We were lucky to catch up with Annelies Gentile recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Annelies thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.
Before I worked for myself as a creative, I worked on Broadway as a hair, wig and makeup designer. I was young(er) and loved the intensity, travel when on tour and the idea of getting paid to do hair– something that was second nature to me. I’ve been cutting hair since age 11.
But by age 27, I was burned out for all the reasons I loved it. The intensity, travel and quite frankly the surface focus. I didn’t feel I was using my life force and creativity wisely. I was really struggling and I didn’t know a way out and didn’t have any support.
So I quit and took up blacksmithing… because– that made sense! ;)
Well, eventually it did make sense many years later. I realized that taking up blacksmithing taught me a lot about resilience. And working on Broadway taught me a lot about creative collaboration. My personal experience with burnout taught me a lot about myself and addictive behaviors to work. All this insight led me on a path to study the creative process and how it relates to well-being, leadership and spirituality.
Five years after I quit Broadway, I started college at the age of 31 and began a ten year journey on a whole new path towards eventually starting my business Conduit for Change, LLC in 2008.
I published my book “From Chaos to Calm Leading Change from the Inside Out” in 2018 and now have been in business nearly 18 years.
I had no path and no idea where I was going when I quit in 2000. But it was a risk I needed to take because the pain of staying the same was more painful than the risk of trying something new.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I believe everyone deserves continuous opportunities to flourish, to seek truth and freedom, and to discover their relationship to the whole. I trust most are ready for a profound discovery like no other. I’m here to help you see the awe in it all.
Through life and leadership coaching, speaking, arts integration, and creative facilitation I help people connect to what’s missing and to make meaning out of change.
🔥 From eliminating burnout
🎨 to nurturing ideas, leadership and creative expression
💀 to tending grief associated with change, I help you navigate uncertainty with courage, creativity and grace.
Conduit for Change, LLC is a unique resource for creative transformation serving individuals, organizations, groups, teams, families and audiences through an integrative approach that’s experiential, intermodal and presence-based, ie: whole person/whole system.
Influencing all levels of change from micro to macro, I coach one-to-one, facilitate groups, lead retreats, ceremony, and inspire as a speaker, teacher and artist.
I help people across diverse fields of faith, government, healthcare, law, education, non-profits, arts, tech, science and sales from mid-life to end of life.
How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?
I make phone calls to clients a few times a year even if they haven’t seen me for years. I’ll leave a message and share a video text just reminding them I’m thinking of them.
It’s a process but it’s imperative because my business is 100% referral fed and some clients come back or refer me for other engagements like speaking.
I also publish a newsletter that I’ve been sharing for 16 years. This is also a process. But generally my clients are not engaged too much in social media so I need to stay connected with them by staying top of mind. They may not open it or read the whole thing but at least I’m showing up in their email box which is better than leaving fate to an algorithm.
I do have a 40% to 60% open rate for my newsletters. So something is working there.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Every day is a pivot. When you work for yourself you have to be willing to adjust in the moment and overtime. Paying attention to patterns can save your business.
I had 500 fabric masks printed with my art and logo, sewn with elastics, and packaged for sale and shipment with a new page in my website ready to go– six weeks before covid shut down– SIX WEEKS BEFORE!
No one told me to do this. I hadn’t read any one article stating a trend. It was a collection of noticings over a few months that informed a pattern that led to this action to manufacture masks. I had a feeling I couldn’t ignore.
It was quite an investment but I had been paying attention to patterns and took a risk that paid off and carried me for the next two years which also became apart of client loyalty because I cared to care and provided something thoughtful and artful at a time when life was frightening and uncertain. That’s a lesson for life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://conduitforchange.com/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/conduit-for-change-llc?trk=public_profile_topcard-current-company
- Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/user/conduitforchange
- Other: https://conduitforchange.com/the-book
Image Credits
Photos by Annelies Gentile