Ruth Poundwhite [00:00:00]:
Q4 is imminent, so let me take you behind the scenes of how I am setting myself up for a big sales boost in the last three months of the year and what I’m doing both strategically and personally before I dive in. If you would love some support to boost your own Q4 sales in a way that feels soulful and not like you have to push harder. I am hosting a free masterclass on October 8th and AI shortcuts to boost your Q4 sales without burning out. I’m going to show you how to use gentle human first AI strategies to make the most of this season without sacrificing your voice, your values or your energy. You can sign up for that@ruthpoundwhite.com w Q4 and I will pop that link in the show notes as well.

Ruth Poundwhite [00:00:49]:
Welcome to the Soulful Sales show where we talk about believing in the value.

Ruth Poundwhite [00:00:54]:
Of your offers, getting them in front.

Ruth Poundwhite [00:00:56]:
Of your right people and selling more.

Ruth Poundwhite [00:00:58]:
And what you do in your unique way. Hi and welcome back to another episode of the Soulful Sales Show. I am really excited to be talking about what I’m talking about today and I know that people listening probably have mixed feelings. Like there is a lot of noise like let’s be real about Q4 being the best quarter of the year and all the things you need to do to prep for Q4 and all this stuff. It can get a bit noisy and overwhelming but but I am excited about it and I’m hoping that what I’m going to share is going to cut through that noise a little bit for you and help you to feel excited and empowered to have your best quarter yet this year. Let me rewind a bit and talk about my Q4 in 2024 because it was amazing. So I had just finished my, I think it was my third annual Soulful Sales Summit and spoiler alert, the Soulful Sales Summit is coming back in early 2026. So yeah, I just finished.

Ruth Poundwhite [00:01:55]:
My summit is traditionally a very energy, intense process for me and I have experienced burnout off the back of summits before, but I was feeling fired up after this summit. It was a really nice shift in my energy and I decided to set myself a challenge to have an incredible Q4. I set myself this challenge in September off the back of the summit and I did a number of different things to make that happen. Now obviously I’m not going to go into loads and loads of detail because I want to keep this short and sweet and I don’t just want to focus on the past. I Want to focus on the future. But the key things I did was I set myself a public challenge. So by public, I mean I sold this as an offer to get my behind the scenes updates. You can still get it.

Ruth Poundwhite [00:02:41]:
It’s called the 200 member experiment. If you go to my website, ruth£white.com everything it is on there, some of my soulful sales society members had bonus access to it as well. So I set myself that challenge publicly to get 200 new members by the end of the year. It was a massive, ridiculous goal. I did not complete it by the end of the year, but I did get over 100 new members by the end of the year and I did complete the 200 new members in time. So I set myself a stretchy challenge. I also made a decision to stop worrying about posting on Instagram or not. So my capacity was being taken up by this question of should I, shouldn’t I be using Instagram and social media? And I just decided to free up that capacity by making the decision that in October 2024 I would not be posting on Instagram and I would instead send an email every single day.

Ruth Poundwhite [00:03:29]:
That was another experiment that I ran for myself, the daily emails. And actually, I think that was the biggest catalyst in boosting my sales in Q4. Now I know that you might have feelings about that and it might not be the way you want to run your business, but it was a huge boost for my sales. Just having so much time to connect with my people on a daily basis. I sold a ton of offers. And in those three months, actually, I think so. I didn’t keep up the daily emailing through the whole of Q4, but in the final three months of 2024, I sold about six or seven different things. Now, it’s not as much as it may sound because some of it was like behind the scenes, like upgrade your membership to annual, I think.

Ruth Poundwhite [00:04:14]:
What else did I. I can’t remember off the top of my head all the things I sold, but they weren’t all big, big things. A lot of them were laid back, launching. And I think it was also the mindset shift. Like I decided I am not wasting my energy anymore on thinking about whether I should show up on Instagram or not. I’m going to focus my energy on connecting with my people in the way that I find easiest and most effective, which is email marketing. I am stretching myself publicly to give myself skin in the game, to, to push myself. And because I had that 200 member experiment, I absolutely pushed myself.

Ruth Poundwhite [00:04:49]:
You might think that that all sounds like a lot and that it would take up a ton of energy. And yes, I was making a commitment to stretch, but probably not as much as you might think. And actually sending daily emails really interestingly made emailing easier. It made me feel more comfortable with sending shorter emails and it helped me to improve my system for writing those emails. And actually I am still reaping the rewards from that today, a year later. So I would say that that challenge I set myself at the beginning of Q4 was a huge catalyst for having my best quarter. It was my absolute best quarter in business. The year 2024 was not looking amazing and actually the first half of the year had been really, really tough for personal reasons and I could not show up the way I wanted.

Ruth Poundwhite [00:05:38]:
So this boost that I had in Q4 made up a lot for the tough year that it had been so far. And I ended the year really strong. It was brilliant. So I absolutely intend to do that again this year. I am also even more fired up to make the most of this quarter because I have just run a summit. I have just brought in about 1200 new people to my email list, which is a huge boost. So I really want to connect with those people. Maybe you are one of them.

Ruth Poundwhite [00:06:08]:
And I really, really want to connect with you and obviously share my offers with you as well. And if they’re right for you, great. If they’re not, I still have loads of fun stuff going on to do with me instead. So what am I doing differently this year? I haven’t decided yet whether I’m going to do my daily email experiment. Actually, I have decided I’m not going to do it daily, but I am absolutely giving myself permission to email more regularly as I think that was a key driver in boosting my Q4 sales in 2024. And there are a few other things that I’m doing the same as well. So one of the things I experimented with and I would not have done if not my 200 member experiment was doing a special offer for my low ticket membership, which I’m certainly going to do again for Black Friday this year. So watch this space.

Ruth Poundwhite [00:06:55]:
I am also going to do a bigger pre Black Friday sale. I deliberately did it before Black Friday last year because it’s noisy out there. I will say I don’t think there’s any perfect time to avoid the noise around Black Friday. It was noisy before Black Friday, it was noisy during Black Friday and it was noisy after Black Friday. There is no perfect time, but I’m probably going to do the same timing this year. So the only tricky part with that is I haven’t decided what my offer is yet. So I need to decide that asap. And actually myself and my mastermind group, we call ourselves the Weird Hermits, are Getting Together on 9 October at 12pm Eastern 5pm UK to talk about prepping Black Friday.

Ruth Poundwhite [00:07:35]:
So definitely I’m going to put the link to that in the show notes. Definitely add that to your calendar. It’s pitch free. People are loving these round table discussions that we’re doing, by the way. So if you’re thinking about Black Friday, definitely come to that. I also have a course about it in my Soulful Sales Society membership. So yeah, I’m repeating sending more emails. I am repeating doing a Black Friday offer.

Ruth Poundwhite [00:07:57]:
Actually two technically Black Friday offers. I am also continuing to keep my channels of communication simpler. So more email, don’t worry about Instagram. So that’s the stuff that I’m doing the same. Do I want the same results as last year? I want to grow from last year, so therefore I can’t be doing things all the same. So here’s what I’m doing differently now. The first thing was I have just off the back of my summit, spent four days focusing on my bigger vision and goals. Now, let me just be really honest with you.

Ruth Poundwhite [00:08:30]:
As a side note, I would find it very hard to prioritize spending four days on that had it not been for Susie Ashworth’s live event in London. Infinite Receiving really forced me to do that. Spend some time alone in a hotel. I walked around the streets of London a lot, processing and I spent a lot of time reconnecting to my goals and vision. It was super, super helpful. Usually I would take myself out for a day. So four days was a real luxury and it really got me thinking about the goals I had at the start of the year and whether I’m willing to recommit to them. Because there is still time.

Ruth Poundwhite [00:09:08]:
There is still time. So I really want to say this to you because I had actually, before I spent that four days, I had actually let go of the big goals that I had at the start of the year. So I have a very specific money goal of how much I want to pay myself after all taxes have been paid. And I had just decided that that was not possible and that was not happening. And at this event and we were working a lot on our mindset and our doubts and what’s getting in the way, I realized that the only thing getting in the way of me making that Goal real by the end of the year is my belief that it is possible. And even if I believe it is possible and end up disappointed, I know I am gonna achieve so much more than I would have if I just let it go and decided now and truly, I had decided months ago that this goal wasn’t possible. So I am really fired up about that goal again. So I would definitely invite you to think about the goals you set at the beginning of the year.

Ruth Poundwhite [00:10:03]:
Or maybe you didn’t set any goals at the beginning of the year, but something that you have in your heart that you’re kind of letting go of, you’re not keeping front of mind and ask you, can you be real with yourself? Like, what is stopping you from going for that goal still? We still have three more months left of this year. What might change if you continue to hold on to that goal versus letting it go? Even if you don’t hit the goal, even if you end up disappointed, can you handle being disappointed if it means that you’re going to do something greater as a result of having this goal? So that’s one thing that I am changing. I didn’t have this goal last year and I’m recommitting to it this year. And another thing that I am changing is I’m actually letting go of a few of my offers. So if you’re on my email list, you would have seen I’ve already sent out the announcement that my Aligned offers program is retiring. I have a couple of other offers in mind to retire. These are really great offers. They have helped a lot of people and actually they have been instrumental in the success of my business.

Ruth Poundwhite [00:11:02]:
But the way that I’m structuring my ecosystem of offers is changing. I also talk a lot about trusting your intuition, and I’m kind of practicing what I preach in that way. And this was, again, something that came up over that event was that I have to let go to make space for what’s next. And I think kind of like where I was last year with Instagram, taking a lot of space in my brain thinking about, should I do this? Should I post on Instagram, Should I not? Some of these offers are taking up that kind of space in my brain where I’m like, should I run it live? Should I sell this again? Should I do a live cohort? Or should I just sell it on Evergreen? And actually I want to make space for what is coming next. So I’m actually letting go of a few of my offers and the way that I’ve decided to do it is just to do a really short and sweet laid back email based retirement sale in between other things I’m doing and then the other thing I’m doing differently is I have a new offer come in. And again, this was an offer actually that I conceived and mapped out probably six months ago and it makes me almost embarrassed to share that. But actually I think it will be helpful for me to share it. I have wrestled internally with the.

Ruth Poundwhite [00:12:13]:
I don’t know what it is. I think it’s because it’s a bit different to what I’ve done before and I have been fired up and almost planned to launch it and then held back and then not launched it. And honestly the, the story that I have internally about it now is that I should have launched it back then and I have missed out by not doing it. That story is not serving me right now. What would serve me is just to decide that okay, yesterday might have been the best time, but the second best time is to do it now. So I am launching a new offer that should be coming mid October and that is what I am doing differently. And I’m also doing differently using AI to support me a lot with my strategy, with my own self coaching. I do have a coach as well.

Ruth Poundwhite [00:12:59]:
I’m using AI for self coaching as well. And I have really, really perfected my strategy for using AI to create content. Still very, very important for me to share my unique voice in my content. I never want to copy and paste from AI, but it is a shortcut and a support that I am owning more and more. Because I think before I was using it, but I didn’t necessarily feel okay about it. I guess there was something like will you judge me if I’m saying I’m using it? But I think we all know that AI is here to stay and if we can use it to support the tasks that we have to do again and again and again, it leaves us more space for the creativity and for the unique, unique magic and for the connection that we get to have with our people. So that is something else I’m doing differently. And I’m kind of seeing October as my month for setting up more and more AI systems.

Ruth Poundwhite [00:13:53]:
So for example, I do a regular guided journaling session, an intention setting session in my seven dollar a month soulful growth club membership. And you know, it follows the same format every time. There’s a, there’s a check in prompt, there’s a visualization, there’s a journal prompt, there’s an intention prompt and then I close with a quote or an affirmation. And I’ve only just now created a custom GPT to help me map out those sessions. Let me tell you, all I needed to do to create that custom GPT was to upload a bunch of my transcripts from past calls and let AI do its thing. And it took me 10 minutes. I have been avoiding creating this custom GPT for ages. So I have decided that I’m no longer avoiding setting up the systems that can make things easier for me.

Ruth Poundwhite [00:14:37]:
And actually, spoiler alert, that’s a lot of what the new offer is about. So, yeah, some of the same energy from last year, but better systems and structure in place for this year, plus letting go of some of the old stuff and going for this new goal as well. And actually there are some kind of personal and more spiritual ways that I’m supporting myself, and I think I’m going to save that for a separate episode because I really do want to keep this short and sweet. But I guess my invitation for you is how do you want to approach your Q4? Do you want to decide that it gets to be the best month of the year? Finance, not month, the best quarter of the year financially, but without you burning out and having to push harder? Because that is definitely what I am deciding for myself. And if so, what do you need to do and who do you need to be in order to make that happen? What support do you need, what do you need to commit to, what do you need to let go of, and what goal do you need to be brave enough to hold throughout the quarter? Now, I do have a few things coming up. Well, I definitely have one thing, maybe two things. I haven’t decided on the second thing yet to help you with your Q4 goals and how you go about reaching them. So I am doing a free masterclass on 8th October.

Ruth Poundwhite [00:15:55]:
It’s all about using AI shortcuts to boost your Q4 sales without pushing harder and burning out. So I’m going to share you a few AI strategies that align with your energy, your values and your personality to help you sell more, including some of the systems that I was just talking about that are helping me right now. So if that sounds good for you, then come and sign up for that free masterclass. You can sign up for that at ruthpoundwhite.com forward/w forward/q4. Like I said, the day after that, on October 9th, we’re also doing our Weird Hermits Mastermind roundtable all about prepping for Black Friday sales, which I think is a really, really important thing to be thinking about. By the way, you don’t have to be doing it like everyone else is saying you should, but it’s really, really helpful to think about the possibilities of how do I get to kind of. I don’t really want to use this phrase, but take advantage of the energy of the season and the buying and stuff, but in a way that suits me without reinventing the wheel, without adding loads of extra to my plate. We’re definitely going to be talking about that, so you can add that one to your calendar from the link that I’ll put in the show notes as well.

Ruth Poundwhite [00:17:05]:
And yeah, I will record another episode about the more personal of this another time. So anyway, I hope that that was helpful. I hope you feel fired up for a powerful Q4, but without hustling. And yeah, I would be very curious to hear if there is a goal that you are committing to or recommitting to like I am. So yeah, get out there and make your commitments. Let go of what is not serving you. And here’s to a an amazing Q4 for all of us.

Ruth Poundwhite [00:17:31]:
Thank you so much for listening to another episode of Soulful Sales. If you have a moment to rate and review, know that if you it really does make a difference and if you’d like to carry on the conversation then you can connect with me on Instagram at Ruth Pound White. Sign up to my newsletter@ruthpoundwhite.com forward slash newsletter or my personal favorite. Join me inside the Low Ticket membership at RuthPoundWhite.com forward/membership and keep doing what you’re doing because your work really does matter.