Low-Stress Marketing for the Chronic Illness Entrepreneur

Welcome to Crafted to Thrive, the globally ranked podcast for entrepreneurs living with chronic illness. I'm your host, Nikita Williams, and after being diagnosed with multiple chronic illnesses myself, I figured out the surprisingly simple missing links to growing a profitable business without compromising my health. Since then, I've helped dozens of women just like you learn how to do the same. If you're ready to own your story and create a thriving business that with your health and well-being, you're in the right place. Together, we're shifting the narrative of what's possible for entrepreneurs with chronic illness. This is Crafted to Thrive.

Hey y'all, so excited to come to you on this Monday in this Create Your Clarity series, and I'm going to be talking about 4 things that help you stress less when it comes to marketing and sales. And these are 4 things that I feel based on what I've worked with my clients, I've seen help them show up with more confidence, honestly, is when they're clear on this. And so I'm sharing this because I feel like for me, I have to go back even for myself to always remember, as long as I'm clear on these 4 things, and I do these 4 things, I'm good, right? It doesn't have to be perfect. I think a lot of the times we're thinking that whatever it is that we're doing needs to be perfect. It needs to be like spot on, like all the experts. And what's so interesting is that one time I heard one of my coaches say that everyone's still figuring it out, right? We see all these ads, we see ads being tested, we see same things over and over again. Marketing things change. It's because everyone's figuring out what's working and what is going to work for them. And we can get into this mindset around our thinking, like, it's, oh, it's my messaging, it's wrong, right? Or it's like, it's how I'm doing what I'm doing. And it's interesting that the longer I've been in business and the longer that I've worked with my clients is, you know, it's never about what isn't working. It's about what is going to work right now for you and for the people you serve. And what's What's interesting about that is that that will shift and change sometimes, but these 4 things are fundamentally will not change unless you want to change them, right? So what I'm going to share with you are 4 things that will help you. So these are the 4 things that will help you stop stressing when it comes to your marketing and sales. Okay, let's stress less anyway. Be clear on your unique approach. Now I have a whole episode on like how it's okay to talk about yourself and how your how is important. I think this is even more important as we're in this social media world and many of us are kind of branching likely to do a bit more offline content or connection or growing or marketing or grassroots as they would call it, is being clear on your unique approaches. So important because it's the thing that will— Chris, it's also the thing that people will remember because it's tied to your story, right? And so my story and my unique approach is that I use a very holistic approach that helps you shift and think about how you feel about your body living with chronic illness, how we use tools to create safety so that you can show up and not show up if you choose to and still create momentum in your business, still be able to grow. So my approach is very unique to the client. For some clients, I'll say, hey, yeah, you can totally show up live every other day on Instagram if you wanted to. And some of my clients would be like, kick Instagram to the curb, right? Do a podcast. That will give you the flexibility and freedom to really work on what works for you, and you can still attract and grow your business that way, or focus on in-person events because you have the capacity to do that, or focus on in-person conversations. Just make it a part of your daily life, right? So my approach is very unique to the person's need, and my approach includes so many different tools like aromatherapy, mindset, positive psychology, business strategy, chronic illness reframes, all of these different kind of things. And I pick from all of those little buckets whenever I'm talking to whoever I'm talking to, and I'm clear on what those different buckets are, right? So I'm clear on my unique approaches, and it's not just one approach, right? So again, I'm not just a mindset and business coach. I'm not just a sales and marketing coach. I'm also a life coach. I'm also sometimes a health coach. I'm also sometimes just a friend holding space and creating safety for someone being like, who's ready to just share what's going on in their mind and their thoughts, right? I'm also a person that will offer resources and tools specifically for living with chronic illness. I'm also a person who will talk— like recently I just had a client who is amazing in school, getting their master's in herbs and nutrition and all of these different kinds of things. And I have a specialty in my essential oils and aromatherapy, and I can support her through that because that's also an approach, right? Helping them see the differences, what's going on in their personal life and how it blends into their business life. But anyway, when I walk into a room or when I'm recording on the mic or I'm talking about something on content online, I get to choose from those approaches and I'm not afraid because they're tied to my story, right? So you have so many tools in your tool belt. Do you know what they are? Do you have them listed somewhere? So my suggestion to you is to write on a sheet of paper or in a notes pad on your phone, what are the tools, your unique approaches, your unique storylines of how you got to where you are that you can pull from at any given moment to serve or to share with someone what you do and how you do what you do.

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Number 2, be clear on your offer and your who. So your offer is probably gonna change. You probably might have multiple offers. If you have multiple offers, here's my own opinion. I think the most any business owner should have at any given time, especially if you've been in business for less than 3 years, is no more than 2, 1 preferable. If you've been in business for more than 3 years, you could probably get away with doing 3 to 4 offers, but that's at the most, right? You have to look at other ways to diversify your income if that's what you're gonna do. But really, you need to be clear on what they are and who they're for. Each offer isn't for the same person because likely they're gonna be in different places, they're feeling different things, they're going through different things, and you have to be clear on that. And if you are just kind of starting in this business as a service-based provider and you're still trying to figure that out, it's so much easier to do that when you only have one offer. Okay, I have tried it in the past where I'm trying to do both and it gets confusing. It gets frustrating because you are talking to different people. And I have found for myself, like, when I've narrowed things down to like one or two offers, I feel so much more relief, right? And it helps me feel and be more confident and clear when I show up because I know who this specific offer is for. So for example, right now I currently only have one off— that offer is tailored to each client. But every one person that I work with right now, it's one-to-one. We work together one-to-one, 6 months at the current time that I'm recording this. It's weekly or biweekly coaching. You have access to me on Voxer, and I'm specifically tailoring the 6 months to what it is that you need in order to create safety and $100,000 in your business and in your life so that you can flare up be sick, work on healing, and grow a business without feeling like you have to sacrifice everything, right? And so whatever that result might look like for you, I tailor that to you. But in the future, I will have a group program where it is specifically on something that you're going to be able to complete within a certain amount of time. That's very specific, right? And that's a way that you can be very clear by knowing who's it for. Right? And what you offer in that container, it makes it so much simpler. So when you can just be like, yeah, I have one-on-one coaching and it's for the business owner that has been in business for 1 to 3 years, either they've hit their first $2K or haven't hit their first— or hit their $100K and it felt like hard. I'm here to help them make it simpler while honoring the fact that they're healing and showing them that they don't have to do as much living with chronic illness. They actually can be sick and still make money. That's my offer, right? What's yours? Can you say it like that? Can you, can you say it really quickly? Can you say it in a way that someone's like, ooh, that's me. Ooh, that's not me. Great, right? You want to be clear on that. It helps, just helps you feel more confident. And if you are constantly tweaking your offers because you're trying to be like trying to fit everyone and anyone into the offer, take a moment to step away from the offer and strip it down to the most necessary things that it needs to be in order to serve one person over and over and over again. And that one person is likely tens and thousands of those type of people in the world that want the same result. Okay, so not all of my clients are the same, but all of my clients want the same result. They want to be able to make money, they want to not sacrifice their health, they want to be in a better place with their health, and they want to feel confident and clear doing it. Right? They want to do it at their own space, their own space, their own time, and they don't want to sacrifice their health. What is this offer for you? All right. Number 3, gumption. I love saying that word gumption, but I love saying it because you have to be willing to have and share opposing or opposite views from everyone else in the world, right? There is probably an industry standard that someone says something is great. And you completely disagree, you have to be willing to stand on that concrete, put your stake in the ground, let the concrete set and run with it. And that helps you have that confidence and you have to have evidence that backs it up. So for example, I'm going to use the one I've been using a lot lately is that business is personal. I don't care how you look at it, even if it's just numbers. I don't care if you look at it from a standpoint of I'm working with a client and the reason why they started their business is because they wanted extra money or their health is, you know, getting— they want some more help to live the life that they want to live, pay for medical bills. They want to help other people, whatever the case might be. You will never hear me say business is business because I 100% believe even when you go to sign the dotted lines, people are behind those numbers. I think about it when I was in my real estate world of doing real estate. And you know, that's a very numbers-driven, even though it's a very emotional buying kind of experience, whether it's in like real estate for residential or commercial, right? Depending on the business people that you're working with, they're buying these commercial deals to create jobs, to create something for the community, and it's going to affect people. So yes, money is trans— you know, going back and forth, but how this affects people has everything to do with the money that's being exchanged. The same thing in residential homes. Like, if you're selling a house— like, we're getting ready to sell ours— there's a reason why we take away, like, our personal pictures is so that they can envision themselves in the space. And that's personal, right? Also, I don't want them seeing what I look like. And that's personal to me. So business is— business is in service of people. So business is personal. And when I work with my clients, I see how business bleeds into their business, like personal things bleeds into their business. I see how their business bleeds into their personal life. And for most of the women that I work with, they're not just working or have a business just to make money. They can make money any kind of way. They're in this business because they want to impact and serve people in such a powerful, meaningful way. So business is personal. I'm done. I'm done. That's my thing. And I'm willing to say that even when I'm on a conversation with a guest in a podcast episode, I'm willing to say that to a coach who tells me like, look, business is business. Yeah, that's your opinion. Right. I believe business can be pers— very deeply personal in a lot of different ways. Do I think we need to learn How to know when personal things are actually affecting our businesses and how we might be putting that on our businesses. Absolutely. But at the end of the day, the profit and loss sheet is numbers. And behind that, the people are being affected. Either me or people on the other side of that business is being affected by how I'm effective and knowing that business is personal. So that's just me. Lastly, 4. Are you in alignment? Do you have an ability to have an alignment check-in? I call this my reset. I talk about this often. You have to be able to be okay with sitting down, taking a moment. Maybe it's a day, maybe it's a couple of days, maybe it's a couple weeks, right? And looking at everything with no judgment, just looking at it as a mirror. And making a decision whether or not this is really what I want. Is this really where I want to be? Is this really what I want to do? Because for us living with chronic illness, doing things that we don't want to do, our body feels it, it flares up, and it tells us why, right? Alignment is so crucial for healing when you're living with chronic illness. It's the number one thing that I feel like for those of us living with chronic illness, we have to lean into more, is making sure that the business or the life or the or the career is in as much of alignment as it possibly can be with who we are, with our values, and what we want out of this world. Because when it is not, it has a huge effect on our ability to heal and live with our chronic illnesses, right? It's not to put a whole bunch of pressure on our business, because I don't think it has to, but just knowing that how we show up in our business, how we show up in the world Matters. And when we are just doing things to do them and we're not in alignment, we're not intentional, it will affect our bodies because that's how our bodies work. Honestly, that's how everybody's bodies work, but specifically those of us already diagnosed or knowing that we have something but don't have a diagnosis yet, it is important. And that is why these 4 things will help you to feel more confident and more clear. And less stress in your marketing when you can be in alignment, when you feel empowered and feel good about having gumption, about standing your ground, about your core values or your core beliefs or your things in your business. If someone says something to you and you deeply believe it, you're not going to be like cut off, like you're not going to feel sad. I will never forget out of like 100 people, I, I had someone recently not want to continue working with me, which is crazy. Like, in my head, I was like, it only took like 100 people. Like, there's 100 women I've served in some way, shape, or form, and only one person so far has like said, oh, I actually changed my mind. I'm really proud of that. But in that conversation, I realized I was like, I am so confident and solid in the fact that I serve to the best of my ability. I have the education, I have the experience, I have the results for my other clients and in my own life. That I feel so deep down in my core that this is, this could serve you, but you don't want it. And that's okay. And I don't feel any kind of way. I don't make that mean anything about me because this person decided that it's not a good fit for them. And I'm so like, that's not a version of Nikita that would've been okay with that. Like 6 years ago, I would've been like, I need to give her refund. I need to figure out what I need to do. How am I? I would be in the corner somewhere really sad. Right? But I'm so clear on the reasons why I do what I do and how I do it. And of course I need improvement. Of course I need to grow, but I don't take that needing improvement and growth to mean anything about me. It's just the fact that I'm human. That's what I'm supposed to be doing. But what I am right now is enough. Are, are you okay with who you are right now to be enough to put your stake in the ground and say, this is what I am, this is who I believe today. Could it change tomorrow? Obviously, we're humans, we change. But can you do the thing today and stand by it? I had another coach who really coached and helped me through living with chronic illness when I was like really dealing with like this feeling of trying to be all thing to all, all people, even though I felt like crap trying to do it. And one of the things she shared with me was when you're good with you, what other people say to you don't— doesn't hurt, like doesn't hurt as bad. It doesn't even hurt, kind of just slides off. And it's true, like there are some things that people say, I wouldn't do that, and I'm like, okay, there's no feelings about that, right? Because I'm good with it. I'm good with me and my Jah. Like, my Jah, we are good. Me and God, we are good. I'm— I'm— me and him have had this conversation. We're good. If there's ever things I need to tweak or change, I will. But in this particular circumstance, thank you. It doesn't hurt me. It doesn't like hurt so bad and I start questioning my worth. It doesn't happen like that. So I want you thinking about that for yourself. Where can you create less stress in your marketing and sales when you are just good with you? And if someone says no to you, and if someone says this is not a good fit or, ooh, this is too expensive. How are you solid in your core knowing, no, this is not like, no, this is like, this is probably really good deal because I know the effect and power I can have to support you. When you can get to a place that, that feels good, it's not gonna be perfect. It's not gonna be 100% all of the time, but when that's kind of like your normal being like, no matter what, I'm good with me. I'm good with what I stand for. I'm good with my values. I'm good with what I'm offering and who I'm doing it for, and I'm good on how I do it. My unique approach, my story, I'm good. There's no part of my story that I'm shamed about. And if there is shame, I'm working through it with my therapist or working through it with my coach. But other than that, I'm still good, right? Where can you have that for yourself? Because this will help you have less stress in your marketing and sales. It will help you be more clear., and it will help you be more confident. All right, loves, so that's it for today. These 4 things: being clear on your unique approach— some people might call it your intellectual property of your story, your how, your concepts, your tools, perspectives— being clear on what your offer actually is and who it is for. So if you got too many, maybe you need to simplify. If you can't identify the different places there are then you probably got too many, or you need to clarify. What are you standing behind that's different than everybody else? Are you good with that? Do you want to be known about that, right? Stand your ground. And alignment— are you good with it all? Are you in your purpose? Are you doing things intentionally? Those 4 things alone will help you create content, will help you show up, It will help you have sales calls. It will help you market with so much less stress, because those are the 4 things that move the needle the most when it comes to you showing up to your best self, especially as chronic illness warriors. All right, loves. All right, that's it. And as you know, as always, you are crafted to thrive.

That's a wrap, y'all. Thanks for tuning in to Crafted to Thrive, the podcast that helps entrepreneurs with chronic illness to thrive and build a holistic business and life. Check out our website at craftedtothrive.com for this episode's show notes and all the gifts and goodies. Connect with me on Instagram @thrive_with_nikita for more tips and behind the scenes and more. Tag me to share what you loved about this episode, and I'll feature you on an upcoming episode. So until next time, remember, yes, you are crafted to thrive.