A bit of clarification about some things I said...
I hear an inner voice saying: "Explain to them..... Please......"
This voice has been nudging me in the past few days, since I posted my thoughts about "How to be rich."
It has been after me, telling me that I spoke in generalizations....
"Nobody understands generalizations....
You said that people "Push away the river of abundance from their lives..
You said that, right?
You have to give an EXAMPLE, so they can understand how it is done.
A PRACTICAL example..... to demonstrate what you mean by that...."
The voice is kind to me.....
It has been nudging me gently, not aggressively, and it has been offering suggestions patiently....... (although it did keep me up at night, for two hours, running in my memory SO many examples that I can bring up,...... to illustrate how it is commonly done.)
Finally, sitting at the Denver airport, gate 49, on United Airlines, I take out my iPad and type in the ideas in my head.
I have a few examples to bring up.
The first example, is about a couple who run a bed and breakfast.
They are my friends.
They bought a run down house, and with a large mortgage, they spent a year renovating the place.
They have four guest rooms to rent, and VERY little traffic.
A writer was looking to come to town, for a vacation, looking for a quiet place in which to write.
He wanted to stay for three months.
The rate for the room he wanted, was $120 a night.
The writer only had a budget of $60 a night.
He wrote to them, and asked if they will be willing to put him up for three months at his budgeted rate.
They said NO!
This is exactly what I mean by "Pushing away the river of abundance".
Now, allow me explain: Three months = roughly 90 days
90 days at $60 per night = $5400 GUARANTEED MONEY IN THE POCKET!
Money that could be used to pay down loans, the mortgage, living expenses....
But they said no.....
I am SURE, that they did not even calculate it.
What they saw, is the other sixty dollars.... The other part of the $120, that they will NOT be getting.
They 'saw' people, coming in, during the 'busiest' summer months, and they saw themselves turning away, potential clients at $120 a night, for a man that occupy their place for $60 a night.
Of course what they 'saw' in their mind's eye, never happened.
They ended up being mostly empty all summer long, with the exception of two weekends, when a film crew was in town, and production took every available room in town.
Otherwise, they sat mostly empty.
I told this story to my friend Peter, I asked him what would he have done?
He said that he would have told the writer: "Please come ON OVER! there will be a chocolate on your pillow every night,..... and fresh scented towels on the rack, every morning."
I would have said, and done, EXACTLY the same.
The second example I have, is from an experience in my art career.
I did an art show in Houston Texas.
I sat next to an artist who used to be a famous NY cartoonist.
After his retirement, he started to do art shows, to make a bit of money from his art.
He was a very friendly man, but we argued (in a lighthearted joking manner), during the whole art show.
We seemed to hold opposite opinions about every aspect of marketing our art.
He got livid, when I told him that sometimes, when occasion calls, or if I feel inspired to, I gift my art away...
"You should NEVER, EVER do that!" He said with a forceful voice that scared us both.
"When you give your art away, you devalue it, you devalue other artists and you devalue art in general."
"Whatever....." I thought to myself, but I said nothing.
"Also,... (he said with the same passion and force), Do not EVER discount your prices.
This is a cardinal rule, that you MUST obey! Stick to your prices at ANY cost."
"Whatever..." I thought to myself, but I said nothing.
Usually, the prices of most of my art, is very reasonable.
I want people to collect it.
I want people to live with my art....
To put it in their children's rooms, in their living spaces, in their offices....
To be inspired by its playfulness.
But even though my prices are very reasonable already, I am ALWAYS willing to negotiate.
When the show started, people approached me with discount requests.
They said: "If I'll buy three pieces, will you give me a better price?"
I always say: "Sure, of course,..... Yes! Which ones?
(my husband always frowns.... He does not like me to discount my prices, although, I must admit, that by now, he keeps it to himself. He knows it works well.)
That show was one of my best weekend events.
People loved my art and I kept on selling.
By the end of the show, I made $12,000 from many sales. (and gave many discounts).
I drove home with an empty van.
The cartoonist made $700.
By being so hard on his customers, so guarded about negotiating with potential collectors, he 'pushed' away even the ones that loved his art and thought it was funny and good.
The funny thing is, that at the end of the show, even though he insisted, that an artist should NEVER give away their art, NOR discount it EVER, he made for me a drawing which he gifted to me....
It was a drawing of a girl walking a LONG path.
She was wearing a t-shirt that said: TALI
On both sides if her path, there were signs saying: "wrong way", "mistake", "wrong turn" etc.
At the end of her path was a sigh that said : "yes! YOU'VE MADE IT!"
I left doubting the force of his philosophy, about discount and gifting,......
After all, he must have not really believed it, or he would have not gifted me an original drawing.
But he WAS unwilling and unyielding with his clients, which made him another man, who "pushed away the river of abundance".
I Have so MANY examples like the ones above to share....
Way too many to put on paper....
I will have to trust, that whoever is searching for his/ her own patterns, will get their own answers and be able to identify their own patterns.
I will stop here, since my flight is showing signs of boarding now.
Happy paintings to the artists among you, happy writing to my poet friends.
Happy 4th of July to my American friends and happy days to ALL.
This voice has been nudging me in the past few days, since I posted my thoughts about "How to be rich."
It has been after me, telling me that I spoke in generalizations....
"Nobody understands generalizations....
You said that people "Push away the river of abundance from their lives..
You said that, right?
You have to give an EXAMPLE, so they can understand how it is done.
A PRACTICAL example..... to demonstrate what you mean by that...."
The voice is kind to me.....
It has been nudging me gently, not aggressively, and it has been offering suggestions patiently....... (although it did keep me up at night, for two hours, running in my memory SO many examples that I can bring up,...... to illustrate how it is commonly done.)
Finally, sitting at the Denver airport, gate 49, on United Airlines, I take out my iPad and type in the ideas in my head.
I have a few examples to bring up.
The first example, is about a couple who run a bed and breakfast.
They are my friends.
They bought a run down house, and with a large mortgage, they spent a year renovating the place.
They have four guest rooms to rent, and VERY little traffic.
A writer was looking to come to town, for a vacation, looking for a quiet place in which to write.
He wanted to stay for three months.
The rate for the room he wanted, was $120 a night.
The writer only had a budget of $60 a night.
He wrote to them, and asked if they will be willing to put him up for three months at his budgeted rate.
They said NO!
This is exactly what I mean by "Pushing away the river of abundance".
Now, allow me explain: Three months = roughly 90 days
90 days at $60 per night = $5400 GUARANTEED MONEY IN THE POCKET!
Money that could be used to pay down loans, the mortgage, living expenses....
But they said no.....
I am SURE, that they did not even calculate it.
What they saw, is the other sixty dollars.... The other part of the $120, that they will NOT be getting.
They 'saw' people, coming in, during the 'busiest' summer months, and they saw themselves turning away, potential clients at $120 a night, for a man that occupy their place for $60 a night.
Of course what they 'saw' in their mind's eye, never happened.
They ended up being mostly empty all summer long, with the exception of two weekends, when a film crew was in town, and production took every available room in town.
Otherwise, they sat mostly empty.
I told this story to my friend Peter, I asked him what would he have done?
He said that he would have told the writer: "Please come ON OVER! there will be a chocolate on your pillow every night,..... and fresh scented towels on the rack, every morning."
I would have said, and done, EXACTLY the same.
The second example I have, is from an experience in my art career.
I did an art show in Houston Texas.
I sat next to an artist who used to be a famous NY cartoonist.
After his retirement, he started to do art shows, to make a bit of money from his art.
He was a very friendly man, but we argued (in a lighthearted joking manner), during the whole art show.
We seemed to hold opposite opinions about every aspect of marketing our art.
He got livid, when I told him that sometimes, when occasion calls, or if I feel inspired to, I gift my art away...
"You should NEVER, EVER do that!" He said with a forceful voice that scared us both.
"When you give your art away, you devalue it, you devalue other artists and you devalue art in general."
"Whatever....." I thought to myself, but I said nothing.
"Also,... (he said with the same passion and force), Do not EVER discount your prices.
This is a cardinal rule, that you MUST obey! Stick to your prices at ANY cost."
"Whatever..." I thought to myself, but I said nothing.
Usually, the prices of most of my art, is very reasonable.
I want people to collect it.
I want people to live with my art....
To put it in their children's rooms, in their living spaces, in their offices....
To be inspired by its playfulness.
But even though my prices are very reasonable already, I am ALWAYS willing to negotiate.
When the show started, people approached me with discount requests.
They said: "If I'll buy three pieces, will you give me a better price?"
I always say: "Sure, of course,..... Yes! Which ones?
(my husband always frowns.... He does not like me to discount my prices, although, I must admit, that by now, he keeps it to himself. He knows it works well.)
That show was one of my best weekend events.
People loved my art and I kept on selling.
By the end of the show, I made $12,000 from many sales. (and gave many discounts).
I drove home with an empty van.
The cartoonist made $700.
By being so hard on his customers, so guarded about negotiating with potential collectors, he 'pushed' away even the ones that loved his art and thought it was funny and good.
The funny thing is, that at the end of the show, even though he insisted, that an artist should NEVER give away their art, NOR discount it EVER, he made for me a drawing which he gifted to me....
It was a drawing of a girl walking a LONG path.
She was wearing a t-shirt that said: TALI
On both sides if her path, there were signs saying: "wrong way", "mistake", "wrong turn" etc.
At the end of her path was a sigh that said : "yes! YOU'VE MADE IT!"
I left doubting the force of his philosophy, about discount and gifting,......
After all, he must have not really believed it, or he would have not gifted me an original drawing.
But he WAS unwilling and unyielding with his clients, which made him another man, who "pushed away the river of abundance".
I Have so MANY examples like the ones above to share....
Way too many to put on paper....
I will have to trust, that whoever is searching for his/ her own patterns, will get their own answers and be able to identify their own patterns.
I will stop here, since my flight is showing signs of boarding now.
Happy paintings to the artists among you, happy writing to my poet friends.
Happy 4th of July to my American friends and happy days to ALL.
