All aboard that train for Shangri-La, the All-Canada Prosperity Path Ashram! Of course, it’s just starting its life and work, so it’s not very concrete at the moment, but it soon will be very real, indeed. We take it in stages:
1. FIRST YEAR — Solstice & Equinox Celebrations, tie-in workshop retreat in the Prosperity Ashram, with local & regional groups gathered together at Ashram Power Points (one of which is YOUR HOME, and I’m talking to YOU). Four Celebrations. Sounds like it won’t be enough, right? Wrong. That’s one celebration every three months, and believe me or don’t, 3 months goes by like a Lamborghini on a test run. It’s a lot of work to get a few folks at an event three months down the line, and you have to start motivating them early, as in six months to a year advance notice so they can make family plans, get time off from work, arrange travel and accommodations, raise money for the expense of the journey, etc.
During this first year, Shangri-La should operate pretty much the same way we’re doing in the States, which means 90% of our gatherings are online in-Ashram so we don’t incur expenses in this early and very vulnerable “first growth” stage.
If you open a brick-and-mortar in this very early stage, you’ll suck up all the outboard energy you’ve got stored up, and that’s not very smart. All the resources are in the big cities, not in the hamlets — never the hamlets.
On the other hand, opening up to non-residents works well for the first few years — that means workshops, clinics and guest speakers, etc. This is NOT for the first year. If you decide to engage a celebrity speaker for an event (or several), you’ll have to guarantee a definite amount of money, and this can make or break a community. You have to do it this way: Get the audience to prepay tickets well in advance.\
I hear you. “What audience???” you asked, and right you are.
You have to build an audience, people who want what you will be offering next year, in the way of a brick-and-mortar Ashram Experience. This means that in some way, you’ll have to satisfy them right away or they’ll move on to graze elsewhere.
But how to satisfy their craving for some sort of retreat from the organic world, and their need for very specific work experience?
That’s why we have the Virtual Ashram.
It’s cheap, easy to get to, requires no commitment, and doesn’t ruffle up the home and family. You attend online, at your own computer desk or laptop. You could sit in a bubble-bath and attend an Ashram Retreat & Workshop. Just watch your sponge.
A Retreat or Workshop or Clinic works exactly like a local or regional (that means small) sci-fi convention, and that means it’s also precisely like planning a wedding. Wedding planners make a small fortune, and as soon as you try to organize any event and make it actually work, you’ll see why it’s worth every cent.
All events are doomed from the start.
You have to realize that first before you embark on the journey. There’s only one way to avoid the Doom. Make the event at least break even. Don’t lose money 0n it. I know what happens if you do. You won’t ever do another one again, or it’ll be a long, long time before you trust folks to support the effort, like what happened at Woodstock.
You don’t want your home to become another Woodstock. Believe me, it isn’t worth it. When the crowd overruns the gate and refuses to pay the admission charge, you can bet it’ll be the last time THAT promoter ever hosts an event. It’s important to make the experience good for the hosts as well as the guests, so there’ll be lots more.
A good part of the work benefit is the effort to organize the event and make it fun for all.. Sure, fun, why not fun? What flick-head decided that fun is not part of a good work life? What a sourdough he was!!! Yes, fun, and to make that happen, you’ll have to put in a lot of detail work, mostly administrative.
Here’s where this formerly little dissertation delves into the whole subject of admin.
Most of the foul-ups and miseries and personal tragedies that happen in and around an Event are the result of bad planning and admin. You need to have all your ducks in a row when the public gets to your front door.
Where do they stay? How much does this cost you? How much do you need to get from each guest for their stay? Does this include food? Do you really know how much the food costs you to buy AND prepare? Are there enough chairs to accommodate guests? Maybe you’re not even going to use chairs. Did your guests remember to bring their own zafu cushions, or do they need to borrow one from your storage unit?
Are all your guests going to be able to handle accommodations? What about special needs, dietary requirements, health issues, pharmacies local enough for the few diabetics you’ll have at every event? There’s more, tons more, including planning for 18 people, 5 of whom ask for refunds because they can’t make it, so you cut your costs, reduce what you can offer and make adjustments, figuring out how to cover the cost of your inevitable “freebies”, arranging for those with kids to have some childcare, and then tightening it all up on the day…actually the very the hour…that the event begins.
Sounds terribly grim, eh? Not really, if you remember the FUN FACTOR.
People having fun will overlook the shortcomings of your event, and you can fix it in the mix, meaning at the next workshop, you’ll take into account what you failed to deal with in this one, see?
Just make sure that your Great Learning Experience doesn’t involve signing on to babysit a bunch of refugees from organic life. That’s not what this Ashram is about.
Okay, fair question… “Hey, so if that’s not what this Ashram is about, what IS it about???
I hear you.
You’re heading full-bore toward a work-life that you can actually see and experience in Prosperity Virtual Ashram. On your way there, you’ll pass through what is called by organic beings “death”.
You’ll also be passing some of the greatest clothing shops in the Unknown Universe. Take a few moments to see our Astral Avatar Specials before moving on to your Great Reward.
What IS the Great Reward exactly?
You get to work your ass off for the Benefit of All Beings Everywhere.
How much does The Great Work pay? I asked you not to make me laugh when my lips are chapped.
See You At The Top!!!
gorby