The Art of Feminine Marketing

Women Innovating Networking Growing Scaling – that’s WINGS … I’m Melinda Wittstock, my mission is to help women take flight to soar to the success of our dreams in business and in life– and create and grow businesses in alignment with our passion and purpose.

On this Mentoring Minisode of Wings of Inspired Business … we talk about what happens to our health when women rely primarily on the masculine energy of hustle and pursuit. Plus, the secrets of marketing from a feminine energy … what that means … and how to be true to yourself and relatable.

Here with us today to provide her insights and inspiration is

Julie Foucht.

When Julie Foucht decided she needed to take her coaching business seriously, she hired a high end coach and learned to ‘market like a man.’ She doubled, then tripled her income in less than a year, but felt drained, uninspired and restless. Urged by Spirit, she embraced her essential ‘Womaness’ and birthed a new way, The Art of Feminine Marketing.

Julie Foucht will be here to talk about what that means plus her advice in just a moment on our Mentoring Minisode  and first …

Julie birthed a new approach to marketing – she calls it the Art of Feminine Marketing – and she teaches female coaches, teachers and healers who are frustrated with traditional marketing, how to build 6-figure businesses leveraging their authentic womanness.

Julie says her clients report having clearer vision of their divine purpose, greater passion for their work, the skills to be attracting the perfect clients, and are being paid well for their gifts.

Julie received her coach certification in 2006 from The Coaches Training Institute. She has served on the boards of numerous non-profits, and was named Woman of the Year by the Professional Women’s Network of the Monterey Peninsula in 2013.

Melinda Wittstock:         Julie, welcome to Wings.

Julie Foucht:                     Thank you. I’m delighted to be here.

Melinda Wittstock:         Well I’m intrigued by the concept of feminine marketing as opposed to marketing, and I want to know what inspired you to really create this new way which you call the art of feminine marketing.

Julie Foucht:                     Oh, thank you. That’s a great question. And actually, it started because I had built my business, I was on the verge of six figures. My first six figure year. And it was October and I knew I was going to make it, I was like just a couple thousand dollars short, and I had been working my business the way I was taught. So I had been, I put in the long hours and I did the webinars and did the showing up at every meeting and working six days a week and I was really pushing to hit that six figures. So I was really excited. And I had a car accident.

Melinda Wittstock:         Oh. Gosh. Sorry.

Julie Foucht:                     The universe sent a big truck out of nowhere to smash into the back of my car and I ended up not being able to work. So I would get up, do a client call, and then go lay on ice. And I went from working 12 to 14 hour days to working 3 to 4 hour days because I just physically was in so much pain.

Melinda Wittstock:         Ah.

Julie Foucht:                     And during that time, I had joined a mastermind group with six and seven figure earners, and woman after woman told the same story, “I built to six figures and I got adrenal fatigue. I built to seven figures and got cancer. I built a multi-million dollar business and then couldn’t get out of my car because my body was so exhausted.” And the stories were the same. That we were building, using our masculine, our divine masculine energy and completely ignoring our divine feminine. And in this space where I was laying on the couch on ice going, “What am I going to do?” I just started to hear the whispers that there’s a different way. There’s a better way. There’s a way that’s more suited to women and the way that women work. And there’s an inside out way of doing business that’s much more organic and life-giving than the push that we’ve been taught by society that we need to do as entrepreneurs.

Melinda Wittstock:         Yeah, pursuit is not a good look on us. You know, when you think the male brain, for millennia it was trained to sit quietly, focus, and then go and spear the wildebeest. Go out and bring it back. Whereas our whole acculturation over millennia is much more about collaboration, intuition, and attraction. And so are you really talking about marketing more as us being able to leverage those qualities and really enroll rather than pursue?

Julie Foucht:                     Absolutely. And there’s another piece of it. Before I start on any marketing strategy for my business, I stop. I go inside, I connect with Source. You connect with whatever your higher power is. And I allow my inner knowing to direct the process. And so for instance, every time I decide that I’m going to put a webinar in my marketing strategy, my whole body tightens up. I just feel like I’m going to throw up. And when I explore that, webinars for me have never worked. Now, they are great strategies that everybody uses, although I believe they’re getting less effective because they’re a little saturated.

Melinda Wittstock:         Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Julie Foucht:                     And so what I’m told when I connect is, “You need to add more Facebook live.” I need the energy of all the people who are on Facebook at this same time. They don’t even have to be watching me, but just that energy allows more wisdom to come out from me than if I have a webinar that I’ve designed with slides and the whole thing. And so my marketing strategies change based on what my connection to Source and my conversations with my highest self-

Melinda Wittstock:         Isn’t that possible for men though? I see men increasingly acting on inspiration rather than on the doing. The human doingness.

Julie Foucht:                     Absolutely. And when I say feminine marketing, feminine marketing’s not just for women. Although I just work with women, I have worked with men on this as well. When I say feminine marketing, what I’m talking about is bringing your divine feminine into the picture. And so at the highest vibration, our divine feminine is creative, intuitive, collaborative, and gives birth to like… let’s face it, we are the only half of the species that actually gives birth. That actually creates new life. But we can’t do it without the masculine. And so our divine feminine, we allow that to rise up and then the masculine comes in and supports. And when men, men have their divine feminine and masculine as well. But what’s traditionally happened is that the feminine part of us has been squashed down, told it has no place in business, and we try and drive just our of our masculine energy. And it’s in that marriage of the feminine and the masculine that we really find ease and success and are able to create a business that serves our life versus us just being in service to the business and ignoring the rest of our lives.

Melinda Wittstock:         Really beautifully said. I think this is so true. And just like what you were saying about the mastermind, I’ve seen that same thing. A lot of women in their 40s and 50s who’ve really tried to fit themselves into a business environment that was made for men, for men. And all have like adrenal burnout, hormones completely shot, all these things. So very, very true. And so, Julie, we all have challenges in business and in life, and one of the missions of Wings is to really destigmatize that because entrepreneurship is a roller coaster. And it’s not personal when we have failures. It’s actually a great opportunity for learning. And so, if you will, can you describe some of the challenges that you’re having in your business or your life right now?

Julie Foucht:                     Yeah. I think that, and I think this will be pertinent to your tribe as well. The challenge for me is really around bringing team in. And I’ve made some huge mistakes bringing team in. But you can’t grow if it’s just you, right? Then you get back in that trap of doing it all yourself.

Melinda Wittstock:         Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Julie Foucht:                     And so really finding the right team. Knowing when to hire. You have to hire before the income’s there to actually bring it in so that you can grow to bring the income in.

Melinda Wittstock:         Yeah.

Julie Foucht:                     And so that’s always this kind of leading up, is now the time, should I wait.

Melinda Wittstock:         Yeah.

Julie Foucht:                     And then simply bringing the right people in can be… I think I’ve figured it out because now I have a team that I’m super happy with that have been with me, oh man, I think we’ve been running this team for about a year and they’re really, really good people doing what I want them to. And so the next thing for me in looking at my business is, “Okay now I’ve got this team. We’ve got everybody in the right roles. Who are the next people I need to bring in in order to grow the next leg?” And I think it’s really cool to be thinking about this right now when we’re getting ready to enter a new year and a new decade.

Melinda Wittstock:         Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Julie Foucht:                     And the plans for my business are really to expand in the next two years. And then we come back to, that takes me out of my comfort zone.

Melinda Wittstock:         Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Julie Foucht:                     Hugely out of my comfort zone. So where do I have the personal support system set up? Who is coaching me? Who is in my mastermind group? Who are the people that are going to help me do the personal growth, the deepening, the widening, so that I can be the leader of the next evolution of my business?

Melinda Wittstock:         Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Julie Foucht:                     And that’s a challenge that never changes no matter where you are in your business.

Melinda Wittstock:         Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Julie Foucht:                     Is you cannot have the business you’re dreaming of and stay the person, stay in the comfort zone you’re in, stay the person you are. You always need to be evolving into that next level of embodiment of who you were born to be.

Melinda Wittstock:         Mm-hmm (affirmative)-yeah. I love that. That’s so true. So we’ve segued without even knowing it into our mentoring minisode advice section. So when you look back on your career in entrepreneurship, Julie, and everything you’ve done in your life, what are the top three go-to pieces of advice you’d give specifically to women in business and female founders?

Julie Foucht:                     Hire a really good coach. And I know that seems a little self-serving since that’s what I do, but every time I have, that’s what’s made my income grow. Every time. And it’s not just the first coach out there, but I interview people. And I’ll interview three or four people until I find the right person for me.

Melinda Wittstock:         Right. Exactly. And it has to be the right person who really kind of knows you and helps you find your north star. As long as you’re in alignment with your purpose and not doing something else that just doesn’t fit. But yeah, that’s true of me too and in all businesses, including this one now, number five, it’s really with a coach and the right mentors around me. And of course you can outgrow coaches too, and you got to move on as you grow as a person as well, but that’s great advice. It’s transformational. So what would be advice number two?

Julie Foucht:                     Advice number two is a little more interesting. I recently, the last three years, started studying human design and learning more about how I’m meant to operate in the world.

Melinda Wittstock:         Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Julie Foucht:                     And so it’s really about operating, and you don’t have to study human design to do this, but really learning about what works for you and what doesn’t work for you.

Melinda Wittstock:         Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Julie Foucht:                     And following that guidance. So for me, one of the things that I’ve known about myself for a long time, and then in learning human design it was confirmed, is that if I make a decision in the moment, it’s often very wrong. It’s not a correct decision for me.

Melinda Wittstock:         Right.

Julie Foucht:                     I know that I need 24 to 48 hours in most cases in order to ride through some emotions to come to a really correct decision. And when I get that correct decision, it’s clear. It’s just like boom, this is it. And I don’t make a decision anymore until I find that. And that’s just me. But knowing that about myself allows me to say to people, “I can’t give you a decision today.” When I’m looking for a coach, I can say, “I can’t give you a decision today.” It’s also changed the way I do sales because now I am listening during a sales conversation for what’s the correct decision making for the person I’m talking to. And if they’re like me, I can’t ask them to decide on a sales call.

Melinda Wittstock:         Right.

Julie Foucht:                     Right?

Melinda Wittstock:         Yeah.

Julie Foucht:                     Because I have to honor that. On the other hand, there are people who do it instantly from their gut. They’re so much fun to work with. Because you can just say, “Hey, is this the right decision? And they know. Right? So you’ve got to find out what’s your correct way of moving through the world. What’s your correct way of making decisions. And then you have to trust that. Because conventional wisdom says when you are on a sales call, you need to get the person to say yes while you’re on the call. That doesn’t work for a chunk of the population so why are we doing that?

Melinda Wittstock:         It doesn’t work for everybody. I mean, everybody’s different. But yeah, I think when you know and you can be true to yourself, everything, all decisions, everything in life becomes much clearer. You know immediately what’s a yes, what’s a no, is it in alignment with your vision, your purpose, who you are, and that makes business a lot easier. And it’s also easier just to have that self-respect for yourself of staying true to yourself. It’s a confidence booster I think. What would be your final piece of advice, number three?

Julie Foucht:                     Ooh, I just get one more.

Melinda Wittstock:         I know, we all have more than three, but I like to keep it really focused on the most important.

Julie Foucht:                     Yeah. I think the most important is really to have some transparency. Now there’s a level of transparency that we don’t want to get to. Like I don’t want to know anybody’s bathroom habits.

Melinda Wittstock:         Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Julie Foucht:                     But, there is so much smoke and mirrors in advertising.

Melinda Wittstock:         Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Julie Foucht:                     You know? And it’s the appearance. And you see that in these beautiful Instagrams and I think that really is a deterrent to people to want to work with you. I don’t want to work with somebody who’s perfect because I’ll just feel bad about myself.

Melinda Wittstock:         Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Julie Foucht:                     I want to work with somebody who is human, who has been where I am, and knows how to get me to where I want to be. And if you’re not willing to tell people about the messiness-

Melinda Wittstock:         Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Julie Foucht:                     Then they don’t get that you understand who they are.

Melinda Wittstock:         Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Julie Foucht:                     And when I do, this really was clear to me. I used to, I’m sure you can tell that I do a lot of spiritual work.

Melinda Wittstock:         Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Julie Foucht:                     Connected to my business.

Melinda Wittstock:         Yeah. Yeah. Me too. Yeah.

Julie Foucht:                     I used to hide that.

Melinda Wittstock:         Yeah, I know. I used to hide that too. I used to feel that it was, woo woo, or people would laugh at me, or just not take me seriously or whatever those beliefs I had. I just had to let those go.

Julie Foucht:                     Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:         Just be yourself. Yeah.

Julie Foucht:                     And the first time I sent an email out where I admitted it, I sat there and cried. I was sure I had just blown up my business and no one would ever hire me again. But I will tell you that the more I’ve allowed that in and to be part of my concept and part of my marketing and being really seen in that, my business has just become so joyful. And again, my income has increased because I am attracting the right people.

Melinda Wittstock:         Exactly. Well you want to, one of the first rules of marketing and good marketing is you want to attract as much as repel. Because you don’t really want to waste your time with the wrong people anyway, right? So the more precision-focused you are on saying exactly who you are and the more you are out there with who you are, the more likely you’re going to attract the type of clients that absolutely value what you do. So it takes a little bravery, but everyone I know that’s good at marketing, whether feminine, masculine, whatever kind of marketing, right? They do know that. Just be yourself. Be authentic. And that’s such good advice and God knows, I don’t know why it’s so hard for people just to let themselves be themselves, maybe it’s just, we have to work hard to develop our own self-worth.

Julie Foucht:                     And think about our training. We are taught from preschool on to line up, to color inside the lines, to compete with each other for grades, that there’s only one right answer. There was no room there for individuality and creativity and being yourself. If you are yourself, you get squashed down because our school system is designed to create factory workers that can create the same cog over and over and over.

Melinda Wittstock:         Yeah.

Julie Foucht:                     That’s what our school system’s designed for. And so we’re trained from little kids. And even in family dynamics, we get wounded for expressing ourselves. Be quiet.

Melinda Wittstock:         Absolutely.

Julie Foucht:                     Just like this is grown up stuff. Whatever that is that happens, that we do. That’s why it’s so scary to step up and say, “Here I am,” because the little child in us is like, “No, no, no, I’m going to get in trouble for that.”

Melinda Wittstock:         Yeah. Absolutely. So, so true. So Julie, it sounds like you do great work for your clients. How can people find you and work with you?

Julie Foucht:                     Thank you for asking. So I am on Facebook, Julie Foucht on Facebook. You also can find my group, Feminine Marketing Magic, on Facebook and I’d love to have people join that group. We do a ton of free challenges in there. We do a lot of business building tips and we’re very collaborative in helping each other grow. And then finally, my website is www.juliefoucht.com and the spelling of that is a little weird, so I’ll make sure you get that so you can put it in the show notes.

Melinda Wittstock:         Yeah. Everybody will see it in the show notes and all the promotion and all of that. Thank you so much for putting on your wings and flying with us today.

Julie Foucht:                     No, thank you for having me. It’s been a pleasure.