Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ann King. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Ann , thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

I grew up knowing I would never go to college. I was in a small New England town, in a large family, with parents who had not graduated from high school. I left home early for good reasons and put a roof over my head while I also finished high school. When my friends came home from their first semester of college for Christmas break, they said I belonged at college, that I just had to find a way to go. They said my people were there. They explained financial aid and work study programs and the state college they were attending had a new leader who was talking a lot about providing opportunity to kids that couldn’t normally go to college. I decided to take a very big risk.

I gave notice at my job, I gave notice at my apartment, I sold my belongings if they didn’t fit in two suitcases. I asked my friends to take me back to school with them, to that state college with the new leader. All we talked about in that over packed car on the way to college was what I would do if this didn’t turn out the way I was hoping it would. I had just turned 17 years old in December. I didn’t have a family to fall back on. I could be both homeless and jobless in less than 48 hours. They dropped me at the president’s cottage. I stood at the street for a few minutes in the dark and the cold before walking up the shoveled path to the door. I knew in that moment that whether he helped me or not, I was going to college. Maybe in a year. Maybe in two years but I would make it happen. I went to his door, and I rang the doorbell. I asked him if he would help me go to college. While we talked, I realized the risk was greater for him than for me. I had nothing to lose.

I paid off that first semester by the time I graduated from college. Of course, I had other student loans that needed to be paid – but the cost of that first semester – that was owed directly to the college and co-signed by the college president. I had never taken college prep classes or even an SAT test, so my performance that first semester is what determined whether or not I could be officially admitted.

Ann , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I stand for authenticity, healing, and wholeness. How will we become healed if we can hide our wounds from ourselves? How will we become entirely human or whole if we can’t find safe spaces to discover and explore who we are? Being psychic and being a business geek is a great combination for challenging stereotypes in both camps. It also makes me more effective in each arena.

Small business owners are risk takers and I love supporting them. I coach on how to work from strengths, build resilience, create trust with customers and employees, and the creation of support networks. I work with a lot of couples who need a business consultant to make their relationship at least as important as their business.

In my psychic sessions, my clients chose the focus of their sessions. To me, every session is important, and I don’t have judgements about what people “should” be focused on. If five besties want to share a bottle of wine and ask the psychic silly questions this is just as important to me as three siblings who fly in from different cities to have a conversation with their deceased mom. In every session, I support risk taking and I want to demonstrate a positive example of embracing wholeness and authenticity.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

I foster brand loyalty in a very organic and authentic way. On a tactical level, I run unadvertised specials each quarter that are only available for past customers. And I’m always happy to respond to a client who sends me a text. For example, scheduling with me directly instead of using the appointment setting option on-line. I have a program that provides a credit to anyone after they refer three clients. A lot of my regulars gift the credit to someone – and that is a bonus for both of us as well. I reach out personally to thank each individual who refers me or leaves a review.

At a strategic level, less focus on technology and more focus on relationships has been key to brand loyalty and staying connected to why I do what I do. I support my customers on their self-development and self-creation journeys and that means focusing on what I think will get them to the next milestone. Sometimes, that is not me. A variety of teachers and service providers helps each of us discover how we learn, and what we respond to best. I complete a meditation every morning to connect with gratitude to all of my past clients and sometimes I receive a strong signal or a person’s name becomes prominent in my mind. When that happens, I reach out to the person just to connect.

My brand is about helping others become the person they want to be. Connecting my customers to information, knowledge, products, people, events, feelings, and tools that will help them on their journey is something I strive to be good at. My desire to help others be successful on their own unique path is sincere. This is what’s key to the brand loyalty I have built with my clients.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Of course, there are! Learning about strengths-based leadership and organizations significantly changed my thinking about how to work with others. Books, classes and presentations about The Enneagram and EmerGenetics have been hugely useful towards supporting a strengths-based perspective. I use the enneagram a lot with my clients, and I often recommend Emergenetics to business teams to launch them on a path to working from their strengths.

So many of us, including me, have unproductive thought patterns based on early childhood or a ladder of inference created by past experience. Neither of these are useful to understanding the truth of current circumstances. I’m a sponge for anything that challenges my assumptions or comfortable ways of thinking, to expand my limited viewpoint. This allows me to approach problems creatively. On Linked-In I follow Madison Butler who teaches me a new point of view at least once every month. I also follow Cristina Mormorunni who I met in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She has worked with indigenous tribes and state officials to release buffalo into the wild. She has the heart of an artist and the conviction of a warrior. I regularly peruse Fast Company and The Atlantic Monthly. I also read articles about who is winning awards for innovation and creative thinking from elementary schools in other nations to business awards for green products in the USA. I like to hear the story of how people were able to understand the problem or the solution differently than other people and what they think contributed to that.

My daily meditation practice keeps me humble and connects me to my own inner workings. Meditation has had a big impact on my thinking and my philosophy about how to conduct myself in many arenas including business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.denverpsychics.com/contact
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-king-b7a3306/