A Flight Of Fancy

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, the BizzyBee family lost everything in a nightmare business financial disaster and became homeless.

They were placed in a hostel for homeless families.

It was a very dark period in the lives of Mr. BizzyBee, Mrs BizzyBee and Junior BizzyBee, a time they don't like to think about very much.

So let's fast forward to about 6 months later when they eventually were allocated housing.

Mr and Mrs BizzyBee had been trying to find employment, but with no luck.

Both the BizzyBees were of a 'certain age' and found that getting jobs was proving to be a monumental task.

Mr BizzyBee often lamented “If only we could find a way to make some money online, that's the way to go”. Mrs BizzyBee agreed, but deep down, there was no way that she could see that happening. After all, two key ingredients were necessary in order accomplish this, namely a computer and internet connection, neither of which they had.

However, something needed to change. The job front was bleak and Mr and Mrs BizzyBee were feeling lower than a snakes belly.

“We should try to do something in art” said Mr BizzyBee, “Yes, we should try and do some art work and see if we can sell it.”

Mrs BizzyBee agreed that it was a good idea and at least worth a go.

The fact that they had no artistic training oddly did not put the BizzyBees off pursuing this crazy plan.

So the BizzyBees went into the Job Center Plus and told an adviser their idea. From there they were put on a programme for self employment.

This involved going to an office once every two weeks to listen to someone waffle on about their lives.

The BizzyBees did not find this particularly helpful, but at least all the right boxes were ticked so certain administrative departments were happy. The BizzyBees were then delighted to discover that they qualified for a grant of £100. They had no hesitation in purchasing a refurbished computer and reorganizing their meager income to get an internet connection.

(Please note that the BizzyBees do not take credit for painting this picture. It was the work Leonardo da Vinci. He was pretty good wasn't he?)

Mr and Mrs BizzyBee set about to reinventing themselves as artists. They researched all the art galleries and artists they could find online and said to themselves, “Pretty sure we could do something like that”, and went off merrily to get some cheap canvases and tubes of acrylic paint at 'Home Bargains'. Cheeky or what?

The BizzyBees created some paintings and sent jpegs of them via email to various galleries. Several weeks went by with nothing but rejections, so the BizzyBees changed tack, did some more paintings and sent those off too. Several weeks went by with nothing but rejections, so the BizzyBees changed tack, did some more paintings and...O.K you get the picture.

Eventually, Mr BizzyBee got some interest from an art gallery and off they set across the land to take these works of art for the gallery owner to see. The BizzyBees were both very nervous.

Could they actually pull this off?

They must have arrived at just the wrong time, as the gallery owner was most busy with a high flying artist and looked at the BizzyBees as a bit of a nuisance. She did take some of the paintings though, so Mr and Mrs BizzyBee were quite happy.

Soon afterwards a gallery contacted Mrs BizzyBee.

Yes, they were interested in her work and would like to see her C.V. And details of her exhibitions. C.V? Exhibitions? Oh Dear.

Mrs BizzyBee explained that alas, she had neither.

The gallery were no longer interested in her work.

Over the coming months however, both BizzyBees managed to get their work into some art galleries, and at last Mr Bizzy Bee sold a painting!

Hooray! What Joy! What they didn't realise was just how long it would take to get their eager hands on the money. Let's just say that blood has been extracted more easily and less painlessly from a stone and leave it at that.

During this fraught time, the BizzyBees must have read every self help book on the planet. They could have been contestants on 'Mastermind' with the specialized subject of 'Self Help Practices and The Art Of Postive Thinking'.

If someone would have suggested to them that dancing around an oak tree at midnight shaking chicken bones would bring them success, they would most likely have tried it.

What was going to push them forward?

What was going to happen next?

Would they ever make a meaningful breakthrough?

The last straw came for Mrs BizzyBee, when they had traveled a good long way to take some of her work to an art gallery, struggling to pay for the fuel to manage this epic journey.

The owner brusquely didn't remember that they had agreed for Mrs BizzyBee to come to the gallery that day and looked at the BizzyBees as if they were bits of trash that had just blown in through the door.

Granted, Mrs BizzyBee was dressed from head to toe in Charity Shop clothes, but she had assured Mr BizzyBee that as an 'artist' she could get away with looking a bit eccentric. Mr BizzyBee was far too kind to point out that she looked like a bag lady. The bright pink crocs were not doing her any favours.

The gallery owner looked disdainfully at Mrs BizzyBees work. “It isn't framed” he sniffed. “No, it isn't” agreed Mrs BizzyBee, for indeed it was not. The BizzyBees could not have afforded to get their work framed. It was out of the question. After some time, the owner agreed to take three pictures, but made it clear that he didn't hold out much hope for them.

On the way home Mrs BizzyBee got madder and madder. “That's it!” she declared. “I'm not doing this any more! Bowing and scraping to these gallery owners, letting them talk to us like we're a bit of muck! And for what?” It was the end.

But it was also the beginning...

It was Mr BizzyBee that discovered it. “You should have a look at this place sometime, Mrs BizzyBee” he said one evening, “You can sell art on here. Perhaps we should give it a try.”

Mrs BizzyBee tossed her head and said she would take a look, but she was somewhat skeptical, bitter and twisted and didn't really think anything was going to work at this point.

Reluctantly Mrs BizzyBee sat at the computer and took a look at this place called Zazzle. It sounded alright. She took a look at their Zazzle University and thought it looked easy enough. “Oh O.K”, she thought “I'll have a go. It probably won't work, but what the heck, it's free”.

Mrs BizzyBee signed up and had a look through some image files on the computer. She decided to upload some doodles she had done and had tried to hawk to various card companies with no success. After all, she was only trying it out anyway.

Mrs BizzyBee was tickled pink when she found was able to put these little drawings on all sorts of products and spent the rest of the night admiring her new products and giggling to herself.

Of course, no one would buy them.

Two weeks later, the BizzyBees made their first sale on Zazzle. The BizzyBees were ecstatic and actually jumped up and down! What was this fantastic sale?

It was a postcard. They had made the princely sum of 12p.

Yes, it was small, but to the BizzyBees, this was a huge leap forward. Why? Simple. If Mr and Mrs BizzyBee could sell one product when they only had a handful of products for sale and were mere beginners at this, what could they do if they really worked at it and got better? A few days later came their next sale, then another, then another. Now failure was not an option. This was the Last Stand. This had to work!

The BizzyBees threw themselves into Zazzle and made enough money to buy another computer and a hard drive. Then they worked even harder! Junior BizzyBee was recruited to help and went on to open up his own store.

Now the BizzyBees aren't Zazzle millionaires by a long shot, but they can usually earn enough money to give them a little smile come pay day.

Zazzle changed their lives for the better and made them far happier BizzyBees!

Thanks Zazzle!

The BizzyBees learned some things from this experience, some good, some not so good, but here is a summary:

• To appreciate more things in life, like a sunny day or a pretty flower
• To live more simply with less
• To be truly happy to able to have a small luxury like a bar of chocolate, yum!
• To not worry about what other people may think about you
• That if you feel in a state of desperation, people can somehow detect it
• That some people will revel in anothers misfortune
• That when the chips are down you will certainly find out who your real friends are
• That a relative in need is pain in the backside! (Blood is not always thicker water)
• That positive thinking is all well and good but without positive action it is useless
• That if you lose your sense of humour, you are surely lost
• That if you want something badly enough, like really badly and are willing to put the work in, you can get it. If you stick with it.
• TO NEVER EVER GIVE UP!