using intuition to run your business in a way that's NOT cringe

this is for everyone else who tap dances around the "so what do you do for work" question

I spent a not insignificant portion of November writing a piece about what it means to practice “intuitive business.”

Writing is usually a laborious and torturous process for me (I’ve never been a natural, all I do is try try try IYKYK), but once I give my words some time to cook on their own I tend to appreciate where they’ve landed.

Not so with this intuitive biz monstrosity! It came out all cold and know-it-all-y and boring … vibes were profoundly off.

So I let it sit for a week, re-opened my Notion document hoping I could save it in the edit, realized it I’d stumbled upon a lost cause, and noped on out of there.

Which brings us here. (bonjour!) Attempt #2.

You might read this thinking, “What’s the problem, Pellizzon? The regularly scheduled Portal programming works just fine for us — what’s up with the unnecessary editorializing? Just show us the visual spells!”¹

Fair. Don’t worry, this is a temporary departure from our usual content. The Portal will return tout suite.

It felt important to define “intuitive business” because we use that phrase a lot within the Holisticism Extended Universe (it’s like, the cornerstone of our work) but we rarely dive into what it means.

And the term “intuitive business” has a sort of slushy and cringy connotation — or at least it feels vague (and vaguely embarrassing) to me.

When someone asks what I do and I begin to explain how I help creative people and non-linear thinkers learn how to run intuitive businesses, my tongue suddenly feels seventeen sizes too big for my mouth and my cheeks flush and half the time I just end up gesticulating in the air with my wrist as my voice trails off with a, “Oh, I work in … marketing …”

The other half of the time I stop myself from over-explaining, “No, not that kind of intuitive business … it’s something different, it’s not like what you’re thinking! Really!” Instead, I politely hit ‘em with an uno reverse on the question and zip my trap.

What the butt is up with that?

“An intuitive entrepreneur,” I used to say a million (seven) years ago when I started Holisticism and was describing to investors the people I helped, “is someone who trusts their intelligence as much as they trust their intuition. They’re someone who pays attention to the numbers, but also pulls a Tarot card for guidance in launching their next new product.”

I still feel this way, although that description feels laughably superficial now.

High level, an intuitive business is a one you run with conscious awareness.

And when I picture the archetype of an intuitive business owner, I see someone who keeps their eyes (optical and spiritual) open; someone who’s curious about broadening their understanding of the world, and who’s open to trying out, and sometimes leaving behind, practices and strategies that open them up.

one of our 13 rules for intuitive business… feels like this one is apropos

To me, running an intuitive business means practicing self-awareness to come up with fluid personal definitions of success, happiness, fulfillment, and purpose, and building the self-trust to confidently stride in the direction of those desires.

People who use intuition multidimensionally like this move differently.

They chart their own course, unwilling to settle for the generally prescribed life path.

And I guess this is where the ick comes in — because in marketing business land, “intuitive” has turned into this no-nuance catch-all word with varying degrees of scamminess.

That, objectively and scientifically, sucks ass.

To each their own, but I really don’t aspire to be associated with someone who uses the term “intuitive” as shorthand for, “I’m intuitive so you should take my word for it without asking any follow up questions OR to see how I got my answers because that’s not very intuitive of you! Just trust me even though I’ve given you no reason to do so! If you’re experiencing doubt that’s actually your shadow projections which is a YOU PROBLEM.” ²

We’ll discuss this more next week … stay tuned.

But even in a more benign sense, querying the Rider-Waite-Smith for an answer to every potential biz decision without first checking in with yourself for the answer means handing over your power, your choice, your sovereignty to something outside of you.

To use spiritual or mystical practices without context or question is just a different flavor of living on autopilot, doing what you think you should do instead of what you actually want to do.

So listen — I think if you resonate with all of this, it’s entirely possible to use intuition to run your business in a way that is not cringe.

Honestly, the most creative people I know are already doing it. Listening to your intuition is part and parcel to going your own way, to opting out of the Societal Success Standard and choosing your own adventure.

I think most of us know deep down that there’s no one “right way” to do life. Just like there’s no one “right way” to run an intuitive business … like, that’s literally the point, Larry.

Running an intuitive business is just coming back over and over again to the idea that you have choices and you get to decide how you do your thing thang. Your tools, practices, and strategies should help you see those choices as opposed to PRESCRIBE to you what to do next.³

Hot.

OK, so what are some examples of intuitive business practices if we use this framing?

• Check in with the astrology of the moment to inform when might be best to launch your product — sure, it might be Mercury Retrograde, but maybe that just means you need to be extra clear with how you communicate your message rather than putting business on pause for three weeks

• Practicing candle magic to help you submit your book to a publisher, in addition to preparing your materials, doing your research on who to submit to, and making sure your final proposal is toit

• Opening the Akashic Records of your business to understand what it wants to do and who it wants to support to fine-tune your mission, vision, and value proposition

• Pulling a tarot spread to understand what your ideal client is going through as you’re planning your Release Runway content for your marketing calendar

• Using a Future Visioning session to collapse a timeline and know what it’s like to land a partnership with your dream brand, so when the time comes to pitch them, you do so confidently

• Brewing an herbal infusion to help create mental clarity before writing an email

• Meditating before a big meeting to clear your energy and center yourself

• Creating a sigil for attracting in the right clients on the base layer of a graphic you’re creating for Instagram

• Setting a clear intention about what you want your readers to do before writing a marketing email

What do these practices all have in common? They require thoughtful (sometimes paradoxical) action from us to yield a result.

And I think that’s the somewhat unsexy truth we’re rolling around in at Holisticism — the opposite of intuition isn’t logic, it’s empiricism.

There’s not one right way.

There’s no one magic formula.

There’s no singular “perfect” tool.

There’s no secret cheat code that everyone else knows but you somehow don’t.

You’re not blocked. Your ever-evolving you-i-ness is the skeleton key that opens every locked door. Remembering all that is really what running an intuitive business is… at least from where I sit. And honestly, that’s what makes it fun ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

More on the cringe elements of intuitive business next week….

1. Good news, we’re publishing a new visual spell from a guest this week! Make sure you’re subscribed to The Twelfth House+ to get it.

2. It’s hard to question something if it’s been “channelled.” Claiming divine omniscient communication is also a convenient way to avoid citing your sources.

3. IMO this is also what it means to practice magic — the foundation of true magic is intention and choice-making.