Walking the Line

On one hand, you want to stay deeply in touch with your inner self – the part of you that has a philosophy about what you want to do and who you want to be. On the other, you want to run a successful business.

An intangible part of you – your spirit – is trying to work with a tangible part – your business sense.

Unfortunately, some advice that’s currently available about those two parts seem to be contradictory.

If you want a healthy spirit, the advice is as intangible as the spirit itself. You might be told to get in touch with your inner desires, or to spend time meditating, or to try new experiences.

There are no guidelines and no rulebooks. There is no way to measure whether you’re doing “well” except by paying attention to how you feel.

If you’re trying to create a thriving business, however, the advice is often nothing but measurements. You have files to complete and to turn into the appropriate addresses, checkboxes to mark off, linear paths to goals. You’ll often see business books that suggest 7 steps or 12 steps – it’s easy to tell whether or not you’ve achieved the goal laid out in each chapter.

Business success is about achieving something tangible – spiritual success is about achieving something intangible.

Running a business where the intangible and the tangible coexist is today’s challenge.  The good news is there are more and more people talking about how to do this.  It takes a community to make it happen and a vision to shift the consciousness of business.

Tell us about how you are doing it or how someone you know is.

We will keep you posted here about people who are walking the line with grace and ease.

Heart-Centered-Programs

Strategy Stream

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Shift Your Business Perspective

What if your business could create happiness, love, and purpose with the same agility and certainty that it creates expanding profits, new customers, and new innovations? It’s a question that isn’t often asked in business, because intangible qualities like love aren’t easily measurable (and measures are the language of business). Most people don’t believe the tangible, everyday needs of business coexist with the intangible.

Oh, but they do.

The truth is just because the current language of business does not acknowledge intangibles, doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

Your business is an embodiment of who you are and what you believe – every time you expand your business, you also expand the knowledge and empowerment of yourself. When you are fundamentally coming from a place of love and purpose, you automatically are shifting your perspective of business.

When your business blends with your own personal philosophy, decisions become easier. You are able to access support not typically considered in traditional business models. Goals are set and achieved without struggle. Your strategies are driven not just by necessity but by passion. Your focus never wanders. You walk forward with absolute certainty that you are supporting the highest good. Not only does your business become a channel for success – it becomes a channel for your expanded inner self and an expanded model of what it means to be doing business in today’s world.

Pic originally uploaded : Riapereira || Shift Perspective || More about pics

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The Planning Game

Fundamentally planning is about designing the steps between a current situation and a chosen future. Specific linear results are expected from each action taken. Have you ever noticed that specific, linear, expected results are rare? Consider that this is because as soon as an action is taken, external resistance or internal doubt may arise. Resistance or doubt will alter the action’s course and often deflect it from its original trajectory.

What to do?

- Clean up, to the best of your ability, any internal doubt that may stand in the way of your being aligned with your soul vision and your connection with divine source.

- Pay attention to feedback from divine source and then, to the best of your ability, plan your plan.

- Maintain action or change action based on correct perception of any external resistance.

A Few More Things……

- Be responsible for understanding the game you are playing.

- You are playing the game of business.

- The goal of the game of business is to have you be prosperous.

- Being prosperous, in the game of business, includes profit (even in a not-for-profit).

- In order to win (reach the goal), you must understand the rules.

- You can play the game with your own values, style, finesse, and integrity within the rules.

- Rules in business are mainly about how to keep score.

- Scoring can increase your ability to win the game.

One Last Thing……

Always remember that you are enough with or without the game.

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7 Basic Social Media Steps

Here is a practical approach to developing a Social Media Strategy for your business:

#1 Understand the Water you are Putting your Toes Into Set up and start working the basics: Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn. Get comfortable, play with your style and core message. Understand and resist the embedded bias in the technologies you are utilizing. Don’t let the water overwhelm you.

#2 Create a Digital Rolodex of Connections When social media is done correctly, relationships will build naturally. Make sure you have an email gathering function working immediately. These are your future customers. Your opportunity to create intimacy begins immediately. When you are ready to offer something to your connections, your rolodex will be flush. Begin by inviting people you know, then follow people who interest you. Follow conversations, subscribe to blogs that interest you. Make a list of influencers relevant to your business and connect with them on FB, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

#3 Occasionally Educate about your Products and/or Services Yes, occasionally. You don’t want to come across like you are all about promoting yourself. Do start to establish yourself as the go-to in relation to your particular product and/or service by educating. Exhibit that you deserve respect –a necessary ingredient for crossing the boundary between being just a commodity to a valued relationship. Be willing to be educated and share what you learn and who you learned it from. Make sure that links to your website or blog have good information on them so people who want to know more can easily get info.

#4 Create a Game to Play Efficiently systematize how much time and energy you will put into your SM and then have fun with it! Be entertaining AND establish mystery –tell great stories, tap into peoples dreams. Do status updates and tweets based on the image you are holding. This is where you are starting to create leverage with your Social Media.

#5 Hone your Image What is your platform? Now that you have had a little time to play, seriously review your image –what exactly do you want to project about you and your business? Make sure there is CONSISTENCY regarding your formats — begin to establish your brand. Review your basics: Do you need to add any portals? Delete some? Figure out distinctions between personal and biz for both Twitter and Facebook – do you need both? Does it make sense for you to start a group?

#6 Analyze, Adapt, and Improve Metrics You should be able to measure your success. Measures will tie into the goals and objectives of your strategy (more on this at Social Media Examiner).

#7 Focus on Community Radiate love in every Social Media action. Move your brand into the zone of inspiration. Create profound connections between others.

Inspired by Social Media Examiner & Mashable & Seven Key Components

Here is an entertaining video on the Social Media Revolution~ the facts may astound you:

Related Posts: Infatuate Your Customers, Shaman Media Revolution

Make Love to the World with your Strategy

Originally uploaded by ~Mina~

When you speak, plan, and act your business into being you are accessing your highest creative self and then yoking it into reality. Your heart or love center is where it comes together. It could be said that the vision you have of your business comes from a divine source, then you, as an instrument of source, create into the field of business. When you create into the field of business you are in a matrix where lots of people before you, now, and in the future will be creating and playing. Your strategy sets your boundaries of the field and helps you to blissfully play and not get caught within rules and consciousness that are not useful to you. The way to do this is to design your strategy (or plan) from a framework of making love to the world.

Making love to the world in this context is about making love from your heart center, while accessing sexual energy.  Sexual (love) energy is the primal and creative energy of the universe. All things that are alive come from sexual energy. In animals and other life forms, sexual energy expresses itself as biological creativity. All life, all expression, all flowering is basically sex energy. In any situation where we feel attraction, arousal, awakening, alertness, passion, interest, inspiration, excitement, creativity or enthusiasm, in each of these situations, sexual energy is at work.

Whenever we feel these states of awareness, we put it in our attention to create our strategy. It is this sexual energy source, that we then yoke into experience with business transactions and keep alive in our awareness with strategy implementation. This is the act of creating a friendship (or union) with vibrant energy and making love to the world with it; thus elevating the stream of life and the matrix of business to new heights.

Within the matrix of business there are a few general rules to adhere to and play by –anything beyond these general rules have been created by others.  Unless you design your own rules and measures of success, you will be doomed to play by the rules and measures of others. Bliss, carefreeness and playfulness are the essence of sexual energy in its most refined state –maintaining this essence is the number one rule when love is the bottom-line.

Read more about how to make love to the world with your strategy in the eBook Becoming a Source of Good

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Encouraging Shoulds

 

VerseVisions Art

Originally uploaded by MarkLawrenceGallery.com

Take a moment and think about two people you are infatuated with –people you adore and who you also consider to be champions of your highest desires. These are people who wish you well AND don’t let you off the hook when you are being a ninny. These are NOT the people you call when you know what you want to hear. You may enjoy the people who tell you exactly what you want to hear, but you are not infatuated with them –I promise you. You may not even know your champions personally, but when you think about them, or read something about them, “truth” resonates.

My current champions are my Yoga Teacher, Guruatma Khalsa, and Yogi Bhajan. Guruatma, received direct instruction in the Science of Kundalini Yoga from Yogi Bhajan, the modern proponent of this ancient technology.  This yoga gives me what I want by allowing me to feel like I am improving myself physically. The teachings behind the practice frequently shock me with brutal honesty. I can count on Guruatma to deliver the science in a way that supports what I want, while at the same time keeping me on track with what I “should” be doing. This makes her pricelessly infatuating.

Now, consider your two favorite customers (past, current, or future).  Is there something you are offering or could offer that inspires infatuation? You might consider helping customers with their “should’s”?  Several months ago, Made to Stick authors Dan & Chip Heath wrote an interesting article on the subject for Fast Company. Reading it might give you the inspiration for a product or service that links wants (a fix) and shoulds (fulfillment) for your customers: Sell Handcuffs – Why Customers Will Pay You to Restrain Them.

Several years ago I worked with an HR Director that I adored.  I supported her in what she wanted –getting on Forbes Best-Companies-to-Work-for-List (2 years in a row). Her “want” was in the recognition –her company was absolutely a fabulous place to work. The “should” came from me –the company should have some metrics to demonstrate the bottom-line effectiveness of being a great place to work. At the time, an HR Director implementing metrics was not the norm, but we both knew it was a worthwhile endeavor and an edge. It was my job to support not only her need, but the metric design “should” prior to submitting the Best Company Application.

Might the future of business lie in encouraging “shoulds,” things customers know are good for them, rather than indulging “wants,” things craved in the moment? It’s a compelling idea.

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Superficiality Won’t Suffice

How you respond to the question, what is the business of business, will pre-configure how you design and manage your organization.

This statement, followed by the wisdom below, caught my eye in a linked-in discussion group Superperforming World Movement. Thank you to Dr. Gregory Gull for allowing me to share, what I would call, his managing both above & below the surface post:

If those in authority believe the business of business is profit then they will very likely organize and manage as if the world is their oyster. According to this system of thought, reality is a collection of objects (i.e. resources) and business is a tool—an instrument, a machine—for the purpose of exacting material gain from the assets or resources at hand. Resources include the people employed by the enterprise—objectified as labor. I am sure you have heard or perhaps even spoken these words: our employees are our greatest assets! Stop and think about this: Who really wants to be the useful tool of another?  Continue Reading »

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Get Your Social Media Strategy Groove On

 

Social Media

Originally uploaded by Fascinomae

Blogging is a perfect venue for me both as a writer and a business strategy consultant. I am always exploring and learning in order to serve my clients –blogging helps to clarify and express my perspective. I started my blog eight months ago, when my coach, told me in her lovely, but stern, European Accent “just get out there (in the Social Media world) and do something!” (Does a business consultant need a business coach? Does a dentist go to the dentist?)

Now facebooked, twittered, blogged, and linked-in, I am ready to review and develop an actual Social Media Strategy (SMS). Not to mention, of course, that my clients are not far behind and need a framework themselves for how SMS fits within their overall business plan strategy and implementation. Social Media has been around in one form or another for a relative while of course, but now it is to the point where it is just impossible for business owners to ignore. The truth is SMS models are developing as we speak / blog. I don’t see that anybody will have “the” answers or the perfect model for quite some time, but ignoring Social Media is not a strategy. Welcome to the world of learning while doing –this also includes the world of “I don’t know the answer to that right now.” Get comfortable with it.

I could go off on a tangent here about how perfect that is for balancing ego -humility is a great equalizer! -but, I promised a post about the components of a decent SMS and some best practices. There are so many avenues (portals) of Social Media that unless you target and measure the mix that gives you 1) a decent R.O.I. 2) a projection of your particular business vision into the world and 3) fun –you could get really, really frustrated.

I don’t know that a Social Media Strategy is all about marketing, but it is probably at least 75% of it, so I asked Shelley Roth, owner of Springboard Works here in Houston, to share what she views as the key components of a practical approach to a brilliant Social Media Marketing Strategy:

~Assess your target audience and your goals as they fit within your overall business strategy.

~Articulate your message to boost brand equity and strengthen your reputation as an expert and industry leader.

~Understand the time commitment to create your campaign and maintain it.

~Choose the right tools for your needs and customize them.

~Update content regularly.

~Ask for advice and opinions, and share them in return. Nurture relationships.

~Create education-rich content that adds to the conversation.

~Establish measurements to track the effectiveness of your efforts and to maximize your Social Media Marketing ROI.

These are great and fit well with The Social Media Bible’s suggestion of thinking of your Social Media Strategy (SMS) as a platform supported by four pillars 1) Communication 2) Collaboration 3) Education and 4) Entertainment. These four pillars can be considered your Social Media Best Practices and it is good to have all four in order to stabilize your platform.

Add love to the mix and you can’t go wrong. Love is the Bottom-Line Success Practices

See schedule of Springboard Works public workshops on Social Media Marketing (if you sign up for a workshop use code RUBY for a $10 discount) or contact Shelley sroth@springboardworks.com

Great practical tips type blog on Social Media : Social Media Examiner

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Strategic Social Media Portals

 

Tunnel to Infinity

Originally uploaded by fluxxus1

Last week I went to the new Barnes & Noble in Houston with my husband.  As we turned onto West Gray we wondered if this B&N would have a Starbucks in it like most B&N’s given that there are already two Starbucks across the street from each other at this particular end-of-the-world. The corner of West Gray and Shepherd is a triple threat – there are now three Starbucks less than a block’s distance from each other – interesting strategy.

Speaking of strategy……I went to B&N looking for a book on Social Media that focused on integrating social media into a business plan strategy.  It was the right day to go – the very helpful sales associate was in the process of creating a special display for all things Social Media.  While I sipped my triple, vanilla Cappuccino (I can’t help it) he shared the list of books planned for display – over 50 titles.  I chose The Social Media Bible because not only did it give a great overview – it had a strategy focus plus information on metrics – perfect!

Because here’s the thing – there are so many avenues (portals) of Social Media that unless you target and measure the mix that gives you 1-a decent R.O.I. and R.O.E. (Return on Your Energy) 2-a projection of your particular business vision into the world and 3-happiness –you could get really, really frustrated.

As a famous yogi once said ~ We come from Infinity into finite to prove ourselves through the projected purity of our actions, and anyone who knows this point of purity and projection shall always be prosperous ~ Yogi Bhajan

Considering the strategic point of purity and projection in Social Media is an interesting inquiry (and one that I am in myself).  My next post will be a quick overview of the components of a decent Social Media Strategy and a few Social Media Marketing Best Practices.  In the meantime, remember this: Social Media provides portals into unique subsets of an infinite universe – choose a finite number of portals wisely.

Speaking of infinity……my husband I were wondering, can an infinite number of Starbucks fit into one city block?

Here is a great video on Social Media R.O.I.  – it points out the potential for high R.O.I. as well as the cost of doing nothing.  There is somewhat of a mixed message with statements leading to R.O.I. not being important — the missing link is strategy, but the video remains an inspiring message.

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Can Spirituality, Twitter & a War to Make Money Go Together?

Pavement Mosaic

Originally uploaded by wendylefkowich

Both the current issue of EnlightenNext (Sep-Nov) and Fast Company (Dec-Jan) contain articles about Twitter. EnlightenNext’s focus is on the spiritual implications of Twitter, while Fast Company’s cover story is about Ashton Kutcher’s (aka @aplusk –with the largest Twitter following on the planet) social media marketing model. Mr. Kutcher is authentic about his intention to make money for himself and his clients. As co-CEO, of Katalyst Media, he is quoted as saying “When someone says they are not worried about monetization, that scares the (bleep) out of me ….it’s really a war to make money.”

What I loved about the Kutcher interview was his balanced thinking regarding the social consciousness arm of social media combined with the difference money can make. Kutcher’s war includes using his traction on Twitter to create social movements –and dollars for his clients. With a goal to drive people to Malaria No More’s web site to donate $10, for example, the beginning was a simple, twitterable message “Every 30 seconds, a kid dies of malaria. Nets save lives”. Combined with an affordable call to action: $10 buys a net –the end result of the campaign was 90,000 nets.

The spiritual aspect of Twitter as focused on in the EnlightenNext article is not separate from the difference it can make for business. The point that the growth of Twitter accelerates the spread of global consciousness by allowing us to be in touch with our sense of “oneness” with one another, is a feel good prospect that absolutely can be monetized. The audiences that can be reached and the niches that can be explored on Twitter are endless. Add feel-good messages, plus feel-good prospects, plus feel-good products & services ….you end up with monetization that makes a difference ….PLUS it can feel really really good.

If you liked this post, you might like this one as well: Shaman Media Revolution

Here is a process for creating a business plan consciously integrated with spirituality: Plan & Let Go

Vote for your favorite spiritual reason Twitter is good business