This is the second post on my ‘Creating A Soulful Business From Scratch’ Case Study.
For post one, click here.
Things are just getting underway, but were slightly slowed down by Christmas delays and flight cancellations – flight traumas have apparently been my chosen teachers this year to school me in manifestation and self belief and patience –
me + endless hours at airports
So while my new site probably won’t be up and running by my hoped for date of the first week of January, I’ve learned previously to let go of holding too tightly to numerical goals, and am content to know that when it is ready, it is ready.
As a brief overview- while the really obvious things are done-
*buying the domain name (dreamhost)
*finding and uploading the WordPress template (found at themeforest.com)
*creating a logo (font from fontsquirrel + photoshop but you could easily find one on Canva or find one on Etsy)
(and yes, I totally advocate DIY branding when starting out because too many people use it as an excuse not to do make headway on their dream… ‘I’m waiting for my designer before I start collecting emails’ )
Mindset Struggles
I’ve struggled to progress with content at the same times as struggling with that confidence crisis and dilemma of – who me? Who am I to say this can change lives? Who am I to change the world?
And
– but how does this fit with / alongside my main site… should I keep it all in one place? Do I really need another place online? (Coming from someone who used to have a serious domain name shopping habit for the multiple business ideas I’ve generated that then just sit there until they expire, this is a totally valid concern)
I’ve come to understanding that yes, I do.
Each of my sites contains the same message at its heart (self development + conscious living + energetic alignment = the route into joy) but while this one has a huge broad focus (basically me, plus homeschooling plus digital nomading plus personal development and business motivation AND all the other parts) the focus of the new one is super narrow.
I see how it has the power to help such a broad spectrum of society – from depression to eating disorders to PTSD – to those who seek deeper self awareness and personal growth – and those who just desire the outcomes and lives they dream of. But I don’t see how a thirty something year old man with depression would be at all helped by landing on my site, and then ending up finding articles about manifesting a chateau or extended breastfeeding.
They might find a few great points in that initial article or post but they’d probably never come back, and I’d lose the chance to share other relevant and helpful content with them.
So for now it’s separate. Maybe for me it would be better to combine it all,for me personally, or from a business perspective. But for the purpose, to help and to serve, it will have to stand alone as an authority / niche site.
But both sites will interlink so if they like what little snippets readers see on each site they can follow from there
Writing Content With Heart And Soul That is ALSO Helpful And Informative?!!?
My other concern is how to write content that isn’t dry and boring. I say concern except it’s not really because I know I can write well, it’s just more of a passing thread of a thought I sometimes get wound up in.
I just really want this content to be helpful, and I know my readers find my content on this site helpful because it IS personal – how can I ensure that my content is helpful and still personal on the new site but without talking about breastfeeding?
Because obviously as a homeschooling mama I have nothing else to talk about 😉
This is where I just have to trust in the process.
My core way to grow the site is to focus on gaining readers, and I’m not going to do that by writing controversial click bait style polarising posts. This needs to be solid, definable, relatable, content or it won’t achieve its aim of helping people grow at all.
So basically I’m writing long structured posts about my niche with a massive dose of consciousness, spirituality and self development ….
I actually wrote that line with a touch of sarcasm thinking it would sound like an incredibly boring pitch but actually it sounds kind of good actually… and a bit like what I write here! Which means I’m on the right track as it’s in alignment with who I am rather than forced ‘content creation’.
Whenever you create something new as long as it’s in alignment with who you really are and your true passions you’ll always find it easy to stick with…for as long as that is necessary…
But you can’t not finish who you are 🙂 it’s simply finding who you are that makes creation and sharing that creation easier…
Product / Monetisation Considerations…
My main ‘product’ to begin with is a simple ebook… again the core target isn’t to make millions here it’s simply to reach people and impact them with the message… the money always follows anyway.
To balance out all of the business I’ve been funnily enough staying far away from anything too businesslike… for the first year running I bought the LIFE version of Leonie Dawson’s workbook instead of the business edition, have been reading a ton around homeschooling again, and have been flicking through lots of mindfulness magazines as well as spending a (lot of) time contemplating the concept of 5d life.
And cryptocurrency, because I like the utopian ideals behind it, that it could change the world and move us away from a regulated and controlled banking system.
After so many manifestations becoming reality last year I’ve moved into a real place of peace right now around income, the future and work in a way I’ve never really experienced before. It’s kind of like everything has become timeless and sort of One. More 5th dimension beauty.
And of course… more writing.
Why don’t I ‘just’ write books for my business / life / main source of income? Because my brain continues to generate ideas to reach and help people. Sometimes it’s courses, programs; sometimes it’s books; sometimes it’s businesses. I was walking around a beautiful bookstore in Poitiers, France today and even then I was thinking – hmm there’s a real market for a beautiful English bookstore in this area! The girl can’t help it 🙂
but owning a bookstore isn’t in my stars, and neither is stopping entrepreneurship. It’s ultimately all linked together anyway.
All of who you are is linked whether we compartmentalise or not.
Future practical actions for the coming month-
Writing content! To begin with I want to write all the content myself – quite a relatively slow route for any true entrepreneur who would be outsourcing from day one but it’s important to me that this content is authentic. It’s the authenticity that people trust in; it’s the authenticity and ideas that will move people enough to create change; that force of solid belief behind it.
This is where creating a spiritual or soulful business is different – if I were doing it purely from a financial perspective I would / should be outsourcing all content – and there is still part of me wondering whether that by not outsourcing it, whether I’m making myself a bottle neck that is preventing the information and content getting out into the world in the first place; and whether I’m making things harder and slower for the message to get out there making an impact in the fastest way possible.
I mean… even Tony Robbins doesn’t write his own content.
So I’m not ruling out submissions and outsourcing for the second half of the year or even earlier – but to begin with, the authenticity and intention matters deeply to me and that is what I believe needs to lead and guide the ship of the site.
Setting up analytics. This will most likely be a task I outsource but I need to ensure I’ve fully trained my team on how to track readership growth and how to report it back to me, so it’s more likely my focus here will be on creating training for my team once the initial set up is done. Setting up analytics is key to finding out if my content is actually being read, which posts are being found and which posts are resonating with my audience- helping the most.
Finishing the book! I’ve struggled with perfectionism with this one. There just seems to be so much I want to include, more daily, and so it seems almost never done. It’s finished but the drafting seems like almost entirely rewriting the entire thing- I can see why some books take years to write.
I also am struggling with the self – publishing vs publisher dilemma – this book would be perfect for a publisher like Hay House, but I’m reluctant to keep my book out of the market for that amount of time while it goes through the process of submission. On the other hand, if I go via the traditional route, my book then stands a greater chance of reaching more people rather than waiting for / working towards that essential ‘mass tipping point’ at which point the book then has enough momentum on its own to reach people.
It’s my eternal dilemma, but has been made easier by me realising that a great deal of wanting to do with getting published was my Ego desiring it rather than it actually being a true soul desire.
What are you currently desiring? Is it your truthful desire, or is it a man-made, societal A* grade goal?
I’ve seen so many people start creatinf courses lately as a way to ‘hit my income goal’ and I think – but what about your soul goals?
There is a much faster route to wealth and it’s always by following what you truly desire; not what you see others touting as the route to money and fame.
Explore, play and experiment with your truth and really figure out what moves you emotionally.
Perfectionism Holds Us All Back
Of course – I’m also using my ego to stand in the way of the book being released – perfectionism is another ego-goal because in the eyes of your truth, your creator and your soul, your creations are already perfect, even with their inherent flaws.
I don’t feel I want it to be perfect. But I’m aware I’m dealing with a topic that is both ridiculously simple and ridiculously complex simultaneously and my readers being able to make sense of the material – and actually use it! – depends on my telling of the story.
I’m not focussing on that too much. Whatever comes out comes out and again I have to trust in that process and trust that the tales interwoven into the chapters of my soul can release on to the pages and tell their own stories.
This 12 month business creation case study is one of them. What stories do you need to share?
Future Planning & Publicity
My final focus for the next month is coming up with some loose sort of social media plan / strategy. I plan to use Pinterest for a lot of my traffic, but haven’t got much further than that in my planning. Maybe I’ll include my social media choices in my next post.
And I almost forgot, I’ll also be creating some sort of submission plan for articles. I’m feeling called with this site to raise awareness of my focus and calling and how it can help others, and a great way to do this is to leverage an already-established audience to spread the word.
I’ve wanted to get published on Mind Body Green for a while but also Forbes or Business Insider, as I my topic would work miracles for lacklustre or detached execs and 9-5 employees.
I’ll update you all soon,
Love,
Charlie
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