Have you ever had a truly memorable meal? One that warms your heart as well your stomach whenever you think of it?

I had a meal like that in Denver once. It was in a tiny cafe off the beaten track. The place was all about conscious food: the simplest ingredients prepared in the simplest possible way, with love.

To be honest, I didn’t expect much from the boiled sweet potatoes and steamed vegetables prepared without seasoning. But to this day I remember the marvelous flavor of that food. The only way I can explain what I experienced is that the consciousness that went into the meal changed it into something special.

And that’s what happens when you bring the light of consciousness to marketing and selling your work.

Consciousness changes things
Consciousness means being aware of and responsive to yourself, others, and the world around you. It’s root meaning is “knowing with others or in oneself.”

The more conscious you are, the greater your knowledge of yourself and of what you encounter. With this knowledge comes a greater capacity for meaningful interaction. More immediate recognition of the nature of things. The ability to make choices that are not visible when you are less aware.

When it comes to boiled sweet potatoes, consciousness means choosing and peeling them with great care. Boiling them in the purest available water. And being keenly aware of when the cooking is complete.

When it comes to marketing and selling your work, consciousness means using simple methods, the purest available messages, and a keen awareness of what it takes to create enduring relationships with just-right clients.

Simple methods produce wonderful results
Conscious marketing and selling means using simple methods. You don’t have to follow complex recipes or spend weeks and months getting it right.

You just have to choose the ingredients, decide on a method, and begin.

Your marketing message is the ingredients
You need a message to market and sell your work. Something that, carefully prepared, not only attracts, but nourishes the people you want to reach.

And what could be more nourishing than sharing your love and appreciation for the work you do? After all, you think your work is a good idea. Why wouldn’t you share that goodness with others?

You don’t need exotic spices
When you consciously prepare a message, you don’t need to dress it up with clever slogans or tricky language. The true flavor of is enough, provided you carefully and lovingly prepare it before sending it into the world.

Careful love and preparation is like selecting and peeling a sweet potato. Not any old message will do. You need to consciously choose a message that will connect. That means choosing a message that will get their attention, that says your work can make a difference.

And what is the equivalent of peeling the sweet potato? It’s taking the time to carefully craft your message. Not to make it tricky or manipulative, but to make it clearly relevant and easily assimilated.

Be a watchful cook
The marvelous flavor of those simple sweet potatoes came through because they were cooked for just the right amount of time. The cook paid attention and noticed when the potatoes were done.

The equivalent in marketing and selling is continuing to pay attention to your message after you’ve sent it. Is it reaching the people you intend to reach? Is it coming across clearly or is it being distorted?

Conscious marketing and selling means paying loving attention to your message from the time you choose it to the time it is received.

Your just-right clients need more than one meal
No one can survive for long on one meal, no matter how lovingly it is prepared. In the same way, you need to nourish your just-right clients with more than one message sent more than one time.

You don’t need to stuff them, but you are responsible for offering them enough that they can receive and be nourished by your message. Enough that they can respond.

What happens next?
When you consciously nourish your just-right clients with the simple food of marketing and selling, they get an opportunity to work with you at a deeper level.

They can choose to ask for a more complex meal. One that they will happily pay for.

Because they will have already experienced the care with which you work through the medium of marketing and sales.

Marketing and selling can nourish you and your just-right clients
Like a lovingly prepared meal, your marketing and selling can be nourishing for you and for the people you want to reach. It does require that you make a decision: to choose messages that matter, craft them in a way that connects, and pay attention to them from them time you send them until they are received.

You probably aspire to conscious living in so many other ways. Now you can bring that commitment to thriving at the work you love.