It’s the start of a New Year and you’ve probably got your 2020 business and marketing plan already mapped out. (If you haven’t, don’t worry – you still have time!).
I mapped out my 2020 plan at the end of last year but over the Christmas break I realised that there was a key ingredient missing.
An ingredient that will ensure I’m productive, fulfilled and successful.
An ingredient that is often overlooked when setting goals, planning your launches and putting together your editorial calendar.
And that ingredient is pleasure.
Now, you may be wondering ‘how do you build pleasure into the nuts and bolts of a business and marketing plan?’
Well don’t worry. I have a few tips that will help you revamp your existing 2020 marketing and business strategy so you can easily add in the perfect amount of pleasure to ensure you have a rich and prosperous year.
You can watch the short video or continue reading below.
Before you even start planning, make a declaration that this is ‘The Year of Pleasure for You and Your Business.” Hold this intention close to your heart and devote your time, energy and money to bringing more pleasure into every aspect of your business (and life, for that matter).
For me, this year really is about anchoring pleasure into everything that I do in both my personal and professional life and I am committed to it.
If you’re anything like me you may require help with accountability, so it’s a great idea to reach out for external support and make your pleasure declaration to others.
You may wish to share your pleasure intention with friends or colleagues or enlist the support and mentorship of a coach.
I have personally shared my pleasure intention with my Mistressmind bestie, my mentor and my close friends who are a part of our women’s circle.
Sharing your intention helps to anchor it further into your body and it keeps you accountable, so your pleasure will lead to prosperity!
Now that we’ve declared our pleasure intention and shared it with others to help keep us accountable, it’s time to build pleasure into our business and marketing planning.
(Pssstt if you only take one thing away from this article, then this is it!)
When it came to reorganising my own marketing plan for this year I went back and asked myself this simple question
“Will this activity/goal etc. bring me pleasure?”
If the answer was ‘yes’ it remained a part of my plan. If the answer was ‘no’ I had two choices – remove it from the plan or work out how I made the activity more pleasurable.
(But I want to reinforce that the key here is to tune into how your BODY responds when you drop the question in).
For example, I had the idea of re-vamping my Date With Ains interview series. But when I really tuned into my body’s response to this activity I felt tension in my shoulders and my chest felt constricted.
This bodily response was a sure sign that this activity wasn’t going to bring me pleasure, so I have parked the idea for now.
Another example is that I want to run a challenge in Quarter 1. I felt pleasure in my body in terms of running a challenge, but the challenge topic wasn’t really lighting me up. I played around with different content ideas for the challenge and I knew I hit the right one when I felt really excited and my heart space expanded and felt all fluttery.
By continually asking yourself this key question, you’re really helping to eliminate your ego’s intentions and all the things you feel you SHOULD be doing in your business, rather than following your body’s innate wisdom.
A significant part of the work I do with my clients is planning and this includes planning pleasure!
In my Pleasure + Productivity Planner, one of the key components is your ‘Pleasure Non-Negotiables.’ These are pleasurable activities that you must plan into your weekly work calendar (before you plan anything else!).
An extension of this is planning ‘Pleasure Dates’ or even ‘Pleasure Retreats.’ A Pleasure Date or Pleasure Retreat can look like anything you wish.
In the past I have planned days where I have worked at a gorgeous café in the morning, met a friend for lunch at my favourite restaurant and then finished the day with a nourishing facial.
You could make the whole day about work (ensuring each element is pleasurable) or you could simply not work at all. It’s up to you.
But there are a few key elements – build these pleasure dates into your calendar. You can actually derive so much pleasure from planning out these dates and the anticipation of the experience.
Also, I really invite you to tap into your 5 physical senses when you’re planning your Pleasure Dates or Pleasure Retreats.
I find that planning both small and significant periods of time devoted to pleasure give me so much to look forward to in my business.
For example, in the first half of this year I have travel planned to Australia to attend my Feminine Leadership Mistressmind Retreat as well as a work trip planned for Hong Kong in May. I can’t tell you how much pleasure I am enjoying in my body just through anticipation!
Plus I know that I will still be able to experience pleasure in my body after these events! Therefore, expect to experience pleasure before, during and after your ‘Pleasure Business Dates!’
Consider creating a vision board that is dedicated to all the things that will bring pleasure into your business and life over the next year.
You could do this by creating a ‘Business Pleasure Board’ on Pinterest (see mine below) or go the more traditional route and cut up magazines and images and create a collage to be hung in a high ‘eye-ball traffic’ location.
Research shows that our brains process visuals faster than words. Also our brains retain and transmit a greater amount of information when it’s delivered visually.
This is a great reason to transform your Marketing and Business Pleasure Plan into a visual format, so you can continually keep your pleasure intention anchored in your body.
As well as building pleasure into your calendar and your vision board, this year I’m experimenting with building pleasure into my business finances.
I already follow the Profit First Formula for business finance allocations, but this year I’m going to allocate a portion of my ‘Expenses Fund’ to a ‘Pleasure Fund.’
So you can layout your business finances and put aside a budget for pleasure. This way you’re intentionally setting aside money to fund your pleasurable activities and you’re ensuring that your business is nourishing YOU…and it’s not you always nourishing your business.
I’m really excited about plunging into my pleasure and using my business as a portal in 2020. I hope my excitement and anticipation resonates and that you consider adding this key ingredient into your own business and marketing strategy.
It will do our businesses and ourselves wonders! 😉
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And if you need help re-working (or even starting) your Business and Marketing Plan and incorporating more pleasure to ensure your prosperity, then my 1:1 Private Mentoring Program – Feminine Embodiment + Leadership in Business could be the grounded yet highly strategic support you’re looking for.
This experience is for the leader who desires a pleasure-filled business that is sustainable and successful.
To learn more, I’d love to invite you to book a free call with me HERE .
Here’s to building pleasure into every aspect of our lives and to revelling in our business success!
Ainslie x
