Today’s episode of the podcast is a solo interview with Aleya Harris, CEO and Founder of Flourish Marketing.
I brought Aleya on to talk about story brand, a really powerful way of thinking about your customer and your product, and what you offer. But we also had an amazing conversation about bioenergetics and how you can use it to get clear on who you are in your brand, and it was so interesting!
I’m sure you’re going to love this episode, and I can’t wait to hear what you think.
KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST
- How you can implement authenticity in your day-to-day business
- How you can use BioEnergetics to to get clear on who you are in your brand
- How radically authentic brand messaging can change the game for your life and business
- The power of using storytelling to sell
THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO REMEMBER ABOVE ALL ELSE
It's not the facts and the figures that captivate our attention, it’s the stories and the transformation! When marketing our business, we need to stop getting so caught up in the detail of our products and services and focus on how we help people.
HIGHLIGHTS YOU SIMPLY CAN'T MISS
- How the cycle of giving and receiving works
- The importance of using story as a clarifying device
- How our brain works in the framework of story
LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE
Flourishing Entrepreneur Podcast
Transcript
Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the podcast. How are you doing? So this week I am interviewing the lovely Aleya Harris. It was funny cuz I brought her on to talk about the story brand because she basically trains in the, in the Story brand. If you don't know it, it's a book by Donald Miller. His name literally jumped out my head. I was about to say it, and I did some training on it with her and I did some training on it at my event in September.
Because it's a really powerful way of thinking about your customer and your product and what you offer and how you do it and that sort of thing. So if you haven't read Building a Story brand, then I would definitely check that out. But I bo on to talk about that. And then we ended up talking slightly different about that she basically uses something called bioenergetics. Energetics, I think that's what she said, to look at how to get clear on who you are and your brand and all sort of things. So we went down a bit of a rabbit hole there, but it was a really good conversation. But also this woman's voice, Oh my goodness. It is amazing.
So, you know, you might not wanna listen to this while driving or doing the machinery or whatever, you know, like they say with the meditation, just cause her voice is so amazing. So I'm sure you're gonna love this episode today, and I am not gonna waste any more of your time. I'm gonna hand you over to the amazing Aleya.
So I am so excited today to welcome to the podcast the amazing Aleya Harris. Aleya, how are you doing?
Aleya: I am doing great. Thanks so much for having me, Teresa. I've been looking forward to this conversation for what feels like forever.
Teresa: Honestly. I am very excited. We connected a while back. When I came on your podcast, I was, I was interviewed for yours and then you very kindly help me with some stuff to do, story brand, and then I'd got you booked in and I was waiting for this date to come. So I'm really excited not only because you're just amazing. And every conversation we've had has been phenomenal, but also your voice is like.
Aleya: Thank you. I have someone on my team that says, I just need you to record yourself seeing the ABCs so that I can just go off to Dreamland. I love it. Honestly, it's the best I have yet to do that for. I probably should.
Teresa: You should. You should. And and things like,
Aleya: You have an amazing voice too though.
Teresa: Well, thank you. But I think like things like meditations. Oh boy. I'd love to hear your voice do meditation.
Aleya: I do have, and that on the Flourishing Entrepreneur Podcast, my podcast, there are some meditation episodes.
Teresa: Oh, I'm gonna go and hunt them down straight up.
Aleya: Go and hunt them down.
Teresa: I love it. I love it. So we always start the podcast exactly the same way, which I'm sure must bore my audience, but we're gonna go with it anyway by introducing yourself and telling us how you got to do what you do.
Aleya: Absolutely. So, hello everybody. My name is Aleah Harris. I am the CEO and founder of Flourish Marketing. Flourish Marketing is a boutique marketing agency that focuses on messaging, strategy, and copywriting that helps our empire building clients become radically authentic. So we're a little bit different. We have a three part strategic approach. First, we help you get real by unearthing any of your energy blocks.
So you're already, you're probably like, wait, I thought you said you were a marketing company. We are , I promise. But we take a new approach to marketing. One that is very much into helping you develop your unique and theft proof story. And you can't do that if you don't know what it is. So we help you figure out what that is.
Then we use StoryBrand and intuitive guidance to help you translate that story into clear messaging so other people can understand what it is. And then we write copies so that that story goes everywhere. And eventually you hear your story coming back to you from your clients, from your audience, from your friends, and you cannot boost up your legend status.
But I've been a marketer for. I don't know, over a decade. And the fact that I can even sit here and say all of that, and it sounds like, Ooh, it's a package. Oh, she practiced that so years. Years, right to get here. It's, it's been through a journey of being laid off twice, being a private chef and traveling the world and being with stars of music and, and screen.
Being the head of marketing for a huge company, working at Google as a vendor partner and going through a pandemic where I decided to start a business that only cater to the wedding catering events industry. That I didn't know was gonna be a problem because I didn't know a pandemic was coming to resiliently standing here before you.
Teresa: I love that.
Aleya: Having to have unearthed what my radically authentic story was along the way and translated it.
Teresa: That is so good. What a journey like. And you know what I love? So obviously you come from marketing background. I come from marketing background. And I am learning to love the world of the Woo. Okay. I love all of it. I was messaging my group the other day going, It's a full moon. What are we doing? Like, give me all your best.
Aleya: Who's rituals and rituals happening, right? I don't wanna date the podcast, you know? But there is a full moon and every full moon is at a different signs, and you have different ritual. Yeah girl, I'm right there.
Teresa: Honestly, honestly. So I am loving all this personally. But, I love the fact that you bring the two parts together. How did that come about? Like was it always a thing or did you find one than the other? How did it work?
Aleya: Well, I've been a marketer from the beginning. I actually am one of those rare people who went to school. For marketing and I'm doing
Teresa: Me too. I knew we should estimate honestly. Yeah. I, I ha have a degree of marketing, which is so rare.
Aleya: Yeah, it's very rare. Most people are like, I have a degree in American literature. And it's like, that's actually would serve you quite well. But, so marketing's always been a thing. As I've grown, I realized that spirituality and energy work was also always a thing. I just didn't know it. I didn't know I was doing it, didn't know that people were coming to me for it. I would just be a really good friend that gave really good advice. And I just thought that, you know, I just was a good friend. I gave good advice. I didn't realize the, the, the power that I was kind of tapping into.
And then I went to a seminar called Insight Seminars and it changed my perspective on myself. There was a lot of crying, a lot of snot involved over several days. And I unearthed a part of me that I had not really been in touch with yet. It, you know, started clearing out some past trauma, clearing out a lot of insecurities, clearing out my limiting beliefs and my limiting character. And then I was like, Oh, I'm starting to actually meet myself for the first time and I went to three of these seminars and at one of them I met the most beautiful woman ever inside and out. Her name is Monica Lasky and she's my spiritual coach and friend and the god, one of the godmothers for my kid, like really close to this woman now. Right.
Teresa: Love it.
Aleya: And she helped me really pinpoint and identify what my spiritual gifting was, and I started working as a spiritual coach myself on the side, right? But I am not a side hustle kind of person. I'm like a, let's do it like, and go all in. Like, worry if I'm gonna do it, let's do it. So doing multiple things at once doesn't allow me to really live in my best purpose, in my best way. And she introduced me to this system called, uh, the Nest Health System.
It's a bioenergetic system that helps people. Yes, with the spiritual component, but it really looks at it through the realm of quantum physics and traditional Chinese medicine. And it took the things that I had developed, the, the, the spiritual tools I developed with inside of me and it popped it out in like a software readout that was color coded.
And I was like, This is amazing because this is, if I was gonna work with a business owner, they need to see things in more like black and white, hard, just x ma'am. So once I had that tool, I felt like I had an in. And so I started doing bioenergetic business coaching, combining the spiritual side and the energy side with the business side, and people started getting amazing results.
I had, you know, one person who was so blocked because of all whole bunch of things. We used the system, it kind of fast tracks a lot of that inner work by like spitting out like, Girl, this is what's wrong with you. Right in front of you so you can't ignore it. And she's hadn't created content in like six months for her business and content was how she generated most of her revenue.
And then within a week or two of us working together, she had created three months of content within like a couple of days because she felt unblock and open right. So once I started seeing that type of stuff, I was like, Oh, why am I, I might be onto something. And I started really promoting it and getting it out there.
And now we incorporate it into our retainer product and our strategy session. So when you come to us for marketing strategy, the very first thing you'll do is a bioenergetic business coaching scan, and then I'll review it with you during your strategy session. We use tools to unlock what's going on with you. And we incorporate that into your messaging because my goal is to help you get to the next level. And you can't do that if you keep running up against the same block that got you to this level, right? So a lot of the times it's around work. I work with a lot of women, a lot of the times it's wrong wariness, lack of forgiveness, usually lack of forgiveness of self, which people don't really think about. They're like, Oh, I didn't ever forgive my mom for, you know, not being there for being so hard on me. And it's like, that also needs to happen, but the real person need to forgive is yourself. And so we work through and I give them exercises because on a call, we're not gonna solve world world hunger here.
Right?
Teresa: No.
Aleya: I give them the exercises we work through getting. That unlocked, so then I can ask questions like, If you didn't feel unworthy, what would you price this at? Right, because for me, that was part of my journey. My unworthiness had me pricing a product that should have been probably like $10,000 and we charged 7,500 for it, at $600. Right? So if I am doing that same work for other people in a much shorter time frame without ayahuasca trips to the Amazon with tons of bug spray, and then we're using it to make them money most more immediately in their messaging. So I, put it all together because I saw that that was what was needed and it's even needed even more.
Now, if you think about like the Great Recession and Quiet quitting and the Great resignation and all of that, people are basically saying, I've had time at home over the pandemic to figure out who the heck I am and what I want, and this ain't it. And business owners are kind of in a tough spot because that they still aren that same realization.
But who do you quit from? You can't be like your, your friends who can put their nine to five and go find themselves into bet, right? You are your boss, so how do you. Either you do quit from yourself, you go get a job, you start another business, you whatever, or you make what you have now truly in alignment with who you are.
And that's what most of my clients are trying to do. Not only align with who they are, but with who their clients are now.
Teresa: I love all this stuff. Okay? So the world as we know, the magic, the world's magic. The universe is magic. Some people might call it serendipitous, but whatever you call it. So literally last week I was in Nashville at a healing retreat with the amazing Mary Hyatt, and the whole retreat was around being aligned and how do we know if we're aligned and the, we did the retreat, which was like Thursday to Sunday, and then I went back to hers and stayed with her until the tuesday morning, and then we flew over to LA. And on the Monday night, we got into a whole another coaching conversation around my business and suddenly it's like, it's kind of like what you're saying.
It was like this realization of, oh, hang on. None of this is quite adding up. Like, you know, you've got this thing over here and you love it, but the pricing isn't quite reflecting the service and the people you're attracting isn't the right thing. And suddenly it was like, oh man, this is, this is like not quite like we're very close, but it almost feels like you know, like on some movie when they're trying to get some treasure and they click one thing and suddenly everything goes…
Aleya: yep Yep Yep! And the door open. And then you see the golden figurine on the inside. You've been searching for this whole time.
Teresa: Yes, a hundred percent. And it feels like I am at the start of the journey to discover that. It feels like I am now just asking the questions and like, so I'm loving the sound of this bioenergetic business, business coaching scan. Like I'm now just asking the right questions. Now I'm trying to like piece it together with all the tools that I've got on all the things that I've been do. So even looking at things like the Enneagram and you know, I do things like, I've done money archetype stuff. So for instance, on with Denise Duffield Thomas, my money archetype is celebrity. Okay. So basically I like,
Aleya: I have to cries anybody does have to cry. Anyone that's listening. Shouldn't it ?
Teresa: No, honestly, like Denise, when I interviewed her, she said, Have you done a test? I was like, I think I have, but I can't remember, you're a celebrity. And I was like, okay, thanks. And I was, which is hilarious, but it's like, so I've got this and my values, one of my values in my business is about sort of, you know, the VIP experience, luxury. And then, and then for a while I had a $19 product and it's like soup's, luxury Teresa went to Dallas.
Honestly, like Woo. Spend that big money. Like, and even when it comes down to my one-to-one program and it comes down to other stuff and like having this conversation with, with someone like Mary, who's good someone like you who, can help you just kind of unpack this stuff. And it's not, like you said, when we're sat here as business centers, we can't go. Yeah, I'm just gonna close that all day and we'll just stop a, we'll just stop a read.
That's not gonna happen. And also, you know, you've got money coming through the door, you need that money coming through the door. But to sit and look at it and go. Actually is this right? Is this fitting with all these different parts inside me? Which, when you look at it, then go, yeah, that doesn't make sense. Like you know if that's understandable that no one bought that. When this is what I talk about and actually this is where I should target, and it's just, I flip and love it. I love that.
Aleya: It's interesting too. I love what you said about, it's not quite right, it's very close. So a lot of the times people get terrified to do this type of work because they're like, I'm gonna go to aleya. They get, they're always scared their session always and I'm like, I am don't think I'm scary. And they're like, It's not you. I'm scared of what I'm gonna unearth and you're gonna tell me I'm gonna like need to go out and join the circus. You're probably not that far away. Which is the actually the most infuriating place to be. It's like you're in this fog and you know that the door handle is somewhere right out of arm's reach like inches away from your fingertips and you just need to find it. But you've been in this fog for a long time, and our job is to clear the fog, my job, right? Because if you can just get your little hot little hands on that door handle.
You're already amazing. That's how you got here in the first place. I don't need to help you turn the door. You got, you got it. You got the keys, you got the whole key ring on your, it's just finding the door. That's where we are.
Teresa: Yeah! that's such a good way, such a good way of, of putting it. So tell me then, like, so let's say, what does the, what type of thing does the Bioenergetic Business Scan show you? Like, just as a kind of headline, what sort of things.
Aleya: So the bioenergetic business scan, first of all, is determining where you are in and out of alignment in a lot of areas in your human body field. Your human body field is the energy field that surrounds and permeates your physical body. It surrounds each organ system and it surrounds you as a whole. Parts of it, the words that you're familiar with might be like your aura, your chakra system. The different meridians are the energy flows that flow between the different parts of your energy field. And it's actually based on 30 years of research, which actually is kind of gruesome research. A little bit of a side.
They took like dead tissue and then I put it up to this machine and like measured if I, if I, stimulated this. What energy signatures mapped onto your body field from that dead tissue? I mean, it was a very interesting, I read the whole, the whole, the whole book and obviously did the training. I was like, Oh my God, this is fascinating.
A little bit morbid, a little bit frank and shiny, but also very fascinating. Yes. And so what happens is, because of all of that morbid research, they're able to take your, your voice and use it as a carrier to read your body field. So just like how you're hearing the apparently very melodic sound of my voice right now, but you don't see the sound waves coming into your ears, right?
Your human body field is the same. You are emitting it. Like, do you know, you can kind of know like when you sit next to somebody and you're like, Ooh, I'm a danger girl, you something wrong with you. Let me actually choose another spot on this train. Right? Even though they look just fine, you're like, about you.
It's something is distorted. The energy and information is most likely distorted in them, or it's not a match between them and you know. So you know it intuitively and all of those intuitive hits come over using your voice into this, this computer software, which is I think is just ridiculous. And by the way, I'd like to also point out that I'm woo, but the very first time that I had my scan done, I was the biggest skeptic in the world. I was like, this is ridiculous.
Teresa: I love that.
Aleya: I was like, so you need to tell me. I'm gonna count to 10. It's literally counting to 10. That's as long as the scan takes as 10 seconds and you're gonna tell me what's wrong with my life. And only because I trusted my spiritual coach. Did I even do this in the first place? And she goes, Yeah, basically. Because I'm already telling you what's wrong with your life, but now you see it on the screen.
Teresa: I love when I do this all the time, I try and be devil's advocate for other people but myself because there is always this element that's like, I say this stuff and then I'm like, but what if, like, are we Sure? But yeah, I love that.
Aleya: Yeah, I was, I was, I was totally there until I saw the screen and I was like, okay yeah. Well this is super accurate and answer your question long way and answer your question. It tells you many things. The way that I used to do scans that we'd meet once a week and one scan would take us a month to go through because it's very robust, not because it's like, Oh, I have to explain all the technical details, but because when you get into conversation and you start unlocking things, it's not just about, here's your printout, it's about working the information.
It goes everywhere from where's your energy source? Blocked it, you know, you're off with the meridians of, of the planet to your energy flow. How are your, is your, your basically your battery system, is it off? What are you, are you exhausted down to the cellular level or is there something in particular that's attacking a certain section of your energy that is draining the rest of you. Where are you in your hero's journey? What, where are your shockers off? Where may, might you not be processing different things in your environment, processing old trauma and feelings? It goes into all of that, which is, you can imagine each one of those bullet points I just rattle off.
Is it takes, it kind of takes some time. Luckily, we do the scan and I don't show all screens because it's a little overwhelming. A little overwhelming, and then people, it, because of the structure of, of our time working together, they leave like, Oh my God, I'm broken. You're not broken. There are times when people don't believe me and then I have to show them one of my scans, which looks worse than theirs.
So it's like you're, you're, you're just like everyone else. The goal is to not have a scan that is completely clear and clean and fresh. Cuz that would mean you're dead. Yeah. So as long as
Teresa: They will want that.
Aleya: No one wants that. You can't finish paying my invoice if you're dead. The goal is to just realize that you're in a constant state of growth and evolution and revolution, and to see if, where you're okay, you're good with pushing through, and sometimes it just. Getting a map to know where you are and be like, Oh my God, that is where I am. Which means that I'm, it's almost over.
That is where I am on my heroes. I am in the toughest part where the trials and tribulations are hitting me left and right, and that's exactly where I need to be. And thank you for pointing that out, that that's where I am, because now I have a different perspective. I can, I can call upon reserves of fortitude I didn't know I had where before I just felt like I was drowning and knowing was there to save me. Now I can be my own knight and shining armor. Right? Sometimes it's just that mindset shift where you need to then look at your business and you say, okay, well I thought I was drowning because expenses are more than revenue, but I am now in control. What am I slashing knowing this is temporary? What do I need to focus on to to take me to that next step?
And that empowerment sometimes is, is the whole reason why you were brought to me is to tell you that you can do it and show it to you in black and white. Yeah, that's so, so key. And this is why I've done so much work in this area, because like you, we've been in marketing for a long time, why I have been with, you're younger than me, that've been in marketing for a long time.
You know, I, I know the strategies, I know the things to do. I know the funnels and I know all of that. But if something isn't working with you, if you are up against that block, if you are struggling with those things, then it doesn't matter that we know all those things, it's not gonna happen. So actually sometimes just going and saying, you know, this is where you are and that's okay.
And this is, you know, where your direction is and giving you the empowerment. And I love that you said that as well, because I find that, and one thing I try and battle against a lot is I think there are a lot of people out there who are selling services to business owners who are basically trying to make them reliant on them that.
Teresa: Oh, Oh, I hate that, sorry.
Aleya: I love the passion. I love the passion, but it's the, it's, If you can't do it without me, you need me. You need to be part of this thing. And when you finish this thing, you need to be part of this thing like, And the point is we need to empower people to make their decision for them. So you know, they need to be, and, and this is like some of the reasons why I run the business the way I run it.
So I always have the doors open on all my stuff. So, because I want you to be empowered at the point that you decide you are ready, I'm ready. Whereas I don't wanna go, you've gotta get in, you're never gonna get in again. This is, you know, I don't wanna do that cause that's not empowering you. So, for me, you saying that basically you are not, and again, no one needs another course.
No one's sat there going. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna tell you these five secrets that no one's ever done before and it's gonna get you to. In fact, I saw an advert like that yesterday, how I saw someone doing an advert the base…
Teresa: they're still doing that up the world, these high secrets. So in five minutes you can make 5 million like that?
Aleya: Yeah, pretty much. Pretty much. And no one need there, there isn't one for starters, but also no one probably needs to learn anything new like a strategy or a tactic. What they need to do, or in my thought is, is we need to work on us and. Because we are the ones stopping it, aren't we?
Teresa: We, we totally are the ones stopping it. And it's very interesting that you, you say that because my job, especially if we are solely doing coaching, which I don't really offer as a standalone service anymore, It was, it was energetically exhausting for me, is I want you to quote unquote graduate like, I want you to be like, I'm doing. Right. Like my quote unquote graduates, there's don't I say quote unquote, because there's no like graduation ceremony, you're pinning or anything. You're just done with your classes.
Aleya: Oh such a shame.
Teresa: I know, I, I really should , I really should get some pop in circumstance. But the graduates of people who, who work with me, they're revenue increases. They're lighter, they're trusting their intuition. It's both. Measurable in their business and measurable in their life. And that means that I'm good. That means that I'm doing my job. You should not be reliant on on me. That's too much pressure on me too. Like I ain't trying to do all that be on your business forever. That's not my jam. I wanted to help you unearth who you are, package it up, spit it out into the world so that you attract who you need to attract from the position of being your best self.
If your copy starts pushing people away, that's really good. It's really, really good because those are not the people you needed to work with because you came to me and said, Hey! Aleya, I want to raise my prices and not cute little 10%. I wanna double my rates. Then hopefully your current audience is like, Ooh, too rich for my blood, and you started attracting a new one because that's what you need.
That's what you need to be successful. I wish more people would be brave enough to do the harder work. It's actually quite easy to YouTube how to set up a sales funnel or to come to someone like you and I and be like, Hey, can you, Yeah, I need a lead magnet. I need some ads. I need, you know, landing page and an email sequence.
Have at it. It's harder to take all of those things when they're not working and figure out why and realize that it's you, and then do that work because people, the people that I work with, have the funnel set up. That's not the problem. The problem is what they're saying in the funnel. It's the words, it doesn't match people smell that you're phony or that you're like, Oh! that looks just like so-and-so's funnel. I bet that that's where they, that was the most recent course they took.
Aleya: And again, like, and it's that trying to please everybody all the time, doing all the things, looking at a bit like me, going well, I really wanna help people who aren't ready for, to spend that sort of money in their journey.
And even where I am now, I, I don't think it's right, you know? And I'm definitely not doing the $19 thing, but even at the price point I am now. I'm confident that that's not right either. But it comes from a well, I wanna serve and I wanna help and I wanna, but then that's where that alignment completely goes outta whack. Because yes, I wanna serve and help and I'm think I'm kind and generous over here, but then also I'm sharing luxury and VIP and you know, and I'm the best, like, you know, I am really good at what I do. Well, they're not adding up. So it, it's almost like, again, giving someone the permission to look in and go. You know what, It's absolutely fine if you want to be the VIP.
If you want to be the person who says, you come to me cause I'm the best, that's fine. I give you permission. So don't feel like you've got to go and do these other things. And also to come from a way of a way. Cause I think one of the reasons I struggle is because of the fact that I don't wanna be seen as greedy or sleazy or salesy or, and when I was having these conversations with Mary, she did a couple of like really interesting things.
One of the things she said was, You are not giving your customers permission to. Like say, I'm worth this money. She said, Because you are not doing it. Because you are saying, well I'll keep the price at this point so I can help this people. Whereas they need to see you leading by example. So that was like the first thing, which I just thought was, yeah, you're totally right.
And then she talked about the fact of, in my business, why I wouldn't charge more, and what was the reason behind that, and what was I thinking? And, and I said, Well, I don't wanna be salesy and I don't wanna, sleazy and I don't wanna use the horrible tactics that people use. And she's like, Okay, so what do you think you're gaining from not doing that?
And I said, Well, you know, and I, by this point, we were getting quite the conversation. I said, Well, I'm better than them, aren't I? And she. Yeah, at least you might think. Yeah. And like she's like, Yeah, you are. She goes, But is that bringing you money in? And I was like, Cool, here we go.
Teresa: You're like, No, it's actually a not so…
Aleya: No, it's not like, because I, but morally I can stand on my…
Teresa: No on my high ground. You're taking the high world.
Aleya: Exactly.
Teresa: Broker high.
Aleya: Yeah, exactly. Like, and it's just the whole conversation we were having, but like, Yeah, no, this, this isn't matching up. This isn't working.
Teresa: It's so sudden.
Aleya: And you, I mean, you need to stay in your integrity, but you also, for me, it sounds like it's also a perspective issue, which I had my perspective, my little world rocked couple weeks ago, I had somebody else on my podcast. I love my podcast guest, by the way. It's like free friendship, free coach. And this lady gets on my podcast. She has a B to C service. I really, really underscore that not companies with a market budget or with a whatever B to C services start at six figures, a hundred thousand entry point. She does, She's basically a, a relationship and something else that I can't remember right now feels so bad, coach.
And I'm like, What do you do? Like go directly to God and say, Where is this person's soulmate? And bring them down. Like, What the hell man? What am I getting for that money? Right. And, you know, she, it's a, it is a very robust, detailed, heart centered program worth every single penny. That's her starting point.
Then it goes 250 and I was just like, What have I been thinking? My narrative was there's no one out there that's gonna pay what I'm charging. For my service. I'm not worth that. They're not gonna see the value. I don't have enough letters behind my name. I don't know enough people. I'm not connected enough.
Then here comes this woman, like, oh yeah. So we started a hundred thousand and you know, and that's really in depth, one on one work for three months. That's it. We were thinking it was like a year, 10 years. No. Yeah. You come and live with us, right? For six months. Three months. And then I hadn't talked to my spiritual coach who does 5 million things all within the same realm, but 5 million different things about her rates in a little while.
And she does, she does similar work to that. She also owns a, a spa in Colombia and she does all these things. And I was like, well, what are you charging for, like one-on-one work? And she. Well per session it's 5,000 and I'm, I'm sitting here like, should it be 250, 250 dollars or 350 dollars? 250 dollars?
Oh my word. I mean…
God, like, Oh my. It's sometimes it's just hearing from other people that people will pay. What you charge. And not to price gouge them, but to be like, this is what it's worth. And one of the things I noticed about both of those women is that their clients adore them. And it's like this love fest all the time because they feel the value and it's a different type of client.
Now, I'm not telling everybody if you charge $200 to go up to 5,000 right now, it could be that what you're charging is worth $200. Very well could be. Right. But I need you to at least have that conversation with yourself. Where did your pricing come from? Did it, was it something that you could afford or you thought other people could afford based off of your own money hangups? Or is it really real? Another thing that I will mention, cuz you said Mary was like, you're not allowing people to be empowered to pay you. That's literally how the cycle of giving and receiving works. So a lot of the times when people receive a compliment, it's easy to receive money. At least it is for me.
Teresa: More than happy?
Aleya: For more than happy to take your money. But gifts and, and receiving is are not just related to money. They're related to all kinds of things. Compliments are harder to receive than money for most people, especially most women. What do you do? Oh, I love your earrings today. Oh, these old things? Oh yeah. I mean, they're a little dingy and you know, I got 'em, you know, from my grandmother or whatever, but I should be resigned up. Thank you so much. Yeah. That's a typical narrative, like you hear that all the time. What you've done is two things. You've blocked your ability to receive and you've blocked their ability to truly give.
And they need to be able to give into in order to receive. And you need to be able to receive in order to give. And it's this constant cycle. So when you say you can only pay me $19. You're not allowing them to invest the seed that they need to invest to see the harvest that they're looking for.
So you're doing them a disservice. And you a disservice.
Teresa: Yeah. Yeah. It's so right. And when you think about, and I think about times where I've spent lots of money and I've been coached by Mary, and Mary is not cheap, and did I think she was worth it? Every single penny, like, you know, I would do it again and do it again in a heartbeat. So, because there is something different about when you invest that kind of money, when you say, Okay, I'm gonna do this, it makes you different. It empowers you, you know? Which sounds like a really odd thing when you say, Yes, give me loads of money and you'll feel empowered. But it does, it empowers you to go, Do you know what? I'm making that decision. Spend that money. I am gonna make this work. I'm gonna. Ensure that I make the most of this. It's the reason why, well, many reasons why this happens. I do Pilates instead of the gym. Okay? Pilates. I, first of all, I hate the gym, so there's that, but I, I could go to the classes that they have at the gym, right?
Pilates charges per class, and if I cancel, I have to pay still. Yes. And I'm like, Well, I'm not gonna just pay I, I'm not gonna invest in nothing. I'm gonna get something out of this. I'm showing up for myself because you're not taking my $15 . Yeah. While I sit at home feeling slightly guilty that I'm really just on the couch that didn't have anything else to do, right?
Aleya: Yes. And made some excuses to why you couldn't get to Pilates.
Teresa: Exactly. Exactly. You're not gonna charge me for doing nothing. And then when I go, I'm like, I'm gonna get the most of my $15. I'm here, right? I'm gonna, you know, make, I'm not gonna push it to the limit, but you know, I'm gonna not, I'm not gonna just phone it in and I'm here. I actually showed up. Let's do this thing. So it's sometimes about the amount of money, sometimes about the consequences if you don't take advantage of the money that you spent. There's lots of ways to frame it, but I'm so grateful that they charge a cancellation thing. Because if they didn't, my butt would be a little bit sloppier today because I would just not go.
Aleya: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. . So this conversation has gone down a route that I wasn't expecting it to go down in terms of learning all about that. Yes. Yeah, that was part, No, I'd got that on my list of things to talk about.
Teresa: Oh, that was in the bullet points. Pre pre record.
Aleya: Yeah, I knew we were gonna cover that. Okay. . But in terms of like the energy and that's the thing, which is amazing. But so before you go, I can't let you go without talking about the fact that you do stuff, the story brand. And again, like it's that interweaved thing of. How you take that and then put it into something next door with. So in case someone doesn't know, and I've talked about the book before and obviously you and I have done, a session together with it, which is amazing. Explain what it is and, and why they should go and check it out.
Teresa: Absolutely. So, I incorporate building a StoryBrand and the StoryBrand framework in the second phase of working with me, which is when we do your scan, then we incorporate your story into the StoryBrand framework. StoryBrand is based off of a book written by a man. The brilliant man named Donald Miller built called Building a Story Brand, and it leverages the old school work from Joseph Campbell that he codified in the, a hero with a thousand faces. That's about the hero's journey. You start off all hunky door. In your normal world, something calls you to action and you're like, Oh, I really want to, And then you meet a mentor that helps you.
Then all of a sudden you're in this extraordinary world and you're, you know, avoiding poison by witches and slang dragons. All the time learning about yourself and getting what you need to have this transformation. Then you come back into the regular world better with this elixir of truth that you would never have thought if you had never gone on the journey.
That's what the hero's journey is in a nutshell. The brilliance of Donald Miller is that he took it and allowed it to be applied to business and marketing. So the story brand framework has seven parts and we're, I'm just gonna do it very high level for you. You have a character who wants something and that is not you.
I mean, yes, I'm sure you have wants, wants and needs, or like that old Taco Bell commercial. What about my Kiros? Yes, we know you have all of the wants and needs, but this story is not about you. This story is about your clients. They have something that they want. The problem is something is getting in the way of what they want, and that problem makes them feel crappy in some type of way, and they shouldn't have to feel that way.
And you see them as the guide in that meaning of the mentor moment. And you go, You know what? You're right. I'm here to help. I know exactly how to help you. I know how to empathize with your situation, and here's a plan to get you from out, from underneath your problem closer to what you want, and you're gonna go do it.
I'm calling you into action to do it now. You're gonna book with me, you're gonna schedule with me, and we're gonna help you through this so that you can get to this success point and avoid all of the failure pitfalls that would exist if you don't work with me. When you take your story and put it into that framework, all of a sudden people are interested because that's how our brain works.
Our brain works in the framework of story. I could sit here and say, I offer marketing services and we write some words down, and so now you'll have website words. You'd be like, Woohoo.
Aleya: Can't wait. Get me some website words.
Teresa: Website words, or I could say, Hey, I know you've been struggling with trying to encapsulate who you are, and write it down on your website so that people pay you money. The kind of money that your worth. Schedule a call with me and will unearth your story so that you stand up from the crowd. You transform yourself into a legend and you attract your best clients. Schedule call. Right.
Aleya: Different stories.
Teresa: Literally the same thing.
Aleya: What's the number?
Teresa: What's the number? Call me up.
Aleya: Yeah. I'm literally booking
Exactly. And you are right. Like, am I here and I say this a lot when I, I speak a lot and I say you'll remember the personal details I've told you about me because it's part of a story. It's part of me. It's, it's the personal stuff. It's the, you know, start here, do this, do this and end here.
However, you are not necessarily going to remember the facts and figures I might talk about, or some of the boring stuff. Like people just naturally like to hear stories.
Teresa: Yeah, that's, I mean, from the beginning of time, cave drawings are stories, the things that you remember when someone said, So tell me about your grandmother. You're like, Oh, well there was this one time and I remember how she smelled and how she made me feel. And usually it's food oriented. At least all of my grandma's stories are usually food oriented, right? . So you don't say, Well, She wore a red dress on February 12th, 2017 and came right above her ankles.
Like no one's. No one. Does that right? It's not the facts and the figures that, that captivate our attention. The other thing that I would be remiss if I did not mention about story is that it is a clarifying device. Donald Miller's whole thing is to clarify your message. He as many of us get so wrapped, In all of the details about our products and service, cuz we're so close to it.
That we spout out all this gobbly goop and people are like, Cool, cool. So I understand the technical specs, but how does this actually help me? I don't, I don't get it. As opposed to just focusing on the problem in helping your client overcome their number one burning problem. And then you can send them a spec sheet later if you need to.
Right? Think about it this way, say you have a really bad acne problem and you are in your local drugstore pharmacy, online infomercial, late at night. However, you buy your facial product, and instead of them saying, this will clear up your acne in two weeks with regular usage night and day, right? Instead of them saying that, all they do over and over is read the list of ingredients, salicylic, acid, glycolic, all better stuff that's in, I don't know, I'm not a skin ,…
Aleya: Like in a word you've never heard of.
Teresa: Right. Exactly. How, how are hydro, and you're like, Okay.
Aleya: Definitely gonna buy that.
Teresa: All technical steps. And then they go into the details about, well, like salicylic acid affects your skin molecules in this way and you're like, So will I look like J-Lo or not. It's just like what you're thinking in your head. Am I gonna look like I am 20 years old even though I'm in my fifties? Is that what this is giving me or not?
Aleya: Because if it is, I'm buying it.
Teresa: I'm buying it right. So people you, yes, you could have researched and spent hours about hours getting everything exactly like what you want it to be. But think about it differently. The whole reason why you're doing that is so that you could built confident in delivering a transformation for your client. All you need to convey to them is that you're going to give them a transformation. And then if they wanna have your sheets about, what, how bioenergetics actually functions, right?
Or what the story brand framework is. There's a hundred and something page book that I will send you yes, on how all of that works. You will just know I have testimonials, I have this number of years of experience. You can trust me. Here's a sample of my work. Right. Let's do this thing. You're either ready for your transformation or you're not.
So story as a clarifying device also helps people, especially talking to you out there, if you have more than one degree, those hardest clients, the smarter you are, the more degreed up, certified up you are, the harder it is most likely for you to tell your story because you know way too much about way too much.
Eventually I have worked my, I work with a lot of doctors in private practice therapists and private practice, even med spa owners. And they're like, No, but they need to know the pH balance. No, we do not. We do not need to know that.
Aleya: You just need to know it's gonna work. And like you said, that keyword of transformation and sometimes that can sound very dramatic. Like, you know, you're gonna change my life with this face cream. And sometimes it's nowhere near dramatic as that. It's, But there is a transformation always. You were here, you wanna be here. Whether it's you are hungry. And you don't wanna be, and you drive past the McDonald's or whatever it might be. There is a transformation about how small it is.
Teresa: Yes. I mean, that's actually a really good example I think of Carl's Junior. They have a lot of other messaging going on, but have you ever noticed how big the food looks in a Carl's Junior ad? It looks like it's larger than your head. Like the burgers are huge now, obviously they know.
Well, I, I haven't eaten Carl Jr. In a while, but I don't, I doubt that their burgers aren't the size of your head.
Aleya: I would guess not. I'd guess not.
Teresa: I would guess not. Right. What are they really saying to you? You're super hungry. Huh? This burger will make you full. Look, it's huge. And you can actually get two for a dollar.
Whoa. . Literally what you said, hungry. Not hungry.
Aleya: Yeah. Yeah. So simple. I love it. And Leah, I could literally talk to you all day, uh, but I won't because you've got stuff to do. I'm absolutely positive of it. And I have booked to go to a yoga class tonight, and I have already paid, which means I am definitely going. Although, I felt way more up for it this morning when I booked it than I have to say I do going in about an hour or so right there with you, but paid skin,..
Teresa: And you're like, You're not gonna take my $20, $15, whatever and just have me sitting on this couch. Nope.
Aleya: Exactly! Exactly.
Teresa: Aleya, thank you so much. Where can my audience, I'll obviously link up everything in the share notes. Where can they come and find you and say hi, if you would like?
Aleya: I, I would love them to say hi. I don't know whether you noticed the talking is kind of my jam. You can find us @flourishmarketing.co-anchor, do a schedule a call there to work with us. There's several big buttons that say Schedule a call because I believe in calling you into action with clarity. You can also hang out with me on Instagram Aleya Harris, a l e y a h a r r i s while you're there and you're, or you're on our website, we also have some freebies at Flourish Marketing dot slash freebies. If you're like, I wanna know more but not quite ready, I need a transitional call to action, which you'll read about in buildings for. I love it about how you can actually learn some more, get a little more of a vibe of us, and then schedule a call.
Teresa: I love it. Thank you so, so much, Aleya. Have a wonderful rest of day and I really appreciate you being on.
Aleya: Thank you for having me.
Teresa: There we go. That was the amazing layer. So good to chat with her, really find that whole conversation. Super, super interesting. Obviously go and check her out. Go and follow her on socials and please tell her what you thought of this podcast episode. I would appreciate that greatly and I will be back next week with a solo episode. I'll see you then.
