In high school, I did a rather lackluster stint on the track team.

The best part about it was watching and cheering as other, more athletic kids, did graceful feats that eluded me, like jumping over hurdles as they raced.

I never could jump over those hurdles - but I could kick them over, and it turns out - when you're in the game of life and not in a track meet, kicking over hurdles works just as good as gracefully jumping them.

Kicking over hurdles, of course, isn't pretty or neat. Also: sometimes while kicking, you trip and you fall on your face.

But. It gets the job done and clears the way, ultimately.

It's amazing what one can do with just the work ethic of early 80s Bill Murray

Over 7 years of building my own online audience and business and teaching hundreds of amazing leaders how to build theirs, I've learned that there are 3 common hurdles where lots of people get stuck.

So let's start kicking them over, right now.

1. First hurdle: Believing that you don't know what to offer that people will want.

Ready for the truth? You sneaky lil liar you, you do know what to offer. You're just pretending that you don't know.

Here's a hint: it's the thing that heavily embarrasses you when you think about offering it.

For the longest time, I didn't want to put myself out there as a life coach, because - frankly, the term "life coach" is fucking awful and makes me think of some cross between a football maniac and a corporate trainer.

But I knew in my heart I wanted to lead life-changing conversations with dynamic people, and the commonly recognized term for that is "life coaching."

(You can call yourself "a decision doula" or a "life guide" but then everyone just knows you're doing contortions to avoid the humiliation of calling yourself a coach. Which is fine, I guess. But also: if you want to coach, just embrace the ego death of being called a "coach.")

Okay, so let's say you've admitted to yourself that you do know the awful, embarrassing thing that you want to offer the world.

What if you're worried that no one will want or pay for that thing?

Listen, in my time on the internet I've realized that people want and pay for a lot of far-out stuff.

This, of course, includes me and my family ;)

Here are some far-out things that my husband and I have bought from people who work for themselves online and that we will very likely continue to buy:

Hoodoo spellwork candle services
Runic divination
Hypnosis sessions
Ceremonial magick mentoring
Tai chi instruction
Classes on creating spirit bottles, on doing arcane rituals with ancient gods, on using mantras to alter the fabric of space-time - and more
Astrology readings - including: synastry readings, and electional dates for important things in life
Coaching - a whole lot of coaching
Instruction in Herbalism and tincture-making

.... and that's just the stuff that I consider normal!
I've also seen people profitably selling personalized Atlantean mermaid channeling sessions - which isn't my cup of tea, but hey if it turns you on, go for it!

You get what I'm saying here? If you can dream it up, there's somebody who wants it and will pay for it.

In fact, there's probably at least a few million other people around the world with money and internet connections who share your particular far-out values and belief systems and who want special services tailored to those.

With the magic of the interwebs and some communication / marketing skillz [[I'll have more to say about these soon]], you can find these people, and turn them into your raving fans.

So, in your heart of hearts, what would it totally delight and embarrass you to offer as a service?

That's your thing. Start there. You can always switch it up, or expand. But just get started, don't mindfuck yourself into paralyzed inaction.

Start with whatever "dumb, awful" thing comes to mind.

Start by offering it for free, or cheap. Rack up testimonials from satisfied clients. Gather up those testimonials.

Don't get caught up thinking you need endless trainings or certifications either.

Do you know how to do the thing? Then do it. Not sure you know how to do it? Keep practicing with free volunteer clients and friends.

Prove that you can create amazing results for other people, and that's all the certification you will ever need.

2. Second hurdle: Thinking that you have to have a nice fancy website and visual brand put together.

Anyone who tells you that you need a unified brand color palette and smooth website and fancy photo shoots in order to start working for yourself online...

... is trying to sell you graphic design. 🤣🤣🤣

Because you don't. Your online presence can be janky, held together with safety pins, ugly as hell -- and you can still make tons of money.

I'm not a visual or a technical person. I still don't really understanding visual branding or design, my websites don't match, my social media profiles don't match, my sales pages don't match....

... and my business brought in a million dollars in sales in 2019.

So. There.

Now, I'm a lot better with it than I used to be actually -- when I first started around 2013 I seriously had the jankiest of websites -- and I still made more than twice the income I had made while working as a university teacher.

So what do you really need to build a big online audience and business?

Well, I naturally have a whole treasure chest of secrets and tricks about that which I teach in my WEALTH membership community, but the essence of it is this:

You need a distinct, compelling vision and voice, and you need to know how to persuade others to take action.
Sure, visual branding and nice fonts and graphics and slick technology can be part of that...

... but all the pretty logos in the world won't grow an audience and business if you can't communicate your perspective and insights in a magnetic way.

This communication can happen via writing (my fav) or audio, or video - but it needs to happen.

3. Third hurdle: Fear of being 'in the public eye' worrying what others will think about you.
Here's a fact: if you're offering a service, if you're magnetically communicating and persuading...

... some people will judge you

... some people will resent you

... some people will envy you

... some people will hate you

Guaranteed.

Just the other day I had someone call me "a demonic psychopath" 🥰 because they didn't like my alchemical Easter well-wishes post on Instagram. (I'm @carolynelliott_ on Instagram - find me and follow me! you'll like it!)

[[Literally, the post was wishing unconditional love to everyone - what could be more psychopathic? 🤣]]

It really tickled me and made my day.

Here's the solution to worrying about what other people think of you as you get more visible online and grow your business:

Keep your home address private. "Delete, block, ban" the moment you feel annoyed by someone.

And start enjoying the negative attention as much as the positive attention, because they're a package deal.

To paraphrase the immortal words of Kat Williams, if you don't have haters, you better go get you some ;) Having haters is a sign that you're doing something meaningful in the world.

I could say a lot more about all of this, but I think that's enough to get your wheels spinning for today.

best,
Carolyn Elliott

author of Existential Kink: unmask your shadow and embrace your power

P.S. My exclusive WEALTH membership community where leaders come into their full power via the Hermetic arts will open for application / registration again late in May, stay tuned for more details.

the 3 top hurdles to working for yourself online and how to kick them over