Sustaining Your Marketing in Transitional Times: How to show up and share your work through uncertainty and change

Welcome back to Grounding Visions! In today’s episode, I share an update as to why the podcast has been on hiatus (short answer: major fluctuations in my work and energy depletion) before getting into how to approach and sustain our work in volatile times of economic and personal uncertainty. 

I offer suggestions on how to approach using social media, AI, systems, structures and schedules to support sharing your work in ways that are aligned with your needs (and limits!) amongst the landscape of ever changing communication technologies.

This episode is for you if you’ve been struggling with shifts in revenue, burnout, needing to change or pivot in your practice, or are just feeling like the old ways of marketing your work are no longer serving you—and would like support and encouragement to make changes and do what actually works for YOU!

Mentioned in this episode:

“Boundary Setting with Instagram” Grounding Visions podcast episode

“I’m a Failure at Social Media?” Grounding Visions podcast episode (also available in essay form at my Double Gemini substack newsletter here)

“Experiencing Technology Overwhelm?” Grounding Visions podcast episode

Laziness Does Not Exist by Dr. Devon Price

For more support and inspiration:

Society of Air website

Follow @stainedghost on instagram

Sign up for the Grounding Visions newsletter

Society of Air is a project of Stained Ghost, brought to you by Holly Hilgenberg, artist, writer, community builder and creative communications practitioner

Double Gemini substack newsletter

Stained Ghost website

Theme music and production support by Chris Rose of Robust Worlds

A permission slip to reimagine how we might engage online with our work, deepening our connection to community, focusing on our visions and the magic they hold. This episode is for you if you are struggling with the paradox of desiring to remove yourself from the online space and the narrative that only in being online all the time doing all the things can you ever hope to be successful in your work.  

Another way IS possible—if only we can imagine it!

Mentioned in this episode:

Communication as a Sacred Act, a zine exploring ways to approach the digital space that minimize harm and support your expansion, growth, enjoyment & connection, from Holly Hilgenberg of Stained Ghost & Society of Air

The Radical Creativity Podcast from Stained Ghost, available at stainedghost.com and on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

For more support and inspiration:

Society of Air website

Follow @stainedghost on instagram

Sign up for the Grounding Visions newsletter

Society of Air is a project of Stained Ghost, brought to you by Holly Hilgenberg, artist, writer, community builder and creative communications practitioner

Double Gemini substack newsletter

Stained Ghost website

Theme music and production support by Chris Rose of Robust Worlds

Boundary setting with instagram: Reclaiming your agency on the platform

Inspired by my mini-course “Instagram as a Portal,” in this episode of Grounding Visions, I share simple reflections and tips to support you in reclaiming your agency in working with the social media platform. I also provide encouragement for those who want to bow out from using Instagram all together—and why it is so essential to not limit our online experience to social media in order to connect, share and learn. 

Whether or not you decide to work with the platform, this episode is here to inspire you with ideas for creating healthy boundaries around any online space, so that you can move into more mindful enjoyment and generative experiences within them. 

Mentioned in this episode:

Previous reflections around social media:

“Experiencing technology overwhelm?” from the Grounding Visions podcast

“I’m a failure at social media?” from the Double Gemini substack newsletter (also shared as a Grounding Visions podcast episode here)

“Energetic sovereignty on the internet” from the Double Gemini substack newsletter

“Shifting our approach to the digital space” from the Double Gemini substack newsletter

“In refusal of ‘playing the game’” from the Double Gemini substack newsletter

Resources to get off IG:

Amelia Hruby’s Off the Grid podcast

Cody Cook-Parrott’s Common Shapes podcast

Connect with Holly with your tips & experiences by emailing [email protected] or dm @stainedghost on instagram

For more support and inspiration:

Society of Air website

Follow @stainedghost on instagram

Sign up for the Grounding Visions newsletter

Society of Air is a project of Stained Ghost, brought to you by Holly Hilgenberg, artist, writer, community builder and creative communications practitioner

Double Gemini substack newsletter

Stained Ghost website

Theme music and production support by Chris Rose of Robust Worlds

Radical marketing: Honoring your inner motivation & natural rhythms

After a brief break due to a bout of “too much excitement” exhaustion, the second season of Grounding Visions is back with permission and encouragement to find ways to share your work that actually works for YOU. 

I discuss the vested interest platforms like Substack and Instagram (along with many who work in the marketing field) have in encouraging constant content creation, and why this doesn’t equate to being “better” for small businesses or creatives. 

If you are feeling exhausted or overwhelmed by ALL THE THINGS when it comes to sharing your work with the world, this episode is here for you!

Mentioned in this episode:

Unpublished podcast episode “How to Deal with a Slump”

Grounding Visions podcast episode “Cut Back on the Busy Work!”

Double Gemini substack essay “Permission to reclaim our time: It’s not just about rest”

For more support and inspiration:

Society of Air website

Follow @stainedghost on instagram

Sign up for the Grounding Visions newsletter

Society of Air is a project of Stained Ghost, brought to you by Holly Hilgenberg, artist, writer, community builder and creative communications practitioner

Double Gemini substack newsletter

Stained Ghost website

Theme music and production support by Chris Rose of Robust Worlds

To kick off season two of Grounding Visions, I share a series of simple reflection questions to support you in cutting back on the busy work, and focusing your marketing efforts on what actually works for you—and feels good while you do it! 

If you are looking for a path—and permission—to step away from the incessant message that you must do ALL THE THINGS with marketing in order to be “successful,” this episode is here to help you move away from harmful, extractive tactics and values born out of dominator culture and into marketing your work in a way that feels aligned, authentic and even enjoyable. 

For more support in crafting and implementing your marketing this fall, join the Share Your Magic Co-working & Support fall session, starting up Tuesday, Sept. 24! 

This virtual co-working space meets every other Tuesday evening from Sept. 24-Dec. 3 from 5-7 p.m. pst over zoom and is here to provide you encouragement, inspiration, feedback and accountability when it comes to sharing your work with the world. Grounding Visions listeners can save $11 with code shared in episode! Visit here to learn more and to join in the fun this fall!

Also mentioned in this episode: Redefining success and value: Reshaping how we approach our work to create a better world from the Double Gemini substack newsletter

For more support and inspiration:

Society of Air website

Follow @stainedghost on instagram

Sign up for the Grounding Visions newsletter

Society of Air is a project of Stained Ghost, brought to you by Holly Hilgenberg, artist, writer, community builder and creative communications practitioner

Double Gemini substack newsletter

Stained Ghost website

Theme music and production support by Chris Rose of Robust Worlds

Radical honesty from a professional communicator

In this episode of Grounding Visions, I share reflections from working with social media as a communications professional to support you if you are feeling discouraged by how you perceive your “social media success” (or lack thereof). 

I offer how, as an early enthusiast of Instagram, my resulting journey with the platform has often generated feelings of insecurity and low-self worth—and why this experience is so common, troubling and not an actual reflection of one’s value. 

This vulnerable share around my own insecurity—especially as someone who has worked in the field professionally for over two decades—is for you if you struggle with the same. I offer reframes and knowledge to help ground you into your intentions and purpose with working with platforms like Instagram—because your work IS medicine the world needs now, and you should not be discouraged from sharing it because of the ultimate profit motives of those who benefit off of all the attention, time, energy and resources you put into these platforms!

This share originally appeared as an essay in my Double Gemini substack newsletter. 

Mentioned in this episode:

Original “I’m a Failure at Social Media?” Double Gemini newsletter post

Paula Crossfield’s Cosmic Business Salon series

For more support and inspiration:

Society of Air website

Follow @stainedghost on instagram

Sign up for the Grounding Visions newsletter

Society of Air is a project of Stained Ghost, brought to you by Holly Hilgenberg, artist, community builder and creative communications practitioner

Double Gemini substack newsletter

Stained Ghost website

Theme music and production support by Chris Rose of Robust Worlds

Whether you consider yourself a maximalist, or a multi-passionate, or simply an artist who “does a lot of things,” this episode of Grounding Visions is here to support you in simplifying your communications so that you can avoid burnout and keep doing—and sharing—your awesome work without having to manage a zillion different accounts and platforms.

In this episode, I share a simple process of taking inventory of how you are showing up with your work—how you want to be showing up with your work—with considerations around how to simplify your accounts and platforms. This process can help you spend more time focusing on doing your work, and less time sharing about it in ALL THE PLACES, while continuing to allow for space to honor your multiplicity in all its forms, and bringing in expansion and inspiration, however it comes to you. 

Mentioned in this episode:

Share Your Magic four-week sustainable marketing plan course, available to Grounding Visions listeners for 30% off the sliding scale rate with the code GVPOD30

Grounding Visions podcast episode “Experiencing Technology Overwhelm?”

Common Shapes podcast episode “Creating Your Offer Ecosystem” 

Moon Beaming podcast episode on the Closed-Loop Framework

Ayana Zaire Cotton’s interview on the Off the Grid podcast

For more support and inspiration:

Society of Air website

Follow @society.of.air on instagram

Sign up for the Grounding Visions newsletter

Society of Air is a project of Stained Ghost, brought to you by Holly Hilgenberg, artist, community builder and creative communications practitioner

Follow @stainedghost on instagram

Double Gemini substack newsletter

Stained Ghost website

Theme music and production support by Chris Rose of Robust Worlds

If you’ve been feeling as though your brain is scrambled, you can’t stop checking your email or social media accounts and/or you are frozen when it comes to going online to share your work, you are not alone!

Technology and information overwhelm is a very real thing we are increasingly experiencing—so if you’re in a phase where you are struggling with all the things, or if you want to incorporate techniques to prevent future burnout in sharing your work, this episode of Grounding Visions is for you.

Here, I share about my own recent bout of tech overwhelm and offer ways to reframe your relationship with technology to honor your humanity and cycles of your work amidst the pressure to share your work unceasingly.

Mentioned in this episode:

Subscribe to the Double Gemini substack newsletter from Stained Ghost, to know when doors open for the next round of Share Your Magic 4-week crash course in building a sustainable marketing plan that works for you—and to get an early bird discount!

Medicine Stories podcast episode with Kami McBride “Loving Ourselves Home”

The Rooted Business Podcast episode “Tending Your Business Through A Winter (aka Slow) Cycle”

Common Shapes podcast from Cody Cook-Parrott

Off the Grid podcast with Amelia Hruby

Double Gemini post on “Cultivating Stillness” 

Double Gemini post “Cycles of Life (and Creativity),” where I share my attention mantras

My art (and life) journey interview on the Just Earthly Podcast: Flower and Mushroom Essences, Natural Dyes & Art Community w/ Holly Hilgenberg of Stained Ghost, Society of Air & Host of Grounding Visions Podcast

For more support and inspiration:

Society of Air website

Follow @society.of.air on instagram

Sign up for the Grounding Visions newsletter

Society of Air is a project of Stained Ghost, brought to you by Holly Hilgenberg, artist, community builder and creative communications practitioner

Follow @stainedghost on instagram

Double Gemini substack newsletter

Stained Ghost website

Theme music and production support by Chris Rose of Robust Worlds

As part of the “Back 2 Basics” series, this Grounding Visions episode is all about shifting your perspective when it comes to how you see your communications—and how doing so can help ensure that your marketing not only makes sense to your audience, but that it speaks to them. 

In this episode, we talk about the importance of looking at your communications through the viewpoint of your audience on both a practical and an impactful level. I offer simple reflection questions and provide examples as to how you can incorporate this perspective shift to spot missing crucial information, to make sure your work can be engaged with (and invested in) and to craft more meaningful messaging that calls to the folks your work is for.

Stay tuned for the next "Back 2 Basics" episode, where I'll be exploring how to build beautiful, functional websites that support your amazing work!

Mentioned in this episode:

1:1 Consulting Packages to support you in building and implementing your marketing plan

“24 Ways to Boost Your Visibility in 2024” episode from Off The Grid podcast where Amelia breaks down differences between your audience, community and clients/customers

My piece in the Double Gemini substack newsletter from Stained Ghost, where I go deeper into why it’s essential to hold the energetic sovereignty and boundaries of others in how they are experiencing and using media

Linktree for sharing multiple links on your Instagram page

For more support and inspiration:

Society of Air website

Follow @society.of.air on instagram

Sign up for the Grounding Visions newsletter

Society of Air is a project of Stained Ghost, brought to you by Holly Hilgenberg, artist, community builder and creative communications practitioner

Follow @stainedghost on instagram

Double Gemini substack newsletter

Stained Ghost website

Theme music and production support by Chris Rose of Robust Worlds

As part of the “Back 2 Basics” series, this Grounding Visions episode is all about the most simple, and yet essential, part of marketing your work—making sure that you are sharing clear communications that your audience can easily comprehend and engage with. 

In this episode, I explore why this important element is so often overlooked and share a few essential questions to help you consistently share professional level communications, no matter what your experience or background in marketing is. I also discuss the positives and negatives of holding the power of your marketing efforts in your hands, and my biggest “marketing hack” pet peeve  and why I believe you shouldn’t fall prey to it!

Stay tuned for future "Back 2 Basics" episodes in the coming weeks, where I'll be exploring how to create marketing that speaks to your audience, building better websites and more!

For more support and inspiration:

Society of Air website

Follow @society.of.air on instagram

Sign up for the Grounding Visions newsletter

Society of Air is a project of Stained Ghost, brought to you by Holly Hilgenberg, artist, community builder and creative communications practitioner

Follow @stainedghost on instagram

Double Gemini substack newsletter

Stained Ghost website

Theme music and production support by Chris Rose of Robust Worlds