Better Business Management Practices From An Archetypal Stand Point: Why Your Venture is Just Not That Into You

Do you absolutely love what you do and are a magician at doing it but the business doesn’t seem to be responding? Want to know what to do about it? I survived just such a bad relationship with my business and believe my confession here might help you find your answer. First though, let’s agree on a couple of terms. In classic archetypal language if you’re in this situation you’re likely strong in the Lover (intuition and passion) and Magician (creativity and insight) energies and less strong in the Warrior (action and mission) and Sovereign (management and harmony) attitudes.

Like lots of artists, inventors, healers, creatives, sometimes called “light beings,” you believe loving what you do and doing it well is what it takes for success. Unfortunately, running a business requires balanced energy. It’s likely you’d describe yourself as a lover and not a fighter, in part because the Warrior energy in our time is often corrupted and used by the powerful against the weak. But healthy Warrior energy is wonderful. It sets clear boundaries and does whatever it takes to serve the interests of the business. The Sovereign energy oversees the whole realm, thus it looks out for the overall harmony of the business; management, product, operations, sales, marketing, advertising, PR, R&D and HR. Intellectually this makes sense, but to creative, sensitive people like you (?) and me, it’s more easily thought about than done.

I hope the following confession serves you as inspiration and explanation. I adore yoga, started practicing when I was 17, taught it for 23 years of my life, and gave my heart to running my own yoga studio for 11 years. The studio was like a church for me. I ministered to my “flock” 24/7, up at 4:30 many mornings to teach at 6am, counseling and teaching all day until 10pm many nights. It broke my heart to helplessly watch it slowly die.

Looking back I realize I was depending on “magical thinking” to run the business. Oh, I cared about making money but showed it by doing my affirmations and manifesting every day. I believed in “The Secret” and put it into practice by being pure love and light to everyone who walked in the door. But the drawer full of endorsements and heartfelt thank you notes didn’t pay the high rent I negotiated. To be honest, I didn’t really negotiate at all but just accepted the deal I was offered, so I didn’t have to risk “losing rapport” with my landlord.

I never marketed or promoted the business because as a “flower child of the sixties” I thought that marketing and sales are manipulation and thus the devil’s work. Besides, what could be better than having a great product? Any sales or marketing at all, as it turns out.

I only did the amount of paperwork demanded by law. I spent zero on advertising, didn’t save for investment, and had no idea what or how to measure or manage any of the activities of the business. While I was the only game in town I did OK, but when competition arrived, I was defenseless.

I took it all personally and felt unappreciated, and if I’m to be completely honest, I felt resentful. After all, I was doing the “best I could”, working “hard” and giving everyone what I thought was love. I just didn’t know what I didn’t know. Now I can’t believe you’re as naive as I was, but what I learned about why I didn’t know might be of value to you.

I had lots of unconscious beliefs that didn’t serve me. I believed in lose-win negotiations (I used to take the lose side because I believed others were more important than me). I believed if I gave someone love they’d automatically give it back. I believed having a great product was the same as having a great business. I believed I could wish something and it would happen. I believed it was undignified to promote and sell myself. I believed accounting and all the other paper work, banking, strategy and other business activities of a business were unnecessary.

AND THEN THE RIGHT WOMAN SHOWED UP…

You will understand what I am talking about if you read her article “Evolving Role of Masculine Feminine In Modern Institutions – Marriage & Business – Illustrated with Erotic Fantasy Art by Boris Vallejo & Sensual Pseudo-Realism of Dorian Cleavenger“.

I’ll save the fireworks and full story of transformation that coincided with my angel’s arrival for another post (some of it is already available in some of the posts and videos on the site) and for now just report that I survived, barely, and am more than fine now.

I can offer, that during my transition I had to consciously stop believing anything I thought or felt. Every time I started to say, “but it feels like…” or “I think…” I learned to catch myself and realize the feeling was not “true” but only my habitual reaction to one of the unconscious beliefs that were ruling my life. Every thought and feeling became a cue to look deeper and make conscious the belief that was causing me to suffer.

That work helped me reduce my dependence on the thinking and feeling of the Magician and Lover respectively and make room for the doer Warrior and manager King to step up. I consciously made what actually happened more important than how I felt about it or how others felt about me for doing it. I stepped back more often and asked myself what needs to actually get done here for me to reach the goals I’d set rather than how I felt as I was doing it or how others felt about me for “trying so hard.”

I’d become popular in life, built relationships, succeeded as a television anchorman and politician by pleasing people with my powerful Lover and Magician energies. In my angel Olga, I met my match. She cannot be manipulated even by my charm, only my actions. Her strength and unwillingness to settle for less than my facing the truth motivated me to change when I might not have otherwise.

I’m comfortably looking out on a beautiful beach in Panama as I write this because I married a woman with powerful Warrior-Sovereign energy and with her fierce guidance I have become more balanced. I’m still more Lover and Magician than Warrior and Sovereign and that’s OK. I still believe marketing and selling are unnatural for me but I accept them as necessary evils, processes I don’t have to avoid or take personally.

So, what’s the moral of this tale other than I’m the luckiest man in the world? If you’re a creative-sensitive, maybe you’ll get lucky too and the universe will send a beautiful mate to help balance your energies. Or, you can begin the hard work of looking at all the beliefs that might be holding you back from a better relationship with your business. I couldn’t do it alone. Like I said, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I needed someone wise enough and who cared enough for me to help me see what I was doing to sabotage myself and then support and hold me accountable to make change happen.

If you want help, reach out. Let’s have a conversation. We understand and have know how.

You’ll likely never encounter a more powerful warrior than my Olga. From her you’ll get clear boundaries, accountability, marketing and business knowledge as part of her balanced archetypal energy. BTW, she’s also the most loving human I’ve ever known.

I bring strong empathy, elder wisdom from having “done it all,” and magic as part of a now, relatively balanced set of energies. Maybe your business can be into you after all.

So, reach out and let’s explore…