Over the years, people have come to me and asked how I got into the special events industry or how I started my special events location and production company and became an “expert” so quickly. I thought that one day I would put the story in writing for those who are curious and I decided that day has come. It seems rather timely, as I recently made the decision to completely release my corporate business in order to devote myself exclusively to teaching my Feel Free to Prosper program to help others align themselves with Universal laws to overcome adversity and accomplish as I have.
The sole client I maintained this past couple of years has been Campbell Soup, which spent over $450 million dollars to create promotions targeted at children. That client came to me literally “out of the blue” just after I began teaching my program. I had a key role in these promotions, securing spectacular locations – the Hollywood mansions, English castle and private Caribbean island that lucky children would win for a week’s stay with their friends and family as the Grand Prize. This August was the fulfillment month for promotions # 4, 5 and 6 that were booked earlier in the year. I became aware this past August that it was time to “cut the cord” after two decades of owning a business that serviced the world’s largest corporations.
So how did this career of two decades begin? What was my background and experience? How did I get started? Did I have any material or financial advantage? Were prosperity principles involved?
The answers…
o How did this career begin? Out of the blue
o What was my experience? None
o How did I get started? Pure synchronicity and intuitive guidance
o Did I have any material or financial advantage? Absolutely not
o Were prosperity principles involved? Absolutely yes
The story…
Be prepared for a detailed account of synchronicity and Universal guidance borne out of my application of prosperity principles – this will be a free flowing tale as I remember the details. I may not be inspired again to tell it, so I will offer it in full. But I will submit it in sections, so that it is not overwhelming and so that you may absorb the full impact of the synchronicity and prosperity lessons learned along the way. You will discover how the beginning of this story flows into the subsequent connected experiences and weaves itself into the creation of my company and the business that lasted over 20 years, despite some very intense times. This installment contains Part I and a link to take you to the rest of the evolving story…
It begins in the early 80s and at a point in my life when I was in limbo and in debt. I had made my first attempt at a free lance business that gave me some experience but didn’t go very far. I was at a crossroads and in debt and didn’t know what direction to take. I was in various stages of the study of metaphysics and learning about the mind and mental and spiritual laws. I knew I had to do something about my situation and do it quickly. I was always intrigued with the metaphysical and psychic world, parapsychology and the whole idea of being “guided” by our intuition. So I made the decision that my immediate “job” would be to seriously apply what I had been learning from the prosperity teachers and literature. And I did just that. I took what I was learning and put my heart into applying it.
PART I: BRANCUSI WHO?
It was a very, very hot summer day in Los Angeles – a heat wave. The last thing I would have thought to do was to go shopping for clothes or run around town in the heat. Hey, I loved fashion but there were certainly no funds for new wardrobe items. I had to find a way out of thousands of dollars of debt I had somehow managed to incur while “free lancing” in business.
Suddenly I had a spontaneous urge to go to the very exclusive department store, Bonwit Teller, on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. I didn’t know why. Well, I reasoned, at least it would be well air-conditioned. I drove to the store and went to the designer department.
There I immediately ran into a saleswoman whom I had not seen since she worked at Neiman Marcus and had sold me a few items maybe a year or two before. Imagine my surprise when she said she had been thinking of me just that morning and said to herself, I’ll bet Marilyn would know what to do with this situation. She knew about a woman who lived in Palm Springs who was trying to sell a sculpture by the sculptor Brancusi and the owner was offering a finder’s fee to someone who could find a buyer for her.
Brancusi? Never heard of him. I actually knew nothing about the art business and certainly wouldn’t know how to find a buyer for any kind of art or sculpture. But I was intrigued. Why, out of 14 million people in this city, was I intuitively drawn to this opportunity and why was this saleswoman thinking of me for the task that morning even though she hadn’t seen me in well over a year and didn’t know much about my business ability? Why did I feel prompted to go to the store? My intuition told me that this was a response from my prosperity work and that I should follow through even though I had no idea what to do at the time.
I obtained photos of the sculpture from the owner and did some research by calling galleries and such. I discovered that the owner had already been shopping it around for a couple of years. Furthermore, Constantin Brancusi is a famous sculptor whose modern abstract works sell for tens of millions, but this was an extremely early piece of his – a plaster head of a boy, not his abstract style at all, not even a bronze, and it apparently had no value in the art world. The sculpture had been a wedding present to this woman many decades earlier in Romania. When the Nazis came in and confiscated valuables, she managed to smuggle the piece out through Italy and brought it to America with her years later. Now as an older woman, she had no more attachment to the work and preferred the income instead. Wherever I called or visited, gallery owners and art professionals said to forget it, no one would want it. The piece is too early, it’s not Brancusi’s distinct style, it’s only plaster, not even a completed sculpture. (I will say though, from the photos I had, it was a sensitive and lovely version of this young boy’s head).
But all I could feel inside was that this was MY prosperity demonstration and it was given to me for a reason. I would not give up…
Around that time I was attending a Wednesday night healing class conducted by Janet Levy, a metaphysical teacher who called her class Expect a Miracle. In fact, she would give us all small affirmation cards. On one side was printed “Expect a Miracle” and on the blank side we were to write our own affirmation or what we wanted to “demonstrate”, another metaphysical term for manifest.
After several months of getting nowhere with calls regarding a source to buy this Brancusi, I made a decision. I sat down quietly and very simply said to Infinite Intelligence, the Universe…”Find me a buyer for the Brancusi.” That was it. Simple. Clear. Effortless. There would be no more outer action on my part. I had done whatever I could do myself with no result.
I intuitively must have known it was time to let go and let the Universe take over. As you will see, this was one of my greatest lessons in spiritual law, as I learned from this experience that we do not have to exhaust ourselves trying to force things to happen and THEN decide to go to our Source. We can go to our Source at the very beginning and save lots of time and hassle. As the saying goes, we can go direct and cut out the middle man. 🙂
I continued to sit quietly and suddenly I heard an inaudible whisper coming from somewhere in my consciousness. My inner voice whispered “Guggenheim Museum”. That’s all. Guggenheim Museum. I had lived in Manhattan a couple of times so I knew the Guggenheim Museum was there, but I had never been there because I wasn’t a modern art fan. (I had often visited the Metropolitan Museum). But the voice said Guggenheim Museum. It was clear.
I picked up the phone and called the Guggenheim in New York and spoke with the curator. She knew the sculpture because she said the owner had stored it with them years before when she first came to America and while she was settling in Palm Springs in the West. But she said they would have no interest in it. She could, however, give me the name of an art dealer who might be able to direct me somewhere. I made the call to the art dealer, Harold Diamond.
The art dealer did not refer me to anyone. Instead, he told me that if I was willing to bring the plaster head to New York, HE would buy it himself! He offered $50,000.
Now, imagine this scenario…
I had been living in Los Angeles for about 8 years. I had come to LA after spending a year in New York City. I was no longer accustomed to the cold climate (except for an occasional trip to the snow here at Lake Arrowhead). I gathered warm clothing while the owner of the Brancusi, having accepted the dealer’s offer, paid for my plane ticket and prepared me for my trip to make the sale. This was the first time I actually saw the real plaster head, as it had been stored in a vault in Palm Springs. It was now in a canvas bag with small wheels on the bottom and it was exclusively my responsibility to get it safely to its destination.
It was January 5th. There was a mass exodus in both airports – LAX and JFK – with people returning after their holiday travels. And here I was rolling this plaster head in a canvas bag among throngs of travelers, taking utmost care not to let anyone or anything come in contact with that bag (remember, the sculpture was only plaster). If anything had happened to this piece of art on the way to its intended new home, I would have had to leave the country and go into hiding 🙂
On the plane, when all carry ons had to be placed under the seat for takeoff, I refused to let go of the Brancusi. I held it like a live baby. I argued with the attendant until she realized how important this was to me. I was not about to have a plaster head selling for $50,000 go rolling down an airplane aisle! I held it close to my heart for much of the trip…
The story continues here…
© Copyright 2006-2007 Marilyn Jenett
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