Alexander Technique Career Success

Giselda (not her real name) is a teacher writing to me from Europe. She’s a mum with a family and loves the work, but still needs a second job to make ends meet. In our Alexander community, her story is repeated more than a hundred times. She is an intelligent, compassionate woman with a deep wish to contribute to the world - and finds her self struggling to make her Alexander Technique practise work. In a private message on FaceBook (please feel free to do the same) she wrote to me after yesterday’s 5 step plan with her feedback about her students… I'm thinking about who is my target market and from what I can figure out so far it seems to be women in their 30s up, they all want to look better, feel better, they come because of pain from niggling to chronic. No kids or grown so they have time, middle class. Ladies and gentleman - this is a cross culture, cross border candidate for your lessons. We have the same two distinct groups of woman coming ...

Abraham Lincoln once famously remarked: "If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend the first four hours sharpening the axe". Alexander Technique teachers - including me - would be well advised to do the same. I am giving some help at the moment to a teacher in Europe - together we are trying to sharpen the ax. He is a dedicated, enthusiastic and together guy, but he went straight to chopping the tree before sharpening the ax. Like most teachers he decided: “Get a website up.” So he did. It looked beautiful, explained Alexander Technique with some elegant quotes from Alexander himself, but the most critical question was left unanswered: who would be looking at this site? That’s a passive question. The better question is: who do I want to be looking at my site? A website is nothing more than one-sided conversation with a real person. It is a first contact. I remember years ago, when I was still Editor and Publisher of DIRECTION, being scolded by ...

I love actors, I was one my self. I don’t know why (I have theories) but actors (for me) make the very best pupils I have ever had. Their nervous systems are like, alive! They are curious, willing to try anything and totally enthusiastic about every thing they learn. So it was no surprise to my staff when I announced in a meeting that I wanted to set up a special day-time course for actors. It was a disaster. First, the price was too high. “We can’t afford that.” OK, so we reduced it, but then requested: we want you to stay longer, so it works for us too. “Sure, we can do that.” It started with a lot of promise, but then “Oh I am sorry, I have to stop now. Something’s come up.” The group fizzled - it was like trying to fill a bottle with a hole in the bottom of it. Actors are wonderful pupils, but lousy for building a business. They have no money, they are not stable, and they are always changing their ideas, plans and purpose (other than being an actor of course)...

Just starting out? That was me after I got married. Although I had already been teaching for years, I didn’t get serious about my Alexander Technique business until I had two kids and realized I either got things to work or, well - I didn’t have a lot of options. That’s why I got it to work. So, are you desperate enough? Passionate enough? Or both? Are you ready to do what you need to do to make it work? So how do you start an Alexander Technique business? Pay attention, because over the next few weeks I am going to write  how you can get an AT business off the ground. Today I am going to clarify the greatest challenge you face if you are serious about this. Vertical & Horizontal Markets These days, people are almost assaulted with new information. Your voice is tiny compared to the companies and groups with economic muscle in the market place. How can you possibly compete with them? Well, the good answer is that there is a reason people a...