Has Apple Lost its Soul?

This is unacceptable Sashka. You simply cannot base a product creation on a ‘gut feeling‘, "you need to give me MORE facts and statistics".

Throughout my successful career in Corporate, working on Million Pounds-Euros-Dollar projects. I was always confronted with the same response as above, by many of my superiors. Every single one of them always regurgitated the same opinion: "Gut feelings aren’t anything to base production on. You need facts and statistics".

The irony came, when despite being told that these ?gut feelings‘ weren’t useable, almost 99% of my creative ideas were produced. After hours and hours of research and development and budget expenditures. My 'gut feeling' prevailed despite me being told that it wasn’t valid.

During the course of my profession, I have wandered between two poles: Research & Development and Gut Feelings. Always playing tug-of-war, between which pole is right for the decision.

Imagine Henry Ford kept asking the public what kind of transportation they wanted?

They would’ve always answered “Faster Horses!” That’s the same as inquiring if Research and Development (faster horses) will come before the Gut-Feeling (the Car). This is when I made a decision to follow my Gut Feelings first and R&D second. Not the other way around.

WHY DID I DECIDE THIS?

Simply because my SOUL knows. I don’t need to prove it. There is just too much successful evidence all around that shows that one’s Gut-Feeling is more reliable than "just" Research and Development.

My SOUL never waivers and gives in to the emotional disruptions around me. It’s all-knowing. All I have to do is just listen to it. This is why I’m so successful in my business and life. Because I’ve learned to listen to my Soul (Intuition – Gut Feeling) rather than my emotions. The latter fluctuate too much and leave me gasping for air after running around like a headless chook.

I don’t want that for my life and business. I want to make conscious decisions that are all-knowing, that give me joy, freedom and creativity – FIRST. And all the rewards later.

Simply put. These traits are those of a heart-centred business.

Wanting to be led by heart-soul-decisions that fulfill our Life’s purpose. Serving and doing something useful with our talents and gifts.

Our main focus is the SOUL client and how we can benefit THEM to become a better person than they were before they met you. We want to know, that what we’re doing is making a positive difference in the world. And yes, inevitably also earning money for our works.

Whoever, impregnated the population that only rich people can be rich, should start moving over, because there’s an uprise of heart-centred purpose-driven entrepreneurs who are entitled to earn money. In fact, for heart-centred business owners, money is nothing but energy. We know how to attract it and how to repel it. We know how to give it purpose and how to substantially increase the amounts. We know this, because it’s deep within us – our SOUL-GUT FEELING-INTUITION.

Alive and kicking.

Only, the problem arises, that most heart-centred businesses don’t know of their luck. They’re still grappling on the tethers of people like my Superiors’ idealogies, when it comes to running a business. Using conventional Brand Marketing and Sales to market to your clients.

In other words, you’re chasing the money first and the purpose second.

It’s investing all your energy into Plan B, when you know, all you want to do is Plan A. You will ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS (did I mention ALWAYS?) at some point of the Plan B, run into the inevitable, ?What am I doing this for? Why am I here? Why am I even on earth?“ and you’ll want nothing more than to find and fulfill Plan A.

And no money in the world, no matter how rich you are in monetary terms, will ever be able to satiate your desire to find and fulfill your Purpose.

Which is why Conventional Brand Marketing doesn’t work for a heart-centred business. We don’t want to focus on the money first – that’s a perk to serving your clients and fulfilling your Purpose.

So how do you use Spiritual Brand Marketing in a heart-centred business to fulfill your purpose AND make money?

Conventional Marketing focuses on making money first – SALES. It’s all about Supply and Demand and ROI. All communication, marketing and advertising is aimed at doing and getting just that: SALES. Fast and Furious.

Spiritual Brand Marketing is about PURPOSE first and MONEY second. About making a difference focusing your Life & Career Purpose (hard and soft skills) and allowing your SOUL to create your Brand and its Masterplan.

Spiritual Brand Marketing is a very very scary step for most heart-centred businesses. For one, those ‘know-it-all Superiors’ who don’t believe in Gut-Feelings-Intuition and Soul, will inevitably point that scraggly finger at you and condescendingly inquire to see the your monetary success. Because in their eyes, THAT is what constitutes a successful business and life. Money = Success.

Bah-humbug!

This is the number one reason, why heart-centred businesses immediately delve into designing their Advertising tools to market their businesses to make money to be successful. To prove to the “Superiors” that ‘despite’ being a heart-centred business, that they too can become “successful and rich”.

(And whilst we’re here, let’s be clear on who these ‘Superiors’ are. Partners, bosses, parents, friends, colleagues, the Industry. You get the drift?). Can you see how the INTENTION here to “prove your worth” is going to totally tire you out? How the focus of using advertising and branding ‘quickly’ to get rich ‘quickly’, is going to do nothing but be short-lived? And clear out your bank account quicker than you can say ‘Bob’s your uncle!’?

BUILDING A BRAND TAKES TIME.

And those ‘Superiors’ know it all too well. Only, you as the heart-centred business, are wanting to burn the candle at both ends. Diving into cold water and splashing around trying to find ground. ‘Just’ to prove that you too, can implement Spiritual Brand Marketing and make money, i.e. be ‘successful’.

Let’s have a quick look at what happens in ?TIME“?

Life. Phases. Growth. Denial. Defeat. Success. Aspiration. Fulfillment. A whole lot of ups and downs.

And during this time, you’re tossed around, beaten, raised up, praised and shunned. Your emotions and self-worth are so battered, that it feels almost impossible to move forward towards ANYTHING, let alone a business ?brand“. Jumping the gun by creating your Branding first, before you even know who you are, why you’re here and why you’re doing what you’re doing, is going to be your downfall, which is the very thing, that you’re trying to avoid.

Here are three steps to creating a masterplan for your brand:

A Soul Brand requires a Brand Masterplan. Just like you create a Masterplan for your life, with a Vision and Purpose. Only, it doesn’t start with a Logo. These are your starting points for implementing Spiritual Brand Marketing as a heart-centred business:

>> Your Soul

>> Your Present self

>> Your Legacy

YOUR SOUL

This part knows way more than you could ever imagine. I’m sure you’ve often heard people, coaches, memes, videos and keynote speakers tell you: “The answer is within you, you just need to be quiet enough to hear it”.

I cannot express how strongly I agree with this. Being still, for me, means to shut off the emotions that respond to every energetic wave around me and fluctuate every millisecond. Emotions can often be our weakest link and downfall. But it’s not the end of the world.

When you KNOW your Soul Purpose, your Soul Career Purpose and Soul Life Purpose. A lot becomes clear in terms of your Soul Brand, as you give your Brand a Purpose. And as explained, in order for Spiritual Brand Marketing to work, you want to know your Purpose first. As this gives you the headlights for the direction you’ll be heading into.

2. YOUR PRESENT SELF

This section helps you establish a lot of small details for your Branding. You integrate a lot of your childhood memories and dreams, your Vision for your life, your new and old goals, your relationship, social, educational, physical, financial, vocational and spiritual self.

Your present self also involves evaluating your own life phases that you’ve been through to get to where you are now and where you want to go. These life phases are valuable information to deciphering who your Soul Clients are.

How this fuses with Spiritual Brand Marketing?

By knowing your Soul and YOU, you’re confident with combining the two elements to let it flow into your Soul Brand. What evolves out of the Soul Brand conception isn’t just pretty colors, but a visual form of your entire Soul and Life essence.

That is timeless.

3. YOUR LEGACY

Now that we have the “Spiritual aka Purpose” phase down-packed. It’s time to start on the Brand Marketing. Listen, Marketing will always be marketing. This is the framework:

• You need a product or service.
• You need to know how you’re going to price it and distribute
• And to WHOM you’ll be distributing your product or service to.
• And HOW you’re going to best communicate your product or service to your audience and market.

That is the gist of Marketing.

There are a lot of sub-sub-sub-levels to go with this framework, which is why you need the years to study and practice Marketing, to see how it works physically and not just ‘on paper’. The beauty of Spiritual Brand Marketing, is that your focus is on your Purpose first – money second. Which means that, you’re wanting to ensure that your Purpose is being fulfilled first i.e. your FOCUS and ENERGY and AWARENESS are on this first and not on the money.

In Conventional Brand Marketing, your goal is to market and advertise to get your supply and demand for your product or service plateaued that your ROI is a good basket of measurement to your financial success. You are constantly PUSHING with your marketing and communications, with the focus to get more units sold to cover your overheads and to receive more financial rewards.

In Spiritual Brand Marketing, your goal is to make money – that is clear. But you don’t PUSH. Pushing means you’re running ahead of your timeline. You’re trying to make things happen before they should be happening, which gets you in a right spin and overwhelmed. Doubting your actions, your Purpose and why you ever decided to get on the path of self-employment in the first place.

Spiritual Brand Marketing means that you create your Marketing and Advertising Campaigns, with Brand consistency and positioning to create Brand Awareness and Recognition.

To PULL your Soul clients towards your intentions to reach them.

And you “go-with-the-flow” of your Soul’s timing and not that of your Emotional timing. When fear kicks in about not enough money being in your bank account to pay for something, or Angst for your home and living conditions. Your SOUL will KNOW the answers. You just have to learn to set the EMOTIONS aside and LISTEN for your SOUL’s answer(s).

This I know, is NOT easy.

It goes against all our upbringing and ingrained teachings. To Worry. About all the things that COULD happen. But all these things that “could” happen, from whom are these fearful thoughts?

And do they really belong to you?

Probably not, and they’re probably from whomever raised you and learned from whomever taught them, and whoever taught them and so on. So, it’s passed-on fear.

Now what if you could just eliminate those fears that were passed on to you. And infuse NEW thought patterns that would serve you and your life and your business with fun, creativity, joy and ease?

• To not panic when you see you have no clients and your bank balance is diminishing down a hole.
• To acknowledge the fear – thank it and send it on its way and look towards the new teachings that free your mind from fear and ‘lack of’

THAT is the essence of Spiritual Brand Marketing. Knowing your Soul-Career and Life Purpose. Fusing your whole BEING into your Soul Brand. Implementing traditional marketing with no fear and no pushing. And only working with your Soul clients in your Soul market/niche.

“A Personal Brand is You on Your Journey”

My heart always goes heavy, when I think about Steve Jobs.

A visionary, free spirit, rebel and my Soul client, a Misfitpreneur. He learned the art of Spiritual Brand Marketing after being pushed and pulled in the Conventional Brand Marketing scene for many years.

He, as did so many others, came to see what it meant to create a Soul Brand. Apple.

And what saddens me, is that HIS Soul Brand isn’t able to live the Legacy. His journey ended too quick, for him to lead others into his world to carry on with his Legacy. His time was cut short to fulfill whatever his purpose was. As I write this post now, Apple is struggling. To keep the Soul Brand alive. They’re working from a Conventional Brand Marketing perspective, which is all about PUSH and no Purpose. There is no SOUL in the brand anymore. And this is what saddens me.

But gut-feeling tells me that it will be revived by a new SOUL, which excites me. And I look forward to the revival.

Which is why I’m also writing this post. To share my Legacy with you – my Soul. To re-empower your Underdog. To let you know that all those ‘Superiors’ who don’t believe in heart-centred businesses, their ethics and ‘ways’… That’s THEIR problem – not yours.

You have NOTHING to prove. Your focus needs to be on your PURPOSE(s).

And creating and marketing your SOUL Brand so that you fulfill your Purpose(s). And in the process personally growing (self-development), investing in yourself and finding Balance between your Mind-Body-and-Soul. This is why I say that creating a Brand is so much more than ‘just’ a Logo or Typography or a cool website with SEO or great headshots.

It’s deeper and longer-lasting.

And it requires TIME. Time is what forms Leaders. Which is why creating a Soul Brand isn’t for everyone, because it requires growth, self-empowerment, mindset work, personal development and so much more.

And all this takes time.

Too many heart-centred businesses are running around like the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, blurting out “I’m going to be late”. I need to ask you, WHAT are you going to be late for, when you’re running around like a headless chook? Remember, it’s not about PUSHING, it’s about KNOWING and PULLING.

And just in case, you thought this is all impossible…

“Only the impossible is possible” – as Alice would say.

Here’s to your Spiritual Brand Marketing Success.

Got any questions you’d like to have answered, then drop me a line [email protected] or join my Facebook group here.

Much love and attention

Sashka xxx