If you've been at this entrepreneurial game for any amount of time, you've probably thought about who your ideal client is. You've heard people talk about it why it's important to identify your ideal client avatar. (ICA). You've probably read a book or taken a class. Maybe you filled out a questionnaire about who your ICA is. But if you're like I was at the beginning of my business, you end up second guessing yourself and you're not feeling 100% sure who this ICA is or how to identify her. I'm so excited to share with you how you can connect to your ideal client avatar (ICA) in a way they'd never ever teach you in a traditional sales and marketing class. This is the exact strategy I used and it's the most efficient and powerful way to do it. In this episode I share my journey to intimately getting to know my ICA, the three simple steps you can take to connect deeply to your ICA, and what to do when you don't know who you feel called to serve and how to get absolute clarity.
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Allyson: Okay, good day to you. This is Allyson Scammell and today's episode we're exploring how to connect to your ideal client avatar in a way they'd never ever teach you in a traditional sales and marketing class and is the most efficient and powerful way to do it. My journey to intimately getting to know my ideal client avatar or ICA has been a journey.
[00:00:32] When I first considered the question back in 2013, my response was I haven't a clue. So today I'm sharing how I went from no idea who my ICA is too feeling like she's the soul sister, the three, the steps to connecting deeply to your ICA and the secret to getting absolute clarity on your ICA when you're feeling completely unsure.
[00:01:00] We'll end on a challenge that we'll have you connecting with your ICA in a deep and meaningful way, and crystal clear on how you can best serve her. So stay with me until the end. Welcome to She Grows, a podcast for soul guided women entrepreneurs, ready to be seen and get fully booked using their unique genius.
[00:01:26] Intuitive voice and spirit guides each week. We'll explore how to create offerings based on what you do best so you can have a wait list of ideal clients and bring in continuous income. I'm your host. Allyson Scammell. Let's get growing
[00:01:51] well. Hey, there She Grows Nation. That is the name of this sisterhood of soul guided entrepreneurs. And today exploring the fascinating world of ideal client avatars or ICAs. If you've been at this entrepreneurial game for any amount of time, you've probably given this some thought. You've probably heard people talk about it.
[00:02:15] You've probably read a book or taken a class. Maybe you filled out a questionnaire about who your ICA is, but I'm going to offer you something that I suspect you've never heard before on how to deeply connect to her in a way that makes it so easy. So you can end the guessing and end the feeling of not really sure for good.
[00:02:43] So I'd like to share with you my journey to connecting in with my ideal client avatar. I first got called back in 2013 to be doing something creative. That's about all I knew and I wanted it to do with writing. At that point in my journey, I was quite interested in writing, but that's all I knew I wanted to do something creative and something that involved writing.
[00:03:12] So it was pretty unsure. And so I took Marie Forleo's B school. I didn't really think I wanted to sell anything except for other than maybe a book, but I definitely had no product or service in mind, or really even a concept of starting a business. I just knew I wanted to create and share that creation with others.
[00:03:37] One of the first modules in B school is all about Ideal client avatar. So just a quick, the definition of who this is in ICA is that person, whether you have a, you saw a product or a service, it doesn't matter. It is that person that you feel most inspired to sell to most inspired, to serve most inspired to transform their lives.
[00:04:05] So I like to put out the disclaimer, it doesn't mean that you're not serving or working with people who don't fit into the demographics of your ideal client avatar. This is just the person who lights you up the most. And the idea here is that you're crafting your products and services and marketing contents to meet their specific needs to alleviate their pain points and get them closer to their dreams.
[00:04:37] No matter what it is you're selling, you're leaving some sort of pain point, whether it's stress or boredom or interrupted, sleeping. And by doing that, you're getting them one step closer to a desired outcome, a dream, a feeling state they want to feel something they want to bring into their experience.
[00:04:58] So I don't know how B school works today, but back then for the ideal client avatar module, we received like a 20 page worksheet about our ICA. Who is she? How old is she? What food does she like to eat? What magazines does she read? Where does she go on holiday? It was all, it was very, very, very detailed questionnaire and it was so frustrating for me.
[00:05:26] And I felt so lost because I had no idea. All I knew is I wanted to create something that involved writing and share it, but I didn't know to whom. And I certainly didn't know what kind of blue jeans she wore or what, what her favorite ice cream flavor was. So it was super frustrating to me and I started to second, guess it all and think, Oh gosh, you know, maybe this.
[00:05:52] Um, I can't even get this first task, this first task of who, who am I here to serve? I just can't answer it. So essentially I just put it out of my mind. Like I stopped thinking about it. I stopped thinking about who I felt called to serve. And I just started thinking about what I felt called to create.
[00:06:14] And at that point in my life, I was really being called talk about peace, peace in the world. My previous career was I was in international development and humanitarian response. And at the time I was working for NATO, which is kind of ironic, it's a military Alliance and I was really frustrated by so much that was going on in my life that I just wanted to bring a fresh and new perspective to how we could call in peace to the world.
[00:06:46] And so I tried to get creative and I tried to, um, get interesting guests, which I believe I did on my blog. And I started doing some video interviews, and I just started to experiment around. And as I experimented, talked to more people and took inspired action, a path started to unfold before me and that on that path.
[00:07:11] And from the inspired action I took, I received this calling for life coaching, which at the time I hadn't even really heard of. And I thought it sounded very hokey and strange. And then once I sort of got on the exploration of life coaching, I got led to Martha Beck. And once I got led to Martha Beck, I pretty much was sure because I was so taken in by her books and her teaching.
[00:07:41] That I was quite certain that I wanted to take her life coaching certification program. So that's that, that much I knew for sure. And so I did, and then once I got in her life coaching certification program, I was still flailing with the question. Who am I really here to serve? And as I look back that time of really not knowing who my ICA is, I see that my number one ICA was actually me.
[00:08:11] I had so much turmoil happening inside of me that I wanted to write a peace blog and that peace blog, I really wrote that blog for me. And then I joined life's coaching certification for me, straighten out my own life. And through that process, through that journey of me being my ICA, my list didn't really grow.
[00:08:38] I didn't really call in that many people because I was sorting out my own stuff. So that's a super, super important thing to be aware of about your ICA. If you are at the beginning of your entrepreneurial journey or you're in a period of upgrading or upleveling. It is likely that there's going to be a period of time where you are your ideal client avatar.
[00:09:11] You are creating content for you to address your pain points and get you closer to your desires. There's nothing wrong with that. And it's an important part of your journey that you ensure you're operating at your very best and that you've cleared out any shadow or you've cleared out any blocks that might be standing in your way.
[00:09:32] However, whenever we create something for ourselves, whether it be a blog post, or a product or service, it is unlikely that other people, people are in our audience, people that we consider an ICA, aren't going to grasp onto it. They're not going to feel connected to it because we're creating something for ourself.
[00:09:59] And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. And in fact, I think in, in many ways it's an important thing to do, as I said, when you're at the beginning or going through an upgrade, so you can help work out any blocks or shadow that you have going on. But once you work through those things, it's critical that you go back to the question, who do I feel called to serve?
[00:10:27] It's not ourselves. It's usually someone else out there. Some souls, sister, or brother who's out there who makes us feel most excited. And that is the person who we get out of bed to serve each and every day. Now your ideal client avatar can be someone you actually know it can be a former client. It could be.
[00:10:52] Uh, someone in your network who you adore and love to serve, and you make that person, your ICA or she, or he can be a composite of many different people, of many different things or someone you've never met before, but want to meet. And it's certainly okay if in your ICA, you infuse an old piece of yourself.
[00:11:19] So, if you struggled with something five years ago, that you've more or less overcome, and now you teach other people how to overcome that thing. You can infuse a piece of your old self who used to struggle into your ICA, but make sure that it's not too much of you. You can have a little sliver of yourself and your ICA, but not too much.
[00:11:45] And the reason why is because you're trying to call in your ideal audience, you're trying to call in others. And if you are too connected in with yourself, other people just won't gravitate to that. They won't grab onto it because they won't have the feeling that you're creating for them, that you're in service to them.
[00:12:10] And any time somebody wants to buy a product or service, they are looking for that product or service or person that really knows inside and out and is super connected to on the deepest level, their biggest pain points and their biggest desires. So, how do you know who your ICA is? How do you connect more deeply to her?
[00:12:43] And I'm just going to say her, but please know that it can be a him or her. They, there are three powerful steps to connect more deeply to your ICA. And the first step is to start noticing. Notice what you hear, what are people complaining about? What are they struggling with? What do you notice on social media?
[00:13:10] What do you notice in your friendship circles? Once you notice a particular pain point and or desire, what can you research to get more information about that? Can you go into close Facebook groups and read the comments? Post questions in your own social media feeds to get market research, ask your network specific questions about their pain points.
[00:13:41] Or their desires. And here's a super important question that I think a lot of people forget to ask when they're considering their ICA is of these pain points and desires. You're noticing how are you yearning to help? How are you yearning to find solutions to those pain points and, and help people get one step closer to their desires?
[00:14:09] Because here's something I feel quite strongly about. Let's say that you've stumbled upon the world's next big business idea. You found a pain point that nobody's addressing in a thoughtful way, and you've come up with a way that will address that pain point. It is a business idea. Goldmine. However you aren't yearning to help these people.
[00:14:35] Yes. The idea could make lots of money, but it's not in your heart. To serve these people. It's not in your, you don't feel a soul yearning to be in service to this group of people. And you don't feel like you can infuse your core gifts or the unique abilities you were born to share into the product or service that's going to solve this problem.
[00:15:01] Walk away from that business idea, no amount of money is going to bring you happiness. If you can't infuse the best of yourself into your business. And if you don't feel called to serve this particular audience, the pathway to happiness fulfillment as an entrepreneur is finding that demographic that lights you up to serve and creating products and services.
[00:15:29] Totally infused with your core gifts. So you can show up each and every day as your very best self. And when you do that, you will sell your stuff. So the money's going to come and the money's going to come in a way that feels abundant, joyful, and fulfilling. So that's why this question is so important.
[00:15:55] How are you on a soul level yearning to help? So that was step number one, noticing, noticing, noticing step number two. And this is the secret sauce. Of connecting that you're never ever going to get an, a traditional sales and marketing class, but yet this is what successful entrepreneurs who aren't, you know, spiritual nature.
[00:16:24] They do this without knowing, I believe without recognizing it. Step number two is to connect energetically with your ideal client avatar. How do you do that? All right. It's the same way that I connect into my higher self. I start with some deep breaths to quiet my mind. This is a time where you don't want to be engaged in your rational thinking brain.
[00:16:50] That's you use that for step number one. It's good for that. Now in step number two, we go to the heart. This is where we're getting our higher self involved, our spirit guides. So in order to do that deep breaths, quiet the mind,
[00:17:09] pivot down, pivot down your heart space. Become your heart space sink in your heart space. Expand out now from the heart space. Taking that again. Now from the heart space, you set the intention to connect in connect to the energetic footprint of your ideal client avatar, who is she? Allow her demographics to appear.
[00:17:49] Just notice what you hear. See. Sense or have an inner knowing to be, as you connect in energetically, how old is she? What is her gender? Where does she live? Does she have children? She's single. Just get an idea of who she is. Is she a teacher? She works in corporate. She owns a business. She's spiritual. Is she religious?
[00:18:29] She an atheist.
[00:18:33] So once you get into who she is as a person, now you go into pain points, but not just any pain points, what is her biggest pain point? That you are here, you're here on a soul level to help her alleviate because here's the thing about an ICA. Who's a soul sister, a true ICA is a soul sister and you and she have agreed on a soul level before you even came into this lifetime to connect at some stage in your human journey to help each other.
[00:19:14] You're going to help her by alleviating a pain point and getting her one step closer to her, to her desires. And she's going to help you by hiring you and, and paying you money and allowing you to, to become better at what you do. So there's an energetic exchange there that you've already agreed to. So in this process, you're just connecting into that, that contract already been signed.
[00:19:40] If you will. So, what is the pain point that you can solve for her that allows you to fulfill your soul's yearning and just show up immersed in your core gifts as your best self. So you're not just providing a solution to any pain. It's that specific pain that you feel called to serve and solve. So, what is that pain? Ask her!
[00:20:10] Try to connect into the pain. Talk to the pain. What is the specific emotion? Is it fear? Sadness, stress, doubt, defeat. What is that emotion? She feels that's painful. That's dissatisfying feel it with her so you can understand it. And you can write about it in your marketing content. So she knows. So she can self select.
[00:20:43] When you write about her pain points in a way that makes her feel like you are writing just for her, she is going to self select and say, this is for me. This person is for me. She's writing for me. She knows me. She understands me. I feel like she can read my thoughts. And then lastly, what does she desire?
[00:21:11] What does she long for? Once her pain point is alleviated what is left for her to bring into her experience, connect into her desires. What are her desires feel like freedom, abundance, joy, health, vitality, get into that energy. How can you bring that energy to life in your sales and marketing content? So again, she can can self select and say, this is for me.
[00:21:47] I can feel it. I can taste that freedom that I'm longing for. Connect into the energetic footprint of it. And don't just do this once. Don't just do this once. Connect in with her on a weekly basis. If you can make connecting to your ICA part of your daily or weekly spiritual practice, keep a journal dedicated to her, have conversations with her.
[00:22:18] And the third step to connecting more deeply to your ideal client avatar. And this is really a step that I see overlooked all the time. And it's so important. And that is to talk to her. This is where you gotta get out there and speak to real people, real carbon based life forms. And you don't need to be in her physical presence, you know, we're living in a pandemic now, but get on a zoom call with her, communicate to her.
[00:22:56] So once you get an idea of who she is, And let's say she's a school teacher and you're creating products to make the life of a school teacher easier and better and more fulfilling. So you want to go to those places where school teachers hang out and you want to identify those specific teachers who you're feeling really connected to.
[00:23:22] So who you feel the most connected to and reach out. And if you're at the start of your journey and you don't have a lot of clients yet, just ask for like an informational interview. You know, say, Hey, do you have 30 minutes? I'd love, I'd love to ask you some questions about what you're struggling with and what you really need.
[00:23:40] So you can do your job at your very best. Very few people are going to say no to that. People like to talk about themselves and their struggles and their dreams. And they like to hear about products and services that make their life better. And as you talk to more people, Who are in the general category of your ICA or your ideal audience, notice words that grab you, that, that get your attention.
[00:24:10] Notice the, when somebody describes something in a way that has you in rapt attention. Those are the words, the buzz words you want to use. And when an ICA or a potential ICA describes a pain point in a certain way, you want to use her language word for word. When talking about it in your sales and marketing copy.
[00:24:37] And I noticed whenever I do this, whenever I take the time to do this, which I try to always do, but I sometimes miss it. Um, I get the most engagement, the most interest, the most clicks when I use people's words, people who are in my ideal audience when I use their words word for word. And it doesn't mean, I say Susie Jones, it says this.
[00:24:59] It just means if Susie Jo down says, I struggle with feeling invisible in my business. I say, are you a soul guided woman, entrepreneur who feels invisible in your business? You know, I use her words to talk about what it is I offer and how I can help. And here's a good example of how this works. So a few months ago, I received a comment in my close Facebook group.
[00:25:26] Uh, we'll say from Sally, cause I had posted the question. What is your biggest struggle from the week? And Sally wrote in the comments. I feel like giving up on myself and another one of my clients who is an ICA seized on Sally's comment. And my client who we'll call Jenny posted Sally, you've got this. I know what it feels like to feel like giving up on yourself.
[00:25:54] Um, you know, don't do it. We're here for you. It's gonna get better. It was a super thoughtful response to Sally's pain point, her pain point being, I feel like giving up on myself. So then that got my attention and I just got that intuitive hit. That you know what a lot of people are struggling with this, this week or this month, that feeling of giving up, not just on your business, but on yourself, because you've been putting stuff out there.
[00:26:25] It's not getting traction. You're frustrated, feeling that feeling of what's the point, that feeling of defeat. So I decided to do a Facebook live and talk about this. And I use the language that Sally used word for word, and I titled the Facebook live something like what to do when you feel like giving up on yourself.
[00:26:48] And I got the most organic number of watches. I didn't boost it, but I got a ton of watches. I got tons of comments. People are still talking about it. People are asking how Sally's doing. It was just a Facebook live that stuck with people. And it's because my client Jenny was paying attention. And then I started to pay attention and tuned in to that energy of my ICA.
[00:27:16] And I felt like, you know what? There are a lot of people are struggling with this today, and I'm going to talk about it. And I'm going to talk about how she described this pain point. Exactly. In the words that she used, and guess what people all connected into that they self selected and said, this is for me, I'm struggling with this.
[00:27:37] I'm looking for a solution. I'm looking to feel better and Allyson's going to offer me something to help. So to recap, we have three steps to connecting in deeper to your ICA. The first is noticing what are you hearing? What are you researching? How are you yearning to help step number two, which is a secret sauce that people don't think to do connect into her energetic footprint, go into the heart space.
[00:28:12] Set the intention to connect to, to your ICA energetically, and then allow in a picture, allow in her energy to tell you who she is, what she's struggling with and what solutions she's looking for, what desire she has that you can help her with. And lastly, once you get a picture of this audience, Then go into that audience and speak to find people who you think could be your ICA and talk to her directly, ask her about her pain points, ask her about her desires.
[00:28:54] She will be thrilled to tell you about it. And as she speaks, notice the words or the phrases that really call to you. That you know, on an intuitive gut level that other people are struggling with the same thing in your audience and use that way that she's describing it. Word for word in your sales and marketing copy.
[00:29:19] And my friends, my challenge for you this week is a great one. And it's going to focus in on step number two, and I challenge you to connect to your ICA energetically. So use that process that I offer. Earlier in the podcast about deep breath, connecting into your heart space and then connecting to her energetically.
[00:29:42] So you can just develop a deeper relationship with her. And I challenge you to do that three times over the next seven days for around five minutes. So three times. For about five minutes over the next seven days, connecting in to your ICA energetically. So you can create products and services. That are in the highest service to her highest good that she absolutely needs and must have from you.
[00:30:19] So dear friends, I want to thank you so much for listening. I so appreciate you being out there. And if you're loving this episode, go ahead and hit that. Subscribe, wherever it is, you listen, and I'd be so grateful for a rating and review. Some more people can find us. And if you'd like help calling in your ideal client avatar, then be sure to download my PDF guide that reveals the five visibility blockers.
[00:30:51] That are preventing your ideal clients from finding you your offerings are too important to remain invisible. So this guide will help you be seen and get fully booked. You can find a link to download the guide on my website, AllysonScammell.com as well as in the show notes.