Monday, August 28, 2006

Pablo's Lesson

I suck as a business person. People keep telling me I should go out and make use of my skills, start my own business and do graphic design or make webpages or videos or be a researcher or what have you. But no, I have the talents to do the work but no talents to either seek out clientele or charge an appropriate fee for my work. I wish I could do the following:

Legend has it that Pablo Picasso was sketching in the park when a bold woman approached him.

“It’s you — Picasso, the great artist! Oh, you must sketch my portrait! I insist.”

So Picasso agreed to sketch her. After studying her for a moment, he used a single pencil stroke to create her portrait. He handed the women his work of art.

“It’s perfect!” she gushed. “You managed to capture my essence with one stroke, in one moment. Thank you! How much do I owe you?”

“Five thousand dollars,” the artist replied.

“B-b-but, what?” the woman sputtered. “How could you want so much money for this picture? It only took you a second to draw it!”

To which Picasso responded, “Madame, it took me my entire life.”

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Don't feel bad - I have the same issues in the area of technology consulting. Which is why I'm not doing my own thing.