Ideal Spiritual Business Practice

(Photo credit)
In this post, I’d like to share my current idea of how spiritual services are best offered. I know some of you are in the same industry and yet others of you are interested in obtaining such services. So your feedback is appreciated.

Here are three points I consider to be critical:

1. The fee and the scope of the service is clearly posted and available to all upfront.
2. The provider promotes the clients to own their power and responsibility of their lives rather than promoting fear and manipulating them to purchase more services.
3. The service is offered with good business sense to keep it sustainable.

Let’s examine each point into details…

The issue of money

Being clear and upfront about the money issue is basic to any businesses. Who wants to be surprised by a bill that lists low entry fee with dozens of additional hidden charges?

But I’m afraid this is the case with many psychic services. Here is a story.

The other day, I decided to have my palms read. I have the basic understanding of palm reading (quite popular in Asia) but wanted to see what an American palmist had to say. There aren’t many palmists around to begin with, but I found one in Portland area.

Her fee was $20 and she said it would take about 30 minutes. She started to explain by pointing out some of the lines.

Palmist (P): It’s good overall. But in love life, you are still dragging your past pains. Have you been married or in a long-term relationship before?

Me: Yes. (It would be rather unusual if I never had a relationship at this age — of 49. And because I am not wearing a ring, it’s obvious I am not married.)

P: I see there is a man who likes you but you are putting up a wall around yourself. Would you be interested in learning how to remove it?

Me: No. I’m happy to be single right now.

P: But there is a man . . . (realizes she failed to push my button and moves on) Are you worried about your work? You work long hours, I guess?

Me: Not really. And I love what I do. I work for myself.

P: . . Oh, here is the thing. Someone is cursing you. Someone is burning candles against you. You need to clear this.

Me: . .

P: The clearing is $400. Would you like to do it today?

Me: No.

P: Why not? Do you realize someone is . . .

Me: Who is that?

P: I don’t know.

She looked quite tired at this point. No wonder. How can she make a living by charging $20 for 30 minutes? And obviously, her day is not filled — no one was waiting after me. So her real income source is the additional clearing work.

I looked around and there was no posting about the fees, regular or additional work. Later, I checked her website, too. Again, no mention of fee structure.

Should spiritual service be free?

I’ve often heard people say, “Spiritual services should be offered free. Or at least really cheap.”

If the service is free or really cheap, the service provider needs another reliable source of income obviously. There are several ways to do this:

1. By charging high hidden fees, like the palmist above
2. By having passive income source, like reliable rental properties or a supportive spouse
3. By having another job (so-called “day job”)

Option 1 is out of the question for the reason we will discuss further. Option 2 is nice if you can secure it.

Option 3 is tricky. If I had a full-time job, I will have much less time to do my spiritual work. This doesn’t just mean I can fill fewer number of orders. It will affect the quality of my work.

Any reasonably-good professional knows there is a significant difference between a professional work and even a high-quality amateur work. Quantity yields quality.

By doing hundreds of readings a year, I accumulate knowledge, insights, and experiences that I can utilize for the new clients. This is also how I got to write the Starseeds series.

If I had a full-time job and had to do the Akashic Record Reading on the side, this flow is interrupted. The difference may be subtle and I hope I can maintain the level of quality I like, but it will be difficult. So I choose to charge a fair fee for my service. Of course, there is no hidden fees, so the upfront fee is reasonable high. (Just to let you know — I occasionally introduce my clients to other services I offer, but I also explain the first reading is complete by itself. Often, I even talk them out from getting additional readings too soon.)

For those of you considering to have spiritual services, I suggest to be very cautious with free or cheap services. They may cost you a lot. (The aforementioned palmist is likely to introduce yet another of her hidden service after getting $400 from you.)

The objective is self-empowerment

Another issue I had with this palmist is that she was promoting fear and trying to get me reliant on her. That is darkwork.

A good spiritual service provider helps you to empower yourself. In other words, they graduate their clients. They offer different perspective to look at your problems, they suggest new ways to handle them, but they make it clear that it’s YOU who deals with your problem.

So, the clients are expected to do their own footwork. You can’t just expect your problem to evaporate by having a spiritual service. Some people are more than happy to do this, but I also find there are some people who really don’t want to change anything about themselves — so they actually prefer manipulative service providers.

Is the spiritual business there for the long haul?

The third point is something you may not have considered much if you are a consumer. Perhaps you just want one-time service and you don’t care if the provider is there next year. That is fine.

But if you think carefully, you can see the benefits of any business that is structured to be stable on a long term basis. Most importantly, if the service provider doesn’t have to worry excessively about the sustaining nature of her business, she can focus more on what she does.

Unique attributes of spiritual work

And here is a unique aspect of spiritual services. I know there are various types of spiritual services out there, so this may not be true to all, but I guess it’s true to many of them.

And that is, you really cannot work 8 hours a day, not to mention more than 8 hours a day, doing spiritual work. That is suicidal and you will burn out.

When I was a corporate employee, I had no problem working 8 hours a day, and I know many people put in even more hours. Fine.

But I cannot be doing Akashic Record Reading from 8 am to 5 pm. I’ll go crazy and my energy will be so exhausted that I might die soon. Like Edgar Cayce did when he did 8 readings a day. Until the media made a big fuss, he was doing 2 readings a day for many years, which was already quite a workload. He died two years after his media appearance.

I usually do 1 to 2 readings a day. And I use the rest of my day meditating, grounding my energy, reading books related to my work, and writing. I think this is a good work schedule that support my health and the quality of my work.

If you are a spiritual service provider, take good care of yourself. It’s the foundation of our work. (Here is a good article by Steve Pavlina on this.)

Many spiritual service providers are exhausted and sick. We have fallen to the manipulative voice such as “Spiritual workers should sacrifice themselves.” I know quite a few have quit offering their service. This is no good for the potential clients, either.

The future of spiritual service

The spiritual service industry is largely unregulated. So there are under-qualified practitioners. To make things even more complicated, the quality of a spiritual service provider cannot be measured by certification or even by the length of their experience. There are also service providers whose business practices are fraudulent, like that palmist.

This has led the general public to mistrust this industry. I think it’s such a shame because spiritual development is the ultimate personal development. Spiritual work also holds the clue to some missing links in healing and well-being.

I ask the wise readers to be the change of these problems. Here are my suggested action plans:

If you offer spiritual service, such as psychic readings or spiritual healing:

• Be clear about your fee structure.
• Charge a good amount so that you don’t need to rely on hidden fees nor you need to exhaust yourself unreasonably.
• Help the clients to be empowered — it’s okay, you don’t need THAT client to see you regularly because there are many people out there who need your service.
• Be clear about your specialty. Don’t try to be everything. As the spiritual service becomes more popular, people will learn there are specialists in this industry.
• Have the time and energy for yourself. Be the role model of self love by taking care of yourself first.
• Learn business savvy or have a great business coach / adviser to help you be in the business in a sustainable manner.

If you are seeking spiritual service:

• Do some homework and check the reputation, testimonials, and the business practice of the service provider you are considering to hire.
• Don’t be cheap.
• Be willing to own your own power and responsibility. When you go to a doctor, you want to be an informed patient and you do yourself a service if you are willing to improve your lifestyle. Same thing with spiritual service.
• Support the spiritual workers who offer good service in a good business manner by spreading the words about them. Words of mouth is strong.

Did I miss anything? I hope I covered the basics although some points, such as the fee structure issue, is an ongoing concern. (For example, some people asked if I can offer sliding scale fee. I guess I can, but that means I need to review their income tax forms and evaluate it, which is a lot of administrative work for me, which may mean I have to increase the overall fee to compensate. Plus my clients are all over the world and I am not sure how to fairly evaluate the income values in various countries. So, right now, I am not interested in doing this.)

Let’s discuss this in the comment to make it even better!

How To Get More Business And Command Top Dollars By Avoiding Commoditization

This is something I didn’t include in my eBook “Lightworker’s Guide to Self-Employment” because it’s more about business improvement than startup. If you are in business, it’s critical you differentiate your offers. This way, you get more business even in a bad economy and can ask for higher prices, increasing your profit and therefore enabling your to improve your offers even further.

And the key is to think as a fellow human of your customers. (Photo credit)

What is commoditization?

First, the definition. Wikipedia says:

Commoditization is the process by which goods that have economic value and are distinguishable in terms of attributes (uniqueness or brand) end up becoming simple commodities in the eyes of the market or consumers. It is the movement of a market from differentiated to undifferentiated price competition and from monopolistic to perfect competition.

This is a natural flow. Something unique comes to market. Everyone is excited and willing to pay premium price. They even line up and get on the waiting list. Soon, others copy it, letting people start comparison shop. Merchants whose only sales pitch is to lower price go ahead and lower their price. Others follow.

Our challenge as business owners is how to keep providing additional value so that people seek us out, happy to pay extra. This divides the market to two: One is the commoditized offers and the other is the unique special offers. This way, consumers can choose which depending on their value system.

You may be thinking, “Boy, that sounds good, but I have no idea how to do it. It sounds difficult.” Sure is. Avoiding commoditization takes the heart and the brain. This is why it gets rewarded well. So you have a choice. (You know I am big on free will and free choice.) You can take the easy route and work like crazy or you can think, change the way you do business, and be well rewarded.

Avoiding commoditization helps consumers, too

Please understand this approach is beneficial for consumers, too. “Perfect competition” sounds nice, but what results is a boring world of lookalike commodities. Further, it causes quality compromise because, after cutting a big portion of profit margin, it’s the only way to keep the low price. Do you really want to live in a world where only cheap boring low-quality stuffs are available?

If you love and care what you do, taking the time and effort to think how you can add unique value to your offer is worthwhile. Your spiritual commitment helps you.

5 approaches to counter-commoditize your business

Where in the commoditization process is your business in? Are you virtually free from competition? Are you in severe price war against your competitors? Somewhere in the middle?

Here are five approaches, or hints, to counter-commoditize your business:

1. Be the authority in your field

Learn your trade really well. Invest in your education. And establish yourself as the authority in your field by publishing books or speaking in public. Your authority status becomes the special value to your customers. For example, there are people who seek out the life coach they saw on the media rather than hiring any coach who advertise on the paper.

2. Educate your customers

While you yourself get educated further about your trade, educate your customers. For instance, if I were to sell soaps, one of the most commoditized products, I will make a presentation about the various ingredients that go into a soap, how each influences your skin, the negative effects of the additives commonly used in supermarket soaps on you and the environment, how mass production and old fashioned soap making are different, etc. Then I will sell soaps made in the old fashioned way with only good ingredients at premium price. The education and the proof of quality of the soap that satisfies such educated customers are the additional values in this case.

3. Personalize the service

Make your product or service one of a kind by adding personalization. I once saw an artist who paints rockstar portraits on the LP records. People buy their favorite artists’ portrait for their nostalgia. This is quite unique already, but what if the picture came with a line of your favorite lyrics and your name? Adding this doesn’t take much time for the painter, but means a lot for the customer. Would they pay a good amount for this extra feature? I think so.

4. Narrow down your target market

This may sound so counter-intuitive. You might say,”Narrow down the target market? You must be joking. I want more customers. ANY customers.” The fact is you might get more customers by tightly defining your target market and changing aspects of your business to deliver specific value this target market want.

As an example, I’m thinking of car mechanics. Even today, many women feel uncomfortable going to car mechanics. All the places I know are so male-oriented even though close to half the car owners are women. I would pay some extra and drive at least 10 extra miles to go to a garage where I feel more comfortable.

It doesn’t mean there has to be a female at the store although that may be helpful. It definitely doesn’t mean the servicemen have to wear pink. How about making the waiting area more female friendly and pleasant to sit? Offering additional service such as car wash might help, too, because a lot of women just don’t like going to places that has anything to do with car care. It saves their time, too.

I don’t have kids, but if I do, I’d be so pleased to find some kid-friendliness, too. I’m sure McDonald’s gets extra business for their play area (not for better taste over other burger chains).

This doesn’t mean you reject customers who don’t match the description of your target market. Using the same example, I think men would love the kid-friendly features just as much.

There are many ways to use this approach. Target the long tail. This may also make you the first or best known authority in this tightly defined market.

5. Get empowered by synergy

You can offer additional value by teaming up with other businesses. The key is to come up with a winning combination.

Hmm, I’m still thinking about car care. Offering additional service of car wash is a kind of synergy already, but what if the garage had a drive-up coffee shop on their premise? The customers can sip fresh brewed coffee while waiting for their cars to be serviced. It’s not just any old car place, it’s a gathering place for car owners!

And all the customers of the coffee place inevitably see the repair shop, so next time they need a service (notice they all have cars to drive up) they might just come to this one. This is synergy, helping both businesses and delivering additional value to customers.

Adding entertainment or comfort factor is an easy way of synergy. This is why restaurants host live music. It’s not just somewhere to eat, you get to hear music at that restaurant! Well, having music is getting common, how about having a magician go around the table on weekend nights? (A lot of amateur magicians would love that kind of part-time opportunity.)

This is in no way the comprehensive list of ways to avoid commoditization. What other ways can you add unique value to your business? Think from the perspective of a consumer. What do you wish to see in the market? What additional service or products make life easier and better?

Related post: Another example to counter commoditization by Seth Godin

If you like this article, you might enjoy my eBook on spiritual entrepreneurship. Click here for free, immediate download

Review: Tribes By Seth Godin

I like Seth Godin. Although he is considered a marketing guy (maybe I should say The Marketing Guy), I think he is a lot more than that. His blog brings daily inspirations for me about life and people. His latest book Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us is also a lot more than just about business.

The difference between leadership and management

Even though leadership and management are usually used synonymously, Seth Godin defines them differently.

A manager is appointed by the “king” of the organization. Their job is to keep the status quo of the organization according to the rules. No matter how they sugarcoat it, managers are fundamentally against change. In other words, their change has to be approved by the king and has to happen according to the rules.

A leader, on the other hand, is anyone who steps forward with an idea. The idea doesn’t even have to be the leader’s original. (Muhammad Yunus wasn’t the first person to do microfinancing and Al Gore didn’t discover global warming.) The important point is that a leader takes the initiative to make the idea happen. A leader is all about change.

Are you a manager or a leader? Or neither? This defines your basic driving force in life. And how you relate to others.

A manager and the people who are managed live from fear. Because they are against the natural flow of life, the change. A manager’s job is to get as much work done by the employees as possible at the lowest cost. Managers push and then exploit.

A leader and their tribe members, on the other hand, are inspired with love, the passion to make something happen that was not before. A leader leads with their message and also offers a platform for tribe members to communicate with one another. Leaders give.

The internet and social media are just tools

Seth Godin emphasizes that forming a tribe is not about getting as many people as possible to sign up for, say, their Twitter or newsletter. The internet and its various social media tools have made it possible to form tribes across the globe, offering cheap (often free) and fast ways to communicate, but they are just tools. It takes a leader to utilize them.

And it’s not a number game. A large number of people is not necessarily a tribe. A tribe is a group that are united by common vision, a group of active members who connects with the leader and other tribe members. When this criteria is met, yes, a bigger tribe means more powerful tribe, but quality comes before quantity. Seth Godin even recommends tightening the tribe as a way to stay meaningful.

My takeaway of the book

This book made me think. In fact, I’ve been thinking and I haven’t come to a neat conclusion yet. I know there is something in me that wants to come out, some messages that I really think important for many people. This is why I write on this Yes to Me blog. I write about a lot of things in life. But what is my core message? In other words, what kind of movement am I trying to form?

I have messages — like, lightworkers can be successful entrepreneurs (please check my free eBook) and we can defy aging. I have a vision of the New World. But I still think there is something more. Or maybe I want to put something in a more actionable movement. . .

I hope you start thinking about these things, too, about your own life. I mean, if you don’t want to live as a manager or their herds. If you want to stop “sheepwalking” (this is the term Seth Godin uses. I call the same mentality “slave mentality” I guess I may be a bit harsh. . .)

We have the power to create our lives and this world. The most important question is: WHAT do you want to create? What do you want to change?

Here is Seth Godin talking at TED about tribes (HT: Marelisa Fabrega):

It’s 18 minute video, but trust me, it’s worth it, and you’ll have some good laughs, too.

Are you leading a tribe? Are you a member of tribes? I’d love to hear from you — please leave a comment.

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