What you resist, persists

This term, “what you resist, persists” always seems to be used in negative ways. But something I’ve noticed is when something is meant to be, no matter how much you try to stop it from happening, it will find a way to materialize. I’ve seen this over and over again in my life… the same lessons, same dynamics in relationships would repeat themselves until I let the lesson in. In my business, well let’s just be honest… I wasn’t meant to be an aromatherapist, or a product maker like I tried in my first business, Pampered Goddess. While I gave it my all, it simply wouldn’t get off the ground, no matter the strategy, or how much money I threw at it. And while I hustled with it, people (some who knew my background as a designer, some who saw my PG branding and found out I did my own) would ask if they could hire me for branding and design. At first, I was resentful. DIDN’T THEY KNOW I was here for BIG THINGS, and to help people… not to make stuff pretty?

I resisted. They persisted.

It got to the point where my husband and I had “the talk” – Pampered Goddess wasn’t working. So did I want to give “the marketing thing” a real try, in a way that felt aligned to me and my values, or did I want to get a 9 to 5. (It wasn’t a talk either of us enjoyed. He’s hella supportive of my dreams.) So I gave it a try. The first layer of resistance down, and the clients came. I deepened my work, I integrated new ways to show up, my tribe followed. But there was a piece missing.

Trust.

I had their trust. They trusted me completely, but I didn’t fully trust myself. I knew I was a good designer, but because I didn’t have an art background, I doubted it, and it showed up in my pricing most of all. I was working from this deep, intuitive place, but I was afraid that would be too weird and would alienate people, so I kept it a secret. I partnered with other powerhouse women, in small part because I love the social side of collaboration, but if I’m totally honest, it was a way to hide. Sure, I shared the credit, but I also shared the blame if it didn’t take off. It meant I could lean on them, and their gifts instead of owning my own. I had glimpses of myself as a leader, but it wasn’t until I needed to fly solo in The Tribepreneur Collective that I really named and claimed the type of leader I wanted to become. And then, there was coaching…

Confession Time: The word COACH gives me the heebie jeebies.

Or at least it did. Not for other people – I hired coaches, I am friends with coaches… But for myself? Naw. Advisor. Consultant. Anything but COACH — even though coaching was a big part of the magic I made with my clients. So how did I keep that down? I made sure not to charge for it. (I know, right?!) I’d sell someone a branding package that was around the visuals, the message, with design elements or a website, and then I’d help them go deeper – how to reach their people, how to package their services, how to find their dream clients… but it was always on MY TIME, outside of their project scope. So while it was great value, great service, and got me amazing testimonials, it also left me a bit burnt out because I was over delivering. And it kept me from being able to take on more work because I was giving myself away.

(And if you’re one of those clients reading this, please don’t feel bad – you had no way to know. I was finding my way, and working with you supported my journey, and I’m SO GRATEFUL to you.)

With the coaching… I resisted… but the need persisted.

Because when you have someone new to business, or someone who is rebranding because what they were doing is no longer working, you can’t just give them some colours, fonts and graphics and send them loose in the world… they need some guidance… some follow through… they need to know what comes next.

So consider this my official declaration: I am no longer resisting.

I am a sacred brand strategist, and coach. I help heart-centred entrepreneurs create big, beautiful brands from the inside out, and the strategies that help them find their dream clients to make BIG IMPACT and BIG BANK, in a soulful, aligned way.

I don’t know about you reading that, but writing it felt really fucking good.