If you’re a heart-centered entrepreneur your business may, at times, feel more like a mission, a movement, than just a business. Business advice about niche and marketing can sometimes fall flat because it doesn’t really capture the sense of activism you have around making the world better.
And reading corporate mission statements that try to capture that sense of oomph usually fall way short. “It is our job to continually foster world-class infrastructure as well as to quickly create principle-centered.. oy gevult put a pie in it!”
There came a point, a few years ago now, in my own learning that I got tired of reading business books. Instead I began to wonder “What have spiritual leaders done to effect change on a global basis?”
I started reading auto and biographies of folks like Martin Luther King, Jr, Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela, Paramhansa Yogananda, Mohandas Gandhi, among others. And I started to see a pattern of spiritual transformation arise.
Here’s one piece of the pattern that has to do with vision.
Your Vision Must Actually Be A Vision
So much of what passes for a vision is not something you can actually, y’know, see. Like with your eyes. Imagine a theatre stage, could you vision be produced on it?
Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I have a dream” speech typified this type of vision. “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.”
Sure, there’s metaphor there. But it’s a vignette. People sitting down at a table together. You can see it. The people of that era (today it might be great-grandchildren instead of “sons”) could probably think of actual living people who could, in some idealized world where that vision was achieved, sit down together and have a meal.
Can you see your vision? What’s the setting? But before you go sketching it out, there are a three more points to consider in creating it.
1. Who Are the Players?
Who is involved in your vision? For Dr. King, it was the offspring of slaves and slaveowners. For Mother Theresa it was the “poorest of the poor.” How about you?
2. What conflict or struggle did they have to get through to arrive on this stage?
For Dr. King, they had to overcome racism and bitterness. For Mother Theresa, to see Christ alive in the poor, people who weren’t poor had to see the poor literally as God, to serve them in humility.
What conflict, struggle or reality are your players needing to overcome? Note that it may only be held implicitly in the vision.
3. Is it simple enough to happen at a very small scale, and then scale up by being repeated?
The problem with really big visions is that they can be very far out in the future, seemingly unattainable. And it’s hard to celebrate successes when you’re not there yet.
On the other hand, every time Mother Theresa cradled one of the dying poor in Calcutta, and gave them hope and food and shelter, her heart lit up with joy.
She wouldn’t rest until all the world’s poor were cared for, and yet she could honestly and beautifully celebrate each time an individual was cared for.
Is your vision like that?
Heart of Business’s Vision
My simple vision is for you, as someone doing important work in the world through the vehicle of small business, to experience each act of business, marketing, sales, systems, as an act of love.
I celebrate each time someone gets that their marketing can be an act of love. That writing a sales page for their website can be an act of love. That a sales conversation, that implementing a system, can be an act of love for everyone it touches.
And I’m not resting until there are so many of us that know and live this truth that the economy changes to one based on love.
Your Turn
What’s your vision? What’s the stage, who are the players, what’s the conflict, and is it simple and small, yet scalable?
And does it set your heart on fire?
Tell me about it below in the comments
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39 Responses
Mark, Wow! What an amazing vision — to see each act in business as an act of love. You are truly living into and opening the space for transformational change. Delicious possibilities to ponder. Celebrating the one thing, and in that one is the hologram for the entire vision. I can’t say that I have my vignettes ready for the stage, but I’ll let you know. Thank you for the inspiration.
Bobbye- Yes- it feels beautiful to me, too. Thank you! And I look forward to hearing/seeing yours. 🙂
Mark, this is beautiful. Thank you.
Sam- so good to hear from you- thank you!
Ah, Mark, this is beautiful. Thank you. My favorite insight is how a vision is scalable–when we make a difference for one person or small group, it’s like a holograph of the larger changes to come–complete and satisfying in and of itself.
I am beyond grateful that I’ve finally gotten very, very clear on my vision. (It took years!) I am an Enoughness Coach. 🙂 I help crazy-busy women who feel overwhelmed and who want to find time and space for themselves and their own needs. I help them figure out what “enough” is for them in whatever areas feel challenging, so they can prioritize and act on the things they truly want and need, letting the rest go without guilt or shame.
Why does this work hold “vision” status to me? Because we live in a world of excess which is killing us. Our bodies, our sanity, our homes, our endless to-do lists, our peace of mind, our planet . . . our culture has encouraged us to see so many wants as needs that, through no fault of our own, we’ve lost the ability to discriminate.
I don’t proselytize, though. That’s why I call myself an “enoughist” rather than a “minimalist”–because it
Nice, Michelle- I love it- and you are so right- it is truly needed.
“I help crazy-busy women who feel overwhelmed and who want to find time and space for themselves and their own needs. I help them figure out what
Mark,
Thank you! I work with volunteer leaders and new managers and the hardest part of my job is convincing them that
Hi Mark,
Thank you for this clear link between an individual and the larger vision. I can see my longer term vision more clearly (although it too can get much clearer) and have difficulty bringing it down to something individual, which can be here and now, and then also scalable. Your questions/process of thinking are so helpful, I will engage with it… and perhaps with you as a guide, more individually, at some point.
Blessings,
Cheryl
Hi Cheryl- so glad it was helpful! We’re here, when the timing is right.
Mark….nice to meet you…what a lovely piece. I’m so glad I ended up on your website this am. My vision is about love – to help people relearn to love with themselves so that can see their vision – so it’s not clouded over with things that have nothing to do with them – and so they can get to their true source, their own energy, and go after that vision. Thanks for the nice post!
Love,
Kathy Gonzales
Hi Mark,
Really useful post. The problem with a lot of the “play big” stuff or you’re a scaredy cat is that it gets folks really nervous and often forces them to take even less action. Better to weave the small stuff into something bigger.
Have been breaking my ideas into smaller ones that i can accomplish. Done a few and will continue to do so. I’m sure those leaders took one step then another and so forth.
I’ve organized a lot of grassroots thingeys in my town. Didn’t have a HUGE mission in mind – something didn’t feel right, so I followed my gut and then others joined, etc.
very organic. trying to do that with other things in life. for example, my writing.
I didn’t start out wanting to be published in Time. I wrote a letter to the editor, then a guest column, then a paid column, then an essay for $5, then one for $50, then one for $200, etc.
thanks as always! G.
Mark,
Answering these questions in this order was so helpful for me–simple yet they really get to the core of the work which can often be hard to describe.
1. Who Are the Players?
Anyone who is trying to make a living doing something they love, especially those in the healing arts or self-improvement modalities.
2. What conflict or struggle did they have to get through to arrive on this stage?
Overcoming their own fear, the discouraging voices of those around them, and the toxic message that we’ve all been fed that says: love and money are separate, you can’t have both–you won’t be able to make a living doing what you love.
Is it simple enough to happen at a very small scale and then scale up by being repeated?
Yes. Every time I help someone to see that the vision they have for their work is possible, it ignites something inside of them and once that starts burning it lights the way for them to put together the who, what, and how to make their vision a reality.
I believe fulfilling work heals and we are ALL entitled to this gift.
I started this work one-on-one with people and have had the privilege of doing it with small groups in my Yoga of Marketing Classes.
And Giuletta is so right–I’ve come into contact with lots of people who are trying to “play big” and it overwhelms the step by step that they need to engage in to actually create their thing so they end up stuck and not doing anything.
Beautiful, simple, but so wise–start small and scale up–even Rome was built brick by brick :).
Thanks for this today–it put me just where I need to be.
What a beautiful post, Mark, thank you. I am inspired to go back to my website and take a look at how well I am communicating my vision in my manifesto page.
Before I share my vision, I want to offer you and your readers a resource when it comes to visioning. It is a collection of articles by Ari Weinzweig & co, at Zingerman’s. (I could rave for pages and pages about Zingerman’s, but instead I’ll let you check it out yourself: http://www.zingtrain.com/articles/)
My vision: That every person that I coach is living an inspired and inspiring life of service to the world. That they play to their strengths, accept themselves unconditionally, and move forward with grace and power. That by walking our talk we inspire others to do the same. That we bring our own individual droplets of service and social change to the huge ocean that is the collection of social justice movements in the world. That every person, everywhere, lives a free, dignified and meaningful life.
May it be so! Woo hooo! (Yes, it sets me on fire.)
Hi Julica- thank you for this- and yes, Zingerman’s is definitely doing something right. I’ve been impressed with them for awhile. Thanks for the link!
Mark,
Thank you another inspiring article and this call to reflect and share.
My vision is to help those who help others to master the art of helping while nourishing their own hearts and souls.
The stage is professional mental health and allied professions, which have a huge rate of trauma, burn out and stigma around asking for help themselves.
The root of the problems are deeper than simplistic forms of self-care, re-tooling, or just managing and coping. Yet the solution I offer is simpler and easier than most helpers imagine. By learning practices which guide them to look into their own hearts (before, during, and after giving service) and to open up to being nourished on a deep level, helping professionals become more skillful at helping their clients and much more satisfied within themselves.
Being a helping pro and growing up with lots of wonderful helpers who suffered deeply, I looove doing such work. It fulfills me inside and out.
Thanks for reminding me to notice and affirm this!
Thank you, David. So glad you took the time to share here. May we all be nourished!
Correction: the closing parenthesis makes the link I just offered not work. Try this one:
http://www.zingtrain.com/articles/
Very, very beautiful. Thanks for sharing
Mark,
This newsletter rocks! I recently started a blog for introverted, creative men http://www.quietguysociety.com to help enable my vision to come to fruition. My vision was fuzzy but your exercise have given me some food for thought. This is what surfaced…
My vision is a work environment where quiet guys sit shoulder to shoulder with the louder extroverted types. Where they are heard, respected and rewarded for the gifts they offer their team or organization.
The biggest struggle has been their own fears and anxiety connected to sharing their point of view often in a less than friendly (hostile) environment.
I celebrate each time a quiet guy steps up and shares their truth and they make a powerful mark on others who never saw it coming. I love the surprise factor of unexpected brilliance and the quiet confidence that wells up when a quiet guy realizes they have huge value to offer even if others can’t see it.
So great to see you here, Brent- and I love your vision. It feels important in a very deep and true way. Glad you’re doing it.
Mark,
This article was very helpful, and perfect timing (of course). I treat acne, and have a 95% or better success rate in getting people clear without pharmaceutical drugs. Recently I’ve been called, for lack of another word, to move out of the salon and open a skin clinic specializing in acne.
I have been struggling mentally with this decision, and now it’s clear that my vision will be better supported if I take it to the world in a more visible way.
Staying small is not serving the people who need my help. My work is life-changing, and it’s a duty to let more people know about this option.
I had the vision. Thank you for shining the light on its credibility.
Very cool, Erin! Go for it!
Every cell in my body started vibrating in agreement with this post 🙂 What a lovely message! Thank you for your magical insight Mark, as always.
So grateful, Martina, to strike such a chord with you.
very nice article mark.. thanks
Hi Mark,
What a great article on understanding personal power and where it comes from. Your client’s observation about the apparently powerful unspiritual people and the not so powerful spiritual people she encountered started me wondering whether we’ve tried to simplify things too much so we think power=bad and spiritual=good.
I wonder if a more helpful way of understanding it would be to recognize that “power” emanating from a place of ego gone crazy (wanting power over others to limit their choices, freedoms, etc) is very different from connecting with a higher power rooted in love and compassion and allowing it to flow through us to serve a greater good and empower more people along the way.
Even “destructive power” can yield very different results depending on whether it springs from a place of fear or hate or whether it comes from love and compassion. Individuals like Gandhi and Mandela used power wisely to free and empower oppressed individuals on the one hand, while destroying systems rooted in inequalities and injustices and both men were deeply spiritual.
Blessings and thanks for your gentle wisdom and power.
I love your work Mark. I was just introduced to it and I’m slowly making my way through the heart of my business. yikes! 🙂
My first book Heart of Bronze will be published by June. I’m excited and scared 🙂 This is such a great reminder to keep spirit in charge, not me, and to keep my visions big while also keeping the small steps, outreach ok too. I tend to stop my efforts because I don’t see it BIG yet… Wow, this is great. I need to devote more time to your work, and will…
Thank you!
Cat 🙂
Cat- so sweet to read. And congrats on your book! You may also find this helpful: The Ingredient you need before the launch.
Catherine! Thank you! And congrats on Heart of Bronze- that’s big!
Spiritual leaders are faced everyday with differences. Let’s have an open Heart and open Mind. We can make a difference.. Nice posts.
I agree to this post that spiritual leaders always make a change in a practical world changing vision. Because this person is the one who followed with their follower and their followers really believe them that’s why they can really change anything. Spiritual has the power to convinced anyone.
Mark, this is beautiful and so clear and doable. Thank you.
Mark,
I’m blessed to be living my mission of inspiring women to live deeper, more authentic and inspired lives both personally and professionally by providing empowering content, resources & experts through my multi-media publishing brands. As I continue to listen & trust Source my mission has evolved to include supporting heart-centered visionaries (like you) in bringing their message, truth and services in front of my global audience. I like to say that my magazine, Aspire, gave birth to me 7 years ago because through ‘her’ birth I discovered my truth, my connection to Source and most of all my mission. I get Soul-giggles each time I am able to use my platform to inspire and support others. Gratitude for the work you are doing in the world.
My vision is to help people come home to the center of their own lives (where they discover that what is there, what has always been there, is a shining chip of sacred light. I see the power of this, how coming home centers people and relieves their anxiety (about the world, about themselves). It gets what was stuck into motion again. Included in my vision is the awareness that with each client that I work with, I come home, too.
I would add that working with you, Mark, has been such a gift on this coming home journey. Your unswerving support of the sacredness of our every interaction is inspiring and deeply moving.
good information shared by you.Thanks for this good blog..
Wow, Mark! I’m sending you deep thanks for this advice!
Forgive me for the format–using your words as my template for my first attempt…
My simple vision is for you,
as someone affecting our culture & the world
just by living in it,
to experience each act of neighboring
(waving, making eye contact, sharing ideas, dreams, burdens and celebrations)
as a sacred, purposeful act of cultural change.
I celebrate each time someone ‘gets’
that each attempt to connect with a neighbor,
whether it seems to affect them or not,
can be an act of humanness and our own re-humanization.
That every time we wave, make eye-contact, or just recognize a neighbor
can be a gift to our nervous system,
and that of the whole world.
That every desire or vulnerability shared with a neighbor
can be a gift; a cultural exchange; a revolutionary act.
And I’m not resting until the ripple-effect of
neighborliness-as-spiritual-practice,
-as-gift,
-as-revolutionary act
envelops all of North-America in closeness and belonging,
wells up around my family on the East coast,
and resounds deeply in Europe & beyond,
to affect all our relations;
to hold my family
and all families,
all beings
as One.
Thank you for drawing that out of me! I love it & will put it on my website right away!
Your post speaks directly to the realization I’ve come to this year– that 5 years after resolving to know and love 50 neighbors (at the depth that I enjoy) was too tall of an order, but that the results of following that star are more valuable than the star itself. I recently focused away from the litteral challenge I’d set, because it was making me less satisfied than anyone else. I had to cultivate gratitude for what it has gotten me (and be less frustrated nobody was paying me for the effort). Perfect paradox: neighbors’ gratitude was my bridge home to my own.
Instead of hiding the bigger vision (the love enveloping the world) that inspired the challenge I set myself (knowing 50(!) neighbors) as “too woo-woo,” I can share the beautiful vision as fuel for heart-fires, while focusing everyone on the simple, ‘building-block’ acts! THANK YOU!!!
Briana- I’m so happy that this inspired you so well- such beautiful words. Woo-hoo!