Deb MilesI remember having a conversation with one of my managers while working as a Marketing and Training Coordinator for a Not-for-Profit.
Essentially in the conversation I was told that sometimes in business “you have to sell your soul to the devil”. I was in my last term as a Marketing student. I had already seen that could be the case since marketing was about understanding people, and pitching your service or product in such a way that lured them into making a purchase. It didn’t sit well with me in theory and there was no way I felt right about putting that into practice.
Hearing a manager actually telling me that I was expected to set aside my values for a service I thought matched my values nicely had me seriously considering my career choice. Not long after that conversation, and within weeks of me graduating with my University Degree, I left that job role.
It was time for me to embrace my uber high values for living and explore something different which led me down a major career change. I found myself studying holistic healing and natural therapies from an oriental perspective.
In developing my own natural therapies business, I was able to combine my love for relationship marketing with that strong dose of caring and humanitarian values. It meant I could market something I firmly believed in without that feeling of selling my soul.
There was growth to my business over a decade, while still maintaining loyal clients. And even though my business has recently pivoted well with the current global situation, I still work as a therapist seeing my clients in private practice.
A few years ago I was approached by another Not-For-Profit to help them with some projects. I could clearly see the values this organisation had and they allowed me to embrace my creative self without that inauthentic story telling. I felt a true sense of how marketing could be used for good, not ‘evil’ outside of my own business.
The vision for Mindful Marketing started to take shape. I saw an opportunity to nurture relationships and a place where marketing from the heart could be a reality.
As I started to talk with other natural therapists about growing their business my passion for marketing grew stronger. I now support several holistic and wellness businesses and work on several not-for profit projects, but I can see that the principles of Mindful Marketing are for any business that moves from the heart.
Relationship building is the key to longevity in business. And to build relationships we need to understand who we are and what we stand for. Learning what is in our heart, means that we reach the right clients at the right time, and retain them for a lifetime. But first we need to meet ourselves in our own heart. This is what I hope to bring to my clients – a place where they can meet their hearts within their business.
In addition to moving from our heart space in business, it is imperative that we bring together the Yin and Yang aspects of our being. Balance our intuitive, creative flow with a practical, strategical and actionable plan to grow our business.
The universe will answer only if it sees that we are moving forward. Marketing meets mind, body and spirit. This is what will be a driving force for Mindful Marketing. And I cannot wait to see it take shape as Mindful Marketing itself continues to grow.
https://www.facebook.com/MindfulMarketingwithDeb
https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah-howcroft-miles-667baa1a2/#
LK Tommi
Gaylyn Aitken
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