authenticity | marketingforhippies.com

life is easy

By: Tad | Published: November 15, 2011 · 6 Comments

I was just in Thailand and I stayed at an organic farm and sustainability center called Pun Pun. It was run by a fellow named Jon and his wife Peggy.

Below is a 15 minute video of Jon sharing the philosophy of his center.

It’s a beautiful example of a well articulated point of view and clear sense of why. And I think it might just inspire and warm your heart.

If you’d like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you’ll also get a free copy of my fancy new ebook “Marketing for Hippies” when it’s done.

| Categories: becoming a hub, Case Studies of Inspiring Business, Start with Why - Tags: authenticity, becoming a hub, point of view, stories

guest blog: scarcity in marketing – why marketers use it. how it hurts us.

By: Tad | Published: October 9, 2011 · 2 Comments

by Lynn Serafinn

Earlier this week, I sent a note to my Facebook friends asking the question, “Where have YOU seen scarcity used in marketing, and how do you think it affects us?” Within a few hours, I received a LONG list of responses, with people citing everything from children’s toys, to oil, to computers, to supplies for anticipated emergencies or crises (if you’re my FB friend, come join us and share your view at http://tiny.ly/pDyF). Clearly, people had a lot to say about this hot topic.

The use of scarcity in marketing has long been acknowledged.

Everywhere I look, I see marketing mentors tell their mentees to use scarcity as a tool to close the deal and make the sale. And the sad thing about this is that it WORKS. But at what cost to our lives, our health, our communities, our economy and our planet does it do so?

From research I have done, I have come to see that every living being has an autonomic and unconscious response to scarcity. One example I give in my upcoming book The 7 Graces of Marketing is research I uncovered about the Great Dutch Famine of the 1940s, where thousands of people were starving to death due to a complexity of political issues. Many studies have been done on the impact of the scarcity of food upon both the people who lived through those times, as well as the babies who were conceived during those lean years.

One of the most fascinating findings is that the babies who were conceived during those times of famine were born underweight, but then went on to develop physiques that were markedly OVERWEIGHT throughout the rest of their lives, due to their bodies’ being conditioned to hold onto fat reserves in response to starvation in utero. Anyone who has be a yo-yo dieter has probably also experienced the same phenomenon.

Scarcity gets into our very genes. We humans are hard-wired to respond to scarcity, at a physical, emotional and mental level. Marketers have long known this, and they use it to their advantage.

The most obvious form of scarcity in marketing is the perception of limited supply or availability. We are exposed to this kind of scarcity marketing from a very early age. One person in our Facebook discussion cited an example of when her young daughter saw an advert for a cookie-baking set and said, “Mom, I have to buy now! They only have 12 left!” Another cited the example of cabbage patch dolls. From Playstations to Harry Potter books, we’ve all seen this kind of scarcity marketing. It makes us panic, rush and buy, fearing we’ll “lose out.”

The use of deadlines in marketing is another form of scarcity. This particular breed is rife in Internet marketing and is taught by just about every Internet marketing guru on the planet. How many times have we heard, “Buy within the next hour before the price goes up!” I’m not saying it’s “wrong” to set sort of “end” to (hence a deadline) to a campaign; we cannot operate a marketing campaign without a clear timeframe. But when deadlines are used intentionally as a means to create excessive anxiety in our clients and customers to convince them to act before they have had a chance to make an informed decision, we might make the sale, but what are we contributing to the health, wellbeing, empowerment and happiness of our customers (and ourselves)?

But scarcity operates at even more subtle levels in marketing. In order to feel we’re going to “lose out” we first have to feel the need. In order for a person to want to buy products they don’t actually need, marketers first have to create the need, and then tell you that the only way to fill that need is to buy their product. If you look deeply enough, you will see that the unconscious message is that you are inadequate or incomplete without such-and-such product.

When we are young, it’s all about needing a product to give us fun and popularity. When we are adults, it’s all about sexual and social worth “Because you’re worth it” is actually saying “If you don’t spend the extra money on this product, you’re not really worth much.” The real underlying story of “scarcity” is where marketers tell you in one way or another that you are not enough without their product. If you add into the mix the anxiety that the product that will make us feel like we are “enough” is not going to be available to us for much longer, we have a marketing recipe that influences us to “buy now”, no matter what.

Scarcity marketing is one of the cornerstones of “old school” marketing, primarily because it WORKS. There is no question that it motivates people to act fast. But with the rise of social media, a new era of conscious marketers is emerging where our influence is now felt on a global level. In response to this fundamental change in our society, we simple MUST ask ourselves:

“In the bigger picture, and at a holistic level, is scarcity REALLY working?

We might be making the sale, but what are we REALLY creating?”

It is my belief that by using scarcity as a fundamental motivator in our marketing, we are really creating:

• stress
• fear
• mistrust
• overspending
• overconsumption
• waste
• debt
• massive environmental imbalances

The irony of scarcity is that when we see the world through the eyes of scarcity we extract, create, consume, hoard or pillage more than we actually need, and we begin to create a self-fulfilling prophecy of actual scarcity on our planet.

In my view, the natural antidote is “Abundance”, which I define as “a fundamental belief that there is enough.” Enough to go around, enough of me, enough of you, enough. When we embrace a fundamental belief that the Universe has provided us with enough, abundance also becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because we act according to the balance and natural flow of the rhythm of the Universe instead of against it.

The topic of “Scarcity versus Abundance” is a massive subject that I discuss in great detail in The 7 Graces of Marketing: how to heal humanity and the planet by changing the way we sell (coming December 2011), and will be elaborating upon in upcoming blog posts, along with the other “deadly sins” and “graces” of marketing presented in the book.

I hope this short introduction has given you some food for thought and that you’ll keep your eye out for future articles. Please share your thoughts and responses in the comments below. I look forward to reading them!

Also, do subscribe this new 7 Graces of Marketing Blog, which will be rolling out articles and videos on these topics this summer. Just enter your name and email in the form on this page to receive them.

Lynn Serafinn is bestselling author, marketer, coach, speaker, radio host and promotional manager for a long list of #1 selling mind-body-spirit authors. In her work, she has witnessed both the conscious and unconscious mechanics of marketing that threaten our society and our very planet. In her book The 7 Graces of Marketing: how to heal humanity and the planet by changing the way we sell (Humanity 1 Press, Dec 2011), she reveals how modern marketing has played a hand in the the rise of consumer culture, negatively impacting our health, happiness, economy and natural world in an unparalleled way, and offers us hope via a new paradigm she calls “The 7 Graces of Marketing.” Subscribe to this blog to keep on top of how you can help change the world through 7 Graces thinking. Author, marketing and radio show enquiries, please send via http://spiritauthors.com/contact.

| Categories: Ethics in Advertising, marketing philosophy - Tags: authenticity, pressure free

guest blog: directness vs distraction – towards better relationships in marketing and in life

By: Tad | Published: October 6, 2011 · 1 Comment

Adapted from the book The 7 Graces of Marketing: how to heal humanity and the planet by changing the way we sell by Lynn Serafinn.

As a coach, I have learned how to listen carefully to what people are really saying.

Frequently this is not so much a matter of the content of what they are saying, but the context in which they are saying it. It is within that context that you can hear the whole truth of the story, including how clients are really feeling about both the situation and themselves.

As a lot of my coaching is done over the phone or Skype (and not always with the webcam turned on), there are no ‘body language’ cues to inform me, and I’ve learned to use my ears and my intuition to hear the subtlest inflections in both the tone of voice and in the way a client uses language. One of the most consistently accurate measurements of what clients are actually feeling can be found in their grammar, especially in their choices of when to use first, second or third person in their verbal rendering of a story or situation.

For instance, when someone gone through a very painful or even shameful trauma (which could be anything from childhood abuse to getting fired from a job), it is extremely common for that person to deflect their feelings of shame and pain by saying things like, ‘When that happens you feel like you’re not worth anything,’ rather than saying, ‘When that happened, I felt like I wasn’t worth anything.’ Usually, when someone relates a personal experience in the second person ‘you’ rather than the first person ‘I’, they are distancing themselves from the experience and the emotion.

I’ve found there can be many reasons for this.

One is that the emotion is still very painful and they’re distancing themselves from the pain by putting it ‘over there’ instead of inside them. Another is that they might be judging themselves for having the emotion (or for having done something for which they are ashamed), and by saying ‘you’ it gives them a feeling of social proof, i.e., that other people also feel the same as they do. And lastly, and especially if the client rarely if ever uses the first person, it can also reflect a chronic dissociation to their feelings, usually stemming from a deep lack of self-worth that goes far beyond a specific incident or memory.

For such clients, saying ‘I’ can be one of the most uncomfortable things they’ve ever done, because they have lived for so long not being able to acknowledge their own opinions, feelings and ideas that they have lost the skill of standing in their own presence. For them, the biggest shift they often experience is simply by my pointing out every time they aren’t ‘owning’ their emotions, until they develop their own awareness and begin to step into their experiences without shame or fear.

It’s amazing how a simple change from ‘you’ to ‘I’ can do so much to heal a wounded soul.

But what is even more interesting about this shift is that when we begin to ‘own’ our experiences through our language, we also become more ‘direct’ in how we express ourselves. This doesn’t mean that we suddenly become rude or show fits of anger with our family or in public. In fact, it usually means we are much less prone to do so. What it does mean, rather, is that we cease putting up protective barriers around our feelings, making us more able to walk fearlessly in life, even around conflict, without feeling the need either to fight or flee. Directness makes our relationships with people ‘clean’ and straight-forward, enabling us to have a deeper and more intimate connection with others.

Directness plays a big part in marketing as well, and it can make or break the relationship between a business and the consumer. In my upcoming book The 7 Graces of Marketing, I dedicate an entire chapter to ‘Distraction’, which I have named as one of the ’7 Deadly Sins of Marketing’. In that chapter I describe all the subtle ways in which many marketers use Distraction to take our attention away from the truth, in order to make a sale.

Later in the book, there is another chapter on ‘Directness’, one of the ’7 Graces of Marketing’, which is the ‘antidote’ for Deception. What is interesting about Directness in marketing (or lack thereof) is that it can stem from the very same reasons we might lack Directness in our personal relations—an underlying disconnection. We might be lack connection to self or to the values being expressed by the business or product being marketed.

Here’s a little story that gives an idea of how lack of Directness can impact our relationships, both in life and in marketing. Let’s imagine a marketing message as a suitor, and the consumer as a young girl being wooed. At first, the girl is charmed by the suitor’s sense of humour, his charismatic ways and his suave and sexy words. She feels when she’s around him and finds herself desiring to spend time with him.

Other boys look at the suitor and shake their heads.

‘How come all the ladies are attracted to him?‘ they mutter amongst themselves. They don’t understand why he seems to get all the girls. But after a while, the girl tires of how much he dances around the truth, and she realises she doesn’t really know him at all. His humour, charm or sensuality only makes her irritable, because she knows there is no real connection between them.

She gets frustrated because he’s all fluff and little substance.

Eventually, the proverbial honeymoon is over and she ends the relationship. He cannot understand how it could happen, as he’s been ever so sweet, charming and entertaining. She herself cannot quite put her finger on what went wrong either, but the whole experience has left her feeling disappointed, and perhaps cynical and mistrusting of future suitors.

When a large company uses Distraction in marketing just to get the attention of the consumer, it’s very much the same scenario. It might very well work at first, but in the long term, most people are going to tire of it unless they find some substance within their relationship with the company. What’s worse, once consumers have been seduced by contests, quirky or provocative ad campaigns and other gimmicks that have little or nothing to do with the product or service involved, they are far less apt to trust a company later on when they want to get serious.

But when marketers practice Directness from the onset, they are laying the foundation for long-term relationships with the consumer. Directness is one of the most life-giving attributes of any interpersonal relationship, including marketing.

To pull it altogether into a single sentence:

‘Directness is the practice of using elements in your marketing that that provide plain, unambiguous and relevant information about the product or service being marketed AND express the genuine thoughts, opinions and values of the company or business owner.’

In other words, Directness tells it like it is.

The above article is a short adaptation from the chapter entitled ‘Directness’ from my upcoming book The 7 Graces of Marketing: how to heal humanity and the planet by changing the way we sell, which is launching on Tuesday December 13th, 2011. Please be sure to subscribe to this blog for more excerpts and articles, as well as news about the big launch celebration, including a 7-part online telesummit (free to attend, of course!) with a line up of outstanding guest speakers.

AND… if you’d like to be a partner on this book launch, and benefit from the great exposure our collaborative efforts can bring, or if you’d like to invite me to appear on your radio broadcast during the month of November or December, please drop me a line at http://spiritauthors.com/contact by Monday October 10th, 2011.

About Lynn Serafinn

Lynn Serafinn is bestselling author, marketer, coach, speaker, radio host and promotional manager for a long list of #1 selling mind-body-spirit authors. In her work, she has witnessed both the conscious and unconscious mechanics of marketing that threaten our society and our very planet. In her book The 7 Graces of Marketing: how to heal humanity and the planet by changing the way we sell (Humanity 1 Press, Dec 2011), she reveals how modern marketing has played a hand in the the rise of consumer culture, negatively impacting our health, happiness, economy and natural world in an unparalleled way, and offers us hope via a new paradigm she calls “The 7 Graces of Marketing.” Subscribe to this blog to keep on top of how you can help change the world through 7 Graces thinking. Author, marketing and radio show enquiries, please send via http://spiritauthors.com/contact.

| Categories: marketing philosophy - Tags: authenticity, building trust, real

guest blog: How to Market without Becoming the Houseguest from Hell

By: Tad | Published: October 3, 2011 · 2 Comments

How to Market without Becoming the Houseguest from Hell
by Lynn Serafinn

Adapted from the chapter “Grace #3: Invitation” from the book The 7 Graces of Marketing

In Chapter 3 of The 7 Graces of Marketing, I talk all about the lost art of ‘Invitation’ and how we marketers and business owners could learn a lot by looking at what we all know as part of ‘common sense’ when it comes to daily life, but we seem to forget when it comes to marketing.

In that chapter, I tell two stories: one about what makes a great ‘host’, and one about what makes a ‘houseguest from hell’. The story of the great host was about a man named Abdulla I knew back in the 1980s, who treated me like gold when I dropped by their house unannounced, unaware he and his extended family were right in the middle of a family party. The hospitality, respect and engagement they showed me was so special, I remember it to this day as an example of people who really know what it means to be a gracious host.

The story of the ‘houseguest from hell’ (which I think is a pretty funny story when I read it back) is about a roaming ‘monk’ I call ‘Sam’ who we invited to stay at our home as his car had broke down, but instead of getting his car fixed, he ended up staying for months, eating us out of house and home and offering nothing in return. I was trying to be a gracious host, but my ‘guest’ lacked the knowledge of what it means to be a gracious guest.

We can learn a lot from these stories of Abdulla and Sam. When we are marketing our books or businesses (especially over the Internet!), it is important to think about whether we are playing the role of the ‘host’ or the ‘guest’. When we build this awareness, it can transform the way we communicate with our audience significantly.

Hospitality, Respect and Engagement

When someone lands our website, walks into our shop or comes into our ‘space’ in any way, it is the equivalent of them being our guests within our home. While we cannot physically offer our Internet visitors the water, food, a comfy chair and cosy conversation during their stay, we can, however, offer them the virtual equivalent. All these components of hospitality make guests within our homes feel comfortable, relaxed and satiated. When a guest feels like this, they are happy to stay in our company, and when they do leave to go home, they carry with them the memory of how you made them feel.

In much the same way, when someone comes to our website, our aim should be to show them our hospitality. We should make them feel comfortable, relaxed and fully satisfied. If someone has come to your website, they are hungry—for information, for a solution to a need, for advice, for assurance, for fun—for something.

Just as the best hosts will feed their guests with delicious food, the best sale pages are those that feed your visitors’ hunger for information. If the site is for a piece of software, give your visitors lots of videos showing them exactly how it works. If it’s for an event or a course, give them a taster and a concrete breakdown of what they’ll gain. What we shouldn’t do is use lofty, overblown or ambiguous language telling our customers if they buy our product we’ll tell them secrets no one else knows, or they will gain something they cannot gain any other way. Imagine coming into someone’s home and being told such things by your host.

You’d think you’d stepped right into the parlour of Mr Spider.

Nonetheless, this is the kind of marketing messages we are subjected to every day, both on the Internet and on television. When we taunt customers with hype, distractions, ambiguity or delayed promises, we make them feel anxious, confused and eventually mistrustful. What is ironic, of course, is that all this lack of hospitality makes people less likely to buy from you at all, even if your product is the very thing that would answer their needs.

If people become mistrustful of us, it is more than likely because we are not showing them the respect they deserve. There are an awful lot of Internet marketers who make a formulaic show of their trustworthiness by integrating customer testimonials and money-back guarantees into their sales pages. But neither of these strategies is effective if a sales page shows little respect for the customer. Besides, most consumers nowadays are pretty savvy. They know testimonials could be faked and promises of money back guarantees could be just words.

And if someone comes to a website and gets that impression, it’s more than likely because the marketing is not demonstrating respect for the customer’s intelligence, values, health, happiness and freedom of choice. If marketers focus solely on conversion in creating marketing pieces, this will be the result. Respect can only be present when marketers remember it is a privilege for people to give you their time and attention and to consider using your products or services.

The actual exchange of currency is the not the result of a sales page. It is the result of a relationship between customer and merchant—between guest and host. Customers are the guests who knock on our door and we business owners, as their hosts, must create the quality of that relationship.

And finally, no relationship can be built without engagement. Old school marketing was always a one-way street with no engagement between marketer and consumer whatsoever. The consumer simply absorbed the programming and was expected to buy. But as the world has changed, and it continuing to change, lack of engagement or interaction will probably turn out to be the fastest track to business failure in the coming generation.

Just as when we visited Abdulla’s home and his entire family engaged with us, to survive in the modern business world, marketers must be engaging. They must listen and respond to their customers demonstrating genuine (not feigned) interest in them. We must make them feel valued, and invite their input and their ideas. We must convey to them that they are a valuable part of our ‘circle’, our tribe, and that their voice is being heard in how we do business.

When all three of these components—hospitality, respect and engagement—are genuinely and authentically present in our marketing, we have a foundation for the Grace of Invitation to flourish.

When Marketers Become Takers

Now, on the flip side, the story of Sam has useful lessons for us when we are a GUEST in our marketers. Let’s first look at online marketing. When someone comes to our website and signs up to our mailing list, they are no longer our guests as in Abdulla’s story—we have now become their guests and are in their space. When a consumer supplies us with their email address, that person is, in effect, opening their door to us and saying, ‘Yes, you can come in and stay here,’ just as our family had opened our door to Sam. Unlike when they are coming into our space, we are now in their space.

And just as there is a moral code for hosts, there is also one for guests. However, I see few online marketers acting as if they truly understand this. While most of us would never dream of treating a host the way Sam did, when it comes to marketing, we feel justified in coming into people’s homes, either through their Inbox or the media, and bleeding them dry with relentless advertising.

When marketers operate on the assumption that it takes repeated exposure for subscribers or viewers to become customers, they find it necessary to saturate the consumers’ consciousness with their message, without giving them much of anything in return. This is not really very different from Sam taking advantage of our hospitality without offering any compensation for all he consumed at our expense.

Marketers simply must start realising that coming into people’s homes is a privilege, and we cannot ever allow ourselves to become the proverbial houseguests from hell.

The Importance of the Grace of Invitation

The art of ‘Invitation’ is a true ‘Grace’ because it expresses our ‘graciousness’. Graciousness is a quality we admire in individuals, but how often do we think of it as a criterion for our professional practice? Admittedly, this shift from Invasion to Invitation is going to be one of the most challenging for marketers to make.

We need to communicate with our customers, but because there is simply so much ‘noise’ out there, we have adopted the belief that if we are the loudest and most aggressive, people will hear us above the din. But this is simply not true. Invasion simply creates more Invasion. The more we inundate our customers with noise, the louder others will become. And the faster and less caring we are in our communications, the faster and less caring our customers will be when they click ‘delete’ on our email or flick the channel with their remote control.

We are all people, first and foremost. We want to connect. We need each other. We want to be able to knock on each other’s door and feel welcome. We want to be invited in for a nice cup of tea. We want to have the kind of relationships where we can knock on someone’s door unannounced and be welcome. We also want the kind of relationships where friends do not exploit each other’s good nature, and we treat each other with respect and gratitude.

If these are common values amongst us in our social life, surely we cannot forsake them in marketing. How incredibly could the world change if we simply reintroduced the divine responsibility between host and guest, and applied this in all our business dealings?

If Invasion creates more Invasion, surely Invitation creates more Invitation. Begin today by being aware of whether you are the host or the guest, and very soon you will start to see your marketing has become a completely different form of communication.

Lynn Serafinn is bestselling author, marketer, coach, speaker, radio host and promotional manager for a long list of #1 selling mind-body-spirit authors. In her work, she has witnessed both the conscious and unconscious mechanics of marketing that threaten our society and our very planet. In her book The 7 Graces of Marketing: how to heal humanity and the planet by changing the way we sell (Humanity 1 Press, Dec 2011), she reveals how modern marketing has played a hand in the the rise of consumer culture, negatively impacting our health, happiness, economy and natural world in an unparalleled way, and offers us hope via a new paradigm she calls “The 7 Graces of Marketing.” Subscribe to this blog to keep on top of how you can help change the world through 7 Graces thinking. Author, marketing and radio show enquiries, please send via http://spiritauthors.com/contact.

| Categories: marketing philosophy - Tags: authenticity, building trust, generosity based business, pressure free

the client love connection

By: Tad | Published: September 15, 2011 · Leave a Comment

I was just interviewed via video by Rebecca Cowan (pictured here) for her new program The Client Love Connection.

We had such a lovely conversation. I made some pretty impressive drawing on my white board for her. We seemed to resonate a lot on our concerns about the marketing world. So I asked her to write me a blog post about her experiences in the marketing world.

I bet you can relate to it.

I remember when I first wanted to be in business for myself, my boyfriend at the time had called me a capitalist and broke up with me over it!

He thought, like lots of people, that business is bad and the evil corporations are ruining the world. It’s actually a pretty common stigma. And with some of the business strategies I learned when I started my first business as a very “woo-woo” hypnotherapist, I don’t blame them!

For me, it wasn’t about world domination or making so much money that I could buy my own country. I wanted to heal people! I had the goal to make the world happier by making people healthier.

Noble cause, right?

But the part that was hardest was the marketing and the business strategies I was told I had to use to be successful.

I wanted to hide away most days when I thought about the kinds of things I had to do to promote my business. I thought there must be something wrong with me that I didn’t want to use them.

I had learned how to have sales conversations, how to sell from stage, and lots and lots of internet marketing strategies: creating products, writing sales letters, using Facebook and Twitter to fill my events.

Even though I had all this knowledge, I didn’t like who I had to be to use it.

Most of the marketing I had learned was based on…

    •   Competition!

    •   Pushing or bullying other people into buying your products or services by keeping up the appearance of an authority or perfection.

   •   Using a “magic” set of words or a formula for marketing that feels like you’ve just tricked them into being your client.

   •   Preying on human psychological needs for acceptance or love and extorting that need for profit.

   •   Drawing in clients with big promises, whether you can fulfill them or not or puffing up your “perceived value” to seem more attractive.

   •   Attracting lots of clients whether they are right for your business or not.

   •   Being someone you’re not…

And the strange part was that I was taught lots of my business methods from other spiritual, heart-based entrepreneurs! The old models of marketing are still thick even amongst well-meaning

When I changed my business and found an alignment with teaching entrepreneurs about making marketing videos, I discovered that I didn’t want to teach my clients the same marketing tactics that I’d learned. I wanted them nowhere near my business!

I wanted to teach my clients how to connect with potential clients through video and give them permission to express their true selves on film and actually do more business because of it! I wanted my clients to feel safe doing business and find those perfect clients that were waiting for them.

I feel that there is a lot of healing that can be done in business. So when I decided to create The Client Love Connection Online Marketing Experience I wanted to gather other entrepreneurs who were teaching marketing in a new way.

I sought out marketing experts that were teaching collaboration, honesty, freedom of expression, and client attraction in a way that would make entrepreneurs embrace marketing. I want to allow client and entrepreneur to connect on a human level and make the decision to work together because it’s the right match, not because you’ve used a marketing trick that you didn’t like using in the first place.

Our businesses all have a light filled message and purpose for the world. Your marketing should reflect that as well. If marketing hasn’t felt very good and you’ve found yourself avoiding it, that’s fine! It’s normal. It’s time that marketing fit your business instead of changing yourself to fit marketing that you don’t like in the first place

The Client Love Connection Online Marketing Experience is an online VIDEO summit of 18 interviews with the experts in client attraction and connection. This event will change how you feel about marketing and bring you new tools for growing your business that feel like the natural fit for the good-hearted person that you are.

If this message has hit home with you, then I hope you can join us and I really look forward to connecting with you.

Love,
Rebecca Cowan
Client Love Connection Creator
And Marketing Video Master

If you’d like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you’ll also get a free copy of my fancy new ebook “Marketing for Hippies” when it’s done.

| Categories: Ethics in Advertising, holistic practitioners, marketing philosophy - Tags: authenticity, building trust, generosity based business, pressure free

guest post: do what comes naturally in your biz

By: Tad | Published: September 10, 2011 · 1 Comment

by Suzanne Monroe

Since you’re in the business of natural health, you totally get what it means to live naturally. Organic foods, meditation, supplements, yoga, fitness, or whatever else you do to take care of your body, mind and spirit and fill yourself up physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Living naturally literally comes naturally to you, which is why your clients see you as a model. But do you follow this same motto in your business?

Are you doing what comes naturally to you in your business, or are you listening to what everyone else is telling you that you should be doing?

Focus Your Energy on What You do Best

Doing what comes naturally in your business means focusing your time on your talent. That is, focusing your energy on what you do best. But why does it seem there are so many things you should be doing? (Don’t you just despise the word “Should” anyway?) Once you’re in the game, you realize there’s 100s of experts telling you 100 strategies you should be using to build your business.

Oops, foot in mouth, I’m one of them! I’m always sending you marketing and biz tips that you should be doing and I truly believe you need to have a mentor you resonate with and learn their success secrets so you can grow. And I love to give away my best biz secrets to my clients….

BUT…. I always say that there’s something you should focus on first.

What’s that? Start where you feel most comfortable.

I recommend taking an inner check, quieting the mind and coming back to yourself so you can remember what feels good to you and where you feel most comfortable.

Being comfortable when you get started allows you to really shine and gain confidence. Being comfortable is a sign you are doing what comes naturally to you.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about taking steps outside your comfort zone…when the time is right. But why not start where you really shine first and then grow from there?

It’s what I did to build my business.

I started with public speaking and workshops, because I feel very comfortable talking in front of groups.

So if you love speaking to groups, get out there and speak. But if you hate standing on stage, then maybe doing a webinar would be a better way of connecting with your tribe. Do you love being on camera? Then focus your energy of videos for your community. If you love writing, start with a blog for your niche. It seems simple, but it’s easy to forget.

Are you a Marketing Failure?

Wait a minute! As a holistic practitioner, what if you just love listening and coaching your clients…are you a marketing failure? Absolutely not! Why not host a live teleseminar where you provide live coaching to your listeners. So valuable!

Got Business Bliss?

If you aren’t tapped into the core of your being in your biz, then likely you’re not where you want to be in terms of clients, income or what I call, Business Bliss (lit up, on purpose, knowing what to do every day and having complete fun and joy as you follow your passion and create the lifestyle you desire.)

When you start with what you’re good at, you can build your business quickly and effectively….and most importantly, your potential clients will be drawn to you because you’re tapped into your heart center.

Tell me, what comes naturally to you in your business? Share here and tell me one action step you’ll take now to reignite your beautiful, natural talent!

Thriving Together,

Suzanne Monroe

Founder & CEO

The International Association of Wellness Professionals

Are you a wellness professional, holistic health practitioner, or other health-minded, heart-centered entrepreneur who wants to learn the business and marketing tools to create lasting success? Get your FREE Wellness Professional’s Success Starter Kit at http://www.iawp-connect.com and jumpstart your wellness practice today. Suzanne Monroe is a Holistic Business Coach and the Founder & CEO of the International Association of Wellness Professionals, where passionate practices become thriving businesses.

| Categories: holistic practitioners, Inner Work, marketing philosophy - Tags: authenticity

guest post: the magic of mirroring in your business

By: Tad | Published: September 2, 2011 · 1 Comment

by Suzanne Monroe

The Magic of Mirroring in Your Business

As a holistic practitioner or coach, you’re likely familiar with the “Magic of Mirroring” in your business. You know, when your client shows up with some challenge or issue that YOU actually need to work on.

The mirror is funny, because it shows up unannounced and sort of slaps you across the face. You don’t have time to prepare, you’re taken off guard, and your client’s biggest challenge is staring you right in the face as your own life. Just when you thought you were becoming more enlightened, it shows up to remind you that there’s always something to work on in life.

The Magic of Mirroring is actually what makes some holistic pro’s lack confidence. Have you ever said to yourself, “Oh, no, my client has the same challenge I do! How can I possibly help them?” It’s the whole fear factor where you feel just because you haven’t healed something in your own life, you think you can’t be of service to your client.

But that’s the whole point! We are all on this journey of life and holistic business to reach our highest potential. I truly believe that whatever you truly want to go for in life, your calling, your mission, you purpose or whatever you personally name it, comes from something you need to heal.

Here’s an example from my own life….

When I first started in business, I was a Holistic Nutrition Coach and I had severe sugar cravings. The mirror started showing up a lot. Clients kept showing up with sugar cravings when I was finding myself eating more chocolate than ever. These clients had very busy lives and didn’t spend too much time nurturing themselves. The clear solution for each one of them was to give themselves more self-care and time for feeding their souls. And staring right back at me was the mirror. I knew I was in need of some serious self-care.

While I felt like running the other way, when I made the decision that I could help my clients (even though I too was struggling in some way with a similar problem), we both ended up healing.

And I still experience the mirror….

Even now as a Holistic Business Coach and Founder of an international organization, the mirror still shows up! Sure, I thought it would go away, now that I have achieved a certain level of “success”…perhaps I had less to work on?! (Which is by the way, never the case!) Was I kidding myself? The mirror never goes away, that’s the beauty of it. Just the other day a client was having challenges balancing her family life with her business. She had a lot of excuses about time and being able to run a business with everything else on her plate. Instantly, I saw myself with my new baby and realized that I had been repeating a mantra in my head that “time was limited”.

Time can’t be limited – we all have the same amount of time each day. And I could chose to recognize this or ignore it. I chose to listen and I made a shift very quickly. That’s what’s so profound about mirroring. When you’re ready to receive the message from the mirror, you can make a change in an instant.

What I know about the mirror is that it’s there for a reason. It’s there to shine back to you the best possible version of yourself. It there to show you what’s going on down deep so you can move through it, instead of tuck it away where it will continuing brewing.

And that’s a miracle, really, because it’s like a supercharged healing, it can happen in a minute if you want it to. You can change right there and make a decision to know what’s true for you and help your client to do the same.

So I want you to embrace the mirror. Step up to and say “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the ____ of them all?” (You fill in the blank with whatever you want to do or be!)

Show your beautiful face in the mirror and Post a comment here!

Thriving Together,

Suzanne Monroe

Founder & CEO

The International Association of Wellness Professionals

| Categories: Inner Work - Tags: authenticity, holistic practitioners

not everyone will love you

By: Tad | Published: September 1, 2011 · 1 Comment

Just got an email from my colleague Bill Baren. He shares his learnings from his new Masters of Enrollment program (which only has five spaces left).

Thought it was worth sharing . . .

It’s been an incredible last few weeks, the launch of my new and improved Master of Enrollment program has been a huge success. This is by far our biggest launch ever.

And I want to celebrate this with you by sharing a few of the things I have learned from the process.

Hopefully this helps:

1. How I am being is just as important as what I am doing

I noticed that when I felt energized and I got enough sleep, lots of people were enrolling during my teleseminars.

My content was consistent, but when I showed up to these calls focused and in touch with the transformation I wanted to create with my content, business owners were signing up in droves.

The flip side though is also true. When I wasn’t taking care of myself and low on energy or food or sleep, my ability to connect with my audience was noticeably hampered, and so was my ability to deliver the valuable content and messages they came for.

The big a-ha for me – there’s a bigger cost to me not taking care of myself than I previously realized.

2. I can’t please everyone

In many of the teleseminars I held, there was always at least one person who didn’t like me or did not resonate with who I was and what I was saying. And they were vocal about it during call, either in an email or in the message box I can see during a teleseminar.

It allowed me to practice what I preach, that who I am and what I offer is not a good match for everyone.

Here’s an email I received after one of these teleseminars:

“Hello Bill,

I was excited to join your teleseminar. As experts in our
industry, we can always learn more.

I work globally as an image, etiquette, communication and
leadership coach and I was surprised to see you looking
quite poor in your photo and inappropriately dressed for
the level of your success.

I signed off your session within ten minutes because I did
not see or sense a level of excellence.”

Harsh words, but true. Look the part and use the language of success and your credibility factor will soar.

I now love getting these sort of email because they allow me to continue to recommit to simply being myself. When I am on a live teleseminar with an audience of hundreds, I’m not thinking about upgrading my image. I want my image to reflect who I am and to allow people who resonate with me to stay in my world and for people who don’t resonate with me to slowly drop away.

Is it always pleasant for me to receive negative feedback?

NO, but it is simply part of the territory of allowing myself to be seen and heard by many. It is part of my commitment to make a difference in a big way.

I refuse to protect and shield myself from criticism just to stay safe and secure.

And I’ve noticed that the size of the audience I’m able to reach increases in direct proportion to my ability to let go of fear of rejection and the need to be approved of by everyone. (And so does my sense of personal freedom as a human being.)

OK, these are just some of the things I’ve learned through my latest launch of Master of Enrollment. Will be sharing more soon…

Let me know what you thought of this by leaving a comment on my blog: http://www.billbaren.com/blog/?p=156

Warmly,
~Bill

P.S. This was the response I wrote to the email I mentioned above.

“Thank you, xxxx, for your feedback!

Part of what I teach is to be your natural full self. I do
not want to upgrade my image… I want to fully be me – my
own style, my own vibe.

I am aware that it puts some people off. I understand that
it put you off.

If you would have stayed on past 10 minutes… I actually
addressed that during the presentation.

I appreciate your response, especially the fact that you
wrote it. You being honest in communicating your truth is
something I respect a great deal.

Much respect,
~Bill”

| Categories: Branding, Inner Work - Tags: authenticity, real

case study: toronto’s inner garden

By: Tad | Published: August 16, 2011 · 2 Comments

Ever wanted to create your own holistic hub or event center for cool things?

My pal Rob Helmer (pictured here with his daughter) did it in Toronto with his Inner Garden space and shares his lessons, thoughts and success secrets here.

What is the inner garden?

Basically, it’s a beautiful space in the heart of downtown Toronto that we rent out for events. Our goal is to co-create space for an intriguing array of events & gatherings. We provide teachers, healers musicians, performers and facilitators the opportunity to connect & share with the local community in an inspiring venue.

Can you describe your space for those who haven’t seen it?

Put simply, the event space has an earthy-zen look to it, the real hard word floors, natural tree-stump seating and greenery make the ambiance warm and inviting.

The physical appearance reflects the lush and abundant gardens that are stylistic of the West and the simple elegance of gardens from the east. This merging of east and west has created a site for people to find rest and relaxation, where they can embrace Being fully, and also be stimulated and nourished.

The space is blessed with natural light filtering in during the day, through a large skylight in the central space and large windows in every room. For evening events, our lighting we have installed allows the user to create the ambiance they desire at night.

Did I mention we have tree stumps?

What’s the story of how this started? How did you get to be doing this?

In short, like all great things in life i did not plan it this way i just fell into it.

But you were doing Chinese medicine before. How does one go from being a Chinese medical practitioner to an event space organizer?

I have been involved in TCM for over 12 years. I originally moved into the space a year ago wanting to open the first school dedicated specifically dedicated to Chinese herbal medicine outside of China. The teachers (some of the best in the world were in place) and cur

riculum were in place but I could not find private funding to support the project and with recent professional regulations being passed in Ontario I decided to delay the project (and now with the event space consuming most of my time I have let go of this idea altogether).

My business model (at that time) included three aspects a herbal medicine school, an event space and clinical space (with free student clinics for the general public). My idea was to have the school be the hub for the other two. Fifteen months later, the events space is front and central and the further I remove myself from TCM the better things seem to flow for me financially. I feel this new venture helps me “fit my life into my job instead of my job into my life” (thanks for this Alex Baisley). Most importantly, it allows me greater freedom to spend more time with my daughter and others I I hold close to my heart.

In some ways, it was difficult for me to let go of practicing Chinese medicine full-time, similar to a bad relationship that is providing a person with some good elements but is not nourishing them and sustaining them on all levels. TCM (treating patients, writing, teaching etc.) was my main (i.e. only) source of income for a dozen years so the biggest thing I needed to let go of was the financial security this provided me (or at least that is what my mind was telling me). However, in the end I feel I was meant to leave TCM as my energy and passion for it diminished in the last year so did my income.

I really only made a commitment to running the event space as more of a full-time gig in October 2010 when we launched the new website and renamed the space.

This coincided with spending time with Alex Baisley and yourself last fall which was very useful and reminded me of some things I had forgotten previously that had worked for me in the past and and this time also helped me gain a clearer vision of what I would like to do moving forward. Some people (patients, students or interns of mine in the past, colleagues, my parents) that have found out are a little perplexed by the shift but this is the direction life is taking me.

And what was the need or opportunity you saw in the community that had you decide to do this?

I saw the limitations of medicine (both modern medicine and alternative medicine). I wanted to offer events in the space that would help people heal and ease their suffering, i.e. satsang, healing music, or events that focused on going beyond the mind and ego were the first events to take place in the space and a year later these events remain the cornerstone of what we offer.

What kinds of events have you run?

The space is really a blank canvas or playground for people to explore and make their dreams reality. The event space has only been available for one year and just about everything has taken place here from day long silent retreats to concerts with dancing or yoga with live music, from networking events for social entrepreneurs, fundraising events to singer-songwriter nights to Playback theatre and opera. One of the most exciting things is there is always new things happening in the space.

In general we are proud to honour the many paths that are available to us as humans on this journey and my experience has been over the last year is it is more important who is running the event than what they are offering.

On the horizon we will be offering documentary film nights and storytelling evenings on a regular basis.

67669 165568320138327 165565316805294 454970 279287 n1 300x200 case study: torontos inner garden

Which events have been most popular?

I don’t know if I see it that way. I think every event serves its purpose. Events range from a handful of people gathering to over a hundred people. It is hard to judge what is popular – in general i find people want to feel oneness or connected with others so the tendency in the last several months is the space is attracting people that are looking for a sacred or intimate place to build community whether that is through a group of singer/song writers, satsang, those interested in food security, healing music or something else.

How much do you charge people to rent the space?

Event prices range with many events being accessible to anyone wanting to attend (as many people offer events on a suggested donation basis)

$90 a night or $150 for a day are the suggested donation for use of the space

You seem to give a lot away – letting people rent for free sometimes – what’s your perspective on that?

In the first 6-9 months of running the space we let people use the space for free.

I wish we could give more away. In time when the space sustains itself more we will be able to give back more to the local community. In the meantime we do the best we can.

The space only exists due to the generosity of others and to be honest really has nothing to do with me (I am just fortunate to be a witness of the transformation). The personal transformation I have went through from witnessing the generosity and love and support from the local community for this space cannot be described in words (but it can be felt if you spend enough time in the space). On a personal level I had nothing a year ago ( although it is not relevant I was at the bottom of the barrel financially as I had claimed bankruptcy about six months prior to moving into the space = no money and could not borrow any money from a financial institution) and The Inner Garden grew out of this darkness and nothingness similar to a water lily growing out out of a muddy pond.

I did not ask people for favors or discounted services when renovating and creating the space (although several people did step forward to loan me money). I just handpicked the people whose professional ability I respected and valued not worried about cost and they all felt the nature of what we were trying to do and everyone went above and beyond what was expected.

Quite magical really!

I am blessed to be surrounded by people in my life that demonstrate to me how to give without expecting anything in return. Being in service to humanity and giving from your heart are probably the most important qualities that we try to bring into the space.

Personal note – if you remember our relationship began by me calling you up and offering you the space for free (after hearing about you from several people I loved and respected). Of course, you did pay me for use for the space but I did not expect anything in return. From working together our relationship blossomed and through you I met so many amazing people and from a financial perspective made thousands of dollars.

The great thing is when you give without expecting anything in return you become a magnet for people that do the same thing.

So you’re saying when you give so generously – that you tend to attract others who are willing to give generously – and that this might take the form of them wanting to pay you even when you’ve not asked for anything? I’m curious what other forms this generosity has shown up in.

I don’t usually discuss things but if it can be an example to empower other entrepreneurs to build their businesses and success through love, compassion and tolerance than I am willing to share a few examples.

One example, is we have offered several potlucks for lazy people for those in our building (which is one of the coolest buildings in the city – www.richmond.net) where we offered the use of the space for free and bought food and drink for sixty people. This was a great success and really appreciated by those who attended and now together with a few businesses in the building we have set up a C.S.A. (Community Supported Agriculture) for the building. In other words, we are helping a local farmer sell directly to people in our building. These types of events are focused on building community without expecting anything in return.
This type of offering is difficult for people to comprehend at first because based on past experience they are looking for the catch but there isn’t one.

I do not worry about them paying ever. I just follow my heart and give what I can. I know i will be provided what I need in this life.
The forms of generosity are abundant. Another recent example, a person I lent the space to on a donation basis about ten times over the last year has recently purchased a professional sound system for the space which was a much needed asset for the space.

I also regularly invite people to attend events at the space for free as my guests. I usually do this to help increase awareness of the great things happening at the space + it allows me to connect with those attending the events at the space and get to know them better + it gives me a way to thank people for supporting past events in the space by allowing them to come for free.

Creating community – some events are used to build community and not make money – this is great because people relax and let down their barriers. I never want people to feel like they are being sold something in the space

What do you think happens when people feel like they’re being ‘sold‘ something?

They don’t let their guard down and you cannot truly connect with them. Doesn’t make me feel good to connect on this level. It also does not make me feel good when people are only promoting their own work and not helping others.

Right. I have the same thing with my pay what you can workshop. People are like, ‘what’s the deal? Where’s the catch? When’s the big pitch going to come?’ and it never does. And then people are just delighted. When they finally realize that it’s just my offering to the community . . . It’s such a beautiful thing. I have people coming up to me at the end of weekends with tears in their eyes sometimes because they’re so grateful and amazed at what was created over the weekend. I love it.

You are real. This is what I love about you. In my opinion, you are very authentic. Many people try to do what you do but for them it is a marketing strategy which for me can be easy to identify and I think on some level this can be sensed by most people. I have felt this way about several projects that initially started using the space or wanted to use the space and I decided to distance myself from them and suggest they use a different space.

Do you feel like most people try to push the relationship too far too fast? Or try to formalize it before it’s ready? Or push it in a box?

This can happen. I don’t usually resonate with people that do this and I assume they do not resonate with me either. I compare it to dating and relationships and the various levels relationships may take

1) friends

2) dating

3) committed realtionship

4) intimacy (of course this can happen earlier in this process )

5) marriage

6) kids

Etc.

So some people you meet you are feeling like you are just on the first level and they want to jump to #5 after five minutes of conversation or because they know someone you know. You must get this a lot- someone hears about you – thinks this dude knows a lot of people – next they contact you and want you to be their pimp or best friend, lover , husband, father to their child and you are thinking who the f$%* is this person, maybe i should check their criminal record or at least their credit rating. Are you following my madness?

I did this a couple times trying to be helpful and support people but discovered it was not wise.

It is so, so, so important who you co-associate with. Being friends with someone is different then promoting their work or putting your name on the line for them.

Was it hard in the beginning – when you were so broke to be so generous?

No. I was glad i was able to give back to the communities that had nourished me and supported me during my most difficult times

Offering the space for free for the first six months and co-creating with the right people who promote the space were both essential to help us grow in the beginning.

Allowing people to come to you and let relationships organically grow is also important if you want to be a hub for events.

What’s the response been so far?

Wonderful. We are almost at the point where the space can start to sustain itself in less than a year.

How are you marketing this? What’s been most effective?

As you can see from our website we don’t market the event space directly we just advertise the events that occur at the space on our website and facebook.

The space and the experience of being in the space sells itself. Most people who approach us about renting have previously attended an event at the space themselves.

Personally, if there is a type of event that I would like to personally have happening at the space I try to connect with Hubs in that community and invite them for tea. That is my main advertising. I basically sit with people and chat to discuss their hopes and dreams (and sometimes The Inner Garden can support them in making their dreams reality). I meet with anyone really i.e. I meet with those interested in meeting and connecting not just people that want to rent space.

But you do have an email newsletter which you send out yes? How many people are on that list at this point?

Yes, the newsletter is for the events not the rentals though (although having a nice newsletter attracts customers). Rachelle is the creative mastermind at The Inner Garden that takes care of everything that we require to promote the space and events. Our long-term plan is to have a monthly newsletter + weekly updates that feature (a specific event) each week.

Not sure how many people (approx. 500) are on our list but we do have people requesting to be on the list each week (maybe 5 people a week) through our website.

One idea (long-term) was to offer to include people on our website and newsletter for free in exchange for circulating our newsletter to their contact list. This would not be policed but just done on a honor system. I trust that this would help build their reputation with their own contact list by showing their contacts the great space they are using and what other great people are using the community space that they are using.

This helps us build a community and bypasses me trying to collect emails at someone else’s event (which is awkward). For instance, if 12 groups use the space each month and they each have 500 people in their list each person’s event gets to 6000 people instead of 500. This goes further if 40 groups use the space over the course of the year now your newsletter is going to 20000 people. We are currently offering the links and newsletter for free now but to become sustainable long-term we may have to do something.

If someone wanted to do a similar thing what would you say are the biggest mistakes to avoid?

Have people pay in advance in full. People who cannot commit ahead of time will probably not be successful and will be more likely to drop out on you. This happened several times and cost me ++ money

Be mindful of how much time you spend promoting events. Sometimes it is important to cut your losses (and admit your mistakes). Communicate clearly.

What are the things you think people could mis-communicate on doing the kind of thing you do?

Lack of clarity on boundaries and expectations. From when money is due to what hours they are able to use the space from to what is and is not allowed in the space

Most people i co-associate are just super grateful so i don’t really have any problems. Above was just mostly growing pains

I’d also say follow your gut instinct of what you should have in the space or who you should get involved with and most importantly it is more important to have quality events then it is to have quantity of events

Can you share a story of a time you didn’t trust your gut and what happened?

Last year I had an artist whose art I agreed to display.

In my opinion, I did a huge favor for someone else that uses one of the offices in the space. My gut said no, no no but i tried to be nice and I needed the money. The artist ended up damaging the place (costing me a lot of personal hours to fix up the place), and then yelling and swearing at me etc. So i returned his $300 without being asked and moved on. I considered it taxing myself for not following my gut. The great thing was he was transformed in this process.

He was transformed from a person that was very angry and felt like he was taken advantage of to a person who now smiles at me in the hallway and talks to me. So instead of having someone spreading false rumors about the space and me he came to me insisting on returning the money and appologized for his actions.

What do you think are the most important things to making this kind of thing work?

The most important is a clear vision of what you would like to do.

What does this mean to you and why is it important. Most people would say they have a clear vision. What’s the cost of not having this clear?

If you are not clear you will attract people and situations that you do not want to wish to have in your life.

And then it’s all about love and support from those close to you, and a willingness to change your direction if things are not working out.

I’m curious where you’ve had to change your direction with this.

The whole direction of the space changed (see above) from a school to an event space. Also i think you need to be open to how others want to use the space not just your own ideas (but at the same time following your gut and having a clear vision which can be a fine line at times).

For more info just visit the Inner Garden website.

| Categories: becoming a hub, Case Studies of Inspiring Business - Tags: authenticity, becoming a hub, building trust, generosity based business

guest blog: Grandmother, What Big Teeth You Have – The Dark Side of New Age Prosperity Marketing

By: Tad | Published: August 14, 2011 · 19 Comments

by Rachael Pruitt

Where was my street-wise inner child when I needed her?

Perhaps you’re a little like me: a dreamer, not particularly great with money. A little insecure about the big-wide-world, no matter that your hair has started to turn grey. Perhaps you too are determined to live the dream of the new life that calls to you. A life that matters, that allows you to succeed both financially & spiritually. A life that allows you to be of service, yet to be creative, joyful, and rich—all at the same time.

Heady stuff for an old hippie, a social service type who writes novels until midnight & slurps coffee on a blurry-eyed 6 am commute.

Sound a little like you?

This year is it, I decided. No more spiritual starvation. The stars were whispering at me to go for it, the planets were in alignment. I knew if I didn’t at least try to “manifest” my own consulting & teaching business now–this very moment–a crucial chance would have passed me by. A chance that might never come again.

So, primed, ready-to-take-action, I plunged into the thundering waters of New Age telesummits like a deranged surfer. I knew I needed help—I’d never run my own business before.

Where better to look than among those who shared my idealistic, change-the-world-for-the-better values?

Suddenly my surfer persona morphed into a small town girl in a 1940s musical seeing the lights of Broadway for the first time. Pushing sign-up button after sign-up button, I encountered marques after marques. Lights flashing, glitzy and marvelous, the various telesummit promotors all but puddled neon in a romantic flashing puddle at my feet.

“You too can turn your dreams into a SIX FIGURE BUSINESS, BECOME A SEX GODDESS, AND SERVE THE WORLD AT THE SAME TIME!!!!” they shouted.

“DON’T LET FEAR & TREMBLING BLOCK YOUR SUCCES.” they warned.

“WHY YOUR CLIENTS WILL THANK YOU FOR OVERCHARGING THEM:

PUT THE NEW ABUNDANCE PARADYM TO WORK FOR YOUR SUCCESS” , they chortled, winking as if we shared a private joke.

Now, six months later & several hundred dollars lighter, I wince when I look back over old emails and witness what a trusting little starry-eyed duckling I was.

I am writing this blog first as a cautionary tale to others like me—and this includes anyone who has ever dreamed big and turned to someone else to help them make the fairy dust sparkle at noon as well as in the depths of a private oh-so-silent night.

Secondly, I’m also writing to acknowledge the true visionaries among us. Yes, they do exist: those rare wisdom-keepers whose calm, non-hysterical voices are currently all but drowned-out in the influx of high-ticket life coaches and frenetic so-called miracle-workers who essentially prey on our human vulnerabilities, yearnings, and fears to make lots—and lots and lots–of money delivering New Age clichés and not much else.

I do not perceive myself as a victim, but I am legitimately angry at opportunists who masquerade as healers and have pirated the terminology of idealistic thinkers and visionaries strictly for their own gain. I also believe it is our responsibility as seekers, to be more skeptical about whom we give our money to. Yet, for some reason–and I suspect I am not alone in this—the fact that an individual appears under the guise of a New Age telesummit/Spiritual Entrepreneur heading, makes me more likely to trust them.

Embarrassed as I am to admit it, I spent more time and energy investigating the ingredients of my groceries than I did on the qualifications and references of someone I was entrusting my life’s dreams to. Even after I thought I had learned my lesson, and investigated a second individual more thoroughly, it still took an email foul-up and a potential coach’s short temper to expose a particularly nasty shadow lurking just beneath a polished oh-so-radiant surface. Fortunately, no contracts had yet been signed.

If It’s Glitzy but Smells Fishy, Don’t Go There

So, here are some guidelines I’ve developed to help separate sincere and talented healers (yes, indeed, they do exist!) from the predators:

• Everybody needs to make a living—legitimate coaches and teachers as well. This is a given. Yet is the coach or teacher you are considering seemingly incapable of giving you a straight answer when you request a bottom line financial quote?

Do you hear statements like:

A) “Your decision to work with me shouldn’t be based on the money it will cost. That’s your old ‘scarcity-thinking’ talking.” (I almost fell for that one. But isn’t it just a little deceptive to be preaching abundance-consciousness on one hand and not be proudly trumpeting your fees on the other?!) Or the classic:

B) “Think about what it’s costing you to not sign up for my program.”

These are both ancient sales techniques—reel the fish in with lots of promises before you sock it to them with the actual cost. And—of course—the actual cost is astronomical.

• Is there an implied “threat”? For example: “If you don’t work with me, you will continue to be a total screw-up.” or “If you can’t get past your “blocks to abundance” now, you never will.”

All these responses imply that this individual is the only one who can help you, that you, yourself are clueless—and—of course–that time is of the essence, it is ticking away as we speak.

Again, these are old sales chestnuts: 1) the indispensible item 2) limited time offers 3) appealing to someone’s sense of need or desperation.

Every one of these are also fear-based strategies, that should, by rights, have no place on a New Age telesummit. But, of course, in reality they are more prevalent than hornets in August.

• Piggy-backing on this category is the specific implication that you are not capable of doing any of this by yourself. Thus, you must hire and work with this individual or you will continue to waste away in a self-imposed prison of befuddlement and poverty.

Ironic again, as healthy self-esteem is supposed to be a cornerstone of the new potential movement. One would think—naively–that personal disempowerment is not an optimum condition. But it does help sales.

Additional Note: A final component of this disempowering “you really need me or you will continue to be a miserable life form barely existing on the planet” approach is the patronizing sigh. Even if you cannot hear it, it exists in the tenor of emails or the tone of a telephone voice: “Well, if you really think you can do it on your own—“
(Translation: “I’m here for you if you are willing to cough up a few more thousand dollars. Otherwise you’ll be a total failure. What a shame….”)

• Last, but not least: Carefully investigate websites and references. This is still no guarantee that your potential spiritual mentor is totally legitimate—but if references and website links (especially online article links and personal contact information for references) are non-existent or inaccessible, proceed with extreme care. No matter how nice or charming an individual is, if they can’t cough up legitimate references or if their website harbors only fluff and non-existent background links, be wary.

Also, be skeptical of anyone who asks you for an immediate down payment, before you have even had time to think about their “package”—let alone process your decision based on real information.

The Good Stuff

All this said, it has been my pleasure to connect with some 1) amazing visionaries 2) coaches who truly do make your life richer 3) money and spiritual experts who really do offer unique, practical, and inspiring insights. These women and men have enriched my life and inspired my heart.

But, as with all things, don’t just take my word for it. Investigate for yourself.

Nor is this list exhaustive. There are lots of good folks out there–the trick is finding them amidst the “prosperity hysteria”.

One key thing the leaders mentioned below share is that they do not charge an arm, leg, head, and/or reproductive organs to connect with them. A few of the following coaches are expensive, however, they continually offer freebies, books, CDs, video presentations and other low-cost materials available from their websites that allow you to utilize their techniques without spending thousands of dollars.

A second common thread I’ve found true with all of the following people is that they do not believe you are a nitwit. Far from implying or insisting that you are useless without them, these leaders simply offer techniques which allow you to trust yourself & to explore Spirit in a straightforward, non-frenzied way.

Visionaries and Life Coaches:

• Michael Beckwith and the Agape Community. Dr. Beckwith’s online community is based in real-world California. He not only is one of the most inspiring speakers I have ever heard, his community is actively making a lot of people’s lives better. Check it out.

• Mary A. Hall’s Abundance Alive website. For a small monthly fee, Mary offers fantastic coaching & counseling opportunities. Her goodies are too numerous to list. See for yourself.

• Cheryl Richardson. A personal coach with true integrity and pizazz, Cheryl deserves all the accolades she receives as one of the best international coaches available. She appears regularly on Hay House radio and is a prolific author with a great website & free newsletter.

• Lisa Michaels. Lisa’s coaching process, “Natural Rhythms”, is wonderful; a spiritually unique approach. She combines it with Shamanic Astrology, giving the people she coaches even more bang for their buck. Her website is chockful of goodies and a wonderful newsletter.

Spiritual & Prosperity Divas

All three of the following women stand out to me as creative groundbreakers, thinkers, and writers who are not just following a sales script. They also know how to make this spiritual growth stuff “fun” through humor, dance, mythic work, and engaging personalities. Any time I have ever spent with them either in person or with their materials has been priceless.

• Morgana Rae. Morgana is very open about charging big bucks if you can afford her as a personal coach. However, she is very gracious about deliberately offering much of what she has put together in a low-cost workbook and/or CDs. This lady is clever, committed, sweet, and down-to-earth with a unique approach to breaking through money issues.

• Colette Baron-Reid. Colette is an intuitive counselor and coach, a prolific author, and has designed two beautiful decks of oracle cards. Although her individual readings are indeed pricey, many of her workshops are comparatively inexpensive and her new book The Map is brilliant.

• Sonia Choquette. Sonia is also an intuitive counselor who describes herself as a “catalyst”. Again, her individual readings are expensive, but she offers several low-cost workshops a year and her books and CDs—especially Your Heart’s Desire and Ask Your Guides– are wonderful resources.

Woo Woo and Proud

• Patrica Cota Robles: This lady makes me see angels.

• Doreen Virtue: This lady invites me to tea parties with them—and she even knows a few fairies to invite as well.

• Kelly Hampton: This lady channels Archangel Michael—and I am convinced that it is him indeed. (Did you know he has a sense of humor?) Readings and healings with this dynamic duo are also very reasonably priced given the quality of what they offer.

• Jennifer McLean’s telesummits. Even though I personally don’t “resonate” with everyone Jennifer invites, the vast majority of her interviewees are truly the cream of the New Age crop and not to be missed.

And, of course, uncategorized—free and fun—our host, Tad Hargrave!

Conclusion

Namaste, reader. Like me, perhaps you are sometimes weary of seeking and building a life of meaning in a chaotic and seemingly superficial world. I wish you all a truly healing, abundant, generous, and transformative life. Your happiness is well-worth the effort: as is mine. May all your dreams come true—with or without telesummits!

| Categories: Ethics in Advertising, marketing philosophy - Tags: authenticity