Spiritual Business Success: What Every New Practitioner Needs to Know

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Episode 302 • 23rd April 2023 • Spirit Sherpa ~ Spiritual Growth for Spiritual Entrepreneurs • Kelle Sparta | Spiritual Coach and Business Coach

Hey, y'all. I'm Jules. Welcome back to another episode of Spirit Sherpa, the show that helps and encourages you on your journey to unlock your magic mojo. With me, as always, is Kelle Sparta. Hey, Kelle, what's up? Hey, Jules. Uh, well, so I host karaoke here in Boquete. I was asked by a bar owner to...

He's like, "Oh, you wanna host a karaoke night?" And I thought he meant one night. And it turns out he meant every week. So, so I got a little side hustle, right? But, um, but basically what it means is that I go, and for three hours on a Monday night, I host the karaoke, right? Now, I love karaoke, so for me this is a passion project, right?

I, I have been a fan of karaoke for forever because I love to sing and all of that, but this is my space to build, right? And they were just starting it. And so it's me and this DJ, who is lovely. I don't get to talk to him a lot because he only speaks Spanish, and so if I really need to say something complex, his girlfriend translates it

Um, so he speaks- Okay. I was gonna say, Google Translate. Well, yeah. He speaks, like, no s- no English, and I speak a little bit of Spanish, and so, you know. He's a lovely human, but I don't know much about him. But the upshot is that I'm creating this space, right? And so space engineering, right? W- This is part of what we do energetically.

And it was so funny last night because it was, like, the third or fourth time we've done it, right? And I created the space in the way that I normally do, which is just, like, I open up in my joy and my welcoming and my unconditional love, and I'm like, "Yay, you're here. I'm so excited to see you. Ah!" Right? And one of these, uh, one of the patrons, Panamanian, he just...

He kept saying it over and over again all night long. He's like, "Your energy is just so..." And he didn't have the words for it, 'cause he's... He doesn't speak a great amount of English, and I wouldn't understand the Spanish because it's a, probably a complex concept for him. But I'm not sure if he would have...

Or complex concept for me, not for him, uh, in Spanish, right? But I, I, I'm not sure he would've had the language for it anyway because really what he was... He, he was like, "Oh, my God, your energy is so amazing. The energy is so great. The energy, your energy, your energy, your energy." And I'm like, "Yeah, I know, baby.

I know." Like, I'm doing it on purpose. Like, I'm just stepping into my joy and my welcoming and my happiness that we're all here together making music and having a good time and just, you know, enjoying ourselves, right? And he's just like... You know, you could tell that it's, it's not an energy he's used to.

And he's just- He was just drawn to it. He, he could, he could, he could feel it, and he's just like- Yeah ... he was talking to me all night, right? It was, it was great. Even when his girlfriend came, he came and danced with me, right? It was... She was singing, to be fair. But, you know, um, but, you know, all of these things, right?

It's just when you, when you can find your joy, when you can find your passion, when you can find your openness and unconditionally loving space, you are unbelievably attractive to others, right? And, and that's really what this was, right? And, you know, I had multiple people come up to me last night and be like, "Wow, that was really cool.

Wow, I just, I didn't get this bar before, but now I do. Now I get it. Now I get what you're, what the, what the, the concept is," you know, blah, blah, blah. And e- everybody thinks I'm the owner. They all come in, and, "Oh, is this is your bar?" And I'm like, "No. I'm just the karaoke host." Like, I'm just here one night a week.

You know? So, so yeah. It's, it's, you know, it's, it's fun. It's a great time. But- Do you notice your en- the, the energy on other nights if you go there and you're not doing karaoke? Very different energy. I- it's a very different energy, right? That's interesting. So it's something new, something fresh, and they were just like, "What is this?

I want more." And they're like, "Ooh, it's a Monday night. There's nothing to do on Mondays. I love this." And one of the guys there runs one of the other bars in the area, and he's like, "This is my Friday night." He's like, "I'm so excited there's something to do. I'll be here every time." It's... Because he runs one of the other bars, and he does Friday and Saturday and Sunday night stuff in his bar, and he doesn't have anything to do on Mondays because basically the town rolls up, right?

. Yeah. I'm usually in bed by: 10:00

And, and yeah, I, and then I had to spin down, so I didn't get to bed until like quarter of 1:00. I was like, "Oh, Mama's butt's dragging." My butt's on the floor today. I'm old. And I didn't drink at all. I'm drinking water all night long. I'm just... I, I have no excuse for it except I'm freaking tired because I danced.

,: 10:00

Yeah. Oh, we're sad, but yeah, that's what it is. But that's how you not be sleep deprived too, so, you know, you gotta honor your body and not just be like, "I'm old. No, I'm not old. I'm gonna stay up, damn it." No, no, no, honor your body. Honor your body. So, um, anyway, today, uh, it, it's very interesting because we, we did a little juggle in the scheduling, and I changed out some of the topics, uh, last week, and I left today empty, and I didn't have anything planned.

And so my assistant contacted me this morning and was like, "Um, uh, I'm trying to put this together and, uh, what, what are we talking about today?" And I went, "Oh, yeah, right. I left that empty, didn't I?" And it turns out I had a call yesterday afternoon with someone who's just getting her business off the ground, and I really wanted to talk about the type of things that she and I talked about on that call because I think it's so important for people who are just getting their spiritual business off the ground to have a real grounding in the basic principles- Of business.

Because nobody teaches them. I mean, uh, uh, unless you're going to college for it, you know? You just, there aren't... There are a million classes in how to do your marketing, and a million classes in how to do time management and, you know, all that other crap. But nobody comes in and says, "Here's how you structure your offer."

Well, they do, but it's hard to find. It, they're few and far between. And in fact, uh, one of the best places I've found so far for free information, which most people who are just getting started need, is, uh, Alex Hormozi, who he runs a business that takes businesses from $3 million to $30 million, and his tagline is, "So that you only have to get rich once," right?

There we go. And then he helps people exit. Okay. I could do, I could do that. Yeah. That wouldn't suck, right? And so, uh, but what he does is he gives away all the information that he feels you need in order to get to $3 million. And so we are including a link to his website, to that free training on his website for you to go check that out.

I'm gonna talk about some concepts, uh, specific to the, to the spiritual world, and then I want you to go to his site and get more detailed information, 'cause it's, it's lots of videos that are, you know, 15, 20 minutes long each, okay? So all for free. Gotta love it, right? So, um, the first thing I want to say is I beg of you, I plead of you, I, I, I implore you, please, please, please do not start your business with a $25 class as your basic structure.

The only way that you will ever make a living doing that is if you have a huge, and I mean huge, following on social media, right? And when I say huge, I mean, like, 100,000 people or more, okay? And the reason for that is, let's do some basic math, okay? I'm gonna pull up my calculator right now. And so if you have 100,000 followers- The average, so an average conversion rate, you know, like mediocre, really sort of normal rate, is 1 to 3% conversion off of that number.

Okay? So let's say it's... Now, I always like to be conservative in my estimates, so I always go for the bottom of the line so that you don't end up sort of squeaking, you, your, your estimates are puffed and, and then you go and actually do it, and then you're like, "Oh, look, I can't pay rent," right? So I'm gonna go with the 1%, because that's conservative, right?

So 1% is- Conversion rate meaning going from your followers to paying you money for something, cu- your customers. Yes. And so if 1% of 100,000 people buy, okay, and you're selling a $25 course, you're gonna make 25 grand, okay? I don't know many people who can live on that, and I don't know many people who have $100,000 or 100,000 followers, right?

So, you know, this is the problem, is that, you know, most of us have, eh, 250 to 500 people that we know, right? Now, if you've been on social media for a hot minute, you might have several thousand. Let's say you got 20,000, right? Now, 20,000 times that same 1%, times that $25, you're talking five grand, okay? Now, if you do that every single month, can you get away with it?

Yeah, you can. It, it, it's okay. But are you gonna make a lot of money? No, that's 60 grand a year, okay? So what I'm gonna say to you Is the, the $25 classes are only profitable, one, if you have a huge following. That you can only make a living on them if you have a huge following. And two, if you are upselling from that to a higher priced program.

So you can do a $25 course if you have a back-end sale that's, you know, couple grand, five grand, something like that, then you can make a living doing that. Now, let me, let me say this. If you are doing $25 programs, what you have to recognize is about 70 to 80% of the people in the room can't afford that bigger program.

If you're doing free programs, 95% can't afford it. Okay? So I, I want you to be really clear, you will not make a living running a charity. Okay? And let me be clear, if you are not charging enough money to make a living, and you are letting people in for free or on trade before you've made a living, then you are running a charity, not a business.

And these are the biggest mistakes that I see spiritual entrepreneurs make. Okay? That and hoping that somebody will just magically ask for their services. That never happens either. I mean, it does, but it's like one time out of 1,000 that somebody will just say, "Oh, my God, I have to work with you," right? So w- you also have to have a plan for how you're gonna convert them into your services, and a plan for how you're gonna price your services.

You need to know how many hours a week do you wanna work. And based on how many hours a week you wanna work, which by the way includes your marketing, your delivery of your services, your delivery of any pre- pre-stuff that you're doing, like, you know, if you're doing intro courses or whatever to get people into the stuff that you do, anything that you're doing networking wi- wise, all your social media, everything, right?

So you gotta figure that your services are going to be delivered about 30 to 50% of the time, depending upon how effective you are with your marketing So 30 to 50% of the time that you spend working will be spent delivering your services, which means that you need to account for an hourly pay rate of double or more, double to three quarters of what your hourly time is, right?

for a psychic reading in: 2000

It, cost of living has gone up. Your prices should have been raised by now, okay? So, and I was on average with everybody else. I was not charging more than everybody else. I was doing exactly what everybody else was doing, so don't say, "Oh, well Kelle, you were charging more." I was not, okay? That was the going rate, okay?

So let's say you're doing 100, $100 a session, right? Let's say that you're working, uh, what, like thir- 40 hours a week. Let's do full time, okay? 40 hours a week at $100, but, but remember, out of those 40 hours, only 30 to 50% of them are being spent delivering on services that you're charging $100 an hour for, right?

So if we're gonna say 30 to 50, we're gonna average 40%, right? Right, so f- you're, let's say 40% of your time is delivering services. So 40 times 40% is 16 hours a week that you are actually delivering on services. So I'm actually given... I'll use myself as a, as a guinea pig, right? So I'm giving Reiki to someone where they're having a Reiki session, hour, hour and a half, whatever.

So I'm, deliverables, I'm doing 16 hours. Right. And then the other 34 hours, or no, 24 hours are being spent doing marketing and admin and accounting and all the stuff you have to do to run a business, right? All of it. Yes, exactly. So 16 hours is all you're actually getting paid on, right? So times that $100 an hour, which, you know- You might be a little higher or lower, but that's sort of the midline of what I hear people tell me they're charging right now.

Um, it's- it's anywhere from 60 to 150, so that's, 100 is a good number. So that's $1,600 a month, or a week. But let's do the math on that backwards, right? So we got $1,600 a week divided by 40 hours of time spent working. You're actually making $40 an hour for all your time. Okay? So you wanna be aware of that.

That's one of the things that, uh, spiritual entrepreneurs don't account for, and- and new entrepreneurs in general don't account for it. They're- they're like, "Oh, well, you know, I'm gonna work 40 hours a week, I'm gonna make 40 times 100." No, that's not what you're gonna make. You're only getting paid for the time that you're delivering, right?

Now, this is one of the arguments for having online classes and group programs where you can scale, where you're not trading your time for money, right? But in the beginning, most of us start out trading our time for money, and that's okay. Okay? But you gotta know what you're expecting, right? So, you know, if you can get 16 hours a week, that's a, that's a good deal.

Now, what you have to ask yourself is, "Is 16 hours a week gonna wear me out?" Right? Because it's 40 hours a week in actuality, 16 of which are spent doing heavy duty energy work, right? So you have to get realistic with yourself and say, "How many hours can I actually do this?" Because 16 hours a week divided by five days in a week, which a lot of us work more hours, more days than that, right?

So, um, then you're looking at 3.2 hours a day. So can you reasonably and sustainably do three

hours a day for the rest of your life, right, of energy work? Five days a week. Or if I'm doing four days a week and I want my weekends off, that's four hours a day. So that means I'm hands-on doing stuff with a client four hours a day. And that means that there's, you know, 15 to 30 minutes of slush time in between each session, and, you know.

So basically you're gonna be working six hours because there's got the- the slush time of set up and tear down and, you know, the in between time and whatever, right? And if I have to drive to them and come back- Right. Yeah, we're not doing that. Don't do that. Don't ever go to the client. Unless you charge them, like, two or three times what you normally charge, don't go to them.

Okay? That is just gonna be a huge waste of your time. That's called convenience fee. You're paying premium. Absolutely. And they should because it's a huge amount of your time. Yeah. And I drive a diesel truck, so you're gonna pay for my- my gas, honey. With the price of gas nowadays, you're paying for my gas.

Yeah. So and then there's other things to consider too, right? So renting space. This was another conversation we had. This person had a, um, a, an extra space. She had an extra building on her property and she's like, "Oh, well, I'll just do it out of there." And I said, "Well- I said, "Could you rent that space out?"

And she was like, "Well, yeah, I could." I said, "Rent out the space, and then rent space that you need to do your work because you're only gonna be doing stuff for maybe six hours a week or, or a month rather, right? You're only gonna run classes, like, two, three times a month, right? So rent out the space, get the full amount of the rent for that, rent it out to somebody else so you have income coming in, and then use that money to rent a space for two hours here and there from somebody else," right?

You gotta look at what is the best use of what I have, right? Look at your resources and look at the best use of your resources. Do not rent a space full time when you're only gonna be using it part time. It makes no sense to do that. Your most expensive overhead costs are always your rent. So you're better off to rent space on an hourly basis from somebody else for a higher rate and then only rent it for the time you're actually gonna use it 'cause most of us aren't using it very often, right?

So that's another thing to keep in mind, right? Now, my very strong encouragement to you is that before you launch any business that you sit down with a spreadsheet. I love my spreadsheets. And and you run an anal- an analysis, right? You go, "Okay, if I have this many people in my, you know, this many clients and I see them this often and I do this many hours and blah blah blah blah blah, how much money am I bringing in?"

Okay. If I know that and I'm paying, you know, I've got a client coming in, I charge them $100, I pay $20 for the space for an hour, you know, okay, I've got an $80 profit on that, except it's not a profit 'cause you gotta pay yourself, right? So I got an $80 margin on that, and then I pay myself and my business has to have some money go into it to keep it going, right?

'Cause I have to pay for online services and marketing and all that other stuff, right? And taxes and all of that, yes. So, um, although taxes come out post-profit, so that's a different thing. But anyway, um, and so you look at that, and then look at what are your, all of your overhead costs are. I pay X amount of money.

You know, I, I pay, you know, 30 bucks a month for my mailing list service. I pay, you know, 50 bucks a month for, you know, whatever, right? What are my credit card fee charges? You know, that's 3% of all of your charges if people aren't paying you cash, blah blah blah. So you look at all of the expenses, everything you outlay, your gas, everything, right?

And then you look at the bottom line and you see because on average, the average business will net about 50% Of what you make. So now that money, that $1,600 a week isn't looking so great. Now it's $800 a week Net. Yeah. All the expenses just kinda chewed all on it and everything. And I would say, and for sure have a separate checking account and business account.

Do- don't commingle your stuff, going, "Oh, I know, it's just set aside in my, in there, and I use it c-" Don't do that. Don't commingle your stuff. You're gonna pull your hair out and look like Kojak. Don't do that. Well, and your accountant is gonna slap you silly. So yeah, don't do that. So the, y- you know, so there's, this is the planning part, right?

Is we look at that. Now, God forbid, you're one of the people who wants to open a center. Unless you are in a very affluent area, please do not kill yourself by opening a center. One, opening a center is a freak ton of work. I mean, you are constantly organizing the people who are coming in and renting space from you.

You are constantly trying to get people to run classes. You're constantly dealing with customers coming and going. You have to deal with cleaning fees and, or cleaning yourself, and then you're like, you're a janitor on top of everything else, right? And, you know, there's always something going wrong with the property or whatever.

You know, d- how do you deal with... Do you have to be there every time somebody comes in, or do you have a lockbox set up? And what happens if somebody keeps the key from the lockbox and the next person gets there and they can't get in? I'm telling you, I've seen it all. Right? So please, God, if you are hav- having thoughts of this, please don't.

Okay? Um, much as I love centers, uh, you know, they're, they're very hard to run well. And i- as your first business, it's really a bad idea as your first business, because there's so many moving parts that it will make you tear your hair out and you won't sleep. Okay? Same thing for a retreat center. If you're thinking of a retreat center and you've never run one before or been part of the running one before, please do not open a retreat center.

They are so much harder than you think they are to run. Okay? As a first business, it's a bad idea. Okay? I'm not saying nobody should run a retreat center. I'm saying that you need to know your shit to run either a retreat center or a center well, and you need to be a really organized person to do both.

And you, you better be good at hospitality, right? You better be good at self-care, because if you get cranky and bitchy with even one person, uh, it's not good. And don't think you're gonna make everybody happy. You're not. Yeah. So, and, and they're gonna have excellent boundaries, and there's all sorts of things, right?

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. This is not a good business as a first business, right? So, you know, stick with practitioner. Yeah. And even as a practitioner, let's say, 'cause what came to my mind whenever you're talking about like a center, too, same kind of scenario where, oh, I'm gonna go rent my space, but oh, all that I can find available is something with like, I'm gonna make this up, three suites.

So I can use one and then rent out the other two. Let me tell you what a nightmare that's gonna be. I- it's like, you know, having, uh, buying a duplex and you're gonna live in one and, you know, rent out the other. You hope that your renters are there. That's not a guarantee. And you hope you get along with them.

That's not a guarantee. And then guess what? Everything that breaks, you're right there. So for a first-time business, that would be a, that would be a bad thing, too. Absolutely. So, you know, these are the things not to do, right? So the other thing that I said is, is don't shoot for what you think you need to get by in terms of income, okay?

You wanna structure your business in such a way that it will make you double what you think you need to get by. And why do I say double and not more? And I say that because you will have a hard time initially wrapping your head around making that kind of money if you never have before. And it is important to put, put stretch goals on yourself, but it's important not to make them bigger stretch goals than they, than, than feels like it could be possible to you, right?

So if you're used to making $2,500 a month, you're not gonna think that $10,000 a month is possible. You're... it's gonna seem pie in the sky-ish to you initially. So you make your goal five grand. When you hit five grand and now five grand seems reasonable, then you make your goal 10 grand, right? I'm not saying you never get there, but I'm saying get there in stages.

One is that it's gonna get you to be realistic about what can be done and what can't and w- and not go into fantasy pie in the sky thinking, which a lot of us are guilty of because we had childhoods where we escaped into our fantasies. And so fantasy thinking is our deal. It's our deal, right? It's, it's our go-to.

So, you know, uh, and before you launch anything, run it by a business owner you know who has been in the business for a while and say, "This is what I'm thinking about doing," and ask them to pick it apart, because that can be some of the most valuable advice that you can get. I still do that to this day. I wrote a sales page for a new program the other day, and I handed it to my, my group.

I have a group of, of business owners that I, I do a networking thing with. And I handed it to the group, and they ripped it to shreds. They just... They eviscerated it. I was so proud, too. I was like, "Look at what I did. Isn't it awesome?" And they were like, "No, it doesn't feel like you at all. It feels very corporate.

There's no fun in this." And I was like, "But, but I was so... I, like, t- spent two days on that." And there was... I, I was like, "What? You were supposed to tell me it was awesome."

But I didn't tell them that. I told them, "Tell me what's too big," which was the important thing. Always, always, always run it by another business owner because they were right. They were right. I have not put the sales page out because it sounded terrible. It did not sound like me, and I don't know why. I, I was just toasty, I guess, when I was writing it.

I don't know. But yeah, and, and I looked at it, I was like, "Oh, yeah, you're right. That's a great sales page for somebody who's not me." Like... So, you know, these are the things that they, they will point out to you. So the last thing I'm gonna say is, is please pick up a copy of the book, Profit First. We've talked about this before on the podcast.

I'm gonna say it again because it is so important, and it, it will revolutionize the way that you do business. Um, and, you know, going back to the... I, I wa- Actually, I wanna go back to the goal thing again. The other reason you double your intention is because your business is probably gonna have 50% expenses, right?

You, you, you need to double what your nut is in order to make your nut every month, right? Because y- you're gonna have 50% expenses And so when you look at that, you're like, "Oh, that's just break even," right? That's the other reason you double it. And you have to know your break even. Yes. And be very careful about what expenses you commit to.

It's very easy to end up spending a huge amount of money in, you know, $50 here, 20 bucks there, you know, $15 there, whatever, right? Because you're subscribing to all these different services, and you never sit down and look at how much money that actually is. I, in my business right now, am currently in the process of unsubscribing from about eight or 10 different services and going into a single platform that will do all of those things for me for just $100 a month.

It's gonna save me several thousand dollars a year. Now, it's gonna be a process to transition over, but it's gonna save me several thousand dollars a year and a whole lot of complexity in the way that my business functions. So at all levels, you're gonna look at how much does it cost me, and how do I streamline my expenses, and how...

And, and make smart choices. Don't, don't buy the budget thing because it's the budget thing. Buy the, the, buy the most im- expensive thing you can afford that does the job well enough, right? Not the all the bells and whistles that you can grow into in 10 years. T- I promise you, 10 years down the road, that program won't be there.

You'll be using a different one. You do not need that program, okay? So you buy the thing that does what you need it to do right now, and then if you need to, you upgrade or you switch platforms later. I- I- if you're doing anything in the online space, you will be constantly switching platforms. You'll be constantly upgrading your systems every 20, 18 to 24 months.

You have to refresh your website, and you gotta reassess your tech because that's how fast the tech world moves. So there's always something that you're gonna be shifting, so if you do not like constantly shifting tech, running a tech company is not your best choice. Running an online business is not your best choice.

ning an online business since: 2004

It has been this way for the last 20 years. You know, just know that going in, okay? So I, I know this has not been terribly woo woo. And this one isn't meant to be woo-woo, guys. It really isn't. Uh, y- you know, it, you cannot be fully woo unless you're fully grounded, right? You need to have a balance between the, the grounding and the woo.

So this is your grounding point for your business. This, this one is not a fun one, but it's an important one, right? You guys heard me do the website, uh, review with, with, uh, uh, Kevin, I think was his name, um, and heard me talk about, you know, how do you figure out your, your hourly rate and all of that, right?

I will say to you, this is the other thing. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna add one more thing to the mix, and then I'm gonna let us go because we're a little over time already, but I have so much to say on this subject. All right. So the other thing I'm gonna say is that if you deliver a service, you will make less money than if you deliver a result, okay?

I'm gonna say it again. If you deliver a service, you will make less money than if you deliver a result. So do not do just a Reiki session. Do something that solves the problem. And your repeat clients are cheaper than getting new clients. So you're better off, the client is better off, you're better off, everybody's better off if you deliver an outcome and you say, "Okay, for, uh, you know, we're gonna clear your chakras, and we're going to..."

You know, what the client comes to you with, I've got back pain or whatever, whatever. And you say, "Okay, so I'm gonna clear your back pain. I think it's gonna take somewhere between three and six sessions because I, I can feel into it. There's, there's some past life stuff in there. There's some trauma in there.

There's some energy work to be done," blah, blah, blah. And you're like, "Yeah, I can feel it all. It's gonna be somewhere between three and six sessions, and I'm gonna give you a package price, uh, which is gonna be, you know, $1,000," or something like that, right? And you say, "We're gonna do as many sessions as it takes for us to fix it."

Now you're delivering a result, right? And the person goes, "Oh, at the end of this, my back is gonna feel better." And you go, "Yeah, back's gonna feel better. I'll just keep working on you until it does. And that's, that's what I'm delivering is your back will feel better," right? So at that point, even if you only do it in three sessions, you've paid, they've paid for an outcome.

And they're like, "Oh, I got my outcome." And somebody whose back hurts all the time, 1,000 bucks is a steal of a deal for that to be better, right? So this is what I'm saying is, is don't sell packages of, of, you know, there's, there's three different levels, right? There's I'm doing a single service in a single moment.

There's a I'm gonna sell you a package of services. I'm gonna sell you, you know, six sessions for, you know, a discounted price off the main, off, off of a single se- price. Right? That's a, that's a package of services. It's still selling your time for money, and it's still selling a service. It's just offering a discount on the service, which I don't recommend.

And then the final one is delivering on a, an outcome. And the wonderful thing about delivering on an outcome is that you can charge more for that, which means that you have more funds to be able to make that actually work. So you might have a, a stock of foam rollers in your, in your space that you give away to clients.

They're 10 bucks, right? If you're charging $1,000 for an outcome, you can afford to give a $10 foam roller away. Whereas if you're charging 60 bucks for a session, you can't afford to do that. And you tell them, "Oh, go get the foam roller," and of course they don't, and so ... 'Cause it's too hard, right? And then they come back, and you're like, "Why is your back not better?"

And they're like, "Oh, I" ... "Did you get the foam roller?" "No, I forgot." You know? Whereas if you just hand it to them, they're like, "Oh, now I can do this," right? So that is... Right? That it makes a big deal, makes a big difference, right? And you can do that when you have, when you have charged enough to be able to provide a higher level of service, right?

And when you're providing a service at that level, you're not working 40 hours a week. You're now working 30, right? And you've got an assistant who's working for you, so effectively the company is now working 50 hours a week. But you're only working 30 and only delivering on maybe 10, right? But you're still making the same money, and now you have the bandwidth to sit down and contemplate what's going on with this person's back, and to energetically check in with them when they're not in the room, and to be able to sit with yourself and consult with your guides and consult with your, your mentors and say, "You know, I've got this problem, I'm trying to figure it out.

I wanna get a b- the best result. How do I do that?" Right? Now you have the time and the bandwidth to do that and to deliver at a higher level, right? So this is what I'm saying. You know, people are like, "Oh, you know, the money, you know, blah, blah, blah. You know, you're ch- charging too much. blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah."

Here's the deal, right? If you don't charge enough money to have the bandwidth to do that kind of service, then you also don't charge enough money to have the space in your work to be able to take on the occasional pro bono client or trade client or whatever. A- And here's the other thing I'm gonna tell you.

I almost never, like almost never give away anything. Because for years I used to, and inevitably the people that you give it to, no matter how in... much they say they're gonna use it, they don't, okay? They need to have skin in the game, okay? So if you're going to do something on a sliding scale or, you know, give somebody something where they don't have to pay cash, you need to get an exchange.

You need an energetic exchange. One, because you are creating karmic debt if you don't, and two, because they won't take it in, but to the level that they have invested. And so that's the thing, right? And the other thing I'm gonna say is, if you're gonna do a trade, never do a trade with somebody that you would not pay for their services, because you are paying for their services, right?

So, uh, so that was gonna be the, the question I'm hearing. But what about all those friends and family discounts that when I start my business, you know they're gonna come out the woodworks and Aunt Tinanie is gonna go, "Oh, well, just go see you 'cause you family and she ain't gonna charge you nothing" 'cause you know that's gonna go around in the family, at least, you know, the toxic ones.

So how do you... What's your advice to handle those kind of situations? So for one, there's always going to be an, a, uh, expectation imbalance when you're working on friends and family because your friends are gonna expect you to take more care of them and charge them less- And you're going to expect them to pay you all and appreciate you, right?

Because they wanna support your business, right? And that's how you frame it, by the way, is when they come to you, they s- they say, "Oh, I need a session." "Oh, thank you so much for supporting my business. I so appreciate your support of my business." Right? And that sets the expectation that they're coming to you to support you, not that they're coming to you for a freebie.

That's definitely- And you set those boundaries ... sets a boundary, right? Now, if they absolutely have no money, they are family, and you're going to have shit from the family for the rest of your freaking life if you don't do this, then find another way for them to help you, right? Testimonials. In the beginning, you're gonna d- be desperate for testimonials, okay?

Tell them... And most, uh, uh, I'm gonna tell you, quite frankly, most of the people who come in for free are, they write shit testimonials, so don't have them write it. Have y- you, you talk to them about what their experience was, and then you write it up and have them approve it. Because a testimonial should say, "This was my experience.

I had this problem. I came to this person. They solved my problem, and I feel this much better now." Right? That's what a s- good testimonial should say. Not, "Oh, you should go see so-and-so. She's great." Okay? Don't. That's a terrible testimonial. Nobody can look at that testimonial and see themselves and say, "Oh, yes, this person has the answer to my problem."

That's the goal of a testimonial is for that, for someone else who's considering working with you to see the testimonial and see themselves in it and see that you have the solution, okay? So, you know, they can pay you in a testimonial and some work around the house, right? If the testimonial is not sufficient.

My grass needs cutting, hedges need trimming. Something like that. They can, they can do social media posts for you, they can, you know, whatever, right? But they've gotta do something. And my strong encouragement is that they do the thing before they get the service, because once they get the service, they have no reason to do the thing, right?

So yeah. And even the best of intentions, it's just how it works out. All right. Well, this has been a huge amount of information. Uh, again, not, not woo-wooey. However, we do ha- need the balance between you got to have the business sense in order to have your business to allow you to be able to do the woo-woo.

So you gotta have both of them. All right. So what would be your ending- Oh, no, no, no ...ism? Oh, what? I got one more, I got one more thing. We're not done. Oh, we're not done. I got one more thing. And it- But wait, there's more ... it's, it's like the most important thing. So if you stop listening, s- you're, you're, you're screwed.

So this'll tell you that you need to listen to the end, right? So because I forgot the most important thing. So the, the most important thing here is that I see so many spiritual entrepreneurs go in with mushy, really mushy intentions, like horribly mushy intentions. They're like, "Oh, well, I wanna, I want... I, I'm gonna be a spiritual teacher."

Okay. Yeah. Y- you could do that sitting on your back porch and talking to anybody who walks by. That doesn't mean you're gonna have a business, right? "I'm gonna be a spiritual teacher with, you know, five, you know, five dedicants." Okay. But, you know, that's still not a business, right? 50 dedicants, still not a business.

They could be all volunteer and do nothing, you know, pay, not pay you, right? It... You need to get crystal clear on what is the life that you want to lead, right? Do not make a plan for a business that works for the finances but does not work for your lifestyle. Okay? I'm gonna say that again. Do not make a plan for the business that works financially, but does not work for your lifestyle.

If you know, like me, I'm a big freedom girl, I hate having my calendar completely scheduled to within an inch of my life. Makes me crazy. I hate sitting on Zoom calls for four hours in a row. Makes me nuts. I am not good with- Makes you cranky, not even kidding. Makes you a little cranky ... it does make me super cranky, yeah.

So, you know, I hate it. I hate it. And, and, and, and I... My body hates it. I get un- my body aches when I do that, and so I don't design my business around it, right? When my business expands and, and people fill up my calendar with random stuff, because it's always the random stuff, 'cause I've designed the business so that it's not that, right?

But it's always the random stuff that, you know, oh, I need a meeting with this person or that person or the other thing or whatever. I really pay attention to that. I audit my calendar at the beginning of every week and I say, "Okay, how much space is there between calls?" And if there isn't enough, I reschedule stuff or I just don't do things.

I cancel things. If I look at my calendar and I go, "Ugh," if my body just goes, "Ah," I start canceling things, okay? Because I need to respect my bo- my body, right? So one, ske- you know, set up your business structure in such a way that it supports your way of being. Two, get really clear about what your goals are.

What do you want your financial goals to be like? How do you wanna feel every day? How do you wanna spend your time every day? Or, you know, how do you wanna rotate days that you spend your time in different ways? Because I'm that person, I don't like to do the same thing every day, and you may not neither.

But, you know, what does your general week look like, right? How much time do you wanna take off every year? Uh, and, and in what sort of chunks, right? Do you wanna take a weekend every month? Do you wanna take a month every quarter? You know, how do you wanna take your time off, right? And then, and then get really clear.

So this is the other big, big, big piece, right? The universe is not your freaking parent. They do not get to pass judgment of what is good or bad for you. The universe is your partner, and they are unconditionally loving and supportive of anything you choose. The... If what you are doing is not working, it is either because you have not committed to it, which is most of the time, and when I say commit, like I'm gonna do this come hell or high water, right?

I'm committing that I will be on this path for at least a year. If you're not willing to be on the path for at least a year, don't freaking do it. Do not throw spaghetti against the wall and hope it sticks. The universe is just gonna look at you confused and go, "Wait, what? I thought we were doing this thing over here.

We're doing this thing now?" I thought it was tacos. Why are we having spaghetti? Right. Yeah. And, and that's what happens is the universe gets confused. It takes a minute to readjust, and by the time it readjusts, you've thrown new spaghetti against the wall and have changed order, you know, direction again, and it's like, wait a minute, what?

And eventually it just goes, "Okay, when you figure it out, let me know because I'm just gonna sit here because, you know, this doesn't make any sense to me," right? So you need to pick a path and commit to it. Pick your path, not what someone else expects of you to pick. And, and commit, as in speak it out loud, follow through, do the things.

Don't whine about the marketing, just go do it. Don't, don't be like, "Oh, I don't wanna be a marketer, blah, blah, blah." You know, marketing... Oh my God, I have so much to say on this subject. We're gonna have to do more of these. Um, I'm, I'm not gonna go down that road because that... we'll, we'll be here for another hour.

Anyway, the, uh, you know, the, the thing that you have to do is commit. Now, there's one of two reasons why the universe may not be lining up. One is you didn't commit, or two, it's time for you to change direction. But that only happens after you've committed for a long time, okay? So it is not the universe saying, "Don't go this way."

I promise you. They don't say that unless you've already committed for a long time and it's time to change direction. So unless... And, and when I say a long time, years. Years, okay? So pick a path and commit. If you're just getting started, pick something, something that you are so passionate about that you can do it for the next two years minimum, okay?

And then watch the universe line up behind you. But make the commitment and say, "I'm getting there come hell or high water," not, "Oh, is this the thing I should be doing? I don't know." Right? Get clarity and then commit. 'Cause you're gonna be tested. Going, "You sure you wanna do this? Are you sure? You really sure?"

Well, life is hard. You know, life, life can be... It doesn't have to be hard all the time, but it is occasionally hard. And in business it is hard more often than it, it is in other ways. So, you know, it, it's the nature of the beast for things to be hard, and especially if you're starting something you've never done before, it's, it is very hard because you're, you're running in uncharted waters for you, right?

This is why it's so important to have a mentor and do, do all of that thing, right? So this is the piece, okay? Please, please, please pick a path. Pick a path that is going to support you financially, pick a path that is gonna support you in your being-ness, pick a path that you can commit to for at least two years, and then run headlong towards it.

That is how you will be successful. And do not let other people tell you how you should be running your business, especially if they ha- don't have one. Okay? Do not listen to people who have never run a business tell you how to run your business, and es- uh, especially if they've never run a successful one.

That would be, that would be the equivalent of taking financial advice from broke people. Don't do that. Yes. Okay? So I believe in you. There's a reason why I'm doing these podcasts this year, is because I believe in you. I know that you have the ability to, to step fully into your mission on this planet. I know you do.

I also know it scares the living fuck out of you, and that's okay. When I looked at my mission on the planet 25 years ago, it scared the living fuck out of me, too, okay? Now I feel okay about it, okay? So you will get there. You will get there. Just, you just gotta keep going. And remember that it is not entirely your job to do the up-leveling of the planet.

There are 100,000 of us on the planet who are here to do that. We are all working together. You do not have to do this alone, and you are not doing it alone, no matter how much you may feel like you are. Okay? I believe in you. You can do this. I know it's scary, I know it's hard, but you are smart and you are capable and you are amazing.

Go out there and change the world. I love you. And that is a perfect ending for this podcast. So that's all that we have time for this week, folks. Tune in next time when Kelle adds another chapter into your guide to energy, magic, and the spirit world. I'm Jules, here with Kelle Sparta, and you have been listening to Spirit Sherpa.

So long, y'all.

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