This is a tale of two supermarkets... one is slightly cheaper, but the cashiers never greet you, they treat your queries with anger, throw your purchases into a packet and go to lunch just as you get to the head of the queue. 

At the other one the prices are slightly higher, but you are greeted with a warm smile, the staff go the extra mile to help you, and you’re still smiling by the time you get home.

Which supermarket would you recommend to your friends?  Hmmm… I thought so.  The shop with the pleasant, helpful staff is creating a magnetic energy - consciously adding value by treating their customers with respect.

Conscious Business is about bringing consciousness – an awareness of environment, self and moral principles - into the workplace.  It’s the practice of bringing absolute integrity into the business, and treating clients, employers, employees, and colleagues with respect, transparency and honesty. 

Using conscious business practices not only brings an atmosphere of openness into the workplace, but also creates a freedom and lack of guilt within yourself.  The energy released by knowing that nothing in your business or attitudes can cause reproach is re-channelled into growing and improving your business.

Energising Energy

“What goes around, comes around” - This saying is never truer than when applied to business! An atmosphere in which people feel that nothing is hidden, and where it is safe for them to state their opinions, will always act like a magnet for growth.  The energy that is channelled into goodwill instead of tension and frustration attracts not only customers, but also staff who will enhance the business.

The flow of energy works on the same principle as osmosis – moving through a semi permeable membrane in order to equalize the environment.  Energy, both positive and negative, has the same ability to move between two people, bringing them to a similar level of happiness or heaviness.

Have you experienced someone who never seems to be happy unless they’re complaining about something? You want to run away, but you feel immobilised, unable to act.  This is exactly what negative (heavy) energy does to us; it saps our positive (light) energy and brings us into balance with the energy of the other person.  It’s said that “a problem shared is a problem halved.” Well, of course it is, because in sharing that problem, you’ve ‘given away’ a good deal of negative energy.

Unless you know how to counteract this heavy energy, or know how to protect yourself against it, you have a problem.  You may pick up the negativity, and continue the day feeling quite awful.  You may lash at someone without knowing why. This person may lash out at their child, who may kick the dog, who may bite the cat, who may howl all night and keep the neighbours awake.  The neighbour may be your boss and next day you are the first one to “get it”.

On the other hand – if you counter this ‘heavy energy attack’ with optimism and cheerfulness it will disperse, because positive energy works in the same way.  If you meet someone who is happy, light hearted, and who smiles from the heart, you feel recharged and invigorated.  You want to spend more time with them and will do practically anything they ask, even if it means you have to put something else aside to do it.

If you make it a practice to smile all day, people around you will feel happy and smile back. This creates an atmosphere within which people want to care for and help others.  Congratulations – you just created a successful day!

Applying Consciousness To Business

Consistently applying conscious practices to business can be hard, but the results are always positive.  There are many areas of your business that you need to look at:

Employer – Employee Trust

Be Fair.  When approaching your employees with tasks, don’t assume they know what outcome you want.  Set clear and measurable goals, areas of accountability, performance standards, and give instructions.  If you don’t, how can you expect your staff member to get task right?  Your requests should be S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time bound milestones)

If you ask an employee to do something that clashes with their moral standards, do you allow the expression of disagreement?  Can your employees stand up for their principles and say no?  They should be able to, and in a Conscious Business they would be able to.  Your employees should be allowed to discuss their points of view without fear. If they can’t, don’t expect them to happy and productive.

Salesperson – Customer Honesty

Keep your word.  Nothing annoys your customers as much as waiting for a quotation, answer, or delivery that someone promised by a specific time.  If you cannot possibly get it to your client within a certain time frame, then don’t say you will.  Explain obstacles you foresee and be realistic about your delivery times – your customers will begin to respect that everything doesn’t happen immediately and next time they will plan ahead.

Financial Flusters

Credit controllers who are rude and abrasive create panic and resentment in their customers.  Those who are pleasant and give full information are likely to be paid promptly.  The negativity spread by rude demands for money encourages an “I’ll pay them last, that’ll teach them” situation.

Advertising and Marketing - be honest, be transparent, be prepared. 

If you are honest about your products and services you place your company above reproach and avoid a bad reputation that could very well destroy your company.  If the public is made aware of the costs involved in getting a product or service to them, and that you offer additional value (quick service, help desks, advice) they will be more willing to buy your product or use your service because they will not feel they are being ‘ripped-off’. 

Don’t ever try to attract customers to your business by making your competitors look bad.  This is one method of advertising that will immediately come back and bite you! If you want to look better than your competition, then be better.

Business – Media: Be Helpful

Offer information and news to the media about your particular industry without ‘hard sell’ of your products or services.  Becoming a ‘perfect source’ of information for the media means that they will come to you because you are trustworthy and forthright. It also means that your company’s name will be associated with the free exchange of information. Remember the energy principle – as information is flowing out of your company, goodwill and increased business will flow in.

Practitioner – Patient Relationships: Be kind. 

Your patients come to you not only to be healed, but also to be cared for.  If you are too harsh, even if you feel you should be, your patients will not want to come back.  They will not feel nurtured, and assume you don’t care.  Well, why would they come back?  How would they be able to trust you with their intimate problems if you didn’t even care about the superficial needs?

Family Matters

Some families have tight bonds and others not.  No matter how closely knit your family is, there will be times when you want to ask the Gods why you have to deal with them.  But I ask you this… show your children, by example, that you live consciously, honestly, and have integrity.  That you can be relied upon, and stand up for your beliefs and morals.  Children are our future working force; they are the managers of the future, and the decision makers of time to come – give them the ability to lead by example.

Can anyone use conscious business practices in their workplaces?

Yes - everyone can make a difference to their workplaces and lives by using Conscious Business Practices to create a positive upward spiral.  If the cleaners are treated with trust and caring, they will in turn, put effort into helping you keep your working environment neat, tidy and a pleasant, and leave the office every day with dignity and pride. CEOs who set a policy of honesty, integrity and transparency, and stick to it themselves, will leave the office feeling proud, conscious that they are setting an example for their staff and knowing that, with these policies, the company is on the way to success.

Spreading The Light

In the past years a culture of ‘criminality’ has washed over South Africa.  By this I don’t only mean our highly publicised crime rate, but rather the activities that each and every one of us take for granted in our day-to-day life. From dodging tax to exceeding the speed limit to taking a few pencils from the company stationery cupboard for the kids, it all creates a negative atmosphere, damages personal integrity, and causes a general lack of motivation and innovation. A culture of “let’s see what we can get away with” is created. Bringing consciousness into business is a step away from this criminality and towards an improved national spirit. 

In Conversations with God – book 1 Neale Donald Walsh talks about the difference between ‘being’ and ‘doing’.  He says, “Doing is a function of the body.  Being is a function of the soul.”   He also says, “Your soul doesn’t care what you do for a living – and when your life is over neither will you.  Your soul only cares about what you are being while you are doing what you are doing.” 

So by ‘doing’ conscious business you will not be making one jot of difference to your life. Yet by ‘being’ conscious while doing business, you will serve you soul.

Making a difference to customer/supplier relations

• If people ask what your mark-up is, tell them. You’ll find that they are willing to pay for the added value you provide. If not, you may not want them as a customer.

• Be willing to negotiate deals of equal exchange or discounts for your products or service but have a limit to how low you will go.

• Respect your suppliers as much as you respect yourself.

• Do not accept a service or product for free, rather accept a discount if the person insists. This keeps the channels open for queries, complaints and further business. It also ensures that money or exchanges will keep flowing. MONEY must flow, and EXCHANGE must be equal. In order to stimulate growth in the economy, growth of business, growth of an individual, they need some motivating force driving them to develop and grow. If everyone held tightly onto their money, never spent a cent never exchanged a thing, there would be no economy, no businesses, no development, no growth, no survival, and no humans.

• Do not be defensive when you receive complaints, learn from them.

• Don’t overcharge. Know what the average rate for your product or service is. Evaluate what you’re offering as added value. If you can keep your prices affordable to your target market, you’ll have more sales and return business.

• Don’t undercharge to your detriment. You have to grow your business, have the money to market it, to employ staff, to buy new technology, to train your staff, to expand.

You’re the boss

• Respect the energy it takes you to do the work - and respect the energy that others use in their own work. Insist on lunch hours, regular leave etc - even if it means being short handed or bringing in a temp.

• Neale Donald Walsh said that when a relationship is no longer an opportunity, and becomes an obligation, it’s time to get out. This applies to business relationships as well.

• Help those you can help, if not in monetary terms, help in other ways.

• If you want to state a hard point do it without emotional baggage or provocation, state the facts (people will see this as clarity, not as aggression or ‘bossiness’)
  Never do anything against you better judgement, no matter how good the possible outcomes seem.

Copyright 2003 reserved by Lara Suddes

About Lara Suddes

Lara Suddes is the founder of mostinnermost, a South African based company established in 2000, whose goal is to become the leading provider of information on current Events, Services, and Products aimed at the readers who are interested in natural health, holistic living and consciousness.  Lara also gives talks on Conscious Business, and its benefit to companies and small businesses.

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