Meet Reiki Master Teacher Mary Riposo
“If you take it step by step, and have a good, solid plan, you can’t go wrong.”
Mary Riposo
Okay, let’s get started on the interview!
Tell us who you are in 50 words or less.
I am a Reiki Master practitioner, teacher, mentor and author. My passion is to help Reiki practitioners gain confidence and get their healing work out into the world.
How and why did you start your business?
I found Reiki after suffering from a number of mystery illnesses that didn’t respond to Western medicine.
I had such a positive response to Reiki treatments that I decided to learn Reiki myself and share it with others.
I WANTED TO GIVE OTHERS WHAT I HAD RECEIVED.
Mary giving a Reiki session.
Would you like to experience Reiki energy for yourself? Mary invites you to connect with her to schedule a Reiki session.
What services do you offer in your business?
My practice consists of Reiki sessions, classes, and mentoring sessions. I also host Reiki circles, where we get together as a group to practice.
I have a membership called the Central New York Reiki Association, which has been in existence since 2012.
I work remotely, so most of my practice happens on Zoom or over the phone. I do a lot of mentoring sessions, where I help practitioners with a variety of things. Some come to build confidence and strengthen their skills, and some see me for help with building or growing a Reiki business.
What makes your business or services unique?
In addition to the services I offer, I love to create products to support my clients. For example, I wrote the Grow Your Reiki Business book and I created a set of Reiki Journals to help students and practitioners track their practices.
I’ve also created a variety of done for you products for Reiki practitioners. These include brochures, client forms, class certificates, and other printables, some of which can be customized for the individual practitioner.
MY GOAL IS TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR REIKI PRACTITIONERS TO GET THEIR HEALING WORK OUT INTO THE WORLD.
Having a functional website is an important aspect of running a business. How was the process for you to get your website up and running? For example: Did you create it on your own or did you hire a web designer? Which platform is your website hosted on?
I’ve been in business for over 20 years, and have had multiple websites over the years. Back in the beginning, I learned to code so I could create my own web pages. Luckily, we don’t have to do that anymore.
I still create all my own websites. I have created Wordpress websites in the past, but my current website is created and hosted through GoDaddy.
What resources are you finding helpful in your business right now?
I can’t begin to tell you how helpful it is to have Zoom as a resource for my business. Without it, I wouldn’t have been able to continue working through the COVID-19 pandemic.
And now, since I am 100% remote in my business, Zoom allows people from around the world to have access to my services. I am incredibly grateful for that.
What is the one thing you wished you had known before starting your entrepreneurial journey?
One thing I wished I had known before I opened my business was that it’s a good idea to take it slow. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing.
Many of my mentoring clients come to me after they’ve quit their job and tried to open a full-time Reiki business. Things are not going well and they’ve run out of money, and they are on the verge of going back to work for someone else. They feel like a failure. But they could have saved themselves a lot of time, money and heartache if they were to take it slow and build their business from the ground up.
IF YOU TAKE IT STEP BY STEP, AND HAVE A GOOD, SOLID PLAN, YOU CAN’T GO WRONG.
I think many people in my field don’t know that and give up on their dreams as a result. When I get them before they’ve given up, we can go back and repair what’s needed so they can move forward.
Tell us about a time when life threw you a serious curveball in your business and what you did to overcome that curveball?
I would have to say the COVID-19 pandemic completely transformed how I did business. At the time, my husband and I were running a large wellness center and we went into lock down starting in March 2020, stopping much of our business offerings.
I immediately pivoted to working remotely, but the rest of the business was not able to recoup and we ended up closing our brick-and-mortar location.
I’m so grateful that I was able to continue my business, and even grow, despite the limitations the pandemic caused; all because I had the technology to work remotely.
How have you grown personally from becoming an entrepreneur?
OPENING MY OWN BUSINESS IS THE BEST THING I’VE EVER DONE.
It’s helped me grow in so many ways. But I think the greatest thing it’s given me is a sense of personal fulfillment and purpose. It’s allowed me to pursue my passion and create something meaningful.
It’s been so rewarding to see the positive impact Reiki has on the lives of others, the healing that’s happened, and all the good going out into the world. It’s the best feeling!
What one misconception about the entrepreneurial journey would you like to clarify for us today?
One thing that surprises many of my mentoring clients is that customers don’t just start showing up as soon as you file your business paperwork. Just because you’re in business doesn't guarantee an immediate influx of customers. It takes time to build a customer base, and it takes visibility, which is particularly difficult for many people in my field.
We tend to be the introverted, highly sensitive types who would rather be behind the scenes, and because of that, we have difficulty marketing and promoting our businesses.
But if people don’t see us; if we’re not visible; we won’t get customers and our business won’t succeed.
IT TAKES HAVING A VISIBILITY STRATEGY AND BEING CONSISTENT IN PROMOTING YOUR BUSINESS IN ORDER TO SUCCEED.
What advice would you give to someone who is thinking about starting their own business?
My best advice is do not hesitate to ask for help. So many of us think we have to do everything ourselves, but truthfully, we don’t.
In my line of business, and I think it’s the same for many service-based businesses, the skills we need to be a good practitioner are quite different from the skills needed to open a business offering that service. That’s where many people get stuck. And that’s what I help my Reiki mentoring clients with. I give them the tools they need to open and run a successful Reiki business. It can be done, but we often don’t even know where to start.
We just assume that because we’re good at a particular skill, we will automatically be successful creating a business around it.
Then when our efforts fail, we assume that we’re not good at what we do, but in fact, we just don’t have business skills.
THE GOOD NEWS IS, BUSINESS SKILLS ARE SOMETHING YOU CAN LEARN.
What are some fun facts you would like to share about yourself?
I’m a word nerd. I started playing Wordle and the New York Times Spelling Bee online during the COVID-19 lockdown, and still do it every day.
I also dabble in the Japanese arts of Shodo (calligraphy), Haiku (poetry) and Ikebana (flower arranging).
What is one thing you’re grateful for right now?
I’m super grateful for community; especially the Reiki community. When I first started out in my Reiki practice, there was no community.
In my area, not many people knew what Reiki was back then, and so there was a lot of suspicion and negativity.
Now Reiki is much more widely recognized and accepted, and a supportive community has developed around it.
I created a Reiki membership group back in 2012, and many of the founding members are still in the group. We get together to practice, to learn from each other, and to support each other. It’s a great feeling of connection.
What are you looking forward to in the next month?
I’m excited to be filming a presentation for a Reiki summit coming up later this year. The topic is about unlocking the keys to Reiki business success. It’s a topic that’s near and dear to me, as one of my visions is to help Reiki practitioners get their healing work out into the world.
I’m looking forward to this and I hope it will encourage and inspire other Reiki practitioners to open their own business.
