In January I deleted my Facebook and Instagram accounts, so I launched the new Amplify course without social media and with no advertising. I did share the invitation video on YouTube, but it only had a few hundred views there.

I felt attracted to the idea of pulling my business focus inward. Instead of reaching out to people on other sites and platforms, I wanted to just focus on the community that’s closest to my central online world – namely my blog readers, email subscribers, course customers, and CGC members.

I really don’t need social media or advertising to run a sustainable business and have a good life, and the closer I stick to the core audience, the more I seem to enjoy the experience. That’s good for my motivation too.

One of the key themes I’ve been sharing in the Amplify course is how important it is to focus on your relationship with your creative flow. Be wary of anything that potentially weakens or damages this relationship.

I like to practice what I preach, and every time I develop a new course, it makes me think more deeply about how to apply the ideas to my own life and work. I always make some improvements because of that.

I think this launch would have been a bit higher if I’d spent thousands of dollars on Facebook ads like I did with the Submersion and Stature launches. The ads were profitable in the past. But that requires having a Facebook account, and I like not having one right now. So I willingly let that extra revenue go. Being Facebook-free is worth it.

I’ve also found that when I focus on alignment, motivation, and positive relationships instead of income as a top priority, my income always seems to be just fine. Plenty of support flows my way with relative ease.

Moreover, I also find that when I let go of misaligned ideas, it frees up my mind to receive much better ideas. For instance, when I let go of advertising revenue, the following year I started doing live workshops, and I met my wife Rachelle at the very first one. I’d much rather have her in my life than the ad revenue. And my income is better today than it was with the ads anyway, even though my web traffic isn’t nearly as high as it was back then. Plus I feel a lot more aligned and motivated by my current income streams. I didn’t want to be in the business of selling ads.

There is one very weird thing that I do marketing-wise though. I do it because it only takes a few minutes, and it somehow seems to work. I don’t enitrely know why it works, but I keep seeing evidence that it’s having a positive effect.

Whenever I launch a new course, I put out a certain type of spiritual request. In my mind’s eye, I gather a bunch of spirit guides together and ask them to find people who’d be a good match for the course and to nudge them to join, such as by giving them encouraging signs or synchronicities. I picture myself chatting with the guides to tell them about the course and what it will do for people. Then I ask that if they know any humans who’d benefit, to please direct their human clients to the course. I let them figure out how to do that.

To me this is just a frame. No belief in spirit guides is required since it’s just an action. It’s quick and easy, and I figure it can’t hurt. And it does seem to work. I always hear stories of interesting synchronicities and signs that people experience that nudged them in the direction of the course. This encourages me to keep doing it. In fact, I actually have this as a to-do item on my course launch checklist now, so I remember to do it each time.

Would you be surprised to know that I’m not the only creative pro who assigns tasks to spirit guides like this? I know some other people who use a similar method, and they seem to find it effective too. And again, it’s just an action, so you don’t have to believe in spirit guides to do it.

I think tools are more useful than beliefs – a belief is just a tool that you’ve glued to your palm (or your eyeballs).

I wouldn’t rely only on this one spiritual marketing idea, but it’s a good example of an aligned action that I feel no resistance to doing. Hence it seems like a better tool to keep in my toolbox than being on Facebook, which I do feel some resistance to doing.

Sometimes moving away from resistance and towards new areas of flow takes you in unusual directions. I like it because it adds some spice and variety to life, and it keeps my creative work from feeling too boring or predictable.

I think a lot of people fear that if they let go of a tool or opportunity that’s a partial match, they won’t find anything better to replace it with. Maybe it will just hurt their business. I prefer to have more trust in my intuition and to place more value on my happiness. That makes me feel more resourceful, and I eventually come up with better ideas that feel more aligned and which are actually more effective.