Entrepreneurship

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As a child I had the right idea about running my own business and like Lucy in the Peanuts cartoons, set up my first office with a blanket over a child’s table and charged 5 cents a session.

The shopkeepers could sweat it out all day in the sun with a lemonade stand, but I was going to create the kind of business that not only served others but served me as well.

Later therapy turned to babysitting and house cleaning to keep me flush through high school.

But then what happened?  The “go to university and get a job” mentality sunk in and I found myself punching other people’s time clocks for a monthly cheque that didn’t add up after the government had its share.

Early in my twenties I knew that doing my own thing was far more important to me than selling my soul for financial security.

I bought a Jazzercise franchise.  Therapy for the body, but not my bank account.  I created a Children’s Theatre after school program, extremely satisfying, but again exchanging physical hours for pennies.

While in the early throes of motherhood I started a home business hand marbling silk and having it made into men’s ties and waistcoats.  Yes, it was a highly creative outlet, and yes, I did sell everything I made, however it wasn’t a lucrative business model, as art supplies are expensive, and creating is time consuming.

In between all the entrepreneurial attempts there were countless other jobs from secretarial and window dressing to teaching Adult Education and even a short stint at telesales.

But the desire to be free was always a backdrop.  Teaching Line Dancing didn’t land me on the road to freedom either.

In my late 30’s I went back to school and studied psychotherapy and energy healing.  I wasn’t even thinking about work, I was just trying to understand myself and figure out why I tick the way I do.

It’s funny how things evolve.  The next thing I knew I found myself with a career in corporate training.

This was more like it.  I was earning good money and working freelance so showing up to punch another’s time clock for a short well paid stint didn’t hurt so much.  It was fun, it was new, and all too soon, it was frustrating.

I didn’t understand the importance of the connection between what I was offering and the audience I was attempting to engage.  I realised I had the wrong audience.

Corporate workers begrudgingly came to my seminars, unwilling to devote hours to improve their communication skills while there was a stack of work on their desk not getting done.

Meanwhile my own knowledge and healing abilities expanded as I worked with my case studies in fascination.  I was involved in my clients healing journeys and they were totally engaged in the dance we created together.  I felt like I had finally found my niche.

I had no website, no business cards, no mailing list, no office and no idea how to go about getting myself out there.  I was on a mission to help people but how would I reach them?

I asked a well-connected friend in London to host a talk and demo for me.  She invited 20 people and everyone sat around her living room on chairs, the sofa and the floor while I talked about my healing work and demonstrated on willing volunteers from the audience.

When letting people know I was open to book appointments, I pretended I had a very full schedule.  I told people I was looking for an office.

The stars were obviously in alignment as someone attending offered me her space.  She was a massage therapist but wanted to rent out her room for use when she wasn’t there.  That became a ten year arrangement which was win-win for both of us.

I started my business by jumping into the deep end without any answers of how it would all work out.  I knew I had something to offer, so I was putting it out there, no excuses.

I never formally advertised.  I started a mailing list and sent out a monthly newsletter to let everyone know my London schedule.  I didn’t live in London, but I figured that’s where all the work would be and I had enough friends there to host me, so that’s where I focussed my business.

Word of mouth filled my bookings every time and over the years more and more clients came.  What I realised is that you never know who your client is in the bigger picture.  Some clients booked an appointment every month, while others I only saw twice a year.  One regular client sent me more new clients than anyone over the years.

Referrals are excellent advertising.  I bought a stand at the London Mind Body Spirit Festival, once again having no idea what I was signing up for and thank God all my friends showed up to help me.  It tripled my mailing list and business and set off another chain of events.

Besides meeting amazing clients from all over the world and all walks of life, it was a massive time of self exploration as my clients mirrored back my own wounds I had yet to heal.  If you really want to learn how to do something well, just do it to the best of your ability because it will become apparent quickly what else you need to learn to succeed.

I realised that people were depending on me on a somewhat regular basis and once again I wondered how the free spirit in me would be able to traipse off on my extended travels while not losing my client base.

“I’ll just take them with me!” So I started offering healing trips to Peru which took my healing sessions to another level, and changed my client base predominantly to other healers and therapists on the path.

There is always another level to business.  How could I work as a therapist but not be trapped by location or hours of being face to face with someone?  Enter the digital world of online coaching.

Sure, I’d had the odd Skype client and new it was possible to work online but once again, how would I get myself out there?  “Become a Spiritual Entrepreneur” the ad said.

Not knowing anything about marketing I spent an unbelievable fortune learning how to take my business online, but even still there are no guarantees.  The online world basically means marketing.  I had avoided it for so long because I am a coach, not a marketer.

What I have found is that everything is marketing.  Without marketing you have no online business.  I’ve had to bite the bullet and learn marketing and it still proves to be a vertical learning curve.

It makes me crave the simple one to one holding hands connections and word of mouth referrals.  Of course there’s pros and cons to any business medium; I love the global connections and new friendships I’ve created across the world; I receive more feedback from people who I am impacting online than in person.

Helping someone shift is the satisfying part of the work I do.  It’s what motivates me to keep at it while I chip away at learning new marketing techniques.  Where will this take me?  Once again no answers, but I’m swimming in the deep end and gaining momentum stroke by stroke.

Not everyone can handle the insecurity of not knowing when or from where the next pay check is coming, but I’d rather be creating my own destiny in trust, than bitching about a self imposed cage.

It’s true as an entrepreneur I work more hours a day than I ever have, but it’s for my own end gain, not someone else’s.

Then there’s living up to the fantasy of the four hour work week, and the reality of my lack of discipline, focus, motivation, inspiration on a consistent daily basis.  Some days I’m Wonder Woman, productive, inspired and I can impress my own self.  Other days I stare at blank pages and jumble my mind into overwhelm with too much to do without the marketing skill set.

The reality is much slower than the fantasy. But from life experience I know that every little step forward adds up to something in the long run and before you know it you’ve got a functioning business and new skill set in your tool box.

Someone once said, give two years of undivided focus and attention to what you are creating and it will be a success.  My online business turned the corner of success almost two years exactly to the time I took myself online!

It’s a birthing process.  Two years in the whole grand scheme of life is not that long to create, focus and build a structure that could provide a lifetime of satisfaction and success.

But it doesn’t happen by just thinking about it.  You’ve got to take action and constantly examine what is working and what is not.  So many times I wanted to quit, and so may times I called my business coach, an essential component of starting any business.

Two minds working together are always better than one.  Find someone to hold you accountable.  That is what I do for my students and clients spiritually in their self development, and that is what my coach does for me in business development.

Spiritual self development IS the foundation for any business succeeding as everything we do is about the vibration of the energy we put out there.  I love creating my own reality and helping others shift theirs.

Being an entrepreneur is not for everyone though – although with the pandemic there’s never been a better time to give it a go!

Let’s have a free 20 minute mind-shift call because I want to get to know you and see if you are a good candidate for me to help shift! Some people are simply not ready, preferring to stay stuck in their uncomfortable comfort zones, and some are on the fence….if you are one of the ones on the fence, or indeed ready to take control of your life and emotions then please book a free call! Twenty minutes could change your life for the better forever!
Schedule your complimentary Mind-Shift Call today. Click here: https://bit.ly/SOHealing

Join my free Facebook Group The Spiritually Conscious Traveller to learn how to discover, recognise and release your limiting, subconscious, habitual patterns so you can live the life you love. Click Here to Join: http://bit.ly/SpirituallyConsciousTraveller

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