Grow your Healing or Coaching Business Beyond one-to-one Sessions

An Epistle on Expansion

Or, making the case for growth even if you’re not maxed out on 1x1 services (yet)

Dear Reader:

As a fellow 1x1 service provider for most of my career (Yoga Therapist, Wellness Coach, and Business Coach), I humbly offer the following case for expanding your work beyond the bounds of 1-to-1 or premium services as early in your career as possible.

Indeed, this applies whether you’re building your private client practice or currently maxed out with private clients.

As you read this letter, consider the wonder of these words reaching through the ether to greet your eyes on the magical fantastical creation you now hold.

Through this device and its connection to the internet, you have access to millions of teachings that provide insight into better health, greater wellbeing, and more purposeful living.

Before the digital age, this type of learning was layered beneath circles of privilege and kept behind ivory towers.

It is a wonder to have access to this once-cloistered information—and all at your fingertips.

Digital courses democratize access (to an extent).

In time, it is my hope, that more healing, helping, and self-development teachings will be shared even more widely for more meaning, engagement, and well-being outside the circles of privilege of higher education, whiteness, able-bodiedness, and neurotypicality.

In my view, sharing the skillset you’ve carefully curated over the duration of your career is an act of social justice: widening and improving access to powerful healing and helping tools the world needs. 

All humans need these tools, not only those who can afford to pay a premium rate for your one-to-one services. Even more so if you serve an underserved community that is hard to reach.

I know you don’t do the Work for fame, money, or bragging rights. 

You do it for the mission 

You do it because it changed your life

You share this Work for a healthier, happier, and kinder world

There are more people who need what you are sharing—and the world needs your insight.

This letter is an invitation, yes, and it’s also a rallying cry of sorts. 

If you’re a healer, helper or change maker and you AREN’T on fire about lighting up (more of) the world with your gifts…maybe there’s a good reason. 

But if that reason is that you don’t know where to begin…

Let’s start together, right now.

In your 1-to-1 services, you provide a safe container for clients to facilitate their own transformation. Your clients come to you with frustrations, pain, suffering, and problems…and your valuable work provides a solution.

There are so many “problems” your work solves.

Think of a few right now. Then:

Pick one and dig deep, and..

Think of the people who need that problem solved …right now.

What do they need to get that problem solved?

How can you provide a solution in the most effective, time-sensitive way—that isn’t 1-to-1?

Lots of people have pain that you know how to reduce, symptoms your support helps them in resolving or mental barriers your techniques breakthrough.

You can only reach so many as a 1x1 service provider because your time and energy are finite.

What if…

You create a resource, a guidebook, a mini-class, a workshop, an on-demand training they can access focused on that specific issue? 

You don’t have to deliver a massive group course, create a clunky membership site, or become internet-famous to expand your work in a mindful way.

What if…

You deliver a single, targeted solution in a way that feels aligned with your goals and your values: that specific people will benefit from again and again.

a mini-book

an on-demand guide

a curated course

a private podcast

a signature talk 

a protocol 

a series class

a Retreatshop

Expanding a small portion of your work to a wider audience allows more people to benefit from your gifts while allowing you to honor your commitment to equity, inclusion, and access.

What, then?

Need more ideas? Join us in the Kula for my full idea brain dump today plus a special invitation to a new way to work with me (hint: DIY is soooo last year. DIT is where it’s at!).

Kula Conversations // WHY IT'S TIME TO CREATE YOUR COURSE ALREADY! The ins and outs of course creation, Kula Conversation-style, today at 1 pm Eastern (10 am Pacific).

You'll learn ...

Where to begin (it isn't where you'd expect)

How to structure for maximum results (and client rave reviews)

Why you want to do it now (and your first action to take!)

See y’all there!

xo,

Kellie Adkins, MS, C-IAYT

Business Alignment Coach + Yoga Therapist

Founder | the Wisdom Method

Feeling Burned-out? Here’s the Antidote to Overwhelm.

Are you the bottleneck in your business?

Think about it. Are you:

• Working with current clients?

• Hustling for new clients?

• Posting to your social media channels?

• Running a clinic / practice / studio?

• Studying to bring your expertise to the next level?

• Growing your business to the next level?

• Teaching classes or courses?

• Livestreaming or hosting in-person events?

• Doing your own accounting?

• Attempting to have a social or family life outside your all-consuming work?

Grow your business with a business coach

I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that many of you are doing all these things AND MORE. If you’re drowning in work, scrambling to do it all, and losing traction with every passing day—you’re not alone.

But you’re also not in a good spot, especially if you want to drive business growth forward. (And I know you do.) In order to prime your enterprise for real, ongoing, profit-generating growth, you’ve got to identify your key tasks, and yoke your focus + energy to get those tasks done.

Your time is limited and precious. Burning through your valuable time and energy with tasks that someone else could do isn’t a sustainable strategy. Understandably, you may need to wear all the hats right now….even if that is the case, track your time and you’ll begin to see where you are able to “retrieve” a few hours by pivoting your focus.

So just how do you figure out what to keep and what to ditch?

Here’s how I decide:

Divide and conquer

Make a list of every ball you’ve got in the air right now. Every task you do from creating long-term marketing strategies to sweeping the studio floor. Then divide them into two groups:

• Those that help maintain the business: The must-do daily or weekly tasks that help keep the business running. Think teaching classes and working with clients, but also paying the bills and replying to emails.

• Those that help drive business forward: Growth-promoting, catalyzing, and profit-enhancing tasks. Think developing new products or programs,  launching higher-value offers or group programs, learning valuable skills, and working with business coaches.

Some of these tasks need you. There’s no trusted advisor or second-in-command who can step in and teach your classes, courses or coaching sessions, so you must be prepared to give them your attention. But there are other tasks that you may currently handle yourself to “save money,” or haven’t considered delegating.

When it comes to that second group, I want you to ...

Hire smart people

No one likes to hear that you’ve got to “spend money to make money,” myself included. (Seriously, who enjoys cliches?) But if you drown yourself in tasks that competent paid staff members could handle, you are quite literally keeping yourself from dreaming up and rolling out new, better, higher earning-potential offerings. Investing in trustworthy, creative full-time, part-time, or freelance staff frees you up to focus on business-building.

If you’re not in a position to hunt down and take on traditional employees, consider digital solutions like:

• Virtual assistants (VAs), who can schedule your social posts, edit your content, or do grahic design work remotely and affordably.

• Provider marketplaces like Upwork or Fiverr, which connect you with designers, programmers, and content marketers through bidding systems.

• Design aids like 99 Designs, where you find and work with freelance designers on logos, packaging, websites, and more.

Once you have the tasks you keep all to yourself and the ones you selectively delegate there will be a few stragglers which don’t serve you or your business.

Eliminate underperformers

Sometimes we outgrow aspects of our business or find that certain responsibilities no longer serve their purpose.

// If you never get more than two students in your Thursday night cooking class, why are you still offering it?

// If you’re spending time populating gorgeous Pinterest boards but they don’t drive sales or generate new customer leads, quit it.

// If you dread the thought of teaching that weekly webinar, axe it.

// If you have an offer, program, workshop or course you’ve outgrown, retire the offer.

You do NOT have to keep doing things just because you’ve done them in the past. And you do NOT have to do things just because your peers are doing them. Keep your top-performing offerings and cut the dead weight. Focus on social media outlets that you enjoy and that bring you new business, and ditch the rest. You’re the boss. Make some tough calls and reduce your workload by letting go of underperformers.

Dial up the discipline

We’ve gone from easy to tough, I know! Making a list of your work tasks is a cakewalk. Increasing self-mastery? Not so easy.

Start with tiny steps like disabling social media notifications and practicing mono-tasking. (Multi-tasking is a total myth, believe me.)

Be honest with yourself about your most productive hours, and schedule your hardest tasks at those times of day. (More productivity tips here!)

Pick up an important, business-focused task to complete each day at the start of your workday. You’ll get an instant boost of motivation knowing you completed an important task for your business growth and that will help keep you motivated whe

As time goes on, you’ll learn the valuable lesson every successful entrepreneur has learned: you can’t do it all. Embrace this lesson with big, open arms. Doing it all is overrated. Focusing your efforts on strategic, key tasks is the only way to fly.

Wanna connect with a supportive group as you manage your task lists?

Join the Kula, a Free Coaching Community for female founders and integrative practitioners. We go Live every Tuesday at 1 pm EST / 10 am PST for mindful business tips and weekly action plans.

Why a Flexible, Personal, Long-term Strategy Will Help Your Business Thrive

Flexible Business Strategy helpS your Coaching, Healing, Helping or Conscious Business Thrive

Let’s be honest: most Coaches, Helpers and Healers aren’t wild about the business-y aspects of entrepreneurship.

Spending your energy on marketing, networking, and concocting promotional strategies makes you feel forced and false.

Self-promotion leaves you feeling smarmy and disconnected from the true purpose of your work:

Using your gifts to ease pain, to increase efficacy, to reduce suffering, or to encourage clients along their personal journeys …. these are the tasks that resonate with us.

If you’ve ever asked yourself:

“Can’t my ‘business strategy’ simply be to help as many people as possible?”

Then, I’m speaking directly to you, dear. (And yes, it absolutely can!)

But if you don’t reach the right people or your messages fail to capture their attention, you can’t help them. No matter how much you might want to.

Your business that exists to solve problems.

Those problems are specific, and a specific group of people grapple with them. They’re googling solutions to those problems late at night when they can’t sleep. They’re buying services and products right now to help them with those problems.

When you promote your classes, products, and offerings to the very people who need them most, you’re actually doing them a tremendous service.

You’re not a plaid-suited car salesman shouting through a megaphone! 

You, my dear, are a passion-fueled entrepreneur with unique and valuable skills who thrives on making other people’s lives richer and fuller.  

To continue enriching lives in a sustainable, long-term, effective way, you need to strategize. Doing good work and hoping the right clients will “find” you simply isn’t enough.

Luckily, I’m here to tell you that building a business strategy can feel creative and rewarding, even fun. No, really! Here’s how.

Make it personal

Sure, some business tactics work universally:

Never over-promise.

The customer is always right.

If you don’t have a web presence 90% of the world won’t believe that you actually exist

These are general business truths these days.

But that’s where the general one-size-fits-all business approach to planning ends.

It doesn't work in most cases, and it certainly won’t lead to exponential growth and phenomenal prosperity for your unique, one-of-a-kind, unicorn business. 

Your business is unique, which means you need to build a perfect-for-you strategy to help it thrive. Discover your own brand of brilliance and use it to fuel your business growth.

Whatever you do, chances are someone else does it, too. And although that may worry you, it’s actually, a very, very good thing because it means there is demand for your classes or skills or products.

To ensure your offerings rise above and reach their intended audience, making your promotions truly personal and bringing your Ideal Clients to your doorstep, tap your Unique Magic.

Your Unique Magic is where your talents, strengths, and skills overlap.

It’s a core skill set that carries through your life like a connective thread, a combination of native strengths, signature skills, and the values and views that drive you. Focusing your business strategy on your Unique Magic attracts perfect-fit customers and clients who recognize, engage and connect with you. It will enable you to differentiate yourself in the market, leverage opportunities for more success, and ensure you are fulfilling your purpose-driven work in the world. Identifying and leveraging the ways in which your Unique Magic makes you truly unique is the path to more meaning and more profit in your business.

And just how do you funnel your Unique Magic into marketing messages, carefully honed offerings, and community engagement that converge into an effective strategy for your business?

Focus on your niche

As a holistic entrepreneur—a yogi, healer, helper, coach, or wellness guru—you have a specific set of talents, skills and experience to share. You likely have services, products and helpful content related to what you offer. But there are LOTS of other [insert what you do] out there in the world, and differentiating yourself in the sea of other [insert what they do], is how you attract more soon-to-be clients to your business (not theirs). Differentiating yourself and defining your target market both help you figure out your place within the industry. Whether you’re a coach, a multi-passionate creative, a massage therapist, or a yoga teacher, chances are there are hundreds (thousands!) of other practitioners out there doing what you do. How do you stand apart from the crowd and effortlessly attract perfect-for-you clients?

Discover, then refine, your niche.

Niching asks the question, “How can I package my purpose, passions, innate strengths, and world-changing ideas into a platform that my Ideal Clients will recognize, identify with, and seek out?”

Part of discovering your niche is uncovering your particular combination of purpose, passion and strengths. When you embrace all of the above—taking your life as your path and your story as a compass—you can easily identify the perfect niche.

Another crucial element of your niche is what people are willing pay you for in the current financial climate. You may be the world’s leading expert in restoring antique clarinets, but if no one is in the market for a clarinet restoration, you will go hungry.

Finally, your niche must address a need in the world and be a reflection of your purpose.  Like the example above, if the world has no need for your particular skill set—and it doesn’t light you up inside!—you won’t be able to earn a living. Nor will you be excited about growing your business.

Be flexible

Creating a business strategy is a very mindful, forward-looking, concrete activity, and that can make it feel daunting and immovable. But effective business strategies are NEVER set in stone. Planning the future of your business and how to help it grow should be a flexible, organic process to channel growth. Having a strategy in place is essential for long term success, but that doesn’t mean you must map out every minute step, chart every possible outcome, and refuse to diverge from a rigid set of self-imposed rules. Your business priorities will change, your client’s priorities will change, YOU will change. And if you can’t bend in the breeze and accommodate those shifts, you’ll break.

Focus on creating a personalized strategy, make the most of your niche, and strive to connect with and help your Ideal Clients. But remember that being agile and flexible will only help you. Build a solid strategy, then allow yourself to reexamine and reevaluate it as time goes on.

People like us—heart-centered healers, helpers and creatives—have good work to do in this world. The work that we do is important and needs to be shared. We must do this work because we see the need, we see how we can help, and we step up. But we also need to earn a living…otherwise, we can’t continue to share and serve.

By building a flexible, personal, long-term strategy for your unique business, you ensure that more and more people can benefit from your precious and much-needed gifts.

And since I love to propose solutions, head over here to check out the Holistic Business Blueprint —a step-by-step guide to creating your very own flexible, personal, long-term strategy for your conscious business.

Defining Your Niche as a Business Strategy

Defining your niche is a business strategy.

What is a niche exactly?

The word niche is a French word meaning “place” or “alcove,” and in marketing, your niche is a strategic position you take in business that allows people to immediately identify how you can serve them and why you are the perfect person to do so.

Many of us feel trapped by the idea of narrowing down our offerings and services to one particular area. I can empathize! As a multi-passionate idea-centric entrepreneur, I know how hard it is to decide on WHAT you want to do in your business: you’re constantly being pulled in a million directions by the Idea Factory called your brain. However, this step—just like finding your Ideal Client—is crucial to your professional success as a conscious entrepreneur.

Because once you know WHO you want to serve, you have to discover HOW you can best serve them. This involves looking at WHAT you—uniquely—have to offer your community and customers. The exciting thing about niching is that it helps the perfect-for-you clients immediately identify YOU as the perfect-for-them transformational service provider or conscious business.

In the beginning, niching is mostly about YOU and what it is that you bring to the marketplace.

Are you ready to find your niche?

Take some time with the questions below: the answers are the first step to discovering your niche.

• What do you love to do, that people already (or may in the future) pay you for?

• What unique experiences, skills and talents do have to share with the world?

• Who do you love to work with?

• What do they need?

• Who seeks you out but isn’t someone who you feel you can truly help?

• How do you work best? (Alone, in a group, as a guide, providing one-on-one support, as an educator)

• Is there an unspoken need in your industry that your experience, talents, and skills can fill?

That last question is particularly important because it forces you to hone in on what differentiates you from your peers. 

In the age of instant connection and information saturation, standing out from the crowd is a strategy for capturing your Ideal Client’s attention.

People (including your potential customers) are weary of bland, watered-down, copycat, or sugar-coated businesses and brands. Now more than ever, people want to connect—they want authenticity, integrity, and originality. They want unicorns.

Good thing YOU are a unicorn.

Let me explain:

Whether you’re selling transformative yoga sessions, integrative psychotherapy, wellness coaching or chakra alignment sessions, there’s a deeper reason behind your business. Sure, on the surface, you are providing [insert the obvious thing you’re providing], but why you’re really providing that is much deeper. How you do that is different than everyone else, too.

That deeper reason (your why) paired with your unique magic (your how) is what clients are really paying you for.

Avoid copycats and cookie-cutter formulas by being the unique unicorn you already are!

Take some time to think and write about your niche. Start with bullet points that pinpoint what you do and how you’re doing it differently. Then try to create a rough mission statement.

Here are some examples:

“I am deeply empathetic Reiki healer who specializes in treating reproductive disorders and personal trauma in young to middle-aged women.”

“My work as an acupuncturist focuses on helping older clients with severe or rheumatoid arthritis regain mobility in their arms, hands, legs, and feet.”

“Through targeted sessions and ongoing consultations, I use my Feng Shui expertise to unblock trapped energy in the offices of small- and medium-sized business client offices.”

Now you! As you write, try to capture the generalities of your business but also how you deliver your services, who benefits most from them, and how.

Once you have this information, it should inform all of your marketing efforts, influence how you speak about your business, and inform the direction of your overall business strategy.

Excited to focus more intently on your niche, but longing for a bit more structure and guidance?

Join us for the Holistic Business Blueprint —a step-by-step guide to creating your very own flexible, personal, long-term strategy for your conscious business, or work with me for customized strategy.

XO,

Kellie Adkins, Holistic Business Coach + Yoga Therapist

Make Money Like Magic In your Conscious Business

Positive cash flow in your business is a signifier that you are in alignment —and when you are in alignment, you make money like magic. 

Why? Because if your business is solving the right problems, for the right people, and you are doing so in alignment with your soul’s purpose and sacred gifts  —then you will thrive at all levels (including the financial level).

And that thriving will feel effortless —like it's magic.

Of course it takes more than a burning desire to help people in a purpose-fueled business.

It takes well-crafted offers, authentic marketing and a profit-centric business model that takes into account your lifestyle desires, your values and your financial well-being. 

Let's hover for a moment on the financial well-being part. In business, financial wellness is the result of a profit-centric revenue model. Financial wellness also encompasses the values and desired lifestyle that encouraged you into business in the first place.

Money is a necessity —but we holistic entrepreneurs don't do the work for the money.

Agreed? Good.

Because if you’re like most purpose-driven souls, it's this aspect of loving what you do —but not loving the money — that leads to misalignment at the financial level.

Maybe this expresses in your business a chronic sense of overwhelm —you're doing okay financially, but you never have enough time for you, for your family, for your self-care, for hobbies or for ease. 

Maybe this expresses in your business as consistent under-earning —you're charging less than you need to be for your services or products and are living in lack, or debt, or are constantly scrambling to keep up with bills. 

Maybe this expresses in your business as inconsistent income or clients —you're on a roller coaster of ups and downs in business where, at times, income and clients are sufficient and other times, not.

Which is why, dearest, you probably have some money wounds that need healing in order to keep your business thriving.

Keeping the money energy flowing in the right way is part of your responsibility as the leader of your business. And that requires deep exploration into the patterns, beliefs and behaviors you as an entrepreneur (with a purpose-driven soul) have around money. The good news?

Once you are aware of the patterns, beliefs and behaviors, you are able to change them. In my coaching practice, I encourage my clients to begin at the beginning: developing laser-sharp clarity on their own financial wellbeing amount, what I call Financial Ease.™

Once you arrive at the amount your business must earn in order to adequately meet your own lifestyle needs and desires, your relationship with money becomes much clearer and you are able to confidently move forward with the actions necessary to meet your financial metrics. 

One of my yoga teachers used to share an anecdote in his classes: in order to love something, you must touch it. 

In business, the same is true —and how we "touch" something is by giving it our attention. Giving your attention to the pursuit of financial wellness in business is a worthy cause that results in your ability to help more people. (Because your business exists to help people, right? All good businesses do.)

The natural next step in this process is to ask: how do I earn that? Meeting your income goals and remaining in Financial Ease™ is as easy (and as challenging) as setting a clear financial target, doing some mindful reverse-engineering, and committing to the actions necessary to reach those goals.

The practical magic of turning your financial goals into actual, tangible income involves more than desire —it takes action, baby —but once you are clear on how to leverage your skills, reaching your financial goals is easier than you think.

Ready for the practical magic? 

1. Identify your Financial Ease™ amount

2. Leverage your skills with a best-fit package, product or course that meets a specific need for a specific person (your perfect fit client)

3. Price your package, product or course to align your service goals and financial goals

Although there is a little bit of math involved, it isn't too much and I promise you’ll enjoy it! Let's look at a tangible example, then complete your own version using the guidelines below:

Example:

Monthly income target: $5000

High value package rate: $1000

Needs: 5 clients / month at $1000 rate

SAMPLE Actions to Take:* 

a) Personally invite 10 clients per month into the high value package, product or program (50% conversion rate = 5 new clients at the $1000 level)

b) Run an advertising campaign to reach 500 new leads (at a 1% conversion rate = 5 new clients at the $1000 level)

c) Develop a workshop, webinar or live talk that shares a bit about your high value product, or program and share it 1x / month for 25 people, then follow up with everyone in attendance and invite into larger package (25% conversion rate = 5 new clients at the $1000 level)

*Want some support on these actions and how to effectively use these strategies to support your business? That's exactly what I do.

Apply now for a complimentary 15 minute session —it it's a good fit, I promise to let you know exactly how I can support your business' wellbeing at all levels.

Now it's your turn!

Monthly income target: $XXXX

High value package: $XXX

Needs: # of clients

Actions to take = Actions to take that will result in # of clients needed 

Now that you have a clear target, you are better equipped to establish clear weekly and monthly goals for your business efforts to ensure you remain in alignment at all levels.

But what if —like many of my clients —you don't have a high value package yet?

One of the easiest ways to increase your income is to fold the BEST of what you offer into a package or series of services that your dream client needs (and will value). If you are currently focused on selling one-to-one services, consider the clients that keep coming back.

:: What do they enjoy about working with you?

:: What benefits are they gaining from your work together?

:: What else do they need (or want) that you can provide?

Once you answer the above questions, explore folding together everything you offer into one high value package (or service, or program) that a small percentage of your dream clients will say YES to.

If you easily get hung up on the "it's too expensive, no one will purchase it" limiting belief, remember the Pareto principle applies here: 20% of your efforts will provide 80% of your outcomes.

That applies to clientele, too: you only need 20% of your current clientele to say YES in order to make the package / service / product a valuable revenue stream. 

Because let's face it: your business needs to earn money. If your business is not earning money, it becomes a costly, time-intensive hobby and a serious energy drain. 

Instead: let's turn your business into a magical and meaningful money-making enterprise.

START HERE.

To your success,

Kellie

P.S. Want to take a peek at my own solution-centric package? It's right over here.

Do you understand your numbers?

Do you have your head in the sand when it comes to numbers in your business?

As a healer, helper or coach, it is easy to get caught up in wanting to be of service to your clients, and put financial need on the back burner. But you are running a business not an expensive hobby, so if you’ve been avoiding this aspect of your business, let’s take a small action together now.

Step 1

Status Update (AKA Profit + Loss)

• Set up a income and expense tracking process . Wave is a free software which is easy to use, there is also Freshbooks, Xero and many more.

• Hire a CPA

• Enter in all your transactions for this financial year - you can do them by month if easier, start this month and work backwards.

• Work out your current financial position

Step 2

Set Financial Goals

• Write down your quarterly, six monthly and year 1 , 2 goals.

• How much income do you need and want to receive?

• How many hours do you need and want to work to achieve these goals?

• By answering these questions you can start to put a plan in place

Step 3

Action: 1, 2, 3

• List everything that needs to happen to acheive those gaols. BIG Braindump.

• Review your list thoughtfully, then select the top 3 Action-oriented items. These are the three things that must happen to get you on the path toward your goal.

• Set a timeline to complete those three tasks

• Get support and accountabiilty to maintain that committment.

• Once you have worked out what you need to do work out a plan on how to achieve these goals: maybe you need to…

• Book more clients each week

• Raise your rates

• Create a high-value product / package / service

• .Launch an online course

• Develop a series, training, or certification

• Get comfortable with selling

• Increase your visibility

  Come share your top 3 Action Items with us in the Kula — and get some support, too!

Want to skip right to customized strategy? Head over here.

Money a taboo topic?

Have you been programmed to have  a negative mindset towards money? Maybe you grew up in a home where money was a touchy subject and there never was enough. Maybe you have or still are  struggling with money in your own personal life, and these experiences are now reflecting on your business.

Fear grows in the dark - avoiding tough conversations about money  (or anything really), escalates fear around the topic and results in more stifled feelings and —you guessed it —even more fear. It becomes a much harder, bigger, more scary conversation when it stays in the dark. Shining light on the topic is THE best way to relieve fear so today, right now, let’s shed some light on the conversation - and gently begin to talk about money.

@@ "Let’s start the conversation on money #womeninbusiness @@

I am here to tell you, it is okay to talk about money. It is okay to focus on your finances and it is okay to want to be financially abundant. Beginning the conversation is the hardest part. By starting, we can re-write the scripts that have been playing in your mind and start to take control of your money situation.

What is money on a spiritual level?

Money is a form of energy. Balancing this  energy opens up  paths to receive it in return. If you are holding  this energy (money) tight from a fear of losing it or not having enough, energy blocks form. These blocks then impede the inflow of money.

@@ Money is a form of energy. Clear the energy to open up paths to receive it in return #womeninbusiness @@

Often, money is associated  with success so instead of focusing on the word money, shift your focus to what  success actually means for you. Once you define “success” for you ,the positive steps to take bring you there become clear.

Where your focus goes energy flows. So here are a few questions to start focusing on “success” on your own terms (financial or otherwise!) :

• What are your financial goals for your business?

• What are your service goals for your business?

• Do you set weekly / monthly / quarterly “success lists”?

• How was your week in business?

• Did you have productive / successful week? If so, why was it productive?

• Was it internal energy or external energy that impacted on your goals?

Actively participate in this inner conversation. When you focus on ways to define success, and to grow your income from that place, you are on the right path.

You also need to remember that people value money very differently, but that doesn’t mean that one person’s value is better than your value. There is no right or wrong way when it comes to money and your goals.

@@  Where your focus goes, energy flows  #womeninbusiness @@

By starting the conversation and supporting your friends, peers and family you are helping to empower them.  Focus on lifting each other up, this will help you on your own money path.

Start the conversation now, join us in the Kula.

Abundance Issues? Heal Your Money Wounds

Heal Your Money Wounds

We get a little funny about money as healers and helpers. We love what we do and are guided by service. Which is why it's so challenging to put a price tag on our gifts, talents and services.

Take it from me, darling, you can only give from a full tank.

If overwhelm is an issue for you right now, it's time to take a look at those energy leaks.

Let's start with money energy.

Money is energy that yields the nourishment you need at all levels to keep giving, to keep doing your transformative work, to keep sharing.

If you're a conscious entrepreneur with a generous heart, chances are you've felt the pang of sharing your gifts for little (or no) remuneration.

Do you hesitate when it comes to pricing services or products?

Here's what I mean —in a mini-drama:

Potential Client: So, how much do you charge for your Transformative Yoga Therapy Sessions / Intuitive Coaching / Art + Meditation private classes?

You (Talented, visionary, soulful 'preneur): Well, usually I charge um, well, $50 (*voice gets low and muffled*), but for you, I can do the first session free and a 20% discount off future sessions if, well, if you know, if you can't afford it (*that last part is stammered out with a fair bit of hesitation*).

ACK! You and I both know what happens next. Either the client books (and you feel resentful) or the client doesn't book (because why should they? There was no value in it).

Putting a price tag on your gifts bring up fear, money issues, limiting beliefs around your own worth and the ever-present scarcity issues. Potential clients can feel that ...and nothing sends a potential client running for the hills faster than your money issues.

Are you clear on the leveraged income streams in your business?

The Pareto Principle tells us that 20% of efforts yield in 80% of results. 20% of clients result in 80% of income. Are you allocating enough time to the important things in your business or are you spending time on the urgent? Identifying (then doing!) the 20% actions that result in even more income and expansion in your business is a solid strategy for success.

If you're drowning under a list of urgent To-Do's and watching days (and dollars) pass you by, then take a gander at the list below.

It doesn't have to be that way.

Let's heal those money wounds and close up the energy leaks in your business post-haste.

I can't tell you how many times incredibly talented women (my clients) have apologetically quoted their rates to me only to go into shock when I (almost immediately) tell them to double those rates. The reason clients earn more immediately after working with me —even if it's only a free session —is because we begin by balancing the energy (and money is a form of energy).

Here are my top tips for healing your money wounds and stepping into abundance as a healer or helper. These are the exact steps I teach my private, VIP clients, and the precise "formula" all successful entrepreneurs apply.

1 :: Set a rate that reflects a living wage and allows you to remain in financial ease.

Nothing harms our industry (healers, coaches, yogis, transformative teachers) more than too-low rates for one-on-one services. If you think you have to charge less in order to make more, you DON'T. In fact, placing a too-low price tag on our gifts in the interest of "being competitive" often undermines the importance of our work in the eyes of our potential clients. Lastly, each time you undercut your industry by charging too little, you contribute to the epidemic of other healers, coaches and yogis who can't make a living doing their transformative work.

Be reasonable and rational when setting rates. Consider yourself with a full practice or client docket :: how many can you reasonably see in a week? How much do you need to earn in a week? Align the numbers for a good starting point. Need support with this one? Head over here and we'll hash it out together.

Remaining in financial ease is my term for the amount of money you need to earn to support the lifestyle you desire, while saving, investing, and tithing. What lifestyle you desire and how much you'd like to save is up to you but many experts suggest at least 20%. Again, investing is entirely up to you as well: remember to consider retirement. Tithing is a personal spiritual practice that has made a tremendous difference in my life (see #6).

2 :: Offer a limited number of complementary sessions.

If you are establishing yourself as a Leader and expert in your field, you need to spend some time getting to know WHO your dream client actually is.

If you are already established, you want to spend time connecting with your community so you continue to create valuable resources and services they need and want.

Hop on the phone a few times a week for complementary introductory sessions and promotional sessions. If you're trying to discern WHAT your dream client really needs or wants, then 20-minute free sessions or promotional sessions (with feedback requested as a condition) allows you to discover the ways you can meet their needs.

Call it a tithe, an offering, or an experiment: free sessions have their place. Do put a cap on it and remember to track your time for this service. Decide how many you will do, when you will do them, what you will call them and how people will get them. Want to see how I run my own freebie sessions? Head over here.

Here are some valuable free resources for managing your complementary sessions with ease.

Schedule Once —you choose your time, client books with an easy to use click-to-schedule option. Sends you an alert to approve the session and issues you each confirmation and reminder emails. Integrates with Google and iCal and Android. Free + Paid version.

Calendly —has all the same features as Schedule Once but better free version. You can have multiple session types and lengths. Also: the branding is gorgeous!

3 :: Decide on your growth metrics and definition of financial "success."

Do you want to double your income annually? Do you want to make a million by 40? Do you want to see a 20% return on your investments of time and energy?

Seriously. Sit with your personal metrics of success it for a bit then come up with hard data. Numbers, percentages, metrics.  Be equal parts practical and magical with this process. Use your intuition and spreadsheets.

Then: Name it to claim it.

Once you have hard data work backwards from those numbers with reasonable efforts on your part.

Example: 

Goal: Double Net income next year

Needs: Steady growth for the next 12 months (at a 10%+ increase in profits)

Action you will take: Offer a higher-value program to double Net income

How to do that: Ask your 20% what they need! Create a higher value program that fits their needs. Offer community building to grow your audience for the new offer. Launch the high value program. Fill it. Boom —income doubled.

Want some support on that? That's what I do...and I'm here.

4 :: Commit to taking the daily actions necessary to heal your money wounds.

Do you have a scarcity mentality around money? 

Does another person's success (or wealth) trigger sadness or jealousy?

Do you think you have to choose your spiritual practice or wealth?

Do you avoid money and money-related tasks? Are you avoiding facing your fears or limiting beliefs about money?

Do you spend time on tasks you could outsource just to pinch pennies?

Do your sessions frequently go over time?

Do your clients pay you promptly or are you chasing down your money?

Are you spending time working on the weekends just to "catch up"?

Do you want someone else to take care of "the money" stuff so you can only focus on service / creating  / sharing your gifts?

Are you waiting around for all that money you fervently manifested to show up in your bank account?

Ok, it's time to get personal with the energy leaks in your business. If you answered yes to more than 1 of the questions above, it's time to heal those money wounds. 

Look at the questions you answered "yes" to: what are the themes? Time? Money? Worthiness?

Keep digging for the deeper reason behind the behavior. Only then can you find the root of the issue and begin to heal the wound from the source. You may need to adjust your relationship to time first. Once you begin to value your time, you see the costs and gains associated with overwhelm, with DIYing, and with poor boundaries. Stay committed to doing the 20% tasks that will leverage your business success during the first part of your week. Remain attentive to the time-sucking tasks in your business. Avoid time wasters during your most productive hours.

Then, adjust your relationship to money. Money is merely an indication that your purpose, your mindset, your intentions and your work / career / business are in alignment. If your business isn't on the abundance upswing, it's time for a change. That may mean doing things outside of your comfort zone like blogging every week, posting in Facebook groups, reaching out to past clients directly, or delivering a live workshop / class to promote your one-on-one services.

If you've reached a plateau (run out of time or other resources), you may need to get experimental and add income diversification to your business. If you're in the service industry, you can begin selling products. If you're already selling products, you may want to sell leveraged services. Check out the other examples below.

Example: sharing products that support the work you do, joining an affiliate program, shifting into group programs, adding virtual products or programs. 

Ah, worthiness. If you've reached the core of the energy leaks in your business and find it's related to your own self-concept, fears, or feelings of worthiness, join the club. You are in good company —generations of successful women entrepreneurs struggled with the same issues. Call it your birthright (and your gift to future generations) to face those fears, to own your worth and to heal those wounds.

Making the commitment is how you begin to heal the energy leaks in your business and shift the money energy back into alignment.

5 :: Face your fears

Do you have a host of fears around money?

Do you fear power —and the power money provides?

Do you fear failure or risk-tasking?

Does balancing your checkbook give you anxiety?

Do you dread bill-paying time?

Do you worry about never having enough?

Do you avoid money To'Do's (money management, investment, income planning) because you don't want to be seen as a "money-motivated" person?

Do you have a fear of success —or of the person you would be if you were wealthy / successful / well-known?

Then tackle those fears and limiting beliefs one by one. If you fear power (or the person you would turn into if you were powerful) write a code of ethics for your future powerful self. If you avoid bills and the monthly tracking of your spending, use a budgeting tool to keep you happy and on track all month. If you fear being seen as "money-motivated" and that's keeping you from planning, managing or investing your money, get a coach to support you in working through those self-sabotaging behaviors.

Some of these fears and fear-based actions were picked up from your formative years. Until you face those fears and challenge the beliefs, they'll continue to haunt you (and sabotage your business success).

6 :: Give Back

As a recovering Southern Baptist, I learned at an early age that tithing is what one does. 10% right off the top, given back to God. I watched my parents faithfully tithe 10% even when we had very little. I remember being worried about how we were going to buy groceries and wondering why God needed our money. (Especially since Heaven's gates were made of pearl and the streets were paved in gold. But I digress.)

I also remember envelopes of cash in our mailbox just when we needed it most.

I didn't tithe for a long time because I moved away from a religious community at 15. Instead of tithing to a religious organization, I now practice the dana of generosity and give 10% of my income back to my community. I prefer to give to people in my immediate community rather than organizations —and I give to those who need nourishment and to those who've nourished me spiritually. I would never tell you what to do with your money, but I'll share my personal belief: abundance is already our birthright. When we practice generosity, we recognize this universal principle of abundance. Money is merely one aspect of the abundance we already embody. Tithing is a practice of recognizing that abundance and giving it back in a way that honors your own spiritual practice.

Did I miss anything? Share your best energy-balancing tips in the comments below! xo,

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This post is part of the Brave Blogging project, hosted by the delightful folks over at Makeness Media. Read more brave blogs by searching #braveblogging on all social channels.