Issue 76, December 2004
Prophet & Profit
©Jane Teresa Anderson, December 2004
Kate* was in a quandary. She had developed a new product (an educational game) and was in the early days of marketing it when a dream seemed to suggest a completely different approach. It made sense to Kate. It was brilliant, inspired, a marketing winner. “I know some of the best creative ideas come up in dreams,” Kate explained, “but I also know dreams aren’t always what they seem. Can we explore this one?”
From a practical point of view Kate didn’t want to rush out and launch the new dream approach after investing considerable time and money following her original marketing plan. From a personal point of view something about the ending of her dream niggled at her leaving her feeling that something wasn’t quite right. But what? She wanted to know!
Here’s Kate’s dream. How would you interpret it?
“I was selling my game to a group of school students. They seemed to be interested in it but they weren’t passionate. Maybe they were just being polite. One of the boys said he couldn’t buy it because it wouldn’t fit into his backpack.
I looked at his backpack. It was fairly small and had a rigid shape, even though it appeared to be made from some kind of canvass. It looked like a metal box covered in canvass. I thought it was a restrictive design. You couldn’t squeeze extras into it like you can with a normal, flexible backpack. As it was already pretty full I suggested he could buy a smaller game I was designing, but he declined that too.
Then he opened up his bag and showed me how it was constructed. I was right; it did have a metal box-like interior. It was, in fact, a cake baking tin! The lid had a dropped embossing on it. The students put cake mix into their tins and baked them in the school oven. The cakes turned out with the embossed patterns on top. They were identical, all baked in the same kind of mould. The school raised money for a local charity by baking cakes in this way and selling them. A percentage of their profits went to the charity. The rest went into school funds.
I loved the way the students were directly involved in the production as well as the fund raising. They were clearly dedicated and aware of the misfortunes of others and the need to help provide for them.
I left the school feeling inspired by their approach to charity but slightly rejected. After all, no-one had bought my product and, after spending so much time and money on creating it, I needed some financial return.”
Can you see the creative idea Kate got from her dream?
She got the idea that her game would appeal to more people – and to schools in particular - if she advertised that a percentage of the profit of each game sold was donated to charity. She felt people would choose a product aligned with helping people in need over a product solely profiting the business behind it.
“And what about you, Kate?” I asked. “Do you feel more comfortable selling a product aligned with a charitable cause?”
“Oh yes,” she replied instantly. “I like the idea of sharing my profits.”
“Why?”
Kate squirmed. “I have to be honest here, don’t I? I didn’t realise until you asked, but it’s because big business and big profiteering make me feel uncomfortable. Even the word profit feels greedy.”
“Maybe it should be ‘prophet’ instead of ‘profit’,” I quipped. “Look ahead into your future. Be a prophet. If you’re fearful about making a profit, what’s likely to happen?”
“I guess I won’t sell much so won’t make much profit,” Kate replied. “That would keep me feeling okay about myself but what about an income?”
“Your dream suggests that’s how you’re feeling, doesn’t it?” I asked.
The bottom line of Kate’s dream was that the boys weren’t interested in buying her game. She walked away feeling inspired but rejected, very aware that it was she who needed the money. Her dream suggested that she placed the needs of others (the charity) above her own needs to make a living.
She believed in living and giving but not in making a big enough living to support her giving.
Kate looked puzzled. “After my dream I saw the charity idea as a way of making money for myself – of ensuring sales – as well as a way of helping others and helping myself. Isn’t that good?”
“Is it?” I replied.
“I feel really uneasy,” Kate began. “I’m seeing everything in a different light. I’m using the charity idea, aren’t I? I’m making myself look and feel better about making money for myself instead of seeing that I have needs too. I have developed a game that will help thousands of students and, in return for this gift they can help me make a living. What’s wrong with that?”
I drew Kate back into her dream, reminding her that everyone in a dream represents something about her own beliefs and feelings:
In her dream Kate (disguised as a student) wonders if she has room in her backpack to take on more. She already carries a heavy working and giving load. How much more can she take on? The dream shows a certain rigidity (the metal box) is restricting how much she can take on. The restriction is the baking tin, the mould for making money for charity.
“Kate, perhaps it’s time to break the old mould, to realise that you give enough as it is and it is time to make room in your backpack for your needs,” I suggested.
Kate cried. “I feel a weight being lifted from my shoulders,” she smiled through the tears. “I think I’ve just taken my heavy giving-backpack off,” she grinned.
Dreams do come up with some brilliant creative ideas and this one is no exception. If Kate had jumped in and changed her marketing plan to mark a percentage of her profits for charity she would undoubtedly have raised interest in her product, but she would not have become aware of the deeper personal issue, her fear or guilt of making a rewarding living for herself.
Now Kate has a choice. She can market her game either way, with or without involving the charitable cause because she can now make that decision with full awareness rather than being driven by fear.
Dreams never tell you what to do. They are not prophetic in that sense. They show you where you’re at and then YOU can prophet or profit from that insight by projecting ahead, asking yourself, “If this is how I am, my beliefs, my fears, my feelings, then how will my future be? If I like that future, great! If I don’t like that future, what changes do I need to make? What beliefs need to change? What fears can I bring fully into my awareness?”
Wishing you a prophet-able and profitable December and a fun silly-season. There’s just time to break a few moulds in readiness to welcome the New Year.
Jane Teresa Anderson
* Thank you to Kate (not her real name) for offering her dream, its analysis and her insights for this article. Kate’s product was changed for this article to maintain confidentiality.
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