The latest issue of the Yoga Business Journal was centered on the theme of being more than just a “me too” yoga business. To me, that means not copying what others are doing, but finding your own unique way of reaching your perfect audience. Have you seen any examples of yoga businesses that are remarkable? Please comment on the article below and share your thoughts and feelings about being remarkable.

Being Remarkable

Lately, my friend John has been saying, “We’re living in the future.” Think about it… although it doesn’t sound very yogic, what used to be science fiction is now becoming part of our everyday lives. The simple fact that we can now make a video phone call to anywhere in the world and see the person we’re speaking with on a small, hand held wireless device, for free, is completely amazing to me.
Wildly successful products and services come from remarkable businesses that have captured our attention with somethingmeaningful to us. It does not matter whether the offer is new technology, pizza, or yoga.

With that in mind, a little while ago, on a brisk morning, I did something fascinating — or crazy, depending on your perspective. At 6:30AM, I drove to the mall, knowing the Apple Computer store would open at 7:00AM and I could beat the rush to buy the new iPhone. By the time I arrived, 15 minutes before the doors opened, the line was already three hours long! And that was if you had a reservation… the non-reserved line was three times longer. It was like a rock concert queue, but for buying a phone!  I was mesmerized.

I enjoy new technology, but I’m quite allergic to standing in line for just about anything… however, there was something magnetic about watching this unique marketing machine in action.

In the long line-up, all kinds of people, in suits, and shorts, young and old, some toting sleeping bags (!) were talking with each other, smiling, offering to bring total strangers a coffee and insisting on paying for it. They were excited and happy to be there. No one complained.

A swarm of blue shirted Apple employees worked the crowd, genuinely smiling, answering questions, striking up conversations and handing out free bottles of water, pastries and hot drinks to all. As they estimated, it took me exactly three hours to get to the front of the line (I still cannot believe I actually did this).

Inside, the store was packed, but no one seemed rushed. The Apple employee assigned to me was calm and thorough. I was done in a few minutes, and as I left the store, I was congratulated and applauded by the door staff as well as those in line! It was surreal.

This is not an accident. Apple has created an enormous, vibrant and talkative niche – a community of their loyal customers who are bound together by a common love of a well designed product line that affects their lives in a positive way (to those of you who have worked with me directly, these ideas should sound familiar).

Apple takes every opportunity to celebrate, surprise and communicate with their community. If the beaming smiles on the faces that morning is any indication, this way of doing business works exceedingly well.

Is it a coincidence that Apple is now worth more as a company than any other, including Microsoft? I don’t think so.

Very few ventures have “becoming remarkable” in their business plan. Most, including yoga businesses, look to the more established in their field and copy the formula with some modifications that personalize their offer to some degree.

It’s not easy to be remarkable, but the payoff is very high (this morning, Apple’s stock just shot up, again! Wow, should have bought some in 1988 when it was $10 a share instead of a gajillion.

The theme discussed in the current issue of The Yoga Business Journal is titled Kicking Scarcity’s Butt. I know, it does sound like fun, but it’s also a very powerful call to action that can enhance your business and your life dramatically. So today, we’re opening up the discussion to the community and see what questions, comments and wisdom want to come forward. As I’ve said, this is normally not a business topic, but it should be.

I have yet to meet anyone who doesn’t occasionally experience scarcity thinking. It’s near impossible to be in this world of collective human consciousness and completely avoid its sticky tentacles. So don’t look to those our culture has put on prosperity pedestals as being free of this… they’re not, they just know how to stay in their Truth instead of compulsively strapping themselves to these disempowering thoughts and going for a bumpy ride. It’s not having the thought that’s the problem, it’s what we do with it.

An anecdote from a coaching session: Years ago, a new client shared her frustration with me that her 9:30AM class that day had only 3 people in it. She said that throughout the 90 minutes, she was obsessed with trying to figure out the reason for this: Was it her teaching style? Was she not good enough? Did they all go somewhere else where they have good teachers? Should she shower more often (OK, I made that one up, but you get the drift, so to speak)?

What I suggested to her was that in this experience, she aligned herself with scarcity in a way that perpetuates it in her business. By obsessing about why some students weren’t there, she wasn’t present for those that were! The students, two of whom were new, probably felt that something was off. They didn’t necessarily know what, but it just didn’t feel good. It likely wasn’t anything she said or did in class… she just aligned herself with the wrong thought-form, and her students, who during class are more open and receptive, felt it. She did not see these students again in her studio.

Students rarely say anything when they feel this way, they usually just stop coming. A simple way of thwarting scarcity’s incursion in this scenario is simply staying in gratitude. Scarcity hates gratitude. It’s our secret weapon and it always works. Had she stayed in fully-present gratitude for the students that did show up, expressing to them how fortunate they are that they can have so much personal attention, they would have felt seen, acknowledged, and celebrated by their teacher. Not only would they have loved the class experience, they would tell their like-minded friends how they felt, encouraging them to come feel it themselves (read: your business grows naturally).

Using thoughts that smack of scarcity as an wonderful reminder to exercise gratitude needs to become a committed practice in us, very much like yoga. The better we practice, the more effective it becomes. Gratitude kicks scarcity’s butt because when we are grateful for what we have or experience, there’s no lack of anything. No matter what your current financial life looks like, scarcity cannot survive in minds that have abundance in their consciousness. Add gratitude to your daily practice and you’ll experience more peace and abundance than you can imagine. It’s just the way it works. Gratitude squashes scarcity and sets us up to receive prosperity. I’ve seen this in action hundreds of times in myself and my clients.

The practice continues to make a huge difference in my life and business. Scarcity thoughts rarely last for more than few seconds in my noggin before getting trampled by the onslaught of prosperity I unleash at them. If I can do this, believe me, you can too.

We’ll go into more depth and discussion in tomorrow’s tele-class, which will be fascinating and fabulous.

Thanks for reading. Please participate in this conversation by posting a comment with your questions, experiences, or comments. Really, do it now, write about that thought you just had… we want to know.

Namasté,

Coach out.