synchronistic strategy for makers part 2 (adding value by valuing ourselves ... and providing free coffee)

“A mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.” - Oliver Wendell Holmes

 Now, before you start thinking this standing still thing is all about me being "spring-lazy" and expecting good stuff to just start falling in my lap


(I am and I do)

it is really about knowing that expanding one thing, expands everything 

and knowing (well, knowing is the wrong word here, but again I'm a little too spring-lazy to think up a better one) that like attracts like - that the law of attraction (please don't confuse this with The Secret) is always working.

When I managed a bank (many years ago and actually it was a savings and loan and not a bank) I organized Money Mondays at the local commuter train station.

We would set up a table and give out free coffee and a newsletter containing financial news and information. It included a networking component where we provided free space for local business people to post weekly announcements to promote their businesses.

The guidelines for these businesses were pretty simple.

Write the announcement as they wanted it to appear, use proper grammar and punctuation, make it under 2 paragraphs and have it to us by the Thursday - also we didn't allow repeats - a business could be involved week after week but the announcement had to be new.

I wanted to keep everything fresh and everyone physically and mentally involved in the process.

For the first few weeks/months, my memory is bad here, everything worked great. But there came a time when the announcements were arriving late with typos and poor grammar, businesses were changing a word here and there instead of offering up fresh information, sometimes people would just phone us with a few words and ask us to 'come up with something' for them. Commuters were just shoving them into their brief cases to get the free coffee.

I was ready to just bag the whole program. We had a team meeting and realized that our real frustration was coming from the impression that the local businesses, in their carelessness, were just not appreciating us. Now, I know that how we view others is really a reflection of our own behavior, so I knew that what was really going on was that we were not valuing our service.

Our early labor of love had become a chore and when we started taking our own efforts for granted everyone else did, too.

The minute we got real about what was going on - we decided instead of bagging the program we would make it freaking awesome. We bought new software and a camera, gave team members the time they needed to do a good job, we got more people involved - instead of expecting one person to throw it all together after the lobby closed on a Friday.

We made one small change to our guidelines for the businesses - we limited the number of announcements a business could run in any month to 2 and we limited the number we would print in any edition to 15.

We announced the new guidelines after we ran our first 'freaking awesome' edition and magically overnight we began attracting exactly the kind of announcements we wanted. Commuters began reading them again on their Monday train rides.

When we started valuing ourselves everyone else did, too.

So part 1 of our "spring stand still" is an assignment - think about where in our maker business we might be taking ourselves or our makings for granted. Where are other people not appreciating us? What did we enjoy doing in the past that now feels like a chore? What parts of our business are feeling tight and oppressive (a sure sign we have already outgrown them)?

Also think about any health issues we might be having, in particular with the right sides of our bodies, this might all fit in, too.

back tomorrow with part II (xo all)

using a little strategic synchronicity to grow our business

Whenever I say the words "grow our business" I get a little itchy.

Not itchy in a "I can't stand still, I am busting out of these duds and need to be moving" kind of way, but itchy in a "this isn't about bigger, better, faster, we can rebuild him, we have the technology and I don't want anyone thinking I mean that" kind of way.

This isn't about growing until we explode, or can't fit through the door, but all of life is expanding all the time.

It's what we're here for.

With a maker business, this growth is sometimes about the business externally in the world but often it's more of an internal shift - some decision by us that creates expansion in our life.

As makers, choosing to live an expanded life creates growth for our business.

(not the "more now" kind of expansion - that totally didn't work for Veruca Salt and won't work for us either, but the expansion that creates the space for us to show up for life in a bigger way)

I once thought of the internet as some kind of trap, the very word web had such a  negative vibe to me (and obviously it can be a negative place if we become addicted to it or use it in hurtful ways) - about the time I started to see this web as more of a connecting 'net', the safety net that is dissolving in so many other areas of our life as it expands here, I was able to connect with it in a much bigger way.

(if we don't love the internet, warts and all, there is only perfection in imperfection really, we probably shouldn't bother trying to make money here because how is that ever going to work for us)

As we evolve toward truth and openness, we have opened up space – cyberspace – for the purpose of helping us to express ourselves openly (this is why real stuff works best here).

So where the hell am I going with this and what does this have to do with the kind of strategy that creates the kind of synchronicity that expands our life and grows our business - well, you will have to check back tomorrow to see where all this is going but I will offer up a little hint:

Back in the days of traditional marketing, we would target customers (think ducks in a shooting gallery here) by putting them (think marketing models and computer generated spending data) into neat little boxes because, well honestly because we needed to know who we wanted to hit and they were easier to hit when they were ... standing still. 

Now that the internet (and evolution) has taken the entire idea of marketing and flipped it on its head - we are attracting customers and not targeting them anymore - going after them doesn't work the same way, they have to be looking for us - maybe we need to be the ones standing still. 

Back tomorrow with Strategic Synchronicity Part 1

a full moon in libra tomorrow collides with that spring busting out vibe

moon dancing strongly encouraged

Tomorrow's full moon in Libra may be kind of a doozy with effects felt for the next few days.

It's also the first full moon of the astrological year which begins with Aries, we are in the midst of Passover, ending the Lenton season approaching Easter, spring has sprung - and we have 4 major planets challenging this 'relationship' moon - whoa!

The only company this new moon has is the asteroid Justitia - you can probably guess from her name what she is all about.

She holds the scales of justice (divine justice) and truth and fairness and how appropriate this New Moon is in Libra (which represents some of the same things plus relationships) - also appropriate that the high court is looking at the fate of Prop 8 (marriage equality) right now. It's an order from chaos cycle for sure.

There is this dynamic at play of us (Aries) vs. others (Libra) - not versus like throw everyone into a boxing ring and see who is still standing, but there might be a little bit of this out there for us, so we need to keep our cool and not get all judgey on everyone and most especially on ourselves - not a time to stick our head in the sand though.

There is a sense of setting all the elements of our lives onto a giant scale and checking for imbalances - what needs to go? what is complete?

Things from the past come up for healing - maybe some startling things - stay open, assertive and empowered - we may just have to agree to disagree though.

Anyhoo, I just wanted to get this up, since I wrote it a while back. I've been having some health stuff lately - nothing major, just some old stuff cropping up - makes total sense with this cycle, but it's put me a little behind this week (is there a week I am not a little behind - the only person on the planet who does not think I am a little behind is standing behind me muttering 'not sure I would call that little'). It doesn't feel very spring-like here - I hope it's better for everyone else!

growing our business by leaps and boundaries

Unbounded Girls Polarity Ring with Sarah Donnell

Setting boundaries for our business isn't a one time set it and forget it kind of thing.

(unless you are in the crockpot business and if you are please hook me up with some new recipes - I just got one - I am already obsessed with it)

It's a practice.
 
We are always growing; always expanding.

(and when it feels like things are standing still it is just because things outside of us are busy catching up with us or falling into place for us)

We have no choice in this. It is just how the universe works. Our business works the same way.

When we are in the process of deciding to step into a new space or a new level or achieve something we have never tried before or whatever this looks like for us - there is always this part of us that wants the exact opposite.

(this is what polarity is all about folks, it's not just a locket after all)

There is a part (maybe an arm or a leg or an ovary) that just wants to hunker down and stay where we are. 

This isn't a bad thing (until it is, because it will be sooner or later).

A few quiet moments getting centered in our own heart will tell us if this "stay where we are" thing is about love - really loving where we are right now and wanting to wring every last drop of joy from it or if this "stay where we are" thing is about fear - of the unknown, of failing, of making a fool of ourself, of letting go of something good to just maybe have something great.

Creating boundaries around what we say we want is the best leverage we have against all the inner struggle (which might look like outer resistance, but it's really all inner stuff - trust me) that is certain to show up as soon as we decide we want something more.

Setting and upholding clear and healthy boundaries creates a place where self-sabotage is much less likely. I could write a gazillion posts about self-sabotage or maybe just one someday but it will be a doosie (stay tuned).

When I have some direction I want to take and I don't commit to a specific action I am never free of it.

The part of me that wants it - the part that doesn't want to "stay where we are" will be nagging me all the time. "Well, are you going to work on it now? How about now? What do you mean you are going to the movies, you can't go to the movies - you need to work on that thing we want!"  

But when I set up some boundaries for the leap - "I am going to work on this thing I want every Wednesday from 8 to noon" for example - then I am free and don't have to think about it the rest of the time.

Structure creates freedom.

Another boundary I have set up in the studio is not to answer my own phone. No, I haven't figured out how to get Olive to answer it (yet) and obviously if I know someone is going to call me at a certain time I answer the phone.

But for the rest of the time I set up a voicemail system and I return calls at the same time every day - yes, once a day (except for a customer emergency - I mean if a Polarity customer has somehow magnetized themselves to a train track and a speeding locomotive is fast approaching - I'm on my way - all my lockets come with a 911, 24 hour free emergency response unit, of course).

Julia Roberts made Pretty Woman at twenty one years old and refused to do a nude scene. It wasn't like she was a big movie star - it was her first starring role after all. She made a movie about being a prostitute and became the biggest movie star on the planet without doing a nude scene (even in 199? that was pretty remarkable). I don't think her success happened in spite of  her setting this personal boundary. I think it happened because she set this boundary and then she practiced it.

Now, I'm not exactly comparing my refusal to answer the phone with Julia's refusal to take off her clothes but I kind of am (and I refuse to take off my clothes, too - in fact my customers, and Olive, demand that I don't ... in writing actually). Maybe it's time we all sat down and really got clear with our own business boundaries - who knows what kind of freedom we can create for ourselves with some structure.