There is a slickly marketed superiority complex and thinly veiled vanity baked into the role of internet influencer. What are influencers? People who promise you that you are special and that you too can be as awesome as they are if you learn their secrets.
The influencer sales pitch inflates the ego and promises you can make a MASSIVE impact by leveraging self-focus and entitlement to get rich quickly through harnessing how special you are to help others. You can see this content and paid placement on platforms such as Instagram or youtube. These ads often include metaphysical jargon, promising in one way or another secret hacks you can use to scale your personal brand and convert it into cash by doing virtually nothing except telling other people what they want to hear.
What is a Self-Help Influencer
Influencer marketing online is exploitation for personal gain. Marketers who create other influencers speak in metaphysical word-salads because they are salespeople. These are individuals who leave psychics, life coaches, therapists, and other holistic practitioners seeking a life of purpose and meaning deeply triggered, in debt, and fearing they really are not enough. This is a problem.
As someone who frequently cares for psychotherapeutic professionals and holistic practitioners, I am aware of the unique opportunities to overcome the personal challenges that caregivers face. In recent years, however, I have witnessed a powerful increase in anxiety that can blind people who identify as healers, light workers, or life coaches. These sensitive and well-meaning folks are recognizable by how terrified they are clients might trigger them. They are easily overwhelmed by the fear they will run out of social media content or that they will sound foolish in an interview. All these sound like simple and normal concerns. But much deeper issues quickly emerge when attempting to assist them
Helping the Helping Professional
Increasingly the work that I do with clients is to facilitate their spiritual evolution. Twenty-five years ago I would strictly demonstrate extrasensory perception. But, over the years what I viscerally experienced as spiritual deepened. The needs that clients presented also changed.
With age and experience my ethics and the outcomes I strive for with clients have changed. Wisdom has shown me the suffering that afflicts mankind only appears to be addressed by extrasensory perception. The truth as realized in my practice is that ESP is a tool to employ in service and not the antidote for suffering. Likewise, mediumship I have found, only breeds dependency on mental concepts and sentimentally through addiction to awe – fostering emotional and spiritual bypassing. It is for this reason I have developed a step-by-step psychic method for serving clients in very specific ways for very specific purposes and I do not deviate from these processes or the outcomes I strive for with clients.
When I first felt guided in this new direction I feared ruining my business and reputation. I was wrong. Where I was led has taught me patience, grace, and the skills to assist thousands in truly transformative ways. Which in turn has provided fulfillment beyond what I imagined possible when I was young.
Although coaching other helping professionals is still an integral part of my business, today I assist caregivers differently because of influencer culture. Once upon a time, I would help counselors understand their relationships with their clients and their business. I might teach the roles and responsibilities of caring for self and others in a therapeutic setting. And, I would guide clients who were coaches on how to negotiate the caregiver’s role personally and professionally as an empathic business person whose focus is helping others. But, what I have discovered over the last
several years is that nuanced vocational instruction and empathically attuned guidance on relational dynamics for caregivers are sometimes of no use to influencers who think they are life coaches. Why? Because when attempting to help them shift focus onto serving others their identity unravels causing panic.
Influencers who think they are healers are not helping professionals who have a solid functional sense of self. Often they are people trying to find themselves by achieving acclaim and financial security. Their clients are simply stepping stones to achieve personal greatness. Since influencers in this author’s experience, seem to have no ability to focus on anyone other than themselves, their life coach identity dissolves exposing core wounds when attempting to help them orient their business toward maximizing their client relationships in a manner that does not covertly serve their ego.
Under pressure, influencers lack the self-awareness and objectivity required to recognize their source of suffering is their covert focus on themselves. Yet, how can you convince someone of this without pushing their buttons? The answer is, very carefully.
Admittedly, it sounds completely illogical to tell anyone who is afraid for their own survival that focusing on serving others will benefit them professionally, personally, and financially. But this is exactly what must be done. For influencers to grow focus on personal needs must be replaced with aligning one’s needs with the vocational skills necessary to run their business in a manner that selflessly optimizes and prioritizes client well-being. This requires trusting the process. What is the process? Serving others and opening to the unknown by refraining from only accepting the imagined future one thinks they are entitled to.
Serving others and accepting reality as it spontaneously appears requires humility. This is the path for genuine caregivers. A caregiver’s greatness is measured only by their willingness to harmonize with life. Then, the rewards follow. The problem is humility is frightening for influencers because superiority is the source of their security in the form of wealth and acclaim. Yet, by pursuing money and fame they only ensure further suffering.
3 Ways Pursuing Money and Acclaim Harm Helping Professionals
In the realm of life coaching, no matter the kind, the ultimate goal is to empower individuals to achieve their personal and professional aspirations. Life coaches play a pivotal role in guiding their clients toward self-discovery, growth, and transformation. However, a significant number of coaches are drawn toward the allure of money and fame, often at the cost of their own success. In this article, we will explore the three ways in which an excessive focus on money and fame can undermine the effectiveness and fulfillment of life coaches.
- Dilution of Authenticity
One of the fundamental aspects of effective life coaching is authenticity. Clients seek out coaches who can empathize with their struggles and provide genuine support. When life coaches prioritize money and fame, they might be tempted to compromise their authentic selves to cater to popular trends or perceived expectations.
Coaches who prioritize financial gains over authenticity may start offering generic, one-size-fits-all solutions instead of tailoring their guidance to each client’s unique needs. This can lead to a lack of connection and trust between the coach and the client, ultimately diminishing the potential for meaningful and lasting change.
- Erosion of Client-Centered Focus
Successful life coaching is built on a strong foundation of client-centeredness. Coaches who genuinely prioritize their clients’ well-being are more likely to establish rapport and encourage open communication. However, an excessive focus on money and fame can shift the coach’s attention away from the clients and onto their own desires for recognition and financial gain.
When coaches become more concerned with their public image and growing their follower count, they might neglect the critical skill of active listening. This can result in superficial interactions and missed opportunities to truly understand and address their clients’ concerns. As a result, the coaching process becomes less effective, and clients may not experience the personal growth they were seeking.
- Ethical Compromises
A focus on money and fame can potentially push life coaches towards ethical gray areas. Coaches might be tempted to offer quick fixes or promise guaranteed outcomes to attract more clients, even if these promises are unrealistic. This not only damages the coach’s credibility but also raises ethical concerns about their intentions and integrity.
Furthermore, the pursuit of fame might lead coaches to prioritize self-promotion over the well-being of their clients. This can result in a conflict of interest, where coaches prioritize their own success and public image over the genuine betterment of their client’s lives. Such compromises can have long-term consequences for both the coach’s reputation and the client’s trust.
Final thoughts
While achieving financial success and recognition is not inherently wrong, life coaches, psychics, and healers of any ilk must be cautious. Fixating on money and fame – or even personal perfection in the form of demonstrating better psychic phenomena, diminishes authenticity, client-centeredness, and potentially ethical integrity. These are the cornerstones of an effective healing practice. Yes, we must learn business skills. But these cannot overtake the commitment to care for those we serve. Only by maintaining a genuine commitment to helping clients reach their goals through heartfelt presence by prioritizing their well-being, can coaches navigate away from the allure of superficial success and truly make a positive impact on the lives they aim to transform. The results then, will provide for you too.
