We’ve decided to hold off on SPN activities in August, due Jenna taking a break after her car accident and a death in her family. And Grace is in the midst of a temporary move. We’re regrouping, rekindling, and rejuvenating.

A Special Opportunity for Coaches – from Eva Neuhaus :

I’m starting a life coaching program for the volunteers at Kalani Retreat Center on the Big Island of Hawaii. The volunteers come from varied walks of life; many are professionals in transition who could use some support in figuring out what’s next. We’re looking for coaches who would be willing to take on at least one volunteer as a weekly phone client for free for a period of 1-3 months (this is the average amount of time volunteers stay at Kalani). After their stay at Kalani or after 3 months — whichever comes first — the client could work out an agreement with the coach if they want to continue, such as staying on as a paid client.

I’m looking for coaches who might be interested, and also for coaching networks or forums I could plug into and post a blurb about this opportunity — it would be great for people doing coach training programs and needing to get hours, or for people  looking for more clients, as I imagine a good number of the volunteers would want to continue as paying clients after their initial round of sessions.

If you’re interested or if you know of anyone who might be, please send them my way! I can be reached at evaclear@gmail.com. This is an ongoing program.

From Our Subscribers

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

September 9 – October 21 – Maya Durie‘s class, The Gifts of Menopause: How to Get a Good Night’s Sleep. Preregister or contact Maya for more information.

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

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!

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)

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.

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.

And, I felt that urgency (so common for business owners) to bring in more money.

So, I pushed past my low energy, and went through the motions of getting my offer out. I promoted a free call, did the free call, and sent my sequence of follow-up messages.

And my results matched the effort and energy. A few orders trickled in. But it became clear pretty quickly that no flood was coming.

It was a painful, but a good, lesson.

Ultimately, what I took away was this. If you’re going to market, find a way to bring your whole heart and soul to the process. Find the joy and excitement of sharing what you have to offer. Give generously, and find a way to savor each moment of the process.

So, if you are caught in get-it-over-with marketing, here are three steps to reengage with more heart and purpose:

1. Reconnect to Your Message

To me, nothing inspires me more than remembering what I am here to share. To remember that my True Spirit is to:

give folks on the fringe
all the words they need
to reconnect to that palpable feeling of “dang, I’m good”
so they have all the juice they need
to shout out their message and rock the world.

I have my True Spirit posted on my wall. And when I read it and say it out loud, something wakes up inside of me. When I remember this is the essence of what I am here to share, then I can start to ask questions like “how do I make sure my marketing is aligned with this Spirit?”

2. Get Your Mojo Back

Getting back into a rich, passionate groove with your marketing is more than a mental game. It’s hard to deliver a passionate message when your body, heart, or spirit are drained.

The first step to get your mojo back is to tell the truth about what you are feeling. To wail, cry, rant, scream. To let go of the stiff upper lip and the brave face and the good trooper. To welcome all the raw and messy parts instead of sending them to the back corner.

In my case, I could have acknowledged how bone-tired I was. I could have taken more naps, and let myself off the hook for producing something big just then. I could have given my body and spirit what it was asking for, which didn’t look anything like a big push.

3. Redesign and regroup your Game Plan

The second step of course is to honor the truth you find.

In hindsight, I wish I’d done something much simpler with my product launch. That I’d either postponed, or done something much more honest. Maybe sent an email or two saying: “I have this great product, but I really don’t have the energy to do a big launch right now. I’m taking advance orders this week if you want a great deal.”

Your choices include not marketing right now (unless that’s what you’ve been doing and you want some new energy in your business.) Or tweaking the plan for marketing until it feels alive again. To throw out the free call formula and speak from the heart. To open up the lines when you have hundreds of people on a call and have a conversation. To speak something that feels taboo. Or to invite people to pay what they want for a day.

Keep playing with it until you no longer want to get it over with and you can’t wait to get started.

© 2010. Isabel Parlett

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.

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.

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

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!

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