Back in July, Adbusters, a magazine/organization dedicated to unveiling the excesses of Madison Avenue advertising and corporate dishonesty, released a manifesto. It was their response to the Arab spring, where many countries in the middle east rose up against tyrannical governments.

This manifesto was entitled #OccupyWallStreet. The idea caught, and OccupyWallStreet was born as a protest and movement. Since late September thousands of people have gone to an occupation of Zucatti Square in Manhattan. Most recently 700 people were arrested blocking the Brooklyn Bridge. There are now more than 100 related Occupy events springing up across the United States. [Update: Nearly 1000 Occupy events globally.]

Before I was in business I was an activist. I know that direct action can sometimes seem futile, but when it works, it’s the only thing that seems to make a significant impact. The tactics of Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, should not be ignored, because of the great change they brought.

Unfortunately, people rarely engage with things they are passionate about to that level. The reasons are simple: survival and overwhelm. If you are too exhausted trying to earn your living, you don’t have a lot extra to participate in your community.

Equally, if participation means you risk arrest, or just plain missing work at a job, you need a great deal of courage to show up.

While I was a paramedic, I was involved with a lot of direct action activism when off-duty. I could do that because my work schedule was ten 24 hour shifts a month, leaving 20 days a month as free time.

But I couldn’t risk arrest in civil disobediance. As a paramedic, if I had an arrest on my record, I would’ve lost my job. So, I was careful about how I engaged.

I’ve spoken often about how micro businesses and the self-employed are the tiny seeds of change that can help to heal our economy by the virtue of what they do.

But another benefit is that you won’t fire yourself if you get arrested or miss work. As a self-employed person, or in a very small company where everyone is known and trusted intimately, you can make time to engage with your communities in direct action.

You may or may not agree with #OccupyWallStreet aims as I do. What I am hoping is that you move your business into stability and momentum so that it can support your active and full participation in your community, unrestricted by fears of employment, survival or consequences from others.

“This is what democracy looks like.”

love,
Mark

Introduction: Jason Stein has been a personal friend, a colleague, and for some time now a Heart of Business practitioner. He works with clients and runs small groups for us, rolling up his sleeves and opening his heart (can you open an already wide-open heart?) to support folks in the steep slopes of their business. I’m grateful for his wisdom, his caring, his strength, his love, and his unwavering focus on helping clients be very profitable without losing their hearts.

p.s. Need some heart-centered help getting your business going?

Our two practitioners, Yollana Shore and Jason Stein, have each had a few openings recently. If you’re wanting hands-on, individual, one-to-one support for your business development, then may I recommend the Organic Business Development Program with either of them?

Heart-centered, spiritual, practical, nitty-gritty. Click below to read and then schedule a no-cost conversation with either Jason or Yollana:

The Organic Business Development Program: Heart-Centered

I wish I could go, but it’s during the World Domination Summit event I’m attending next weekend. But, I thought it would be a great way to publicize this worthy event by giving away the tickets. Rosh gave his blessing so here it is.

Go to the website and read about The Blind Cafe. If you’ll be in Portland and want the two tickets, then here’s what you do.

In the comments below, tell me what you did to spread awareness of this event to others. It could be “I told my 5000 Facebook friends about it” or it could be, “I called up my sister-in-law who lives in Boulder (or Austin- the two other locations the Blind Cafe happens right now), and told her about it.” It’s not a contest. It is about awareness.

You’ll have until Tuesday, May 31, 9 a.m.pacific. At that point I’ll use my Sufi woo-woo powers to intuitively select someone to win the tickets. The rest of you can then go buy tickets and support the event and have a great time.

• Neediness is your doorway to abundance, and poverty consciousness can be your healthiest choice.
• Letting yourself grieve moves you forward more quickly.
• You have no control over what happens, you can’t force it to work.
• Freedom is a lie.

I think I tend to shoot myself in the foot with these, because, really, who the heck wants to hear these messages? It’s so much easier and nicer to hear “just be happy and everything you want will come your way.”

Here’s my problem: I have an internal integrity monitor and it’s hard, physically uncomfortable, for me to not be straight with people. You know those sitcoms where someone lies to someone else and it creates shenanigans? I can’t stand watching them, my body just feels gross watching it.

My deeper intention is to help you find freedom and happiness. I want your business to be easier for you. I want you to impact the world and make a difference. I want your heart to be immersed in love.

But I just don’t want to fake you out, or sell you a bill of goods. I physically need to be honest with you.

And honest for me is pulling the cover back on the backwards and upside-down way spirituality in business is often presented. I’m willing to say that not everyone is meant to be a millionaire, and that being financially successful is no indicator of spiritual attainment. Neither is being poor, but that’s a different discussion.

Here’s my commitment to you: I will share what I know to be true, always. I will pull no punches. If something is hard, I’ll tell you it’s hard. If I think a full day of spiritual retreat is what’s needed and that five minutes probably won’t cut it, that’s what I’ll tell you.

The spiritual path is challenging. The path in business is challenging. There are mistakes, pains, heartaches, frustrations, and weeping enough for plenty. Life is like that.

And yet, there is also tremendous joy, and sublime feelings of heart-fullness that can’t be described in words. Love and compassion and transcendence beyond description.

And you can make your business work without betraying your heart. Without manipulating anyone, without indulging in spiritual materialism. That the spiritual/business strategy combination work I want to support you in will help you in your business profoundly.

It just won’t resemble a vending machine, “Put in a prayer, get out a candy bar.”

See–I can’t resist that. You know it won’t be a vending machine. You know there’s a Grand Mystery involved in all of this. And yet there are so many gifts.

Anyway, just had to get that off my chest. Happiness, joy, abundance. Definitely I want them for you. Definitely they are available.

Just don’t expect me to sugarcoat the path forward–it has sweetness enough in surprising ways.

What Moses Knew About Getting Ready to Teach

So, have at it, and let me know if it was helpful.

For instance, I was working with a client who has a number of staff working under him that he wanted to delegate to more efficiently. Despite his efforts, the same problem showed up in employee after employee.

Okay, so it got incrementally better, somewhat. But even after several years he was still exhausted, and the delegating wasn’t really taking the load off.

Harumph… His way of trying to fix the mistakes didn’t seem to be fixing anything, because they kept coming back.

Does this sound familiar? Do you have problems that keep cycling back over and over again in your business? What’s going on? How do you fix these “unfixable” mistakes?

The Problem with Human Mistake Radar

Here’s what I’ve learned through the Sufi teachings about mistakes: our human guidance system is nearly infallible in detecting that a mistake has happened. All the emotional, physical and inner-knowing symptoms that tell us something is “off” or not right are usually very, very reliable.

Maybe you’ve got a sinking feeling in your stomach. Or just a knowing that something is out of whack. However you get it, you know that a mistake has occurred.

Unfortunately, most of us have not been taught how to look behind this discomfort to see what the mistake actually is.

Let me restate that: as a human, you know when a mistake has occurred, but you rarely know what the true mistake actually is.

Why We Misidentify Mistakes

It’s hard to name the mistake, because as humans we usually grab onto the most visible part of it: our actions, and the results that came from them. But the action wasn’t the mistake. You need to look behind the actions.

The mistake that occurs within a project or with a person happens before the action.  When that relationship is out of whack, then your actions reflect that out-of-whack relationship. In the example with my client, he had to eventually look at not what he did with his the employees but at his own relationship with delegating.

Why Mistakes Are a Gateway, the Sufi View

Mistakes are required. Without mistakes an essential part of our humanity would be missing. The part of you, deep in your heart, that really wants to know that you don’t have to earn love and acceptance. That no matter what you do, love is available.

Forgiveness is the bridge. Without it, we can’t truly relax into being our full human selves. And without mistakes, we wouldn’t be able to taste forgiveness in our hearts. There will always be a place in us saying: “But if I goof up, I’m doomed, unlovable.”

Allow me to quote from a Sufi teacher, who is describing God’s perspective on our mistakes (please forgive the Old Testament flavor):

“Through the gate of the mistake, most of My beloveds come to reach Me. First, I put them in the fire of the mistake, then this fire brings them to the deeper fire of My love. Then I show them My light in the fire, and in a moment they jump and are face to face…” (from Music of the Soul, by Sheikh Sidi al-Jamal).

The first “fire of the mistake” that the Sheikh mentions refers to our internal guidance system-that place that feels yucko that something went wrong.

The second fire is the return to love that burns away the yuck. it’s the insight that comes in this second fire that shows you the true mistake without a tinge of shame or guilt. It will feel pure, simple and very true.

Back to my client above, the insight he finally achieved was understanding that he actually wasn’t really delegating anything, because he continued seeing his employees as something less then the responsible adults they were.

Seeing and acknowledging his employees as responsible adults was the change needed to correct his mistake.

Marinate Before the Fire

Before you jump in with both feet, take a gentle breath, and just let your heart marinate on this insight. Ahhhh.

Still the mistake happened. A goof-up occurred, and the mess is here and now. So you still have to clean it up. How do you jump from the first fire of yuck to the second “deeper fire of love,” so you can clean things up?

Keys to Cleaning Up the Mess

• Take responsibility for the unknown.

When you feel that yucko feeling of a mistake, your first inclination may be to push it away. But that doesn’t work so well. Instead, take full responsibility, even though you don’t know what that looks like yet.

That’s right, find the place in your heart that is willing take full responsibility for the mistake. It’s yours, and remember, it’s your gateway to love.

• Ask for forgiveness.

The way the Sufis ask for forgiveness is to call into the heart: “I ask for forgiveness from Source. Please help me to see what I don’t know.” And be willing to be surprised.

Be patient. This process has taken me as little as one minute, and sometimes as long as 30-60 minutes of quiet reflection and asking in my heart, especially if it’s a big mistake in my life that I’m having some reluctance looking at directly.

When you receive an insight, and that insight doesn’t have any tinge of shame, or wrongdoing, or that “just have to suck it up and fix it” energy, then you know you’re complete. You’ll probably feel a relaxation and peacefulness come into your heart and being.

• Fix the mistake.

Follow through with the clean-up actions as soon as possible. This is the integrity that comes with love.

Your mistake had consequences in the world. You and people around you were affected by it. Do your best to make up for any miss-steps you made. Ask your heart, and ask the people involved, what will help to make things whole again?

My client followed these three steps and found that the hardest thing was simply finding the humility to apologize for his past behavior, which was much easier than continuing that painful cycle.

After this insight, my client felt an increased depth of love and trust in relationship with his employees, and his delegating skills grew in leaps and bounds.

When you do all three steps to resolve a mistake, the Sufi teacher I quoted above calls it “consuming the essence of the mistake.” Once the essence of the mistake is consumed, you may have a healing in your heart that keeps these kinds of mistakes from happening again.

An achievement that will definitely help your business bloom.

Resource: If you want to look at this process in more detail, you can get my workbook, Cleaning Up Mistakes in Business, which is available to anyone who completes the Remembrance Challenge.

This is a bit of a radical approach to mistakes–the idea that maybe they don’t need to be fixed, at least in the way one often thinks about “fixing” mistakes. And yet, you don’t ignore them either.

Does this resonate for you? What’s your experience with unfixable, or repetitive mistakes?

This is not about collapsing and begging to be forgiven because you messed up. This is about asking deep in your heart to see something that you haven’t seen yet, and to know that you don’t have to be perfect in order to earn love.

p.s. Are you making mistakes with money over and over?

Giving away your precious time. Under-charging and under-earning. Earn more, spend more. The credit card bills keep growing. Making decisions in the spur of the moment, and feeling upset afterwards at the money you spent for one more useless thing.

These are the common mistakes business owners make every day. Again and again and again. If just knowing what to do would change things, the problem would be gone.

Sometimes you need a healing. Sometimes you need a real transformation. May I suggest the Heart of Money Transformational Journey Home Study?

This is a course that sold out 20+ times for $1500/person. We’re currently running a course for 1/4 that cost — 80 spots sold out. What’s more, the breakthroughs we’re hearing about are incredible.

Finally, after more than eight years, the Heart of Money Transformational Journey course is being turned into a home study course. We’re aiming for an August 17 release/ship date. Right now through July 31st we’re offering a pre-release price.

Check it out for yourself:  The Heart of Money Transformational Journey.

Trust your heart. And if you have any questions, please ask. Just do it by July 31st, or you’ll miss the pre-release price.

Let me explain that I’m running a business, I’m a new father of twin boys, and I’m a little sleep-deprived. I haven’t really had a lot of extra time to read.

Howsoever, when Pam’s book arrived, and I saw the cover, I couldn’t help but flip it open.

And there it was, the line on page 2 that everyone seems to be repeating, and that sums up the gestalt of the whole book (whatever “gestalt” means):

“And despite what a lot of hyped-up marketing material will tell you, hating your job intensely is not a business plan.”

One morning, after a 3am feeding which my wife blissfully slept through (one of only two nights a week when I’m on for the night feedings–an arrangement that allows me to be coherent and run the business that keeps us in baby formula), I couldn’t go back to sleep. So I picked up her book. I think I had made it to the second chapter.

And finished the book by 5:30am. (That’s your cue to go buy it now.)

If you’re wondering how to make the leap from corporate to entrepreneur this is the book for you. It’s got the nitty-gritty, like:

• “How to Shop for Benefits, including the basics, resources, and some things you definitely might not have thought of. And what is more terrifying than being without benefits while you’re trying to support your family?
• “Do I Really Have to Have a Business Plan?” The answer is “Absolutely not.” And “Absolutely.” which is a lot more clear than you think if you read the chapter. And you’ll be glad you did, because business plans and planning can either speed you up or slow you down, depending.
• “How Do I Choose a Good Business Idea” including Pam’s direct confrontation of the popular trite-ism “Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow.” No, she’s not recommending losing what you love, but she does clue you in how and where the money comes from.

But, this is not another boring how-to-set-up-a-business book. What kind of a boring-how-to-set-up-a-business book would help you detox from corporate life and thaw out your soul, which you must do. You can’t be a successful entrepreneur with a frozen soul, period.

Or how how about facing your family and friends who maybe don’t have an entrepreneurial bone in their body and can’t conceive of you actually making it, and so they tell you their worries day in and day out until your dreams start to turn to dust…

Except that you were smart enough to have both picked up this book and read it.

About the Writing Itself

I revel in the informal, conversational, messy, impromptu, in-the-moment writing that has cropped up in blogs, on Twitter, and in a variety of pdfs. I love it that written conversation is accessible to everyone.

At the same time I’m a writer and sometime editor, and have been for more than twenty years. I worked on a daily newspaper, I ran a non-profit magazine, and I’ve written hundreds of articles and a few books.

I say this to let you know that I value quality writing. There is a skill, talent and art to written expression which makes it easy for the reader to walk into a book, sit down, and have a cup of tea. A combination of humor, heart-opening turns of phrase, and an ability to empathize and stay connected to you as the reader.

Pam’s got it. You’ll enjoy reading the book. You will. Even the parts that could be boring, like “Looking Your Finances in the Eye,” are a pleasure to read.

Why Am I Making Such a Big Deal Out of This Book?

Heart of Business has two missions. The inner mission is to help people touch spirit, to remember Oneness and love in the context of business and money, specifically small business and being self-employed.

The outer mission is to have as many people as possible thriving, with their hearts open, because small businesses are where most of the jobs, creativity, passion, and life-blood comes from in the business world. And strong small businesses help keep money local, and they help to weave strong communities.

A huge number of people have just been forcibly ejected from the corporate world, and millions more are wanting to make the leap. Around the turn of the last century, half the population of the US was self-employed or working in small businesses. I think we’d all be healthier and better off if we were to get back closer to that percentage.

Pam and her Escape from Cubicle Nation- From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur are compadres of ours in this mission. She may only suspect it, but we’re soul-siblings in terms of this mission.

So, there you go. My cards on the table. Now, please, go get the book. And follow her on Twitter. And read her blog.

And start a business.

Then, my pal Havi Brooks, as well as emails and phone calls with folks like Naomi, Colleen, Dawud, among others, and a very passionate involved discussion with the members of The Business Oasis (Note: the Oasis ended in November 2010.), have made me realize that this is not a dress rehearsal. I’m already here.

Kinda one of those uhh… “duh!” moments. There have been benefits, and there have been problems with this.

First, the Benefits

You know how sometimes you just talk to yourself when no one else is around? Or at least you think that no one else is around? That’s kinda how I’ve been treating this blog. Only it’s not true.

People are around. And listening. And the more that I actually talk as if no one is around, the more people seem to be around. Kinda odd, kinda crazy.

Are you talking to yourself, saying what’s true for you, taking risks at looking silly and dumb? Or are you holding back, being careful.

I went on a rant, well… a heart-centered rant, at folks in a class of mine, about being too careful, and how that kills intimacy, truth, and connection to folks who need your help.

The Negatives.

The downside is that I haven’t really been treating the blog as part of my business. It means that I haven’t really made a big deal about launching Heart-Centered Article Writing. It means I haven’t mentioned our upcoming Path to Profitability Retreat.

I never even mentioned that we held a free teleclass on the major topics of organic momentum.

I’ve also been amazingly lax about mentioning amazing things friends of mine are doing. Like the above-mentioned Havi and Naomi. Or that we’re having our website redesigned by someone very cool. And that a long-time member of The Business Oasis, Hilary Barrett, has launched her own cool project around the I Ching to help folks who want clarity with their oracle.

And probably a dozen other cool things that sparked me in the moment and I’m not remembering right now. But when I do, I’ll mention them.

Anyway, this is just one of those mea culpas.

Not much else to say about it. Just wanted to say, “Hey, here’s some cool stuff.” And if my sudden gulp of fresh air helps someone to realize they aren’t in a dress rehearsal either, that’s fantastic. Welcome to center stage.

(Does this resonate with anyone else?)

with love
Mark

Here’s the gist of the article, quoting founders Jason Fried and his colleague David Heinemeier Hansson:

“No, less is less—because more is not better! Everyone tries to do too much: solve too many problems, build products with too many features. Our goal is to do less, to build half a product rather than a half-assed product. So we say ‘no’ to almost everything. If you include every decent idea that comes along, you’ll just wind up with a half-assed version of your product. What you really want to do is build half a product that kicks ass.”

The article doesn’t specify which of them said that glorious quote, but it doesn’t matter, there’s a whole lotta truth in it.

I wrote about how Productivity Contributes to Global Warming and Debt, and here’s a super-successful company, one for which we’re raving fans, who shows you how to be sustainably successful by doing less. Much less.

Are you able to resist the urge to do more, be more? Can you be less than all you can be, and be happier as a result? Tell us about your next project/product/offering your business is making- do you have an idea of how you can make it less, and thus make it more successful?

Well, that’s just it: the problem isn’t productivity. The truth is, we’re already incredibly productive.

On your laziest, slackest days (well, maybe not your absolutely laziest) if you live anywhere in the so-called ‘developed’ world, you are still party to the most ‘productive’ society ever seen.

And it’s our doom.

The problem isn’t whether you can be more productive, or how. The problem is different. It’s about capacity.

Has This Ever Happened To You?

There was an edge to my voice as I asked the question: “And so why haven’t you finished what you promised to do?”

I meant for it to come out nicer, more reasonable. But, it didn’t.

This is so often where we land, kerthunk, in business: are you getting it done, or aren’t you? In the western world, we call this ‘productivity’ and we think it’s a good thing. Even if we complain about it, or hold spiritual values that say otherwise, I find that my clients (and me… ) orient around this question.

Are you getting it done? Are you being productive enough? And did you realize that your desire for productivity is contributing to global warming, debt, and business struggle?

The problem isn’t productivity… it’s capacity.

What is ‘capacity’?

Capacity is, simply put, the quantity something can contain. How much water a glass holds (oh, about a dram or two), how many people can fit around a Passover table (24! What? Aunt Joan brought six cousins with her? No problem!)…

How many things can you get done in a day, week, year?

The idea of abundance is very alluring- there’s plenty! There’s plenty to go around, there’s plenty for everyone, there’s no reason you can’t do it/have it all.

Unfortunately, this runs smack into a very troubling spiritual teaching.

The physical world is a limited place.

There is an unlimited amount of love, mercy, and peace available. There is, however, a limited amount of fresh water, fossil fuels, and arable land for growing food. There is an unlimited amount of creativity and connection. There is, despite our best efforts, a limited number of seats at the table (we’ll have to find an extra table for those six cousins…)

In the Sufi take on the creation story, Source is described as ‘veiling’ itself, in order to create the physical world. The physical, 3D, dirt and grass reality we live in is distanced from Source, because otherwise we’d all be dissolved into Oneness, with no individuality discernable at all.

The things that are unlimited are the things that are less ‘distant’ from Source, and thus are without physical form: love, compassion, mercy, creativity, etc…

Surrender to the fact that you have limited capacity.

One of the first groups I ever ran, before Heart of Business even existed, was a six-week “Success” group. Every week, people would write down their goals and tasks for the next week. And every week we’d come back to find that everyone, everyone, without fail was leaving about 50% unfinished.

The issue wasn’t productivity: the issue was capacity. They were all overestimating their capacity by about 100%- they thought they could do twice as much as they actually could.

It’s this inability to judge our capacity that leads to debt: you spend more than you have. It also leads to global warming, which is also a kind of debt, in that we are spending more energy, from other sources, than we have in ourselves.

It also leads to business struggle- trying to do more than you really can, means you end up exhausted, cranky, and feeling like a failure.

This was a profound insight for me, when I realized that what was making my life so crowded, was also what was maxing our credit cards at the time, and was also contributing to the ravaging of the planet.

Just accepting one’s true capacity is a big step towards contributing to healing our families, our communities, and the world. And yet, and yet…

Is that it? Give up on your ambitions and your goals? Play small? Or is there way to deal with your capacity and still grow your business?

Keys to Business Capacity

• Get honest.

How many times in the last days, weeks, or months have you said: “I meant to get it done… why isn’t it done yet?” That’s a clue that you are way overestimating your capacity.

It’s okay. Take a deep breath, be gentle with yourself, and realize you haven’t done anything wrong. You’re caught up in a culture that makes routine overestimating capacity and living on credit.

Admit to yourself: “I’m way over capacity. It’s literally impossible to do all of this.”

• Clear cut.

Clear cutting is a miserable thing to do to a forest, but it’s fine thing to do to with a to-do list.

This is the challenge: make a list of everything you are trying to get done in the next week, and erase half. Yes, a full half. Do it right now. Get a piece of paper, do a brain dump of the 12-25 things on your plate.

Now, cross off half of them. I know it’s rough, but it’s going to happen anyway. Better that you choose, rather than you simply run out of time.

• Notice what’s really important.

There are some things that are more urgent, and some things that aren’t. There are some items that help you feel alive and well, and some that don’t.

When you realize what your capacity really is, it becomes easier to say “no” to things that just don’t fit, and easier to say “yes” to the things that are important in your life.

There’s tons of other things that go here: having the right tools (like a larger computer monitor, or the right pruning sheers in the garden), having an office that is set up efficiently, getting regular exercise, etc.

That’s all good stuff, but the foundation of it all, I’ve discovered, is to really face the reality of your capacity. As you settle into the truth of what’s possible in this finite world of ours, I bet you’ll discover a lot more of the limitless abundance of love and peace and compassion in your heart.

And with more of that love, we’ll have more time and capacity to make this world a much more wonderful place.

I’m curious- how do you face your capacity?