The Renegade Doc Comments

Last time we discussed the four archetypical mindsets having to do with vocations.

What does that have to do with today and how you/I do business??

Here are my thoughts.

First, a review.  The four Vocational types suggested are

Hunter/Gatherer
Farmer/Rancher
Craftsman/Serviceman
Shopkeeper/Banker

In today’s world I don’t think there are many true Hunter/Gatherers.  The lifestyle is just too free, too unstructured, too disconnected.  There may be some who would like to be that way and deep down are no doubt made that way, but finding that niche in an industrial, modern, internet-connected, “socially mediated” world is pretty tough.  I think the pure scientist who can remove himself from the politics of academia and just do science for the thrill of learning and exploring new territory would come close to this mindset.  In my lifetime I have met and had the privilege of working with just one such person and he exhibited many if not most of the characteristics outlined in this type.

I suspect that there are a lot more Farmer/Ranchers than we can see listed in directories or driving down country roads.  The industrial world has turned farming and ranching into huge agribusiness conglomerates, but the desire to own, operate, live on and be part of the small family farm is a force that resides in the breast of a large number of people.  The “life beyond the sidewalks”, the call to have the backyard garden or the 40 acre spread, to raise the goats and milk the family cow is a spewing volcano waiting to explode across this country.  The success of magazines like Countryside and Small Farm Today, Acres USA and others attest to this.  The monumental growth of operations like Polyface Farms in Swoope, VA with the numbers of visitors they receive and the amount of information that is gobbled up from them, to say nothing of the farm products sold, also attests to the demand that reflects this mindset in the minds of a huge number of us.  Likewise, the growth of the organic farming movement and the success of stores like Whole Foods that provides primarily organically grown produce and products offer evidence that there is a bit of the farmer in each of us.  Though the day job may be the mainstay for now, the day is dreamed of and worked toward when the true Farmer/Rancher can come forth in full glory!

The Craftsman/Serviceman is still alive and well in our industrial society.  Some of them wear a “blue collar” and you see them everyday on your way to work.  The family plumber, carpenter, concrete layer, electrician, etc.  Some of these folk work for a larger company and run the backhoes and bulldozers, bobcats and skidsteers.  Nonetheless, they are true craftsmen, plying their trade and proud, as they should be, of their skill.  In a more modern sense we see them also working on factory lines placing their part onto the frame of what will become the minivan or truck that you drive to work.  Or they operate the brake press making the ductwork that helpls to heat and cool your home.  Much of what the rest of us call, perhaps derogatorily, “laborer” is actually a craft worthy of honor and demanding of unique and dedicated skill.  Some of them wear a “white collar” and we call them doctors, lawyers, bookkeepers, and salesmen.  The dedicated ones who pour their heart and soul into caring for their clients are indeed true craftsmen, for whom we can be thankful.

The Shopkeeper/Banker is all too prevalent in today’s industrial society.  Since many don’t want to  do the “dirty work”, setting up shop or going into some kind of financial business is a way out, and tends to offer lots of monetary rewards.  Again, the ones who are truly, at heart, shopkeepers do an excellent job at being creative in advertising and marketing and at meeting the needs of their clients, providing real service.

Obviously I have outlined the “pure” in each type.  Most of us are some combination of a couple or all, but likely there is still a dominant  type that if given freedom and opportunity would express itself.

Thinking about these types and how they may or may not fit into today’s society, begs the question, are there problems with this adaptation of vocational mindset to our modern industrial society?

Like many things, Yes and No.  There is a good and a not so good side to the issue.

On the good side adaptation has taken place.  Life goes on.  People survive.

On the not-so-good side, though, we miss a lot.  First and perhaps foremost we have missed the direct connection to the land, the ground, the elements that the Hunter/Gatherer and Farmer/Rancher provided.  We are way more dependent on the few who are connected and have lost the ability to truly survive in desperate times, both in terms of food supply and in terms of basic emotional survival skill.  We have lost much of the independent spirit and “can do” attitude that has made us great as a people.  We have lost or tend to lose or bury that seeking, searching spirit always on the look out for the better, the higher, the beyond.

Besides that, and perhaps more saddening, is the fact that many of us are led to believe that we should become craftsmen and shopkeepers instead of being allowed and encouraged to become who we truly are inside.  The home business craze (internet marketing, network marketing, ebay, etc.) has fed and survives on feeding us the line that any of us can become a wealthy “shopkeeper” if we only follow the guru or go through the correct process.  I suggest that this is not true at the deepest level of our being.  If, like me, you are a true hunter/gatherer,  caring not a whit about operating a shop, the marketing endeavor or shopkeeping in any form is like tying the wild stallion to a tree while playing the movie of freedom in front of him.  Soon either the stallion rips his head off trying to get free or pulls the tree down and drags it off.  Either way it is a disastrous outcome.

If you are truly a marketer/shopkeeper, building your business online or off, by all means look for and attract the true shopkeeper types.  If you need a web page built and aren’t a craftsman, by all means don’t do it yourself; find someone who will barter or take cash from you to do it for you.  If you find a hunter/gatherer or farmer/rancher trying to make it in marketing help him to get out!  Offer to provide a service or product in exchange for some of his meat or butter or wisdom or philosophy but encourage him to go be himself and don’t kill him and your business by trying to make him something he is not.

With this insight into basic vocational/business types your business will grow more quickly and easily and you will be a lifesaver to those who need to be redirected to their true selves.

Blessings,

Dr Jon