I receive weekly emails from Eventful that tells me know what is happening in my area for the next couple of weeks. When I saw that Suze Orman was going to be at our local Indie bookstore Copperfields I first thought that I had read it incorrectly. Or maybe Eventful had made a mistake.
I went to the Copperfield's site and saw that yes Suze Orman was going to be in their store. I didn't quite understand how they managed to land someone so famous in their fabulous bookstore but I wasn't going to argue. I invited my friends Kathleen & Shara along for the event.
Although I had seen Suze on Oprah a few times and I loved her energy, I didn't know much about her. Her first book came out in 1995. She told us that she used to go to bookstores to talk and sometimes only one person would be sitting there surrounded by empty chairs. Other times not one single person would show up. She was clever though and called over all the booksellers in the store and gave them the presentation. They went on to encourage customers to buy her book and it started selling from word of mouth. She said that she spoke in 27 cities. Her first book went on to sell 800K in hardcover before it went to softcover.
I personally love hearing about someone's story before they are well known. Not that I'm going to be at her level but I've organized workshops and sometimes one person had signed up. What I have learned in the last few months is success really isn't just necessarily stumbling upon it, it's working your tail off to get there. Suze has over 1 million followers on Twitter and you know what? She answers all of the tweets that she receives. How lovely is that? In fact I did send her a tweet and she did reply. She mentioned in her reply tweet these two men.
They came into the back of the store right before the talk was set to begin and they went wild. They too couldn't believe that Suze Orman was in our small city. They jumped up and down, the man on the left kept fanning himself as if he would pass out. They had the entire audience in tears because we were laughing so much. When I left the event they were out in the parking lot singing and dancing "we met Suze Orman! We met Suze Orman!"
She shared a very warm story about choosing the Santa Rosa store for her book tour. Her publishers were asking her to go to New York. She told them Santa Rosa. She typically has 10K-50K people in each audience, not the 100 or so people that came to see her in our indie bookstore. She said she wants to be touched by us and she wants us to be touched by her. I adored her at that very moment.
This attitude is what really took me by surprised. She was so darn authentic and real. I mean seriously I felt that she was talking to each one of us personally. She shared with us "that honest is what moves a product not a "buy, buy, buy" message". She told us that she cares about every one of us and "advice is given by someone who cares about you." Let me tell you, I could feel that right down to my heart.
Suze and I share a similarity in that we want people to feel empowered about money. I want you to be able to make choices about living on less rather than money being in control of you. She wants you to feel confident. She said we are supposed to feel whole and content all of the time. Life isn't about dreading Sunday afternoon and feeling relieved on Friday at 5pm.
Shara & Suze
How many of us wake up on Monday and feel happy and content? I was having dinner with Cathe Holden a couple of months ago and complained to her that I wasn't enjoying selling books any more. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy the process of selling books, it's just that I didn't enjoy buying books with all the competitive and not-always-so kind other booksellers. It's can be a very negative energy out there in the thrift buying world and I must admit it is starting to wear me down. I really try to surround myself with positive people who genuinely care about the world. People who think about others before themselves. Cathe wisely told me that I should figure out what I want to do and make a job based on that.
Okay so that sounds simple enough but in practice does it work? Well let's just say she planted a seed in my head that is just growing and growing and growing. I do want to wake up on Monday and love what I do and be successful at it. I'm working at the moment in creating that very business. I can't begin to tell you how excited I am.
me & Suze
Suze asked us "what can we do to make ourselves whole?" We all know that going to mall is a quick fix but not only does it rack up debt on our credit cards, in the end we have shopping guilt on top of the debt. Does retail shopping make us feel whole? I don't think so.
Does thrifting make us feel whole? That is a good question. Sometimes I do use thrifting as an emotional band-aid but my cost is little. I can be out the entire day and spend $20 at thrift stores. I can turn around and sell it at my yard sale for possibly the same price if not more a few months later. It probably still isn't a good habit when one is depressed but it is a relatively cheap one.
Thrifting does make me feel whole. It meets so many different needs.
- I have the satisfaction of buying something for little money.
- I get to bring in high quality, beautiful items into my home.
- I am helping the planet by recycling something someone else bought and didn't want.
- I get to be a part of an incredible thrifting community that has brought me friendship and the opportunity to meet like minded people.
- I get to learn about being patient and not rushing out to buy the crock pot that I wish I had right now. I still need one but I will wait until I run across one at a garage sale. Finding it will be so much more satisfying than running to Target this second and buying one new.
- I have the ability to teach my children the power of the Thrifted Dollar.
Thrifting isn't just a hobby, it's a lifestyle. Each of us plays our part when we run into people and we share with them how much we paid for a pair of Lucky jeans. ($5) We are sharing knowledge that there are other ways to live besides spending way too much money every month and racking up credit card debt. We really are part of the solution to this economic problem. It is up to us to share what we can about our thrifty lifestyle. Let's encourage our friends and family to buy 2nd hand. Let's encourage each other to save money where we can. Let's show them how rich we really live without spending a lot of money.
I can't really compare myself to Suze as math isn't my best subject. I didn't follow much of the conversation about bull markets, mutual funds, bonds etc... but hopefully we have something in common and that is wanting to share knowledge about money and empowerment with others. She has her show on CNBC and I have my blog. I personally want you all to feel rich in your frugality and healthy in mind and spirit.
How do you help spread the important message of frugality and thrifting?
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