{"id":15957,"date":"2017-08-10T15:24:59","date_gmt":"2017-08-10T15:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/?p=15957"},"modified":"2017-08-10T15:24:59","modified_gmt":"2017-08-10T15:24:59","slug":"cartomancer-negotiate-compromise-say-no","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2017\/08\/cartomancer-negotiate-compromise-say-no\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cartomancer: Negotiate, Compromise, or Say NO?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Marseille<\/a>
Marseille Playing Cards by Ryan Edward, 2017 (Photo: Camelia Elias)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

I say no. This is my magical weapon for many wars. Not that I go to war all the time, but I like the idea of following whatever I have come to realize about my nature, rather than following dictations.<\/p>\n

Lately I\u2019ve been having marketing conversations.<\/p>\n

Since I\u2019ve left the academy for the less prestigious job of working for myself, I\u2019ve been confronted with many fears. Not mine, to be sure, as I have none such, but others\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u2018You must do this, or that, figure out who your customers are, what you want, what they want, what you\u2019re good at, etc\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

All fine up to the point when I\u2019m strongly advised to address people directly, call them by their names, address their individual needs, imagine what they want, and bow to the illusion of \u2018it\u2019s all about them\u2019.<\/p>\n

Well, you see, I don\u2019t fall for automated marketing emails that address me by my name, that assume to know what I want, what I struggle with, what my needs are, and what I imagine about embodying a particular desired identity, if any at all.<\/p>\n

Just as I don\u2019t get impressed by such tactics I can\u2019t imagine anyone I address in my own email campaigns does. So I don\u2019t. I don\u2019t assume.<\/p>\n

In other words, I find myself following absolutely none of the strategies that market gurus out there devise in the name of surviving in business.<\/p>\n

I pretty much say no to all of it. I say no to the idea of catering to imaginary clients and potential clients. A potential client is exactly that, potential. And I don\u2019t waste time with \u2018potential\u2019.<\/p>\n

My own so-called surviving strategy has been very simple: \u2018Those who are like me will find me.\u2019 I don\u2019t put any effort into imagining who, out there, might be my potential client.<\/p>\n

I do what I do and fling it to the public to the best of my ability and investments that I want to bother with where the channels of distribution are concerned. If people want it, excellent, if they don\u2019t want it, excellent. There\u2019s no difference in my attitude towards what I expect. Because I expect exactly nothing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What I put energy into is what I create and how well.<\/strong> No one can be a better judge than myself of what I create, how well, and where it all comes from.<\/p>\n

This premise alone means that I entertain no illusion about how many or who exactly I \u2018reach\u2019, simply because I\u2019m always alone in what I do and what I think.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t fall for the illusion of \u2018community\u2019, as, funny enough, when it comes down to it, it turns out that, in spite of contrary claims, the community minds its own business at individual level and separate level. Last I\u2019ve checked communities are not exactly Zen.<\/p>\n

I value this aloneness a great deal, as it affords me the space that\u2019s completely devoid of making assumptions, presumptions, and second-guessing.<\/p>\n

This also means that nothing of what I create and put out there into the world is ever up to negotiation.<\/p>\n

I just do my thing, and entertain zero concerns about potential responses, whether positive or negative.<\/p>\n

You may call this a conscious act of embodying the attitude of \u2018take it or leave it\u2019.<\/p>\n

Why does this work for me?<\/p>\n

Simply because of the realization that if there\u2019s feedback, or response to what I create, then that particular feedback or response will also very much be the manifestation of someone else\u2019s aloneness \u2013 even when it happens that it\u2019s the expression of some consensus opinion.<\/p>\n

If a hundred people read my stuff, watch my videos, buy my courses or services, I have one hundred percent confidence that, at the end of the day, what I sit with is a hundred opinions, impressions, critiques, or praises. Whoa\u2026 so much for reaching The One.<\/p>\n

The way in which we perceive the world is not through an assessment of the world such as it is, but rather through a realization that what we perceive at any given time is our own perception of perception.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We don\u2019t perceive the world. We perceive our perception of the world.\u00a0So we\u2019re always one level lower than \u2018the thing itself\u2019.<\/p>\n

Given this realization, it makes very little sense for me to create anything in the name of what I perceive is even my own desire.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t have any desire. I just do what I perceive I\u2019m good at, which is to give sharp advice, say no, not transact for illusions, or expect miracles.<\/p>\n

The only miracle that excites me is the nothingness of it all; the fact that nothing has any substance.<\/p>\n

Given this premise, I like to move mountains, speak to their silent wisdom, and pulverize the shit out of expectation.<\/p>\n

I practice entering the void because that is my vehicle to the absolute beyond.\u00a0In this state of mind, there\u2019s no mind, there\u2019s no compromise, there\u2019s no \u2018be careful not to offend,\u2019 there\u2019s no illusion.<\/p>\n

Things are as they are. Take it or leave it.<\/p>\n

What are your questions?<\/h2>\n

If you\u2019re struggling with your business, what questions do you ask of yourself in your strategy of going about it?<\/p>\n

Are your questions client related?<\/p>\n