We Don’t Need No Spiritual Gangstas

I seem to be smelling more of it lately. And I’m probably a little, or a lot, sensitive to it. Some people call it spiritual marketing. Heart-centered. Sacred entrepreneurship. Enlightened. My in-box is full of it.

How dare I say “ay-yee?” to something so apparently hallowed? I just can’t hold this in any longer.

There is quite a movement of people who want to put THEIR calling front and center. But how does this serve their clients?

I’m all for people having a calling but a calling isn’t necessarily a business. Wrapping it in spiritual language doesn’t make it a business.

Successful businesses solve real problems. That’s where they start: problems. They spot needs and meet them. Consistently, intentionally, and at a price that people find valuable.

Sure, some people can make money (for a while, at least) without solving problems. There are brilliantly charismatic people who wear their lifestyles in amazingly attractive ways. Who wouldn’t pay them to learn how they do it? But where’s the substance? Where’s the contribution that makes you want to sit up on your death bed and say “I DID THIS.”

I have an unsavory theory about the world of spiritual marketing.

It’s just my hunch so please tell me where I’m wrong. I think some of the spiritual marketers are just uncomfortable saying that they want to make money. They want to make their mortgage, they want to pay their phone bill, they want to go on a nice vacation, they want to support a family member, they want to give a bunch away. Money matters.

But that discomfort with saying “money is important to me” causes them to wrap their profit motive in an palely altruistic or spiritual one.

AND it lets them off the hook. If they don’t make money, it’s not because their marketing was confusing… or their website was unnavigable… or their program had no substance… it’s because “people don’t get them” or “people are unenlightened.”

And then if they DO make money, oh my. It was God’s will. Or Shiva’s…. Or The Universe (whatever that is).

When the spiritual marketers do succeed financially, I think the money smells like incense and the spirituality smells like old dollar bills. It confuses the hell out of me. Or maybe the heaven. Have I been duped or redeemed?

I don’t believe in a God that makes some people successful and others fail. I believe we are all here to do holy work. Some will make money doing their holy work; others will toil and serve joyfully for nary a dime. Neither is better or worse.

Can people really be spiritual entrepreneurs without being spiritual gangstas? Mark Silver comes to mind as a good counter-example to the “all spirit, no substance” tribe. He carries a strong banner in this area and I think he delivers a lot of solid content, too. He’s very up-front about profit as a necessity.

Here’s what I want to see more of:

People who are creating a business based on their values while being completely transparent about their values and their goals.
Wanna see an example? Michele Woodward

People whose spirituality makes them wildly generous without trying to manipulate people into buying a spiritual program.
Wanna see an example? Pam Slim

People who create from the soul and who have solid programs that deliver.
Wanna see an example? Hiro Boga

It is a deeply satisfying thing to trade money for services with Michele, Pam or Hiro. They meet a need. They deliver from a place of experience, credibility AND the heart. Each is attuned to her clients in a way that can only come from a nurtured and nurturing spirit.

I crave more exemplars. Who would you recommend as an entrepreneur with a solid business AND an authentic soul? Are you one?

photo credit: ideowl

Related posts:

1. Ignore Coaches
2. My Backbone Soundtrack