Robert Scheinfeld

Most players of The Business Game ask themselves questions like this, day-in, day-out:

"How can I be more efficient?"
"How can I be more productive?"
"How can I make more money?"

These types of questions are rarely asked:

"How can I have more fun in my business/career?"
"How can I increase my experience of satisfaction from my work?"
"How can I increase my experience of fulfillment from my work?"

... and if they are asked, the answers generally get ignored, or lost in the shuffle caused by  daily busy-ness.

How would your life and business/career change if you started asking yourself the fun, satisfaction and fulfillment questions -- took the answers VERY seriously, and started taking at least some baby steps towards living the answers?

Could it be True that the fun, satisfaction and fulfillment are our real "abundance"?

Could it be true that if you opened up to that form of abundance, the money, efficiency and productivity would easily follow -- as a natural by-product?

 

Virtually every self help, personal growth, personal development,  spiritual growth, or business success strategy hammers home the importance of setting goals, having targets, preferred outcomes, desired  results, having a clear intent for every action and activity.

The party line on this is that if you don't start with such a focus, you won't get anywhere, and certainly not where you want to go.

I have three things to share about that today:

1. How do you know that the goals, targets, outcomes, intent, and results you focus on are what would REALLY be best for you, enjoyable, fun, etc. -- if achieved?
   
   
2. When you focus so hard on goals, targets, outcomes, intent, and results, you then track your progress, measure your movement, constantly compare where you are to where you want to be, and when you do that, your stress increases, the fun and joy you experience from what you do almost always gets reduced dramatically, and while paying those prices, you'll still fail to achieve most of your goals -- which will make the price you pay even higher.
   
   
3. It is possible to produce extraordinary results -- financial and otherwise -- without focusing on any goals, targets, outcomes, intent, and results at all. If you knock out enough of the "cloud cover" that limits and restricts you, and you expand your Consciousness enough, you can simply focus on what's most fun for you, and by doing that, everything else will align and take care of itself from that expanded state of Consciousness, including the results you produce.

Does that sound crazy? Impossible? Pie in the sky dreaming? Maybe, but it's very do-able. I do it every day as do hundreds, maybe thousands at this point, throughout the world.

For now, I invite you to:

1. Seriously consider the 1 question and the 2 points I made above
2. Allow the possibility that what I'm saying is True incubate in your mind

Cheers ... 

Check out this recent post from Seth Godin's blog (one of the few blogs I regularly track):

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/04/might-as-well-panic.html

It beautifully illustrates powerful Phase 1 dynamics, lies, illusions, patterns (and brilliant creations) that are so pervasive in the business world and our personal lives -- especially in "tough times," economically and otherwise.

The opportunity in Phase 2, taking Seth Godin's specific example, is to apply The Process when feelings of panic surface, to ultimately let go of caution and planning, and relax into Trust in your Expanded Self as you ride your rides and play The New Business Game.

Following is a video, Part 3  in "The Hidden Truth About Most Sales And Marketing Techniques And Approaches" series.

Like Part 2 in the series, this video asks some critical questions about playing The Business Game in Phase 1 and Phase 2, and invites you to look at your business and career  in radically different ways.

It will also invite you to bring what could be called a spirituality and business or career, or more of a spiritual management or spiritual leadership and spiritual entrepreneurship approach if you already have one.

For more information on the tools I mentioned and how you can knock out cloud cover and expand into the "place" of freedom, fun and True Success I mentioned, visit this website and register for the Guided Tour.

I welcome your comments and your sharing of this post if you feel so moved.

Following is a video, part 2 of 3 (so it may seem to end abruptly) in "The Hidden Truth About Most Sales And Marketing Techniques And Approaches" series.

The video asks some critical questions about playing The Business Game in Phase 1 and Phase 2, and invites you to look at things related to successful businesses, sales and marketing success, small business advice and coaching, small business solutions, successful entrepreneurship, etc. --  in radically different ways.

It will also invite you to bring what could be called a spirituality and business or career, or more of a spiritual management or spiritual leadership and spiritual entrepreneurship approach if you already have one.

I welcome your comments and your sharing of this post if you feel so moved. Part 3 will follow soon.

Following is part two in the Sun and Clouds metaphor series. It continues the discussion of what limits our success in business and personal life, why we experience ups and downs with sales, profits, employee morale, the stock market, the economy, on and on.

It also continues the discussion of Phase 1 and Phase 2 of This Human Game we're all playing.

Prior to leaping into Phase 2 and beginning my journey of busting loose, I spent 18 years in direct response marketing on and off the Internet -- for large and small businesses.

During all those years, I did not see , at all or with complete clarity,  two significant patterns I see now, all around me, especially as it relates to small businesses and Internet Marketing. There are exceptions certainly, but these patterns are quite pervasive. I'm going to open this discussion here and then continue it in future entries. Here are the two things I see so clearly now:

"It's All About Me"

In most of the advertisements, emails, websites, etc. I see today, again, especially with small business marketing,  I see and feel what I call "me, me, me, gimme, gimme, gimme, more, more, more" energy. It's all about the business owner, Internet marketer, salesperson, marketing person, etc. -- what he/she wants, and  the insatiable appetite for getting more of what they want (money, ego boost, whatever it is).

In the official party line of marketing, advertising, and Internet marketing, is the concept that you should find a niche or group of people that have a want or problem and seek to help them solve the problem, fulfill the want, etc. through your products and services.

As a result, the illusion is created of "I'm here to help you," or "I want to help you," but it's just a thin disguise for the "me, me, me, gimme, gimme, gimme, more, more, more" dynamics. In Phase 1, within the storyline as I call it, people can feel that. They can sense it. And it has strong impact on your ultimate sales, marketing and business success, even if some people still buy from you. 

Many marketers, promoters and advertising folks who absorbed the "serve the niche' party line would argue with me about this and deny what I'm saying here, but that doesn't change the fact that the "me, me, me, gimme, gimme, gimme, more, more, more" dynamics are there in a dominant way on the surface or behind the scenes.

Why is it there in such a dominant way? Because of the Phase 1 dynamics. When you feel small, powerless, not abundant (or your abundance is fragile and can disappear or shrink at any moment), at the mercy of forces beyond your control in a dangerous, "dog eat dog" world (which business often seems to be too), of course the focus and underlying motivation is going to be on you, wanting to "get" something from others, and on an insatiable hunger for more, more, more.

Now, the interesting thing is that when you enter Phase 2, knock out enough cloud cover, and expand to the point where you start to have direct experiences of The Truth about yourself, you do have a focus on "me, me, me" but then it's about you playing for the sheer pleasure of playing, doing what you do for pure the fun of it.

Once you knock out enough cloud cover and expand, the "gimme, gimme, gimme, more, more more" part drops out. And, as you might expect, when you get to that point, not only is your experience of playing The Business Game transformed and much more fun and joyful, but your interactions with "other people" called clients, customers and prospects changes in HUGE ways.

Here's the second thing I began to see clearly, and I know many die-hard marketers, especially direct response marketers on and off the Internet, will deny this with all they've got:

"They Don't Really Want What I'm Offering"

I absorbed the fundamental teaching about finding a market niche with a want or problem and solving/fulfilling it. I then spent 18+ years of being mesmerized by Phase 1 dynamics myself (all of this in the storyline, of course) and I never saw that underneath all of it, all the marketing techniques and strategies, all the copywriting techniques, all of what I call "the sizzle and drama" in copywriting, the structuring of offers, etc. is the belief "They don't really want what I'm offering and I've got to somehow push, force, seduce, or trick them into buying it."

Why do I say that? Because if you look closely, the use of the sizzle, drama,incentives and tricks (money back guarantees, special bonuses if you act fast, "today only pricing," bonus packages that far outweigh the value of the actual product/service in $ value, etc.)  would not be there if the belief was truly that the prospects really want what's being sold.

Even in Phase 1, I saw that if you have a product or service that truly solves a problem or meets a want, and you're talking to someone who has that problem or want, and you simply explain your solution, tell the truth about it, with passion and true sincerity, or simply tell what I'll call "a compelling story" about your unique ability to solve their problem, fulfill their want, they'll line up to buy. There's no need for all the drama, sizzle, tricks and incentives.

Once you knock out enough cloud cover and expand, the "gimme, gimme, gimme, more, more more" part drops out. And, as you might expect, when you get to that point, not only is your experience of playing The Business Game transformed and much more fun and joyful, but your interactions with "other people" called clients, customers and prospects changes in HUGE ways.

More to come on these fascinating topics. Feel free to share a comment or email me with specific questions.

Following is a video that shares what my Sun and Clouds metaphor. It is a way of looking what limits our success in business in life, why we experience ups and downs with sales, profits, employee morale, the stock market, the economy, on and on.

It also discusses what I call Phase 1 and Phase 2 of This Human Game we're all playing.

The video also lays a great foundation for future blog posts that can support you in busting loose from the "old" Business Game and beginning to play The New Business Game where you're no longer vulnerable to all the forces that appear to be outside of you and beyond your control -- and where you get to play for the sheer pleasure of playing, no limits, no restrictions of any kind.