The Road So Far…
I like the show Supernatural, so this feels like an appropriate heading. So I will recap where my business, Soulfull Integration, has been. Perhaps I will make another post about what my life was like before my business soon.
I created my business in 2020. I was working from home due to Covid. I was enjoying the experience of working from home. I was living with my husband, my 19-year-old daughter, and our cat, Ava. We were making ends meet financially, but we were living below the poverty line. I knew I wanted to make a change.
Mistakes Were Made
I joined a program that was designed to teach you how to market to affluent people. Looking back on it, I was not a good fit for this program because I didn’t even have a business when I started. I made a lot of mistakes in the beginning. The biggest one that comes to mind is reaching out to everyone I know to set up calls so I could ask them what they were doing – in hopes that they would ask me what I was doing. The goal was to do it quickly – 100 calls in a month. This felt really icky, and my intuition screamed at me. The thing that I find sad is this is still a common marketing tactic.
My other specific challenge during this time was I spent a lot of time and effort trying to figure out who my ideal client was and what my one-liner was – a phrase that described what I did and who I served. This all felt very heavy, and I made little progress. I gradually stopped working on the program. I have run across these techniques frequently in my journey, too. I didn’t realize there was a better way, at least for me.
Life-Changing Learning
Over the next couple years, I took several Theta Healing classes. Theta Healing is a technique that helps reprogram subconscious limiting beliefs. Limiting beliefs are those that are not for your highest and best good, and they keep you stuck. These limiting beliefs are replaced with ones that serve you better.
I developed some offerings in my business. I created my own healing modality, Soulfull Integration, that drew heavily on Reiki, Theta Healing, intuition, and life coaching. My intuition increased greatly during this time. I also met a personal goal during this time – having a dynamic, personal, and daily relationship with Creator (AKA God, Source, Spirit, Universe, etc..)
In 2023, several things changed with Soulfull Integration (the business). I enrolled in a course called 2K for 2K with Stacey Boehman. The course helps life coaches make money. I worked with my first two paid life coaching clients. I also created and hosted Marquette Holistic Health Fair. The event was beautiful and well-received.
Getting Stuck, Hermiting, and a New Self Emerging
For about the first half of 2024, it didn’t look like much was happening in my business. I felt stuck. I also felt this need to hermit, to go inside to think about things and create. If I spent too much time around other people, sometimes it would feel exhausting. I had to pay very close attention to my energy levels and be careful not to overextend myself. This need to go inside, this hermiting, is consistent with my Human Design type, a 6/2 Projector. I was also learning more about Human Design during this time. Also during this time, there were two deaths in my husband’s family.
I had been feeling transformation occurring, and I knew that I new self was emerging. I participated in two group coaching programs. Courage, Power, and Peace with Amy Turner was designed to help you look at things in different ways. I found a few tools and exercises that really made things clear for me, and I really enjoyed feeling supported by a group of other women who were working through the same concepts that I was. I also participated in an Abundance Pod with Laura McPhee. I received support around what it might look like to leave my 9-5 (well, 8-5) day job and to be fully serving through my business.
Questions, Collaborations, and Changes
In late June 2024, things began to shift for both me and my business again. A question from my daughter helped: Where would you like to see your business in, say, three years? I have often struggled with the answer to “Where do you see yourself in five years?” I have also had a very fluid approach to my experiences, and thinking five years out seemed too big and a little threatening. Anyway, this was a question that I had never considered. I have never dreamed about what I wanted my business to be like. As I create this post, I still have not answered that question fully, but I do have a few ideas. This question allowed me to recommit myself to Soulfull Integration. I found myself easily taking consistent action.
My friend, coach (from Courage, Power, and Peace) and collaborator, Amy Turner, also made me an offer to commit at a very deep level to Apiary Life Studio. While I ultimately declined the opportunity, it helped me explore what I really did want from my business. Are you seeing the theme here? We began to collaborate on the Hive Gide, a directory for health and wellness service providers in Marquette county. This was tied to another offering, Healthy Happy Hours. These are monthly meetings that offer networking and a chance to learn about various health and wellness modalities from the practitioners that do them.
A New Beginning…
Immature…or Playful?
In August 2024, I was listening to the Make Money as a Life Coach podcast. Stacey Boehman, the show’s host, was talking about how when your business matures, you want to focus on one offering. She said that when life coaches first make money, she recommends that they do what they can to make some money so they have the belief that they can make money. This includes coaching whoever comes to you and not getting bogged down with the idea of having a niche if you don’t have one.
I had this huge epiphany, and I realized that I had been going about my business all wrong. In the back of my mind, I had been trying to figure out who my ideal client was and what my one liner was. But I haven’t worked with enough different people to come to a solid conclusion on my ideal client. And I realized that I wasn’t sure what I even liked to do, service-wise. I have this big, beautiful background with all kinds of neat modalities, skills, and knowledges. But I don’t have a clear offer because I don’t know what I liked. So I gave myself permission to “throw spaghetti at the wall” and explore what was fun for me.
But Life is Still Happening…
In the meantime of all this happening, I have been planning the 2nd Annual Marquette Holistic Health Fair, doing the collaborations with Amy, and creating a soon-to-be-released product – the Soulfull Savings Card – a discount card for remote services. I have also had a deeper understanding of why going out and meeting people is so important. I have created amazing connections and opportunities because of this.
I have decided to vend at a few craft shows and a paranormal convention (which I’ve never done) so I can meet people, learn about them, and share what I’m doing. This experience is similar – on the outside – to when I reached out to everyone I knew to tell them about what I am doing. However, the experience feels completely different because I am in an energy of sharing, service, and curiosity, as opposed to lack, need, and graspiness. This changes everything.
Figuring it Out
As I start to walk this new path, one of playful exploration, I have a few things on my mind. Soulfull Integration is really starting to become its own separate entity. I’m not sure what that means – yet – but I know that its energy and how it is unfolding is distinct from mine. I sometimes still feel confusion around my offerings and how best to share them.
My efforts in the last few months have shifted to being more community-focused. I’m allowing space to discover how all the pieces fit together.
An Invitation to Join Me
I intend to share my journey in this blog as I move forward. I would love to invite you along for the ride. And I start by offering a question for you: Is it time for you to start a new journey, to have a new beginning? Do you know what’s great about new beginnings? You can choose to start one whenever you want to! And you get to bring with you all the lessons you’ve learned up until now if you want to – while releasing the yuckiness that may have been involved with learning those lessons. Ready to go?
