The Gift We Need To Share (Especially Now)

Core Article: The Gift We Need To Share (Especially Now)

Paragraph I’m Pondering: “Why will someone care about this?”

Powerful Affirmations to Inspire: “I celebrate my victories…”

Book Review: Marketing A Love Story by Bernadette Jiwa

Cool Stuff: The sweet smells of amazing foods, real? Manufactured?

AI Info & Resources: This bot sounds a bit scary to me…

The Gift We Need To Share (Especially Now)

Have you ever found a book or idea that stayed with you for years, shaping how you see the world, even when you weren’t thinking about it?

The kind of books, poems, or stories that quietly work on you, shifting little pieces inside you long after you’ve put them down?

That’s how it’s been for me with several books.

Some cracked me open in big ways immediately. Others that were more like a slow cooker, bubbling up and slowly burning over time.

If you’ve ever checked out my Book Review Site, you can see my top 6 books of all time that gave me my earliest life shifts. I could definitely add to that list. Today it’s more like 10 or more!

Below there’s a few more books that aren’t onthat list that I ought to add to it:

Give and Take by Adam Grant, The Soul of Money by Lynne Twist., This Is Marketing by Seth Godin, Story Driven & Marketing a Love Story by Bernadette Jiwa, and The Gift by Lewis Hyde.

Each of these gave me something different, yet all had the same foundational theme: Your life is not a transaction. It’s a contribution.

And I’d add, it’s not a one-time contribution, it’s a lifetime of one.

So, when I saw this week’s writing prompt (from my writing class), The Gift, my mind started spinning.

Was it a person? A thing? An idea? A lesson?

I could feel my brain whirl like a spinning top. I sat at my desk, stared at my screen, and suddenly remembered The Gift, it was a book by Lewis Hyde, and I hadn’t thought about it in years, yet it had quietly shaped so much of my journey.

Even now, that book and so many others are still working, like a million subtle shifts happening quietly in the background every night while I sleep.

Hyde’s concept is simple yet profound:
What we create and share isn’t meant to be owned or hoarded. It’s meant to move through us, to connect, to change lives.

True giving, whether it’s time, wisdom, or creative work, isn’t transactional. It’s an exchange of energy, intention, and meaning.

At its core, The Gift asks us to shift from “What do I get?” to “What can I contribute?”

When I made that shift, my world changed.

Back in 2007, my executive coach recommended this book, not knowing it would transform how I viewed everything, from my relationships to my work and eventually how I’d show up as a coach, consultant, and teacher.

Before that, I was stuck in the old transactional model of success. Work harder. Prove your worth. Hustle constantly to be seen and valued. That belief system shaped everything, including how I approached marketing.

In my traditional marketing world, it was all about selling, pushing andconvincing. Using fear and manipulative tactics to get people to hand over their money. Success was measured by how much money your launch made, not how it felt in your body.

Ugh. It’s hard to admit that.

And I still cringe when I think about how good I was at it.

How many millions I helped people make. How it all worked so well on the outside… and felt so off on the inside.

Maybe you’ve been there too.

Doing something that looked successful on paper. Ticking all the right boxes. And yet something inside you felt flat, disconnected, off-key. Like you were showing up in a costume, playing a role you were never meant to audition for.

It took me a while, and several gut-wrenching life shifts (and entering into recovery) for me to finally pause and ask:

What if I don’t want to play this game anymore?

What if there’s another way?

That’s when everything cracked open.

And that’s when these books—their messages, their wisdom—found their way in.

Adam Grant (Give and Take) – Taught me that generosity doesn’t make you weak, it makes you impactful. That success doesn’t come from keeping score; it comes from giving in ways that create lasting trust and connection.

Lynne Twist (The Soul of Money) She showed me how scarcity sneaks in everywhere, especially around money, and how sufficiency is the quiet power we’ve all forgotten.

Seth Godin (This is Marketing) His idea that marketing isn’t manipulation, it’s a chance to be trusted, to be real, to connect with your dream clients, to make an impact.

Bernadette Jiwa (Story Driven & Marketing A Love Story) (My favorite of the bunch.) She reminded me that stories are not strategies, they’re gifts. That’s when you share your story with generosity and truth; you give people something to belong to. Something to carry with them. Her work showed me that the most powerful marketing is an act of contribution. It’s about helping people see themselves in your story and feel connected, not convinced.

And Lewis Hyde? He tied it all together in this deep, soulful reminder: that your art, wisdom, and your essence, none of it is meant to be hoarded. It’s meant to be shared.

That’s when Soulful Marketing began to form for me.

Marketing, I realized, wasn’t about manipulating or selling for the sake of profit. It could be something else entirely, something that served others, that connected, supported, and guided people.

What would it feel like if your marketing could feel like that, more like giving a gift than selling something?

And maybe most importantly, it could be rooted in who you really are.

That’s why I created Soulful Marketing.

It’s not a tactic, it’s a movement. A way of being.

A reminder that every interaction, email, content and conversation is a chance to give, serve, and share your gifts to the world.

In the end, it’s about building relationships that last.

And sharing what counts to impact people’s lives, make them laugh, smile, support, and leave them a little bit better than when you found them.

What I once thought was just a way to “sell” became a way to make a difference.

Hyde’s wisdom became the foundation for Soulful Marketing.

If marketing could be a gift…

Then I wanted to build my business as a gift, rooted in authenticity, integrity, and a real desire to make a positive impact.

Now, when I help entrepreneurs market soulfully, it’s all grounded in that same belief:

You’re here to share your gifts, your lessons, and your stories because the world needs them.

And I know someone out there is waiting for your gift the way I was waiting for Hyde’s, Grant’s, Twist’s, Godin’s, and Jiwa’s of the world.

So I’ll leave you with this:

What if your work, words, and ideas were never meant to be leveraged, scaled, or optimized first? They were simply meant to be given?

And what if, in the giving, everything else started to align?

WOW, I’m getting goosebumps. 🙂 I hope you are too.

In this life, it’s filled with endless possibilities. And just maybe, you’re reading this right because you needed this today, much like I did…

Hands at your back, always…

And if ever you want more, check out the P.S. I’d love to connect with you!

Paragraph I’m Pondering

“What if marketing was how we found more ways to do better work and to matter to our customers? … What if, before making a pencil stroke or writing a single line of code, every entrepreneur and innovator began by seeing the world through a marketer’s lens and asking, “Why will someone care about this?” … We have a choice: to either do work we care about or not. … To love what we do and care about the people we do it for. … Your days are too precious to spend them simply marketing time until every Friday evening when your life begins.”

— Bernadette Jiwa, Marketing a Love Story: Marketing a Love Story: How to Matter To Your Customers

Powerful Affirmations to Inspire

“The universe supports my prosperity; I am worthy of all the wealth flowing easily into my life now.”
“My mindset is positive, calm, and focused, enabling me to navigate life with confidence and ease.”
“I celebrate my victories, large and small, recognizing every step forward as a profound achievement.”

Book Review

Marketing a Love Story: Marketing a Love Story: How to Matter To Your Customers
by Bernadette Jiwa

Cool Stuff

If you’ve ever been to a theme park, think Disney, then you so know this is so a thing, restaurants using smells, fake or real, to entice you to come in.
This is one of my favs piece of news this week, gay people, after two years, the federal court found that we have a First Amendment right to perform and create drag shows. Let the drag queen shows begin!
Have you noticed more and more of this “wellness” trend? If I think back to 3 – 5 years ago, there’s loads more stuff on the internet, social, etc., about wellness. Can you guess how it got started??? Check this out.

AI Info and Resources

This seems a bit scary to me. Not sure I’m ready for my AI “to go shopping” for me. Eekkk
This is kind of interesting, managers are connecting with their Chatbots for answers before talking to their boss. Hmmm.
Curious revenue, hmmm, what’s that you might be asking? Well, it’s all things AI investing. Have a look.

Weekly Photos

I’m a bit floored that it’s been a whole month since we said goodbye to Emma. The scary part is it feels like only a minute has lapsed… Ahhhh grief…. Enjoy some new and old photos. Since Emma’s been gone, I’m not back to walk the Sacramento River Trail. It’s a 5-mile trek, and Emma and I stopped going cuz it was just too long and hot. I’ve walked the trail loads this week, and it made for some fun and interesting photos. 🙂

One of my all-time favs… when she was my model for all things Amazon reviews. She really didn’t like that raincoat. And she looked so cute and funny in it.
Doesn’t this cloud look kind of like a turkey?! The things we see in clouds….
Emma soooo loved to give me kisses whenever I was trying to take a selfie, that was her cue.
Meet Happy, a dear friend’s Golden Doodle who loves playing with balls. Reminded me of my Golden Retrievers I had early on in my career. They were obsessed with balls. I was just happy to get a sweet dog fix when I needed it.
This pic, Emma and her carrot fetish. She grabs it, looks that in her mouth, jumps off the chair, and runs to the carpet to eat it. Part dog, part rabbit. 🙂
I was walking the upper part of the Sacramento River Trail and could not believe what I saw. Yep, an Eagle, crazy. I knew living up here had some perks, mainly the trails, forests, wildlife, and lakes. Yet, I never would have imagined getting this close to an Eagle.
Total happenstance photo. I was walking the trail one early morning this week and stopped to take a pic of the bridge and the fog along the water when I heard the train coming. And there you have it. Couldn’t have planned it better if I had tried.

Are You On LinkedIn? Been doing some videos there about stuff I’m thinking about and just telling stories to share what I’m learning and to connect. Here’s the link. I would love to connect with you there and learn more about what you do. And find out more about your world.

P.S. This is me being bold and giving you an invitation. 🙂 I’m going to run the Soulful Marketing Accelerator Cohort again. If you’re longing for like-minded community and ready to move through your fears to grow a purpose-driven business rooted in authenticity and aligned with your dream clients… Welllll. Go here to be first in line when I reopen the doors again. Would love to have you.

P.S.S. Whenever You’re Ready: Here are 3 Ways I can make an impact on creating greater success in your business using marketing that’s aligned with your mission and values without feeling like you’re selling your soul.

1. Make Money Now Sheet – It’s one of the bonuses in my 7-Step Soulful Marketing System. I wanted to give it to you for free to help you create more success.

2. Love Books Like I Do? – I’m always reviewing the best nonfiction books – Where Buddha Meets Business.

3. Get my proven 7-Step Soulful Marketing System. It gives you the framework you need to implement authentic and connected marketing using online customer experiences and launching your products, services, or courses. It will help you create greater success.

It’s a simple system, especially if you love to read like me. There’s no video or audio. Plus, you get my proven templates, tools, and worksheets, all with tremendous value. And I’m pricing it incredibly low so it can be more accessible to more people. 🙂

Did someone forward this to you? If so, get this eNewsletter regularly with my compliments by clicking this link. And if you’re in the mood to share, simply send this URL to others: https://www.soulfulmarketingsystem.com/soulful-marketing-enewsletter.

I appreciate your sharing. Thank you!

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