Piercing the Moneyball

There are exactly two chimes of the clock before the Nutcrackers start to sing, all kinds of Nutcrackers. There are ones dressed in fisherman slickers, and plaid shirts. Some look like Troll Dolls with green hair. The trick is to get the mute button on before they start to sing. It’s the same with the dog’s eyes. The minute you see the eyes, you have to descend that volume pretty quickly. Ahh...the joy of Christmas ads. If Jesus had been born today, somebody would have set up shop outside the stable to sell tickets and selfies with the Holy Family.

A person’s gotta earn a living. Lots of money is required to have even a modest lifestyle in the United States. I’ve seen people earn money all sorts of ways and this year, I have all my ‘product’ to sell and am truly moving into entrepreneurship. It’s spiritually daunting.

Some people earn their living in less than honorable ways, on the backs of others, selling half truths, or faulty products.
I sell hope and healing and Jesus and integrity and engaging with your pain in creative ways that bring blessing. In the world of literature and personal growth, that is called, ‘selling transformation’.

I sell being real and enjoying life. Much of the United States sells, inadequacy, fear, worry, lack, and jealousy.
Homes are sold by clearing out anything personal and staging them to show off windows and walls. I have spent a lifetime going into the messy complicated lives of people in their own homes (and trust me, everyone’s life is messy and complicated), and said, well...let’s reorganize this and here is a strength and here is a strength and here is a weakness that isn’t as bad as you think.

In short, I’m thinking the world is not interested in what I have to sell, and certainly not how truthfully I have to sell it. But I keep coming back to the “Moneyball”. Do you remember that book or movie? It told the story of a guy who decided to change the game of how to choose the best baseball players for a team. In a way, you looked at their shortcomings and their small successes and then placed them in optimal positions and teamed them with others who balanced their assets. It changed the game of baseball for good.

I’m looking at how popular Brene Brown is right now. She’s kind of the new Wayne Dyer. There are all the PBS shows about brain health and heart health. Then there’s Suze Orman.

How do you make transformation, soul work, spirit work popular? Especially the kind that has eternity attached to it?  
Last year I was reduced to having only the option of renting an office and two storage units to get a book done I’d wanted to get done for years; had an editor waiting for my words, for years, had worked on with the illustrator, for years, and was not able to get it done because of people who were/are dishonest in how they earn their money and overextended with credit.  I slept in my car...for a year.

Drastic, but nothing dozens of artists and entrepreneurs haven’t done, most notably Tyler Perry.  I got ‘er done. But then I was faced with the selling of it. When the powers that be at my office told me they didn’t want a ‘homeless person’ working at their facility, out of nowhere, friends offered me an opportunity to stay with them, have my own room to write and build my business while I made dinner for them each night, and helped them sort and downsize as I wait for my own place. In my sphere that’s what is known as a residency. Writer’s search all over for them. It’s a gigantic atta girl from God, believe me!
Now, side comment, everyone associated with me wanted to know what kind of people pitch a person they perceive to be homeless out on the streets, especially one who is working successfully, morning, noon and night? I actually hadn’t thought of that question. In the ultimate irony, I will probably recoup all my financial loss telling the story of a white crippled old woman who slept in her car for a year to get her work to the market. Especially since it happened in one of the wealthiest communities in the States. First interview request is being set up for the New Year.

But back to my main point. How do you compete with integrity against lack of integrity? Everyday we find out products have harmed us, companies have lied, offers are not genuine. Businesses make a big to do about donating products to worthy causes, when in reality there is a bean counter in the upstairs offices telling them they have to give away such and such percent in order to offset taxes on profits.

From hairspray to VW’s, we’ve bought into products that are faulty and hurt both us and the environment. So many people have died because someone at the top didn’t want to listen to someone in the trenches tell them a single part could cause an explosion. Can we talk ‘O’ rings and space shuttles, Karen Silkwood, and Erin Brockovich?  You’re probably in a place now where someone is cutting the corners and nobody wants to hear about it.

Going back to the singing Nutcrackers and Dog That Goes Shopping, even I am going to go to those stores in search of a fragrance for my daughter for the holidays. I may even buy one of the new Vans when VW brings them out.   

The answer is, I don’t know how I’m going to do it. I do know I’m going to concentrate on seeking people who want a better internal quality of life, want more joy and happiness, and friends and loved ones; people who find lying anathema because it keeps you from Love. People who have hearts of gold, not gold plated fears and insecurities. Then I will tell them. You’re on the right track. I’ll keep you posted about the rest.

Love and Happy Holiday wishes for what really counts in life.
Deborah