I had to write about this- it came up in a discussion group I subscribe to. An email I wrote to the list is actually the heart of what I wanted to say, and I’ve enlarged upon it here.
As I’ve been working on expanding my business through the internet, I’ve been spending more time online, looking at resources and websites. And most of the websites have genuinely useful tools, tips, and gifts to bring. But I was noticing that I still felt disoriented when I got offline.
I realized that what was draining me.
Nearly everyone, in trying to speak directly to the What’s In It For Me benefits ends up catering to people’s insecurities. “Earn thousands in a day!” “Double Your Business!”
The question on my heart is- can we market effectively to individuals with needs, and still keep it in the framework of a greater whole? My own passion is that thriving small businesses, when they come from the heart, help to build strong neighborhoods and communities. They help to weave together a tapestry of love that supports us, not only financially, but also emotionally and spiritually as well.
I believe that there is a large market out there of individuals in small business- my own particular market- that want to have thriving businesses, yes, but want to have them in the context of a sustainable society. I’m betting my business on this, because my heart says so, and I’ve seen my business grow 10%-15% every year for the past 3 years, beginning to accelerate as I’ve honed in on this more solidly.
The to-do’s of business are not rocket science. However, before those to-do’s, we have to care, we have to love, and we have to making a genuine contribution.
How do you do this? In my experience it is a spiritual journey of cleaning our hearts of our beliefs and perceptions that we are separate, while remembering that we are a face of the Divine, and all completely interconnected.
The Sufis say that we cannot get our needs met in the world, only through the Source. We are meant to serve the world, and take from the Divine. That, to me, is the essence of business.
If you are getting your needs met through your heart, through your connection to the Divine, and you are then with a full heart serving and giving to the world, your business will be a giving, and not a taking.
Most of us see our clients, at least sometimes, as money faucets.
These money faucets mean to our egos security, safety, being taken care of. Of course we want those things! But this attitude scares the heck out of our prospective clients, and pushes them away.
If we can own our neediness, and bring the essential feelings of fear about our security and safety to our heart to be soothed by our connection to the One, then our clients don’t need to meet those needs, and we are free to serve them. That is a lot more attractive.
The key to this goes beyond just your personal healing journey: What is your larger context? What do you care about? And how can your business give to that context? Your success as a small business is important to more than just you and your loved ones. It’s important to your neighborhoods, to your local communities.
Because of this importance, you have a chance to have a big impact, by putting your business in the context of a larger issue of importance to your heart. If you have a hardware store, maybe helping people have beautiful, well-kept homes because of what that does for their sense of self-worth and for the neighborhood, beyond just property values.
If you have a web design business, maybe you’ve had that same reaction I’ve had on the web, and you know that the internet can be an important tool for helping to connect people to community, and your caring informs how you help people design sites.
Whatever your business, your caring brings along your heart in an authentic way that is in complete alignment with your business goals. Oh, and as a side note to those of you wanting to build a business, it brings in other caring hearts who want to support your business because they care like you do.
This is what I’ve seen with my business. Every time I risk saying what’s in my heart, explaining my larger context, I’m surprised by yet another person who wants to support what I’m doing. Because it’s not just about me, it’s about all of us. I guess I’ve had at least 12 people like that pop up over the last year.
Could you use help from an extra person a month supporting your business? And would it feel good to get that help by giving to many more?
In 2004, in your business and in your life, go beyond What’s In It For Me. Your heart will feel better, and so will your customers.
Keys to the Larger Context
- The WIIFM is not to be thrown out. Your customers have needs in the moment. By naming those needs, you help people feel seen and cared for. Answering these needs from a larger context changes your solution from simply helping someone hunker down in a bunker with enough cans of soup, to feeling loved and connected, and able to be of service themselves.
- Your larger context must be authentic to your heart. You have to actually care. Sometimes we get caught up in things that we “should” care about, but maybe aren’t at the top of our heart. For instance, you know you *should* care about the homeless, and you do, but your real passion is for preserving wildnerness. Go with your passion. There are enough issues to go around that everyone can choose the truth of their heart.
——————————
The Exercise
1) Start the Remembrance. For those unfamiliar with this, it is to repeat the Name of the Divine, whatever you use to call to the Highest Light, and saying it into your heart. Not with the idea of fixing anything, or healing anything, or seeing anything. It’s just remembering that there is something more than just you in the mix. If you have questions about the remembrance, please ask me. It’s fairly simple, but there are easy places that people sometimes get stuck.
2) Feel beyond your business into the community in which it sits. What about your community do you love? What do you appreciate? Take time to feel those things. Write down 5-7 of them.
3) Now, ask your heart what you would like to see more of. In particular, what would your heart be especially happy about? Perhaps you’ve seen something in another community that really added to the quality of life, and you would like to see that near you. Perhaps it’s a dream. Feel into it.
4) Now, ask your heart to show you how your business can be in alignment with forwarding that dream, in a sustainable, joyful manner.
5) Let this whole process sit with you through the end of the year. You may be surprised what bubbles up over time.
6) Go enjoy the end of the year!
