Tina:  Well Helena has plenty of money.

Bette:  A couple of golf courses and that would put a dent into whatever she’s got. Cheaper to be a member of the golf club and let someone else try and make ends meet. She’s looking for deals in which she can get a return on her money or will at minimum be self-staining. But if she has to make a contribution of cash each and every year to meet its expenses, my bets are that she puts that puppy on the market. But if it can run at a high standard to represent the Peabody name and covers its own expenses and contributes a little something to her, she will be pleased as punch. For she knows that its intrinsic value is increasing year after year and when she gets ready to sell it, it will bring a good return. And that is particularly true if its value is not dependent upon her or her name.

Tina: But the doesn’t the Peabody name add value to a property?

Bette:  Some. It’s like my gallery. As long as I am associated with the gallery, my reputation adds to the value. But once I stepped away, it was not as valuable at least the value of the Bette Porter reputation went away. The value of the real estate and the value and the reputation of the current employees and business remains. But when a business is solely dependent on the skills and contacts of a single person, it’s hard to sell that business when they suddenly disappear. I’ve known people who have had businesses who wanted to sell their business and retire. Well, no one was interested because the whole business was dependent on that guy’s participation in every deal.

Tina:  Oh, I see. It would be like me selling Porter-Kennard Studio. I am the business. Without me, there is no business. There is the building and whatever inventory the business has and maybe the furniture and fixtures. That would be the sole source of future revenue. But there is nothing for a new owner to sell unless they brought in an artist or converted it into another business.

Bette:  Well, that is what Helena is trying to do. Build and buy businesses which do not depend on her skills and presence to sell product and turn a profit. And Dylan is trying to make sure there are people in place who can manage the business and keep the right personnel to keep up the expectations of the consumers. That is why she has purchased a working Scottish farm. And she is hiring the farmer, and his family and his friends to run her new little inn. She wants to have a business that will make money and she wants to keep the farm in place to enhance the ambiance of the inn. She hopes that local people working for local people will be much more conducive to a good business. And if or when people need to be replaced, they have a foothold in the community. It’s quiet brilliant actually.