So, you have obtained all the qualifications, got the premises sorted, done a few adverts and got yourself involved in a few networking events. Just one thing missing: the customer. Just when will that first elusive customer walk through your door? Even when he has, you then find yourself in exactly the same position all over again waiting for the next one. Unfortunately, the most vital link in the whole chain is the one you have no control over. Like some flower yearning to be pollinated, you sit there never knowing when the next bee will drop by.

For those in the first year of business, this can be an agonising wait. All the time, effort and investment now depends on that elusive customer walking in. All the while, the clock ticks and the room stands empty, your finances continue to drain away as membership fees, advertising, utility bills and transport nibble away at your ever-shrinking startup pot.

For the cafe-owner, the question is not when but how many. There's little doubt hungry customers will be lured in by the enticing smells, but will there be enough? If the local firm next door relocates or goes belly-up, you may find your own business going belly-up with it.

For the new therapist such as myself, the first dilemma is do you give up the "day job" to promote your practice full time or do you stay employed and fit your business in and around? For the family man/woman, it's really a no-brainer - you're not going to endanger the security of your family, but it's going to take that much longer to get established. In my line, it's weeks and occasionally months between clients, because unlike a cafe you aint gonna drop into a therapist and take a chance. All your business is word-of-mouth recommendation, and that takes time, and your clients are often desperate before they see you.

So what do you do in the meantime? Well you beaver away at promotional work, networking for all your worth, writing articles, looking for opportunities to make public appearances and generally finding ways to meet people face-to-face, because that's how people get the confidence to trust you with their problem. The right attitude is vital. Gazing with disappointment at your empty therapy couch is not going to help, so you have your focus in the right place, do what you can to get yourself known to a wider client base and think about the next immediate promotional task.

All the time though you keep your vision on the glorious day you quit the day job because enough clients are walking in to keep you afloat. You think about it, dream of it, visualise it, feel it with an unshakeable faith in yourself and the law of attraction: if you're focused on it for long enough it will come to you. Before the successful practice comes the belief - and I believe, YES I BELIEVE!!!