Dear Julia:

I am a Spiritual Medium. I consider myself a "late bloomer" because I did not develop my ability until after age 40. I feel drawn to do my work professionally via public meetings, workshops, TV, travel, etc., but I'm not comfortable marketing myself. Do I need to hire a marketing person? How can I better be of service to people? Thank you very much for your guidance.
Love & Light!
- Sharlette

Dear Sharlette:

Most of the following advice can be adapted by anyone who wants to market any special gift or talent. I know this approach works, for I was once a budding medium like you, and the following ingredients proved to be my own recipe for success.

SET A CLEAR, STRONG INTENTION:

First you have to know without a doubt that this is the path for you. We all receive our "callings" in our own personal ways. I had a major epiphany; it was like God spoke to me. Perhaps you have had your own epiphany, or perhaps you just feel strongly drawn to this path.

Even if you don't feel this is your destiny, you can determine what you will do with your life. There is tremendous power in developing a strong, clear intention. Put your heart, mind and soul into this, and opportunities will start opening left and right.

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF:

Once you know what you want to do and have decided you will do it, you have to believe that you CAN - that you have what it takes. I think this may be where you're getting stuck, for one sentence in your question jumped out at me: "I'm not comfortable marketing myself." Take some time to ponder WHY you're not comfortable promoting yourself. If you believe that Spirit is guiding you to this work, and you know that you have something wonderful to offer people, then you're doing folks a favor in marketing yourself by helping them to find you. No one else is going to know and believe in your ability more than you do. To achieve the success you desire, you're going to have to work out this inner wrinkle. You not only have to be comfortable marketing yourself, you have to be excited about it!

I started doing readings professionally when I observed how lame and even destructive some other "successful" readers were. I saw readings take place in open chat rooms that were not only vague or inaccurate but downright discouraging and negative. These readers were leaving folks disempowered and dispirited. Also, I purchased a couple of pricey in-person readings myself, and knew that I could do better than all of them. So I knew a lot of people were spending money on "bad readings," and that I could deliver something better. This made me really excited to market myself! I thought, "It is going to be so thrilling when I blow people's socks off and they feel they got so much more than they expected. They will feel so blessed, and they will send their family and friends to me, and my business will grow and grow." This is exactly what happened. While I've achieved professional success and abundance, my greatest reward has been the endless, effusive appreciation of my satisfied clients. When you "over deliver," you can't fail!

DO YOUR HOMEWORK:

While I do believe that life can be easy and that we can work at a metaphysical level to manifest whatever we want in magical ways, I also believe in doing my homework. This means that I studied marketing in general, and internet marketing in particular. I learned how to build and maintain my own website. I continually read books and articles that are relevant to my goals.

I also went to school for two years to further my training and development, and was ordained as a Spiritualist minister, which has been helpful in many ways. I now have a network of Spiritualist churches around the world that I am loosely associated with, and I am also legally free to offer spiritual counseling for money; no one can say that I am breaking any "fortune telling" laws. If I were you, I'd consider all of the above, and also look into advertising in local spiritual newspapers/ publications, writing and publishing spiritual books and articles, giving free readings through various channels, getting involved locally or online by teaching a class or offering readings through a metaphysical bookstore, volunteering by giving messages at a local Spiritualist church, etc.

WORK WITH SPIRIT INTUITIVELY:

This is where psychics and mediums have an "edge" in business, so to speak, for we can simply ask Spirit how to go about creating what we want. Dialogue with Spirit yourself to gain ideas and inspiration. This will not only help you, it will also lend you credibility. After all, if you can obviously get good answers and guidance from Spirit for your own life, other people will assume you can do the same for them. Always remember that your success empowers and enables you to help others. The greater your life is, the more others will look to you as a role model and source of inspiration. As you manifest success, you'll gain the power and wisdom to help others do the same.

Asking Spirit to help you promote yourself professionally is neither selfish nor silly. Just as artists can draw inspiration from muses and healers can channel spirits who specialize in physical healing, entrepreneurs can summon help from business and marketing experts in the non-physical. I actually get decorating and gift-giving ideas from Spirit all the time! If you think about it, this sort of help should be easier to come by than the deep answers to big questions that many mediums channel. It's relatively simple to figure out how to promote a business compared to explaining why someone's life is full of suffering and apparent "bad luck."

WORK WITH NATURAL SPIRITUAL LAW:

Where thoughts go, energy flows. We all have the power to manifest what we want in our lives by consciously working with the law of attraction. There are many books and teachings available on this subject. I'm constantly coming across great new authors who offer their own strategies and exercises for tapping into the magic of our true potential as creators. Search the internet for "law of attraction" and begin to study natural spiritual law. If you're already familiar, then make sure you are consciously working with it in some way every day.

Also, surround yourself with what you want to become, and give to others what you desire for yourself. For example, I am constantly promoting other spiritual writers/ teachers/ counselors via Kajama. I know that energetically, this is great for my own career, for what we send out or give to others is what we will get back from the Universe! So even in trying to help you create success here, I am aligning the same for myself. Spend time with people who are successful, and admire their success. Talk about it, praise them for it, ask them how they did it, etc.

GIVE OTHERS WHAT YOU'D WANT YOURSELF (if you were in their shoes):

This is the key to moving from acceptable success to fantastic success. There are a lot of businesses out there that manage to get by, but a few really prosper by truly putting the golden rule into action. If you set a very high aim of doing the work of Spirit in the world and sincerely try to help people above all else, that energy will be returned to you in the form of success, prosperity, fulfillment and appreciation. I always try to give more than others would ever expect, to "over-deliver." While I could easily raise my rates, I also feel it's important to charge no more than I personally would pay for the same length/quality of reading.

If you believe in yourself and you devote yourself to the above approach, and then you act on the ideas and inspirations that come to you, I know you will take off like a rocket toward your goals!

- Julia