Mmmmmm, the end of the year.

It arrives with a sense of both buoyancy (for me, that sounds like: snowflakes! Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson singing “Winter Song”! those peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate that people from Ohio call Buckeyes!) and of contemplation. The earth is tucked in under a bed of snow (at least in my part of the world), the days are shorter and darker, and here in the Walla Walla Valley (home of The Voice Bureau), we’re lucky if the lavender-y grey opalescent sky gets spangled with sun once in a while.

This is an important time of year for all business owners. Whether you’re a retailer doing end of the year inventory, a consultant sending out reminders for open client invoices, or an artist cleaning out her studio to make space for the new year’s creative work, I think most Voice Bureau readers would agree: that’s not even the half of it.

What our readers and clients tend to be interested in is something much bigger than blueprints, checklists, and best practices for wrapping up a fiscal year.

We’re wanting something deeper. We seek the profound, especially when the profound comes with a sense of gorgeous clarity.

My Collaborative Partner Tami and I have been having lots of these big, seeking, open-ended conversations lately. We’ve been taking a thoughtful inventory of what we created this year, of the clients whose needs and preferences best aligned with the way we best deliver, and of whether (and how) we met our goals for meaningful collaborative and independent work.

We have a lot to be thankful for. And we still have a lot of reflection and consideration to do. We’re still combing through and cataloguing the ease points and the stress points of this past year of business (and of life), and noticing what we wouldn’t repeat, had we a do-over. And of course, naming and celebrating what we’ll take with us into next year, not only because it worked, but because it resonated (with YOU and with us), and because it points to the sweet spot we are both perpetually seeking.

So when Tami brought me the idea for a clean and simple, end-of-the-year Voice Bureau course that would help our readership sort through what worked well (and what didn’t work so well) for them in 2013, I knew both the concept and the timing were right.

If you’d like to join Tami and me in this first-of-its-kind course — no heavy-lifting, we promise — to do the work of bringing closure to 2013 and coming to clarity on 2014, CLICK HERE. We start before Christmas. It’s no-stress, all ingenuity. We think you’ll like it.

(Image credit.)

{ 0 comments }

Voice Notes is a regular Voice Bureau special feature, in which we take our readers behind the scenes of an online brand presence we want to learn from — and into the professional life, creative lifestyle, and personal gestalt of a brand creator we admire and appreciate. Through a host of evocative questions and sentence starters, our goal is to portray the idiosyncratic, private approaches behind doing one’s excellent work in the world. (Abby’s note: I think of these Voice Notes Q&As as Paris Review-style author interviews. I hope you enjoy reading our contributors’ responses as much as we enjoy asking the questions.)

Abby (Chief Voice Bureau Officer) says:

Gini Martinez, Founder of Rock What’s Yours

→Connect with her at GiniMartinez.com. Also find her on: Twitter; Facebook; Pinterest; Google+

Official Dossier

How do you like to introduce yourself, professionally? How do you want to be known?

I’m an Embodiment Teacher. I teach people how to consciously inhabit their body to be more grounded, centered, and agile for improved presence, performance, and longevity.

How long have you been in business for yourself, in total years?

I’ve been in business for myself for more than 15 years.

What’s an important difference between you and other brands who offer something similar (AKA your clients’ other alternatives)?

I bring a balanced blend of no-nonsense and empathetic warrior to my teaching.

What would we typically find you doing at 10:15 AM on a Tuesday morning? How about at 4:30 PM on a Friday afternoon? We want the real deal here, not a gussied-up version of events. ;)

Either working via video conference with a client or writing. (I do my best writing before noon.)

Most recently, you’ll find me having an end-of-the-week cocktail — it’s 5:00 somewhere — and playing Bananagrams with my 10-year old.

Where in the world do you live? And why?

I live in the Los Angeles area. While I’ve lived in a variety states over my lifetime, I was born a SoCal girl and married a SoCal boy. It will always be home to us.

Show Us Your Voice Values 

MY TOP 3-5 VOICE VALUES ARE:

Power, Depth, Accuracy

(Abby’s Note: Discover your own Voice Values when you subscribe to The Voice Bureau’s Insider Stuff e-letter. Look for the sign-up box in the upper righthand corner of the site.)

Which of your Voice Values made you say, Oh, duh. Of course that’s me. And why?

Power & Depth were obvious. They describe my person as well as the work I teach and the results it provides.

Any Voice Values that totally surprised you in showing up? As in, you really didn’t see that one coming?

Accuracy surprised me, but immediately made sense. I’m a mother of three boys and I don’t allow them to make broad, sweeping statements about each other during arguments. I push them to be focused and accurate in their assessment of one another as that supports constructive communication and problem solving.

Choose one or two of your Voice Values & tell us how you can see these showing up in the way you communicate with readers/clients/customers, or the way you run your business

Continuing with Accuracy, I make a point to question statements clients make such as: “My body is falling apart!” Is your body really falling apart? (HINT: No.) Hyperbole leads to overwhelming feelings of impotency. (Um, hello, Power.)

Do you notice that your especially Right People clients seem to be drawn by one of your Voice Values, in particular? How can you tell?

Yes, Depth. When you’re willing to go deep, you’re also willing to take responsibility for yourself. Power can be an attractive characteristic, but can just as easily attract a person who’s looking to be told what to do by someone who exudes a Power value, as opposed to being emPowered by them. My especially Right People want the latter.

Tell us briefly about a product, service, or offer you’d like to share with The Voice Bureau’s readers. How can you see your Voice Values playing out in this offer, either in how you created it or in how you’re presenting it?

My foundational virtual embodiment class Embodiment 101: Consciously Engage Your Mind to Control Your Body expresses Power is directly in the title, while Depth is slightly more implied as your mind is an internal (deep) part of your being.

The content brings Accuracy into play because I present scientific research to support the work, as well as provide opportunities for clients to develop a more Accurate sense of what’s going on inside their body by improving self-awareness around their postural and movement habits.

Personal

What 3 words best describe your lifestyle?

Jackassery-free. (Abby’s Note: See Gini’s desktop background, at left.) Playful. Family-centric.

Finish this sentence: I can never get enough . . .

black pepper.

The iPhone app I wouldn’t want to live without is

Dictionary app. Must. get. just. the. right. word.

Process & Atmospherics

Tell us about your creative process in your business. What does it look like?

When I’m creating something, you’ll find me doing one or both of the following:

• sitting alone in complete silence
• walking in circles and talking to myself

How do you get yourself creatively unblocked, if/when you ever are?

By doing anything else. Walking away from the project.

Give us your faves.

• Music to work or groove by: George Michael’s Listen Without Prejudice album
• Non-business related Twitter account to follow : @ErinsCafe
• Pet to have within arm’s reach: Roxy, our German Shepherd
• Snack to keep you fueled: homemade protein bars
• Your other favorite thing: Speakeasy with Paul F. Tompkins.

Branding & Biz Dev

What iteration of your website/business/brand are we looking at? (If you can remember!)

This is the only iteration of Rock What’s Yours. Previously I owned a brick-and-mortar Pilates studio called Pilate Your Body.

How long did you operate your business before you felt you’d really hit your stride?

My business is teaching and I’d say it took 10+ years to sense fully what it’s like to own my teaching instead of regurgitating the work of others.

What does empathy in marketing mean to you?

Not preying on collective fear. When I owned my Pilates studio, initially I found marketing to be a challenge because I did not want to lure people (read: women) with the promise of “flat abs.” Flat abs may be your jam, but I feel there’s a more respectful manner with which to engage you.

Why are you on social m-dia? How do you use it?

I was born social. I use different platforms of SM in different ways. Facebook, Pinterest, and G+ are exclusively for business — engaging both current and potential clients. Instagram is purely personal. Twitter is what I’d consider my SM home and I use it for both business and personal engagement. I have 3 criteria for following someone on Twitter. They must be at least one, but more often a combination of:

• smart
• entertaining
• informative

I don’t automatically follow back and am comfortable unfollowing someone to keep my Tweet stream personally satisfying.

What’s the one system or process you’ve implemented in your business that you’re proud of?

Seasonality. I have 3 boys in school and my husband is a teacher, so our schedule evolves throughout the school year. I’ve created a schedule that honors those changes to ensure both a rewarding business and satisfying personal life.

Who’s your secret business mentor or inspiration, or two, or three? What do you appreciate about these brands?

My mother and father. During my formative years, my parents owned a Tupperware distributorship. I had the opportunity to witness as well as work in the day-to-day operations of their warehouse and front office and also the training center, which my mom ran exclusively. After my mother was promoted to the corporate level, my father opened a cinnamon roll shop franchise and I worked each week with him, baking and serving customers. Following my college years, my mom went on to open direct-selling markets for multi-million dollar companies throughout the world.

The best lessons I learned from them are:

• attention to detail regarding your product
• being genuinely of service
• the value of an encouraging word or simple acknowledgment for a colleague, employee or customer

What’s your next big business or branding challenge?

I don’t perceive my business as a series of challenges. For myself, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking success is just over that challenge mountain, only to feel I’ve been set back when the next challenge presents itself. (And it most certainly will present itself.) Instead, I challenge myself every day to do and be better so that each day becomes another link in the chain of continuous successes. This approach enables me to smooth out unforeseen kinks with greater grace and ease.

What’s your best advice for other smart people who’d like to do something like what you’re doing?

Just do it. You can read a million books or blogs on how to do it or how not to do it, but that’s all irrelevant if you aren’t actually doing it. And what you’ll find is that if you simply pay attention to what you’re doing, you’ll figure out all the things that need to be adjusted, modified, or improved without having to entertain someone else’s jackassery.

Right People Rules 

Give us one or two traits you really appreciate or value about your Right People readers and clients. What makes this type of person such a good fit for the way you deliver value?

I love that they value the concept that “everything is connected.” This (not always obviously) applies to bones, muscles, and joints, but they also appreciate the macro holistic view that what we do in one area of our lives impacts all the others, for better or worse. As a result, they’re motivated to take action as well as responsibility for their results.

Give us one or two of your “Uh-Oh” Client red flags. As in, if a prospective client says or does this, and you know it’s not going to be a good fit.

If they say, “I want someone to tell me what to do” or “I want someone to fix me.” Those statements indicate they aren’t a good fit . . . at the moment.

What, secretly (up until now), is your favorite thing to do for a client?

Make them laugh. The content they’re learning is more likely to stick if they’re having fun. Also, who doesn’t like to laugh?

What’s the best compliment you’ve ever gotten from a client?

“You are one of the most grounded and sane persons in my life.”

What sorts of joint venture or collaborative opportunities are you open to in the foreseeable future? What sorts of people or businesses are you looking to link up with?

I’ve recently been collaborating with a couple of holistic nutritional counselors to provide more comprehensive services to our clients. Our work naturally supports and complements each other. It’s a great fit!

In the comments, we’d love for you to:

Tell us what embodying your business or brand feels like for you. What really resonated in this Q&A with Gini? We’d both love to hear from you.

{ 1 comment }

Oh, my fellow INFJs, wouldn’t we like the answer to this question?

We know the answer isn’t necessarily easy, but we hope it may be simple. We INFJs tend to overcomplicate things. That’s not said to down-talk us, or to limit what’s within our nature. But if you ask an INFJ, she’ll tell you: yep, she’s wired for depth.

We’re into nuance, complexity, hidden meaning. We seek peace and purpose. We crave wholeness, unity, and gentle direction — and we’re so excellent at making space for others in our world to have just that.

We treasure our clients and know just how to make them feel special and seen. We build beautiful businesses that turn heads with gorgeous, sensitive design, or drop jaws with poignant, just-right writing. We craft programs and services that arrive in our Right People’s Inboxes like gifts.

We’re writers, creatives, counselors and coaches and therapists, mentors and advocates and advisors, healers, and makers of all sorts.

All of this doing is exhausting. Rewarding. And exhausting.

And so we are looking for a more peaceful way to be in the world. But it’s got to be powerful, too.

INFJs love excellence, have a hard time settling, are ever in pursuit of something.

We’re oriented toward the future, but we have to live in the present. Our feet are always finding their way to the next best path — we love the journey.

We love connection — especially, sometimes, on social media — but it drains us, too. (It’s because we’re better at giving than receiving.)

We secretly think ourselves selfish, but no one we know — even our intimate companions and partners — would describe us this way. We have a rich inner world that begs to be expressed, and yet we also go to great lengths to hide some of our most potent truths from other people.

We desire to live and work and lead from an authentic place, but because we have so much natural empathy, we tend to over-identify with others, thus rendering us less authentic than we want to be.

We love the paradoxes. We wouldn’t want to live life without them.

Overextended. Overcommitted. Overworked (by our own hand).

Also: full of grace. Full of wonder. Open to learning.

We’re business owners. We’re brand creators. We’re ready to show up.

We believe in crafting our work in the world according to best business practices (beacuse our “J” loves rules, and wants to do things “right”), and yet — we feel stirred to do things differently.

Perhaps there IS a way to be a more effective, more relaxed, more authentic INFJ business owner.

My fellow INFJs, this new course I’ve created is for you. It’s for me, too.

It’s 6-weeks, content-rich, yet relatively low-impact (it is the end of the year, after all.) $97 USD.

Click here for all the details. I hope you’ll join us.

In the comments, I’d love to hear:

Are you an INFJ? How does your Introverted/Intuitive/Feeling/Judging nature show up in your business?

{ 9 comments }