The Grass is Greener

 

This week I have had the chance to reflect on and practice my patience. Now this isn't going to be one those self-help posts you can find all over your social media accounts either. It's actually about grass. No, not the kind that you can legally buy here in Oregon now either. It's about actual grass seed.

Nobody plants grass seed on their lawns anymore. Today, you can get a lawn in day. Just pick up the phone and someone comes to lay the sod down, your sprinkler system waters it, and BAM! Instant lawn. Well, I did the opposite. I took the time to till the land, prepare it with topsoil, went out and bought actual seed, spread the seed on my lawn and watered. But nothing happened. I hand-watered it daily. Still nothing. The next thing you know, the birds started to eat the seeds. Not just one or two birds, but flocks of them. I love birds, but they are eating my lawn as fast as I can put the new seed down! My first thought was that the seed was defective and that my front yard is going to be a sea of mud this fall. The reality was that I just hadn't waited long enough, until the seed was ready to sprout.

How many of us give up on something before it was ready to sprout and grow. Think about that when you're going about your daily life or even when planning your next fundraising auction. Everybody and everything takes time to grow. That goes for your grassroots fundraisers too.

Fall is Here

I had a great summer this year. Though like most of them, it went by too quickly. I had a chance to do a couple road trips - out to the Oregon Coast, the Gorge and up to Vancouver Canada, my favorite city, second to Portland. I feel really lucky to live here in the Pacific Northwest and I get out as often as I can, to enjoy all that it has to offer.

I had a pretty easy summer in regards to my workload. Without the weekly trips between Portland and Seattle, I was only on a plane every other week. Summer isn't a particularly busy time for fundraisers; though we had a couple of fundraising auctions. So I get to start this fall fundraising season completely refreshed and ready to go.

We're working on a couple of exciting new ventures for the New Year. As soon as we have some 2016 details finalized and dates set, we'll make an announcement. Keep checking back here to be in the know.

Ali, our one-woman Communications team, will also be starting a seasonal e-newsletter to keep srdorsey clients and friends appraised of what's happening. So if you want to stay current on the world of auctions or where we are and what we're doing; drop me a line and we'll make sure we keep in touch with you. Please feel free to include any topic requests or inquiries and we'll do our best to help you out.

A Week in Monterey

I just finished up a big week in Monterey, California. For those of you who are are not familiar with Monterey Car Week; it is what would be considered the Superbowl of car auctions. Not only are there six separate car auctions happening simultaneously throughout the week; there are the vintage races at Laguna Seca on the weekend, and then on the Sunday, the granddaddy of all car shows - the Concours d'Elegance on the grounds at Pebble Beach.

This year, I had the opportunity to be involved with a start-up auction with the JR Auctions team. We conducted our back-to-back auctions for 4 days in a row between 1 and 4pm; in a format that had not been tried before in Monterey till now. Our auctions took place on the grounds of the Monterey Plaza Hotel and Spa. The auction block offered our spectators a stunning and complete view of Monterey Bay. It was truly the most spectacular auction block I have ever worked. With the sun beaming down on hoods and hubcaps, clear blue skies above us and the ocean breeze on our backs... You get and appreciate the picture, even if you're not a car buff.

It was exciting to be involved with Jeff and Robert on this new venture. We offered over a hundred cars, of all varieties, old and new, priced from only a few thousand dollars to well over a million. We thought we might and came so close to selling the Porsche 918 Spyder. When it came down to it; this car was worth holding onto because with its high demand, they are hard to come by.

We got business done and we had fun. We learned a lot and got too much sun! I'm already looking forward to see what's in-store next year.