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Intuition in Business, Are You Your Own Best Advisor?
9 comments
Dear Margie:
Nicely done. As a professional photographer, our industry, on all fronts, from editorial to advertising work have been feeling the financial crunch. The sad thing is that many in our industry feel the need to cut their fees to the exact point your friend found herself in.
I would like to share your short article on sportsshooter.com where a number of professional photographers discuss this very issue frequently, however, I won't do that without your permission.
Cheers from the new Washington AVA... Lake Chelan Wine Country.
Rich
richard@richarduhlhorn.com
--
Richard Uhlhorn
GoLakeChelan.com
Nicely done. As a professional photographer, our industry, on all fronts, from editorial to advertising work have been feeling the financial crunch. The sad thing is that many in our industry feel the need to cut their fees to the exact point your friend found herself in.
I would like to share your short article on sportsshooter.com where a number of professional photographers discuss this very issue frequently, however, I won't do that without your permission.
Cheers from the new Washington AVA... Lake Chelan Wine Country.
Rich
richard@richarduhlhorn.com
--
Richard Uhlhorn
GoLakeChelan.com
04/01/10 @ 10:24
Hi Margie,
As a retired business consultant and psychologist, I want to commend you on your article. You are so right! And it gives encouragement to everyone who is floundering in this economic downturn. My experience is that every time I let a client negotiate with me to an agreement that was not really OK with me, both the client and I suffered. It is hard to do good work when underneath it all you're feeling resentment and exploitation. Hang in there! Everyone benefits in the end.
Lynn Rossman
Lynn's Lavender at Tanuda Ridge Vineyard
Sebastopol, CA 95472
As a retired business consultant and psychologist, I want to commend you on your article. You are so right! And it gives encouragement to everyone who is floundering in this economic downturn. My experience is that every time I let a client negotiate with me to an agreement that was not really OK with me, both the client and I suffered. It is hard to do good work when underneath it all you're feeling resentment and exploitation. Hang in there! Everyone benefits in the end.
Lynn Rossman
Lynn's Lavender at Tanuda Ridge Vineyard
Sebastopol, CA 95472
04/01/10 @ 14:05
Great article - and spot on. Thanks for continuing to say the things that many aren't willing to say and for saying them so well.
Best regards -
Leslie
Best regards -
Leslie
04/01/10 @ 14:08
Thank you for a valuable reminder of an asset that all of us possess, but yet we often do not seek when we should most seek it, especially in times of increased effort and decreased returns.
My entry into the world of food and wine happened shearly by intuition over ten years ago. I abruptly ended a twenty year career to pursue something that my gut told me was going to be much more rewarding than what I was currently doing. I was, as a result, able to freely seek and accept the mentoring of some extremely talented and generous people who enlightened me to my own unknown talents, and who helped me to continue to follow my intuitions in my new found career. This provided me with a quick rise to levels that should have taken several more years than they did.
My efforts in my second career have been solidly rewarded by following my intuitions I have never had such confidence in my ability to choose a path and confidently follow it as I have had in this intuition driven journey I have been on for the last ten years. This does require hard work. Remaining focused on the myriad of daily drives, and still being receptive to the muse of intuition does require some significant conscious effort.
I wholeheartedly agree that listening to yourself, or better yet, arguing with yourself, especially in moments of quiet solitude and repose, can be a great exercise in being aware of intuition. I take solo bike rides, hikes, and drives to "shut it all out" and to be able reason through the stuff that matters most and how to achieve a balance. I personally find that my mind and spirit function best together when I am exercising. I am always exercising outdoors, and find that the things I see and experience in the outdoors get my juices flowing, and that I get some real progress in my thoughts, which are in this state typically open to intuition. That is what works for me, but finding what works for anyone else is an important part of the worthwhile effort in being open to intuition.
I think one thing that was not mentioned is that intuition driven decisions are not always met with success. Learning what is behind your intuition, and being able to distinguish between intuitions guided by emotional and self important needs, as opposed to intuitions founded in reason and evidence, can be a tricky thing. The more experience you get in trusting your intuitions, the fewer bad decisions you will make. Just like anything worthwhile, there is a learning curve.
I hope that many of your readers enjoyed this release as much as I did. Keep up the good work!
Cheers,
Bret Fenton
My entry into the world of food and wine happened shearly by intuition over ten years ago. I abruptly ended a twenty year career to pursue something that my gut told me was going to be much more rewarding than what I was currently doing. I was, as a result, able to freely seek and accept the mentoring of some extremely talented and generous people who enlightened me to my own unknown talents, and who helped me to continue to follow my intuitions in my new found career. This provided me with a quick rise to levels that should have taken several more years than they did.
My efforts in my second career have been solidly rewarded by following my intuitions I have never had such confidence in my ability to choose a path and confidently follow it as I have had in this intuition driven journey I have been on for the last ten years. This does require hard work. Remaining focused on the myriad of daily drives, and still being receptive to the muse of intuition does require some significant conscious effort.
I wholeheartedly agree that listening to yourself, or better yet, arguing with yourself, especially in moments of quiet solitude and repose, can be a great exercise in being aware of intuition. I take solo bike rides, hikes, and drives to "shut it all out" and to be able reason through the stuff that matters most and how to achieve a balance. I personally find that my mind and spirit function best together when I am exercising. I am always exercising outdoors, and find that the things I see and experience in the outdoors get my juices flowing, and that I get some real progress in my thoughts, which are in this state typically open to intuition. That is what works for me, but finding what works for anyone else is an important part of the worthwhile effort in being open to intuition.
I think one thing that was not mentioned is that intuition driven decisions are not always met with success. Learning what is behind your intuition, and being able to distinguish between intuitions guided by emotional and self important needs, as opposed to intuitions founded in reason and evidence, can be a tricky thing. The more experience you get in trusting your intuitions, the fewer bad decisions you will make. Just like anything worthwhile, there is a learning curve.
I hope that many of your readers enjoyed this release as much as I did. Keep up the good work!
Cheers,
Bret Fenton
04/03/10 @ 11:17
Great, 'intuitive' article!
Dave Johnson
Consumer Direct/Visitor Center Manager
The Hess Collection Winery
http://www.hesscollection.com
Dave Johnson
Consumer Direct/Visitor Center Manager
The Hess Collection Winery
http://www.hesscollection.com
04/04/10 @ 13:51
Hello Margie,
I wanted to take time and thank you for your latest article and email, it is so true that one does need to rely on all there 6th senses . As such I thought i would use my intuition and would like to introduce to you what has made a difference in these times. "Xzotto is a social network of people who want to increase their changes of sharing in Lottery Winnings by playing together"
Margie, I'm putting a lottery pool together~Are you interested? Please visit www.penntel.xzotto.com
This is a wonderful way to supplement ones income to share with friends and clients
Thank you
Ferdi Penn
www.penntel.weebly.com
I wanted to take time and thank you for your latest article and email, it is so true that one does need to rely on all there 6th senses . As such I thought i would use my intuition and would like to introduce to you what has made a difference in these times. "Xzotto is a social network of people who want to increase their changes of sharing in Lottery Winnings by playing together"
Margie, I'm putting a lottery pool together~Are you interested? Please visit www.penntel.xzotto.com
This is a wonderful way to supplement ones income to share with friends and clients
Thank you
Ferdi Penn
www.penntel.weebly.com
04/04/10 @ 14:00
Margie,
After all was said and done, it was indeed sage advice. I too have simply turned down clients that were trying to nickel and dime me to death. You set service and product standards, factor in an industry standard profit margin and go from there. If someone tells you they can get the same thing cheaper somewhere else you might want to instinctively, or intuitively, understand you have a client here that has assumed all restaurant or catering companies serve the same grades of product across the board. Frozen is not the same as fresh, free-range is a world of difference from the cheaper versions of fowl and the difference between choice and prime is staggering, not only quality-wise but price.
As I have often done with larger bookings send them to the less expensive place, try the product, then come back and I will show you how it is when it's down right.
Dann Reardon
After all was said and done, it was indeed sage advice. I too have simply turned down clients that were trying to nickel and dime me to death. You set service and product standards, factor in an industry standard profit margin and go from there. If someone tells you they can get the same thing cheaper somewhere else you might want to instinctively, or intuitively, understand you have a client here that has assumed all restaurant or catering companies serve the same grades of product across the board. Frozen is not the same as fresh, free-range is a world of difference from the cheaper versions of fowl and the difference between choice and prime is staggering, not only quality-wise but price.
As I have often done with larger bookings send them to the less expensive place, try the product, then come back and I will show you how it is when it's down right.
Dann Reardon
04/04/10 @ 14:06
Margie,
Intuition is certainly developed. I believe it's honed over many years, both consciously and sub-consciously, and sometimes separates the greats from the not-so-greats in a particular field.
My field, for many years, was sales (I've left the corporate world and am trying with limited success to get into the wine industry, but I digress). I sold high-end computer software, and had to learn to deal with people and read them correctly in a short amount of time.
One incident stands out. I was working with a client-reseller who was also a friend. I was visiting him at his office while he was in the final negotiation process with a new person he wanted to bring on board. I had not met this person (nor did I ever meet her), but he told me he'd been negotiating with her for more than a month, and had finally reached agreement.
"So, she accepted?" I asked. "Almost," he said. "She just has to run everything by her husband and then she'll be on board." "Phil," I said, "she's not going to accept your offer." He just about fell off his chair. He protested that the fit was great, the personalities meshed well, she loved the job, they'd agreed to every term, etc. etc.
I told Phil that he was letting his desire get in the way of his reason. If she was going to come on board, I told him, she would have accepted the moment they reached agreement on the terms. The fact that she didn't meant that she was stalling, and that she had a hidden objection that he had failed to uncover; something emotional that tied her to her current job.
The next day, Phil called me. He said, "You were right. I just don't understand how you knew what was going to happen when you'd never met her and only heard about the situation from me." I told him my intuition, coupled with his excellent detailed description of the situation, made the outcome clear. I also said that if he had distanced himself from the situation, it would have been obvious to him as well.
The story you told about your friend reminded me of this one. Your friend probably knew from the first moment that she had the client from hell, but refused to admit what she knew was true because she wanted to get the business.
A quick aside: we talk in solution sales about "Client X." That's the one you focus on that you shouldn't. Client X makes you spend time on him when you're either destined to lose or he will become the client from hell. What that does is make you lose other clients because you're spending time on him, and also keeps you from prospecting for new clients, again from the time you're spending with Client X.
Anyway, thanks for a very entertaining and informative column.
Regards,
Bruce Harrison
Hercules, CA
Intuition is certainly developed. I believe it's honed over many years, both consciously and sub-consciously, and sometimes separates the greats from the not-so-greats in a particular field.
My field, for many years, was sales (I've left the corporate world and am trying with limited success to get into the wine industry, but I digress). I sold high-end computer software, and had to learn to deal with people and read them correctly in a short amount of time.
One incident stands out. I was working with a client-reseller who was also a friend. I was visiting him at his office while he was in the final negotiation process with a new person he wanted to bring on board. I had not met this person (nor did I ever meet her), but he told me he'd been negotiating with her for more than a month, and had finally reached agreement.
"So, she accepted?" I asked. "Almost," he said. "She just has to run everything by her husband and then she'll be on board." "Phil," I said, "she's not going to accept your offer." He just about fell off his chair. He protested that the fit was great, the personalities meshed well, she loved the job, they'd agreed to every term, etc. etc.
I told Phil that he was letting his desire get in the way of his reason. If she was going to come on board, I told him, she would have accepted the moment they reached agreement on the terms. The fact that she didn't meant that she was stalling, and that she had a hidden objection that he had failed to uncover; something emotional that tied her to her current job.
The next day, Phil called me. He said, "You were right. I just don't understand how you knew what was going to happen when you'd never met her and only heard about the situation from me." I told him my intuition, coupled with his excellent detailed description of the situation, made the outcome clear. I also said that if he had distanced himself from the situation, it would have been obvious to him as well.
The story you told about your friend reminded me of this one. Your friend probably knew from the first moment that she had the client from hell, but refused to admit what she knew was true because she wanted to get the business.
A quick aside: we talk in solution sales about "Client X." That's the one you focus on that you shouldn't. Client X makes you spend time on him when you're either destined to lose or he will become the client from hell. What that does is make you lose other clients because you're spending time on him, and also keeps you from prospecting for new clients, again from the time you're spending with Client X.
Anyway, thanks for a very entertaining and informative column.
Regards,
Bruce Harrison
Hercules, CA
04/05/10 @ 15:56
Dear Margie,
I can't agree with you more about this subject. I've learned to rely on those initial gut feelings to guide me. I agree, I had to develop it and when I finally did, it made my decision making that much better.
I love your articles and think you should be working for someone bigger because you have many hidden gems in your stories that are thought provoking and timely. Keep up the good work.
Mary Appel
I can't agree with you more about this subject. I've learned to rely on those initial gut feelings to guide me. I agree, I had to develop it and when I finally did, it made my decision making that much better.
I love your articles and think you should be working for someone bigger because you have many hidden gems in your stories that are thought provoking and timely. Keep up the good work.
Mary Appel
04/06/10 @ 08:54
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