Perfume

Perfume making and selling is NOT an "if you build it, they will come" type endeavor. You have to peddle your wares, sell yourself, and sometimes be an annoying pest. I have a huge problem with this. I think it's a life theory I absorbed through osmosis living with my step-father from age five to 18. He's a brilliant man who won a full ride scholarship to a Texas university in the field of science, who instead decided to strike out and find his fortune in the wild, unruly West of a mid-1960's California. And that was perhaps the one and only bold move he ever made. Well, that and marrying my nutty mum. Since his arrival in CA, he'd held one mediocre maintenance type job after another, never asking for a raise. He felt that his good work would be rewarded by a grateful employer. Right. His good work was usually rewarded with higher work loads and trust in performing jobs for which he had no formal training -- carpentry, electrical, flooring, complex plumbing -- quite a lot for a simple fix-it man. But he did it, and he did it well, and he took any job that came his way, never setting his sights terribly high so as not to disappoint his boss, or perhaps himself. He even held a position as a grave digger until something better came along. Sadly, bitterness ruled the day, day in and day out, day after day, month after month, year after year, it was lamenting anger and empty threats to quit. All this was done at home. For us. His employers never knew how much he hated what they were doing to him. And still he never asked for a raise, never complained to his bosses, never stood up and said, "Hey, I'm doing the work of four employees, why not pay me what that's worth? Why not pay me a portion of what you'd have paid a plumber or an electrician or a carpet layer or a cabinet builder?" He simply held on to the notion that he would be rewarded for his passivity and ability to do a professional job. Asking was equal to begging. So, that's my little problem now. I know it isn't right, and I know I'm much, much better than I've been given credit for. But so few people have tried what I've created and that's partly my fault. And here are some excuses I use: In a world where one can throw a stick and strike at least one person calling themselves a perfumer, how can one compete? Where not only are there literally hundreds of modern synthetic perfumes on the market, there are also literally hundreds of Natural Botanical Perfumes on the market. Where the squeaky wheel gets greased, or forces someone into hiding, how is my less squeaky wheel to be heard? And how can I gently persuade someone to review my perfumes without making the abysmal mistake of stepping over the line and becoming an annoyance? Believe me, I make good perfume. Great perfume, in fact, but you wouldn't know that judging by a Google search. This is where all that talk of courage is tied into the theme of perfumery. I need it. Loads of it.

Sources: My Life