Anne-Marie McClorey
Line of Work
Practitioner of Chinese Medicine
Web Address
traditionalchinesemedicine.ieAnne-Marie’s Gifts
Anne-Marie has been a practitioner of Chinese Medicine for 20 years and knew that she needed an active online presence if her business was to be taken seriously by new and prospective clients, but she was daunted by the technology and overwhelmed by the seeming complexity of the task. Now, she has a beautiful website which she and her clients love.
Key outcomes
Anne-Marie had never thought much about needing a website, because her clients were mostly referrals. A website seemed redundant, even though she knew that she needed one to legitimise her business in the eyes of new clients. After working with Vicky, Anne-Marie learned that a website is so much more than a static brochure or advertisement. She could build something that was educational and interactive, all the while attracting the kinds of clients she wanted to work with most.
Anne-Marie was so technology-averse she had never even posted to Facebook before joining Rock That Website. She was worried she might hit the wrong button, or that her questions would be ignored. Instead, she found all of her questions were generously answered by Vicky and her peers, even late at night, and she gained confidence using social media.
Building her website as a living tool to interact with her clients gave Anne-Marie a new sense of possibility. Even if her clinic was closed, as during the pandemic, she now had more options for conducting business online that she couldn’t imagine before going through the course.
While Vicky supported Anne-Marie through every question, she also made her stand on her own feet. When Anne-Marie didn’t understand how to do something, Vicky would walk her through the steps but never did it for her. By doing things herself, Anne-Marie was better able to learn what she was doing and why. Anne-Marie never felt rushed and was always given ample time and explanations to wrap her mind around new concepts or tricky implementations. She appreciated having recordings of the Zoom classes so she could revisit topics she needed refreshers on when updating her site.
“After my initial consultation, the main thing I felt is that Vicki can teach me something. This is not just something she’s going to do. I love a good teacher and I could get that feel from the start.”
I would say to do exactly as Vicky says. When Vicky says move on, then it’s time to move on and not get bogged down in the myth of perfection before going to the next stage.
As you get into it, you realise it’s a work in progress and nothing is static. The site will start to evolve itself. Just go ahead and do exactly what she says and trust that it will fall into place and that it does fall into place. It really was in the last week I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve got a website.’”
Summary
Anne-Marie first contacted Vicky to have a website built for her. After 20 years as a practitioner of Chinese Medicine, she felt she needed a site to legitimise her business in the eyes of the digital world, but was entirely uninterested in building it herself.
However, she left her consultation with Vicky feeling empowered and curious. Vicky made it sound like building a website was something she could do, and that doing it herself would benefit her business in multiple ways.
Anne-Marie was interested in learning a new skill, and felt from the start of the conversation that Vicky was a good teacher.
She enrolled in Vicky’s free Confident Website Creation Challenge and had such a good experience that she signed up for Rock That Website.
During the course, Anne-Marie discovered she truly enjoyed working with technology, marketing, and even got over her fears of using social media. Now she finds herself tinkering with her website for the pleasure of it.
Challenge
While her Chinese Medicine practice was thriving from word-of-mouth referrals, Anne-Marie had an old brochure-style website from 2005 that was so dated she was embarrassed to tell people it existed. So she said she didn’t have one.
She knew that she needed an active online presence if her business was to be taken seriously by new and prospective clients, but she was daunted by the technology and overwhelmed by the seeming complexity of the task.
Anne-Marie’s first thought when she found Vicky was to hire Vicky to build the site for her.
However, in her first consultation, Vicky explained things so well that it was clear to Anne-Marie that, under the guidance of an experienced teacher, she might be able to do this herself, and build the kind of living website she ultimately wanted to have.
Her final roadblock was something she named as more of a convenient excuse: time. Afraid she wouldn’t have time to build the site due to her full schedule, Anne-Marie learned from Vicky that she need only follow the program and devote a manageable block of time each day. By doing this consistently, she would have a site at the end of the course.
The pandemic lockdown ended up being the blessing in disguise that Anne-Marie needed to get over her fear of not having enough time.
With several weeks of open time suddenly available, the encouragement of a friend who had previously worked with Vicky, and a grant by the Irish government encouraging business owners to bring their businesses online, Anne-Marie signed up for Rock That Website.
Solution
Anne-Marie first enrolled in Vicky’s free 5-day Confident Website Creation Challenge and was encouraged by Vicky’s teaching style and the interaction from other participants. When she saw others asking questions and sharing ideas, she felt comfortable asking her own questions.
Anne-Marie learns best when she asks lots of questions, but will sometimes hide in the background of a class if she doesn’t feel fully comfortable admitting she doesn’t know something.
She was pleased to see that VIcky’s teaching style was so personable and the group was so warm and interactive she felt perfectly comfortable raising her questions.
Anne-Marie had previously tried a number of courses that were meant to teach her web design and technology, but they always felt dense, intimidating, and too broad.
She found that a half hour with Vicky during the free challenge gave her more relevant and targeted information than several hours in the other courses. She knew that she could trust Vicky to deliver a clean, direct product to help her build her website and help her really understand what she was doing and why.
Outcome
Following the completion of the Confidence Website Creation Challenge, Anne-Marie went into Rock That Website expecting to just build a website. To her surprise, she came out with a website plus a structure and a strategy to interact with new and returning clients.
She also learned how to focus her language and marketing tactics to appeal to her ideal clients. Previously, Anne-Marie believed her website would act as an open door to anyone. Once she learned more about targeted marketing, she was able to build a site to attract her ideal client, and offer them multiple ways to interact with the site to learn more about her practice, her methods, and how she could help them.
While the course was challenging, Anne-Marie faced fewer difficulties than she expected. When she felt stuck on something technical in WordPress, Vicky explained it clearly and helped her move forward. Anne-Marie was worried she’d get lost in the marketing modules, but she found that she actually enjoyed it once she had all the tools.
Overall, she was surprised by how much she enjoyed the process of building her website and marketing funnels. It wasn’t easy, and she had to put in the effort, but there was no pressure or frustration. Anne-Marie could always ask questions and get support from Vicky and her peers in the course.
