Cheaper Than Therapy, Cheaper Than Burnout

My craniosacral practitioner has been a lot more relaxed lately. I can tell she’s far more focused when she does her intake with me. She’s truly ready to begin the session. It’s a subtle thing, but I feel even more valued and more… important, I guess. What happened?

After a year at a new wellness center, she decided to buy into the receptionist pool. $175 a month to have her calls answered and appointments booked. And what are the real benefits?

The first seems to be drastically reduced guilt. She was feeling awful that she wasn’t able to respond to calls quickly enough. 10 people would call over 48 hours and she would only be able to get through to 6 or 7 of them. Meanwhile, more calls would be coming in, and then she was 15 calls behind and people would get impatient, and then, and then, and then…

She’s able to focus more on her practice and the client in front of her. She is less tired and leaves work happier at the end of the day. She has an end of the day.

Her self-care is a lot higher BECAUSE she doesn’t overbook herself. When she was booking her own sessions she wanted everyone happy and so would overextend her hours. The receptionist (a professional and caring person) doesn’t have that problem. It’s the receptionist’s job to say “No” with compassion. My practitioner says, “It’s reduced my inner-schmuck factor [pardon the phrase]. I can do what I’m good at instead of trying to figure out how the fax works or why my internet isn’t working.”

As her client, I have to say the results of delegating her business chores are positively noteworthy. So, I’ve been thinking about practitioners that aren’t part of a wellness center or clinic. How can they have something like this? With computers and phone technology as it is these days, how hard would it be for 4 or 5 practitioners to club together and collectively hire a receptionist? For example, there are a lot of massage therapists who are done practicing but are still willing to be part of the community AND they know the “language.” The choices of scheduling programs are huge. All business phone numbers could be forwarded to the receptionist’s phone (home or cell or … ).

You always try to help clients with their stress. Here is an option for relieving yours. Is anyone out there doing this? Has anyone tried a virtual assistant? If yes, do tell! If no, why not?