“My spiritual practices have come out of having a business, which forces you to do a lot of self-development and self-discovery. Along the way I’ve discovered a whole host of spiritual practices that aid me in business and in the rest of my life,” says marketing expert and entrepreneur Josephine Brooks…
Josephine Brooks is a marketing expert, helping coaches and course creators to build funnels. While recovering from burnout, she discovered spiritual practices that could help with both business success and maintaining a better work-life balance.
Were you raised in a spiritual home?
Definitely not. My mum was a total hippie in her teenage years and early 20s but then almost swung the other way completely by the time I came along.
I remember learning about spells and wiccan witches in my early teens, and she was very unhappy about it and suspicious of it.
She did encourage me to write to the fairies though. This all started when I wrote to the tooth fairy and got a response. I was so enchanted by it I started writing notes to the fairies and hiding them in the woods near our house.
In my nearest town there was the most magical shop called The Faerie Shop where they would sell flower fairy books and ‘fairy dust’ – that only deepened my certainty that fairies were real. I’m gutted it’s now closed.
My spiritual practices have come out of having a business – which forces you to do a lot of self-development and self-discovery. Along the way I’ve discovered a whole host of spiritual practices that aid me in business and in the rest of my life.
You believed in fairies as a child, did you hold onto any magical beliefs as you grew up?
I believed in fairies and Santa Claus for a long time, much longer than most children. But I lost those beliefs in my teens and it wasn’t until my late twenties when I started to discover spiritual practices, and more importantly started to take them seriously and see the power in them, rather than thinking of them as silly fluff.
What role does spirituality play in your life now?
I use tarot as a way to tap into my intuition and dig up answers that are hiding within myself but beneath the fear, ‘should’ and opinions that we’re all exposed to. When I’m stuck on a dilemma I’ll do a celtic cross tarot spread. When I’m starting my day I’ll pull a tarot card to help guide me and get focussed.
Tarot for me always strikes a chord. There’s always a way of reading it that rings true for me, so I’d say this was my most powerful spiritual tool.
I’ve also recently discovered breathwork from going away on a business retreat. I thought it would be a lovely relaxing session – how wrong I was. My mind was blown by the experience, I had a really clear and powerful vision that came with a message that I obviously needed to hear, as it triggered such an emotional reaction. I can’t wait to try it again.
Tell us about your business….
I help coaches and course creators power up their passive income and stop relying on launches and social media for sales – by helping them to build value-driven sales funnels and implement sustainable marketing strategies.
So… it’s far from spiritual. Naturally I am a very logical, practical person who operates from my masculine. Spirituality helps me access my more feminine side and helps me look at things from a different angle.
How my business looks now, came out of a tricky time with burnout. It was the constant churn of creating marketing content, launching, social media and the general hustle that led me to burnout. Hitting pause on my business and completely rebuilding it from the ground up enabled me to create a business where spirituality is a bigger part of it (although it sits behind the scenes of what I do).
I no longer rely on exhausting marketing strategies or social media, and that’s enabled me to slow down and really tune into my intuition, trust myself more and do what’s right for me (which my spiritual practices help me with massively).
How does SQ help you, in business?
A lot of the time spirituality in my business is about helping me find clarity, and helping me stay in my lane – following my own intuition and self-trust rather than getting side-tracked by fear, or what other people on the internet are doing/ saying/ having success with.
No longer having social media on my phone has helped massively with this (I only ever use it on desktop now which is far less addictive). Not having social media in my life so much has allowed me to really connect with my spiritual practices and get so much more from them.
And in terms of your wellbeing?
It’s tempting to just use spirituality as a productivity or ‘success’ hack in business, and I have to be mindful of that.
For my own wellbeing I’ve become a To Be Magnetic fan girl. Sure, on the surface it’s all about manifesting, but when you get inside it’s really about healing your inner child. I love doing the ‘Deep Imaginings’ (which are hypnotherapy recordings to help you work through different stages in your childhood or different elements or where you’re getting stuck). I was surprised at how well they work for me but little by little I’m seeing quite a shift from making time to listen to one before bed, two or three nights a week.
What are your daily SQ practices?
- Tarot – a daily card to help ground and guide me
- Morning journaling – which includes noting down at least three, specific things I’m grateful for
- A journaling exercise or listening to a ‘Deep Imagining’ from To Be Magnetic
When I’m struggling with a question or going through a tough time I’ll usually dial up what I’m doing or do a more in depth tarot spread.
Do you have a physical SQ toolkit (tarot, gems etc)?
I have a set of beautiful tarot cards by Lisa Junius and I also have a clear quartz – I don’t really know what I’m doing with crystals, but I love the shape and clarity of it and I tend to hold it when I’m doing my tarot for some extra clarity.