Class 2: Publishing Content

The Full Question: Can you say more about how platforms like Medium or Substack might work to access new people? I am aware of them mainly as platforms where people might be able to be paid for their writing, which I’m also not averse to. However, I also know that they have mechanisms for promoting things to other people on the platform, which might be useful.If it’s acceptable to republish material also published on my own website (and sent to my own newsletter), what additional things do I need to consider there to reach new people?
Answer: It’s a great question. I am not a Medium maven, but most of these platforms recommend content to their readers. Like with most algorithms, if you are seen, you get seen more.I don’t think there’s a platform out there where you can just publish content and expect to get noticed. It’s always a combination of networking and something else- content, events. If your content is hosted on Medium, it’s shareable more easily outside Medium, and you can use networking to help make it more visible among an audience.

The Full Question: I have also had my own side business where I’ve taught and practiced yoga, Pilates, Ayurveda, Meditation and somatic experiencing for 27 years. I created and have 3 online courses with various pricing points to help various people and classes etc. I specialize in functional movement, biomechanics, posture, strength, sleep, energy, burnout… etc. I have gotten people off of sleeping and anti anxiety pills often… I’m clean on who I like working with and what I’m good at… On a personal level, I have been doing a ton of healing forever but very much so around the narcissistic abuse I have encountered from my family, friends and colleagues with whom I have leg go of… my health has improved significantly. However, because I was gaslit so much… my self doubt and needs do come up where I can feel unseen and unheard and not valued… (This came up in the meditation this week)I’d like to make a better living doing what I love around people with whom want and need my help and where my expertise is valued.1. I know I need more than one stream of income. I have been in a networking group for 3.5 years. Even though I have made some money from them and most need my services, most of the 35 people in there really don’t understand me or my work. I’m left feeling anxious and sad many times after meetings or 121s. Many don’t do what they say they’ll do: introduce me to people or refer… even if I have for them. Some connections have been nice but they’re very few and far between. I am making a bit of money from them right now and feel afraid to let it go until I find another networking group or other streams of referrals… I’ve looked at other groups but none have felt right. I love connecting… but sometimes with health and wellness… I find that so many people thing Google will give them the answer when it doesn’t… I don’t want to have to fight for my value or to be heard and seen… That really makes me feel terrible. So… ***what are my networking options? How do I find “my people” as clients and for referrals? I don’t want to fight anymore about who I am or what I’m about. Do I just ignore the people in my group who really make me feel like a leper?

2. Creating content really overwhelms me. I’m taking a step back right now because I feel I want to be more compelling… and unsure where to start with this? I love social media and all that… just wish it didn’t take so much time and wasn’t $500/month from others… Is there a way you can speak to this? I hear I need to create 3-5 posts per week to be efficient? Plus, many biz coaches online seem to think they’re health and wellness coaches as well… but in my world, you cannot mindset your way out of bad health or stress… and either… I’m not communicating my value well enough… or to the wrong people? I’d like to get better at this and unsure where to turn…

I hope this is clear and thank you.
Answer: Thank you for sharing all of that, I appreciate it- definitely helpful. I don’t know enough about your business to be sure, but I’m going to guess, from the way you’ve been describing it, that you’ve been really focused on selling the modalities. I’m guessing that you don’t have a super clear picture of who you’re trying to reach, and what you want to help them with.

With what you described above, I wouldn’t know who to refer to you, or who you could help, not really. I could make guesses, but I wouldn’t know if my guesses were correct.

Even something as clear as “People who are exhausted, and don’t want to be on sleep or anti-anxiety aids any more.” could be a niche/market for you.

I know you can help a lot of different people with the skills and experience you carry. Try focusing in on a particular audience, and asking for referrals for that, and see what happens. I bet it’s not the so-called “value” that people don’t know how to communicate, I bet it’s that they just don’t know who to send to you.

I could be wrong, but that’s my guess. If I’m right, focusing on choosing/identifying your audience, in a client-focused way, is going to be what I would suggest for you.

The Full Question: Like when I post on Medium, my webpage and email is in my Medium intro. But should it be there as the last line of each post as well?
Answer: It just has to be there. If it’s there, it’s there! But, sometimes people write articles, or create memes or images, and they don’t point back at their own information at all, so people don’t know how to find them.

The Full Question: Problem is: my profile still talks about the business that this one grew out of: Neighbors On Purpose.https://www.linkedin.com/in/briana-barrett-squirrel-a712a411

I could change the profile to be about my current business, but i seem pretty attached to the old profile and content.

It’s pretty well-written, but it’s not going to get me the clients I aim for now. How to put the old content to good use?

I still dream of having Neighbors On Purpose (the old business) as an art project. See, the biz i do now caters to the guys who refused to participate in Neighbors on Purpose — who were too jaded abou the world to join in.

They have money and need, but no faith in humanity anymore… but they LOVED TIME WITH ME!

I figure: if I can help the guys who don’t even really want community, for money, I can afford to offer (eventually, maybe) FREE support to neighborhood community-builders everywhere (my materials, their neighborhoods.)

I don’t know whether to repost blog posts to LinkedIn without changing my profile, or to start a new profile, or what. Any ideas?
Answer: If you’ve moved on, it’s okay to move on. Not everything from the past can be explicitly and directly used in the new context. Without looking closer, my best guess would be to just change your profile rather than create a new one, and move into the future.

The Full Question: You gave Mercy, Strength, Certainty, Safety, Appreciation, Forgiveness, Truth. You directed us to also check out this list of Divine qualities:
http://www.sufism.org/society/asma/.It has a “404 Page Not Found” message.
** Can you give us another place to go to see more Divine qualities?**
Answer: Oh dear! That’s terrible. If you search for “Sufi Names of God” or “List of Sufi Divine qualities” you’ll find lists. Some of them will be very Islamic, but hey, there you go. What I need to do is just create our own page of them.

The Full Question: An interesting thing these past weeks is occurring in my life: as a volunteer I am connected to a cooperation that creates a local self supporting community. And while I should put all my effort and time into my Addictiona and Trauma Recovering Programma, I find that my enthusiasm and inspiritation goes 80% towards the local community. Which rationally does not makes sense, but feels like a soul-inspired or devine intuition. How would you approach that Mark?
Answer: It’s a great question. I find that these kinds of impulses need to be listened to, but looked at closely. There can be a Divine impulse in there, but there can also be patterns and reactivity.I made this video about overgiving in volunteer situations. Take a look and see if it resonates:
Unsustainable Volunteer Commitments that drain your business.In terms of making a choice, it’s not an easy answer. In some ways, it’s simple: use your brain to understand the options, use your heart and your body to see where you’re guided. That’s great and perfect and enough.

And, what I’ve found is that over time spiritual practice, healing, awareness has helped to clean and refine my sense of guidance. Because, as I said above, sometimes our guidance is affected by our emotions, and our childhood patterns, among other things.

The Full Question: I am relatively good at it but feel I should be doing more, maybe in a better way. But it would be a financial stretch for me.
Answer: It’s impossible to answer that question without understand more about your business and assessing what it truly needs. If you have determined absolutely that the biggest issue that needs to be solved is effective social media, then you may be right.However, if you think there may be multiple factors going on, not just social media, and maybe not even just marketing, then it may be good to make sure you’re working with someone who can help you properly assess your business and develop it holistically.

The Full Question: I’m not sure why as i feel like im better than I ever have been at my work (I do hypnotherapy, regressions and intuitive/Akashic records readings). It’s intense, deep work. I often do a lot of one-time readings but I would rather work with clients for a series of sessions as this is most effective for their long-term change. The trick is, for many people, a fear of change may be what stops them from committing and signing up! I’m not quite sure what to do… My prices are not as high as some but are higher than others. I feel like I must be « doing something wrong » . I try to explain the process to them after an initial session and detail it on my website (maybe too much). Are people getting overwhelmed? They are getting stuck somewhere but I’m not sure where.
Answer: I love what you’re asking here. It’s not Marketing to Strangers, but it’s absolutely a great question to be asking.I’m thinking there are a number of factors going on. First off, it sounds like you may need to package your offer more effectively. Here’s some thinking about it, that is roughly in line with what you’ve said above:
Why and how to make longer offers.

But, what’s more, I think you could use some tweaks to your sales process. Giving an actual session, and then trying to extend it into something more messes with people in strange ways. It’s better to start out with clear expectations, so they know what to expect.

Set client expectations so you don’t lose them

There may well be more that your business is needing, but definitely some learning and shifts around sales, setting expectations sounds like it might be needed. Does this resonate?

The Full Question: Content writing copy for the website, or the idea I have for a blog, or jump right into making short videos (which btw I have been wanting to do for years), or…..How to create the time to know what is the absolute first step!
Answer: It’s an interesting question, simply because it assumes that there is an absolute first step! I think it’s important to jump in and start.What makes it difficult to choose is that, as you probably know, the business functions best when all the elements are in place. But you can’t do them all at once. So there’s a surrender to the fact that the business won’t run as well until that happens. And, it takes 2-4 years to develop a business fully, in fact sometimes longer.In general I would say get at least some interim clarity on what audience you are trying to reach, and then make a super simple, inexpensive or free website. And then create content, as rough strokes, but there’s a lot of nuance to this that’s hard to answer in this format.

This might help, although not exactly your question:
Four fundamentals before the fancy stuff.

Hopefully that helps!