Write Synergies Copywriting

Seeing with New Eyes

Bobbye — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:59:47 +0000

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but seeing with new eyes.”
–Marcel Proust

What makes you “see with new eyes?” In late June, I returned home from a week-long retreat just a short couple of hours’ drive from home.The retreat, in a beautiful, sacred space, was filled with radiant and divine people. It was a magical time out of time.

(And did you know that yesterday, July 25, was Day Out of Time Day, courtesy of the 13 moons, Mayan calendar?)

So from this June 2010 time out of time retreat, with people I’d never met, and yet who became like long-lost family to me, I hesitantly returned to my ordinary reality. But I returned with new eyes that saw the blessings in my life for what they were: true gifts of support in every way.

Somehow when I returned to our cozy house and expansive, lush garden, I saw what had been there all along in a totally fresh, and yes, radiant, way. Where we’ve lived, rooted, for more than two decades, shines with a renewed vigor and magic, visible through my newly polished eyes. I said, while on the retreat, that I lived in a Shangri La, although in the middle of urban Chicago. When I came home, that is indeed what I experienced.

In seeing with new eyes, I strive for maintaining consciousness, for appreciating the blessings, for stepping into each day as a gift. It is easy to appreciate. What is harder, at least for me, is to take the mindful action steps necessary to expand my presence within this holy, sacred space of my life.

Several weeks after my return from the retreat, we (husby, teenage son, et moi) ventured to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, a preserved segment of Mother Earth tucked in between heavy smokestack industries on both sides. Lake Michigan was still cold, but the day was hot enough that the chill felt refreshing. I spied hawk flying over the beach twice, bent on some mission. The smell of pine tickled my nose as we walked along hot sands to the dune succession trail boardwalk through the preserved wild lands inland from the beach.

Counting my years along the shores of Lake Michigan, I realize it has held my heart for more than three decades, as I bask still in her flowing and liquid magic, a grateful acolyte to these central waters of Mother Earth.

I’d love to hear how you are seeing with new eyes. Take a look into your own life, your own backyard or treasure closet. What do you see when you look with new eyes? Where can you gain renewed energies from looking anew at what is familiar?

My friend and mentor Susan Castle is leading another magnificent, eye-opening retreat, this time within the sacred space of Sedona, Arizona. I’ll be there. I’d love to have you along! Retreat spaces are very limited. To learn about Susan and this opportunity for learning to “see with new eyes,” I invite you to step into her circle. Click here to learn more.

I wish you Abundant Blessings that are available when you are willing to see with new eyes.

Warmest regards to you,
from Bobbye Middendorf,
the Write Synergies Guru

Do You Know Your Internal Marketing Platform?

Bobbye — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 18:12:39 +0000

Why do I ask? Well…..

My friends/ colleagues/ mentors Judith & Jim
(Judith Sherven, PhD and Jim Sniechowski, PhD)
spent years struggling to understand what a real business is
and what all is involved to build one on solid ground…

They realized that it MUST start with a clear Internal
Understanding of what it is you are doing –
first and foremost for your
own sake — and also for your customers.

Most people struggle with this issue big time, but
never talk about it. I know I have.
Most people just hide their desperation
and misery – but Judith & Jim are doing something
completely different.

They’ve realized that clear understanding needs
to start with a clear Internal Marketing Platform!

That’s why I am inviting you to attend their FREE
Virtual Workshop this Thursday –

So You Can Get Clear About YOUR Internal Marketing Platform

There always seemed to be something missing with all
the well-meaning marketing and promo advice.
It’s this internal focus that needs to come FIRST is what
I’ve realized is key. My coaches and mentors are sharing –
for the first time in a live no-cost workshop — a true
self-discovery experience (It’s much much more than
Judith & Jim just teaching or training, as great as that is!)

It’s really all about YOU . . .

*** How to discover, in yourself, what you need
in order to build and stand firmly on your own
successful Internal Soft Sell Marketing Platform ***

http://budurl.com/JJInternalPlatfm

They’re calling it

“Discovering Your Internal Marketing Platform”
It’s The Foundation of Your External Marketing Success

It’s FREE – So give yourself this gift — and
get registered now:

http://budurl.com/JJInternalPlatfm

It’s Thursday, July 8th, at 5:30 pm Pacific/8:30 pm ET

Judith & Jim will start by clarifying what a Marketing
Platform IS, what it is NOT, and why it’s SO important to you –

And then you’ll experience a Marketing Workshop that’s
truly different from what you’ve ever experienced before.

Because Judith & Jim will guide you, taking you deep
inside yourself to help you discover and integrate
the important values and other qualities that will
serve as the basis for your out-in-the-world
marketing platform.

Remember, if your marketing platform does not begin
within, you can only stumble and fall, losing faith
and energy as you continually jump around trying to
make things work.

So make sure you are registered for this
FREE, life-changing event -

http://budurl.com/JJInternalPlatfm

AND you can certainly invite your friends and colleagues
to get registered too! That way you can share your
discoveries and support each other in moving forward
into greater success through your Internal marketing platforms!

“See” you on the call. I’m certainly going to be there.
As I like to say, “the inner journey IS the journey.”
Hope you will join me and my mentors in Soft Sell Marketing.

On Independence — Just Noticing

Bobbye — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 16:43:59 +0000

Happy Independence Day to my US friends. (and to my Canadian friends, celebrating independence on Canada Day, July 1). The roots of what was initiated here in the US more than 234 years ago started with great possibilities. Some of that purity of intent has gotten corrupted over time. But there remain bright lights and good hearts dotted across the continent. From these embers, we must ignite the new hope.

Eleven years ago, right about this time of the summer, I too had reason to celebrate a personal independence when I stepped out of the corporate publishing world to create my own venture. My journey over these 11 years has had ups and downs, but right now I am creating something new to lift the ceiling, so that greater possibilities open up like flowers before me and inside me and for all who choose to play in my circle. I’m raising my set point on good new stuff for myself and for the Write Synergies Circle that I am creating.

I completed 25 of the blog posts during the 30 day blog challenge convened by Jeanette Cates. Not bad considering I was unplugged at a retreat for 8 of those days. I received the “Mini 7″ award, which is completing 7 daily posts. I liked to joke that several of us completed multiple “mini 7s.” It was great fun shared with a cool circle of people. I truly appreciate everyone’s energies as we journeyed together. I look forward to the mutual support from this special circle of people as we move forward.

In Lake Geneva, as I reported here earlier, I fell into a circle of heart-full new friends. In Hawaiian, it’s called an “O’Hana,” or family. And that’s just how it felt. Energized from this gathering, and using it as a springboard, my process and creations are being magnified at an amazing rate.

Over the past year, I have been shapeshifting the copywriting I do. It’s not going away, but it is morphing as all living things do. For those who can benefit from coaching, even if they don’t need the copywriting, I am adding Full Presence Coaching as a sacred listening space to support people on their creative and business journeys. I realize that some people can benefit from entering into a sacred space as part of these Full Presence mirror conversations — a perfect way to metabolize the learnings that they are going through. Send me an email if you want to discuss the coaching option.

I continue to work deeply with Susan Castle, Paul Bauer, Jan Stringer, Alan Hickman, as well as my coaches Judith Sherven and Jim Sniechowski. It’s interesting to observe how the mentors most important in my life right now are committed couples. Just noticing, that’s all.

AND YET: “Just Noticing” is absolutely crucial. Think about this. Act on this. Aim, for a week, to build “just noticing,” into your everyday life. As I write this at the kitchen table in my personal Shangri-La, the crows visit. Crow has become one of my totems since I began noticing crow’s presence in my daily life at crucial moments over the past year. Crow, like the yin and yang bracelet I wear, symbolizes the unity of the polarities.

“Just noticing.”

See what you notice, then report back. What are you able to notice when you pay attention to what is around you? What about when you pay attention to the story behind the story? I look forward to your shared insights and stories.

Here’s to independence and noticing!
Bobbye Middendorf
The Write Synergies Guru

Heart and the Art of Marketing

Bobbye — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 04:36:46 +0000

Marketing is a way of getting the word out and building relationships. To take it to a grander scale, marketing is all about building community. If you feel challenged in expressing your gifts, if marketing is a dirty word, or at least it doesn’t come naturally, then here’s help.

Express your gifts’ value to others authentically, align your marketing messages with who you really are, and you will be creating the connections that resonate with your perfect readers (audience/clients/customers). That authentic connection is what your perfect people are seeking.

Think about it: What if they can only hear it from you? Now is the time to hone and refine your message and your voice to make the connections that your audience needs to hear–as only you can do it — from YOUR heart.

Authentic artful and heart-full communications that resonate with your perfect clients, customers, readers, and listeners are like the “magic wand” that can magnetically attract your perfect audience.

The art of marketing communication (copywriting, strategy, relationship-building) success hinges on you excavating and honing your authentic voice with a message that is aligned with who you are, expresses the heart of your project, and then can connect with your perfect audience.

It starts with a simple realization: All things being equal, people generally choose to do business with people they know, like, and trust. In fact, they are often most attracted to people most like themselves. What this means is that the more clearly you express YOU, the heart and soul of your venture or project, then the more likely you’ll connect with your perfect people.

If you are a visionary conscious creator, writer, soul-preneur, author, speaker, artist, or healer, then getting clear on who you are and what makes you tick can be the single greatest and most profound piece of marketing you can do to ensure your success and the long-term success of your project.

Book Marketing Menu

Bobbye — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 04:16:34 +0000

For many years, I worked in the book publishing business doing marketing and publicity. The following Book Marketing Menu gives authors and would-be authors the master list from which they can draw inspiration and their to-do list. It’s big and hairy. There’s a lot to do. BUT, start with what’s easy and comes naturally for you.

Your book is your legacy. Are you ready? Ready to live your legacy? To own the greatness of your vision, message, or project? To express your gifts? To connect with your tribe, so that the people who need to hear your message can hear you?

The following Book Marketing Menu outlines for you an array of ways to add power, presence, and platform to your vision, book or project.

The following menu of marketing possibilities outlines the key elements for you to consider for promoting your book or other “info product.” It’s an atlas of ideas and ideal if:
*You have a book coming out from a traditional publisher and want to understand the elements of the process.
*You want to create a marketing platform for your book that’s still in the works.
*You are determined to get the word out, even if it means doing it yourself.
*You want to use “Information Marketing” as the basis for building your community for your venture or idea, a non-publishing business.

Traditional publishers take certain actions to market your books. This is in addition to their strength of distribution into sales channels. The marketing activities listed here serve to support and enhance “sell-through,” that is, moving your books from store shelves into the hands of your ideal readers. Historically traditional publishers’ activities included the following.
(However, if you choose to become your own publisher or self-publish, then be aware that these responsibilities in the first category are now yours!)

Part One: Congratulations! You Have a Publisher!
What might your publisher do to market your book to support its sell-through?
*Write trade catalog copy
*Create sales kits tip sheets—for sales reps/distributors
*Distribute to wholesalers, book chains, independent bookstores, libraries, & online outlets
*Include your book info on their web site
*Gather testimonials
*Create and mail (or email) direct response catalogs/mailers to targeted professionals
*Include your book in ads in book and library trade media
*Include your book in ads in professional journals/media
*Do direct response to niche consumers (most often done electronically)
*Send advance page proofs to review sources
*Write flap/jacket/cover copy
*Create and send new book press release/e-release to targeted media
*Develop a feature press release/e-release
*Support author tour, radio interviews, and other book/author publicity
*Get your book info correct, complete, and online via book databases (BIP, Ingram, Amazon, etc
*Initiate special sales to associations/companies/specialty stores
*Go after subsidiary rights/international sales/translations
*Submit titles to relevant competitions, e.g., IBPA, ForeWord, IPPY, Nautilus, National Book Awards

Even with the best of intentions, publishers are working on many books and have limited time and resources. No one knows and loves your book and subject matter more than you do. Sometimes you’ll have to step into the breach and make things happen. The more you can solicit buy-in from your publisher, keep the team informed of your plans –and results– and get their support (to ensure distribution in a local area, for example), the happier everyone will be. Like it or not, you need each other.

Part Two: Must-Dos Whether You Have a Publisher or Not…
As Author, what is your role? What might you need to do to market your book?
*Any of the above that your publisher is not planning for your book (or is not doing in-depth)
*Go deeper into your contacts database, do more follow up than your publisher will provide
*Author speaking tour: seminars/talks/workshops at bookstores (chains, indies, relevant specialty/gift stores or other outlets–spas, hardware stores, etc. — as relevant to your audience)
*Author seminars/talks/workshops at libraries
*Author talks /telephone conferences with book clubs/reading groups/niche interest groups
*Your own BRAND — author and/or book
*Your own book web site promoting your book, your expertise, your calendar of events, your media hits, other products available, a press room with news release, author and book images, free chapters downloadable
*Your own social media campaigns (FaceBook, Twitter, Linked-In, Biznik; Digg, Squidoo)
*Media/publicity results lists on your web site (where you’ve appeared)
*Author activities/speaking engagements/ where you’ll be listed on your web site
*Weblog (blog)—ongoing communications to your people (your Tribe); comment on related blogs
*Author tour – going to where your people are (your niche market)—either live or virtually
*Hire your own outside publicist for targeted activities (radio tour, specific cities, virtual tour)
*Reconnect with the individuals/organizations you were in touch with as you created the book—special sales opportunities? Getting access to their audiences? Joint ventures? List sharing?
*Create a sign-up box on your website to capture email addresses; then stay in touch via your electronic newsletter
*Online article distribution—“tastes” of the book or vision, with a resource box that drives people to your web site or the publishers (ideally where they can either sign up for your email list OR buy the book immediately)
*Free teleclasses – similar to author talks, but all done from home—Partner with like-minded marketers with a list to broaden your reach
*Author speaking engagements/seminars/consulting to associations, companies, business groups
*Ramp up social media presence to attract people to your web site to learn more
*Add value. Add value. Add value.
*Create items of varying price points—(May be tricky if you have a traditional publisher, and didn’t retain rights for spin-offs)
*Create apps–iPad, iPhone, etc.

There are numerous steps under any of these categories. You’ll want to prioritize what you do best, what partners and support you need, and what you will actually do based on your own strengths, capabilities and needs. Then, take action. Just do it.

Good luck with your marketing and promotion!

Are you ready to live your legacy?
To add power, presence and platform to your message, to own your greatness (and your project’s greatness), to express your gifts, vision, and message clearly, so that you will make a resonant connection with your perfect tribe of readers, you may be looking for some support. If so, be in touch. We’ll have a conversation to see if there is a mutual resonance and a good fit.

If you hate marketing

Bobbye — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 03:41:30 +0000

For the many soul-preneurs, writers, authors, artists, therapists, healing professionals, coaches, and consultants who hate marketing, I pose one question: Why?

Share with this community what bothers you about marketing. I really want to understand. If I understand better, maybe I can help you.

From my own perspective (as writer, marketing strategist, copywriter), it seems more like the shoemaker’s children getting their shoes last.

Maybe it’s not exactly that for you. We’re curious. I’m curious. I’ve talked about building bridges from your creation or business or venture out to meet the tribe or community you are here to serve.

That bridge is marketing. That bridge encompasses the two-way path of the relationships that you develop with your perfect-just-right clients and customers. It opens the way for them to get to you and you to connect with them.

What is it about marketing your services or your creations or creative projects that simply stops you cold? You have gifts to give to the world in a balanced energy exchange. Don’t you think that it’s beneficial for people to know about who you are, what you do, and the gifts you have to offer?

Really. Curious minds want to know. Why do you hate marketing — really?

50 Million Cultural Creatives Can Change the World

Bobbye — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 02:59:14 +0000

The following article first appeared in March 2001, published by Chicago’s Conscious Choice magazine. In sharing this perspective about Cultural Creatives, (a name bestowed on us by sociologist/researcher Paul Ray) I am reminded how very important this cohort of world-changers really is. We’ve lost a decade to the forces of the status quo, to those determined to move the clock backwards. So now — more than ever — it is our time.

It is so crucial that everyone WAKE UP! The awakening and mindful action for the good of all and the healing of planet Gaia, Mother Earth, is long overdue. This is a clarion call to of those in the Cultural Creative Cohort. It is more important than ever, and well past time, to get out of our own way.

[I've made some minor edits in the following piece so that it makes sense for 2010.]

Do you ever feel like you just don’t fit in? Do you feel that people around you have a whole different set of values and beliefs? Do you find things important that aren’t on their radar screens, and vice versa? Are “getting ahead” and “looking out for number one” nowhere on your list, despite the best efforts of the media and consumer culture to persuade you otherwise?

When you speak of your dream — what you hope to accomplish — do you include relationships, concern for the planet and the next generations, social justice, sustainability, and your spiritual development? Do your dreams not look like what “everybody else” wants? Perhaps the mirror that will reflect you and your values back to you just isn’t in place — Yet.

It certainly isn’t available in the established big media companies, most corporate, education, and government institutions, or politics, where there is little or no support for people who dare to express such values. Surprisingly, despite your feelings of isolation, you are far from alone.

In fact, you may be part of a just-now-becoming-visible groundswell of cultural change. You may be a Cultural Creative. With the book, The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World, Paul Ray and his wife and co-author Sherry Ruth Anderson are trying to hold up a mirror big enough to reflect this population back on itself.

“This book aims to sharpen our collective awareness with an in-depth look into who the Cultural Creatives are and what their emergence means for them and for all of us…. We believe that their self-awareness as a culture will help us all, help our civilization to develop the fresh solutions that we need so urgently now…. We hope that the evidence and the stories presented here will support the Cultural Creatives to grow into the promise they carry, not just for themselves but for the sake of all of us, and for the seventh generation.”

I was eagerly awaiting this book, and it did not disappoint. It outlines the big picture crafted out of research studies done by Ray, a macrosociologist concerned with the evolution of culture. And it is enriched by the personal stories of how individuals are authentically living their values, contributed by Anderson, a psychologist focusing on the qualities of inner experiences. A myriad of connections fire up the “Aha!” reaction, page after page.

“Cultural Creatives,” a phrase coined by Ray, reflects a growing group of people who are, innovation by innovation, changing the mind of our collective culture and reshaping the way we look at the world in which we live.

Fifty Million People Walking Their Talk
Fifty million? The author likens it to a country the size of France springing up in the middle of our nation. It is all but invisible to the media giants who report only on phenomena they can see. Cultural Creatives, until now, have been virtually invisible, except on those rare occasions when celebrities spoke of values, only to be met with scorn and cynicism from reporters. Such reactions have, in the past, effectively silenced all discussion of values in our public discourse, except for those on the Religious Right.

I’d previously written about Paul Ray and the Integral Culture (Conscious Choice, January 1999). At that time, the statistician-sociologist had conducted a significant national baseline study in 1994 sponsored by The Fetzer Institute and the Institute of Noetic Sciences. This random sample of the entire country’s population gave him the statistical evidence to say that there were 44 million Cultural Creatives in the U.S. alone.

A separate nationwide random population sample was selected for a 1999 study done for the Environmental Protection Agency. It served as a follow up and confirmed the findings of the first study with a significant difference — the population had increased from 44 million to 50 million over a period of five years. In hundreds of values-based research studies over thirteen years, in five hundred focus groups, and in sixty depth interviews, Ray connected with and surveyed well over 100,000 people. His findings are a tremendous contribution, providing concrete evidence, which can be replicated, for the cultural shift we are experiencing.

Paul Ray didn’t start out looking for Cultural Creatives. In his role as market research consultant, he worked at American LIVES, where he did values and lifestyle research for a variety of products, companies, and institutions. About fourteen years ago, he started to uncover a consistent percentage of adults who didn’t seem to fit into the usual categories. He noted this seeming irregularity.

Month after month, they consistently appeared. He wondered if their responses had to do with personal growth or with psychology. Upon closer inspection, he determined that these were people exploring a new way of life, with shared values, lifestyles, and worldview. Authenticity was their watchword. In study after study, he found people committed to living their values, to “walking their talk.”

Are You a Cultural Creative?
Ray emphasizes that “Cultural Creatives are the isolated many, not the isolated few.” These 50 million people have constructed their own lifestyles where they have attempted to create a day-to-day congruence between what they do and what they value. In isolation from one another, working on their own, millions have come to the same conclusions and values.

What are the values? How can you tell if you’re a Cultural Creative? Ray and Anderson have come up with nearly twenty values and lifestyle tendencies that mark Cultural Creatives. According to the authors, you are likely to be a Cultural Creative if the following values are important to you:

• You love nature and are deeply concerned about its destruction.
• You are strongly aware of the problems of the whole planet (global warming, destruction of rain forests, overpopulation, lack of ecological sustainability, exploitation of people in poorer countries) and want to see more action on them, such as limiting economic growth.
• You would be willing to pay more taxes or pay more for consumer goods if you knew the money would go to clean up the environment and to stop global warming.
• You place a great deal of importance on developing and maintaining your relationships.
• You value helping other people and bringing out their gifts.
• You actively volunteer.
• You are committed to health and healing, sustainability, and psychological and spiritual development.
• You like the exotic or foreign, and enjoy experiencing and learning about other ways of life.
• You mistrust the cynicism and pessimism of the media.
• You want to be involved in creating a new and better way of life in our country.

Dubbing this a cultural shift, Ray says, “As the culture changes, people change what they think is real. They change life priorities. What we are discovering is that in this group of people — and it is a shift that is happening all over the world — people are sharing care about the planet. They care about ecology. There is a growing concern among this group for personal relationships, personal growth, and with spiritual development…. Once you catch sight of these deep changes and track them, you can discover a lot about what matters most to people and how they will act. Values are the best single predictor of real behavior.”

Where Did Cultural Creatives Come From?
Currently, we live in the Moderns’ world, which has been developing since the Renaissance. Its main assumption is the march of progress. Its watchword is growth. The Modern worldview is so much a part of our cultural assumptions that, like fish in water, we often cannot quite “see” that it is actually a worldview, not an absolute reality.

The Modern worldview has given us many benefits, including the medicines, air travel, and computers that we take for granted. Yet the single-minded focus of the Modernist agenda has generated intractable problems, including planetary devastation in the service of corporate growth. What Ray calls “Traditionals” respond to these problems by hearkening back to some imaginary “simpler time,” generally with the help of religious fundamentalism. Thus, Traditionals are often opposed to Moderns. Their mutual opposition comprises what the media refer to as the two “sides” in the “culture wars.”

Cultural creatives are part of a heretofore unacknowledged third group whose growing presence has been consistently reflected in Ray’s values-and-lifestyles surveys. This group is neither interested in the get-ahead, materialistic lifestyle of the Moderns, nor the zealous nostalgia of the Traditionals. Cultural Creatives are, by and large, people who have learned a different way to look at the world. Many of them emerged from the ranks of approximately twenty social movements over the past forty years.

“These movements changed our minds,” notes Ray. “They reframed the arguments. They weren’t just out there to grab their share.” Rather, they undertook a process of cultural mind-change, addressing the culture’s core values and lifestyles. “In fact, every facet of the American worldview and every one of its values has been affected by what the new social movements (and the consciousness movements) have taught us over the last forty years.

Cultural Creatives have been involved in more of these movements than the average population,” says Ray. The cumulative effect of all these grassroots movements is that they have shaped people who have built up trust in themselves, who do not have to look at the socially sanctioned arbiters and “authorities” for answers.

According to the authors, Cultural Creatives are accustomed to asking questions, and hanging out in a space of “not knowing.” Thus, they are able to ask tough questions and disrupt the status quo. Traditionals and Moderns perceive this ability as dangerous to business-as-usual, and they are correct.

The authors chart how social movements of the 1960s have “changed our minds” about a complex array of ethical issues — from environmental destruction and nuclear proliferation to civil rights and the role of women in society. They conclude, however, that we are hardly in a moral sewer. Rather, they argue that we are actually more moral now than we were during less conscious eras, eras to which the Traditionals or the Religious Right want to roll back the clocks.

As Ray and Anderson note, “Our moral concerns now are much richer and more complex…. Many problems that were tolerated or simply accepted before the 1960s are completely unacceptable today.” In fact, the authors contend that social activism and inner searching, both psychological and spiritual, are converging. Many Cultural Creatives are active, involved, and interested in a combination of three or more social and consciousness movements; the authors identify a 40 to 80 percent overlap among trends and movements.

This involvement is complemented by independently constructed lifestyles, in which people live in concert with their values and worldviews. In short, Cultural Creatives show a capacity for direct experience and the ability to reflect on that experience. The next step, then, is developing a community where they can share deep values and make the changes they see a need to make.

Connecting with Cultural Creatives
Paul Ray’s research has been instrumental in providing the underpinning for a number of organizations that see their constituencies as Cultural Creatives, or those businesses that serve the needs of Cultural Creatives. It shows that the market for this unwieldy group is growing at the tantalizing rate of 10 to 20 percent per year.

Natural Business magazine predicted that this new “Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability” (LOHAS) market would have $230 billion in U.S. sales for 2000, encompassing such business categories as sustainable economy, ecological lifestyles, healthy living, alternative health care, and personal development.

While journals like Conscious Choice served the consumers and activists who comprise the new market, Natural Business has created a business-professional trade magazine geared to companies and industries serving them. The mission of the Natural Business LOHAS Journal is “the promotion of sustainable business as a way to fundamentally alter the landscape for economic, social, and environmental change.” Its aim is to educate readers “about the growing LOHAS industry and to inspire innovation, creativity and dialogue between the companies and individuals that make up this diverse market, fostering a new paradigm of sustainable business practices that can help create positive change.”

[The Boulder-based LOHAS group just finished its annual meeting in late June, 2010. LOHAS market size numbers, depending on the source, are said now to range from $290 billion - $350 billion in consumer sales.]

In the best sense, their book, The Cultural Creatives, embodies a need that the authors so eloquently describe. “Because we are living in the time of the Between, we dare not be lulled into listening to the old stories over and over again. And that means that those who carry the wisdom for our time cannot be simply storytellers. They’ll have to be story-listeners, story-evokers, artists, and teachers of every sort who can call forth the stories we need now.”

As the authors observe, “Cultural Creatives must get together and do things. It’s time we made a new civilization. The promise of the future lies side by side with the threats.” Through their book, Anderson and Ray have begun acting upon their values with credibility, power, and a profound sense of artistry. They offer hope that planetary salvation, although not assured, at least may be an achievable possibility.

Write Synergies, Sacred Synergies

Bobbye — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 01:17:06 +0000

Intent — pure, heart-based intent, when it’s for the highest good of all — is the royal road, the holy, the divine, the seat of power and energy. Seeing intent in action is to experience the miracles of synchronicities and synergies.

Intent, when it’s put in writing as is my wont, can be the engine that drives momentum and action in the world. Yet with words from the heart, such intent remains connected with the higher source, the sacred. In this way, with the power of intent, the creation and the connection to the audience together embrace the greater character of the sacred. Words on the page can create sacred space if placed with intent. That, at least, is my intention.

Write synergies, powered with intent for the highest good, for the healing of Gaia, Mother Earth, becomes sacred intent for bridging the gulf between our creation-from-the-heart and the people the creation is here to serve, those for whom it is our contribution. Such writing with intent becomes the bridge of light between creation and community. As such, it build synergies.

When I came into the Dreams Alive circle years ago, I didn’t have any inkling that I would be so transformed so many years later. These sacred synergies and the realization of their deeper implications will likely be a theme for a good long time.

Sometimes it’s a gem of truth

Bobbye — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:00:03 +0000

Molly Gordon wrote in her ezine today about how we don’t have to be superheroes and how to address our tendency to think we need to be. Using the power of daily ritual is one way to keep the stress of superheroine roles out of our bodies. Molly is expressing from her own deep truth of experience a great wisdom here — with a wink of fun tossed in for good measure. (Keep the crown, Molly. You deserve it!)

Seth Godin’s post today on “winning” ended with this sentence: “What if the win is the ability to give a true gift?” It was one of those phrases that raised goosebumps, often for me an indicator of a powerful truth.

The gifts and creations (books, businesses, ventures, artworks, practices, creative projects) that you are bringing out to the world are created from the deepest heart of you. Coming from this fiery heart of creation, fueled by your passion for expressing your gift, you have a sacred trust to this, your creation and brainchild.

How can you maintain the purity of your intent as your creative project makes its way in the world? How can you preserve authenticity and integrity? How do you prevent it from becoming corrupted by the eddies and currents of the everyday and the toxic approaches that seem the common currencies?

This was one of the most powerful lessons from my recent retreat with the Dreams Alive and Relax-Online partners, Paul Bauer and Susan Castle. This powerful circle embodied the sacred and gave each of us the impetus to embrace our own sacred truth and creation while bringing it to life.

Your creations come from the heart and carry a sacred message. To speak that message in a way that connects with your perfect people (tribe, community, readers, clients, customers) requires a similarly sacred approach. Isn’t it time for sharing the sacred stories in a way that your people can really get it?

Missive from Shangri-La

Bobbye — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 18:10:00 +0000

Lake Geneva, WI — Just across the Wisconsin border from the greater Chicago area’s suburbs, the spring-fed Lake Geneva beckons summer vacationers into a delicious playground amid idyllic small towns and groves of 100-year-old trees. Dotted along its 26-mile circumference, resorts, summer homes, conference centers and camps abound. A public path circles the lake, so that all can enjoy its pleasures close-up.

On June 22, I was heading into the third night of my retreat with the Dreams Alive and Relax-Online partners, Paul Bauer and Susan Castle, along with their Hawaiian friend and co-leader, Keahi. We convened a sacred circle of like-hearted fellow-travelers on a path of growing ourselves, our consciousness, and our ability to flow from the heart with whatever life tosses in our direction. (Think curve balls.)

On Solstice Monday morning, three of our heart-full friends departed, making our intimate group even more so. During the week-long retreat, I entered deeply into the magic of the moment, a serene setting and powerful teachers moving internal energies that have been stuck seemingly for lifetimes.

I’ve gotten myself off schedule for the blog challenge. I realize that I didn’t even finish editing the post that I automatically posted on Father’s Day. I cringed when I saw that it had published. “Oops,” I thought.

Lesson: Make sure you’ve completely cleared /cleaned the post before you schedule it!

Trying to put this retreat experience into words is a challenge and beyond. The transformations are so profound that to write about them somehow diminishes the power in the moment. Words that embody the essence of the experience simply can’t do it justice.

For pragmatic business people, doing personal growth and development work at deep levels like this is both crucial and yet seemingly impossible. It appears to be the opposite of practical.

Yet I suggest that this process of finding the essence of your life purpose and clearing the obstacles that have kept you from living fully into that purpose is among the most practical and foundational work imaginable. It opens the door for the right business relationships to grow from the rooted heart of who you are and why you are here.

The retreat was all-consuming for seven delicious days. The internet connection was something that, if used at all, had to be mindfully approached. Although it was available, it was not convenient and ever-present.

So, I got off track. I didn’t manage to pre-write the posts either. This is coming to you a week after I wrote it. I want to express my appreciation to each of you for your love and support.

From my heart,
Bobbye Middendorf
The Write Synergies Guru

Write Synergies Copywriting

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