Sam discusses how using externalized energies can help us grow, scale, and set our businesses up for success. On this week's episode, we're covering when to hire a team, the most helpful technology to automate your business, and how to know when you're ready to stop looking inward and look outward instead.
Want to work with my magical marketing team? We're on a waitlist through February of next year, but if you know that you’ll be needing help with your online launches in 2021 or need help optimizing your sales funnels, get on the waitlist: thedirtyalchemy.com/apply
Blog mentioned:
“How to delegate when you’re a control freak (written by a recovering control freak)”: https://thedirtyalchemy.com/blog/delegating
Tools mentioned:
Later App: http://later.com
Convertkit: http://convertkit.com
Active Campaign: https://www.activecampaign.com
Keep the conversation going!
Instagram: @thedirtyalchemy
Music: Gaena by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License.
We’re going to be talking about Externalized Energies today & How to access more power in your business without burning out.
As magical business owners we have more than our own energy. We have a myriad of external energies to draw upon.
There’s the magically obvious — our rituals & spirit. The forces that we communicate with through our craft and our consistency.
But we also have the very mundane external energies within our business. Our team. Technology. The systems we have in place. Automations.
Both of these aspects - the magical & the mundane - are so powerful and important to have in place. They multiply our impact.
Because of course we should be working on our brains and our intuition to amplify our personal power. But our business is a separate entity from ourselves, so we can design it to act as a house for energy to build up on its own.
It builds up its own assets. It’s own identity (that’s what branding is 👹).
And soon enough it has a power of its own, energy of its own, that we can draw upon & we can have working for us.
So we have our internal energy. The energy within us. Our personal power. Our wisdom. Our brilliance.
And the externalized energy is energy that is ours. That we can rely on. But it is outside of us.
SO if you can imagine a series of concentric circles. The inner circle is us. And there are more and more circles of energy that we can add out from ourselves to our business that is helping our business have more and more power.
When I started working with one of my clients in 2019, she had already gotten to about $500,000 per year in her magical online business. This is an impressive feat in and of itself but the real jaw dropper was that she got there all by herself with just a part-time virtual assistant.
Fucking rad, right?
This is a great example of a woman who is really tapped into the externalized energy of magic. She has daily and weekly rituals that were magnifying her personal power. She’s relying on the tried and true support of planetary deities, shadow work to increase her power by unifying her conscious and unconscious, and other esoteric practices to make her reality really juicy.
But she hadn’t built a team or systems. And Because she was just relying on the spiritual side of externalized energies, she was dreading Ever launching an online program again. It was stressful and overwhelming and she just wanted a break. So when I was able to come in and add the team and tech side of externalized energies, things got a lot easier for her to scale.
Yes, she was then able to scale beyond seven figures, but more important than that, in my opinion, is she could stop doing the part of her business that she hated, and start doing things she never began to begin with because it seemed out of her wheelhouse. She could spend more time with her friends, her family, and doing things that filled her up so she could show up more fully to her audience, students, and clients. And have the space to have a clear vision for the future of her business that was big and bold and turned her on.
Obviously, systems are a huge part of externalized energy. This is tech like automated email responders, sales funnels, and just your straight up website, and it’s also your SOP’s, standard operating procedures, which I actually wrote in detail about in a blog, so I won’t go into here. It’s called “How to delegate when you’re a control freak (written by a recovering control freak).” And we’ll link to it in the show notes.
But before we dive into more, I want to add in a little Warning label.
The thing that I see people trip up on the most, when they’re starting out… Is that they try and rely on externalized energies when it really doesn’t matter for them. When you’re just starting out, having the perfect evergreen funnel or building a team are not important and can actually be detrimental. If you do not have the revenue and profit margin to actually support a team, and you haven’t spent the time going through the fire of learning the right messaging to make people want to work with you or buy from you, then hiring copywriters or graphic designers or people to delegate to is not your answer.
Having the perfect website and A beautifully designed sales page and all that stuff that all of the bro marketers on the Internet are telling you to do… Are not going to help you.
When you’re just starting out you actually need to be focusing on your internal energy, your personal power.
Before you hit six figures or multiple six figures, as an online business, you are still learning. You are still building. It is still all about you. You don’t need to worry about the outside but the inside. You shouldn’t be looking outwards but inwards.
This is when working on your mindset, doing your shadow work, just getting over all the bullshit that is holding you personally back from success.
This is also when you’re learning about your customer. So many people try to rush through this stuff. They start trying to manipulate the outside world, those externalized energies, instead of doing the inner work and their own work.
When you’re starting out, You need to focus on showing up each and every day and giving value. You need to focus on writing or broadcasting every day. You need to be learning and observing what is actually resonating with the people that you want to work with. You need to get customers and clients and learn from the process.
This is when you need to learn to do all of the things on your own.
If you're just starting out and you’re already creating an online program when you have never worked with someone online before… Stop. You are going to have such a hard time. Harder time than you need to. You need to get experience under your belt and you’re using creating an online program or course as the means for procrastination. Or even more likely as a means for not doing the uncomfortable thing of selling one on one. Selling yourself, selling your value, really standing behind yourself. In the beginning it is uncomfortable.
So that was a bit of a tangent but I just wanna be really really clear about this - that a lot of this externalized energy stuff, beyond your own personal work, should not be your focus until you hit a certain level of success and income.
And if you’re really drawn to working on the external when you haven’t built your foundation, ask yourself why.
What are you avoiding?
You cannot delegate learning how to sell to your ideal customer. That is on you. That is a part of this journey. That is what is going to make you grow as an online business and set you up for success in the long run.
OK, so another side of externalized energy is your actual business, your brand. When you’re just getting started it’s all about you as I said. But as you keep showing up and you keep building your business, your business has a life of its own. Your business has a soul of its own.
On the physical side of this, this is your actual visual branding, your fonts, your colors the way that you write. The pictures you use. It is the name of your business that has traction beyond you. It is people knowing the name of your programs, not even connected to you.
As you consistently use the same branding, and you consistently promote the same programs, you’re building the energy of this external asset. Your business.
You can lean on this asset for energy. It starts being able to create energy, to create profit, to create customers, without you even being there.
On the spiritual side your business has its own soul. The sooner that you accept this, the sooner that you can actually tap into the energy of this and use it for deep wisdom.
A practice I often do when starting with new clients is to take them through a guided meditation so that they can tap in to the soul of their business.
This is so they can actually realize that their business is separate from them. And the sooner that they can realize this, the sooner they can tap into it as a resource, and actually ask it it’s own opinion.
This is something for larger businesses… If you’re just trying to create yourself as your brand then this is obviously not that thing.
But if you’re trying to create this larger entity that is an empire beyond just you, then you need to start communicating with it. You can actually ask it what it wants and needs. You can ask it what direction it wants to go in. You can ask it what its vision is for the future.
You’ll be really surprised by the answer.
Often times, it’ll make you cry. In a good way. Because it has much more beautiful plans than you would’ve dreamed of.
If you’re a magical business owner, then you’re probably already leaning on the spiritual side of your externalized energy. You probably already have rituals that you do, offerings that you give, deities or spirit guides or mantras that you work with.
And as you grow you may rely on these even more, or you may forget about them through your busy-ness.
In Hula a lot of the times they will perform the exact same dance year after year, for the different festivals. This was not just because of nostalgia or tradition. This is because it is actually building up the power of the dance, and you are able to access all of the people in the lineage who danced it before.
You see this with rituals as well. People performing the same rituals day after day or year after year building on that energy, and with different lineages you’re actually tapping into the power of the lineage and the power of the group and the power of the other people within the community.
It’s more than just you.
I almost feel like I don’t need to say this but establishing a daily practice that helps you tap into a higher power is your ticket to tap into externalized energy.
A lot of the times it doesn’t matter what that daily practice is… It just matters to be consistent in building the relationship.
This should be intuitive as a human. If you ask a stranger on the street for $20 it’s not very likely you’ll get $20 from them. But asking your best friend for $20 so that you can whatever… They will most likely say yes without fail.
Forming a relationship with a deity or a mantra or an archetype or spirit guide or your Higher Self or whatever is the same way.
If you have a daily offering and communion with the moon, asking her for support in your business will be way more powerful than asking Venus or Jupiter for help even though they are more commonly associated with money than the moon is. But that relationship that you’ve formed in your daily communion makes up for it. Showing up every day makes up for that.
Having a daily meditation practice is the same way. It is about the consistency and the relationship. That is what is building power. That is building that spiritual externalized energy. So pick something. Do it consistently. It’s that simple. And we will be sharing some really fun practices in future episodes but that’s not what is up today.
Usually there is one aspect of externalized energies that you are naturally inclined to take on. Maybe there’s a spiritual side. Maybe just the tech side and you feel really excited by building automated systems. Maybe it’s wanting help from other humans so you build a team. Or you love visuals so your branding has been on point from the beginning.
There’s usually one area you’re naturally inclined to invest in whether that’s time or money. But to scale fully… You do need to rely on each and every one of these.
And the big bonus as a magical business owner, is you’re naturally attuned to the externalized energy of magic. A lot of Muggle businesses have systems in place, have a team, have a good business. But they don’t realize that they can access the externalized energies of magic.
A big component in externalized energies for your magical online business is building a team. It’s literally an energy magnifier.
I’ve seen people start building a team way too soon, and people start building a team way too late.
One business I consulted for already had four people on her team, and she told me she would be bringing in about $120,000 in gross revenue this year. And she was looking to hire even more people.
For a solopreneur, this is good income. But she’s not a solopreneur. She’s paying herself and multiple other people.
This is not a good set up. She has brought on a decent size team before she could financially handle it. There is so much stress with this. Paying people consistently and well requires a minimum very consistent income.
What happens if there’s a slow month? What happens if there’s an unexpected whatever… (Hello, COVID-19 pandemic). Will she just not pay people? Will she just have to do it all herself? When she’s used to relying on three other people? Not good.
Then there’s the aspect of blocks you still have to work through if you’re pulling in less than high 6- or 7-figures. Especially money blocks like being afraid to raise your prices. If you’re making enough to comfortably support yourself & work full-time in your business versus it being a side hustle, you’re obviously doing great work and people are starting to see that. But you need to go through the challenging processes of learning how to raise your prices, creating passive income like programs, and building your business to a point where it’s pulling more revenue in. If you’ve already hired a team of people but you haven’t learned how to sell one on one to clients, or how to have the conversation with a long-term client that you’re raising your prices… your business is going to fizzle out. You could very well get stuck in a situation where you built up your externalized energies before your internalized energies, building a team before you have the internal structures in place to increase your income, and now you’re stuck. And it doesn’t have to be that hard.
When you’re still in that phase, learning how to do just about everything yourself is really a great route. Becoming a Jack of all trades. Learning how to do basic Facebook ads yourself, learning how to edit your website, how to make pages that convert well…
Learning the basics enough so that once you have people on your team, you understand the lingo of their expertise. And you can problem solve better.
But anyways… Let’s assume you have a good income. Let's say you’re like my client who’s already multiple six figures and just using a virtual assistant. You may be a little too late for building a team. Not as in too late and that it’s too late you can’t do this now. But you’ve cost yourself unnecessary stress. You’re also a little behind in learning how to delegate. Learning how to let go of control.
These are two things that a lot of people have a hard time with. Learning how to let go of control, and also just being a better communicator. Not expecting the people you work with to be able to read your mind.
I wrote a blog on this called “How to delegate when you’re a control freak (written by a recovering control freak)” that we’ll link to in the show notes, if this is an area that you need some help in.
So with building a team you’re very clearly magnifying your energy. You are buying people’s time, which can sound really gross to people… But it is the truth. Or you’re buying their expertise if they’re someone that is on a retainer versus charging hourly.
So suddenly let’s say you work, I don’t know, could be a range from 20 hours a week to 80 hours a week or more… when you have a team it’s suddenly not all on you.
Suddenly your hours matter less. You can spend time doing more useful things for your business. More impactful things. You have people taking tasks away from you, like maybe you don’t want to be scheduling out your emails anymore and someone else is doing that for you. Or maybe they’re adding something new… Maybe you’re like my client and you didn’t have the knowledge or motivation to build sales funnels, so you just didn’t do them. So you hire someone who can do that, that has the expertise.
That is externalized energy. You now own that within your business. And it’s really incredible, because when you’re growing your externalized energy like that -- by hiring more people with new areas of expertise and giving yourself the time to branch out into the things you want to be doing more of -- there really is no limit to how big your business can grow and how impactful it can become.
There’s sometimes so much fear in hiring people or building a team. There’s an obvious and understandable attachment to the revenue. To the large profit margins.
But there’s also a fear of the responsibility. To have people relying on you. A slow month when you’re a solopreneur (or if it’s just you and a modge-podge of contractors) is no big deal.
But when people are dependent on you for a salary. Or you have people on a retainer.... A slow month is a whole different ball game.
Hiring a team can make the stakes higher. But it is also a big key to scaling quickly.
It’s a key to making your business a dream come true versus a prison that is dependent on your ass at the computer all day everyday. (And didn’t we become entrepreneurs so we didn’t have to do that?)
You doubling or tripling your revenue when you’re already at the multiple-6-figure or 7-figure mark will require you to get over yourself & hire help. To hire people who are better than you. That can SUPPORT you. Who believe in your mission & want to help in your vision.
The sooner you find the right people, the sooner you’ll be free. (And the sooner you can dwell in creator mode & better serve your audience, students, and clients.)
So hiring people is a huge way to expand your externalized energy to grow your business.
And if you resonate with my message here on Business As A Magical Practice & you’d like to hire my magical marketing team, we are on a waitlist through February of next year, but if you know that you’ll be needing help with your online launches in 2021 or need help optimizing your sales funnels, head on over to thedirtyalchemy.com/apply to get on the waitlist for 2021.
Another way is having the right technology structures in place. This can save you a ton of time and energy that you can then put toward the things you want to focus on in your business.
And as a triple Virgo who runs a digital marketing agency… systems are my jam. I’m all about the structures business owners need to have in place to succeed, it’s a very earthy thing.
Having the right technology in place -- whether it’s a scheduling app, a task manager, an email scheduler… once you set them up, they do the work for you. Set yourself up with an Instagram post scheduler like Later App so you can schedule it out weeks in advance and not have to think about it. Same with emails -- using Convertkit, or Active Campaign to set up and schedule your emails in advance will make your life so much easier. Essentially… you want to make as much of your business automated as possible. Because that’s going to buy you time in a big way. And It will save you a lot of mental space and help your business run more smoothly.
Then there’s task managers like Asana or Trello, where you can list out everything you need to get done… which is especially important when you have a team you’re delegating to. Because if you don’t track everything, things will fall through the cracks (or even if nothing does fall through the cracks… the anxiety you feel that you might be forgetting something isn’t worth it). These external tools that help you free up mental space and funnel your energy make a world of difference in your ability to stay organized, efficient, and get shit done.
So the moral of this episode is really a perspective shift and realizing that your business is not just you. There are a lot of ways you can access larger and larger amounts of energy. Obviously through your magical and spiritual practices. But also as we discussed today through building a team, through building systems, through building a brand, through using technology.
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So In closing out, I do want you to do a little assessment of where you’re at. If you are still in your beginning stages of business - you’re still getting to a place where it is an overflow of income for you. Meaning you’re making enough to cover your expenses, paying yourself, having a business emergency fund, and then some…
Then you need to be working on building your personal power. Building up the foundations of your business. And we’ll talk about this on a different episode.
But you can listen on, keeping in mind that you will be doing all these things in the future as you scale your business.
And don’t forget that this is really something you want to be thinking about from the ground up, for every part of your business.
For those of you who are at a point where you are ready to rely more and more on externalized energy, ask yourself these questions…
Do I have a clear brand? Do I consistently use the same fonts, colors, and style? Do I consistently promote the same program or programs over and over again so they are building momentum & recognition on their own?
Have I connected with the soul of my business, or am I still associating my business with my own identity?
These questions are all going to help you dig deeper into your soul as a business owner and the soul of your business.
And if you have not connected with the soul of your business, I invite you to actually go into a meditative state and do that. Call upon it. Start that communication.
Ask:
Do I have a consistent magical practice? Are there energies that I am tapping into that are beyond me on a consistent basis that I am building a relationship with? Are there any deities or spirit guides or archetypes or mantras that I could start working with, that I’m attracted to work with?
Do I have the technology in place so that as much of my business that can be automated is automated? Do I have someone on my team that I can rely on to make sure that those are functioning properly?
And some examples would be automated email series, sales funnels, making sure that your website SEO is on point, consistent content marketing that are attracting the right people at the right part of their sales process…
Do I have a team? Do I have the profit margin to allow me to hire people? Do I have the support I need to really step into the role as CEO of my business and the visionary?
And some examples of who you can hire depending on where you are in your business would be… An online launch manager to hold all the pieces together for all of your online launches or staying on top of evergreen funnel numbers. A customer service person or even a customer service team depending on your size and your audience size. An executive assistant to help you not just manage things within your business but also in your personal life. A community manager to make sure that your online community is thriving, whether that’s your public community on your social media channels or your private community within your online programs. And this can also include trained coaches that can be within your programs so that you’re not the only one asking answering questions or coaching your students within the program you actually have people trained to help you give value within your programs to your students and clients. I could go on but I think it’s a good start to give you a good idea of different ways that you can actually get support within your business & build out that externalized energy.
And then within your team, do you have standard operating procedures? Do you have a documented system so that your entire team, anyone on your team, or even people off the streets, could come in and carry out a task?
Sidenote with that is so many businesses are resistant to this. But if you actually do this you are going to thank yourself 100 times over later because when you bring new people on your team, or God forbid someone leaves your team unexpectedly, you have the things to hand to them, the new person you hire, so they can jump right in and not skip a beat.
P.S. We have a verrrry special guest next week, Carolyn Elliott, master coach, 7-figure magical online business owner, and author of Existential Kink. So looking forward to sharing that.