NordenBladet – I quite frequently browse real estate advertisements and recently stumbled on an ad that a tiny cottage without electricity and proper access by road, located even far away from any small town, is for sale… The price was many times higher than its market price would be, and during winter there is literally nothing to do there… Yet just imagine, if exactly that occasion is not wonderful?! I am in love – blindly in love. Since this „wow” emotion often takes over, then I intend to wait a bit before taking any steps, and still I wish to share this pleasant feeling with you!

Yes, I am aware of being utterly emotional – new ideas, situations and challenges easily ignite me – and still I cannot hold myself back when seeing such a miracle! Had I no children to be taken to school and classes, then probably I would not hesitate a second. For quite a while I have not witnessed such a picturesque view – the nature, forests, wild environment. It takes my breath away… and yet to some extent it is dreadful. As for myself, I am fearful. When home alone, I light up all rooms and an hour before bed time I devote myself to prayers. When I am alone I get scared of the darkness, however I would be happy to be released from that fear – I would like to face my fears. I would love the untouched and wild nature, unimpaired by human hand – precisely like you can see on these pictures. I would not need a television set, electricity, fridge or other urban amenities – it is actually the simplicity that I like, although I might at times perhaps leave the opposite impression. Sometimes it may also happen that I haven’t got a clue what it is exactly that I want, yet these sights make me wanna dive into the thick woods and isolation. For sure, there would be plenty of bears, snakes, wolves and what would be considered daily inconveniences… however there would definitely be a magic key to cure the souls worn out and weary from the urban life. Seeing that spot I felt as if being exposed to a take from Jaan Tätte script based motion picture „Meeletu” (Mindless), where man of wealth, the businessman (Rain Simmul) that seems to have anything at all necessary for his life, cannot endure the world he has established for himself and thus moves to the countryside to be a hermit and search for his place in this life.

I AM SEARCHING FOR WHO I AM, WHAT IS MY PLACE IN LIFE, AND I RAMBLE! More and more frequently I find myself thinking what has been and what will be.

NordenBladet – In the summertime it is pleasant to work outside the office and that is why I scheduled the meetings to South-Estonia, to combine work with a little trip. NordenBladet closely collaborates with various tourism bureaus and tourism service offering institutions, thus my work is versatile and fascinating! Every morning I begin the day with a very positive feeling and there is rarely a day when I don’t enjoy the work a hundred percent.

NordenBladet Estonian department has started off very successfully and also, to my mind, the readers have taken it very calmly that Ohmygossip is now under NordenBladet. Actually both support each other and the more serious news and entertainment stand apart – I very much like this rearrangement. In new year (2018) the latest I will begin active cooperation with NordenBladet Finland branch. In September there will be a major meeting and then we will plan the coming year up until May. Since there will be a lot of travelling in Estonia, Finland and Sweden for me as well as the network partners, there is always the need to accommodate somebody, cater and drive around – thus it is important to visit different places myself to be able to write about them for my readers and to recommend them to my network partners.

After the meeting and dinner in Viljandi we went to see Taagepera manor. Those who have read my previous blog „Sometimes I play with the idea of buying a manor” already know that atumbling upon Taagepera manor I got a strong feeling and wanted to see it with my own eyes – and not to put myself through a lot of pain I decided to go and see it very soon. The Art Nouveau style facade of the building is definitely fascinating and shoud I be some day building a new house for us, then the dwelling might look a bit like a palace. Yet my version of the house would contain 5-7 rooms the most.

And now the impression from what has been seen… The palace was even bigger in real life than it appeared on the pictures. It definitely would suitably function as a hotel or other business enterprise rather than a dwelling house for somebody. The rooms are quite depreciated and even the suite (190 eur) did not attract to stay overnight. Regular rooms resembled an inexpensive hostel. Yet as far as I see the palace was waiting to be renovated and a SPA was to be put up in the basement. The tower was completely closed. The palace is originally beautiful and is in need of a wealthy suitor. Were it not a living space in the courtyard (not belonging to the manor add-ons) and a two-storey massive construction with ugly design and were there a thick fir tree forest instead of the meadow behind the palace, the place would collect more bonus points in my eyes. However, the place is definitely worth a visit! It feels great to have a glimpse on such an old building, also I wish to praise the visitor service. Already at the reception there was a very friendly and helpful lady and even after I had let her know that we would not be staying for the night and just wish to see the interior, she did not wrinkle the nose but kindly offered to show us the rooms. This left a very positive impression. The people who go there are really welcome! I will certainly be interested to know what the SPA would be like when it is ready and perhaps I will even stay overnight some time.

Further on we went to see Helme Pearl Spring (also known as the Doctor’s Spring). This is a sacrificial spring in Valgamaa county, Helme parish. According to a legend the water from this spring helps against seven maladies and maidens used to come here with pearl offerings in order to maintain their beauty. We also stretched our hands out in the water and cast some water on our face. Since we had left the purses in the car we did not toss any coins in the water, neither did we have a pearl necklace with us, yet our offering was the time spent there. Besides we picked up the broken glass pieces that were absolutely too many around there. It is a pity that there are people who care so little about nature and vandalize like this.

The springs are very powerful, I am very fond of them. If I could, I would put some water from the spring on my face every day. It felt wonderful afterwards. I thanked the spring and drove along to Võru, where a new meeting was awaiting the following day.

Photos: NordenBladet/ Helena-Reet Ennet

NordenBladet – I have this odd connection with manor houses, a strange mixed feeling of affection and awe. It pleases me when history is remembered and appreciated and historical monuments are restored, yet I do not like that many of today’s manors are rather enterprises than residential dwellings. Similarly, it is a pity to see that directly next to these beautiful manor houses, additional monstrous constructions have carelessly and cheaply been erected for purposes of greed and extra money, where under the name of a manor still some more tourists are being attracted to stay overnight. And also it is a pity that the manor houses that are for sale today have ever less and less hectars of land around them.

However, the previously mentioned situation is relatively understandable. Estonia is a small country and you cannot find here too many people that are simultaneously wealthy and fond of the rural life, willing to reside far away from the city centre, in a palace with 20+ or 30+ living rooms, intensely heating the dwelling for most of the year, taking good care of the land tenure, away from the civilization, and perhaps quarreling with the ancient manor spirits (not to mention the millions of euros that it takes to restore a manor to its normal condition). Besides, it definitely raises the question – who is about to live in these premises? Nowadays it is an achievement to give birth to a single child in the rush of life. This kind of a palace expects 10+ children! Would you be crouching there in the corner alone late at night, wondering what is happening in the other 29 rooms?

And despite this, people are buying manors in large quantities, since the selling prices seem reasonable and manor owner’s thoughts are easy to entertain. Nevertheless, when it comes to me, I am not that optimistic with these issues. It will not make you more noble once you have purchased for half a million or a even million euros a manor that is actually in ruins. In fact, you can buy one even for less – I have seen advertisements where manors are for sale for as little as a few hundred thousands. Of course, these places are mostly a complete mess. Many of the happy buyers will be fooled, they will have to face the heritage protection and they will have to use trickery to make it seem as though something is still being restored after all, while in reality it is usually limited to repairing a small bit of the roof during ten years time or setting up the very promising construction scaffolding. I have, though, been thinking of buying – let the manor then stand there so I can wait and see and deliberate. Then again this feels like deception. Deceit towards myself as well as towards the place.

Photos: 3x Taagepera manor (ATTENTION! The images have been found and downloaded over the internet. I have not been able to identify the author for reference. Should the author recognize their photos and wish to have their name added here, or perhaps have the photos deleted from this blog, then please contact us and we immediately act upon this wish.)

I have been thinking that, yes… manors do attract me in a way, on the one hand I cannot stand old stuff that is falling apart, grandiosity (a malady that often strikes me), places that may be haunted, excessive expenditures, excessive obligations… yet on the other hand it comprises a challenge… and challenges are something that I like. Although my financial position wouldn’t allow me to become a manor owner today, I still sometimes play with the idea – I calculate, I design and plan in my mind. Sometimes I have thought that it would be cool to buy a manor house, where a few couple hundred years ago the ancestors had had a hard time serving the manor owner… and in this way to bend history towards a more positive direction. The thing is – this so to say revenge motive is the most pointless and destructive of all. In life everything ought to be channelled through the energy of love, through healthy and constructive energy, not done out of greed, revenge and plain demonstration for the sake of others. Imagine you were the most important, wealthiest and best loved person in the world – how would you behave? What decisions would you make? How would you act if there were no need to prove anything to anybody, how would you live?

To my mind the first and most important thing about buying a manor (of course besides the financial strength appropriate for the transaction) is the feeling of love and recognition – if this is lacking, do not continue the business. To be genuinely happy, live so that each step in your life is accompanied by love! Though I like many manor houses, there hasn’t been this „click” about any of them yet. I have not quite so systematically visited manor houses and seen the manors, but I guess that the right things come to you one fine day and let you know that they are there. An almost complete picture for me opened with seeing the Art Nouveau style Taagepera manor which I rather randomly stumbled upon, yet when I saw the adjoining construction nearby, the emotions cooled. Of course, the construction could be pulled down etc… but to live in a 32-room palace somewhere in Valga county, you need not simply be a millionaire, you need to be financially secure inside out.

Since I have not seen the place nor the surroundings with my own eye, I won’t pause on this any longer for now – yet I have to admit that interest, anxiety and curiosity speak in me. There certainly is something… what exactly this is, I do not know yet.

Plainly accomplishing the purchase is the easiest part. Even if there is no real estate for sale today, there will nevertheless be a bargain after agreeing upon suitable price in relevant negotiations. However, besides feeling love I also am scared of manors. I got the feeling that should the deal be settled for a purpose other than that (with the wish to start a business or open a hotel there), this would spoil the old cultural object’s natural climate and disturb the peace of the beings that inhabit the place or the mythical creatures that have established themselves over time. I would be the least surprised if it turned out the old manor house is inhabited by elves, a tree spirit (the common ash spirit), treasure lifters, shapeshifters, ghosts, etc. Hardly anybody wishes that their dear purchase/investment takes a violent turn against them or even worse, drives them outright insane and directly to the madhouse.

Many years ago it was a common thing to bury the manor owners on the same territory and that would mean that those failing to let go of their precious earthly property still keep guard over the manor. As a rule, the manor owners were rich folks as compared to other people of their times, they were people with obsessions, people pushing their opinion forward – which would make their souls quite the same – greedy, controlling, dominating. Carrying out careless rearrangements in the manor will make them direct their anger at those who do that.

Besides, a bitter and mistreated peasant might have remained there to haunt after death. Well, now I am already leading this tale to be very mystical, yet I think that one must not ovelook these points upon acquiring such an old object. You need not be too scared, since it is possible to purify the energy with love and caring and bring peace with prayers wherever peace is needed.

NordenBladet – When speaking about webpages, the first question that pops into people’s mind is “How many unique readers do you have?”. Me and my Estonian, Scandinavian, American and Brazilian webpages are no exception to this rule. I answer almost weekly to questions how many readers do we have on OHMYGOSSIP and NordenBladet pages, how many followers do we have on social media, how many articles do we publish per day, how big is our team and mainly – which tricks have I used to get that many readers and followers.

As I do NordenBladet and OHMYGOSSIP as a hobby – meaning I mostly even pay rather than drown in money gained by advertisement, I don’t see a reason why I should hide from you my tips how have I gained readers and how do I keep them on my page. Is it one way or another, I don’t see why people could not share good ideas. Always the one who gives, receives – I have doubted that saying a lot but now I am sure – help others and you will be helped. Care and people will care about you.

PASSION AND PERSISTENCE – these are the first tricks and probably the ones which affect the readers the most. Our articles are not full of sponsored posts, the webpage is not flooded by irritating and out of context advertisements and our articles are honest – so honest that sometimes I even regret if there was a need to be that straightforward. So I do what I love and I love my job a lot! I have been communicating with my readers so much that both me and them have a certain kind of addiction. Okay, this is all blablabla. You came to read this article for certain tips. I will continue with the next one in the importance ranking.

INVESTMENT TO THE FUTURE – now comes a very controversial idea to what I said before that “I rather do it as a hobby and pay for my site”. On one hand me, like every other person, I spend certain amounts on my hobbies but on the other hand I invest to the future. As I have the opportunity to live thanks to another income, then the potential income of the web is planned for the future – luckily in one case or another I will not be a loser as I am doing what I love. Only a few can afford to do that, this is a huge privilege. I use all the income from the advertisements to invest again to the company. I haven’t paid a salary to myself since starting the company. What I get through advertisements, collaborations and different deals, I invest immediately to the expansion. Moreover, I invest a lot of my own money to the page, not to even mention my energy and time.

But more precisely:

TWITTER – the same channel that brought victory to the president of the United States Donald Trump – as a major part of people “live” for the social media. It would be silly to underestimate it. Like for any business, timing is the key – I was active on Twitter in 2009, when most of the people in Estonia used Orkut and did not even know about the existence of Facebook. At that time there were less users on Twitter and those who were became automatically your friends. It was easy to find new “friends”. Twitter has a rule that you can add maximum 1000 people per day which I use as firstly, those people will look “who is it who added me” and secondly, 20-40% of them will start following you. As I have webpages in many different countries and in different languages, then obviously I have different accounts for each of them. Thus, I start following different people depending on the account and get different followers. What the pages have in common is the goal – who will come to one page will end up to the next ones. So the pages support each other.

FACEBOOK – For a long time I used the paid “boost” option on Facebook which worked very successfully. I paid for the appearance of my articles on the feed (max 150 euros per month) – I chose the location and timing where I wanted them to be seen and voila—the readers came but currently the service is rather painful for the wallet and moreover, useless. Sometimes out of an old habit I “boost” things but the result is generally very bad. For instance I boost for one euro and I’ll get 500 views and 1 click per article which is ridiculous considering that before the Facebook boost brought thousands of clicks just for one euro. Facebook’s time is about to be over, that’s for sure. I am over 6 years in different South American social networks which still remain unknown in Europe and Scandinavia.

INTERVIEWS – The world has millions of websites and smaller or bigger media channels. I have always thought that a good one will be found without advertisement, so besides Facebook Boost I have spent money on advertisement only on few occasions (which haven’t been very useful). I have mostly through Twitter searched for collaboration partners and channels where to advertise OHMYGOSSIP, NordenBladet and Ohmygossip Couture. I have offered many interviews and different means of collaboration. I have received thousands of rejections and even more ignoring but I have also received positive answers and collaboration possibilities. It is important not to be afraid, not to take it personally and keep pushing forward. There will be always those who don’t answer, who are not interested and also those who are very interested. It’s just important to figure out the ones interested! Numerous foreign websites, newspapers, magazines, bloggers and social media channels have wanted to take our relationship a step forward after our first collaboration as they understood collaboration is the key. Every collaboration is always beneficial! I never “leave behind the door” collaboration partners who are even 90% or more smaller and “weaker” than me. Why? Firstly, there is always something to learn from everyone as everyone has something that you don’t and you never know when a tiny company will become something huge. People are often pessimists but those who are over it can confirm that helping others and collaborating has brought them only pleasure. There is no need to be afraid that the other one will be “bigger, richer, better” but that together we will be even better, richer, happier. Shared happiness is always the biggest!

PRODUCTS – at some point your page will become your brand – the name becomes so known that it will be noticed by different companies in different sectors. For instance, OHMYGOSSIP name has released various products from teas to scarves and bags. I’m not speaking about what Ohmygossip Couture produces but what kind of collaboration other companies have wished for to get an exclusive OHMYGOSSIP product. How to reach the point that companies want to produce products under your brand’s name? I have used two ways – I have written in my blog about my wishes, ideas and dreams and secondly, I have tweeted in Twitter where I have clearly expressed my wishes. It is easier to find contact with people when you show your thoughts, express your dreams as most people are not fortune tellers. Don’t be afraid to show your dreams and wishes!

DIFFERENT MARKETS – Definitely one of my strengths has been the fact that I work in different languages. I have done different pages and social media accounts for different countries. My brands’ news are published in 5-8 languages depending on the content which is already a base for a large readership. The most red but the most difficult market is in English, it’s very “all over the place” and it’s hard to choose whether it’s meant for England, America or just to an English speaking reader. Multilingualism gives you a heads up in different areas and situations – almost every partner is interested when he hears that his news can be published in numerous other languages and countries. Businessmen think big! And a journalist must think even bigger!

PERSONAL CONTACT – This is the most time-consuming and the most difficult one. You need to keep regular contact with people which takes time. This is something to take into account – nothing comes without hard work. Each project needs time, investment and YOU NEED TO SHARE LOVE as if you want to gain something without giving anything back – your plan is not sustainable. You can gain in short-term but in the long-term perspective you’ll be the loser. Do this to others what you want to be done to you!

NordenBladet – Obviously I am already compiling a novel based on my 24-hour mini-holiday trip to Viljandi (Estonia). This is volume 5 – and I gather this is rather odd! How long am I to continue telling you what I have seen behind this or that forest or what feelings arose with this or that field. Hahaa. This was simply way more important an event for me than purchasing in Los Angeles real estate in the value of 10+ million euros. As I have mentioned earlier – money and feelings stand completely apart!

In advanced years, with advanced experience people want more clarity – especially about what concerns the past. My elder sister has taken a great interest in digging as deep in the past as she can – due to this she has inolved high level personal history researchers and specialists to draw up a complete family tree. At this point she has complied and reviewed the genealogy from our father’s lineage so thoroughly that it is among the best investigated and mapped written sources of informtion about the past that is publicly accessible on Geni web. Thanks to my sister’s research project we have dicovered surprising kinships – for example  among Estonians one of the wealthiest, well-known and in my specialty (media) the most significant men – Hans H. Luik, who is in the cousin line a few generations back! Besides, we didn’t know earlier that the politicians named Helme are our relatives. People tend to know and communicate only with the closest of the relatives and at the end of the day on a larger scale everybody is related to everybody as cousins and kinsmen, however it is good to know in which ways the branches in the family tree have developed.

For example in the newspaper Postimees lately a story was published about Estonia’s oldest known person Maria Tomson (born Maria Geelman, on December 27th 1853 in Aru parish, Tartu county, deceased on April 26th 1966 in Holstre), having lived 112 years, three months and 29 days.

I would say that they have been inadequately informed… In our family line there have been people that lived up to 112 years – there are official entries in church books about that. Stemming from Suure-Jaani parish (belonging to Jaska manor) the farmer Tohver of Pojo farmhouse was born in 1607 and passed away 23.01.1719. But where am I directing this story? My point is: Those not remembering the past lack a future – the poet Juhan Liiv’s golden words. It is very interesting to discover the predecessors that we were inaware of before.

But let me continue with my vacation topic’s final entry. We stayed overnight in Intsu village, Männiku Metsatalu farmhouse. We were delighted about the place and we sincerely recommend the place to everybody, from all our hearts! Usually when you check in to a hotel, the receptionist takes a photocopy of your passport, also you must fill in a great many documents – yet there they only collected the money (merely 20 euros per night per person!) and that was it! So simple, easy and confiding towards the guests. Very pleasant! I continue to be enchanted about the place and probably already next week will be visiting them again – now with two sisters – the younger as well as the elder!!!

As you know, weird, unexpected and unprecedented events took place during my one-day visit, and there is no one explanation to those. People do not stumble upon ghosts, not every place is haunted and not every person can sense spirits… this is something that I am searcing an answer to. At the moment I can tell you that it has frequently occurred in our lineage and perhaps too commonly even to make a big deal out of this. Among my ancestors there have been a great many nature persons – people who read the nature like an open book – in every possible way. People who feel the vibes of nature, who read the signs from nature and breathe together with nature are very mighty – they possess great powers and force. I would not call this witchcraft or clairvoyance, but in reality the essence and consequences of this go further than those listed supernatural powers, being even stronger, even more powerful. With these skills and knowledge it is possible to heal, predict future event as well as interpret past events. However, now coming back to myself, I have avoided this all – clairvoyance, feeling the nature and energetics – as a conscious choice! Yet whenever I let it go, things start happening. Understanding and interpreting dreams is not new to me, perceiving loci and energies, glancing in the „mirror” of the past times. I even turned to my Rabbi regarding this, wishing to find a clear answer to what happened. And I can assure you I got an answer – it is not at all negative, but still rather unexpected for me and at the present moment I do not feel like I wish or want to share this with the broad public. Everything at it’s reasonable time! I myself must digest this knowledge for a while!

Hereby let us put an end to this vacation-narrative. In the morning my car had a broken tire and this is a sufficient sugn to quit the conversation on the Viljandi topic. Car service reached us in half an hour, replaced the tire and the critical situation was solved. After that we visited Ramsi, Heimtali, Puiatu, Matsimaa and Kõpu and drove back to Viljandi. We had coffee and cakes in a cafe in Viljandi and drove back home. Within this 24-hour holiday I had experienced more than a journey lasting a week. I intend to find time for myself in the future more often – to work well you must have knowledge to rest also – may it then last these mere 24 hours!