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Celebrating Decadently
July 12, 2016
"It's time for me to celebrate - decadently - a decade of spiritual service in the world!"
Joanne Franchina
I remember the date, June 8, 2006: it was the day I signed Inner Compass LLC into being, two weeks after having become a fully ordained Spiritualist minister.
Before I attended the final week of seminary, I met with my attorney about establishing the company through which I would offer my professional services. I had a vision of what I wanted to do, and how I imagined the company might grow, but I hadn't thought much about the details. I left that meeting with instructions to come up with a name for the company by the time I returned.
A series of fortunate events...
One of the anchoring activities of seminary was that we began each day with a group meditation. During one of the meditations that week, a thought floated into my awareness - a distracting kind of thought, like I forgot to take the clothes out of the washing machine before I left the house, except the thought was actually, I need to come up with a name for the company. And immediately another thought - which wasn't my thought - came in response to the first one: Use your inner compass. And then I realized that I had just received a great name for my company!
It was difficult to stay seated in my chair for the remainder of the meditation....
It was difficult to stay seated in my chair for the remainder of the meditation....
Thankfully, the details worked out and we established the company under that name. Next I needed to find an office. I knew I didn't want to work out of my home, and I thought I would prefer to share office space with a fellow practitioner. And I already had four excellent options from which to choose.
To help me determine which space would be best, I used "billets" in a divination process to gain impressions about each option. On each of four blank pieces of paper I wrote the name of an option, and on a fifth piece of paper I wrote "Something Else Entirely." After folding and mixing up the papers, I held each billet in turn to receive impressions of what it might be like to work out of that space.
Surprisingly, the billet that felt the best to me was "Something Else Entirely." So I set aside that initiative and turned my attention to other tasks, like creating brochures and getting into the local psychic festival as a reader and presenter. The booths for that November's Victory of Light Expo had sold out several months before, and there was a waiting list for readers. So I held off on that initiative as well.
Instead, I offered my services in conducting market research to the festival's founder, Victor Paruta...and in turn, Victor offered me a booth space without my having to apply.
By mid-September, I was filling out a seminar proposal for the festival and contacted a colleague, Rose Vanden Eynden, for advice; she answered my question, and we chatted for a few moments.
Rose was looking for someone with whom to share office space. She had found within her budget an office that would do, but she liked better a slightly larger space for which she would need someone to share the rent. And she was running out of time: it was Tuesday and she had to move offices that Saturday.
I responded that I, too, was looking for an office partner....
Wednesday I toured the space, Thursday my attorney reviewed the lease, Friday we signed contracts, Saturday Rose moved in, and a few weeks later - at a more leisurely pace - I moved in. For years afterwards I would apologize to Rose for the part I played in that situation materializing for her at the eleventh hour - but to this day I remain convinced that, had I had time to think about spending that much money on rent, I would have talked myself out of it!
In October I set up shop. In November I led my first public seminar at the Victory of Light Expo to 50 eager participants. And by December I was offering classes and seeing clients. See our weblog, The Blessing Bowl, from our very first newsletter, to read about the culmination of those earliest days....
Since our grand opening in 2006, Inner Compass has grown and evolved. It has allowed me to help thousands of people as an intuitive life coach, clairvoyant medium, instructor, speaker, and author. It has been a platform from which I have written for regional and national publications, been a featured guest for radio, and lectured at expos and other events throughout the country.
Through the years Inner Compass has also offered workshops, seminars, and talks on a myriad of spiritual topics including meditation, mediumship development, creative manifestation, and other metaphysical disciplines, featuring renowned guest instructors as well as myself. In fact, 2012 was another milestone year in that first decade of being: it was the year that I created the Mediumship Mastery Program, and that I established Inner Compass Academy, to expand the educational focus that Inner Compass has had since its inception.
But that story will have to wait for another time....