When Rachel & I sat down for a quick coffee date in January 2014, neither of us had ANY clue where it would lead. We talked about life, goals for the new year, and she gave me some reading recommendations. She asked about wedding planning, I asked about Parker. You know, the normal stuff. Then she dropped the single sentence idea that would change everything. I’m sorry… what??? Like a freestanding building dedicated to music therapy??? Of course!! The following two years were an absolute whirlwind of amazing things I could never have imagined. We joined practices, rented space at Capital City Music , took on subcontractors, added an internship, moved into a 2,300 sq. ft. space of our own, and so much more. We have met and exceeded almost every one of our 2-5 year goals in only 18 months. The past two years have been a constant state of growth and movement. However, with growth comes the need to create new goals and re-examine the business. A couple weeks ago, Rachel and I sat down for a long business Read More
Posts by krkratz
Advocacy is… Talking to Everyone.
When I hear the word “advocacy”, the first things that come to mind are not what I consider pretty or terribly fun: Pamphlets, long speeches, campaigns, crusades, answering endless questions, hill days, long hours. While these things are often necessary in making progress (especially politically) and someone probably loves doing those things, they are not generally my reality. For me, advocacy looks a lot more like “connecting with people”. I talk A LOT! Some people would argue that I talk too much. BUT it comes in handy. Being a talker means that I get the rare opportunity to talk with tons of people and make AWESOME connections all the time. Example: Yesterday, my husband and I happened upon a wine tasting at a local shop. Of course we had to stay for a bit… who wouldn’t (tasting 10 wines for $1, no brainer). While there, I started talking, with everyone. I laughed, saying that one of the kids I work with had given me the gift certificate to the wine store. That lead to a question about what I do. In turn, I asked Read More
Being a Supervisor…
…definitely has it’s challenges and tough moments. There are long nights, hard conversations, sweat, tears, stress, etc. I get it! However, it is one of the most rewarding and consistently joyful things I have ever done professionally. I love having the opportunity and ability to influence someone and help them grow into the professional they want to be. I love being there when they have questions and being able to answer them or learning new things along the way by finding the answer together. I like being able to have conversations where we talk about the aspects of Music Therapy or business that often get swept under the rug or taken for granted. AND I am absolutely thrilled whenever I see my intern succeed. The past few weeks, Alisabeth has displayed an incredible amount of growth (whether she realizes it or not) and in spite of some really challenging situations. Needless to say, I am beyond excited to see where the next few weeks lead! Mostly, I just wanted to take a moment to encourage anyone in a teacher, supervisor, student, or Read More
2016: Simplify, Streamline, Self-Care (part 3)
STOP!!!! Stop what you are doing right now! Take a deep breath. How did that feel? Pretty great, right? Take another one. A slow, deep breath. Remind yourself to simply breathe and take a second to step away from everything. Close your eyes and take another deep breath. You’ve got this. When I feel myself starting to tense up and my shoulders slowly creeping toward my ears, I remind myself to stop, take a moment. Breathe. Remember, to breathe. Previously, I’ve talked A LOT about self care in a series called “Love Yourself”. However, it’s soooo important that I’m going to rehash it now. Take at least a little time out of every single day to…you guessed it… Do something (literally ANYTHING) for yourself. We get so consumed in the tasks we “have” to do every day that we simply forget to take care of ourselves. We forget that in order to care for our families, help other people, or be successful at work, that we first have to take care of our selves. We have to make sure our proverbially batteries Read More
2016: Simplify, Streamline, Self-care (part 2)
Welcome back!! In my previous post, I divulged the 3 major words Rachel and I elected to describe our goals for the new year that I have also adopted personally. I took on simplify in my last post. Streamline is a little trickier. It’s not a terribly fun or pretty word, but it is definitely essential in both the future of our company and my future personally. streamline (verb): to make (an organization or system) more efficient and effective by employing faster or simpler working methods. There aren’t many extra hours (or even extra minutes) in any given day. A lot of things get done at the last minute (or never) because there feel like there is no time. There are a lot of ideas that never even get started because I’m always playing catch-up. By taking a little time to find the methods/systems that work best for me and my company, I can become more efficient and effective thus creating more time and space in my life to do more of what I love and start on some Read More