Entrepreneur Spotlight focuses on amazing ladies who are rocking their online businesses.

This week we have the lovely Anita Marshall, who helps people to (re)-connect with soul and the natural inner wisdom 

Hi Anita, What’s your business name and what’s your business all about?

My business focuses on Natural Soul Awakening to help people to (re)-connect with soul and their natural inner wisdom through meditation, chakras, Earth and Moon Cycles. I also help people to discover their soul life purpose, and transform their blocks and challenges, through understanding and aligning with their soul plan/calling so that they can live an abundant fulfilled life.

What was your “Big Why” that drove you to start your business?

After suffering a TIA (Transient Ischaemic Attack) at the age of only 32, my doctor recommended for me to drastically reduce my stress levels because this meant I was at risk of a stroke.

The truth is, I had been burning out for a while. I began to hate my work, not that I would admit it. I worked long hours, and felt a lot of stress. Something inside me had changed – I no longer found designing IT systems satisfying, and started to try to reconnect with the passions of my younger self. So, on top of working long hours, I began studying for an art diploma, while also having to deal with a family bereavement, which brought up so many feelings. Something had to give, and it was me.

My doctor signed me off from work for eight weeks, which gave me space to re-evaluate my life. During this time, divine guidance intervened when I walked into a book shop, and a book about coaching yourself to make essential life changes actually fell off the shelf in front of me. I read it from cover to cover. Each and every exercise revealed more and more of my suppressed desires, and the blocks and excuses I had built to following my dreams.

How could I leave my well paid corporate job when I had a mortgage to go travelling? But how could I not! My health was on the line, and I knew I couldn’t continue as I had been. Unravelling the fears took time, but the seed for travel grew bigger and stronger. A voluntary role, to work with orangutans in Borneo, arrived in my inbox. This made my desire to travel blossom. I applied and was accepted as a volunteer to start in seven months’ time.

I formulated a six-month exit plan to leave my job, and after returning to work I told my boss I was resigning. They offered a sabbatical but I declined the offer. I cried in the meeting – I was not a hard-nosed corporate type, I was a sensitive soul who needed heart connection, who needed to connect with something that helped, and would make a difference to people’s lives. The tears provided relief and release. I no longer had to pretend to be something I was not. I was no longer going to have to do something which sucked the life out of me. I was going to be living, not existing.

Just six months after finding myself on the ground in the park where I had suffered my TIA, I handed over my pass and didn’t look back at the place I had worked at for the previous seven years. Three weeks later, I sat in the airport with my journal, writing the first page of a new chapter in my life, the one where I listened to my inner guidance and followed my dreams. Sixteen months of wonderful travelling adventures around Asia and India opened me up to a new world of spirituality, and the calmness and peace that I felt infused me deeply.

During those months, I learned as much as I could. I met so many lovely people, all struggling with finding purpose, and I discovered I had a natural ability to bring clarity to their lives. Often, as we went our separate ways, they would thank me for the insights I had given them and the clarity. Another seed was being sown and was growing.

After returning to the UK, I studied spiritual-based life coaching and counselling, and trained to become a soul plan teacher to help me to be able to offer a professional service using the gifts I had discovered. A Journey Into Soul was born eight years ago in a vision during a shamanic moon circle in the Hertfordshire Countryside. Everything felt so right, and there has not been a day since where I’ve had to motivate myself to work, because I adore what I do.

What lights you up about your business? 

What really lights me up is seeing the transformation people have in their lives after our sessions. The light bulb moments as they first discover why their life has been like it has… this is the soul plan perspective, and also helping them become empowered to transform the blocks and make changes in their lives, to create a life that resonates with their true essence and gives them a sense of purpose.

What do you get to do in your business that was not possible in your 9-5? 

Freedom to be who I am, freedom to do what’s aligned with my soul and not determined by someone else, and freedom to fit my work around my family so I can be with my two lovely boys. For that last part, I consider myself particularly blessed as I don’t miss out on those precious moments which pass so quickly. It was such a long and difficult journey to have children, but that is a separate story and, needless to say, I do not want to miss a moment.

What daily habits do you without fail, that make a positive impact on your business day?

Draw an Oracle Card for guidance for the day, count my blessings (gratitude) for all the abundance I have in my life (although with two young children this can be very hard….), and meditate – I try to at least start the day with ten meditative breaths, extending this if the youngest allows before the whole household is awoken!

Would you say you’re living the “freedom lifestyle” and how does it look and feel to you?

Yes – being able to work around my family is freedom, and the freedom to choose my own work schedule that suits my more ‘Night Owl’ tendencies.

Where do you see your business in two years’ time?

Supporting more people with soul awareness and alignment through a series of online training programs, using all the knowledge I’ve gained through my travels and training, and bringing it together to benefit others.

What’s the one piece of advice you’d like to give to a woman who’s considering starting a business, or who’s finding the initial set up of her business longer or a little trickier than expected?

Firstly, make sure it’s something you feel connected with and passionate about – a key indicator that it’s a soul-aligned business. Then use your uniqueness to bring the special sparkle to your business. It’s too easy to fall into the trap of trying to be like others or doing something because of someone else’s expectations of you, or because everyone else is doing it/done it that way, then that has to be the right way. We all have soul-given gifts, and it’s part of your soul plan to use them. That’s what creates a flow of abundance in life. Find and use your special gifts.

What’s your favourite motivational phrase/quote/mantra?

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. ~ Marcel Proust

Where can we see more about you and your delightful offerings? 

It was wonderful hearing about you and your business on the Entrepreneur Spotlight, Anita. Thank you for sharing with us, and my very best wishes to you for the future, Sharon xox

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