Business is a spiritual practice.
There, I said it.
Business is a spiritual practice, requiring as much devotion, faith, hope, love and doubt as belief in the divine. (Sometimes more.)
Even though my first memory of being moved by the divine happened at age eight. I wept in front of the Eucharist, deeply and self-consciously, in the third pew of a quiet Catholic church.
Even though I’ve responded to altar calls throughout my teens, being saved and saved and for-sure-this-time SAVED.
Even though I’ve read plenty of books about Judaism and Buddhism and many other -isms.
Even though I’ve rejected religion wholesale for over a decade, only to be broken open all over again in my thirties.
Even though I’ve found my inner guides, my spirit animals, and my psychic abilities, too.
Even though I’m seeking and seeking and growing and shaping my spiritual beliefs into little sculptures of light that keep me going every day.
Business is still the most spiritual thing I do.
Because when I wake up in the morning, I have to believe someone cares about what I’m doing. And why I’m doing it.
When I’m dreaming up new projects, I have to have tremendous faith in the process of bringing each one to life.
When I don’t feel like creating, I have to trust that the inspiration will come when I engage in the discipline of doing.
When I answer e-mails, I have to practice devotion to kindness, grace, and patience.
When money is tight, I have to trust that it will come.
When money is abundant, I have to remain focused enough to stay the course. To keep working and building and growing.
I have to have faith that this — all of this, every minute of this business thing — is worth it. Is building to something higher, stronger, better, deeper.
Spirituality and spiritual practices, religious rituals and devotion to God are unquestionably spiritual.
But consider, for a moment, that the practice of bringing your greatest talents to the world — and being rewarded for doing so — is the most spiritual work you can do.
When I say ‘business,’ here, I’m not talking about dreaming up a three dollar product that you have manufactured in China and that you don’t give a shit about and then bringing it to a worldwide audience for four bucks a pop to make a small fortune and retire to Fiji. (This book is the antithesis of the Four Hour Work Week and the life-hacking realm.)
I’m talking about building a business by mining the depths of your soul.
Building an enterprise by waking up, showing up, and chipping away at your life’s work.
Though high tide, low tide, and all manner of life circumstances. Through waves of creativity and those days when you don’t feel you have an ounce left to give.
Business is a spiritual practice.
That’s why it’s so crucial to ask questions. Hard ones, deep ones, ones that hit you right in the gut.
If you’re having trouble earning, where are you fearful of letting others see your talents?
If you’re giving your work away for free, where and why do you fail to value what you do?
If you fail to celebrate your achievements, where do you need to cultivate gratitude? (And quiet?)
If your business doesn’t feel the slightest bit fulfilling any longer, what needs to shift?
If your devotion to your business is waning, which changes need to happen?
Which mental furniture needs to be moved around, refreshed, or donated in order to keep mining way down there, in the deepest darkest depths of yourself?
Our only job is to admit the answers to ourselves.
To get quiet, to let truths fall like atom bombs on the paths we’re walking.
And to take the next step. Into the mystery, with faith and hope and love and our ears tilted toward the divine for a whisper.
Because, contrary to popular belief, business is a spiritual practice.
There are messy, tricky tangles to sort out while you bring your best work into the world, and this book helps you deal with them. Directly and practically and with as much humor as possible.
Calling to the Deep is lovingly peppered with questions and fill-in-the-blanks to get you unstuck and keep you calling forth your best and brightest talents.
It’s every trick and tip and bit of purpose-finding magic I know to help you find the courage to embrace and then rock the shit out of your biggest gifts.
Calling to the Deep addresses the universal truths of being in business.
We’ve all let ourselves down, felt too messy to be known, had trouble caring for ourselves, and snuggled with a bottle of win. We’ve all struggled to tell the truth. Especially to ourselves.
And we’ve all felt so damn alone that we could hardly breathe. Instead of pretending those experiences make us weird or broken, let’s acknowledge them as par for the course.
The phrases I scribbled down from a single, three-hours-long conversation with a client form the structure upon which Calling to the Deep is built. Single lines we’ve all thought or said, writ large for further exploration.
These are universal phrases: things we all think but rarely say out loud.
Table of Contents:
⚡️I think, ‘This is gonna be the week,’ and then it isn’t.
⚡️I feel cluttered inside.
⚡️I’m too messy to be known.
⚡️I run around like an insane person trying to look normal.
⚡️ No one is checking in on me.
⚡️I have trouble caring for myself.
⚡️But I have a bottle of wine and a box of Triscuits…
⚡️That messy part of me is the part I fear is not lovable.
⚡️Fuck all the rules!
⚡️Do you see me struggling to be honest right now?
⚡️I’m excited now to go and do the work.
Sound familiar?
Each chapter is laden with practical considerations, next steps, and helpful cues to avoid wallowing and move you into action.
This book is Pay What You Can priced, so let’s do this thing! Anything from $1 to infinity will get you this book, which retails for $19.69.
“You’ve reminded me it’s okay to be human and have a business. Plus, your writing skills are off the chain.
Yeah…I really just said off the chain. But it felt like the only phrase to do ’em justice!”
—Erica Lee
You’re ready for this if:
- You’re trying to bringing your truest, most valuable work into the world. But it’s freaking hard.
- You’re tired of plans, formulas, and done-for-you downloads that don’t work because they’re one size fits all. And you’re…a different size.
- You’ve noticed that your deepest work seems to be tied to your own humanity, and that the more you know yourself, the better you do in your business. (That’s *not* a coincidence!)
*Please* don’t buy this if:
- You’re selling products or services someone else makes for a profit. If your items for sale don’t in some way start from the depths of you, this book can only disappoint.
- You’ll skim it for the magic potion that unlocks six figure sales, reveals untold social triggers, or otherwise acts as some kind of silver bullet. Introspection is the slow and steady, less sexy bullet.
- You’re opposed to answering questions honestly and with great respect for your own dark bits and flaws.
“Calling to the Deep is where it’s at. Holy Shit, revelations are appearing left right AND center.” — Krystin Rempel
“I am BLOWN AWAY! Aha moments all over the place. ” — Erin Brant
You’re officially out of sales page and this book is Pay What You Can priced, so let’s do this thing! Anything from $1 to infinity will get you this book, which retails for $19.69.