...life can be translucent

Menu

Asking for help

solun

visitor
Joined
Apr 17, 2008
Messages
265
Reaction score
3
"That's one thing it could be about, but I think it misses the core of the thing - which is about the agreement between two people to enrich one another." - Hilary

Well said.
 

hilary

Administrator
Joined
Apr 8, 1970
Messages
19,149
Reaction score
3,418
Update

Last April, I wrote:
...I've been working full time on Clarity now for going on for eight years. I've always wanted to do two things with it: share the I Ching, and make a living. Well, I can chalk up one success there, largely thanks to you extraordinary people here, and one failure.

I've never mentioned this before - partly out of sheer embarrassment, partly because I've kept telling myself I hadn't made a success of it yet, but I was laying foundations for next year and building a business. It's taken some time, but hints of the real world are starting to percolate through to me. If I'm not making a living, then I'm not running (much less building) a business, I'm indulging in a supremely time-consuming hobby.

Don't get me wrong - there is no hard luck story here. Far from it: David's happy to provide for us both, and does so with the kind of effortless ease that comes with genius. Definitely no hard luck here. :)

Of course I have ambitions, but that's not the point at all. The point - well, the point comes where two facts intersect. 1) I'm giving my life to this and 2) I'm making no contribution to our home, beyond filling one corner of it with typing noises for about 10 hours a day. I'm kidding myself, and this is not good.

What to do about this? For one thing, I'm stopping my 'next year' rationalisations. It has to be this year that something changes. Not to get all the way to being able to fund a mortgage, that'd be unrealistic in the time, but I want to reach £1000/month by December, and I want that to be part of a rising trend, not a blip.

And if I don't make it, I'm going to stop.

I wouldn't shut the whole site down, don't worry. I'd leave the information pages up, fund the forum for a while and put up a big donations button to pay for it in future. I know people value this community, so I'm sure that would be OK. I'd just shut down the 'products and services' part, and go in search of another way to earn a living. I have no clue what, and absolutely no interest in thinking about that, because I don't want this to happen...

What happened?

Well, I had my best year yet, despite the economic climate, and I did reach the £1000/month target several times, though not on a smooth rising trend, and in particular not in December (maybe not surprising since I went on 'retreat' from reading work, starting in November).

I ran an I Ching class, twice; I started Change Circle; I wrote Words of Change; I contributed commentary on every hexagram and line for the WikiWing; I had more mentoring clients than ever; in a small way, I started a podcast.

Also - and more importantly than all the above - I had some eye-opening conversations with Yi, and that financial target I'd set for myself started to seem artificial. As in - invented, spun out of thin air, without roots in anything real. But it did get me doing more work and being of more use to the world than I'd been in quite a while, and the roots-in-reality flourished as a result.

So...

No, I'm not going to stop.

I'm going to keep on - and I've just written a blog post about the direction, aka Clarity's whole reason for being. The basic idea this year is to be of more help to more people. I'm teeming with ideas for products and partnerships that would help to extend and deepen what I offer, and also wide open -

2.gif


- to guidance. Like for instance the sheer number of people reminding me to write a book: not a financially sensible thing to do, I shouldn't think, but it's going to be fun.
 

Grandma

visitor
Joined
Jun 19, 1970
Messages
385
Reaction score
6
Well, this is an old thread but I just found it.
I wonder if you put in book form some of the threads here?
It wouldn't take a decade to write.
I'm not really sure how it would work or what I even mean, but the idea just popped into my head.
 

Sparhawk

One of those men your mother warned you about...
Clarity Supporter
Joined
Sep 17, 1971
Messages
5,120
Reaction score
107
Well, that would be a multiple volume "epic"... :rofl:
 

Sparhawk

One of those men your mother warned you about...
Clarity Supporter
Joined
Sep 17, 1971
Messages
5,120
Reaction score
107
Well Bamboo is working on a screenplay....;)

That's right! Forgot... lol

Will I be portrayed as the passionate and handsome but otherwise insensitive and "intellectual ******" Latino? (with a tail and a cold wet nose to boot, I should add...)
 

bamboo

Supporter
Clarity Supporter
Joined
Mar 9, 1971
Messages
1,485
Reaction score
49
I am trying to figure out what the ****** stand for.....:rolleyes:
well, Luis, you were gonna be modeled on Antonio Banderas but now I think you will be modeled on Javier Bardem ....in NO Country For Old Men: Ruthless when challenged:mischief: But in general, a sweet hot-blooded Latino who sometimes wears a barrel. BTW, In your present icon, I imagine you are holding a thermos of Yerba Mate, but it looks like you are hugging a bong!:cool:


Oh man, what a screenplay it will be. The Clarity tell-all:eek:, all pre-moderation of course
 

Sparhawk

One of those men your mother warned you about...
Clarity Supporter
Joined
Sep 17, 1971
Messages
5,120
Reaction score
107
I am trying to figure out what the ****** stand for.....:rolleyes:

Perhaps you missed this. :D Funny the profanity filter of Clarity replaced with ** the singular word I used but allowed the plural in that post... :rofl:

BTW, In your present icon, I imagine you are holding a thermos of Yerba Mate, but it looks like you are hugging a bong!:cool:
Bardem suits my moodiness, yes. :D As for the above, actually, the thermos only holds the hot water and the "mate" (gourd) holds the yerba mate. You pour the hot water, slowly, and sip away from the "bombilla" (the silver straw you see there)

The Clarity Epic. Enough material for a series, I believe... lol
 

bamboo

Supporter
Clarity Supporter
Joined
Mar 9, 1971
Messages
1,485
Reaction score
49
Btw, I just installed Firefox a few minutes ago after being too afraid for so long that it would crash my desktop. thanks for the recommendation awhile back. why did i wait so long?! this is so cool and so much faster than IE.
 

hilary

Administrator
Joined
Apr 8, 1970
Messages
19,149
Reaction score
3,418
Yes, I am updating the profanity filter to cover plural as well as singular in cases where it didn't.

Wonder if the certification has even been invented to cover Bamboo's screenplay...
 

bamboo

Supporter
Clarity Supporter
Joined
Mar 9, 1971
Messages
1,485
Reaction score
49
I wasnt even aware that "wanker" is a profanity. i thought it was just slang.

what certification do you mean, HIlary...?
 

hilary

Administrator
Joined
Apr 8, 1970
Messages
19,149
Reaction score
3,418
Which just goes to show that putting rude words in quote fools the silly filter, too. Never mind! The dictionary has it as 'vulg. slang' as opposed to merely 'vulg.' - what's the distinction, I wonder? And who has the wonderful job of weighing all these words in the balance?

And what must poor Susan be thinking? Sorry, Susan. Thank you for the suggestion.

I meant film certification, like PG for Parental Guidance, 18, etc. I suppose the Yi itself traditionally comes with a rating of 50...
 

Grandma

visitor
Joined
Jun 19, 1970
Messages
385
Reaction score
6
Susan is thinking how often and quickly the conversations here get over her head.
But some are very funny when she can follow them.

Anyway, it seems like onlineclarity is more than just a hobby for you Hilary. I did some throws about what you should do and the first one I got was 14, unchanging. I am thinking that even if others make more money from the i ching than you do you are still a great contributor in the i ching world.
and the website, you created seems important in itself, imho.
 

charly

visitor
Joined
May 9, 2007
Messages
2,315
Reaction score
243
Susan got 14 for Hilary. It's the best omen for business:

H.14:
da4: big / great / large /
you3: to have / there is / there are /
yuan2: dollar / primary / first /
heng1: prosperous / feast / celebration / enjoy/


BIG ASSETS
Great patrimony

DOLLAR'S FEAST
Enjoy cash.
Extensive for credit card.​

Charly

P.D.:
5143.gif

From: Zdic.net
HIGH + MAN: a person with high matters in mind, one of it MONEY.

= chinese currency unit
美元 = US dollar, literally BEAUTIFUL YUAN.

Ch.
 
Last edited:

Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom

Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).

Top