The Chateau Diaries #12 Carry on grifting

[Linus]

Regarding Marie's alleged harsh critique of the come dine with me malarkey, I for one am glad to see her developing a backbone finally. She used to be so limp and indecisive. It seems she's woken up a bit and realised that she's no longer the favourite poodle anymore.

She reads this forum, and we do give good advice

 

[sailonsilvergirl]

What happened with the Come Dine With Me is exactly what happens in many real life competitions. I used to do scoring on grant applications for non-profits/NGOs. Some teams score high, some teams score lower with same criteria, just overall lower numbers. I always thought the very highest number especially when you have a scale of 1-10 is what someone (Nati?) said on camera - the 10 is like the best ever of your life, the highest standard. Like Nadia Comaneci. If you were not alive in the 70s, go Google Nadia. They could agree in advance on what 1-3-5-7-9-10 mean. YT viewers are taking the scoring far more seriously than the people living in the chateau are taking it!

 

[Bonjouramour]

This last episode was painful, watching ways Marie could lower the score. She seems to throw lots of insults in general, followed by a laugh to confuse the victim. I see it as painfully passive aggressive and just isn’t cute.

 

[sailonsilvergirl]

If you have never started a business you may not know how much capital it takes. Having goods produced oversees requires large down payments to factories. You will be competing with other companies that are well established with orders much, much larger than yours. I have worked for several companies that had goods produced off shore and it's a headache.

I have started numerous businesses. Including one where we invested capital in products/inventory and got a bankruptcy eventually handed to us. So, yeah, I unfortunately know the perils. I agree with you. I never said Michael should invest money in inventory, in fact he absolutely should not. I suggested licensing his designs to others who produce product. And as we know there are so many online businesses that sell product and people can order your design on a mug, t-shirt whatever various thing made in China (ugh) on a per-order basis. That is what I would suggest to test the waters.

Once you get enough of a following, you will eventually hear from businesses that want your name on their product because they think they can sell more. But I think those businesses want to see some savviness and strength in you first, because they are tying their reputation to your reputation.

Apart from tracking the legalities of this situation, can comments re Pethericks go the dedicated thread.

You are right I should have posted that in the Petherick's thread and it might be more likely to be seen there. Can I move a post? Or I can cross-reference it. I do not want to re-post on YT because I don't want the trouble of setting up yet another gmail or YT account to post there without tracing me. I already have 4 gmails for various things in life.

 

[Subzero]

[QUOTE="There’s over 7000 reasons you should be ..... anxious 50% of your FANS are openly hounding poor dick and anglen andou stoked the flames
[/QUOTE]

Umm, you do realize she has 100k+ of fans.... I don't see how this should affect Stephanie at all. She stuck up for her friend . Dick & Angel aren't ignorant of the friendships between the Chateau owners. Of course they are going to get heat for what has been alleged. I think most people believe Michael . He is young and naive and well, now he knows better..

 

[Rory]

Look MP is not that naive he was advertising a game June's Journey.
One quote I just searched. To test market. Putting that christmas card of the kitchen on 100 mugs would cost USD1200. Sell them for USD25 postage sep; cost each nets USD2500, profit 1300. It is not that bloody difficult.

[QUOTE="There’s over 7000 reasons you should be ..... anxious 50% of your FANS are openly hounding poor dick and anglen andou stoked the flames

Umm, you do realize she has 100k+ of fans.... I don't see how this should affect Stephanie at all. She stuck up for her friend . Dick & Angel aren't ignorant of the friendships between the Chateau owners. Of course they are going to get heat for what has been alleged. I think most people believe Michael . He is young and naive and well, now he knows better..
[/QUOTE]
He is 35 years old stop saying he is young. You can be trialked as an adult at 16! This infantising grown men and suggesting "a hubby" could make decisions and protect him is insulting. How incredibley disempowering, encourages victimhood.

 

[OhIDontKnow...]

I do hope Michael continues to read here and can see the good advice here, in particular Heathcliffe's post. https://tattle.life/threads/the-chateau-diaries-12-carry-on-grifting.14310/post-3652860

Michael has many potential opportunities right in front of him!!! When people have a large audience, they can often take it for granted. Remember, very few people on the planet have direct access to the audience that Michael has. It might be easy to lose sight of that when you're in a community of online influencers, some of whom have far bigger audiences.

From the outside looking in, it looks like a turning point in life for Michael. It's painful. IT IS. We can see it. This is a point of choosing personal growth that can get you where you want to be. On the other hand, the path of least resistance, to stay where you are now, is always there to pull you back. You are flirting with that gravitational pull in your video. Don't go there. Don't let it. Keep pushing forward no matter how hard it feels.

THAT is the opportunity. I'm rooting for you Michael!!! (See below for ideas.)

Here's what I see: ***Michael has proven he can sell a lot through someone else.*** Right? This means Michael is very successful at that! VERY! (I know he doesn't feel/see that right now but I hope he can see it.) Find others to create work for, just next time get a contract that's more advantageous to you as the artist.

From a business angle, the Patron and Go Fund Me are the low-hanging fruit of revenue. That's easy. It won't last forever. Someday Patron and Go Fund Me will be like MySpace and AOL. Think of yourself like a business because you ARE a business now - businesses need to diversify funding streams. Develop the skill to imagine what's next, where's the potential. Michael imagined this with the cottage - apply this skill to product.

Don't invest your money in actual product, sell through others. The world is full of artists who do work for others - the artists names are never known but we all buy their images on products. They are making money, good money. The difference is, they have attorneys, contracts, they know how the licensing and intellectual property game is played. Far savvier businesspeople will come to you wanting to make money off your broken back. You need to see them for what they are up-front and counter with your own contractual language to ensure you get your share. Don't always say no to them just because they're sharks. They're savvy and they have the money because they know the rules and they know how to sell. You can ride their wave. Find a good attorney before the next potential agreement.

Create a lifestyle. You have a new gardener's cottage. What do you need? What would be in a gardener's cottage? Create these things. Set aside the Spode admiration for a moment, because you tried to follow the SJ model of acquiring luxury given by others and I'm not sure that's going to work for you long-term. First of all, you have a small cottage, that's not a criticism, I LOVE how you saw the potential in a junk-filled cobwebbed place and LOOK AT IT NOW! You can have some luxury things, but selling luxury to others doesn't work in there. Your cottage IS an aspirational place but it has different aspirations than a whole chateau. Tap into how your cottage has its own unique aspirational pull for an audience. I think you already know the answer to this, because it's what drew you personally to the cottage in the first place. Tap deeply into that and stay focused on it. You talk about Beatrice Potter, there's a cute-ness and a coziness to that. Consciously realize your BRAND. Make YOUR OWN BRAND. Use the color of your front door, it has meaning to you. You want a big platter for your table? DESIGN SOMETHING. Get it produced on a platter. Make it available to others to buy. You need artwork on your walls? DESIGN SOMETHING. You need tea towels that look good with Spode? DESIGN SOMETHING. Design rugs for your floors. Design your bedding when you finish the bedroom. Make your life your brand. This has been done ad nauseum by American influencers, because IT WORKS. (for example look up Justina Blakeney, very different style but she built a design licensing business on her personal style.) Michael is in a perfect situation to do this, and he has a ready-made audience to sell to, that will only grow.

I sure wish all of life learning was like it was when we were children: sitting in a chair in school listening to a teacher talk to you nicely. But it's not like that. The longer we live, and the more we do, the more exposure we get, the more often we run into criticism and resistance. That's just how it is. If you don't want that, stay in a small box. Some criticism is pure malignant for the sick joy of the criticiser. Some of it has suggestions that are gold nuggets for us and our futures. KNOW THE DIFFERENCE. That in itself is learning, it's a skill.

Anyone who has a business and has had years of exposure to customers knows you will get criticism and you can use it to your advantage, once you can get over yourself and your ego, and get on with the work that will get you what you want in your life. Lord knows I've gone through this and it sucked. SUCKED. But I am better off for it. I see Michael is in this spot, the sucky spot. USE IT to your advantage Michael! This is how YOU WIN!

I expected a serial killer bloodbath of mean words when I found Tattle. That's not what this place is. There's some malignance here, some gossip, some truth. It's the mixed bag of humanity here. It takes a skill and a level of emotional intelligence to filter through it and figure out what's useful to you. Michael has been handed many gold nuggets here!! So many!!! Most of us fail to achieve what we want and we have zero feedback, we cannot begin to figure out why. There is feedback here, there are clues to the "why." For Michael, I'd suggest maybe find online courses about pacing of visual stories. Maybe get a video coach skilled in that who can go through your videos and be an impartial, dis-passionate third-party critiquer to help -- someone who is a nice giving person and truly there to help you.

You obviously spent a lot of time on this post, but I’m here to tell you.... MPK is the kind of fella you can try to counsel til you’re blue in the face and he won’t do anything you suggest. He’s going to do whatever he wants. Which is exactly what caring people don’t want him to do, because that’s the personality flaw. Anytime someone wants him for something he sleeps for six days, because “pressure”. It’s going to haunt him his whole life.
[/QUOTE]

 

[Sandton]

So seems h

so seems his sob story will work in his favour then

yes I do agree it’s not quite fair that Marie should have to cook all week that’s a full time job really everyone should take a turn surely they can put together a simple meal !

I don’t think cooking all week is a full time job. They only eat together in the evenings so it’s only one meal a day. One can do many simple meal in less than twenty minutes or more complicated ones in an hour and a half.

[/QUOTE]
He is 35 years old stop saying he is young. You can be trialked as an adult at 16! This infantising grown men and suggesting "a hubby" could make decisions and protect him is insulting. How incredibley disempowering, encourages victimhood.
[/QUOTE]

so many refer to him as young. He doesn’t look particularly youthful. I guess perhaps it’s how he puts across a naive vulnerable ness. Even with the begging ways.

 

[Frances Nicole]

I don’t think cooking all week is a full time job. They only eat together in the evenings so it’s only one meal a day. One can do many simple meal in less than twenty minutes or more complicated ones in an hour and a half.

I think it would get old to be the *only* one cooking for 5/6 people every week. Unless she wants to be the one who cooks? I don’t know ...

I remember on Instagram she said she was paying to rent the flower studio. And then being required to cook 5 days a week? Is Philip paying rent? Maybe to store his new tableware collection ...

 

[sailonsilvergirl]

SJ looking for inspiration to improve Lalande?

#1 advice: LESS STUFF.

Every additional thing you bring in diminishes everything else.

It's true.

Give things their breathing room.

Just watching the rooms on YT makes me feel suffocated and itchy. Marie was right about clearing off the mantel in the advent video. Eyes need resting space and white space to appreciate everything else in the room.

Follow through beyond cleaning the closet and clear out 1/3 of the stuff. Everyone will feel better.

Stuff cannot fill holes that live within your mind and body. You cannot literally stuff these holes with objects. Maybe therapy instead.

 

[MojoDublin]

 

[jjj667]

I'm new. Don't ask for details because I'm not giving them. Recently learned of the TV series on Channel 4/5?. I noticed someone googled "Chateau de la lande" and found you guys here.

If you are a person donating to Steph, please stop. The family is very wealthy, I know this for a fact - directly. What they have in the bank I'm unsure but we are talking millions! Multiple properties all over the place, 7 that I can recall. Very sizable incomes - alimony payments, pensions, trusts, inheritance, rental income, the list is endless. Money most of us could only dream of.

They have no money issues you are just paying for things they don't want to pay for.

 

[Subzero]

Oh , wow, to be fair , I thought Michael was 25

 

[Phoenix Richards-Bingham]

I think it would get old to be the *only* one cooking for 5/6 people every week. Unless she wants to be the one who cooks? I don’t know ...

Take it from someone who had done this for years...first as a wife and mother to my 4 children then, in the last 10 years or so, as the only one who knew how to cook a real meal (not just sandwiches and chips!). Finally, I just told everyone that I was over the cooking...and I haven't cooked in about 6 months. Now my granddaughter cooks for the family (10 of us in the household) and when she decides to take a day off from cooking, it's take-out time!...LOL...so...YES! It gets REAL old!

 

[Pno]

Oh , wow, to be fair , I thought Michael was 25

Nope that would be Prince Philip!

 

[Rory]

It is not just the fact Marie has to cook 5 days a week, it is the amount of alkergies and food preferences which create the work. Gluten free by choice is different to being celiac. Vegetarian by choice is different to an allergy. And SJ is paying for all this "alternatives" from different milks, pastries, eggs, biscuits, etc which is expensive. I mean for godsake Mandy the vegan doesn't like mushrooms! Did you note that both Philip and Mandy have multiple serves at dinner as they are so hungry. If I was SJ i would supply a protein, a sauce/gravy, a carb like rice or pasta, and 6 vegetables, 2 fruits, for dinner each night. That's it. Make do.

 

[SableOnBlonde]

It is not just the fact Marie has to cook 5 days a week, it is the amount of alkergies and food preferences which create the work. Gluten free by choice is different to being celiac. Vegetarian by choice is different to an allergy. And SJ is paying for all this "alternatives" from different milks, pastries, eggs, biscuits, etc which is expensive. I mean for godsake Mandy the vegan doesn't like mushrooms! Did you note that both Philip and Mandy have multiple serves at dinner as they are so hungry. If I was SJ i would supply a protein, a sauce/gravy, a carb like rice or pasta, and 6 vegetables, 2 fruits, for dinner each night. That's it. Make do.

I’m also shocked at how accommodating Stephanie is of everyone’s (sometimes voluntary) dietary restrictions.
With my friends and family, if you have a special diet you eat what you can and then buy and make your own food.

I'm new. Don't ask for details because I'm not giving them. Recently learned of the TV series on Channel 4/5?. I noticed someone googled "Chateau de la lande" and found you guys here.

If you are a person donating to Steph, please stop. The family is very wealthy, I know this for a fact - directly. What they have in the bank I'm unsure but we are talking millions! Multiple properties all over the place, 7 that I can recall. Very sizable incomes - alimony payments, pensions, trusts, inheritance, rental income, the list is endless. Money most of us could only dream of.

They have no money issues you are just paying for things they don't want to pay for.

Oh really......tell us more
Alimony payments? From where? Stephanie was divorced years ago. If she’s as rich as you say her husband wouldn’t owe much alimony.

Known Jarvis properties -
1. Sussex house
2. London flat
3. La Lande
4. South of France flat
5. South Africa house

There are two more?

I’m not counting grand mere’s place, because that’d be co-owed with Isabelle’s family, therefore not a Jarvis property.

 

[Gipsymom]

OK I am new, way behind as I am reading all from the beginning and only just now read the comments on the Halloween party. I just have to comment in response to this: "Philippe’s costume was cute too. This is now the second time he has raided her closet. Philippe, what are you going to wear next? "

I would bet money that he was wearing her bikini underwear under her pants. That does not make him gay, but I would also bet money he is into being a submissive and desperately wanting SJ to be his Dominatrix. I don't think anyone has mentioned that angle before, but he reminds me of a guy I once dated who turned out to be into that and needless to say, the romance did not last long. I want a man, not a man who is into wearing my clothes.

 

[jjj667]

I’m also shocked at how accommodating Stephanie is of everyone’s (sometimes voluntary) dietary restrictions.
With my friends and family, if you have a special diet you eat what you can and then buy and make your own food.


Oh really......tell us more
Alimony payments? From where? Stephanie was divorced years ago. If she’s as rich as you say her husband wouldn’t owe much alimony.

I referred to "The family" I really can't say any more than that. I have just been watching some of the early episodes and I'm dismayed at the impression that has been given for so long. It's a complete facade. They have plenty of money to restore the chateau if they really wanted to.

 

[jjj667]

I’m also shocked at how accommodating Stephanie is of everyone’s (sometimes voluntary) dietary restrictions.
With my friends and family, if you have a special diet you eat what you can and then buy and make your own food.


Oh really......tell us more
Alimony payments? From where? Stephanie was divorced years ago. If she’s as rich as you say her husband wouldn’t owe much alimony.

Known Jarvis properties -
1. Sussex house
2. London flat
3. La Lande
4. South of France flat
5. South Africa house

There are two more?

I’m not counting grand mere’s place, because that’d be co-owed with Isabelle’s family, therefore not a Jarvis property.

Yes, there are two more.