winnipeg, wounds and three lessons from my tour

12:51pm: I’m sitting here in the Calgary airport on my way to Winnipeg where I’ll be leading a little workshop tonite for green and local businesses and a full weekend for holistic practitioners.

I’m sitting here because I missed my flight due to bad weather. Oh Alberta.

But WestJet reminded me of why I love them so much. I was feeling cranky about missing my flight and then I hear, “Theodore Hargrave? Theodore Hargrave?” I look up thinking maybe I’d left something on the plane. But it’s a cheerful WestJet lady coming to me with my next flight already booked and a $10 meal vouchure. Impressed. WestJet I love you for little touches like this.

Tour Lesson #1: Take good care of your clients. It feels good to not be forgotten – but remembered, valued and taken care of. It’s an awful feeling to feel like you slipped through the cracks.

12:31am – Twelve hours later here I am in Winnipeg. I’m staying in the apartment of a lady I’ve never met. She heard that I might not have enough people to justify the costs of the trip so she said, “You can stay at my place and I’ll stay with a friend this weekend if it helps your costs.”

It saved me $350 at the hostel. And I have a place to myself in Winnipeg. which. feels. amazing.

This trip has been such a funny thing.

Last Monday (10 days ago) there were three people registered in my weekend workshop and as of now there are 18 paid people (plus three guests).

And as near as I can figure it – here’s what turned it around . . .

I sent them this email:

hey there winnipeg friends,

okay. so here’s the important update . . .

at this moment I don’t have enough people to come out to lead my
weekend workshop – “Marketing 101 for Holistic Practitioners” (April
15-17th).

(and that’s alright – sometimes it’s just not the right timing).

but! the situation isn’t without hope.

I want to invite your support and give it one last, good old college
try this week for a few reasons:

– posters just went up last week
– myself and some others have worked really hard to pull this together
– I hear Winnipeg is a last minute town and I suspect there might be
some folks who are on the fence
– there’s still the ad in the Aquarian
– alex baisley was just in town and talking me up a bunch so that could help.

here are THREE ways you can help:

1) personally email your holistic practitioner friends (I’ve included
an email below you can send out)

2) spread the word via facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=190533860968657

3) sign up if you’re on the fence or just haven’t gotten around to
RSVPing: http://www.marketing101forholisticpractitioners.com/weekend.php

I’m going to make the decision about whether or not to do it by friday
afternoon at 4pm MST – so the sooner I hear from you the better.

again – if the timing just isn’t right at this moment – that’s
wonderful. I’ll come back in the fall. If it comes together magically
– that’s also wonderful. There’s no pressure at all to attend or
spread the word – but there is a timeline on the decision and your
help could make a huge difference.

Thanks to all for the immense warmth and support I’ve received thus
far. And I hope you’re enjoying spring as much as I am. Fi.na.lly.

For more info or to register:

http://www.marketing101forholisticpractitioners.com/weekend.php

warmest
tad

p.s. Below is an email you can send to your friends. Thanks so much 🙂 !

*

Hey there,

Just wanted to give you a heads up about a workshop happening in
Winnipeg the weekend of April 15th. It’s a weekend long marketing
workshop for holistic practitioners and life coaches. And it’s run
totally on a pay what you can basis. You attend the whole thing and
then pay whatever you want at the very end of it.

Thought it might be up your alley.

You can read more about it here:

http://www.marketing101forholisticpractitioners.com/weekend.php

And you might want to sign up asap because right now it’s on the fence
of whether there are enough people to make it work. He’s making his
decision Friday, April 8th at 5pm CST if there are enough people to
make it work.

Let me know if you decide to go!

And that seemed to make a big difference. Hooray for people really wanting me to come to Winnipeg.

Tour Lesson #2: Tell the truth. If you don’t have the numbers – just be honest and tell people and let go of it working out. People might just rally. And then hustle.

And then tonite, I led a little workshop at Hollow Reed here in Winnipeg. I was here leading a workshop last October and was completely charmed by the place and the people running it.

Tonite we had an intimate little group of seven people who were all just the cat’s pajamas.

A highlight of the evening for me was when we were talking about this whole question of niche.

Because it was a small group we could go around and have everyone share what niche they wanted to fiddle with. One woman – a spiritual counselor – shared that she felt kind of stuck.

participants of the winnipeg workshop

I love to work with the entire family to help them resolve things. Get everyone together. But, I feel like a bit of a fraud because I wasn’t able to do that with my family. I’ve done all I can but they’re not wanting to fix things.”

I could feel where she was coming from. How can you promise to take someone on a journey you were unable to complete yourself. If you’ve ever tried to position yourself in that way – it’s really stressful.

Well . . . maybe,” I offered. “Your best niche is to work with people who’ve been unable to heal the difficulties in their family and are now left with trying to heal themselves and deal with the realities of that. And maybe you might even end up working with the whole family down the road . . . but why not start with those people? That’s a path you’ve absolutely walked down yourself.”

Her eyes widened, “I could do that and feel so authentic about that . . .”

Tour Lesson #3: Your deepest wounds are your truest niche. I felt a bit like I was channeling my colleagues Alex Baisley or Jeffrey Van Dyk. Jeffrey often speaks about how your truest niche is often to be found in your deepest wounds (go watch the video!).

There’s a landscape each of us know intimately through our own life – and she knew this one. She’s the perfect guide for someone else’s journey because she’s already done it herself. When we’re in that sweet spot there’s no need to posture or feel scared of being found out. We’re standing firmly in the strength of our wounds. We’re authentic.

We’re offering our own experience and wisdom (gained from hard won experience) to the world.

What a beautiful thing.

 

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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/

 

 

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