by Nicola Humber
I remember the very last day of my hypnotherapy training. After a year-long course covering everything we needed to be amazing hypnotherapists and coaches, on the last morning there was short session on how to actually run your own business.
It went something like this: 1) Get a website. 2) Tell everyone about what you do.
And that was pretty much it.
It’s been the same with any other therapeutic and magical trainings I’ve done since.
There’s usually little or no teaching about how to actually get paid for what you’re being trained to offer. This results in lots and lots of incredibly skilled practitioners, most of whom are unable to make a sustainable, let alone abundant, income from their businesses.
And this pisses me off. Because the world needs more entrepreneurial witches.
But most of the information out there about how to build a successful business is distinctly mundane and surface-level.
The ubiquitous ‘7 Steps to Your First Million Dollars’ webinars and ebooks that you see online just don’t work for us witches. We need something, well, more magical.
So, after 7-plus years of experimenting in my own business, in this essay I’m sharing three key shifts that will help you to get abundantly well paid for what you do.
1. F**k the funnel. Let’s spiral.
You may have heard of the term ‘funnel’ when it comes to sales and marketing. It’s meant to describe the client journey from initially becoming aware of you, to active interest and eventually purchasing your product or service.
Now I have no problem at all with sales and marketing. These are the processes that enable us to reach the people we’re here to help. But I do have a problem with the word ‘funnel’.
When I think of a sales and marketing funnel, my heart sinks. My mind conjours up an image of a giant sausage machine, with potential clients falling into the top and going through this horrible, mechanical process.
I know, I know! A funnel doesn’t have to be like that, but my mind just won’t have it.
There is nothing sexy or compelling about the idea of a funnel. Our subconscious minds respond to metaphors and symbols. And this is why it’s crucial that the ideas we use in our businesses are resonant.
That’s why I prefer to think of a marketing spiral.
For me, the nature of the spiral more fully describes both the process my potential clients experience from the time they first become aware of me, and also the process I undertake when I come into contact with some kind of coach or practitioner I might want to work with as a client.
The spiral symbolises the journey of life, a gradual unfolding, an expansion and deepening of consciousness.
Now, isn’t that a darn sight more sexy than a funnel?
The way I envision it, when someone first becomes aware of my work, they step onto a spiral with me.
From whichever point they access the spiral, maybe through downloading one of my free resources, reading one of my books, or joining my Facebook group, we begin to co-create an experience. And that collaborative experience is unique for each person who steps onto the spiral.
The spiral also represents the way that at times, our potential clients may move further away from us.
There may be points where they feel resistance to what we’re sharing and they retreat.
But the spiral continues and if they don’t decide to step off completely, they will circle around again, always from a slightly different perspective.
The spiral is a journey deeper. It’s organic. And very much magical.
So, would it unlock something within you if you imagined your marketing in terms of a spiral, rather than a funnel? Are they any other words that trigger you when it comes to business? What other, more resonant, words could you choose?
2. Unbound Pricing
Pricing can be a source of continual confusion and conflict for entrepreneurial witches. Often it’s tricksy to define the precise nature of what we do and that means it can be challenging to put a price on our services.
There’s a temptation to crowdsource prices, to compare with others or think purely in terms of hourly rates. But all of this ignores the unique quality of what you offer. It negates your magic.
The truth is that the very essence of who you are and what you do in the world is transformational.
So when you’re choosing your prices (and yes, it’s YOU who gets to choose your prices), you need to consider the unique transformation you offer to your clients.
You also need to choose prices that allow you to be well-rewarded for what you do. (Note: It’s okay to be well-rewarded for what you do).
If the prices you charge mean that you’re going to be working all the hours just to get by, then you’re likely to be unconsciously repelling clients.
Because, one, you’ll be exhausted, two, you’ll be resentful at some level and three, you’ll be continually anxious about money. All of this adds up to a big pile of heavy resistance.
So, when it comes to pricing, unbind yourself from others’ expectations and limiting stories about what you should or shouldn’t charge.
Dissolve the old enchantments you have around money and your ability to receive it. Be aware of the energetic nature of pricing.
Consider the transformation you offer your clients. And allow yourself to take into account what you actually want to receive.
If you want more help around setting your prices, click here to download my free unbound pricing guide.
3. Focus on what keeps YOU up at night
One of the standard pieces of marketing advice is to focus on what keeps your ideal clients up at night.
The idea is that once you know what this is, you can share content around it and this will appeal to and attract people who want to work with you.
I get that. It makes sense, doesn’t it?
But as the unashamedly selfish witch I am, I’d much rather share what keeps me up at night.
Whether it’s something I’m worrying about or something that I’m so excited about I can’t sleep, I want to be talking about that.
And this is not entirely selfish, of course.
Because I know that if something is keeping me awake at night, then it’s bound to be on the mind of my potential and existing clients too.
This essay is a case in point. The idea for this article literally came knocking at 2am on a Friday morning when I was tucked up in bed and trying to get back to sleep. I felt an electrical sense of energy in every cell of my body, as the words started coming through in fully formed sentences. I knew that I had to share it.
Compare this to previous times in my business when I would have tried to stick to a rigid process of sharing one blog post per week based on what I thought my ideal clients wanted to hear. Although I created some good, helpful content, there was a dullness about it. Because it wasn’t lighting me up.
This year I made a commitment to share whenever something comes up for me, rather than sticking to a rigid, good-girl, consistent process.
And I trust that whatever I’m sharing will be compelling to my audience. If it’s not, I still get to benefit from the creative process of expressing myself fully.
So, at the very least it’s a win. And more often than not, it’s a win-win, because what I’m sharing resonates deeply with many of the women who read it.
So, what’s keeping you awake at night right now? What would it be like to share freely from that place?
IN CONCLUSION
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About the Author:
Nicola Humber is an Intuitive Coach and Author of Heal Your Inner Good Girl. A Guide to Living an Unbound Life. She helps women in business to access their fullest, most brilliant, UNBOUND selves (and get abundantly well paid for it). Join her free, online community here. Download a free Meeting Your Unbound Self Visualisation here.
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