In Zen Buddhism, there is a noble path that helps followers achieve peace in their current lives:

• Right View
• Right Thought
• Right Speech
• Right Action
• Right Livelihood
• Right Effort
• Right Mindfulness
• Right Contemplation

Using these steps in the path for inspiration, I’ve created a series of quick posts that applies them to marketing … marketing zen for 2010.

Are you truly serving the right audience? Are you serving them in the way that is most congruent with who you are? If so, you have found your marketing zen right livelihood. If not, it is time to go back and reconnect with your passion. Remember, as I’ve mentioned in my last two posts (Right View & Thought and Right Speech & Action), everything you do in your business hinges on knowing your ideal customer.

The best way to put forth the right effort is to be in congruence with it. Therefore, in marketing zen, the right effort is informed by the right livelihood. And both depend on you serving the right audience for you and your message. I believe that passion is important in business. And there are many tools and techniques you can use to connect with your core passion. For one, you can listen to me being walked through The Passion Test in an audio I shared on this blog.

So, if you are feeling ill at ease in your business, it could be that what you are doing … your livelihood … is not in alignment with who you truly are. So take a moment and readjust. In doing so, you’ll find that you can more easily continue the noble path of marketing zen.