I am writing this for you and I am writing this for me.
When I decided to make this prebirthday sale it felt totally like the right thing to do and it was the right thing to do and I took action fast.
Now I want to share with you my insights about myself I got during this and insights about society and the human race.
So, let’s go to the background. In the last year I isolated myself a lot from people. I said no to many things. I was alone a lot. I was asking myself who am I really and what do I want to do and how I want to do it. And of course I was observing myself and society and the world.
I didn’t watch a lot of movies or read many books because it was more interesting to watch what’s going on inside of me. It was like I am the main character in a movie and I was watching it and living it at the same time.
But more about next time, because it’s pretty wide topic and the things I saw in me are everything between heaven and hell and even beyond that.
What matters for this story I am telling right now is that I went to heaven. Not heaven like after death, but realising I can live heaven right here, right now if I put on the first place what really matters to me. Freedom, peace, art. And I did it. And so many things started to shift and my life started to be more and more amazing in every aspect.
And then… there’s always and then, eh? 😛 Then few things happened and I went back to the hell of my mind.
I will only expose one thing here, because it’s connected to the business and this 3 Ptice prebirthday sale.
My business started going really well, because I started putting myself out there more and started talking about things that matter to me and I was so happy with myself, because I knew I am on my way. Money was coming in regularly, I was in a zone of genius and I had the courage to speak about insights I got. The vibe I had was “life is a festival”. I was always at the right place at the right time doing the right thing. It was like the police could stop me and punish me, because I was feeling so good, so high, high on life.
And then that little thing happened. I was at friend’s apartment and I saw his painting and I was like “Wooow, can I put this on a tote bag?” And he was like “Of course.” And then he asked me how much I am going to sell it for. And I said that at least 20€. And the noise that came out of his nose was “Khm.”
Which I explained to myself as “You are greedy for wanting that much.” Probably because that friend told me before that he thinks my prices are too high. Which many people here in Slovenia think, I cannot tell you how many times I heard that before.
Of course my sales dropped then because I had this vibe of being a bad greedy person. And I started hiding. I was still showing up, but not like a bright star, but like an afraid little candle in the wind.
It’s funny to see this written and I am sure you are having lots of advice for me while reading this. Don’t worry, I know them all at the mental level.
But on the emotional level it’s another story. I want to be loved. I want people to think well of me. Especially I want my close friends and family to think well of me and love me.
And even though this friend was never in business himself and doesn’t know what it takes I took his “khm” to my heart.
And to my mind. And I did this prebirthday sale as an experiment. I knew that giving 50% off is a total no brainer and that people are going to buy.
I am also excited when avocados or bananas are 50% percent off.
But let’s go now to self worth. You can read everywhere that prices you put on your products and services are the reflection of your self-worth.
So, orders started coming in there was a lot of work. I had lots of things in stock already, I was sewing a lot and put everything in my amazing ecofriendly packages, I was constantly on the phone replying to people or meeting with them and giving them products. Mind you, I have the most amazing customers, so there was lots of love in there.
And it felt good to have all these orders coming in and it felt good to work hard.
But after a week or two of this sale I realised that even though I made lots of sales, there was no profit. I bought some food, put some gas in my car, bought necessary materials, paid some things and that was it.
Of course on the outside it seems to people like whoa, you are doing so good, I see how much sales are you making.
And of course it felt super good to me when I saw how happy all my customers were.
But back to self-worth. Few weeks ago I started asking myself, how the fuck self-worth feels like. And I had no feeling around this. On a mental level, I know that what I do is good and what I am is like next level amazing. But I had no feeling around it.
In my childhood, I was rewarded when I was working really hard. My mum was proud of me when I cleaned the whole house so that when she stepped in was like whoah, everything shining. And then she was happy and I got a chocolate. I always had the best grades in school, because I love knowledge. I didn’t put in much work in learning (I usually pretended that I am learning or doing homework, so that I didn’t have to do work around the house and I was reading novels). And it was normal at home that I have the best grades. So it was really hard for me when my friend told me they are celebrating with going out for pizza when she gets the best grades. Or when at the end of the school year some kids got cool gifts. And I got chocolate.
This is not now blaming my parents, because the financial situation was the way it was. But what I learned through this was that when I work really hard and do everything possible, I get a little reward and some love. And when I don’t have to try hard, and therefore I use this time for something I love to do, but of course hiding while doing it, I get a little reward.
So, no matter what I do my pattern around self-worth is, that I get to receive something little. It’s funny that I didn’t feel comfortable selling my products for original prices and promoting them, but when I had -50%, I felt comfortable promoting. Because this way no one could say it’s too much and that I am not working hard enough.
Now let’s go to the financial situation in Slovenia. When most people earn around 600 or 700€ neto and most of it goes for living expenses, it’s kinda logical that my prices are too high for them. Even though my products last for years and years.
It’s this collective cloud of struggle and working hard. Slovenian folks are going to work in northern countries if they want to earn a little bit more and folks from the south are coming to Slovenia if they want to earn an extra euro. And we are all getting less than we are worth.
Now I would like to go to the global situation. I did tons of mindset work in the past year and what I repeatedly hear from all those mindset teachers is that you get paid to the proportion of value you provide for the world and the impact you have.
But I cannot agree with this. Because I see so many people doing things that are of value for the whole world yet they don’t get paid for it. I cannot see how somebody who builds our roads, gets paid a minimum barely enough to survive, yet his work is of value for all of us and has an impact on all of us. I do get it when thought leaders are paid a lot for the value they provide for their followers through their words and impact those words have and how that change people’s lives. I think their work is worth the money and I am happy to pay them so that they can expand my mind.
Yet still, I think we have a problem as a society that we measure the value of human life in money and impact.
Aren’t we all humans and we all deserve to live well? No matter if we build roads, make art, write poetry, raise kids, provide food, clean houses, or speak to millions? Or if we are old, sipping wine and watching memories of our lives in our mind’s eye.
That’s why I am huge advocate for universal basic income. If we have money, which is amazing invention of the human mind, and we need it if we want to live in civilization, it’s only fair in my opinion that everybody gets a sum of money that covers his living expenses. Imagine how much less fear and heavy energy would be in the air if people wouldn’t have to worry whether they can buy food or not, pay bills or not.
What comes up when I talk with people about this, “What about those who would take advantage of this and do nothing?”
And my thoughts are, that those who take advantage over others are already doing it and we shouldn’t deprive everybody because of this.
Yes, I believe in “Don’t give man a fish, teach him how to catch a fish.” But how will you teach somebody who is starving how to fish, when his mind-body is in fight or flight or frozen mode? We all know we learn better when we are relaxed.
Lots of studies were already done on the subject of universal basic income and I encourage you to read them. It is kinda socialistic idea. But it doesn’t demand that we are all the same. Because humans are not all the same. But we are all valuable. And if somebody wants to earn millions or billions they still can. In fact, if their service is really valuable, they gonna earn them even easier, because even more people will be able to give them money. But as free folks, not as modern day slaves.
If we come back to the sale I ended before the date and my self-worth.
I am recognizing that I am worthy of getting paid well for what I do, either with painting on the tote bags, recycling old clothes and scraps in beautiful pouches, diving into my own subconscious and collective mind, thinking deep thoughts and writing them. It’s only logical, that if I am in business, I must have a profit if I want to grow it. I am worthy of spending quality time with friends. I am worthy eating healthy food. I am worthy of enjoying the nature and meditating on the sofa with my dog by my side.
I am worthy of living a quality life and so is everybody else on this planet.
It’s not rich against poor. Left against right. It’s about recognizing that we are all in this together.
Love and compassion,
Anita,
3 Ptice
With Love,
