Free advice from a business consultant
I recently read a blog article by an artist /performer named Revolva. She was asked by Oprah’s staff to perform at the ‘Life You Want’ tour in San Jose. Revolva was thrilled with the idea until she learned that they were asking artists to perform for free. She decided to turn down the opportunity. She felt it unfair of Oprah to ask her to work for free, especially since the ticket price was high. This is the picture that Revolva posted on her blog. I cringed when I saw it, since I believe that what shows up for us in the external world is a reflection of our internal world. This picture reflected a clear belief that ‘life is not fair.’
I am a business coach to mindful entrepreneurs with 30 years experience providing marketing advice to help small, medium, large and global businesses succeed. I teach my clients that our beliefs about money and abundance are the main ways we block it from flowing toward us. Abundance blocks are the key barriers to living our true purpose. Just like our IQ and EQ, our AQ (Abundance Quotient) is one of the most important factors influencing our long term, sustainable success. Our abundance quotient is like a frequency. It is developed over our lifetime, shaped by our experiences and all that we’ve learned from our family, culture and society.
“Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into.” Wayne Dyer
One of the fundamental principles I learned from life, business and my education is that the path to success is through ‘service first’. In simple marketing terms, it means giving away products or services at a discount or for free to create awareness and trial, with the understanding that it will eventually lead to interested and repeat customers. Every industry, every business large and small participates in this practice.
The technology field is the most recent example of the ‘service first’ concept, offering open source software and online services and memberships for free. This concept is not new. When I worked for Unilever and Nabisco, over 20 years ago, we spent millions of dollars offering free samples to potential customers and sponsorship to gain brand exposure. This is why I was surprised by Revolva’s reaction and the indignation that so many other artists who responded to her blog expressed at the idea of being asked to perform for free.
Peggy Farah with Oprah. DeeperCravings.com
This came on the heels of a similar experience with my client and dear friend, Peggy Farah. She entered an Oil of Olay contest to go on stage with Oprah (at the same The Life You Want tour) and discuss her most beautiful moment. This was an opportunity of a lifetime for Peggy, to meet her hero and mentor.
Peggy and I discussed this opportunity and I encouraged her to write a letter of gratitude that explained in detail the impact that she had on Peggy’s life and work, the Deeper Cravings Path. Peggy is devoted to helping people reconnect with their bodies I suggested that she post the letter as a blog article as well. Peggy did all the right things. She wrote the most beautiful article. In the end, she was chosen among thousands of hopefuls to stand on stage, arm-in-arm with Oprah to deliver a flawless message to a crowd of 10,000 people. I could’ve been more happy and proud of my friend.
“I want us all to fulfill our greatest potential. To find our calling, and summon the courage to live it.’ Oprah
When I first read Revolva’s blog article in the form of a complaint letter to Oprah, I was taken back by the contrast of the two approaches. It occurred to me that these two women were coming from very different levels of consciousness – one of scarcity, the other of abundance. While Revolva and many of her creative peers responded with anger, indignation and judgment, Peggy responded with openness and gratitude. I know Peggy and Revolva’s opportunities where not equal, but they both offered the women unique opportunities to fulfill their dreams. On the one hand, Peggy had the opportunity to go on stage with Oprah, while Revolva was to perform outside the event. Peggy’s opportunity was by no means guaranteed. It was a huge long-shot that she worked hard to realize, despite the short two minute opportunity on stage. Revolva’s opportunity offered a guaranteed couple of hours in front of thousands of people as they entered and exited this highly prestigious event.
Figure 1.0
Revolva’s reaction was like many of the artists and other start-up entrepreneurs in my practice who reflect a deep-seated ‘starving artist’ mindset (see Figure 1.0 above). Usually, they don’t know how to define the value of their work. When asked to work for free, they interpret this as ‘unworthy’. This is far from the truth. Instead, potential buyers are simply trying to evaluate all elements of the transaction (monetary and non-monetary) to get the best value.
From this perspective, Revolva’s anger is appropriate. It helps to move an individual from a sense of powerlessness (being asked by one of the most powerful women to perform for free), to a position of power and worthiness. This helps to begin to establish a sense of true value and create boundaries to what one will and will not except. This is the same consciousness as that of the 1% or ‘Occupy Movement’, which she refers to in her article. The movement helped thousands if not millions of people move from a feeling of ‘powerlessness’ to one of ‘power’ against corporate greed. This stage is an important bridge toward ’empowerment’. However, it is a limited and unsustainable level of consciousness, as the Occupy Movement proved. When we live in the scarcity consciousness, we believe there is only one pie that all of us need to share. In abundance consciousness, we believe there to be an unlimited number of pies, more than enough for everyone.
Once we’ve clearly established our value as a service provider, artist or business, we can make a fair evaluation of the offer to trade our services for exposure or anything else. For example, we could say that a performance is worth $10,000 plus expenses. If I am fully booked, then this is my true ‘opportunity cost’. However, if I am free to perform, then my opportunity cost is 0. Once we figure this out, then we can properly assess whether the offer to perform for free makes sense by asking ourselves, “Will I get the same or more value from this trade in terms of potential business. And, do I know how to leverage the exposure to do so?”
As for what I think Oprah should have done in this case, I don’t think it is any of my business. Unless a person is doing harm to another or the planet, I don’t think it’s my business how anyone else conducts their business. When we stop blaming and judging others for how they should and should not treat us, we begin to focus purely on our own business. That’s when we move to a space of unlimited abundance, it’s boundless and it is where we manifest unlimited potential. This is where miracles happen! This is the message of the ‘The Life You Want’ tour. I prefer to imagine Revolva and all her potential success in this way. In so doing, I would change the image she posted to one that resonates pure abundance (see right). Doesn’t this feel so much better?
“The path to financial abundance is simply an emotional path.” Abraham Hicks
By raising our abundance quotient (AQ), we become aware of and release the abundance gremlins that silently influence our subconscious mind, blocking the flow of prosperity. With a high AQ, we can move beyond our limitations to step into our true power and potential.
I decided to discuss this situation with my Master of Business Abundance class. This is what they had to say:
I share this business advice with openness and gratitude, because I know that when I focus on ‘serving first’, miracles will happen not only for me, but for all.
Namaste,
Lianne
P. S. Just before writing this blog article, I did one of the 21-day FREE meditations from Oprah and Deepak. Ironic, don’t you think:)
