Inner Archeology with Sarah Turner & Emily Pennystone

Feb 16, 2022

While mindset plays a big part in success, it is not the only determining factor. Overemphasizing the role of mindset in the achievement of goals negates the other barriers that many people face in their daily lives. 

This is why it is infuriating to be told that your mindset caused you to fail if there were other factors at play. Many online coaches are guilty of this type of ‘mindset gaslighting’, a damaging practice that we will be addressing on today’s show. 

You’ll hear us weigh in on the cult of mindset, how it is being abused by coaches to sell or justify a failure in their program, and how it constitutes a form of gaslighting. We talk about how difficult it is to identify this type of gaslighting considering the fact that mindset often does play a large role in success. 

From there, our conversation moves to explore the marketing tactics of online coaches more broadly. We speak about examples of unethical marketing that exploits vulnerability, hearing Emily recount a time when she fell victim to a strategy like this. 

As Sarah is in the business of marketing, she talks about how this unethical marketing is so toxic and shares her approach which centers on respect for the client and the intention to help them make an empowered choice. Mentors have a responsibility to their students, so tune in today and hear our thoughts on how to structure your marketing with their best interests in mind.

Key Points From This Episode:

• How Emily got ordained and will be marrying Sarah and Ben.
• SEO hacks such as buying up all domain names that match searches in your niche.
• The problem with pet peeves and how to deal with them.
• How upsetting things are as a kid before you develop coping mechanisms.
• The special way you see things as a child and the value of remembering this.
• Factors other than mindset which play a role in success. 
• Mindset gaslighting: over-emphasizing the role of mindset and ignoring real limitations in peoples’ lives.
• How damaging it can be to be told your mindset caused your failure when it didn’t.
• How coaches are co-opting the belief in the power of mindset for their own advantage.
• The difficulty of pinpointing this issue when mindset often is the cause of failure.
• How people with negative mindsets can use this problem as a scapegoat too.
• The problem of coaches blaming the failure of their program on the mindset of a student.
• Responsibility Sarah feels to only take on fitting students into her program.
• An experience Emily had where a salesperson tried to sell her a program using unethical marketing.
• How unethical ‘bro’ marketing works by uncovering and exploiting vulnerability.
• Perspectives on training through empowerment seen in The Last Dance.
• Examples of success attained through harnessing masculine versus feminine energy.
• Understanding how sales techniques work as a way of becoming immune to them.
• How sales teams justify unethical marketing by the results the service they sell gets.
• Emily’s way of identifying when she is being manipulated.
• How much more ethical it is to respect your audience and treat them with care.
• The patriarchal origins of marketing and the need for diversity in the industry.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Inner Archeology Email

Sarah Turner on Instagram

Emily Pennystone on Instagram

Africa Brooke on Instagram

The Last Dance

Whiplash