Manipulation and hype aren’t necessary to make money. It’s possible to reach the people you’re here to help without taking actions that are out of alignment.

But how do you find another way when traditional marketing and sales education is riddled with hustle-culture and high-pressure strategies?

Even many “heart-centered” and “soul-aligned” business courses are still coming from a transactional, agenda-driven mindset, even if it’s been softened to make it more palatable.

It’s evident in the language they use:

“Drive people to your community…”

“Find your target market…”

“Get leads and conversions…”

Rather than connecting with people, we’re “driving them” where we want them to go and referring to them as “leads,” and “prospects” with an intention to “convert” them into sales.

The language isn’t the problem; it’s the concepts these words carry for so many of us that keeps us locked into the belief that we have to hustle to make sales, or else.

This is why I’m so passionate about UN-MARKETING your business.

Let’s strip it of all these heavy concepts, and use new languaging to conceive a more joyful way of sharing what we do.

Rather that “leads,” they’re “potential soulmate clients.”

Rather than “converting,” we can “create client relationships.”

Rather than finding your “target market,” you can identify the people you’d like to help.

Immediately this shifts to a framework of connection, relationship and service.

I recently listened to a presentation covering the most effective ways to get clients.

As I listened to strategy after strategy, it started feeling like really HARD WORK.

And I couldn’t help thinking (screaming in my head, really) what if this was JOYFUL and SIMPLE?

Why aren’t we starting with joyful aliveness?

This is the call to un-market your business.

First, let it be simple. There’s what you do, the people you help, and the invitation you extend to them. 

That’s it. Simple.

Next, consider the most joyful way for you to share this message.

Out of the dozens or even hundreds of strategies and mediums to use for connecting with the people you’d like to help, which lights you up the most?

You only need one or two done well to reach your income goals.

Think about how you share information with people. Are you a talker? A writer? A person who prefers to demonstrate? Do you entertain?

Take what you love to do — even if it seemingly has nothing to do with your business — and explore how you can use that to extend an invitation to work with you.

Here’s a fun, outside-the-box example:

Let’s say we have a therapist who loves cooking, anime, movies, history, pop culture and philosophy.

He might do videos in which he prepares an ethnic dish, exploring the philosophical questions related to its origins and connecting them to the concerns of his audience.

Or he might host a roundtable discussion about the Watchmen series on Netflix and the implications of its worldview about what it means to live a happy life.

Both of which would appeal to his soulmate clients, allow our therapist to demonstrate his expertise and creativity…while he enjoys the hell out of it.

If this sounds far-fetched, it’s only because getting creative and focusing on fun in sharing our business isn’t mainstream. The experts are more interested in selling us their proprietary system, and we’re too scared to try something outside the norm.

Sure, you can follow the herd. (And let those marketers “drive” you to their products.)

But why not attempt something new?

Embrace your most geeky loves and integrate them into how you share what you do for a living.

Right now, I’m plotting how to use my love of STORYTELLING to reach my people.

(I’m already doing it, by the way, in nearly every piece I write and share, but I’d love to do it in a way that’s even more fun.)

This isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea, and that’s the point.

It’s alive for you, and your people will get it. That’s all that matters. Let the haters move on.

Quick story. (See?)

A few years ago, I created a course on using FB Ads to get leads. To keep myself entertained while delivering the training, I included a story, limerick or poem in each module.

It took no more than 3 minutes of the whole lesson, but being silly delighted me to no end.

Sure enough, one of my students sent an email, “I get that you want to have fun, but please stick to the content. I don’t have time to waste playing around.”

You consider play a “waste of time?” Then I am not the guide you should be working with. 

Your way doesn’t have to be as nutty; not everyone is as quirky and theatrical as me. What brings you alive might be history or needlepoint.

But I’ve used these more extreme examples to illustrate my point:

Sharing what you do can be FUN when you follow what’s alive and give yourself permission to do it your way…and you can’t do that by conforming to other people’s rules.

I am a curiosity-fueled, fun-seeking hound tracking the scent of YOUR way of joyful un-marketing. You’ll find an advocate for your most impossible dreams who also helps you ground them down into reality as creations you love.

I’m seeking experienced coaches, healers and wellness practitioners for a six-month journey working one-on-one with me to transition into new services and offers they love. We’ll craft an irresistible offer and the message of transformational content you’ll share to joyfully attract soulmate clients with the un-marketing game of your choice.

This journey is best suited for good writers and/or speakers who love to share their knowledge, and who are willing to play outside the box to discover their path to consistent $10,000 income months. It’s currently priced in the mid-four figures. Contact me here if you’re interested and we’ll chat to see if it’s a match.

Yours in creative play,

Steph