How reconnecting with your unique skills rejuvenates your sense of personal power and helps you to attract more soul-aligned clients
Vicki learned how to attract more soul-aligned clients after reconnecting with her unique skills as an NLP coach
Vicki is a coach who specializes in neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), a published author, and she leads a weekly meditation group. After her previous organization folded, she found herself unsure how to share her unique approach as a coach so that she can attract the right soul-aligned clients
In a 1-1 coaching program, we discovered Vicki’s natural advantage: The things she naturally excels at. We discovered that Vicki is very good at helping people to connect with who they really are and to help them move forward. To help them do that, Vicki gets a clear idea of what the person is struggling with and their needs. When Vicki has this context, often an image will appear in her mind or certain words or colors will jump out at her and she will intuitively know how to connect with that person. In the program, we looked at ways to connect with Vicki’s natural advantage to help her share her unique approach as a coach.
Marketing block
I know that I'm a coach, I know that I help people, I know that people have profound changes when they work with me. But I didn't know why or how I was doing it in a unique way. It was happening naturally as a result of my training, but I wanted to be able to share with others what my individual skills and what my unique talents were.
The block for me was not being able to see myself well enough to know what was going on for me. Especially when considering marketing, I don’t like the word marketing, so the sharing side of things and how I talk about what I do. There are many different types of coaches out there and I wanted to be able to share how I do things so that the right clients could come to me.
Reconnecting to your inner gifts
It's been really interesting to have an external point of view on what I do and how I do it. We can often see other people's gifts and other people's powers and it's difficult to notice our own. So it's really lovely to have someone to reflect that back in a very clear and powerful way. The process you identified that I use when “in flow” is one I recognize from the way I choose to write a story. I discover a problem that needs solving in the world, use my learnings to create a solution and share that within my stories.
Working with Mariella has reconnected me even more strongly to my own inner gifts and to listen to my intuition more deeply. I listen to my intuition but to realize that I'm actually built to be intuitive and to draw down information, possibly more than other people. It's something I've always admired in others: They could do this and I couldn't, sort of thing. But now that I've followed in your process and followed my own guidance, I'm much more aware of how much I've been put on this earth to connect to my intuition and the wisdom of the universe and to bring it down and to teach it in some way.
Explaining your work
I always felt NLP was hard to explain if you hadn’t experienced it. I studied up to ‘train the trainer’ level and I was with my trainer for about 5 years. There is so much.., so many tools available to us that how would you actually explain it to someone? So I just didn’t do it. I was just offering these free full-term taster sessions. Knowing that, whilst I was offering the person a session, I was helping them so I was raising their vibration. No need for them to follow up if they didn't want to. I'd done my job by supporting them and making the world a better place for everybody. That was it, no obligations, but most people wanted more and became clients.
Then in 2020 I couldn’t work in person with others any more and, after further training to enable me to work online, I eventually explored how to find clients in this new world. I was coming across online Business groups saying: Be visible. I tried to do the networking, but when you start off people ask “what do you do? You kind of have to try and voice it in some way and I think that's where I noticed I was a bit stuck, really.
The courage to have another go
During our sessions, being reminded of the skills that I used in the past when I was looking to help others and the process that I used reminded me that I was able to do that and do it with good results. It's kind of given me the courage to have another go.
When my organization that I was running 5 years ago folded, it was easy to think: Well, I was successful once, I did something once that helped others. And not necessarily connect it with the fact that you can do it again. Discovering my natural advantage has kind of rejuvenated my sense of personal power, I guess. It made me feel stronger and more reassured that I can do it again and that maybe the time is coming when I will be creating something that's going to help others on a wider level.
Soul destiny
I think what’s come to center for me is connecting back to my soul destiny, definitely. As you know I'm a visual and I'm fascinated by metaphors. I need to stand in the center of my soul destiny where my inner power and dragon energy are and lead others to do the same.
Attracting soul-aligned clients
The person who I thought was my ideal client, actually during one of my sessions with Mariella when I was visualizing new clients, cancelled their last session. And then another person contacted me that I have worked with in the past. He fits in every now and then when he needs a little bit of help. And the person that I was going to invite to be a trial client I said I've had this intuition to do some work with you…, I knew she was looking for more clients so I was not expecting her to be able to pay but she said: Well of course I'll pay for your time.
Unique Selling point
We keep getting told that we need to have a USP, a unique selling point, you know, what's different about us. Especially when I'm in a group where lots of people are therapists and coaches, I think it's really useful to have a sense of who I am without comparing myself to others. I can now stand more strongly in my own inner uniqueness. And I think that will translate without even having to know what to say about what I do. I think just sensing and having that core sense of who I am will just speak for itself energetically.
Working with Mariella
It was a pleasure to work with Mariella. I feel like I have a team of people around me, a soul team, and Mariella is definitely one of those people that stands out for me in terms of support and connection and being on a similar journey as me. Yeah, it's very, very lovely to work with her and to be connected with her on many different levels.
If someone is facing similar obstacles, I’d tell them to speak to Mariella. She's an expert in this field and I think that's also helpful for us coaches as well. Mariella has the tools to reflect back to you what it is that you do well in life. So, if you want a mirror to find out your USP or unique skills, then Mariella is definitely one of the people you want to speak to.
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About the author
Mariella Franker, PhD is a former molecular biologist, scientific writer and editor. She co-founded the Scientific & Medical Writers Network in Benelux.
In 2022, she became a certified Natural Advantage® coach. She now teaches introverts how to use Personal Pillar Habits to get more energy and fulfillment from their career without overwhelm, exhaustion, or pretending to be someone they're not.
She's an associate coach at De Succesvolle Introvert and founder of The Franker Message. She's been featured in places such as Quiet and Strong podcast, Quietly Influential Summit, and MarieTV.
Mariella describes herself as a happy introvert. A first generation immigrant from South America, she now lives in the Netherlands with her husband and son. On most days, you'll find her working in her home office or puttering around her garden.