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My guest today is the brilliant Samantha Hartley. Her company, , helps consultants to double their revenues by finding and growing with the perfect clients. We had a fantastic conversation on the best ways to find joy and enlightenment at work....
My guest today is the brilliant Samantha Hartley. Her company, Enlightened Marketing, helps consultants to double their revenues by finding and growing with the perfect clients. We had a fantastic conversation on the best ways to find joy and enlightenment at work.
Samantha Hartley of Enlightened Marketing is a Business Growth Partner for consultants who want to grow but have maxed out how much they can work.
She helps them to double their revenues without exhaustion by working with perfect clients on transformational engagements, so they can have profitable, joyful consultancies.
Samantha’s clients typically add $150,000-$600,000 in their first year of working together. (Other results include growing from $150K-750K in just 5 months; turning a $22K offer into a nearly $200,000 engagement and adding $400K to a contract in 24 hours.)
Before starting Enlightened Marketing, Samantha worked in international marketing for The Coca-Cola Company in Moscow, Russia, and its Atlanta headquarters. She lives on Martha’s Vineyard with her husband and their fur kids.
"what's enlightenment for you and what do you hope to bring your clients with enlightenment marketing.
I think enlightenment is the fullest manifestation of ourselves as a human being in human form.
And my essential gift is that when people come to me, I see their highest potential. And then I'm a practical person so I can help them to realize that. I don't know exactly how this aligns with what the Buddha said about enlightenment, but for me, it was the concept that marketing should serve not just the company, but also the constituents, the consumers, the environment, the, community and the world. And I thought, well, that's a revolutionary idea. I think. Of course it should. Why shouldn't it? and so I've called my business that because, people I think have this misperception that marketing needs to be something evil and sales is gross.
And I feel like marketing is just educating people about what you do so that if they're interested, they can say, Hey, I want that. So I've always had kind of a neutral to positive feeling about marketing. and as far as enlightenment, I am following my spiritual path through the medium of business, like the way that I want to grow spiritually and, grow into myself and evolve as a person.
A lot of that happens through the creative and interpersonal work that I do in my business. and of course, there are other components of enlightenment that happened outside of the business. But, really the core hard work that I want to do in this lifetime is through the meaning of business.
And a lot of the people I work with, whether it's clear to them or not, they're doing the same thing. So that's the role of enlightenment with my business. "
"I do want to segue a little bit about vision setting or goal setting. so the analogy is if you go from point a to point B, if you don't know where point B is, you never get there. Right. Cliched.
At the same time the reality is we don't know our true capability is until we are actually in the middle of doing it.
Therefore, the vision that we have for the lifestyle that we want, the size of business that we want or the kind of impact that we want to have. It's. Elusive. We just don't know.
So then how do you help your clients concretize that vision so that they can have a more direct path that vision.
So here's my method. I call it trying on the million dollar dress. So you can adapt this to your numbers and to your clothing choices.
So my client came to me and she was like. the universe tells me I have a $2 million business. I said, I believe the universe, cause I did. and then we started building the business and I kept asking questions, the equivalent of which were like, so what are you gonna want to have for dinner on Sunday?
And she kept saying, I don't know. I've never done it. I don't know. I don't know. So. Let's do this. Do you want to pursue, the global multinationals or do you want to continue to work with a mom and pops? I don't know well, let's try it on.
Put on the dress. That is, you're going to pursue million global multinationals and you're going to work with them and blah, blah, blah.
and so w we put that on, that means that you, you will do these things and that means you can't do these things because, yeah. If you're in a million dollar dress, like you don't wear sneakers and you don't jog on a dusty road, there are just certain decisions that are now are now automatic nos and some automatic yeses.
And any time somebody says to me what their future reality is, or their potential reality is, and we're of struggling with that, I'm like, we'll try it on. So should I go into this person's program or should I choose to invest in this software for my business.
I'm like, I don't know. Try it on. And walk around in it and what do you feel like? And so sometimes they'll come back and they'll be like, wow, I think I just felt like where I'm supposed to be. And sometimes they'll say, Nope, that's not the right one. Good. So it's as close to a visualization as we can do.
It's as close to a kind of testing of that reality as we can do. But it's my method for seeing how I'm going to feel about something that I can't possibly know how I'm going to feel about. "
"was there certain challenges that you have to overcome that cultivate is his deep, deep desire to attract the people you want to attract and focus on joy and enlightenment.
Definitely. It was almost all challenged based. when I started I was like, who could I help? You know, the whole wide world.
And then as I began to work with on the kind of work I did, that kind of companies that I worked with, the kind of people I worked with over the course of that, I got very clear on who was not a good fit for me, who I loved working with the kind of work that I was doing that was just very draining as opposed to the work that just kind of like gave me energy.
And I saw that thing reflected in my clients. So I could see that it is important to choose. well let's say to choose with an end, do things with intention in your business. And the, the number one thing, and this is why it's literally the first episode on my podcast is perfect clients. And a lot of people will say, you know, you really have to just work with whoever shows up.
And I'm like, okay, do then do. Because that's, you're going to get what you expect. And what I would say is I expect for perfect clients to show up for me. And they do. And, you know, my calls will be, I'll be able to tell on the call if this is my client or not. And, you know, sometimes they choose to work with me and sometimes they don't.
But I know that if I'm on a call with somebody that I'm having a great conversation with, that the marketing is working and my message is conveying who I want to work with."
"your whole thing is profitable, joyful consulting.
But rarely to opportunities or clients come with you so clearly black or white, rarely usually is shades of gray. since you stand for joy as part of your perfect client profile and everything, how do you discern opportunities come your way.
I actually put together a little assessment that people can use when they're kind of taking in clients as they're working on this, because how close is this person aligning to what is my perfect client? So it's like, are they aware of what their challenges are? Do I agree with them that those are the right challenges? Do they remind me of anyone I've worked with who was a nightmare? things like that. So we can run through that assessment together and I will do that kind of, to me, I already have an intuitive feeling about it when I'm on the phone with someone.
The interesting thing to me is also. As you evolve as a person, your clients will evolve. And so a lot of clients that I considered perfect, you know, 10 years ago, I wouldn't consider them as perfect today because I'm looking for different things. I'm looking for different qualities and clients and the things that I might have enjoyed or tolerated I don't anymore.
And I never expected to be someone who. Focused so much enjoy in my business. And I've really had to kind of fight for that lately because I have a lot of people challenging the idea of it as being optional. So I made a post on LinkedIn and this guy was like, listen, this is not about fun. We're not going in and we're consultants are hired to do the work other people don't want to do. So you go in there and you do.
And I was like, dude, if you want to do the joyless work, I'm not going to take that away from you, but. Again, like you get what you expect. And I think a business has to be joyful and in addition to profit, if it's not profitable, you're going to fail.
And so in addition to profitable, it should be joyful. Why?
Because if it's not joyful, it's not sustainable. Like you can't grind and grind and grind. And I'm, I'm super opposed to grind. Hustle, yes. Grind. No, because it isn't sustainable. And I know that cause I've done the grind for many, many, many years and I just realized it just wears you down. And so if you seek the joy in your business and you realize I should be doing work that is joyful and with people who are joyful, then even if it's even if as you work to make it more profitable, it's, you will at least be able to stick with it longer and not be fried by it.
The other place that joy comes up in my, in my business is the concept of joy and genius zone, and so we've all heard the genius zone. I think that's a Dan Sullivan term. And so I love the idea of working in your genius zone, but the interesting thing to me is that I can do stuff that's in my genius zone that wears me out.
I don't want to do it just because I'm good at it. It doesn't mean I should do it. So like I'm a really strong writer, for example, but I don't write for my clients because writing is a high. tax job for me and I need to write only for my business because I don't have enough of that energy source to go around.
but there's some other stuff that I'm not that good at, but I really love doing. And it's like, you know, it's a joy zone. Not exactly my genius zone, but I sure have fun doing it. So in our work and with all my clients, what I try to do is help them to figure out for themselves, what is your genius zone?
And then of the genius zones that you have. Cause all of us have like, man, I don't know, like five or six that are relevant to work, which are the ones that you should be doing because they give you joy. So a lot of times that's doing strategy work with a client, but then some people don't have as much joy around the implementation phase or the other way round.
Some people are like, I want to implement all day long. I, it's funny cause I I see two kinds of, experts out there. They're the experts who are like, they create IP, like they come up with up. Processes and signature systems and things like that. And then there are people who are like, I'm a trainer, man, give me, I want to get certified in somebody else's material.
And then when I'm awesome at is engaging audiences and teaching that and doing that whole thing. Those are two different kinds of personalities, which are both super valid, but what you've seen is like, this person needs this person because they have complimentary skills. So yeah. I, I really do try to be enjoying everything every single day that I'm doing.
And I try to be doing that with clients and with people that I'm doing that with an on my team. When I hire people, I ask them about their joy and genius zone. And whenever we give them tasks, I always say, is this a joyful task for you and sometimes they'll say like, I can do that for like an hour a day, but not like five hours a day and perfect.
So that's all I need to know. "
"joy is one of those things that, it's kind of like, how do you describe bicycle riding for someone who's never been in that situation before? for someone who's never experienced joy in the corporate world working for themselves, how do you help them discover that?
first that we need to know what we're looking for. I think it's the things that you do that give you energy like you are more energized as you do them and after you do them then than before you started. And there's plenty of things that I have experienced that I'm like, Oh, I could do that all day long.
It was like the not just fun, but fulfilling. And what's kind of crazy is like, I'll also talk about. I've had moments when there was a conflict with a client and they were upset and they had this point of view, and I was like, Oh, worried. And I went in and we talked and we talked it through, and it was like what I'd call a grownup conversation.
We had a very grownup conversation and we've worked through things. And then when after it was done, I was like, that was like among the most joyful things I've done. Why? Because it required like a lot of skill and focus and carefulness and you have to be a hundred percent in the moment for that.
And I mean, I wouldn't say that I could do that all day long, but if you've ever been in a situation, I would.
Here's another example of that. So difficult time with client, death of a loved one going through that process, I would call that when you're with them and, and you're experiencing the last moments of someone.
and you know, you're distraught and bereaved and all of these terrible things, but afterwards you think like back on that time period, and in many cases I can feel a joy for that. So I call that soul joy. It's when I feel like we as ourselves, going back to enlightenment are expanded as people. Like I did a really hard thing and I felt alive.
Like we feel like I am having a full human expense. Right now, and I think that when I'm having difficult times at work, it doesn't have to be like all fun all the time. That's why when the guy was like, we're, we're hired to do the stuff clients don't want to do. I do stuff all the time. It's like a really hard thing, like getting out of my comfort zone or helping a client to get out of their comfort zone or dealing with somebody who's like in pain.
But when you're in those moments, it's a real human experience and I think it's expansive. And I'm like, I, that's the things that I want to have more of in my life. Not the, not necessarily the bad versions, but I don't want to not have that experience. You know, the whole, we need the whole range of human experience to expand as people.
Thank you for sharing that. And that's actually what I was trying to distinguish. Cause when people hear joy, they think like, ah, happy, lucky all to all the time. And, and yes, there's part of that. But really it's much deeper than that because ultimately fulfillment is like that. visceral like, wow, like I'm in peak experience, whether it's going through the highest of highs or the lowest lows. You experience aliveness from that.
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And to experience yourself in new territory, of being brave, I think that's a very joyful experience."
"how do you see mastery? Curious.
Oh, gosh. I don't know. I'm not sure if I thought about it. Really.
I think I'm much more about, the work in progress. Then I would say like, mastery is the horizon to me, but I don't know that I feel masterful in anything and There's only a few things that I kind of would be seeking mastery in any way.
Well, one thing I did hear is two or three hierarchy. Right. love. health, and then, security, right? Yeah. So I mean, it takes something to build. Yeah. Relationship 20 years. You have a level of mastery there.
I think communication is probably the place that is most important.
I think it's not just important, but it's fun being able to clearly communicate what you want to say. it's the promise that I make to my clients. It's that you'll tell me who you are and then I'm going to tell back to you and I'm going to teach you how to not just understand what your value is, but then clearly communicate that so that other people will understand it.
So in my work, that's like my main medium of what I do. But I think in just in life in general, it's fun and interesting to be able to articulate what you want to say in the right way, and to connect with other people through communication. And I speak a few languages, and that's part of the reason that I've I sought that I, I wouldn't say I'm a master in any of them, including English, but it's just, the, the pursuit of mastery and communication is probably, and that is what came up for me around love.
love is also a lot about , vulnerability and self self-awareness. I was saying earlier that a lot of the reason that we don't have issues in our marriage is because we do a lot of work individually on ourselves, a lot of work.
and again, I don't seek mastery in that, cause I just don't even feel like it's, it's possible. It's the enlightenment thing we were talking about. It's like, to me, as soon as you're enlightened, you go, poof. When you go to another plane, I just feel like it's, that is a long term pursuit."
" if I don't enjoy it, I stopped doing it. that's my new mantra this year. Embrace, fun, embrace, joy. As long as I enjoy this moment, if it happens, great. I'm still intending for that to happen. But more important for me right now is this moment right here now.
And you were talking earlier about, goal and vision.
And to me, there has to be this balance because again the version of me that I no longer am, would be very disappointed that I'm not more goal-driven. And, and having that constantly elusive carrot on a stick that's on the horizon that's constantly just like, right outside of my grasp and pull and pulling me along, or you know, the people who are being driven.
that was one of my favorite adjectives when I was younger. the idea of being driven. I wanted to be driven and now I'm like, dude, I just like relaxed, chill out. how about being called? Oh yeah. I like to be called and inspired. Like you can still pursue the horizon without having to grind and I feel like there's a balance that we're asked to do.
People who are ambitious and who are excited and who want to be pursuing the horizon. I love to pursue the horizon. I do want that for myself and I don't want to be in not joy. So I won't say discomfort cause I just did a really hard workout earlier today when I was in a lot of discomfort.
But I do feel joyful about that and I was mostly joyful when I was doing it. So I think there are sacrifices that you can feel good about making. Like, I worked really hard or I tried really hard. that's gotta be offset by my life is awesome. I love what I'm doing right now.
One of the keys that I cracked CK last year was I realized that my most successful clients are the ones who prioritize self care.
the more they are the best version of themselves as a person, meaning they are working on their mental health, physical health, spiritual health. They have practices for all of those things. they're making time for things that are priorities based on their values in their life, other than just work.
Those ones are the ones whose businesses go in and know what no one would necessarily be able to say, well, obviously that was because of that. No, it was because they said, I don't need to push to create. I can create an ethers. I can create with my energy. and I do that when I'm the best version of myself."
" part of your specialty, is taking people who were in the corporate world, empower them to step into their prominence. We're taking someone who works with mom and pop shops and allowing them to step into working with multinationals, right?
Yeah. And that in itself is a business journey, but as well as as spiritual journey as well. So share with us a little bit how you guide them through that transformation.
Well, a lot of people have more potential than they're able to access. And. They very often when they come to me they suspected .
They feel like I think I should be doing like making way more money or working with much bigger clients, or people should know who I am. I should be famous, you know? I will hear that from my clients
I agree with you. you're not hearing that for no reason. one of the spiritual teachers that we follow is Carolyn mace and she calls the ego, the horses that pull the chariot.
So an ego isn't a bad thing. That ego is the thing that's pulling you and saying, Hey, you, you need to be out there. you have bigger, better things to do, and that's not a bad thing. that's your calling.
So I will hear people say that, and instead of shaming them, like maybe other people in their lives have done, I will say, I believe you.
Let's make it happen. And so then. In, in the process of whatever that is. we're doing it through the medium of business. So it's like, how are we going to do that? which clients are you going to work with? What are you going to do for them? How are we going to find those clients? And then how do we structure your business?
So we do all of those practical things to get them there. And along the way, what happens is they, they will encounter all the obstacles that prevented them from doing this already. And a lot of times that's going to be fraudulent, right?
Yes. there'll be some voice telling them, who do you think you are to do this? what makes you think you're the, whatever. so that's a very common thing that comes up that we'll work on. And I'm like I think you're the person who was put on the earth to this thing.
And I really do believe that. sometimes I, I'm able to snap them out of that merely by believing in them. And sometimes we have to do a lot of work on that. But my belief is that we were all sent to the planet to do something. And that if you figure out what that is and you do it, you won't have any competition because other people, you'll only have competition if they're doing your thing instead of their thing. So just do you at the maximum level, which is what all of us actually just need support in doing.
It's figuring out who we really are because we have who we suspect we are. And then , there've been all the voices who said, no, you're not all that. And then you need to find other people who are big enough and expanded enough to be able to see you and say, yes, I see that too.
one of the metaphors that we've heard used before is like the idea of Gulliver. You know, Gulliver Lee, he was this big giant who landed in the land of Lilliput, and there were all these little people around him and they could only see so much of him. They couldn't take in the bigness of him. And I think it's really important to experience when you meet somebody else who can actually see you and see the most of you.
it's an amazing experience and I think that's when you're choosing a coach or a consultant that you're going to work with, it's very important to find a person who is like, Oh yeah, I see that potential. So somebody comes to me and they say, I have a $2 million or $10 million a hundred million dollar business, I'm going to tell them the truth.
And very often I'm like. Yeah, I know. You do. Let's build it because it's, the potential is already there. And as I said, you're not receiving that for no reason. You're not thinking those thoughts for no reason. "
"your clients are very lucky to have someone like you to actually see them as the infinite potentials, to see them as that possibility. Say someone's. thinking Samantha CK. I agree with you. Love to have someone like Samantha to empower me to step into my next level, but there are 7 billion people in the world.
How do I recognize a Samantha CK will have an empowering listening of who I am as my infinite potential versus my limitations?
Yeah. I think you could say the same thing about walking into an old school library where there's all these books in there and it's like there's a book in there for you. but how do I find it?
Just why don't you just walk for a minute. Which is just walk. Just pay attention to where you feel like you're led.
my husband and I have this kind of, over the course of our relationship of 20 years. We have, thank you.
So we had a thing that was, I'm an intuitive driver. If I don't have the directions, I can find a thing. But when he doubts it, it ruins it. It breaks the spell.
So at the beginning of our relationship, and he would be like, I don't know how you found this. I'd be like, Aw, I just found it. and then somewhere along the middle when we do our road trips, he would start to say, well, you don't know where we're going, do you? And I'd be like, I don't, and then it would break it.
So, intuition and that, learning to acknowledge your divine guidance is really, really important.
one of the things that you need to develop as a human and as a business owner is the ability to get in touch with that voice, a lot of business owning is decisions and and really understanding intuition and guidance.
And you can turn to an advisor. But really the advisor's role is to say back to you something that you already know, but it hasn't quite made it to consciousness yet.
so a lot of times when somebody tells you something, and I think this is really important cause I've worked with people before who will tell me stuff and I'll be like, I trust them.
They are my advisor and I'm working with them for a certain duration and some of their advice I'll acceptance and some of it I'm like, okay, I know you believe that, but that's not right advice for me. I know enough to know what aligns with my values and what doesn't. And it's like, cool that you want that. but I'm not doing that. It's not that I uncoachable it's, that's not a fit. And I'm aware enough of that.
So I think if somebody is looking for who's the right mentor for them, just, raise your radar. And set the intention, send up the intention to the universe. Like I'm looking for a mentor and I wonder what's out there.
So I think of it as like a little best buffet platter when they're kind of bringing a little thing and there's like all different kinds of food on it. I'm asking the universe to bring me the universal buffet platter of mentors and you'll notice that people will pop up and you'll be like, Oh. Cool. I just realized that's a mentor.
Now, that's not the one for me, but I saw that it was one. Thank you. Not that. Here's what I'm looking for. And all of those kind of not quite, that are going to help you hone what is that very specifically.
I love that. So I'm starting to see a theme of process of elimination. What I heard you said is first of all, set an intention.
Yeah.
What is it that you want. Even if you don't know exactly what it looks like yet, set an intention and start pulling that thread of curiosity. Just be curious about what's showing up. and then you're going to have more data, and then you can say, thank you, this is what I want.
And then this part, I don't particularly like that. Thank you. And let me, let me choose the next clique. Exactly. And then you can start to hone in and in the way I interpret that, use my words is not just the resume, the resume is the externals is the tangible, but also an energetic resonance.
because sometimes you see people with a perfect resume, but energetic resonance isn't quite the same way that you are. Resume looks great but not perfect for you. Is that an accurate reflection of what you shared?
Except for I'm 99% resonance and 0% resume. I really do not care about facts when I'm making a decision.
And many people will be stunned and horrified to hear me say that. I mean, there will be some facts that will be interesting to me, but if there either is energetic resonance or there isn't, and, things can come to me in a very fact based way. And then when I kind of check in as to whether this is the right next step.
I left the Coca Cola company, I wasn't fired. I just left cause I hated it. And people did not think highly of that decision. People in my life were not impressed with that. That seemed like taking the facts and doing something very stupid with them. And I was like zero energetic resonance. And not only that it's really just not working for me at all.
I took a year off and then I started consulting. But. You know, sometimes I think I'm much more in, intending to be aligned with the energetics of things. And so all of the surface stuff isn't as important to me."
" part of your specialty, is taking people who were in the corporate world, empower them to step into their prominence. We're taking someone who works with mom and pop shops and allowing them to step into working with multinationals, right?
Yeah. And that in itself is a business journey, but as well as as spiritual journey as well. So share with us a little bit how you guide them through that transformation.
Well, a lot of people have more potential than they're able to access. And. They very often when they come to me they suspected .
They feel like I think I should be doing like making way more money or working with much bigger clients, or people should know who I am. I should be famous, you know? I will hear that from my clients
I agree with you. you're not hearing that for no reason. one of the spiritual teachers that we follow is Carolyn mace and she calls the ego, the horses that pull the chariot.
So an ego isn't a bad thing. That ego is the thing that's pulling you and saying, Hey, you, you need to be out there. you have bigger, better things to do, and that's not a bad thing. that's your calling.
So I will hear people say that, and instead of shaming them, like maybe other people in their lives have done, I will say, I believe you.
Let's make it happen. And so then. In, in the process of whatever that is. we're doing it through the medium of business. So it's like, how are we going to do that? which clients are you going to work with? What are you going to do for them? How are we going to find those clients? And then how do we structure your business?
So we do all of those practical things to get them there. And along the way, what happens is they, they will encounter all the obstacles that prevented them from doing this already. And a lot of times that's going to be fraudulent, right?
Yes. there'll be some voice telling them, who do you think you are to do this? what makes you think you're the, whatever. so that's a very common thing that comes up that we'll work on. And I'm like I think you're the person who was put on the earth to this thing.
And I really do believe that. sometimes I, I'm able to snap them out of that merely by believing in them. And sometimes we have to do a lot of work on that. But my belief is that we were all sent to the planet to do something. And that if you figure out what that is and you do it, you won't have any competition because other people, you'll only have competition if they're doing your thing instead of their thing. So just do you at the maximum level, which is what all of us actually just need support in doing.
It's figuring out who we really are because we have who we suspect we are. And then , there've been all the voices who said, no, you're not all that. And then you need to find other people who are big enough and expanded enough to be able to see you and say, yes, I see that too.
one of the metaphors that we've heard used before is like the idea of Gulliver. You know, Gulliver Lee, he was this big giant who landed in the land of Lilliput, and there were all these little people around him and they could only see so much of him. They couldn't take in the bigness of him. And I think it's really important to experience when you meet somebody else who can actually see you and see the most of you.
it's an amazing experience and I think that's when you're choosing a coach or a consultant that you're going to work with, it's very important to find a person who is like, Oh yeah, I see that potential. So somebody comes to me and they say, I have a $2 million or $10 million a hundred million dollar business, I'm going to tell them the truth.
And very often I'm like. Yeah, I know. You do. Let's build it because it's, the potential is already there. And as I said, you're not receiving that for no reason. You're not thinking those thoughts for no reason.
"
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