The
Scottish writer, Robert Louis Stevenson, is quoted as saying,
“Everyone lives by selling something.” What do you think? Do you
agree? I do.
Too
bad those words did not make it to the ears of Vincent van Gogh.
Although accounts vary, ever so slightly, it is agreed that van Gogh did not sell very
many of his paintings.
Most
people agree van Gogh sold one of his paintings during his lifetime.
Some, like art historian Marc Edo Tralbaut, contend Vincent sold two
pieces. Either way, let's not split hairs.
The
fact of the matter is, van Gogh relied heavily, on his brother Theo,
for his livelihood. And, as you probably know, van Gogh suffered from
mental illness, which ultimately led to his committing suicide. But,
that is not the subject at hand.
My
point is this, as we all know Vincent van Gogh is one of the most
famous artists of all time. One of his paintings sold, in 1990, for
$82.5 million.
Even
still, during his life, Van Gogh could not even afford to feed
himself. What a profound reality. This speaks to the powerful
importance of being able to sell things.
I
do happen to believe that severe mental illness will prevent a person
from being able to sell things. Fortunately, these days we have a lot
of great resources available to help the mentality ill.
So,
again, what do you sell? Actually, a better question would be, what
it is that people buy from you? If you have a job, your employer buys
your time and expertise. Your employer buys your effort, at
wholesale, and sells it at retail.
Regardless
of what you do, I think it is important to be able to answer the
question, what do you sell? And, as I have stated, it is even better
to identify why people buy whatever it is that you sell. As it turns
out, that exercise is a fair bit harder than it sounds.
By
the way, the one painting van Gogh did sell is called, “The Red
Vineyard.” Here it is:
