New Year, New Approach to Finances: hexagram 60.3

[ariel13]

New Year, New Approach to Finances: hexagram 60 to 3

Hi all,

Happy New Year! Hope you are having a great start to your year. I had a pretty upsetting close to my 2015 but am hopeful about a fresh start for 2016.

I am trying to get my finances in order partially due to the fact that I came into a small amount of money from a relative that passed in late December. So this has got me thinking about what to do with the money. The question I actually posted is about how to find a way for my art to pay for itself though. I asked this, because I'm in a little bit of a conundrum wondering if it is going to be better for me to "invest" this money further into my small business that is my art practice or to do something else with it. In my mind, I feel that I should not have to use the money for that, because I feel there has got to be a way for me to figure out how to sell enough work to at least pay for the studio. And that would ease my financial burden immensely and also make me feel like this is not all for naught.

So I asked, "how can I earn enough money from my art to pay for my studio?"

And the answer was 60.2, which does not sound very promising. It sounds like it is saying something about me not putting myself out there enough though. I am not sure how that can be the case when typically I take every opportunity to participate in shows, etc. and also send out email updates and post everything on social media and maintain a website. I am not sure what else I should be doing.

Does anyone have any idea of some other interpretations of this line?

Also, I'd prefer more broad feedback. It gets very annoying when people not in my field make lots of silly suggestions like, "try Etsy!" "put your art on a T-shirt!" "Sell it on the corner!" None of these are options in my book. I want quality collectors who will take care of my work, and I have no desire to commercialize it. I already work as a designer for my day job so have no desire to commercialize my personal work (unless it was a very specific opportunity or circumstance).

I also asked a second question, "What is the best use of my relative's money to benefit me for the long term?" The answer was 16.2.

I'd appreciate your insights!

Happy New Year and All the Best,
Jen :bows:

 

[canislulu]

Could 60.2 simply be a warning and not a prediction? (I note that your title says 60.3?)

I wonder why Yi would give you a warning about what not to do instead of what to do.

What was the answer to the question about your relative's money?

 

[ariel13]

Could 60.2 simply be a warning and not a prediction. (I note that your title says 60.3?)

Oops! Thanks jumpingmouse. I just changed the title. I think the system did not recognize the character I was trying to type. It is actually hexagram 60 changing to hexagram 3. I think was 60.2 ...

Anyway, well what is the warning about? I'm a little confused. Why would it possibly be bad to sell artwork haha?

 

[canislulu]

60.2 suggests doing something different from what you usually do.

What about a different "day job" to pay for your studio? It may be that if you want to keep your art "pure" you may not be able to make enough money for it in that way. If your day job isn't paying for the studio --- perhaps you need a different "day job". Or is the idea that you hope to give up your day job and make a living from your art?

And what was the answer to the question about your relative's money?

 

[ariel13]

Oops. Thanks for your patience jumpingmouse! I am screwing up threads all over the place today haha.

The answer to the second question was 16.2. (I edited again).

As for the first answer... hmm... yeah I don't know. Technically my day job does pay for the studio. The question was how can I have the studio be self sustaining i.e. paying for itself by selling what I make there.

As for my day job it is about as lucrative a job I can get in my field. I make more money than most of the people I graduated college with. I could technically make a little more possibly if I put some feelers out to some recruiters and switched jobs, but like I said that was not really my question.

But yeah maybe you have a point about doing something different... As for purity in the art, it's not that I am adverse to suggestions from dealers or whatever. So purity is not really the question. I'm just saying I want it to be consistent with my vision and to continue to be art for art's sake, not utilitarian if that makes sense...By commercial I mean more like that I don't want it to become illustration or design in any way. I want it to be sculptures, paintings, installations– art for art's sake.

 

[canislulu]

I wonder what would happen if you gave up your day job altogether. That would be a "going out of the gate from the courtyard" which is what Yi seems to be telling you to do. Perhaps your inheritance makes this possible? If you didn't have the "day job" you could work more on your art and getting it out into the world.

Perhaps you could ask Yi, "What about giving up my day job?"

 

[ariel13]

ha! Interesting. It is something I sort of tried before... BUT I had a lot fewer contacts and a lot less idea of how to go about it at that time. I feel like what I need is a grant. But that will take more research. Unfortunately the inheritance is not enough to sustain me for more than a half year or so if I used it to pay for my life. It would just be a good down payment towards something and/or a bit to be invested.

This is food for thought though, bc I have been toying with the notion of going freelance again. And I would make a lot more money freelance and also presumably have more time for my art...

Mercury will be in retrograde again soon, so I suppose I'll have some time to think on it!

Thanks for getting the wheels turning!

:bows:

 

[ariel13]

Okay I asked yi, "what about giving up my day job?" And I got hexagram 31. Does this just mean that I am attracted to the idea?? hehe

 

[canislulu]

Yes, it does sound as though you are attracted to the idea.

 

[angelatlantis14]

Hi Ariel,

this is interesting because the Hex 31 turned up in another thread recently, in a not so dissimilar context, about a job...Hex 31 speaks about mutual attraction, which I take to be as "you are influenced by the situatiuon, and the situation is also influenced by you", a two-way process. To me this would in your situation be a pointer that if you influence your situation by giving up your day job, this would also hugely influence yourself - not in the obvious way of being out of a job but in a more deep way. Maybe this reading says that if you show the comittment of giving up the job to focus on your art, this will return the investment in it by getting to be self-paying?
Please understand that this is solely what I am getting from the reading - giving up a paid job is a strong decision where lots of factors must be considered, and only you are a good enough judge to actually do this...but the reading seems indeed to give a positive outlook on it.
best wishes

maui

 

[canislulu]

I like Maui's comments on the H 31 answer. And perhaps Yi gives 31 instead of 32 as the answer because it remains to be seen if ariel will make the commitment. Often Yi doesn't seem to actually tell us what to do as in, "Make the commitment!" but rather shows us the reality of the situation. I agree with Maui that 31 is a positive reading. It doesn't have any difficult changing lines with warnings and red flags. But again, it is a strong decision, best made by YOU and not us and with care.

What about

second question, "What is the best use of my relative's money to benefit me for the long term?"

and H 16.2?

Ariel, what are your own thoughts so far about how to employ the money? Have you talked to a financial advisor? Perhaps a financial advisor could be one of the "feudal lords" mentioned in H 16, i.e. from Wikiwing

Fruitful to set up feudal lords and mobilise the armies.

16.2 speaks of now allowing limits to turn into stone. Again --- perhaps the inheritance is giving you some freedom to make choices now. And perhaps a financial advisor can help you know how to make the money last long enough to get things going in terms of your art supporting you.

 

[ariel13]

Hi Jumpingmouse,
I have not spoken to a financial advisor. I suppose that would be advisable!

I am also wondering though about the feudal lords line... could Yi also be referring to investing in real estate? i.e. becoming like a feudal lord in the sense that I would be a land owner?

That is something I am wondering about actually. I recently had a kind of an epiphany about the type of day job I would like to have. I had kind of forgotten about it bc it seems so far out of reached but was just reminded upon hearing of your idea of quitting the day job. Anyway, it is something that I even did some mind mapping about it – a technique I learned recently in a meditation class that is supposed to help you get to the heart of what it is you want.

Anyway, the idea that I had was to run an artist's studio building. If I could purchase a building I could do that... then I would just rent the spaces as my main source of income and be able to work on my art all the time. I am really thinking maybe this is the direction Yi is trying to remind me of.

With the small amount of money I have it could be a down payment.. bc with my day job I could still show proof of good income, and my credit is ok, so this could potentially be an option!

Wow... I think I just came full circle in knowing what I want to do. Thanks to you both for helping me jog the noggin!

 

[angelatlantis14]

Hi Ariel and Jumpingmouse,

that has been an interesting discussion Its really valuable to get different perspectives on various lines and hexes. The ideas of "feudal lords" here have been valuable to me too, because they are different to what I usually read them as (which is along the lines of "trust your inner intuition, your higher self")
But the ideas of both financial advisors and the role of landlord are both very appropriate here.

I think that the idea of investing the money into an artists building sounds really good - people do it with office space, so why not with artists space? The image of a lot of diverse creative people working in a commons space is nice...

so I hope it all turns out for the best!

best wishes

maui