Success Story! Meet Faye Nulman

One of the reasons I love attending events is that I always meet such interesting people.  Like my friend Faye.  I was fortunate enough to meet her at Wendy Lipton-Dibner's Move People to Action event in January.  After she stopped my migraine in its tracks in a few minutes during a break by the pool, I became intrigued by her business and spent the rest of the weekend learning more.  I love her and I know you will too.  Meet Faye Nulman!
 

1. Faye, tell us about yourself.  This question always gives me reason to pause; as each day it feels as if I am someone new based on lessons learned, experiences from the previous day and even the weather or if I have meditated/practiced any yoga that day. 

A more nuts and bolts answer:  In hindsight, a trend setter.  Having been raised in a traditional family where the women work in some low level job, get married and have kids, I started out following that model and broke it when I chose to divorce after 21 years in a marriage with 2 children.  So for the first time in my life truly being on my own I was now single parenting, working full time; I decided to go back to school for massage therapy in addition to everything else that was going on in my life!    From one decision my world has evolved into me realizing my potential as an Intuitive Transformational Empowerment Specialist; a human GPS for emotional, personal and life guidance. An International speaker and educator utilizing my years of training and personal one on one work incorporating modalities such as: EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming), Strategic Intervention Coaching, Access Bars, Reiki, Massage Therapy, Raw Foods, Yoga, Sound Healing, & Relaxation Meditative modalities to ingrain a sense of positive energy flow within each client or group. 

2. Tell us about your business.    My business is a healing practice. What started out mostly as massage therapy has evolved into integrated modalities being customized to what a client requires. Depending on the day and or the client, we can be looking at EFT/Coaching sessions, Access Bars/Reiki/Amethyst Bio Mat, Yoga/Meditation, Crystal Singing Bowl Meditation/Healing.  An exciting development with the crystal bowl meditations was my recently released CD: Crystal Bowls for the Soul! Feedback has been outstanding as to positive experiences with increased sleep, an ensuing of peace. 

A recent appointment example: Client was involved in a car accident one year prior to our session, had been in constant pain for that year.  We originally decided they needed to have an Access Bars Session while on the Amethyst Bio Mat to help delete the old “stuff” in their brain and to ease some of the pain.  In speaking with the client once they arrived, we decided to work with EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) while they were on the bio mat.  Not only were we able to release a ton of held stuck negative emotions surrounding the accident, the client left with no pain!  Cookie cutters don’t apply here.  Every client’s needs are customized. 

3. Why did you start your own business?  I don’t truly know if we start our own business or we choose something different from what we have been raised to know.  When there is a deep yearning for something different rumbling through our minds, we begin to search for answers; as we come to those answers we see different possibilities and then decide how to proceed.

4. How did you choose this particular niche?  After being in the corporate world for far too long and having a deep sense of knowing this was not the way to be, I began looking for something that would allow me to give back in the world.  Having been adept at back rub contests between friends as a kid, I believe the information was there but took awhile to be seen.  I guess I was a closet healer!

5. What do you like most and least about being your own boss? Like most:  choosing when to work and with whom I want to work.  Like least: paperwork!

6. What personality traits and skills are needed to run a business?  Staying focused when required.  It can be quite easy to just want to not handle the business basics.  You get to be the boss looking over your shoulder as if you were in a J.O.B. (Just Over Broke) and the boss/employee.  Being able to switch gears on a dime also helps.

7. What has been the most difficult part of being an entrepreneur?  Feeling guilty about taking time for ME.  When you are an entrepreneur you always want to be available for your clients.  The reality is, that does not serve anyone well for the long run.  The most important thing you can do for your business is to take YOU time, consistently.  It feeds you on a spiritual level and gives you the energy you require to keep doing what needs to be done.

8.  Do you have any resources that you have used to build your business that you would recommend?  A large part of the evolving and expansion of the business came in the form of education.  Areas where I was either challenged or had a desire to learn more.  Also being aware of what the clients were requesting and I didn’t yet have training in. This created the space for the interlacing of modalities so that if say “x” didn’t serve this client, then we could go to “y”.  That’s the nuts and bolts aspect.  The deeper aspect came from doing A LOT of personal transformation work.  When funds were low, tapping into as many free resources as were available to help open dark spaces internally.  Then taking bigger plunges and doing organized programs.  As you expand, you bring that to your business.  No one escapes looking inward.

9. Do you have any tips to share on promoting yourself? Smile! No one wants to hang around someone who is grumpy.   Have lots and lots of person to person conversations.  Ask for referrals from happy clients.

10. What other advice would you like to share with someone starting their own business?    You owe it to yourself to try. Fear of losing a paycheck kicking in?  Start part time developing your business, then when you feel comfortable in at least having a foundation built, move into it full time.  IF for some reason it doesn’t work out, you can always find a different arena to play in or go back to a J.O.B.

11. How can we contact you to learn more about your products and services? 

Website:  www.akneadedescape.com 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Kneaded-Escape/184997056851?fref=ts

Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=12316149&trk=hp-identity-name

Blog: https://akneadedescape.wordpress.com/

Phone: 732-895-5926

Email:  info@akneadedescape.com

12. Is there anything else you would like to share?  Create your own because you feel passionate about what you are choosing.  If you are going into this just for the money, you will soon feel as tied down as you did with an employer.  Know that there are always avenues for expansion, you just need to ask yourself:  How does it get even better than this?!

It's Time to Talk About Writing Blog Posts

Let's answer some questions I've been asked about writing blog posts.

Which comes first - the title or the post?  Actually, it doesn't matter.  Sometimes I have a great title in mind inspired by something I've seen or read.  And sometimes my beginning title isn't so great but a better one comes to me as I'm actually writing the post.  The key is to create a title that will encourage readers to visit your blog and read your post. 

What about the actual post?  Are there rules to follow?  Again, not really - and what rules there are can be bent a little if it makes your post more engaging.  This is not your high school composition class.  This is you sharing your thoughts, your knowledge, and your passion with others.  That allows for a bit more flexibility.

Should my blog post be structured in a particular manner?  There is no definitive structure for a blog post.  It is a good idea to let your readers know what the post is about as soon as possible.  I try to establish that in the first paragraph or so.  If you aren't writing educational or factual posts, then that isn't as important.  But you do need to capture your readers' attention as quickly as possible.

The end of your post is just as important as the beginning.  Don't leave your readers hanging.  Don't leave them wondering if there should be more.  When you are finished with what you have to say, summarize or draw some conclusion, but leave no doubt that your are finished. 

How long should my post be?  Truthfully - as long as it needs to be to say what you want to say.  You will notice that some of my posts are longer than others.  As long as you aren't rambling about things that have no bearing on your topic, that is usually not a problem  That being said, the average blog post is generally between 250 and 400 words.  Any shorter, and you probably not going to get as much bang for your buck.  Any longer, and unless you are providing lots of good, useful information, your reader may get bored and stop reading.  That doesn't mean you can't occasionally go shorter or longer.  Again, good content is the most important factor in blogging.

Sometimes I feel like I am writing a lot of fluff just to have "filler" for what would otherwise be an extremely short post?  How do I avoid this?  You don't always have to.  Sometimes, you just need to have some fluff.  Remember, your readers come from diverse backgrounds.  What makes sense to one person may completely confuse another.  If adding some filler helps make your post more cohesive and understandable, go for it.  Especially in instructional posts, more detail is often better.  No one is going to become a regular reader of your blog if they can't get what they need from it.

So when do we leave the filler out?  Just as we don't want to leave out important details or clarification for the sake of shortening our post, we don't need to make the same point three or four times just to make it longer.  If you have already made your point, you're done.  Move on.  Likewise, if you're telling a story, there is no need for elaborate, flowery narratives or extraneous details if they don't add to the story or don't clarify what you are saying. 

Like everything else in business, there are guidelines for how to write blog posts for maximum effectiveness.  But the bottom line is this - write what you know, write what you are passionate about, provide useful, interesting content, and everything else is negotiable.