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| Jul 04, 2005 4:29 am |
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Okay, My "Inner Guidance" Needs a Second Opinion :-) (and a request) |
Marilyn Jenett
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Hi Monica,
I was going to send you a private message but then thought that maybe my situation and your response may help someone else. I hope my questions are appropriate here and would not be considered consulting for you.
I have always practiced "releasing" what is no longer necessary in all aspects of life - mentally, emotionally and physically (environment and clutter). I strongly believe in creating a "vacuum" in order to attract prosperity. Also, I cannot function in a cluttered and disorderly environment. I visited your website and reviewed the first listed HGTV episode - I could not believe the "before" photos of that woman's office and how she ran her business from there. I could NEVER even walk into that room :-) What a fantastic job you did. (more on HGTV at the end of this post).
Okay, so I don't believe in holding onto clutter. And I follow my intuitive guidance as to what needs to be released. Usually. But there are a couple of areas that I am not clear about (you'll see why) and would greatly appreciate your input. I will only address one of them in this post so it doesn't overwhelm.
First, I moved my corporate business home a couple of years ago after 16 years in an executive suite office in a highrise. I had plenty of cabinet and storage space at my office and I was very organized (neighboring tenants often marvelled at my neat office. I miss those built in cabinets.
So I brought everything home. That included many sizable boxes of components for my beautiful business presentation package. The entire design and printing job for these items cost about $12,000 (about 6-7 years ago). There were 1000 presentation folders - gorgeous terragon green with my logo - black box and gold foil embossed lettering (you can see the web scan here on this "update" page: http://www.MarilynJenettLocations.com - it actually scanned better than we thought it would, but not as gorgeous as the physical items). I even had the booklet envelopes made in matching color - 3000 was required for the minimum custom order (there is a reason I am being this descriptive). There is no address on the folders so they are always current. There were also matching blank notecards and envelopes - again about 1000. I had the letterheads reprinted with the current address and those smaller items (letterheads, cards, etc) don't take up that much space. The package itself that I sent out over the years contained first quality color reprints, bio, articles about me, articles I wrote, etc. A top quality package. But everyone of those items can be put on a website (and some have already).
Help! I am stuck on the presentation folders and envelopes.
In all those years, I have only used a portion of them, maybe a couple of hundred at most. So I have 3 boxes of the large booklet envelopes (thousands) and almost 3 boxes of the large folders (750).
And here are the reasons for my dilemma:
1. My corporate business of 20 years is no longer important to me. My prosperity program is my life now and has taken precedence. I have one huge corporate client, Campbell and I have been involved in their promotions for a year now and will continue, but they take very little of my time, so my corporate business is a lucrative "hobby". I no longer want to do the type of events of past years. It's not me anymore.
2. If I have only used a couple of hundred folders/envelopes over so many years, obviously I will not need the remaining volume unless I continue with my business indefinitely, which I won't. So you would think I would just trash most of them, right?
3. Everything has changed with the Internet. Everything that is in my presentation package and much more has been scanned and can be added to the website. So even if I were to do more business, companies don't request packages anymore. They just use websites, don't they?
I always mailed or Fed Exed proposals, contracts and other paperwork in these folders as well because they were so darn beautiful - I was proud of them. But guess what? Nobody wants paperwork anymore. All proposals, contracts, etc. are emailed. The only thing Campbell and I mail are occasional originals of signed contracts. Another reason to release the excess.
4. I have been speaking about having someone take over that business and run it for me. But even if that happened, would they need and use all those physical presentation materials?
5. The boxes are stored in a closet. I keep them out of sight. But I know they are there. And items that are not used I consider clutter. I don't want to hang on to remnants of the past that are no longer useful. That old vacuum thing - create "space" to make room for the new.
A side note...I had stored my memoirs - family photos, my son growing up, business publicity (I was a media darling for years) in a storage facility for almost 20 years to keep the past "out of sight". I took everything from storage this past year and decided to streamline. (I learned my lesson about "storing" things and will never do it again). My television shows were on video but I had them all converted to DVD - wow! what previously took two banker boxes of space now neatly fits in the corner of a drawer. Same with newspaper veloxes, etc. - had them scanned to disks. So I was able to come up with good solutions to streamline. And I am able to release things that no longer have use or meaning. But...
Thousands of dollars worth of striking presentation folders and envelopes? I can't seem to get those boxes out the door. I could keep 50 of them just for a little security and in case I take on a special client here or there. I am not clear on why I have not trashed them. I don't want to hold onto the past. My business was very meaningful but not any more. Perhaps my concern is that if someone did take over my business, they would want them to do a mailing campaign or something. Not sure. I actually have been speaking with someone about this recently, but I would have to become a consultant to the business to help her, and I am resisting doing that. I think I want to make the break.
Well, this is the weekend of reckoning and I am determined to make the decision.
What's your take on this? Have you had a client go through a similar dilemma when releasing a former business? Shall I claim my "independence" from these beautiful but no longer used items? Or is there something from your client experience that may add to this?
Regarding HGTV, they were clients of mine for years...I produced the events that put them on the map in the cable industry - you can see a couple of them at the above link.
I lost touch with Mariane Whittemore - the last events I did were after they merged with The Food Network. I wanted to let her know what I was doing now with my prosperity program, but their numbers and area codes have changed but I haven't looked further. Have you run into her by any chance in your travels? Do you know if she is still with the company?
Thanks,
Marilyn
P.S. Just in case you are wondering why I had so much volume printed back then...this was a very difficult job for printing (the graphic designers don't take these things into consideration all the time - they go for the appeal and impact), especially the gold embossed foil on the black box. It turned out, as it often does in printing, that it is much more cost effective to print a higher volume than a lower one. I had a printing broker involved who got the right quotes and this was indeed the best way to go. In fact, the business card which the designer created was half green and half black and was so difficult to print that they did several runs to get it right. They ended up printing about a thousand extra cards and just gave them to me. The owner of the printing company jokingly told us that he wanted to make sure that we didn't come back for a long time for a re-order :-) 
Private Reply to Marilyn Jenett (new win) |
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