Meet Julian Crosson-Hill | ICF-certified spiritual life and business coach, human design specialist, and spiritual guide

We had the good fortune of connecting with Julian Crosson-Hill and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Julian, how do you define success?
I think this is such an important question because it’s the one area that many of us don’t think much about. We tend to just default to striving for the same things that our parents considered to be symbols of success or the same measures of success that our friends hold.

For me, I’ve had a long and tricky relationship with measuring my success. I grew up with a demanding father where I often felt that I was never enough and could never make him proud. Early in my professional live, I strove to measure success by my father’s standards which included money, power, how much I worked, and what material things I was able to afford.

Once I hit my 50s, I began to really reexamine how I was measuring my success. I had enjoyed a successful career in software engineering, but I was burnt out and bordering on becoming a workaholic. When I shifted to being a spiritual life and business coach, I knew I needed to reexamine what success meant for me.

This led me on a journey to really dig in and understand my personal spiritual values. It also, led me to think about my legacy. What would I be leaving behind when I was gone? Did I want that to be a huge estate sale of nice things and people saying, “Boy, he worked hard” or did I want to leave something more impactful behind?

As a result of this exploration, today my definition of success looks very different. I’m successful when I treat my values as something that is non-negotiable. I’m successful making a living that allows me to provide for my husband and to have the experiences that I want to have. I’m successful when I positively impact someone’s life, whether it’s through charitable giving, my work as a coach, or simply saying a kind work to them. And most importantly, I’m successful when work is part of my life but not my entire life. When I carve out time to spend with my friends and loved ones while still building a business, that’s success, too.

What should our readers know about your business?
Through my business, Priest of Inanna, I help people reclaim their magic, create work that matters, and build communities that make change. I work with individual dreamers and visionaries with an earnest desire to change the world, heart-centered entrepreneurs and solopreneurs, non-profit leaders and founders, and community-minded gay and bisexual men. I help my clients discover their unique spiritual gifts and strengths, overcome imposter syndrome, and create actionable strategies for creating the change they wish to see in the world.

I leverage the power of human design in my work. Human design is a system of astrology, kabbalah, the I-Ching, and the chakras which helps you understand the unique energetic makeup of your physical form. Through human design, I help my clients discover more of who they truly are and release much of the conditioning they’ve received from others.

I’ve gotten where I am in my business today through persistence and never being afraid to adjust or pivot. Persistence has been the power to keep going even when things were difficult or when a new offering or program didn’t work out. Not being afraid to pivot or adjust, simply means, I’ve spent a lot of time listening to my clients and potential clients and shifting my message or tweaking my focus to better meet their needs.

Building a business hasn’t been easy. The biggest challenges have been the ones in my own head such as the voice telling me to work more or to do things the way my father would have done them. The solution, for me, has been leveraging my human design. Understanding how I operate energetically has made a world of difference in my business and has even allowed me to see some things that I once identified as shortcomings as powerful assets. One example, is that I have a lot of interests but felt I needed to narrowly focus to be successful in my business. My human design says otherwise. I’ve followed my human design instead and as a result, launched my Queer Spirituality website for coaching gay and bisexual men along with The Queer Spirituality Podcast. Both have been received tremendously.

A final thing I want to highlight that I’ve learned and that really set me apart from other coaches is the humane business movement. Humane business is based on operating in business in a way that is humane and fair. It eschews traditional marketing techniques that feel manipulative or are intended to trigger feelings of scarcity.

I practice fair pricing in my work which means I charge what I feel is fair for both myself and my client. This also aligns with my vision of making spiritual coaching accessible to more people. This is contrary to the common practice in the coaching industry around creating “high-ticket offers”, something that to me feels like it limits coaching to a privileged few who may not need it as much.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love this question because Dayton and the surrounding area are so amazing and rarely get the notice that they deserve. My husband and I moved here in 2010. I have lived all over including abroad and I cannot imagine calling anywhere other than Dayton home.

First, I’d take my friend to the Dayton Art Institute. For a city the size of Dayton, the Art Institute has an impressive collection. It’s also a beautiful building.

For lunch, we’d visit the 2nd Street Market and browse the many food stalls. Personally, I’m a vegan and one of my favorite places to eat is Vegan It Iz Eats at the 2nd Street Market. For dessert, we would enjoy one of the many vegan pastries from Dough, the bakery operated by Ghostlight.

Later in the afternoon when we were ready for a pick-me-up, I’d take them to one of the Winan’s Coffee and Chocolate. We’d enjoy one of the many coffee drinks.

Another favorite of mine is browsing the Antique Village on Miamisburg-Centerville Road. This antiques market has so many wonderful items from antique to vintage. My husband and I visit frequently because we always find new treasures.

No visit to the area is complete without visiting both Yellow Springs and Waynesville and trolling through the many unique shops. While in Yellow Springs, we might get a vegan bite at Mazu or grab coffee and a pastry at the Emporium.

While I don’t find a lot of vegan options there for myself, I typically also make sure guests visit Dorothy Lane. This gourmet grocery has one of the most impressive bakeries in the area and a large selection of specialty food.

Finally, anyone visiting me will be treated to attending one of the many spiritual events held at the Temple of the Rebel Goddess in the old Linden-Davis building. The Temple offers workshops, kirtan, rituals, and many social events all focused on spirituality and devotion to the divine with an emphasis on the Divine Feminine.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are so many amazing people and books that have been critical to my success, that I cannot reduce it to one person. However, a common theme in my life and success has been the support, encouragement, and mentorship of strong women. With that in mind, I’d love to shoutout to all the strong, empowered women in the world. Here are a few examples of how these women have contributed to my success.

I have to start with my own mother who constantly encouraged me to dream bigger dreams. As a child, I was a daydreamer who wanted to do and learn everything. My mother recognized my potential and encouraged me to always try new things and to reach for greater heights. Whenever something feels impossible to me, I remember her admonishing me that you cannot achieve big if you don’t first dream big.

Another powerful woman who as contributed to my success is my first spiritual coach, Minerva Maharajh. Minerva was my instructor when I took my life coaching certification classes. I hired her as a business coach after I complete my coursework and she has continued to be an inspiration and a mentor to me as I started and grew my own business.

There are also the many strong women friends I have who are also entrepreneurs and who constantly encourage me, act as sounding boards for me, and inspire me. These include local entrepreneurs such as Maria Leggett, Sarah Monroe, and Sam Spychalla.

I could name so many more including book authors but instead I’ll just acknowledge that all too often men fail to recognize the powerful contributions to their success that the women in their lives have. So huge shoutout to all the amazing, inspiring, and powerful women in my life who have helped me not only rethink what success looks like, but to achieve it.

Website: https://www.priestofinanna.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/priestofinanna

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcrossonhill/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/priestofinanna

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGV02wD5_ICDtHwmsPJI2sg

Other: https://www.queerspirituality.net https://queerspirituality.social/@jcrossonhill

Image Credits
Jay Rosemary Chelsea Hall