Change the Game Podcast: online business | persona

Does your voice matter in an age where there’s so much hate and anger being expressed in the world? A lot of people have recently expressed to me the pointlessness they feel about speaking up or fear of either being misunderstood or attacked for their opinions. In this week’s episode I speak about the concept of ‘us versus them’; that while you view the world from that perspective there’ll always be fear. The invitation today is to see beyond that duality. And the place to start to to first turn within and ask; what am I fearful about? So many people are struggling to communicate their fears in a healthy way at the moment. That’s why it’s essential for those connected to their heart and soul to model what it looks like to communicate with compassion. That starts a whole new dialogue. The key to becoming a resonant speaker is to become a deep listener @samnolansmithClick To Tweet Most people aren’t great at listening. They’re too busy trying to insert their opinion into the conversation to listen to others. When you stop and listen deeply you can see and hear the soul of the person. If you choose to see the highest and best in others, you’ll draw it out of them @samnolansmithClick To Tweet You can remind them through your behaviour of something deeper in themselves. So the invitation is to engage with people on this level. The more of us that present that alternative way of connecting and engaging, the more other people will pay attention. It’s time for all women to stand up and be visible. If you’re angry and frustrated, own and understand that emotion, and know that while you stay in it, you stay in a vibration that connects you to people who upset you. When you face that emotion you transmute it and stand empowered as the warrior Goddess that you are. You don’t get caught in the fray. It your time to lead them into the light. To support you in your journey, come over and be a part of the Change the Game Tribe. Here’s what you can expect in the Tribe in the coming months: Feature Fridays – come on over and see how it works and then apply here if you’d like to be featured Trade Day – that’s happening next in early February 2017 The Visibility Challenge – this runs year round + we run live rounds throughout the year. Come on over to the Tribe to find out when that’s happening next Plus I host masterclasses and live clearing sessions periodically in the Tribe. This is the last episode of this season of Change the Game. In the next season we’ll be focused on community. If you have specific requests for guests, or if you’d like to nominate yourself, or if you’ve a book you’d like us to review, please send through your suggestions to Clare.

Did you know that there is an actual science to story telling? In today’s podcast episode I chat with the lovely Marsha Shandur, a storytelling coach, about storytelling, and how to use it more effectively in your business. It’s a fascinating conversation where we discuss how storytelling is used in all forms of communication in business – from writing a blog post to networking. Marsha tells us why story telling is so important as a business owner; it makes an instant emotional connection with your audience and creates a sense of belonging. I love when she speaks about using visual images and emotions to speak to a different part of our brain than the part that merely processes facts and figures. We also chat about the two biggest mistakes people make when telling stories: People don’t include enough of the right detail – it’s so important that you tell people what your experience looked like and how it made you feel. As soon as you start commentating on the story, you lose that connection with your audience. People throw in spoilers – have you ever figured out the plot twist right at the start of a movie? It ruins the rest of the movie right? Your audience needs to lead in a way that they can put things together themselves. You lose connection with your audience if you start commentating on your story.Click To Tweet Marsha also shares some tips for great storytelling including: Telling your audience how you feel by describing your internal dialogue and describing your emotions, rather than merely giving a narrative. Physically describing what was happening in your body as you were feeling that emotion. Creating a framework for your story, similar to a movie, where there are lots of action scenes. The body holds memories that the brain can’t.Click To Tweet In this conversation, we also touch on visibility and how it relates to story telling. Marsha explains that the rules of story telling apply to any story, no matter how small, and it’s often those stories that have the biggest impact. Sharing your story doesn’t mean you have to tell your audience everything, you simply need to show your lens on life in a way that people feel connected to you. You only need to be vulnerable about how you felt, in order to draw your audience in. Once you’re connected to your story, you can connect with your audience.Click To Tweet And if you think first impressions are important, we chat about how last impressions can be even more so! SHOW NOTES Marsha Shandur is a Storytelling Coach. As the organiser, host of, and story coach for True Stories Told Live Toronto, Toronto’s biggest storytelling show, she has coached over 100 storytellers, drawing their personal stories out and taking them from confused mess to compelling piece. She herself has told stories at everywhere from The Toronto Storytelling Festival to a live audience of 3,000 people at Portland’s World Domination Summit – where she is now the conference’s official Story Coach. As the founder of YesYesMarsha.com, she shows coaches, creatives and entrepreneurs how to make an INSTANT emotional connection with their dream clients, through both storytelling and effective (and FUN!) networking. She has been featured on Forbes, the BBC, Mashable and The Muse. Discover how to Be Unforgettable, transform the way you think about storytelling and networking – and see Marsha in a variety of wigs – at YesYesMarsha.com Here’s the secret webpage we chat about with all the relevant information from today’s chat! If you’d like to chat more about today’s episode, and how you can use story telling in your business, pop over to the Change the Game tribe. We’d love to connect with you and share our stories!

What does brunch have to do with getting your message out there? In this podcast episode I chat about being light-hearted and having fun with your message, as well as using current trends to link your message to contemporary culture. There are so many ways you can keep your message current and it’s so useful to not only be aware of the dialogue, but to become part of it (for everyone doing The Visibility Challenge at the moment, it’s also a great strategy for increasing your visibility). Carrying on from last week’s conversation with Elle Lynn and Brook McCarthy, I also dive deeper into the way, as a business owner in today’s world, you can amplify your message by linking a new idea to an old story – one that people are already telling. And there’s a little aside at the end for you if you’re working in the personal or spiritual development realm. It’s particularly important if you’ve been telling yourself that the world’s not ready to hear your message. Listen to the episode to find out more. SHOW NOTES Come on over to our Change the Game tribe – we’d love you to brainstorm with us some more ideas of how we can identify trends and use them to amplify our message. If becoming more visible in your business and life is something you’re keen to work on in 2017, The Age of Visibility opens again for registration next week. You can find out more here.

Earlier in the year, I reviewed Michael Gerber’s book “The E-Myth Revisited”. This week on the Change the Game podcast I’m reviewing another book; Seth Godin’s “All Marketers Tell Stories” and I have company! I’m joined by Elle Lynn and Brook McCarthy. We have a great conversation about the way people perceive and engage with the world, why trying to change someone’s mind isn’t a good idea, the necessity to tell believable stories, how you compete in a lying world, and the value of authenticity. Elle and Brook very generously share their wisdom and really bring the best of the book to light in this conversation. It’ll benefit you whether you’re starting out in business, if you feel icky about marketing or if you’re fascinated with the intersection between story telling and marketing. SHOW NOTES Interested to know more about Elle and Brook? Here’s the low down! Elle is the Creative Director of JuJu Creative Hub, a full-service branding, marketing and design agency for the soul-fuelled entrepreneur. Elle helps women who strive to create positive change through their own business, get specific about who they’re in business to serve, celebrate their unique mix of qualities and skills, find their voice and get their message heard. You can find out more about Elle on her website, Instagram or Facebook. Brook is a digital trainer, writer and business coach with a background in public relations. She’s been working in the online arena since early 2005 and embarked on the wild ride of entrepreneurship in early 2008. Since 2012, she’s concentrated on empowering business owners in the health and creative sectors with face-to-face courses around the country, online one-to-one business coaching, and her flagship online digital marketing program, Hustle & Heart. At her blog, Brook shares what she knows about compelling, creative communication and digital marketing, as well as finding meaning and satisfaction from our work. Ultimately, all her work is about encouraging others to be bold and brave as well as more empathetic and compassionate in how we communicate. You can find out more about Brook on her website, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest,  Facebook. Want to connect with Elle and Brook and talk more about this episode? Come on over to the Change the Game Tribe. Save Save Save

This week it’s all about mini-experiments. Mini-experiments invite you to chunk things down to something that’s do-able right now. Rather than getting lost and overwhelmed and feeling very serious about the big task you’ve set for yourself, approaching something as a mini-experiment helps you to try something out, have fun and just see what arises out of the process. Getting started: Try a mini-mini experiment – pick something to explore for an hour Try a mini-project – for 3-15 hours of joy or focus Try a larger experiments – anywhere from 3 months to a year in length In this episode, Nikki and I speak about the benefits of couching different business strategies as experiments: they help you to keep consistent with your community by making promises you can keep they dial down your guilt. We also explore some examples of how you might apply this in your business; One hour experiment – run a live streaming event, attend a networking event 3-15 hour experiment – experiment with an offer, play with the idea of producing a podcast Which experiments could you do around being seen and heard? @samnolansmithClick To Tweet Share the fun with us! Which mini project or experiment have you decided to take on? Let us know over at the Change the Game Tribe. SHOW NOTES Nikki Smith Dream Life, Best Fit Role with Nikki Smith Nikki Smith on Facebook Some of the beautiful women mentioned in this episode: Karly Nimmo – founder of Radcasters Podcasting School Lisa Corduff – Keeping Food Real Kathleen Bloom – intuitive and meditation coach If you’re interested in the first part of my conversation with Nikki, you can find that here

This week I speak with Nikki Smith about playing to your strengths. This really is the key to working in flow and being effortlessly productive. Here are some of the things I ask Nikki in the episode; What is strengths work? We all have 5 or 6 key unique strengths – they energise us and we find natural flow with them. What does it mean to play to our strengths? It means we know them inside out and we focus on them in our work week. How do we identify them? Journaling Asking, what tasks energise you and looking for the things that make you feel strong rather than make you feel weak. Strengths Finder 2.0 This is a data driven report with 3 pages of text that identifies your strengths for you. We also talk about… Dialling up strengths or being aware of overplaying strengths and the common myths about strengths which are; We think we need to do everything We think we grow most in our area of weakness We think our personality changes over time. HOW TO WORK TO YOUR STRENGTHS Focus on your strengths – dial them up Partner up with someone who has the strength that you need Outsource or mitigate (by reducing its importance. Start domestically if it feels safer than mitigating tasks in your business) Letting go of the story that every has equal value Eliminate There’s so much useful information in this episode. I hope you find it helpful in both your business and life! Part 2 is coming next week when we talk about mini-experiments. SHOW NOTES Come on over to the CTG Tribe to participate in the next Trade Day and to let us know what your strengths are, or about your own journey to uncovering your strengths. Plus here are Nikki’s key details! Pick up her Free Strengths Bundle   Check out her website  Connect with her on Facebook And check out her Podcast here And some of the wonderful women Nikki mentions in the episode are: Trudy Simmons, Purpose and Productivity Coach Lauren and Bjorn, Ceramica Black Phoebe Hook, Soulful Warrior

This week’s episode of the Change the Game podcast is a conversation with Denise Duffield-Thomas about money. It’s so juicy! Here’s some of the things we cover: the ways in which money has been co-opted over the centuries by men and used as a means of disrespecting women forging new territory in terms of our relationship to money. Denise speaks about how we’re learning to relate to money in a new way and that it’s our job to change things for future generations and to teach our kids this new relationship. one of the biggest money blocks for spiritual and ethical people – this idea that you can either help people or make money but you can’t do both. Denise invites you to lead on this. To be ok with marrying the two – making money and helping people You have to lead the way, being comfortable with making money AND helping people Click To Tweet creating new stories. The old story looked like this; either you’re a broke, moral, spiritual healer, or you’re a rich bitch. There was nothing in between. Your job is to change that and to give yourself permission to be rich and whatever else you wish – humble, generous, friendly, benevolent. the fact that money doesn’t change you, rather it amplifies the way you already are. the very important fact that money doesn’t actually solve money blocks! This is huge I think. So often people tell themselves, ‘When I’m rich I won’t have any money problems’. In fact, without doing the money block clearing, you’ll have the same problems that you have when you don’t have any money. The focus needs to be the other way; clear the money blocks in order for money to flow and problems to dissolve. We speak about the relationship between visibility blocks and money blocks, particularly in relation to our fears that if we’re rich we’ll be seen as ….. [feel free to insert whatever your story might be – greedy, selfish, too much]. And we talk about how those fears then affect the way we allow money in or sabotage ourselves by not asking for the sale, not putting your services or products on the website, not making it easy for people to pay you, or not letting people pay you at all. Denise also suggests a couple of exercises: to consider, If you had more money now, what would you have to sacrifice? to look in the mirror and say to yourself, ‘This is what a wealthy woman looks like’. What does it bring up? She also poses the question; If money wasn’t an object, how would you live? We then talk about the Lucky B Money Bootcamp which is a lifetime community of women who are in this conversation around money and stepping up as leaders. Right now Denise is offering a live round of the Bootcamp in recognition of the fact that so many people are going through a transition at the moment. People are experiencing stagnation or things aren’t working that worked before. So the Bootcamp is being offered as an amazing way to prepare for 2017. SHOW NOTES The Lucky Bitch Money Bootcamp Questions about the Bootcamp? Check out my review of the Bootcamp here and right here are a whole bunch of FAQs people have been asking in deciding whether the course is for them. Lucky B Bootcamp Bonuses I’m a proud affiliate, partnering with Denise in this offering of the live round of the Bootcamp. That means that when you purchase the Bootcamp through me, you also get: the benefit of an accountability group for the duration of the live round. During that time I’ll be helping you work through the materials and stay on track so you can really make the most of your investment The Age of Visibility – my 7 week program to help you clear your visibility blocks and create a whole new blueprint for doing business Your Visibility Story Masterclass – a transformational masterclass to help you see and clear the foundations of what’s keeping you playing a smaller game than you’d like.

If you’ve been paying attention to world events this year you might have wondered the same thing I have, ‘What the hell is going on?’ I recently heard someone describe the US presidential elections as, ‘It’s like America is having a nervous breakdown.’ The UK already had its own version of a nervous breakdown earlier in the year of course, Nice was attacked, random shootings became even more common place in the US (particularly of unarmed African Americans), and in Australia Pauline Hanson made a Lazarus-like return to parliament. And really, that’s only the highlight reel. I don’t know about you but I personally feel slightly traumatised by the world events of 2016. So what’s really happening? That’s what this week’s podcast episode is all about. I speak about how to move forward in a healthy, sustainable, nurturing way in your business and in life. I also speak to what is coming. To the future we’re co-creating. I speak about the fact that in the new world there’s no space for victimhood. The feminine must claim her place and the masculine must re-evaluate and re-understand himself. In light of that, if you’ve one take away from today’s episode, let it be this; stop with the victimhood, the naval gazing and the questioning. Now’s the time to embody a new form of power. Now’s the time to stand rightfully in your space as the divine sovereign being that you are. Stop waiting for someone else to lead. Now’s the time to walk the path of empowerment @samnolansmithClick To Tweet I hope you find the episode thought provoking and action provoking and I’d love to chat with you about it over in the Change the Game Tribe so come on over and join us!

Visibility is about more than putting yourself out there. It’s about facing deep seated fears about being judged, being unsafe, being hurt, being vulnerable. Anyone who tells you to just do it, isn’t helping you. Before you can ‘just do it’ you need to clear your fears and your blocks. You need to appreciate that you’re a complex being who’s received a lot of messages over the years about why it’s a good idea not to be visible. And you need to clear those fears systematically. In a way that supports the growth of your business (rather than creating more chaos and confusion). Here are the six steps that are pivotal to sharing more of yourself and your message. My hope is that in sharing them, I’ll see more of you in the world! Step 1: Know your value and your message Firstly you must be willing to see and own your own value. This sounds easy but actually it’s incredibly challenging for a lot of people. To begin, you’ve got to release all the old stories you’re carrying around about women needing to be quiet and compliant. About women’s opinions not being as valuable as men’s. These could be stories you’re conscious of or you could be completely unaware that they’re there. That’s the inner work. Until you’ve cleared them, your value will remain elusive. It’ll seem unreachable because there’s just too much miasma in the way. Once you’ve cleared those fears, self inquiry is essential. And so is other inquiry – seeking input from others. When you combine those in a way that’s grounded in a place of trusting yourself, then knowing your value becomes easy. Mainly because you’re finally willing to own it. Step 2: Articulate your value and your message It’s one thing to know your value, it’s another thing to speak it clearly. To do that you need to do two things: (i) practice saying it and (ii) practice saying it to the right people. At this stage your job is to uncover and clear out all the ways you’ve been stopping yourself from sharing your ideas with the world. You have to unravel all of those old, unhealthy habits of editing yourself, questioning and judging yourself, looking to please, and worrying about getting it wrong or causing conflict. Step 3: Share it In this step you’re going to practice sharing your value and your message and to do that, you need to feel safe. That feeling of safety comes from within. It requires you to explore both your fears about being visible in public and your fears about being visible in your intimate relationships. Start by investigating and clearing your fears in both these areas, then you’ll be ready to step into the world with confidence. Once you’ve worked your way through steps 1, 2 and 3, then it’s time to move to building a blueprint for your business that puts community right in the heart of your work. Step 4: Build your community You might already have a list, or you might just be starting out. What you want to focus on here is not list building but community building. To do that you must turn the focus away from you toward raising other people up. If you have a desire to empower people in the world, this is a critical step for you. You focus needs to be squarely on how you can serve and support others. Then, and this is crucial, you need to be willing to be both seen, and to actually be, the leader of that group. (That’s where all the work you did in steps 1, 2 and 3 become critical. To lead with ease, you have to have your own stuff well and truly sorted.) Step 5: Create connection – build a network around you Years ago I was taught that wealth isn’t how much money you have, it’s how quickly you can regain it after it’s lost. What the teacher was pointing to was the value of connection. Think about Oprah as an example. How quickly do you think she’d recover if she lost everything? How easy do you think it would be for her to call on people to help her and create new opportunities for herself? That’s what this step is about – building your network. You do that by reaching out to others to connect with them but also by connecting other people to one another. You strengthen your community by creating connections between people in that community. You consciously provide opportunities for them to connect. When you do that you shift from a whole lot of individual relationships between you and people within your community, to having a web of connections which you can draw from and rely on. Step 6: Engagement Here’s where you focus on two things; encouraging participating and releasing control. Your idea, your message, word about your business can’t spread if you don’t freely release it like a bird to spread in lots of different ways. Sometimes though, people need encouragement or support or guidance as to how best to take action. That’s what this step is all about. Providing the impetus and then allowing it to unfold as it will. Sometimes that action will be purchasing something or telling other people about your product or idea or making a small but significant change. Whatever it is, participation is the key that drives engagement @samnolansmithClick To Tweet So they’re the six steps. Yes, it takes time to implement them all. Yes, it takes patience and persistence and understanding of where you are, particularly as you move into steps 4, 5 and 6. But then again, when have you ever known anything worthwhile to require anything less? You can spend the next few years doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that, adopting a patchwork approach and hoping that eventually something coherent is created from it. Or you can systematically work your way through the steps and build something meaningful. If you want to speed up that process, you can join us in The Age of Visibility. It’s a 7 week course where we work through the six steps in detail and we end by bringing it all together in your own visibility plan for moving forward with ease and clarity. The Age of Visibility provides you with all the infrastructure you need to move from doubting and dissatisfied to confident and leading. It cuts years off the time it would take to do the work on your own and saves you from being that person who’s always wondering what everyone else is doing that they’re not to grow their business.  The cart closes in less than 24 hours, so be sure to secure your place today.

This episode of the Change the Game podcast continues to dive deep into this season’s theme – the visibility of women in business and life. I’ve recently been reflecting on the fact that for some people, business and financial success won’t be sufficient motivators to get you to step out of your comfort zones. You can know rationally that you need to increase your visibility in order for your business to thrive, but deep down, running a thriving business isn’t the real clincher for you. But something is. Perhaps it’s eradicating poverty or homelessness. Perhaps it’s sharing the message of awakening. Perhaps it’s giving voice to the socially or economically oppressed. Yep, sometimes the thing that’ll get you out of your visibility slump is a deep connection to the idea or message you’re here to share with the world. And sometimes it’s maintaining a conscious connection to the people you’re here to serve. When I say the people you’re here to serve, I don’t necessarily just mean your customers or clients. If your business helps mums live a happier life for example, then your business isn’t just serving mums, it’s also serving children, it’s serving families, and in helping build and maintain family cohesion, it’s serving communities as a whole. So sometimes what it takes to overcome your visibility blocks and fears is your connection to that thing that’s much, much bigger than yourself. And within that thing – the thing that’s much, much bigger than yourself – is your message; the idea you’re here to share with the world. Once you’ve found your idea, it’s imperative that you shift from focusing on what’s not there – the lack of resources, rights, knowledge, awareness – to focusing on what you do have. (You’ll hear me do this very thing in this week’s episode.) Then you’re ready to explore what’s possible. Here’s how my own process went: 1. I started with what was right in front of me. That’s the Change the Game Tribe. We currently have just a little over 300 people in the Change the Game Tribe and it’s filled with extraordinary women who collectively can absolutely change the world. 2. I thought about the broader group that I’m serving – women as a gender – and I thought about what we have at our disposal. Here’s just two things we’ve got: (i) we’re dominating the healing and wellbeing professions. I don’t think there can be any doubt that women are currently doing an extraordinary job at healing the world. (ii) we’re also the communicators. Particularly in the online space. We’re the bloggers. What that means is that we have massive power on the internet (and as soon as we can nail this visibility thing, our presence will be just as apparent as the fewer numbers of men who are blogging and connecting and communicating in those same spaces). Incidentally, and this is something I don’t mention in the episode, we’re also the mothers which means we have an enormous level of influence over the next generation. There’s something world changing about these things @samnolansmithClick To Tweet After reflecting on everything we do have, I did some quick calculations. Here’s what I discovered: if you could start by getting just 300 people to take action on something/anything that could have a positive impact on the world and then those 300 people could each get another 300 people to take action, that would result in 90,000 people taking action now if you could take that out just one more level and get those people to each impact 300 more people, then suddenly the number jumps exponentially and your idea/your message is reaching 27 million people. 27 million! Think something like this… So… networks of 300 – that’s how we change the world. It’s how you share your message and it’s how you realise massive impact in your business.  Full disclosure; I don’t know for sure that this approach will work. What I am sure about is that it will breakdown. But think about it, even if it breaks down the majority of the time, you might just have a shot at influencing 1 million people. Networks of 300 is the model that informs my new program The Age of Visibility. It takes you through 6 steps to growing your visibility effortlessly and it puts networks of 300 right at the heart of it. I’d love to support you in creating a massive impact with your business. The Age of Visibility is open for just one more week, you can join us here. SHOW NOTES RAFIKI MWEMA – this is the charity I mention in this week’s episode. Normally I donate a percentage of the profits from each of my programs to One Girl. For the Age of Visibility I’ve decided to divide the profits between One Girl and Rafiki Mwema. So in joining the course, just know that you’ll be supporting girls in Africa to be educated and in Kenya to heal and live their full potential. Woohoo! THANKYOU. They’ve just launched their baby range. Go check it out mummas of Australia! Daniel Flynn’s book Chapter One – after listening to him speak I immediately went out and bought the book. This is one truly inspiring story. PROBLOGGER – If you’re inspired by my Problogger experience you can have the experience virtually with an online ticket. This year’s event was full of incredible value – so many inspiring speakers but more than that, jam packed with useful how to tips. I walked away with a list of 35 action items, all really practical and all bound to move things forward in my business. I really am so grateful to the Problogger team for this event. PS if you decide to purchase a virtual ticket and you use this link I may receive a commission so thank you for that!

Today’s episode is all about a message we’re receiving in society which we don’t often speak about explicitly; it’s a message around women’s voices – that they’re not pleasing to the ear, that they’re not acceptable. In the article I shared last week, the author found that An estimated 70 percent of the most popular podcasts are hosted by men, and the male/female disparity overall is probably even greater. In researching it a bit, it seems that there are 3 big factors. Confidence, social media backlash, and constant complaints about women’s voices. Constant complaints about women’s voices. Yep, you read that right. One of the things contributing to the male/female disparity in podcasting is the constant complaining about women’s voices. Complaints about women’s voices aren’t confined to the podcasting arena either. They cross all spectrums, including and especially, the political sphere. (Check out the video below for more on that!) It’s something I dive into in detail in today’s episode. Annoying, nagging, shrill, hectoring. These are the complaints made about our voices. Because men’s voices set the standard in society, our voices are experienced as ‘other’ and difference is deemed to be unacceptable. If you think this isn’t affecting your confidence to stand and up and be heard in society, think again. It affects all of us at both conscious and unconscious levels. When you have a business that’s wrapped around a personal brand you have to find your voice in order to connect with people. Living in a world where there’s a general dislike of women’s voices tell me one thing very clearly; that it’s time for more women to speak up. If our voices aren’t yet perceived as the norm, they will be when we all start speaking. We are 51% of the population after all. There’s a bunch of clearing work at the end of this week’s episode to support you in raising your own voice loud and clear. I’d love to hear how you find it when you’re listened in. And if you’d like to dive deeper on this topic, The Age of Visibility is now open! It’s my new online course. You can check it out here.

Today’s episode talks about the fact that the challenges women face around visibility – around being seen and heard in public – are not just personal issues. They’re also political. They’re systemic and they reach into all aspects of society. In today’s episode we deep dive into a couple of the hurdles we all face as women in contemporary culture: the recording of the official history of the world and women’s absence from that (and what that means for women’s willingness to speak up and express themselves), and the damage that has been done at the heart of women’s power and the impact that has on feeling safe and participating in the world. I take you through a thorough clearing exercise so that we’re all able to speak more cleanly and share the essence of ourselves. Listen in to the episode to participate in the exercise and find yourself connecting with others in a more genuine way, as an embodied expression of what you’re here to share with the world. I’d love to hear how you find this week’s episode. Come on over to the Change the Game Tribe and let me know!

I love this week’s podcast episode. It’s a beautiful conversation with Kate Erlensbusch and is a perfect example of what it is to do business differently. It’s a deep dive into soulful marketing. For me, it’s how I want to do business for the rest of my life – not with marketing in one camp, and matters of the soul in another. I want them fully integrated and holistic in my business and in my life. In my conversation with Kate we cover so my topics, from: Why story telling is powerful and how we can use it in our copy to connect with people The key to standing out (hint; it’s to be intimate with your own stories) Our inner blocks that lead us to disregard our own stories The importance of watching the way other people tell stories about you Writing your About page for your website Finding your own voice in amongst the layers of stories about how you’ve been told you ‘should’ sound Connecting with your voice through: (i) Journalling and (ii) Listening to yourself in conversation Finding your original voice and then deciding how to shape and edit it for the audience Asking yourself; am I expressing myself for the sake of it or am I being of service? and How on earth you write a sales page that’s soulful.  We also re-invent one of the classic sales pages formulas of PASTOR: Problem | Amplify the problem | Story | Testimonial | Offer | Response. It’s a great episode and I’d love to hear how you find it. Let me know in the comments below or come on over to the Change the Game Tribe facebook group and let me know there! SHOW NOTES Kate’s website, Word Love Word Love facebook page  

This week on the Change the Game podcast I’m talking with Belinda Noakes about spiritual bypass. I know it’s not necessarily a term that people are throwing around in everyday conversion so here’s a bit of a run down of what it is and why it matters… What is spiritual bypass? Going around something that feels yucky instead of going through it. There are many ways to go around the ‘yucky stuff’. One of the traps that’s prevalent is using spiritual practices or healing modalities that focus on getting you to bliss as a way of avoiding feeling the tough stuff or looking at your shadow stuff. Whilst spiritual practices are important to getting your out of unconsciousness, the problem arises when they become a crutch to avoid doing the ‘real work’. What happens to your life when you’re on spiritual bypass? You forget to attend to the day to day practical matters of your life. For example, you can put yourself into deep financial debt because you refuse to look at your financial situation, or you can end up having a partner leave you when you had no idea there was a problem in the first place (because you simply refused to look at your relationship clearly). One of the tricks with the bypassing is that you get to the point where you can’t be bothered dealing with the small details of your life because it pales into insignificance in comparison to the mystical revelations. Significant parts of new age philosophy supports this approach. The thinking is; ‘if I keep chasing the mystical revelations then the universe will provide for me’. Too many of us are waiting for the Universe to take care of our problems so we can remain passively childlike. Business owners on spiritual bypass will often end up doing lots and lots of inner work without seeing any real results in their business (because they’re not willing to take the corresponding outer work that’s necessary to build a successful business). Resistance to marketing is just one example of how this can show up. Signs you’re on spiritual bypass Signs that you might be on spiritual bypass include: not stopping and really listening to what your body, heart and soul are communicating consuming spiritual experiences (preferably in exotic locations!) while you don’t have the practical day to day realities of your life sorted experiencing a disconnect between worlds – the world of ‘spiritual’ experiences and ‘real life’. How to shift out of spiritual bypass Start with these questions; How can I create a business doing what I love to do and what I’m good at and how can I do all of the ‘business stuff’ without selling out? Without making my business an expression of my spiritual ego? What voice is driving this creative impulse? What voice is driving this creative impulse? @belindanoakesClick To Tweet Becoming attuned to the voice of the heart and soul v the voice of mind, ego and consciousness (understood as a form of mind energy) will help you to see any tendencies towards spiritual bypass. (Noting that the more you’re resisting any aspect of your human experience the higher up in your body your awareness will be sitting.) Why we go on spiritual bypass in the first place Because we don’t feel safe in this material realm. Because planet Earth doesn’t feel like a safe place to exist. At the root of it is fear, not being safe, the feeling that I can’t just be because on some level, I’m in danger. Here are some of the other highlights of my conversation with Belinda… ‘Life is the work. We’re here to be human and to get better at being human.’ @belindanoakesClick To Tweet ‘If I stop spending so much time going after trying to fix whatever I think is wrong with me then life serves me up the experiences I need to flush up and resolve the stuff that I’m supposed to deal with today.’ Spiritual perfectionism and spiritual arrogance (judging other people for not ‘doing the work’. The sense of spiritual hierarchy – assessing where everyone is on it vis-a-vis their spiritual awareness and consciousness.) Denial of being human. Of just being messy, real, flawed, having an ego, choosing to stay safe and make poor choices. Problems the spiritual set have with money. Your money stuff can’t get sorted when you’re in a constant state of denial about anything connected with the spiritual realm. Often you can do more and more money work without actually shifting anything. Until you realise that rejection of the material/physical realm is the core the problem. The difference between desire and delight. SHOW NOTES Belinda Noakes, The Courage Mentor Belinda Noakes on Instagram and on Facebook The Free your Feminine Power Courses

Today’s episode relates to an experience that many small business owners are familiar with… If you went into business with the dream of pursuing lifestyle and financial freedom and found yourself working longer hours and getting paid less than when you worked for someone else, and you’re now wondering how on earth you’re ever going to realise that dream you had, then this episode is for you. In today’s episode I’m reviewing Michael Gerber’s book ‘The E-Myth Revisited’. In the book, Gerber talks about the technician, the manager and the entrepreneur within each business owner. He states that failure in small business comes from operating your business as a technician or manager and not stepping into the role of the entrepreneur. Gerber takes us through what a business looks like when it’s run by a technician, what it looks like when it’s run by a manager, and what it looks like when it’s run by an entrepreneur. He outlines many of the pitfalls of a technician or manager-run business and builds an argument for the benefits of entrepreneurially-run businesses. According to Gerber, the key element of running an entrepreneurially-led business is that you know what it (the business) will look like when it’s done, you know how it will act, and you’re acting that way now. As such, the entrepreneur focuses more on the systems he or she uses sell their products and services rather than on the product itself. To shift into an entrepreneurial mindset, Gerber recommends that you pretend your business is the prototype for 5,000 businesses just like it. This is similar to a question I invited you to consider in episode 31: Setting up your business to scale. Your aim is to build a business where people with the lowest level of skill possible can run it without you – then it’s easily replicable and you can ensure consistency time and time again for your customer (even while you’re lying on the beach in Hawaii). How consistent is your client’s experience when she engages with your business?Click To Tweet The question that I considered and which you might be asking yourself in reflecting on Gerber’s approach is; do I have to become robotic to make this happen? Does it have to all be about numbers and systems in order to grow my business? This becomes particularly important to you when you’re interested in a more feminine way of doing business. Here are my own thoughts; the feminine way of doing business – accessing intuition, connecting with your heart, prioritising relationship, stepping into a place of allowing – is something that operates most effectively when it’s supported. When the systems are in place, when you’ve got things ticking along, then you have the space and time to be creative and to listen to your intuition. When you don’t have those systems in place, your business runs more chaotically. You don’t have the time to dedicate to being creative or you don’t have the capacity to listen to your intuition because you’re too tired to hear it. So yes, systems matter. Just not at the expense of everything else. SHOW NOTES AND LATEST NEWS BUSINESS STRATEGY AND MENTORING SESSIONS If you’re ready to shift from technician or manager to entrepreneur, I’ve just released a new service; Business Strategy and Mentoring Sessions! The sessions are for service based business owners who want to work on either: (j) building your audience, your community, your tribe – actually finding your customers, communicating with them in a way that resonates with them, and maintaining a strong and thriving community and/or (ii) making money from your services – selling your services or selling more of them so your business can become more profitable and financially sustainable. Check them out here. FINDING YOUR IDEAL CLIENTS If you’re unsure about who your customer or client is – or where they are – check out CTG04: Making it easier to connect with your ideal customer FREE YOUR FEMININE POWER The Free your Feminine Power Courses are re-opening soon! If you’re particularly interested in freeing up your time, you can check out Free your Time right here CHANGE THE GAME TRIBE Come on over and join us there!

Have you been avoiding what you know is the path you’re ready to walk down? Are you feeling too afraid to take any genuine and committed steps? This week we’re talking about how to accept your path. In particular, how to surrender. This century is bringing forth a new teaching around the strength and wisdom in choosing the path of surrender. When you’ve grown up in a community that idolises resistance, then surrender can look like weakness. It looks like you’ve got no backbone. But this is not surrender. Surrender is a deep internal opening into the true self. It’s allowing yourself to be seen as you truly are. And as you work through the veils of illusion – of what you thought to be true and right about yourself and the world – it allows you to peer deeply into the reality of the universe. Surrender is a deep opening to the true self @samnolansmithClick To Tweet On a practical front, in order to surrender to my own path I did a huge amount of inner clearing. This is important. It’s not to be underestimated. The depth of resistance in the human form is immense. So, if you’re still feeling resistance to your path, then it’s important to consider the possibility that there’s more inner work to do. It’s also important to work in a sophisticated way with your mind. All of the stories you might have around your path being too unconventional or against the grain are actually stories the mind creates to keep you safe and small. To stop you from becoming a target. However we weren’t born to live small and eventually we become dissatisfied with the world when we don’t listen to the soul and the expansive agenda it has for us. A key thing to remember is that you don’t have to wait until you feel no fear or doubt. One of the best ways to overcome fear and doubt is to take action. When we take action we gain confidence. So as you take the path of surrender, you’re not waiting until you feel no fear. You’re acknowledging your fear and falling into the deeper truth of it. You’re going into the heart of your fear and uncovering what’s truly there. When you do, you free yourself of it. THEN you can take action. SHOW NOTES Come on over to the Change the Game Tribe and let us know about your own experience of surrender Free your Feminine Power courses are an exploration into what it is to run a business from a place of allowing and surrender. You can check them out here.

Do you feel like you’ve won the career lottery? Like you’ve got that perfect mix of deep fulfilment, fantastic lifestyle, and great money coming in to support the whole thing to continue effortlessly? Today I’m talking with Chris Guillebeau about how to achieve just that by finding the work you were born to do. In the episode we talk about; working in seasons as a means of having it all at different times why choosing the one thing too early in your career and life is a mistake how investing in yourself first, can really pay off in your career the new, new economy – things that worked online in the past that aren’t working now how to navigate through the changes in the online space and how to ground yourself by coming back to the question; what is your message? What it is you have to share and what needs do people have that you could potentially serve? knowing thyself and building your business around what matters to you finding that happy balance in your career between joy, and flow and money setting up a side hustle as an easy transition into entrepreneurship or just as an act of empowerment, and the importance of learning entrepreneurial skills the importance of working conditions as part and parcel of winning the career lottery and finally, Chris leaves us this advice; it’s ok to make mistakes, that’s what people who are successful do – they make a lot of mistakes along the way – it gives them knowledge to make better decisions later. Ready to win the career lottery? Find out how in this chat with Chris GuillebeauClick To Tweet SHOW NOTES Check out Chris’s book; Born for This Here’s where you’ll find the rest of Chris’s work In the conversation we discuss an article of Chris’s called; The New, New Economy: How the World of Online Publishing is Changing, and Why you Should Care. If you’re working in the online space, it’s an article that’s well worth your time to check it out. Following the release of the article, Chris published a follow up that you can check out here; To Succeed in the new New, New Economy, Don’t Mail It In.

In this episode I address this concern, expressed recently in the Change the Game Tribe facebook group; ‘I watch in groups and I see what people are having issues with and need help with, so we’ve created services to help people with those issues but there seems to be a barrier between people knowing they have issues and need help and actually purchasing the service – in all but a small number of clients, they continue to struggle through themselves or go to someone else that doesn’t have all the experience/expertise needed to correct the issues.’ Helena Things to consider:  People who know, love and trust you are the people who choose to work with you. So here are questions to ask yourself; Do they know me? Have I presented myself as the person who can solve their problem? Think of this as a simple equation which is; problem + you = solution. Do they have a reason to like or love you? Are you giving them a reason to love you? For that to happen, they need to know you. You want to be sharing about yourself, you want to be sharing generously, and helping people to understand your value. Here’s the next question to ask yourself; What are you doing to add the value? Are enough people aware of your offering? Have you promoted it enough? Are you telling them about it regularly enough? Have you told them enough times for them to decide to pay for it? Or is there a problem with your sales page? Is the copy confusing or the sales page not structured well? (Ideally you’ll get one or more of your ideal customers to give you feedback on your copy.) Does it give them a sense of the value they’ll be getting for their investment? Or is the price wrong? There’s a bunch of different things that could be going on here: your prices aren’t aligned with where you and your business are at – the energy has to be clean for money to flow to you effortlessly scarcity issues around being willing to receive for your services is the price a poor match for your brand and your ideal customers (either too cheap or too expensive). You want to test pricing with your community. Perhaps your ideal customers are thinking that it’s the wrong time for them; that it’s not a priority for them right now. This comes down to your copy and your ability to influence in an ethical way. NB: when you’re trying to do that, be sure to work in your natural style. Are you passionate, motivational, influential, calming, lighthearted? That’s the energy that will sell your products and services. You don’t have to become someone you’re not. Learn the 6 things that might be inhibiting your sales @samnolansmithClick To Tweet SHOW NOTES Like the podcast and want to leave a review? Thank you! You can do that here. Helena Denley: WP Website Coach WP Website Coach facebook page

Sometimes we can become deeply confused about what products or services to offer next. Our head goes round and round ‘Should I do this?’ or ‘Maybe this is better?’ Here’s my tip for this week; save yourself some time. Ask your people. Talk to them about what they need from you. It’s such basic advice, I know, and yet so few people remember to do it. This is essential if you’re going to play a leadership role in your community. As a leader you walk a balancing act between (i) holding a vision and taking people towards it, and (ii) understanding where your community is at right now and serving them there. Always remember to ask your community. They will guide you to what they need @samnolansmithClick To Tweet When you open the door to receiving input from your community, they’ll start telling you about their pain points, about what matters to them, about what they’re willing to pay for. Whatever the size of your community, the same principles apply. So the actions to take are simple; show up in the places where they might be showing up, build genuine connections with people and then ask them. And remember as you’re building the new relationships, to honour the people who are already showing up. You don’t build a community by ignoring the people who are already showing up for you. Also a note on building genuine relationships; one strategy that people recommend to build your community is to show up in fb groups and be helpful in that space and eventually, to become known in that space. Here’s how not to do that; show up once a week and promote your work and never engage with the people outside of that. That strategy keeps you busy with few results. In truth, it would be a miracle if you got a client even one client working that way. So, narrow down. Choose a few groups where you feel you can make a genuine contribution. Where you’re ethically aligned with the group. Where you care about what the founder cares about. And then actually participate in the way you’d participate in person. SHOW NOTES To be a part of a community that you’re ethically and energetically aligned with, come on over to the Change the Game Tribe. We’d love to develop a genuine relationship with you there!

Today’s episode is a call to action to you. To remember who you are. Here’s an excerpt. We are part of a revolution. We are changing things for women in society. And sometimes we can get so caught up in our own businesses… that we forget to take a step back and notice what is happening that’s really quite extraordinary. And this is what I see; I see women choosing differently… I see women saying, ‘I choose something else for myself, I choose something else for my daughters, I choose something else for all females who come onto the planet in the future. And I choose it by modelling something different…’ I see now that we’re in a position to create influence beyond our own spheres. It’s time to recognise that we are a force to be reckoned with. That we are a genuine alternative to women who are in corporate jobs that they hate or any kind of job that they hate. We can show them the way… We show them through our lived experience… The last thing I want to talk about is something that is really important, and that’s to remember who you are. There are a lot of women in the online space with incredible skills and experience… And yet we move into the online space and because it’s a new space and we don’t know it and we’re back to being beginners, we end up losing our confidence and end up thinking we don’t have anything valuable to offer and forgetting who we are. So reflect back on your own life. Recognise that you’ve succeeded in a lot of areas in your life. What have the great successes been in your life? In those moments when you’re feeling like ‘I don’t know if I’m ever going to get there in this business. Consider; what worked for me before? What worked for me in the past? What’s different about what I’m doing now? To listen in to the rest, click the podcast player above. SHOW NOTES You don’t have to build your business alone. Come on over and join the Change the Game Tribe. Check out the Women in Freedom Initiative here. Love the podcast? Fantastic! I’d love it if you would rate it and leave a review.