Outside of handful of people like Martin Brussels and the like. Most full time, dyed in the wool, bonsai business owners, because of their passion for bonsai are in this business. It certainly is not for the money.
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So based on our small niche group, just how does anyone figure that bonsai business men are in it for the money? All the ones I know gave up a lucrative job (relativly speaking) to emerce themselves in this art form to further their own art and to help others excel in theirs while trying to pay the bills.
If you don't believe me try working a local Bonsai convention or show. Then do the math of what your average sale was. Then deduct your expenses...the net should show that your not in this business to become J. Paul Getty.
Yes, that is also what I've seen, that most bonsai business owners are in it for the passion. And I agree that someone wouldn't leave a lucrative business venture in exchange for a bonsai business, in the hope that he will make more money. It is very hard to make a living from bonsai.
But this was not my point. My point was that the IDEA of bonsai as a strictly business venture seems repugnant to many bonsaist, as if bonsai should NEVER be viewed as a business commodity. This view is completely baseless, since anybody with the slightest knowledge of history knows that without business and commerce, we would still be in the Stone Age.
In the case of bonsai, here is what often happens. This is not hypothetical, but real.
A bonsai hobbyist, who is really involved in the art over a long period of time, ends up with a large number of trees. Maintaining them becomes a burden, so the man needs to move some of them out of his property. Also, he loves the thrill to collect yamadori and create new bonsai all the time. This requires that he moves some of the older trees out of his collection, in someone else's care. Some of the trees are very good bonsai, and he decides to sell them, since he could very well use the money. So he becomes a vendor at a convention.
This is how a hobby can become a small business, especially when the person is of independent means, and is semi-retired.
In this case, the person "wears two hats". One is the bonsai hobbyist's hat, and when he is actively involved in the hobby,
it is all about the tree. He loves his trees and almost treats them as revered persons.
The second "hat" he wears, is the "businessman hat". When he spends 10 hours at a stand, selling his trees,
it is all about money. If it wasn't, he wouldn't be standing there: he would be in his backyard, working on his trees. When he is selling, it is strictly a business transaction, for money, and nothing else. It is about cost, and expenses, and valuing the tree as a commodity, taking into consideration the going market value of similar trees in your area. There is nothing spiritual and poetic about selling a tree, it is simply money exchanging hands. It may be sad sometimes, since we still love those trees, and we want to know that they will be taken good care of, but it may also be a source of pride, since someone is paying good money for our work. But this sentimental side is rather a burden than a necessity. And we are well aware that some of our trees are expensive commodities, others are cheap, so we sell them accordingly.
After you have sold your trees and on your way home stop at the bank to deposit your well-earned money, you go home and enjoy hour passion again. Business is over, you made some room for future trees,
and it is all about the tree again.
So the love of bonsai, and the business for money mentality is in all of us, side by side, in the same person. We need both, because we are of limited means and limitee space. Denying it is childish and shortsighted, out of touch with reality.