Business in Feng Shui

As we look down a commercial boulevard, there are many similar businesses. Some of which thrive and others that struggle. Business owners often question me why it is that their competitor's services or products are no better or less expensive than theirs but they are doing much better? Business may not always be slow, it comes and goes, but there are a lot of problems that cause internal struggle for the owner. Some of these problems include troublesome customers, poor inventory, bad credit, or conflicts with staff. Earning a living becomes a daily struggle. What makes one business do better than another? What can be done to improve businesses that are having
trouble?

There are about 30 factors that influence or determine our success in life. Of the 30, there are some that are predestined or unchangeable such as our parents, our birth date, birthplace, our culture and the economic and cosmic cycles at our time of birth. These factors have a great impact on our foundation in life and we have no control over them. Nonetheless, we can learn about ourselves through these factors. Then, there are adjustable factors such as our education, friends, spouse, career, personality, creativity, moral, motivation, ambition, endurance, philosophy of life, abilities to make a living, place of establishment and the energy or Feng Shui of our home or office. If we were to set these factors on a scale, how do they rank in contributing to our success in life? How can we improve certain factors to promote us?

Feng Shui is one of the easiest accessible means of change that can beused to promote our well being. When our business has done all the promotion in the right markets and the product or service is competitive, and yet business is slow, we need to consider other factors that may be influencing it.

Does the business match you?
It is important for us to make sure that the field we select is compatible with our energies. First, we need to learn about our personal energies. Aside from our basic education and personal skills, a birth chart called the "zi wei" is can be used to reveal ourselves. It is a complex astrology chart based on your birthday, time and place. The chart serves as a guideline of our life path and is only one out of 30 factors that influence us. Nonetheless, its accuracy is about 75-90%. It covers twelve aspects of our lives. These include our vital/personal energies, parents, siblings, spouse, friends, children, career, money, travel, fortune, property, and health. In general, it covers ten year, annual and monthly cycles of our life and lets us understand our potential, our weaknesses and strengths. In this case, the main focus would be the career sector, which indicates suitable fields for a particular person. In many cases, a person who is working in a compatible field has an easier time becoming successful than one who is not. For instance, a person who is meant to be a restaurant owner may find it difficult to succeed as an engineer.

Are you doing your business at the right time in your life?
Also from our zi wei birth chart, we can tell when the strongest periods are in our life. When do we reach our turning points in life and really begin to live? It may be that we do not really take off in our business until our late 40's, or maybe we have already passed our high point in life without realizing it. New business ventures should be opened at the right time in our lives. If we start a business during a period in our life when the energy cycles are low, it may be challenging and hard for it to thrive.

Are you doing it in the right place?
It is very important to understand where the energies on this Earth promote us best. Also from the zi wei birth chart, we can find out what country, what state, which city or region is strongest for us to do our business. For example, depending on who you are and when your birth date/time is, Los Angeles may not be the best place for you to establish your business, so no matter how strong you promote it and how good the Feng Shui is, you may find it hard to reach your full potential.

Does the Feng Shui match you?
If you are in the right business, doing it at the right time and place, the next step would be to make sure the building you are doing it in also reinforces your energies. There are over 60 factors involved in a Feng Shui analysis of a building. The orientation, entries, shape, interior layout, colors, decoration, windows, furniture placement, exterior environment and so forth all need to be examined to see if their characteristics promote or demote the business.

Are staff members compatible to the business owner?
When staff members are incompatible with the owner, it is easy for them to have conflicts or for the employee to bring trouble into the office. It is important to compare the zi wei charts of partners, office managers and other board members to make sure they are also doing the right field of work for them, that they are in a positive period of their life and that they are able to contribute to the business. If they are not, adjusting the Feng Shui can help them. Otherwise, they may inadvertently bring the business down.

Are the various departments or functions of the office located in the their optimum directions?
As every function creates a unique type of energy: the entry/reception, accounting/cashier, sales/marketing, production, conference, dining areas, restrooms and so forth all need to be placed in the locations that match the owner's energy according to the laws of nature. This involves detailed measurements and analysis of the office plans with the Feng Shui compass which shows the best directions for them to be located to allow the business to run smoothly and harmoniously.

Rather than be frustrated and stressed by troubled business, ask yourself these questions and take these new ideas into consideration. You may find just the right solution to your problems. The secret to that other business' success may be their good Feng Shui

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Jenny T. Liu

Jenny T. Liu is a fourth generation practitioner who holds a BA in Environmental Design from UC Berkeley and an MA in Architecture from UCLA. Awarded for her Master's Thesis on Feng Shui, she is an expert in the ancient Chinese philosophy of Feng Shui. You may have seen her on Good Day LA, the LA Times or local community papers.