We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jaime Fleres. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jaime below.

Jaime, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?

I have a lot of thoughts about the educational system, as someone who experienced public education in the 80s and 90s, as a former professor, and as the mother of a neurodivergent child. Our system has its roots in another time, when the goal was to educate for conformity and a class of people ready for a work force that no longer exists today as it did back then. Our educational system is also predominantly focused on the mental channel of knowing, with the emotional, imagery-based, and sensation-based channels of knowing less valued and less integrated into curriculum. Our system still largely encourages memorization of facts, learning things that may not have any relevance to their futures (e.g. calculus for an artist), and conformity to a particular set of values and ideas of what it means to be successful. In a world of increasingly rapid development of technology, we need young people who are fully grounded in their humanity and connected to the world around them through their own senses and relationships, not just a screen.

If I could wave a wand over the educational system, there are many things I would change. I would bring in a lot more of a holistic approach – how to communicate and be in relationship with other humans and the natural world, emotional awareness and intelligence, somatic/body awareness, nervous system education, personal finance education, more movement that extends beyond traditional sports or PE, more arts, and a lot more development of critical thinking skills. We need individuals who can problem solve in a complex world, who are self aware critical thinkers, who are educated in ways that actually call out the gifts of their souls rather than the tasks/roles that culture profits from them doing, and those that cultivate the development of whole, unique individuals, anchored in their own agency and interdependency with all of Life.

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 founded Whale Song in 2017, after nearly 20 years as a professional writer, author and college professor. I’ve had the great fortune to work with hundreds of writers of memoir, self-help + personal development, spiritual and other non-fiction works.

Whale Song is a creative agency specializing in helping visionary change agents write transformational non-fiction books. We show creative professionals on a mission how to write the book that can only be born through them. We help people express themselves – authentically, creatively, powerfully – through writing to make a meaningful contribution to themselves and the world.

We value deep, meaningful, soulful processes over the quick, formulaic, so-called “easy” approach to writing a book. Our work is holistic – we care about and support YOU as a human, not just your words on a page.

We hold writing in reverence as a wild, powerful, creative process, rather than just a way to make money and influence people. While these things have their place in our life, we hold that relationship between you and your creation most essential.

We serve creatives, not the publishing industry. We inform our clients about the industry but don’t exist within or preach from it. We come from the therapeutic writing and personal transformation worlds, not some big publishing house.

We get our clients because we are you.

In addition to my writing expertise, I also hold certifications in yoga, Qoya embodied movement, integrative somatic trauma therapy, advanced energy medicine, and other healing modalities. This uniquely positions me to support authors of transformational non-fiction.

We offer book coaching, editing and publishing services; retreats and workshops, online courses and more. You can find us at JaimeFleres.com.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

It seems like a lot of entrepreneurs believe that they have to gruel away serving the social media machine in order to market their businesses. Of course, social media is the main path for attracting new clients for some businesses, and if that is the case for you, terrific! But it is definitely not the only way!

Because of the nature of the work I do with clients (high-touch one-to-one work), people aren’t perusing around Instagram looking for their book coach or editor, they are going to the search engines.

I have used SEO and blogging as my primary path of new client attraction for years now and it brings me steady qualified leads, without my having to post on social platforms many times a week. That really works for me, since I am busy in client service work most of the week and need a marketing engine that runs on its own and with minimal maintenance from me. I feel incredibly fortunate that this is the primary way leads come into my business.

Another way people find us is through client referral and word of mouth. Lastly, I find again and again that there is a bit of magic to the way clients find me. I always say that forces bigger than me are ever working behind the scenes to connect me with the clients I am meant to serve. We don’t hear that perspective much, but I have found that the mysterious forces of life are really some of my best marketing experts.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

As I’ve matured and grown in my years of business, I’ve had to unlearn the story that I am here to serve anyone and everyone who expresses interest in working with me, give as much as I possibly can (at my own detriment), and mold to whatever others want or need from me. We have a sort of built-in culture around the service industry (and especially among those socialized as women) that can look a lot like fawning if we are not contentious of the energy and assumptions we are bringing to our work relationships. Paralleling my own personal growth and unfoldment, my development of professional boundaries and discernment has been a game-changer. My discernment and careful container-building/boundary-setting with clients and within my business are gestures of great care for all. I used to think that boundaries and “nos” were unkind and not conducive to connection and business success. I really had to unlearn that and have some to see that boundaries and nos are like the weeding and fencing we do in a garden– they are essential if we want our business to thrive.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jaimefleres.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whalesongcreative

Image Credits

Santiago Gabay Photography, Mexico