I set a big goal for my business for 2014: to welcome 800 dreamers into my Creative Dream Circle. And to do this not by getting super pushy about selling – but to do this with heart and soul and creativity and joy and LOVE.

(you can read my original post about this here)

At this point though, it?s less about the numbers and more about growing my capacity to serve dreamers everywhere in living gorgeously with their dreams – gorgeously meaning in alignment with their inner truth.

In support of this goal, I am writing weekly updates on Fridays, for all of 2014. This is where I’ll share the story of all the ups and downs of bringing a big dream to life.

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So the last month or so this has felt stupidly complicated.

I’ve been exploring, and ultimately decided to totally recreate, my marketing plan.

This kind of stems back to the question I was asking when I first started this journey: To get a different result, do I have to do something different than I’ve been doing, or do I just have to do MORE of what I’ve been doing?

I’m not a marketing expert.? I’m really happy that I’ve learned enough about it to make a living doing the work that lights me up.? But my marketing has always felt a little murky.

Marketing is essentially being clear about who you help and how you help them and explaining that in a way that they can understand.? I’ve got a Bernina sewing machine.? When I run into trouble with it, I go to the Bernina authorized dealer & repair shop.? I know that they are the ones to solve my problem.? They help Bernina machine owners keep their machine running happily.

It’s never been that cut and dried for me to say WHO I help or even HOW I help.

The last few years my marketing message has been that I can help creative, spiritual people make their dreams real.

And that’s changing.? Sort of.

My job is to hold the space of where you want to be, give you the tools that help you build a path that leads to where you want to be, and hold the space for you to complete the construction.

That’s what I do in the Creative Dream Circle.

And that’s what I’m going to do in my marketing now.

So this is my new plan:

I’m going to talk about living gorgeously with your dreams instead of talking about how to get your dream.

Which is still talking about the same thing but with a different vibe.? It floats above resistance.? It’s more inspiring and encouraging.

People who believe that their dream is impossible are probably not going to want to listen.? People who are living gorgeously with their dreams, like the people in the Circle, are going to be inspired to listen more closely.

Until now, when I’ve tried to really dig down and get clearer on my marketing…? Blah blah fucking blah.? That is all I can think when I try to focus on it which is why I have not focused on it very much at all.

I want to admit here that when I first started taking business classes, when I was still doing my classes in-person and just thinking about moving it online, I cried, A LOT, about how hard it was to nail this stuff down.

But now, here I am on the other side of it.? These past few months I’ve spent a whole ton of time and energy focused on exactly this thing? – who do I really want to serve and how – and yes it was really frustrating at times but my results are INSPIRING.

My heart is actually sparkling with joy about the to-do list I put together for this week.? I want to EXPLODE with happiness about having a 2014 class calendar all set up (more on that below).

I want to sing and dance about how I feel about promoting the upcoming Creative With Money course I’m doing in the Circle.

Things are shifting, big time.

You have to be wiling to shift through the muck to get to clarity.? They’re both necessary parts of the process.

I also simplified & updated my website to align with how I’m feeling about this now, and added a welcoming new home page.? (I do plan to record a new video for it – hopefully soon)

The new header is one of my dream-bots, and let me tell you: he is THRILLED to sit at the top of the page and be able to welcome you here.

This is one of the robots that keeps the dream factory humming happily.

He invokes ease, support & delight.

Another result of that digging is that I created a course calendar… FOR THE WHOLE YEAR.

I’m going to create SIX new courses and run a few of my old favourites.

The new classes are very much about living gorgeously with your dreams and LOVING LOVING LOVING the deliciousness of creative soulful exploration.? Lots of journaling and magic-making.? Deep, transformative processes and playful healing work.

And I feel amazing, having a solid schedule mapped out for the whole year. It’s an incredible relief to know what I’m going to be doing all year.? (Though it’s also spacious enough to accommodate change)

And the work I’ve set up for myself to do is inspiring the heck out of me!

Though the numbers are still small.

In terms of numbers, so far this year I’m not getting more sign-ups than I used to when I ran all of my courses separately.

The Circle is just over 80 members now, growing slowly.? I’m accepting that it may not grow fast enough for me to stop doing one-on-one sessions completely, but/and I’m feeling really optimistic and happy with it.

I love what I’ve built.? I love the people that have joined.? It is growing slower than I’d hoped but that seems so small in comparison to how happy I am.

And I do anticipate an upswing in new members as we get closer to Creative With Money (starting April 3) which is a really fantastically awesome class, if I do say so myself.

One thing I do need to do more of that I’ve been totally stuck on is SHARING PEOPLE’S STORIES.

Miracles are happening all the time inside the Circle and I know if more people knew about it they’d want to be a part of it.? I know that sharing these stories is fun and inspiring and the best selling tool I’ve got and I haven’t been doing it.

So that’s what I’m exploring now.? Not so much “why am I not doing this?” but more “how can I find a way to start doing this that I feel comfortable with?”.? There has got to be a creative, soulful, EASY entry point to doing that, and I’m going to find it.

I set a big goal for my business for 2014: to welcome 800 dreamers into my Creative Dream Circle. And to do this not by getting super pushy about selling – but to do this with heart and soul and creativity and joy and LOVE.

(you can read my original post about this here)

At this point – 13 weeks in – the goal is less about the numbers and more about stretching my capacity to serve dreamers everywhere in bringing their dreams to LIFE.

In support of this goal, I am writing weekly updates on Fridays, for all of 2014. This is where I’ll share the story of all the ups and downs of bringing a big dream to life.

This is a BIG week for me.

I feel like I’ve hit a whole new level of creative spiritual entrepreneurship and I am VERY happy to be here.

Inside the Creative Dream Circle, we’re working on module 4 of the Creative Dream Incubator which is all about transforming fear, turning inner critics into allies and shifting comfort zones to include less of what you don’t want and more of what you do want.

I’ve gone through this process many times, and each time there are new gifts in it for me.

And each time it gets a little easier to face my fears.

But this week it’s RIDICULOUSLY easy.

My fears are showing up TINY and with a sense of great spaciousness around them.

This has a such a radical impact on how I feel!

Which is giving me a clearer perspective, which is helping me see the things I wasn’t seeing before.

It’s not just that I have the courage to look at the things I didn’t want to look at before, it’s that I can look at them and see through the problem right to the solution.

I feel like I unlocked a new level of believing in myself.

Of course, I’ve been working on my new Guided Journal & Colouring Book: You Got This. Dissolving Doubt & Bolstering Your Potential to Believe in Yourself and the book is working its magic on me, for sure.

(That book will be available on TUESDAY!)

And, this is update THIRTEEN – that’s thirteen weeks of focused attention to what I want to create.? Momentum builds over time.

Plus, I got some help from my friends this week.

I’ve got Hiro Boga‘s words ringing in my ears, something she said to me when I asked her a question that I am still working out the answer to.? I had a tea date with Jamie Ridler and as we chatted about what we’re doing in our businesses I got a HUGE piece of clarity.? Then I asked Kate James a question about marketing and her response brought me to exactly where I need to be.

Even though I work alone, I have such a rich network of creative support.? Feeling super grateful for this.

When I started this series, I shared the things I was going to do each week, including making time to revisit some of the better business courses I have taken over the years, like Unveiling the Heart of your Business (highly highly recommended if you are just starting out in business) and Become Your Own Business Adviser (much more expensive but highly recommended if you are a little further along) and the book The Creative Entrepreneur.

I’ve been doing that, a bit.?? But I was kind of just flitting around, reading things here and there, and not being clear on where to focus.

This week I saw where I need to focus: marketing.

To take apart my entire marketing strategy and re-build it.

It’s like I am looking at everything with much clearer eyes right now and seeing new possibilities, so I want to re-build.

What I’ve been doing has worked, so it hadn’t really occurred to me to take it apart and re-build it.

I was operating on the assumption that if you can get 10 people you can get 100, and it you can get 100 you can get 800 – it just takes more time.? And the most important part is to stretch your internal capacity, so that’s where I focused.

Well now that I have been stretching my internal capacity for 13 weeks I see things differently.

Also, if you’ve been following these updates you know I’ve been doing a lot of journaling and exploring what “working” means and what I want it to mean in my business, and how I want my business to feel for me and what kind of impact I want it to have.

It’s all coming to a head now.? I can see how and where things aren’t working – according to my NEW definition.? I can see how to take apart the parts that are not working.? I can see what I want to build.

I’ve spent two years building the insides of the Creative Dream Circle as my full-time job.? Now it’s time to build an outside that is worthy of the inside.

People join the Circle are are surprised by how much is there, by how powerful and transformational it is.

It’s a happy surprise, but still – I don’t want them to be surprised!? I want to be describing it better and I feel really clear right now on how to do that.

I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me, and I am super excited about diving into it.

PS: Remember if you join the Circle NOW – you get to come to next week’s Creative Journal Playdate!