(Minghui.org) Greetings esteemed Master, and fellow practitioners!
With the progression of the Fa-rectification and Master’s blessing, the subscription and its influence at the English Epoch Times has experienced rapid growth during the past two years. I would like to share my cultivation experience in the work of subscription growth in the English Epoch Times in the past two years.
Change Notions to Achieve Goals and Understanding the Power of Dafa
The commercial strategy of the English Epoch Times began to shift from advertising to user subscription at the beginning of 2019. At first a small team was experimenting. Gradually, the company began to invest more resources in subscription promotion and was ready to vigorously develop.
I used to focus on the advertising revenue operations in the media, such as websites, social media, and advertisement sales. It was because of my experience in digital marketing that the management also hoped that my advertising experience and skills could help with subscription marketing. However, in the early stages of subscription development the company’s main source of revenue was still advertising.
My main job was to increase advertising revenue, and we had substantial goals. On the other hand, I needed to spend time exploring this unknown area of subscription promotion, and running it past the new team. Often, I would be in a meeting to discuss advertisement strategy, and then I would be in another meeting to discuss subscriptions. There were often conflicts between resources and goals. I was stuck in the middle, and it was difficult to balance things. I didn’t know how to break through and be successful regarding the two goals. The difficulty, intensity, and pressure of the work were all very big.
One day, when I was rather frustrated, two executives unexpectedly came to talk to me on separate occasions, telling me how important subscriptions are, and how promising they are. I was asked to figure out a way to reach the subscription volume of a well-known mainstream newspaper at the end of the year. At first, I was very resistant, and thought: you are overestimating me too much. With my abilities, how could it be possible. But it must be taken seriously, so I started to ponder concerning this issue. But, the more I thought about it, the more impossible it became. Realizing that my negative thinking was wrong, I started to look inward and asked myself, why do I find it so difficult? Why do I resist? Since several people said the same thing at the same time, it was not accidental.
Afterwards, I was studying the Fa, and Master enlightened me,
“I once remarked that, “You can achieve any spiritual heights if you have the guts!”” (“Fa Teaching at the 2019 New York Fa Conference”)
Why do I not have the guts? How can I know that it is impossible before I even start? Why set an upper limit for myself? Master does not put a cap on our cultivation. As long as we dare to do it, then what makes it impossible to surpass that newspaper?
Master said,
“In the future the newspaper run by Dafa disciples will be the biggest newspaper in the entire world, (applause) because all those media that have made up lies have committed sins, and those people will have to pay for that, as will those media of theirs.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Western U.S. Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. V)
Master has arranged for us the path of being the world’s number one newspaper. I should not doubt and hesitate, but should find a way to achieve the result that Master wants.
As my understanding improved, I felt that my surrounding environment changed. The coordinator no longer asked me to focus on the advertising operations and changed my role to focus on subscription growth. At the same time, my team was reorganized, and more capable colleagues joined us to grow English Epoch Times together.
We have completed our goal every month. Although there were many difficulties, the various opportunities and coincidences in the process had made the seemingly impossible tasks possible, and the cannot-dos to can-do. From then on, I stopped drawing the conclusion of impossibility, and would try my best to work towards my goals, and follow the path arranged by Master.
Studying the Fa Earnestly and Passing Tribulations
The monopoly of technology giants in the industry, and the suppression of freedom of speech often hinder our subscription promotion. For example, the advertising function of our assets on social media is disabled. As a news media, our advertisements could not include content related to the US election or the CCP virus. At sensitive moments, big-tech advertising companies would restrict our advertising. Last year when the CCP virus was raging, our email marketing service provider also suspended our services without warning, preventing us from sending newsletters. The IP address where we sent the newsletter from was also blocked recently.
Each time this type of incident occurred, the methods that worked previously would no longer work. In order to achieve growth goals, we must constantly change strategies, change settings, and contact relevant companies to see what is going on. At the beginning, I could still treat it with righteous thoughts. The more I experienced it, I gradually became accustomed to it, and even was filled with negative emotions, or unconsciously acknowledged this kind of interference and destruction from the old forces.
Take the recent incident where our email IP was blocked as an example. I habitually looked inward, but after finding the heart of fearing troubles, I started to look outwards and look for other reasons: “Recently, people often complain that the system is not easy to use, and as a result, it can’t be used now. People only value the speed of growth of email subscriptions, regardless of their quality, and as a result bad emails are mixed in, this is the old forces’ deliberate interference, and so on.
Looking back now, my looking inward at that time was still superficial, a bit mechanical. Later, we began to study the Fa, did the exercises, sent righteous thoughts to clear interference, looked inward, clarified the truth, and amended our email-related processes bit-by-bit to make up for our gaps, and felt that this would definitely solve the problems we were facing. The direction was right, but this was a heart of pursuit, the mentality was not pure, and so the power of righteous thoughts was not strong.
After some searching, we solved some of the problems, but the services have not been fully unblocked yet, and the emails could not be sent out. I felt a little anxious. I thought this has delayed the media’s progress of clarifying the truth and saving sentient beings. The old forces are using the so-called “regulations” in ordinary society to restrict us. We can’t acknowledge them, and we shouldn’t be obstructed by human notions yet feeling that we have strong righteous thoughts and that this is what Master wants. However, colleagues think my thinking this way is due to the indoctrination by the CCP. We then contacted the relevant agencies, but they still would not unblock us.
This result was obvious in showing that we had gaps in cultivation. Looking further inward, I found that I had put the ordinary people organizations that suppressed us on the opposite side, and had mixed in the human heart of struggling. Additionally, I had a heart of seeking luck in my subconscious mind, and wanted to take shortcuts.
Master said,
“Before, when many of our students ran into conflicts with people outside our circle, or when people or certain departments of various functions in society treated us unfairly, we didn’t examine ourselves to find the cause, and instead stressed what was wrong with others. Certain things have indeed been really bad, and they were wantonly trying to harm us. But has it occurred to you that although they were bad and demonic acts, could those things have happened just by chance? Could it be that their negative aspects were utilized to have us see our own negative aspects? I’ve often said that when two people have friction between each other, each one should examine him or herself. Not only should the two people with the friction examine themselves, but also the bystanders who happen to observe the incident should. That’s when you will really improve by leaps and bounds.” (Teachings at the Conference in Singapore)
After realizing that I must continue to look inward no matter what happens, I have been looking inward, picking out all kinds of very small human hearts, such as whether I still followed the indoctrination by the Party, whether I have neglected to care about and be empathetic toward my colleagues, and whether I have negative thoughts when hearing feedback and complaints from colleagues or readers, or make irrational decisions, and so on. In short, no matter what I hear or see, I would look inward, although I don’t know if the problems I found and my understanding were on the right track or not, neither did I feel what was said by Master regarding “improving by leaps and bounds.”
After another week, we basically did everything that could be done to correct things at the human level, but I could feel that the substance hadn’t broken through yet, so there was no turning point. In order to break through this substance, I strengthened my studying the Fa, exercising, and sending forth righteous thoughts, doing five sets of exercises plus the second exercise for an hour, so that I could maintain my righteous thoughts. I would keep the thought if it was on the Fa, and got rid of thoughts that were not on the Fa. This time it was no longer the mechanical or formulaic way as before. I can feel that my righteous thoughts have become stronger, distracting thoughts have become less – my mentality has become purer. My compassion for sentient beings, readers, and related organizations among ordinary people has also emerged.
Master said,
“Why are Dafa disciples running a media company, after all? To save people. Don’t forget that your purpose is to save people, and the reason to run a media company well is to save people. Clarifying the facts and saving sentient beings are what you need to accomplish. There is nothing else for you to accomplish.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2015 New York Fa Conference”)
I know that this is Master’s enlightening me that I should use this opportunity to clarify the truth to all sentient beings with whom I come in contact with, save them, and let them make the right choice and unblock us. The next day after I was enlightened to this, I wrote them an email telling them that we have made a lot of improvements, and added content telling them the truth about our media and the reader feedback, and that many people are looking forward to receiving truthful news through our e-newsletter. I asked them to help us and inspired their righteous conscience.
The moment this email was sent out, I knew that the matter should be resolved, because it has the power of Dafa, and I had not mixed in the human heart. Sure enough, on the next day, our IP was unblocked, we have passed this test, and I have improved. Looking back at the whole process again, it was about correcting every single one of my thoughts, and it would not have worked if anything was missing in the process of solid cultivation.
The English Epoch Times has been doing subscription marketing for more than two years. Looking back, we have gone through many hardships. Although with close calls, we passed the tests under the care and enlightening hints of the compassionate and mighty Master. Of course, we also achieved great results. The number of subscribers exceeded 1 million. But it is still far from Master’s demands, and we must continue to strive forward courageously towards the goal of becoming the world’s number one media. Finally, I would like to recall a passage of Fa from Master’ s teaching in “Fa Teaching on World Falun Dafa Day” to mutually encourage each other. Let us walk our remaining path well.
Master said,
“Cultivation… There’s a saying, and it’s one I’ve shared with you before: “Cultivate with the heart you once had, and success is certain.” ( Enthusiastic applause) The reason many people didn’t succeed in their cultivation was because they weren’t able to make it through over the long haul. They might have felt lonely or bored, or they might have become so familiar with something or have grown so accustomed to something that they didn’t want to do it anymore. Anything can cause a person to become lax. So you should continue to be diligent. In the past, there would be sudden tests for cultivators even at the very last step. If you grew increasingly lax, you certainly wouldn’t be able to pass that test.” (“Fa Teaching on World Falun Dafa Day”)
Thank you, Master, and fellow practitioners!
(2021 International Online Fa Conference)
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