#86 - 5-Minute Clarity Exercise to Align Your Purpose with Your Business & Attract the Right Clients

Ever wonder why your skills aren’t translating into sales or standout opportunities? 

In this short solo episode, I share a story about being multi-talented but often overlooked, and how one moment of radical clarity changed my career. 

You’ll learn a quick, 5-minute journaling exercise to uncover what you really want to be known for and how to start aligning your business to reflect that.

Whether you’re feeling stuck, misaligned, or like your dream clients just aren’t “getting it,” this episode is your permission slip to stop playing small and start marketing with magnetic clarity.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why being a generalist can block your growth
• How to reconnect with what lights you up
• The 5-minute journaling practice that reveals where you’re out of alignment
• How this clarity helps you attract high-ticket, ready-to-buy clients

✨ Plus: Updates on Deborah’s Foundations Group Coaching Program and exciting new guests coming soon to the podcast!

Links mentioned:
→ Join the Foundations Open House on Sept 10

→ Deborah’s Private Podcast: Soulful Sales Energy Self-Audit- this FREE private podcast experience will help you radically shift the way you've been showing up for your sales calls and reimagine what is possible for your business.  

→ Email Deborah with questions or for details about Foundations Group Coaching program

Mindset to Market is a Luminous Creative Production. If you'd like to learn more about our business coaching program and group coaching container, please visit us online at DeborahcSmith.com.

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Mindset to Market is produced by Deborah C. Smith and designed to inspire and support big-hearted creatives in finding their own unique path, building a sustainable business, and creating financial, spiritual, mental wellness and abundance.

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💕 Visit Deborah online at DeborahCSmith.com
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Transcript

 Years ago I was living in New York City and working in a production role for a nonprofit where I was grotesquely underpaid for my time, but that's not profit. So no complaints. I was, you know, happy to have a job, but I was also feeling unfulfilled and I really wanted a change in my life. So I started interviewing for jobs and trying to find my place in a more of a creative role in my career.

So my resume was stacked with. All kinds of skills. I had admin, work office, clerical work, web design, production skills, grant writing. I'd done a lot of event coordination and production, so I could do a lot of things proficiently. The problem is that I was decent at everything, but I didn't stand out whatsoever for any one thing.

So I kept getting interviews for these cool jobs, but no job offers because nobody knew where to place me, right? There was just no clear role for me. So eventually I realized that my versatility. My sort of Jill of all trade ness was making me a bit invisible. So I sat down and I got radically honest with myself about what I would prefer to be doing with my life, right?

And I chose one lane that I wanted to lean into. Which was creative strategy, right? I really wanted to have a role where I could be creative, but also help plan and organize things. So I knew that if I wanted to earn more money and be seen as a leader by people in the management roles that I would need to become.

Sort of necessary to them, right? I would need to be able to do something that would help steer the organization and I would need to take ownership of some aspect of the results that we were getting. So within a few weeks of making that decision, I got a meeting with the executive director at my current job, and I explained to her that I was ready to move on or step up, and I was actively seeking jobs.

And I asked her if there was a way that I could create a role inside this company that would allow me to grow both creatively and earn more money. And I shared the different ways I thought I could benefit the company, but all of it was concentrated on this pathway towards helping be more creative, be more strategic.

And within six months from that conversation, I was named the director of communications for that organization and I got a significant pay raise. That move became the foundation for so much experience in my early career that would wind up shaping my success for marketing my own businesses later on down the road.

And a lot of what I learned and experienced in that job helps me guide my clients today. So here is what it taught me. When you don't own your clarity and you're just kind of all over the place, people can't really see your value. It's messy, right? But when you do own your clarity, the road opens wide up to meet you, and really anything is possible.

So if you have ever said to yourself, man, I'm really good at a lot of things, but people don't seem to get what I really do. Or if you're feeling like my days are really full and I'm working all the time, but my business still doesn't feel like it's aligned and like I'm getting any place. Or if you're tired of feeling like you just kind of blend in with every other coach or service provider out there and you're not sure what your competitive edge is in the market, then let's fix that.

Today we're gonna do a five minute exercise. That's really a clarity exercise. It's gonna help you make a decision for right now about the direction that you wanna move in with your business. And what you want to be known for by your audience. Okay, so let's do this. Hey there, and welcome to the Mindset To Market Podcast, your go-to place for practical tools and solutions for the everyday challenges of being a creative and spiritual solopreneur living in a material world.

I'm your host. Deborah Smith. I'm a holistic business coach with 17 years of experience, and I help my clients bust through mindset blocks and build a daily practice that prioritizes your business's financial growth as well as your personal health and wellness. I'm here to offer you support, creativity, mindset, practical how-tos, and getting into imperfect messy actions so you can find balance while building the dream.

Business. If you're a purpose-driven solepreneur, who's working on that dream one day at a time, then you're in the right place. Let's dive in. Hey, hey, hey, rock stars. Welcome back to The Mindset To Market podcast. Today's episode is a shorty, but a good one, and it is the kind of episode that you might want a notebook for.

So, um, we'll dive into the exercise that I'm gonna share in just a minute. But first I have a tiny bit of exciting housekeeping. Um. So I am thrilled right now because I have some excellent guests coming up in the, in the coming weeks and months I've been reaching out to some of my dream guests and getting positive responses, and so I was able to interview the amazing Jen Maser a couple weeks ago, and I'm gonna release that episode next week.

She's the Queen of Manifestation. She has an incredible book about how to really expand your capacity for what is possible in your life. I cannot wait to share this interview. She just dropped Gem after Gem. So make sure you tune in next week for that. And you guys, I am so, so, so excited to let you know that I am going to be interviewing Mickey Agrawal, who is the CEO and the founder of Thinks and Tushy, and her new product is Hero, which is.

Diapers made from mycelium network tissue. I don't quite know yet how that actually works, and I cannot wait to pick her brain about conscious capitalism and all of the growth that she's experienced as a, as a CEO and a founder Cannot wait to share that with you. And I've also got some not yet confirmed, but in the works, other amazing guests coming.

So I'm really excited about this and I wanna thank you for being on this journey with me Also. So excited to announce that starting September 15th, the Foundation's group coaching program, which is already open and my current clients exist within this hybrid coaching group. But we are gonna start a new cohort, which means that it's a six month group coaching program.

And for the first three months, every two weeks, we move through one of the modules inside the Mindset to Market course. This is for service providers. Coaches, consultants, and anyone who is looking for support to build a simple, repeatable marketing operation inside their business. That helps to automate lead generation, automate sales, and really connect you through just authentic storytelling to your ideal clients.

And the goal is that in the end of this six month program, you have crystal clarity on your offer, the funnel strategy that you use to call in those clients, and the sales mechanism that helps you simply and easily create those sales inside your business. I've been doing this work with women for the last six years.

The program is about two years old. I would, I, it's hard to call it wildly successful because there hasn't been like hundreds and hundreds of clients through it yet, but every client who has come through this program is, has almost all of them have paid for the course before they even finished it, and. I have lots and lots of testimonial proof that it's working really well, so I am so thrilled about reopening this as a cohort starting September 15th.

So if that is, if that calls to you, that speaks to you, please DM me, ask for more information. I'm really excited to open this up and kind of do. A formulaic, step-by-step cohort version of the program. And here's the amazing thing. My clients who have been my clients ongoing for years are excited to go through that cohort as well because it's one of those things that you can't learn.

Too many times, right? It's like adding layers to your business to make it even more successful for, so for some of my clients who have been through the program, who have been through, you know, who've been coached through all of these modules for them, they're gonna be scaling, right? They're adding on new automations, they're cleaning up and repurposing tools, and creating even simpler and more effective strategies that they can scale.

So once again, if you're interested in learning more about foundations, dm me, email me, um, and there will be an open house on September 10th, and I will drop the link for that in the show notes and on my website, which is deborah c smith.com. Okay. That's that. And by the way, if you have not listened to the private podcast, um, it is available.

I'll link to that as well. It's called. The soulful sales, energetic self-audit, and the purpose of this, it's a six episode podcast, private podcast, uh, designed to help you do some inner deep probing about where you might be blocked around, specifically around sales. So grab that at the link in my show notes or on my website, on the homepage of my website.

Okay, that is all for now. I'm excited about all these things coming up. Let's dive into this clarity exercise. So like I said, grab a notebook if you want to, or hit pause if you need to. Um, this is going to shift things for you so fast. Literally. And seriously, it literally just takes five minutes, so you have no excuse not to do this.

You can set a timer for seven minutes, and in five of them you'll do this exercise. Okay? So what you're gonna do is you're gonna make two lists. List number one is everything that you currently do inside your business, okay? So just write down everything, all of the services that you offer. All of the different ways that people pay you.

All of the things that you help clients with, all of the things that people ask you for help with. No filter, no item is too small, no item is too big. Just write down everything that you actually currently do. Okay? That should just only take you a couple of minutes. Just make a list. Then once you're done with that, you're gonna make a second list.

And the second list is what do you actually want to be known for? So these are gonna be the ideas, the results, the energy that really, truly lights you up. That future version of you who has lived a full life and is looking back and, and celebrating your accomplishments. What are you celebrating? Okay. Are you fully booked?

Are you in demand for something that you've already created? Is it a scaling what you already have or are you envisioning yourself being known for something that you haven't even started yet? Is there an element of something that lights you up and that you care deeply about that you haven't yet woven into your current business offers?

Now, the next thing I want you to do is to just sit with those two lists, okay? Side by side. And just give yourself permission to take a nice deep breath. I always like to invite a nice, calm, nervous system around some of these exercises because at the end of the day, if it's causing you physical tension, then you're probably not gonna get the release and the breakthrough that the exercise is designed for.

So get comfortable, take a few deep breaths, and I wanna invite you to choose radical honesty. With this exercise. Okay, so radical honesty means really tell yourself the truth. Don't just kowtow or give into that little voice in the back of your head that might actually be the voice of like your mother or a high school teacher or somebody who you don't wanna let down.

Don't let the people pleaser creep in right now. This isn't exercise for you as an entrepreneur to ask yourself with radical honesty, the magic questions, which are, while looking at that list, those two lists. Where do you see overlap? Okay. Where is there any overlap between the list of things that you're currently doing with ev, your everyday life and the list of things that you want to be known for?

Is there any overlap there? Or how about this question? Where are you showing up and giving and working and doing in ways that don't actually serve your bigger vision? Right? So if you look at that list of things that you want to be known for. And you don't see any correlation whatsoever with the work that you're currently doing, then you have some information to work with, right?

This is clarity work. This is how you stop marketing, like you're just. Another expert out there in the field is to find that unique special thing that is calling you. That's your purpose. Your soul's purpose is something that lights you up. So if the things that lights you up are not currently part of what you do for work, how can you then start to integrate some of those pieces into what you do with your business so that your business can evolve to start to look a little bit more like.

The thing you wanna be known for, right? Because we wanna start showing up like the only option for our dream clients and our dream clients will start to see us and detect us. We will start to stand out to them when we are in alignment with that purpose. I believe this from the bottom of my heart, from the bottom of my toes, all the way up to the top of my head.

I really truly believe that the shift that has happened for me as an entrepreneur. Has come with each moment that I allowed a little bit more of my passion and my purpose to be infused with how I, how I coach, and the business offers that I create, whether that be a product or a service. If it's infused with something that I wanna be known for, that I'm super proud of, I, it's a lot easier for me to go out there and publicly talk about it, share about it, connect with people who need that offer.

So here's why this really matters for you as a, as a solopreneur. I see so many brilliant women who are just stuck building businesses based on what they have been told is the right way to do things or what they're capable of, right? Going back to that story from the top of my, this episode of me being proficient in a lot of things.

But none of it was stuff that I was really passionate about. None of it was something that I felt called to, and I had to sit with myself and say, well, what's something that you would actually really like to be doing? Because you're here in this job feeling stuck on this hamster wheel. And quite frankly, I was not happy.

Um, you know, that point in my life, I had a lot, I had a lot of learning ahead of me. This was before I left. The world of, you know, event production and, and business and corporate marketing and, and went back to get a degree in holistic health coaching. But that's a whole nother story for another episode.

But basically, you know, I, I did give myself permission to ask for something that would be a little bit more like. Who I wanted to become, what I wanted to be known for, which is creativity and strategic execution of planning, right? This is something that I do every day now with my clients, so it led me in the right direction, but it required radical honesty, and part of that was looking at what I was doing and noticing, God, I'm being, I'm spread so thin, I'm saying yes to everything, and I'm not really getting great at anything.

So this exercise is designed to. Show you what's leaking your energy, right? This is, this goes along really well with the private podcast, you guys. Where are we leaking our energy and giving it away in places that we don't want to be giving it away, where we're building things that we don't wanna be creating.

I always say, don't climb a ladder you don't wanna get to the top of, and I'm guilty of having done that in my career, and I have regret. Of years of my life lost to running a business way beyond the time when I should have pivoted. Um, so I want those years back, but I won't get those years back. So what I can do now is live, live radically in my purpose and create business opportunities, offers and programs that invite other people to do the same thing.

So you have to ask yourself what needs to shift for me to feel like I'm on track. For me to feel like I'm living in my purpose and I, I'm clear about how I wanna show up because it's aligned with who I want to become and what I want to be known for. So those are the questions I want you to ask. So you're gonna take five minutes, you're gonna make those two lists, and then you're gonna ask yourself, where's the overlap?

And where am I showing up in ways that don't serve my bigger vision? What needs to shift? What, what content, what offers and what entire vibe in your life should you be shifting in order to get in alignment with the things that you wanna be doing? And here's the fun part, when you start to do this work more regularly, these clarity work where you start to get.

Uh, a little bit more comfortable with this radical honesty. You're gonna start seeing how you attract new people into your business world and new clients who truly start to see you and who say, oh my gosh, you're exactly who I have been looking for. Because they start to see that part of you that is lit up, that magnetic, you know, aligned and really attractive element that being in our purpose brings forth.

Okay, so here is part two of your assignment. Should you choose to accept it, I would love to hear from you. I would love to hear if this exer, if you do the exercise and, and I. I really do encourage you to do this. It's so helpful, and if this exercise unlocks something for you, I would love to hear what that thing is.

So you can share your two lists with me, either on Instagram, you can DM me or threads. And my handle is Debra, D-E-B-O-R-A-H, Smith Coaching. You can also drop me a line at Mindset to Market Pod, and. Let's reflect together. I wanna help you shift into the direction that you wanna be headed in. So the other thing you can do is let this clarity really shape your next offer, your content strategy, or maybe even something on your about page, like add these elements into your story.

And like I said earlier, if this is stirring something deeper in you and you would like to work with a coach to be thinking about creative strategy for your business, to be creating offers that are truly soul aligned and building out simple technical funnels to help automate your lead gen and your sales processes, please consider joining us inside foundations.

I'm so proud of this program. And the results that it's getting from my clients, and I'm gonna be sharing more about that, uh, in the coming weeks. But you can just DM me or email me and I will send you the details. And like I said, next week, September 10th, I'm gonna have a little bit of an open house. So go to the show notes or my website, www.debracsmith.com.

And you will find the invitation link to join that open house that's gonna just literally give you a sneak peek inside the program and all of the bonuses and how we run it and what you can expect to experience if you join us. Okay, so here's the closing call, the the Roundup on this. You are not here to be a generalist.

You have a unique special sauce. You're one of one, right? You get to be unforgettable. And so I invite you to just take this five minute exercise and like I said, choose radical honesty. Sit with what you see on the page, and I invite you to have a willingness to just claim what's truly yours in this one wild lifetime.

We only get one shot at it, and it's a gift and a blessing to be here and to be able to share your business with other people in the work that you do is needed. It's transformative work. All of us stepping up and sharing our businesses and creating ways to transform and connect with people is really important work.

So. I'm excited for you. I wanna hear from you if you would be willing to share. Please send me a message with what you got from this exercise. I cannot wait to hear from you. Also shout out to everyone who has reached out to me in, in the past couple of weeks. Um, I'm really grateful that the, the energetics of sales content has been resonating with people.

So thank you for those messages. And if you're, if you're willing to leave a rating or review for the podcast, it would be so gratefully, so greatly appreciated. Um, that's the number one way that I can reach more listeners. So you can scroll down where you see this episode. I think you have to be logged into Apple Music or to Spotify to, to do this.

And typically wherever you're listening to an episode, you can just scroll down and you'll see. Like star ratings, and you can, right there, you can just choose to give a star rating and there's usually a little link that says review, and you can just drop, you know, a few words in there. It makes all the difference to get reviews.

So thank you in advance for taking time to do that. All right, you guys, keep the messages coming. Let me know if there's a topic that you want to hear about or if there's a guest you would love to hear from. And until next week with my amazing interview with Jen Mazer, may you be vibrant.