Posts from the ‘The No Project’ Category

The No Project – An Anonymous Finale

As many of you will know, for the month of September whilst chasing stockists for Bento’s first season, I ran a small personal initiative called The No Project. The premise was simple, every time a potential stockist turned me down, I put aside $3. Each Friday, I took the total sum and gave it to a homeless person.

The idea was to turn a really crushing negative for me into a positive for someone else. Someone who hears ‘no’ a lot more often. By using this approach, I hoped to get over the hurt that goes with hearing ‘no’.

I’m happy to report that it worked. I’m not scared of no. I’m disappointed by the willingness the industry seems to have to lie and make excuses for their nos, but I’m not scared.

Since the end of September, I’ve been carrying around my last hoard of No Project funds ($20), waiting to be approached by someone homeless who needed it. I thought this would be a nice variation to me seeking someone.

Yesterday, it happened. Unlike my other No Project moments, I didn’t ask his name or his story. I didn’t take a photo. He asked me for change… I said I didn’t have any. I doubled back a second later and gave him the $20, saying “but I do have a note”.

He gave me a toothy grin and said “god bless!”… And then promptly ran into the army surplus store he was standing outside to tell them, and show off his $20.

Ultimately, this is what the No Project was about. No questions, no judgement, no interrogation or justification. Just the simple act of making someone’s day.

I’ve been asked if I’ll do the No Project again in the future. It’s hard to say. The nature of it is very much a reflection of who I am and the values at the core of Bento.

That said, I also really struggle with celebrating my own successes. In many ways, the No Project amplified this, causing me to chase nos and fail to dwell on the triumphs.

A version of the No Project is definitely on the cards, but I’d like to see it share wins, rather than failures.

The No Project – Joey (Joseph)

A summary once again for those who’ve just joined us… The No Project is a small personal initiative I’m running in September where each time I approach a potential stockist and they say no, I put aside $3. At the end of the week, I take the sum of money that has accumulated and give it to a homeless person.

It’s just a small way I’m trying to stay motivated by turning my crushing negatives into a positive for someone else.

Anyway, this week I had six nos, so $18 in total. I gave them to a guy called Joey.

I actually did a little recon earlier in the week, and found Joey where I’d seen him previously at my local train station.

Joey asked if I was sure when I gave him the cash. I apologised that it wasn’t more. He told me he’d been to church for the first time today and asked in all seriousness “are you an angel?”. I laughed and told him no. He reached out and touched my shoulder “to be sure”.

Joey and I chatted a little while. He went into detail about what he was going to spend his $18 on, to assure me it wouldn’t be wasted “on alcohol or smokes or something”.

As it turns out, he’s a recovering alcoholic. He shyly said he’s been dry now for six weeks. He has twin sons, but he’s not allowed to see them much (they’re with their mother), although now he’s passed the six week mark, he’ll get visitations. At this point, he looked like he was getting teary, so I wished him a good weekend and went to leave.

As I turned I said to him that I thought his boys would be so proud and inspired when they grew up and understood everything he’d been through and how much he cared about them.

He thought for a moment and then said “I think you are an angel. You just don’t know it yet.”

The No Project – Wayne

If you’ve only just tuned in, Bento is currently running a little initiative called ‘the No Project’. The basic premise is that for every potential stockist that tells me no (as in, refuses to stock the collection or see me), I put aside $3. At the end of the week, I take the total sum of money ‘collected’ for the week and give it to a homeless person.

The idea is that although my heart breaks a little every time someone refuses to consider the label, I can turn that negative into a positive for someone who really needs it.

Usually, I go and do this on a Friday. I think it helps to make their weekend that bit better. This Friday however, I couldn’t find anyone to give the money to! I searched the city for two hours and couldn’t find a single homeless person…

Today though, I had more luck.

Today my husband and I met Wayne. Wayne is an entrepeneurial and creative person. Instead of sitting on the street with just a sign, he paints and sells his artwork. He also told us how he saved up enough money to get his best pieces professionally printed onto greeting cards, and then sold the cards.

Sadly however, Wayne’s work has gone downhill as he’s almost run out of art supplies. Some helpful people sometimes buy him little bits and pieces, but it’s not enough. Enter us! I got 14 nos this week, so I had $42 to give to Wayne to help him buy some more supplies. He was pretty thrilled, and apologised many times for not having any ‘finished pieces’ to give us in exchange for our contribution.

With Wayne’s business mind though, this won’t just be $42. He can turn that $42 into even more.

Wanye's Sign & Unfinished Art

Pretty cool, right? Kind of helped make some of those nos worth it. That said, universe / powers that be, if you’re listening… I’d love some more yeses.

Current No Project tally = 0 (this isn’t as good as it sounds… they’re just ignoring me).

The No Project – Jason

For those of you who don’t read this blog religiously (shame on you!), earlier this week I announced a new Bento initiative that will run for the whole of September.

The premise is this: I’m currently looking for stockists for Bento. Every time I approach one and they say no, I put aside $3. Each Friday, I take the total sum and give it to a homeless person.

Why? Well, to be perfectly honest, people saying no to you is pretty awful. I’ve given up my job and poured my heart into this label. I’ve worked really hard on it and when someone says no, it really hurts. To keep me on track and motivated, I thought I could turn these negatives into a positive for someone else. Homeless people hear ‘no’ a heck of a lot more than I do, and I’m sure it hurts even more.

So here we are, the first Friday in what I’m now calling the ‘No Project’.

Today, I met a guy called Jason. He was confused when I addressed him as ‘sir’. I bought him a big coffee and some breakfast and spoke with him briefly. Here’s what he had to tell me…

No one has stopped to ask his name in over a year. He worries that people think he’s lazy, but it’s easier for him to sleep during the day because it’s a bit warmer and he doesn’t get attacked or robbed as much because there are so many people around.

I took a picture of his sign, so you could see a little bit of Jason. (I think it’d be pretty degrading to take pictures of homeless people and post them online, right?).

Jason's Sign

So this week, when someone tells me no, I can think of Jason and other people like him who hear it a lot more often, and who it hurts much more.

Edited to add: I bought Jason coffee, breakfast and gave him money for a shelter. I had 10 rejections this week, so it was $30.