Hello, hello, creative humans! Today I am writing to you from my home office, my velvet green chair supporting me, and the gray spring sky casting its ever-present glow into my space. After traveling to sunny places last week, I feel a bit gloomy with these gray skies, however, I am grateful for the rest they invite. I allowed myself to sleep in this morning, and now I have a delicious cup of coffee next to me, a candle lit on my altar, and a curiosity rising in my belly as I ponder how to best share my thoughts about today’s topic.

As I notice my surroundings, I encourage you to do the same. Notice where you are, the textures around you, the colors, sounds, and the internal sensations and emotions that are perhaps asking for tending as my gloomy self has. Simply notice what is present for you, not judging or labeling any sensation or object as good or bad. Simply noticing, witnessing, and allowing all parts of yourself and your experience to the table. 

Today, we will talk about the Dominant Dogma in business that encourages the use of Scarcity and FOMO in marketing.

There is a LOT we could cover on this topic, but this is going to be a brief overview. As such I want to recap a few definitions.

Dominant Dogma: Dominant Dogma is a term I coined to encompass all the cultural narratives and beliefs which externally—and subsequently internally as adaptive strategies—dictate who you are “supposed” to be, what you are “supposed” to do, and what you are “supposed” to want. Over time, we internalize Dominant Dogma and live under those expectations without realizing it in life and business.

FOMO: The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines FOMO as “ fear of missing out: fear of not being included in something (such as an interesting or enjoyable activity) that others are experiencing.”

Scarcity: According to econlib.org, “scarcity refers to limitations–limited goods or services, limited time, or limited abilities to achieve the desired ends.” Additionally, the Corporate Finance Institute speaks to scarcity, saying, “Each commodity comes with a price; essentially, each resource on earth shows a degree of scarcity.”

I end with the definition of Scarcity because the truth is, there are limited resources on this planet. In Episode #6 of this podcast, we discuss this utilizing Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics framework, where the outer sphere of the “doughnut” is an overshoot, where we overuse the resources available to us and thus extract from others and the planet. 

This is is when scarcity comes into play: When someone, or some entity over extracts from the resources available, leaving the most vulnerable without.

This has become an issue within business because entrepreneurs are often taught to extract as an industry standard. Instead of seeking a sustainable and regenerative profit margin, they are taught to seek higher and higher revenue, even if that is causing scarcity within personal, local, and global resources. 

Marketers are taught to utilize the fear of missing out, an ever-increasing phenomenon due to social media, and engage folks’ innate fight or flight survival mechanisms in order to make a sale. Essentially the encouragement in the marketing industry is to manipulate the vulnerable and use their own nervous system against them. 

There is SO much wrong with this, but how can you hand back this Dominant Dogma in your business marketing and carve a new path forward? Utilize Integral Sales & Marketing Practices.

As I mentioned before, scarcity, or rather limitation of resources, is real. On a personal level, you have a limitation on how much time, energy, and overall capacity you have. For those who identify as neurodivergent, your capacity may be even more limited, requiring special attention so you can engage with the world in a supportive way. There is often a limit on how many products and/or services can be crafted and delivered sustainably. These are things you have to factor in when crafting your offers, determining your pricing, and marketing your business.

Your personal capacity, your business capacity, and the environmental capacity is the real limitation. The true scarcity that is fair and ethical to communicate clearly. Marketing so that your people are aware of the true limitations and pending it’s an aligned purchase for them, they can consensually buy in. No manipulation or toying with other’s emotions necessary.

To share about this more specifically, I am currently enrolling for my Creative Business Accelerator. Within this coaching container, I currently have the capacity to take on a maximum of nine humans. This is not an arbitrary number. After compiling the program materials, recognizing the type of environment I desire for this program, and evaluating how many humans I can coach in a group setting at a time, nine is the cap. The true limitation. This may change down the road, but for this enrollment, that is what I am able to take on with integrity and what I communicate to my people. However, even with this limitation number in mind, I don’t choose to wave the limited space in front of people, seeking to wield their own fight-or-flight nervous system response against them. Even if my limited capacity number is aligned, engaging in that Dominant Dogma tactic steps into extraction behavior, and I do not wish to go there. I desire to share my gifts and skillsets sustainably and consensually with the people who align, resonate, and need what I have to offer, and I trust that is enough. 

Perhaps this seems naive, but to help create a thriving planet, I’m ok stepping outside of the Dominant Dogma. I’m ok paving a different path forward, and I’m more than ok living my freedom now by believing in and co-creating an abundant and regenerative future for all. Are you?

All right, I’ll see you next week!

Freedom is yours, 

Megan