No, I love what you’ve written here (you too, @Tzaddi — late to the party is when the cool people come!), and it’s helpful for me to revisit this a couple of months later.

I’m definitely feeling more comfortable in this space than I was when the blog first got going, and it’s been fun doing tiny ongoing adjustments and tweaks along the way.

Getting comfortable with presenting what I do in a very open “Hi, this is who I am!” kind of way was a big part of growing my business, and the next round has been getting comfortable with not always following conventional wisdom or really any wisdom/advice for that matter.

Business really does seem to be all about whatever you need the most. So it’s themes of trust and stability and authenticity and all the other stuff we all work on.

But it’s great to see people coming here and totally GETTING IT even if I’m breaking a bunch of rules.

And yeah: many experts, many opinions. Always back to the red velvet rope. And the duck!

So my feedback, because I know YOU’VE BEEN WAITING:

Love the colors. Love the design overall, it’s head & shoulders over 99% of what I see.

If one is stuck + the kind of person who would like to work with you (red velvet rope again), I think “destuckification” works perfectly. I personally think “destuckification” is a benefit. The state of destuckness is a very desirable place to be.

It’s so funny to read these comments, because I think it points to how we feel like there’s a Right Answer and a Wrong Answer, and really it just depends absolutely on who you’re trying to talk to. 100 different experts will give you 100 different answers, and that doesn’t mean any of them is bad or wrong or a sham. If your stuff gets a good response from the people you want to reach, you’re on a good path. If it doesn’t get a response, or gets a response from people who aren’t a good match, it’s not the right path. But it could be a perfect path for James or GirlPie or me or Naomi.

Someone stop me or I will start singing Kumbaya.

Sonia Simones last blog post..Objection Blaster Series #2: The Zen of Selling

I love the colours and readability on your site. They are very readable to me, and calm and fitting. I find sites that are too black/white/red hard on my eyes for extended reading, especially if they use light text on a dark background.

Your tag line and the word “sampler” made perfect sense to me.

Good improvement on the little bit next to your photo.

If I had to nitpick any language I’d say there’s only one Internet. But hey, I’m a geek, and that’s just one more thing that makes you YOU.

Tzaddis last blog post..A meeting with the Walrus

Your site is a reflection of you, your style. You want to attract the people who are most attracted to you, the people with less resistance to self-helpyness – the audience to whom you can be of the most help. I see the duck and your style as your filter for the clients you can really benefit.

The fact that you work with a duck, your personality, and the look and feel of your site are all extensions of you, conveying your Havi-specific message, which presents the first challenge to internal resistance within your audience: “Am I willing to suspend my disbelief (in myself) in the form of disdain for the duck and/or Havi’s wordishness, just enough to entertain the scary notion that I may actually be capable of being helped to express myself and whoa…learn to love myself?!”

That’s a scary proposition, especially when you throw Selma into the mix. But that’s exactly the point! Accepting Selma is the first step outside the comfort zone that defines and limits what we believe about ourselves and the world around us. If we can look past the duck, the clever turns of phrases, to see Havi’s mission and even better, choose to accept it, we’ve just made ourselves into a client worth talking to and willing to be helped.

To be sure, certain pr/marketing/online advertising rules are there for a reason – as guidelines for what’s most effective when targeting to a mass market. The mass marketing principle that applies to you: Your message needs to be clear. I think it is. I get it loud and clear. Got it from the start – rewrite your patterns, destuckificiation, whatever… I’m your audience. I’m not part of the mass market. I’m a person who was not only looking for the self-helpy/self-actualization services you offer, but even more importantly, I had dropped enough layers of resistance to be open to using your extraordinary services.

Keep on keeping on, in your signature Havi n’ Selma way,

Getting unstuck with a little help from Havi and her duck can help you make major life changes. I’m living proof of that.

xo

Libby

Brandon Watkinss last blog post..brandonw: My cat is in my lap asleep, squirming around. He must be having a dream. I wonder if it’s a good one?

(cue up billy Joel piano schmaltz)

“don’t go changing…” changes are like birthdays…

“to try and please me…” when you come to me I can’t come to you…

“I love you just the way you are…” just keep building your body of work, sweetheart…

you are an original, dear. the rules don’t apply to you. in a year they will simply describe you. stay focused on your own wonderful vision. lots of people don’t get tim burton either.

I went to you and Harry specifically asking for outsider perspective, knowing that it was this very quality of outsider-ness that had immeasurable value for me. And I got it. And am seriously happy to have it.

Got way, way more good stuff than I’d hoped for, and am truly enjoying the learning process.

I also knew you guys weren’t going to expect me to follow all your advice and that you’d respect my work-in-progress for what it is. You guys proved me right on that too.

@ everyone else – I also asked you guys, who read my stuff, to tell me what you think. And got plenty of thoughtful, insightful replies (nearly as many via email as in the comments).

Just so you know, I appreciate the hell out of it. And now have a bunch of useful angles to think about.

More interesting for me is that these people commenting and writing to me are not people who know me in the real world or even people who met me at a workshop.

These are all people who found me through the magic of the internets and at some point decided to email me to say “cool beans” or whatever.

Something’s working, because this stuff is helping total strangers … and that’s inspiring. And yeah, there is more stuff that can work. Or work better.

And I’m all for tweaking and playing to figure out how to help my right people feel at home.

Right now I’m just happy to have such bright, caring people sharing their thoughts with me on this, even if each of us is drawing his or her own conclusions about what the right way is. *blows kiss at everyone reading*

As for the rest…

Havi, you have a great readership who seem to be very loyal and firm with their opinions. We’ve given you our professional opinion of an outsider’s view, as you requested, and I think you’re smart enough to know what’s worthy advice while leaving what you feel doesn’t work for you.

Cheers.