3.22 | 6 Old School Trends in Business That'll Still Work in 2024 and Beyond

Isha Vela 0:00
Welcome to devotional anarchy, a podcast about intimate embodied leadership that is radically human, honest AF and thereby inherently disruptive to systems of disempowerment and disconnection. I am Isha Vela, trauma psychologist certified somatic intimacy Alchemist, wealth wizard shadow doula love anarchist intuitive channel and sovereign business coach, you’re here because you know intimate self connection is the source of everything you want to create in life. And that building safety and trust in your own body is what allows you to fully own and steward your energy and your relationships. Get ready to explore attachments, sexuality, spirituality, self expression and sovereignty and other relational themes from a trauma responsive somatic energetic lens. The conversations and tools shared in this podcast are designed to offer permission to create the abundant life, love and business that lights your soul on fire.

Hey, hi sovereigns, I am so excited to bring you this final episode of the year, six old school trends in business that still work in 2024 and beyond. And it’s the last podcast episode of the year. Last of season three, before I take a month off, and just rest and nurture my creative juices, this is my quiet time of the year. And I’m going to be honestly focusing on what I want my business to look and feel like in the next year, I feel ready for a massive uplevel. And you know, I’ve committed to a specific strategy over the last three years. And I’ve put all of myself behind it, I’ve put all the energy that I’ve got behind it. And I’ve looked at what has worked and what hasn’t worked. And for the parts of the strategy that I felt, haven’t worked or no longer work for me because they no longer give me the pleasure that they used to. I’m wanting to try something new, I’m ready to try some new things. And you know, at this point in history, economically speaking, I see a lot of people actually evaluating their strategies right now and preparing to make big shifts in how they run their businesses in 2024 and beyond. And partially that has to do with, you know, macro economic trends, how people are buying and what people are buying, I see that happening as people recognize the, you know, how AI has been affecting the online space and affecting how we do business changing it. I see that also with the growing political consciousness around money and how we are together, right, how we, how we relate to one another. You know, and also with the recognition of how the coaching industry has harmed people through overcharging under delivering spiritual gaslighting, etc. What I want to say with all that is that I want you to prepare for business not as usual. You know, I’ve I’ve also seen a lot of people talk about how they feel burnt out on social media, I see a lot of people a lot more savvy about when and how they’re being sold to, you can’t just drop a link, you know, you can’t just direct people to a sales page and just like expect them to do everything on their own. People’s lives look very different than they did three years ago. And I believe people want a high touch, high value, human centered experience through the entire marketing and sales process. They want to feel spoken to they want to feel seen, they want to be heard. And that’s always been the case. But I think even more now, even more now I’ll be willing to say and you know, even though that even though being people being more savvy means that people are maybe more critical about sort of what they invest their money in a more discerning and maybe that means that they buy less overall, this is actually a good sign. It is a good sign that people are more sovereign, more discerning with how they use their dollars and less likely to be manipulated, frankly, by an online entrepreneur, guru or you know influencer, right or even the government for that matter, right. If you want free thinkers in your audience, right you Want free thinkers in your audience period, even if that makes them less likely to buy from you, right? So it’s not about convincing, it’s just really about like, standing in your passion really embodying that passion, your conviction for what you have, and how you can change people’s lives. So the people who buy from you are going to be making more aligned decisions, right? When when you have free thinkers in your space, right? When these free thinkers are going to be making more aligned decisions, which makes ultimately your job more pleasurable, because you’re going to be working with people who are ready to receive and integrate the transformation you’re delivering, because they’re going to be really ready, they’re going to be there. Because you’re going to communicate to them where they need to be, and they’re gonna be self knowledgeable enough to know that that’s exactly where they are. So what I want to share with you in today’s podcast are the six things that I believe you’ll need to stay viable in business to have a thriving business in 2024. And beyond. Basically, this is like old school trends in business that will always work. Right? These are the sorts of the soft strategies that will always work. So the first is you have to be good at marketing and sales. And to preface, you know, I want to I want to preface by saying what I consider marketing and sales is different from what you hear out there. In the business coaching world, I think that a lot of marketing and sales is really just about truth and transparency, a just about being real, cutting through the bullshit. Just telling people exactly what it is. I feel like that makes people feel safer, even those, that’s not what some people may want to hear. I think it’s easy to manipulate people until like, Oh, I did it this way. And you can do it too. And that’s not true. Not everybody gets the same results, right? And so be real about what you’re selling, right? Like people like to do like, oh, yeah, money activation, boom. Right? It’s, it’s a lifelong process. And yes, can you collapse time and move forward really quickly in your relationship with money? Yes, you can. Some people can. And some people need more time to get there. Right? So stick with truth and transparency. Because people can feel when you’re selling from passion versus when you’re selling to make a buck. And I talked about this on a live that I did in in Facebook with my colleague, Maximilian Webster, where we talked about, like, when you’re selling from a place of survival, when you’re just like, Oh, my God, I need to just make my rent, let me just sell some things. People can fucking feel that shit. Versus when you’re selling from passion, you’re like, I really believe in this and I am detached from the outcome. Sure, will it make me some money? Yeah, but that’s not the point. The point is this, this is why you need this thing, right? This is why this is so important, right? Bringing your message that way and orienting to that embodying that. So I want you to think of marketing as sharing. And I want you to think of sales as inviting. So when you when I talk about getting good at marketing and sales, it means refining your messaging so that it addresses the problem and speaks the language of the people who are ready to engage in the solution. You have to be good at storytelling and speaking your consumers language. Now, this is the hardest part for me, I’ll admit it. I find it really hard to get in other people’s heads in their bodies, I can get in their bodies immediately. But I have a really hard time getting in their heads. And whether that’s an HD thing, or whatever, I don’t know. But using other people’s language is very hard, because I’m just so in my own language. I’ve had to work so hard to find my own voice. That’s all I got, you know what I mean? But it also means like marketing and sales also means letting people know, consistently, and often the value you offer to them and what changes they can expect in their life by working with you. So letting people know

what it is you have to offer, why it’s important, why you’re the person to teach it to them, what they can expect from you, who it’s for who it’s not for, right clarity, clarity, truth and transparency right there. And when you get on a sales call, and I’ve shared this before now In other training, you want to be holding space for a person’s whole humanity as you help them make a choice about whether your offer is a right fit for them or not, not manipulating your own energy to be more likeable and attractive, and not manipulating them into making a decision. All right, so number two to the second old school trend, you actually have to be good at it. Okay, I need to say this. This involves several facets first, if you’re only amazing at sales and marketing, and also don’t serve the fuck out of your people, when they actually come into your containers, the word will get out, and your sales will dwindle over time. Why? Because yeah, people will just talk about it to other people. Second, any good business relies on content creation, you have to know your shit backwards and forwards. In order to really deepen your thought leadership, you really have to know your craft deeply. Because there’s a lot of people who address things on the surface. And that’s a little bit of what I believe is dying, is that people are ready for a deeper conversation. So going into the depth of your work, getting into the deeper layers is going to serve you right, thought leadership makes you stand out above the other people posting generic content that can be, you know, generated by, you know, AI, that doesn’t sound like you, for example, or somebody else’s stuff, right. Your thought leadership is your moneymaker, it communicates your work through your particular lens through your particular experience, which cannot be replicated, right? That is your voice. And your thought leadership holds your core message, your deepest values, which will help people decide whether or not they want to align with you. And your thought leadership will send people away, people will decide you’re not for them, it’s important that you do that as much as you pull people in your job is to push people away, right? The people who are not aligned, you want to help them make a decision by you standing in your thought leadership. And so more important, though, right, here’s the energetic piece on this, you have to be passionate about what you do, and why you do it. Right. And so that ties into you have to embody what you sell. So that’s number three, embodying what you sell is number three. So you have to walk the talk and be the outcome that people are investing in this is about congruency and like being out of congruence, the will will cost you this is about congruency thought leadership, holding your power, none of which can be underestimated. We are like hungry for leaders. We are hungry for people, for leaders who are right truthful, transparent, clear, human, fully human. And embodying what you sell, doesn’t mean you can’t guide people through results you haven’t fully gotten yet, right? Because when I think about manifestation, manifestation can be tricky. Sometimes, you can embody things that you have that haven’t yet materialized in your field. Right, you can be holding the vision. And, and you know what’s going to happen, but it hasn’t landed yet. Right? It hasn’t actually materialized in 3d yet. Right? So for example, sometimes you can embody a healthy relationship. I know this is true for me, right? I have the relationship skills, I embody the skills required to have a healthy partnership, but I don’t have a partner. Right? So I can be a relationship coach. Right, even though I don’t have, you know, the marriage or the relationships or whatever, right? I have lots of different relationships where I use those skills and where it really does serve me, but if you know in a, like an intimate relationship coach, I like I don’t have like the the result, you know what I mean? So in the same way, you can embody a thriving business by having all the systems in place and being fully behind it energetically. But it hasn’t quite hit yet. Right. It hasn’t quite landed yet or materialized. And this is where the embodiment of your audacious beliefs is so important. You have to start somewhere right Like, people, like businesses are not like they don’t just happen overnight, it takes time. And that’s, that’s where the embodiment of your future self is so critical. That version embodying the version of yourself that gets you there, right? There’s the version of you that got you here. Awesome, we want to honor that. And then there’s embodying the version that gets you to that next level. So number four, you have to develop business structures that facilitate the influx of money. So I hope you already know that the trend of energetics without a solid strategy to match it is why so many people’s businesses are just dying, right? All the people who were talking about feminine energetics and Flow are just like getting full time jobs. So you need a strategy or strategies, and you need to be consistent at implementing it, you got to get really, really good at it. You need to practice, practice, practice until that shit is like well lubricated. And like basically running itself, it just comes naturally to you, you embody the strategy, basically, right. And like I said earlier, sometimes those strategies need to change. And you’ll know intuitively by how much or how little pleasure it’s giving you, right? There are some aspects of my business right now that I’ve just like, Yeah, I used to love this part. And now I’m kind of like, Ah, I’m kind of feeling like yeah, I don’t really doesn’t jazz me up. And so when you get that, you shift it, you should Okay, well, what would feel pleasure? What would feel so juicy? What would what can I get behind, right? What can I put my energy behind? So if it no longer feels pleasurable, maybe it’s time to change it. Okay, number five. Your business needs to be tied to a bigger collective vision. Your business needs to be tied to socio political values. Gone are the days forget the BS about remaining neutral or being performative about your politics. It isn’t possible to be neutral, when things are so polarized when there is such egregious shit happening in the world inhumane, right? I’m not saying you need to take aside because I do not believe in taking sides. I am a believer in holding multiple perspective. And I will always take the side of humanity and unity, right and a little bit of a twist. Twisty twist of words there. So yeah, like my my quote unquote, side will always be humanity will always be holding all of the humanity in, in sort of what we’re looking at. And so when you remain neutral, you know, that’s really just you protecting yourself from the risk of upsetting people. And the responsibility of your leadership. Leadership is a responsibility. Right? It does, it does signify like a holding of something, right? A holding of your power, holding your power takes responsibility, because you’re having to, right, like manage it, and take up space with it and be responsible with it. Yeah, it is responsibility all the way. And you know, that this whole thing about being strategically neutral about political and social issues is over. If you’re doing that, now, stop it. Because as people’s consciousness deepens, you’ll lose credibility by the minute, right? You’ll lose credibility. All right, so number six, you have to have intimacy skills. Okay. This is the most important one, which is why I left it for last. And I want to say that my entire business has been created from relationships that I’ve nurtured since I started my private practice 13 years ago

when I decided to become an entrepreneur and shut down my private practice, and stop calling myself a therapist and becoming a coach and mentor, and guide, it’s all about relationships, right? Online relationships during the pandemic. I have business partners that I’ve never met in real life. You know, so the reason why I’ve been able to participate in summits get invited on tons of podcasts and become an affiliate for incredibly dope offers and big influencers. Because of real, long lasting connections I’ve made with people over the years. It’s because I’ve had the skills. I’ve had the skills and part of the skills are believing that I belonged that I could reach out to, let’s say somebody who was famous, who was a big influencer and say, I trust that I’m worthy enough to be talking to you and to feel like, like we’re equals, you know what I mean? Even though there are aspects of our lives that might not be equal, I consider myself an equal, right, I believe in my own power. Right. So that’s part of the intimacy skills of really believing that you’re worthy and that you belong. But it’s also about like, when you fuck up, which I do all the time I say things or I, I miss moments, or I, maybe I’m inconsiderate sometimes, then you have to have the intimacy skills to repair. And to just show up and be humble and say, yeah, like, I totally missed the mark there or what could I have done differently? Or how can I? How can I make you feel? Or how can I? Yeah. How will it What can I do to make you feel like this is like, this is healed like this is? Complete? Yeah. So you know, and I’ve invested time in my, in my own sort of introspection in my intimacy skills, I’ve practiced with friends, you know, and I’ve invested money and emotional energy and developing bonds with people that I share an affinity with. Yeah, and in order for any business to thrive, you must people well, and create relationships based on reciprocity, not like what you can get out of them. And, you know, in the past, I’ve like, done exchanges with people. I’ve been generous with people. I’ve given away things for free when I felt capacitated to do so when I haven’t felt capacitated I’ve said, Look, I can’t bring down the price. Right? I’ve been really honest with people about like, when I can and can, when I don’t have wiggle room, when I do have wiggle room, I can give more. And you know, I’m not an extrovert. I’m not an extrovert. So please don’t use the excuse. excuse that you can’t people? Well, because you’re an introvert. Sometimes, yeah, sometimes we have neurodiversity or or autism that makes peopling harder. And I think that if you let people know that ahead of time, and just kind of like, give them a little background, you can people well, you can people well, so what I predict is going to happen in 2024, is that relationships and supporting each other’s businesses is going to become much more important than ever, we’re going to shift even harder from this individual approach the solopreneur ship thing into a more collective one, we’re really dismantling, I think, the idea of that one person at the top was making a shit ton of money, we are thinking more about how we can leverage our relationships, so that all of us rise, not just one person, right. So that is, those are the six trends that I feel are are going to be really, that are going to last be like that are going to take you through 2024 give you success. And last beyond that as well. Just old school, good old school trends. So it’s basically being good at marketing and sales, being good at what you do, embodying what you sell, develop business structure that facilitate the influx of money. expressing your social political values freely and honestly, and having intimacy skills. So like I said, technology is changing our awareness and consciousness is shifting, and people are getting more and more sophisticated. And some other things that you know, I didn’t mention or didn’t include in the six trends are resilience. You know, my, my work when I talk about nervous system capacitation I’m really talking about resilience. Your business has to be as resilient as you are. And your business is, in fact, as resilient as you are. When you collapse your business collapses, right? So your system has to you have to calibrate your system and make sure that you continue to be able to like back things with your energy right with your lifeforce, that is what that’s the extension of your business. So creating strong and steady routines, versus focusing on how your business looks like on the outside, vanity metrics, things like that. Just strong and steady routines and routes. So I’m talking about the practices that support your whole human right body, mind and spirit. You know, just this week, for example, I felt my system got blown out by some interactions I was having with my children and issues that my children were having at school. And I needed to take a day to rest, I was feeling very angry. I was feeling like, I was feeling dysregulated. And I was like, Alright, I need to take a step back, I need to put on my my baggage, just sweat pants, and stay really still, I need to be still. And I need to be quiet. And I need to like I saw clients that day. But it was very, like low key word read. I didn’t do like really big stuff. I didn’t go online very much. So it’s like, you have to know what you need you you know, the the best question you can ask yourself is, what do I need right now? What do I need right now. And that question alone will guide every step of your day, and will help you capacitate and take care of your mind, your body and your spirit in your business. Also be generous. So people want to see real value in advance of jumping into your container, right? Gone are those days where you like, you know, you hold back the secret? And you’re like, Well, if you you know, behind this paywall is this like awesome thing that I’m not going to tell you about yet, you just gonna have to trust me on it. And you know, and I’ve had a tendency to do that. And that’s why I’m emphasizing it now. So I want you to find a way to share value that can be immediately applied, so that clients can experience a small win, right, you want them to have an experience to have like a tangible result that is like to get a taste, right. And that’s going to leave them wanting more, right. So the tough part of all of what I just shared is that you can have all of the things I just mentioned in your business, and your business may still be slower. And this is where I want to remind you again, that macro economic factors are absolutely real. And that can mean inflation, that can mean recession. Yeah, all of those things are going to affect the way people buy and what people buy. So if your business is slower, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re doing something wrong, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the strategies aren’t working that you need to change them. It may just need, it just may need to be slower. And you may need to get a part time job to supplement your salary and still be able to like show up for your business right? Off also like let me just say it again, in case you you’re like, not being kind to yourself. The astrology has been really fuck hard. Okay. People have been going through some shit. That’s felt increasingly chaotic, I thought last year was hard. And it was 2023 has been a different kind of hard. And it has felt more chaotic. And this will slow down your business just because you have to rest more and practice deeper self care. Sometimes that will mean getting off social media or literally just laying the fuck down. And not creating one day. Yeah, so I just wanted to like normalize that I want to normalize that because so many people have been talking to me about that behind the scenes, it’s just like, they’re just going through some shit. And what I want to leave you with today, right in, in, in light of all of what I just shared is that I want to say from my deepest heart, when I’m feeling myself tearing up here is that I don’t ever want you to give up.

Sometimes it’s going to feel like you want to and those are the moments where you want to take a step back and just come into yourself and just remember why, why you’re doing this why you even came into this like your desire to be free. Your desire for a better life, your desire for more, you get to want more and you get to have more. Remember your passion and your mission. Right sometimes we need to take a step away in order to resource ourselves and then come back with ease. even more power and conviction and just like just love it really is love. So, yeah, like, don’t give the fuck up. Don’t give up if it’s if it’s worth it, like, keep going and keep showing up regardless of what other things you need to do to make yourself feel safe and and feel like you’re backing yourself. Keep going. All right. Longevity and sustainability is the name of the game, my dear. All right, I love you so much. Have a beautiful rest of the year and I’ll see you in 2024 Thank you for listening to today’s episode. Remember to hit the subscribe button to get notified of new episodes dropping on the new and full moons of each month. And if you haven’t already, leave us a five star review on iTunes to make sure that everyone who needs this transmission receives it. Until the next episode I’m sending you fierce fierce love.