Teaching is a great opportunity for Learning, too. In the workshop, I welcome any type of questions. Some of the questions are so profound that I go deep in thoughts – I really appreciate the questions after reading as many posts I share here as possible. Among so many good questions, one comment keeps coming back to me after the 1st day. The comment was: “It seems you (Atsushi) have a Long-Term Business plan/vision”. Come to think of it, yes, a summary of all the stories here can sound like the Long-Term Business Plan. However, I haven’t really thought about what I do that way. So, I decided to be honest, once again, to myself.
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Business. In general, the purpose of business is to maximize the ROI. Or, simply, make profit (money). If my goal is “ROI” in terms of money or time, I wouldn’t choose Sashiko. So, what I do is for something else. A mission? Idealism? Responsibility? Those fancy words are true, but the most suitable word would be “I do not want to lose what I enjoy now”.
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A bit of “Capitalism”, especially in Handicraft, we can find Stories of each item. Artisans created the item based on their wisdom to make their work better, easier, and more professional. In this case, the money comes secondary. The similar goes to Sashiko – the Sashiko thread made based on wisdom has Stories why the Sashiko Artisans made it – and I do not want to go back to the era when they didn’t have it. For that, I need money to keep it somewhat “Sustainable”. So yes, I do have a Long-Term vision – but it doesn’t have to be the “business“ when the items are going to be preserved. Once again, for me, money isn’t the goal – it is an important vehicle to bring me to the Long-Term goal I have.
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刺し子クラスの中で生徒さんから「先生は長期的なビジネスプランをお持ちなんですね」とお言葉を頂いて。褒め言葉なので嬉しくはあるのですが、同時に「長期的なビジネスプラン？」と考えてしまって。一般的に言われる、融資を獲得できるようなビジネスプランは、以前は作っていたけれど今は持ち合わせていません。投資収益率を求めるようなビジネスをするのであれば刺し子は不向きで、お金はあくまで目標を達成する道具にすぎません。では「目標」はどこなのか。目標は本当に単純で、「今使っている道具や材料がなくなったら嫌だ」です。だから継続できるだけの循環を作ろうとしているだけ。一般的には必須とされる「拡大」は求めていないのです。長期的では勿論ありますが…とても個人的な感覚のところで存在している目標だったりするのです。そして「だからこそ」お金という価値観に振り回されずに続けられるのだろうと思います。
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