How to Answer the Hardest Question in Business

By Larissa Popov | Marketing , Messaging , Visibility

“What do you do?”

Why is that such a hard question to answer?

It’s a question that can make even the most seasoned entrepreneur squirm.

If we produced a physical product or delivered a service they created a before and after photo, than the value would be obvious and easy to explain.

However for most of us in the coaching and healing space what we do isn’t so tangible, and that makes it more challenging to find the words the express the bottom line; a more tangible expression of how we help people.

Even if you’ve been in business for decades, revisiting and refining your “what I do” message is vital, especially when you’re updating your niche or your offers.  

Here are a couple of common mistakes we make:

1. Leading with our process or the “HOW”: 
   e.g. I help entrepreneurs heal their ancestral patterns. 
   e.g. I help mothers love themselves

Although these concepts may be true, unless the client understands that they need that and they trust you, it’s not as compelling.

It’s always more effective to focus on describing the result you give that resolves the problem that your ideal client is FED UP WITH. 

If you arrive at a “concept” as a result, you can ask yourself, “what does _________  allow my clients to have?”

2. Making it way too long:  too many clarifiers, too many commas, too many details.  I am SOO guilty of this one!  We can craft a perfectly thought out message, but if it’s too complex, your ideal clients can’t grasp it and they might even “tune it out”.  If you can reduce your big result to one thing, the message will come across much more clearly.

I find that messaging is especially tricky to create for ourselves because it’s hard to be objective, when we’re swimming in the world of our own work and perceptions 24/7.

In the Soul Awakened Business Academy, one of the things we do is lay down the fundamentals of your soul-aligned, compelling message

and then show you how to use it, so that you know exactly how to apply and repurpose it to your social media, emails, sales pages, talks… so you know exactly what to say in any situation.

If you’re ready to GET EXCITED about your marketing and get your message out there with more JOY, EASE and PLEASURE, message me and let’s talk about how I can support you to call forth more of those committed, soulmate clients who want what you offer!

Becoming MAGICAL in your Business

By Larissa Popov | Business , Confidence , Mindset

How long do you believe it takes to achieve what you want in your business?

Change doesn’t have to happen slowly.

It’s possible to get BIG results in a short amount of time.

Like one of our participants in the “CHARGE YOUR WORTH” Activation, who yesterday, within hours of that first call, decided to give herself a PAY RAISE and had a CLIENT SIGN-UP right away!

When we get aligned with what we desire,

When we take action on our intuitive guidance,

When we take a leap of faith and step into something BIGGER,

That’s when MAGIC happens!

It’s such an amazing place to be… when you realize that you DO create your reality, 

That you CAN have ALL that you desire,

AND it can be FUN and PLEASURABLE, too!

What if EVERY aspect of your business was fun and magical?

You can absolutely have that, too.

You get to create time and beat the odds.

You get to release any shadows about working hard, forcing, or judgments about how it is and make it HOW YOU WANT.

You get to step into your highest self in your business.

If you’d like my support to step into your most MAGICAL self in your biz, send me a message and let’s see how we can make some magic together!

xoxo

Larissa

Do you have NICHE-resistance?

By Larissa Popov | Business , Marketing , Mindset

If you’re a business owner, you’re probably well-aware that having a clear niche is an important part of a successful marketing campaign. But are you truly sticking to it?

Have you ever read an article or social media post and felt like the author was speaking exactly to you? They understood your unique situation, the challenges you face and the things that are really important to you?

You felt seen and heard, and it built a certain level of trust with them because it’s as if they were in your head, thinking your very thoughts!

Some of us consider ourselves clear on our niche, yet when it comes to our marketing, we can have a tendency to want to clump so many different people into the message:

e.g. I work with women (and men), I work with business owners (and other professionals), I love to work with moms (but you don’t have to be a mom to work with me!)

While it’s absolutely true that we love to work with all of those people, and we are very capable of supporting them, from a marketing standpoint, it doesn’t have the same impact as speaking to one specific person.

Committing to a niche can bring up lots of fears and doubts:

• What if niche is so small, that there’s not enough people for me to serve?
• What if I alienate all the other people who might want to work with me?
• I can do so much more than solve one single problem. Aren’t I selling myself short if I focus that much?

I totally get it! In fact, I recently caught myself with a very insidious case of niche-resistance.

In my own head, I’ve always considered myself more of a “transformational” coach; someone who loves to do the inner work and help people to feel confident and empowered in every aspect of their lives.

When my business coach insisted that I settle on a niche, I felt most inspired to help coaches, healers and other service-based entrepreneurs to feel confident around being visible, promoting their business, and earning more income.

However, I would often mention to my coach that I also love helping people with relationships, and money blocks, whether they are business owners or not. There was a part of me that really wanted to hold on to all of these aspects at once — if not overtly in my marketing, but in my own mind in how I approach ever piece of content I create.

And somehow I have continued to do so… until now.

After coaching one of my own clients through the process of choosing and committing to a niche, I was hearing my own words and realizing that at a very subtle level, I wasn’t following my own advice! (I love how we teach what we need to learn!)

Even though my business and marketing was focused predominantly on one specific niche, in my mind, I was still including many kinds of people, and trying to acknowledge everyone.

I have observed this pattern of thinking to myself, “I’m helping business owners and I have this great idea they will love, BUT… I also need to find a way to include these other people too”. That “BUT” would many-a-time derail my original inspired idea and lead to delays and lots of second-guessing myself.

Not fun at all!!!

My subtle, niche-resistance had a few significant consequences:

• more time & energy spent wondering about topics for content: it’s harder to find ones that work for many different types of people!
• delivering a message that is not as impactful because it isn’t as clear, which means fewer of my ideal clients finding and resonating with my work
• difficulty communicating my uniqueness in a clear and simple way so that I can differentiate myself from my colleagues
• most of all, and overall, the lack of clarity in my own mind resulted in a level of ambiguity in how I see myself and my business, which made me feel less confident about everything I was putting out there!

So, if you’re feeling the slightest bit of niche-resistance, here are my best recommendations to help you fully commit to your niche so that you can

attract more of your ideal clients with your marketing efforts and grow your business faster!

By narrowing your niche, you will be speaking to a smaller group of people. Yes, you should definitely do your market research before committing so that you know that it’s a viable niche, but assuming you’ve already done that;

Here are a few of the awesome benefits and myth-busting mindset shifts to help you align fully with your niche:

• Your content and marketing will then be much more effective at attracting your ideal clients because they know you’re speaking to them!!
• By becoming known for helping certain types of people with certain types of problems, it’s way easier to establish yourself as an authority or expert in your niche! –> More visibility and more referrals!!!
• It makes content creation so much easier when you’re clear in your own mind about who you’re helping and what they need the most.
• Having a niche doesn’t mean you have to turn away any lovely clients!! You can still enroll other people who are naturally drawn to you and your work.
  • Having a niche is about focusing your marketing message, and if other types of people happen to benefit from your services along the way, that’s also GREAT!!!
• Committing to a niche doesn’t mean you can only and forever more solve one type of problem. You’ve probably noticed that once you start working with someone, you uncover all these other problems they need to work on. So you still get the satisfaction of helping people in all the ways you can!!
  • e.g. I know for me, I may start by working with someone on a problem related to their business and very soon we discover that we need to address their relationship to money, their personal relationships..etc.
• You don’t have to marry your niche! It’s best to start by fully committing to it for 6 months (sort of like, dating!) and see how it feels for you and how it impacts your business. If you’re not happy with it, or as your business evolves over time, you can always change it later.

So today, I am a brand new business woman.

I am fully owning my role as a Divine Business Mentor, and I am totally aligned with my niche: I am here to serve spiritually-oriented coaches, consultants and healers to get out of their own way so that they can confidently promote their business, attract their ideal clients and earn record-breaking revenue.

Working with my ideal clients on their marketing, sales and inner game makes me giddy and inspires me every single day. And if I happen to attract a professional who wants to feel confident about advancing their career, or an empowered woman looking for her life mate along the way, that would be most welcome, too!

If you are interested in how I might be able to help you with your most profitable and aligned niche so that you can attract more of your ideal clients and grow your business faster, feel free to send me an email and we can set-up a time to chat!

Your turn!

Beyond what I shared in this article, do you have any other concerns or doubts about focusing on a single niche?
Share your niche below!

How to Recover from a “Visibility Hangover”

By Larissa Popov | Confidence , Visibility

What happens when you get more VISIBLE?

You may have experienced this interesting phenomenon when you’re putting yourself “out there” in the world in a bigger way, like when you’re:

• getting in front of a bigger audience—whether it’s in print, in person, or on camera
• sharing with more freely, with more vulnerability
• doing something new that will be seen by other people

The HANGOVER?

The hangover happens sometime after the fact, maybe it’s a few minutes, hours or days later when you have some gut-wrenching feeling that in your mind sounds something like:

• “Ugh, did I really say that?”
• “OUCH! I can’t believe I just did that! [So embarrassing!’]”
• “What are people going to think about it?”
• “What are people going to think of me?”

This feeling is also often accompanied by a feeling of panic, anxiety, embarrassment, guilt or even shame.

First of all, if you recognize this experience, CONGRATULATIONS! I celebrate YOU! Because it means you are bravely putting yourself out there in the world!

Why it happens:

• stepping into the spotlight and becoming more visible can make you feel more vulnerable or exposed
• What we feel vulnerable and/or exposed to is criticism and judgment from other people.
• The truth is: often we are way more critical of ourselves than others could ever be.

Why it’s a VERY GOOD THING:

• It’s a sign you are becoming more VISIBLE! YAY!
• You are sharing MORE OF YOU in an authentic way which is WAY better than sharing a FAKE version of you.
• The hangover is worst when you are stepping up to a NEW LEVEL of visibility—so it’s a great sign that you are growing as a person and expanding your reach.

How to handle your “hangover”:

• Honour and acknowledge the feeling — it’s just there because you’re doing something new & a bit scary!
• Congratulate yourself for taking that step to becoming more visible, even though it was challenging
• Remember that the more you continue sharing more of yourself, the easier it will be.
• Be kind to yourself: We are our own worst critics – work on loving and accepting everything you’ve done, mistakes and ALL!
• Remember that your ideal audience is going to love you the way you are, so if others might not receive what you did in the spirit it was delivered…just realize that they’re not the audience for you!

What’s your biggest takeaway?  Share your experience in the comments below!

Want to explore more of the inner work that allows you to be more CONFIDENT & EMPOWERED, LIVE with me?  Join my FB group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/confident.empowered/

My Humbling Path to Finding my Voice Again

By Larissa Popov | Authenticity

After closing my clinical practice of over a decade to transition fully into coaching, and I was determined to hit the ground running.  I was eager to make the most of the extra time to promote my business and increase my social media presence.

I’ve been blessed with a tremendous ability to focus.  The downside, being that it also comes at the cost of forgetting to eat, and possibly working well into the wee hours of the night.   At this point I had been working weekends too…there was just SO MUCH to get done, with no end in sight.

I was crossing tasks off my to-do list with unyielding tenacity and great pride until Christmas Eve, I got sick….like, really sick.  It started with the flu, then it evolved into laryngitis — I lost my voice completely for over a week and partially for much longer… it just seemed to keep going and going.

I was being forced to stop and the worst part about it was that I HAD LOST MY VOICE.

Here I was, at a stage in my business where I was ready to GO OUT THERE and SHARE MY MESSAGE IN A BIGGER WAY and I couldn’t speak.  I couldn’t do what I wanted to do the most: teach and make videos…I felt completely helpless.

So I surrendered.  I surrendered to the pain and discomfort, and to the fact that there was nothing I could do but just be sick.  I tried all of my go-to remedies, even antibiotics, and nothing worked.

That’s when my suspicion was confirmed…this was no ordinary cold-season bug.  This was a lesson. This was my body taking a stand, and taking away what mattered most to me because clearly, I wasn’t listening.

So I started listening. My recovery required nothing less than ACTIVE and CONSISTENT PARTICIPATION on my part, multiple self-care regimes throughout the day, and slowly and gradually, I started to feel better.

My body was forcing me to turn my attention back to my body. The most painful part of that whole experience was realizing that

I WAS SELF-DESTRUCTING IN THE NAME OF AMBITION!

I had hurt myself and neglected my needs chasing after a narrowly-focused goal.

As I write this I’m still recovering, and my voice still isn’t 100%, but I can say that I’m very grateful for this experience.

I’m grateful that it didn’t have to be worse for me to get back on track.  It took this utter failure to help me see how important I am to ME, how precious it is to have a VOICE, to EXPRESS MYSELF and SHARE MY IDEAS.  I need to pay more attention to honouring this body, its limitations and giving myself the same loving care that I wish for others.

Your turn:

In what areas of life have you been neglecting your needs?

How does your body let you know that you’ve gone too far?

What can you do to create more balance in your day-to-day life?

 

May we all move towards greater integrity with ourselves,

Larissa

3 Myths that Stop Holistic Healers from Being Visible to Potential Clients

By Larissa Popov | Authenticity , Business , Confidence , Visibility

If you’re a holistic healer, coach or wellness practitioner, I am certain you’ve got TONNES of skills.

I know you really want to change the world through the work you do!

So, why are you struggling to find clients?

It’s so demoralizing, to believe in what you do so sincerely, and then not see all of that HARD WORK and HEART be rewarded in the form of a fully-booked schedule and money in the bank.

Am I right?

I totally understand what that’s like because I’ve been there!  After helping many clients with these same challenges, I’ve identified 3 common misconceptions that coaches, healers and wellness practitioners make that kill their confidence when it comes to getting more clients and makes them feel like they are the world’s BEST KEPT SECRET.

Myth #1:  If you build it, they will come.

As an idealist, I’ve definitely found myself buying into this one!  I really believed that if I was guided to this work and I was good at it, that the universe would support me by sending me the people who really needed my help.   I learned the hard way, that although this approach may work very nicely for things like Bird Sanctuaries, it was not a good plan for a successful wellness business.

Myth #2:  If someone needs my services, they will reach out and get in touch with me.

I know that it might seem like there is nothing more important in this world than doing the powerful work that you offer in your business, but your potential clients don’t have your services quite as “top-of-mind” as you you do.

Think about the last time you needed to find a new dentist or find a store that sells a particular product you were looking for…  It takes serious effort to firstly, prioritize taking some sort of action in this direction when there are a million other things you have to do, and secondly, to actually reach out to someone for more information.

If we don’t make it easy for people to find us and connect with us in this fast-paced world, that’s expecting a lot!

Myth #3:  If someone has the chance to meet me or see my website, they will understand the value that I offer.

As you may have noticed, having a physical presence or an online presence doesn’t necessarily translate into more new clients.

As experts in our field, we love to talk about what we do and how we do it because it’s just so fascinating, but what your prospective clients care about the most is how you’re going to help them with their problems.  And further to that… what I’ve found in working with holistic healers is, often THEY are not that clear on the value they offer.  So, if we are not even clear on the value we offer as service providers, how we can we expect anyone else to “get it”?

All of these myths or misconceptions may lead you to believe that it’s ok to keep hiding behind your computer, waiting for that magical moment when all the new clients start coming out of the woodwork!

But really, they serve as a way to avoid dealing with the harsh truth which is; in order to get more clients,

YOU NEED TO BE MORE VISIBLE!

And yeah, I know it can be REALLY SCARY to put yourself out there!

There can be all kinds of fears lurking underneath the surface, that are giving you good reason to keep hiding, but what I have found through my own experience and those of my clients is that there are 4 key forms of CONFIDENCE that you must have in order to step into the spotlight with authenticity and attract those ideal clients:

1.  CONFIDENCE in the Unique Value that you Offer

2.  CONFIDENCE to Share your Message in a Clear and Compelling Way

3.  CONFIDENCE to Invite People to Work with You

4.  CONFIDENCE to Promote your Business by Sharing Your Expertise In-Person, Online and On-Camera!

Notice that I also mentioned, doing it with AUTHENTICITY.  This is isn’t about forcing yourself to do things that make you want to run and hide…

In my upcoming pilot program, “Own Your Brilliance: Stop Hiding & Share your Gifts”, I will be sharing my unique process that clears the hidden blocks that are stopping you from feeling confident in all four areas so that you can BE MORE VISIBLE to your ideal prospects and FEEL REALLY GOOD doing it!

Because this is a pilot, I am now offering the opportunity to participate at a one-time-only, radically-reduced rate in exchange for your valuable feedback.

Are you ready?

If this sounds juicy and appealing to you, CLICK HERE to send me a message and we can discuss if this program is a good fit for you…but please hurry, we are starting very soon!

To your success!