Gay Landeta Archives | Gay Landeta, Brisbane Kinesiology, Life Coach & Business Mentor

Marketing a Wholistic Therapy is Hard!

Posted on March 10, 2020 by Gay Landeta

Marketing a Wholistic Therapy is Hard!

I started my my practice back in 1997 and geez, it was a struggle. marketing a wholistic therapy is hard! Here is a self-confession about those times, I share it because the struggle is all too common amongst alternative health professionals or those who just want to do their heartfelt work. Build it and they will come. I think not for most of us!!!!

If this is resonating what can you do to start getting more clients in your practice? Here are a few things to look at….

1 . Break down what is missing in your practice. Maybe clients, but what else? How is your follow-up strategy? Are you following-up on enquiries and are they converting into clients? And are those clients returning?

It is essential to have a clear process that helps strangers become actively interested in what you offer and then excited to experience it so you don’t lose those precious leads. Then you need to have the next steps in place so once they have experienced what you have to offer they become raving fans about what you do.

The secret in that is using the right language – make sure you stay with what they want and address their needs – NOT what you offer. It is far too easy to talk about the solutions we offer instead of what our clients want. Make sure you stay with that in all your follow-ups.

2. If you have a great follow-up strategy but you are still a bit client lite then think about where your clients come from. How do they hear about you. Do you have the right strategies working for you to bring in new clients? Often I find when a practice is lite on clients it is because there are not enough ‘funnels’ leading into the practice.

The secret here is to make sure you are visible to your clients. How do you stand out amongst the crowd? Language is important here again. But so is how and when you present your offer. Make sure you present what it is you actually do in a way that those clients can understand I see far too many dedicated practitioners marketing a wholistic therapy instead of what they can actually do for a client.

3. And really important, what is your confidence like? This is something that is rarely talked about in terms of building a practice but in fact is a core part of success. Think about it – would you feel more comfortable seeing a practitioner that was able to talk about their work and the results they get with confidence …. or with someone less forthcoming about their work.

False confidence never works. True confidence comes through getting great results – yes. But it also comes from simply being able to talk about what you do in a way that gets people not just educated but wanting to come to see you. Authentically sharing what you do. Authentic Marketing.

Many of us have this idea the marketing is all about manipulation. And it can be. Good marketers can manipulate us into buying anything (just watch the Gruen Project sometime!) But in its best form, it is about educating our perfect clients about how we might fit together. And being clear about that is a huge confidence builder!

Make sure you have some short introductions ready to share with potential clients, together with some great case studies or stories. These will help you follow-up or approach people with confidence. Add to that good marketing materials and a website that you love that reflects you and what you offer and you will feel that confidence blossom.

******* If you are struggling with any of these aspects the work I do might well be the catalyst of your success. I truly do love seeing my clients stretch up into their potential, sometimes through a session to boost confidence or looking at the program that I offer my business students – once I am on your team I am totally committed to your success. If you want to know more get in touch! Love to help you clear out what is holding you back! *******

******** This was written with the intention of helping you to live your best life, I would love to hear your thoughts on this, And if you think someone else would enjoy it please feel free to share it around.*********

Zoom Appointments

Posted on March 6, 2020 by Gay Landeta

Posted in Gay Landeta, Online life coaching program Leave a comment

People ask whether On-Line sessions are as good as in-person consultations. The answer is yes! I have many clients who live all over the country – even overseas – who only access me via Zoom (which is the platform I use instead of Skype or Messenger Video.) And the advantage? You can turn up in your jammies! 🙂
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Here is a quick video on how easy it is to use Zoom…..

Set-up a Zoom session right now – click here!

Nervous System Support: A Simple Tip

Posted on February 28, 2020 by Gay Landeta

Posted in Gay Landeta, Holistic Health, Personal Development Leave a comment

Nervous System Support: A Simple Tip

As I write this I am looking out on the incredible green here in Tenterfield. When I left just after Christmas the land was no longer even gold. It was dead and brown… But despite the fires and drought, the rain we have received over the last few weeks has provided a deep level of renewal and support for the nervous system for all the local inhabitants, from plants to animals and humans.

This reminds me that we all have deep and unknown resources that we can draw on once the circumstances are right. One of the reasons that everything is so green is that the land was in shut down during the stress of the drought. We had some hail storms (providing nutrients) but the plants didn’t seem to be able to draw on that. I gave my veggies special compost and piped in rainwater from my tank – but no matter, nothing was growing – the environment was just too stressful.

What changed was the serious rain that watered the land deeply. I left Tenterfield with our very old fig tree still bare (even of leaves) despite normally being vibrant green and laden with fruit at that time of year. We had put in a special tank for her but even so we thought we had lost her.

nurturing the senses of the nervous system

I returned a few weeks later, after the rains, to a tree laden with leaves and fruit! She was able to use all of the resources, her own and the ground she grows in, once she was no longer stressed by limited water and an unsupportive environment. And as she flourishes so do the local birds and insect life – not to mention us when those figs ripen!

To me, this relates to all of us as living beings. In stress, we shut down to the minimal that life requires. The more stressed we are the more we shut down. The more our nervous system cries out for support. But give us a nurturing environment, we start to bloom – and access more potential than seemed possible.

Being interested in science as well as the living knowledge all around us, I love that this concept is supported by the latest research on the Vagus Nerve and the understanding of how our Para-sympathetic Nervous System works. It somehow seems to validate this experience and beg the question “How can we use this metaphor to reach more of our potential? To live a happier and more connected life?”

So how can we do this? By doing all we can to support the nourishment of our body, mind and spirit from the starting point of our nervous system. By supporting our nervous system in knowing that we are safe and well, we can access the deeper wisdom within. We can access the will power to eat well or move our bodies. Our bodies regain the ability to rest and digest (the role of the Para-Sympathetic Nervous System). We just feel better. And all the other healing therapies we do, such as kinesiology, can go to deeper levels of transformation.

As life becomes crazier we really must create the space to actively support our nervous system instead of leaving it to fend for itself. Mindfulness has experienced a meteoric rise in popularity because taking rest has become such a luxury. We just don’t stop. But if we don’t make space for stopping we will, one day, collapse. And that is seldom pretty.

How to start creating effective mindful moments? Belly breathing from Brain Gym® is a simple way to start. When we are stressed we start shallow breathing. Take a moment to notice how you are breathing right now – what part of your chest is rising. If you are like many people it will be your upper chest, but by breathing more deeply you can start to activate the resting and relaxation processes built into your nervous system.

Try it now….. put your hands on your belly (you might like to lie down). Notice how you are feeling – maybe give yourself a something out of 10. Notice where your breathing is centred and if your hands are being moved by your breath. Take a deep breath in and ‘huff’ it out in short breaths through your mouth … ‘huff, huff, huff, huff..’. as if you are trying to hold a feather in the air with your breath.

Your whole chest will vibrate and your diaphragm will be activated so your next breath in will naturally be deeper and stronger. Imagine you have a balloon in your belly and as you gently and naturally breath in it fills … as you gently and naturally breath out it deflates …. feel the expansion and contraction through your hands on your belly. After a few breaths notice again how you feel. Most people find they are feeling much more grounded and relaxed after this.

Doing this for a few minutes each morning and night or during the day when you need to reset is a great way to teach your body / mind to relax and enjoy the moment. Here is another great article on ways you can support your nervous system and Vagus Nerve. And we all know that the more we are in the present the less the worries of the future and the pain of the past impacts us.

********* if you want to know more about supporting your nervous system or how I can help you Create The Life You Want To Live please do get in touch! ********

Making Friends With The Inner Critic

Posted on February 12, 2020 by Gay Landeta

Posted in Gay Landeta, Personal Development, Relationships & Self Growth Leave a comment

Making Friends With The Inner Critic

Is your head full of “should’s” and “have-to’s”? If so, you are not alone. We all have an Inner Critic hiding inside. A voice that will keep telling us about how things ‘should’ be. It is driven by the part of our brain that is designed to identify what needs to change for our evolution growth, so it is, in fact, trying to help us in its own manner, unhelpful though it may seem.

We often try to shut it up BUT it is a wonderfully healing practice to start a dialogue with this voice instead. If we can think about it like a dysfunctional parent who loves us but is no good at expressing it we can often start to see the nuggets of wisdom it is trying to share. Because (believe it or not) there will always be a nugget of wisdom in there, usually well hidden in the criticism.

For example ….

It might be screaming at you that “You should have gotten that done yesterday, why didn’t you? You are so lazy, what’s wrong with you, everything is now a disaster… blah blah…” The nugget might be: Perhaps you were being a little lazy and just maybe that is because you are avoiding doing something. If you can quietly recognise that and just have a look at what it is that you are avoiding you can quiet that little voice. It is important not to beat yourself up, just realise you have a pattern that needs to be examined and let go if it no longer works.

Or maybe there truly was not enough time. And maybe that is a pattern of not allowing yourself enough time to get things done. Or a pattern of always underestimating the time required. Again do not beat yourself up!!! Again just look at that pattern and realise that you are setting yourself up to fail every time you repeat it. Make a plan to break it.

Or maybe there is a pattern of expectation and perfectionism, again listen, be kind to yourself and start to create new patterns. Lower your expectations, challenge your perfectionism – work on 80% being good enough. (Truth is, your 80% is probably a 98% at least….. 🙂

Or maybe you were just loving having a lazy day and taking a ‘being’ break. And the voice is screaming from old patterns or belief systems that you no longer adhere too. Celebrate your strength and take time to recognise that once again, you chilled out and no one died. That life goes on and that ‘doing’ was not more important than ‘being’. And notice that very likely today, after that break, you are back in ‘doing’ mode and nailing all the outstanding bits and pieces that needed to get done.

By taking the time to listen, acknowledge and be OK with the wisdom that the Inner Critic is trying to share, that voice starts to quiet down and leave you in more peace. By entering into the conversation we gain the wisdom that it is trying to share, leading to breaking old patterns and growth. The trick is to be able to listen without reacting – just quietly listen and ask yourself – Is that true? And be honest with yourself. It can be interesting to see what comes up!

(And if it that is too hard then you know what you can work on in your next kinesiology session! ~wink!)

******** This was written with the intention of helping you to live your best life, if you want to know more about how I can help you Create The Life You Want To Live please get in touch! *******

Create Intentions With Insight. Part 1

Posted on January 23, 2020 by Gay Landeta

Posted in Gay Landeta, Hints & Tips for Creating & Goal Setting, Personal Development Leave a comment

Any time is a good time for a look into how we are travelling so we can create intentions that will enhance our being. To do that I love this process taught to me many years ago, the Maori Drawing Process. The Maori people of New Zealand traditionally do this each year to gain insight and guidance into how they are travelling. Every time I do this I am amazed at the insights I get…

You will need paper and some drawing materials. Before you start take time to centre yourself – that way you won’t be trying so much to think about what you are doing, it will come more naturally. This is just time to draw not create intentions. That comes later.

I always find Hook-ups from Brain Gym a great way to relax and centre myself. If you want to really get centred you can do the whole set of 4 movements we call PACE in Brain Gym. Takes about 5 minutes and really gets you into your best self.

Hookups: There are two stages to Brain Gym’s Hook-ups.

Firstly, place one ankle over the other. Then cross one wrist over the other and interlace your fingers together, draw your hands up to your chest and breathe deeply in through your nose and out through your mouth (or simply with your tongue on the roof of your mouth) and your eyes closed or looking down (this cuts out the visual overload we experience daily).

After several breaths (6 or 8 or more as you like) undo your arms and move your feet apart. Place your fingertips together and continue to breathe comfortably until you feel centered and ready. BTW, this is a great way to start any process you wish to approach with focus or mindfulness.

Once you are centered take your paper and materials and draw a circle on your paper. Then consider these symbols and start drawing them in any order and in any way you like. Read through the list and choose the one you want to draw first – your drawing can be as simple or as complex as you like. Then choose the next and so forth :

Snake
Flower
Tree
House
Bird
Path
Mountain
Butterfly

When you are finished note the first thing you drew and then move onto part two where you will find out how to interpret the insights into what you have just drawn and then how to use it to help you formulate goals for next year.

All the best!

PS feel free to share – this is a fabulous process – every time I do it I am amazed at what I choose and how I draw it, even after all these years.

**********This was written with the intention of helping you to live your best life, if you want to know more about how I can help you Create The Life You Want To Live please get in touch!

Creating Intentions With Insight. Part 2

Posted on January 23, 2020 by Gay Landeta

Posted in Gay Landeta, Hints & Tips for Creating & Goal Setting Leave a comment

If you are reading this and haven’t already, I suggest you back-up right now to part one of this series. Why? Because this process can give you some beautiful insights into creating intentions for a new beginning. This process can help you understand where you are at the moment and where you might like to direct your life. You can do this anytime, the beginning of a new year, on your birthday, or just because.

While living in the flow is a beautiful way to be and something many of us aspire to, it is also human nature to want to grow and expand and do more. Creating intentions about what that expansion looks like is like choosing a direction and starting out.

Like any journey whether or not we get to the end will depend on many factors; how clear the pathway is, how much we are able to prepare, how willing we are to do the journey as it gets more complex. So creating intentions doesn’t actually mean that you will get exactly there. That is when we need goals. Goals include precise and clear steps to our desired outcome. So we need intentions for where we want to go and clear goals to get there.

Before you begin your interpretation have a look at your drawing. Centre yourself and begin to delve into what it is sharing with you. Have a pen and paper handy to make some notes. To watch a youtube of this process and see the analysis in more detail click here.

Here are the meanings of each item:

Snake: Regeneration, something you are letting go of.
Flower: Something that is opening up, unfolding it is often related to the area it lies in (see further down the page).
Tree: Your evolutionary growth process. Have a look at whether you drew your roots or not, visible or hidden. These can be clues to the way you operate. Your trunk can indicate the plane where your most strength lies and your branches are what you are reaching for – see the planes (Mental, Emotional, Physical and Spritual) further down.
House: Your process of creating your identity.
Bird: The universal symbol of the messenger. This area of communication includes belief systems, attitudes, values, or perhaps that a spiritual message has been recognised.
Path: Structure and discipline.
Mountain: Your quest, dream, spiritual journey.
Butterfly: Memory of something recently transformed.

Consider what you drew first, this is significant as it is where you drew each item, its proximity to other items and the complexity of each item. This will give you some insights into yourself.

This is sort of like translating a dream, there is no right or wrong, just things to consider. I find this a fascinating process, for example I always think I will remember NEXT TIME to draw the house with more complexity but do I? No. In fact there maybe less complexity this time, but I might have a big tree beside my house. That might indicate that my energy is going into my growth, not my identity. I can then reflect on that when I am thinking about the coming year and make sure that focus is serving me in the best way.

Notice if you :

Drew a symbol more than once: This could be an area that needs to be intensified or experienced several ways.
Added in other symbols: These show you ways you already know how to heal yourself.
If you had an area that was hard to draw: This shows you an area that may require extra attention – for example if my pathway was hard. yup. discipline. need more of that!
Forget a symbol? This could either be an area you have outgrown or discarded or, conversely, an area that needs to be consciously incorporated into your life.
The largest item holds the most identity and key to your well being.
The smallest item is an area that is just emerging but may still be unknown.
The first item you drew is a process you understand in someway and is important to you at least at present.

If the drawing is more vertical (portrait) then there is strong activity in your inner healing.

If more horizontal (landscape) then there is strong healing at outer levels; body, relationships, etc

Next fold or divide the paper into four sections. Each quadrant signifies an aspect of your life. The area with the least symbols is showing consciousness that is not yet well developed – you may like to focus some of your energy into creating intentions in that area in the coming months or you may like to sit in stillness with that plane of being for insights for how you can develop it. The quadrant with the most symbols is demonstrating the most activity and consciousness.

Mental (top left): Valley of the Birds.
Spiritual (top right): Valley of the Mountains.
Emotional (bottom left): Valley of the Flowers.
Physical (bottom right): Valley of the Trees.

If a symbol covers two or more quadrants then these are aspects of your life that are interconnected, such as spirit and mind. For example, if the bottom right of a drawing was empty aside from a flower overlapping into the bottom left (emotional) then that could indicate an absence in the physical however the overlapping flower indicates that there is an opening up starting and a useful goal may be around regular self-care.

If a symbol covers all four quadrants then that same process maybe occurring throughout your entire being. For example if that flower was in the middle of the page then their may be an all around blossoming happening and instead of goals it might be more nurturing to create an intention to be open to the growth and changes that are happening in your life.

Hope you find something enlightening in this process. I always do.

Happy New Beginnings!

With love, Gay

PS Share your thoughts, click on the link below to add your comments.

******** This was written with the intention of helping you to live your best life, if you want to know more about how I can help you Create The Life You Want To Live please get in touch! ********

Create Your Year With Intention

Posted on December 23, 2019 by Gay Landeta

Posted in Gay Landeta, Hints & Tips for Creating & Goal Setting Leave a comment

At the end of 2016 I was challenged to come up with some words to describe 2016 and what I wanted 2017 to be. I chose ‘Joyously Amazed’ for 2017 and 2017 certainly did that – mostly happily. I also found that continuing to align to those words throughout the year mostly reflected the reality I was living. Nice and simple intention setting!

My word for 2018 came towards the end of the year. ‘Contented’ … I wondered where that would take me …. At the end of that year I could see, I found more equanimity, more contentment, more acceptance and overall a more peaceful way of being despite some very challenging times. Things came to me and I made choices that aligned with that word. And once I discovered the Best Self Journal (and became a fangirl! See this blog I wrote in 2018) I reflected on what it actually meant every day as I wrote it down as my overall intention for the day.

This time last year I wondered if a word would arrive for 2019 … and it did …. ‘Consolidation’. And as I reflected I thought that sounded a lovely idea for the next 12 months. The last 3 years have been huge with the tree change to Tenterfield, moving the clinic to join the beautiful Kirsty Eng at Herston and taking Marketing with Heart online and transforming it into the Confident Practitioner Formula, working with practitioners nationwide, let alone being a grandmother and mother and daughter… (all that joyous amazement!)

Now — at the end of 2019 I can understand the journey that ‘consolidation’ took me on. It was different than I expected but wonderfully took me deeper into what is most important to me. And again writing it down each day in my Best Self Journal (still a fangirl!) has allowed me to re-connect to my intention in many different ways during the year.

I recently did the same exercise and my 2020 word has emerged. Nurture. I like that. 🙂 Nurture me, nurture my clients, nurture my life and all that I love. Nice. I will enjoy writing that down each day!

So now, with the end of the year coming up I challenge you to do that same exercise to set up your own 2020. Take a few minutes to centre yourself and gather up some words to describe 2019. No judgment – just see what comes up. Then allow the word or phrase you want to align to for 2020 to rise up together with some other descriptive words of positive intention. Make sure they are positive – be careful what you wish for! I added ‘joyously’ to ‘amazed’ in 2017 just to be clear that I wanted happy amazement please if at all possible!!!

Then pop it somewhere you can see. Add them into your 2020 diary for a daily or monthly reminder or add it to a bigger vision board you can see every day. Or both. And then wait for the magic to happen.

Have fun! I would love to see what emerges for you!

******** This was written with the intention of helping you to live your best life, if you want to know more about how I can help you Create The Life You Want To Live please get in touch! ********

Can we really change?

Posted on October 23, 2019 by Gay Landeta

Posted in Gay Landeta, Hints & Tips for Creating & Goal Setting, Personal Development, Relationships & Self Growth Leave a comment

How our thoughts help and hinder us in our healing : Animal Kinesiology pt 2

Cick here to read part 1 – Animal Kinesiology and Intuition or just dive in here!

The interesting thing about working with animals is that while they feel emotions they do not ‘think’ in the same way as we do. Yes, they appear to think – sometimes in a surprisingly sophisticated way – but they do not have the same intellect that we do. For example, what dog would be thinking “hmmm, I seem to be feeling a bit blah and putting on a bit of weight, I think i need to eat a few less carbs and hit the gym.” These kinds of processes are reserved for the busy little human brain.

This ability to think and process can be as much of a block to healing as a pathway to it. Because we have the ability to think about what the core of our pain is we can easily re-ignite it, even when we have moved into a better place, just through our focus.

For example it is a very few individuals who come out of a messy relationship who do not worry that the behaviour will happen again. Sometimes we focus on it so much that we re-create it! We use our thinking processes to inform our approach to similar situations, to help us to navigate and avoid pain. Yes, some of this is instinctual and common to all animals, but much of this is central to our human thought processes.

Once we start to pull apart how our thoughts are contributing to our pain we can really begin to be open for an entirely new experience of life. We may continue to be triggered by circumstances but we can use our thought processes to see the differences, instead of our emotions to see the similarities as we have a moment. As the emotions become less involved we regain more choice about how we respond.

With an animal, their nature is their nature. Balancing Lola (our rescue Lhasa) when she arrived for her incessant barking worked only with the aspect that was bad training and to a lesser extent enjoying her own voice. The barking that happens because she is a dog with a fairly small brain, bred to love and guard cannot be changed. Honey, the Australian Shepherd will always want to have a job in the herd. Animals have no motivation nor reason to change.

However with us humans, our thought processes can start us on a journey and we can use them to continue to take us forward, regardless of our nature. We can use our thoughts as well as energetic processes (such as kinesiology) to change who we are at very deep levels.

We will always be the same innate person underneath – however we really can strive to be the best version of ourselves that we can be. Providing we do the work, we will continue to change and grow without ceasing. This is not to say we won’t be inundated with our emotions at times but we can continue to use our motivation in positive and growthful ways and who knows what we will become!

And because of the inter-connectedness that we have with everything around us, as we change so will everything. That is why I have heard clients say “after that session I went home and could not believe how different my husband was!” Or “my kids no longer seem to need me all the time to help them do everything.”

I think this is such an important concept to remember. We can spend far too much time wanting situations or other people to change. The reality is as we change they will. So the more carefully we focus our attention on what we want the more everything around us will change.

Our innate nature will remain as it is but our response to the world can be transformed.

Conversely, the more we focus on our pain the more that will persist.

So choose your focus!

…. Some tools that you can use to help you focus on the limitless potential that future you could experience ….

self help emotional release vlog – I popped this up for children but it is just a useful for everyone!

Have a look through my Hints and tips for goal setting blog category…

Let go of Drama Triangle – This is part 3 of a vlog on letting go of one of the most common pain inducing habit! Follow the links to parts 1 and 2 first…

Meditation and mindfulness – I love the Insight Timer app – totally free too.

Psychology of Peace Program … really take control of your thoughts and let go of the emotional pain generated by less than useful habits and patterns.

And of course (!!) Kinesiology sessions where we always look at how we can harness the helpful qualities of the mind as well as dealing with painful patterns.

“Your destiny is to fulfil those things upon which you focus most intently. So choose to keep your focus on that which is truly magnificent, beautiful, uplifting and joyful. Your life is always moving toward something.”
~ Ralph Marston

Planning a quarter… a business essential

Posted on October 3, 2019 by Gay Landeta

Posted in Create your Business!, Gay Landeta Leave a comment

Once upon a time I used to think business planning belonged in the corporate world, but over time I realised that continuing to do things as and when I needed to meant I left a lot of things on the table. Undone. Mostly things I didn’t like to do. And it was affecting my practice.

Starting to do some basic business planning was part of the turn around from being a struggling practitioner to having a thriving practice. This is a simple process to follow anytime you want to focus and get results.

Super simple business planning for your practice success!

For the last couple of years, I have been using the Best Self Journal system because it has all the elements that are needed to stay motivated and create meaning and joy along the way.

I highly recommend it as a system, they generously share the full pdf of their diary here and they have heaps of free support available.

If you are a handwriting sort of person you will probably want to buy a hardcopy at https://au.bestself.co – they often have great offers on but if there isn’t you can use our code Cr8! at the checkout for 15% off.

Here is to a successful quarter full of perfect clients! 😉

******** This was written with the intention of helping you to live your best life, if you want to know more about how I can help you Create The Life You Want To Live please get in touch! ********

Compassion, Empathy, Courage – And Marketing

Posted on October 1, 2019 by Gay Landeta

Posted in Create your Business!, Gay Landeta Leave a comment

Recently I was listening to a podcast with Paul Gilbert OBE who is the founder of Compassion Focused Therapy and Compassionate Mind Training. His talk started me thinking about our capacity as practitioners to market ourselves and shed some light on why often the better a practitioner the less effective the marketing!

One thing I have observed over my 22 years in practice any my 11 years helping practitioners create businesses they love is how hard it can be to create marketing that gives results and feels good to do. I know some of this is introvert vs extrovert, understanding the process, having the resources, etc, but it is also much more than this. Sometimes the better a practitioner the less effective their marketing! and by that I mean, the more generalised their content (to help more people) and the less compelling their call to action. Neither of which contribute to effective marketing.

Gilbert has developed a huge body of work around the human capacity for suffering and how wired we are for inner conflict and even cruelty. That sounds intense, but our ability to think is what separates us from our mammalian brothers and sisters.

An animal may do something that appears to be cruel, such as a cat playing with a mouse, however that is their nature. They are not thinking ‘how can I hurt this mouse’. It just what they do. Whereas human beings have the capacity to think about causing pain, make plans to do it and then carry it out. And sadly tend to use it far too often.

So how does this relate to marketing?

Gilbert was talking about three qualities that we each have and how we can cultivate them to live with more purpose and joy. As he dissected his model and shared how certain careers need a greater capacity for one or the other I could see how practitioners often have a particular combination.

I also could see that this combination can easily make effective marketing difficult. Once we understand them we can harness them and use them more effectively as we wear our marketing hat.

the better the practitioner the less effective the marketing!

First, empathy.

Empathy is the quality of being able to feel what others feel. We have transformed this quality into a virtue, however it is not. It is simply the ability to put ourselves in another shoes. Disturbingly Gilbert said that the best torturers are the most empathetic. Creepy but makes sense.

Second, Compassion.

The quality that the torturer is missing is the quality of compassion. Compassion is concern for another, not wanting them to suffer. Gilbert points out that compassion is actually not love as we often perceive it to be. We do not have to love another to be compassionate, we don’t even have to know or like them. We just need to not want them to suffer.

Third, Courage.

The third quality to consider is courage. The courage to do what is needed when it is needed. I think about our Rural Fire Service who we are seeing a great deal at the moment. These people not only have the empathy and compassion to want to help but they also have the courage to take action

As a practitioner you will have all three of these qualities in abundance. It will be in part, why you feel called to do your work. You do not want people to suffer, you want them to enjoy their life.

How can we cultivate these to help our perfect potential clients to see how we can help?

You probably want your marketing to be uplifting so your potential clients will understand that the work you do will help them. You probably do not want them to feel worse about themselves or their life. However this is where your compassion is letting you down! As I say – the better the practitioner the less effective your marketing!

Like it or not we move away from pain much faster than we move towards pleasure. By trying to help them without reminding them of what the problems are they will have no impetus to change. Your message passes them by. Your compassion in your marketing is preventing them from experiencing your compassion in person!

So cultivate more of the quality of courage when you market. You will already be using that with your clients every day, to help them to see what has to change, to hold them accountable, to help them to live a better life.

Draw on that quality, together with your empathetic skills to write materials that your perfect clients can resonate with.

Always remember that your perfect client is looking for the solution you offer because of the pain that they are experiencing right now.

Make sure that is expressed clearly in all your marketing, what you do or how you do it matters less (for reasons that I will talk about next time). Make your marketing speak specifically to your perfect client, help them to see you understand both their pain and their dreams. Help them to see that your solution will get them there faster or easier than something else and those perfect potential clients will hear you.

And don’t forget your call to action! You would be surprised by how often that happens!

If you want help in writing marketing that works, developing strategies that get you more perfect clients and building a sustainable practice doing what you love fast have a look at my free live webinar.

Or just get in touch. 🙂

******** This was written with the intention of helping you to live your best life, if you want to know more about how I can help you Create The Life You Want To Live please get in touch! ********