Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurship & Spirituality: Using Manifestation to Level up your Business

Now that I’ve been an entrepreneur with my own content marketing business for about a year now, I get a lot of questions about how I did it. And while I could dive into the actual practicalities of how I started my own business, the truth is: A lot of it has been “luck.” A lot of it has just worked out.

Of course, your game plan is essential. Knowing how to get started is essential. But so is a mindset shift.

A few years ago, I would have been embarrassed to admit my beliefs online, especially in connection to my business. But I think a lot more people nowadays are curious about spirituality and manifestation. If you’re at all curious about it, and how it can excel your entrepreneurial journey, then keep reading.

First, you have to be in a good place

If you’re in a really awful place, me telling you to “shift your mindset” and “just manifest” is probably garbage advice. Of course, there are some situations where you can’t just manifest your way out of it. This advice is much more useful for someone who has their basic needs met. They’re in a decent place looking to find a happier place, where they feel at ease.

My experience manifesting a career

First, before I talk about manifestation, I want to talk about my experience manifesting a career. As Gretchen Rubin writes in The Happiness Project, “I often learn more from one person’s highly idiosyncratic experiences than I do from sources that detail universal principles.” So here is my highly idiosyncratic experience—I hope it helps you on your own path.

In June of 2020, I felt heartbroken about my career. At this point, it had been over a year since I had graduated college. There was still no sign of a good job in sight. I was working minimum wage jobs that I knew I couldn’t go back to when the COVID-19 lockdown ended.

On lockdown, I was a heavy TikTok user. I lived alone, and it helped me pass the time. I had stumbled on a lot about manifestation, and while I didn’t necessarily believe it, I figured I didn’t have anything to lose. I mean, it couldn’t hurt, right?

There was one company I was interviewing for, and I really wanted the job. I had learned from TikTok that one method of manifestation is scripting. With this technique, you write what you want to happen as if it has already happened. I wrote in my journal, “I’m so grateful I am a Content Writer at Smart Training.”

A few days later, I got the offer letter. A few weeks after that, it was my first day on the job.

For me, that pretty much solidified that manifestation is real. At the time, I didn’t quite understand the complexities of it. But my experience was proof enough that it works, and that I should keep doing it.

At Smart Training, I would take a few minutes every day to write some of the things I wanted to manifest. I’d write:

  • I’m so grateful my career is successful.
  • I’m so happy I got a raise.
  • I’m happy to be thriving in my career.

Because even while I was happy with my job, I still wanted to keep doing better. I kept scripting almost every day. Then one day out of the blue, someone I had worked with at my previous job at CycleBar called me up. She said she had a position open for a Marketing & Communications Coordinator. I ended up getting the job.

Once I was in that role, I realized how much I had left out when I was trying to manifest a new career. I had been so focused on “moving up the corporate ladder” that I hadn’t thought about my own happiness, or work-life balance. I hadn’t thought about the fact that I want to be able to enjoy some days working from home. I hadn’t considered that flexibility and getting along well with the people I work with is so important.

Get specific in your manifestations

I had gotten what I manifested. But I hadn’t been smart about manifesting the right thing for me.

While at that job, I started manifesting differently. Yes, I still wanted to do well in my career and get a raise. But I also wanted to enjoy my life and not be constantly overworked. I wanted to move back across the country so I could enjoy dinners with my parents. I just started getting real with what I actually wanted out of life, not just my career. Because what good is a great career, if all you feel is burnt out and overwhelmed at the end of every day?

At the time, I had thought I wanted a full-time marketing role at the university I graduated from. However, I got rejected from that job, which made me question manifestation. Why wasn’t I getting what I wanted?

I ended up quitting my job as a Marketing & Communications Coordinator. It just wasn’t worth the toll it was taking on my mental health. I started freelance writing, thinking I’d only do it while I looked for another full-time role. But then it all just keep working out.

And then I realized: I hadn’t been manifesting the full-time marketing role. I had been manifesting my freelance career. I had the money I wanted, with the freedom and remote work I wanted. It had all worked out perfectly.

If you’re thinking about trying manifestation, what have you got to lose?

Persistence is key

I think the key was persistence. Even when I was happy with my job, I kept reaching for me. And on the opposite end of the spectrum—even when I was crying after work every single day because I hated my job, I kept believing that better things were coming to me.

It’s all about persistence. Through the good and the bad times. While you don’t have to script every single day, you do have to continuously believe with conviction that what you are calling in what is meant for you.

Monitor and shift your mindset

Anyone who has shifted their mindset knows it’s a continuous process. I definitely notice a difference in my luck if I have a negative mindset. If I’m thinking, “No clients would hire me,” guess what? No clients hire me. That’s because in manifestation, what you think is what becomes true. This is called the “law of assumption.” What you assume to be true is true.

But when I think, “My dream clients have found me,” guess what? My dream clients end up finding me. And I really don’t have to put that much work towards trying to land them.

If you start practicing manifestation, just know that you are in control of your mindset. It might take some time and practice. It’s by no means easy. But you can shift your mindset from negativity and limiting beliefs to positivity by practicing a “mental diet.” To put this into practice: Every time you have a negative thought, follow it up with a positive affirmation.

What’s a positive affirmation?

Positive affirmations are phrases you tell yourself that help you shift your mindset and beliefs. Here are some positive affirmations I use:

  • I don’t have to work hard to earn money.
  • Every time I enjoy myself, I earn money.
  • Money loves spending time with me.
  • Money is attracted to me.
  • I deserve to be financially abundant.
  • Positive freelance opportunities flow to me endlessly.
  • My dream clients have found me.
  • I am great at my job and I love what I do.
  • My clients value me for what I bring to the table.

Affirmations are part of my everyday, but I especially love them at night right before I fall asleep. I find that when I focus heavily on my affirmations before sleeping, I have a great quality of sleep that I don’t experience otherwise. For example, I’ll wake up earlier and feel more well-rested.

Expanding beyond affirmations

You can choose to stop at affirmations, but if you want to get even more spiritual, I highly recommend getting some crystals for your desk. For example, Tiger’s Eye helps you excel in your career and give you the determination you need to power through your work. Citrine can help you improve your wealth. Carnelian and Moonstone can make you more creative.

Taking inspired action

Of course, a mindset is nothing without action. In manifestation, it’s called the inspired action. Mia Fox writes, “An inspired action is when you do something because you feel the strong inner urge to do it, like having a gut feeling.” She continues, “You could also call it intuition. Or to have a creative idea or epiphany. And you are then taking action on it.”

Of course, inspired action includes working hard. But it also includes taking breaks. Or enjoying a simple conversation, which could lead to a prosperous business connection.

Feeling gratitude

One of the most important aspect of manifestation is to come from a place of gratitude. Even if you hate your job (like I did), strive to find things to be grateful for. Do you love your morning coffee? How cute your cat is when she sleeps? Nature walks with your mother? The ease of your own breath? Your health?

Whatever you can find that you love—cling to it. And emphasize it on a daily basis.

If you can’t find much to you’re grateful for, work to infuse your days with joy and happiness. Because once you start feeling grateful, there’s no limit on what you can manifest.

For example, even when I hated my job, I was still grateful to be learning so much. I knew it would be valuable in my career. So I clung to that.

In summary, gratitude is key for manifesting.

Entrepreneurship & spirituality

Think about it like this. If you don’t see your own value, how can anyone else?

When you have negative beliefs about yourself, they affect how you show up in the world. And unfortunately, they affect how other people see you. They might not want to hire you, or they might not want to pay you what you deserve. But when you have positive beliefs about yourself, the opposite is true. Your path to success becomes clear, simple, and dare I say it: Easy.

When it comes to entrepreneurship, I truly believe I wouldn’t be half as successful as I am if I never got into spirituality. Who knows if I would have even gotten that first career job at Smart Training?

How to Market your Freelance Writing or Content Marketing Business

The reason most freelancers struggle to market themselves is because they aren’t thinking about themselves as a brand.

“But I’m not an LLC,” you might be saying. “I’m a one-man team.” I don’t really care about the specifics and logistics. I don’t care if you’re doing all your work in your underwear. You have to start thinking about yourself as a business. An entrepreneur. Because you really are.

Take a well-deserved moment to pat yourself on the back.

You’re a business. What’s something that every business has to do to generate more leads? Market. And if your ideal clients are other businesses, you have to shift into a business-to-business (B2B) marketing mindset.

Let’s be honest: Most people who are going to pay you are business owners. Or at least, these are typically the highest-paying clients. If you’re just starting out, this is what I recommend. I don’t recommend targeting other content creators who need proofreaders, students who need help with applications, freelancers, or anything like that. Narrow in on content marketing for businesses if you want to earn higher-paying clients faster.

Know your audience

Of course, if you’re a freelancer selling a course, then target other freelancers. But otherwise, you want to focus on your audience when it comes to marketing your service. And who is your audience? Other brands.

Focus on creating content for your ideal audience. You’ll see other freelancers writing posts for other freelancers… Don’t do that. Focus on your audience. Those other freelancers might get more engagement, you’ll get more conversions.

The fundamentals of B2B marketing

If you specialize in marketing to consumers (for example, if you’re a fitness writer, this is you), stepping into the B2B space to market your freelance brand may seem overwhelming…but it doesn’t have to be. I’m a B2B nerd, so let me walk you through the fundamentals of B2B marketing.

B2B is about building trust

Individual consumers are more likely to buy quickly. You see a pair of shoes? You buy them. But in B2B, purchasing decisions are more thought-out, and they take longer. On average, 41% of B2B buyers consume 3 – 5 pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep.

My point is: Don’t jump into sales talk and copywriting to convert clients quickly.

When you’re marketing to brands, just focus on creating valuable content that addresses their problems or provides insights. Focus on establishing yourself as a thought leader…not selling. (That will come later).

Here’s the type of content B2B consumers prefer:

Professionalism is key

When marketing to consumers, you don’t have to be so on-point with your delivery of content. But with B2B marketing, you need to make sure your content looks great and is free of any errors. I know this is a basic tip, but seriously make sure to polish and edit your work before posting it on LinkedIn or your blog.

Also, you want to make yourself “look” and feel like a brand. This involves:

  • Your logo, colors, appearance, and font
  • What platforms you’ll consistently show up to
  • Your brand tone and voice

You need to appear like a business to attract other businesses. It’ll show them you really know what you’re doing.

Top tips for B2B marketing

Meet clients where they’re at. Not to call out LinkedIn but… LinkedIn. First, focus on creating content for business owners on LinkedIn regularly. For example, if you’re an email marketer, you could share top tips for creating an email funnel.

Don’t constantly create content about yourself. A post about how to come up with email topics is way more effective than posting, “Hey, I’m an email marketer. I can create content for you.” Generally, you should be posting 3 pieces of helpful content with no sales call-to-action for every 1 “sales-y” piece you create.

Get specific. Sharing super specific tips is helpful. For example, I recently shared SEO tips, which landed me an interview (for a full-time position, but that’s beside the point). The point is: A business owner saw my content, found it helpful, and wanted to work with me because of it (there was no call-to-action to hire me).

Not every piece of content needs a call-to-action. I’ve been saying this in my last few points, but I’m serious. Not every post needs an “Email me to work with me!” Just post the content to be genuinely helpful. Your clients will come to you.

Put your audience first. What questions do they need answering? How can you make their life easier with a quick piece of content? How can you bring value to their lives?

Content ideas for your first post

Tackle what you can. LinkedIn, blog post, whatever. Just focus on consistency. If you know you won’t consistently write blogs, focus on what you WILL do (perhaps posts on LinkedIn).

Here are content ideas:

  • How a newsletter can help you generate more leads
  • The importance of nurturing your leads
  • Content ideas for your social media marketing
  • What social media is best for your business?
  • How to grow your email list
  • Importance of blogging for businesses
  • Ideas for blog content
  • Difference between copywriter and content writer
  • Ideas for blog calls-to-action
  • Essentials of newsletter marketing
  • Easy SEO tips
  • How to market webinars
  • Tips for writing effective calls-to-action

The key is to be specific. If you’re a healthcare writer, hone in on that.

A lot of likes doesn’t equal conversions

Freelancers targeting businesses, but posting for other freelancers may get a lot of likes… but that doesn’t mean they’re pulling in any clients. If you truly want to land clients from your marketing, how many likes you get isn’t the focus.

So don’t worry if no one is liking your posts. If you’re creating content for your ideal clients, it’s going to pay off in the end…whether or not you’re getting a lot of likes.

Ignore the need for clout!

Any questions?

If you have any questions, leave a comment below! My cat just might take a moment out of her very busy day to walk across the keyboard and answer you.

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Freelance Writing: How it Expanded my Entrepreneurial Mindset

As an employee, you’ve probably experienced this: a breaking point, where you suddenly realize that working 9 AM – 5 PM, staying late consistently, working overtime, and getting more work piled on with no raise is EXHAUSTING.

I was there about a month ago. It got to the point that my mental health was suffering. Plus, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, I didn’t enjoy going into the office.

I ended up quitting my full-time job, like many others have recently. We’re currently experiencing the Great Resignation, where millions of workers in the U.S. have quit their jobs. Suddenly, employees and workers have the power.

During COVID-19, the cooperations had the power. Now, they’re kind of lucky to find anyone willing to work a full-time traditional role (especially in-office).

After freelance writing for a few weeks, I understand why so many others have quit their jobs. The freelance and contract work life offers more money, more flexibility, and more happiness.

What is Freelancing?

When I tell people I’m doing freelance work, sometimes they’re confused. What I mean is that I’m not anyone’s employee.

Basically, the companies and people I work for are my clients. I am my own business (and maybe one day, I’ll outsource my work). I send an invoice, I’ll have a different tax form (in contrast to the employee W-4).

This type of work could be anything (but here are some great ideas if you need them). For me, it started with writing blogs, and quickly evolved into content marketing.

But I also realized: I don’t have to just do freelance content marketing. I can also use other skills. I have a lot of experience babysitting and nannying, so I can use those skills to land an easier babysitting role. By easier, I mean less scholarly thinking. More work that uses a different part of my brain.

That will give me time to make some money while I look for more quality content marketing clients. I can focus on lead generation of meaningful and valuable work, rather than accepting lower-paying writing jobs (which I’m currently doing).

If I have the income to be pickier about the clients I accept (by charging more), I will be able to work less hours and make more money. Which is what we all want to do, right?

With freelance work, you can continually increase your income.

Since you are making enough to survive, you can start saying no to people. You can start asking for more money. For example, I recently upped my babysitting fees to an absurd amount. Why?

For two reasons:

  1. I don’t really need the work. I have other babysitting offers that I’m going to turn down. I’m not desperate to accept lower-paying work, and honestly, there are plenty of babysitters in the area who are.
  2. I would rather take lower-paying work that has to do with my career to build my portfolio. While I probably will continue to accept lower-paying jobs in marketing, it’s to expand and sharpen my professional skills and build references/connections.

When you work a 9 AM – 5 PM, you cannot continually raise your own hourly rate. You also can’t really deny work. You need 40+ hours per week.

Whereas if you work as a freelancer, you can increase your hourly wages and work fewer hours per week. If you have one week where you don’t want to do much work, you can turn down projects.

Plus, you have multiple sources of income. So if one of your clients is giving you a super challenging time, you can cut the professional relationship off and know you’ll be okay because you have other sources of income.

What skills can you do freelance work with?

Honestly, you can do anything. I mentioned writing, content marketing, and babysitting, because those are my skills and those are what I like to do. But if you love pets, you could do pet sitting. If you’re an amazing plumber or technician, sell those skills. My sister sells cookies.

Whatever your skills are, take a moment to think, how can I use these to make money? And it doesn’t all have to be the same thing. Maybe you sell homemade candles and soaps, but you also transcribe audio for people.

It just takes time. Ask yourself: What am I good at? What would I not mind spending my time doing? Start jotting down your ideas.

How to Find Freelance Clients

Facebook Groups

Honestly, I’ve found a lot of freelance writing and babysitting clients on Facebook. I just joined Facebook Groups and posted or interacted with people looking for the services I am providing.

These groups have landed me some long-term clients for written blogs as well as a long-term babysitting gig. I got many other offers as well.

There are also multiple Facebook Groups for each “category” of services you’re providing. For example, I joined one group for babysitters needed in one town, and then a second group for babysitters in the town next to it. Both are in driving distance to me.

For one group, I had a lower hourly rate. When I got multiple inquiries from that one, I posted in the other increasing my rate. I just posted a resume geared towards babysitting and said I’m looking for some gigs. I got a comment, “Your rate seems high.”

I responded, “Yeah, I don’t need this work. I believe parents are willing to pay for quality. If you want to pay lower rates, there are plenty of babysitters in the area that would love to have the work.”

Because while I did take a lower-paying long-term babysitting job, it provides stability. Along with my content marketing role, any extra hours besides both of these gigs would just be overtime. So since I don’t need the work, and I have to make it worth it, I raise my rate. Simple, right?

Plus, it really only takes one person to say yes. And then you’ll be doing more work, but it’ll pay off.

Also, a lot of these groups are just valuable to be a part of. People share valuable information, and you can post within the groups. One of my posts got 230+ likes in that group. I could screenshot high-performing posts in those groups and use them to show my content creation abilities and engagement potential.

It’s easy to find these groups. Just search “Freelance Writing” or “Babysitting + your town name.”

LINKEDIN

Especially when you’re looking for work that’s more “scholarly,” such as content writing or graphic designing, LinkedIn can be an amazing tool. I’ve found long-term writing clients on there, and it’s also how I found the content marketing position.

There are a lot of freelance job opportunities on LinkedIn. Just set your search to “remote” and type “freelance” along with whatever position you’re looking for. For example: freelance graphic designer. Plus with LinkedIn Easy Apply, you can apply on your phone while you pet your cats (or dogs, whatever).

Don’t ignore LinkedIn! It’s actually amazing. I will never stop using LinkedIn for jobs. I’ve had so much success already that I don’t even think about going on Indeed.

Other ways to generate clients

First of all, build your personal brand. Create beautiful, engaging resumes targeted for the role you want, work samples, and more. I haven’t really started social media marketing enough yet, but I probably should. Work on getting a website or improving the one that you already have.

Another way to generate clients is through word of mouth. Do you know anyone that needs the services you’re offering? Or does anyone you know have a friend who needs your services?

Tell others what you’re doing. You never know what might come your way.

Think of one of your “jobs” as marketing yourself.

As an entrepreneur, you need to “sell” or market yourself. You don’t have a 9 AM – 5 PM job, so you need to find work for yourself.

As you build your own brand, start asking yourself how you can improve your personal marketing tactics. Maybe if your website has built up subscribers, you can start to send them engaging newsletters to continue growing your business.

It’s easy for me to think about marketing yourself, because I work in content marketing. But basically, all you need to do is provide content that is personable, entertaining, and informative. This content could be writing blogs, email marketing, social media, a podcast, whatever.

Wherever your ideal clients are, market yourself there.

While I said it’s easy for me to think about marketing yourself, it’s hard for me to imagine consistently doing so. On top of all your other work, content marketing for your own business is A LOT of work.

But maybe one day, when you’re generating enough income to do so, you can hire another freelancer who specializes in the marketing work you don’t want to do.

But until you get there, try to get your name out there and stick to a consistent brand and style while creating your graphics. For example, pick 2-3 fonts to stick to, a few colors, and maybe a certain type of aesthetic. Create business graphics on Canva!

You’re not stuck in your 9 – 5.

I know it seems like you are. I know it’s scary to leave the stability. But once you grow confident in your skills, freelancing can lead to a higher hourly income and less need to cling on to one employer when you have a variety of income sources.

All it takes is a little thinking outside the box.

Maybe you love your 9 – 5. That’s totally fine! But it’s not the only way.

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