Manifesting Entrepreneurship

Looking at how the businesses we create are beings just like people or buildings, where our relationship to them can help or hinder their success, and how to support them in flourishing.

Transcript

Manifesting Entrepreneurship

When people think about going into business for themselves, about turning their passion into a career or going into solo practice, when they think of taking this informal thing they do with their family and friends and convert it into something professional, they focus on the doing. Whether it's a service or a type of widget which is produced, they focus on the making of a thing. They fire up the manifestation engine and start trying to figure out how much effort is required how often in order to generate the necessary funds. This many paintings, that many massages, this many sessions, that many contracts, this many patients....As much as it is a passion, a joy, a struggle, and a blessing, it is also taking creation and turning it into math.

Where W = Work E = Energy expended R = Recipient Q = Quality of Life 

The equation comes to be (W)E/R = Q or w.e.r.q....work.

Notice in this equation there are several underlying assumptions. 

1. It is as if this equation is a car, and the person is the engine which makes it go. Notice if the W and the E are removed then there is Zero divided by clients and nothing divided by any amount is still nothing and so the entrepreneur's quality of life becomes nothing as well.

2. If the person puts work and energy into things then they will receive the quality of life equal to what they put in if they control the number and type of recipients (clients/patients/buyers) they work with.

3. If they work harder and put more energy into the equation they automatically get a better quality of life, again controlling for R.

As anyone who has ever tried to start a business will tell you, these assumptions may work at some point in the process, but that's not because there is fundamental truth to them. Instead, it is because of the "It's 5 o'clock somewhere" rule. At some point all the variables will align for a brief instant and these assumptions will become the truth. And then the next instant changes things again.

Starting a business is usually more like 20((W)E)/X = Hope for Quality of Life where X is an unknown quantity and/or kind of recipient. So tremendous amount of effort for smallish amount of return which, hopefully, will increase over time. As the amount of return increases the amount of effort can decrease. For most, there is even some dreamt of moment when the business will be like a kite. After running and running and running to keep it shakily in the air suddenly a breeze takes ahold, lifting it up, and we can simply enjoy the process of flying it by holding the string and maneuvering it on the air currents.

The truth is sometimes this happens and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the business never gets off the ground. Sometimes we end up running forever and sometimes the kite breaks the string and flies off somewhere else we can barely see in the distance. It can even get snatched by someone else and no matter how hard we run we are helpless to catch them. All of which leads people to seek out answers as to what has gone awry. They want to know why, if they are meant to follow their passion, it isn't working out. Or why if they have put in all this effort things are not progressing. Or why they are having to put in so much effort without anything more than a small return if they make any at all.

What can be helpful is to consider another way of approaching business. Instead of thinking of it as something to do, it is helpful to think of starting a business as manifesting something into the world. Yes, we're providing our abilities, our skills, and our work product, but these are the means for manifesting, not what is being manifested. Or perhaps it might be easier to think of creating and running a business as a birthing/child rearing process.

There are many types of beings in and around embodied life. Besides humans, flora and fauna, guides, totems, and the spirits of particular places, there are also buildings, homes, and businesses. Homes are the ones we are most cognizant of and comfortable with as we interact with them daily. A home reflects its partnership with the person dwelling in it and our language in describing homes reflects this. We can tell if a home is comfortably shabby or actually sad, stridently striving for attention, chicly understated or incredibly and vibratingly antagonistic. The voice we receive from them is singular in tone and message as usually only one family unit lives in the home. We can feel the multiplicity of voices in duplexes, triplexes, and apartment buildings.

Buildings tend to be multiuse and multivoiced. The more unified the voice the more distinctive they become, such as when one corporation owns an entire building and brands it on an exterior wall. These buildings communicate with us, and we register this communication by a "vibe" or "gut feeling" about the place. We reply back to the building through our actions and energy, by being comfortable and appreciative or closed off and protective and every variation in between.

Businesses are beings as well. They have as many personality types, quirks, gifts and failings as we embodied folk, just in different ways. This is, in part, why we talk about franchises such as Subway or Pizza Hut as soulless. They are businesses, but the true being, the soul at the center of them does not reside in the individual store front and cannot be found in promotional materials or products/services. In fact, everything we encounter with these is meant to extract from us while giving back in a minimal way. We think of them in terms of addiction, as unhealthy relationships which cause us to behave in unhealthy ways. A healthy business is one which fosters relationship. It honors each person who interacts with it, has good manners, creates repeat business, and leaves the person feeling a small bit of ownership. Good businesses create communities like the local coffee shop or dentist. They draw people in, create bonds, and foster healthy living through a myriad of products and services even if what's being offered is only a widget which is nonsensical but encourages a smile.

Bringing a business into life is a manifestation process where we utilize our own body, our Prana, our life force in order to bring something new into the world. At the beginning it requires all of our attention and energy, is a huge commitment because without us it wouldn't survive, and we have no idea what it will grow into. We can make assumptions, but we'll almost always be surprised at the points where we were wrong or right. 

One of the most common things which trips people up is applying the mathematical equation to their business when it is first coming into being. We don't expect an infant to go out and get a job, but we expect our infant businesses to do just that. Not only get a job, but come straight out into the world with a MBA from Harvard Business School, a huge network of business connections, and the right stuff to set us up for life. And it should get cracking on making things happen so we can get to the parts of owning and running the business which we enjoy. Also, it needs to provide the life we desperately want to have, which is financially stable if not lucrative. Of course, no infant can do this.

The growth cycle of a business is around 3-5 years from infancy to the teens. A business which survives this long usually creates a client/customer/patient base from which to be self-sustaining, figures out how to communicate in the world in order to draw new people as others leave, and seeks to move forward through evolving new offerings, sometimes in seemingly random or chaotic ways just as a teenager has mood swings, wild notions, and surges of energy followed by huge doses of sleep.

However, the second most common thing which trips up entrepreneurs is never seeing their business as a growing being. They get stuck in this notion of being the engine for the business, so it only goes if they are actively putting in work and energy. This is how they treat the business, how they speak about and to the business, and therefore how the business behaves. Unfortunately this creates a self-reinforcing cycle as the business never has to do anything other than allow the owner to work hard and expend energy so when they stop doing those, the business simply deflates, coasting to a stop or slowing dramatically which causes the owner to panic and get back on the hamster wheel. Hence the business never truly grows up. It never reaches adulthood, it never takes off like the kite, and it seems as if it never really gets anywhere at all.

I recommend entrepreneurs, no matter where they are in the lifecycle of their business, think of their business as a person. They should see themselves in relationship with this person and identify what type of relationship they are having. This could be simply a business arrangement like someone who has many different small business enterprises and doesn't rely on any one to support them. It could be intimate such as a business which is the means for them to manifest their passion into the world or provide service. No matter what form of relationship they have, it should be one which is healthy and respectful of both parties. Many business owners can look at how they are working and see they are being codependent, micromanaging, over demanding, belittling, and many other dysfunctional things when it comes to the business itself. They may be good with employees and then very negative in the back office when doing paperwork. They can curse the work under their breath every morning before trudging off to do it all again. All of which causes reactions from the business which, if the owner is using the math equation, makes no sense and they go searching for answers to why things just aren't working out.

So once people can see their relationship with their business, there are simple things they can do to help it help them. First is clear communication. If a business doesn't know what is expected of it, then it can't achieve the expected goals other than by random chance. Yes, every business knows it is meant to be self-sustaining, however this is rarely the sole reason we manifest them. If we wanted to be financially solvent, it's much easier on all levels simply to go get a job and work for someone else. No muss, no fuss, paycheck at the end of the month. Beyond the money every entrepreneur has expectations not only of goals to achieve, but means to achieve them and the type of life they want to have while they're achieving them. These things are known ahead of time because they are part of why the person entered into the manifestation process.

When starting a business, we can think these would be known by our guides and our spiritual support team, which they usually are, however this doesn't necessarily extend to the business. What infant knows the dreams and aspirations a parent has for it? Unless we express them out loud children go through life blissfully ignorant of what we had hoped for and aspired to by bringing them into the world. So, communicating with a business is key, like any other relationship.

I recommend business owners, after staff are gone for the day/shift/weekend, have a once a week or once a month meeting with their business. If they have a physical location, it is helpful to go and sit in what feels like the center of the location. This might not be the physical center of the space, just as our heart is not exactly in the center of our chest. Sit in the center and then speak out loud what needs to be said. Have a business meeting with your business, which is your partner, about the short/medium/long term goals of the business, as much as you know them. Talk about how you think you want those goals met, but also leave things open so the business can add its input. Talk about whatever is critical in the moment as well as where things can grow and what opportunities you'd like to work on or have. Then sit still and listen/feel. 

Businesses communicate in a variety of ways. Like homes they can give us an inspiration to do something which feels inconsequential or like a non-sequitur in the moment, but has practical and/or symbolic meaning which comes to make sense later. They can give acknowledgement through feelings such as a confirmation of stress or anxiety, a feeling of welcome, or even a new feeling of comradeship and community, like a firm handshake to seal the deal. Once a business knows what's wanted, it will usually get right to work and the changes will be noticeable.

Another thing I recommend for business owners is to identify where their business is in the maturation cycle. If it's just starting then they shouldn't, as much as they possibly can, put pressure on it to do more than it can. It should be encouraged to do all it is capable of doing, just like we do with infants in encouraging them to crawl, walk, and talk. We don't have negative thoughts and go soul searching when a baby plops down on their butt a hundred times before being able to stand up on their own. We expect this and applaud their every attempt. The more we are encouraging a fledgling business the more it will achieve. This isn't a guarantee it will take off on its own and soar, however it makes the initial years more productive and possibly less insomnia filled.

If the business is in its teen years, then it's time to start asking it to carry more of its own weight. Discuss that it start bringing in more finances, more opportunities, and becoming an equal partner so you can start having a life, even if you choose to create a new company in your freshly acquired spare time. :) The more a business owner can begin trusting the business, communicating with it clearly what is expected, the more sturdy, dependable, and thriving the business will become.

In doing this we as business owners not only honor the new life we have brought into the world, but our own being and path.