The Thought Rambles of a Performance Coach for Multi-Hyphenate Artists, Athletes, and Powerhouses.
The Thought Rambles of a
Performance Coach for Multi-Hyphenate Artists, Athletes, and Powerhouses.
So, here is something weird I want to do, so, I’m doing it. I started compiling my thought rambles into one blog on here as a way to kinda just let you in on the insights I have as they tend to help people in ways I’m not aware of at the time of saying them.
I know it’s not conventional, but, I’m not conventional. And your business isn’t conventional. So it makes sense in my head.
So below are some thoughts I compiled and never published here. And, coming up will be a monthly digest of them, published monthly, instead of a big hodgepodge of thoughts.
Until then, enjoy. <3
xoxo Steph
This morning on my walk I had a thought that entered my mind that I find a lot of my clients get "stuck" behind when trying to grow or move forward but they don't seem to be gaining any forward momentum. Their business doesn't grow, their mindset doesn't expand, their bank accounts stay in the same range year after year.
"where are you holding onto as your identity that is keeping you searching in the past when you're trying to build a future?"
So many times people hold onto an image of themselves from years ago, decades ago, when they are no longer that person.
You need to let go of that identity to move forward to where you want to see yourself be(come).
I'm having a great conversation with one of my coaching clients who we're currently working on selling $10,000 packages.
We're talking about the ideas and feelings of "not good enough", of thoughts of if it feels easy it can't be premium priced, and of over complicating your business just to feel productive.
This is why I love coaching, actual coaching in the traditional sense. It's magical.
If I wasn't a coach I would just be helping with the external parts of selling premium priced services, sales psychology, behavioral psychology, the process framework. But unconsciously entrepreneurs self sabotage all of that working for them all of the time.
But as a coach, I get to help people find THEIR unconscious mind blocks and narratives they're running. That's why I don't tend to do blanket "money mindset" because what resonates with one person doesn't unlock "the thing" for everyone.
Everyone is running different stories. Some are similar as common ones- "rich people are awful" - but being able to find THE ONE that the entrepreneur isn't even aware of is running the show is ✨life changing✨.
One reframe and helping them navigate to the root of the thought and they're able to bring it into their awareness. One reframe and this client had a breakthrough.
That's why I love being a 🔮mindset wizard🔮
I'm always reminded what awesome shit my clients end up doing when I'm seeing other people's marketing.
(not shitting on other people, more a "wow I do help people more than I realize AND hit wildly different business goals in a very different way" moment).
Like seeing how instead of helping people book 50+ weddings a year, I actually help them book less but make more because they provide a high-end experience instead of a commodity product.
Or when I see someone say how they're helping their clients book $7k elopements and my clients are over here booking 5-figure elopements.
Or when someone says their client had a $7-$9k month but my clients have $20k weeks.
Or they help their clients build these crazy sales funnels, and ads, to make 6-figures but I help my clients make 6-figures (and beyond) in the most simple way.
I really am leaning into the difference of perspective I offer and how it helps my right fit clients and that's pretty great.
I'm also so quiet about their results generally because for me, they are their wins and not mine. And I feel weird sometimes going on these spaces to talk about the new wins my clients message me about basically daily.
Idk. Moral of the story is it's a nice reminder to myself that offering a different way of looking at business is what I'm meant to be doing for others.
New Alchemize Your Weird drop! (Which pairs with this week's 5MIN MONEY Micro Sales lessons!! HOW COOL.)
Episode 30- WHEN IS IT TIME TO RAISE YOUR PRICES FOR YOUR SERVICE?
Today's episode is all about an ever-burning question ''when is it time to raise my prices for my service?'' and the 4 definitive signs to look for to raise your prices.
I feel I took a totally against-the-grain approach as I've moved my way through business in the 18 years I've been in business.
For anybody who is asking ''when is the right time for me to raise my prices for my service'', you probably get a plethora of different answers or advice which maybe puts you in confusion. Because you're like, ''well, how do I know?''
So I think that the industry standard messaging of raising your prices or charging your worth is not how I've done it throughout these years to successfully raise prices without getting a lot of resistance or a lot of backlash or anything like that.
Unpopular opinion- 99% of the time you're having a client or potential client get upset, it's something that is preventable by you.
It's your responsibility to walk your clients and leads through your process in a non overwhelming way.
It's your responsibility to set up your processes and working with you in a way that isn't confusing for them.
It's your responsibility to communicate with them, which does not mean being available 24/7. It means informing them and setting boundaries.
It's your responsibility to not get defensive and respond in assumptions making things turn into "a thing" when they are just asking questions or uncomfortable.
When people give their money to other people, we have mechanisms in our brains to feel really weird about it.
Your clients are humans who typically don't work in the industry you work in so it's your job to make their experience as easy and pleasant as possible.
Almost every time I see someone sharing screen shots in groups or making posts of angry clients it's almost always preventable by the business owner.
But no one wants to hear that.
I was having a really great conversation yesterday with another neurodivergent creative entrepreneur about marketing, choosing a marketing strategy that fits your energy and magic, and how I think most marketing advice is not best suited for us.
We were also talking about things to look out for when it comes to marketing yourself and being marketed to.
How intent with the words chosen make or break the content.
Is it helpful, placing you as an empowered authority on your own journey?
Or is it placing you as a victim to a big, bad, ambiguous cause and sliding in as the only one who can save you from it?
When I help creatives, especially us weirdo creatives who think vastly different than the mainstream ideas, and who need to truly find the strategy that fits THEM- I approach it almost backwards from how it's typically taught.
Figure out what you need for sustainability before you start looking at the big goals- if you're not marketing to your own energy then you'll never reach the goal.
Figure out how to put your magic in your messaging and let go of manipulation tactics.
Us weirdos are not the mainstream or status quo energies. We are the unique thinkers, the sensitive ones, the ones who our whole lives have been shut down in order to conform.
You can't conform in your marketing or your people meant for you won't connect to you.
Let your magic sparkle.
So, it's community over competition- but only when it's making you money, instead.
It's community over competition publicly so you can secretively kick out, block, and exclude others who have differing thoughts, instead.
It's no gate keeping- as long as you're benefiting and can secretly gatekeep an industry and control others, instead
It's community over competition- but kick people out of the community who speaks out about the harm your processes are doing and want to offer insight, instead.
It's a community as long as it's your sales funnel, instead.
It's saying a lot of really stand up things publicly to create the image needed to make money and behind the scenes being snaky, instead.
It's collaboration as long as the collaboration will give you more people to buy your products, instead.
It's women supporting women but privately trying to intimidate them into quitting because their genius is "taking your money" by people hiring them for help, instead.
It's literally convincing a whole industry you're the one to be trusted, the leader who placed themselves on their own pedestal, the person to follow and if anyone has any other thoughts than that then they can go fuck off, instead.
Just got off a really great one-off momentum session helping a creative understand her energy better, finding ways to help her over her blocks, and helping her understand how badass she really is.
It's so funny, when I truly connect with clients my intuition takes over and I can feel them and see things around them that can't be seen on the screen.
And my cheeks get all red from the energy flow and connection happening that I actually get really hot.
I kept saying things and she'd be like "are you in my house right now" or I said something weirdly specific she was thinking bc i got the same vision in my mind lol
I really love coaching and connecting to others helping them activate forward movement where they feel stuck and get them moving towards the INEVITABLE great things they have in store for them.
I just really love it.
My biz goal was never to "make 6-figures" a year when I started. Which is why the path I made that (accidentally) got me there looked wildly different than anyone else.
I only focused on 3 things and focused on doing them as the best I possibly could, and none of those things were related to income, having a perfect business, or knowing my why .
Then making multiple-6 a year, that was never the goal. So the path I forged to get there (also accidentally) with a single offer and business, looked wildly different than what I was told I should do.
Then crafting my 5-figure minimum bookings was also never the goal. The opportunity happened and I had built the necessary base for it to happen.
I never set out for high-end bookings, I focused on 3 other steps instead. So my path there is also totally different from the industry.
No prints, no assistants, no products, practically no social media, no video add-on, no entire weekend of events coverage, no associates, no IPS, no gifs, no slideshows, none of that.
I'm so stoked to help activate people on their own path by sharing my experiences and how they can do it their way to hopefully validate their internal nudge of change to "finding a better way" for them.
Coming up inside 5MIN MONEY™ is a huge, months long series called "6-Figure, Simplified" going over my exact steps, perception shifts, and what you don't need to focus on any longer- all in 5(ish) easy minutes.
You can join this now for v little.
Coming up towards the end of 2023 my group coaching program will be opening its doors again, High-End Alchemy, with an updated outline to ignite your flame that will light your OWN WAY to high-end uncommon experiences that command high-end pricing.
SO STOKED TO ACTIVATE & IGNITE FROM MY OWN PATH
There's nothing wrong with you if what you've tried from the advice you get/ learn doesn't seem to be working for you.
I've generally thought that the way most people do things is the wrong way for me to do things because it doesn't work for me.
When getting business advice often I could see an easier, shorter pathway. My brain just doesn't understand taking 7 steps if I could do it in 3.
Or building complex systems when a complex system isn't necessary to get the result.
I see things from start to finish while trying and failing my way to a "better way".
When I stopped taking the status quo advice and leaned into what my brain naturally thinks, it works better for me.
- I don't offer fixed packages to my clients, I create offers for the person instead.
- I don't use social media for marketing, I focus on long lasting content and connection instead. Quietly.
- I don't price myself like a commodity or "my worth", I price my services based on the experience and results I offer.
- I have my workflows do most of the heavy lifting on automatic so I can be hands on in the areas that matter, instead.
- it never made sense to me to create brands in the traditional way people teach so I have a whole other way of doing it that ensures standing out.
I'm here for change makers, status quo haters, and people who want another way to do things. And I like that.
We got back into Iceland 2 nights ago from a US visit and I was tearing up on the plane landing. I just appreciate living on this little island so much.
The peace it affords me means more to me than anything else.
There was so much of my life (see: 98% of it this far) where I was hustling to survive completely stuck in survivor mode. My nervous system constantly over loaded.
I always need to remind myself that I survived. I'm here. I can breathe now.
This is why I really truly care about helping my clients ease out of the survivor mode and into peace, fulfillment, and clearing a path they *choose* to take.
Being able to find your peace is priceless.
IDK who needs to hear this right now but:
- you don't need to completely rebrand yourself from the ground up in order to get higher paying bookings.
- you don't need to hire a copywriter in order to be able to connect with your aligned clients in your messaging.
- you don't need to purchase a new website design in order to book higher paying clients.
- you don't need to know what your "ideal clients name" is, how much money they make, or what kind of lattes they drink to know who your aligned clients are.
- you don't need to hustle in your marketing actions in order to get leads.
- you don't need to market on social to get high end clients. You also don't need to go to networking events like trade shows.
- you don't need to rely on planners or people "at the top" of the chain in order to get clients. Put yourself at the top of the chain.
- you don't need to be perfect (in fact you shouldn't be) for high end bookings.
- you don't need to act like someone you aren't for high end bookings.
- you cannot break through the noise and stand out to attract high end clients if you're trying to brand yourself to fit into a very narrow aesthetic that looks like, sounds like, feels like, and offers the same as everyone else in that very narrow aesthetic.
What you can do, instead, is:
refine your experience to be one of a kind.
dig deeper to really uncover who you want to be working with and who is the best match for your unique qualities.
tweak and refine your copy to speak to your type of people.
tweak your website for better clarity and an easier journey when your people are on your site.
market to AND with your unique energy that feels exciting, sustainable, and moves your aligned fit leads into taking action through the Confidence Gap.
So many people think you need to do all of these things before you can succeed or even before you can START TO MOVE.
But I'm here to tell you that you don't and you can just move towards what you want without climbing a very steep mountain before you've even taken your first step.
/tips hat.
This is for whoever needs to hear this- it's ok to have your version of success being you taking on less but better clients, having the income to fund what you really want (if it's not being a bajillionaire), and having a business you're proud of.
A business that connects to your clients and allows you to be your magical self in it.
To desire high end pricing BECAUSE it's offering a high end experience, vs just a hollow grab for more.
I'm getting so tired of seeing the bombardment of messaging from people promising to help you make riches by doing basically nothing or to make your business unrepresentative of you because that's who will pay you more and what you should obviously prioritize.
My clients prioritize helping others, having a brand that's aligned to them, and connection to the world around them.
And they often feel guilty because their vision of success is not necessarily making the absolute most they can possibly produce.
It's ok to want what you want without feeling pressured into something else.
I don't know who needs to hear this, but, what other people in your industry charge for their services has no impact on you.
Your brain might want to resist that statement with "no, someone charging $120 for photography is the reason no one will pay my prices because they say they're too high".
Or "no these people undercutting the industry ruins the industry and people expect to pay those cheap prices".
Or "no they're the reason I'm afraid to raise my prices because then I'll get no bookings."
Or however else your brain wants to resist that statement.
What other people charge doesn't impact you unless you choose to let it.
Someone charging $99, $150, $250 is not the reason people are telling you "no" or going with the "cheaper option".
And giving those people the power, and believing they affect you and your sales, is only keeping you from doing the work to make them not matter to you or your clients.
And, what other people charge in their business, even if you think they are undercharging and can't profit or pay their CODB is none of your business.
You can't possibly know what someone else's CODB is, what their financials are, or what other support they have. And if they aren't profiting, it's not your business.
And, telling people to raise their prices so YOU can make more money thinking that if they raise their prices you'll stop "losing people" to them isn't how it works. That's not why your leads are going with other people.
And telling people to raise their prices into multiple thousands is also not your business. There is nothing more harmful for business owners to raise their prices before they can offer an equal or higher value for that pricing.
People need to start low to gain experience in their skills, build the back end of their business, and have the room to make mistakes. A $150 mistake is much different than a $3000 mistake.
Your prices always need to be a reflection of the value and skills you're offering, not a reflection of ego.
