The Ten Magic Bubbles
Have you noticed that popular marketing gives us 7 keys to success, 7 steps to unlimited wealth, 7 gateways, 7 magic principles etc? A magical number of super secret special “only you will receive the information if you send me small bills every second Tuesday” things are promised to you. At every event – Self Help or Personal Development – there is always one heckler. In this article, consider me a self heckler as I evaluate my “ten magic bubbles”. (I've added three because three was the magical number that I turned in between being two and four. Apparently it has been like this such ancient times."
he he :-) - ok sorry i'll behave - seriously, for me, there is nothing more delicious than a story. Book, Movie, Painting, Song, Sculpture and the Art of Humans - History, Mythology and Drama.
We identify ourselves with the stories around us and anchor ourselves OUTSIDE to these shifting sands, opinions, labels, judgements and legends - all based on the perspective of others - all based on limiting factors OUTSIDE ourselves.
Through the ages, this human predisposition has inspired enterprise for managing these EXTERNAL factors under the illusion of "personal" or "individual" control - Religion, Education, Government.
It's like pushing the button at the traffic lights and waiting for the little green man to give us permission to safely cross the street. Pushing the button makes no difference whatsoever as these lights are automatically timed. Yet we ALL push that button a number of times as we aim to "control" the traffic and create the circumstances for us to cross the road "faster".
I wonder if we stopped for a moment and simply sat and observed ourselves, what would we see? What lies BEHIND all my stories? What lies BEHIND all those buttons I have been pushing at the traffic lights?
Perhaps life is merely a case study of self – or a board game to pass the time– or some magical mystery tour with John Lennon shovelling spaghetti or just ten magic bubbles? :-)
I spent some time recently with my 4 yr old nephew, H, at South Bank. He brought me back into innocence. Walking around and people watching, I saw thousands of people from all walks of life just spending time with family and friends outside under the blue sky and spring sunshine just wanting to relax, have fun and recreate. Like seagulls they/we flock to places where we can escape from our daily grind, get some sunshine, contrast our environment and partake in activities that are NOT work - but simply play. Through his eyes it is oh so clear that everything around me is made up - an illusion and none of it real. Like thousands of large floating bubbles, I caught a glimpse of all the current business challenges that occupy my head and I realized just how futile it was to spend so much time and energy desperate to find a solution. What the hell are we so freaked about? These challenges are not even real – merely bubbles! and only ten magic ones at that! :-)
MAGIC BUBBLE NUMBER ONE - MY LIFE
I look at my own life - I have sooo much work to do yet I just didn't want to switch my laptop on over the weekend. I felt like I needed time and space to play so I could re create energy and enthusiasm and find the joy in life. I felt like I needed to make a distinction - do something different! I just want to be home with my family doing things like cooking and cleaning and gardening and making my home feel nice so I can enjoy being here. I want to be creative and artistic and social, enjoy pleasure, sing, feel music through me, dance, let go and just be filled with joy.
Now here's the trick - is there really a distinction? Am I ever really NOT working? Am I ever really NOT playing? Dr Phil - the guru of all gurus - tells us - and I believe him - that we have the life that we want. :-) Once the guffawing and chuckling dies down, I can admit that yes Dr "You need to Get This" Phil is actually correct. We have the life that we want. All these little subconscious stories are working away in complex equations and formulas behind the scenes driving our actions, inactions, responses and patterns towards what we want. Who is the we? Some people theorise that there is a little "we" and a big 'WE". The little is our human identities and the big is our essence - the REAL us. Wouldn't the big US the essence of us be the ultimate driver behind the little us in the first place? Haven’t we (BIG) ultimately designed these mazes and gateways and doorways and trapdoors for our little we to entertain and play? Isn't this all simply a game?
MAGIC BUBBLE NUMBER TWO - THE GAME
Whatever it is - and no one can ever have the ANSWER - we are all just making up our own stories after all - whatever IT is, how does it impact on what we do for work? If this is all a game, can we play whatever business games we choose? Are there BIG and LITTLE rules for this game? Big - like legislation and LITTLE - like to suit what WE want? I don't know - I'm just making this shit up!!! All I know is that I do know how to play the business game. I know the risks involved and understand how legislation is forged to protect the interests of various game players in order to minimise the effect that one player may have on another player's field. (market). I went to see "Young Victoria" the movie - last Friday night. Great line - best of the movie. She and Prince Albert are playing chess in their first meeting. Victoria complains about being moved around like a chess piece by various people. Prince Albert replies that if she is part of a game then she'd better learn how to play it better than anyone else then.
Good advice!
So if we choose to play the business game then we'd better learn how to play that particular game better than anyone else!!!
MAGIC BUBBLE NUMBER THREE - RECREATION
Now I wrote all of this about making the distinction. Obviously it is an illusion that I am making a distinction at all isn't it? I am always doing what I love - I simply express it in various forms. On a weekend I could be formally writing. I could be formally working. However if I choose to value ALL the forms of my life in other ways I may still be writing and working by appearing to be playing. I am my mind, heart, body, family, home, community. My wealth is my value of myself in all its forms. My work is how I add this value to those around me. There is no distinction in that my mind is working constantly while I am at ease. Somehow moving away from the formal aspect of work, I give my mind heart and body time and space in order to re create itself. Isn't our response to life itself a form of art? If we appreciate all the bits of our lives - the frenzy - the freedom - the order - the chaos - all of this forms a magnificent work of art which is our life???
Therefore there is an illusion that I NEED time and space in ORDER to recreate!!!
MAGIC BUBBLE NUMBER FOUR - TIME
The illusion that time is speeding up means that the greatest void - the greatest commodity for most people will be time.
What value is time to people?
What value is time to potential clients?
What do people want in their life?
What are they willing to pay for?
What value do they identify as so great that they WILL take time away from fun and joy and pleasure and their family and home and go and spend a weekend with strangers to do a workshop for whatever reason?
WHY WOULD THEY???
WHAT DO THEY GET???
If you feel as if time is slipping away, what do you do to become timeless?
How do you get MORE time?
How do you hold onto time?
What value is time for you?
MAGIC BUBBLE NUMBER FIVE – INFORMATION OVERLOAD
For me personally I have no intention of doing any more trainings or workshops. In this Age of Information, I feel overwhelmed with the amount of knowledge and information that technology gives me access to. I know I need more qualifications but honestly I crave new forms of time and space to express my life in. In the seven categories of me, Mental, Business and Money are seeking to be balanced by activity in Social, Physical and Relationship.
MAGIC BUBBLE NUMBER SIX - SALES
A band doesn’t tour just for the hell of it. Tours must be leveraging off a product otherwise it is simply not financially viable. A tour is an event. With every event there is a financial plan other than box office sales. Music Festivals leverage off the entertainment in order to sell product - food and alcohol and merchandise. The cost of producing the Festival can rarely be covered by the ticketing alone. Similarly with PD events, there must be a reason - a purpose. It is my belief that most PD events are futile unless you have products to on sell - books, CDs, DVDs, merchandising, training and home study packages.
AN EVENT IS A BIGGER MORE EXPENSIVE WEBSITE
A WEBSITE IS A BIGGER MORE EXPENSIVE FLYER.
A FLYER IS A DEPICTION OF VALUE OF YOUR PRODUCT IN WORDS AND IMAGES.
For me, in my story, in my paradigm, time is my biggest void and my greatest treasure - more than anything else. I would rather buy a book and a home study program first. I can get the social interaction online if I need it. I can get any information I want online or purchase it on line. Why do I need to go to an event? What does it give me? There are hundreds of little workshops everywhere for the cost of a pair of nice shoes. There are a handful of events that cost the same as one months accomodation in New York. Unless you can show me how going to your event can deliver value to me - then why would I go?
MAGIC BUBBLE NUMBER SEVEN - COMPETITION
I have been speaking with various people - naturopaths, kinesiologists, chiropractors, personal trainers, professional corporate trainers, feng shui consultants, astrologers, homeopaths and healers who all have commented that their regular workshops, events and talks are not being attended like they used to be. Numbers are down across the board. Competition for people's time, energy and money is high. Mundane activities like running a household, going to work, looking after family/partner/yourself is occupying most people's time. There isn't much left over after that. Singles and couples younger and older - even without a family to deal with - are struggling with this illusion that time is speeding up and they simply cannot keep up. All our illusions are appearing larger by the minute and this forms competition for our attention and intention doesn’t it?
It’s fascinating to listen to customer feedback. I often hear “There is too much going on.” The next sentence invariably will be “There must be more to life than this.” How funny – there is too much yet there must be more! Says much about our illusions doesn’t it?
How can the marketing of a product or event add value to both these statements within all the competitive illusions that we call reality?
MAGIC BUBBLE NUMBER EIGHT – INVESTMENT VS RISK
That 60 Minutes story about the Turning Point program and three associated deaths is a calling card for opportunity. Like thousands of people worldwide, I have invested tens of thousands of dollars and years into training, research, learning and practice. If I choose to expand on this experience by setting up a business to create my own systems and methodologies to consult for people then the same rules of business apply to me as they do in every other enterprise sphere. If I choose to expand on this experience by setting up a business to create my own systems and methodologies to consult for people then what are the risks if I do not play the current business game and provide risk management? If someone tells you that a piece of paper is worthless, ask yourself the question why they do not value their long term investment enough to qualify it?
What is our relationship with the word qualification? Qualify itself means – to invest with a quality – to attribute a quality to – the Latin qualificare. Qualis – of what sort – Facere – to make. If you look at so called new age therapies, they have created organizations and trainings and jumped through the hoops required to standardize these trainings and invest in the future of these practices by establishing Certificate IV and Diploma courses by becoming RTOS and working with the ATF. If you begin as you mean to end – in any business – and if you value your service and product enough to set up a business and practice then wouldn’t you learn to play the business game better than anyone else and invest in yourself through qualifications?
Working in a framework with qualifications that meet national standards is like growing a new species of tree. First a graft is taken and grown on an existing tree. Once mature and strong enough, the new tree is planted independently. I see qualifications and government legislation compliance as the old tree from which we can take a graft, grow it on the existing model and then after growth and deepened strength can replant in its own right.
MAGIC BUBBLE NUMBER NINE - THE BUSINESS and MARKETING GAME
“Learn to play the game better than anyone else.”
I believe that it is vital to be innovative and at the bell curve of the trends - not the tail end. The Pareto Principle is very effective when playing the business game. 80% income generated from product and 20% income generated from personal service is quite an effective strategy in this game. I’ve played this game for a long time yet each day I look at it with fresh eyes and with every new day I learn a new rule while have fun playing another card. As an Event Manager and Event Publicist lately I’ve been asking many questions, doing market research and pondering about events in general. For the general public, there is huge competition for the event dollar. For the PD customer, it certainly seems that public paid events are a no longer as popular an investment as they were three years ago. Many people have spent so much money on PD programs that they would rather invest in books, DVDs and home study packages.
The Bob Scheinfeld model seems to be the most balanced and more effective. He only runs a handful of events each year. Products featuring basic production are sold for premium value and his focus on firmly on his on line presence delivered in a smart innovative and consistent manner. It would appear that his enterprise activity is designed for his personal enjoyment. Wealth is generated from his various financial strategies. These are great lessons Bob – thanks!
MAGIC BUBBLE NUMBER TEN – Why Play?
What is the purpose of playing this game? What is the value of the gaping chasm between reality and fantasy? A very strong fantasy can be driven for quite a while by various identity structures. The defining moment always comes however when the rules of reality begin to encroach on the fantasy. We all have a dream. However when confronted with the reality of achieving that dream, many times, we proceed no further. Perhaps it isn’t the context or content of the dream that we actually crave? Perhaps it is simply to dream?
When we give budding artists the challenge of completing registration to consider adding them to our rosters, part of the process requires the delivering of business plans and defining of visions for their dream of being in a successful band. This exercise typically sorts the men from the boys so to speak. If they truly are customers and not merely dream rock stars, no amount of compliance and accountability can deter them. However if their attempt to dip their toes in the waters of fantasy are merely smokescreens for another chapter in their “story” the reality of producing an introductory EPK will provide the tipping point and force them to face what they were actually “doing” enough to arrive at their true bottom line when they are required to invest either their time, energy or money.
I have been conducting marketing surveys for the past month with various individuals and businesses regarding events, products, branding and customers. It has been a privilege to witness this gaping chasm between reality and fantasy that has manifested for most of the people I have surveyed. Perhaps the purpose of playing the game is simply to assist us in recognizing HOW and WHO we truly are?
For many business operators, completing the marketing survey, their greatest fears emerged - and for 50% of the participants these fears were all around imperfection. There was a great reluctance to release product until it was absolutely perfect. I always ask the question - "perfect compared with what" What does perfect look like to you?" Ooh this is a question that takes us down a deep rabbit hole that shakes the very foundation of business identity and reveals the dynamics behind our very operations.
The other 50% simply forged out into the market, listened to their customers and sold them what they wanted - simple. Of course this sector have a solid team behind them able and willing to then develop, produce and package the product and deliver as promised.
It's funny - this perfectly describes my own business dynamic. My business partner catches the fish and I clean, gut and filet them ready for the customer in the various systems I develop. If it was up to me to catch the fish I would probably never actually throw my line in the water as I would be waiting for the perfect conditions in which to fish. On the other hand, my partner simply chucks a line in wherever there is water.
Like thousands of large floating bubbles, my glimpse of these illusions occupies time and space in my mind, heart and body. Or I can blow them away, jump on them and bust them and laugh to myself about how I spent a sunny afternoon under a brilliant blue sky filling my head with illusions while my four year old nephew pondered a world filled with dinosaurs, spiders and faeries. :-)
