I WORKED AS A TEACHER AND ART DEALER FOR OVER 25 YEARS
WHEN YOU ARE YOUNG AND ENERGETIC, YOU TRY MANY THINGS IN LIFE. I TRIED MY HANDS IN FINE ART AS SOON AS I ARRIVED IN LONDON AND REALISED THAT THERE WAS MONEY TO MADE IN ART. WITH ENERGY, MOTIVATION AND SOME LUCK I WAS VERY QUICKLY DEALING IN EXPENSIVE ART AND WORKING WITH THE BIGGEST AUCTIONS OF THE PLANET IN LONDON, NEW YORK, SAN FRANCISCO, PARIS , ATHENS, COLOGNE, MUNICH ETC.
WHILE I WAS DEALING WITH ART I ALSO WORKED AS A TEACHER PART TIME UNTIL I REALISED AND CIRCUMSTANCES FORCED ME TO BECOME A FULL TIME TEACHER AND AN INVESTOR IN ART AT THE SAME TIME. IT WORKED WELL, IT PAID WELL AND AS A MATTER OF FACT THE MOST SUCCESSFUL INVESTMENTS I MADE IN ART HAPPENED WHILE DOING BOTH JOBS SIMULTANEOUSLY.
IF YOU ARE IN A DILEMMA WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR LIFE OR SUPPLEMENT YOUR EARNINGS MY BLOG MIGHT BE OF ASSISTANCE. IT IS FREE TO READ WEEKLY OR YOU CAN READ THE LOT IN MY BOOK RAGS OR RICHES, COPIES OF WHICH I STILL HAVE A FEW!! JUST ORDER ON THE GREEKSINART SITE!!
Two jobs were possible!
Even though a dreamer, I am also a realist. Living in the uncertainty of the years 1990-1992 was not for me. I had a family to support, I had a passion to feed and the circumstances of the time could not serve all of those, unless more significant changes were made. My financial affairs were messy in spite of the stock of paintings I owned. I was under pressure month after month. That was no life.
Anticipating future life situations and planning for that had been a good trait of mine. I always thought forward and ahead by at least ten years.
“ A wise person cooks before he/she gets hungry.”
By the end of summer 1992 I had decided to move on from supply teaching and take a full-time teacher’s job once again, which happened that November. I gathered that if I wanted to buy something the knowledge and tools to research were at home. The only thing missing was money – money I did not have and could not make by trading art at that moment. Yes, I was making enough money to keep things going, but by 1992 my expectations were very high, the needs were higher and the business loans and expenses were draining me.
I used to do supply teaching between 1983 and 1989. That helped me to spend time to learn the art trade. When the art income became higher, I nearly gave up supply teaching altogether. Once the recession arrived, I gradually went back to it for a few months in the hope things would improve. Hopeless! The recession was deepening and my situation followed that of the country more or less. I was in big trouble! How could I get back to feeling secure? There is an old Greek saying that goes,
“ Learn a trade and hang it up.”
Being lucky, having been to teacher training college and to university assisted me in getting a job as a specialist language teacher in 1992. It was back to the security of full-time teaching and trading at the same time. I had to make it work for my sake and that of the family. It had worked before and ten years on, it was much easier! At the age of forty-five I had belatedly started thinking of the security of a job and a pension. Teaching offered both and at the same time allowed me to carry on with my passion and addiction. Could I be a full-time master at school and a master in trading art? A high order, but I love challenges.
LIFE PRESENTS US CHALLENGES DAILY. IF YOU ARE IN SUCH A SITUATION, HERE IS A PERSON WHO DID IT THE HARD WAY AND MANAGED TO MAKE A SUCCESS OF IT!!
PETER CONSTANT, BA, MA ARTS
