A few months ago, I attended the Spiritual Marketing Quest. It’s one of the best marketing workshops I’ve ever been to – as this story will attest to.
At a certain point, a woman named Holly Tse (pictured below) stood up and shared an idea that gave everyone goosebumps. It was a project idea that tied both into her most personal wounds but also the cultural wounds she’d inherited and allowed her to transform those wounds into her gift for the world. Such a perfect example of authentic niching and becoming a hub.
I asked her if she’d be okay talking about where it’s at right now – even though she’s just starting and she was kind enough to say yes.
What is the name of your project?
The Lotus Blossoming Telesummit
What’s the story of how this came about? What was the need you saw in the community that it emerged from?
In May 2011, I attended a conference called the Spiritual Marketing Quest. It was about finding your core audience and developing your message. Basically I wanted to know who am I here to help? I knew I had a burning desire to make an impact and to help uplift others, but I just didn’t know exactly how or who.
I went on the Quest to gain insights for my reflexology practice and instead left with an epiphany that I was meant to lead a movement to empower Asian women. Growing up Asian, I always felt like I had to squelch my own voice in order to fit in and do the right thing. I realized that this experience was shared by many Asians, especially women and I felt a burning passion to help others find their inner voice, or as I call it, to release their inner Dragon Spirit.
At the Quest, my inner voice urged me to create an online telesummit that would feature Asian women who own their power as speakers. That was on May 15th. In less than 6 weeks, I organized the entire event from scratch–everything from recruiting speakers to building the website.
As a full-time mom to a toddler, I had just two hours each evening to work on the event (and do laundry, wash dishes, prep meals, spend time with her husband and friends, and find some “me time” too). As my son would say, “Wow!”
I felt like I was being guided by a force greater than myself to create the Lotus Blossoming Telesummit. I followed my heart and it allowed me to make this event happen in such a short time with ease and grace.
what does the term ‘dragon spirit’ mean to you and where does it come from culturally?
Dragon Spirit is the inner voice inside that loves adventure, exploration and learning. It also happens to be the part of you that is all knowing and uber-wise :).
There is not a cultural reference for it. I went to the Quest and as we were filling out the worksheets, I had a block on one of the questions, which was, “What is the name of your product or service?” That evening, I meditated and channelled my Higher Self and was surprised when I felt compelled to speak out loud. In an ethereal other-world voice, I answered myself and said, “Release your Dragon Spirit”. As soon as I said it, I knew I had found my voice.
what was it about growing up asian that had you feeling like your voice was squelched? in your community what was ‘the right thing’ to do? and what had you realized it might be a cultural wound vs. just a personal one?
When I was six years old, my teacher asked the class to write about what we wanted to be when we grew up. While all the other kids wrote things like “fireman” and “princess”, I wrote that I wanted to be a “l-o-y-e-r”. When the teacher handed me back my paper and corrected the spelling, I totally thought she had it wrong. There was no way that loyer could be spelled, “lawyer”.
And so it was, that while my mom was nowhere near the Tiger Mom of recent lore, she did believe in guiding her children to professions that she thought would lead them to happiness and success in life. Personal interests and passions were to be set aside in order to “put food on the table”.
There’s a Japanese saying that the nail that sticks out gets hammered down. And while I’m a second generation Chinese-Canadian (currently living in California), I often felt that this proverb applied to me while growing up, especially when it came to expressing my emotions and desires. It’s very important to save face, not show the world your problems and to fit in with the community rather than stand out as an individual.
Ironically, I grew up in a predominantly WASP neighbourhood so there was no way that I could possibly fit in since we stuck out as the only Chinese family around.
What’s the response been to this so far?
I’ll be flat out honest. There are just over 50 people registered right now from around the world. I need help getting the word out. Because I chose to manifest this so quickly, I did not give my speakers enough time to promote the event. The “power-hitters” are speaking towards the end of the telesummit and are mailing in the next week or two.
When I share the event with people, the response is magical. They light up and want to be a part of it. It has led me to new friendships that I know will last a lifetime. And it also created a new business model for me where I learned that I am here to guide women to find the next steps for their businesses. I create a space where they can connect with their own Dragon Spirits to learn, know feel and experience what it is they should do next in order to expand their businesses with ease and grace and fast.
I just got a download that there are two more things I should write you. Will do my best to do so w/ my 2 yr old in my lap now.
Since you position your blogs with the voice of sharing lessons that others can learn from, here is the key lesson:
Even though you may have a judgment beforehand of what success is supposed to look like when you embark on a new venture, the universe may deliver it to you in a completely different form. Follow through on the course and the next step in your path will illuminate naturally for you. I did not know what would come of the Telesummit. I heard of others who added thousands of people to their lists and I *thought* that’s what my goal should be, even though I had no clue what I would do with a list of thousands of people.
Fortunately, my Dragon Spirit prevailed and told me that this was just one step along my path and that if I continued following the path, it would lead me to where I wanted to go. And so it did. While speaking with one of the speakers for the telesummit, I shared with her how I had experienced past lives. She said she had tried to do so herself it in the past, but hadn’t been able to do so. My Dragon Spirit (DS) told me to tell her that I was supposed to help her do this even though I’d never done this before. Spontaneously, we began to explore our past life connection and she did experience a past life and received a message about the next evolution of her business.
After our conversation, I felt such love and light. My DS told me that this was what I was meant to do and that I should offer Dragon Spirit guided sessions to 5 people for free. Each session brought clarity to me and the person I was working with. A pattern started to emerge. On my 4th session, everything aligned perfectly. Both parties had amazing breakthroughs and not only that, my client told me she had 6 friends who would love a session. I felt a tremendous connection with Source Energy when she said this because two days prior, my DS had told me that I would lead monthly Dragon Spirit group “pods” and that each pod would have exactly 6 people. I just got my first pod!
What are the top three most effective ways you’ve found to market this?
1. Identify the energy that you want to share when you are marketing as opposed to sales or marketing numbers. When you reach out with an authentic energy to uplift others, they respond.
2. Be open and vulnerable in your communications. Writing with your authentic voice is much more effective and easier to do than coming up with the “right” headline or marketing lingo.
3. Ask your inner Dragon Spirit! Meditate and then ask yourself out loud what to do next.
What are the three biggest lessons you’ve learned along the way?
1. Follow and TRUST your heart.
2. Have a personal goal in mind that is not about what you can do for others, but what you are doing for yourself. For me, I wanted to make new friends who shared similar passions and interests as me. (And I did!)
3. Only act when you are in a space of feeling good.
What’s the next level for your project? What are you most excited about that’s coming up?
During the creation of the Lotus Blossoming Telesummit, I discovered that not only could I channel my Dragon Spirit for myself, I could create a space for others to do the same and that we could do this over the phone. I’m excited that this creates a whole new way for me to be of service to others. An online “Release Your Dragon Spirit” workshop is in the works and I now offer personal Dragon Spirit guided sessions.
For more information on this telesummit just go to:
http://www.lotusblossoming.com
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Want Help? If you’d like some more direct guidance and hand holding on figuring out your niche then go and check out my Niching for Hippies coaching program https://marketingforhippies.com/niching-for-hippies/