A little update about where the Package Your Genius podcast is going...

I haven't sat down to record an episode of Package Your Genius in eight months and for that, I need to be straight up with you and offer my sincerest apologies.

When the year started, I was in a season of searching that took me a little longer than it usually takes at the beginning of a new year. I knew I was on the cusp of a season of personal and business change - I can't tell you how I knew it, but I did know it. And for that reason, I believe my spirit was stuck in quicksand.

I kept trying to put my own plan together for 2020, but every time I'd try, I'd get nowhere. It was like God was saying - "Girl, no need for a plan right now. Stay flexible. Things are about to get weird..."

Then the pandemic hit, and the year began to unravel quickly. I had just launched a high-end group program for established personal brands - AGENCY - and as we onboarded new members, news of the pandemic spread. Two weeks into the new program, my kids' school shut down and transitioned to virtual classes. My husband's corporate job also went virtual so everyone was working from home. Four weeks into the new program, several of my clients reported lost revenue due to pandemic-related cancellations.

I was devastated, terrified, unnerved - you name it. I immediately went into my default recession mental programming. If you know my story, you know that when the Great Recession of 2007-2008 hit, I was laid off from my newspaper staff writer position with a newborn baby and my husband would soon lose his job as well. While I hunkered down and started the first iteration of my PR business, I remember feeling stressed and scared the entire time. In those early months, there was a lot of hitting and a lot of missing - and with a newborn baby, there was so much pressure to succeed for survival's sake.

Fast forward to this past spring, and my default story around uncertain economic times started to play in my head. I mean, it was visceral. I could literally feel the panic of 2007-2008 just as if I were once again a first-time twenty-something mother who had just lost her job. Like many parents, I wondered if my kids would mentally be okay spending so much time indoors and if any of us would catch the virus and get sick. I grieved not getting to visit my grandmother on her 90th birthday which coincided with the kids' spring break. More in line with my conditioning though, as I watched news of rising unemployment numbers in the USA, I worried if I would be okay if my clients' businesses would be okay and if I should brace for a season of drought and struggle.

But this time, I was far removed from that 2007 2008 version of myself as a business owner who's weathered her fair share of storms and built something profitable and sustainable - something I am proud of. But that didn't keep me from feeling the physical manifestation of anxiety, and replaying my recession story both mentally and physically.

My fear froze me.

I held off on launching the programs I'd had on my calendar for 2020. I took my focus off of myself and dove into supporting my children as they navigated classes on RingCentral and Zoom. I gave all my energy to my new program clients which paid off handsomely when I witnessed them clawing back to rebuild their 2020 revenues, outline and publish their books, raise six-figure sponsorships, host sold-out virtual events, and land a traditional book deal. I plan to record either a special podcast episode or virtual training on the specific lessons I learned about building your profits via your personal brand even during a pandemic.

But anyway, a few of my new agency clients ended up leaving the program early due to their own situations regarding COVID - one, in particular, was a hospital executive who was essentially living at the hospital and putting herself at risk every day to go to work. But some of the clients we onboarded that spring stayed for the full duration of the 6-month program and can I tell you, it was our weekly calls that kept me focused and productive so much so that I need to call them by name - Thank you Tamika, Amber, Tiffany, Kimberly, Tisa, Tanya, and Susan for giving me a place to put my mental focus on the days I wanted to spiral back into my old story.

Working with these ladies through the first months of the pandemic was so eye-opening - their courage to keep showing up and continue offering their gifts to the world inspired me to keep showing up and keep offering my gifts to them. In hindsight, working with them really got me through the worst of it - at least what has been the worst of it so far.

But back to what happened with the podcast. I knew about a year ago that I needed to pivot my mission and the content for this podcast because I'd started to veer into a new direction with what I was being called to share. Even though it would literally take me 5 minutes to make a list of 20 personal branding topics that would neatly fit under the package your genius umbrella, I prefer to share what is being channeled through me and give you the downloads directly from my source.

And those how-to service pieces were not coming through, okay? You probably noticed how you started hearing a lot about nature and purpose and finding your path much more than you heard about how to write a better bio or grow your audience on LinkedIn. Which is why I believe I lost my podcast voice for eight months. Until I was ready to claim this other more "woo woo" part of myself and my voice, I thought it was better to say nothing at all.

But I'm excited to announce I have decided to step into the new season of my voice and I've launched PURPOSESCAPING, my new podcast and platform to help you go deeper with your personal brand and clear a pathway to your purpose.

PURPOSESCAPING has been in the works for a while, but I'm happy to finally have the opportunity to share it with you. So if you're interested in where I'm going with my new level of thinking, search for PURPOSESCAPING wherever you listen to your podcasts and subscribe. I've also set up an Instagram account just for that brand and it's @purposescaping so please follow along and engage with me there.

Now. What does that mean for Package Your Genius? To be honest, I am not 100% sure just yet. However, I did feel like the content I've produced here up to this point is relevant to many of you, and may be relevant to people who discover me for the first time in the future. That's why I didn't rebrand Package Your Genius to PURPOSESCAPING and essentially erase it from the internet. I wanted to let it stand here as a resource to people who still want to check out these 150+ episodes as they may be relevant to wherever you are on your journey. Because everyone won't want to come along - I'm clear that PURPOSESCAPING is not for everybody.

Will I continue to update the Package Your Genius podcast? As I see it now, I definitely won't be updating the podcast as regularly as I did before, however I still have tactical content from time to time that would probably make more sense to share here, so I may publish at least one episode or interview here per month. We'll see. I'm not putting a ton of pressure on it as PURPOSESCAPING is my major focus right now. But again, as I have tactical personal branding nuggets to share, I plan to share them with you here.

For example, next week I'm hosting one of my longtime students and clients, diversity consultant Amber Cabral in conversation with an acquisitions editor at Wiley Press. They're going to be discussing how to land a traditional book deal as an expert without a huge following, so I may come back on and share a few nuggets from that conversation. If you would like to participate in that live and hear from the book editor and about Amber's experience attracting the attention of a major publisher and landing a book deal in the middle of a pandemic, we are making that conversation a bonus to people who preorder a copy of her book Allies and Advocates, so watch our social media for those details. I'm @packageyourgenius and she's @bamcabral

Last announcement, I am excited to open the doors for another group of students of Package your Genius Academy in November. This group will be a little different - I plan to work with this group over 6 months instead of the traditional 3 so we'll get a chance to GO DEEPER into the concepts, and lean into the brand-building challenges. We'll be embedding much of the new PURPOSESCAPING framework into how I teach. If you've been looking to package your genius finally and feel that now is the time check it out. If you want to work with someone and be in community for at least six months, and you have the time to invest as well as the financial resources to invest, reach out. This is a program, not a course and will be priced as such.

We're looking for individuals who are

committed to branding the most authentic version of who they are,
ready to step into the NEXT LEVEL of their gift,
high achievers who feel like they've reached a level of success that may impress other people but they know they are being called to do more - even if friends and family think they're crazy for wanting to do more
tired of just doing what they CAN do - what they have the talent, expertise, and skills to do - or what others recruit them to do. We want to work with people who are on a journey to find their true purpose and the work they were BORN to do.
We're looking for coachable clients who understand their PR/Marketing gaps and want to grow. We're looking for those who are willing to be brave and try new things even if they don't understand why you're being asked to do it.

Is that you? If so, apply to work with my team and I at packageyourgeniusacademy.com but make sure you do so in the next day or so as we're reviewing applications and getting qualified applicants onboarded soon so we can start next month.

We're not doing a long involved launch this time around - I really want to touch people who are already in my orbit and are familiar with what I'm about so no hard sell here. If you hear about it you hear about it, and if it speaks to you it speaks to you. Because I truly believe the people who are meant to join me over the next few months will hear about it and find their way to applying.

That's all for now - know that I've missed you terribly, and I'm grateful to each and every one of you who has given me a reason to turn on my microphone and record into the void. If you've listened this far, be sure to let me know by saying hi on social media, I'm @packageyourgenius on Instagram - and as always don't forget to rate the show and give us a review if you're so inclined.

PURPOSESCAPING with Amanda Miller Littlejohn