A Soul Connection

Today’s featured blogger is Andrea Hess of Empowered Soul.

Welcome to the seventh edition of The Next 30 Blogging Heroes series. Inspired by the book Blogging Heroes: Interviews with 30 of the World’s Top Bloggers by Michael A. Banks, this series will feature the next group of exceptional bloggers who are making an impact in the blogosphere.

These bloggers are getting their messages out there and having their voices heard. They have long-term goals and are working very each day to reach them. Blogging heroes create quality content and build a loyal, and very large, base of readers. This series will center on their best blogging practices as well as tips and advice. You will benefit from their helpful tips, advice and insight.

The Next 45 Years is proud to welcome Andrea Hess of Empowered Soul. It is fitting Andrea’s professional career started as an opera singer. Opera has a way of touching the listener’s soul. As an Intuitive Life Coach, Hess is still trying to connect with people’s souls to help them understand and embrace their Soul path and purpose.

Andrea’s blog is one way she is trying to make this connection.

What prompted you to start Empowered Soul?
In many ways, I consider myself a somewhat accidental blogger! When I first created my blog, I had no clue what I was doing. I didn’t know how to bring in traffic, or about networking with other blogs.

I posted the articles from my email newsletters maybe once a month, and the blog just sat there for a long, long time. In 2007, I finally learned about blogging for business through a coaching program. That’s when I actually started to pay attention to my blog!

It was only when I started editing my book, Unlock Your Intuition, that I began posting with some consistency. This was in the summer of 2007. I found the editing process very challenging, so whenever I wanted to add another piece of information or make a specific point in my book, I would turn it into a blog post.

Once it was all written, I had a much easier time integrating the point I wanted to make into the overall flow of my book. In the meantime, I grew to love posting regularly.

It took me a long while to really understand what blogging is all about! I learned so much from other bloggers. I love the interactivity and the relationship-building aspect of this medium – I think that’s what really got me hooked initially. Now I can’t imagine not blogging.

How did you come up with that name for your blog?
The name Empowered Soul just jumped into my head one day. I actually bought the domain name before I even knew what I was going to do with it. Today, it represents the work I do perfectly.

Our Soul is an amazing resource, and most of us don’t know anything at all about it! I assist my clients in getting to know themselves at Soul-level, so they can harness the power of their spiritual resources. True empowerment comes about when we can fully express who we are as spiritual beings into this physical experience.

What is Intuitive Life Coaching?
When I coach, I actually sit down about ten minutes before the client calls and chat with their Spirit Guides. They give me the agenda for the session, as well as “homework” for the client. It’s very, very different from the way I was trained as a Life Coach! But I’ve witnessed some amazing transformations through this type of coaching. I figure that my clients’ Spirit Guides know what they need much better than I do. So I do my best to stay out of the way and just facilitate the session.

Likewise, what are the basic principles of Soul Realignment Training?
My Soul Realignment training is for people who feel called to assist others through professional intuitive work. I’m really proud of this program! It’s a very systematic, structured modality that takes students to the professional level very quickly. It’s a correspondence course combined with one-on-one coaching sessions, so students can move forward at their own pace, but still have a lot of personal support.

I recently created a website just for this training at www.soulrealignment.com. There’s now a Practitioner directory, and we have monthly teleclasses as well as a community area to support students during and after the program.

Your blog is just on part of your website. Please share what else is offered at Empowered Soul.
Well, the heart of my work is my intuitive readings as well as the intuitive development coaching I offer. I’m also presenting free teleclasses about every two to three weeks. I have a number of free resources on clearing negative energy and working with Spirit Guides on the site. People can also download the first chapter of my book Unlock Your Intuition for free. Finally, there’s the Soul Realignment Practitioner Programs. It just keeps growing!

Are you achieving what you set out to do with the site?
The question implies that there was a plan to begin with! I started out just offering intuitive readings, and everything developed from there. The website has actually far exceeded any expectations I had. That is especially true for my blog.

Where do you get your ideas for content for your blog?
I’m always looking at my own life in terms of opportunities for growth and learning. My content really comes out of whatever life lessons I am working on personally! I work hard on my own spiritual development, so there’s always something shifting and evolving.

I do try very hard not to write about myself too much, though. I reframe my lessons and experiences into a format that others can relate to. Otherwise, it gets a bit self-indulgent! Every once in a while, I’ll also notice that all my clients are presenting with a certain set of issues, as if there’s a “theme” for the week. That will usually prompt a blog post, too! I generally have two or three ideas percolating in the back of my head at any given time.

What do you find to be the more difficult aspects of blogging?
If anything, I wish I had more time to write, but also to read other blogs, write more comments, and enjoy the wonderful social aspect of blogging. I’ve made some great new friends and met some incredible people through blogging. But there’s only so many blogs I can realistically follow! Most of my time is devoted to working with clients and students.

Do you do anything special to increase your readership?
I am pretty active on StumbleUpon, and I try to comment on other blogs as much as I can. That’s about it! My focus is probably more on building my email list. I figure if people want to hear from me twice a week or more, they’ll subscribe to my blog. My email newsletter, on the other hand, goes out only every two or three weeks.

What do you find gratifying about blogging?
Honestly, I enjoy blogging so much that it sometimes feels almost selfish to me! I think I would blog even if no-one ever read my work. It’s such a wonderful medium for authentic self-expression. At least twice a week, I have to ask myself: “What is currently going on in my life? What am I learning? What are these experiences about?”

It has brought me to a much higher level of conscious awareness. And when a thought strikes me - some insight or inspiration – I’m lucky enough to have some place to share it with the world! To me, that’s a huge gift. I’m a teacher at heart, and my blog is such a phenomenal outlet for that aspect of myself. I’ve also discovered how much I truly love writing. I really didn’t consider myself a writer for most of my life.

I also cherish the many wonderful people that have come into my life through blogging. Overall, I have found bloggers to be generous, open, like-minded individuals – it truly is a fantastic community.

What are you future plans for Empowered Soul?
I’m always long on ideas and short on time! Expect some video blog entries from me fairly soon. I’m working on my public speaking skills, and it’s a fun way to practice. I am working on a product on Spirit Guide Communication that will hopefully be done by early summer.

I am also toying with the idea of starting a Spiritual Development Mastermind group. And I want to create a Level III program for my Soul Realignment training by the end of the year. I probably will need to clone myself to get all that done … but I definitely love coming up with new tools and services for my clients and students.

What advice can you offer other bloggers?
Write with authenticity. We can drive ourselves absolutely crazy trying to figure out what our readers want. But if we write authentically, with passion and honesty, then we will attract the readers that resonate with our work. If we receive value from our work, our readers will, too.

To me, blogging is about serving others as we also serve ourselves. If our blog doesn’t inspire our own personal and spiritual development, then how can we inspire anyone else? Don’t post because you have to. Post because there is something in your heart you want to share.

Previous bloggers featured in this series:

Tina Su of Think Simple Now

John Wesley of PickTheBrain

Leo Babauta of Zen Habits

Ellesse Chow of Goal Setting College

Andrew Galasetti of Lyved.com

Peter of I Will Change Your Life

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Helpful Blogging Resources

• Unique Blog Designs: Nate and his team are excellent blog designers. They provided expert design advice as well as much need technical support. If you are ready to take your blog to the next level, I high recommend Unique Blog Designs.

• ProBlogger is an outstanding online resource for learning effective blogging tips. The site has many useful and relevant articles to help you build a better blog and to earn money, too

• Michael A. Bank’s book Blogging Heroes is as informative as it is inspirational – a must-have reference book for serious bloggers.