Friends,

I have been reading this forum for awhile, and I'm now a new "friend." I hope you can help me!

Out of necessity (job layoff, tough job market) I will be starting my own consulting practice. I ran my own business years ago, and was successful for 8 eight years until I closed the business to attend to different life isseus. So, I am familiar and prepared for all that it means to work for myself.

My struggle is in deciding upon a business model. Or, in other words, deciding how to best focus the consulting practice. My wide range of experience gives me several opportunities. The marketplace seems open to these several opportunitities. I do not feel so much that there is a wrong decision here, but there is a right decision. One thing I know about marketing is that it's important to define one's niche. I need to be clear about my target audience and the scope of my services. Although my experience lends itself that I be a "generalist" my experience also tells me that from a marketing perspective this is a surefire no-no. So, which of my niche to choose?

I asked the Yi ... What if I focus my business in industry XXX-A? The answer was 46.5 to 48

Then I asked the Yi ... What if I focus my business on XXX service (multiple industries)? The answer was 15 unchanging.

So I asked the Yi ... What if I focus my business in industry XXX-B? The answer was 42.3.5.6 to 22

I sat with these answers for some time. Industry A is an area I have much previous experience and I would like to work in this area again for many reasons, but not sure that I would totally want to give up industry B. These two are very different fields, and marketing them together wouldn't be easy. Then I conceived a way that I could do both -- keeping industry A as the primary place for marketing, but offering low cost or pro-bono services to this other area -- Industry B (it's non-profit.) This felt right inside to me as I would still be connected to both. I decided to ask the Yi for confirmation of this choice by asking what if I work in industry XXX-A and do industry XXX-B pro-bono? ... answer was 18.1.4.6 to 34.

I am too close to read and compare these answers, so I ask to draw on your generous feedback.

Hilary, if nobody writes to help, can you step in?

Hi Noa,

I have only time now for a brief response.

Its seems as if any/all of these approaches would be a gradual progression, which requires a deep level of commitment, attention to detail and follow through.

Each approach seems feasible, but combining them into one package or company mission is, as you already know, as classic line extension trap. Identifying each niche with a separate positioning name and statement would make sense.

I see nothing that suggests these are not attainable, only that great caution, timing and detail are necessary.

If you don't receive other's feedback on this I'll see if I can give more focus to it later this evening.

Best of success with this venture.

C

Noa, just a couple other quick observations. Please don?t take is as anything absolute; they?re only my initial impressions.

Focus A will require a slow step by step process. What matters here is diligence and patience. This isn?t going to happen overnight. There may be a need to store up resources in order to implement this plan.

Focus B: Follow-through and detail can become a real challenge to manage this multiple approach. Be prepared to complete what you start, or its best left undone.

Focus C shows more immediate potential. It appears that somehow heaven?s blessing is associated with this particular approach. However, there is a caveat here. What you do in regard to this institution should not spring from petty or arbitrary motives. I can?t say whether earning a profit would be correct or not, but you would do well to bring increase to it regardless.

RE: 18-34, its time to get busy. There is some setting right, correcting, adjusting that will become necessary in order to proceed with progress. In doing so it is important to keep your head and maintain self-control. If you press forward before the time is right in order to relieve yourself of the stress, you will only succeed in frustrating the situation further.

Hope this helps.

C

Hilary, if nobody responds to help, can you step in?

I cannot really say something about what would be best, but I do know that hex.15 is about uniting. Some translate it as 'hamster', which can be one of its meanings: the 'corn-grabber' who gets his share of the grain no matter what. At the other end of the spectrum is the Yuan-bird, the same character again, but now not with 'rodent' added but 'bird': it has one wing, one eye, but two of them can fly and see.
So 15 is about uniting by grabbing it or by sharing it or whatever options there are in-between.

This part of your reading looks like you should do both. No changing lines: no special difficulties you should take extra care of.

LiSe

Greetings y'all and thanks for the readings both Candid and Heylise. I have been meditating on this to see what comes. I am confused and scared and it's difficult to see beyond that. I know that I must choose and not be a generalist otherwise I'd never be able to market or brand my business. I am just afraid of making a mistake!

My response top Candid:

I may have confused the way I listed my questions, or the way you responded. I asked 4 questions and you respond as options A,B, and C and I am not sure I am tracking your response to the correct question!!!!! I am going to use option 1,2,3 and 4 to make it more clear for me!

My response to Heylise:

What do you mean by, "it looks like I should do both because no changing lines?" The question I asked about focusing in two industrys gave me 18 to 34. The question about focusing in one service area, but it multiple industries, gave me the unchanging 15 answer.

My thoughts/clarification:

Option 1 - This is where I focus my experience to offer to one specific industry. (46.5 to 48)I had thought this was amy best answer, because even though it talks about step-by-step and I know this means slow, there is a clear progreession and the line reading is excellent! Do you agree? No? This is also a wealthy industry, and if I break in and market well, I should have good earning potential.

Option 2 - This is where I focus not on an industry, but on one particular service that I offer. (15 unchanging) My niche wouldn't be an industry, it would be a particular service. I do feel connected to this service emotionally. There is the added issue that this service has multiple methodologies. There are people who only offer one of these methodologies and so have a very narrow niche. I fear I would be too broad if I focus on this service. Marketing would be interesting as given the nature of the work, I could work with any industry or company. I would be an expert on the service, not on any particular industry. When I read about modesty this didn't feel to me to be a surefire go-ahead for starting a business. But with the added thought of 15 being about uniting, well yes, the work itself is about communications and therefore uniting. Or maybe it's me uniting with others?

Option 3 - This is where I focus my experience in the non-profit world only. (42.3.5.6 to 22.) I was thrown by the line readings which didn't feel so good to me even though the adorning of 22 does make it seem like a blessed path. I do have good contacts in this world. It's also true that non-profits are always looking for pro-bono and there are people who offer this work at no charge. I fear earning a living would be a problem.

Option 4 - This is where I focus on both the non-profit world and the specific industry in Open 1. (16.1.3.6 to 34) The more I sit with this option the less excited I am about it. But mostly, I'm confused.

My original idea had been the Option 2 idea. My path to growning that business would be to not only be an expert in this service area, but to be a resource/referral kind of service for others who offer the service, too. The work is all about uniting people together and communication.

I feel another question is needed here. I'm just not sure yet what that question would be yet. Do you have any suggestions?

Candid, I just read your profile that you are a director of marketing! In what field do you work? I am not sure if you are comfortable, but would you be willing to discuss this niche problem I'm having with me?

Since I went away to work on this one, there are another 4 posts! (Insert three-toed sloth emoticon here, with plenty of moss.) If I delay posting until I've caught up, I'll be behind again, I know it... So please forgive any misapprehensions here that you've already corrected...


Focus on industry A, Pushing Upward with the resources of the Well - wonderful. As Candid says, 46's kind of success does not come overnight, but it does come: optimism is justified, little acorns grow reliably into big oak trees, and straightforward steady work is rewarded. But - as Candid also says, oddly enough - it does demand personal investment. Not necessarily huge material resources (the 'inspiring' line, 45,2, mentions the spring sacrifice), but a very high level of personal conviction and dedication.

15 unchanging could be a reminder to be realistic and not to spread yourself too thinly - especially if you were asking for a general comment on the idea. If not - if you were very clear in your own mind that you wanted a prediction - then the outlook is good - if (and only if) you have the capacity of the 'noble one' to combine vision, persistence, integrity and an unswerving grasp on reality. The absence of a relating hexagram makes me wonder whether this wasn't an option you'd already ruled out.

Focussing on industry B - mixed!

The lines: 3 is the basic scenario, benefitting from someone else's misfortune. (Which sounds to me like the usual process of sales, finding what the problem is and ensuring you're the one who solves it.) You can become the trusted authority whom people rely on. Of course, you need to be absolutely straight - motivated by the pure generosity of line 5, however naive and starry-eyed this may appear on the face of it. I think that lines 5 and 6 are alternative outcomes: pure generosity brings good fortune, without doubt; a lack of personal constancy and honour, even some small, momentary slip, attracts what might feel like disproportionate misfortune.

I'm finding it hard at present to see the connection between the story of the lines, and this being 'increase's beauty' or 'blessing's image' (42's 22). Perhaps it's that the basic 'stuff' of industry B is the free flow of generosity, giving and receiving. Like everything else, it needs a true image of itself out in the world, for people to recognise and respond to - but it is not particularly easy to cram all of Increase into a presentable package. 42 into 22 doesn't quite fit. I only hope that this makes some kind of sense when you know what industry B is, and what service you would be providing to it! But in any case, I would want to understand what line 6 was warning against before starting this.

18 to 34: dealing with corruption, and with great vigour! The question with 18, of course, is 'What corruption?'. I imagine 18 must be an indication that by looking at this option, you've started to uncover and deal with the same issues that threatened to derail you in 42,6. Definitely a good idea.

I think the process is drawn onward by the truth (and aspiration) of line 6: ultimately this is about something greater than 'dealing with', and more enduring than inner or outer power struggles. Interestingly, this line changing alone connects back to Hexagram 46. Then line 1 I think is saying that with this option, you take responsibility for sorting out a mess, or healing a wound - even though this is something you inherited, and not originally of your creation. And line 4 is evidently what not to do - becoming complicit in, and worsening, the inherited corruption. Of course, I have no idea what this applies to, but the attitude it warns against is along the lines of, "Well, my father beat the daylights out of me, and it never did me any harm..."

Looking at all this together... there is some difficult, unresolved issue around industry B. Focussing exclusively on industry A obviously cuts this problem out completely - if this is really what you want to do, and you can keep the single-pointed vision required. That seems to me the clearest picture of commercial success on offer.

Making industry B into your main source of income I think makes it harder to deal with whatever-it-is at the same time.

Taking on industry A as your main source of income, and B for pro bono work, sounds a courageous and intelligent kind of option. You say you sat with this for some time, and this is what 'felt right inside'. That, I think, is an oracle in itself.

Hope something here is still of use!

You said: "What if I focus my business on XXX service (multiple industries)? The answer was 15 unchanging".
Because of the 'multiple industries' I thought it included both industries you mentioned. And then 18 to 34 about an emphasis on one of them. Maybe I understood wrong.

Hex.15 is IMO about 'a time of combining', or uniting, adding the other side, so it becomes a complete functioning organism. But if this does apply to your question, I don't know. Only you can decide, if you should combine or not. Maybe 'reduce the many and augment the few' means something?

I did not say that "it looks like you should do both because no changing lines", but only that the absence of moving lines means that there is no warning for difficulties.

And finally: Hilary is good at readings for others, and I am not. So here the choice is not difficult . .

Lise

Quoting LiSe:
<BLOCKQUOTE><HR SIZE=0><!-Quote-!><FONT SIZE=1>Quote:</FONT>

Hilary is good at readings for others, and I am not.<!-/Quote-!><HR SIZE=0></BLOCKQUOTE>
- and if you fall for that one, you'll believe anything...

Actually, I'm concerned that I may have misread 15 here through confusion with a recent business-related 15 of my own. The other three readings feel as though they fit together neatly in a single train of thought - this one stands out on its own, I don't know why.

We're all groping in the dark somewhat here through not knowing what kind of service the readings are about - and hence missing any direct references in the readings to what you do.

Half a further thought on 15, though, which may or may not be relevant. How easy is it to offer a single service to many different groups? You may be selling a unified service, but each group could be buying a quite different set of benefits. Same old niche problem...?

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

I didn't intend to be mysterious, as I am still unfamiliar / getting used to the process of posting personal issues on the internet.

The service I've written about is group facilitation. Facilitation involves designing and guiding a process for people to have difficult conversations, make important decisions, or plan for the future. Because a facilitator is an export in PROCESS, they can go into any kind of business - non-profit, high-tech, healthcare, financial services, etc. because they are not giving advice on the running of that business line (as consultants do) but instead are neutral parties who only facilitate the dialogue. And so this is what I meant by the niche being the service, which could be marketed anywhere.

If I go this route, I would also include a component where I would connect facilitators together. So, the description of 15 being about uniting was very intriguing here.

My other options, included selecting one of the industries where I have particular experience, for example - non-profits, and only providing services there. Period. However, if I did this I wouldn't focus only on facilitation, but would also offer training and consulting. But it would all be focused in one industry In some ways easier to market. Also, more limited potential clients. I hope I've made all this clear?

To complicate matters, I've been revisiting what I described as option B above -- where I'd only focus on the one service of facilitation, and where I'd received 15 unchanging. I spent the day yesterday meeting with a colleague and we discusses potential business models for how this would actually look and work in the real world. I stumbled upon a model that feels very good (though some finer details still need to be worked out.) I decided to ask the Yi about pursuing this direction -- "Tell me about pursuing this business model?" (meaning, doing the one service only with multiple industries, and promoting it with a specific kind of business model that I had in mind when I asked the question): I was given 31.4.6 to 53!

Now, this was quite a surprise as I've never received these hexagrams outside of a romantic relationship. What could this mean? It certainly reads to me as though there is a mutual attraction at play - the business model and I are attracted to each other? And we're headed toward a slow development of courtship? How does one read this in the context of a business endeavor? I do see line 6 as a warning to not speak falsely. Do you see any connections between the original 15 unchanging on this idea, and this new 31 to 53?

Mucho thanks to you all!!!!

Hexagram 42:5 is an excellent, excellent sign-bringing Increase to others brings increase to the self. The contrast between the two lines is the selfless giving of the 5th line attains its purpose completely; the 6th line starts taking rather than giving. Go with the fifth line. Great reading for business.
No worries!

Sun

As for HExagram 15, I can relate personal experience in the business realm. based on a reading of 15, I placed an expensive ad in the newspaper on a one year contract. I did not receive ONE call in response to the ad for the entire year.
Ni says of 15 and business "later on in will be profitable" meaning, I suppose, no profit in the short term. Now, that's a bad reading the for the entrepreneur who needs to cash flow as soon as possible.

Sun

Sun, well thank you for the thoughts. I'm now rather uncertain about direction. None of these are jumping out to me. Your reading is rather different than the others. This makes the process interesting for sure, but also disappointing. I guess I must not have hit it yet or else I'd feel more conencted to one of these ideas. Back to the meditation seat until I feel what's next.

Noa, my email link is now on my profile. If you'd like to bounce some marketing ideas around together, feel free to write.

Here: http://www.anton-heyboer.org/i_ching/hex_17-32/31-32.htm
you can find more about hex.31. It is certainly not only about the attraction between two people.

LiSe

Candid, thank you for the offer. I'm currently stuck about which direction to go and certainly need to decide this before going further with marketing thoughts. I wish Yi had given me more clear direction, but I guess I'm going to have to just go out on a limb all by myself!

Heylise, I really like this perspective you offer on your site. When I've been to your site in the past and click on a hexagram number I don't get the same long interpretation. Is there a special place to go to get this? Do you have such text available for all the hexagrams?

As I continue to re-work my approach to the business model, I wonder if it makes sense to continue to ask the Yi. I don't want to dilute the feedback. But I also truly wish for direction. I've considered asking the generic question of seeking advise for whic direction or approach to go towards, but worry the answer will be too generic. I'll think about this more.

Hey, Hilary asked me for more specifics about the situation and I've given those! If anything bounces out to y'all given the additional info I provided, just let me know!!

Re: 31

Here's a song that Louis Armstrong sings, "It's a Wonderful World"...

"I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
They're really saying I love you.

I hear babies cry, I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll never know
And I think to myself what a wonderful world
Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world.

Of course music sets the tone, but the words here are half the heart...

Anyone else see this as 31????

Deb

Noa,
no, I don't have many long explanations yet. And as long as this one may take at least 5 years for all 64. I try to make shorter ones, but there is nothing yet which I see as good enough. It is the first thing I will concentrate on when I have a little more time.

At each hexagram is an explanation of the character, and at the end of that is often a link to some more information.

LiSe