How to overwhelm yourself with new clients in 2021!
 
Wisconsin Billings teacher, Heather Turner, has found herself with a full client load thanks to several marketing ideas that she started implementing before the pandemic.
 
Tap into your diocese/parish:

• Put listings for intro sessions, both online and in-person, in your parish's bulletin.
• Have your intro sessions announced at Mass (apparently, few people read bulletins!)
• Get on your diocese's NFP page, even if NFP instruction isn't required for engaged couples.
• Meet with priests in your diocese and give them business cards and/or brochures.

 
Use the BOMA brochure:

• Speaking of brochures, there's a space on the back of this one (https://www.bomausa.org/store/p14/BOMAUSA_Brochure_%28Pkg_of_100%29.html) for a label. I buy Avery 22822 clear labels (https://www.amazon.com/Avery-Print.../dp/B008FKRXC0) and print my condensed business card on them and stick them to each brochure.
  
  

Offer freebies:

• Teach free intro classes outside the Catholic bubble, such as at crisis pregnancy centers, midwife offices, local libraries, community centers, etc. And, don’t forget, eventually, you'll start to get referrals from current clients too.
• Offer free intro classes online every 1-4 months. Depending on how much I can take on new clients; I will advertise those classes more or less. I post about the free classes on my personal page, in local mom groups, (on Facebook and in email lists), as posts in Facebook (FB) groups (or comments on the advertising posts, if a group has restrictions), and drop the link when I'm talking to people in comments or private messages. (People message me their random charts often!) I have anywhere from 2-25 people attend each intro, but at most a handful from each become clients.

 
Get on lists:

• List yourself on a bunch of directories. There's the One More Soul's directory (https://onemoresoul.com/nfp-directory), FACTS's directory (https://www.factsaboutfertility.org/physician-clinician-directory-form/), and numerous other little directories out there if you go looking.
• Be on the remote teachers list for BOMA (https://www.boma-usa.org/learn-remotely.html) and include as much info as possible. One client said she picked me as her instructor because I was the only one with a website listed, so she felt like she could get to know me a little before contacting me.

 
Have a web presence:

• Have a website. It doesn't have to be awesome. Done is better than perfect. If you have a contact form or your email listed, prepare for spam. But some sincere requests will sprinkle in too.

 
Consider social media:

• Be active in a variety of FB groups. Yes, there's a lot of misinformation out there in these groups, but the volume of people who need help - either to be taught from the ground up, to make a method switch, or go through a Billings refresher is enormous. It would be a dereliction of duty for Billings teachers to avoid these spaces entirely. I'm in many groups such as:
              https://www.facebook.com/groups/700439266684610/ and  
              https://www.facebook.com/groups/412486138896385/ and
              https://www.facebook.com/groups/NFPfans/ and
              https://www.facebook.com/groups/NFPCatholicStyle/ and
              https://www.facebook.com/groups/1547240995521476/ and
              https://www.facebook.com/groups/338240116547758/).
• For each FB group, my contact info is on the instructor list in the Files section, and I sometimes offer non-pushy takes on charts posted or problems people post. Billings has helped me, and I know it can help a lot more people. I will offer to teach people, for free if necessary if they seem to need it. Sometimes it's people quietly watching the conversation who will be the ones to reach out to me, rather than the person I'm actually talking to. I could probably be on Instagram, but I don't have the energy to take on another platform.
• Make a business page on FB (here's mine, for example:
              https://www.facebook.com/PlanningLifesBumps/), which you could link to your personal FB page. I've done more with my page in the past, but I'm maxed out

 
Now with current clients.
 
Stretch beyond your borders:

• Consider working as a distance instructor for the Diocese of Fort Worth, since

they have an NFP requirement but not enough local teachers, as was the case at least a year ago (https://fwdioc.org/natural-family-planning). I found having Fort Worth engaged clients were only about 2.5 months of commitment for each couple and gave me a diverse set of experiences, which also benefitted my own learning.

As you can see, promotion can be, “a little bit here and a little bit there, mostly passive and all free” (except for time, supplies, and gas).

If you do all of the above, you'll be overrun in pretty short order. If you are new to teaching, don't be afraid of a slow buildup by choosing a couple of the suggestions.

Be patient with yourself. Learning how to work with actual people and their charts, getting a routine for documenting contacts, and really letting all this information seep down deep in your bones – it all takes time!

To contact Heather, email her at hturnernfp@gmail.com.

Q.  Tell us about your family and where you grew up.
​
My dad grew up as a cradle Catholic on a small farm outside Yarmouth, Novia Scotia, Canada. My mum grew up as a Baptist in Yarmouth. She converted to Catholicism before they married.  Faith was important in our family. My parents started their married life on the farm. On September 6, 1936, I became their firstborn child with a brother and two sisters who followed.
 
We lived in Digby, Nova Scotia, which was a town of some 2,000 people.  We lived a simple but happy family life and kept in contact with our grandparents. Digby was considered a good port of the Bay of Funday for the scallop fishing boats. It is located about 12 miles from a basic-training naval base. As a result, in my early years, I had an awareness of the Second World War. It intensified when one of my dad's brothers was killed in Italy.

Q.  What is the story of your journey to the priesthood? How did you serve the Church?

Looking back, I would say that it started just after my baptism when my parents took me to the statue of Our Lady in that church, in Yarmouth, and entrusted me to her care. She guided me in my human development and following Christ by the example of my parents, who had a strong devotion to her and the Rosary.

The Blessed Mother also helped bring members of the Missionary Congregation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate to look after our parish.  And with them brought the Sisters of Charity of the Immaculate Conception to establish a Catholic school in Digby. The Oblates and the Sisters contributed to my journey to a priestly vocation with the Missionary Congregation of Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
 
After high school, I pursued a Bachelor of Science Degree in Ottawa, Ontario, at an Oblate University. Shortly before graduation, I heard the call, and in answering, entered the Oblate novitiate in Arnprior, Ontario, in September 1958.  It was a year of formation in the Oblate way of life, deepening of spiritual life, and involvement with the manual labor task of running a small farm and community living.  It was a good year. The novitiate ended a year later, and on September 8, 1959, I took my first vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Then, I returned to the Ottawa area to begin studies in Philosophy and Theology, etc. I took my final religious vows on September 8, 1963, and was ordained to the priesthood on May 29, 1964, in the family parish church, St Patrick's, in Digby. The whole day is still vivid in my mind and heart.
 
After a few years into the priesthood, I coordinated a marriage preparation course at St Patrick's College in Ottawa. During that time, I was introduced to the sympto-thermal method of NFP and heard some things about the Billings Ovulation Method®. In 1968, Pope Paul VI (now Saint Paul VI) introduced the prophetic encyclical Humanae Vitae into the mix for marriage and family preparation.
 
In July of 1974, I was given a new obedience to the Dalhousie University in Halifax, NS, as the Newman Center Chaplain. That gave me the opportunity to prepare Catholic graduating students for marriage. Divine Providence provided some people who were aware of the BOM, along with some who wanted to teach it and others who could train them.  

Thus, I was able to teach Humanae Vitae and have it backed up through the help of local Billings teachers.

We eventually developed an organization for the province known as WOOMB-Canada, for which I am the spiritual director.
 
In February of 1978, I attended a conference in Melbourne, Australia, that commemorated the tenth anniversary of Humanae Vitae. That is where I first met Drs. John and Lyn Billings.
 
The following year, with some of the Catholic medical students' help, we invited the Drs. Billings to speak to the medical school faculty and students.

Q. The Drs. Billings were deeply committed to practicing their Catholic faith. Do you remember when they asked you to be the Spiritual Director for WOOMB-International?

It was a gradual thing. During the early years, Dr. John asked me to be a board member. As the organization grew, he quietly asked for my input when we would meet in different parts of the world.

Dr. John was very aware of the support of Divine Providence and the need to discern its movement. The spiritual advice I gave the two of them was part of my friendship with them. Sometimes we met in Canada, sometimes in the USA, in Rome or Melbourne, as the Lord provided the opportunities. Following one of the conferences in Melbourne, the Board of Directors of WOOMB-International made the position official. 
 
It has been a privilege to have a friendship with the Billings and to have been able to serve them. They were doing the important work that the Lord asked of them for the good of the Church and the world through the Billings Method™. 
 
Q. Tell us about the document you wrote called "Spiritual Direction for Billings Ovulation Method Teachers." In it, you have a fascinating concept of how the devil can attract us away from Billings through the enticement of other good things (volunteering at church, for example). How did that come about?

What inspired that document was an awareness of God's tremendous gift in the Billings Method™  and the importance of each teachers’ work. I knew from my training as a priest that the devil would prevent that good from being accomplished. So, I paid attention. It became clear that his strategy was to exploit the teachers' generosity by encouraging them to become more involved in other good things so that they did not have time to teach the BOM. I realized it would be essential to explain it to our teachers.  So, I wrote that document.
 
Q. Do you see the Billings Method™ playing any role in healing our broken culture in the future?
 
Yes, keep in mind that grace builds on nature. The Billings Ovulation Method® shows couples how to live their conjugal love more in harmony with Natural Law. The more God's grace can work in marriages, families, and other relationships, there is greater potential for healing our culture.

To that end, we need bishops and priests to be more aware of the positive impact that the Billings Method™ can have on our culture. Once they understand that, they can hardly not promote it.  
 
To read Father Hattie’s “Spiritual Direction for Billings Ovulation Method® Teachers,” click here.