I think I've found the 'real' secret to marketing: it's about clarifying exactly what we offer and who we really want to attract, NOT just how many dollars we want to earn. In fact, earnings are not what is really satisfying - ask any megamillionaire (I've interviewed many of them).
What is satisfying is helping those you truly care about. And of course, making that into a profitable business.
So, I've been testing my experiences around this "marketing as a spiritual practice". Here's a few ideas, along with an experience from a client today:
1. when you talk about or plan your marketing with an expert - or write it out yourself - you're beginning to manifest your goals. You're 'putting out to the universe' the ideas you have, and by speaking or writing, you're clarifying them so you can sell them. Naturally, getting expert advice just saves you time and money so you reach your goals more quickly with less mistakes - but you already knew that! **
2. meditate, go for a walk, take a shower or do whatever it takes to clear your head of your 'to do' list and just imagine who your perfect clients would be: smart, fun, appreciative, young, old, musicians, teachers, or whatever it is you deeply enjoy in those you help. By clearing your mind and just visualizing this, you're already starting to make it real, gain clarity for your outreach, and sometimes it even happens really quickly.**
3. At the risk of sounding very California airy fairy, I'll tell a secret: I actually say a prayer or light a candle or perform some kind of ritual that has meaning for me after I meet with a new client. Plus I visualize the results I recomend to them coming to pass while I'm writing out their marketing action plan with an intention of accelerating their dreams into action.
Does it work? Well, read John Scott's reaction from "Modern Vocalist" below. His company offers voice coaching and a fascinating technique he calls "Voice Yoga" that significantly improves singing. But he offers more than that: job coaching for singers, a venue to perform, and a sound recording studio. Now THAT is a full package a singer could really benefit from, don't you think?
** Dear Allison,
I just had to tell you what happened after our first marketing meeting. I went home, and met my perfect client. A talented singer songwriter who has an incredible voice, excellent music skills, and is ready to record his first album. And he not only signed up for weekly sessions, but also bought my package of instructional videos. It was a like huge affirmation that I'm on the right track!
Thanks for the amazing coaching!
-John D. Scott
If you wish to contact John, email him at: support@modernvocalist.com
WHAT IS YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH THIS?
I'm alway eager to hear what works for business - knowledge is bliss, after all! Look forward to sharing your comments with my readers.
With sincerity, Allison
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Allison, whether or not everyone thinks of this perspective as "spiritual," I think it's really the key to building a successful business. I was interviewed just this morning on the topic of "Mastering Your First Million" and said something pretty similar when asked what was the my secret of my success. I got into this line of work because I wanted to be of service and help people, and that's what still gets me up in the morning with no boss looking over my shoulder. I've tried working just to make more money, and maybe that works for some folks, but for me it's just not enough motivation. I need to have a higher purpose.
ReplyDeleteYou might enjoy an article I wrote a while back where I described a study of b-school grads. Those who chose their own happiness over money ended up making more money than those who chose making money over happiness. You gotta love that!
Thanks for this succinct reminder of something we know in our hearts is true. Acting in the positive for the highest good almost always yields results, besides the warm fuzzy feeling of doing what's right. In fact, I landed my job simply by picking up the phone to praise the owner of a small publishing company for her excellent product! Who knew that saying something nice to someone would land me a rewarding career?
ReplyDeleteI agree with c.j. although still working on my first million. I can actually see it though which leads me to feeling that I'm on the right track.
ReplyDeleteHello Allison...
ReplyDeleteOk, you asked, so this is not an unsolicited out-of-your-mind commentary.
We've got one more billionaire to be proud of! Hot damn! ...but what is the
cost?... as we are plagued by an epidemic of public theft and plutocracy. We
can have wealth concentrated into the hands of a few or we can have
democracy ...take your pick...
You cannot separate your self from the gross inequalities and rampant greed
that is part of a system that we all are part of. At some point, there is a
radical and dramatic shift where we plunge into wreckage and are completely
transformed...
We are there now.
So here we go... the candle is lit and questions are asked and we whisper
into the void.
Shadows we did not previously notice appear and disappear on the walls...
you get a little nervous and decide to continue your magical work tomorrow
and anyway, it is getting late so off to bed we go .Little did we know, the
buried bodies have come back to life and crawl into bed with us.
Suddenly(!)
There it is. It appears for all who care to look. Upon looking, deeper and
deeper, down the rabbit hole we plunge.
How far are you willing to go?
Do you really want to answer the basic questions that come to mind when we
ask such questions about the fundamental nature of things?
It does not matter how you arrived here. Marketing, money management, monkey
wrenching or meditating... suddenly the lights come on, just before it all
goes dark again.
Better you should flip on the lights (if they still work) and brew up a cup
of Chamomile tea.... and try to calm down.
Perhaps it is better to slam on the breaks and risk smacking your head on
the windshield....
Better not to go into things to deeply or the most fundamental
preconceptions are called into question and an abyss appears.
Most of humanity experiences sheer terror on the edge of the hissing
silence.
Perhaps you are different and are willing to make that journey...
But know this: you will never return to where you are now and everything
will dramatically shift.
The fruits of this type of cultivation will awaken you to infinite
possibilities that co-create within a new model that minimizes competition
and maximizes cooperation inherent in the fundamental symbiosis of all
living things.
The world, as ordinarily perceived by our severely limiting senses, is
frozen into an attending contingency that atomistically provisional and
constructed from linear causality.
The locus is within our contextualized frames and it exists in frames upon
frames, in perpetual incompletion, in limited dimensionality.
Overlapping spheres of each thing, distills and ecologically synthesizes
subjectively into our individual exclusive holographic experiences.
The tree, the bird, the blade of grass, a drop of water, all contain the
cosmos.
Water is a solid, a liquid, a gas. Cloud drops form ice crystals, form rain
drops, fall into water, the concentric rings ripple and overlap and ride the
waves.
Each impact ripples into experience containing elements of the whole.
The perception of this 'whole' (the cosmos) is sudden viscerally experienced
when consciousness is momentarily devoid of contextualized experience.
Newly formed holograms appear.
Newly created fields of experience facilitate our abilities to profoundly
and radically change our world around us.
A fundamental change in our cultivation habits and in our frugality,
enhances and recontexualizes our cosmic ethos.
A involuntary multiplicitous transcendent enchantment forms just past the
edge of our solid footings.
We suddenly can, in essence -'wake up'- a dramatic vista can unfold into a
vast and revelatory viewscape.
The convergence of forms are all pulled, shaped and formed by a strange
gravity that still defies empirical human explanation.
No primordial determinative principals.
No empty temporal corridors.
No eternal any timeless anything.
No objectivity that objectifies.
All the infinite particular things are porous with interdependent
characteristics and the discretionary boundaries exist as co-created
constructs.
Unbounded by ontological formality, phenomena, form and function, can be
perceived through our extrinsic transactions. As the world is viewed
intrinsically through various windows... the glass appears as a solid....yet
we all know (even in the darkness of blind ignorance) glass is a liquid.
Walking on water is not the miricle; it is how we walk on this earth.
Hope you enjoyed the ride...
chill for a minute... think about it and get back to me.
Say hi to Phil for me... c.u.at taiji.
over/
d.
I totally agree, Allison! Marketing is a spiritual practice. I call it the practice of coming out of hiding. As Angeles Arrien says in the Four Fold Way, "Show up. Pay attention to what has heart and meaning. Tell the Truth without blame or judgement. Be open to the outcome." When we are marketing with integrity and passion, it is absolutely an activity of the bodySpirit. Keep on keepin' on!
ReplyDelete