On June 15th I started a new adventure…the adventure of video. Well, to be precise livestreaming video. In four years of having my business fully online I’d only ever done two videos. And those videos were done with LOTS of hesitation. Take your pick as to why…physical insecurities, the knowledge that the internet can be mean…fear of being seen? It’s hard to say, but I know that the thought of making videos was just a giant “no thanks” in my mind.
After discovering Periscope I felt like I better understood what the problem was for me with doing videos – I didn’t like feeling like I was talking to nobody. With Periscope I was always talking to someone and interacting with people. It made all the difference.
Now 5 months and 5 days after my very first scope I’ve learned some big things about Periscope and using Periscope for my business.
The Good
Without a doubt Periscope has helped me reach new people who are looking for what I have to offer. I get introduced to new people and new people find my business every single day just by showing up and sharing what I do. I would say 9 out of 10 people who find my on Periscope never encountered me before and that’s excellent. It’s a whole other way to reach out.
I’ve learned more about what people who do want what I have to offer really need. Our conversations and our interactions have given me a chance to see what it is people are struggling with the most. Sure I do surveys and interact with my audience in other ways but never in the way Periscope has allowed me to.
Periscope and its ability to connect me with my audience was the whole impetus for creating my new year long program, Cosmic Wisdom Academy, which launches next month. It was created out of a need from people I was meeting on Periscope and completely with them in mind.
Without question Periscope has helped me find my voice and own my truth. On Periscope you can’t fake it. You have to show up being you or you might as well not show up at all. It’s easy to spot the fakes and scammers on Periscope, specially in the world of psychic and spiritual work. I didn’t realize just how much I was faking it before until I was no longer able to. I’m different…I don’t fit in the typical “new age spiritual teacher or coach” role. I swear…a lot. I use a lot of pop culture references to explain things. I don’t always think “love and light” is the answer. The more I owned those things, and came back into my power as a Witch, the more I found my voice and the more authentic my work became.
I sold out a full month of readings during my annual Halloween Reading offer in 2 1/2 weeks largely because of my new reach on Periscope. I’ve always run those readings until November 1st but had to close them this year around October 16th because by then I was already booked up past November 1st! Thanks in large part to Periscope I made $4,000 in those few weeks alone.
The Bad
The biggest problem I started to have once I got serious about Periscope was that I stopped blogging. In a lot of ways Periscope is like a video blog. You show up with a topic to share, you talk about it, and then people comment. The difference is it’s all happening live in the moment rather than here and there over time on a blog. Because I was doing all the stuff I was in my scopes I was too tired to come back and basically rehash it in a blog post. So I just stopped blogging.
I got disconnected from creating. Again, I was too tired. As much as I love public speaking, which is basically what Periscope is…a giant stage to speak on, I get tried from doing it. That means that after a 45 minute or hour long Periscope I’m ready for a rest after. I’m not ready to dive into writing a new ebook or creating a new program or recording a new meditation. I’m ready to grab a latte and watch some Judge Judy!
My time and focus has been scattered. This is still hard for me to figure out. There’s been a huge shift in what I do as a result of Periscope and it’s been hard at times to accept the changes. Six months ago I was trying to focus on things like mindset, intention, and teaching people about meditation and the power of their thoughts. But then as I embraced what I was doing on Periscope it was clear that my skills and gifts are truly different. I’m a psychic witch. I’m a medium. I’m someone who can share that spiritual stuff that’s more “new age” but it comes as a result of doing readings and talking about witchcraft. That’s been really hard for me to wrap my head around but that’s how it all seems to happen. Why is this bad? It’s been stressful because I feel like I’m yet again having to rediscover myself and my business.
The Ugly
There are some ugly parts of Periscope. Trolls. Creepers. Fakes. Scammers. People who can’t handle the fact that they aren’t the only game in town. One thing that I have done is quickly grown the thick skin needed to interact with the different kind of crazies you can find on there. You have to remember that people become keyboard warriors when they’re on the other side of that screen. You know they would never talk that way to someone face to face.
Oh the pressure! The pressure to scope and the pressure to watch other people’s scopes! The “guru’s” tell you that you have to scope at least once, ideally twice, every single day. Plus you are told you have to get in other people’s scopes to interact. I LOVE interacting in other people’s scopes but I don’t always have the time to stop what I’m doing to watch all the scopes I’d like to see. And I’ll admit a lot of the time I feel like a shitty Periscope community member for that. {Sorry guys!} I’ve also noticed over the last 5 months that some people who were scoping strong in the beginning are nowhere to be found now. The burnout is palpable on Periscope. I’ve hit it a few times myself. Knowing how to watch your energy is so important on this platform.
Competition and the need for attention…granted it’s sort of the point of social media in general but certainly the point of Periscope. People so desperate to make it look like they are more influential then they do things like buy followers and buy “hearts” from services online. You know when someone has 10,000 followers but only 150 people come to a broadcast and maybe that many people watch a replay of their scope, there’s something fishy going on. One good thing that came form this “ugly” was that Periscope changed their metrics and ranking where now the number of followers and hearts you have doesn’t carry the weight it used to. Now it’s real actual viewers that matter and show just how noteworthy you are.
I love being on Periscope and it’s made a HUGE impact on my business and what I’m doing in the world. Those are all good things. However it’s caused me to get derailed on some other things so I’m working hard to shift those bits and pieces so that everything works harmoniously in the new year.
One thing I’m planning to do is start sharing my Periscope videos here on my blog. I have one in particular from a few weeks ago where I did a Q+A session for everyone with my reading guide William. It was so much fun and so interesting, and in the end we had a few beautiful connections for people with loved ones on the other side. For those of you that didn’t get to see it, I’d love to still share it with you, so I’ll be doing that soon.
I’d love to hear from you down in the comments. What would you like to see more of from me going into the new year?
