How does it feel to build an online business as a dancer - 2019 in review

2019 was my first entire year as a solopreneur. I left my work in September 2018 and I had big expectations and plans

January 2019 - Sauerkraut (haha - don’t forget that I am German) and first workation

I started the year with a Sauerkraut dinner in Spain with over 60 expats friends and swimming in not so cold beautiful clear water, enjoying this Spanish tradition and benefitting from my 2 years training of the Wim Hof method .

This was also my very first workation, making me dream of always working from a beautiful office like this. I was teaching my 12-Yule-nights online course - a spiritual journey for women from there. Just pure magic!

Back to home, I got very busy as an affiliate with the launch of Somba. The women who had worked with me the year before on the connection to the power of the sacred feminine, now wanted, as me, to build a business. I think an empowered woman, always wants to do something to help others and make this world a better place. End of the launch we had an online party .

I was so happy to welcome two new Sombasisters, one of them being a gifted and inspiring cook, Patricia Vanden Berghe. She motivated me to start a project, which I had been dreaming of, since 2015. Inviting women to my home, cooking, eating , chatting and dancing together. And this is what we did. This project is definitly coming back in 2020!

In Somba Momentum we started the social media sprint. As always, I participated, doing the programming, scheduling, hashtagging, but I just couldn't get to be friends with Instagram. I learned how to use Planoly, Buffer, Tailwind, did a visibility plan and started working on my presence on Social Media. This felt very energy draining to me. It was omnipresent in my head and drove me crazy. I love working from my computer, but Instragram works best through mobile. And then you have to do the stories, IGTV….. wouw! Felt overwhelming! But as I have this “you must do everything perfectly syndrom” I walked it through. Finally, I left it, until I found my rythm and system late in October. Result of this early year effort is that I now do have 281 followers, which is not much, but several clients found me through Instagram and Youtube, which never happened before. So it did yield unexpected results. I admit it still feel energydraining to me, but it’s much easier than before.

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In February - the true meaning of a retreat

I left rainy Belgium and spend 10 long and wonderful days with my son in Bali. I hadn't seen him for 15 months. Going back home was so difficult, but my heart was full with greatitude and new ideas, which I took time to write down. I had been following Lana Shalfer’s Manifestation challenge (found her in Sigrun’s Masterclasses) and this got me into a new dimension of how to do business. Back home, I subscribed to her Bootcamp and learned so much about how to higher my vibrations and law of attraction.

When I came back from Bali I felt completely transformed even if I did not at all do any kind of retreat or meditation. But seeing people worshipping all day long with beautiful flowers and prayers deeply changed something inside of me.

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March 2019 - back to stage and first VIP client

This is when I first felt that a retreat is simply like bathing in an energy field. Thus I send this out into the world according to Sigrun’s “How to get more 1-1 cients” Masterclass (if you want to see this Masterclass, it’s just available now. Click here!) and a first happy client booked leaving me this wonderful testimonial.

Back to stage after 12 years

Something else was happening just on my return after arriving in Brussels. My former student, Salwa had been begging me for several years to go back to stage and perform and I always said no, but this time I promised, I’ll be there. Before leaving to Bali, I was convinced I would not do it. I had been very well known before, 12 years younger and super trainined. What would people think of me now? But as I had promised her, I wanted to stand up to it. I also felt, that it was time to let Shandora, the somatic coaching form I developped to connect to the power of the sacred feminine and heal through danced story telling, shine in the world.

I told the story of a woman finding her way out of the darkness of her soul and out of suffering, feeling lost, searching for help everywhere and finally finding light, love, passion, joy and the courage to shine her light into the world. This dance had been inspired a traumatic experience in 2016. One of the hardest moments ever in my life.

I remember standing behind the stage, just some minutes before going out there. I was so frightened shaking all over . I could here Sigrun’s word “Trust the process” in my head, transformed it into “Trust the feeling” . I rooted and realigned myself, asking for help and got this blissul feeling of devine présence. I was ready.

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April 2019 - May 2019 - moneymindset & manifestation & first super fan

Answering another clients request I created a beautiful 3 week online course which I gave in April on the topic off self confidence. The most magic course ever, with strong healing in the groupe. My experience from last year’s online group coaching got confirmed: I love it, it’s highly magical and transformational as well for me as well as for the participants.

By this time I discovered Marcia o’ Reagan and bought her wonderful one week online course “Inner wealth Activator”. Thanks to the work I did with Lana and Marcia, I finally gave myself the permission to teach for the first time in an online meditation the shamanic healing ritual that's head been revealed to me in a vision in 2015. This was part of the online course on self confidence and the participants had amazing breakthroughs during this guided meditation.

I met Francesca, a shy young woman, who came to me feeling desparate. She worked with me for over 3 months and today she is on her way to be an accomplished online entrepreneur in London. What a transformation! She also was my first super fan being proactive and spreading the word. Thanks to her enthousiasme and incredible breakthroughs, I gave for the first time ever my course “The magic to be a woman” at the same time online and offline . Several of the women participated in both and this got them places.

As I was to tired end of April, I did not even launch these courses properly. I simply send to the information out to my mailing list and to the fans of my Facebook page and did two free discovery classes. Most of the students in the offline corse also did some Energy Healing Sessions with me to accelerate the process. I had been dreaming off teaching my sacred feminine dance classes for years. It never really happened.

What I changed: I found another room, I offered it as a higher priced cycle. Participants had to commit to the whole cycle. Since then, I gave the cycle 3 more times. Same concept but now in the morning. I always thought it must be an evening course, but with my new understanding of my ideal client, it works out, that it’s better in the morning.

I also went to Paris to an advanced training with Dr. Bodin on energy massage. This was so funny: one women during the coffe break came to me and asked “Are you THE Gudrun?” …. she had been following me for several months on Facebook!!!

End of April I drove to Amsterdam, to meet Sigrun and my Sombasisters . What a wonderful experience. It feels like having Sisters everywhere in the world now. I drove 3 hours just to be 1 hours with Sigrun and her tribe. Community is so important and meeting your tribe in real life. As they were nearly all attending Michelle Obama’s conference (I was too late to get a ticket) , I went to see my eldest son, who lives there.

June 2019 - launch, travel, enjoy

Back to being an affiliate in the not foreseen Sombalaunch. This time I took my first Virtual assistant to help me with Facebook Ads. Yes !! I felt so supported. He helped me a lot, but I later discovered, that I needed to know the job first myself, so I could give him the right instructions. I got a lot of women in my FB groupe , but they were not my ideal client.

To relax, I did some sailing with my husband at the Northsea and enjoying the finally nice weather!

I also traveled with my daughter to Stuttgart for a multi-level marketing event with 10,000 people. Even if this is not my main business, I had been introduced to food supplements and multi level marketing the year before, where I discovered and adopted a powerful detox cure. I created a course and still offer it, whenever detox is needed in my coaching. I combine the detox with meditations, and work on body shaming and mental decluttering. I call the course “Bodytemple”. It was a high energy, spiritual event. With this business I learned one very essential thing: business works through human connection. As Gabi Steiner says “From human to human”. Get on the phone, listen and offer your help. As Sigrun’s husband, Martin once said to me: “Gudrun, you are not in the convincing business”. How right he was!

This is the month, I started a training to become a somatic Coach, from the Strozzi Institute, inspired buy my role model Chen Lizra. I prolonged this training later in the year with studies on the influence of neuroscience and quantum physics in somatic coaching. These studies together with the practice sessions had a profound impact on my understanding off the Oriental Dance and what I was already teaching for the connection to the sacred feminine.

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July 2019 - holiday, workation and dancing on the beach

Somba launch had been fantastic: 3 young women were inspired by me to join and we started a Masterclass. They created their first online course in July, and me my second one. They earned their very first money through online business right away after the course and we celebrated this with some wild dancing and a lot of laughing and joy.

My second workaction was in beautiful Corsica: giving my new online course “C’est en-corps moi qui decide” (Sigrun, in one of our Somba Momentum coaching session gave me the idea on doing a course on conscious decision taking) and having 2 online coaching clients, all done when camping and dancing on the beach.

I had been visualizing of getting at least one hundred participants and amazingly enough without putting energy and money into the promotion of this course, I got exactly one hundred participants! Felt like a shift inside. Could I really manifest things?

After the Sombalaunch, several members of my Facebook group who felt not yet ready to join Somba participated in my newly created online course “Yes, I can do it”, where I helped them with the very basics of starting their business. So even before leaving for holiday, I had made some money. As the year before I was on the road to Corsica when the course started . The difference this time was that I knew I could do it, so I was very relaxed about it, I was very organized and my husband did no longer feel left behind. I conducted the two online courses every Monday and Friday, and had two 1-1 coaching clients on Mondays. So first time I earned money during holiday. I finally felt like an online nomad. YES!!!

End of July it downed on me: I realized that there is a big difference between woman who achieve something in their lives and woman who don't. Woman who have ambitions are ready to invest in themselves. They understand that they need help and that they don't have the time to figure it out all by themselves. They are ready to commit themselves. Most of the time these women have at least already a business in mind. They are strong and I understood that I wanted to work with such women.

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August 2019 - change of my ideal client

So when I came back from my holiday I closed down 3 Facebook pages and rewrote a big part of my website. I announced that from now on my content will help businesses woman, coaches and therapists to connect to the power and the magic of the sacred feminine so they can build a meaningful business.

This done, I had to immediately start launching my dance classes in Brussels and plan the rest of the year. I also launched my first Mastermind Group which I called the “Magic Women's Circle”. But I did not get enough participants to make it happen. I had to reimburse the only woman who subscribed. Felt sad about it, but I had learned to be patient. Everything comes to me at the right moment. Putting an intention on my website and “out there”, means it will happen later. Beautiful feeling and again a shift in my mind. Because before, I would have felt like being not good enough, nobody wanting to work with me and being a failure. This imposter syndrom is still there, but I get to know it better and can get into trust instead of fear more easily with every launch.

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September 2019 - affiliate launch without success

I participated again in September’s Somba launch, preparing my clients with a 21 days challenge. This time I was completely at ease and actually enjoying the time. I realized that in the meantime I had learned how to launch , how to do challenges, how to do sales- and landing pages, webinars and I could now just enjoy the high energy of Sigrun and her team. I felt so privileged to be part of it . This was my fourth Somba launch. BUT I did not make any sales this time. Shifting ideal client and getting the wrong people through the FB ads, because I did not give the right instructions to my VA must have been the reason. Instad of seeing this, I gotback into self doubt, fear and self sabotaging. I had invested a lot (time, money on FB ads and the VA) and needed some income badly.

My energy got low and I did not launch my own online program in October .

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October 2019 - Zurich and Sigrun Life

In October me, and my new “Sombababies” attended Sigrun Live. This amazing event felt like comig home. And I met my former a new Mastermind group and all the other new and “old” Sombasisters .

As I am in Sombamomentum, I was invited to the Friday event and joined of course Saturday with all Sombas. (all for free as it is included. Nethertheless it feels like a gift) .

Meeting here again made me realise, how much I had evolved. During Masterminding with the women at my table I got the insight, that I have to show up as the dancer , as this is where my zone of genius is coming from. Several people told me, that they could not imagine, from what they say from me on social media, that I was a dance teacher. Everybody told me, how much they love dancing and that they lack possibilities to do so. So there I was, during the coffee breaks, teaching Shimmyes to relieve back pain and loosen stuck feelings. I put off my shoes to do this. And people laughed when they saw me.

So many things were going on: Agnieska interviewed me for her podcast during the coffee break

AND, Sigrun called all #Sombamentors on the stage, and I was one of them. I always loved to help Sombasisters out. In September we could officially apply for this. I was accepted. I am so proud of this and I feel very honored!

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November 2019 - fear, self doubt and procrastination

I had not been doing my finances since September, out of the fear of not earning enough. I even convinced myself, that I had to go back to my former work. Sometimes , secretly I cried and had my own moments of breakdown, doubts and feeling not worthy. Feeling guilty also, that I could not offer to my children all the possiblities I wanted to offer. Finally, end of November, I had to have a look at it all. And I discovered that I had made over 10.000€ in the last 3 months, that I received unexpected gifts and that everything was ok.

I participated in Black Friday and in 3 days , I made 1200€. But November and December were months with a lot of autosabotage. I just could not accept, that my business was supporting me finacially and my fear was inconscious. It made me concentrate on what I did not have, what I did not do, what I was not yet able to do, comparing myself with the high achievers in Somba and Sombamomentum. And I felt so tiny, so insignificant. I felt stupid, that with so much support and investing so much in myself, I was procrastinating. Martin said “Procrastination is fear in it’s best”, but I did not understand that. Everything became heavy. Even gettig out of my bed in the morning, was difficult.

I had so much success, so many clients , who gave me wonderful testimonials, but I could only see the ones who did not open my emails, the ones , who did not join my classes, the ones who did no buy my online courses, even if I knew, they needed it. Fear and blockages everywhere. I felt froozen and so was my business. I put myself under so much pressure to do the Somba Momentum Sprint with Workshop automation. For the first time in my life, somebody had bought directly on the webinar. I felt like: yes, I can do it! And then I heard, that if, my workshop does not convert well, no way of automating it. This threw me back again into: “You’ll never make it”!

Seeing my resumée hereunder, I also understand that I had some serious launch fatigue! I worked so much and I did not take time to exercice (besides my dance classes), I neglected meditating and connecting (besides my energy work) and I believed I needed to work even harder and without any break to deserve success! No wonder, it got so bad at the end of the year.

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December 2019 - final breakthrough

I needed to practice all my tools, to survive from my inner critics. What got me finally out of this, was the wonderful Mastermind groupe just before Christmas. I was sitting there, it was my turn to talk and I just broke out in tears. They were so uplifing, so kind, so understanding.

Same happened during Christmas with my parents. I became so funerable, so open and sensitive and I could clearly see all the patterns since childhood. I cried so often, when my parents said something. Just before leaving, I was telling a beautiful story and my father just put me totally down. I got into anger (which only happened twice so far at home). I managed again, thanks to my own tools to stop, drop and realign, go back and talk with him. We had a wonderful healing moment of love and forgiveness. I’ll never forget this.

It was the most difficult and dark time in my business, affecting my whole being. The difference to before was, that I was sure, this happened for a reason. I thought: “What I endure now makes me learn how it feels and how to overcome it, so that I can understand and help my clients with it”. It was so scary

On the last days of December, I read Sigrun’s first and second year in business and I realised, I am not the only one with self sabotage. Probably , you , who are reading me, have this , too. Don’t you?

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Milestones:

• 8 launches for online programms (3 new ones, 2 ones from last year, 3 affiliate launches): January, April, May, June, July, September, November

• 4 offline launches for my dance classes and sacred feminine groupe coaching classes

• 5 Webinars: April, July, October, November (first webinarlaunch and first sale of my 4 weeks course directly on the webinar)

• 1 5-day challenge

• 1 (my first) Mastermindgroupe
  
  

My Tribe

Mailing list: from 1200 - 1400
Instagram: from 0 to 285 followers
Youtube: from 40 to 114 followers
Facebook: from 560 to 900 followers
Participants in my online programms: 117

Total revenue: 22.000€

What I learn from this: simplyfy, plan better, work on visibility and growing my list

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I believe I can fly

“Concentrate on what you want, on what you have and on your strengh.
And then trust the process!
Never stay alone with fear. Get support!”

So what happend? After Christmas, the fear was suddenly gone. I think it finally filtered down into my consciousness, that I made it. I earned 22.000€ in 2019 , which was 7 times more than the year before. And I received and “found” 43000€ unexpectely. I felt free and empowered.

My magic word for 2020: Harvest.

A lot is planned for 2020, but this , I will tell you in the next blog post.

If you want to know more about my business coach Sigrun and her wonderful community, it’s the right time just now. She is teaching a workshop on goals, visions and planning for 2020. Get on the workshop here now (goes away on 14/2/2020) and get in my groupe “Shandora - Porteuse de projet”