Conscious Business Playground

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

This past weekend I attended a unique gathering of Entrepreneurs hosted by my friend Bill Baren. It was called: "The Future of Conscious Business Playground."

About 25 of us gathered in San Francisco to explore, in a fun and interactive way, the following questions and topics:

- What is a conscious business?
- How is service more important than money?
- How can money serve a higher purpose?
- What is authentic vs. manipulative selling?
- What's the future of video blogging?
- Selling more seminar seats without selling your soul.
- Online technology that streamlines marketing.
- How does purpose and intention impact marketing?
- Are love and business compatible?
- Is the law of attraction real - how do we use it?
- Ways to partner for fun and profit.

Nobody was there to teach us the answers to these questions.

What we did was come up with the questions ourselves and then broke into groups to explore what we knew or didn't know and how we could take these ideas to build businesses that made a difference while they also made a profit.

Too often business is focused on one main thing:

"How do I make more money in my business?"

It was very clear to me that none of the participants' main business purpose was just to make more money. We all understood that making money was an important component of business, but never the underlying purpose.

What I came away with was a new clarity about how I can better serve my clients. I realized that I needed to make "higher purpose" just as important in my work with clients as attracting more money.

One of the things we came to consensus about was that the two served each other. And that if we didn't make each of these important, our business and lives would be out of balance.

A business that is primarily about making money is a business without a soul. When the bottom line is the only important thing, real service, quality, community involvement, fulfillment and joy get kicked to the curb.

But if your business is only about the "airy fairy stuff" - love, contribution, etc. you may avoid the realities of money, management and marketing and ultimately cease to exist.

The best businesses find ways to combine the two.

I invite you to ask these questions about your business:

- How can I have more fun in my business? How can I make it a game that I love to play everyday, not just because it provides a livelihood but because I get to exercise my creativity?

- How can I transform my relationship to money from one of scarcity to one of sufficiency and abundance? Can I see money as simply a positive reflection of the service I provide?

- How can my business serve me instead of me serving the business? Can I have both my business and my life work? And what would that look like?

- How can I partner with other conscious business owners who have similar goals? How can we support each other in making a bigger difference in the world?

That's just a start. This past weekend we explored these and other questions with great passion and fun. I left with a renewed sense of both purpose and hope.

At the heart, what is your business going to be about? And how are you going to make that real in the world?

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The More Clients Bottom Line: Fulfillment in your business means going much deeper than the bottom line. Simply making more money won't bring happiness. Instead, how can you make your business both viable and joyful while you make a contribution that is deep and lasting?

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What are you doing to add a more conscious dimension to your business? Please share your answer on the More Clients Blog by clicking on the Comments Link below.

Comments

[Patrick Combs]

Robert,

Excellent post on the weekend. I came home with a renewed sense of how many conscious entrepreneurs there are in the world to connect with. To me that means that we can choose to have all our partners and vendors and associates be of the kind that are doing their work for far more than money. And as we do, our own work will and fulfillment will go higher.

It was great to connect with you at the weekend.
And thanks for a great post.

Burn Bright,
Patrick

[Jacqueline Hadden]

Hi Robert,

Connection, collaboration and Awareness were most certainly a theme for all of us at the Conscious Business Playground.

I was thunderstruck by the detail you were able to articulate in your blog. Thank you for your contribution at the event, and now in summerizing it enabling your tribe to benefit as well.

I love your "How can I" questions. Rodin's thinker comes to mind here, as you have given some positively penetrating thoughts to ponder!

The tone of your words are tremendous, and bring mind to a quote from Tony Hsieh of Zappos "Chase the vision, and the money will follow".

With much admiration,
Jacque

[Melanie Benson Strick]

Robert, I'm still inspired by how we all connected in the spirit of co-creating the process (and the answers.)

Thanks for sharing it so eloquently with your readers.

I shared this Conscious Business Playground insight with my Twitter connections:

"You have a conscious business if you make decisions on how well you serve your clients BEFORE how much $$ it makes you."

So glad to know I'm not alone in this quest. =-)

Melanie

[Morgana Rae]

Thank you for summarizing the weekend so clearly, Robert!

You're such a gift to the business world. Thank you for contributing your wisdom to my outlook.

Warmly,
Morgana Rae

[suk limbu]

i never forget that day when i was trying to make a action plan of ramadan business where i am jobbing " panda super market in saudi arabia". i found this action plan.com then being always happy. really u r great dear robert and i'm starting to see and study your weekly marketing isuue and fairly hope that will 100% guide to me, specially to my field so to me and like me who are intresting to know it. the great u r dear robert go ahead...................

[Linda Kolker]

I read your post with interest this morning. Wonderful that you and friends are exploring this.

Much has been written about servant leadership, and people are practicing it all over the place--entrepreneurs, corporate and non-profit execs. etc.

I've been a marketing consultant for years, and have quietly been coming from the place of service from the heart for years. It works, and it's good for the bank account.

[Patrick Dominguez]

Excellent Robert, loved this post (read it twice), an inspiring capture of the spirit of the event. Your renewed sense of passion and hope came through loud and clear from this moving post!

Especially liked this passage:
[I realized that I needed to make "higher purpose" just as important in my work with clients as attracting more money.]

With appreciation,
Patrick