More about Soul Infused Livelihood

Yesterday I started to explore some juicy questions around soul work, livelihood and money, and I’m continuing today with the story of how I created my first soul infused business.

It was 1984 – that’s a long time ago and it was a somewhat different world.  In the previous year I had experienced my first big soul opening. I fell in love with writing poetry, stumbled down the rabbit hole into the inner world, a new mysterious dimension of experience opened up, the way I saw everything changed, and there was no going back.

I resigned from an interesting full time job in adult education, which I was good at, in order to write poetry. Which is another way of saying I wanted to spend more time in the inner world and be in a situation in which I could have complete autonomy and be free to honour my own creative rhythms rather than marching to the clock.

Writing poetry was my way of exploring soul and I did write a lot of poetry but it soon became clear I would have to find a way to pay the bills and generate income. So I decided to create my own business.

I knew absolutely nothing about business but I think that was an advantage because I had no ideas in my head that I couldn’t do it. It all flowed easily. I was living in Scotland at the time and I signed up for a small government allowance for business start-ups and that required an overdraft so I breezed into the bank and secured that and my business, Team Work, was born.

At the time I was half way through a training as a Gestalt therapist and I felt ready to start working with people. And so, I declared out loud to several friends – “By the end of next week I’ll have four clients“ – and sure enough four people came forward to work with me, and my “business” had begun.  It took a further two or three years to really form my ideas around what I was offering, which included training and consultancy work, as well as individual and group therapy. Those first two or three years were a bit lean – but after, for the remaining five years I travelled in  the vehicle of Team Work, I always had as many clients as I wanted, work came to me easily and I was well paid.

I was also already living my dream of a more harmonious world, applying my skills to training leaders in community and health education and the prison service, with a focus on moving through conflict to co-operation.   At the time I saw this as quite subversive and my friends told me I couldn’t possibly expect to be paid well for doing work which I was passionate about. But I was paid good money by a conservative government to do this work.

As you’ll hear when I tell you more of the story, this graceful, serendipitous beginning transformed into a much more challenging journey later on. Here, I want to reflect a little on why and how starting out on my soul infused livelihood was easy for me.

• I think the fact that I was an innocent really helped. I wasn’t burdened down with doubts and fears. My consciousness was clear. I trusted I could do whatever I wanted to do.
• I was buoyed up with the confidence and energy that comes whenever I discover a rich seam of creativity and this spilled over from the poetry writing into my work in the world.
• I was clear what I had to offer, set clear and achievable intentions and followed through quickly – no procrastination.
• I lived in a bit city with a buoyant economy with lots of people who could afford to pay for my services.
• Divine timing. I have seen over and over again throughout my life that when I am taking actions that are soul inspired everything falls into place easily to support me. This may not always look like what I want but it is always what my soul requires. At that time the services I was offering, which arose from my authentic passion, were aligned with what was needed in the field.   
• And, very importantly, I was part of a community. At the time I started working as a therapist, the Gestalt therapy community in Edinburgh comprised around 40 people and by the time I left it was close to 200 people. There’s a myth I’ve met that lots of practitioners living and working in a locality creates competition and lack. The opposite is true. We did a lot of cross referals in that community. I couldn’t have survived as a therapist without referrals from my colleagues and I, in turn referred people to them and also created opportunities for co-creation. The fact that we were a community made us all more visible and gave us more authority. I’ve subsequently had many year’s experience of working mostly alone, without that support, and it’s absolutely clear to me that a committed community creates abundance and flow. For me, this is the way to go forward. When what is being offered is of a good quality and needed, the news spreads through the network and there is always more than enough to go around.

We are all interconnected. We don’t have to do it alone. I would go as far as to say that the task we have taken on – and I’m guessing if you’ve read this far you’re probably involved in a very similar process of working out how to do the work you are passionate about – the work you know has to be done for our species survival and evolution – and keep a roof over your head and food in your children’s bellies – the task we have taken on is so insanely challenging that to try to do this alone is crazy.

My first business, Team Work started as a one woman band and ended up as a six woman team. That had its own stresses but that’s another story. I’ve made many attempts over the years to create community and to join communities both local and online, experimenting with ways to take our work forward together. My current online work began in 2006 with a vision to create and online business to support many people. It’s been a huge journey with many twists and turns and learning.  Sometimes it’s been powerfully exhilarating and at times I have felt deeply discouraged.  Writing this blog post has reawakened my passion and conviction. I am taking my stand and putting my stake in the ground. I am committed to creating a community that will prosper all who engage and contribute to it. Anyone interested?

October 4^th 2015