Posted on

How Many Spiritual Business Coaches are Great at Coaching Spiritual Practitioners to be Coaches

Just because you know how to set yourself up as a coach, doesn’t mean you can help healers/psychics/clairvoyants find clients and go global.

Let’s take the example of coaching alternative healers. In Western society, our ‘healers’ largely work in allopathic (mainstream) medicine. Alternative medicine is not an option used by most people. Demand is low, supply is high. It’s mainly a cottage industry with a few big players, but no-one really speaks out about how the alternative healing, or let’s say the metaphysical market in general, is a hard nut to crack.

This is because there are certain marketing mindsets specific to the metaphysical market that many are scared to speak out against for fear of backlash. Here are some:

  • Law of attraction marketing
  • The importance of investing in yourself so that others will invest in you.
  • Avoiding a scarcity mindset at all costs
  • Raising your fees because the universe will meet you there.

It’s not uncommon for business coaches to sell hourly consulting sessions for $500, or morning masterminds for $2500. To my mind, these prices are exorbitant unless you already have a thriving practice and a monthly 5-figure income. And yes, there is value in reading people’s testimonials to see whether they are actually ‘value for money’, but in the same way that people sometimes have a post-healing ‘high’, the same often happens in the post-coaching session, when the client is left feeling happy at new ‘possibilities’ and wants to continue the dialogue a little longer with the coach and does so, also offering a testimonial, which, in turn, perhaps gets them some media exposure by proxy.

What I don’t see a lot of is people saying publicly how they feel they’ve over-invested and spent far too much money on coaching programs. Let’s face it, that might just scupper your reputation going forwards in new projects.

Imagine you’re raring to launch an online alternative healing business, and are really drawn in by a coaching program; it’s something that really ‘speaks’ to you and the testimonials are amazing. Yes, it’s a bit on the expensive side, but, as they say, you’ve got to invest money to make money, and if you don’t invest in yourself, who will?

By the way, who made up the whole thing about investing in yourself? Not the same person who made up with rags to riches heroes journey that’s for sure. Perhaps someone wanting to sell something? I’ve never heard this quote outside of the self-development or personal growth sector.

I know I know…..it’s really important to keep up on the latest marketing techniques in marketing. But this information is available free or at a low cost from many sources if you take time to search.

And social media? Yay…let’s all go global on social media with Facebook ads….and how are we going to do that exactly? I spent ages researching social media and all the different lead-gen techniques and really bought into it for a while. But, after years of study and research I saw people spend exorbitant amounts building their lists via Facebook ads to generate…..a bit fat ZERO return on their investment.

And I never hear of anyone who got a refund from their coach or marketing guru for the thousands that they spent on their fees to get this advice.

In fact, I see lots of businesses that start small and grow organically by word of mouth or…shock horror…offline. If I were a healer wanting to start up and had $7k (which is what I could easily invest in some kind of spiritual entrepreneurs’ boot-camp to get high-ticket clients) what could I do with this money in an offline scenario? Hmmm, well I could probably get more real clients who weren’t friends (or a friend of a friend) and receiving pro-bono work in exchange for a testimonial. And I could definitely afford basic marketing materials and pay for a couple of stands at local or regional Mind Body Spirit fairs. Well hey, let’s go all the way out, you could even get a website done for you from a lovely supplier via Upwork.com.

That’s investing in myself, right? Just smart investing (again, to my mind).

Here’s the thing people…..I’ve said it over and over again….to be a spiritual entrepreneur, you need entrepreneurial spirit and a good dose of spirit and gumption. Oftentimes when people go through some kind of spiritual awakening process they want to share the message as wide and far as possible through setting up a spiritual business and finding their “tribe”. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a beautiful thing. But there’s absolutely no guarantee that you’re going to make money with your new project. Perhaps it’s actually more of a passion project than anything else.

Tribe: that’s another good one….tribe. I’ve found that the most successful spiritual entrepreneurs I know actually appeal to a wide range of people. It’s THEM being THEMSELVES that attracts the people, not THEM TRYING TO BE WHAT EXACTLY WHAT SOME NICHE OR OTHER WANTS that really draws people in.

Moreover, did you ever notice that some really successful people have quite outdated websites, or completely random social media? Why is that? Well I would take a good guess that they’re really brilliant at what they do; they put themselves out there; they’re not scared to show up as they are and they’re not waiting for other people to tell them how it’s done.

Bottom line is this: there’s lots of people BSing online about how they made a whole ton of money from being a spiritual entrepreneur (ahem coach) online. And this makes other people want to do the same. So….sadly what happens is that often coaches coach others in how to be coaches and the net output is……whatever the ‘coachee’ has the spirit and gumption to put into action.

I’ve also seen another scenario: coaches really going for the ‘low-hanging fruit’. So let’s say that someone has a health problem that is keeping them back and they need to be consistent about improving it through diet, rehabilitation or perhaps decluttering their lives. Where’s the magic in that? And why is that worth $500 an hour? We generally know what our weak points are reaching out directly to local professionals offline to help us is a much cheaper and more effective option. Or you could hire an accountability coach online via Upwork.com.

This week I had an ongoing conversation with a gentleman who I have no idea whether he will work with me or not, but I know for a FACT that I’ve given him more food for thought and even a basic outline upon which to restructure his business going forward thought in a 40-min phone call and 5 emails. These were ideas that came to me spontaneously and which I shared quite willingly. It was fascinating and very interesting for me.

Did I mention I once got brashly ‘called out’ for being a VA and not a coach. Not sure what that was about because I don’t see how coaches can actually advise people on what to do if they don’t know the ins and outs of it themselves. And how do you learn that? By doing it….constantly, since tech is always changing.

I also once got told that I was ‘giving everything away’ in the first consultation call. That is something I’ll never forget because if I can see and easy solution to a problem, I’ll tell someone. I don’t want the energy of an idea unsaid hanging around me, and I certainly don’t want to clutter up my mind with strategic thoughts of ,“Ooh when should I advise my client on ABC to maximise my income and keep them coming back as much as possible.” I’m just more of a NEEEXT kinda gal.

So what’s my message here? What’s my call to action? It’s for spiritual entrepreneurs to stop playing follow the leader and draining their life savings in the hope that someone who is the real deal with finally show them how it’s done.

My message is to go out there, be yourself, grow and do your own thing. Keep the costs down. Ignore social media if needs be. Go with your gut and don’t wait for someone else to tell you that you’re ready and that you are now ‘healed and ready to go’.

So why am I saying this now? Because people I have taken my own advice and gone out into the world and got a day job and I’m loving it. I’m not dependent on Projects Angel for an income despite being very much at the top of my game. And quite frankly these are IMHO my well-researched opinions and I believe that sharing them will HELP many people (free of charge).

Over and out angels xoxo

P.S. And yes….I know….I have an abundance block. I’m also resistant to manifestation (pull the other one, it’s got bells on it) and also suffering from a fear or persecution complex and that I’ve carried through from a past life. Oh, and I’m definitely the unhealed healer. Seriously, I don’t know how I get out of bed each morning.

Posted on

My Manifesto

  1. The only thing that spiritual entrepreneurs really need is entrepreneurial spirit.

  2. Entrepreneurial spirit is a DIY job. It can’t be purchased. Only you can access that via your OWN intuition.

  3. Spiritual entrepreneurs can build a professional business from the bottom up using free or very low-cost tools.

  4. You grow a business by focussing on one lead-generation technique at a time.

  5. Most people don’t realize that they don’t need a permanent VA; robots can now do a lot of the “leg work”, and I know the simplest and cheapest ones to use.

  6. Many spiritual entrepreneurs overwhelmed and bombarded with “quick fixes” and claims that serve only to distort their perception of the market and strategies.

  7. My mantra is “if it’s not simple (and preferably free), it’s not a solution”.

  8. I believe in growing a business the following way:

  • Simplifying your business and getting robots to do a lot of work for you. For free.

  • Clearing up your “infoglut”.

  • Playing to your strengths.

  • Not getting into debt, or further into debt.

  • Getting a clear, undistorted vision of the market

  • Following YOUR own intuition.

  • Having patience and determination..

  • That’s when the magic starts to happen.

Posted on

A Letter All Spiritual Entrepreneurs Need To Read

spiritual entrepreneurs

Dear Spiritual Entrepreneurs,

My name is Elizabeth Jackson and I’ve had the honour of working with dozens of spiritual and holistic entrepreneurs as a strategist and VA for the past few years. During this time, my own spirituality has grown and I’ve gained a deep knowledge on the sector.

I’m writing this open letter because it is something that I would have wanted to read a few years ago, and, as far as I can ascertain, it isn’t written anywhere else.

  1. Is it absolutely okay to have a day job and for your spiritual or holistic business to be your hobby. Most people in the sector are NOT, I repeat NOT making six figures. Please etch this into your memory with immediate effect. Hospitals, schools, shops, businesses are FILLED with lightworkers helping others. They are everywhere.
  2. There are no industry statistics on how much a Psychic Services Practitioner, for example, earns on average per year. However, the IBISWorld description of the Psychic Services in the US: Market Research Report says that the industry is worth $2 billion, divided among the reported 82,000 psychics, that comes to $24,400 per person per year. This is a rough average and doesn’t take into account that some people will be spending more than they are earning, whilst others will be making 6 figures.
  3. There IS a figure for personal coaches in the U.S. ($51,418 ), and this number comes from the ICF (Intl. Coach Federation’s latest survey).
  4. It is likely that you will be a Sole Proprietor Entrepreneur for your entire working life if you choose to do this full time. That is not an easy thing to do because it involves constantly adapting to new situations and trial and error. This means that you are most likely going to be in charge of finding your own clients/people.
  5. The spiritual entrepreneur market is largely a cottage industry. It is chaotic to study because of all the different branches that fall under this market and all the different marketing techniques used and services offered. There are no federations that globally study the market, therefore we have no good data to study it.
  6. You can price your services however you want to. There is no reason why you should price things at $97,  $497, $997 and $1997 just because these have historically been the prices used for infoproducts or because someone told you to.  I, personally think that my dentist is worth more than his weight in gold, but he does not charge me that. He is a healer and has amazing work ethics and more certificates than I’ve ever seen in one place.
  7. Hay House have a well-developed business model as a case study. They have cornered the self-help (now self-empowerment market) and have a brilliant marketing and publishing business model. Originally it was a publishing house. It has now been horizontally and vertically integrated to bring together a complete ‘one-stop-shop’.
  8. Spiritual practitioners do NOT need to be a walking talking affirmation card. We are human. We get depressed, angry, eat junk, smoke, swear….just like everyone else. Do not wait until you are ‘all healed’ to start being a helper.
  9. You do not need to follow the Product Launch Formula and package your services as infoproducts to be a practitioner online.
  10. A funnel can be as simple as a free gift upon signing up to your mailing list and then weekly or monthly newsletters.
  11. You can provide your services online 1:1 and have offline lead-generation systems (public speaking, posters, etc.)  This works brilliantly as a starter business model.
  12. Social media is difficult to get a grasp of. If you feel like you don’t ‘get’ it, it’s because it’s difficult to ‘get’. It’s not a panacea to getting clients.
  13. There are lots of different business models out there. I find that a lot of people are quite opaque when it comes to explaining the technicalities of what system they’re using. Please be aware that each system actually has a name, such as Webinar Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Website Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Article Marketing, Podcast Marketing. Once you get a grasp on that, it’s easier to understand the different systems.
  14. If you spend all day in Facebook Groups, you will get stressed out and likely get nowhere quickly. I suggest that you go with your gut feeling and try each idea out one by one and find what works for you. Play to your strengths, whether that means you are a good writer, speaker, networker etc.
  15. It is well worth learning how to use Google Analytics to see where your website visitors are coming from. You could be spending hours on Pinterest, for example, but only getting 5 hits to your site from that platform each month.
  16. The theory of “there is no competition” is interesting. The theory works along the lines of, when you are in your ‘sweet spot’ you are completely differentiated from the competition, therefore there is no competition. However, by acknowledging that there is competition (from which you can differentiate yourself), the statement is contradictory and a self-refuting argument. In my opinion, it is supercilious to blithely state that ‘I don’t believe in competition’ and to rely on some telepathic form of Law of Attraction marketing.
  17. Everyone I’ve spoken to who has told me that their clients “just find them”, has obtained clients through Search Engine Marketing, Website Marketing and Referrals Marketing. I’m not saying that Law of Attraction Marketing is fictitious, I’m simply saying that it is a gross oversimplification to state that holding an intention alone will bring you clients. My version of this is as follows: putting a good website up and getting it ranked, getting your brand on-point, working lead-generation strategies while holding the intention of bringing in clients is Law of Attraction Marketing.
  18. Referrals from existing clients are pure gold. I suggest you make this your number one lead-generation strategy.
  19. You do not need to start by offering group programs and webinars. IMHO that is better once you’re ready to upscale. Start small. It’s easier and you’ll learn more that way.
  20. Don’t stress about social media marketing. Find the social media platforms you like and post whatever feels right. Just try not to post anything that is overly crafted to make you ‘look good’. Truth sells.
  21. You do not need to have a perfect website to get clients. It is more important to learn how to work your Google Analytics than how to put a flashy banner up.
  22. Once you have grown a flourishing business, I suggest you look to find synergies and affinities in Horizontal and Vertical Marketing to expand your horizons further.

I hope you find this information useful. It is written with my very best intentions and I hope it reaches as many people as possible.

Yours Faithfully

Elizabeth Jackson

Posted on

How Much Is Your Spiritual Business Worth?

How much is the net worth of your spiritual business?

I often think of how spiritual entrepreneurs work on so many levels: healing others, healing themselves,  healing the planet, being beacons of light for others…the list goes on.

So if you’re ever frustrated about not ‘making 6 figures’, or having getting that book deal, or being invited to participate in lots of big teleseminars, I’d invite you to think about the total impact of your work ON ALL LEVELS.

That is the true value of your business, and no-one can ever give that to you (you did it yourself) or take it away from you.

Posted on

The “Other” Business Model for Spiritual Entrepreneurs That No-One Talks About

alternative business model

Online Marketing is not exactly a level playing field. It’s skewed in favour of companies with deep pockets and who can afford to pay for copywriters, search engine optimisation, advertising…and the list goes on.

And online marketing can be pushy and rambunctious. Content Marketing (also known as ‘Educational Marketing’, ‘Inbound Marketing’ and ‘Pull Marketing’ – and my favourite: good old fashioned ‘Marketing’) is more subtle in terms of informing customers and delivering value. But there’s always a ceiling to the free information. We all know that.

What’s more, regardless of how much there is a general consensus on how turnkey solutions (now called ‘cookie-cutter solutions’) and fear-based marketing were the ‘old way’ of doing things, they’re still around, just getting subtler. In fact, for the baby boomer generation, I don’t think this will ever fade out. This was the first generation to go online and see entrepreneurs become millionaires through launches. That memory is deeply ingrained. The millennials, however, are a different kettle of fish. They are tough, budget-conscious consumers and they’ve grown up in an era of infinite choice. And they do their research. Personally, I can’t wait for them to become the main consumers in the self-help market.

So, back to my alternative way to market your spiritual or holistic business. The crux of my alternative model is that just because you provide services online —via a website or Skype, for example— this does NOT mean that your main lead-generation strategy also has to be online. When you’re first starting, you can have a hybrid online-offline business model using techniques such as Public Speaking Marketing, Flyer Marketing (particularly good in waiting rooms) and Networking at Events. Those are three strategies that stand out to me to be particularly common sense techniques. I firmly believe in the good old way of building a business one person at a time, by reaching out to people.That will never go out of fashion or be replaced by new technology.

If you are a Sole Proprietor Entrepreneur (frequently called a ‘solopreneur’), then these techniques are worth considering. You have a flexibility that larger companies wish they had. Larger companies are encumbered by fixed budgets and marketing plans, not to mention sign-off procedures. You can fly by the seat of your pants.

Yes. venturing into uncharted territory can be scary. It can be comfortable to follow a technique largely tested and mapped out by someone else. But, by taking your lead generation offline, you’re operating on a more level playing field and probably not a late arrival. Perhaps you will have the first-mover advantage if no-one else is offering what you do.

Will these techniques turn into a finely-tuned lead-generating machine? No. That doesn’t exist. Technology is constantly changing, so what works today will NOT work tomorrow. Full stop. Markets and technology shift constantly. Is this unsettling? Well yes, at times it is. But that’s where your entrepreneurial spirit serves you.

I’ve heard many people say, “I don’t believe in competition.” Well, I do. I understand the philosophy behind this that once you’re in your sweet spot magical things start to happen, but I think it’s often a ruse to sell infoproducts or whatever. And let’s face it: it’s appealing. The idea that once you find your secret formula, the alchemy just does the work for you is just what we all want. However, for me, it’s poppycock. And just because I have spirituality as part of my business brand and techniques, this doesn’t mean that I ascribe to LOA Marketing as a standalone catch-all.

Personally, I love marketing. It’s fascinating. It’s a science and an art. And it doesn’t have to be out of alignment with your principles, whatever they are. I hear many people talk about how people just ‘find’ them, and when I dig a little deeper, those seemingly magical connections are often a result of Referral Marketing, also known as Word Of Mouth Marketing. That’s also magical, but it’s not Law Of Attraction Marketing.

I personally don’t ever tell myself that I don’t believe in the competition, even though I believe my skill set and branding is quite differentiated. Why? Because I don’t want to be running conscious and subconscious gauntlets. If I truly believed that being unique was enough to reach people, then I wouldn’t be writing this blog because I wouldn’t be using Website Marketing. I wouldn’t share it over social media because I wouldn’t be using Social Media Marketing. What’s more, after writing this post, I wouldn’t optimise it for keywords because I wouldn’t believe in the need for Search Engine Optimization Marketing.

The cost of not doing marketing is called the Opportunity Cost. For me, that cost is high, because, if you don’t do it, you’ll never know how it might have worked for you.

Posted on

How Spiritual Entrepreneurs Can Save Thousands On Social Media Marketing and Hiring a VA

social media

I’ve just deleted a post I had here on my blog called ‘Social Media For Spiritual Entrepreneurs: A Clarion Call To The Universe’. Yes, it sounded appealing, people were reading it. But it doesn’t reflect my knowledge or skills now.

I’m now using the term ‘Social Media Marketing’, not ‘Social Media’, because its description and energy is much more accurate.

When I started helping my first client with social media, I took over the system put in place by her former virtual assistant. The following year, my client changed her technique and posted on a different topic every month. After that, I would say that I spent around two and a half years feeling really like I just wasn’t ‘getting’ social media and that I needed to post more and in more places. I was in a ‘constant flux’ of following someone’s advice and then someone else’s….

That sounds like a lot of time, but, you see, social media marketing is very opaque, and a lot of people make a lot of money selling infoproducts, templates and courses on how to do certain things on it. And….there’s the added bonus that Social Media Marketing is constantly changing. I’ve found very few people, no that’s a lie, I’ve not found anyone, who was able to explain Social Media Marketing in a way that I was able to grasp what it is and how it can be used to help a spiritual business.

  • Social Media Marketing is difficult to understand since there are lots of companies claiming different wonderful results and promoting myriad strategies.
  • It is really easy to do Social Media Marketing ineffectively.
  • It is highly highly likely you will not ‘go big’ or ‘go global’ using just Social Media Marketing as a spiritual practitioner.
  • Even if you invest thousands in paid advertising, the leads you get will be relatively ‘cold’ in comparison to other lead-generation techniques.
  • It is really easy to waste time and money on Social Media Marketing. On this note, I regularly get clients coming to me for help on their social media. And I could pretty easily sell them $500/month packages, but I don’t.  Because often, their ideas on what Social Media Marketing can do for them is erroneous.
  • Hiring a VA to do your social media is not a ‘panacea’ to bring in clients. That is your job.
  • Your social media is like a beacon emitting your frequency. It stands tall and shows people who you are.
  • There is a high attrition rate of businesses in the spiritual entrepreneur niche. So, if you leave your profiles dormant, it looks like you’ve gone out of business.
  • Schedules are not optional, but neither do they have to be complex. I create schedules that are so easy you can remember them.
  • If your lead-generation strategy is to cross-sell to other spiritual entrepreneurs in Facebook groups, then I suggest you have a strategy rethink.
  • You do not have to be everywhere all over social media. Regular posting, however, on certain platforms, shows your business has a pulse and builds your brand.
  • Optimizing post types and times is smart. It takes a little bit of analysis. But once you’ve got it, you’re good.
  • Regardless of what people say, numbers matter. If you have 124 followers on Twitter, it doesn’t look good.
  • I’m not a massive believer in law of attraction marketing. Yes, sometimes people just magically find you through synchronicities, but it also has a synonym in 75% of cases: referrals and being in alignment with your business. So just setting up shop on social media is not going to be the final piece in the jigsaw that aligns the stars to bring in your clients in droves.

I’m sorry if I’m the bearer of bad news. You can use your own discernment to decide whether what I’ve written is true for you, or not. I actually love social media, and I’m good at it. I’ve made some brilliant connections and friends there and I use it regularly to promote my business and network. And my social media works for me.

So, if you want someone to help you set up a simple and affordable self-organizing social media strategy and schedule, let’s chat.  I can probably save you thousands of dollars.

Posted on

Storytelling Made Simple For Spiritual Entrepreneurs

storytelling

Storytelling has always been around in business. The early online entrepreneurs I’ve looked at all have a ‘rags to riches’ story.  It just wasn’t called something as yummy as ‘storytelling’ at the time, though.

So what’s changed? I think it’s that with Social Media Marketing,  Neuroscience Marketing and the fact that Sole Proprietor Entrepreneurs have now become a mass market for infoproducts, it’s exploded. Splat! I also think that it’s a paradigm in marketing, which will get replaced by something else in the future, or called something else.

Anyway, now I’ve got my opinion out of the way. Here’s my lowdown on storytelling:

Stories aren’t about ‘making stuff up’. They’re about telling your life story. Your business story. And anything else in-between that you think will appeal to make you stand out to potential new clients. When you’re marketing your life story or details, this kind of marketing falls under the category of Personal Brand Marketing. In recent years, it’s become quite commonplace to share (overshare?) intimate stories.

What stories can you tell?

  1. Origin stories (overcoming the monster, rags to riches, rebirth).
  2. Vision stories (explaining how you are inspired, your quest).
  3. Reason-why stories (explaining why you are inspired).
  4. Testimonial stories (social proof, which used to just be called straight up ‘proof’).
  5. Life stories.

Where can you tell them?

  1. Emails.
  2. Social media.
  3. Websites.
  4. Mailing list emails.
  5. Funnels.
  6. Guest blogs.
  7. Magazine articles.
  8. Books.
  9. Client calls.
  10. Prospective client communication.

I’m candid about my personal stories on client calls IF AND WHEN I think that using an example will be useful to explain something, or give another insight. But, I do try to be careful not to become the ‘protagonist’ of the call.

One thing I really don’t like are overly-crafted personal stories (think Instagram highlight reels). One thing I really do like are random little tit bits of people’s lives that show they are not afraid to poke a little fun at themselves. That’s probably because I’m a Brit and can relate to self-deprecating humour!

That’s just me though! I guess anything goes these days.

P.S. I don’t think it’s worth investing any money in learning about storytelling. It comes naturally!

Posted on

Websites For Spiritual Entrepreneurs (For Newbies and a Refresher for Anyone)

websites

Website Marketing is essential for anyone running an online business. I know of some people who run an online business without a website (they use Facebook groups), but most online entrepreneurs have one.

This post is a  refresher for anyone with a website or who is wanting to create one.

As entrepreneurs, we (and the market) are constantly evolving and our websites follow suit. In the Spiritual Entrepreneur niche, most businesses are Sole Proprietor Entrepreneurs (solopreneurs), with a low to medium start-up capital and start up using low-cost or even zero-cost web platforms, and migrating to more sophisticated platforms as their business or tech skills grow.

Whether you are wanting to make tweaks to your current website, creating your first website, or even hiring someone to create one for you, this post details the key points and processes to consider.

First up is the BRAND PLANNING STAGE:

  1. Take time to gain clarity around your ideal client and what you offer to service him or her before branding or rebranding. This way you can ensure everything is tailored to serve his/her needs.
  2. Select a domain name that’s easy to remember and spell. I would advise you avoid numbers and go for a .com, rather than a .net or a .org.
  3. Are you going to brand / rebrand yourself? Your title and slogan are shorthand for what you deliver. And a great slogan makes you really memorable. You might choose to create a list of words and phrases that resonate with you at this stage: a swipe file.
  4. Think about the color palette you want to use and the font combination.
  5. And what about your brand imagery? What type of vibe will your images convey? If you’re going to create a new logo or rebrand, it’s a good idea to take into account the type of images you’ll be using throughout the site.
  • Surreal nature
  • Clean minimalist
  • Cosmic
  • Whimsical illustrations
  • Vintage
  • Floral
  • Geometric
  • Watercolors
  • Sacred geometry
  • Aspirational (including people)

Then there’s the TECH SELECTION stage:

  1. Decide what website platform you want to use. Wix and WordPress are two great options.
  2. Go for a well-known and fast hosting provider with 24/7 customer support.
  3. If you are going to offer online payments, ensure you select a reliable service provider and have SSL protection.
  4. Decide whether you’re going to have an online scheduler and, if so, choose the one you like best.
  5. Choose a mailing list provider that is going to meet your short and medium-term needs.

And now along comes the CONTENT CREATION STAGE:

If writing is not your forte, or you don’t even enjoy it, then consider hiring a copywriter, or enrolling a friend or colleague to help you out. In terms of what you need, as a minimum, I recommend the following sections:
HOME
When people come to your website, they’re looking for solutions; they want to know what you can offer them. Leave the section about you to the About page.
Make the focal point of this page about how you can help your clients.
On average, people spend less than 15 seconds on your website, so you have a small window of time to make a big impression.

ABOUT
This is the page where you can write about yourself. Including a photo is a good idea, if this isn’t already in the banner, or on the home page.
This doesn’t have to be a full curriculum, such as on LinkedIn.
Check out other people’s websites for inspiration and ensure the tone is friendly, yet professional.
Often spiritual entrepreneurs have lots of qualifications in different areas of energy work, and, because of the esoteric nature of our work, we can sometimes feel a need to list all our accreditations. I would suggest that rather than listing all of these, one by one, you craft these in a way so that you explain how you use these to help solve xyz problems.

SERVICES
Here you can write about your offerings. If you’re selling 1:1 services, provide thorough descriptions of your products or services. A structure I like to follow is:

How it works
• Point 1
• Point 2
• Point 3
Here’s what you’ll get:
• Point 1
• Point 2
• Point 3
Things we can talk about
• Point 1
• Point 2
• Point 3

BLOG

This is the page that many people forget because they don’t per se see themselves as ‘bloggers. However, Blog Post Marketing is a great way to reach out to people; it shows people that your business is operational, and even thriving, and helps your Google ranking (Search Engine Marketing).
Write good content and as regularly as you can. Use appealing headlines and images that are consistent with your branding.

TESTIMONIALS

I would suggest you gather at least 5 testimonials (with headshots, wherever possible). These give you credibility and are a trust-building resource. Testimonials are also called ‘social proof’, previously known simply as ‘proof’.

OPT-IN BOX WITH CALL TO ACTION (CTA)

Email Marketing is a very strong and successful marketing technique for anyone in any niche. By creating an opt-in offer, visitors can access your offer and also subscribe to your mailing list.

TERMS

Have a terms and conditions page that clearly indicates your hours and response times. This makes you look professional and will avoid misunderstandings further down the line.

On a final note, when creating or recreating your website, do try to ensure that all elements truly feel aligned with you. I’ve seen articles suggesting that the color purple is no longer au fait for spiritual entrepreneurs, or that people should be using the word ‘psychic’ instead of ‘intuitive’.  You decide what is right for you. Your business has its own energy, as do you. The more aligned each element is, the more successful your business will be. So when you create or recreate your website, make sure you are happy with your choices.

 

Posted on

Telesummits Made Super Simple For Spiritual Entrepreneurs

telesummit

Recently a client contacted asking, “What is a Telesummit. And how do I do one?”

Good question! So for any other budding telesummit hosters out there, here’s an outline of what hosting a joint venture telesummit involves.

Telesummits are the du jour inbound marketing tool. And yes, they’re hugely popular with spiritual and holistic entrepreneurs wanting to synergize, energize, globalize and osmosize their businesses. Okay, so I completely verbed a noun there. Who cares!

Take a look at the  Summit Hay Hourse World Summit.

So…..What Exactly is a Telesummit?

A joint venture (JV) where the host partners up with guests to provide audio or audio visual content on a certain theme. Participants in the telesummit join the host’s mailing list and get the chance to gain access to lots of freebies and special offers from guests, thus signing up to their respective lists. It’s an online fest of sharing stuff and finding new peeps.

In a Nutstell, why Host, rather than Participate?

As host or hostess, you really are the one “with the mostest”: you organize the telesummit and get to decide every single little detail of what it will be and how it will show up in the world.

Your speakers (your JV partners) promote the event to their lists, and, you’ll receive all the email addresses of people wanting to access the telesummit content. Moreoever, as host, you can sell the content during / after the event has been and gone.

If you are lucky enough to get invited to be a speaker to a telesummit, you get to showcase yourself in front of the entire audience and offer them a tasty freebie, which, if they sign-up for, will add them to your mailing list.

Here’s a rough outline of the work involved in hosting a telesummit:

The Brain Work:

  • Naming & niching your telesummit with an over-arching theme.
  • Deciding how long you want to run it for:  3 days, 5 days, 1 week…
  • Are you going to wing it live (thus enabling free Q&As) or pre-record?
  • Who do you want as guests? What are your requirements & criteria?
  • Are you going to fly solo, or are you going to pair with someone else to host and spread the workload?
  • What products & services are you going to upsell after the event?

The Geeky Stuff:

  • Contracting web hosting and create a website
  • Purchasing opt-in page technology
  • Contracting a mailing list provider
  • Purchasing a shopping cart plugin
  • Organizing copywriting of opt in page, thank you page, and automated emails to be sent before and after the event. Set up these pages along with your bio and FAQs
  • Creating guest promo packs with visuals and recommended promo schedule & requirements.
  • Working on your site page, including imagery, topic descriptions, broadcast dates.
  • Purchasing an affiliates plugin
  • Setting up a FB Events Page
  • Setting up a FB Events Group

The Leg Work:

  • Deciding whether you’re going to ask speakers to sign a contract or give them guidelines….
  • Sorting out your timeline.
  • Creating a document outlining the event and participant requirements.
  • Reaching out to potential speakers with your proposal, also detailing your requirements & criteria.
  • If they accept, sample the freebies they offer for list building.
  • Sending confirmed speakers a list of questions they would like to be asked, asking for bios, and headshots.
  • Sending them promo packs including memes, copy and schedules.
  • Coordinating final interview times, and schedule the calls.
  • Crafting interview questions, during each interview, remind listeners of any upsells and the following call.
  • Deciding which telesummit platform to use, and whether it will be visual, or just audio.
  • Holding the interviews.
  • Editing, if necessary.
  • Transcribing the interviews (if you feel so inclined).

On the Day…

  • Ensuring there is a manned help desk with email support.

After the Event

  • Repurposing the material for sale and use elsewhere.
  • Changing the website home page and set up the replay links.
  •  Sending upsell emails offering special discounts and bonuses to access to the entire series and related products.
Posted on

Social Media (That Isn’t Overwhelmingly Tiring + Underwhelmingly Productive) For Spiritual Entrepreneurs

empath social media

Back in the 90s, advertising your business on a social network, such as Facebook, was seen by some as rather crass and desperate. Fast forward to today, and, now:

You need to fold a social element into all of your creative, including for traditional media, and into every interaction with your customers… From now on, every platform should be treated as a social networking platform.

— Gary V.

But if you’re an empath, or highly sensitive person (HSP), social media can be a molotov of faces, colors, ideas, and highly-charged posts with calls to CLICK-HERE-TO-MAKE-SIX-FIGURES-NOW-ACTIONS.

And that’s only with one tab open!

Spiritual entrepreneurs as a group have some quite special characteristics, one of these being that our businesses are much more than just a business: they’re a calling. In fact, we don’t ever tend to just shut up shop and call it a day when business goes so quiet that you can hear the crickets. Sometimes we might take a well-earned 3D break, enjoy some respite, and then decide to work on another level, in another place. Perhaps as a covert lightworker, but a lightworker nonetheless. And we spiritual entrepreneurs are generally always willing to ‘give it another whirl online’.

Anyway, I digress. Back to social media. Because many spiritual entrepreneurs are hardwired to feel compassion, they (we) constantly feel emotions, whether it’s our own or someone else’s. And it doesn’t make the slightest bit of difference whether that person is standing right in front of us, or pinging us via Facebook chat. We could literally be in the North Pole and simply looking at a screen could send our emotional compasses spinning just as much as if we were sat in a busy coffee shop in downtown New York. In short, we empaths are hypersensitive to external stimuli. And not only do we feel more emotions, but it also takes longer for us to process them (i.e. to get them out of their systems). This is because the HSP brain works at a deeper level of cognitive processing. (No, don’t reach to unplug the Wi-Fi, just yet!)

Did you know that the average entrepreneur spends between 6-10 hours per week on social media? Yikes! And, if not managed in some way, shape or form, this work (because it is work) can be overwhelmingly tiring and underwhelmingly productive.

So if  you’re an HSP with an online biz, you might:

    • have a love-hate relationship with social media,
    • be posting randomly and sporadically,
    • left your once beloved profiles untended for long periods of time,
    • or have stopped posting altogether.

So here are a few  simple steps you can take to make your social media life easier (¡sıɥʇ ǝʞıן dn puǝ ʇ,uop noʎ ʇɐɥʇ os):

1. Plan your posts in advance to be proactive rather than reactive.

2. Use a social media management suite to schedule your posts in bulk.

3. Each day, engage in the platforms twice for 15 minutes and then get out. ‘Getting out’ in this context means:

  • Closing the tab in your browser.
  • Disabling any automatic notifications that flash on your screen or send you emails.
  • Being mindful of the temptation to ‘just check’ if anyone has answered or liked your post.

4. If you forget to schedule your posts, just let it go and work on scheduling future ones rather than same-day posts. Don’t scramble at the last minute to get something posted. In the grand scale of things, not posting for even a couple of days isn’t the end of the world.

5. Keep your social media tangible and in perspective by recording your metrics: hits to your website from social media (Google Analytics).

 Follow these simple steps and you’ll:

  • feel like your social media is productive,
  • become a creator of information rather than a rabid consumer,
  • actually enjoy the time you spend engaging with your tribe and not feel guilty for ‘wasting time’.
  • keep your sanity!