PURPOSESCAPING with Amanda Miller Littlejohn

PYG 154: Lead with you

This past fall, I had the pleasure of working with conscious business and brand strategist Ash Johns in Package Your Genius Academy.
Ash has quite the bio; trained in corporate advertising, she's also highly spiritual and intuitive. Her spiritual talents and passion for social equity inform her current business where she works as a psycho-spiritual coach.
Before entering PYG Academy, Ash was rightfully hesitant about money. She'd just returned to the U.S. from Bali, and her business wasn't earning enough to sustain her life back in the States.
She craved a business where she could lean into her 'woo' and package premium services with her ancestral healing work front and center.
But she feared it wasn't realistic to expect to make the same kind of money as a healer as she'd made in her six-figure corporate gig.
Ash uncovered during the three months of the academy that she could show up 100% authentically, lead with her spiritual "woo" side, and still make a lot of money.
As a matter of fact, once she shifted her message, reconfigured her packages, and began to lead with her whole truth, she experienced a record revenue month.
I'm so proud of her.
Whether you consider yourself "woo" or just the opposite, let Ash's story inspire you.
Whatever you do and whoever you are, there is an audience for the most authentic expression of your gifts.
But first, you must get clear on your focus and stop denying what's really there.
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Can you relate to Ash's story? I'd love to hear from you! 
And if you're ready to lean more into YOU, but need support? Our spring cohort of Package Your Genius Academy kicks off March 10. Want to join us? Visit packageyourgeniusacademy.com to submit your application.
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PYG 153: Multi-passionate is a MYTH

A common idea keeps many high achievers stuck in analysis paralysis.
It's the inability to decide on a focus area because they are admittedly 'multi-passionate.'
Every day, talented professionals fail to move their brands forward because they can't pick a direction. I've talked to many people who feel they need a separate website, distinct social media pages and brand identities for each of their passions. Let's face it - that's a lot to keep up.
In my opinion, characterizing yourself as multi-passionate is a bad idea.
For one, it dilutes your credibility, at least in the beginning. Since your audience can only digest one thing at a time, if they're coming to you for your support, your message needs to be crystal clear.
You can hear my four reframes for the multi-passionates in this episode.
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It's that time again. We're putting together the spring cohort of Package Your Genius Academy! If working on your umbrella message or the umbrella program that can contain the multitude of your passions so you can market more effectively and start earning $10k/month minimum, apply to join us. We're accepting applications for the cohort that starts March 10.

PYG 152: Build on Your Foundation

Trying to figure out the next level of your brand?
As much as you may think you need to start from zero and do something completely brand new, the key may be to go back to the beginning so you can see how you've always been able to summon success. 
Go back. 
Back to the early days.
Back to those foundational experiences that defined you early on.
How have you been always doing what you do?
Too many of us are reinventing the wheel, thinking that "building a brand" means forging ahead into the future with no regard for the past. So we're "starting from scratch" when it comes to our audience, our offer, and even our message about who we are.
But there's information to be found when we go back to the beginning.
Reflect:
1.) Who usually reaches out to you? Who has always reached out to you? What audiences do you have traction with?
2.) Why did those people reach out? Why did they need your help?
3.) What core skills have you been using to help that audience all along?
4.) What feedback did you receive on the way you use those skills? Note: typically adjectives and adverbs will be your answer, i.e. "compassionate, diplomatic, or fast"
 
What parts of your story remain unchanged through the seasons?
This is the magic we're looking for during the personal branding process.
Want more clarifying questions? DOWNLOAD THE GUIDED JOURNAL: 150 Questions to help you find, focus and promote your unique, unmistakable genius - http://www.packageyourgeniusacademy.com/clarity
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It's an exciting time at Package Your Genius Academy because we have 2 personal branding programs starting soon!
First up, we're running our signature VISIBILITY MASTERMIND. This is 3 months of training, coaching, and community. Our framework was designed to get you clear on who you are/what your brand is about, package your message and content around that newfound clarity, and successfully pitch yourself for speaking, media, and paid client opportunities. This is a great program for you if you're still nailing down your brand and have yet to earn a steady $10k/month from your expertise. ​
Past clients have launched six and multi six-figure expertise-driven businesses on the heels of the academy.
Second, we're incubating a few established brands for the next year with brand coaching, media/content strategy, and IMPLEMENTATION support. This service is perfect for those who have their brand nailed down and revenue coming in. If you can't quite manage all the thinking, writing, design, and pitching that comes with staying CONSISTENTLY VISIBLE while serving a growing roster of clients at the same time, my team and I want to support you.
If you've been looking for a community of fellow high achievers to work alongside to reach your ultimate purpose, we've been waiting for you. Apply here!
 

PYG 151: The Snowball Effect

Activating a project requires a different type of energy than maintaining a project.
You won't always have to work as hard to maintain something as you had to work to get it off the ground.
If like me, you're a high achiever who's grown accustomed to striving, that may feel unfamiliar to you. But at some point, after you've put in the work, understand that the work will become easy. 
The trick here is to remember you've earned the ease.
You don't have to tear down what you've built to "make it hard again."
Instead, now you can reinvest your time, energy and effort into something else that means a lot to you. Now you can reinvest the energy you previously used to get this dream off the ground and put it into something even bigger.
I looked at Dave Ramsey's Debt Snowball Method and applied it to goals, our personal brands, and business projects. But you could take the concept and apply it to almost anything like your relationships, your parenting, or even your health.
 
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If you've been looking for a community of fellow high achievers to work alongside to reach your ultimate purpose, applications to Package Your Genius Academy are now open. Apply here.

PYG 150: Put Yourself in Position

This past weekend, I decided to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by doing a write-a-thon with my kids.
We each have a dormant writing project that could use a little intentional time and focus - Connor has a new fiction project, Logan has a fiction/comic book project, and I have another non-fiction project in the works.
So we dedicated our weekend to writing.
All said we wrote for 6 hours 🤯 over 2 days - broken up in two 90 minute writing sprints each day. In between sprints we snacked, read our work aloud, gave each other ideas/feedback, and cheered for each other.
I always tell my clients how important community is when you’re doing something difficult or brand new.
With writing, it can be hard to stay motivated when I’m all alone, but it was surprisingly easy with a crew. When one person got stuck, we were able to feed off of whoever was flowing. 
Over the two days, we wrote a combined 7,000 words. Stay tuned for updates on our writing projects. We should have some newly finished works to share soon!
It was a really fun experiment and I plan to do it again. They both said it was fun and inspiring to write together.
Watching three very different people approach productivity and writing got me to thinking about how we had to all access different parts of ourselves in order to make the writing weekend successful. This weekend taught me about how to put yourself in a position to win.
Three Ways to Position Yourself to Win:
1. Sometimes you may need to piggyback off of someone else's energy when you aren't feeling it. Who can you get around? Who can you tap into? Who is already going in the direction you want to go in? How can you tag along?
2. Sometimes the simple act of showing up can produce unexpected results. How can you put yourself into the environment where you can meet your goals. You'll be more likely to get into action if you're in the space where said action takes place. The body knows. The mind knows. Muscle memory.
3. Make sure you keep your pantry stocked with your favorite ingredients for success. What have you learned about yourself? What makes you tick? What do you need to get into your zone? How can you incorporate that every time you set out to do something big or new? Some of us know what works for us. So if you know what works, why don't you do it every time? Who can support your genius?
 
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Get to know you!
Get to know your unique ingredients for success with the Package Your Genius Personal Branding Companion Workbook -150 Questions to help you find, focus and promote your unique, unmistakable genius.

PYG 149: What's going on underground?

One of the biggest lessons I've learned from nature is this: the leaves and flowers of any growing plant are not visible all the time.
And the same is true for us as ambitious high achievers.
Even though we may want to be perpetually "in bloom", that's not realistic.
This time of year, it's easy to get swept away in the energy of a new year.
Fresh starts. New beginnings.
But what happens when your grand ambitions for the year have yet to surface? When your actual life doesn't match the hashtags of your favorite inspirational Instagram influencer?
You may be looking for that spring energy - evidenced by sprouting green stems and unfurling baby leaves. But in reality, that may not necessarily be where you are.
If you're currently in a growing phase where your progress isn't visible to the outside world, don't worry. 
Trees may lose their leaves, but they don't die in winter. There's still a lot going on underground.
Some very big and very important things may be taking root. But that's the type of growth that you can't necessarily see.
Don't label yourself as "behind" if your vision for the year hasn't come into focus just yet.
Just because your progress isn't obvious and visible doesn't mean your growth is stalled.
Things are still shifting.
Seeds are cracking open.
Dreams are taking root - even if you can't see it yet. 
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January is one of the BEST months of the year to find and land a new job, and if you’re like many high achievers, you may be looking to make a career move, right now.
But how do you make sure you don't end up in another ill-fitting job one year from now?
The answer? GET CLEAR.
Get clear on what you WANT so you can go after work that is aligned with WHO you authentically are. I share over 100 clarifying questions in the Package Your Genius personal branding book and companion personal branding workbook to help you get clear on what you want and what you bring to the table.
Once you’re clear, it’s so much easier to find work that was tailor-made for you.
Get the book >> http://bit.ly/pygbook
Get the workbook >> http://bit.ly/pygworkbook

PYG 148: What would happen if you gave yourself more credit?

For high achievers, it's common for us to become immune to our accomplishments. Before the triumph of a win has settled in, we're on to the next.
After jumping a major hurdle, we've already mentally raised the bar again before our feet even touch the ground.
The danger is that doing this creates a diminished and completely false self-image. We're BOSSES in the world, yet when we diminish our accomplishments we begin to mentally see ourselves as ordinary people who have yet to do big things. But in actuality, we've done a lot more than we give ourselves credit for.
What would happen if you gave yourself more credit?
How would things be different?
How might you see yourself?
What might you have the courage to do?
Who might you have the confidence to approach?
What rooms would you be willing to walk into?
What clients would you have the gall to pitch?
It's taken me years to learn this life-changing lesson: Just because an accomplishment has become your norm, doesn't make it normal.
Just because you've crossed a hurdle multiple times doesn't make it less of a hurdle to cross. It still counts.
So stop to acknowledge what it took for you to get here. You have my permission to brag. And let's leave downplaying our accomplishments in 2019.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
I'm hosting a free virtual brand planning party on Sunday, December 29 at 7 pm ET. To join me, register now on Crowdcast.
The Brand with Purpose 12-Month Personal Branding Planner is now available as a  print book or a digital download! Use this full-color planner as your thought partner to help you think through your speaking engagements, media outreach, podcast episodes, social media content and revenue generation on a monthly and quarterly basis.  Order your planner
I'm hosting another session of the Brand with Purpose Planning Intensive over a few evenings in January. If you're interested in working with me and a small group of high achievers to make some decisions, i.e. what you'll create, what topics you'll pitch, and what you'll promote to sell and at which price point next year, e-mail us at hello (at) packageyourgeniusacademy (dot) com to learn more and request the invitation. 

PYG 147: Perfectionism is costing you the gift of PRACTICE

I don't know about you, but I've never gotten really good at something without a ton of practice.
And yet, when we get caught up in our perfectionism, we rob ourselves of the valuable practice that would make whatever we're contemplating, well, perfect.
When we don't put ourselves out there, we miss out on the practice of
sharing our ideas clearly
having sales conversations
powerfully articulating our value
improving our timing and presence
understanding what our audience wants
getting comfortable doing uncomfortable things.
Best-selling books don't magically appear. They take weeks, months, and sometimes even years of writing, refining and marketing before they reach that status.
World-class speakers all typically have a speaking horror story or two in their back pocket.
Even when you look at the best podcasters and Youtubers who garner millions of downloads and views, most started with bad lighting, unprofessional audio. But they were up to the task of practicing to become the best version of themselves.
Don't let your perfectionism rob you of the gift of practice.
When you show up, and keep showing up, you give yourself the opportunity to refine what you have. 
And if you're truly a perfectionist, you already know - practice makes perfect.

PYG 146: The case for IMPERFECT ACTION

You don't need a perfect blueprint to lay the first stone.
And yet, as high achievers, many of us would rather wait until we have the most failproof plans before taking the smallest action.
But action, no matter how imperfect, will refine even our best plans.
I learned this (again) recently when I decided to make a pivot. I went from hosting a one-day virtual event to hosting a one-month evening intensive after thinking through the needs of my academy alumni.
But in this mindful pivot, I uncovered how I could feed two birds with one seed and my new book - The Brand with Purpose Planner - was born!
So in this case, taking imperfect action not only led me to a BETTER course of action, but it also created the residual effect of giving me the impetus to produce a book product that has been on my brand vision board list for years!
Talk about a serious ROI on taking imperfect action.
What have you been smothering with the expectations of perfection? 
What ideas have you let simmer and go cold on the back burner for too long because you're waiting for the most perfect conditions?
Here's a thought - doing the thing, even imperfectly, may create a pathway for a result that you're not even conscious of.
Acting always creates momentum. And you can always pivot, edit, or update your first draft.
But you need a first draft.
So start.
 
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
The Brand with Purpose 12-Month Personal Branding Planner is now available on Amazon! Use this full-color planner as your thought partner to help you think through your speaking engagements, media outreach, podcast episodes, social media content and revenue generation on a monthly and quarterly basis.  Order your planner
I'm hosting another session of the Brand with Purpose Planning Intensive over a few evenings in January. If you're interested in working with me and a small group of high achievers to make some decisions, i.e. what you'll create, what topics you'll pitch, and what you'll promote to sell and at which price point next year, e-mail us at info (at) amandamillerlittlejohn (dot) com to learn more and request the invitation. 

PYG 145: Are you being obedient to the call of your path?

If you're anything like me, you've probably had a zillion ideas that somehow 'magically' dropped into your spirit - things you somehow knew you were supposed to be doing, or chances you new you were supposed to be taking, but you couldn't explain how you knew exactly what you knew.
You may call it intuition, your inner knowing, God or the Holy Spirit. Whatever you call it, you know when you've gotten a direct download.
But acting on those downloads is another thing all together. 
I've received clear downloads for years, but I haven't always been obedient about taking them and acting on them.
But last year when I decided to be obedient to one specific download, I realized that all along, my obedience had been the key to unlock a level I didn't even know was there! My obedience produced the missing puzzle piece to a specific goal that had eluded me for years.
To experiment with this concept, ask yourself:
Have you ever acted on a big goal even though you were terrified, and been surprised by the results?
What are you currently procrastinating on doing? 
What is a goal you've wanted to reach for years but just can't seem to unlock?
Could the object of your procrastination potentially unlock the goal you've been able to reach? Could the two possibly be related? 
 
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If you missed Brand with Purpose - my free 5 day challenge to help you plan a brand with intention for the coming year, you can listen to all 5 episodes of the challenge and download the challenge workbook here. The whole series clocks in at right under 60 minutes, and I assure you, it will be the best hour you'll spend all week!  Listen to the challenge episodes >> Brand with Purpose