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instructor: Dawn Falbe
Part of my path right now consists of attending a very unique series of classes. Developed by Dawn Falbe www.astrologerdawn.com , this ten week series of classes is aimed at helping women develop their metaphysical based businesses. Through a weekly teleclass, homework, and a related Yahoo Groups e-group, class members learn skills that help them define their business, set and meet goals, and manifest the success that lies within them.
Prior to class starting, we were asked to e-mail Dawn the answers to the following: (1) Please describe where you are now in terms of using your metaphysical craft as part of a business. Include number of clients per month, whether you are charging, or if it's a hobby. Are you doing any advertising? (2)What would you like to be sure is covered in this course? (3) Please describe your ideal business 3 years from now.
I am going to be reviewing this class on an ongoing basis. If you are interested, and would like more information, please visit Dawn's site www.astrologerdawn.com , or e-mail her at dawnfalbe@earthlink.net.
This class set the foundation for the classes to follow, and allowed class members to meet each other. A very exciting new addition to Dawn's teaching paradigm will begin with the next class (4/18/05), and that is the audio transcript. This transcript will be made for each class, and will be available for a period of seven days (until the next class). There will be a specific number, seperate from the teleclass call in number, that will be used to access this transcript. The call in number, as well as the access code, will remain the same for all of the classes. There will be two Mondays when we will not be meeting, Memorial Day and the following Monday. Dawn stressed the importance of understanding that what we are learning is a system, and that to make it work for us as individuals, we need to modify it to our needs and circumstances. Dawn stressed that this class is all about taking action ... knowing what we need to do, and then doing it. The structure of the class will be a flowing one, so that individual and group needs are met. Approximately two weeks will be spent on each section. The sections include: building a business foundation; creating a marketing system; develkoping a metaphysical pratitioner tool kit; client conversion made easy; and developing a metaphysical practice. We were reminded that this system was developed by Dawn, so that while we are welcome to use what we learn in our own lives, we cannot use it to teach others, as it is copyrighted material. We were encouraged to fill out the database at Yahoo Groups, including posting our websites. We were also encouraged to visit each others websites, and offer positive feedback. Our homework for this class was to write out our decision to form a metaphysical business, and to post it to the Yahoo Group by Sunday night. I felt that things went well. I was impressed with the organization of the class, and the quality of the class members. Now ... I need to go out and purchase a red notebook, in which to place not only my notes, by the 300 pages of pamphlets that Dawn has developed for this class!
The audio podium went into effect starting with this class, which meant that an audio of each class will be available until 5 pm the following Monday (when a new class will be held, and a new audio taped). The access number for the audio was given out (it is a different number from the regular sign in number), and will be posted on Yahoo Groups. We went over the class introductions, and shared success stories (and I believe everyone had a success story to share!). We were reminded that success can be of either an internal or an external nature. Something of great importance that came out of the sharing of the success stories was the concept of undervaluing ourselves - especially when it comes to charging for our services. This is a big challenge for most metaphysical practitioners that I know. We then discussed our Decision Statements, and how we came about forming them. Dawn brought up something very important here - the more immersed we are in making changes in our lives, the more "stuff" is going to come up (that IBS Committee, working in tandem with the Itty Bitty Editing Committee!). Change is mired in chaos, but when we work our way through the muck and get through to the other side, we are seeing with greater clarity, especially regarding t he lessons that we are learning. Ah - the IBS Committee. That would be our reformating of the Itty Bitty Shitty Committee. Makes them look more professional. ;-) Our homework has to do with this committee. We are to use whatever method works for us to determine who the members of this committe are, to give them names and faces. Remember, this ad hoc committe is the source of the "shoulds" in our life! We are to find out what they are saying, what each member is saying, and what part they play on the committee and in our lives. And don't be too shocked to find that each of us has a place on our own committee! We are to write a letter to our IBS Committee members, thanking them for what they gave us, explaining that is really belongs to them, and that we are now returning what they gave us to them. One letter can serve for several members, if they are all saying essentially the same thing. Our next focus is addressing our belief systems. We must believe in ourselves to have a successful business. Our homework was to write this statement and post it to Yahoo Groups. We also need to start writing our Business Visions before the next class (4/25/05).
We began the class by sharing success stories, and moved on to the role of our IBS committee, and the need for setting boundaries. From here we moved into sharing our Belief statements, and a bit of background into how they were developed. A major point that developed here was that we need to remember that how we expend our time and energy is a choice centered issue. From there we moved on to a discussion of the role of the Moon and Mercury in our lives (as they define who we are, and our style of communication). Dawn (Astrologer Dawn!) shared information on the different Moon and Mercury positions from class members birth charts, and how they are reflected in our lives. She also encouraged us to do further research on this subject ourselves. We then went into a discussion of our Business Visions, and looking at how we can fine tune them. The next topic of discussion was the need to delegate (something that I have a hard time doing). We were given three specific areas to look at in determining who/what we need to release from our lives in order to have a successful business, followed by a discussion of methods that we can use to assess our answers. Dawn discussed using a three column method of determining where we want the focus of our business to be, and where we want to focus our marketing efforts. Dawn let us know that there is an attraction pamphlet on the Yahoo Groups site available for download, and she gave three book recommendations as reference material for building our business. Next class (5/02/05) we will be addressing the "Who" of our business.
This was quite an exciting class, as things are beginning to move on a deeply internal level. This certainly showed in the success stories t hat were shared at the beginning of the class. One of the things that I took from this was that a goal, once spoken,gains the power of positivity in our lives. We went over the use of the three column template from last class (a wonderful tool to use when trying to determine where to focus). We discussed how we felt about placing our Decision and Belief statements, along with our Business Vision, on one page. For me, this was empowering, as this is a snapshot of what my business is ... a reflection of the whole. We looked at "Five Tests of a Dream", which is an excellent way to look at our Business Visions and see if they are actually doing for us what we think they are. A wonderful "self-test". From here we moved on to developing the "Who" of our business - our target audience. We were given specific ways in which we could define the target audience that we wish to draw to us. Downloadable from the site is a pamphlet developed by Dawn for determing the "Who" and "What" of our business. This is exciting - by the time we finish this course, we will have an entire 300 page book of how to develop and market our business's!
This was a difficult class, only because the phone lines shape-shifted into an echo chamber, and we had a hard time understanading each other. We began by sharing success stories, and there were many of them. :) It was also pointed out that t his is a system, and for it to work we have to follow the system. We then moved on to the "What" of our business. This basically comes down to "what" services we are offering our clients - the ways in which we can determine our clients needs, and what we have to offer them to fill these needs. We then moved on to the "How" of our business - how we are going to fulfill what we have defined as our "What". We talked about developing a statement that will combine the Who, What and How of our business into a cohesive statement that will immediately let our clients know what we have to offer. Where does all of this get us? It helps us focus, and builds our confidence in ourselves and oaur abilities!
Class was cancelled for tonight, and will resume next week, when we will be moving on to the Marketing, which is, IMHO, an area that needs lots of help! LOL.
Each of the classes so far have held a high level of excitement for me, but tonight's class was the best yet! We started out with a discussion of our various success's, with several thoughts to take away, amongst which were the importance of taking action, and the fact that as individuals developing our own business's,we need to focus on "being who we are". We discussed our joint Who/What/How statements, and came away with the thought that as individuals we need to KNOW to our core that we can accomplish what we wish to accomplish. Dawn spoke for a few minutes about coaching, and how coaching can add value to our business. She certainly left us with food for thought! Then we moved on to the Marketing Train - the system strategy that Dawn has developed for marketing businesses. She gave us the four steps needed to create our own Marketing Train - and they aern't all that hard! Especially if we remember that this train is what will help us build and maintain a thriving business. We learned the difference between passive and active marketing, and are ready to continue discussing marketing in our next class (June 6th).
This was week seven of the ten week tele-class.I missed the in-person class, so I went to hear the Audio Podium, which worked out very well. In listening to the success stories, it hit me that our successes are reflecting the depth of this class. How cool is it to be taking a class that also works in real time! Setting up an Initial Interview template was discussed. Our first homework assignment for this week was to create our own IC template, using what we have to offer our clients as a base. Then we got to tear our IC's apart, and list specifically what we are doing to help out clients. This became our second homework assignment, and is more important than one might think. When networking, giving talks, or even in general conversation, when asked what we do for our clients it is nice to have it well thought out so that one can give a short, straightforward, dignified response! Then we moved on to the really cool stuff - Radio work and Psychic Fairs. There is a pamphlet available on the CMP Yahoo Group for download that will take us step by step through what we need to do to go into Radio or Psychic Fair work. I found out that it even applies to me, who is basically working as a writer, because once my work is out there, I will need to be interviewed on the radio! Setting up Strategic Alliances (an in-depth form of networking) was discussed at length, as well as active and passive marketing, and keeping in touch with our clients after we have seen them. This is a very active, inter-active class. I knew from the beginning that I would be happy that I took this class, but now that I see how it can work in my life, now that I am taking the steps, it really is exciting!
The class began with a sharing of success stories - and it was wonderful to hear these stories that were coming from the students in this class implimenting the system that Dawn is teaching us! We discussed the homework from our last class, which was practicing our Initial Consultations. This really is bringing all that we have learned together in a fantastic manner! From there we went on to discussing the various factor that go into setting our fees. Becasue this is an integral part of the class, I am not going to go into them here. The discussion was great, and the factors that Dawn defined were clear, and could be readily worked with as respective to our individual situations. We went into a discussion of the major purpose/function of the Initial Consultation, and that is to allow our clients to expereince what we can do for them. This is empowering for us, and empowering for our clietns. It also allows both parties to make the decision as to whether there can be a good working relationship for the future. We then went into seperate discussions on factors related to pricing and counseling, and what some of the red flags are with potential clients. For our homework, we will be fine tuning and bringing to the next class each of the foundation pieces for this system, as well as developing a two or three tiered pricing structure, based on the services that we are offering and the length of the consultation. I felt very empowered after this class. How great is it when a plan comes together! Stay tuned for the final class, and more information!
This is the tenth, and last class in this series. Because of the length of the schedule, as studetns we have had a chance to get to know one another fairly well. It is good to reach the last class, but also a bit sad. However, we will stay in touch with each other, if for no other reason than that we have a shared interest in developing our own business's, and those business's are all of a metaphysical nature. Dawn will be giving this class only one more time, after which the focus of her own business will be changing to sole enterpreneurs. Tuesday, June 28th begins this last ten week session. We began the class as usual, by sharing stories. It is heartening to see how our successes have moved from internal to external, physically manifesting themselves in our lives. We were reminded that we need to be willing to add new tools to our business structure, as well as release those tools that no longer serve us well. We were also reminded that we need to be able to mix and match the tools that we offer to our clients needs. As our clients change, the tools that we need to help them will change. The main topic for tonight was developing SMART Goals from our Business Vision. (Note: Each step in this system evolves from and builds on the previous step.) SMART Goals are goals that are Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time Sensitive. We discussed not getting caught up in the "to do" things of life, keeping track of how and where we are spending our money, and our time, and steps that we can take to make best use of both. We were given a series of steps that will help us move forward in setting and achieving our goals. Each of these steps is realistic and doable, a trademark, from my standpoint, for this course. One of the class members gave us a book recommendation, "Procrastinator's Handbook - Mastering The Art Of Doing It Now", by Rita Emmett. No matter where you are in life, what your business is, or what your goals are, this book can certainly be of help! Dawn will be bgeinning a Group Coaching venue in August for those people that have completed her Complete Metaphysical Practitioners Course. Although I am not going to continue with this group, I think that there is a need for it, a need to provide a supportive arena for growth for women who live in diverse parts of the country, and who would have no way of meeting in person on a consistent basis. I send my wishes for manifesting both personal and professional success to Dawn, and to each person in this group. If you are at all interested in what Dawn has to offer, please visit her site, www.astrologerdawn.com, see what she is currently offering, and sign up for her newsletter. I am very happy with how this course turned out for me. I now have tools that I would otherwise not have had, and a much better chance of presenting and promoting myself in a manner that will allow me to live the life that I want to live. In fact, Dawn's parting words to the class were: "Take this system and create the life of your dreams!"
Bonnie Cehovet
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