Hi Darin -
You’ve repeatedly asked for help . . . so I’m going to take one last stab at it before leaving this thread. Personally, I think you have been given a tremendous amount of help so far . . . I pray you’ll hear me in this last attempt.
So great, you’re writing a book! If you’re writing a book, it’s probably safe to assume you want it published. If it’s published, perhaps you’d like to sell a few copies. No, from what I gather from my understanding of the premise behind your theory you’re looking to do much more.
So I’m going to take off my amateur student of mysticism hat for the time being and put on my “businessman” hat to try and make my point.
I wonder if you have any idea what a wonderful opportunity you had with this thread? If I were the brand manager at Kelloggs coming out with a new brand of Wheaties, one of the first things I’d do is conduct a focus group study of my prospective customers.
Oh sure I’d want to know what they like about my new Wheaties . . . but I’d also want to know what they don’t like. And in the end, understanding the objections of my potential customers will take me much farther toward reaching my business objective than simply looking at the “good” things they have to say. Ignoring objections places blinders over our eyes . . . it means we aren’t listening . Worse, getting arguementive and defensive about it simply drives customers away. Obviously, in the bussiness world this is the kiss of death.
So in the likely event you’re thinking “what in the world does this have to do with me?” . . . let me try and bring home the message behind this little parable with a simple question: Isn’t this precisely the type of research you should be doing with this thread?
The very fact you’re talking to committed Catholics who actually take time out of their day to write about their faith makes us, in business terms, opinion leaders and early adoptors. In short, we are your very target audience!
In that light, I wonder if you have any idea how truely helpful posters on this thread have been? Go back and re-read what people like Carol, Springbreeze, Jimmy and all the others are saying. You need to understand them. Note for the record I didn’t say agree.
Remember this, you will never reach a broader audience if you fail with the opinion leaders and early adopters . . . for it is acceptance from them that will bestow upon you the authority and credibility you need to make your ideas more widely known. Word of mouth is what you’ll need - and who do you think is going to spread the word?
Which brings me to my final point. To pull off this grand task you’ve taken on yourelf, the very thing you’ll need is authority and credibility. The first step in this, IMHO, is to work on your approach toward the very people you need the most. Right now I can’t even give the time of day to your ideas because I can’t see past the tone you’re using. Quite frankly, you aren’t speaking like someone who has climbed the mystical mountain . . . rather, you sound more like all of us mere mortals who’ve had our pride pricked.
I hope you can accept this in the spirit it’s indended. I wish you the very best luck in your efforts.
Dave.
