Preserving Your Authenticity in an AI World

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Hey there, spiritual entrepreneurs!

The world we are living in is changing at lightening speed and if you, like me, like to be aware of all the changes so that you have all the information at hand, read on.

Are you ready to dive into the exciting, yet sometimes overwhelming world of AI? With technology advancing at lightning speed, it can be easy to feel like you’re losing touch with your authentic self. But fear not, my friends, because preserving authenticity in an AI (artificial intelligence) world is totally possible – and totally necessary for your spiritual business to thrive.

First things first, let’s define what we mean by “authenticity.” In a nutshell, being authentic means being true to yourself and your values. It means being genuine and transparent, rather than trying to be something or someone you’re not. And as a spiritual entrepreneur, authenticity is especially important. After all, you’re not just selling a product or service – you’re selling a piece of yourself and your spiritual journey.

So, how do we maintain authenticity in a world where AI is rapidly changing the way we interact with our customers and clients? Here are a few tips to get you started:

  1. Know your why. Before you start incorporating AI into your business, it’s crucial to have a solid understanding of why you’re doing it. Are you using AI to save time on menial tasks? To reach a wider audience? To improve customer service? Whatever your reason, make sure it aligns with your values and the overall mission of your business. If it doesn’t, it’s probably not worth pursuing. And give yourself permission to explore the realms of the unknown so that you can make an informed decision and not one based on pre-judgements.
  2. Be mindful of the language you use. When it comes to AI, there’s a lot of fancy jargon thrown around – machine learning, natural language processing, and so on. But as a spiritual entrepreneur, you don’t have to use all that technical language to communicate with your audience. In fact, it’s often better to keep it simple and speak in a way that resonates with your audience. Remember, you want to connect with people on a deeper level, not impress them with your tech knowledge.
  3. Remember it’s still OK to show your human side. One of the biggest concerns with AI is that it will replace human connection. And as a spiritual entrepreneur, you have the unique opportunity to use AI to enhance your humanness, not replace it. It’s time to share your personal story and let your audience see the person behind the business. After all, it’s often the personal touches that make a business truly authentic and memorable.
  4. Use AI to automate your business, not automate you. As a spiritual entrepreneur, you likely have a lot on your plate. And while AI can certainly help automate some of the more tedious tasks, it’s important to remember that AI shouldn’t be used to automate you. In other words, don’t let AI take over your voice or decision-making. Instead, use it to free up your time and energy so you can focus on the things that really matter.
  5. Stay connected to your community. No matter how advanced AI becomes, it will never replace the power of human connection. And as a spiritual entrepreneur, staying connected to your community is essential. Whether it’s through social media, online forums, or in-person events, make sure you’re actively engaging with your audience and building relationships. After all, it’s those connections that will keep your business authentic and thriving.

Spiritual one, it’s crucial to preserve authenticity in an AI world. By staying true to yourself and your values, being mindful of the language you use, showing your human side, using AI to automate, not automate you and staying connected to your community, you can use AI to enhance your spiritual business, not replace it. So, embrace the advancements in technology, but always remember to stay true to who you are and what you stand for. Happy authenticating!

PS – this was written using AI 😉

Is Your Video Content Boring?

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Each time I meet a client, one of the aspects of their business we will discuss is their video marketing strategy.  Occasionally, I’ll meet with someone who loves talking to the little camera hole in their phone and will happily ‘go live’ on their social media platforms. And even better they see the results of including video in their business plan.

But there are other options than ‘just going live’ to consider in your plans.

As businesses become more and more popular, it’s increasingly important to help your video content stand out from the crowd. There are few ways to do that:

BOOMERANG – an app which creates mini videos which loop around again and again creating ‘moments’ from everyday fun.  These can be uploaded everywhere!

I CAN ANIMATE – This take slighter longer to prepare but is worth the effort, even your children will enjoy this. If you make / sell a product then this is definitely for you. Taking lots of photos which then join together to make a video. Here’s a link to one my son made over summer to give you and idea

TIMELAPSE – again, using your phone to create a video which when played at full speed shows what appears to be speeded up

PORTRAIT – Often the most popular videos as people like to hear your voice and see your personality come through the screen

EVENTS / LAUNCHES – Using video to promote events your are hosting and any business launches you have coming up is a sure fire way to get more eyes on your videos

SNAPCHAT AND INSTAGRAM – One of the simplest ways to create videos for those who are quite confident enough to go live for a long time on Facebook. Download your Snapchat snaps and your individual Instagram stories and re-purposing them into a single video using a video editing app in your phone, it’s so simple! I use Videoshow

Still not convinced you should use video in your social media planning?

Did you know, for example, that 43% of people want to see more video content from marketers? Or that 51.9% of marketing professionals worldwide name video as the type of content with the best ROI?  @lkolow

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Videos don’t have to be masterpieces, nor do they have to be epic in length – you’ll only bore your fans. Keep them to short, digestible, pieces of information. Relevant to you and your business.

Still struggling to imagine that you could go live, or not sure what your videos should be about – book a One-2-One session with me, you’ll be buzzing with content ideas afterwards. Promise!

*Image taken from Hubspot

 

The Thief of Joy

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Yep, you guessed it I’m talking about comparison. Or maybe you didn’t guess it because you were too busy comparing yourself to the woman on the bus opposite you. Her shoes are amazing, there’s no way you could walk in those though, he hair is immaculate and her nails are manicured within an inch of their lives yet you only look like that when going out on a special occasion, her ass is a peachy as could be – clearly she doesn’t have children, oh no, she does have children – they are sat right there being the image of perfection. You on the other hand would never dare take your child on a bus for fear of the impact their feral behaviour might cause on others!

Comparison is the thief of joy

Or perhaps, you are thinking about changing your career – you want to have the work / life balance. You have been watching (stalking perhaps) the lady in the next town, she’s nailing this mummy / business owner combo. How the heck does she do it? Whatever she’s doing in life, that’s how you want to be, having the flexibility to be at all the school activities for your children, or even have lunch with friends when you fancy it. But it all seems that step to far from what your reality now. Why?

Because you are comparing yourself to somebody else. It’s as simple as that. And if we all did that we would all be miserable.

STOP!

Firstly, we will never know everything about the lady on the bus, or the woman in the next town over living the life and running the business you so desire. Likewise, they will never know everything about you. Everyone’s situation is different, financially, geographically, our education and our beliefs – life would be boring if we were all the same.

Secondly, what makes you different is you! You will find your niche, you will find your customer base – which is likely to be slightly different to anyone else’s. Just be you and be content with that.

being happy with your own self is a major key to being confident enough to pursue your desires

On that note, being happy with your own self is a major key to being confident enough to pursue your desires. Maybe this is the area of your life you need to work on the most. What do you currently do for personal development? You may have left school years ago but this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still be learning. Personal development, whether it be through podcasts, books or videos will stand you apart, it will give you the confidence to talk with conviction about yourself and your business. If you aren’t confident when talking to people, why should they have the confidence to believe in you.

BOOK A CONSULTATION TODAY to overcome any doubts you may have

What’s your favourite distraction?

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favourite-distraction

I know it, I’ve been there…..I’ve had my whole day planned out, I’m going to be super productive, that to do list is going to be nailed today. Then I see the pile of laundry that won’t make it’s own way into the washing machine – it’ll only take 2 minutes to sort that out, best get it in so I can hang it out when it’s finished. If I can get the washing done today as well….BONUS! Plus I can use the washing machine time as a chunk of time before I have a break.

I need a cup of tea before I sit down though, whilst waiting for the kettle to boil, I’ll check my emails on my phone, perhaps clear a few. Oh shit, I forgot my car insurance was due, I’ll do that first….I’m prioritising, I’m proud of myself! A few phone calls later my washing machine beeps and I have renewed my insurance, next job…hang the washing out. That said it’s such a nice day I’ll put the bedding in too. Setting aside another chuck of time whilst the washing machine is on again.

That’s it, I’m in work mode, laptop is open and I’m feeling good. Oooh, something is flashing on my laptop – notifications, OMG I can’t believe my Bessie has posted that picture, look at all the comments…. Best reply to a few so they know I’ve seen it. Oh blinking heck my battery is running low on the laptop, best go and find the charger…where did I put it?

It’s now lunchtime and what have I achieved? Next to blinking nothing, can you see where I’m going with this?

Can you identify your biggest distraction? Are you aware of what is sabotaging your work? It might not be household chores or Facebook, it might even be the guilt of not spending time with family, it could be that you procrastinate too much or how about fannying around with tasks that aren’t going to make a difference to your business at all for fear of what others will think if you do the other actions on your to do list.

Once you’ve identified your biggest distraction, it’s easier to find a solution and work out ways in which you can be more productive and focussed.

60 MINUTE RULE

I find it easier to break my work into 60 minute chunks of time. We can do anything for 60 minutes, any distractions (bar crying babies and proper disasters!) can wait until you 60 minutes is over! Set an alarm to remind you when to stop and crack on!

Is 60 minutes too long? Try the Pomodoro technique, which breaks time into 25 minutes.

WHAT TO WORK ON

I want you to write down everything you feel you need to achieve.

Highlight the points that are important and need actioning ASAP, take these onto a new list and dismiss the others.

Now with your priority tasks sort them into large and small tasks, often the small tasks can be easily achieved whilst sat watching the telly, waiting for children to complete their after school activities. NOW tackle the larger ones in your 60 minute chunks of time!

The challenge I set you is to discover how you are self sabotaging by becoming distracted!

CO-WORKING SPACES

If working from home is too much of a distraction, you should consider visiting one of our new co-working spaces which are popping up in cities all over the UK. Two in Nottingham that I would recommend to you are Minor Oak and THiNK, both offer free co-working days in which you can take your laptop along and be inspired by the creativity and motivation of others working around. Being an entrepreneur doesn’t have to be lonely

Can Ambition Kill Your Success?

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What did you want to be when you were younger? I wanted to be a Hair Hostess – combining my love of hairdressing with my love of wanting to travel the world. Therefore being an air hostess who did passengers hair for their arrival on holidays was the perfect solution! Needless to say that this didn’t pan out but mainly because my passions changed (I still think it’s an awesome idea!) Ambition was given to me by my parents, not because they were high achievers but they wanted me to be successful and I wanted to make them happy.

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Moving forward a few years, to my late teens, early to mid 90s. My parent’s led me to believe that having a career, being independent and having a house was the way to go, it was ‘what was done’. In hindsight, although I enjoyed university I may have chosen the wrong degree (swayed by my parents again), but I was set on the course to success. And for a few years it truly felt like that, a good education behind me followed by 2 years living and working abroad. My independence grew, my parents were proud and I was seen to be the achiever. I returned at bagged myself a job at a very well-known international company. My success was surely sealed, I would work my way through the ranks. I would work hard and I would achieve. My continued independence would see me in sharp stilettoed heels, glasses perched on the end of my nose and lots of important meetings, some even involved a flight abroad! Because that’s what success looks like isn’t it?

Over time, the novelty wore off. The same daily commute, the same faces (some of whom I love dearly still), the same bland walls. But if I wanted the ambition I’d had when I was younger then I needed to persevere, after all if others could do it then so could I. My personal life changed, I became older and I began to consider giving it all up. Everything I had thought represented success since my teens, the drive to climb the ranks was dissipating. But what would people think? What if I couldn’t make it alone?

My ambition had changed, the corporate career wasn’t what I thought it was and I certainly didn’t want to spend my days taking on more and more responsibilities for a company where 90% of the employees didn’t know my name and the pay wasn’t reflected. My priorities had changed and happiness became key to my success.  And so I threw in the towel. I could hear the worry from my father seeping down the phone line. And do you know what? It was the best decision I ever made. I’m now living my life for myself. I measure my success annually based on what I’ve achieved and sometimes it’s not remotely related to work!

I still have a desire to travel and this ambition will probably always stay with me, and let’s be honest it’s one that can easily be achieved with a little forward planning and can be spread over many years. This ambition is one I want to instill in my son too.

It’s important to make sure your ambition is one that is making you happy, not one that you think you should have. If you have to analyse your life and the factors which will make you feel like you are succeeding I couldn’t advise it more strongly.

The Social Media Marketing Struggle!

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milliennial struggle

Have your ever reminisced with you friends about your childhood and the fun times you had, perhaps like me, you got up to some mischief in the hopes your parents wouldn’t find out! (Mum, Dad I’m hoping you don’t read this!). Now at 38 I can look back on those times with fondness but equally with the realisation that my parents must have been worried out of their minds, and could only hope that I was where I had said I was and that I would be home that night. Throughout, these journeys down memory lane, there is one thought that resounds strongly in my mind – Thank goodness there wasn’t social media when I was a teenager!

Flick forward 20 something years and I’m grateful for social media, I can see the power it has. I’m also acutely aware of the dangers it hold for the younger generation who have been brought into a digital world knowing nothing different. The have an innate ability to use technology without questioning the hows and the whys and stare in wonder when we describe our childhoods without the pleasures of mobile phones and iPads.

With this in mind have you heard of the new buzz word in town, I’ve been talking about it lots in the last month, I wonder what it conjures up in your mind? The word is ‘Millennials‘.

Think about it for a minute, we were all around for the turn of the new millennium (well the majority of us were!),  back then I was 23 and had had a mobile phone for about 18 months and I used it for making phone calls, texting was a strange concept! The definition of a millennial in the advertising world is someone who turned 18 years old or there abouts around the millennium. They are young adults up to the age of 36, they can be married, single, divorced, have children be single, there are billions of millennials out there. Many of them will be your IC, your Ideal Customer.

But why is social media making it harder for us to market our business? Traditional marketing (newspaper ads, leaflets through the door) is being replaced by the digital world, with that there is no doubt. If people want to know more about a company they will undoubtedly use Google, Trip Advisor or Facebook to seek reviews and more knowledge about their services. The difficulty lies when your IC falls into the millennials category. Millennials are a new breed of customer who are increasingly becoming immune to targeted marketing! Research suggests that only 1% of this digital savvy generation will click on banner ad on the internet. The millennial brain has been trained to eliminate all the marketing ‘noise’ that is generated each and every minute we spend on social media. Think about it, our eyes are transferring 80,000 bits of information each and every second (i read that somewhere), and only keeps about 2000 relavant ones. Why would our brains want to keep something that it knows we aren’t going to use?

Scrolling through newsfeeds and lists we are bombarded with sales pitches, links and promotions. How many of them do you click on? How many a day? I’m unlikely to click on any if I’m honest unless I already know the company or they come highly recommended. It’s far too easy for us all to rely on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and all the other platforms to push for sales but the truth is that you have to work bloody hard to get them to pay off for you.

The customer journey is outlined in the image below and it’s important to consider this when using social media to promote your business. Thanks to McKinsey & Co for their research. They also gleaned that 78% of customers bowed out of a buying decision because customer service wasn’t up to scratch and 70% of our buying decisions are based on how they feel they are treated as a customer.

consumer-decision

So how do we reach those pesky millennials if they are going to ‘ignore’ everything we put out there? You HAVE to stand out from the crowd, there is no getting around it. Yes you will be pushed into realms you have had no interest in entering but you once you have their attention you need to build the bond with them, this is the easy bit because good customer service should be coming naturally to you and based on the stats above customer service is what it is all about.

When looking at your analytics please don’t be all consumed about the number of followers or fans you have. You need to be looking at what worked – what people have engaged with, the posts and tweets that have gotten you the most shares / likes / comments / retweets / favourites. This is where the magic happens. Having 20000 followers who don’t interact might look good from the outside but in reality it isn’t helping your business if you aren’t engaging them with the right content.

Social media CAN help you business, you just have to be savvy about your strategy!

The 10 ‘C’s’ of Performance Insurance

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Performance Insurance

We all want our businesses to do well, we want them to succeed and for us to have a business we can be proud of. My 10 C’s listed below will insure that your business performs above and beyond what you might expect. Who knew that there were so many business related words beginning with C that will keep you focussed on your goals no matter whether they are long term or short term.

1. CONSIDER where you would like to be in 5 years time, spend 30 seconds visualising the picture. Who are you with? Where are you? What are you doing? Jot it down and contextualise it. This is what you are striving for.

2. CONSISTENCY. Whichever part of your business you are focussing on, consistency is the key. Your brand, your business has to be seen to be active in what ever it does. If you are known to email your customers 2 a month then don’t miss a month – out of sight is out of mind.

3. CLEAR COMMUNICATION Whether you are talking to your customers, your employees, your suppliers or your accountant, you must be clear about what you require. Share with them your goals and desire so they can understand why you might do certain things.

4. CHALLENGE ISSUES which arise. Sometimes our challenges feel like they come on a daily basis, sometimes we can go months plain sailing. But challenges are put there for you to learn from. Confront (another C!) them head on push through to the other side rather than letting them stop you in your tracks

5. CORE SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES are in place. Aren’t they? No? Well, start thinking about how you could work smarter by implementing them. working smarter using systems and processes saves us time in the long run.

6. CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT How often to you review your database of clients? If you haven’t heard from them for 3 years chances are they have moved on or no longer require your services. Keep your customer database up to date so that you can send relevant mailshots. Keeping your customers happy is KEY to a successful business.

7. CALCULATE your financial performance. Have you kept up to date accounts? Have you invested in a piece of equipment and not checked to see if it was money well spent (return on investment). Knowing your financial position is vital to a successful business.

8. COMPARE yourself and your business to those who are in the position you want be and see what their strengths and weaknesses are. This can give you a clear idea on what areas of your business to focus on

9 CLOSELY monitor where you are at. In the systems and processes you have created (see point 5!) you need to schedule in time to review if you are on track. Do you need to make any adjustments?

10. COACH yourself. Entrepreneurs and self employed people are on a continuous learning journey. One which will see themselves transform from one person into another and then another. As time passes our outlooks on life change as does the knowledge we have acquired. Learning new skills is possibly one the the most important weapons in your business armoury!

You’re An Entrepreneur

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You're

Believe it or not, if you have started up your own business and are registered as self-employed that classes you as an Entrepreneur! There are many, new derivations of this word being brandished around in the media – solopreneur and mumpreneur to name a couple. But they all boil down to the simple fact that you rely on YOU for your income, if you take a day off sick you won’t get paid for it, you are responsible for your the success of your business.

With that in mind there is ALWAYS something you could be doing to to help your business move forward. There are innumerable tasks you could be completing, but here are some of the key activities you should be doing.

Stay Focussed – take the time either in the evening or first thing in the morning to prioritize your day and what activities you need to accomplish

The Digital Side – how often do you review your website? Do all your links work? Is all the content up to date? Put 15 minutes aside each day to check all of your social media and respond, even briefly to those who need responding to.

Be Human – it’s very easy to sit and run your business from home, behind a screen. It’s important that you remember to go out and network, meet people face to face. It’s a great way to help your business grow.

Be A Student – Stay on top of your game, learn what is new and what is happening with your competitors. You need to show your customers that you are an expert in your area.

Don’t forget to take time our for yourself too – if you don’t take time for yourself, ultimately you will burn out and your business will suffer