When I co-founded The Reiki School + Clinic in 1999 with George Barrick, Reiki was neither well-known nor respected as an adjunct to conventional medicine. Moreover, it was typically couched in lots of new age jargon that didn’t make a lot of sense. I knew from direct experience that Reiki was a powerful, non-invasive healing tool, and I wanted it to gain credibility and become a recognizable option for Philadelphians. I wanted to offer high quality Reiki training, affordable Reiki treatments, and community for myself and a growing network of practitioners. On top of all that, I wanted to earn a living and create jobs for others. With zero budget, minimal connection to the healing arts community and a big dream, I was off and running.

Strategy and Branding

Seeking the path of least resistance can often yield abundant results. In the early age of our business (and the the internet!) we did several things that set us up for success:

• Secured the URL thereikischool.com

• Created a unique logo, website, newsletter and brand to match

• Built credibility through volunteering with local community organizations

• Increased exposure through networking and advertising, including newspaper print adds, flyers, tabling at conferences

• Created schwag to for brand recognition (To this day I occasionally find decades old Reiki magnets on people’s refrigerators!)

• Developed a unique, long-form training model with a mandatory clinical component that enabled us to differentiate in the market, ensure a high standard of professionalism, and build community through class cohorts

• The clinical component also required students to provide onsite, free treatments for the public which helped us remove barriers to access for those who couldn’t afford professional sessions while inadvertently providing us with free exposure.

• Rounded out our marketing strategy with regular open houses, guest writing/teaching and continued community volunteering (now fed by students who wanted to gain experience).

After several years my business partner bowed out and I bought the school from him. I created a growing clinical and teaching staff made up of former student graduates. I worked with a design team to develop a new look and feel that better visually represented us. We developed additional streams of income from treatment room rental, community events and merchandise. I developed new streams of advanced training for those who wanted to become professional practitioners. I also built an advisory committee of marketing, finance, and strategy experts to help guide our growth.

Systems and Operations

As our numbers of students, clients and staff grew, I developed systems to maintain a high quality of consistent service without sacrificing staff individuality. With a transparent and collaborative culture, I involved staff in development and decision making across all aspects of the workplace from pricing, salary, operations, and course curriculum creation to customer service, retention and conflict resolution.

I created policies, procedures and protocols for staff and students across all domains including supervision, safety, welcome/onboarding, conflict resolution, and professional development. I also drafted policies and procedures for clients and renters including payment, lateness, no-show and safety.

I organized systems for all aspects of operations including accounting, reporting, payments, front desk, cleaning and fiscal/regulatory compliance. I also managed clinical, teaching, front desk, cleaning and bookkeeping staff.

Project and Event Management

Over the 15 years that I directed The Reiki School + Clinic I produced many special events, workshops and classes. From anniversary celebrations, community gatherings, special promotions, days of healing, and both online and in person continuing education, we tried it all.

• Grew the practice from a team of 2 in one location to a team of 15 in 2 locations with additional off-site contracts, serving 1000’s of students and clients

• Sustained continued revenue growth each consecutive year for 15 years

• Created a high-ranking (SEO) web presence, 1st page, top 3 listings for keywords Reiki, Philadelphia and other related searches

• Became one of the world’s few Reiki Masters to earn a living solely from Reiki related work

• Increased Reiki’s reach and popularity in the region exponentially, training practitioners and teachers who spread Reiki throughout the Delaware Valley and South Jersey

• Developed care-filled collaborations with many local organizations including hospitals, LGBTQIA+ service providers for youth and adults, animal rights groups, and HIV/Aids support/service providers and cancer support/service groups. Tailored programming, communications and content to each collaboration