S2 Ep16 Reconnecting To The Writer Within & How That Has Totally Transformed My Marketing

This episode was one I couldn’t not record.

As I prepare to fly to Costa Rica for a writing retreat in the jungle, I found myself reflecting on what this trip has activated in me and how deeply it’s connected to creativity, identity, and the parts of ourselves that used to create simply because they had to.

In this episode, I share the story behind booking a retreat that terrified me, why claiming the title of “writer” still feels vulnerable despite a lifetime of proof, and how strategy slowly stripped the joy out of something that once flowed effortlessly.

We talk about:

• What happens when creativity becomes strategic instead of expressive
• How learning the rules can disconnect us from our natural way of creating
• The role of play, permission, and rebellion in conscious marketing
• Reconnecting to the version of you who created for creation’s sake

This is an episode about remembering. About letting the version of you who always knew how to create take the lead again. And about why true resonance is born from expression, not optimisation.

If you’ve ever felt disconnected from your creativity, your voice, or the way you market your work, this one is for you.

I'd love to hear what you thought of this episode!

Head over to Instagram and let me know:

www.instagram.com/em___orlando

If you are interested in working together, you can head to my website here: 

www.consciouscreatorco.com

Transcript

(0:00) Hi and welcome to The Mirror, the podcast where conscious business owners learn how to practise (0:06) marketing that is conscious, enjoyable and a true mirror of the brilliance of their service. (0:13) This isn't another generic marketing podcast, this is where you learn the deep psychological (0:18) principles that create effective marketing, where you can quiet the noise of the business world and (0:24) tune in to how to do things that are a true reflection of you, where you can learn how to (0:29) finally have the impact you know you are capable and worthy of having. I'm your host Emma, a (0:36) marketing expert of over a decade.I truly love what I do and I'm bursting with knowledge to (0:41) share with you all, so sit back, relax and let's dive in. Hi and welcome back to another episode. (0:51) As what typically happens when I come to the mic, I have got so many things around me that I really (0:56) need to be getting on with and just that pull to record was too strong to ignore but I'm actually (1:02) having a busy week this week because next week I fly to Costa Rica and I was just sitting reflecting (1:09) on a how much I still need to sort out for the trip and b how much this trip has really activated (1:16) me and what it has brought to life in the process of just booking it.So a few months ago, well (1:24) actually way longer than that, I had seen a creator posting about a retreat but I had never really (1:29) considered going. I'd always been like oh that sounds kind of good, I'd love to do that but (1:33) no. And then a few months ago the pull came so strong to book this retreat and it is specifically (1:41) a writing retreat in the Costa Rican jungle and instantly the mental chatter came up of (1:48) that's a lot of money, it's more than I've typically spent on a retreat, it's obviously (1:52) over the other side of the world, it is focused on writing which is scary for me.I feel like it's (2:00) one of those things that it's one of my greatest passions and it's the thing that comes most (2:04) naturally to me but often that's what makes it feel the hardest thing to tap into because there's (2:10) this air of vulnerability around it and I've spoken a lot on my struggle of actually claiming (2:16) the title of writer. I've been published all over the world, I've written for every major magazine, (2:21) huge brands and to even say I'm a writer out loud feels kind of choked. So to book an entire retreat (2:29) dedicated to writing felt really terrifying and it felt like something I had to really give myself (2:35) permission to do.So when this call came up the retreat was actually fully booked and I thought (2:42) I'm just gonna message and see and as I messaged the response was oh my goodness this is so weird, (2:48) we've just had a message from the retreat centre to say that we have another space (2:53) and so instantly I obviously go into well this is fate, I need to do it and so I put the deposit (3:00) down, booked the retreat and since it's just been like this huge activation journey of a real (3:07) claiming of writing for me. It's also quite a big trip so I've given myself 10 days afterwards to (3:15) go and integrate and write more and explore creatively. I actually haven't fully sorted and (3:21) arranged that so I do need to get on with that post episode.But yeah it felt like it was bringing (3:27) up a lot and it felt like you know just booking a retreat and going on a trip and solo travelling (3:32) somewhere like the things that I always do but there's this whole deeper layer behind it that (3:39) really feels like a kind of reclaiming. It feels like a permission slip to really reclaim my (3:46) creativity in a way that is quite jarring. I feel like I've spoken about this before but so many of (3:54) the strategies and the things that I've been doing in my work and my business has very much been (3:59) a shield of protection for me.It feels very vulnerable and scary to just do what I want to do, (4:06) to say what I want to say and to let myself really be seen in my creations and if you've (4:11) listened to any of these other podcast episodes you will have been on that journey with me (4:16) and there was something in booking this that felt like a real cementing of that and it felt like (4:23) this coming home to myself. I was up the other night when I should have been sleeping and I (4:29) was writing in my notes app and I was writing about how it felt like this trip is me reconnecting (4:37) back to the version of me that I like to call little them and whenever I have any like subconscious (4:44) meditations or I'm guided into any kind of work in this regard I always seem to connect back to (4:52) this version of me who was creating for creation's sake. She was just a little bit of a lunatic in the (5:00) way that she would be writing and creating and putting things into the world.You know that kind (5:04) of like stereotype of the mad writer or the mad artist? That was very much me as a kid. I would (5:11) just frantically write, have my little toy typewriter, if I could find just like a slither (5:17) of blank space on a page I was probably writing on it. I used to leave my mum poems everywhere, (5:24) I used to have so many journals that I would fill.I just wrote for the sake of writing all of the (5:31) time and I loved it. It didn't feel like something I had to choose to do or I needed to practise and (5:36) I needed to learn, it just felt like something that was always expressing out of me effortlessly (5:42) and it was really interesting because I feel like in booking this retreat it was like me saying (5:49) yes to this version of myself who always wanted to create in that way. I think when I went on the (5:56) path of studying marketing words for me just became strategic.They were no longer things (6:03) to just express, they were things that you know needed to be contorted and constructed and made (6:09) into forms of conversion. To the point that I got clever with words as I always have been (6:16) but in a way that didn't necessarily feel expressive or true but felt like they were (6:22) serving a purpose. To the point that I actually forgot how to write them and it's really (6:28) interesting because I've just been in a coffee shop writing about this topic and I had a line (6:34) in my notes that said I used to love writing and it was the quote and it's the piece that I'm going (6:39) to start the email with that you'll probably be reading this week and I meant to copy and paste (6:46) something else into google.So you know when you you hit copy but it doesn't actually copy and then (6:52) the last thing that you copied is actually what pasted. Well this is what happened and so I (6:58) accidentally copied and pasted I used to love writing into google and then it bought me all of (7:04) these like reddit threads and different things and I was like whoa okay totally didn't mean to (7:08) google that but also this is absolutely a rabbit hole that I want to go down to. So of course I (7:14) got distracted by that instead and I want to read you this little extract that I found on reddit (7:20) because honestly I feel like it sums up what so many clients have been saying to me and what also (7:26) I have been really experiencing within myself.So the original poster was saying that they used to (7:32) love writing and it used to come really naturally to them they just used to be able to create freely (7:37) and actually write it well and then they did a writing course and at first they loved learning (7:45) about all the different ways to write and they started practising and using all the strategies (7:49) and the techniques that they'd been taught but after a while they then started to really struggle (7:56) to create. Now this is really weird because this is me basically just repeating exactly what I had (8:02) said about my own experience and it was fascinating to see that somebody had posted very similar you (8:08) know this is kind of how resonance works when we share our stories and we see ourselves within them (8:13) and there was a comment below that I just was like yes yes yes I instantly was like I need to (8:20) leave this coffee shop and I need to record a podcast and I need to read out this little bit (8:24) of a comment and it said you don't enjoy writing because you're expecting yourself to be perfect at (8:30) it you loved doing it when you were younger because you were just having fun expressing yourself (8:35) and experimenting you were playing and playing is fun when you started actively trying to improve (8:41) which is a good thing you got discouraged because once you could see the faults in your own work (8:48) now this is fascinating to me because this is exactly what happened with me and I've shared (8:54) extracts on this before but as soon as I had to write for a result and there was going to be (9:01) people reading my work and critiquing it and it needed a very specific outcome from it I felt like (9:08) not only did my creativity die but I really questioned my ability to be able to write (9:14) I suddenly did not feel like a good writer and this was a huge contradiction to little em who (9:21) used to just tell anyone and everyone I'm going to be an author one day like my work will be (9:24) published in the world and actually her work was published in the world my work was published (9:28) before I was nine and there was just no doubt in that there was such conviction behind my (9:34) capabilities because I'd never really questioned otherwise and then as soon as I started to learn (9:40) about SEO writing and yes writing for conversion and following strategies and needing to follow (9:46) brand guidelines and all of these different things it completely zapped the creativity out (9:51) of me and I speak about this because like I said a lot of clients have been coming to me (9:57) with very similar narratives it starts with I used to love and then it goes on to things like (10:03) writing or creating art or recording videos or podcasting or even creating for social media (10:11) and the key bit is always I used to and within that it used to be something that came naturally (10:18) to them and because of that there was this element of enjoyment within it and I really felt this (10:24) during the pandemic like when I was showing up on social media I was writing poetry sharing my (10:28) morning thoughts writing these kind of like long essays and just sharing them online and of course (10:33) social media was a very different place to operate in during that time I feel like we had a lot more (10:38) capacity the video hadn't completely taken the internet by storm in the same way and people you (10:44) know were more receptive to it and that is very real but also I feel like the other element to (10:50) that is that all of a sudden everything became about strategy and it was like the boom of business (10:57) coaches and all of our musings and sharings and expressions started to be critiqued you know it (11:04) was don't post like that post like this this is the formula to use to sell your work this is how (11:10) you speak to your client avatar you know I could go on and on and all of a sudden we started looking (11:16) at our expression our creations through this lens of they're not good enough I've not mastered a (11:24) skill I haven't created in a way that is going to connect and convert and it's funny because (11:31) this is exactly what this reddit thread was speaking on and in the same way that that response (11:37) said it very much took the play and the free expression out of it it took the level of (11:43) experimentation of like I'm just going to put this out there see how it feels or for us to just be (11:48) creating from this place where we're like this feels alive within me this feels like something (11:53) I just naturally want to express and as somebody who has spent many many years in strategy (12:00) and there's such a deep understanding of the psychology behind selling I understand the need (12:06) to you know make words work for us we are as I always say operating businesses we need the sales (12:12) coming through we need people to understand our work and see themselves within it like I do not (12:17) deny that and I do feel like it's part of my life's work to find the balance between that (12:22) and true creative expression because I also think when we lean too far into that we strip the (12:30) resonance the frequency the natural expression that people connect to not only does marketing (12:36) become so much harder for us to do it's actually a lot harder for people to really resonate with (12:44) and I think that many of us have forgotten the art of creating in this way creating because we are (12:52) lit up because we already know how to do it because it's just fun to do so and I genuinely (12:59) believe that the world is experiencing fatigue towards this overly strategised constructed forms (13:06) of content we're all sick of seeing like top tips too and the one strategy you need and the hot (13:12) takes and all of this stuff that is very much a by-product from like business coaches formulas (13:18) and strategies and we just want to read real stories we want to read the kind of thing that (13:24) someone's really poured themselves into felt really lit up by and you want to be able to (13:30) feel the real truth of their expression and I think part of that is almost reconnecting back (13:36) to these versions of ourselves that already knew how to create that already knew how to (13:42) naturally form resonance with people and how to express themselves and what's interesting is as (13:49) I've been anchoring into this over the past few months within myself I have noticed such a (13:55) difference in the way that not only I can create my own marketing but in the ways that it lands for (14:02) other people and I've said this on this podcast before but I don't think I've ever received so (14:06) many messages of resonance I actually had a client who found me on Pinterest told me that (14:13) she read like the first paragraph of my website and then just signed up to work with me and I (14:19) think it's because I am really pouring that energy of real creative aliveness and expression into my (14:28) work in a way that I don't think I've ever really had the courage to do before and I was speaking to (14:34) a client the other day about how much this really requires courageous claiming for us it's odd that (14:41) it almost feels like rebellion to create in the way that feels most naturally to us and I think (14:48) a part of me felt like booking this retreat was a kind of rebellion it felt like I was prioritising (14:55) my creativity it's like a business retreat that isn't focused on ROI or strategies or expansion (15:03) it's one that is focused on feeling creatively alive writing the words that are buried deep (15:09) inside of you really reconnecting to your expression in a way where you feel alive people (15:16) feel seen and things flow again and when I was putting together the marketing muse I initially (15:23) was like oh let's help people you know feel more creative towards their marketing and have more (15:28) clarity on what to create and then I feel like the universe really pulled me into the depths of it (15:34) I'm also Scorpio stellium so I feel like depth is my birthright and then all of a sudden it was like (15:40) oh no this is not about putting more marketing out into the world and coming up with ideas on how to (15:46) do so in truth I don't want to help people put more marketing out into the world I feel like there is (15:51) enough of that as it is I want to help people really connect back to their creative essence (15:58) I want them to put things out in the world that feel like they need to be out in the world not (16:03) because like oh I need to check off posting two times a week on social media but because they're (16:08) like wow even as I'm reading this I feel activated by it I can't wait for people to see it this feels (16:14) important it feels necessary and even though these kinds of expressions often bring up a lot of fear (16:20) like that fear of being seen and visible and the vulnerability there's this inevitability to it (16:25) where it's like this feels bigger than me it feels needed and necessary and I do honestly believe that (16:32) such a big part of that is reconnecting back to these parts of ourselves that did used to just (16:37) love creating and I do feel like that requires a permission slip to really let that version of us (16:44) lead and that is why I have booked this retreat that is why I'm dedicating two weeks just a pure (16:50) creative writing really harnessing my creative energy and giving it space to breathe and move (16:56) and flow and that is why I created the marketing muse because I want to create a space for others (17:02) to be able to do that I want us to be able to sit tell stories connect in the way that humans (17:07) naturally connect remember the power of what we really have to say and want to say and also (17:14) dedicate to bringing these ideas to life dedicate to these creative practises doesn't necessarily (17:21) have to be writing for you it may be another medium but that thing that you're like I used to (17:26) love doing that it used to really come naturally to me that is what the marketing muse is designed (17:32) to bring to life and then for it to meet marketing for that to be the way that you invite (17:38) people into your work for you to express yourself and what you do in a way that feels natural that (17:45) feels creatively alive so that it's naturally magnetic to the people that it's for it naturally (17:51) allows them to see themselves to form connections to feel that pull towards your service and I really (17:59) do believe that people are only going to want to work with you when they feel like they really (18:03) see you and perhaps when they see themselves within you and the way that we create that (18:09) sensation is through stories is through expression is through creativity and I just I can't even (18:16) begin to express how much this feels like a mission and life's work that I have been building up to (18:22) until now definitely wasn't ready for before and when I was writing this in the coffee shop there (18:27) was just this white feather that was so slowly floating down by the window and it's like a really (18:33) windy rainy day today and honestly it was as I was typing these words it was just arriving and this (18:39) always happens for me we have this feather and my parents house that does that at their back door (18:45) like same place every time and my mum bless her heart is convinced it is our dog who passed away (18:50) a few years ago very much like a sole dog of ours and it just felt like this moment where I came (18:57) back into body after I'd really been in my mind and I was like yes this is aligned this is what (19:02) I'm supposed to be doing it's okay to kind of go around the houses with that it's okay for things (19:07) to be messy and to take longer and for there to be some back and forth and fear and all the things (19:12) present but ultimately when I root in I know it's aligned I know it's the right thing to be doing (19:16) and I also know that now is the time to be doing it so I will share all details below I'm so excited (19:23) to be holding this space and welcoming in beautiful souls into it and if this episode has (19:29) brought up anything for you if there's anything you want to share I would love to hear from you (19:33) I would love to know what was once really creatively alive for you that you really want (19:39) to reconnect back to thank you so much for listening to this episode thank you so much (19:45) for listening to this episode I really hope that it was helpful for you and if it has made you want (19:51) to find out more of the ways you can work with me all of the information about one-to-one my (19:57) resources my programmes are all listed below in the show notes if you found this helpful I would really (20:06) appreciate if you could take a moment just to write a review this helps other creators just (20:12) like yourselves find this podcast and have an even greater impact from their services (20:19) I would really really love to hear from you please feel free to get in touch with me (20:25) over on Instagram or via email both of which again you can find below (20:31) thank you so much for being here and until next time