What’s Wrong With a Little Woo?

Posted in Blog, Impact Factor | 37 Comments

I’ve been hearing rumblings lately which I believe are a bit self-deprecating. Things like “I want to take the woo out of [insert topic].” or “How do I not sound too woo-wooey?” Things like that.

So I ask you, what’s wrong with a little woo?

There are intuitive coaches, sound healers and even silly-looking dances designed to bring about spiritual revelations…each experiencing great success online. People, myself included, eat this shit up like it’s chocolate-covered.

Face it, we like woo.

While I do understand not wanting to come off as some new-age hippy-dippy snake-oil-selling gypsy, watering down your message so you can fade into the mainstream is not only bad for business…it’s futile.

If you want to sell me a virtual chakra healing via Skype, you’re wooey. If you’re trying to convince me you can channel my dead dog, you’re wooey too. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want the chance to speak with my lost canine friend or have my chi flow more freely.

When we edit ourselves and our marketing message in the hopes we’ll attract a larger audience we risk losing everything. More often than not, we end up missing our target completely.

Figure out who your perfect people are and speak only to them. Use your message to draw them to you and ignore everyone else. Do not try to convince them you are something you’re not…or aren’t something you are.

Be who you be.

Everything else has been done and said before. You are the only thing that’s unique about your business. Market it. Celebrate it. Believe in it.

http://www.anencouragingbird.com BirdyD – Roving Robin Reporter

Sweetie, why on EARTH would I have anything negative to say about this???

Thank you SO much for the reminder/permission/inspiration.

For myself, what I mean when I talk about taking the ‘woo’ out, is NOT taking the magick out, NOT taking the paranormal out, no!

That, you deal with me, ya gotta cope with.
Period.
(And oh, does it feel GOOD to say this! )

What I AM meaning is taking the jargon out of woo.
Taking the needless structures out of woo.
Making it accessible to anyone who hears the call.

As far as other aspects go, you are absolutely right!

Rock on!!! :>

http://twitter.com/JennyBBones Jenny Bones

Birdy I’m glad you liked it! And I totally get what you mean by the “jargon and structures”…after all that’s what I’m here to talk about

http://twitter.com/intuitivebridge Bridget Pilloud

I wish I had read this years ago.

http://twitter.com/JennyBBones Jenny Bones

hehe Well, I’m certainly glad you were here to read this today!

http://www.informationjunkiesanonymous.com Ryah Albatros

‘Woo are you? Woo, woo, woo, woo!’ I know sorry, misplaced frivolity, bit it was echoing through my mind as I was reading. The hardest part for me is always finding the right people – and would I know them if I fell over them?

I do think you’re right with this message, ‘Use your message to draw them to you and ignore everyone else.’ It is so easy to slip into please everyone mode, without even realising it.

http://twitter.com/JennyBBones Jenny Bones

ROFL, now that song’s in my head for the rest of the afternoon. Guaranteed.

And I think the hardest part of any of this is figuring out who our perfect people are. But until we do, they can’t hear us.

Thanks, sistah!

http://www.devacoaching.com Sandi Amorim

“Be who you be.” – Love those 4 magic words!

http://twitter.com/JennyBBones Jenny Bones

Yes, they are magic words!

Anonymous

I absolutely agree with “Be who you be!” But may I tell a story?

I’m in a mastermind group with several FABULOUS very woo-woo people. And we kept using the term “woo-woo” in a self-demeaning way. So we had a reframing exercise, where we brainstormed as many synonymns as we could for “woo-woo.”

At first they were mostly negative, but before we even stopped to intentionally redirect to more positive terms, the more positive terms started tumbling out. Until we had more positive terms than negative terms. Overflowing positive terms!

By the end of ten minutes we had shifted the language we were using and the way we were presenting ourselves, and we pledged to only use the positive terms when marketing ourselves going forward.

It was, if I may say so, very magickal, and very powerful. And it gave us new language to use with those who hunger for woo-woo but may be nervous about it.

And they all lived happily ever after.

http://twitter.com/JennyBBones Jenny Bones

That’s a great story, Susan. It really exemplifies the power of words & language and how fun that can be to play around with.

I’m glad to hear all lived happily ever after, too. Those are the best kind of stories.

Anonymous

Well my response is taking on a life of its own so stay tuned for a blog post on the subject.

http://www.anencouragingbird.com BirdyD – Roving Robin Reporter

YAY!!!

Will eagerly await it.

Mary Havlicek

I’m kinda intrigued to know what those words were.

http://www.anencouragingbird.com BirdyD – Roving Robin Reporter

Me too.

Susan?

http://twitter.com/JennyBBones Jenny Bones

Yep…me too.

Mary Havlicek

Be who you be. Just awesome.

You wrote this to me, right?

http://twitter.com/JennyBBones Jenny Bones

I absolutely did write it to you! It warms my heart that you read it and knew

http://twitter.com/ClaireTompkins Claire Tompkins

My goal is to weave the woo woo and the practical together so that you can’t really separate them. They need each other. I do that in person, but I need to include it more in my writing because you’re right, people do like it. I need to remember that so I don’t censor myself and worry about what people will think (’cause they’re not the right people anyway).

http://twitter.com/JennyBBones Jenny Bones

I love this Claire! You nailed it…if they don’t get you, they ain’t your perfect people

http://completeflake.com/ LaVonne Ellis

You know, I’ve wondered why so many woo woo people seem to be attracted to me when I don’t talk about woo woo stuff at all. And then I realized after reading your post that (customer) love is as woo as it gets. Love is all about ‘wooing’, after all. Awesome post, thank you.

http://twitter.com/JennyBBones Jenny Bones

LOL, yes I’d have to say Customer Love is pretty wooey…it’s all gooey wooey like still-warm caramel apples which explains why I love it so much

http://twitter.com/pegkd Peggie Arvidson

I love you.
and frankly, I’m so happy to come to terms with my inner hippy-dippy girl that I sent into hiding – in the closet — for far too long.
she eats weird food
she wears clothes that some say “were the last on the rack”
and she talks about budgets and marketing as easily as she talks about the guides and angels and dead peeps who stop by to add assistance.
just part of the whole.
love it.
be who you be baby. be it.

http://twitter.com/JennyBBones Jenny Bones

I love you, too Peggie And a big mwuah~! to your inner hippie. She’s gorgeous. Sheer perfection. Thank you so much for sharing her here. <3 Now…I want to go have a couple appletini's with her! Fun is bound to ensue~!

http://twitter.com/pegkd Peggie Arvidson

I’m in on the tinis — anything green really I can’t imagine the silliness and wisdom that would come from a face-to-face gathering. Whose in? Anyone want to come visit the Cherry Blossoms in Spring in DC? I’ll host.

Jeanie

I love when I’m reading something and I’m connecting with what is said, only to be dissapointed to see it followed with ‘but I’m not a woo girl’. The fuck you’re not. At least you could do is own it. So glad to read that someone is asking what’s wrong with a little woo.

Woo is a term not used where I’m from in Australia. I’m not sure if we have a term that is the same. Maybe ‘new-age thinking’ is used in place of woo. Where ever your from, pay attention – I’m a new age woo gal and loving it. ps. love your blog.

http://twitter.com/JennyBBones Jenny Bones

Rock on with your new age woo! I love it!

I want to make some new version of the term “balls out” (although I don’t think they say that in Australia either, obviously siding on good taste)…”woo out” just doesn’t cut it though.

“Ovaries out?” Ew, and ow…back to the drawing board Thanks so much Jeanie!

http://www.facebook.com/lisa.murray2 Lisa Murray

I came out of the woo closet recently in my ezine and only 6 people unsubscribed… that made me happy on all accounts!!!

Anonymous

That’s very encouraging news Lisa and thanks for sharing it! Let’s all come out of the woo closet with her Bust out the woo, people…we luv it!

http://twitter.com/CourtneyRamirez Courtney Ramirez

Birdy sent me here and I’m glad she did! As a copywriter, I work for some companies that may not appreciate the woo. But really, part of my copywriting is the woo – I need to embrace that. I am a copywriter who cares – helping companies who care and want their customers to engage with them. I have a new project I’m developing – a more personal blog of sorts. And I’m very nervous about putting it out there and having potential clients find it instead of my copywriting side – and wondering, who is this crazy person? But maybe if I reframe it and realize that the people I really want to be working with are the people who don’t mind a little woo – maybe I won’t be so afraid? Maybe?

Anonymous

Hi Courtney! Birdy’s awesome, no doubt, and I too am glad she pointed you
this way

There are a few questions you’ll need to sort out there, it seems. Are you
hoping to turn your new, more personal site into a business? Or do you want
to work with the types of clients you have now for the rest of your life?

If the answer is the former…then the next question becomes who,
specifically, are your perfect people? This puts some people in a bit of a
pickle (hence the name of that coaching product on the “Work With Me”
page lol) as it’s not always easy to clearly define. However, it is a vital
step towards your success with the new site.

I hear very clearly from you what your perfect people would definitely be
down with a little woo…so I say go for it!!

Feel free to contact me anytime, I’m always happy to help if I can

http://twitter.com/a_creative_life Melissa Dinwiddie

I love this, Jenny! Crisp, clear, and to the point. And smack, dab ON. What IS wrong with a little woo?

Ahem. She says. Apparently I’ve got my own issues with being too woo, because I’ve only recently – and tentatively – come out as seriously woo-woo-ish myself. (Yep, I actually trained at a respected psychic institute… but I don’t often share that fact with people I don’t know. People throw shoes at the woo-woo-ish.)

But as you say, people also really *like* woo. Or at least, the people who resonate with me will probably have an openness to woo, because it’s part of who I am, whether I actively market that part of myself or not.

Anonymous

I think the reactions from everyone here really exemplify that we all do love woo. We like being wooey, we like buying wooey things and we love wooey people.

Like you said, at least the people who resonate with us…our perfect people. But they’re all that matters. I’m not sure I want to work with someone who’s all anti-woo, you know?

(And how cool! Training at a psychic institute. I’m intrigued…

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http://twitter.com/annikamartins Annika Martins

Every time I come to your site I get EXACTLY what I need at that given moment. Fear of letting the Woo show is gone. Boom!

Thanks Jenny!

http://upyourimpactfactor.com/ JennyBBones

Annika you’re the best, thank you! I’m actually plotting a free webinar on Letting Your Woo Flag Fly High I’ll email you the deets when they’re available if you’d like.

You go, sister! Boom! Bam! …bing? Maybe notsomuch bing…

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http://www.thejackb.com/ The JackB

I like the idea of being me so that I can woo the right, or is it wight people.