I’m often asked how I make decisions in my business. Or sometimes whether I should be running a business at all if I’m spiritual and want to help people. These are two really interesting questions for me. I’ve considered them over & over since I started to give messages and channellings in public.

I’ve actually been self-employed since 1998. At that time I made a career change and started to work as a counsellor whilst I was studying hard to get my qualifications. Most of what I did in the first two years was on a voluntary basis. I felt I needed to be experienced before I could charge for my services. I was also recovering from an illness that had worn me out completely. A small amount of voluntary work let me gain confidence in my skills until I could begin building up a full time business. By 2000 I had developed my work into a source of full time income with some voluntary counselling in projects that I felt were important to me.

By 2006 my connections with the Spirit World were developing fast. I was still counselling but there were elements of the sessions where it seemed I had more than intuition guiding me. As I learned more about my natural skills, especially with my clairesentience, I found that the information I was getting was stronger, more detailed, more clear. I felt that introducing Spirit people into the counselling sessions was inappropriate. So I took a step in another direction. I stepped off a cliff into fresh air. I began to give people Spirit messages. Soon after that I found I was standing up in Spiritualist churches and Centres giving those messages in public.

At that time I had to revisit what I felt about giving my communications. It was clear that putting people in contact with their loved ones in the Spirit World was a wonderful priveledge. The people who got the messages seemed to be helped so much by the connection still being a ‘live’ link. I spent a lot of time giving the messages for free. I felt that once again I was learning so perhaps a charge wouldn’t be right somehow. I was going here, there and everywhere. I was in demand in one way, but also meeting people who wouldn’t have a message unless they gave me some money. My donations tin came out – exactly like it had when I was a counselling student.

One day a good friend of mine asked me to have a coffee with her. She asked me if I was enjoying my mediumship. I said yes. The leap of faith I’d taken was very rewarding. Then she asked me who was paying for my travel & the costs of the car. I was a bit puzzled & said it was me of course. She said to me that if Spirit wanted me to do their work wouldn’t they provide an energy exchange. I hadn’t thought about it like that so I said I guessed they would. So where are you getting the ‘energy’ of money from to pay for your travel she asked. Of course I wasn’t getting anything like what I was spending by taking only donations.

That conversation prompted a conversation with my Guides. They had been trying to get my attention for weeks to discuss this with me. Giving is wonderful. To be able to share something and choose to make it a gift is positive energy. What my Guides needed me to understand was that I had to give to myself as well as others. All the voluntary work has to be balanced by accepting what is given to me in return. And sometimes I have to ask up front for an exchange of energy. I have to let people give to me in the form of money as a return for the ‘energy’ I give to them.

Anyone who begins a spiritual business (one that is aimed at helping people evolve & grow) faces that set of questions no matter how big or small the business actually is. Becoming a full time medium brought me to that set of questions from my friend. When I started the Down 2 Earth Heart Centre I came back again to the same set of questions. I faced a step into the unknown where I had to trust that there would be firm ground beneath my feet throughout. I’ve become better at accepting payment for my services – it’s an exchange of energy. Having a Centre means doing it in a bigger way.

One of the key things about the Centre is that I have supported it from my income so that we can keep offering free sessions for people to come in and find a warm welcome. The lovely practitioners who work in the Drop In do so with no expectation of being paid by anyone. They offer their time to be a listening ear, a comforting presence and a source of support. A number of practitioners of all sorts have volunteered to be around for the Drop In sessions. Quite a few of them haven’t quite understood my ethos. They have expected that the sessions will be run in order to get them customers. They have worked from the standard business model where competition for clients is a built in requirement. The Centre’s energy is entirely different. We work as a collaborative team with no expectation of the people who come through the door. We all have other sources of income having learned that the best way to build a business is to focus the energy on relationships not on money.

Those practitioners who stepped into the unknown with me two years ago and have remained have learned a new way of being in a spiritual business. They understand the value of relationships in building a community. That is what we have grown – a community of support, compassion and acceptance. I’m delighted that our success is measured by those people who came into the Centre when lost in their lives & selves and who are now so very different. The money I have put into the Centre has been my gift to them. I’m certainly ready to ask for and accept the return of that money energy.

So how do I make my decisions? I make my choices by listening to my heart, to my Guides and to the people who use the Centre. Soon we will be starting in on our third year of offering ‘something for nothing’ in the Drop Ins. Although it isn’t really something for nothing. I am happy to keep giving to people. What they give me back is their own personal growth. And if they can afford it at any time some money energy. It’s been a new idea for our visitors too. The donation tin has had to be out there on the table in case someone is not yet ready to accept unless there is an immediate return. There is a whole other blog required to discuss obligation & our tangled up way of holding onto barriers that prevent us from receiving, lol.

There is one final aspect to this blog this evening. We want to offer more to our visitors. I have actually joined a crowdfunding collaboration to improve the equipment of the Centre. A big step into the unknown again! You see, I am determined to offer as much as I can to the people who want to use our services but at the moment I’m working flat out & still can’t raise enough money for the extras I’d like. It’s time to send out a message to the Universe, my Guides and everyone who will listen. The Centre will happily benefit from the positive flow of abundance your donations represent. If you can donate money energy please email me for more details as the crowdfunding link isn’t  live at the moment. Thank you for reading to the end of this piece & thank you also if you decide to give ?

Day 59 of my blogging challenge.