The Ho-Hum Business Vision Quest

In the creative state a man is taken out of himself. He lets down as it were a bucket into his subconscious, and draws up something which is normally beyond his reach. He mixes this thing with his normal experiences and out of the mixture he makes a work of art. - E.M. Forster

I notice many people are hoping to pluck a business or marketing idea out of a bag of tricks, shake the magic idea slip a bit and then race out into the wide blue yonder and execute it. Prescriptive how-to articles and books are hugely popular.

This week I have two marketing challenges in front of me. They both involve trust. Trust as in these are products and services that a simple ad campaign would not even register, but a word of recommendation from a trusted source, such as a peer, might plant a seed of interest.

One is intended for a potential client involving college students and their parents. The other is my own venture involving a target audience of executives that have caught a bit of the Tibetan virus (i.e. "If only I could escape and run off to Tibet to meditate with the masters.") Remarkably the services offered are somewhat similar.

And yet I absolutely cannot use the same approach for both of these - or the next opportunity. Yes, there is the common word-of-mouth trust angle, yes there is the fact that the offering is similar.

Yet, no, no, no in that these are completely different works of art.

So what's a person to do?

Get creative.

So I'll be sharing more of what works for me in terms of the creative process since I can't give you Step 1, Step 2, Step 3 type of blog posts.

The number one thing I do is ask questions. That keeps me in an open-ended receptive state of mind to insights and breakthroughs. I try to look at the task (heck, my whole life) as an adventure, as a journey into the Unknown, and be eager to see what awaits discovery.

So I question. And, to keep it fun (and productive) it's a quest.

There are times I think of myself as a modern day shaman on a vision quest. Other times I am an explorer weaving through hidden corners of the world. And yet others where I'm a mystic. And that's what keeps what others view as the ho-hum dreary business world exciting for me.

Every journey is a question of sorts, and the best journeys for me are the ones in which every answer opens onto deeper and more searching questions. - Pico Iyer

p.s. My definition of mystic: A mystic is not one whom has mystical experiences. A mystic embraces Mystery. He or she ventures into the Unknown willingly in perpetual discovery each and every moment. Mystics are inextricably, intricately, infinitely immersed in Mystery's bliss in every dimension seen and unseen, now and forever now.

Comments

[communicatrix]

Oh, Evelyn. I want to have all clients like you. Talk about bounding out of bed every day!

[Gary Bourgeault (managersrealm.com)]

Evelyn, very good post.

I especially like at the end where you mention the journey includes not only the seen world but the unseen.

To me it is the unseen world that is the place where we derive those ideas and visions that eventually we bring into the world for others to see and share in.

[Bob C]

I love this post. Reminds me that mystics are folks who foster wonder, rather than conjure magic.

Some word history help, too:
mystic
Middle English mystik, from Latin mysticus, from Greek mustikos, from musts, initiate.

mystery
Middle English misterie, from Latin mystrium, from Greek mustrion, secret rite, from musts, an initiate, from mein, to close the eyes, initiate