Meanings

Ready for the 4th of July Parade.

It's Forth of July week at the beach resort town I live in. That means we are at the peak of tourist season. With guests scheduled to visit my husband and I planned out our trips to the grocery store to avoid the crowds. The first trip was at 7am two days before the holiday to get the bulk of non-perishables. One day before, I made the trip to the organic market to pick up the corn on the cob and other fresh produce items.

The market stocks items from local farmers (and hosts a Farmer's Market every Saturday 😊). Some of the produce is conventionally grown and the owners clearly mark this. I was filling my cart with corn on the cob when I noticed the sign conventionally grown. With one of the owners, Jeff, nearby I asked if the corn in the cooler a few feet away was also conventional or was it organic. To which he replied, "organic."

As I off loaded the conventional from my basket and headed to the cooler a gray haired couple over hearing the conversation asked me, "What's the difference?" Thinking they were unsure which corn was which I pointed out the location for both the conventional and organic corn on the cob. The lady repeated, "Yes, but what's the difference?"

Doing a double take and having a fleeting thought of is this a joke? Is she messing with me? I sensed she wasn't, so I slowly and cautiously (in case I was wrong) said that the corn over there was grown with chemical pesticides and this corn was not.

To my amazement she delightfully replied, "Oh, ok!" And proceeded to purchase the organic corn. I had to take that in. Someone who obviously had spent more than six decades on this planet was unaware of the meaning of organic.

That got me thinking about the meaning of words we use in our business offerings and products.

Do we use words that our clients, people who are there to buy our products or services don't clearly understand? Do we assume everybody knows our intended meaning?

Here are just a few terms that a soul-guided, heart-centered entrepreneur might use that may not be universally understood. Or the specific meaning you intend to convey my not be clear.

• Intuitive Services

• Holistic

• Energy Healing

• Mindfulness

• Holding Space

• Vibrational Frequencies

• Authentic Self

• Inner Guidance

• Flow

• Transformation

These terms could cover a variety of practices, modalities and services. Being clear and specific on the meaning for your distinct service or product can bring the understanding needed for a person to align with your offering and move forward with engagement.

Perhaps you also use acronyms in your business that you assume others understand. I'm here to tell you they don't. In my former career as a Realtor we had acronyms for so many things like the MLS - Multiple Listing Service, the database where all current and past listings of properties can be found. Even that very common 100 year old often used acronym is not universally understood.

What meanings in your offering can you make clearer? How can you get more specific as to convey your intended meaning?

Happy Birthday USA!

Loads of Love,

Kathryn 💜

P.S. A Challenge: Take a moment to look at your website, a blog post, a marketing piece and see if there is a meaning that would benefit from being more clear or specific.