Homeless? Not me. Really! OR: Me, Ben and the Green Recorder
I have based more than a few of my "lessons learned" posts on Los Angeles "street people" or "homeless" or whatever title fits. (Not all are actually homeless, because after their day out on the street, they have a place to go to call home. Heck one, the one I'm talking about in this post actually told me he lives in a "pent house," it seems he does some work for the organization that owns the building with the pent house and they let him stay there. 
Anyway I don't know why I keep running across these things but many, very many, things the Street People say and do remind me of lessons I've heard right here on the WF and other IM discussions.
Take for instance Ben.
Ben is an old man that sets up against a wall in downtown L.A. playing an electronic keyboard, and playing it very well I might add.
People mostly just ignore him. His coffee cup has some change in it every day but not much. He just sets there and plays his heart out for pennies, literally. No one talks to him, no one notices him at least they pretend not to notice him.
Things changed for Ben. Someone stole his keyboard, wait, I'm getting ahead of myself here, back up.
About 2 or 3 weeks ago I'm walking down the street in L.A. and I hear the most intriguing flute music, it's positively captivating, I couldn't help but think of the Pied Piper as I headed toward the the alluring music.
Much to my surprise, when I got to the Piper it wasn't flute music at all it was Ben playing a green recorder. You know, a child's recorder, the kind you buy for your kids when they take music class, the kind that never produces any "real" music at all, the kind my kids lost or broke every time I bought them one. I have no idea why they are called recorders.
Anyway I don't know why I keep running across these things but many, very many, things the Street People say and do remind me of lessons I've heard right here on the WF and other IM discussions.
Take for instance Ben.
Ben is an old man that sets up against a wall in downtown L.A. playing an electronic keyboard, and playing it very well I might add.
People mostly just ignore him. His coffee cup has some change in it every day but not much. He just sets there and plays his heart out for pennies, literally. No one talks to him, no one notices him at least they pretend not to notice him.
Things changed for Ben. Someone stole his keyboard, wait, I'm getting ahead of myself here, back up.
About 2 or 3 weeks ago I'm walking down the street in L.A. and I hear the most intriguing flute music, it's positively captivating, I couldn't help but think of the Pied Piper as I headed toward the the alluring music.
Much to my surprise, when I got to the Piper it wasn't flute music at all it was Ben playing a green recorder. You know, a child's recorder, the kind you buy for your kids when they take music class, the kind that never produces any "real" music at all, the kind my kids lost or broke every time I bought them one. I have no idea why they are called recorders.
Something was different about Ben's situation today, here he was, playing this toy instead of his professional keyboard, but, his cup was full of money, people were standing around listening to him and, WHAT! People were actually talking to him.
I stood there in amazement at the sounds Ben was producing with this toy. After the crowd left I went over to Ben and I said, "You really are amazing, I've never heard real music coming from one of those toys.
Much to my surprise Ben stood up, (I've never seen him in any position other than sitting against that wall,) Ben stood up and smiled as he said, "I used to be an elementary school music teacher, I can play any instrument you can think of." "I got real sick and ran out of money, lost everything except my keyboard." "Someone stole my keyboard and I borrowed this (holding up the recorder) from a kid in my building." Looking at his cup he said, "Looks like I have enough to buy me my own now."
We talked for about 30 minutes and I found this street person more fascinating than some Suits I talk to.
So what IM lessons am I talking about here, (Yes I know this is where we talk about making money.)
Ben wasn't doing very well playing his professional Keyboard on the street, so he changed what he was doing. (Albeit he "had" to change because someone stole his Keyboard.) LESSON: If what I am doing is not working for me, CHAGE what I'm doing.
Ben took a simple toy and made beautiful music with it. LESSON: I don't always have to have the latest and greatest to make money, I just need to use what I've got and make the best of things with it. Whether that means dusting off my old laptop when my state of the art PC crashes or Finding a New Twist on an old product and writing about it and selling that.
Ben didn't stop when his piano was stolen, He found a work around and kept on going. LESSON: DON'T give up.
Ben was on his way to buy his own recorder. LESSON: Invest some of my money back into my IM endeavors.
Wow, lessons come from the most unusual places. Now, I'm not saying these are new lessons, just tried and true ones that even work in the most basic of situations, even Ben's.
My best to you,
George Wright
"May I have ten thousand marbles, please?"
“The first draft of anything is shit.†~Ernest Hemingway
Just when you think you've got it all figured out, someone changes the rules.
Success is not to be pursued; it is to be attracted by the person you become - Jim Rohn
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