positive growth. If your leadership team is invested in becoming better, your employees will be too.

Better doesn’t stop in the workplace. As a holistic wellness practice, helping your employees stay well should be a priority too. You can create a culture of wellness and balance by practicing what you preach. Offer teas and sparkling water in the office instead of soda. Encourage employees to get outside on their breaks. Allow flexibility in scheduling where you can so employees can be with their families for events that matter.

The future of the holistic wellness industry is bright — never before has the general public been so aware of the importance of living a balanced lifestyle with the assistance of plants. To ensure your business is around to help people long-term, keep an eye on industry trends. Knowing what’s next helps you plan — or invest appropriately in research and development.

Know that the market may become saturated: this is a common progression of the cannabis industry in any state. Planning in advance for saturation can help you identify ways to diversify your revenue stream, which helps you stay sustainable long-term.

You also need to plan for stormy weather — literally and figuratively. Every business needs a comprehensive risk management plan to lean on when things go wrong. From a spring storm sending a tree through your roof to a collapse in the supply chain, a risk management plan helps you identify where things could go wrong, and how much it would hurt your business, and then create a plan to deal with them.

Creating a holistic wellness practice for long-term success takes strategic planning and intentional action. Protecting your holistic wellness company can seem confusing; however, we’re a full-service insurance brokerage working with carriers worldwide to offer you the best coverage possible. We’re here to help! Please reach out to us today by email [email protected] or calling 646-854-1093 for a customized letter or learning more about your holistic wellness insurance options.