This summer, I've been working with clients on improving their websites, and here's the NUMBER ONE problem I've seen:

The content is too generic.

Specifically,

• you can't tell who the audience is, and
• it's hard to identify a specific problem they solve.

While I totally empathize with this conundrum, I'm here to offer some straight talk.

If you want to build a thriving coaching and wellness practice, you've got to clarify your audience, message, and offering. It's time to stop being a generalist and find your niche.

​Here’s how:

1. Face your fears. In my work with clients, the top fears I've encountered boil down to these three:

• being visible,
• owning one's expertise, and
• owning one's value.

As women, we're programmed to stay small. By becoming visible, confident, and fairly compensated for our services, we're breaking cultural norms. And that's no small deal. It's important to ask yourself what would help you find the courage to move through this challenge. Do you need support from a community or a trusted guide? Do you need to set aside some time for some self-coaching?

2. Own your story. The seeds of your niche live within your story. Why are you in business to begin with? Every client I work with is in business to help others through a similar challenge they've made it through themselves. Don't pretend you're someone else! What SPECIFIC mountain have you climbed to get where you are today? That journey was the boot camp for your business offering! Flesh that story out. That's what makes you UNIQUE. That's what allows you to bring your PASSION to your practice. You are the AFTER of your client's BEFORE. My clients are blown away when they make this connection. 

3. Speak your audience's language. Once you're clear on your unique message, you can speak directly to your audience. I like to do an exercise with my clients where they imagine a conversation with a potential ideal client. You can do this too. Imagine how they describe their problem to you. Put yourself in their shoes, and write down what you hear. From there, you can create an offer that solves their specific problem. Time and time again, this powerful content prompts website visitors to book discovery calls asking, "Are you a mind reader? How did you get into my head?" THAT'S when you know you've hit the sweet spot.

To illustrate what I'm talking about, here are a few "niche makeovers" I've helped my clients achieve:
​

• From "life coach helping anyone" … to … "coach who helps highly sensitive people navigate the challenges of their sensitivity so they can thrive and find joy in their lives."
• From "reading tutor" … to … "brain specialist who helps neuroatypical children make strides academically."
• From "yoga teacher" … to … "yogini who helps with burned-out corporate professionals rediscover their inner wellspring." 

​
This clarifying work isn't easy, but it's so worth the effort. If you're not sure you can do this yourself, my Branding Blueprint offers the support you need to find your true colors and let them shine. 
 
~ • ~ • ~ • ~

LAST CHANCE!
MY SPECIAL SUMMERTIME OFFER…

ENDS JULY 31 – If you'd like a professional opinion on the strengths and weaknesses of your website, I offer a website audit service where I dive in a take a close look at the content and structure of your site. Then we hop on a call and I give you 5 actionable steps you can take that will improve your traffic and conversions. Now through the end of July, I'm offering a special summer price - only $100 for the audit + call. Ready to get started and turn this around? Fill out my brief contact form, and I'll get you set up!

It's the Summer Solstice here in the Northern Hemisphere - the longest day of the year.

But for solo-preneurs like you and me, even the longest day can feel too short.

I don't mean to start this month's message on a negative note, but let’s face it. Business can be a grind.

We wear so many hats. Often, our to-do list becomes really LONG.

When this happens, it’s tempting to become task-masters with ourselves, disconnecting from our hearts so we can move full steam ahead.

When our business is reduced to grinding out the mechanics, we start losing hope it can be what we dreamed it could be.

And that can lead to stress and burnout.

But what if being productive didn’t have to involve disconnecting from our hearts?

Here's where a trusted guide can help.

A skilled guide, coach, or consultant will hold space so you can let go of the taskmaster and soften into possibility.

It’s like a caterpillar inside a cocoon. Part of its transformation involves turning into goo before becoming a butterfly.

Do you know this gooey feeling? You may mistake it for failure. But it's not failure at all - it's a necessary process of growth and change.

So I want you to know – it takes courage to surrender and let ourselves become goo.

As women, we're built to hold space for others. But It’s hard for us to allow someone to hold space for us. We often resist letting go of outcomes and surrendering to process. Our cultural role dictates that we become problem solvers, fixers, and pain-alleviators.

But when you allow someone to space for you, amazing things happen in your business - and life.
​

• You let go of results and soften into the process of discovery.
• You realize the gifts of clarity were inside you all along.
• With your newfound clarity, you connect the dots between your life journey and the message you have to share.
• For perhaps the first time in your business development, you’ll see and feel a clear path ahead that incorporates your passions, skills and integrity (this is what a client recently told me!)
• You’ll have all you need to create life-changing tools for your clients.
• Results turn out to be so much more than you expected.
• Your energy and joy bubble up from within (good-bye, confusion and burnout!).
  
  

So when you’re looking for support, I encourage you to be discerning. Find a guide who is trained and practiced in the art of holding space – someone who understands the delicate balance between providing a safe, reliable structure while staying open to what emerges. (Someone like me!)

A truly transformative guide will help you construct a reliable cocoon, bear witness while you melt, and help you find your wings.

~ • ~ • ~ • ~

Looking for some structure you can soften into?
MY SPECIAL SUMMERTIME OFFER CONTINUES…

Good for one more month – If you'd like a professional opinion on the strengths and weaknesses of your website, I offer a website audit service where I dive in a take a close look at the content and structure of your site. Then we hop on a call and I give you 5 actionable steps you can take that will improve your traffic and conversions. Now through the end of July, I'm offering a special summer price - only $100 for the audit + call. Ready to get started and turn this around? Send me an email to kestudio@att.net. I'd love to help! 

Not sure what you need? CLICK HERE to visit my website and learn more about how I work.

This article was originally published on May 24, 2019.

If you've ever wondered what goes into conceptualizing, writing, and designing a new website that communicates your Big WHY in a compelling way, this post is for you.

While I guide my clients through a pre-determined sequence of assignments and writing prompts, I’ve discovered that no two website projects are alike. Yes, we cover the essentials:

• your AUDIENCE
• your BIG WHY (BRAND STORY)
• your CORE MESSAGE and OFFERING
• your BRAND LOOK and FEEL, including colors, graphics, and images
  
  

But each unfolds in a way that’s as unique as the individual. And that’s what makes it fun and creative, rather than a cookie-cutter experience. 

This month, I wanted to give you a glimpse behind the scenes of the creative process of creating a new website with my client, Darci Hawxhurst.

CLIENT SPOTLIGHT

Darci has an amazing story. She literally helped her daughter heal from the brain injury she sustained as an infant battling meningitis. 

Darci – a young single mother at the time – took it upon herself to learn everything possible about her daughter’s condition and how to heal it holistically. And she succeeded. Her daughter Haylie is now in business school at Indiana University. If you want to read how she did this, it’s all here.

I had the pleasure of midwifing Darci through the creative process as she transformed her Word Press blog into a full-on website that highlights her story, expertise, and services.

Darci had been blogging her inspiring story for a few years, building a solid audience of followers.

She came to me with a desire to expand her blog into a business (which is what I LOVE to help women do!)

I coached her through the transition of telling her daughter’s story into telling her own story – and step front and center into her business and brand. It was all inside her – waiting to be shaped and shared.

It was a joy to witness Darci’s confidence grow as she named and worked through the resistance that often lurks at the gateway to each new phase of growth.  
 
Here’s what Darci had to say about our work together, in her own words:

Dear Kim, 

Thank you for your skilled midwifery of my website (and the new me and new life I am creating through it!) Your vision, listening, pushing when needed, as well as keeping it friendly, fun, and non-judgmental within a boundaried space made for a rich and rewarding transformative experience. I knew you were the right woman and partner for this work…you’ve proven my instincts so right. I’m delighted and excited and SO appreciative of all the visible and invisible ways you’ve worked on this. My heart is full of gratitude!

Check out Darci's new website here: www.darcihawxhurst.com.

And click here for more examples of websites I've midwived and created for my clients: www.kimevansstudio.com/website-storytelling.

A SPECIAL SUMMERTIME OFFER

If you'd like a professional opinion on the strengths and weaknesses of your website, I offer a website audit service where I dive in a take a close look at the content and structure of your site. Then we hop on a call and I give you 5 actionable steps you can take that will improve your traffic and conversions. Now through the end of July, I'm offering a special summer price - only $100 for the audit + call. Ready to get started and turn this around? Send me an email to kestudio@att.net. I'd love to help!