Invite Clients to Transform Unsettledness Into Wisdom

 

May 27, 2021

The Hero’s Journey® can inspire people to make big changes

When a person Google’s “life coach” (or spiritual teacher or executive coach or  . . . you get the idea), they’re probably looking for particular help. They’re unhappy (or at least dissatisfied) about an aspect of their life. They haven’t been able to resolve it on their own. Now they’re approaching the point where it’s difficult to continue ignoring the issue and they’re looking for help.

The words you use on your website will tell them if you’re the person who can provide what they need. Try using Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey®. It can give you language and structure for that task.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Several years ago, I was meeting with Brenda (not her real name) in my office. I had presided at her wedding six months earlier. She had come in to talk about how unhappy she was in the marriage. 

“He does this. And he does that,” she complained. “And I tell him I don’t like it and he just keeps doing it.” She continued her monologue for several minutes. “. . . . And he drinks too much. That just makes it worse. I mean, I drink too much, too, but I hate it when he does.”

I interrupted her lament. “You think you’re drinking too much? How much is ‘too much?”

“Well, I drink a case of beer every day. If I want to get drunk, I have to drink a bottle of harder stuff.”

I hope I hid my surprise that someone could drink that much alcohol and still be alive and functioning. “That IS too much”, I replied. “We need to talk about that.”

Fortunately, Brenda was willing to explore her drinking.

The conversation turned out to be her “Call to Adventure”, using the language of the Hero’s Journey®. 

The Hero’s Journey® describes life journeys

I’ve had the privilege of living through the Hero’s Journey several times in my own life. It’s a difficult and profound privilege. When I need a guide on my spiritual journey, a spiritual director helps. When I’ve gotten stuck in my writing, having a writing coach helps me get unstuck. When I needed to learn about marketing, I got to have a marketing coach. When I plateaued professionally, a high-performance coach helped me move to the next level.  

It’s also been my honor to walk with others as they traverse the stages of the Hero’s Journey® and find new life. As a pastor and graduate-certified spiritual director, it’s always (yes, always!) a privilege to walk with people who have the courage for self-reflection and the willingness to allow what they discover to be transformed. 

Teaching the Hero’s Journey story structure to incarcerated writers has been a special joy. When they “get it”, it changes how they understand themselves in their maximum-security prison. 

Use different stages of the Hero’s Journey® to promote your business 

Using the language of Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey®” can help you communicate with potential clients as you reach out to them. Campbell’s student, Christopher Vogler, summed up the journey in 12 stages.

Using just the first two stages can help people reinterpret the uneasiness they feel when they find your name in Google. Stage 1 is the Ordinary World. It’s the reality they are living before they begin their heroic journey. The one they are feeling some discomfort with.

The second stage, the Call to Adventure is the point when they realize there is another path to walk. It’s an invitation out of the pain, confusion, dissatisfaction, or simple boredom of their Ordinary World. 

That’s where your marketing material helps them. You get to extend the call, the Call to Adventure. 

As you promote your business, consider using the first two stages of the Hero’s Journey® to reach prospective clients. What might that look like?

1. Write to one person. He or she can be a composite of what most of your clients have in common, but have a picture in your mind of one person. What drives them? What do they care about? What discomfort presses them to look for you?
2. Use a real story to demonstrate the shift from the first stage, the Ordinary Life, to the second stage, the Call to Adventure. The story I told you above is a true experience. 
3. Include a few testimonials from people you’ve walked the journey with. This “social proof” serves two purposes. It reinforces you are capable of helping others on the adventure. It also assures your readers the sense of dread they might have at the beginning can end successfully. 

 

Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey®” can help you reach out to prospective clients. If you would like to explore this more deeply with me, please feel free to reach out to carmala@carmalaaderman.com or message me through LinkedIn.