Today’s Community TeleGathering on the Sensitive Professionals Network was really fabulous!

We talked about the marketing that works for you (or doesn’t) and some interesting themes emerged, like:

• Finding ways to make it personal and human
• Getting super clear on our niches
• Thinking of marketing as inviting people to the table to enjoy our delicious offerings
• and more!

Plus, we had an impromptu “idea party” for Carissa and Kat and came up with some great ideas for them about how to get the word out about their businesses. Carissa is offering classes called “Project Pleasure,” which is for single women who want to find out how to enjoy the dating process, and Kat is working on developing her Facebook Fan Page for her book, Choosing To Be: Lessons in Living From a Feline Zen Master.

Participants shared that they felt the call helped them:

• calm their fears about marketing
• not feel so alone
• think about ways to reframe the word “marketing”
• feel like marketing is doable and accessible for real people like us

Want to get in on the conversation? Listen to the recording of today’s call and then join us for the next gathering:

If you’d like to join in on future TeleGatherings, be sure to join our announcements list, here: http://sensitiveprofessionals.com/community-telegatherings

Please join The Sensitive Professionals Network this Thursday, July 15th at 10 a.m. Pacific Time (1 p.m. Eastern), for our next free community-building TeleGathering call designed to support Sensitive Professionals in business.

This month’s theme is Marketing That Works for You

On the call, we’ll be talking about making friends with marketing — the aspects of marketing your business that make you want to run away and ways to re-frame so marketing can work for you. We’ll all brainstorm about solutions as well.

Please join us.

~~~ Call Details ~~~

Thursday, July 15th, 10 a.m. Pacific Time
(11 a.m. Mountain, noon Central, 1 p.m. Eastern)
Register here to receive the phone number to call in:
http://sensitiveprofessionals.com/community-telegatherings

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These gatherings are free and are designed for anyone to attend, whether you’re a Directory Listing subscriber or not. We love it when you invite your friends to join us.

These TeleGathering calls are a critically important part of the success of this Network. In order to make The Sensitive Professionals Network a true network, we need to connect with each other and learn what we can from each other so we can truly thrive as a community that’s supportive and interdependent. This means YOUR participation is extremely important. We’re thrilled to have you be a part of the conversation and our community.

Please join us!

This month’s topic post — “What Aspects of Marketing Your Business Make You Want to Run Away?” — has prompted answers that range from fear to overwhelm to wondering if anyone’s out there listening when we do our marketing.

Marketing may have an undeserved bad rap. Forget the networking parties, in-your-face-ad campaigns, and cold-calling sessions. Instead, start with re-framing the idea of marketing to be a tool that you make work for you. Remove its mystery by entering a learning process in which you discover how to market in a way that works for you, in all ways — from the planning to the prize.

Re-framing and mastering marketing involves accepting the need for marketing, believing there’s a way for you to so marketing that works for you, and commiting to finding it, even if that means playing the trial and error game. Thankfully, these days, there are many ways to experiment with marketing without breaking the bank.

Thanks so much for taking the time to let us know what you think. Your comments and answers to the topic question help us tailor the month’s content for the newsletters and the next telegathering, which will be on Thursday, July 15th, at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time.

To read the comments or add your own answer to the topic question, go to the post and scroll down to the bottom of the page to “Share Your Thoughts.”

And read on, because the newest article, “Are You Guilty of Get-It-Over-With-Marketing,” by Isabel Parlett, offers support and perspective.

Warmly,

Feature Article

Are You Guilty of Get-It-Over-With Marketing?
By Isabel Parlett

There’s a common phenomenon I’ve seen with spiritually-oriented business owners (and experienced myself): rushing to get your marketing done and wishing all the while that you didn’t really have to market at all.

This is what I call Get It Over With Marketing.
And it doesn’t work so well.

You know you are guilty of get-it-over-with marketing when:

• you feel resentful you have to market
• you take your marketing actions with a sense of heaviness and effort
• you can’t wait until you’ve gotten through your list of marketing to-dos
• you’re more focused on checking the action off your to do list than savoring each action you’re taking
• you feel you are scrambling to take each action and that you have no room to be creative or playful or adjust as you go along

At one time last year, I am ashamed to say I caught myself in that get-it-over-with mindset. I had had an intense month of business trips and deep, personal breakthroughs and what I really wanted was to catch my breath and allow all these new experiences to sink in.

But, I had scheduled a product launch that kept getting nudged back, and I felt I HAD to get it done before I went on vacation.

Read more…

Be sure to leave a comment on the article to let us know what you think.

Isabel Parlett, The Soundbite Shaman, helps innovative, creative professionals to find the words to share their deepest message with the world. You can get her free report “The Four Ways Your Message May Be
Falling Flat and How To Fix It” at www.soundbiteshaman.com.

Upcoming Events From Our Subscribers

July 10 – Maya Durie hosts Boomer Rhythms Saturday Dance Meetup (Move Your Body Feed Your Soul), with Wilder (Greg) Harper as DJ, at 9 am at Mill Valley (California) Community Church.

July 23-25 – Angela Dunning and Helen Russell will lead Transformation through Transition, an equine guided workshop, in Shropshire, England.

September 2-6 – Jacquelyn Strickland‘s next HSP Gathering Retreat in Petaluma, California.

Introducing …

Sensitive Professional Lydia Puhak

My coaching is designed to help clients live deeply fulfilling and well balanced lives. I work with sensitive idealists who want to make a big difference in the world and are having trouble making that happen to a level that satisfies them. My coaching process calls clients forth to fully express their true essence, and to see a clear path toward living their life’s purpose. Sensitive idealists are people who are deeply impacted by the world around them and feel compelled by something deep within them to serve the greater good.

Contact me to schedule a free introductory phone session. Together we make this world a better place!

I’m located in Montara, California. You may reach me at 650-759-1482 to schedule a free introductory phone session. I provide my services in person and by phone.

~ ~ ~

And we’d like to re-welcome renewing Directory Listing subscriber …

Benita Esposito (espositoinstitute.com)

Some of the Directory Listing subscribers on The Sensitive Professionals Network are masters at marketing … and some are not. Whatever our levels of expertise, we all face challenges with marketing.

This month, we’ll face the marketing monster head on. We’ll look it in the eye and stare it down, and in the process we’ll make progress.

Our question to you this month is:

“What aspects of marketing your business make you want to run away?”

Get in on the conversation – tell us what you think by telling us your answer as a comment, below.

We’re looking forward to reading what you have to say.

Last weekend, I (Grace) attended the Highly Sensitive Person Gathering on Gabriola Island, B.C., led by Jacquelyn Strickland. What struck me throughout was what I often see when HSPs get together in real time — connections that bypass chit-chat, get to the heart of the matter, and result in a sense of relief.

That’s what happened during last Thursday’s community call about professional Hot Spots. The relief expressed during the call seemed to come from the simple act of sharing, out loud and in person. It’s a form of collaboration to share about a tough topic and also to listen to whoever’s doing the sharing. Real conversations in real time heal.

What we’ve seen this month through our exploration of professional Hot Spots is something both simple and profound: clarifying the problem and saying it to someone who’s listening and who cares goes a long way toward allowing solutions to emerge.

If you’d like to take a step toward loosening your Hot Spot’s hold on you, leave a comment about it on the Hot Spots article. We’ll see it. We’ll hear you. And that’s a good start.

And Jenna’s article, 5 Keys to Feeling Less Alone in the Not-So-Sensitive World of Business, offers more ways to connect and feel less alone.

Warmly,

Feature Article

5 Keys to Feeling Less Alone in the Not-So-Sensitive World of Business

By Jenna Avery

As a sensitive person in this not-so-sensitive world, I want you to know that you are not alone.

Highly sensitive people make up about 15 to 20% of the population. This means that 1 of every 5 or 6 people around you is highly sensitive – with a finely-tuned nervous system that takes in many more subtleties and bits of information – just like you.

This means that, no matter what, we are not alone. We just need to find each other.

On Feeling Alone

On the other hand, I recently saw a clever cartoon by Hugh MacLeod, author of Ignore Everybody, which points out how being different begets loneliness:

by Hugh MacLeod (aka @gapingvoid)

The thing is, highly sensitive people don’t get to choose. We’re not wired to be sheep (at least not in this society). That makes us, in MacLeod’s model, wolves. And that means we’re often lonely.

Read more…

Be sure to leave a comment on the article and let us know what you think.

Directory Listings

Introducing …Sensitive Professional Sandra Clifton

Sandra is a former teacher with over 20 years of experience in the field of education. After becoming certified as a professional life coach, Sandra created the Clifton Corner:  An Academic Coaching Center for Teens.  As a result of her journey as an HSP, Sandra now specializes as an educational coach and consultant for “The Highly Sensitive Student” through the tools of Emotional Literacy, which she learned as a Program Coach for Yale University.  Sandra’s passion is supporting students (ages 13-18) as they navigate to embrace their unique and wonderful gifts. Sandra also provides support to families desiring guidance and direction for parenting the Highly Sensitive Student.

Sandra is a transplant from the Midwest and claims her home in the eclectic beauty of Brooklyn, New York.  You may contact her via phone at 718.768.7627 or email at  sandra@cliftoncoaching.com. Sandra provides her services by phone, email, and in person.

~ ~ ~

Some of you have subscribed to the Directory Listings, but haven’t yet submitted your information. Please get it to us as soon as possible so we can help you toot your horn on the website.

If you don’t yet have a Directory Listing on The Sensitive Professionals Network, but would like to join us there, see the Directory Listing subscription page.

Upcoming Events

From Our Subscribers

June 22, 28, 29 – Jenna Avery is facilitating her workshop series, “How To Quiet Your Inner Critic So You Can Stop Holding Back On Your Soul’s Mission.”

September 2-6 – Jacquelyn Strickland‘s next HSP Gathering Retreat in Petaluma, California.

Include your upcoming event here by sending us your one-liner text (200 characters or less) in an email with “Newsletter Announcement” as the subject line. Include a link for more details. The newsletter is sent out on the first and third Thursdays of the month. Submissions are due by the Monday prior.

Please let us know if our announcement of your event or endeavor here in the newsletter helps make it more successful.

Today’s Community TeleGathering on the Sensitive Professionals Network was great fun. We had a small group of fantastic sensitive souls talking about our professional “hot spots” — the recurring obstacle that stops us from moving forward to our next highest level for ourselves or in our business.

Some of the hot spots that came up were:

• Fear
• Boundaries
• Self-care
• Getting swept away
• Burn out
• Approval

Listen to the recording of today’s call to share in the camaraderie and learning.

If you’d like to join in on future TeleGatherings, be sure to join our announcements list, here: http://sensitiveprofessionals.com/community-telegatherings

Please join The Sensitive Professionals Network this Thursday, June 17th at 10 a.m. Pacific Time (1 p.m. Eastern), for our next free community-building TeleGathering call designed to support Sensitive Professionals in business.

This month’s theme is Professional “Hot Spots.”

On the call, we’ll be talking about the hot spots you face — the tasks or situations that repeatedly keep you from moving to the next level in your life and in your business — and we’ll all brainstorm about solutions as well. Please join us.

~~~ Call Details ~~~
Thursday, June 17th, 10 a.m. Pacific Time
(11 a.m. Mountain, noon Central, 1 p.m. Eastern)
Register here to receive the phone number to call in:
http://sensitiveprofessionals.com/community-telegatherings
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These gatherings are free and are designed for anyone to attend, whether you are a directory listing subscriber or not.

These TeleGathering calls are a critically important part of the success of this “Network.” In order to make The Sensitive Professionals Network a true network, we need to connect with each other and learn what we can from each other, so we can truly thrive as a community that supports each other and is interdependent. This means that YOUR participation is extremely important. We’re thrilled to have you be a part of the conversation and the community. Please join us!

We’ve loved reading your comments on June’s topic of Hot Spots — the task or situation that repeatedly keeps you from going to the next level. Thank you for daring to name your Hot Spot “out loud” and diminish some of its power. And for trusting us to hear you with respect.

Free Community Call on Thursday, June 17th

The feedback we had (and our own experiences) from our last community call was that it gave those of us who participated a big dose of the network aspect of The Sensitive Professionals Network. People spoke up to share their thoughts, we discussed topics important to us, supported each other, and learned about each other (you’re welcome to listen to the recording of that call). Let’s do it again.

This month’s call will focus on Hot Spots — what they are , what they are for us individually, and how we can keep them from barring our way so we can zoom forward.

Is Setting Strong Boundaries Your Professional Hot Spot?

As a sensitive soul, boundaries are critical for your sanity, success, and sense of self, particularly when it comes to running your own business.

Read today’s article for 3 tips on how to set boundaries for yourself and with your clients so you can stop letting your business get the best of you.

Warmly,

Feature Article

3 Tips for Setting Masterful Boundaries in Your Highly Sensitive Business
by Jenna Avery

As a sensitive soul, boundaries are critical for your sanity, success, and sense of self, particularly when it comes to running your own business. Without boundaries, everything runs together and you can get easily lost and confused about what you’re doing and why. To be the client-attractive, successful professional you want to be, having direction, clear limits, and certainty are required.

Here are three tips to help you set masterful boundaries in your highly sensitive business:

Tip # 1: Be 100% clear when setting a boundary.

You have to be absolutely, 100% clear on what you say, mean, and do when you set a boundary.

If you aren’t 100% clear, the other person can sense a misalignment and conflict results.

Read more…

Be sure to leave a comment on the article and let us know what you think.

Publish Your Articles

If you’re a Directory Listing subscriber and you’d like to publish an article on the topic of succeeding professionally as a sensitive soul, we want to hear from you. Please submit your article(s) for consideration on the Submit an Article page.

Directory Listings

Some of you have subscribed to the Directory Listings, but haven’t yet submitted your information. Please get it to us as soon as possible so we can help you toot your horn on the website.

• Have your clients post their testimonials on your listing. The comment area below your listing is for testimonials from your clients. When a client praises you, they give you a double gift: the praise itself and a tool you can use to attract others. A prospective client who’s looking through your Directory Listing will also see the testimonials others have left about you.
• Share your testimonials with us about The SPN to receive added exposure. When your listing on The Sensitive Professionals Network gets you business or a new client, or when you are moved to praise any aspect of the Network, we’ll use your testimonial in our marketing materials and include a link to your Directory Listing. We’ll also Tweet your praise, with a link to your listing. That means kudos for us to share and more exposure for you.

Upcoming Events

What’s the broken record, the brick wall, the single toughest challenge you face over and over again in your business? This is the task or situation that repeatedly keeps you from going to the next level. It’s what I call the Hot Spot.

Starting this month, The Sensitive Professionals Network will introduce a new topic on the first Thursday of the month. We’ll explore that topic all month, with the aim of delving and solving and gaining insights that produce genuine forward movement.

June’s topic is the professional Hot Spot.

Hot Spots cause us to stumble because we avoid them and they grow bigger. We’re trying not to look at them, but they’re so big they get in our way anyway. The Hot Spot alerts us to the place we most need to grow. If it was easy to grow past the challenge, we would have done it already.

Take a good look at the one thing you avoid over and over again in running or growing your business. Dismantling that Hot Spot is a powerful way to zoom forward.

My Hot Spot is the moment of telling a colleague or client that I can’t do what they want me to do when I need to do so in order to take care of myself.  I know that if I don’t take good care of myself I can’t help other people, but I have a tendency to let their needs overshadow mine. The imbalance thus created makes me tired and overwhelmed to the point where I don’t think clearly and become less efficient and effective. No one wins.

Jenna’s Hot Spot is getting burnt out. A someone with a big vision, she often has so many ideas and passions she wants to implement that it’s easy to fall into the trap of trying to do it all and, especially, trying to do it all herself. She’s continually learning -over and over again – how to delegate more, trust more, and (sometimes ruthlessly) choose what to focus on.

What’s your Hot Spot? Leave a comment about it below. Stating your Hot Spot diminishes its power. Get the darn thing out in the open and into the light so it stops squirming behind the scenes.

And mark your calendar to join us on our next free community call on Thursday, June 17th, when our topic will be Hot Spots. Watch this space for more details coming soon.

Grace and I wanted to give you a quick update on our progress with The Sensitive Professionals Network “reboot,” as we’ve been calling it.

Here’s what we’re up to right now:

• Posting new Directory Listings (you can see them below).
• Streamlining and tweaking our sign up and editing processes so it’s super easy for you to login and submit revisions to your listing.
• Cleaning up old subscriptions and listings (what a project!).

Check out our newest Directory Listings
We’re thrilled to share with you that we already have a number of new listings on the site, including:

Kendra Kett of PinWheelGirls.com
Isabel Parlett of SoundBiteShaman.com
Carissa Morris of CoachCarissa.com
Sandra Clifton of CliftonCoaching.com
Erika Harris of Joyful-Work-For-Sensitive-People.com
Trish Mairet of DreamsCounselor, VoiceVamp.com, and HeartSoulCare.com

And we’re being rejoined by a number of our lovely long term subscribers, including:

Tamara Mortimer of InEssenceCounseling.com
Jessica Thayer of ArchitectureofMeaning.com
Colleen Crook of ConsciousLivingConnection.com
Dorothy Morgan, Personal Tutor & Individual Facilitator
Sharon Good of GoodLifeCoaching.com
Marki Talley of MarkiWeb.com

If you have an old subscription or an old listing and want to continue your listing on the site, please get in touch. We’re cancelling all the old PayPal subscriptions and getting new, better, reliable subscriptions set up in our new system.

You can call me at 510-981-0697 and I can take you through the process by phone.

Warmly,

Did you know?

• You can upgrade your Directory Listing to a Featured Listing subscription, which will include you in our Featured Listings rotating display on the Home and main Directory pages on the site.

• If you’re a directory listing subscriber and you’re on Twitter.com, let us know and we’ll follow you back. And we’re looking at easy ways to retweet what you’re up to.
• You can have your clients post testimonials about working with you in the comments section for your listing.
• We’re designed your permanent site links (called “permalinks”) to be your first and last name so they’re super easy to remember and share with clients.
  For example: http://www.sensitiveprofessionals.com/jennaavery

What’s next on the docket:

• Planning for what’s next to help us build and strengthen our community connection.
• A Facebook Fan Page so we can connect with you there.
• An email newsletter (watch your Inbox .
• A next community Gathering.

The TeleGathering we held today for The Sensitive Professionals Network was a huge success.

We had such a fabulous time connecting with each other, it was hard to hang up the phone.

Some of the great ideas that emerged from the call are:

• Clarifying our purpose to be “enriching” the world, as opposed to “changing” the world.
• Finding ways to create and build as much of a true Network as possible, so we really know each other, and so we can help spread the word about each other and our work in the word.
• Having Barbara Sher-style “idea parties” or “show and tell” gatherings so we can help each other fulfill our projects, dreams, visions, and aspirations and find out what we are each offering in the world.Getti
• Connecting online through various forums, like Facebook or Ning.
• Finding low-technology ways to connect for those who are less comfortable with it.
• Having shared leadership within our community.
• Offering information and resources in a variety of formats

Subjects people mentioned wanting help with:

• Doing business in a sane way, like launching a project without working 18 hour days.
• Finding ways to create a balance between work and life so we don’t feel so torn between our homes and families and our work.
• How to delegate and how to find HSPs to work with to delegate to.
• Finding ways to manage the chaos of paperwork and life relative to cycles of deep concentration and creativity.
• Marketing — feeling scared to death of it.
• Social media — how to do it and take advantage of it.
• Setting boundaries and managing our empathy.

It was a wonderful call filled with hope, support, and possibilities.

If you couldn’t attend live, and you’d like to listen to the recording of the call, you can do so in one of three ways:

1. You can download it here and play it back on your computer or MP3 player.

2. You can use these controls to listen online.
 

3. You can listen by phone, here: Playback Number: (712) 432-1085, Access Code: 518748.

Please leave your notes, thoughts, and comments below.

Thank you so much for your interest and support! We’re off to a great start.

p.s. Don’t miss our special, affordable introductory offer to join our Directory Listing service. You can find out more here. The low introductory rate for the first year expires on Monday, April 14, at 5 p.m. Pacific Time / 8 p.m. Eastern.