{"id":3221,"date":"2009-06-20T04:24:57","date_gmt":"2009-06-20T09:24:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/horizonsmagazine.com\/blog\/?p=3221"},"modified":"2009-06-20T04:24:57","modified_gmt":"2009-06-20T09:24:57","slug":"intuiting-and-answering-the-unasked-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/horizonsmagazine.com\/blog\/intuiting-and-answering-the-unasked-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Intuiting and answering the unasked questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday, June 20, 2009.\u00a0 Today I am going into the home stretch with the July Horizons Magazine<\/a>.<\/em> I’ve been late finishing it because I spent last weekend at the Universal Lightworkers’ Conference<\/a>.\u00a0 Although I was up in my room working through half of the conference, I still had all the last minute calls and ads to deal with this week.\u00a0 Half of my advertisers have paid 3-6-12 months in advance, so their ads get placed ahead of time.\u00a0 The deadline is the 10th, so it is on the 10th that all the calls start coming in.\u00a0 I think that’s funny, because usually the magazine has left my hands by the 15th, and I get a week of last minute phone calls after it’s gone. Many of the calls are from new people, but a lot of them are from people I’ve know for the entire 17 years I’ve done the magazine.\u00a0 Some of them I’ve told a dozen times a year for a dozen years that the magazine is out of my hands by the 15th, that the deadline is the 10th, yet it seems they never hear that.\u00a0 Then I realized why.\u00a0 Usually when they are calling at the deadline, they are really calling for info rather than to place the ad.\u00a0 So their question is not really, “am I in time to place an ad?”\u00a0 Their bigger question is “Can you help me reframe my perception about what it is I do and why it is important and why anyone would need it, and put it into words in an ad for me?<\/p>\n

They are so focused on their bigger question – the unasked question – that they don’t hear the answer to the question they’ve asked.\u00a0 So many people go into a business without giving much thought to it, so they haven’t done the mission statement and the inner work to discover what it is they are passionate about, and built their business around that.\u00a0 They have been so involved in the daily workings of running the business that they haven’t made the time to think it through.\u00a0 So when they call at the last minute to ask about an ad, they are really wanting to be inspired, to get clear about what they have to offer.\u00a0 They want to be excited about it.\u00a0 They want other people to be excited about it.\u00a0 They want me to convince them they want to advertise in the first place.\u00a0 It’s not as simple as calling me at deadline on the 10th of the month and saying, “I”ve just emailed you a camera-ready ad and Paypalled the payment to you.”<\/p>\n

So when I realized that was really what half the last minute callers were doing, it stopped being aggravating for me.\u00a0 I stopped saying words to them that they were not hearing, and began answering their unasked questions. It’s true that people don’t hear what you tell them unless they’ve already created a space to hear it; unless they are receptive to it.\u00a0 People who’ve raised kids know that.\u00a0 In one ear and out the other, with no registering in between.\u00a0 If I want what I say to be heard and understood, I have to make sure it’s at the right time and that I’ve created the space for it.<\/p>\n

I have several friends and clients who have publications similar to Horizons and I often hear from them that they send their job in to the printer after they have all their pages sold.\u00a0 So they are chomping at the bit at the last minute hoping more ads will come in, meanwhile placing pages of bartered ads for their distributors.\u00a0 Most of them have bought a franchise without realizing that magazines of this type don’t make money unless they are very active in soliciting ads.\u00a0 Selling franchises is what makes money.\u00a0 Horizons pays for itself but was not designed to create income.\u00a0 I like being able to say “I’m in it for the outcome, not the income.” But what it does do is promote me and, through that, my other businesses create income.\u00a0 So I am never concerned with whether Horizons will get enough ads at the last minute.\u00a0 Since I’m not focused on lack, I don’t experience lack.<\/p>\n

It’s easier for my schedule to know a year in advance what I’m doing, so I know what date the magazine goes to the printer that far in advance.\u00a0 I never doubt that I’ll get enough ads, since I always get so many last minute calls for them.\u00a0 I’m more focused on the work of getting all the ads placed and getting the magazine done on time.\u00a0 The rest will fall into place by itself.\u00a0 The part about enough ads coming in works itself out, when my focus is getting it in on time. I rarely have leftover space and I don’t barter ads.<\/p>\n

I purposely don’t entertain thoughts like “will I get enough ads this month to pay the printing and postage?” because I know it would take some doing to get on the better feeling side of that thought.\u00a0 So I keep my focus on what is my work to do (the mag) and I let the Universe do its part (the paying for it).\u00a0 It’s a good partnership.<\/p>\n

If you’ve got a friend who continually asks you the same questions over and over and never seems to hear the answer, listen a little more closely.\u00a0 Intuit what the real question is, the bigger question they are asking, and answer that one.\u00a0 It’ll save a lot of repetition, time and energy.<\/p>\n

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