Inspirational Stories

This story comes from Nadira Jamal of Boston, MA.  She was one of my private coaching clients last year. The work she’s accomplished in just 10 short months is nothing short of amazing!  Read her transformation from “paid hobbyist” to “business savvy professional.”

March 14^th, 2009

My six months of one-on-one coaching with Julie Anne Eason have made a world of difference in my belly dance business. Before working with Julie, dance was essentially a paying hobby. I performed on a regular basis, I taught a weekly class, and I produced a well-regarded video podcast, but I was only barely profitable. I wanted to make a real business out of it, but I was stuck in a starving artist mindset. I believed that you couldn’t make a living as a dancer without living on ramen noodles, so I didn’t try very hard.

When I did try, my attitude stood in the way:

• I was phone-shy, and didn’t pursue the work.
• I knew marketing was important, but I didn’t know where to start, so I’d get overwhelmed and procrastinate.
• Even though I had unique and valuable ideas to share, I didn’t feel worthy to participate in the instructional DVD market because I wasn’t already a nationally-known dancer.

Julie attacked these problems right away with marketing savvy, common sense, and discipline. Most business advice I had seen seemed like a collection of buzzwords, but she took a friendly, no-nonsense approach based on practical, logical action.

I also learned to think like a marketer and do things like:

• Identify and focus on my niches,
• Participate in the online community to establish myself as an expert and build a name for myself,
• Use new media to build and maintain relationships with my colleagues and customer base,
• Write sales letters, product pages, and video trailers that sell effectively.

Julie helped me seek out avenues for profit. She helped me:

• Find ways to make money from my free video podcast,
• Maintain multiple income streams (performing, teaching, instructional products), so even as one stream slows due to the economy or the time of year, the others keep rolling in.

I learned to work smarter (and harder) by:

• Breaking the work into logical chunks, so it’s not so intimidating,
• Identifying the sources of my mindset problems and taking real action to fix them,
• Connecting me to other marketing education resources
• Setting aside time for marketing work as religiously as for dance practice.

After six months of coaching, and four months on my own, the difference is incredible:

• My net profit is over four times what it was this time last year, despite a hip injury that prevented me from performing for six months of that time!
• Because my dance business is now netting over 25% of my salary at my IT day job, my dream of going part time someday is not only possible, but also likely. I never thought that I’d be able to quit my day job, but as I continue to develop my business and my product line, it’s a very real possibility.

Most importantly I’ve developed a marketing and business mindset. I know where to begin, what needs to get done, and how to move forward on my own.

- Nadira Jamal

Boston, MA

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