Volume 4, Issue 9 | August 1, 2008
www.shift-it-coach.com | [email protected]

Welcome to your August SHIFT-IT e-Zine.

1. A Note From Christina
   
2. Events Calendar
3. Feature Article: Six Marketing Mindset Lessons
4. Recent Blog Entries
5. More Links & Resources
   
   

Dear %$firstname$%,

Thanks so much for the many warm birthday greetings I received from last issue --- I loved that so many of you shared with me your own stories about turning the big 4-0 and also your home manifestation stories.

I moved into my new pad overlooking the entrance to the Victoria harbour just two days before my b-day … such a pleasure!  Great new upgraded space for me to work and live in. 

A special treat was having Morgan P. as my first ‘rooftop’ SHIFT-IT client.  We worked outside on my rooftop deck with the different boats, floatplanes and birds adding punctuation to his visioning and alignment session. 

After being in my new place for about a week, I hopped on a plane for a 4-day workshop in Vegas.  Was a very intense experience with lots of insights, reactions and an opportunity to see several of my internet marketing friends and mentors.  Frankly, I’m still stirred up by some of the things that went down, so this issue’s article is self therapy … a way for me to clarify and share some of my thoughts about marketing and growing one’s livelihood with integrity and aligned action. 

I know that many of you are entrepreneurs and solo professionals … so hopefully this will spark some thinking and dialogue for you too.

See you next issue!

Christina Merkley,
The SHIFT-IT Coach

Sept 15-Oct 27 (Mondays, 4-5:30 pm PST by Webinar): Level 1: SHIFT-IT Virtual Coaching Group What’s the IT(s) you want to SHIFT?  Get crackin’ with this 7-week group coaching experience that guides you step-by-step through the completion of my SHIFT-IT Graphic Coaching Process®.  Appreciate your past.  Contemplate your present. Precisely clarify what you now want to manifest and bust through the junk that is keeping you stuck.  Conducted via webinar technology with participants from around the globe.  Includes SHIFT-IT Home Retreat Kit (or dis-count if you already have it!).    Register Now to Secure Your Spot.

Sept 14-Nov 30 (Sundays, 10-11:30am by Webinar): Level 2: Merkley’s Manifestation Mastermind Got your Magnetism Map all worked out?  Ready for your next level of manifestation support? This Level Two experience is for past SHIFT-IT attendees … the next level of Law of Attraction learning, integration and community.  Learn more in-depth LOA practices plus get deep private coaching on your unique specifics.  Plus sessions on the complimentary outer world tools of internet marketing, web technology, team building, etc. Register Now to Secure Your Spot.

Nov. 5-8: Meeting Graphics 101 and The Graphic Bootcamp (level 1 and level 2 combo):  Yes, its true. This is the LAST EVER offering of my popular, inspiring and nurturing training in using interactive-graphics in group settings.  Learn the base underlying skills for graphic recording and graphic facilitation, no matter what level of artistic ability. Plus all the inside scoop on marketing, business development and personal mindset … for both internal and external consultants, facilitators, trainers, etc.  Let my over 14+ years experience live on thru you!  More Info.  Sold Out … wait list building.

Ongoing: Private Mentoring and In-house Trainings: One-to-one graphic recording and graphic facilitation training for yourself or for your organization. Come to me or I come to you. Only available to the end of this year as this stream of my business is concluding on Dec. 31, 2008 – get my rare knowledge out of me and into you while you still can.  Let the skills live on!  More Info.

I just got back from an intense ‘success workshop’ that rattled me (some of the things modeled about wealth acquisition and law of attraction methods, while not necessarily incorrect, did rub against my value system).  Those of you who have been on my list for a while, realize that over the last several years, I’ve been incorporating more and different types of marketing techniques in my own coaching and info product practice.  This issue’s article is a bit of self-therapy … to help me articulate what I believe and stand for on these interesting topics. 

Be Brave and Be Yourself:
What’s the biggest marketing lesson I have learned in the last few years?  Simply this … be brave and be yourself.  When I started ‘coming out’ about my Law of Attraction beliefs and also using more internet and other marketing techniques – I was a bit apprehensive about how my constituent base would react.  My list of folks mostly knew me via my graphic recording and graphic facilitation reputation and skills … so it felt like a leap to also share other things that I was skilled at (particularly the graphic coaching niche and products I was developing and my ardent belief in Law of Attraction principles). 

It took some guts for me to step out there and change things.  But not quite as much as I would have thought – as the response as been overwhelmingly positive.  Lesson learned: trust that who you are is just fine and that enough folks out there will respond to you.  If you are going through your own SHIFT – I invite you to jump sooner rather than later … as you will find that its not such a dramatic, scary thing as you might have thought. 

Reframe Rejection & Nasty Comments:
Not everything in my shift has been all sunshine and roses.  Several folks (including a few colleagues and friends) have opted out of my list and have felt the need to leave me with parting comments as they do so.  As a recovering people pleaser, this hasn’t been an easy thing.  However, its been hands-down one of the best things that I’ve ever experienced from a growth perspective.  It’s made me develop better boundaries and ego strength (and better systems to screen out the stuff I don’t need to see and have effect my vibration).  And also build in legitimate feedback loops too.

I’ve come to see these comings and goings as an energy flow --- a case of Law of Attraction in action.  As my vibration shifts, a recalibration has to occur.  Folks leaving my list (and new ones joining it) are a sign of the energy change.  As business owners and entrepreneurs, our job is not to manage the changing tides of people coming and going (law of attraction takes care of that).  Our job is to be ourselves, so people can either be attracted or repelled – they get to decide whether or not we are a vibrational match for them (or continue to be).  

Learn to Re-frame Selling
In working with lots of heart and feeling based professionals (like attracts like) I see that many of them have real problems with ‘selling’ and ‘marketing’ – that these are somehow ‘bad’ things. Also, there are some real familial, social and cultural norms at work too (Canadians, New Zealanders, British … seem to have particular challenges with re-framing their ideas about marketing and sales).  So I have to help educate and re-program clients so they can SHIFT their blocks and inhibitions about marketing themselves and their offerings.

I used to feel conflicted about ‘selling’ too.  But now, I actually like doing it because it makes me feel good!  For me, it has transcended into a matchmaking function.  I have excellent products and services that have great benefits.  I want to match them with the people who can benefit from them … so the energy can flow through them.  My offerings and I don’t do any good if we just sit on the sidelines.  So, it’s up to me to get the word out and for people out there to determine if I am a match for them … so those who are can find me.

Believe in Your Worth And Give Good Value
Like anything in life, sales and marketing is an inside game.  You need to feel good inside yourself and have as high a vibration as possible about what you are doing.  You can’t fool the universe.  The vibration that you hold about yourself and your offerings radiates out from you.  You need to get that core aligned first.  Then the outer world stuff flows from there. 

One of the reasons that I like the internet marketing models so much … is that they are permission based.  That people give their permission to receive information and are empowered at any time to opt out – a total freewill relationship.  And, these methods are also based on giving.  If you check out my sites, blog, e-zine etc … you will see that I offer a ton of free information. 

I love doing this! Not only is it fun for me to originally create that content but it feels good to have it up on the web knowing even the fr-ee stuff helps people (I get tons of compliments on my generosity and that adds to the feeling good vibe all round).  If people go on to my other programs, then that is awesome.  But if they don’t that is totally cool too. Thankfully more than enough do to sustain me or other forms of abundance are drawn to me.   It all ‘works out in the wash’ as the saying goes. 

My Favorite Marketing Mentors:
I started learning about internet marketing techniques about five years ago, just after I had created my SHIFT-IT Graphic Coaching Process® and its related tools.  Since I get asked frequently about who out of the ‘internet gurus’ do I recommend most … here is a list of my most important internet marketing mentors, in the order that I found them:

(1) Robert Middleton and Info Guru Marketing

Basic beginning marketing stuff as well as the very handy concept of developing yourself as an ‘info guru’. 

(2) Alexandria Brown, The E-Zine Queen

She’s since gone on to cover the whole gamut of methods beyond just e-zines in her Online Success Blueprint Program. 

(3) Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero, Red-Hot Copy

Copy is all of the writing that you put out connected to your business.  Learning good copywriting techniques has been an invaluable skill to develop. 

(4) Sheri McConnell, Assn’ of Web Entrepreneurs

Sheri has several companies around web entrepreneurship, creating and running membership groups and a forum for women writers (all as a mother of four!).

(5) Melanie Benson-Strick, Virtual Team Building

My current coach (I’m in her platinum program) … all about systems and building a proper team and backend for effective, smooth and sustainable growth. 

Use Your Own Guidance System:
As I was sitting in last week’s workshop, my internal guidance system was on alarm mode (like a big siren) --- at the different ways audience members were reacting and behaving.  I was getting increasingly uncomfortable and at one point actually left the room and my group – which while a difficult decision to make (I didn’t want to let anyone down) was the right one for me. 

Just like my reaction to that particular experience, I invite you to pay attention to your own internal guidance system as you go about building and marketing your business and looking for people to assist you in that process.  Pay attention to your own emotions and feelings --- about what feels right to you and what doesn’t.  In the web world, there is a huge buffet of offerings to choose from. I invite you to choose what feels right to you and discard the rest --- we each have to figure out what to put on our own plates and eat (to borrow an Abraham analogy). 

All the best in making a delicious selection!

© 2008 Christina L. Merkley

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it:

Christina Merkley, "The SHIFT-IT Coach" and creator of the SHIFT-IT Method® is a Visioning and Strategic Planning Expert specializing in Graphic Facilitation and Law of Attraction techniques. Based in charming Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, she works deeply with individuals, partners and groups in defining and getting what they really, really want. For more information visit: www.shift-it-coach.com

Looking for more rich, SHIFT-IT content? Check out my blog for recent ramblings, resources and general interest features:

• Ask Christina: I'd Like to Learn Graphic Facilitation, Where Should I Start?
• Ask Christina: Do I Do Minor Modifications to My Office Space or Go for the Full-On Reno?
• Birthday Bash! Three Days Only!
• Note from Christina... July 18, 2008
• Is Your Living Space a Help or a Hindrance

Besides the Blog, there are plenty of articles to read in the Ezine Archives. Browse past issues here.

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In this innovative kit, I walk you through your past, present and desired future, so you can plot out your directions and strategies. You also pinpoint and flip the negative beliefs, assumptions and mindsets that stand in your way - to stop sabotaging yourself and your dreams. SHIFT-IT has already helped hundreds live life by design, not by accident. Learn how it can help you too!

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