SWIHA Blog

You’ve got your skills, your business name, your offerings outlined and your ideal client in mind. Many people get to this stage and think: Now what?  Today, we’ll be looking at ways to create a powerful brand identity to attract right-fit clients, help you stand out and create consistency within your marketing materials.

What is a Brand Identity?

A brand identity is a combination of elements within your marketing materials that serve to make you instantly recognizable. Your audience will naturally connect your brand identity with your products and/or services which increases loyalty and recognition. Getting clear on what your brand identity is helps you to appear consistent, professional and trustworthy.

LinkedIn is a social media platform utilized by companies, recruiters, and potential clients to network, search for and hire professionals with the specific skill set they desire.  The site acts as a digital resume which can be kept in real-time by sharing status updates, recent projects and giving and receiving recommendations. It is especially important if you are looking to offer your services in a corporate environment.

• 260 million users log on to LinkedIn each month.
• 61 million LinkedIn users are senior level influencers.
• 11 million millennials in decision-making positions have a LinkedIn.
• LinkedIn is the #1 platform for Business-to-Business marketing.

For some people, the word ‘Marketing’ inspires an icky feeling: “I started my business to be a healer, not a salesperson!”

We completely understand that you embarked on your entrepreneurship journey with a mission to change lives. However...you have to be profitable as well, right?

As the old adage goes: “Work smarter. Not harder.” Especially if you’re a solopreneur, it’s important to use your energy wisely. Today, we’ll focus on just one social media platform and look at ways to make Instagram marketing fun, true-to-you and successful!

Victor Terrazas has been a Licensed Massage Therapist for twenty years, and spent much of that career as a program director for a Massage Therapy school. While he enjoyed facilitating the health and healing of others, a few years ago he was called toward change.

“I started noticing that I was feeling extremely stressed,” Victor tells us, “I had very low energy and motivation. I was also feeling extremely irritated most of the time and walking the line between negativity and anger. I started becoming more and more aware of this, and I started thinking that I needed to make a change from my day job as a massage school director. I didn't know what or how to do it. Although I had my clinic operating with a team of therapists, I had many attachments to the ‘director’ title.”

“How blessed am I?!” exclaims Amanda Martin, “I'm excited to wake up every day knowing that I get to assist clients with their personal journeys of discovery.”

Amanda recently graduated from the 100-Hour Life Coaching program at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts and is currently working on completing her Reiki certificate. She says that since stepping in to her power as a Wellness Coach, she has found her life’s true passion: being an active partner for those on their journey to uncovering their best selves.

At Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, we actively encourage our students to work through their fears and hesitations around entrepreneurship. Harsha Bipin, a Mind-Body Wellness Practitioner graduate, is a brilliant example of what can happen when you take a leap of faith in yourself!

 “My previous life was of a software engineer,” Harsha explains, “it had a lot to do with me and the needs of my immediate family.”

“I joined SWIHA while I was on a maternity break, hoping to just do the Holistic Nutrition program to learn more about eating right. I had faced a huge positive shift in my life by changing my eating habits, and I knew there was more to learn.”

If you were to tell someone fifty years ago that you’re going to a hypnotherapy session or a sound bath, their reaction would likely have been a mix of confusion and laughter. Holistic wellness was something for the counterculture, living on the fringe in spiritual communities and somewhat cloaked in taboo.

Today, more and more people are embracing holistic modalities

• Between 2012 and 2016, the number of Americans doing yoga increased from 20.4 million to 36 million.
• The number of U.S. consumers who adhere to a vegan diet grew from 1% to 6% between 2014 and 2017, increasing 600%.
• The global demand for essential oils was 226.9 kilotons in 2018.
• Wellness tourism is growing 12% per year, with awareness doubling from 1 in 10 people to 1 in 5 people.
• The number of spas have doubled since 2007, producing 2.6 million additional U.S jobs.
• Employment of massage therapists is expected to increase 26% from 2016 to 2026.

Ask Loren Evans what the greatest lesson he has learned in his 22 years at SWIHA, and he’ll tell you this: “The Universe will never present an opportunity that we are not prepared for.” While he may not have envisioned becoming an instructor at SWIHA or a well-traveled massage therapist, it was a journey and an opportunity that he was certainly ready to seize.

Loren was introduced to massage therapy through his former wife, who had suggested that the pair sign up for a community education massage class close to home in Salt Lake City, Utah. At the time, Loren was employed as a software designer for healthcare companies. This demanding career took him far and wide across the United States— and even internationally to places like India, where he helped complete a project involving open system design.

Full of fiber and packed with nutrition, green smoothies are a staple in any health-conscious diet. Making this delicious drink is as easy as 1, 2, 3!

• 1 cup of fruit
• 2 cups of liquid
• 3 cups of greens

Step One: Choose Your Liquid Base

To ensure even blending, add two cups of liquid to your blender first. Be mindful of the sugar content of liquid bases, and feel free to choose more than one!

“Everything that happens in life has a lesson. Sometimes you have to look harder to find it, but it is there,” affirms Jenny Sirwet.

Jenny is a graduate of the 800-Hour Yoga Teacher Training program, has studied Polarity, Life Coaching and Aromatherapy, and serves future SWIHA community members in the Admissions department with her warm and welcoming presence. Though Jenny is now what we lovingly call a ‘SWIHA-Lifer’, she admits that she didn’t quite jump in to her journey feet-first: “I was allergic to the word ‘trauma’ when I first started as a student at SWIHA,” discloses Jenny, “That word was a trigger for me. It was a reminder of the ‘victim mentality’, which I try to avoid.”

Five years ago, Jenny suffered a serious back injury which launched her into a journey of healing and a mindset of growth. After a year and a half of  physical therapy, she had lumbar spine surgery in August of 2016 followed by six more months of remedial exercises.