I absolutely love the Soulful Shout Out series here on Soul Speak! I get to highlight and introduce you to beautiful people and their wonderful offerings!
I love connecting people and sharing products that I love, and so I’m just thrilled to be able to do that each week with you here.
If you would like your product/website/service promoted here, please click here to read the details and then email me to apply. (I take what I share very seriously and will only share products and services that I am in alignment with.) The spaces are going quickly because the introductory prices are going way up on the 31st, so please keep that in mind when you’re signing up!
***We’re scheduling into April. Please be sure to reserve your space before Jan. 31st while the prices are still low! (You can pay for your space now and use it any time in the future!)***
A huge thank you to everyone who has already done so. You’re all absolutely wonderful, and I am so grateful for each of you.
And now, let’s get to this week’s beautiful soul and her inspiring offerings!
This week, I am featuring Holly Worton from Socially Holistic!
Holly and I met in the Amazing Biz & Life Academy, and she’s also in the Authentic Connecting Facebook group.
Holly has a sweet spirit, and I’ve really enjoyed getting to know her over the past few months. She helps heart-centered coaches and entrepreneurs with social media marketing, so they can share their messages with ease. I love that so much. She is offering two great freebies for you, which we’ll share at the end of our interview. But first, I’m so excited for you to get to know her better!
So let’s get started!
Welcome to Soul Speak, Holly!
We both share a similar journey of being on an entrepreneurial path where we felt like something was missing and then listening to our soul and following where it lead us. Can you share a bit about what this journey of transition has been like for you?
It was a long journey of transition, or at least it felt like it while I was on my path. I left my previous business, which was in the hospitality industry, back in 2009. My plan was to take some time off and figure out what it was that I wanted to do.
I tried out so many ideas and blogged my way through some of them. About a year and a half later, at the end of the following year, I moved from Argentina to the UK and started seeing a career coach. I still had no idea what I wanted to do, and I desperately needed to figure that out.
In the process, I decided I wanted to train as a coach, which I did in 2011. I then went through the painful process of finding my niche. In retrospect, I understand that this was a journey of discovery to connecting with myself and my experience and making a conscious decision of what I wanted to focus on for my business.
Unfortunately, I didn’t see it that way at the time, and I struggled from one niche to another until I finally found success in my business, Tribal Publishing, where I help authors use social media to build their online platform and connect with their readers. In 2013, after listening to a series of guided meditation journeys, I realized that I wanted to focus on helping coaches and women in heart-centered businesses learn to use social media to network online and get more clients. And that’s when Socially Holistic was born.
Being an entrepreneur can teach us so much about ourselves. What are some things that you have learned about yourself over the last 15 years of being an entrepreneur?
For starters, I’ve learned that I’m capable of doing so much more than I think I can. In my last business, I went from being a graduate student in Spanish American literature at UCLA to co-running three eco boutique hotels with up to 150 staff in the high season. I had never worked in hospitality before, and I had no idea how to run a business.
Luckily, I’m a fast learner, or perhaps it was just that I put myself in a position where I absolutely had to learn quickly. I learned about business, management, hospitality, and online marketing. And so much of that I’ve been able to put to use in my current business.
But making the switch to being a solopreneur brought up so many new challenges for me, especially in the area of marketing. It was one thing to market our eco hotels, and quite another to market my own services. Being a solopreneur has brought up loads of “stuff” for me, and I eventually trained in other techniques like NLP and PSYCH-K that have helped me work through my challenges so I can move beyond my fears and blocks.
I absolutely love that you combined two of your passions with your current business: coaching and social media marketing. And I also love that this didn’t quite fit into the mold of “life coach,” which was part of your training. I am such a huge believer in creating our own path and letting our soul help us get there. Do you have any advice for someone who is struggling with figuring out how to move forward into their dream – worrying that it may not fit how others are doing it?
In my online social media course, one of the first things we look at is “who are you?” and what makes you unique. I’m a huge believer that if you really get clear on who you are and what makes you different, and you learn to express this clearly online, then you’ll stand out from the crowd and essentially not have any competition…because there’s no one else like you.
So definitely don’t worry about what others are doing or how they’re doing it. What you need to do is to really get to know yourself: explore your interests, and your passions, your experience, and knowledge. What kinds of things are you naturally good at? What do you love doing?
And above all, don’t stress over the whole niche thing. I really don’t believe that you’re born with a specific niche and that all you have to do is “discover” it. Maybe there are a couple of different businesses that would be ideal for you; the trick is to choose one and to focus on making it work.
As you said, it’s our own path. And it’s very much a journey: a journey to the center of ourselves. It’s all about really getting deep down and examining who we are, who we want to work with, and how we want to help them.
How has listening to your soul helped you leap into your dream of creating a business that supports heart-based solopreneurs?
This is a fantastic question, because earlier in 2013, when I was listening to those guided meditation journeys and my soul was starting to speak to me about working with women in heart-centered businesses, I consciously ignored it. I had all these limiting beliefs about shifting my niche once more, and how people would judge me or not take me seriously. I was also fearful of starting a brand new business, after working to establish Tribal Publishing, my previous one.
And my soul kept speaking to me. Each time I’d listen to the meditations, it would tell me to work with heart-based solopreneurs. And I kept shushing it. Finally it got to the point where I gave up and just accepted it, and then took action to make it happen.
When I began telling people who knew me closely about the changes in my business, they all said the same thing: “Well, that makes perfect sense.” And of course it did…though I resisted it for quite a while.
What are some specific techniques that you use to tap into your soul’s wisdom?
I keep referencing those fabulous guided journeys. They’re by Cara Wilde of Wild Bliss. I absolutely love them, and they have been absolutely vital in helping me access my soul’s wisdom. They really helped me access the messages that my soul had for me.
Recently, upon insistence from my business mentor, I began writing my morning pages, after years of thinking about it and never getting around to it. It’s added one more thing to my morning routine, which I sometimes get frustrated with when I just want to get on with my day, but I know that they’re also helping me access this valuable information that my soul has for me.
So often in spiritual/personal growth circles, marketing and promotion is seen as a bit sleazy or negative. You are I both agree that it’s a beautiful way to share our message and to help others receive it. If someone doesn’t know about what we offer, it’s much harder for us to help them. I absolutely love your take on “permission marketing.” Could you share what that is and talk about how it’s helped you embrace the promotion side of your business?
This is one of the big things that I teach in my webinars and in my social media course: it’s all about inbound marketing, or attracting people to us, rather than outbound marketing, or blasting our message out to the world. The problem is that most people are familiar with outbound marketing, because we’re bombarded by so many advertising messages online, on television, on the radio, wherever we go. And so that’s what people think of when they think of marketing.
But if you’re in a heart-centered business, then you’re here to help people. And the absolute truth is that you can’t help people who haven’t heard about you. So by playing small and keeping quiet, you’re not only doing yourself and your business a disservice, you’re also depriving many people of your help.
I once wrote a sassy little blog post on this called “How dare you..?” which basically asked, how dare you not help the people you are here to serve? I mean, really, if we truly want to help people, then we need to let them know about us. Gently, kindly, and without shoving our message down their throats…but we need to shine our light so people can find us.
What are 3 social media tips that you would give to someone just starting their heart-centered business?
One thing I’m always going on about is that social media is about the people, not the numbers. So many people are caught up in worrying about how to get more Twitter followers, or YouTube views, or likes on their Facebook page. But really, it’s not about that; it’s all about the connections we make with the individual people we meet on social media. Focus on meeting people and getting to know them: quality, not quantity.
Another thing that I often say is that social media is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes time to build up relationships, so if you’re not seeing instant results, that’s pretty normal. Have patience, and really focus on getting to know those individuals and building relationships with them.
Lastly, social media is a great way to be of service and to do what you (probably) do naturally: help people. The women I work with in my social media course are often concerned about what to blog about, or what to Tweet about, or what to share on their Facebook page. It’s so easy to share little tips and bits of information that can help your tribe, and that’s what will help them to know, like, and trust you enough to become your client.
What’s next on the horizon for you?
My main focus for 2014 will be to revisit my social media course. It’s an 8-week home study course, and I’m going to be completely updating it and revising it for 2014. It’s a fantastic way for women in heart-centered businesses to learn how to use social media effectively and efficiently, so they’re getting the maximum benefits from it without wasting time.
What does your soul want you to know?
Be patient…
I tend to create all these plans and set all these goals and I want everything to happen NOW, when in reality of course, it all takes time. In mid-2013, I created what I call my Holistic Business Habits, a list of twenty or so reminders of how I want to run my business. I had them made up as a poster, which is hanging on the wall next to my desk. They’re also a good reminder that business is a journey…and that I need to be patient.
Holly hosts a wonderful, free podcast series, which features informative interviews from entrepreneurs!
It’s filled with great tips on how to more successful in business, as well as really inspiring stories of how other women have achieved success in their businesses.
Several of my friends have been featured, and there’s tons of really great information covered in them! I definitely recommend checking them out!
Here’s what Holly shared about this series:
I had been listening to podcasts for some time. I find they’re a great way to learn on the go: while walking around, at the gym, or on the train. Despite being a very visual person, I really, really like learning through podcasts. I started subscribing to entrepreneurial podcasts, like the Suitcase Entrepreneur and Entrepreneur on Fire.
But so many entrepreneurial podcasts focus on men. Yes, they’ll have a mix of both men and women, but I really craved a podcast that just focused on women in business. I searched and searched, and I asked around online, and I couldn’t find anything.
One afternoon, as I was sitting at my desk, I had one of those moments where I downloaded a message from my soul: “start your own podcast.” I took immediate action and started planning it. I learned how to set up a podcast, where to host it, how to have it edited, etc.
Today, my podcast is one of my favorite parts of my business. Every time I get off an interview with one of my fabulous podcast guests, I’m on an absolute high. I get so excited about having this means of helping other women in business spread the word about what they do.
To me, the purpose of the podcast is threefold: I’m helping these fantastic women solopreneurs spread the word about what they do, I’m helping my listeners find out about useful new products and services, and I’m also helping my listeners by providing them with yet another example of a successful woman in business.
Holly is offering a free 90-minute training to help you with social media! This training includes audio, video, and worksheets!
In it, you’ll learn:
- The top mistakes people make
- The 4 questions you need to answer
- How to stop wasting time online
Thanks so much, Holly, for sharing your light here on Soul Speak!
Please spread the love and share this post on Facebook and Twitter!
Big hug,
