As
we look down a commercial boulevard, there are many similar businesses.
Some of which thrive and others that struggle. Business owners
often question me why it is that their competitor's services
or products are no better or less expensive than theirs but they
are doing much better?
Business
may not always be slow, it comes and goes, but there are a lot
of problems that cause internal struggle for the owner. Some
of these problems include troublesome customers, poor inventory,
bad credit, or conflicts with staff. Earning a living becomes
a daily struggle. What
makes one business do better than another? What can be done to
improve businesses that are having trouble?
There
are about 30 factors that influence or determine our success
in life. Of the 30, there are some that are predestined or unchangeable
such as our parents, our birth date, birth place, our culture
and the economic and cosmic cycles at our time of birth. These
factors have a great impact on our foundation in life and we
have no control over them. Nonetheless, we can learn about ourselves
through these factors.
Then,
there are adjustable factors such as our education, friends,
spouse, career, personality, creativity, moral, motivation, ambition,
endurance, philosophy of life, abilities to make a living, place
of establishment and the energy or feng shui of our home or office.
If
we were to set these factors on a scale, how do they rank in
contributing to our success in life? How can we improve certain
factors to promote us? Feng shui is one of the easiest accessible
means of change that can be used to promote our well-being. When
our business has done all the promotion in the right markets
and the product or service is competitive, and yet business is
slow, we need to consider other factors that may be influencing
it.
Does
the business match you?
It
is important for us to make sure that the field we select is
compatible with our energies. First, we need to learn about our
personal energies. Aside from our basic education and personal
skills, a birth chart called the "zi wei" is can be used to reveal
ourselves. It is a complex astrology chart based on your birthday,
time and place. The chart serves as a guideline of our life path
and is only one out of 30 factors that influence us. Nonetheless,
its accuracy is about 75-90%.
It
covers twelve aspects of our lives. These include our vital/personal
energies, parents, siblings, spouse, friends, children, career,
money, travel, fortune, property, and health. In general, it
covers ten year, annual and monthly cycles of our life and lets
us understand our potential, our weaknesses and strengths. In
this case, the main focus would be the career sector which indicates
suitable fields for a particular person. In many cases, a person
who is working in a compatible field has a easier time becoming
successful than one who is not. For instance, a person who is
meant to be a restaurant owner may find it difficult to succeed
as an engineer.
Are
you doing your business at the right time in your life?
Also
from our zi wei birth chart, we can tell when the strongest periods
are in our life. When do we reach our turning points in life
and really begin to live? It may be that we do not really take
off in our business until our late 40's, or maybe we have already
passed our high point in life without realizing it. New business
ventures should be opened at the right time in our lives. If
we start a business during a period in our life when the energy
cycles are low, it may be challenging and hard for it to thrive.
Are
you doing it in the right place?
It
is very important to understand where the energies on this Earth
promote us best. Also from the zi wei birth chart, we can find
out what country, what state, which city or region is strongest
for us to do our business. For example, depending on who you
are and when your birth date/time is, Los Angeles may not be
the best place for you to establish your business, so no matter
how strong you promote it and how good the feng shui is, you
may find it hard to reach your full potential.
Does
the feng shui match you?
If
you are in the right business, doing it at the right time and
place, the next step would be to make sure the building you are
doing it in also reinforces your energies. There are over 60
factors involved in a feng shui analysis of a building. The orientation,
entries, shape, interior layout, colors, decoration, windows,
furniture placement, exterior environment and so forth all need
to be examined to see if their characteristics promote or demote
the business.
Is
the business owner and staff members located in their positive
directions?
All
the principle staff members such as the owner, office managers
and supervisors who have their own office or work station should
be placed in their positive direction. Their positive directions
is also determined by their birth date. When people are not located
in suitable directions, it is harder for them to focus and be
productive. There's greater tendency for abnormal behavior, inefficiency,
laziness or conflicts.
Are
staff members compatible to the business owner?
When
staff members are incompatible with the owner, it is easy for
them to have conflicts or for the employee to bring trouble into
the office. It is important to compare the zi wei charts of partners,
office managers and other board members to make sure they are
also doing the right field of work for them, that they are in
a positive period of their life and that they are able to contribute
to the business. If they are not, adjusting the feng shui can
help them. Otherwise, they may inadvertently bring the business
down.
Are
the various departments or functions of the office located in
the their optimum directions?
As
every function creates a unique type of energy: the entry/reception,
accounting/cashier, sales/marketing, production, conference,
dining areas, restrooms and so forth all need to be placed in
the locations that match the owner's energy according to the
laws of nature. This involves detailed measurements and analysis
of the office plans with the feng shui compass which shows the
best directions for them to be located to allow the business
to run smoothly and harmoniously.
Rather
than be frustrated and stressed by troubled business, ask yourself
these questions and take these new ideas into consideration.
You may find just the right solution to your problems. The secret
to that other business' success may be their good feng shui.
| Authors
Details:
Jenny
Liu
Jenny Liu is a fourth generation practitioner who holds a BA in Environmental
Design from UC Berkeley and an MA in Architecture from UCLA. Awarded for
her Master's Thesis on Feng Shui, she is an expert in the ancient Chinese
philosophy of Feng Shui. The
Authors Web Site |
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