Heart Centric Marketing for Your Equine Inspired Business

There’s an exercise we do with the horses where we ask the participant to lead the horse through a simple course while in their head, then the heart, and then the gut. Noting their success or lack of success each time. Then we invite them to integrate all 3 areas and have the horse go with them again. The shift in the relationship and ease in which they move together is always significantly noticeable!

Without going into the specifics of the exercise, the point I want to share is that almost every time someone is leading ONLY from their heart, the actual task tends to fall apart. It’s also when the horse is most likely to start pushing on the participant or drag them off in search of a patch of grass. The participant becomes so wide open that their boundaries and sense of space and time evaporate and they just want the horse to be happy, even at their own risk.

When someone is leading ONLY from their head the horse may also push the participant, or follow along well behind (only because they are attached by a lead rope) and the participant may hardly notice. The participant is not present to the horse or their surroundings. Someone who is solely in their head is either thinking about the past or the future or trying to work out a problem. 

When leading ONLY from the gut the exercise often takes on more aggressive energy. It’s the ‘get-r-done’ attitude. Depending on the horse, they will either balk and refuse to go or go reluctantly at the farthest distance the lead rope will allow. Here the participant is present and focused on the goal at the expense of the relationship with the horse. 

When the participant integrates the head, heart, and gut simultaneously, they can lead the horse through the course with no lead rope at all! Pure partnership. To me, this is the epitome of ‘Heart-Centric’. We allow our care and empathy (heart) to inform our decisions (head) and actions (gut).

Consider your business and marketing...

What plan is your mind dreaming up for your business (head)? How is it informed by your purpose (heart)? What actions are necessary to actualize the dream (gut)?

I’ll use myself as an example…

Head: planning the launch for a group training

Heart: the more practitioners I help to design successful programs, the more horses and people benefit from equine inspired transformations!

Gut: doing the tasks required to reach the people who are ready, willing, and able to get started

The heart of your marketing is WHY you do what you do. Your ‘heart’s desire’ can include the good you do for others as well as the good you receive in return. The purpose does not change (or changes very little). The strategies and activities will change constantly, but the heart/mission that informs those strategies and activities does not. 

Is your WHY strong enough to sustain the amount of planning and action steps required to help you reach the people you are meant to serve? If it is...

Are you following an achievable plan? And, are your actions bringing you sustainable results?

Heart-Centric Marketing is when your outreach to people who are seeking the help you offer is both educational and inspiring to them. You come from a place of thoughtful planning (head) based on your potential client’s needs (heart) and you have clear action steps (gut) for moving them toward their goals, which results in you achieving your heart’s desire as well! 

Exercise:

• Write down an achievable goal for your business (within 90 days).
• Write down WHY this goal is important to you. 
• Map out a strategy for achieving your goal. 
• Calendar out the tasks/actions required and decide who will implement them (you or someone else).
• Invite an accountability friend, partner, or coach to check in with you on a weekly basis.

If you don’t have an accountability buddy and you’re not ready to hire a coach, pop into the Love and Equine Assisted Prosperity group and ask someone to be your accountability partner. There are lots of smart, talented practitioners in that group! 

FB Group

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A Quote to Lick n’ Chew on… 

“So this I believe is the central question upon which all creative living hinges: Do you have the courage to bring forth the treasures that are hidden within you? ” 

~ Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic

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You are Welcome to Join me for a one-time complimentary Business Clarity session.

You will come away with…

• A Crystal Clear Vision for your next steps.
• Clarity around some (hidden) blocks that may be holding you back.
• Inspiration and renewed energy with regards to what is possible for your unique business! 

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Click -->HERE <-- to schedule a time that works for you and say, “Yes” to yourself and your herd! 

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To Your Horse & Soul Success,

~author of, “The Business of Coaching with Horses. How to Reach More Clients, Feed Your Horses, and Change the World!”

My mission is to empower and educate equine inspired practitioners in the art of profitable program design and marketing. My dream-come-true is to see equine-assisted personal and professional development be recognized and celebrated for the unique transformational modality that it is, and to become as popular as yoga and Starbucks!