You're listening to cubicle to CEO episode 225. "We don't have to wait for billionaires or for the government to make change, we can actually all make change together." Motivating words from today's guest, Paula Crossfield, a Vedic Astrologer and business strategist helping spirit led entrepreneurs bank roll the change they want to see in the world. If it's been on your heart to give back to causes you care about, but you question your ability to donate enough to make a worthwhile difference, or you're worried about risking your company's financial stability. This case study was made for you. Because Paula intentionally builds giving into her business model, she's been able to donate a whopping $37,000 to various charities this year alone, all while still growing her revenue and profits year over year. In this episode, we'll go one by one through the five offers that contributed to the $37,000 in total donations, and how they were structured and tactically executed to maximize both community impact and business sustainability. This episode will give you fresh ideas and inspiration to start giving back at any stage, whether through donated time and services or funds.
Welcome to cubicle to CEO the podcast. I'm your host, Ellen Yin. I quit my job without a backup plan and bootstrapped my first $300 freelance project into $2 million in revenue by age 28. On the show, you'll hear weekly case study interviews with leading entrepreneurs and CEOs who share one specific strategy that successfully grew their business revenue. Skip the expensive and time consuming learning curve of testing everything yourself by borrowing what actually works from the best and brightest mentors. You'll also get a front row seat to my founders journey through transparent income reports and behind the business solo episodes. Subscribe now so we can grow together every Monday.
Hey, friends, welcome back to the show today. I have Paula Crossfield here with me. Paula is a Vedic astrologer, a business strategist. Her specialty is in money karma. And I'm really, really looking forward to our conversation today, Paula, because you are leading the way in in utilizing business as a vehicle for charitable giving. And I believe in this so strongly, because at a local level, especially I think so much of the change that we see in our communities, is spearheaded by entrepreneurs by small business, rather than policy or government, right, which is typically a much slower moving vehicle. And so I really love seeing how entrepreneurs like yourself are utilizing your business and the money earned through your business to really make an impact and change. And we'll get into the details of your case study in just a moment. But first, as you know, because you listen to a lot of our episodes, I'd love to hear your own cubicle, the CEO story, what was that catalyst that led you to becoming an entrepreneur in the first place?
Yeah, so first of all, thank you so much for having me, it's really an honor to be here. I just am such a huge fan of your show. So it's great to be on the other side of the mic. So I was never in a cubicle. I'm kind of a unicorn. I grew up with entrepreneur parents. My dad, especially like even at seven or eight years old was telling me about business deals. And I was like a weird kid. I thought that was really interesting and cool. And so
lucky you!
I think that sort of programmed me at an early age to think that that was a possibility. When I got out of college, I started freelancing as a journalist, and I was also working at NPR as a contractor, and then ended up founding a nonprofit that funded investigative reporting on food, agriculture and environmental health. So it's really in the food policy space. That work really involved marketing and writing. Right. So I had a sort of a spiritual awakening and a divorce at around age 31. And that really led me in a totally new direction where I was in India for a long time. And I ended up starting to build a business online for my main mentor, who is an Ayurvedic physician. His name is Dr. Robert Svoboda. And so over the last 10 years, I've been able to experiment in his business, and I've had the freedom to just test all the ideas in marketing that I have, you know, anything that comes into my mind, he's very open. And so through building his brand, I learned what I now teach and apply in my own business. So that's my story.
That's incredible. I love hearing from people who grew up around entrepreneurship, it makes me think about if I had children in the future, how their worldview might be completely different than what I grew up with. Because to your point, when you're not exposed to something, it's hard to imagine that possibility, but for you, it was so ingrained it was so normalized that it was like, just as normal as anybody else's path would be right to take the tradition. on career track for you, it's like why wouldn't you be a business owner? Why wouldn't you be an entrepreneur. So I really love your unique perspective that you bring on that subject. And I'd also love to hear because I know that your childhood and you know, just your life experiences have shaped a lot of why you believe so strongly and giving back. And so I'd love to hear like, based on your background, based on where you've lived and what you've experienced, what inspired you to make giving a focal point, I guess, of your business?
I love this question. I call myself a spirit led business owner. And that's how I help. What I mean by that is that my spiritual practice is really at the center of what I do. And so from the perspective of both India and Native American traditions, service is really one of the main things we're here to do is to help others and in the way, I see that as we're helping both our clients, but we're also trying to help the larger community. So it was never a question for me, that was going to be embedded somehow in my business. I know, because I have lots of colleagues myself, who've made a lot of money online, we have this potential right, to earn really well. And for me, the thing that motivates me is not like writing in first class, there's no shame in that, if that's what people are into, I would much rather have extra cash to give away. I live on a farm, you know, I have expenses, I've retired my husband, but I'm really motivated by what that change looks like. And there's so many places where I have personal relationships now, where I'm giving, and I get to see what that money is doing for like children at a school in Varanasi, for example, they just built a whole new building, and I watched them do that. And my money helped them do that, right. So that was my cup, that really inspires me. And it makes me you know, excited to get up and do my business in the morning.
What an inspiring legacy, especially to see something so tangible, like you said, a school being built. And to know that the impact doesn't just stop at one generation, it really is. I mean, you're impacting the legacy of many, many families for potentially hundreds of years, right? Each person changed has the potential or the increased capacity, I think, to change other people as well. So let's kind of just like real quick, give our listeners a high level view of today's case study. And then I do want to zoom into the details. But high level for everyone listening in 2023, Paula's company, we've your bliss, has given back $37,200 to causes that Paula cares about, mostly from smaller ticket offerings, which is also I think, a really attractive piece of your case study, you don't have to necessarily be playing in the high ticket world for your money to have an impact.
So these are smaller ticket offerings, like a summit, like a bundle of low ticket courses, digital products, etc. And what's really impressive to me, as well as that Paula has doubled her giving from the previous year in 2022. And the total amount that has been donated or given so far that 37,000, that's on track to be about 5% of your gross revenue, your gross sales from 2023, based on the $700,000 in sales that you have projected for this year. So I think hearing these numbers, some of the first thoughts that come to mind is there may be listeners who have given sporadically or maybe have never given at all, but this idea is really appealing to them. But maybe they're intimidated, let's say by the amount and not sure, like what that looks realistically for them in their own business at whatever stage they may be. I'm just curious, prior to 2023, and then even prior to 2022. What was the first year you ever consciously gave in your business? And at that time? What was your business doing in terms of revenue?
Thanks for that question. So my business really changed pretty dramatically in 2020. So before that I was, you know, giving back like 5% of sales when I would do like a sale, you know, but it would be me trading dollars for hours. At that time, I didn't have like a higher ticket offering or, you know, really a stack of offerings that would keep people in my ecosystem, which I think is so important to point out is like when you have a model that allows you to make sure that those lower ticket offerings are giving back, you know, 100% that really energizes your people, it gets them excited. There's you know, it fuels customer loyalty, it makes people excited to be a part of your world, and then they stick around and if you have offerings that lead them into you know, next that allows you to then fill your cup and have enough to fund your business etc. Right. And at that time, it wasn't that much, you know, and I had a lot of barriers to get over and I can talk about some of those but like there were some really key things that I had to do to work on my mindset and how my business was structured in order to make this so easeful that it was not even a second thought.
But me of like 2020, even thinking about giving $37,000 back would have been shocking, it would have been like, Are you kidding me? You know, because I think I told you in the case study that in 2018, I made less than $37,000. Right. So how I went from there to here really is it's about intention, but it's also about some very practical things. So, you know, I think one thing that really holds people up is that they don't actually see how giving can actually fuel sales in a tangible way. And so, I actually, as a marketer, you know, that's like one of the main hats that I wear, I like to think about how you know, this specifically can help you because it tells a story, right? Marketing is really a lot about stories. So the causes you support, there's a story there, there's a story about why you support those causes. And we are hardwired to connect through stories, right. It also allows you to share your point of view, so about what you'd like to see change or improve in the world. And this, I think the point of view is really a part of your niche, because it's your differentiator, it's why somebody buys with you versus someone else who maybe has a similar offering, right? It also infuses your personality into your work. So it helps your audience get to know you. And it makes it like personal. And it builds community and connection.
And so I also see, like, my clients, they want to invest in things where there's a give back, because we're doing it together. And it's like giving them a dopamine hit, you know what I mean? So that really helped me understand like how this is actually leading to sales. There's other things too, like just scarcity mindset, like there's a fear that there's not enough to go around, there's a couple of ways that I deal with this one is I actually build it into my business. So there's the money that is going out to be given away is actually in a separate pool, it never actually enters the pool of money. That's part of my business money. And so like psychologically, it isn't as if it's coming out of my pool, right? So there's like a really tangible way that I do that with an envelope system. So I'm using YNAB, as an envelope system, so that everything is very clear, right. The other thing is, and this is like part of my work, and my point of view, is understanding money karma.
So from the Vedic Astrology point of view, our birth time, our exact moment we are born cast the chart of our karma. And so we can actually look at that and see, you know, how money is flowing in our chart, like what our potential is for success, for our savings for earnings, right. But even without that, just the concept that when you're giving, you're expanding your karmic pool, so to speak. So when money is going to these causes, there's like a wider net. And so from my perspective, and this is kind of getting a little woowoo. But from my perspective, that is showing the universe that like you're a conduit, and you're helping move that money outward, whether that feels true for you or not like that mindset has been really helpful for me to stop feeling the fear that there's not enough. And as I've done the giving, I've seen an exponential growth in my business so that it feels like there's something that coordinates there.
That's really, really powerful, Paula and I think the hot take that you shared your perspective that giving and give backs, actually fuel sales can be a channel for growth in your own business is really interesting as well, because you're right, I think sometimes people view it as taking a cut of their own earnings and giving it away. But you mentioned a tool, YNAB and just for our listeners who may not be familiar, I'm assuming that's the tool, you need a budget, right? It's like a free app. You can Okay, exactly. I just want to make sure that was the right one. You can you know, divvy out your finances both on the personal and of course, if you want on the business side as well. And I will say psychologically, I understand the power of being able to fully separate what is going as a give back versus what is considered your business earnings.
I remember even back in college, when I was trying to pay off my student loans and graduate debt free. There was one particular job where when that paycheck landed, it never hit my own bank account like it was in a separate bank account that would automatically get redirected towards loans I never even saw it. I basically lived off the money that I made as a waitress instead so I had like one job that was like for paying the bills and then one job that was totally focused on paying off my debt and I do remember that made it easier for me because it never like you said it never felt like my money to begin with it kind of more felt like I was just being a steward to help guide the money to like the next thing and the thing that you said too, about expanding your karmic pool and and being a conduit for money.
I think that is also something I can really resonate with there's this analogy isn't the right word. But there's this story. And I don't know who shared this story originally, but it's always stuck with me this idea of when you spend $1, let's say in the local community, the life of the dollar exists so far beyond just yourself, right? Like you may spend that dollar at, let's say, the bakery, but then then that bakery uses that dollar to pay their employee who then uses that dollar to buy, you know, gas, and that person then uses that dollar for and it's like, the life of that dollar just goes on and on and on. And I think when you think in that manner, I can see how it feels expansive, to give money away, rather than to hold on to it as a static thing, or like a static status symbol. So anyways, those are just my thoughts that came to mind as you're talking. So thank you for sparking those ideas for us.
You did also mention that when you first started in this world of giving back that 5% was kind of this number that you had utilized as okay, like 5% of all sales, I'm like donating towards XYZ, this year, in 2023, as I just mentioned, your total give back 37,000. And some change ends up being 5%, again, of your gross sales. Is there something specific to this number? Do you intentionally set out to give back 5% of your gross revenue? Or is that kind of more of a happenstance thing that it just turned out that way this year?
I think it's an interesting point that you're making. Because I hadn't put those two things together, we gave a little less than 5% away last year. And I think at the beginning of this year, I was just like, what if we doubled it, and I literally had no idea how we were going to do that. So it wasn't like a strategic plan that we were going to get to 5% 5% Feels good to me, you know, I would love to even be giving back 10%. But I'm in a growth period in my business. And so like, another thing that I think stops people is this idea that it's all or nothing, right? And so I do want people to be able to fill their cup and be able to grow their business, you know, I'm in the first five years of my business. So I understand that, like, I may not get to 10%, that that would be my ideal number. Right? So 5% I think it just feels really good.
But at the beginning of the year, you know, we just set the intention without really knowing we were just getting curious, okay, what would it be like, if we doubled this, I had no idea literally how we were going to do it. But then each time an opportunity would present itself. You know, like the unfortunate thing that happened in Maui, you know, when the town of Lahaina burned down, we immediately just bundled some courses together and put them on sale for four days. And we made $8,100, to give to the people of Maui to help them in this time of need, right. So we were able to just kind of be smart on our feet, right? That was a bundle that literally, it didn't cost us anything, except for four days of marketing. And we had already had it in the vault, we bundled it together, and we sold it right. So it was kind of like being fast on our feet and really thinking about ways that we could include a give back in the things we're doing.
And another hot take for you Ellen is that I really don't believe that the lower ticket things that we sell are like for us to make money, I kind of see them as ways to get people in our ecosystem, and get them excited about what we're doing. So they have skin in the game, right? They've put some money in, they've gotten that dopamine hit from giving with us for the causes that maybe they share in common, or they just feel moved by our stories that we tell around these causes, then they're in our ecosystem. And if we have a strategic business where there's other offerings, likely they're gonna buy from us, right? So we've really warmed them up by creating a good feeling. And I like to talk about like, we're sitting around a campfire together, it's not like they're my audience, or my followers, like we're hanging out at a campfire, right. And so that giving piece creates that good feeling. So for me, those lower ticket things are not about making money. I know, there's a bunch of people out there making lots of money with digital products and stuff. But that's not really how I've designed my business. Those things are really about getting people to have skin in the game and inside my business.
I appreciate your perspective on that. I would tend to agree with you that low ticket offers are first and foremost, whether or not there is profit on the back end. But first and foremost, I think the functionality they're designed to serve is to be an acquisition tool for your business. And if done well, ideally, an acquisition tool that actually costs kind of net zero for you, right? Like the amount that you maybe pour into acquiring those customers actually balances out with the sales that come in from the low ticket. So maybe it's just a break even we have certainly use low ticket offers before in that way. And I would also agree that someone purchasing from you just creates a totally different relationship off the bat than someone opting in for a freebie. And so I do think it is one of the fastest ways to nurture someone in your audience by having them shorten that cycle between like casual viewer and buyer. And then of course, like you said, if you have other strategic offers that can serve them in a bigger way, being able to make the bulk of your revenue from that or profits, I should say from those other offers.
And I have one last question kind of on a more high level view before we get down and dirty into the numbers, which you were so gracious to provide such specific details. I'm really excited for listeners to hear this. But my last kind of bigger question is, how do you decide which offers in your business you actually attach a giveback component to especially because like you said, you kind of are approaching it from a curious point of view where you don't necessarily map it all out ahead of time. Does every offer have a giveback component? Is it just some? And if it's the latter, again, how do you decide which ones receive that versus not?
I love this question. So I think it's two things. There are things like the summit, for example, which I did with Marisa Corcoran was my coach, and she's the person who actually introduced me to your podcast because you had her on and everyone should go listen to her episode where she breaks down her model. What I love about Marisa is when I got on a sales call with her, she literally was saying, part of the deal is if you're going to sign up and do this with me, is that half the individuals who are featured at your summit have to be people of color, or LGBTQIA plus people, right? marginalized folks, and then the 100% of the money made on the upgrade has to be given to a cause. And I was just like, you're awesome. I want to do this with you like this is exactly my philosophy of business. You know, so that just goes to show you that having that point of view is very strong, and it's magnetizing. So, you know, for me like things like the summit, that was a no brainer.
I have something that we may talk about my astrology guidebook, which is sort of like my, it's not a freebie because it's got this $37 And it's 100% is given back to the school and Varanasi India. So that's always a give back. And I've been doing that now for four years, there are certain things in my business that are like that. And then we're fast on our feet. Like when I mentioned, putting the bundle of courses together and selling that to raise money for Maui that, you know, we kind of are trying to be light on our feet and be able to insert things into our calendar for marketing purposes that we know are just purely as a gift back right? My higher ticket stuff doesn't have a giveback component and less. Maybe, you know, in the future, if we are trying to get up to that 10%, we'll start to do that. But as of right now, we're able to give back in really big ways just using small ticket items. Awesome,
that's really helpful to hear that it's kind of a split between impromptu decisions like the Maui give back versus actually intentionally building into your foundational offer something like the astrology guide book that's always on as a channel for collecting funds for your gift back. So speaking of these offers, let's like get into the actual offers that made up this $37,200 that you've given so far this year, we'll break it down by offer the amount that was given from each offer, and then kind of the strategy around how you implemented or sold it to your community. So let's start with the the one that has contributed the most towards that $37,000 amount. And that is your astrology guide book that you mentioned, you've been selling for four years, in 2023 alone, just so our listeners know this guide book has generated $12,500 in funds that Paula has used as a give back. So you already mentioned it's a $37 product. How do you sell this? Where do people find out about it? Is it an automated funnel? Is it part of some sort of evergreen nurture sequence? Talk us through the marketing side of this?
Sure. So it comes out every year in October. So we just released our most recent one five weeks ago, who which is what gave us like a bump. I told you just before like yesterday, I was like, hey, the numbers are a little higher. And I sent it to you. So we've had a little bump. So this is something people have come to wait for literally they start emailing me at the beginning of October, when is it coming out so I can put it on my calendar, you know, which is so awesome. And it's so touching. So what this astrology guidebook is, is it's all of the major transits from the Vedic Astrology perspective, like I was sharing with you. It's a little bit different than Western astrology. It's an Indian astrology system. So it's just slightly different. There's some other nuance things that relate to India. There's the full and new moons, their placement and lunar constellations. And there's my handpicked auspicious days for launching selling signing contracts. And then my handpick days for when you should not be selling when you should be resting right? And so people wait for this thing. They get really excited about it. It's in my signature it's in, you know, whenever I talk about the new and full moon, which I do every month, that's the CTA every email I send out, you know, it's in the bottom of the email. So anytime, you know somebody comes in contact with me, they see that and they see the give back because I write that right there.
And so I think it's an easy yes for people, another thing that's great about this offering is that it's a calendar that you can drop into your Google Calendar. So then people are, they're like following along with it throughout the year. So it keeps me top of mind. And then they're staying on my email list because I am threading in the information that's in there into my emails. So it works really well for me. And that's why the give back going completely to charity feels so good, because I don't, it's not that I need the money, it's actually helping me fuel my business. And that's the most important job it can have. And just as a side, it raised $12,500 this year. So..
That's incredible. And I really love what you said about how it's an anticipatory experience, like you've built this habit of people anticipating expecting and planning to purchase this year after year after year. I think that's brilliant, actually, I, I'm thinking of another past podcast guest. Different angle, right. It's not a give back on her end for this offer. But Selena Soo, we'll link that episode. And then also earlier, you mentioned Marisa Corcoran, who I love any episodes mentioned, we'll make sure to link in the show notes for you guys, if you haven't tuned into those yet. But Selena does something similar, where every year she releases this publicity calendar that kind of like maps out the big dates in the media space, you know, some topics to think about some prompts that you can use for pitches, it's really helpful people look forward to it every year. And I can see based on what you've shared about your offer, how other entrepreneurs can be thinking about like, Okay, what is like a calendar s or something that's recurring in nature that I could offer people and I it's brilliant, by the way, that it's actually synced to their Google Calendar or whatever calendar system they use. So that like you said, it's literally front of mind all the time throughout the year.
I would love to know, and this might be kind of hard to pull off the top of your head. So it's okay, if you don't know the numbers, but just an estimate, how many people do you think enter your ecosystem as a brand new customer through this specific offer? It could either be like a an actual number, if you know off the top of your head or a percentage, you think of your new customer acquisition, like, what role do you think this product plays in in the growth of your actual community?
I don't know if I have those numbers. It is growing each year. So I know that there are more people buying it each year, you know, probably maybe 30% growth, I would say of new people are already buying it. Yeah, but I not sure if those are people that have been in my ecosystem and just realized that I'm selling this thing. I it would be hard for me to imagine that they don't hear about it. Because if they're on my email list or worrying about it, but yeah, I'm talking about it a lot. But so I'm not sure if they're new to me, or if they're just new to the guidebook this year.
Okay, no, that's still really helpful just to hear, you know, year over year how that pool of buyers has increased. I feel like I would also be very remiss not to ask you, Paula, you know that our listeners like yourself, also love the tactical implementation side. Would you be willing to pull up one of your like email signatures or one of your PS sections, where you said, you kind of like seed this guidebook, all throughout the year in any communication someone receives from you could you actually read like, word for word, how you present it and how you talk about the GiveBack aspect, so people get an idea of how they could communicate something similar.
My signature says get the 2020 for astrology guidebook. 100% of profits go to a school for underprivileged kids in India. So that's literally all it says in my signature.
Super simple. Okay, I love that that actually makes it even easier, I think for people to implement. And you're saying that's your signature, or whether it's a mass marketing email, or whether you're like having a one on one communication with someone right
its that it's always there. Yeah, there's like a super signature at the bottom of everything that has, you know, my programs, my all the places I show up on social media, and then it's got the guidebook right there.
That's awesome. Love to hear that. The next offer then, is this at $100 offer in terms of largest contributor to your overall give back this year. And that was the bundle of courses that you sold to fundraise for Maui relief. So this was a bundle of courses that you sold as a package for $25 total. You shared prior to our interview that this happened over five emails, you did some stories on Instagram, you did a post to Facebook, and this was across about a week's worth of time, right? Can you share with us anything else that went into this particular campaign that you think would be helpful for our listeners to pull in potentially apply to something of their own if they come across an opportunity where like you said they can be You light on their feet quick on their feet and pull together something quite quickly.
Yes. So in this case, this was a bundle of courses, I managed my teacher, like I mentioned Dr. Roberts Svoboda's business under the housing of my business. And so he has a really strong connection to Maui, and this particular place, it was very devastating for him. So we really leveraged story as a way to help people understand why this mattered. And the bundled courses that we offered are usually around $100 to buy all three of them. So this was a really good deal. Like we just were like, This is a flash sale, we offered a deep discount. And so people it was just like a no brainer, right? So they heard his story. They were like, Okay, I can $25 I get three courses that are normally $100 And it was just like an easy yes. So I think that was the key is like leveraging story and then making it really a no brainer.
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So when you say leverage story, in what way were you telling this story? Was it written format in the emails? Did you have any video of him speaking, you know, face to camera that you were embedding in these emails? Anything?
Both? Yeah, both okay. Yeah. So both. So we had stories of I'm telling, you know, the audience face to camera. And then we also had emails that were written, you know, about like experiences in Maui, and why this mattered to him. So that really, I think that moved people to feel like, oh, I can also do this give back and get something at the same time.
Yeah, absolutely. I wonder this is kind of a question that just popped in my brain do you tend to see a bigger rally in your community, when you are presenting offers that the charitable component makes up basically 100% of proceeds are going towards, you know, whatever cause you've chosen compared to, let's say, an offer where it's like a portion of the proceeds are going to a worthwhile cause. Do you see any sort of difference in reaction whether it's number of sales, or even in people's actual responses to you like sending replies to your emails, maybe sending you a DM in reply to a story. I'm just curious if you've noticed anything in that arena.
Yeah, that's so interesting, because cuz there's no way to tell really, because there's not an example where I'm not doing it with the same offering. But I will say like with the summit and with the Maui give back and with the astrology guidebook, I get a lot of people showing up on sales calls, who are like, I want to build a business like yours, where I can give 100% back of something like that, you know, like, people get really excited about it. And I know for me, as a consumer, when I see something's 100% Give back. And I know that the person has a business model where that's sustainable, right? Because if they don't, I'm like, come over, let me help you build that. Like, because a lot of Spirit led entrepreneurs like myself, are, you know, they really want to help, right? And I totally understand that. But we have to have a sustainable business model so that the helping doesn't come out of our cup so that our cup is full, right? So this is something I'm always emphasizing with my people.
But I know that when I see 100%, give back, I am like, Oh, hell yeah, I don't even know what the thing is. And I'm buying it, you know what I mean? I'm like, where is my credit card? You know, I'm like rushing to help. So what moves me is that somebody's you know, really trying to make a big impact. So I don't know if that extends to, you know, if I can say like, in any concrete way that there has been a difference, but I really enjoy giving 100% back, like when it's a partial amount, then I have to do more math as well, Ellen. And so it's just easier.
The lazy marketer in all of us likes to keep things simple, right? No, I totally get that. And I appreciate to your reminder that it actually will hold you back in terms of how much you can give, if you're not strategic about making sure that the 100% Give backs, don't interfere with your ability to sustain your business. Because to your point, like, if you are so focused on trying to give back every cent you make that you put yourself or your team in survival mode, then it doesn't actually really help anybody, right? If your business folds, and you're no longer able to support anyone, including yourself, or if you put yourself in a place where that scarcity or that desperation really comes into play. So I love that reminder.
I know it's not a black and white answer that you can definitively say like this is when your business is in a sustainable place to be able to do give back, because it's so unique to every single person in situation. But do you have any kind of general guidelines that you could impart on our listeners in terms of like, these are some of the things that you should look out for to know like, when you're ready to be able to offer something like a 100%, give back without crushing your own stability, essentially
I think going back to like this feeling that it's all or nothing, you know, and I always am working with people at the level of let's get you to $10,000 a month in earnings in general. But I don't think you have to wait that long before you start to give. One thing I like to tell people is just talking about causes that you care about is giving, right? Because you're bringing attention to them and you have a platform, no matter how big or small your audience is, you can start by just talking about the things that are important to you. And you can give a certain amount.
You know, I have a web designer who created my website, and she reached out and was trying to fundraise in her community and raise like $300 as a give back for girls and Rwanda, like a school in Rwanda. And I was like, hell yeah, I'll add to that pile. Right. But $300 That's really not a big deal, right? So I think you can start wherever you're at, actually have a pledge that's called the 2k for change pledge, which is asking online entrepreneurs to sign up to give back $2,000 or more in kind, so like in services or in cash in 2024. And I've had people all over the spectrum, Ellen sign this, I've had people who don't even know how they're going to do that yet. They're new to entrepreneurship, and they are like, determined, and so that intention that you've set that you want to do that is also important. Like I said, at the beginning of this year, I didn't know how I was going to double it. But I had that strong intention. And I kind of just let that lead me and let my curiosity lead me. So that's what I would say like to people who are kind of newer to starting out and maybe feel a little intimidated is just like get curious, start by talking about the causes that matter to you and allow that to be part of your point of view, and you know, allow that to be part of your marketing, you know, to tell that story, and then give back some small amount, whatever feels doable for you.
That's such a beautiful way to respond to that question. And I definitely want to circle back to the 2k for change pledge that you just referenced at the end of our time together because I think it's so important I think everyone listening to this episode should go sign the pledge to take part in I know I'm I am planning to do that. So we'll get back to that in just a moment. But I did want to kind of piggyback off of some of the ideas that you shared around how it doesn't have to be 100% Give back, it could be, you know, something simple, it could be an in kind.
And just to give our listeners a few more tangible examples of how we've implemented that in our business. An example would be like my own speaking services, let's say, or MC services, these are typically things that I charge for, right, it's part of my package of services that people can hire me for. But for certain nonprofits, or for certain worthy causes, I'm willing to perform those services free of charge. And that can be an example of like a giveback, of an in-kind service that you would normally charge for, or I'm thinking of when like upcoming in our local community, there's a charity gala, for a really important organization that services children who have been in harmful situations right and are coming out of that system and trying to be placed in good homes. And they asked for donations from different businesses that can be auctioned off. And, you know, as a media company, we don't have a lot of tangible products that we can offer. But one of the ideas that came to mind that we decided to move forward with was providing a certificate that essentially whoever bids on, you know, this package of items and wins, they would receive like a complimentary ad spot and ad run on our podcast.
And again, that's like advertising packages that we normally charge businesses for. But we're giving that away as a way to help this organization raise funds. And so I think things can be a lot more simple than people may imagine. I'm even thinking like, over this past week, when I was scrolling on Instagram, on Giving Tuesday, an example that really stood out that I love. My friend, Amy Porterfield, she had made this post sharing a cause that was very personal to her. And she basically said, like, whoever's the first person that wants to make a $5,000 donation to this organization, and send me the receipt, you will receive a two hour strategy call with me, which I don't think Amy even offers one on one coaching ever. So it's like a special thing that you normally buy. And also, the value of her time and her expertise is worth probably far more than $5000 Honestly, for the two hours. And so it's a great way to like involve someone to give a big contribution, but it's only a couple hours of your time. And so I just wanted to add those additional ideas for listeners in case something sparks for you all, but I just I love this conversation. Is there anything you wanted to add to that, Paula?
Yeah, I love that. That's so great. Because I think sometimes we don't realize that we are giving back and a lot of ways like I have a program that is a $5,000 investment. And I had somebody reach out who's working in a nonprofit in India. And that was a lot of money for her nonprofit to sponsor her for. So I gave her a position and 50% off. Right. So that already qualifies me for the 2k for change pledge was just giving my time and allowing her to come in at 50% off. So yes, scholarship, I think there's a lot of ways that we think we don't even think about that we're giving back already.
Yeah, that's such a great reminder, there's so many ideas as well. I love talking with people like you because I think when you get in these rooms and you start hearing what other people are doing, you can't help but think of all these creative ways that you can make a contribution to so anyways, thank you for taking that tangent with me Paula. Getting back to the the you know the list of offers that have helped contribute towards your total fundraising amount this year. The one that comes in at third in terms of largest contribution is $8,000. That came from donating a percentage of your program sales. So you said you added this to the sales page as a giveback component. You also mentioned it in one of your sales emails during the launch. Can you share with us what this program was? What percentage did you decide to allocate towards this give back? And how did you execute that?
Yes. So this, again, comes from the business of Dr. Robert Svoboda, who my business manages. And so he doesn't have a lot of smaller ticket items to give back. But giving is a really big part of what he stands for as well, because we come from the same kind of spiritual background. And we knew that if we're going to build a business that we wanted to include giving back, right, so this is his signature program, which is called the satsanga, which is it basically means like community in Sanskrit, but essentially, this is access to all of his programs for a year, and then like regular q&a days. And so we have a really loyal group of people that join every year. And then we, you know, new people join, it's about $35 A month or $350 a year. And this is just a straight percentage of what we sold. So it's like 5% of what we sold during our initial sale. So we ended up doing a second sale in September because there were a lot of people who were like trying to get in, it's not an evergreen product, but this was like just a straight 5% of that.
And how did you word that on the sales page are in that sales email. Also kind of curious why you chose to mention in just one sales email versus in every sales email. Was there any specific reason for that? Or is that just how it happened to turn out?
So in this case, we usually do a launch where we have like a series of emails, right that we introduce people to the products, because we're he's always acquiring new people to his list. And so we just kind of start from scratch. So we're introducing the product. Why is this so useful? Here's some testimonials, right, and then there's one email in the sequence during the sale, that is just about the give back. And it's like about the cause that we're choosing. It's like, why this cause is important to us how this money helps, right? And so it's just like one email. We do mention that I think in stories as well. I'm pretty sure that we talk about it more on like Instagram, we've done Instagram lives in the past with the places that we've given back so that somebody who runs a program will do a live with Dr. Robert Svoboda. And then that will bring attention to their cause maybe people will decide to give to them, even if they don't sign up. But then we mentioned that this is for sale and that they can join. So we've tried different things like that. And those have been successful.
That's really cool that you're bringing it full circle to for the people who have donated to see like their money in action, and you know what it's going towards. Okay, that makes sense. From the perspective of basically centering an entire email around the gift back component I thought you meant it was just like a mention kind of embedded somewhere in a regular sales email. So that makes a lot of sense. The next offer is one that you've already mentioned the signature Summit, and that one brought in about $6,100. I love that you followed Marisa's model and Marisa's episode, by the way, like Paula mentioned is so awesome. So tactical again, it will be linked in the show notes if you haven't listened yet.
But just a quick recap for anyone who hasn't listened. The case study in Marisa's episode is all about how to utilize a virtual summit to grow your email list by 500 to 2000 leads in one week. Now of course, that's kind of like the attraction of utilizing a summit in your business as a marketing strategy. But the really awesome aspect that Paula is kind of centering in on here is the gift back portion where the summit is free to attend. But if you want to keep access to the replays or if you want to, you know, get some other bonuses. There's an upsell option where you can buy that VIP bundle is usually how it's positioned and 100% of the sales from that go towards whatever cause has been designated for that summit.
And I know Marisa has done many, many seasons of her copy chat. That's her signature Summit. And then another recent guest on the podcast, Brenna McGowan who her episode, I can't remember I think either airs right before yours, Paula or right after so depending on when you're listening to this and may or may not be out, but if it is, we'll link it in the show notes. Brenna also modeled one of her summits, her Voxer based on it's actually audio based segments after Marisa's as well into to give back components. So it's cool to kind of see this common thread weaving throughout several different individuals in our community. But I'd love for you to kind of break down a little bit how you specifically implemented this. So that upsell component, from what I understand the price changed throughout the summit. Can you talk a little bit about that? And then you also said you gave people an option to just straight up donate a certain amount outside of actually buying the VIP upgrade? So can you also share a little bit more insight on that?
Yeah, so our featured charity for this event was Soulfire farm, which empowers black and indigenous farmers. They're located in upstate New York, but they do a lot for the, you know, larger community of black farmers, especially around the country. And they're somebody that I had known and worked with when I was in journalism. So I was very familiar with their work. And I've seen them grow. And so I was really excited to feature them. My summit's topic, as well as called the Cosmic Business Salon. So we're going to be doing that again next year. Essentially, it's about building what I call a Cosmic Business. And this is a business that has values at the center. It's centered around your purpose. It's burnout proof. So it's focused on your health being centered and your business. And it's all about collaboration. Those are like the four pillars of the cosmic business model. So basically, I'm teaching that to people and giving back is in the title I talked about like, so you can bankroll the team do you want to see right, that's kind of one of my catchphrases. So that's all kind of built in.
So I think people were excited about the concept and then the fact that we were actually like doing what we were saying, this was the first time we've done the summit, we brought in 1200 leads, and we had, you know, $27 upsell, we were selling right up front after they signed up for free so they'd have access during the window of time that week for free. But then they could, like you said buy the upgrade, get access to the recording. and some other bonus recordings and workshops. We actually put in the checkout that they had the option to pay $100. And it would still be 100%. Give back. And okay. It was crazy. Like so many people did it. That was just an idea that I had. It was like a harebrained idea, like, I was like, Well, I don't know, if I was offered that I would probably do it because I see like, it's going to the school charity, right? So we just put it on there, and it blew up. And so I can't remember exactly how many people we had convert. But we ended up with $6,100 to give to the charity. And I would say maybe like 5% or something, maybe not that much. Maybe like 2% gave $100. So I was surprised that anybody did it, though. It was just like, wow, this is cool.
Yeah, that is such an interesting test of human behavior, human psychology, right? We actually not from a charitable perspective, necessarily, although I guess you could maybe position it that way. If you were looking at it as like providing a scholarship to our community. But the most recent round of paid to create which is like our three day live challenge, for course creators, we decided to do a pay what you want model, it was part experiment, part celebration and give back because it was our 10th cohort. And we wanted to give everyone the ability to participate and make the financial investment a non issue. And it was really interesting, because the minimum investment for that was $10. But there were many people who chose I can't remember the exact percentage either off the top my head, but there were many people who chose to give far beyond that. And I think there were even some who chose to invest hundreds of dollars when they could have theoretically paid just 10. And so I love hearing stories like that, because I think sometimes the stories that get attention are the ones of sometimes the darker side of human behavior. But I think it's also really cool to highlight that when people are given a choice to do more than the bare minimum, there are many, many people who step up to do so. And so I think that's really, really powerful.
I know you just said that you don't remember like exactly the percentage of people or number of people who actually like the free register ends the 1200 How many of those people actually bought the upsell? But do you even have like a vague ballpark of like, is it less than half more than half?
Oh, I think it was like between 10 and 20% that actually paid for the upgrade of those 1200. But a lot of them are still on my list. You know, it's not like we lost a whole bunch of people after that event was over. I mean, I think we lost maybe like 20% at this point have dropped off. But that's totally normal. I think. So
Absolutely. Super, super powerful. I'm excited for those of you who are just coming across this concept of the summit for the first time to dive even deeper, based on Paula's own testimony of like how she's been able to do it. But then also listening to Marisa's episode where we break down that strategy in a lot more depth. All right, our last offer that contributed to your $37,200. This year, Paula is your Black Friday sales donation of $2,500. So this was a sale of one workshop 100% proceeds. And then you also did 5% of sales on another course. Can you expand on what this campaign looks like?
Yes. So inside my company, we had five different sales that went on during that period. So in the Dr. Robert Svoboda category, we had one offer that was on sale, it was like one bundle of courses that were about iron Veda and the microbiome, it's excellent content. By the way, if you're looking to like, help yourself with your health, and really find good strategies for making yourself have a happy microbiome, which is like the cutting edge science mixed with, you know, AI or VEDA. So anyway, that we did 5%, give back, and then one of my offer, so I had four separate offers within with your blitzes offerings, and one of them, we donated 100%. And that was a lower ticket workshop. And it was only on sale for one day, and we raised a little bit over $700 in that one sale.
So then we were able to give that back to the living dying project, which is a project that helps people at the end of life have a conscious experience of dying, but also helps to allow people to live consciously through spiritual practice. So it's a really cool cause. And it was like, just something that I decided at the last minute I was like, we're just going to do a give back on the smaller course because this course is really powerful and it's gonna get people into my world and they're gonna have an experience with me and then maybe they'll buy from me later. So, so cool.
I feel like this conversation is incredibly inspiring, Paula because someone listening in like even what you just shared, like you kind of last minute decided, hey, I'll add in this workshop and it raised $700. I feel like the key takeaway here as you're listening to this conversation today is even if you can't So give yet at the level that Paula has expressed today, any one of these ideas or campaigns that we covered, and I think what we covered like five different offers today, or five different separate campaigns that contributed towards that $37,000. And give back, if you implemented even one or even a fraction of one, like Paula just shared, you're still able to do something.
And so my hope for you all listening is that you've heard something today that sparks an idea for you that you can implement in 2024, which really leads directly to Paula's 2K for change pledge and how you can participate and get involved. So Paula, I know you kind of gave us a high level of of what it is, I know you're really ambitious, but I think also very realistic goal of getting 5000 business owners to come on which just you all know, like, I was so excited about the number that you have you on your landing page for this.
If 5000 business owners commit to giving that $2,000 in either cash or in kind donations, that's $10 million, that we as small business owners, as a community can come together and do and I think that's so mind blowing, because sometimes we think and we read about in the news, like, Oh, someone made like a $15 million donation to so and so when we think to ourselves, oh my gosh, like power, we were going to be able to do that. But the power of you know, that old adage, like many hands make light work, I think to that feels very realistic. So anyways, I will be quiet now and let you take the stage on why the second part and where people can go to participate.
Thank you so much, Ellen. So yeah, you know, for me, $10 million, felt like a really significant amount of money. And it got me really excited. You know, like, when I think about the people in our world who have a ton of money, they're actually like as a percentage of their income, they're not giving back that much, right. And so we have the potential, we don't have to like wait for billionaires or for the government to make change, we can actually all make change together. And so for me, I been sitting with this for a long time before creating this pledge in 2000 felt like a real sweet spot, it felt like a place that was a little challenging, but it's an amount that you actually may be already giving that back, and you don't realize it like we've been talking about today. And then I just did the math, and I was like, wow, only if 5000 People signed that it would be $10 million dollars. And that's a huge amount of change.
You know, like we can all sit around and say like, things aren't going well in the world. You know, it's not hard to find an example of that. But when you're actually making change, even if it's a small way, like one thing I found is that most people who are giving back, it's personal, it's something that has touched their life, or it's something that's meaningful to them, or it's a cause that's in their local community, right? So it's very personal, so we can see the impact we're making. And that actually can change the way that we feel about what's happening in the world that can really change our life. So my invitation is to join me in signing this pledge. So that you can be a part of this movement, because I really do believe like, as online business owners, we can have a movement to really change the world with our work. So that's our legacy. Like we're building a legacy. We're building businesses that live beyond us, and that have an impact beyond us.
So you can go to bit.ly, so BIT.LY/ 2kforchange, and you'll get all the details there. And literally, you just sign your name, and you're added to a list, you're not added to my personal list. So don't worry, it's just a list that we're gathering of folks who signed it. And then when we get to 5000, which I'm pretty sure we will, because I'm excited about it, and I keep talking about it, hopefully, we will get to 5000, I will send out one email letting everyone know, hey, we got to 5000. So, yeah, please do so sign it.
I'm so excited to sign it, you all should take a moment to sign it. And we'll make sure the link is below but just for you audio listeners who are like typing away as we go 2K as in the number, the digit 2 not yet spelled out two, right? Yeah, yeah. Okay, the number two, okay, perfect. I'm so excited. I really believe it is within reach. And I can't wait to receive that email. Also, it would be really cool to receive emails on how people have chosen to give their 2k highlighting, you know, different entrepreneurs. Because even like with this conversation, I think the more ideas we see out there in the world, the more we're like, oh, I didn't even think to do something like that. Like, that's actually really simple. I can totally implement that right now with the resources I have.
So I'm really glad you said that, Ellen, because I actually do have a survey as well that people can fill out because I was curious, like if people are already giving, you know, like $37,000 back, what, you know, we may get to that $10 million number earlier. So there's also a survey and I can provide the link for you as well. And that just kind of talks about like where's your growing edge around this? Where are you giving back already? So then I can gather some data and share that with everybody. So
That would be absolutely incredible to see that data and really see, like tangibly, well, you know, I love data. So like to really do that impact, impact driven work. I'm very inspired. Like I've said that many times today, follow up, I'm very inspired. And this conversation very much filled my cup. So thank you for coming on today. Thank you for sharing so transparently, your own numbers and how you've implemented this strategy in your business. And where else can people connect with you? Just you know, to follow your work and to say, hi,
Sure, yeah, I'm on Instagram, I hang out there. It's @weaveyourbliss. Weaveyourbliss.com is my website, feel free to you know, send me an email, say hi, send me a DM say hi, I love to hear from you. I also have a podcast called The Cosmic Business Podcast where I interview people, hopefully I'll have you on and we can talk. I interview people who are doing you know, things to build what I called earlier cosmic business, you know, that have values at the center that are really about collaboration, all these different pieces. So you'll get interviews there and also my astrology insights.
Awesome. Well, I can't wait to be a guest on your show. When I am I will make sure to link back that publish episode in the show notes as well. So if you're finding this conversation, months down the line you might be in luck, check the show notes if it's there. Thank you again, Paula, for joining me today.
Thank you so much.
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