Celebrationism: On Elegance

Once I was on a business trip and I bumped into a relative.

He invited me to a drink which turned out to be a business KTV session that seated KTV girls for his business associates. It was also my first drinking session of this nature, typical business partying.

I remember asking myself: “Why have I never done entertainment of similar nature, something which everyone else seems to be doing?”

Our entertainment budget is almost non-existent. The peculiar thing is we are doing quite well in spite of not having to entertain. Then, I began to reflect on why it is that other people necessitate doing this, and what we have been doing.

Business, in essence, is about buying and selling. The basic premise is that you need positive profits between buying and selling in order to sustain the business.

Therefore, many people use all the tricks they can muster to push down prices from the seller, which undoubtedly make the seller less happy. Buyers thus have to use additional relationship skills to pacify, while sellers resort to making by with products of lesser quality.

Then, sellers go on to the buyers to negotiate up the prices while the buyers continue to force the prices down. And the farce goes on with a constant invisible rift between the buyers and the sellers. The outcome, profits dwindle or business manipulation or trickery becomes higher.

In the infancy stage of my business, I started with only Feng Shui consultation, without the sale of products. I would prescribe, “Wear a jade that's red or yellow in colour”, or “put nine bronze coins here, a crystal mountain there....”

The clients would have to then source for these prescriptions. Back then, more than 90% of the jade in the market was not natural jadeite. The situation frustrated my clients, and it rendered my services totally ineffective. A doctor is considered to have done his duty only when the patients are cured of their illnesses. But what good then is the physician—even a highly gifted one—when the right prescription of the cure cannot be found?

So I had to take it upon me to source for the right prescriptions for the clients.

If one recalls, the jade market falsely conceived that jade must be green in colour. The sad truth then is that sometimes when a good piece of natural jade is found, the dealers would either throw it away or “green” the jade artificially.

Fortunately, I saw value in jade that was deemed worthless in the market and managed to procure them at an unbelievable price in large quantities.

Then, I began to educate people on what natural jadeite is, the types and how they should be worn in ways that would benefit the wearer based on their birth chart. I must have succeeded in this re-education because from there on the price of natural jadeite of all different colours began to sky-rocket at an unbelievable rate, a rate unimaginable in times before.

So, when does elegance in wealth happen? It is apparent that elegance in wealth happens not with the mouth, but with the eyes. The eyes that can see beyond what others could.

Elegance in wealth appears naturally when you help others see the beauty and benefits they have not been able to see.

That is why peacocks are deemed elegant. Not just for their tall and upright neck, but also because of their bright eyes all over.

Elegance happens not only with our eye for the right products, but also with our eye for people.

In our years of business operation, we have formulated the most comprehensive and rigorous training programmes for our sales people. But the one thing we will never teach is to “read” the worth of clients based on the brand labels they have. If I ever hear anyone of them sizing clients based on the car they drive or the bags they carry, I will chastise them.

Do not look at the brands they can afford now, but look at the brands they could be carrying tomorrow.

I have many clients who would buy items that are worth five and six digits from us. Looking at them now, you wouldn’t have imagined that they were on the brink of bankruptcy just a couple of years ago before they come to us.

Elegance in wealth comes from the eyes that can see beyond the poverty today; the eyes that see the prosperity tomorrow.

Elegance in wealth happens not only in our eye for clients but also in our eye for staff.

When Samuel came for the interview, he had the attributes of a typical layperson. He had no initiative, no creativity, no strong conviction, no drive, no purpose, no passion and no dreams. Normality as it may seem but alas, and fortunately for him, did not equate with mediocrity. He was at least sincere and honest enough to not hide any of his lack-ofs from us.

So I said, “Accept him.” Many months later, he exhibits a strong team spirit which is lacking in most people. He helps, teaches, nurtures and mentors many other colleagues. He has proven to be not just a team player, but also a team builder.

Elegance in wealth comes from the eyes that can see through the surface of normality and see the potential within their souls.

Elegance in wealth also comes from the eyes that see beyond difficult situations, into a brighter future.

There was a time when Lotus on Water suffered great financial difficulties, owing others a million dollars, and the debtor threatened to seal our gallery. I flew to China to look for Kan. He had just graduated with flying colours at the Peking University and was about to apply to read a Master’s Degree at Harvard University.

I remember asking him, “There are thousands of Master’s Degree graduates from Harvard every year, but there is only one Lotus on Water in the world with this one position. Why not come and join us? We need your involvement now.”

Within a couple of years, we moved from negative one million to positive more than a million.

Elegance of wealth comes from the eyes that can see beyond the present situation of mess, chaos and hopelessness, into the daylight and brightness of tomorrow. Of course, it also comes from opening others’ eyes for it too.

Elegance comes from the eyes, the eyes of enlightenment. The enlightenment to see more than others could and helping others see more than they themselves could.

This is how we prosper and keep prospering. In elegance.

-- Master Yun Long Zi

(Originally posted here: https://www.facebook.com/masteryunlongzi/posts/1355226304567346)