There are so many artists who find it hard to get a foothold in the art market.

There are so many talented artists who are talented at art but lousy at selling. 
How many art galleries do you see on the high street all competing for clients.  Even the best artists are finding it hard to survive or get a foothold into making a career out of what they love.

One or two do make it though but making it in art seems as hard as making it as a popstar.  You are up against a lot of talented competitors in a quick moving undustry.

The question is how do you make it ?  Well the emphasis is on sales and image.  It appears that it is who you know just as much as what you can do that can make you in the art world.  If you can get yourself mixing in the right circles with the right customers then your name gets out and you access one of the most effective forms of sales - referral marketing, where people talk you up on your behalf (same as PR).  This takes time and resources to achieve.

Another problem with many artists is that they try and put across their emotions and hope that somebody buys it.  Rather than consider what the market wants and painting that.  Many people want a painting of something close to them and unlike what many might think, it is rarely a portrait of themself, unless it is a wedding scene.  People have so many interests and loves - like children and pets and image defining possessions that these are perhaps the most popular.

The power of art is that it is one of the few gifts that can really unlock some very powerful doors, particularly if the subject is close to the person's heart (eg Donald Trump's dad - not necessarily Donald Trump himself). 

It makes proud, grown men cry and can be very moving if the subject is of something you really love - it is like the artist understands you on a very deep level giving you a high level of psychological air which is one of our basic needs to survive and is so rarely tapped into.  Thus the power.

It is so nice and rare to find a bespoke product that can tap into such deeply covered emotions. 

Might I add the most amazing spiritual experience would be setting up a business exporting goods out of North Korea. 

North Korea's score ranks 5 out of 5 in a recent poll of most difficult to trade countries in the world. 

The pain would be monumental, the resources would be completely untapped, you would come up with showstoppers EVERY day that would prevent you trading at all.  The infrastructure just isn't there and the first person to set it up would be rich beyond measure - that is what pain is.  You would face personal battles to keep focused during tough times - of which there would be many.  You would suffer rejection by the locals for not being able to communicate.  Your whole living comforts would be compromised and again a struggle for you to change as opposed to the world around you.  

Hong Kong and Singapore are rated the two easiest economies to do trade in the world with a score of between 1-1.5, where 1 is the perfect economy with no barriers to trade and 5 represents the worst economic state to do business with.  USA scores about 1.8 lying about 5th in the world thereabouts of easiest economies.

If you want to try it - 3 months would be all you could muster, you would learn so much about yourself and your resolve.  I suggest it is the utlimate challenge that would be the business equivalent of climbing Everest for the first time. 

As an added challenge - do it with a tight budget and on a tight timescale and you must survive or you don't eat. 

3 months - that's the challenge, you would change and change amazingly.

Check out my travel check list blog if you need help before your journey - it will save you 2 weeks of difficulty when entering a new country (either travelling or on business) and might save you having to use a 5 star hotel.

I have stumbled on an idea that dispels what others feel about business and are thus missing out on the most spiritual experience of them all.

Pain = Business. Simple as that. Business is good. NO, business is source.

Someone shining your shoes doesn't take much pain away from you so get paid accordingly. Somebody linking buyers and sellers and is the first to do so (eBay) takes away an enormous amount of pain from a load of people and gets paid accordingly.

To be the first to do something in business requires an enormous amount of bother and overcoming obstacles that nobody has yet tackled and automated for others (why is shopping at Walmart / McDonalds so easy - they make the bother of doing shopping so much less because they have tackled the issues for us and are now reaping the rewards because we don't have to face up to it). Microsoft - talk about making lives easier for everybody - they transformed millions of people's lives, Bills Gates became the richest man in the world doing so.

You want to start a million dollar business - look for pain in your life. If others have it as well then fix that pain for you and others and voila - kerchinggggg.


Here's the bonus - I'm mean a big bonus.
When you are overcoming the problems in setting up that business (my estimate is about 500 odd simple jobs to do before the business is up and coming), you are confronting your fears and thus going step by step to eliminating your ego !!! 

A PAGE FROM A DOG'S DIARY:
8:00 a.m.Oh, boy! Dog food! My favorite!
9:30 a.m.Oh, boy! A car ride! My favorite!
9:40 a.m.Oh, boy! A walk! My favorite!
10:30 a.m.Oh, boy! Getting rubbed and petted! My favorite!
11:30 a.m.Oh, boy! Dog food! My favorite!
Noon- Oh, boy! The kids! My favorite!
1:00 p.m.Oh, boy! The yard! My favorite!
4:00 p.m.Oh, boy! To the park! My favorite!
5:00 p.m.Oh, boy! Dog food! My favorite!
5:30 p.m.Oh, boy! Pretty Mums! My favorite!
6:00 p.m.Oh, boy! Playing ball! My favorite!
6:30 a.m.Oh, boy! Watching TV with my master! My favorite!
8:30 p.m Oh, boy! Sleeping in master's bed! My favorite!

A PAGE FROM A CAT'S DIARY:
Day 200 of My Captivity: My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre
little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while I am
forced to eat dry cereal. The only thing that keeps me going is the hope
of escape, and the mild satisfaction I get from ruining the occasional
piece of furniture.

Tomorrow I may eat another houseplant. Today my attempt to kill my
captors by weaving around their feet while they were walking almost
succeeded; must try this at the top of the stairs. In an attempt to
disgust and repulse these vile oppressors, I once again induced myself
to vomit on their favorite chair, must try this on their bed.

Decapitated a mouse and brought them the headless body, in an attempt to
make them aware of what I am capable of, and to try to strike fear into
their hearts. They only cooed and condescended about what a good little
cat I was. Hmmm, not working according to plan.

There was some sort of gathering of their accomplices. I was placed in
solitary confinement throughout the event. However, I could hear the
noise and smell the food. More importantly, I overheard that my
confinement was due to my power of "allergies." Must learn what this is
and how to use it to my advantage.

I am convinced the other captives are flunkies and maybe snitches. The
dog is routinely released and seems more than happy to return. He is
obviously a half-wit. The bird, on the other hand, has got to be an
informant, and speaks with them regularly. I am certain he reports my
every move. Due to his current placement in the metal room, his safety
is assured. But I can wait, it is only a matter of time .....

Whoaah, bit heavy this but just going with a few observations I've been making.

I have been an eBay Powerseller for a while now and with selling over 800 items I have had the fortune to notice many strange things that go on with coincidences.  I come from a Maths background and can prove some weird things with stats but I feel that some things defy explanation.

I have read a book purely written on coincidences that states that coincidences are God talking to us.  He does it in fun ways with numbers and names almost as though he is having a laugh at / with us.  It states that when you notice coincidences happening around you then more and more start to happen.  I have noticed the same.  Celestine Prophecy also mentions coincidences. 

I can go many weeks on eBay without a problem and then two completely different people come to me with exactly the same problem.  500 payments in a row and then 2 people pay on exactly the same day within a few minutes with some weird payment - they live on opposite ends of the country.  I sometimes notice somebody's address is a play on words with somewhere I know.  The other day I had 3 different buyers within 2 days all have either their name or their address the same as one of the roads that I used to live in.  I usually take this as a bad sign because I find that something is about to happen.  Sure enough, one of the worst experiences I had was with one of them (by chance his name was the same as a road I used to live in "Kelvin" Road and his address was the same as my mother's road) - I knew something was going to happen.  Yep, he started to moan before he had even received the goods and all the way through the sales process. I now take it as a sign to batten down the hatches and make sure I have all bases covered on my business.

Recently I have asked God or whoever it is for answers to general questions that I have and then let the question go.  Sure enough the answer would appear within 24 hours and the right person would appear - I mean the right person with ALL the answers.  It usually took 2 or 3 days when I was back in London but they seem to be happening a lot quicker now I am believing in this coincidences stuff.  This is very spooky and I have no real strong explanation.  I feel that people are drawn to the same experience as you or each other and when you feel something others are drawn to your energy (steady Dave, you're getting a bit freaky now !!!).

I would expect that the answers and people come to me if I am being really lovely and honest but they even come to me when I'm being a pain in the neck to others but really searching for something.  If it is God or whoever then how can that be - surely rewards are only given to the good people but it appears not.  Now, I'm really confused, basically I can go for it and tread all over people and still get what I want, now that is unfair. 

Talk about God works in mysterious ways.


Perhaps it comes under the banner of The Group Mind Theory

The Human Group Mind and How It Works
http://www.solbaram.org/articles/mind1.html

Manipulated Communities and Populations
http://www.solbaram.org/articles/mind2.html

Manipulated Individuals
http://www.solbaram.org/articles/mind3.html

Freedom, Liberty and Good Life: Overcoming Corrupt Manipulations
http://www.solbaram.org/articles/mind4.html

Blogs and branding link hand in hand.

This is a very important subject and will become more important as time goes on.

When everybody sees a great teacher they awe in their presence and try to learn.  You will not get a better time to being a part of things than now - zaadz is literally growing as we speak, including it's brand. Open your mind as to another lesson that is being taught. (a lesson in business)..

2 examples : zaadz and Donald Trump, the Apprentice.
The Facade :
zaadz - "What a great idea I can now communicate effectively with like minded people"  (we are looking at this site as consumers-in a raw sense).
Donald Trump, The Apprentice - "Great, I can now want to work for a great leader" or "I now feel empowered to being an entrepreneur myself".


Blogs are so important for 5 reasons - particularly in business
The power of blogs
1 They expose an idea
2 They have a great impact on search engines and give your site terrific free hits
3 It positions you as an expert
4 It affects public opinion
5 Gives great dialogue with customers


A  Hidden Lesson
zaadz - Great branding and product and all the above 5 points

Donald Trump - he is not enrolling for new employees as much as selling his brand.  (Sorry Kelly, you are a great employee though).  Notice Donald puts his name in every statement and keeps mentioning his products.

Other examples are property seminars.
Go along and great, I now want to go into real estate.  Trot along to the back and buy the speaker's products.  I can now be like them.  WRONG.  They have moved their shift, they are not doing property any more, they are branding themself and also selling education.  Yet we don't want to copy their methods for selling education, we would rather buy their stuff and make it in real estate (usually when the bubble has burst).  We are not really looking at what THEY are doing, we are looking at it at what they can do for US.  That's why so many people get caught up with the sheep and don't open their eyes as to what is really going on.


Blogs will soon be very big in many businesses because of the huge cheap benefits that they offer.  Add a regular blog or a blog forum like this to your new internet business and you'll fly like a star because of the 5 points set out above.  Imagine if blogging is your business, the power of that - it's a double bonus.

Communcation, education and giving for free are the buzz words here for new businesses to adhere to.

Perhaps this might help us look at many higher leaders and spiritual people and not look at them as what they can do for US, but change the question to "What are they doing and how can I copy THEM and be like them.". 

These guys here are great role models who are giving us such an excellent example of how a business should be run, we should be watching and learning.  They also have a great cause so the power is enormous.

Heh, kill me for saying the above.  I am purely looking at zaadz from a business prospective and not a spritual perspective. From a spiritual perspective, this site is fantastic, but I am creating my own business and I am learning far more lessons through watching these great guys work.  They really are cutting edge !!!

Having problems working out when everyone is up, more use for me really 8=) 

    LA     New York  London   Switz      Asia    New Zealand
 03:00      06:00        11:00     12:00     19:00       (00:00)
 04:00      07:00        12:00     13:00     20:00        01:00
 05:00      08:00        13:00     14:00     21:00        02:00
 06:00      09:00        14:00     15:00     22:00        03:00
 07:00      10:00        15:00     16:00     23:00        04:00
 08:00      11:00        16:00     17:00    (00:00)      05:00
 09:00      12:00        17:00     18:00     01:00        06:00
 10:00      13:00        18:00     19:00     02:00        07:00
 11:00      14:00        19:00     20:00     03:00        08:00
 12:00      15:00        20:00     21:00     04:00        09:00
 13:00      16:00        21:00     22:00     05:00        10:00
 14:00      17:00        22:00     23:00     06:00        11:00
 15:00      18:00        23:00    (00:00)   07:00        12:00
 16:00      19:00       (00:00)   01:00     08:00        13:00
 17:00      20:00        01:00     02:00     09:00        14:00
 18:00      21:00        02:00     03:00     10:00        15:00
 19:00      22:00        03:00     04:00     11:00        16:00
 20:00      23:00        04:00     05:00     12:00        17:00
 21:00     (00:00)      05:00     06:00     13:00        18:00
 22:00      01:00        06:00     07:00     14:00        19:00
 23:00      02:00        07:00     08:00     15:00        20:00
(00:00)    03:00        08:00     09:00     16:00        21:00
 01:00      04:00        09:00     10:00     17:00        22:00
 02:00      05:00        10:00     11:00     18:00        23:00

When visiting a country I have listed the following in order of importance for setting up a business (or just for travelling).

Purpose of travel / stay
Internet Sites / Travel Books
Get maps
General - weather, jabs, plugs, etc
Transport
VISA / Permits
Cash
Accommodation + breakfast
Washing
Luggage Storage
Communication
Contact loved ones
Where to Eat
Where to visit
Shops / Where to Buy
Entertainment
Pamper yourself
Protecting yourself/assets

If you knock these on the head quickly in this order then you won't need a 5 star hotel and you will feel comfortable much quicker.  (5 star hotels just simply provide you with what is on this list and charge a fortune for doing it).

Got this check list down to achieving it in 3 days although the military have got it down to hours and I'm sure others of you seasoned travellers can beat 3 days.  I want to beat my 3 day record in a new country !!!

I've also heard some people who's lists are much smaller, one person I know just takes a piece of string (for hanging out washing) and just goes.

Anyone any improvements on my list or on 3 days ?

Might as well do something useful with my first ever blog and list the birth years of people for Chinese Lunar Symbols.

Find out your personality here : http://www.tuvy.com/entertainment/chinese_horoscope.htm

                     RAT                 OX             TIGER          RABBIT       DRAGON       SNAKE
METAL   1900 1960   1901 1961   1950 2010   1951 2011   1940 2000   1941 2001
WATER  1912 1972  1913 1973    1962 2022  1963 2023    1952 2012   1953 2013
WOOD   1924 1984   1925 1985   1974 2034   1975 2035   1964 2024   1965 2025
FIRE       1936 1996   1937 1997   1986 2046   1987 2047   1976 2036   1977 2037
EARTH  1948 2008   1949 2009   1998 2058    1999 2059   1988 2048   1989 2049

                  HORSE           LAMB          MONKEY      ROOSTER     DOG                PIG
METAL   1930 1990    1931 1991   1920 1980    1921 1981  1910 1970   1911 1971
WATER  1942 2002    1943 2003   1932 1992    1933 1993  1922 1982   1923 1983
WOOD   1954 2014    1955 2015   1944 2004    1945 2005  1934 1994   1935 1995
FIRE       1966 2026    1967 2027   1956 2016    1957 2017  1946 2006   1947 2007
EARTH   1978 2038    1979 2039   1968 2028    1969 2029  1958 2018   1959 2019