Importance of Patient Surveys –
Patients survey Patients survey keeping track of outcome is just as important as monitoring if your clients are truly happy with your care. Many midwives just assuming everyone is happy with the superb service your midwife business is giving. There may be some things to improve on with customer care and patient processes that can really help your customer satisfaction scores. Send satisfaction surveys out by email, mail, phone call, or comment box directly at the office. Have a few times throughout pregnancy care that surveys are sent out (approx half way through prenatal visits, immediately after birth, 6 weeks postpartum, and 6 months postpartum). Make it random and not to every client. That is a lot of extra administration and many clients will get tired of so much extra paperwork to complete. Make the Surveys as Unbiased as Possible Use an outsourced survey company, keep names anonymous, and have questions as neutral to respond as possible. Refrain from questions like, “We know that are care is amazing, but we want to ask a few questions.” Start out more like, “We are continually improving our care to the community, please spend some time answer these few questions. Thank you.” Make surveys approx 10-15 questions long. You want a good idea of how care is going, but want clients to actually spend the time in their busy schedules to fill it out. The more automated and convenient survey is, more likely people will fill it out. Emails with simple click answers having response rates that mailing survey out. Give the entire family an opportunity to complete the survey (not just the clients). Partners, grandparents, and children are all part of the care experience. As midwives we stress birth is a family event, make your surveys that same mentality. Dad will have a different view point during birth than mother will of how care went. Women may have loved her labor care, but Dad was sad from no snacks and water bottles being available at birth center to help labor team stay at the top of their game. Take your positive feedback to use as testimonials for marketing and bring to staff meetings to show team what wonderful things are being said about them. Having constructive feedback allows midwife business to grow and improve their services to the families in area. For a successful midwife business to have constant waiting lists of clients craving your services, give community what they are asking for.
Importance of Emergency Account for your Midwife Business
Emergency Accounts for your Business When starting a business or continuing to run one after years in practice, it is really important to have a reserve or “emergency fund” for the ups and downs of business revenue. There are always unexpected costs or delays in insurance processes that can affect the stress of owner and team if money isn’t there for day to day needed functions. Last thing you want to be is behind being employees, can’t buy new inventory, or even pay yourself for working so hard during these tough times. Operating Expenses When starting a business, this budget is called overhead expenses while things are getting going. Most experts recommend two years of operating expenses in a fund when starting any business. Operating expenses are day to day bills, marketing, restocking supplies, and staff wages that need to be paid each month while income from insurance and patient payments will slowly start coming into your business. Having a reserve of around six months of business overhead expense budget set aside is a MUST once established. If your midwife practice needs $10,000 each month to buy supplies, pay staff, pay bills like utilities, taxes, and educating staff, put aside $60,000 in a savings account that is only touched if no other option is available. If money is used from this pool, as soon as income starts flowing well again, make top priority to replace the reserve account. Emergency accounts Emergency accounts for business are great to peace of mind and extra funds in case there is a need like down payment for purchasing birth center, insurance reimbursement is slow to process and funds are needed for operating expenses, or expansion of business with additional staff. Reserves of cash flow are just as important for personal life as in business decision making. In a situation where your business has been going for a long time and wanting to create this account without a large amount of extra funds sitting around. Get into a habit of an auto-pay emergency account getting monthly deposits from your major business operating account. Look at it like another business tax that is a must to be paid no matter what. When things are automatic and small amounts at a time, it doesn’t feel like such a hard task to accomplish. Decide the amount based on your size of the business. I typically tell clients save 10% of gross income into a rainy day fund. If you want your midwife business to be successful long term with less stress and anxiety, I strongly encourage budgeting this account into your loan request and financial accounting. We created the course, Tips for Running a Successful Midwifery Practice, to teach you all you need to know about being a midwife
Importance of Continuing Education
Continuing Education Once a midwife finishes school, the last thing she wants to think about is more training! She is so grateful to be done. As time goes on (I personally realized it a couple years ago), we are always learning and keeping updated with new research and standards of care. Having access to an app and resource program is essential for safe care. I really like “Up To Date” system. It is a little pricey per year, but the knowledge my fingertips (especially for things I haven’t care for ever or years) is vital. Each state has different requirements of what continuing education looks like. Some midwives decide to do continuing education through online videos, courses, articles, or forums. Many will go do live conference and travel the country. There are options to expand your scope with additional certifications like circumcision, colposcopy, ultrasound, first assist during cesarean sections, gynecological procedures like endometrial biopsy, and so much more. Scope of Work CPMs and Direct Entry Midwives are apprenticeship trained and have been talk through a continuous education model. CNMs tend to have more structured CEUs and requirements within a state of what need to be learned or “re-learned” to renew their state license. In Michigan, there is a minimum of 1 CEU in pain every renewal rotation. Some states have abuse screening education, alternative therapy education credits, or hospice CEUs required of their nursing license. Some states have nursing license separate from midwifery license, but each continuing credit is important to renew those licenses. Know your specific state requirements and what skills you currently have. Expand your Scope or Services Offered at your Midwife Business. Are you having trouble finding a doctor that is affordable for your Amish community’s circumcision request? Is having an ultrasound in office beneficial for early heart rates or confirming presentation of baby near delivery time? Do you want to start doing gynecological care, but have been doing obstetrical care only last 10yrs? Having a First Assist Certification is amazing in a small community hospital and an emergency cesarean section is warranted. Adding certifications and more skills to your “tool chest” only makes your resume and services more valuable. The more you know, the better you can care for families in your area. The last thing any midwife wants is to harm a mother or child from lack of education. Screening, guidelines, and care plans dramatically change in a few years. Keeping up to date with current recommendations is a must in today’s ever changing health care system.
IMPORTANCE OF BUSINESS KNOWLEDGE TO THE FUTURE OF MIDWIFERY
IMPORTANCE OF BUSINESS KNOWLEDGE TO THE FUTURE OF MIDWIFERY Midwives have been around for thousands of years. Having clients with all this knowledge at their fingertips and the world going through a pandemic has really made people go back to the basics of living: safe, simple, and family-oriented. Midwives are prime care providers for that shift in mindset. We live in an age where starting a business isn’t a fraction of the costs of twenty years ago. Marketing online barely costs anything, mostly time. We can access millions of people to spread our mission, message, and services. The practice of midwifery seems timeless with a sturdy scenario of development, improved understanding, and professional practice. Regulations and scope of practice rights are improving. States are giving more autonomy to midwives and birth centers so families can have access to birth options outside of the hospital. Insurance reimbursement barriers for out-of-hospital births are getting broken down. The Legislature is recognizing the value of midwifery services. With the rising demands of midwifery around the country, more and more midwives are considering starting their own practice. Hence, you cannot jump off the road without any knowledge of the business. Midwives need to have a widespread amount of knowledge, whether it is the understanding of client’s needs, business environment skills, managing staff, decision making, collaboration, financial management, interpersonal skills, as well as industry-specific knowledge. These are the top-notch gen any person who wants to indulge themselves in business should have. Technology is allowing midwifery to be promoted, researched, and sought after at an unprecedented level. Media, blogs, and Facebook groups are constantly talking about how amazing midwifery care is. We have opportunities to join together internationally with social media to spread our wisdom, resources, and inspiration. Be part of the momentum of natural childbirth fever. The pandemic is having families simplify and focus on what matters most in life: family and safe birth options. The future of midwifery advocating midwives provide quality and excellent care every mother needs, added by the right amount of business knowledge, has become visible and is now getting clearer as days go by. Midwives can really have a massive impact on keeping low-risk mothers and babies out of the hospital setting. What will midwifery’s continued transformation look like? Judith Rooks’ editorial, “Unity in Midwifery? Realities and Alternatives,” outlines three possibilities: cooptation, convergence, and parallel paths. In the first path, co-optation, direct-entry midwifery is absorbed into nurse-midwifery. Rooks emphasizes that this path is not a desirable outcome, as the unique and valuable characteristics of home-birth-based direct-entry midwifery would be lost. In the second path, nurse-midwifery and direct-entry midwifery converge in a way that preserves the most valuable characteristics of each. Rooks describes this possibility as contingent on two major changes: ACNM-style midwifery becoming independent from nursing, and MANA-style direct-entry midwifery accepting the necessity of formal education as a mandatory requirement. In other words, ACNM must sacrifice some credibility in favor of greater autonomy, while MANA must surrender some autonomy for greater credibility, in order for the two midwifery models to be compatible for convergence. The third possibility Rooks identifies, parallel paths, involves MANA and ACNM co-existing indefinitely, with three possible modes: minimal interaction, hostility and competition, and collaboration and mutual support Take your leap into business ownership and build that midwifery practice that has been weighing on your mind for years now! We have an amazing future in the United States and the world to help families get back to normal childbirth in a personalized, high-quality model of care. Reference Rooks, Judith. “Unity in Midwifery? Realities and Alternatives.” Journal of Nurse-Midwifery 43.5 (1998): 315–319.
Importance of Business Education for your Midwife Practice
Business Education Being an entrepreneur is something midwives are not trained to be. We are trained to care for women and babies, understand normal birth, and prepare for emergency situations. Our scope is low-risk, healthy women. To be a business owner is either learning by mistake or taking the initiative to take additional classes or read books about business running. My motto has always been proactive versus reactive. Consider how much easier running your midwife business would be with better understanding of tax laws, hiring the right staff, accounting, budgets, business plans, time management, and so much more. Being a midwife for someone’s business versus running your own are completely different playing fields. There are certain personalities that work for others and personalities that NEED to leave the corporate world. Role of Entrepreneur Do you want to run your schedule, book clients you want to see, and make policy changes directly when new evidence is out about care models? Then you are more likely to fit the role of entrepreneur. This is a position no school teaches you about. A person must find mentors, take night classes, online videos, or read recommended books from other business owners. Some of the best business owner resources I have found are Napoleon Hill Foundation, Rich Dad Poor Dad Series, and Tony Robbins seminars. Meet with accountants, lawyers, and business owners in your area. Have a mentor, preferably a midwife doing what you want to accomplish, that will review your business plan, check your numbers, and give some tips that will be invaluable to your success. Planning and Prepping for Private Practice Planning and prepping for private practice will make things go so much smoother. Learn tax strategies and deductions available for business ownership. Make sure you pick the best business model for your midwife practice (sole proprietor, limited liability company, non-profit, or S-corp). I have met so many midwives that become a sole proprietor because it is the easiest business model to set up. They have no clue the pros and cons of the different kinds of business models and the unneeded risk they are taking with personal assets by choosing this model. There are no tax deductions with sole proprietors and no liability protection present. Don’t always pick the cheapest option when doing a product or option cost analysis. Ask smart questions and compare the options available before making a decision. I see this often with malpractice insurance. Many home birth midwives feel “they don’t need it” or “it costs too much.” What are the costs of protecting your hard-earned business and personal assets? Do you even know what the word asset means? Liability and asset are basic financial terms and very important to understand. Liabilities lose you money like your home and assets make you money like your business. Even having employees, laws and very important tools are available for hiring, firing, training, and paying staff. Evaluations and disciplinary actions need to be handled professionally and carefully. If you want to offer health insurance to your employees, some resources need to be reviewed about equality and discrimination protection with coverage and reimbursement offered by businesses. Employees’ Rights These are all things business owners need to understand and be aware of. Midwives working for someone else only worry about doing their job and being a good employees. Midwives that want to run a business (I strongly encourage that option) need to take additional school about finances, business ownership, and tax laws. The wealth and opportunities available to midwife business ownership are bountiful. Few people can be business owners, not that it is harder, but there is limited training done growing up about that option. Take the time and train yourself about business owning before taking the plunge. Visit our Teachable Courses and Enroll to a course.
Images on a Midwife Business Website
Midwife Website I have seen hundreds of midwife websites. Some are very inviting, impressive, and professional. MANY are down right sad. Most clients are going to find you through referrals (word of mouth) or website searching for you. Do you want your first impression to show scattered, poor quality flow and pictures? When I see some of the pictures midwives put of themselves and team, I cringe. Quite a few are off centered, terrible setting choice, just look like they got out of bed in the morning, or need to go to bed from being up too long! What do you want your Website to Portray? Go back to your business plan and mission for your midwifery practice. Many midwives wants high quality, professional care to be given to the community. Your website should sync with that mission statement. Try to not to pick controversial pictures, informational topics, or unprofessional looking pictures. Your website should shine I know what I am doing and will take great care of you and your family. When I can’t even find a picture or name of the midwife on the website with limited contact information, I wonder how old she is and can’t use a computer to set up website, how busy is she that this website doesn’t really matter to her business model, or if she is this sloppy with her website, what is she like during a birth with care? Those are all the thoughts that go through my head and I am sure quite a few women visiting websites looking for a midwife in their area. A Website doesn’t have to be Fancy to be Professional Have simple tabs discussing your services, area of coverage, educational background and skill set, team present with midwife practice, contact information, and resources for families to use supporting midwives, natural birth, and empowering women about birth options. Make sure contact information is clearly written in many different places. Pictures should be crisp, support your style of midwifery, and professional. Any photo of yourself, birth, or person should be done by a photographer with excellent lighting. Your image is your brand and it should make people think, “Wow, she is the midwife I want at my birth!” Take some time looking at other midwife’s websites, there are many good and poor examples to look at. Find a simple website program like GoDaddy or someone you know to run your website if you aren’t technologically savvy. Websites are very important in today’s fast information age. Let the community know your high quality care from moment they click on your website. Provide easy to flow through tabs and beautifully taken pictures that draw a client to versus cause fears and doubt. Spend some time looking through many images and layouts for your website before publishing. Have friends, family, and other midwives critique your format and image choices. I see the biggest challenge on websites as the midwife’s photo. Some have the head cut right off, off centered, poor lighting, and very poorly planned choices. Spend the extra money and have a photographer come to your office, birth center, or home birth with you. Get the staff to dress up one day and get group pictures and single shots of team for the website. The photographer will know the best lighting, angle, and color scheme that will shine professional and high quality care is offered at this midwife business. Make it Unique Your office and birth center is such a unique space in the medical community and should be bragged about your website. Stress the uniqueness of what is offered compared to competitors in area. Most kids can’t come to the prenatal visits in a typical doctor’s office. Get gorgeous pictures of your waiting area, birth rooms, and prenatal exam rooms. Show how family focused you are with toys and home like environment. I urge you to spend some time looking at your website and analyzing every page and photo. Have people critique things and see what image your website is really putting into the community. If you haven’t started a practice yet, having a blank slate to work with is sometimes easier than fixing a broken website. Marketing your website with phenomenal photos and flow are one of the most important things you can do for your online presence. First impressions are crucial in today’s fast pace society. Most women will choose their midwives from recommendations and how their website’s look. Make your website wow women, versus concern them.
If you Build it, They will Come
I know it is a little corny to quote Kevin Costner’s classic, “Field of Dreams.” There is a couple of key parts of this analogy I want to stress. Midwifery care is in demand and your practice will be very busy with time. Creating the structure and flow to keep up with the demands is more of the challenge than getting clients. Secondly, create an online presence using search engine optimization so people can find you when looking. You may have the best thing since sliced bread but won’t make any money if no one knows you even exist. “Field of Dreams” is a metaphor to creating your soul purpose in a business that others can enjoy with you. With the invention of the internet, businesses can have a worldwide presence like never before at a fraction of past advertising costs. Preach your mission on your website, blog posts, Facebook posts, Twitter, business networking groups, LinkedIn, and local event postings. Hire a local marketing company or someone within your team that will just focus on branding your desired image. There are many cost-effective marketing tools available that can hit the masses. Do your research and find out what people in your local area are searching for. Is pregnancy, birth, midwife, water birth, birth control, pregnancy test, or obstetrician common google search words. Creating content on your website directly around those searches gets Google to place your business name higher on the searched list. Make sure Google Business, Yelp, Yellow Pages, and other contact registries have consistent addresses and phone numbers for your practice. Even if one address has word “street” spelled out while another site has word abbreviated to “st” will affect how accurate and reliable your information is to searching in Google. Spend some time in beginning of start up phase getting all content consistent throughout the world wide web, so consumers can find what they are looking for: YOU!
How to Start a Midwife Practice
So many midwives dream of running their own midwife practice, but few take the leap of faith to make that a reality. Most midwives, especially CNMs, tend to work for someone else or a larger system. They will give up many of their initial values of what midwifery looks like to be able to get a comfortable paycheck with nice benefits. What if I could persuade you into the fascinating world of entrepreneurship? I want more private midwife practices (whether it is home births, birth center, or hospital deliveries). Even a hospital owned midwifery practice runs completely different than a midwifery owned private practice that has hospital privileges. The midwives can make the policies, procedures, and mission for the practice versus a larger hospital organization. We specialize in supporting normal birth. The larger a system gets, the quality tends to be harder to keep. Women and families start becoming a number versus a name with a story. Think back to starting midwifery training, why did you want to be a midwife? What did you envision your care and practice environment would be like? Is that what you have right now? If you ran your own practice, you can actually create that fantasy practice. You can actually serve women on your terms, philosophy of care, and options to provide lower income families with a discount versus management can only make financial decisions. There are Many Ways to Start your Own Midwifery Practice. Think long and hard about what kind of practice you want to have and what services will be offered. Do you want to be full scope or just well women care? Do you want to be open 2 days a week and on call for births or five days a week with weekends off? Do you want to make unlimited income to support your family and community needs? That last part is really hard to do working for someone else. Starting your own midwife practice means freedom, opportunities, and accessing your creativity to the next level. Make a business plan and takes months tweaking it. Ask other successful midwives running their own practices (not your employee colleagues, but actually successful business owners) to look at your plan and give feedback. Learn from the best in the field. Hire a business consultation that helps midwives all over the country start and improve their midwife practice. Find like minded women in the community that want to help you build this amazing midwife practice. You can only do so much on your own. These lovely ladies can either be business partners or employees depending on how you want that long term relationship to look. Know your Initial and Operating Expenses. Create detailed budgets, templates, policies, market analysis surveys, and network like crazy. Take the time to learn your consumers, community, and needs. Create a great logo, marketing campaign, and branding system to grow your name and exceptional services. Figure out if cash or insurance reimbursement makes more sense for payment of your services. Make a list of supplies needed to start and will need to be replaced at regular intervals. Understand what staff you will need from day one and at each stage of growth in the midwife practice. Where will your office be located? What area will you serve? What business entity makes most sense for your midwife practice? Who are on your business team (consultant, accountant, financial planner, lawyer, marketer, and mentors)? How much money do you need to start practice and pay overhead until funds from care start coming in? What will your marketing budget be? How many staff do you hire? What are your orientation process for team going to look like? There is so much to think about when starting a business, but I stress over and over again that this is the most vital part of deciding on starting a midwife practice. If you don’t have a good business foundation to grow from, the success in the future will crumble from poor planning and lack of prepared capital. Take the time to plan, critically analyze every piece of the puzzle, and make the mistakes with planning and not your hard earned money and precious time! Tips for Running a Successful Midwifery Practice, teach you all you need to know about being a midwife. This course is ideal for people just starting out in their practice, but it’s full of rich information you’ll want to know even if you’re years into your career.
How To Scale Up Your Midwifery Business Without Losing Control
Scale up your midwifery business Business defines scalability as “the ability to increase revenues while your marginal costs decrease with each unit sale.” As a midwife, we may not be able to understand this word immediately since business topics are not part of our scope of practice. But what does this imply for us if we start our own business? Scalability is a unique challenge for any startup, especially when expanding social responsibility and a core value system are involved. Growth or scale is not a “one-size-fits-all” strategy because different industries require different approaches to reach more customers while keeping costs under control. However, scaling up is about more than just lowering the gross price of a product or service; it is also about creating a social impact that grows, thrives, and, most importantly, sustains. When we talk about scaling your midwifery business, we’re referring to strategies for growth that align with your original business vision while managing the impact of growth on your company. Implementing the following tips for how to scale a business forms a sustainable scaling strategy you can rely on: Sample Scaling Strategy Understand your Goals Scaling a business is reliant on creating customer loyalty. Customer loyalty is essential for business growth. What is the most effective way to build customer loyalty? Prioritize employee retention so that they can spread the word and pass on their enthusiasm for your company to those they serve. Employees are loyal to companies whose mission and values align with their own, as this gives them a sense that their careers have a higher purpose. Learning how to scale a business will ultimately fail unless you first address your “why” for starting a business in the first place. Knowing your purpose and successfully communicating it to your team is the best way to turn them into raving fans of your company and drive organic growth. Create a Business Road Map to Success As a midwife business owner, you should already have a business plan, but have you considered creating a business map? Business maps are an efficient and comprehensive method of growing a company and meeting its objectives. Making a business map forces you to consider fundamental questions such as: What business are you really in? What motivated you to start this business in the first place? Business maps encourage and challenge you to consider where you came from, define your reason for starting this business, and look ahead: what’s next for your company and where do you want it to end up? Having this type of documentation of your goals is an important part of learning how to scale a business and will be a useful reference when times get tough. Master Your Services Many business owners are so focused on rapid growth that they overlook the importance of ensuring the quality of their service. They frequently believe that they will simply fix it once they have more clients. However, if you don’t work out the kinks and eliminate the bugs now, they will only get worse as your business grows. This is why learning how to scale a business before attempting to expand will save you time and money in the long run. Listen to feedback, identify problems, and improve your offerings until they meet your customer’s expectations in the early stages of your business. Create Thoughtful Processes and Operations to Follow Scaling a business entails more than just expanding upward and outward; it also entails ensuring that your internal processes and operations run smoothly. The last thing you want is to start losing customers you’ve worked so hard to gain because a component of your infrastructure is failing. While perfecting processes, keep in mind that some of the systems and processes that work in the early stages of your company will not work on a large scale. This is where adaptability and flexibility come into play, as processes may need to be tweaked as your company grows. In the early years, establishing a framework of what works and keeps your business running smoothly is critical to scaling a business because it forms a solid core. Establish Your Amazing Team Scaling your midwifery business entails more than just expanding upward and outward; it also entails ensuring that your internal processes and operations run smoothly. The last thing you want is to start losing clients you’ve worked so hard to gain because a component of your infrastructure is failing. While mastering processes, keep in mind that some of the systems and processes that work in the early stages of your company will not work on a large scale. This is where adaptability and flexibility come into play, as processes may need to be tweaked as your company grows. In the early years, establishing a framework of what works and keeps your business running smoothly is critical to scaling a business because it forms a solid core. One of the most rewarding aspects of running a midwifery business is the ability to develop close relationships with your clients. You get to give them the experience you want from start to finish. And the goal should always be to create a raving fan—someone who will be a fervent supporter of your brand and will help you scale your business by spreading the word. Remember that the community you build around your midwifery business can strengthen your foundation, giving you even more strength and leverage as you grow. A solid network is so important that it is included in the definition of scaling a business. So, take the time to truly build the “team” that will propel you forward. Learn When to Delegate If you’ve built a strong team, you should be able to delegate many important tasks to them so you can work “on” the business rather than “in” it. However, as a midwife, you want to feel involved in every aspect of your business and will find it difficult to let go in some areas. To truly understand how to scale a business, you must delegate
How to Revolutionize Any Relationship by Tapping Into Your Emotional Fingerprint™
Woody Woodward was a personal business mentor I hired years ago to help me get my life and business to the levels I never dreamed could be possible. His knowledge, wisdom, and guidance can be applied to any birth worker wanting to break their personal glass ceiling effect held in your mind. One of his best books, “Emotional Fingerprint,” has really opened my eyes to the “Platinum Rule.” It is the next level up from the “Golden Rule” where you do to others how you would like to be treated. The “Platinum Rule” is do onto others how they would like to be treated! There are great tools to learn people internal drives and motivations after talking with them for a few minutes. You can present a win-win situation proposal that meets their needs, not just your needs and hope that aligns with theirs. By providing value that fulfills their unique internal driving forces, value will always be achieved. I have made so many great deals and opportunities happen from following Woody’s amazing advice. “Your successes and failures in life, relationships and business are determined based on how you defend and support your Emotional Fingerprint,” says serial entrepreneur, film maker, success strategist, nine-time author Woody Woodward, whose newest book, Your Emotional Fingerprint, 7 Secrets That Will Transform Your Life, is being published today. “Every one of us has a unique navigation system which affects how we deal with people, how we respond in intimate relationships, how we value friendships and how we pull through challenging and tough situations.” This unique navigation system has been identified by world-renowned thought leader, speaker and seminar presenter Woody Woodward as your Emotional Fingerprint. In Woody Woodward’s newest book, Your Emotional Fingerprint, 7 Secrets That Will Transform Your Life, he illustrates the Five Validations that can transform any relationship. The Five Validations are: 1. Recognition 2. Respect 3. Acceptance 4. Appreciation 5. Praise Recognition: Bill Bartmann was homeless at 14, dropped out of high school, and was in a gang. When he was 17 he worked in a hotel and a woman in management kept calling him “bright young kid.” After a month or two of this he inquired why she called him that. She said that was what the owner of the hotel put on his application after his interview. This recognition from someone he admired as a businessman completely changed his outlook on himself. It inspired him to get his GED, put himself through college and law school, and eventually build a billion dollar empire. At one point he was ranked as one of the 25 Richest People in America by Forbes. Bill said, “None of this would have happened if the owner of the hotel did not recognize me as the ‘bright young kid.’” The recognition you give can have a lasting impression on someone’s Emotional Fingerprint. Respect: You can have unconditional love for anyone but you cannot respect everyone. Respect must be earned. Find something in the people you know and express your respect for them. It could be something as simple as their commitment to a workout routine, a hobby, or talent. Let them know you respect their decisions and opinions. Giving respect will go a long way when validating what makes someone feel important. Acceptance: A little boy was telling his Grandma how “everything” was going wrong – school, family problems, severe health problems, and everything else. Meanwhile, Grandma was baking a cake. She asked the child if he would like a snack, which of course he did. “Here. Have some cooking oil,” she said. “Yuck,” said the boy. “How about a couple of raw eggs?” “Gross, Grandma.” “Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?” “Grandma, those are all yucky!” To which the Grandma replied, “Yes, all those things seem bad all by themselves. But when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake!” Appreciation: As his car pulled up to the drive-thru window Jeff Sinclair asked for the bill for the car behind him. The cashier seemed stunned at first but gave him the amount and he paid it. This train action of appreciation went on for 74 cars in a row. Even the local radio show was reporting on it. “We live in an appreciation deficient society. Imagine how your friends and loved ones would feel if they knew how much you appreciated them,” he said. Praise: Master illusionist and magician Harry Houdini spent a lifetime debunking psychics, mind readers and scam artists. He met every foe with enthusiasm and within days copied their tricks or proved them wrong. “So, why do we think that our friends, family, co-workers, customers or spouse know how we feel about them? It is not enough to think about them. We must take action,” says Woodward. “As we do these five validations it has a direct impact on someone’s Emotional Fingerprint.” To discover your Emotional Fingerprint for free visit http://www.MyEmotionalFingerprint.com. To see inspiring videos of these applications click on the video tab. About Woody Woodward Woody Woodward is a success strategist who specializes in achieving exceptional results. As an entrepreneur for more than 20 years, he has used the principles taught in his book Your Emotional Fingerprint, 7 Secrets That Will Transform Your Life to negotiate deals with major corporations, including NASCAR, the NBA, the NFL, Warner Music, Sony, Disney, and BMG Music. The Emotional Fingerprint was chosen as one of the leading techniques to be presented to the United Nations to assist them in reaching their millennial goals. For information about Woody Woodward’s speaking availability, strategy session or consulting please visit http://www.MeetWoody.com http://www.MyEmotionalFingerprint.com Contact Woody Woodward Phone 951-973-3408 Email sbwwoody@msn.com SOURCE Woody Woodward