Yes, You can go home again!

Yes, you can go home again!

The phrase, "You can't go home again" comes at the end of the story... when protagonist George Webber realizes, "You can't go back home to places in the country, back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time — back home to the escapes of time and memory..."

“You can’t go home again” has entered our speech to mean that after you have left your backwater town for a sophisticated metropolis, you can’t return to the narrow confines of your previous way of life, and, more generally, attempts to relive the old days will always fail.

Wrong, George, you are mistaken.

Rewind to 1997. As a newly-minted Reiki Master I was blessed with a vibrant local practice which included teaching, a growing clientele,  a well-respected voice on several prestigeous Alternative and Integrative Medicine Boards, and a retail line of quality aromatherapy oils, salts, Feng Shui cures and hand crafted soy and coconut oil soaps that I offered to my clients at office visits. I was intuitive, helpful, and appreciated.

From this practice I entered the non-profit arena with the dream of doing really good work, I wrote grants, became a keynote speaker for hire, and founded a holistic wellness center for at-risk kids and their families. I networked with Juvenile Justice, Mental Health Providers, and the Health Education Network. I had the Midas Touch. I was careful to stay academic, scientific, using best-practice protocols, and results-oriented strategies yet creativity and abundance flowed. Life was good.

Then I had this recurring dream that I should offer my psychic services on ebay. First the dolphins came to me. Then my grandmother. Then Abraham Lincoln (I kid you not). But he got my attention. Working as a professional out-of-the-closet-psychic seemed to be too far of a stretch for this business woman working with kids, the courts, the MDs...

Too out there. But the dreams found their way into conversations, converstations into experiences, experiences into referrals, referrals into a full-time occupation. I was a professional psychic.  I knew there was a huge metaphysical marketplace on ebay. I put up a listing for a Motherpeace Tarot Reading. Just as Abe suggested. I was booked weeks out within the month.

I was incredibly busy, and profitable. I supported international relief organizations, funded sustainable living initiatives in third world countries, spent months studying with indigenous elders and working with dolphins. I saw fewer and fewer local clients, and instead offered distance healing modalities which could be purchased online. I added my oils, salts and soaps... textiles, enegeticaly-enhanced jewelry, channeled art. More readings, and courses of metaphysical study and private counseling. Oshun Spirit Dancing!

Life was very, very, good!

Fastforward to 2010. With several online storefronts, and a greatly expanded product line and scope of services, a dotcom, a dotnet, and a bead business... I spent my days tweeting, posting, optimizing, adding attributes, keywords, and all the while struggling to work around and finally troubleshoot the horrific functionality issues of a start-up venue I had invested way too much time and effort in... I wasn't living my dream any more.

I was compromising my ethics, my integrity, my Spirit. I was caught in a web. And, I wasn't having fun. So I packed up the tent and put the goods in the wagon. And I went home.

Home is a beautiful lakeside community tucked between Lake Winnipeasukee and Lake Wentworth and the White Mountains of New Hampshire. I left the sophisticated metropolis of ecommerce and  analytics and the failed shipping profiles which I abandoned and left rusting at a ranch in the valley and went home to my Adirondak-style lodge on the lake. (Yes I walked through the valley and feared not the evil!)

I came home to the local non-profits, the programs for kids, family services, the conservation organizations, and the education network. I offered my experience, my creativity, my abundance... and the bead business.

I had some fun. I made some bracelets. I reconnected with my roots, and I raised thousands of dollars for my little backwater community in just a few weeks. I had fun. I shipped nothing... instead, reaching across the table I'd press a bracelet into a human hand, send a little spark of light, and whole-heartedly say, "thank you, wear it in good health and in happiness."

I remembered who I am. I remembered what I do. Oshun Spirit Dancing!

And I'm booked several weeks out.

May you be blessed!

visit http://www.wix.com/suberry/JourneyBeads

Announcing Oshun Spirit at Addoway.com

I'm pleased to announce our newest storefront at Addoway.com  I'm really liking the vibe at this new marketplace, I think they call it  "Know and Trust."

The premise is that because you probably don't like shopping from strangers with an unknown reputation,  Addoway has created a unique fusion of social media and ecommerce, where buyers can connect with sellers they already know,  their friends, and the people they know online and who embrace the concepts of openness and transparency in their business model. 

"Know and Trust." In the Addoway marketplace, you are able  to discover great people to "buy, sell, bargain and trade with", because links to all of their selling sites, blogs, social media ids, feedback from other marketplaces, etc. are right there for you to explore before you make your buying decision.

The feature that I really like is "Display testimonials from Friends."

The feature prompts me (the seller) to... "Ask your real friends on Facebook to give you a testimonial and show buyers how much your friends trust you. Display testimonials from your real Facebook friends on your Addoway profile, giving buyers more confidence that they are dealing with a trustworthy seller with real friends who are willing to endorse them."

I know that in the six years that I've been selling online, it is referrals from you, my customer friends, which mean the most to new clients. Your good word  helps me to extend the scope of my services, and your feedback is the inspiration in expanding my product line in meaningful and practical ways. Thank you, so very much!

One more cool thing about Addoway: Because it is free for me to list and does not charge a fee on sold items like most marketplaces, I can use the venue to offer special values,  product lines for less, and blow-out clearance sales.  I'll be offering some super deals in the next few days so be sure to stop by and visit while I'm filling up the store. 

And while you're around, I ask you to take a moment  and please leave a product or service specific testimonial by clicking on the link provided (Connect with Facebook). Share your shopping experiences at Oshun Spirit, or leave a remark about metaphysical or healing services you have enjoyed. In doing so, you'll be helping others make informed choices based on real experience, from a real person. 

 "Know,  Trust, and be Well!"

Once again, I thank you for your continued patronage and support.  I'll see you at Addoway!
http://www.addoway.com/oshunspirit

Attention! You are being ignored!

As some of you know, I've had phone issues for the past week or so.

So this morning I've been struggling to set up a new telephone, and its very complicated somehow. Since I last purchased a telephone there have been many options added, layers of settings, privacy screens, notifications, voice mail connections, forwards to other devices, caller id menus... all ways to stay connected, and when I really thought about it – all ways to ignore people...

...someone has made the effort to reach out to me, someone needs or wants to talk to me, and I am given at least a half-dozen options to pretend that they do not. I am struck by how easy we have made it to ignore and dismiss another human being and we’re convinced it’s not only acceptable, but appropriate.

I got to thinking about the larger phenomena of "being ignored."
I've known that feeling of being ignored.
Have you ever asked a direct question and not been answered?
You have been sent the message, “I think you are insignificant.”
Think about it.

Well, it's rude. Borderline passive/aggressive. And, we have been able to desensitize ourselves from our rude behavior. I'm not talking about needing to take a message when you're engaged elsewhere. And, I'm not talking about clicking the porn queen's unfollow button or hitting the ignore button when faced with the thirteenth invitation to play Mafia Wars. I'm not talking about responding to spam.

I'm talking about choosing to ignore, out of arrogance, or immaturity... or fear.

Love. It's the basis of the human need to connect and should be the starting and ending points of any communication, personal or not. We all need to remember that there are REAL human beings behind the phone calls, emails, texts, and all the other ways we use to communicate with each other.

What happens if you imagine making eye contact with who ever’s request, question, idea or sentiment you’ve chosen to ignore? On a soul level you already are. Pretend what you will.

If someone contacts me and reveals a personal vulnerability, I need to realize that required courage. And courage should always be applauded, validated, and recognized. I think we might need a refresher memo with every new phone, application, and social techno-gadgetry on how to stand up and be human, and do it in a respectful and meaningful way. How to be intentional, transparent, and honest. How to stay human in the virtual world. I'm going to try to be mindful of the temptation to hide behind my technology. I'm going to look you in the eye, wherever you may be.

If you are being ignored, don’t be afraid to speak out. You were given a voice for a reason. But...

"The first time someone shows you who they are, believe them." — Maya Angelou

That's really good advice. Don’t keep going to the same well if the well is dry. If you open up all lines of communication and are still being ignored, that person doesn’t deserve your attention. There are many more wonderful people out there listening for your voice.

May you be blessed!

Image credit: www.zazzle.com/ignored+gifts

Musings on Growing the Money Tree: Bonanzle, Facebook and Twitter

I have a little storefront on Bonanzle, and you can check it out if you've never visited before. I thought it would be nice to be involved in a community marketplace in addition to seling from my website, so about a year ago I set up my shop there. Bonanzle is a hybrid venue, a social marketplace. There are some great sellers there, wonderful, trustworthy merchants. And, there has been a year-long ongoing debate among them as to whether Bonanzle is a serious selling site, or chat and gamers lounge, or both, or neither.

Many of you have visited me there, and I know that some have experienced first-hand the cart that does not always function, the quirky search, and server glitches. And, I thank you all for your patience and willingness to find a creative, alternative way to make your purchases when necessary. Management has made many, many wonderful site improvements, and things do run smoother there today, although for me, with a large international clientelle, Bonanzle's checkout remains problematic. I've spoken with several savvy, vetran sellers just this week who still cannot lead a new international buyer thru the checkout process with 100% certainty. Ummm, lets think about that.

So I got to thinking, musing actually... why would a shopping venue not prioritize checkout, and shipping? The bells, whistles, hip and trendy trinkets that – cool as they are – don't make my customer's experience any easier, add no real value to my buyer. And, Bonanzle continues to applaud and encourage games in which members buy each other's wares rather than assist the business people who do most of their selling off site, to many seller's dismay. Google base, google anaylitics aside, and the seller tools and marketing tips, all common sense, thanx. I'm talking checkout issues. Always coming back to the debate as to whether Bonanzle is a serious selling site, social site, or both, or neither.

The latest set of Bonanzle improvements are links to Facebook and Twitter (yes, I use them both), and the directive is to use these tools to advertise the site, the perk being you will get a little bump in visibility on site in a prominently displayed panel of web communicators. Ummm, lets think about that, too. I'll let someone else blog about that...

This morning, as I paid my $10 fee for selling there last month I got to thinking... although my $10 is chump change, if I multiply that by the roughly 22,oo0 booths listed on the site, there'd be a revenue of $220,000 in final value fees for the month. Add in Plus and Premium memberships at $10 and $24 /month respectively and I would think that throwing a little money at the checkout glitches would be possible. Probable. A priority? Part of the plan for growing the Money Tree?

And, there might be enough left over so that the site could do some advertising of its own during the Holiday shopping season, now in full swing (on other venues at least). The natives are getting restless, some trees have born no fruit even in this Harvest Season. Again, fodder for someone else's blog, I'm not going there either. But here is where I am going:

Mark Zuckerberg, 23, is the founder of Facebook. His social networking site is at about 60 million users, with a projection of 200 million by the end of this year. It's estimated to be worth $15 billion. Yahoo! offered to buy Facebook in 2006 for $1 billion in cash. (Zuckerberg declined their offer). In 2007, Microsoft bought 1.6 percent of the company for $240 million.

But Facebook has yet to figure out how to make money off its huge audience. Facebook needs to find a way to generate revenue...

On Facebook, members get a dose of social interraction by playing imaginary games such as Mafia Wars, Castle Wars, members give gifts of crystals, flowers and cocktails while they chat. Then they tweet that did, and do, they announce it to the world. Sometimes I wake up to tens of gifts and offers to come play. I don't, but that's me. I'm not all that drawn to imaginary enemies or cyber trinkets and such.

Now here is my aha moment: On Bonanzle, members play games and the site takes a final value fee from each little happy social interraction, and members tweet to the world that the game is about to begin or end, oh my! The game is called "Shopping!" And, now they've created unique interface so that we can access Facebook and Twitter and never leave Bonanzle. Sticky isn't it?

Bonanzle has already figured out how to make money off its growing audience. Imagine if all the Mafia Wars players tuned in to "Tickle me Tuesday" or "Finding Friends on Friday"? There is a seemingly endless list of games to choose from. Why send your friends each an imaginary crystal from Facebook, when you can send them each a real one from Bonanzle for just a few dollars in the how-low-will-you-go LIMBO game?

Well, there you go. No crystal ball needed. A hybrid indeed, and the game is shopping. If Bonanzle can pull this one off, it will be the next best thing! The new big thing. The thing. The Money Tree. Tweet that, Facebook!

When you're chasing $15 billion, what's losing a few sales in Canada or the UK this holiday season? Unless you are a Canadian wanting multiple varieties of my Chinese Blooming Tea? If you are, just email me, together we'll figure it out.

We always do.

May you be blessed!